Hong Kong is at the heart of modern China's position as a regional - and potential world - superpower. In this important and original history of the region, Steve Tsang argues that its current prosperity is a direct by-product of the British administrators who ran the place as a colony before the handover in 1997.The British administration of Hong Kong uniquely derived its practices from the best traditions of Imperial Chinese government and its philosophical, Confucian basis. It stressed efficiency, honesty, fairness, benevolent paternalism and individual freedom. The result was a hugely successful colony, especially in industry and finance, and it remains so today with its new status of Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.Under British imperial administration, Hong Kong grew from a collection of fishing villages to an international entrepot, an industrial power and an international financial centre. British and Chinese interests dovetailed and the Chinese population was satisfied by the welfare reform and economic advancement perpetuated by Britain's administrative officers. Demand for constitutional reform and a sense of Hong Kong Chinese identity grew only as the handover to China approached.This definitive history of the colourful individuals who administered the colony on behalf of the British government sheds light on two empires inextricably linked in nature and on the philosophy of government.


Qualitative arguments of the Gaussian-mode theory and numerical solution of vectorial wave equations are used to demonstrate that arrays of submicrometer air holes can significantly modify the properties of guided modes in optical fibers, enabling a fine tuning of fiber dispersion, nonlinearity, and gain. Fiber dispersion nanomanagement solutions are shown to provide ultraflattened group-velocity dispersion profiles and control the fiber nonlinearity and gain.


Fatty liver is a common feature of both obesity and lipodystrophy, reflecting compromised adipose tissue function. The lipin-deficient fatty liver dystrophy (fld) mouse is an exception, as there is lipodystrophy without a fatty liver. Using a combination of indirect calorimetry and stable-isotope flux phenotyping, we determined that fld mice exhibit abnormal fuel utilization throughout the diurnal cycle, with increased glucose oxidation near the end of the fasting period and increased fatty acid oxidation during the feeding period. The mechanisms underlying these alterations include a twofold increase compared with wild-type mice in tissue glycogen storage during the fed state, a 40% reduction in hepatic glucose production in the fasted state, and a 27-fold increase in de novo fatty acid synthesis in liver during the fed state. Thus, the inability to store energy in adipose tissue in the fld mouse leads to a compensatory increase in glycogen storage for use during the fasting period and reliance upon hepatic fatty acid synthesis to provide fuel for peripheral tissues during the fed state. The increase in hepatic fatty acid synthesis and peripheral utilization provides a potential mechanism to ameliorate fatty liver in the fld that would otherwise occur as a consequence of adipose tissue dysfunction.


This thesis develops and tests a social network theory of religion to explain the phenomena of religious and secular beliefs in the general population in contemporary Britain. Drawing upon the writings of several historians and upon the work of Giddens (1994a, 1994b), the study is placed in the theoretical context of the debate about the nature of modernity. Due to the various processes of modernization it is argued that personal network links between church attenders and non-church attenders have gradually been severed since pre-modern times. The immediate consequences of this development are twofold. First, the transmission of church religion is greatly restricted. Second, personal overarching religious, or indeed secular, world views are now likely to be formulated, maintained, modified and transmitted by individuals within discrete and geographically dispersed social networks within the private sphere. On the basis of this argument a network dependency hypothesis was formulated, from which twenty-two testable propositions were derived. By employing ego-centred network analysis, the empirical dimension of this thesis reports the testing of each of these propositions against data obtained from a quantitative 500 questionnaire survey of a middle class suburb in the south of England, followed by 39 qualitative focused interviews with informants selected from the initial survey. The data showed that responses to the process of primary socialization had a profound effect on the initial belief formation of ego. This provided a foundation both for religious or secular belief in later life and for the future selection of network alters. With the exception of conversionists, these beliefs generally continued to be maintained by ego within ego's current network. At all stages ego demonstrated a need to reduce cognitive dissonance and to pursue cognitive consonance (Festinger, 1985). The local community did not constitute a plausibility structure and even the local church did not perform this function. Only discrete, dispersed, personal networks in the private sphere functioned to maintain the plausibility of religious and secular beliefs. The findings constituted overwhelming support for the network dependency hypothesis.


We define a compilation scheme for a constructor-based, strongly-sequential, graph rewriting system which shortcuts some needed steps. The object code is another constructor-based graph rewriting system. This system is normalizing for the original system when using an innermost strategy. Consequently, the object code can be easily implemented by eager functions in a variety of programming languages. We modify this object code in a way that avoids total or partial construction of the contracta of some needed steps of a computation. When computing normal forms in this way, both memory consumption and execution time are reduced compared to ordinary rewriting computations in the original system.


Abstract An Fe-rich smectite from Ölberg (Germany) was characterized using X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy and analytical electron microscopy. Progressive reduction of the octahedral charge was performed through the Hofmann & Klemen effect at increasing temperatures. The sample was heterogeneous, consisting of two smectite populations. One population, which comprises a minor portion of the sample, is an 'Fe3+-montmorillonite' with little or no tetrahedral charge and Fe3+ as the major octahedral cation. The other population, a major constituent of the sample, contains less Mg and more Al than the first one and exhibits some tetrahedral charge. This fraction may be considered as an inter-grade between nontronite (dominant tetrahedral charge) and Fe3+-montmorillonite (dominant octahedral charge). These two populations may occur as separate particles but also as interstratified layers.


The history of colonial policing has received considerable scholarly attention in terms of its function to extend and consolidate the legal jurisdiction of British rule over colonised territories and populations. This paper compares some of the complex roles played by Indigenous people who were employed primarily as "trackers" and "scouts" within mounted police forces on Australia's and Canada's settler frontiers. A comparative picture of indigenous participation in policing reveals parallels in colonial decision-making that went beyond local conditions, but also illuminates the different pressures of local conditions which affected the value of Indigenous auxiliaries to mounted police. These not only provide insight into the motivations of colonial authorities in enlisting indigenous people into policing networks, but also into how Indigenous people influenced the rule of law into which they were co-opted.


Carotid body tumors arise from the embryonic neural crest. These tumors are mostly benign, and they rarely show character. Bifurcation of the carotid body cells originates from a common carotid paraganglion; a tumoral mass lateral to the carotid bifurcation is usually found in the neck. A pathologic feature of these tumors is that they have a tendency to wrap because they are not treated with the external and internal carotid arteries. In our clinic, we operated on a patient who had been diagnosed with carotid body tumor. After removal of the internal carotid artery, the mass flow due to a decrease in the light of literature used to evaluate the importance of flowmetry carotid surgery.


Sialyl Lewis antigens are selectin ligands involved in leukocyte trafficking and cancer metastasis. Biosynthesis of these selectin ligands occurs by the sequential actions of several glycosyltransferases in the Golgi apparatus following synthesis of the protein backbone in the endoplasmic reticulum. In this study, we examine how the synthesis of sialyl Lewis a (sLea) is regulated in prostatic cells and identify a mucin that carries this glycotope. We treat human prostatic cells including one normal and three cancerous cells with histone deacetylase inhibitors, valproic acid, tricostatin A (TSA), and suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), and then monitor the expression of sLea. We have found that SAHA enhances the production of sLea in normal prostatic RWPE-1 cells but not prostatic cancer cells. Employing siRNA technology and co-immunoprecipitation, we show that the sLea is associated with MUC1, which is confirmed by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy and proximity ligation assay. The SAHA-induced production of sLea in RWPE-1 cells is resulted from upregulation of B3GALT1 gene via enhancement of acetylated histone-3 and histone-4. Interestingly, PC3 and LNCaP C-81 cells do not produce detectable amounts of sLea despite expressing high levels of B3GALT1. However, the MUC1-associated sLea is generated in these cells after introduction of MUC1 cDNA. We conclude that the synthesis of sLea is controlled by not only peptide backbone of the glycoprotein but also glycoprotein-specific glycosyltransferases involved in the synthesis of sLea. Further, the SAHA induction of this selectin ligand in normal prostatic cells may pose a potentially serious side effect of this drug recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.


A main hysteresis loop in the volumetric water content (θ)-suction (ψ) relation was determined experimentally for each of seven narrow size fractions of glass beads. Geometrical properties of these media were separately obtained with a Purcell apparatus based on mercury intrusion. A linear relation between the mean radius of beads and the mean radius of pores was established. A computational model was established to relate the main hysteresis loops of porous media to their geometrical properties. As a consequence a diagram expressed in nondimensional variables ψ* and θ* is proposed to predict the main hysteresis loop of a similar porous medium whose geometrical properties are deduced by similitude from one of the explored fractions.


Objective: Activation of several signal transduction pathways, including cardiac inflammation and fibrosis, are important parts of structural and functional changes in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM), which is a leading cause of cardiovascular complications. NF-κB signaling pathway plays critical roles in promoting cardiac inflammation and cardiac fibrosis. It has been reported that hesperetin could inhibit cardiac remodelling induced by pressure overload in mice. However, it is still not clear whether and how hesperetin plays a role in cardiac inflammation and fibrosis in diabetic rats.
Methods: Diabetes mellitus (DM) was induced by streptozotocin (70 mg/kg body weight). Rats were received hesperetin (30 mg/kg/day) for 12 weeks. Effect of hesperetin on glycemic parameters was detected with blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c). After induction of diabetes, all rats were underwent echocardiography to evaluate cardiac function. Expressions of inflammation markers such as TNF-α, IL-1β, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 were investigated by real-time PCR, gene expression of fibrosis markers such as collagen I and III, and histological analysis were applied to determine the level of cardiac fibrosis. NF-κB signaling pathway activation was also detected by western blot.
Results: Hesperetin reduced expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, collagen I and III. The level of collagen deposition in diabetic myocardium was attenuated with the treatment of hesperetin. Additionally, administration of hesperetin inhibited activation of NF-κB signaling pathway.
Conclusion: These results demonstrate that hesperetin inhibited cardiac inflammation and cardiac fibrosis post-diabetes through blocking NF-κB signaling pathway, which could be a key mechanism of hesperetin in attenuating cardiac remodeling in diabetic rats.


