Metabolisms of macrominerals, those of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, are closely associated with the metabolism of vitamin D. Particularly magnesium, the second most abundant intracellular cation, is related to biochemical and metabolic processes in the body, such as those of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. The status of each mineral was investigated in obesity to some extent. Their products and ratios may possibly give much more detailed information about the matter. The aim of this study is to investigate possible relations between each macromineral and some obesity-related parameters. This study was performed on 235 children, whose ages were between 06-18 years. Aside from anthropometric measurements, hematological analyses were performed. TANITA body composition monitor using bioelectrical impedance analysis technology was used to establish some obesityrelated parameters including basal metabolic rate (BMR), total fat, mineral and muscle masses. World Health Organization body mass index (BMI) percentiles for age and sex were used to constitute the groups. The values above 99th percentile were defined as morbid obesity. Those between 95th and 99th percentiles were included into the obese group. The overweight group comprised of children whose percentiles were between 95 and 85. Children between the 85 and 15th percentiles were defined as normal. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) components (waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, triacylglycerol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure) were determined. High performance liquid chromatography was used to determine Vitamin D status by measuring 25-hydroxy cholecalciferol (25-hydroxy vitamin D3, 25(OH)D). Vitamin D values above 30.0 ng/ml were accepted as sufficient. SPSS statistical package program was used for the evaluation of data. The statistical significance degree was accepted as p < 0.05. The important points were the correlations found between vitamin D and magnesium as well as phosphorus (p < 0.05) that existed in the group with normal BMI values. These correlations were lost in the other groups. The ratio of phosphorus to magnesium was even much more highly correlated with vitamin D (p < 0.001). The negative correlation between magnesium and total fat mass (p < 0.01) was confined to the MetS group showing the inverse relationship between magnesium levels and obesity degree. In this group, calcium*magnesium product exhibited the highest correlation with total fat mass (p < 0.001) among all groups. Only in the MetS group was a negative correlation found between BMR and calcium*magnesium product (p < 0.05). In conclusion, magnesium is located at the center of attraction concerning its relationships with vitamin D, fat mass and MetS. The ratios and products derived from macrominerals including magnesium have pointed out stronger Mustafa M. Donma (Prof. Dr.) is with the Tekirdag Namik Kemal University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Tekirdag, Turkey (corresponding author, phone: 00-90-532-371-72-07; fax: 00-90-282-250-9928; e-mail: email@example.com). Orkide Donma is with the Istanbul University Cerrahpasa, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Istanbul, Turkey (email: email@example.com). associations other than each element alone. Final considerations have shown that unique correlations of magnesium as well as calcium*magnesium product with total fat mass have drawn attention particularly in the MetS group, possibly due to the derangements in some basic elements of carbohydrate as well as lipid metabolism. Keywords—Macrominerals, metabolic syndrome, pediatric obesity, vitamin D.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to report on the prevalence of cognitive impairment, and to assess the performance and utility of subjective, objective and informant screening tools in a heterogeneous community sample.

METHOD
A sample of 302 elderly participants (>60 years) living in residential homes in a large city in South Africa were screened for the presence of cognitive impairment using objective (Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] and Six Item Screener-[SIS]), subjective (Subjective Memory Complaint [SMC]and Subjective Memory Rating Scale [SMRS]) and informant (Deterioration Cognitive Observee [DECO]) screening tools. All tools were compared to the MMSE and the influence of demographic variables on the performance on these tools was considered.

RESULTS
Significantly lower MMSE scores were found in participants aged 80-89 years (p=.023) and those who had 8-11 years of education (p=.002). For every one additional year of education, participants were 0.71 times less likely to screen positive on the MMSE. Differential item functioning on various components of the MMSE was demonstrated due to the effects of education, race and gender. There was significant differential performance between the recommended and alternate attention/concentration items (p<.001) with the alternate item favouring better performance. Based on the MMSE cutoff score of < 23, the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 16.9%; the prevalence yielded by the remaining tools ranged from 10.5% using the DECO to 46% as determined by the presence of a SMC. Using the MMSE as the reference standard for the presence of cognitive impairment, the SIS, SMC, SMRS and DECO had sensitivities of 82.3%, 54.6%, 17.0% and 37.5%, and specificities of 71.3%, 57.6%, 87.4% and 96.7% respectively. Age and race influenced performance on the MMSE, SIS and SMRS.

CONCLUSION
Different types of cognitive screening tools yielded varying sensitivities and specificities for identifying cognitive impairment when compared to the MMSE. The influence of race, age and education on test performance highlights the need for suitable, culture-fair screening tools. Locally, the alternate item for attention/concentration should be preferred.


