The death of Lewis P. Simpson in April 2005 brought to an end the career of the scholar called by Eugene Genovese "our greatest cultural historian of the South." That career spanned the second half of the twentieth century and extended into the twenty-fi rst, for Lewis Simpson, well into his mid-eighties, was still producing the magisterial essays that had defi ned his work from the beginning. A native Texan, he spent his career as professor of English at Louisiana State University and — after 1965 — as co-editor of the Southern Review, that literary quarterly founded in the 1930s by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, then restored by Simpson after a quarter-century hibernation. When I fi rst met Lewis Simpson, about 1980, I was taken by his Texas accent and his self-eff acing, easy-going demeanor; he might well have been the small town Texas lawyer and county judge his father had been. But, early on, I found in his essays a total commitment to intellectual life; his was, as Andrew Delbanco has put it, "one of the great instances of the life of the mind lived to the utmost." I always saw in Lewis Simpson's essays a mixture of elegance and subtlety — an intriguing critical habit of introducing a subject, then retreating from it, holding it in abeyance while he introduced still another subject, then in the end tying everything together in a manner that was immensely satisfying. Lewis Simpson did not begin to produce his greatest work until he was in his late fi fties: The Dispossessed Garden: Pastoral and History in Southern Literature appeared in that decade, The Brazen Face of History appeared when he was in his sixties, and two of his fi nest works, Mind and the American Civil War: A Meditation on Lost Causes and The Fable of the Southern Writer, were published when he was in his seventies. He is well known for his contributions to southern letters — he appeared in these pages on several occasions — but his interests far transcended the U.S. South. His fi rst notable book, in fact, was The Man of Letters in New England and the South (an earlier edited work had been The Federalist Literary Mind ), and he was always fascinated by the extent to which the southern and New England "minds" — so at odds in many particulars — also shared much in common. In fact, as his work developed, it was neither South nor New England, nor even American literature as a


Laboratory experiments play a crucial role in engineering education as they strongly contribute to the development of important skills for the professional practice. This paper addresses a students' understanding gap between simulations and remote labs. These two resources (and namely the remote laboratory VISIR - Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality) have been commonly used on several didactical implementations, along with other didactical resources in different Engineering degrees at the Federal University of Santa Catarina and Polytechnic of Porto School of Engineering. This work, developed in the scope of the VISIR+ Project, intends to evaluate students' perceptions considering simulation and remote lab results. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed to better understand how deeply students realize the differences between these resources and their type of data. Preliminary results indicate that a considerable number of student's don´t have a clear idea of these differences, even though sometimes they know their definition. Furthermore, this gap does not seem to differ much with the context (country, course, academic year, course content), students' final grades, teacher approach or implemented tasks.


We have previously reported that insulin increases the synthesis de novo of phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PIP), phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) and diacylglycerol (DAG) in BC3H-1 myocytes and/or rat adipose tissue. Here we have further characterized these effects of insulin and examined whether there are concomitant changes in inositol phosphate generation and Ca2+ mobilization. We found that insulin provoked very rapid increases in PI content (20% within 15 s in myocytes) and, after a slight lag, PIP and PIP2 content in both BC3H-1 myocytes and rat fat pads (measured by increases in 32P or 3H content after prelabelling phospholipids to constant specific radioactivity by prior incubation with 32Pi or [3H]inositol). Insulin also increased 32Pi incorporation into these phospholipids when 32Pi was added either simultaneously with insulin or 1 h after insulin. Thus, the insulin-induced increase in phospholipid content appeared to be due to an increase in phospholipid synthesis, which was maintained for at least 2 h. Insulin increased DAG content in BC3H-1 myocytes and adipose tissue, but failed to increase the levels of inositol monophosphate (IP), inositol bisphosphate (IP2) or inositol trisphosphate (IP3). The failure to observe an increase in IP3 (a postulated 'second messenger' which mobilizes intracellular Ca2+) was paralleled by a failure to observe an insulin-induced increase in the cytosolic concentration of Ca2+ in BC3H-1 myocytes as measured by Quin 2 fluorescence. Like insulin, the phorbol diester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) increased the transport of 2-deoxyglucose and aminoisobutyric acid in BC3H-1 myocytes. These effects of insulin and TPA appeared to be independent of extracellular Ca2+. We conclude that the phospholipid synthesis de novo effect of insulin is provoked very rapidly, and is attended by increases in DAG but not IP3 or Ca2+ mobilization. The insulin-induced increase in DAG does not appear to be a consequence of phospholipase C acting upon the expanded PI + PIP + PIP2 pool, but may be derived directly from PA. Our findings suggest the possibility that DAG (through protein kinase C activation) may function as an important intracellular 'messenger' for controlling metabolic processes during insulin action.


Malaysia was one of the countries faced with the security threat from Communist insurgency inflicted by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). The CPM launched their armed revolt on 16 Jun 1948, in the name of war and anti-imperialist struggles against the British Government. The success of the Malayan Security Forces (MSF) during the Malayan Emergency 1948-1960 (the First Malayan Emergency) was based on the careful implementation of the Intelligence Services executed by the Police Special Branch (SB), known for its high reputation and efficiency in counter-intelligence details in defeating the insurrection of the CPM. This study aims to explain how the SB utilized their tactics and strategies in countering the CPM subversive activities, specifically during the First Emergency period. It has a vital significance on the studies of intelligence as most of the intelligence tactics and strategies utilized were classified and less highlighted to the public. This study will focus, dissect and extract the roles and functions of the SB, primarily on the efficiency of its intelligence strategies and tactics in defeating the CPM movement.


Soft connective tissue calcification is not a passive process, but the consequence of metabolic changes of local mesenchymal cells that, depending on both genetic and environmental factors, alter the balance between pro- and anti-calcifying pathways. While the role of smooth muscle cells and pericytes in ectopic calcifications has been widely investigated, the involvement of fibroblasts is still elusive. Fibroblasts isolated from the dermis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) patients and of patients exhibiting PXE-like clinical and histopathological findings offer an attractive model to investigate the mechanisms leading to the precipitation of mineral deposits within elastic fibers and to explore the influence of the genetic background and of the extracellular environment on fibroblast-associated calcifications, thus improving the knowledge on the role of mesenchymal cells on pathologic mineralization.


This report includes an updated country profile for each of the 75 Countdown countries which together account for more than 95% of the world's maternal newborn and child deaths. This final Countdown to 2015 report begins with a summary of results from 2015 based on the data presented in those country profiles and builds on a companion article that was published simultaneously in The Lancet. It examines trends in mortality and nutrition; intervention coverage (including inequality); financial flows to reproductive maternal newborn and child health; and supportive policy and systems measures. The report then assesses changes in data availability and their implications for program managers and decision makers. It concludes by turning a critical lens on the Sustainable Development Goals framework and future accountability efforts drawing from Countdown's 10 years of monitoring experience. The report shows that although some health issues and some countries have seen considerable progress important gaps remain that must not be forgotten in the transition to the Sustainable Development Goals.


ABC TV interviewed Carrie Hamilton, from the Housing Action Network in Sydney, about the model. Carrie is one of the authors of the AHURI research, Enhancing affordable rental housing investment via an intermediary and guarantee, that developed the bond aggregator model from established Swiss and UK schemes. Federal Treasurer, Scott Morrison, and the federal government, are actively considering a bond aggregator model that could raise finance for community housing providers to build and supply social housing. In the lead-up to this year's Commonwealth Budget, Scott Morrison is presenting an address on housing affordability at an AHURI event on Monday, 10 April 2017. This lecture will focus on housing affordability, in particular, the increasing pressures placed on social and affordable housing.


Increasing atmospheric CO2 is not only increasing global temperature but also rapidly acidifying seawater through formation of carbonic acid (ocean acidification). Emerging evidence from laboratory research indicates that predicted changes in ocean environments could have profound implications for marine ecosystem, however, it is relatively unclear how marine biota will respond to ocean warming and acidification. Furthermore, most published papers have used future atmospheric CO2 concentration in their experimental protocols, ignoring spatial heterogeneity of seawater carbonate chemistry, which is most manifested in coastal regions and deep sea. This paper first summarizes empirical evidence on effects of CO2 on marine organisms, and then discusses the importance of considering local CO2 conditions to improve our prediction ability on the fate of marine organisms in acidified oceans. Marine molluscs have been shown to be highly sensitive to elevations of ambient CO2, in particular during larval shell formation. In addition, data have been accumulated on sublethal impacts on morphology, physiology and behavior. Early development of echinoderms are also significantly affected by elevations of seawater pCO2, however, there seems to be a difference in interspecies CO2 sensitivity from different latitudes and also a high intra-species sensitivity. Gonad development can be severely impacted by high CO2. As compared with CO2 sensitivity known for molluscs and echinoderms, some crustaceans, particularly copepods and amphipods, and fish appear to be less vulnerable to CO2. Anthropogenic impacts on coastal environment are multifaceted and complex. Scientific endeavor is of utmost necessity to secure this most productive marine region. Investigations reflecting local biotic and abiotic conditions are needed to precisely predict how coastal ecosystem will shape in the face of changing environment.