Abstract. This article is a review of the foundation (in 1838) and later developments of the Helsinki (Finland) magnetic and meteorological observatory, today the Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI). The main focus of the study is in the early history of the FMI up to the beginning of the 20th century. The first director of the observatory was Physics Professor Johan Jakob Nervander (1805–1848). He was a famous person of the Finnish scientific, academic and cultural community in the early decades of the 19th century. Finland was an autonomously part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917, but the observatory remained organizationally under the University of Helsinki, independent of Russian scientific institutions, and funded by the Finnish Government. Throughout the late-19th century the Meteorological Institute was responsible of nationwide meteorological, hydrological and marine observations and research. The observatory was transferred to the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters under the name the Central Meteorological Institute in 1881. The focus of the work carried out in the Institute was changed gradually towards meteorology. Magnetic measurements were still continued but in a lower level of importance. The culmination of Finnish geophysical achievements in the 19th century was the participation to the International Polar Year programme in 1882–1883 by setting up a full-scale meteorological and magnetic observatory in Sodankyla, Lapland.


The combination of social network extraction from texts, network analytics to identify key actors, and then simulation to assess alternative interventions in terms of their impact on the network is a powerful approach for supporting crisis de-escalation activities. In this paper, we describe how researchers used this approach as part of a scenario-driven modeling effort. We demonstrate the strength of going from data-to-model and the advantages of data-driven simulation. We conclude with a discussion of the limitations of this approach for the chosen policy domain and our anticipated future steps.


Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the fifth most common cancer in women and is characterized by a low 5-year survival rate. One strategy that can potentially improve the overall survival rate in ovarian cancer is the use of antitumor agents such as ABT-510. ABT-510 is a small mimetic peptide of the naturally occurring antiangiogenic compound thrombospondin-1 and has been shown to significantly reduce tumor growth and burden in preclinical mouse models and in naturally occurring tumors in dogs. This is the first evaluation of ABT-510 in a preclinical model of human EOC. Tumorigenic mouse surface epithelial cells were injected into the bursa of C57BL/6 mice that were treated with either 100 mg/kg ABT-510 or an equivalent amount of PBS. ABT-510 caused a significant reduction in tumor size, ascites fluid volume, and secondary lesion dissemination when compared with PBS controls. Analysis of the vasculature of ABT-510-treated mice revealed vascular remodeling with smaller diameter vessels and lower overall area, increased number of mature vessels, and decreased tissue hypoxia. Tumors of ABT-510-treated mice had a significantly higher proportion of apoptotic tumor cells compared with the PBS-treated controls. Immunoblot analysis of cell lysates revealed a reduction in vascular endothelial growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen protein expression as well as expression of members of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and mitogen-activated protein kinase survival pathways. In vitro, ABT-510 induced tumor cell apoptosis in mouse and human ovarian cancer cells. This study shows ABT-510 as a promising candidate for inhibiting tumor growth and ascites formation in human EOC. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(1):64–74]


Microbial count is an important index to measure the safety status of a food. This trial aimed to determine the safety of eight meals (four meats and four vegetarians) by using the agar plate counting method to measure the populations of total bacteria and specific pathogenic microorganisms during four day' abusing. The results showed that chicken & lemon sauce, pork & cranberry loaf and lasagne veg can be considered as acceptable after a series of handling steps including heating and holding in different environments. BBQ beef, quiche golden and pie rice & vegetable were all marginal for the microbial load before heating, but afterwards all of them were acceptable. Casserole chickpea and hot pot sausage were in marginal for the microbial load by the end of trial.


Stable Au nanoparticles (nps) were synthesised in matrix of the self-supported plasticised polymer inclusion anion-exchange membrane using the ion-exchange route for loading AuCl4− anions in membrane and their subsequent reduction with BH4− anions. The compositions of membrane was varied by changing concentration of the anion exchanger, and also using different plasticiser. X-ray diffraction patterns of the membrane samples embedded with Au nps were taken to study the parameters involved in the formation of Au nps in the plasticised polymer matrix. The content of Au nps in the membrane was increased by: 1) repeating the sequential cycles of loading of AuCl4− ions followed by the reduction with BH4− in the membrane matrix; 2) increasing the concentration of anion exchanger in the membrane matrix. It was observed in TEM images of cross section of membrane that spherical Au nps of 10 nm sizes were dispersed throughout the matrix of membrane. The increase in Au0 content in the membrane did not alter the average size of Au nps significantly, but slightly increased the range of size distribution. The nanostructures like prism, rod, sphere, bipyramid and cuboid were also observed in the membrane matrix, but their number density was 5% of nanoparticles present in the membrane matrix. The analyses of isotopic-exchange rate profiles of iodide ions between the membrane sample and well-stirred equilibrating salt solution indicated that formation of Au nps lead to a significant increase in self-diffusion mobility of the anions in membrane. The surface plasmon band (SPB λmax = 535 nm) of Au nps did not change on equilibration of the membrane samples with the solutions containing Cl−, I−, ClO4−, and CH3COO− anions, but completely disappeared on equilibration with solution containing molecular iodine.


Technologies have become an integral part of our daily lives and have contributed to the pace of history. Thus, our societies are made up of multiple generations who have diverse expectations and experiences with technology. On the other hand, ageing generations are not equal in the interest and the use of technological tools. By using a multidisciplinary approach, our chapter proposes to clarify the characteristics of the ageing generations and to reflect on the principles of adaptation and acceptability of gerontechnologies. Our contribution therefore wishes to articulate the shared challenges between the technological and social gerontological domains in order to think beyond a commercial logic and to base the technological innovation more on the complex needs expressed by the elders and their families. To this end, we discuss the limits to overcome and the ethical stakes to pursue in order to develop participatory approaches that ensure both social innovation and economic development.


As the explosion in health care costs has led to serious efforts at cost containment, concerns have been raised that some of the methods used to contain costs may cause more harm than good. In particular, many commentators have criticized the practice of giving physicians personal financial incentives to limit the provision of care to their patients. These critics have argued that, if physicians are paid more to do less, patients will suffer harm from undertreated illness, and patient trust in the patient-physician relationship will be seriously compromised. Accordingly, it is argued, financial incentives for physicians to limit care should not be used and should even be prohibited. In this article, I argue that the opposition to financial incentives is ultimately misguided, that it gives insufficient weight to the benefits of financial incentives and to the broader context in which financial incentives are used. While personal financial incentives to limit care raise important ethical concerns, they also have important benefits for cost containment that alternative methods do not have. Moreover, the alternative methods are either insufficiently effective or raise their own equally troubling concerns. Accordingly, while the government should place limits on the extent to which financial incentives can be used, it should not prohibit the incentives entirely.


Legally marketed comparator devices (LMCD) are required by many regulatory bodies in as a control for thrombogenicity testing when evaluating new devices. It is assumed by both the medical device manufacturing industry and regulatory bodies that these LMCD's have good clinical history and should perform with no to minimal thrombus accumulation and thereby serve as valid negative controls for the assay. APS regularly performs these assays for many medical device manufacturers, all of whom select a predicate comparator device (required by FDA to be an LMCD), for both the in vivo Non-Anticoagulated Venous Implant (NAVI) assay as well as a custom in vitro blood loop AVI. In this retrospective analysis, we have compiled thrombogenicity scores of control/predicate devices (limited to assays which used LMCD's), both the discrete score from the classification standard scoring scheme and the continuous values obtained from the percent surface area associated with thrombus. We have compared results from 37 NAVI studies and 22 in vitro blood loop studies. These compiled results show ∼25% of LMCDs score ≥ 3 (> 50% of the surface covered in thrombus) in the NAVI model while < 5% of LMCDs score ≥ 3 (> 50% thrombus) in the Blood-Loop assay. In addition, the median score and mean % thrombus for LMCD in the blood loop assay is substantially lower than the median and mean scores for LMCD in the NAVI assay. This retrospective assessment highlights a high proportion of false-positive scores for LMCD in a large number of NAVI assays.


The area of the curriculum that is now called CDT has changed, in its conception if not everywhere in its reality, more completely and dramatically in recent years than any other area of the curriculum. In my view this transformation reflects some wider changes in our notion of education, the effects of which can be discerned also elsewhere. And these changes are at certain points in conflict with the view of schooling taken by many people, politicians, industrialists and others, who look at education from the outside. The tensions created by this conflict and by the resulting pressures and constraints under which we, as teachers, work are being felt across the curriculum and across the age-ranges. They are felt nowhere so much, however, as in those areas of the curriculum that are regarded as being concerned to promote what are glibly called 'the basic skills' so that the areas in which I am most conscious of their impact are those of CDT and Primary Education. In fact, the similarities between these two are interesting in a number of ways. In both cases too this tension has, in my view, led to conflict and sometimes a confusion of purposes within the activity itself and it seems to me that what is needed more than anything else is a clarification of these issues as a basis for the continued development of a proper practice. It is to this that I wish to devote most of my attention here. I want first of all to say a little about what I believe to be the essential features of education. I want then, in the light of that, to look at CDT and to try to demonstrate that the main characteristic of the recent developments in that subject has been an increase in the emphaSis on its educational value, perhaps even the emergence of an awareness of this for some people. I then want to suggest that there are several aspects of the approach to both curriculum planning and provision in this area which, albeit as a result of external pressures, are in fact at odds with that general movement . And then , finally, against that background, I shall spell out what I see to be the role of CDT in the curriculum.