The most important specific regulatory mechanism for hepatic angiotensinogen synthesis and secretion is its stimulation by angiotensin II, the effector peptide of the reninangiotensin system. In the circulating system, this octapeptide is thought to stimulate hepatic angiotensinogen synthesis through a positive feedback loop. In the present study, we have identified the intracellular mechanisms leading to an increase in angiotensinogen messenger RNA (mRNA) and secretion. In a [3H]uridine-dependent pulse and chase system as well as in hepatocytes in which de novo synthesis of mRNA has been blocked by actinomycin D or 5,6-dichlorobenzimidazole riboside, angiotensin II significantly increased the half-life of angiotensinogen mRNA. In contrast, no effect of angiotensin II on the transcription of angiotensinogen mRNA could be observed in a nuclear run-on assay with nuclei from pretreated hepatocytes, whereas dexamethasone, as a positive control, increased the transcription fivefold to sevenfold. We have isolated a 12-kD protein from the polysomal fraction of isolated hepatocytes, which has an affinity to the nontranslated 3′ tail of angiotensinogen mRNA. For in vitro transcription of this mRNA fragment, the DNA sequence coding for the nontranslated 3′ tail was excised from the vector pRAG 16 and cloned into the transcription vector pGEM 5zf ×. Molecular weight and isoelectric point of the mRNA-binding protein correspond to the parameters of a cytosolic protein that becomes phosphorylated by decreased cyclic AMP concentrations as analyzed in [32P]orthophosphate-loaded hepatocytes. In a cytosolic incubation system in which the polysomal fraction was integrated, the mRNA-binding protein increased the half-life of angiotensinogen mRNA significantly. Thus, there is evidence that the angiotensin II-induced stimulation of hepatic angiotensinogen synthesis depends on mRNA stabilization.


Universities have a long tradition of sharing information and knowledge, through books, journals and conferences. Recently, various 'open' initiatives have emerged to extend this sharing to teaching materials, in what we broadly call Open Education. This presentation will unpack some of the concepts involved in Open Education, including Open Content, (an overarching term encompassing Open Educational Resources, OER; Open Textbooks; and Open Courseware), and Open Courses.

We will discuss various elements of open content, exploring their emerging use at Murdoch University. Apart from some human factors, the major barriers to the use and production of open content are:

•Intellectual property (IP) legislation and regulations, which assert the University's ownership of IP embodied in teaching materials, and impede the ability of staff to freely share content.

•Transnational education (TNE) business models, in which the University licenses access to the content of a unit to another entity.

The presentation will discuss the use of Creative Commons licensing to protect the rights of both the university and the individual creator, while still allowing use and repurposing by others. It will also explore the idea of licensing certification for passing a unit rather than licensing access to content.

It will then turn to the concept of Open Courses, which complement open content by adding learning tasks and teacher support, either implicitly or explicitly. The conversation will continue with a critique of the evolving, and much-hyped, Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) concept, analysing the pros and cons of open access to a largely teacher-free learning environment from a pedagogical perspective and the nature of students who might successfully engage with it.

The presentation will conclude with an analysis of the institutional factors involved in contributing to Open Education. We argue that a considered approach to Open Education can provide benefits to students, staff and the institution, but that a wholesale adoption of the MOOC approach may be costly, with insufficient return on investment.


PKC plays a pivotal role in mediating monocyte adhesion; however, the underlying mechanisms of PKC-mediated cell adhesion are still unclear. In this study, we elucidated the signaling network of phorbol ester PMA-stimulated human monocyte adhesion. Our results with pharmacological inhibitors suggested the involvement of AMPK, Syk, Src and ERK in PKC-dependent adhesion of THP-1 monocytes to culture plates. Biochemical analysis further confirmed the ability of PMA to activate these kinases, as well as the involvement of AMPK-Syk-Src signaling in this event. Direct protein interaction between AMPK and Syk, which requires the kinase domain of AMPK and linker region of Syk, was observed following PMA stimulation. Notably, we identified Syk as a novel downstream target of AMPK; AICAR can induce Syk phosphorylation at Ser178 and activation of this kinase. However, activation of AMPK alone, either by stimulation with AICAR or by overexpression, is not sufficient to induce monocyte adhesion. Studies further demonstrated that PKC-mediated ERK signaling independent of AMPK activation is also involved in cell adhesion. Moreover, AMPK, Syk, Src and ERK signaling were also required for PMA to induce THP-1 cell adhesion to endothelial cells as well as to induce adhesion response of human primary monocytes. Taken together, we propose a bifurcated kinase signaling pathway involved in PMA-mediated adhesion of monocytes. PKC can activate LKB1/AMPK, leading to phosphorylation and activation of Syk, and subsequent activation of Src and FAK. In addition, PKC-dependent ERK activation induces a coordinated signal for cytoskeleton rearrangement and cell adhesion. For the first time we demonstrate Syk as a novel substrate target of AMPK, and shed new light on the role of AMPK in monocyte adhesion, in addition to its well identified functions in energy homeostasis.


Sterne, Joseph R.L. Combat Correspondents: "The Baltimore Sun" in World War II Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2009. 281 pp. $34. Few newspapers matched the Baltimore Suns coverage of World War IL From the time that the U.S. was drawn into the war in December 7, 1941, until the Japanese surrendered aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1 945, the paper's correspondents produced a remarkable, and often intimate, record of Americans fighting abroad during that struggle. Joseph R.L. Sterne makes their dispatches the basis fot his book. In writing it, he had a distinct advantage: during his more than forty years of association with the Sun, serving it both at home and abroad and including a record-breaking twenty-five years as editorial page editor, he came to know all ofthe correspondents featured in his book. Between 1941 and 1954, the Sun won more Pulitzer Prizes than any newspaper othet than the New York Times. The war correspondents featured in this book - Mark S. Watson, Lee McCardell, Price Day, HoIbrook Bradley, Philip Heisler, and Howard M. Norton - contributed to the making of that reputation. Since modem communication technology and the conditions of contemporary warfare have reshaped today's war reporting, it is interesting to see how these correspondents operated in the 1 940s. Basically, they exercised good judgment as they enjoyed a freedom of movement uncommon among correspondents in today's battle zones. The Sun allowed them to pursue the stories they wished, including ones of human intetest, and they were free to express their opinions, even if they differed from the editorial positions ofthe home office. They could disappear for days at a time pursuing a scoop or a story, and they could count on the Sun to allow ample space for their longer dispatches. The subject matter of those dispatches is compelling and richly varied. They cover every major engagement ofthe U.S. forces in Europe and some of the most hardfought amphibious campaigns of the war in the Pacific. A few examples will have to suffice. Watson's and McCardell's reports of the Italian campaign, known to some historians as "the Forgotten War," provided astute analyses of that atduous operation. Their accounts of the gtueling battles at Cassino and Anzio depicted some of the hardest and most frustrating combat of the war. Bradley's dispatches on the epic amphibious invasion at Normandy afforded his readers detailed accounts of that storied event, one impossible for anyone not there to replicate. No one could read Heisler's dispatches on the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa without appreciating the fierce determination that American forces displayed in the face of fanatical Japanese resistance. The correspondents minced no wotds in describing the brutality of modern war. Some of theit dispatches, for example, recorded the anguish that they felt at witnessing the fate of men trapped inside a burning tank or of women and children searching for food and sheltet, their homes desttoyed by the lavages of battle. Others were of events away from the battle lines. Day, for instance, caught one ofthe war's tragic consequences in a dispatch that he filed shottly after the Allies liberated the city of Grenoble in southeastern France. It reported the execution of six young Frenchmen, put to death by a firing squad of their own countrymen while thousands of onlookers signaled their approval The men, members of the Vichy government's hated militia, had been found guilty of treachery against France. Tine scene evokes a sad "what ii" of history. Without Hitler, without the war, without the Vichy regime, what lives might those young men, and othets like them, have led? …


When the authors of India's Constitution took the extraordinarily bold step of establishing universal suffrage, thus giving the right to vote to all adult citizens, India became the world's first large democracy to adopt universal adult suffrage from its very inception. We call India's move "instant universal suffrage," and distinguish it from the more common historical experience of "incremental suffrage," where suffrage rights broadened over an extended period of time. We argue that by giving every citizen of an incredibly ethnically and religiously diverse nation a voice in choosing rulers, instant universal suffrage has been a great nation-building and nation-preserving tool. But it has hurt state-building and state capacity. Incremental suffrage might have strengthened state capacity in India, but could well have endangered India's survival as a nation.


Environment and international migration and their relationship with development are among the most pressing issues on the contemporary global agenda. They have been the focus of major international attention recently with the release of the Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) and the holding of the first Global Forum on Migration and Development in Belgium in July 2007. Despite the enhanced profile of environment amd migration and their relationship with development, little of this increased attention has been concerned with the complex and multidirectional relationships between them. In both research and policy, environment and international migration's linkages with economic development have evolved separately. Yet it is apparent that their interrelationships are of considerable significance for understanding social, economic and environmental change and for developing effective interventions to reduce poverty and move toward sustainability. This paper explores the conceptual framework of the interrelationships between migration, environment and development through an analysis of the current literature. It offers an in depth analysis of the various permutations of this relationship: environment as a cause of migration, in particular environmental disasters and environmental degradation; climate change and migration; displacement by large projects; and, impacts of migration on destination environments. The implications these have for policy are considered.


It is not easy to express abstract concepts, such as time and society, in a drawing. The subject of this article is rooted in the educational issue of visually expressing themes represented by abstract concepts. However, it is possible to find means and devices to express such ideas. This article shows how metaphors can be used to express such ideas visually. Cognitive linguistic research argues that metaphors are crucial in the verbal communication of abstract concepts. This article also attempts to show that metaphors are important in visual communication. The cognitive linguistic metaphor theory of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson is used here to investigate how metaphors are used to construct meaning in the drawings of cartoonist and illustrator Finn Graff and artist Saul Steinberg. The article presents a few examples of how visual devices structure the abstract concept of time. It then proceeds to explain how symbols function as metonymies and provides an overview of the different types of metaphors and how they are used to express meaning in drawings. The article concludes by attempting to provide new insights regarding the use of visual metaphors.


We present StrutModeling, a computationally enhanced construction kit that enables users without a 3D modeling background to prototype 3D models by assembling struts and hub primitives in physical space. Physical 3D models are immediately captured in software and result in readily available models for 3D printing. Given the concrete physical format of StrutModels, modeled objects can be tested and fine tuned in the presence of existing objects and specific needs of users. StrutModeling avoids puzzling with pieces by contributing an adjustable strut and universal hub design. Struts can be adjusted in length and snap to magnetic hubs in any configuration. As such, arbitrarily complex models can be modeled, tested, and adjusted during the design phase. In addition, the embedded sensing capabilities allow struts to be used as measuring devices for lengths and angles, and tune physical mesh models according to existing physical objects.


Mobile networks have developed rapidly in recent years in areas previously unserved Africa. Alongside the European Orange, Vodafone and Tigo (Millicom), there is South Africa's MTN and Zain and Moov from Middle East. Their strategy aims at reducing prices to increase market share, even though investment in the development of networks is slowing under the impact of the financial crisis. A factor key to the communications revolution in Africa lies in the reduction of roaming charges - which is to apply a local rate to a user even if abroad. Regional integration will increase as these strategies propagate to other operators and ultimately eliminate the price differences from one country to another.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to determine the potential, protective effects of amlodipine in an experimental, ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) model in the rabbit small intestine.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The rabbits were divided into four groups: sham-operated, amlodipine (10 mg/kg) + sham-operated, I/R, and I/R + amlodipine (10 mg/kg) groups. An intestinal I/R model was applied to the rabbits. The superior mesenteric artery was occluded for 1 h with an atraumatic vascular clamp and then was reperfused for 2 h. Animals in the amlodipine and I/R + amlodipine groups received the amlodipine by oral gavage. At the end of the 2-h-reperfusion period, the animals were sacrificed.

RESULTS
Pretreatment with amlodipine significantly increased SOD activity and GSH levels to values close to those found in the serum from the I/R group. Rabbits in the I/R group showed high levels of serum MDA. Amlodipine pretreatment significantly reduced the serum MDA levels compared to the I/R group, although the MDA levels in the I/R + amlodipine group were still higher than in the sham-operated group. The I/R damage was ameliorated by amlodipine pretreatment, as evidenced by histopathological analysis.

CONCLUSION
The present study is the first to report an attenuation of I/R-induced intestinal injury by the systemic administration of amlodipine.


Today, the most important asset for a bank is its customer and therefore, the main targets to achieve by management are: knowledge of his needs, anticipation of his concerns and to distinguish itself in his eyes. The awareness that a satisfied customer is a highly profitable asset effort to provide a satisfactory service to the customer by diversifying its services. This paper aims to analyze customer evaluation evolution of the main attributes of banking services to catch differences among the clusters and time lags through a dynamic factorial model. We propose an empirical study: the management of a national bank with a spread network throughout Italy wanted to analyze its reduced competitiveness in retail services, probably due to low customer satisfaction. The survey aims to analyze weaknesses in its retail services, propose possible recovery actions and measure their effectiveness across different "waves" (time lags).


If your company is ready to minimize paperwork and maximize productivity, control spending and boost sales, QuickBooks 2006 can help you make it happen--but only if you know how to use it. And it doesn't come with a manual. Lucky for you, there's QuickBooks 2006: The Missing Manual, the comprehensive, up-to-date guide to saving time and money while beefing up business with QuickBooks. Award-winning author and financial whiz Bonnie Biafore helps you select the best fit for your company from Intuit's QuickBooks line of financial management software, which includes five products ranging from basic accounting software for small businesses to sophisticated industry-specific enterprise solutions. She then shows you how to tweak and tailor it to your company's needs so you can manage your finances more effectively and efficiently than ever before.If you're new to QuickBooks or to the 2006 version, you'll get started with ease and become quickly proficient with Biafore's tutorials on making and managing a company file and creating accounts, customers, jobs, invoice items, and other lists. If you're a more advanced user, you'll find countless tips, tricks, and shortcuts for becoming a QuickBooks pro. And everyone at every level will benefit from Biafore's seasoned, sensible advice on business accounting and finance.Under Biafore's expert direction, you will be able to use QuickBooks for a lot more than everyday bookkeeping. Beyond billing and payroll servicing, generating business forms and easing end-of-year tax preparation, QuickBooks 2006: The Missing Manual shows you how to use QuickBooks to accomplish things like inventory control, budget building, and report creation for evaluating every aspect of an enterprise.With Biafore's clear and friendly explanations and step-by-step instructions for every QuickBooks feature (along with plenty of real-world examples), you'll learn how to take advantage of online banking options, data exchange with other programs, and sophisticated planning and tracking tools for achieving maximum business success. QuickBooks 2006: The Missing Manual makes QuickBooks more powerful than you thought possible.


A novel variety of ionic liquids based on naturally occurring amino acids is expeditiously synthesized in water using microwave energy. The amino acid ionic liquids (AAILs) exhibit eminent catalytic activities towards the synthesis of styrene carbonate from styrene oxide and carbon dioxide at atmospheric pressure. The synergistic interaction of the hydrogen-bonding groups with the nucleophile in the AAIL is believed to be the key factor behind the catalytic cycloaddition. Among the various kinds of AAILs tested, the basic AAILs were found to be the most efficient owing to the presence of extra amino groups that could activate the carbon dioxide molecule by formation of a carbamate salt. The AAILs showed appreciable reusability over four cycles without compromising the selectivity towards styrene carbonate synthesis and hence represents an easily synthesizable series of eco-friendly catalysts for CO2 fixation.


Excerpt] We hope in this volume to accomplish three things. First, we hope to meet the wide and growing demand in the IR community for a better understanding of industrial relations developments abroad. That is, we would like to help lift comparative IR out of its secondary status to a more prominent position within the field as well as reaffirm its centrality to other fields, such as comparative political economy and political sociology. Secondly, we aim to shed light on the specific comparison between other advanced industrial economies and industrializing countries, on the one hand, and the U.S., on the other. Since employee representation in the U.S. is experiencing a crisis more profound than in many, if not most, other countries, we believe that the effort to draw as many lessons as possible from other cases is well timed. Finally, we hope to move the field forward in its effort to specify a theory of industrial relations that can update the "New Deal Model." Recently industrial relations scholars have been reaching toward higher levels of analysis to balance the field's traditional shopfloor focus and explain events that the country-centered framework cannot capture (see, for example, Kochan and Osterman 1995). Likewise, after decades of focusing on macro-level variables, comparative political economists (such as ourselves) are increasingly interested in trying to understand shopfloor industrial relations (Thelen 1991; Turner 1991; Wever 1995). We hope this work will aid in these endeavors.


We examine the extent to which the gender wage gap stems from dual-earner couples jointly choosing where to live. If couples locate in places better suited for the man's employment than for the woman's, the resulting mismatch of women to employers will depress women's wages. Examining data from Denmark, our analyses indicate (i) that Danish couples chose locations with higher expected wages for the man than for the woman, (ii) that the better matching of men in couples to local employers could account for up to 36% of the gender wage gap, and (iii) that the greatest asymmetry in the apparent importance of the man's versus the woman's potential earnings occurred among couples with pre-school age children and where the male partner had accounted for a larger share of household income before the potential move.


Abstract X-ray powder diffraction patterns of halloysite (7 Å) are characteristically altered following solvation with ethylene glycol. Some effect was first noted in the classic work of MacEwan but its value in the unequivocal identification of halloysite (7 Å) seems to have been overlooked subsequently. The response to ethylene glycol solvation involves a decrease in the intensity (peak height) of the peak at ~7.2 Å and an increase in the intensity (peak height) of the peak at ~3.58 Å thus narrowing the 7.2 Å/3.58 Å peak height intensity ratio. For pure samples of halloysite, this ratio is narrowed by an average of ~50%. This distinctive change is related to the interstratified nature of halloysite (7 Å), specifically the presence of 'residual' interlayer water, i.e. halloysite (10 Å), which can be replaced with ethylene glycol so forming 10.9 Å layers, a spacing that is almost exactly one and a half times the thickness of dehydrated (7.2 Å) layers which do not imbibe ethylene glycol. Thus the separation between the 001 peaks in the 7.2 Å/10.9 Å interstratification is increased and the 0027.2 (3.58 Å) and 00310.9 (3.63 Å) peaks become more or less coincident, compared to the 7.2 Å/10 Å interstratification, i.e. the partially hydrated state. The widespread use of ethylene glycol solvation in clay mineral studies makes it a particularly useful and simple test to determine the presence of halloysite. Pure halloysites should be readily identifiable and experiments indicate a 'routine' sensitivity of ~20% halloysite in mixtures with kaolinite, although this will depend on factors such as 'crystallinity' and could be improved with careful attention to intensity measurements. It is proposed to call this phenomenon the 'MacEwan effect' in honour of its discoverer Douglas Maclean Clark MacEwan.


We use the framework of conceptual and epistemological resources to investigate how students construct understanding of solar cells - a complex modern physics topic that requires mastery of multiple concepts. We interviewed experts and novices about their understanding of the physics of solar cells, and examined their responses for evidence of resources being activated. We used this information to create a unit dedicated to the physics of solar cells at the advanced undergraduate level, which we then implemented. Based on the patterns in the interviews and student responses in the classroom during the unit we can hypothesize what resources students draw on when they are trying to understand the complex physics involved in the functioning of solar cells.