Context: The use of active video games (AVG) as a treatment modality in the rehabilitation context is increasing. However, little is known about the functional outcomes and psychological benefits of such rehabilitation in college athletes with lateral ankle sprains (LASs). Objective: To examine functional outcomes and psychological benefits of AVG-aided rehabilitation program for LAS. Design: A mixed-methods, single-subject case series design. Setting: College athletic training clinic. Patients: Two female college soccer players who sustained LAS (grades I and II) during sport participation. Intervention: A 4-week balance training program. One patient completed balance exercises using AVG, whereas the other patient completed traditional balance exercises. Main Outcome Measures: Several validated instruments were used to evaluate different functional outcomes and psychological factors: balance (Balance Error Scoring System, Star Excursion Balance Test), rehabilitation adherence (Rehabilitation Adherence Measure for Athletic Training), foot and ankle function (Foot and Ankle Ability Measure), perceptions of pain (Visual Analog Scale for pain), perceived readiness to return to sport (Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport Scale), and mood (Brunel Mood Scale). Results: It appears that the balance training protocols (AVG and traditional balance exercises) were equally effective in restoring patient's balance to functional levels. Despite very individualistic processes of rehabilitation, the participants' perceived pain, perceived readiness to return to sport, and mood states were closely linked with objective and subjective functional measures of progress. Conclusions: Based on the results, AVG has the potential to provide more versatility into the static and dynamic postural control exercises typically used following acute LAS. Moreover, the current results support the existing psychological and biopsychosocial theoretical conceptualizations of athletes' responses to injuries and rehabilitation process.


Autonomous agents require rich environment models for fulfilling their missions. High-definition maps are a well-established map format which allows for representing semantic information besides the usual geometric information of the environment. These are, for instance, road shapes, road markings, traffic signs or barriers. The geometric resolution of HD maps can be as precise as of centimetre level. In this paper, we report on our approach of using HD maps as a map representation for autonomous load-haul-dump vehicles in open-pit mining operations. As the mine undergoes constant change, we also need to constantly update the map. Therefore, we follow a lifelong mapping approach for updating the HD maps based on camera-based object detection and GPS data. We show our mapping algorithm based on the Lanelet 2 map format and show our integration with the navigation stack of the Robot Operating System. We present experimental results on our lifelong mapping approach from a real open-pit mine.


The effectiveness of aerosols as immersion freez- ing nuclei at the South Pole station was investigated dur- ing January and February 2009 using the FRIDGE-TAU. The analysis consisted of testing the freezing temperature of about 100-130 drops per sample containing aerosols col- lected at ground level and on a balloon lifted to different heights. All the drops froze between 18 C and 27 C. The temperature in which 50 % of the drops froze occurred at 24 C, while nuclei concentration of 1 L 1 at 23 C was calculated. Meteorological conditions such as wind speed, ice precipitation as well as the trajectories of the air masses affected the ice nuclei concentrations. Higher concentra- tions were observed on days when the winds were stronger or when the air mass originated from the sea.


This is an important new book, dealing with what can seem a heart-sink symptom and one which is often referred to the otolaryngology department as a last resort. The poor physicians have tried their bronchodilators and steroids, eliminated any vestige of gastric secretion, and, in despair, wonder about 'the sinuses', if only to share the problem. Much here is novel, especially the major input from laryngologists and rhinologists. At a first flick through the book, features like 'Take Home Points' and especially the boxed 'Thinking Outside the Box' in every chapter really appealed. I quickly regretted only getting this to read at three months after retiring from clinical practice! An opening chapter starts off with science and the physiology of cough, but quickly provides a nice introduction to the common causes of chronic cough that will be covered, together with the clinical approach, whether history examination or diagnostic aids. I learnt of a new mnemonic, 'SAW', which stands for sarcoid (supraglottic), amyloid (glottic) and Wegener's (subglottic), and merits further reading. The Leicester Cough Questionnaire was new to me (but I cannot resist wondering how our transatlantic cousins pronounce that city's name). Then there comes a chapter on cough variant asthma and related diseases, which is a superb summary of the disorder and its treatment, targeted at those who rarely wield a stethoscope. To my dismay, 'reactive airways disease' proves a term to be deplored, and those 'Take Home Points' here are excellent. 'Sinonasal Disease and Allergy' is a chapter title of obvious relevance, but the clever section heading that caught my eye was 'When it isn't Sinonasal Disease'; a classic example of thinking outside the box as an author. Reflux is, of course, our safety net when foxed by many an ENT symptom. It is amusing to read in the opening sentence of 'Thinking Outside the Box' that 'chronic cough due to reflux is a rare creature', and to contrast it with the rhinologist's view on page 39: 'the most common causes of cough include gastrooesophageal reflux'. A further chapter looks at the basic sciences of reflux. Both chapters reinforce an increasing view that drugs with names ending in '-zole' are grossly overused and that there is more to the refluxate than hydrochloric acid anyway. Neurogenic cough and laryngeal hypersensitivity syndrome is probably still a diagnosis of exclusion, but the role of neuromodulators, as with chronic pain syndromes, is particularly interesting and certainly new to me. Dysphagia may well be associated with chronic cough, but I was unconvinced it merited a separate chapter; a minor criticism. The chapter on the role of the speech and language pathologist, in contrast, was filled with pearls of wisdom, strategies and interventions. The most important message for me was to accept that such a referral has probably never before even occurred to me! Finally, came chapters on 'putting it all together' (i.e. setting up a specialist service) and 'Future Directions', which is selfexplanatory. Again, we read 'Non acid LPR [laryngopharyngeal reflux] is the most common cause of chronic cough in the experience of the author'. Medicine was ever thus, and such debate is only healthy and stimulating (but it is fun to spot how views can still differ so widely, and I have a sneaking, if cynical, suspicion which one of these views will prove right in time). I try in these reviews to spot the titles that might easily be missed by our readership, but which are of great relevance. This is clearly that, and I do wonder if a subheading might have clarified just how much it is both written by and targeted at even the most senior in our specialty. This is a read that could significantly influence practice and I only wish it had appeared years ago.


Stockholm is growing with almost two fully loaded SL-buses a day. One of the consequences that derive from this is the increase of public transport travelers who put the regionally governed public transport up to the test in terms of its capacity. The Transport administration in Stockholm County initiated 2015 a project with the purpose of simplifying the calculation of bus stop capacities. A hypothesis (set up by the Transport administration) based on that a model for calculation of bus stop capacities could be calibrated for Stockholm conditions is being researched in this bachelor's essay.The study is implemented by self-collected traffic data from bus stops located in the Stockholm city center. Furthermore, the data was processed in order to gather the parameters relevant to the examined model. Parallel to the ongoing research a review of literature was carried out in order to broaden the basic knowledge of the subject.The studied bus stops were chosen based on what the length of the average dwell time was considered to be. The average dwell time is the parameter specified as the most critical to the model.The collected data was analyzed and parameter values were produced. Finally the results of the processed data were analyzed. The chapter of discussions contains thoughts about several of the included parameters and a broader questioning of the actual user potential of the model compared to different capacity-calculating methods.Conclusions regarding the application of the model for estimation of capacity on existing bus stops in Stockholm city center could not be drawn. The reason for this is that saturated conditions were not achieved during the performed field surveys. Further studies are necessary in order to be able to validate, and if necessary calibrate, the model. These studies should be carried out by measurements at traffic configurations with more variety in terms of capacity determining factors in road and bus stop designs, than those conducted in this study


Microwave convective drying of plant foods is a promising process due to the shorter drying time and better product quality. High microwave power decreases the drying time but causes charring of the product. In this work, microwave drying under constant and variable microwave power were compared. Temperature-sensitive products, such as plant foods, are especially affected by microwave power during the final drying period. Therefore, drying at variable microwave power was found to be a more suitable drying process. Air (temperature and velocity) has an important role during microwave drying, not only as carrier of evaporated moisture but also as it contributes to a more homogeneous and faster drying.


This study investigated the impact of victim provocativeness and rape history upon male and female subjects' perceptions of attribution of blame toward the rape victim. One hundred and forty-four subjects (a) read one of 12 fictional case reports of a rape incident from a sexual abuse center which systematically varied level of victim provocativeness and rape history and (b) completed a nine-item Rape Questionnaire (RQ). Data were analyzed by a 2 (subject's sex) x 3 (level of provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) analysis of variance on the Rape Questionnaire total score. An ancillary multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) was also performed on the nine Rape Questionnaire items to check for potential masking of individual item differences from the Rape Questionnaire score. In addition, the data were reanalyzed in the 2 x 3 x 2 design by substituting high versus low scorers on the Attitudes Towards Women Scale (AWS) based upon median splits of the AWS for subject sex. The 2 (subject sex) x 3 (provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) MANOVA resulted in a sex by provocativeness interaction with males, relative to females, attributing more blame as the victim's level of provocativeness increased. In addition, significant differences emerged for provocativeness, rape history, and sex of subject. In general, subjects attributed more blame as the victim's provocativeness increased. Similarly, victims with rape histories were assigned more blame than victims without rape histories. The 2 (AWS) x 3 (provocativeness) x 2 (rape history) MANOVA resulted in a main effect for all three independent variables. In general subjects attributed more blame as the victim's provocativeness increased. Also victims with rape histories were assigned more blame than victims without rape histories. Finally, profeminist individuals attributed less blame to the victim than did traditional individuals. Implications for training of professional counselors and other service-providers are discussed. Future research directions are also noted.


Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has become a major issue in the United States. Individuals with chronic disease such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or hyperlipidemia are at higher risk of CKD. Risk factors include family history, age, obesity, and smoking. Kidney function decreases with age and other related conditions. It is critical to increase awareness, education, and prevention of CKD to advanced practice nurses. Nurse practitioners encounter and have the responsibility to be able to identify and manage patients in their primary practice. To address this issue, a sample of nurse practitioners in a local community health center was surveyed to assess CKD knowledge, its stages, and disease progression. Approximately 20 nurse practitioners were provided with the pretest to assess awareness, education material of CKD, and a posttest after 2 weeks of education to assess increased awareness and knowledge retention. The Knowledge to Action Framework was utilized in the project study. Twenty participants were invited to participate in the study, but only 15 completed the project. The participation pool ranged from 5 years of experience to more than 30. Participants showed an increase in knowledge on a posttest compared to a pretest. The data also showed that the participants with the most years of experience had the lowest increase in knowledge out of the 4 categories. The participants with the lowest years of experience showed the most improvement.


The familiar classical France of splendor, formalism, and conquest had a hidden double, one ruled by the cultural imperative to "be interior," to look inside oneself and to write about what one found. Being Interior explores how seventeenth-century readers and writers busied themselves with the pressing task of inventing a text commensurate with these newly opened subjective depths. Their practices laid the groundwork not only for the future success of autobiography as a genre but also for our entire modern culture of interiority. In tracing the emergence of autobiography as a privileged mediation between interior and exterior worlds, Nicholas D. Paige turns his attention where few have looked: to the wealth of material contained in religious writing of the period, much of it by women. Combining the evidence furnished by the material transmission of these works with a theoretical understanding of the contradictions built into subjectivity, Paige explains why categories like autobiography and experience, despite their problematic nature, have become unavoidable components of the modern world. Being Interior speaks not only to specialists of autobiography and classical France but also to readers interested in the constructions of gender and authorship, the history of private life and reading practices, and the past and future of interiorized subjectivity.


We investigate universalization of access to health in Brazil. We find large reductions in maternal, foetal, neonatal and post-neonatal mortality, a reduction in fertility and, possibly on account of selection, no change in the quality of births. Using rich administrative data, we investigate changes in organization, access and outcomes, thereby illuminating the driving mechanisms. We find sharp increases in coverage of primary health facilities with GPs and outreach workers and, in line with this, increases in outpatient procedures, prenatal care visits, health-education activities and home visits by medical professionals. Consistent with an attempt to rationalize use of hospital resources, we find a decline in specialists and hospital beds per capita. Despite this, we see increases in hospital births, C-sections, and maternal hospitalization for complications, with no change in rates of infant hospitalization.


On the bicentenary of William John Burchell's sojourn and journey in southern Africa, we review his contribution to science in the region. In November 1810, Burchell arrived in Cape Town and, in mid-1811, he set off on a 4-year, 7000-km journey of scientific exploration. When he returned to Cape Town in April 1815, he had amassed 63 000 specimens and 500 drawings. Burchell is remembered mainly for his contributions to descriptive and philosophical aspects of natural history of the country. He is less well known for some significant and novel contributions to the earth sciences, the social sciences and even astronomy. Burchell's observations in physical geography and geology and his contribution to cartography have received little attention. In natural history, some of his views were prescient of the concepts of evolution and holism. In the social sciences, he provided unique ethnographic descriptions, developed an orthography of two indigenous languages and produced drawings that have attracted international research. William John Burchell is worthy of our memory.


ABSTRACT Growing scepticism over the effectiveness of United Nations Security Council sanctions has led to an in-depth discussion over and investigation into methods and strategies that will make sanctions work and that will hopefully also restrict the unintended effects of sanctions on the civilian population. Current efforts in this field are about restoring trust in sanctions as an enforcement instrument in international law aimed at bringing about change in the behaviour of states. Of special interest is the increase in the use of economic sanctions since the 1990s and the opportunity it offers to make such sanctions "smarter" by targeting leaders and elite groups rather than vulnerable groups. 1. INTRODUCTION Currently the United Nations (UN) is reviewing all aspects of its sanctions instruments with a view to avoid undesirable collateral damage in third states as well as to limit the humanitarian impact of sanctions. This process, precipitated by the Gulf Crisis, comes in the wake of an increase in the number of Security Council resolutions imposing non-military sanctions on states in terms of Chapter VII of the UN Charter since the 1990s. Before this time there were only the mandatory sanctions against Rhodesia (1) from 1966-1979 and the mandatory arms embargo against South Africa (2) from 1977. Among the many issues raised is the objective of enhancing the effectiveness of sanctions and reducing their unintended side-effects by targeting sanctions on elites, government officials and selected entities. The current debate has many commendable aspects. One is that it sends a valedictory message to the conventional, unsophisticated belief that political change is directly proportional to economic hardship. Opinions of late are much more reasoned, as apparent inter alia from the following observation by a former UN Secretary-General on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the organisation: Sanctions, as is generally recognised, are a blunt instrument. They raise the ethical question of whether suffering inflicted on vulnerable groups in the target country is a legitimate means of exerting pressure on political leaders whose behaviour is unlikely to be affected by the plight of their subjects. Sanctions also always have unintended or unwanted effects. They can complicate the work of humanitarian agencies ... They can conflict with the development objectives of the Organisation ... They can have a severe effect on other countries that are neighbours or major economic partners of the target country. They can also defeat their own purposes by provoking a patriotic response against the international community ... and by rallying the populations behind the leaders whose behaviour the sanctions are intended to modify. (3) Reisman also argues that there is no empirical evidence to support the sanctions theory of a "trickle up" effect which contends that the increased pain experienced by the lower social strata will percolate upwards, "by some remarkable osmosis", to change the hearts and minds of those in power. (4) There are many sides to the current debate. (5) In this article the focus is on the latest developments concerning the more effective enforcement of targeted financial sanctions. The imposition of this type of sanction not only presents major technical challenges but also demands a new level of international co-operation. 2. SOME PRELIMINARY ISSUES Before the issues involved in the imposition of targeted financial sanctions are considered in more detail, the general framework set by the UN for an effective implementation of collective Security Council sanctions as an international policy tool in response to threats against international peace and security, needs attention. In the first instance it is required that sanctions must be commensurate with the objective to modifying the "behaviour of a party that is threatening international peace and security and not to punish or otherwise exact retribution". …


OBJECTIVE
Many doctors report working excessively demanding schedules that comply with the European Working Time Directive (EWTD). We compared groups of junior doctors working on different schedules in order to identify which features of schedule design most negatively affected their fatigue and well-being in recent weeks.

METHODS
Completed by 336 doctors, the questionnaires focused on the respondents' personal circumstances, work situation, work schedules, sleep, and perceptions of fatigue, work-life balance and psychological strain.

RESULTS
Working 7 consecutive nights was associated with greater accumulated fatigue and greater work-life interference, compared with working just 3 or 4 nights. Having only 1 rest day after working nights was associated with increased fatigue. Working a weekend on-call between 2 consecutive working weeks was associated with increased work-life interference. Working frequent on-calls (either on weekends or during the week) was associated with increased work-life interference and psychological strain. Inter-shift intervals of <10 hours were associated with shorter periods of sleep and increased fatigue. The number of hours worked per week was positively associated with work-life interference and fatigue on night shifts.

CONCLUSION
The current findings identify parameters, in addition to those specified in the EWTD, for designing schedules that limit their impact on doctors' fatigue and well-being.


IntroductionThe rapid diffusion of the surgical robot has been controversial because of the technology's high costs and its disputed marginal benefit. Some, however, have suggested that adoption of the robot may have improved care for patients with renal malignancy by facilitating partial nephrectomy, an underutilized, technically challenging procedure believed to be less morbid than radical nephrectomy. We sought to determine whether institutional acquisition of the robot was associated with increased utilization of partial nephrectomy. Methods:We used all payer data from 7 states to identify 21,569 nephrectomies. These patient-level records were aggregated to the hospital-level then merged with the American Hospital Association Annual Survey and publicly available data on timing of robot acquisition. We used a multivariable difference-in-difference model to assess at the hospital-level whether robot acquisition was associated with an increase in the proportion of partial nephrectomy, adjusting for hospital nephrectomy volume, year of surgery, and several additional hospital-level factors. Results:In the multivariable-adjusted differences-in-differences model, hospitals acquiring a robot between 2001 and 2004 performed a greater proportion of partial nephrectomy in both 2005 (29.9% increase) and 2008 (34.9% increase). Hospitals acquiring a robot between 2005 and 2008 also demonstrated a greater proportion of partial nephrectomy in 2008 (15.5% increase). In addition, hospital nephrectomy volume and urban location were also significantly associated with increased proportion of partial nephrectomy. Conclusions:Hospital acquisition of the surgical robot is associated with greater proportion of partial nephrectomy, an underutilized, guideline-encouraged procedure. This is one of the few studies to suggest robot acquisition is associated with improvement in quality of patient care.