Abstract Leishmania parasites cause a spectrum of debilitating diseases found worldwide. The Leishmania life cycle is digenetic, and starts with sandflies that inoculate metacyclic promastigotes into a vertebrate host. Promastigotes are internalized by tissue phagocytes where they transform into amastigotes. Phagosomes mature into highly microbicidal phagolysosomes via membrane exchanges with lysosomes, and with organelles in the secretory pathway. Remarkably, Leishmania remodels phagolysosomes into parasitophorous vacuoles that promote parasite growth. To achieve this feat, the parasite employs an armament of abundant surface-bound glycoconjugates that include the GP63 metalloprotease and lipophosphoglycan. GP63 cleaves multiple host substrates, thereby enabling Leishmania to subvert phagocyte functions such as transcription, translation, lipid metabolism, cytokine secretion, LC3-associated phagocytosis and antigen cross-presentation. Lipophosphoglycan, a complex glycophospholipid, promotes parasite survival by inhibiting phagolysosomal maturation, hence quenching the microbicidal power of the phagosome. The effector functions of a macrophage rely on a very active endomembrane trafficking system that regulates how the cell responds to environmental stimuli. Vesicle fusion is regulated by members of the soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor activating protein receptor, and Synaptotagmin families. In this work, we characterized Syt XI, an inhibitory member of the Synaptotagmin family whose function had not been reported. We discovered that Syt XI is a recycling endosome and lysosome-associated protein that controls phagocytosis, as well as the phagosome's killing capacity [primary article no. 1]. We found that Syt XI dampens TNF and IL-6 secretion. Importantly, Syt XI is degraded by GP63 and excluded from parasitophorous vacuoles via lipophosphoglycan. Additionally, Leishmania-infected macrophages were found to secrete TNF and IL-6 in a GP63-dependent fashion. To demonstrate that this release depends on Syt XI degradation, siRNA knockdown of Syt XI before infection revealed that the effects of siRNA knockdown and GP63 degradation are not cumulative. To bring these findings into the in vivo context, we showed that injection of GP63-containing parasites into mice also leads to increased TNF and IL-6 secretion and to an augmented influx of neutrophils and inflammatory monocytes to the infection site [primary article no. 2]. Unlike bacteria, Leishmania is not known to inject its virulence factors across the phagosome membrane. This raises the question of how the parasite's virulence effectors reach their targets. Due to the reported importance of the host's secretory pathway on parasite survival, we hypothesized that Leishmania's virulence factors co-opt this pathway in order to egress from the phagosome into the host cell cytoplasm. Using biochemistry and microscopy-based assays, we demonstrated that GP63 and the phosphoglycans are rapidly redistributed throughout the cytoplasm in vesicles containing markers of the endoplasmic reticulum, and of the endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi intermediate compartment. Importantly, chemical inhibition of the secretory pathway hinders the redistribution of GP63 and the phosphoglycans, thereby impeding the cleavage of GP63 targets. This prompted us to study the role of Sec22b, which regulates endoplasmic reticulum-Golgi trafficking, on the intracellular trafficking of GP63 and phosphoglycans. We found that Sec22b promotes the redistribution of these virulence factors and enables GP63 to reach host proteins [primary article no. 3]. In sum, the work presented in this dissertation sheds light into how Leishmania's virulence molecules enter the host cell in order to exert their functions. We also revealed that GP63 induces TNF and IL-6 release in vitro and in vivo, thereby contributing to the accrual of inflammatory phagocytes to the infection site. Remarkably, GP63 and the phosphoglycans access their targets by hijacking cellular organelles and their resident vesicle fusion molecules. These findings provide important insight into how Leishmania sabotages macrophage biology.


How are articles about art historical actors interlinked within Wikipedia? Lead by this question, we seek an overview on the link structure of a domain specific subset of Wikipedia articles. We use an established domain-specific person name authority, the Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN), in order to externally identify relevant actors. Besides containing consistent biographical person data, this database also provides associative relationships between its person records, serving as a reference link structure for comparison. As a first step, we use mappings between the ULAN and English Dbpedia provided by the Virtual Internet Authority File (VIAF). This way, we are able to identify 18,002 relevant person articles. Examining the link structure between these resources reveals interesting insight about the high level structure of art historical knowledge as it is represented on Wikipedia.


The rate of housing market turnover, an important indicator of housing market conditions, has trended lower since the early 2000s. This is partly because households are moving less often and fewer own their own homes. More recently, the increase in apartment building is likely to have resulted in measured turnover being understated. A lower housing turnover rate could reduce housing-related economic activity and might lead to lower household leverage than otherwise.


Abstract We explore differences in the roles of auditors and judges in the United States, emphasizing the issue of independence for each group. We examine factors that influence the independence of US judges and auditors. We use examples to highlight the potential impact of various factors on each profession and explore how they are affected by differences in the nature of their responsibilities. Based on these examples, we find generalized lessons that are applicable to each profession and explore further questions that should be asked. While much research has been done on factors that could potentially influence auditor independence, no research to date has examined lessons that auditors can learn from the judicial profession with respect to independence in the United States setting, and vice versa. This paper is a contemplation of the different threats that exist to independence and the difficulty in achieving it in two differently structured fields where its attainment was important for achieving societal ends associated with the professional roles. We hope through this discussion and presentation to broaden the perspective of both professions (judges, auditors) by furthering their understanding of the independence dilemmas facing occupants of the other's role.


Abstract Homeland's Agenda: Electoral Autocracy (The Venezuelan Case, 2016), a video-collage transcript, creates a general equivalence of media—public government broadcasting, propaganda, diverse Internet corporate news channels, pop music lyrics, video testimonials of disparate polish—so that each successive clip does not dominate the others. The result is a distillation of content lead by form and supported by a transcript translation that reveals a complex situation that is otherwise unreachable for audiences not initiated into the Venezuelan geopolitical context. The sourced material spans the period from 2011 to 2016, bearing witness to the emergence of a national humanitarian crisis and ensuing civil protests that, in 2017, prompted government repression by means of the police, the military, and the media.


Vertebrate Hedgehog proteins bind to cell-surface proteins in a manner different from that of their Drosophila counterparts. Signaling by members of the Hedgehog (Hh) family of proteins is important for such processes as tissue patterning and cellular proliferation in organisms from Drosophila to vertebrates. In humans, dysregulation of Sonic hedgehog (Shh, a homolog of Hh) signaling is associated with developmental defects and various cancers. Signaling by Hh is mediated by its N-terminal domain (HhN), which is lipidated and secreted and binds to its receptor Patched (Ptc), which leads to the expression of target genes. HhN also binds to other cell-surface proteins such as Ihog (CDO in mammals), which mediate transcription-dependent and -independent functions of Hh. McLellan et al. solved the x-ray crystal structure of the N-terminal domain of Shh (ShhN) bound to the third fibronectin type III domain of CDO and performed biochemical analyses of the interaction between these two proteins. Despite the similarity in sequence between Hh and Shh and that of their binding partners, the surfaces of Hh and Shh involved in binding to Ihog and CDO, respectively, had almost no overlap. Furthermore, the ShhN-CDO interaction, unlike that between Hh and Ihog, was dependent on the binding of Ca2+ to ShhN. The Ca2+-binding site was conserved in many Hh-family proteins but appeared to affect only the binding of vertebrate Hh proteins to CDO and other binding partners, including Ptc. In addition, mutations in the genes encoding human Shh and Indian hedgehog (Ihh) that are respectively associated with the developmental disorders holoprosencephaly and brachydactyly type A1 mapped to the Ca2+-binding sites of their respective proteins. The authors suggest that the establishment of different binding modes has allowed the evolution of different mechanisms to regulate vertebrate Hh interactions compared with those in Drosophila. J. S. McLellan, X. Zheng, G. Hauk, R. Ghirlando, P. A. Beachy, D. J. Leahy, The mode of Hedgehog binding to Ihog homologues is not conserved across different phyla. Nature 455, 979-983 (2008). [PubMed]


An initial evaluation of insecticide barrier spraying directed against sand fly vectors of cutaneous leishmaniasis was done in a nonclimax forested area with heavy undergrowth in Peten, Guatemala. A 100 m-wide swath of vegetation was sprayed once with a 1:3 mixture of cyfluthrin insecticide and a palm oil carrier using back-pack sprayers to simulate a central cantonment area in one site while another site remained as an untreated control. Prior to spraying and throughout 87 days post-treatment, sand fly populations were monitored at both sites with light traps set at ground and canopy levels at 50-m intervals radiating out from the centers of the cantonments, 150-m in the four cardinal directions. A total of 2,876 female sand flies were captured, representing 16 species. Three species, Brumptomyia galindoi, Lutzomyia panamensis, and Lu, ovallesi, comprised 70% of the total collection. The single insecticide barrier significantly reduced sand flies from reaching the cantonment area for more than 80 days, while sand fly populations outside the treated cantonment and in the untreated (control) cantonment remained high (52 sand flies in the treated cantonment versus 235 sand flies in the untreated cantonment).


Fifty years ago-on April 26, 1956-the freighter Ideal X steamed from Berth 26 in Port Newark, New Jersey. Flying the flag of the Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, she set out for Houston with an unusual cargo: 58 trailer trucks lashed to her top deck.But they weren't trucks-they were steel containers removed from their running gear, waiting to be lifted onto empty truck beds when Ideal X reached Texas. She docked safely, and a revolution was launched-not only in shipping, but in the way the world trades. Today, the more than 200 million containers shipped every year are the lifeblood of the new global economy. They sit stacked on thousands of box boatsthat grow more massive every year. In this fascinating book, transportation expert Brian Cudahy provides a vivid, fast-paced account of the container-ship revolution-from the maiden voyage of the Ideal X to the entrepreneurial vision and technological breakthroughs that make it possible to ship more goods more cheaply than every before.Cudahy tells this complex story easily, starting with Malcom McLean, Pan-Atlantic's owner who first thought about loading his trucks on board. His line grew into the container giant Sea-Land Services, and Cudahy chartsits dramatic evolution into Maersk Sealand, the largest container line in the world. Along the way, he provides a concise, colorful history of world shipping-from freighter types to the fortunes of steamship lines-and explores the spectacular growth of global trade fueled by the mammoth ships and new seaborne lifelines connecting Asia, Europe, and the Americas.Masterful maritime history, Box Boats shows how fleets of these ungainly ships make the modern world possible-with both positive and negative effects. It's also a tale of an historic home port, New York, where old piers lie silent while 40-foot steel boxes of toys and televisions come ashore by the thousands, across the bay in New Jersey.


Research has consistently noted that news reports on mental illness are biased toward describing violent incidents, and there is evidence that the media is a significant source contributing to the public's knowledge about mental illness (Jorm, 2000). However, it is unclear whether and how the media's bias toward reporting violent incidents impacts one's assumptions about the association between mental illness and violence. Based on pragmatic inference, we hypothesized that people remember information that is not explicitly stated but plausibly implied from articles (Brewer, 1977). Thus, the mention of mental illness in articles describing violent incidents would lead people to infer a causal link between the two. In an online study (n = 172), participants were randomly assigned to identical descriptions of a violent incident, manipulating whether mental illness was mentioned, and memory of presented information was measured. We also examined the potential moderating impact of cognitive styles and preexisting attitudes and beliefs. Results strongly supported that priming people about mental illness leads them to believe that mental illness was related to a violent incident, and that pragmatic inference underlies laypeople's processing of news reports. There was no evidence for moderating effects of individual difference variables in this process.


Previous methods in environment map sampling seldom consider a sequence of dynamic environment maps. The generated sampling patterns of the sequence may not maintain the temporal illumination consistency and result in choppy animation. In this paper, we propose a novel approach, spherical Q2-tree, to address this consistency problem. The local adaptive nature of the proposed method suppresses the abrupt change in the generated sampling patterns over time, hence ensures a smooth and consistent illumination. By partitioning the spherical surface with simple curvilinear equations, we construct a quadrilateral-based quadtree over the sphere. This Q2-tree allows us to adaptively sample the environment based on an importance metric and generates low-discrepancy sampling patterns. No time-consuming relaxation is required. The sampling patterns of a dynamic sequence are rapidly generated by making use of the summed area table and exploiting the coherence of consecutive frames. From our experiments, the rendering quality of our sampling pattern for a static environment map is comparable to previous methods. However, our method produces smooth and consistent animation for a sequence of dynamic environment maps, even the number of samples is kept constant over time.


Literature on social media communication during major public events—protests, disasters, elections—is replete with terms to describe the publics formed on these platforms: "networked publics," "calculated publics," "affective publics," "hashtag publics," "issue publics," "ephemeral and transient publics," and "riparian publics" (Berry, 2011; boyd, 2011; Gillespie, 2014; Hestres, 2014; Rambukkana, 2015; Papacharissi, 2015; Postill, 2015). These concepts have been particularly important in highlighting the constantly changing character of publicness in online environments. Social media platforms connect thousands and even millions of people, but these connections can also disappear in the blink of an eye when the next wave of trending topics hits the Web. A collective "we" can suddenly emerge, but just as quickly disappear (Juris, 2012; Kavada, 2015; Papacharissi, 2015; Rambukkana, 2015). The different conceptualizations also highlight the sociotechnical mediation of publicness. Social media platforms not only enable public exchanges and connections, but they also steer through their technologies how these exchanges and connections take shape (Berry, 2011; boyd, 2011; Gillespie, 2014; Galis & Neumayer, 2016; Milan, 2015a; Poell & Van Dijck, 2015). And finally, recent empirical and theoretical work on publics has been important in drawing attention to the affective nature of platform-mediated relations of publicness. Affect, emotions, and feelings play a key role in connecting users during public events (Gerbaudo, 2016; Papacharissi, 2015). This chapter aims to take the exploration of the constitution and continuous transformation of online publics


The Van der Woude syndrome is a rare autosomal-dominant craniofacial disorder. In its classical form consisting of a cleft lip or cleft palate, distinctive pits of the lower lips and hypodontia. This is a review of a family with VWS. The family pedigree, past history and clinical features were reviewed. The related literatures were studied, which show the variable presentations including lip pits alone, absent teeth, or isolated cleft lip and palate of varying degrees of severity, and the points for early diagnosis.


Household choices of outlet retail channels in beef purchases depend on several characteristics related to the quality of the product, convenience and ease of purchase, and economic factors such as price, income and payment methods. The aim of this paper is to study the influence of demographic and socio-economic attributes in the choice made by argentine consumers using a Multinominal Logit Model. The results show that the total number of purchases, the type of household, payment methods, and gender and schooling years of household head are the most relevant variables in the sample.


Cancerous tumors adjust their signaling pathways to facilitate survival in a hypoxic environment. The pro-angiogenic transcription factor hypoxia inducible factor -1α (HIF1α) is stabilized in hypoxia and promotes tumor cell survival, proliferation, and metastasis by inducing transcription of many targets including vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). High expression levels of HIF-1α have been correlated with aggressive tumor types. As such, HIF-1α is an attractive candidate for targeted therapies in ovarian cancer. Though there have been attempts at developing chemotherapies that inhibit HIF-1α, to this date there remains no approved anti-angiogenic drug that directly targets HIF-1α. Because the cytokine EPO (erythropoietin) is transcriptionally regulated by HIF1α, we hypothesized that negative feedback inhibition from EPO to HIF-1α would decrease HIF-1α protein levels. In fact, exogenous EPO significantly inhibited hypoxiainduced HIF-1α expression in cultured human ovarian cancer cells in a dose-dependent fashion and significantly reduced hypoxia-induced VEGF transcription to near basal levels. Furthermore, although EPO is a growth factor, there was no difference in cell growth with EPO treatment in either the normoxic or hypoxic condition at any time point tested. The negative feedback of EPO on HIF-1α was not limited to ovarian cancer cells as EPO efficiently inhibited hypoxia-induced HIF-1α stabilization in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Initially, we hypothesized that EPO inhibition of HIF-1α was through activation of GSK3 (glycogen synthase kinase). Though EPO likely does not signal through activation of GSK3, initial experiments investigating this pathway generated promising results and prompted the continued exploration into the regulation of HIF-1α by GSK3. Therefore, the second goal of this dissertation was to investigate the role of GSK3 phosphorylation on HIF-1α protein levels and proteosomal degradation. Recently, GSK3 has been implicated in the degradation of HIF-1α, the role of GSK3 in the regulation of HIF-1α in hypoxia has yet to be studied. We hypothesized that phosphorylation by GSK3 would target HIF-1α for proteosomal degradation in an oxygen-independent manner. In support of this hypothesis, we show that GSK3 inhibition in hypoxia lead to an increase in stabilization of HIF-1α that was echoed by an increase in VEGF transcription, suggesting an augmentation of HIF-1α transcriptional activity. Overexpression of GSK3 significantly decreased both HIF protein and VEGF transcription. Further, these studies identified five putative GSK3 sites within the HIF1α protein that were necessary for phosphorylation by GSK3. Mutation of these sites also induced HIF-1α stabilization in normoxia and hypoxia beyond that of wild-type HIF-1α. From these results, we propose a model whereby GSK3 phosphorylates and subsequently destabilizes HIF-1α thus halting HIF-1α−dependent VEGF transcription. The work presented in this dissertation illustrates two ways in which the HIF-1α pathway can be modulated. Further exploration and exploitation of these pathways could prove to be therapeutically advantageous in the treatment of cancer. CITATIONS Material from this dissertation has been published in the following form: Hale SA, Wong C, Lounsbury KM. (2006). Erythropoietin disrupts hypoxiainducible factor signaling in ovarian cancer cells. Gynecol. Oncol. 100, 14-19. Material from this dissertation has been submitted for publication to Oncogene on February 11, 2008 in the following form: Hale SA, Howe AK, Wong C, Lounsbury KM. (2008). GSK3 targets HIF-1α for proteosomal degradation in hypoxia through modification of the oxygen-dependent degradation domain.


Identified research problem: Little Helper designs, manufactures and distributes baby and children's products and toys. Some of the products in their range are manufactured in China and then shipped to the UK or USA, where the consumer purchased units are delivered to the home via a logistics courier. The packaging was previously designed and manufactured in China. In an innovative approach Little Helper contacted Design Futures to help them address a number of identified design problems. The challenge was to develop a packaging design and implementation process that would allow the packaging to be signed off in the UK and then be manufactured and packed in China. The packaging is required to protect the products in transit, provide a positive opening experience for the end user, and be as environmentally responsible as possible. The environmental considerations included reduction of materials, use of sustainable materials, and reduction in size to allow maximum shipping efficiency. The products arrive with the consumer as a piece of flat packed furniture requiring self-assembly. The delivered package for their lead product 'Fun Pod' is heavy (weighing 18kgs), a large size and awkward to handle. The packed product components are of multi size and shape and had vulnerable areas identified. The packaging had previously been developed to prevent breakages in transit, but after a number of design development iterations, had resulted in over 40 separate components, including foams and plastics. The product was therefore presented poorly, had poor environmental credentials, poor shipping efficiency and still significant product breakages occurred.
Design Futures analysed the packaging material and packing processes and challenged the assumption that more packaging layers equals better protection. We reduced the amount of packaging materials used, better utilised the inherent strengths of the product components and eradicated all foam and plastics components from the design, improving the customers opening experience. We then trailed and tested the proposed redesign and advised new material specifications and packaging specifications to the client. The final output included full size mock-ups for approval, full material specifications and drawings for manufacture in China, and full packaging instructions for use at the packing stage. The resultant outcome was that recorded breakages significantly reduced to less than 1% on the Fun Pod product, a reduction in packaging material usage, a reduced external pack dimensions of 15% allowing a 24% increase in units per shipping container. And the client reports a doubling in orders from US distributors due to the increased confidence in the product quality (a ratifying report from client can be made available).