Bulk aerosol composition and aerosol size distributions measured aboard the DC‐8 aircraft during the Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry Experiment mission in May/June 2012 were used to investigate the transport of mineral dust through nine storms encountered over Colorado and Oklahoma. Measurements made at low altitudes (<5 km mean sea level (MSL)) in the storm inflow region were compared to those made in cirrus anvils (altitude > 9 km MSL). Storm mean outflow Ca2+ mass concentrations and total coarse (1 µm < diameter < 5 µm) aerosol volume (Vc) were comparable to mean inflow values as demonstrated by average outflow/inflow ratios greater than 0.5. A positive relationship between Ca2+, Vc, ice water content, and large (diameter > 50 µm) ice particle number concentrations was not evident; thus, the influence of ice shatter on these measurements was assumed small. Mean inflow aerosol number concentrations calculated over a diameter range (0.5 µm < diameter < 5.0 µm) relevant for proxy ice nuclei (NPIN) were ~15–300 times higher than ice particle concentrations for all storms. Ratios of predicted interstitial NPIN (calculated as the difference between inflow NPIN and ice particle concentrations) and inflow NPIN were consistent with those calculated for Ca2+ and Vc and indicated that on average less than 10% of the ingested NPIN were activated as ice nuclei during anvil formation. Deep convection may therefore represent an efficient transport mechanism for dust to the upper troposphere where these particles can function as ice nuclei cirrus forming in situ.


M. C. Pretorius, P. W. Crous, J. Z. Groenewald & U. Braun (2003). Phylogeny of some cercosporoid fungi from Citrus. Sydowia 55 (2): 286-305 This study examines several cercosporoid species that are known to cause foliar diseases of Citrus. A cercosporoid fungus causing a new fruit and leaf spot disease on Citrus in South Africa was identified. From morphological and rDNA sequence data (ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2), it was concluded that the new disease was caused by Cercospora penzigii, belonging to the Cercospora apii species complex. It was subsequently compared with a similar organism, Pseudophaeoramularia angolensis, which is of quarantine significance to the citrus industry. The genus Pseudophaeoramularia is regarded as synonym of Pseudocercospora, and subsequently a new combination is proposed in Pseudocercospora as P. angolensis. Cercospora gigantea was shown to not represent a species of Cercospora, while Mycosphaerella citri was found to be morphologically variable, suggesting that it could represent more than one taxon. A key is also provided to the cercosporoid species occurring on Citrus.


In the last years, and particularly since the publication of the famous Barca Report (Barca, 2009), the European Union (EU) is starting to acknowledge the importance of spatially targeted regional policies and to understand how crucial a territorial approach can be in order to achieve desirable social, economic and environmental outcomes. Indeed the increasing complexity in the path to regional growth and development is fostered by globalization and the creation of large integrated areas such as the European Union, where regions need to leverage their territorial capital to compete effectively. In this context we analyse the impact of FDI on growth and development of European regions, discussing the role of different components of territorial capital in determining the intensity and the direction of such an impact. In doing so we start from the assessment of the impact that various types of FDI can have according to the characteristics of the country they come from (Industrialized vs. emerging countries; European vs. non-European countries) and their sector's affiliation (i.e. low and high tech manufacturing sectors; business services vs. financial services, etc.). Then we inspect the possibility that such an impact may vary with the endowments of different type of territorial capital. In particular, the paper aims at answering to the following research questions: do different levels of agglomeration economies determine different additional FDI induced growth rates? How social capital influences the impact of FDI on the growth of a region? Does relational capital matter in the FDI-growth relationship? In order to answer these research questions, we analyse empirically the impact of different measures of FDI density on regional economic performance, measured as real GVA growth rate, exploiting FDI Regio database and Eurostat data. In order to mitigate possible endogeneity problems and non linearities in the relationship, we use different matching techniques and include various regional controls, such as human capital endowments, past growth rates and agglomeration trajectories, as well as demand and cost factors. Furthermore, in order to identify the territorial capital role in fostering the FDI-growth relationship, we allow such relationship to vary across different types of regions, grouped according to their economic specialization and social capital endowment. The latter is identified through a PCA analysis based on the results of the European Values Study, from the ZACAT - GESIS database


The European Emissions Trading Scheme for CO2 established in 2005 is the world's largest emissions trading scheme. Since it covers only some sectors of the European economies it can nevertheless not ensure that the Kyoto targets are reached at minimal cost. This paper first analyzes the conditions for cost efficiency in the current separated carbon markets accounting also for the possibilities of purchasing international carbon credits from outside the EU. A computable general equilibrium model is then used to assess the cost efficiency of current EU climate strategies. Finally, based both on the theoretical as well as the quantitative analysis, recommendations are derived for a better allocation of the reduction burden between the sectors participating in emissions trading, those that do not participate and international carbon purchases.


The molecular masses of two of the four DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex subunit peptides from various mammalian cells have been compared through the use of specific monoclonal antibodies. One monoclonal antibody (E4) binds to 77-kDa peptide from HeLa cells and cognate peptides from other mammalian cells (monkey, mouse, bovine, Indian muntjac, and hamster). Another monoclonal antibody (A5) binds the 180-kDa type peptide and its degradation product (160-kDa peptide) of the mammalian DNA polymerase alpha-primase complexes. Neither of these antibodies reacts with DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex from chicken cells. Comparative immunoblot analysis indicates that the molecular masses of the two main peptides of DNA polymerase alpha-primase complex isolated from the various mammalian sources are in excellent agreement with each other, except for the 77-kDa type peptide from bovine and Indian muntjac cells which was found to be significantly smaller (68 kDa) in these cases. The small molecular mass of bovine 77-kDa type peptide is not attributable to the action of a protease which may be present in the extract of bovine cells.


The development of the Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) by Texas Instruments has made a significant breakthrough in 3D micro-manufacturing, and in particular, in the area of additive layer-based manufacturing. One area of particular interest for using DMD technology is microstereolithography; a technology that builds 3D shapes through successive photopolymerization of individual thin 2D layers that are stacked vertically. A DMD-based projection microstereolithography system and a robust micro-manufacturing process have been developed. This system and various micro-fabricated 3D structures with features on the order of 10 microns, including recent advancements in multimaterial micro-fabrication, will be presented and described.


ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT EFFECTS ON IMPULSIVITY AND SUBJECTIVE CRAVING IN CAFFEINATED ALCOHOL USERS Amy L. Stamates Old Dominion University, 2015 Director: Dr. Cathy Lau-Barraco Caffeinated alcohol beverages (CAB) (e.g., vodka and Red Bull, rum and Coke) have become increasingly popular among young drinkers. Research indicates that consumption of caffeinated alcohol is associated with higher reports of injuries requiring medical attention, engaging in more risky behaviors, and achieving greater levels of intoxication. As such, consumers of CAB are a population that may be at a higher risk of experiencing alcohol-related harms. Although CAB drinkers have been shown to exhibit more impulsive behavior, little research has examined impulse control in this population or other mechanisms that may contribute to alcohol-related risks for these individuals. It has been suggested that environmental cues may trigger craving and drinking through the influence on impulsivity. Thus, a bar context may elicit greater impulsivity, which in turn, increases one's craving for alcohol or CAB. Consequently, the present study sought: (1) to determine the influence of an environmental context (i.e., bar simulated lab) on subjective ratings of craving (i.e., alcohol craving, CABspecific craving), and (2) to examine behavioral impulsivity as a mediator of the influence of environmental context on subjective cravings in a sample of moderate to heavy drinkers that consume CAB. Participants were 135 (66.7% female) college CAB drinkers. Using a betweensubjects design, participants were randomized into either the experimental (i.e., simulated bar) condition or control (i.e., neutral context) condition and completed measures of alcohol use, CAB use, trait impulsivity, state impulsivity, and subjective craving for alcohol and CAB. Findings revealed that participants in the experimental condition, as compared to those in the neutral condition, reported more subjective craving for alcohol, but not for CAB. The association between environmental context and subjective craving for alcohol was not mediated by state-level changes in impulsivity. Trait impulsivity was positively associated with alcohol and CAB craving at each time point, in both conditions. Therefore, the current investigation suggests that consumers of CAB may be sensitive to alcohol-related cues as indicated by greater responses in alcohol craving. However, state impulsivity did not explain this association. Future research may benefit from examining other potential mechanisms that explain the relationship between context and craving among CAB consumers.


The neurophysiology of intersensory selective attention and taskswitching by Jeremy William Murphy Advisors: John J. Foxe, Ph.D. and Sophie Molholm Ph.D. Our ability to selectively attend to certain aspects of the world and ignore others is fundamental to our day-to-day lives. The need for selective attention stems from capacity limitations inherent in our perceptual and cognitive processing architecture. Because not every elemental piece of our environment can be fully processed in parallel, the nervous system must prioritize processing. This prioritization is generally referred to as selective attention. Meanwhile, we are faced with a world that is constantly in flux, such that we have to frequently shift our attention from one piece of the environment to another and from one task to another. This process is generally referred to as task-switching. Neural oscillations in the alpha band (~8-14 Hz) have been shown to index the distribution of selective attention, and there is increasing evidence that oscillations in this band are in fact utilized by the nervous system to suppress distracting, task-irrelevant information. In order to elaborate on what is known of the function of alpha oscillations as well as current models of both intersensory selective attention and task switching, I investigated the dynamics of alpha amplitude modulations within the context of intersenory selective attention and task switching in neurologically typical young adults. Participants were alternately cued to attend to v either the visual or auditory aspect of a compound audio-visual stimulus while high-density electroencephalography was recorded. It is typically found that alpha power increases over parieto-occipital cortices when attention is directed away from the visual modality and to the auditory modality. I report evidence that alpha oscillations play a role in task-switching (e.g., when switching from attending the visual task versus repeating this task), specifically as biasing signals, that may operate to re-weight competition among two tasks-sets. I further investigated the development of these same processes in school-aged children and adolescents. While exhibiting typical patterns of alpha modulations relevant to selective attention, Young school-aged children (8-12 years), compared to older participants, did not demonstrate specific task switching modulation of alpha oscillations, suggesting that this process does not fully develop until late adolescence. Finally, children and adolescents on the autism spectrum failed altogether to exhibit differentiation of alpha power between attend-visual and attend-auditory conditions—an effect present in age and IQ matched controls—suggesting that ASD individuals may have a deficit in the overall top-down deployment of alpha oscillatory biasing signals. This could result in an inability to ignore distracting information in the environment, leading to an overwhelming, disordered experience of the world, resulting in profound effects on the both social interaction and cognitive development. Altogether, these findings add to growing evidence that alpha oscillations serve as domain general biasing signals and are integral to our flexible goal-oriented behavior. Furthermore, the flexible use of these biasing signals in selective attention and task switching develops over a protracted period, and appears to be aberrant in autism spectrum disorder.