The plasmapause locations determined from the Chang'e‐3 (CE‐3) Extreme Ultraviolet Camera (EUVC) images and the auroral boundaries determined from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (SSUSI) images are used to investigate the plasmaspheric evolutions during substorms. The most important finding is a nightside pointing plasmaspheric plume observed at 23:05 UT on 21 April 2014 under quiet solar wind and geomagnetic conditions, which drifted from the dusk sector. High correlations between the plasmapause evolutions and the auroral signatures exist during substorms. After substorm onset, the plasmapause erosion and the equatorward expansion of the auroral oval occur almost simultaneously in both MLT and UT, and then both the erosion and the expansion propagate westward and eastward. It is suggested that the plasmaspheric erosion and its MLT propagations are induced by the enhanced earthward plasma convection during substorm period, and the substorm dipolarization causes pitch‐angle scattering of plasma sheet electrons and the resulting precipitation excites aurora emissions at the same time.


St. Marys Inlet connects Cumberland Sound from the Atlantic Ocean and actually forms the coastline border between Georgia and Florida. Drumstick shaped barriers are located to the north (Cumberland Island) and to the south (Amelia Island). The mean tidal range is 1.8 m and wave heights average 0.6 m. Southerly directed longshore sediment transport is dominant due to alongshore wave energy increasing to the southeast. Nearshore processes, sediment distribution patterns, and ebb-tidal delta morphology are all being measured and used to document temporal change in the physical and environmental parameters of St. Marys Inlet. This investigation is ongoing and part of a five-year monitoring program sponsored by the U.S. Navy. This paper discusses wave, bathymetric profiles, and sediment data sets collected during August 1988 and August 1989. Inshore wave conditions during April-October 1989 ranged between 0.27 and 1.76 m for significant wave height and between 4.3 and 14.2 seconds for wave period. Spatial changes in nearshore subbottom elevation were evaluated within six distinct morphologic features. Bathymetric contours of the nearshore zone to the -10 m contour indicates three large areas of sediment storage and two embayment areas where sediments are moved alongshore and offshore. The average mean grain size generally decreased along both islands within the beach and nearshore zones between the summer of 1988 and summer 1989. This change is attributed to several factors: storm activity, beach nourishment activity on Amelia Island, and alongshore sediment movement.


Objectives: Individuals engage in strenuous physical activity to which they are unaccustomed usually land up in a phenomenon called Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS) and results in pain, muscle stiffness and swelling. The current study was aimed to see the effect of cryo , ultrasound and its combination therapies on the reduction of symptoms of DOMS. Materials and Methods: A total of 30 subjects with the mean age of 22.1 ± 5.9 years participated in the study. Subjects were randomly allocated to three groups A, B and C (n=10) and induced DOMS by a standard exercise protocol. Each group received different treatment application i.e. ultrasound (US), cryotherapy (CT) and combination (C) of both. Study outcomes were measured by Perceived Muscle Soreness (PMS), Relaxed-Elbow flexion angle (rEFA), Plasma Creatine Kinase (CK) level at 0 hours (pre -exercise), 24hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs and at 92hrs. Results: All three groups showed improvement with respect to their interventions, whereas the C group, after 96 hours of post-exercise the rEFA return to its near normal range as compared to the other two groups. Although there was a rise in the plasma CK level in all three groups, however the C group was effective in minimizing the rising level of CK and also in the reduction of muscle soreness at successive time interval s and reaches to baseline after 96 hours of post -exercise. Conclusion: The combined application of cryotherapy and pulsed ultrasound immediately after exercise induced muscle damage is a better choice of treatment , It is also observed that cryotherapy was more effective than pulsed ultrasound alone treatment in reduction of symptoms.


Aromatic amines are known to be strong carcinogens. After metabolic activation, they react as electrophilic arylnitrenium ions with nucleophilic functionalities of the DNA duplex interfering and disrupting DNA and RNA synthesis and leading to mutations. Preferred reaction sites are the amino groups of adenine and guanine and particularly the C8-position of guanine. During metabolic activation, aromatic amines are enzymatically acetylated at N8 position. The non-acetylated lesions reduce the replication efficiency, but are in general faithfully bypassed by high fidelity polymerases. In contrast, the acetylated derivatives block replicative polymerases but can be bypassed with special low-fidelity polymerases. The translesion synthesis DNA polymerase η, for instance, is able to bypass C8 bulky adduct lesions such as the widely studied 2-aminofluorene-dG (AF-dG) and its acetylated analogue (AAF-dG) mainly in an error-free manner. The distinct mutagenic properties of the acetylated and non-acetylated aromatic amine lesions are presumably caused by their different conformational preferences. While the non-acetylated lesions exist in both syn and anti conformation, the corresponding acetylated lesion seems to adopt the syn-conformation with high preference. The mechanism that allows low-fidelity polymerases such as Pol η to replicate past acetylated AAF-dG lesions is still unknown.
In this thesis work, the mechanism of the error-free bypass of acetylated aromatic amine dG adducts such as the acetylaminofluorene-dG (AAF-dG) by Pol η is investigated. For that reason, AAF-dG as well as the guanine adducts of other aromatic amines (aniline, 2-aminonaphthalene, 2-aminoanthracene and 1-aminopyrene) were synthesized and successfully incorporated into various oligonucleotides via automated solid-phase DNA synthesis. The synthesized bulky adduct containing oligonucleotides were used for crystallization and for primer extension studies with the translesion synthesis (TLS) polymerase η from S. cerevisiae in order to get insights into the bypass mechanism of bulky adducts by this enzyme. In the present work, structural evidence is provided that yeast Pol η bypasses the bulky adducts AAF-dG and 2-acetylaminoanthracene-dG (AAA-dG) by rotation of the DNA around the bulky moiety, while keeping the AAF-dG in syn conformation.


them in Malaysia. However, the prevalence of diabetes in Malaysia is very high but there is a lack of information in the management of diabetes. Aims: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and attitude to diabetes mellitus and the relevant associated factors among Malaysian population. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among selected Malaysian population. Inclusion criteria were 'aged above 18 years old' and 'are able to understand Malay language'. Data was entered into SPSS version 22.0 and analysed and Independent t-test, ANOVA and Correlations was used. The level of statistical significant was set as p<0.05. Results: A total of 316 respondents participated in this study. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus was 10.8%. Majority of respondents was male (53.5%), Malay (85.8%), married (66.1%), had tertiary education (52.2%), and moderate socioeconomic status. There is a belief that traditional medicine is better than clinical treatment among the community. There were significant differences of knowledge between ethnicities (p=0.012) and marital status (p=0.011). Meanwhile there were significant mean differences of attitude score between ethnicities (p<0.001), and household incomes (p=0.03). Conclusions: There was a good score of knowledge, attitude, and practice towards diabetes mellitus. However, misconception on traditional medicine used need to be emphasised while consulting patients in primary health care facilities in the country.


Fluctuations are ubiquitous in nature and are relevant for nearly every ecological process. The main sources of fluctuations in population abundances are demographic and environmental stochasticity, whose effect on local population dynamics, metapopulations and metacommunities have attracted much interest in the ecological literature. A third source of stochasticity is demographic heterogeneity, which is the variability of demographic traits within a population. Despite the large body of literature dedicated to fluctuations in ecology, their role in some relevant ecological patterns and processes is still rather unexplored. For example, the effect of demographic and environmental stochasticity on species spread is poorly understood, mostly due to a scarcity of experimentation linking theoretical models with replicated experiments. Additionally, environmental stochasticity can induce population fluctuations and has been shown theoretically to determine the exponent of one of the most widespread scaling laws in nature, Taylor's law of fluctuation scaling. However, empirical observations point towards the existence of a single universal Taylor's law exponent, in contrast with such model predictions. Here, experiments with protist microcosms and methods from statistical physics are used to investigate the role of fluctuations and heterogeneity on relevant ecological patterns and processes. The effect of demographic and environmental stochasticity on the propagation of biological invasions is studied in microcosm experiments with Tetrahymena sp. and Euglena gracilis and with stochastic generalizations of the Fisher-Kolmogorov equation. Demographic stochasticity is shown to induce fluctuations in the position of the propagating front and the statistical structure of the environmental heterogeneity is shown to cause a slowing-down of the invasion front at large autocorrelation lengths. The investigation of biological invasions in environments with heterogeneous distribution of resources is performed experimentally by manipulating light, the energy resource for photosynthetic organisms. Such experimental setup is further used to study phototaxis, the directed motion of phytoplankton towards or against light sources, a process that is important for relevant ecological phenomena such as diel vertical migration. A model for phototaxis is derived from the experiments in the generalized Keller-Segel framework. Large deviations theory is used to derive a generalized Taylor's law and to elucidate the origin of a universal scaling exponent as due to sampling rather than to the population growth process. The framework of finite-size scaling is used to characterize the demographic heterogeneity in a relevant ecological trait, the body size of individuals. Intra-specific body size distributions measured experimentally are shown to be described by a universal scaling distribution across different taxa and over four orders of magnitude in body size. Mathematical models of cell growth and division are shown to be compatible with the observed universal body size distribution.


The record of the Canadian-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the efficiency of Canada's recently adopted whole-of-government approach to conflict situations. This study maps the evolution of the interagency dynamics of Canadian departments and agencies during their six-year involvement with the PRT, and reveals that the Canadian-led PRT had to undergo significant changes before real interdepartmental collaboration actually could take place. While the first two years of the implementation of the whole-of-government approach have been described as a failure, this article argues that the publication of the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan was the turning point that significantly improved interagency collaboration in the PRT.


Photograph (copy) of the George Feris home in Richmond, Texas. Back of photo as written by Homer Sharp (in black ink): "This picture was taken from the original, of The Old Doctor George Feris Home here in Richmond. This house was located between the end of Myrtle Street and Preston Street. Mrs. Frazar's Home is located on or near the spot where this old home was. Her home has got all the old lumber and some of the bricks in it, or part of the lumber and bricks the old home had in it. Dr. George Feris had two boys in the Jaybird Woodpecker Feud. Keene Feris and Yandell Feris, Keene Feris is the daddy of Mrs. Frazar and her sister Aunt Bessie Homner. Aunt Bessie let me have the original picture to make this copy. Dr. Feris is standing by the house in the front of the home and Aunt Bessie said she didn't know the names of the people on the upper porch, But was the Feris family. She didn't know when the picture was taken, or where the house was built, But the bricks was hauled from Galveston in ox wagons and she thought the lumber came from Louisiana." Photograph is of a two story, wooden house with columns from bottom porch to roofline. Upper porch has white wood railing. People are standing on upper porch. Porches extend the length of the front of the house. A bearded man with a dark (long) jacket, light pants, hat, and cane is standing next to a saddled white horse.


A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and interrupt current flow. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then must be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. When operated manually we see fatal electrical accidents to the line man are increasing during the electric line repair due to the lack of communication and coordination between the maintenance staff and the electric substation staff. In order to avoid such accidents, the breaker can be so designed such that only authorized person can operate it with a password. Here, there is also a provision of changing the password. The system is fully controlled by the 8 bit microcontroller of 8051 family. The password is stored in an EEPROM, interfaced to the microcontroller and the password can be changed any time unlike a fixed one burnt permanently on to the microcontroller. A keypad is used to enter the password and a relay to open or close circuit breaker, which is indicated by a lamp. Any wrong attempt to open the breker (by entering the wrong password) an alert will be actuated, indicated by another lamp.


The conjunctive conception takes imitation to be a combination of observational learning and copying. In the target article, and elsewhere, this conception generates problems in 1) explaining the copying of intransitive actions, 2) elucidating the potential functions of imitation, and 3) recognising when the correspondence problem has been avoided rather than solved. Hurley's careful use of subpersonal and personal levels of explanation shows us how to tackle these and other questions about imitation.


"Black Garden" is the definitive study of how Armenia and Azerbaijan, two southern Soviet republics, got sucked into a conflict that helped bring them to independence, bringing to an end the Soviet Union, and plaguing a region of great strategic importance. It cuts between a careful reconstruction of the history of Nagorny Karabakh conflict since 1988 and on-the-spot reporting on its convoluted aftermath. Part contemporary history, part travel book, part political analysis, the book is based on six months traveling through the south Caucasus, more than 120 original interviews in the region, Moscow, and Washington, and unique primary sources, such as Politburo archives. The historical chapters trace: how the conflict lay unresolved in the Soviet era; how Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders exacerbated it; how the Politiburo failed to cope with the crisis; how the war began and ended; and, how the international community failed to sort out the conflict. What emerges is a complex and subtle portrait of a beautiful and fascinating region, blighted by historical prejudice and conflict.


Crustal stress orientations provide important information about the mechanics of regional deformation. Numerous methods exist for inverting earthquake focal mechanisms for stress orientation, and the more widely used methods usually obtain similar results for similar data sets. However, error estimates are highly variable, complicating the interpretation of results. The southern California stress field, for example, contains much statistically significant spatial and temporal variability according to the error estimates of one method (Michael, 1984, 1987b), but very little according to those of another (Gephart and Forsyth, 1984). To resolve whether the southern California stress field is generally homogeneous or heterogeneous, we must determine which of the error estimates best reflects the true inversion uncertainty. To do this, we tested both methods on a suite of synthetic focal mechanism data sets containing random errors. The method of Gephart and Forsyth (1984) usually provides more accurate estimates of stress orientation, especially for high-quality data sets, but its confidence regions are in most cases too large. The method of Michael (1984, 1987b) is more accurate for very noisy data sets and provides a more appropriate estimate of uncertainty, implying that the stress field in southern California is probably heterogeneous.


Many models of economic growth exclude materials from the production function. Growing environmental pressures and resource prices suggest that this may be increasingly inappropriate. This paper explores the relationship between material intensity, productivity and national accounts using a panel data set of manufacturing subsectors in the United States over 47 years. The first contribution is to identify sectoral production functions that explicitly incorporate material inputs while allowing for heterogeneity in both technology and productivity. The second contribution is that the paper finds a negative correlation between material intensity and total factor productivity (TFP) — sectors that are less material-intensive have higher rates of productivity. This finding is replicated at the firm level. We propose tentative hypotheses to explain this association, but testing is left for further work. Depending upon the nature of the mechanism linking a reduction in material intensity to an increase in TFP, the implications could be significant: policies that reduce material intensity, such as shifting taxation from labour to natural resources, would increase productivity and economic growth. A third contribution is to suggest that an empirical bias in productivity, as measured in national accounts, may arise due to the exclusion of material inputs. Current conventions of measuring productivity in national accounts may overstate the productivity of resource-intensive sectors relative to other sectors.


Background Low-cost mobile devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, and personal digital assistants, which can access voice and data services, have revolutionised access to information and communication technology worldwide. These devices have a major impact on many aspects of people's lives, from business and education to health. This paper reviews the current evidence on the specific impacts of mobile technologies on tangible health outcomes (mHealth) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), from the perspectives of various stakeholders. Design Comprehensive literature searches were undertaken using key medical subject heading search terms on PubMed, Google Scholar, and grey literature sources. Analysis of 676 publications retrieved from the search was undertaken based on key inclusion criteria, resulting in a set of 76 papers for detailed review. The impacts of mHealth interventions reported in these papers were categorised into common mHealth applications. Results There is a growing evidence base for the efficacy of mHealth interventions in LMICs, particularly in improving treatment adherence, appointment compliance, data gathering, and developing support networks for health workers. However, the quantity and quality of the evidence is still limited in many respects. Conclusions Over all application areas, there remains a need to take small pilot studies to full scale, enabling more rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental studies to be undertaken in order to strengthen the evidence base.


Introduction While rheumatoid arthritis is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), our knowledge of how the pattern of risk varies for different cardiovascular phenotypes is incomplete. The association between rheumatoid arthritis and the initial presentation of 12 types of CVDs were examined in a contemporary population of men and women of a wide age range. Methods CALIBER data, which links primary care, hospital and mortality data in England, was analysed. A cohort of people aged ≥18 years and without history of CVD was assembled and included all patients with prospectively recorded rheumatoid arthritis from January 1997, until March 2010, matched with up to ten people without rheumatoid arthritis by age, sex and general practice. The associations between rheumatoid arthritis and the initial presentation of 12 types of CVDs were estimated using multivariable random effects Poisson regression models. Results The analysis included 12,120 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis and 121,191 comparators. Of these, 2,525 patients with and 18,146 without rheumatoid arthritis developed CVDs during a median of 4.2 years of follow-up. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis had higher rates of myocardial infarction (adjusted incidence ratio [IRR] = 1.43, 95%CI 1.21–1.70), unheralded coronary death (IRR = 1.60, 95%CI 1.18–2.18), heart failure (IRR = 1.61, 95%CI 1.43–1.83), cardiac arrest (HR = 2.26, 95%CI 1.69–3.02) and peripheral arterial disease (HR = 1.36, 95%CI 1.14–1.62); and lower rates of stable angina (HR = 0.83, 95%CI 0.73–0.95). There was no evidence of association with cerebrovascular diseases, abdominal aortic aneurysm or unstable angina, or of interactions with sex or age. Conclusions The observed associations with some but not all types of CVDs inform both clinical practice and the selection of cardiovascular endpoints for trials and for the development of prognostic models for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.


We present the first Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) images of M87, using observations from April 2017 at 1.3 mm wavelength. These images show a prominent ring with a diameter of ∼40 μas, consistent with the size and shape of the lensed photon orbit encircling the "shadow" of a supermassive black hole. The ring is persistent across four observing nights and shows enhanced brightness in the south. To assess the reliability of these results, we implemented a two-stage imaging procedure. In the first stage, four teams, each blind to the others' work, produced images of M87 using both an established method (CLEAN) and a newer technique (regularized maximum likelihood). This stage allowed us to avoid shared human bias and to assess common features among independent reconstructions. In the second stage, we reconstructed synthetic data from a large survey of imaging parameters and then compared the results with the corresponding ground truth images. This stage allowed us to select parameters objectively to use when reconstructing images of M87. Across all tests in both stages, the ring diameter and asymmetry remained stable, insensitive to the choice of imaging technique. We describe the EHT imaging procedures, the primary image features in M87, and the dependence of these features on imaging assumptions.