In the United States, annual vaccination against seasonal influenza is recommended for all persons aged ≥6 months. Each season since 2004-05, CDC has estimated the effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccine in preventing medically attended acute respiratory illness (ARI) associated with laboratory-confirmed influenza. This season, early estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness are possible because of widespread, early circulation of influenza viruses. By January 3, 2015, 46 states were experiencing widespread flu activity, with predominance of influenza A (H3N2) viruses. This report presents an initial estimate of seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness at preventing laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection associated with medically attended ARI based on data from 2,321 children and adults enrolled in the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network (Flu VE) during November 10, 2014-January 2, 2015. During this period, overall vaccine effectiveness (VE) (adjusted for study site, age, sex, race/ethnicity, self-rated health, and days from illness onset to enrollment) against laboratory-confirmed influenza associated with medically attended ARI was 23% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8%-36%). Most influenza infections were due to A (H3N2) viruses. This interim VE estimate is relatively low compared with previous seasons when circulating viruses and vaccine viruses were well-matched and likely reflects the fact that more than two-thirds of circulating A (H3N2) viruses are antigenically and genetically different (drifted) from the A (H3N2) vaccine component of 2014-15 Northern Hemisphere seasonal influenza vaccines. These early, low VE estimates underscore the need for ongoing influenza prevention and treatment measures. CDC continues to recommend influenza vaccination because the vaccine can still prevent some infections with the currently circulating A (H3N2) viruses as well as other viruses that might circulate later in the season, including influenza B viruses. Even when VE is reduced, vaccination still prevents some illness and serious influenza-related complications, including thousands of hospitalizations and deaths. Persons aged ≥6 months who have not yet been vaccinated this season should be vaccinated, including persons who might already have been ill with influenza this season.


Some spectroscopic studies of lightning from 1901 to the present are reviewed, with special emphasis on slitless techniques-time-integrated and time-resolved. Some of the best examples of the authors' time-integrated spectra are reproduced to display and identify emission and absorption features from 3000 A to almost 9000 A on a nearly uniform scale approximating 20 A/mm. Time-resolved spectra in the visible region are reproduced in the range of milliseconds for a continuing-current luminosity, and microseconds for a return stroke and a stepped leader.


A survey was undertaken to determine the frequency and abundance of plant-parasitic nematodes associated with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in Alabama. In the fall seasons of 1998 -2000, 969 soil samples were collected from cotton fields representing 8613 ha, or 4.3% of the cotton hectares in the state. Composite soil samples were collected from 8 ha in each field. Nematodes were extracted by gravity screening and sucrose centrifugation, identified to genus, and quantified. Eleven genera of plant-parasitic nematodes were identified. Rotylenchulus reniformis was found in 46% of the fields sampled. Percentages of fields with low, moderate, high, or very high populations of juveniles and vermiform adult stages per 100 cm3 were 44%, 9%, 14%, and 33%, respectively. Meloidogyne incognita was identified in 7% of the fields sampled. Percentages of fields with low, moderate, and high populations of juveniles of M. incognita per 100 cm3 were 57%, 16%, and 27%, respectively. Hoplolaimus columbus was identified in 0.3% of the fields surveyed. Rotylenchulus reniformis occurred at population levels above the economic threshold in 47% of the infested fields. Meloidogyne incognita, although found less frequently, was found above the economic threshold in 70% of the fields infested. This survey indicates that Rotylenchulus reniformis and Meloidogyne incognita are widespread in the cotton production regions of Alabama and nematode management strategies must become a part of production practices.


Consent forms are the principal method for obtaining informed consent from biomedical research participants. The significance of these forms is increasing as more secondary research is undertaken on existing research samples and information, and samples are deposited in biobanks accessible to many researchers. We reviewed a selection of consent forms used in European Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and identified four common elements that were found in every consent form. Our analysis showed that only two of the four most commonly found elements in our sample of informed consent forms were required in UK law. This raises questions about what should be put in informed consent forms for research participants. These findings could be beneficial for the formulation of participant information and consent documentation in the future studies.


In developing countries modern medicines are often beyond the affordability of the majority of the population. This is due to the reliance on expensive imported raw materials despite the abundance of natural resources which could provide an equivalent or even an improved function. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of sesamum gum (SG) extracted from the leaves of Sesamum radiatum (readily cultivated in sub-Saharan Africa) as a matrix former. Directly compressed matrix tablets were prepared from the extract and compared with similar matrices of HPMC (K4M) using theophylline as a model water soluble drug. The compaction, swelling, erosion and drug release from the matrices were studied in deionized water, 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) and phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) using USP apparatus II. The data from the swelling, erosion and drug release studies were also fitted into the respective mathematical models. Results showed that the matrices underwent a combination of swelling and erosion, with the swelling action being controlled by the rate of hydration in the medium. SG also controlled the release of theophylline similar to the HPMC and therefore may have use as an alternative excipient in regions where Sesamum radiatum can be easily cultivated.


Secure and trusted distribution of multimedia content is a key issue for content creators, content providers and distributors, as they want to fight piracy and receive the revenues derived from their creativity work. The provision of trust and protection has not been already solved by the existing multimedia distribution mechanisms. Such mechanisms lie on proprietary architectures and tools, and users have to cope with different viewers and players to consume multimedia contents. In order to provide enhanced multimedia capabilities to final users, several standards and initiatives have appeared. Our aim is to take profit of their effort to define an architecture flexible enough to provide the needed functionality to all the actors in the distribution value chain, protecting multimedia content from unauthorised usage.


Background: Recurrent abdominal pain is one of the common complaints in childhood. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of Helicobacter pylori and giardiasis in children with recurrent abdominal pain and to investigate some risk factors in both infections.
Materials and Methods: In a case-control study 50 symptomatic children and 50 healthy children at Pediatric Center in Zahedan, Iran from 2014-2015 were enrolled. All cases had gastric complaints and undergone endoscopy. Children in both groups were examined for detecting H.pylori stool antigen and presence of giardia infection by direct examination of stools. Risk factors were recorded in both groups by a questionnaire.
Results: 100 children with the age of 6.2 ± 3.7 (58 female) were included. H.pylori stool antigen was positive in 32(64%) cases and 10 (20%) in control group which showed significant differences. Also, endoscopic antral gastritis with colonization of helicobacter pylori were found in 46 cases (92%). Giardiasis was detected in 12% patients and 6% controls, respectively. Co-infection with H. pylori and giardiasis was present in 8% of patients compared to 2% of controls. There was no difference between groups regarding some risk factors except more using common bed in cases.
Conclusion: Co-infection with H.pylori and giardiasis was more frequent in children with recurrent abdominal pain compare to control group. More attention to hygienic conditions in the community is recommended.
Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, Giardia intestinalis, Recurrent abdominal pain.


Background Nuclear export of histone deacetylase 5 (HDAC5) promotes cardiac hypertrophy via alleviation of its repressive interaction with the transcription factor MEF2. Some hypertrophic stimuli (e.g. endothelin-1) induce nuclear export via protein kinase D-mediated phosphorylation of Ser259 and Ser498. However, phosphorylation of these residues is not required for nuclear export following beta-adrenoceptor stimulation and Ser279 phosphorylation by protein kinase A (PKA) has been proposed to promote HDAC5 nuclear retention, thereby suppressing MEF2 activity. The aim of this study was to characterise beta-adrenergic regulation of HDAC5 phosphorylation in adult rat ventricular myocytes (ARVM) and in a mouse model of beta-adrenoceptor-mediated cardiac hypertrophy. Methods and results Stimulation of ARVM expressing GFP-tagged HDAC5 with 10 nM isoprenaline induced a rapid reduction in HDAC5 phosphorylation at Ser259, Ser279 and Ser498, as determ ined by Western blotting of cell lysates with phospho-specific antibodies. Selective activation of PKA with 500 uM N6-benzoyl cAMP had a similar effect. To assess whether such effects occur in vivo, male C57BL/6 mice received subcutaneous infusion of isoprenaline (30 mg/kg/day) or vehicle via osmotic minipumps. Three days of isoprenaline infusion was sufficient to induce cardiac hypertrophy (∼22% increase in heart weight/tibia length, P<0.05, n=7). This was accompanied by reduced phosphorylation of Ser259 and Ser279 relative to total HDAC5 (P<0.05, n=4). Conclusions Beta-adrenoceptor activation causes dephosphorylation of HDAC5 at Ser259, Ser279 and Ser498 in ARVM, via a PKA-mediated mechanism, and at Ser259 and Ser279 in vivo. Whether such paradoxical HDAC5 dephosphorylation is mechanistically involved in beta-adrenoceptor-mediated induction of cardiac hypertrophy requires further investigation.