Relying more on the Sun Improved technologies for harnessing solar energy are not limited to creating more efficient solar cells. The associated hardware of delivering power from solar cells to homes and businesses, and storing this intermittent resource on the grid, offer R&D opportunities. Lewis reviews the status of these areas, as well as solar thermal and solar fuels approaches for harnessing solar energy. Science, this issue p. 10.1126/science.aad1920 BACKGROUND Despite providing a relatively small percentage of total global energy supply, solar energy systems generally receive enthusiastic support from technologists, regulators, politicians, and environmental groups. The energy in sunlight can be converted into electricity, heat, or fuel. Although the costs of solar panels have declined rapidly, technology gaps still exist for achieving cost-effective scalable deployment combined with storage technologies to provide reliable, dispatchable energy. ADVANCES The costs of Si-based solar panels have declined so rapidly that panel costs now make up <30% of the costs of a fully installed solar-electricity system. Research and development (R&D) opportunities hence lie in the development of very high efficiency conversion materials, to advantageously leverage the associated reduction in area-related balance-of-systems costs. Such materials would optimally either leverage or mate with existing, low-cost Si photovoltaic (PV) technology. Ultralightweight, flexible, robust, and efficient materials could also greatly reduce the installation costs and could allow for enhanced automation and inexpensive support structures. The development of cost-effective persistent grid-scale storage to compensate for the intermittency of sunlight is a major area for R&D. Possibilities include new types of batteries and flow batteries, as well as geologic storage of hydrogen, methane, or compressed air. Opportunities also exist to improve the capabilities of concentrated solar power systems that convert sunlight into heat. Improved thermal storage fluids would provide longer-term storage to compensate for cloudy days in areas of high direct insolation. Thermoelectrics, in principle, could replace engines to provide efficient conversion systems that have no moving parts. New thermochemical cycles could allow for the highly efficient, cost-effective conversion of solar heat into fuels by promoting endothermic reactions, such as water splitting, carbon dioxide reduction, or thermochemical conversion of feedstocks, such as methane to high energy-density liquid hydrocarbon fuels that are needed in the transportation sector. Artificial photosynthetic systems that directly produce fuel from sunlight are in the proof-of-concept stage. Such technologies offer the potential to provide renewable hydrogen by solar-driven water splitting or to produce hydrocarbons directly from sunlight, water, and CO2. Key goals for R&D are development of materials that can absorb and convert sunlight efficiently that are seamlessly integrated with catalysts that promote the production of fuel, with the production of O2 from water also required to complete a sustainable, scalable chemical cycle. Systems must simultaneously be efficient, robust, cost-effective, and safe. OUTLOOK Considerable opportunities for cost reduction that can achieve both evolutionary and revolutionary performance improvements are present for all types of solar energy–conversion technologies. Learning by doing and R&D will both be needed to produce an innovation ecosystem that can sustain the historical rate of cost reductions in PVs and concentrated solar thermal technology. Disruptive approaches to storage technologies are needed to compensate for the intermittency of sunlight and allow for development of a full clean-energy system. Solar fuels technology contains abundant opportunities for discovery of new materials and systems that will allow for deployable, cost-effective routes to the direct production of fuels from sunlight. Solar energy–conversion and storage technologies. (A) Nellis Solar Power Station, a 14-MW PV installation at Nellis Air Force Base, NV. (b) Concentrated solar thermal power 392-MW installation at Ivanpah, CA. (C) World's largest battery (NiCd) storage installation (40 MW for 7 min, 26 MW for 15 min), Fairbanks, AK. (D) Solar fuels demonstration of a photoelectrode evolving hydrogen gas. [Image sources: (A) Nellis Air Force Base PV installation, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Nellis_Solar_Power_Plant. (B) Ivanpah solar electric generation installation, http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M5yzgfCNpvM/maxresdefault.jpg. (C) Fairbanks battery installation, http://blog.gvea.com/wordpress/?p=1677] Major developments, as well as remaining challenges and the associated research opportunities, are evaluated for three technologically distinct approaches to solar energy utilization: solar electricity, solar thermal, and solar fuels technologies. Much progress has been made, but research opportunities are still present for all approaches. Both evolutionary and revolutionary technology development, involving foundational research, applied research, learning by doing, demonstration projects, and deployment at scale will be needed to continue this technology-innovation ecosystem. Most of the approaches still offer the potential to provide much higher efficiencies, much lower costs, improved scalability, and new functionality, relative to the embodiments of solar energy-conversion systems that have been developed to date.


Abstract. A modelling study of the impacts of subsurface heterogeneity on the hydrologic response of a small catchment is reported. The study is focused in particular on the hydraulic connection and interactions between surface water and groundwater. A coupled (1-D surface/3-D subsurface) numerical model is used to investigate, for a range of scenarios, the spatio-temporal patterns of response variables such as return flow, recharge, groundwater levels, surface saturation, and streamflow. Eight scenarios of increasing geological complexity are simulated for an 8 km2 catchment in the Annapolis Valley (eastern Canada), introducing at each step more realistic representations of the geological strata and corresponding hydraulic properties. In a ninth scenario the effects of snow accumulation and snowmelt are also considered. The results show that response variables and significant features of the catchment (e.g. springs) can be adequately reproduced using a representation of the geology and model parameter values that are based on targeted fieldwork and existing databases, and that reflect to a sufficient degree the geological and hydrological complexity of the study area. The hydraulic conductivity values of the thin surficial sediment cover (especially till) and of the basalts in the upstream reaches emerge as key elements of the basin's heterogeneity for properly capturing the overall catchment response.


Each year, 200 million workers from China's vast rural interior travel between cities and provinces in search of employment: the largest human migration in history. This indispensable army of labor accounts for half of China's GDP, but is an unorganized workforce - "scattered sand," in Chinese parlance - and the most marginalized and impoverished group of workers in the country. For two years, the award-winning journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai traveled across China visiting laborers on Olympic construction sites, in the coal mines and brick kilns of the Yellow River region, and at the factories of the Pearl River Delta. She witnessed the outcome of the 2009 riots in the Muslim province of xinjiang; saw towns in rubble more than a year after the colossal earthquake in Sichuan; and was reunited with long- lost relatives, estranged since her mother's family fled for Taiwan during the Civil War. Scattered Sand is the result of her travels: a finely wrought portrait of those left behind by China's dramatic social and economic advances.


This is the second in a two-part paper series dealing with sea salt transportation and deposition mechanisms, and discussing the serious issue of degradation of outdoor insulators resulting from various environmental stresses and severe saline contaminant accumulation near the shoreline. The deterioration rate of outdoor insulators near the shoreline depends on the concentration of saline in the atmosphere, influence of wind speed on the production of saline water droplets, moisture diffusion and saline penetration on the insulator surface. This paper comprises two parts. The first part, deals with the impact of different environmental stresses on insulator surface degradation, including wind speed and direction, cold fog and rainfall. The second part concerns the flashover process related to saline contamination of the surface under constant and variable cold fog wetting rates and equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD). The experiments were performed on high voltage insulators based on the model presented in Part-I. Based on the proposed model, the influence of wind speed and direction on the pollution accumulation rate and impact of wetting rate on discharge current and surface flashover process were investigated. The equations S=S0e(Vdep0/αh)[e(−αx/v)−1] and D=Doe(Vdep0/αh)[e(−αx/v)−1] are derived from the model for saline concentration and deposition show good reliability and well represent the results obtained. Test results also show that due to the different wetting and contamination deposition rate, surface discharge current characteristics of tested insulator in rain are different with that in cold fog, which lead to different surface flashover voltages. An experimental setup was mounted for artificial saline contamination deposition. The proposed model can be therefore used to investigate insulator flashover near coastal areas and for mitigating saline flashover incidents.


On September 11, 1973, a military coup in Chile overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende, beginning an era of political repression that lasted over sixteen years. Mary Helen Spooner takes us behind the Pinochet regime's wall of censorship, silence, and propaganda and provides an inside look at a brutal dictatorship. She traces the personal histories of key political figures, explains why many Chileans supported the regime, and reveals the fate of many of its victims. The 1998 arrest of Augusto Pinochet and resulting events serve as a reminder of his harrowing legacy. In a new preface (Paper edition) Spooner looks at how Chile has changed in the 1990s and places recent events in a larger historical context.


A major morphosyntactic change has taken place in Spanish spoken in Buenos Aires, Argentina (henceforth Rioplatense). While the Preterit coexisted with a Perfect until the turn of the 20th century, it is shown that this opposition gradually has been erased in the language of young speakers in this sample. Today, the Preterit functions as a perfective which also encompasses current relevance contexts, previously expressed through the Perfect. Such a finding is discussed in the light of grammaticalization theory (e.g. Bybee et al. 1994), which emphasizes how the expansion of a perfect and replacement of the preterit is typical of grammaticalization and of Romance languages in particular. In addition, it is argued that the change did not occur due to contact, neither (1) as the result of contact with speakers of a language with a similar system (Sicilian Italian) nor (2) as a post-contact phenomenon, despite Buenos Aires being a high-contact society at the time of the initiation of the change.


Inherently anisotropic soil fabric has a considerable influence on soil strength. To model this kind of inherent anisotropy, a three-dimensional anisotropic failure criterion was proposed, employing a scalar-valued anisotropic variable and a modified general three- dimensional isotropic failure criterion. The scalar-valued anisotropic variable in all sectors of the deviatoric plane was defined by correlating a normalized stress tensor with a normalized fabric tensor. Detailed comparison between the available experimental data and the corresponding model predictions in the deviatoric plane was conducted. The proposed failure criterion was shown to well predict the failure behavior in all sectors, especially in sector II with the Lode angle ranging between 60o and 120o, where the prediction was almost in accordance with test data. However, it was also observed that the proposed criterion overestimated the strength of dense Santa Monica Beach sand in sector III where the intermediate principal stress ratio b varied from approximately 0.2 to 0.8, and slightly underestimated the strength when b was between approximately 0.8 and 1. The difference between the model predictions and experimental data was due to the occurrence of shear bending, which might reduce the measured strength. Therefore, the proposed anisotropic failure criterion has a strong ability to characterize the failure behavior of various soils and potentially allows a better description of the influence of the loading direction with respect to the soil fabric.