Gravity tectonics is about tectonic movement due to differential gravity between Earth's layers or two adjacent areas (primary vertical endogenic force/tectogenesis) and its ensuing gravitational reactions (secondary lateral tectogenesis) . This movement thoroughly concerns with equilibrium or isostatic compensation. The origins of uplifts in the collision zones of Indonesia (Meratus Uplift-SE Kalimantan; Batui Uplift-eastern Sulawesi, Papua's Central Ranges Uplift , and Timor-Tanimbar Uplift) are satisfied explained by gravity tectonics. In these cases, vertical movement due to isostatic exhumation of once subducted micro-continent/ continent in collision zones provides mechanism for the uplifts. The origins of regional compressive structures such as Samarinda Anticlinorium, eastern Kalimantan, offshore North Makassar toe thrusts, and North Serayu fold-thrust belt, northern Central Java are considered as secondary lateral tectogenesis of gravity tectonics. Their mechanisms of deformation are through gravitational gliding/sliding (gliding tectonics), compensating differential gravity due to hinterlands uplifts. Gravity tectonics is essential in forming some elements and processes of petroleum system. It forms foreland basin; structural traps, mostly thin-skinned; and deposition of syn- and post collisional sediments burying sources to depth of oil and gas windows. The paper will discuss some areas in Indonesia with structures related to gravity tectonics and their implications for petroleum accumulation.


Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are generated by many of the technologies we use in everyday life. Since virtually everyone on the planet is subjected to these fields, safety from exposure to them is a matter for government health policy. Most countries limiting exposure to EMF fields have adopted those recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO); the guidelines on exposure limits published by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Yet there are challenges to the use of established science and some call for the incorporation of additional precautionary measures into government policy. This paper discusses the use of science and precautionary measures for policies that protect the health of everyone from exposure to manmade EMF.


A summary is presented of a programme of work investigating the comparative efficacy of the two drugs most commonly used for seasickness prophylaxis in the Royal Navy, hyoscine and cinnarizine. The programme had both laboratory and sea-trial components. It was shown that hyoscine was a more effective drug than cinnarizine, but cinnarizine had less marked side effects. This comparative superior tolerability of cinnarizine decreased as motion sickness increased. Guidance is given as to the optimum indications for each drug, together with prophylactic regimens.


Research on the use of task-based language teaching (TBLT) with digital technologies has increased over the last few years but few studies have focused specifically on its use with blended learning involving international undergraduate learners studying in a UK higher education context. This paper explores the role of a task-based approach with international students learning business communication in English with a focus on the use of two collaborative digital technologies to aid blended learning: the video conferencing software Adobe Connect and the virtual world of Second Life. The study was guided by two research questions: What are the strengths and challenges presented by each application in terms of aiding authentic task completion? How can the applications be used to support task-based learning in a blended format? A year-long study with students at a UK university utilised semi-structured interviews, observations and in-world ethnography. The research highlights the importance of a number of design principles necessary for effective task-based learning in a blended approach and calls for more research on the type of support required by international undergraduates to aid them fulfil their potential in foreign language environments.


A new method of synthesis of carbon nanowalls using acetylacetonate as metal organic precursor is presented. The films were deposited in ICP-CVD generated argon plasma by varying gas flow rate, plasma power, substrate temperature and reactor pressure. The precursor-feeding rate into the plasma chamber was controlled by the argon gas flow. No catalyst or other carbon gas source was added to deposit such structures.
The wall size of CNWs was strongly influenced by the aluminium content present inside the film, plasma parameters like substrate temperature, plasma power and gas flow rate. The smallest wall size observed was 5nm. All films were analysed using SEM, XRD, Raman and TEM techniques in order to characterize the morphology of the samples. XPS, EDX, SIMS, and NRA were used for chemical analysis.
The structuring of CNW layers was performed successfully with a pulsed power laser. The resulting cathodes exhibited fairly aligned and efficient field emission (FE) at onset fields for 1 nA of 10-20 V/μm. Local FE measurements of selected CNW patches revealed promising maximum current values up to about 100 μA.
Aluminium oxide films were observed when deposited in oxygen/argon plasma.


Business processes within companies are in general well established and supported by commercially available workflow management systems. However, when processes span multiple companies (such as, for instance, in the case of virtual enterprises or in business to business electronic commerce), software support quite is limited. In such cases, processes need to be implemented on top of already existing systems. The WISE project addresses this problem and provides adequate infrastructure to support the whole life-cycle of virtual enterprise processes, including the integration of legacy systems, especially of workflow management systems. In this paper, we describe our experience with the integration of SAP R/3 Business Workflows into WISE. In addition, and since an important characteristics of the WISE system is the enactment of processes with execution guarantees, we also discuss the provision of execution guarantees when external systems like SAP R/3 Business Workflows are involved.


This paper contends that without the Tory dimension no factual
account of the Civil War in 1774 and the beginning of the Revolution
in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay is possible, and that there is no
better way of demonstrating actuality in this, as in other historic
problems, than by direct examination of events through the lives of
those who shaped them.
This paper is the first historic study of the last and most
crucial crisis of Colonial Government in Massachusetts - that is,
from the setting up of the Committees of Correspondence in 1772-3
(the Whig extension from Boston of single-party rule by caucus to
supplant the Constitution-Charter of 1691 and political pluralism in
Town Meetings) to the strategic and military victory in the Siege of
Boston of rebellion, created and manipulated by a dedicated Radical
minority, and the enforced withdrawal of the Loyalists, the Loyal
Militia(including Brig. Timothy Ruggles' corps of Loyal Associators)
with the Regular forcer, to Halifax, I. arch 17,1776-as it happened,
and from the experience of one of the most active and prominent of
the largely Tory soldier-Representative-magistrates that since the
Mayflower Compact served as the leaders of Massachusetts: Col. Elisha
Jones (1710-1776), the "famous" Tory squire of Weston, on Charles River
in Middlesex County and less than a day's walk from Boston.
None more than Col. Jones stood for one of the two main Tory
political groups in Massachusetts in the 1770's, the "Reformers, "
so often at cross-purposes with the Hutchinson- Sewall-0liver faction
that supported the status quo and the undivided sovereignty of
Parliament, and who when the Civil War began at the time of the Powder
Alarm,Sept.1,1774, left their homes for Boston, and the fighting of the
Whig political mobs with their weapons of assault and violence to
property to men like Col. Jones, Brig. Ruggles, and Col. Thomas Gilbert
and the Regulars, and who became the early "refugees"in England.

Col. Jones was a leader of the "Reformist" Tories that supported the Constitution-Charter of 1691, and government by law and precedent
in the manner of Blackstone(a best-seller in the Colonies) and who
worked for the greatest measure of "home rule" and needed reforms(such
as adequate pay for judges)initiated whenever possible by the General
Court. Their "Charter" was the Middlesex Magistrates' Address to Gov.
Hutchinson of May, 1774(signed by Col. Jones and possibly drafted by him)
which looked toward an association with Britain based upon mutual
economic and political interest: concepts so forward-looking as not to
he fully accepted until the 20th century, and so dangerous in their own
time as to merit oblivion by the Whigs and vetoes for such measures as
the "Prevention of Bribery and Corruption" bill by Hutchinson. It was
the "Reformers"that carried the burden of resisting the Whig assault
upon the rule of law and maintenance of public order.
One of fewer than a dozen Tories elected to the House in 1773 and
1774, Col. Jones opposed all the unconstitutional Whig measures, including
Committees of Correspondence, impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver and the
Continental Congress. One of the last magistrates to hold court he raised (Nov 1774) one of the first military Tory Corps of the War. Driven to Boston (Dec 1774) by the mobs, he served under Gage and Howe as Forage Commissioner, and three of his sons with Ruggles' Associators. Col. Jones
died in Boston just before the Evacuation, but the ideas he fought for were taken to Nova Scotia and Upper Canada by five of his Tory sons, who with their descendants took a distinguished part of the foundation of a new Empire and
independent nation of Canada.


While the IEEE 802.11 protocol has fostered ubiquitous connectivity for wireless users, it was not originally designed to efficiently handle voice or video traffic, which nowadays accounts for most of the Internet traffic. Voice traffic handling is extremely inefficient in existing WLANs due to the large overhead of the protocol and the time spent in contention. Video multicast streaming is both ineffective and inefficient, as its transmissions lack reliability and use a low Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS). The more robust, but slower, transmission rates result in the well-known performance anomaly problem that degrades network performance. In this thesis we analyze, design and implement solutions to improve the network performance and efficiency when voice and video traffic are present. We first design and experimentally validate a simple yet very effective scheme (VoIPiggy) to improve the efficiency of WLANs with voice traffic. The key idea of VoIPiggy is to piggyback voice frames onto MAC layer acknowledgments, hereby reducing both the frame overhead and the number of times to access the medium, i.e., the time spent in contention as stations aggregate two frames into a single transmission. To quantify the gains of our proposal, we perform an analysis in terms of capacity and delay. Our experimental and analytical results show a dramatic performance improvement, doubling the number of voice conversations that can be allocated in WLANs. Second, we explore a set of mechanisms included in the 802.11aa standard (namely, Direct Multicast Sequence, Groupcast with Retries Unsolicited Retries and Block Acknowledgment), which allow efficient and robust multicast transmission in WLANs. To that aim, we first perform extensive simulations to understand the trade-offs resulting from using the proposed mechanisms. Our results quantify these trade-offs in terms of robustness, resource consumption and complexity, and provide a set of recommended guidelines for their use according to the network scenario. Finally, we develop the first open source implementation of these mechanisms over commodity hardware. We assess their performance under a variety of real-life scenarios, and outline their effectiveness and efficiency when delivering video traffic. Our results provide key insights on which mechanism results more appropriate for a given scenario, this being specified in terms of number of stations, background traffic and video bandwidth.


The higher-order correction terms of the electric field vector of a Gaussian beam are derived explicitly from the magnetic vector potential that is assumed to be Gaussian and linearly polarized at the z=0 plane. The correction terms are proved to satisfy exactly Lax's recurrence equations [Phys. Rev. A11, 1365 (1975)]. The electric field vector with correction terms of orders up to 3 is compared with the exact electric field vector of an integral form that is also derived from the magnetic vector potential.


A case study of species assessment in invasion biology: the Village Weaverbird Ploceus cucullatus.— Application of recent insights gained in invasion biology to particular species may aid in addressing a central problem of the field, that of prediction of the dynamics of future introduction and invasion. The Village Weaverbird (Ploceus cucullatus) is concluded to be a potential invader of concern in several regions, especially the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and southeastern United States. This conclusion is supported by the introduction and invasion history of the species, factors concluded in recent reviews and quantitative studies to correlate with introduction success or invasiveness in birds, the species' agricultural pest status in its current range, and a published rating system. A proactive stance is recommended since control efforts have met with little success, but certain characteristics of the Village Weaver may provide opportunities for management.


In this paper, we present the result of a detailed investigation and analysis of variables associated with students with visual impairment learning music in Botswana s schools. Data were collected through oral interviews and participatory observation from students with visual impairment and their teachers in primary, junior and senior secondary schools, as well as vocational institutions. Also, the interviews were extended to a rehabilitation centre graduate [vocational], who is in the music industry and has released some albums. Moreover, the issue of staff-training was investigated in this research. The findings of the study revealed an acute need for a strong music education programme, which should start at an early learning stage for students with visual impairment, to prepare and nurture their musical talent. The perceptions of students with visual impairment revealed that, given an opportunity, they would pursue music as a career. The findings showing heightened respondents 'interest in and enthusiasm for the discipline further supported the idea that music should be taught in the early stages of development. Such teaching should include playing different musical instruments, in addition to vocal choral / singing which is currently taking place in Botswana schools. Recommendations are made to enhance the development of appropriate and relevant quality of music education for students with visual impairment.


ALPHA/Sim is a general-purpose, discrete-event simulation tool. ALPHA/Sim allows a user to graphically build a simulation model, enter input data via integrated forms, execute the simulation model, and view the simulation results, within a single graphical environment. In this paper, we introduce ALPHA/Sim and describe how to use ALPHA/Sim to build, simulate, and analyze a simple manufacturing system. In addition, we briefly describe some advanced features and list some sample applications.


Five patients from two families had a bronchiectasis syndrome; the men also had oligospermia with poor progressive sperm motility. None of the patients had cystic fibrosis, alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency, immunoglobulin deficiency, structural abnormalities of the bronchi, or abnormalities of ciliary ultrastructure. Onset of pulmonary symptoms was in the neonatal period or infancy, and bronchitis and bronchiectasis were most severe in the middle and lower lobes. Two patients had sinusitis and two otitis. The two men old enough to be studied had 2-10 X 10(6) sperm/ml of ejaculate with less than 10% progressively motile. There were no other associated anomalies. These patients probably had a distinct genetic error predisposing to pulmonary infection leading to bronchiectasis and, in men, oligospermia with poor progressive motility.


This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of HCV, hepatitis B and associated risk factors among the orphans aged 5-17 years of district Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A total of 93 individuals were screened for HCV and HBV, among them, 73 were males and 20 females. Initially, all the samples were diagnosed for the HBsAg and HCV virus through immune-chromatographic test (ICT) and were further confirmed positive through polymerase chain reaction (PCR). After analysis, 7 individuals were found positive through ICT device, of which 3 were females and 4 were male individuals, but the PCR results were negative for all 7 samples. Similarly, for HBV, a total of 3 (3.22%) patients were recorded positive by ICT and 2 (66.67 %) were male and 1 (33.34%) was female. Among them, a single case was positive on polymerase chain reaction. Disease frequency showed a growing pattern that need awareness of all concerned. A considerable health education campaign and vaccination at health care should be planned to limit its spread.


Little is known about variation in surveillance practices following the diagnosis of invasive melanoma. The objective of this study was to characterize geographic, patient, and tumor variation in the use of follow-up surveillance testing in patients with local or regional stage melanoma. A cohort of Medicare beneficiaries > or =65 y diagnosed with invasive melanoma during 1992 to 1996 living in a Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry area was studied. Outpatient and inpatient Medicare claims 3 mo following diagnosis were examined for up to 2 y for surveillance procedures of interest. Use of chest X-ray, chest computed tomography scan, abdominal and/or pelvic computed tomography scan, abdominal ultrasound, head computed tomography scan, head magnetic resonance imaging, laboratory testing, and skin examinations were compared between patient groups and geographic regions. A total of 3389 patients were identified for the analysis. Surveillance testing was relatively common, ranging from 13% for abdominal ultrasound to 80% for laboratory testing. Follow-up skin examinations were performed in 70% to 90% of patients. The use of most surveillance procedures was associated (p<0.01) with younger age, male gender, regional stage tumors, and geographical area, with up to 2-fold differences observed. In contrast, there was much less variability in the receipt of skin examinations. Further studies are needed to determine the etiology and impact of such disparities, and the influence of surveillance procedures on morbidity and mortality.


The British Empire drew on the talents of many remarkable figures, whose lives reveal a wonderfully rich involvement with the crucial issues of the period. In many cases they left a legacy of travel writing, novels, biography and ethnography which made important contributions to our knowledge of other cultures."Writing, Travel and Empire" explores the lives and writings of eight such figures, including Sir George Grey, Gertrude Bell, Sir Hugh Clifford, and Roger Casement. All travelled the Empire - from Grey, the renowned colonial governor who undertook dangerous journeys to the interior of Australia, to Tom Harrisson, the emaciated polymath, war hero and Arctic explorer, whose time in the New Hebrides embraced both cannibalistic rituals and a meeting with film legend Douglas Fairbanks Sr, who sought Harrisson out for a Hollywood feature about savage life. All saw themselves as writers, despite their very different approaches and interests, and each was writing against a backdrop of the impending disappearance of indigenous cultures around the world. Writing from the margins of what was shortly to become the more formalised discipline of anthropology, their work yields interesting insights into both the issues of empire and the ways in which academic disciplines define the boundaries of their subject. Embracing themes such as gender and travel, racial science, the globalisation of 'native management' and the internal colonies, and with a geographical coverage that extends from South America to Russia via Africa and the South Seas, "Writing Travel and Empire" will engage all those with an interest in cultural geography, anthropology, history, postcolonial studies, biography and travel writing.


Ubiquitin-dependent degradation of regulatory proteins controls many cellular processes, including cell cycle progression, morphogenesis, and signal transduction. Skp1p-cullin-F-box protein (SCF) complexes are ubiquitin ligases composed of a core complex including Skp1p, Cdc53p, one of multiple F-box proteins that are thought to provide substrate specificity to the complex, and the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, Cdc34p. It is not understood how SCF complexes are regulated and how physiological conditions alter their levels. Here we show that three F-box proteins, Grr1p, Cdc4p, and Met30p, are unstable components of the SCF, and are themselves degraded in a ubiquitin- and proteasome-dependent manner in vivo. Ubiquitination requires all the core components of the SCF and an intact F-box, suggesting that ubiquitination occurs within the SCF complex by an autocatalytic mechanism. Cdc4p and Grr1p are intrinsically unstable, and their steady-state levels did not fluctuate through the cell cycle. Taken together, our results suggest that ubiquitin-dependent degradation of F-box proteins allows rapid switching among multiple SCF complexes, thereby enabling cells to adapt quickly to changing physiological conditions and progression through different phases of the cell cycle.


Despite overparameterization, deep networks trained via supervised learning are easy to optimize and exhibit excellent generalization. One hypothesis to explain this is that overparameterized deep networks enjoy the benefits of implicit regularization induced by stochastic gradient descent, which favors parsimonious solutions that generalize well on test inputs. It is reasonable to surmise that deep reinforcement learning (RL) methods could also benefit from this effect. In this paper, we discuss how the implicit regularization effect of SGD seen in supervised learning could in fact be harmful in the offline deep RL setting, leading to poor generalization and degenerate feature representations. Our theoretical analysis shows that when existing models of implicit regularization are applied to temporal difference learning, the resulting derived regularizer favors degenerate solutions with excessive"aliasing", in stark contrast to the supervised learning case. We back up these findings empirically, showing that feature representations learned by a deep network value function trained via bootstrapping can indeed become degenerate, aliasing the representations for state-action pairs that appear on either side of the Bellman backup. To address this issue, we derive the form of this implicit regularizer and, inspired by this derivation, propose a simple and effective explicit regularizer, called DR3, that counteracts the undesirable effects of this implicit regularizer. When combined with existing offline RL methods, DR3 substantially improves performance and stability, alleviating unlearning in Atari 2600 games, D4RL domains and robotic manipulation from images.