Abstract Vehicle-activated signs (VAS) are speed-warning signs activated by radar when the driver speed exceeds a pre-set threshold, i.e. the trigger speed. The trigger speed is often set relative to the speed limit and is displayed for all types of vehicles. It is our opinion that having a static setting for the trigger speed may be inappropriate, given that traffic and road conditions are dynamic in nature. Further, different vehicle classes (mainly cars and trucks) behave differently, so a uniform trigger speed of such signs may be inappropriate to warn different types of vehicles. The current study aims to investigate an automatic VAS, i.e. one that could warn vehicle users with an appropriate trigger speed by taking into account vehicle types and road conditions. We therefore investigated different vehicle classes, their speeds, and the time of day to be able to conclude whether different trigger speeds of VAS are essential or not. The current study is entirely data driven; data are initially presented to a self-organising map (SOM) to be able to partition the data into different clusters, i.e. vehicle classes. Speed, time of day, and length of vehicle were supplied as inputs to the SOM. Further, the 85th percentile speed for the next hour is predicted using appropriate prediction models. Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems and random forest (RF) were chosen for speed prediction; the mean speed, traffic flow, and standard deviation of vehicle speeds were supplied as inputs for the prediction models. The results achieved in this work show that RF is a reliable model in terms of accuracy and efficiency, and can be used in finding appropriate trigger speeds for an automatic VAS.


OBJECTIVE
To assess how frequently adolescents are clinically diagnosed with depression following hospitalization for traumatic fracture, with the assumption that a retrospective approach would yield lower rates of depression compared to those reported previously in prospective studies. We hypothesized that depression would be less common among adolescents whose injuries were primarily limited to fractures of the appendicular skeleton, vertebral column, and/or thoracic cage compared to those sustaining concomitant spinal cord and/or brain injuries and those suffering from facial/skull fractures.

METHOD
A patient population of 1,121 adolescents, aged 12 to 19 years, who were hospitalized overnight at the University of Virginia (UVA) Health System, Charlottesville, for fractures between 2000 and 2009, was generated using the health system's Clinical Data Repository. The number of these adolescents who received a new diagnosis of depression (per ICD-9 codes) at the UVA Health System within the first year following their injury was determined.

RESULTS
By the end of the first year, 37 of 913 adolescents (4.1%) who had at least 1 follow-up visit after their fracture were diagnosed with depression. When patients with a concomitant spinal cord injury and those with a facial/skull fracture with or without an associated brain injury were excluded, this percentage dropped to 3.2% and 1.1%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
The results support our initial hypothesis that the percentage of adolescents diagnosed with depression following a traumatic fracture determined retrospectively would be lower than the percentages previously reported in related prospective studies. This finding adds to the growing concern that depression in youth is underdiagnosed, even among youth who have contact with health care providers. When compared to our own retrospectively determined data, the much higher rates of depression reported in several prospective studies indicate that more proactive, routine implementation of depression screening tools in the postinjury period is likely to improve identification of at-risk youth.


Polyhydroquinoline (1) interactedwithDMF-DMAto yield the corresponding aza-enamine derivative (2). Compound (2) reacted with a series of aromatic amines to afford the newfused pyridopyrimidines (5a-d).On the other hand, reaction of (2) with hydrazine hydrate and hydroxylamine hydrochloride yielded the pyrimidine derivatives (7) and (8), respectively. Refluxing of (2) with urea derivative in acetic acid yielded the final product (10a,b). Studying the behavior of (2) towards active methylene reagent afforded the adducts (11) and (12), respectively. The in vivo antitumor activity of compounds (5a-c), (8) and (10a)was evaluated against liver cancer cells (HEPG2), using Doxorubicine as a reference drug.Compound (5b) showed the highest potency mean while compounds (5c) and (8) showed limited activity against liver carcinoma cells (HEPG2).Also, the in vivo antitumor activity, compound (5b) exhibited high cytotoxic activity against breast cancer cells (MCF7).


In Malone v. Brincat, the Delaware Supreme Court announced that, under Delaware law, stockholders may state a cause of action arising out of directors' misdisclosures made in the absence of a request for stockholder action. This note re-emphasizes the court's holding that such claims are not made under any extension of the duty of disclosure. Rather they are based on corporate directors' general and ever present fiduciary duties of care, loyalty and good faith. This note explains that Malone did not produce a limitless new disclosure rule. As discussed, traditional concepts of materiality and damages are still relevant to whether a stockholder can state a cognizable claim for fiduciary misdisclosures. In addition, this note argues that in one narrow instance, a rule for an affirmative obligation to disclose in the absence of requested stockholder action can be extracted from Malone. This rule is necessary, justified, and compatible with the coexistence of federal securities and Delaware state laws. Through examining the limits and requirements of such a rule, this note argues that a director's mental state must be a critical component. An examination of this component concludes that corporate charter provisions, which attempt to shield directors from personal liability, will not be available where a stockholder has made a successful claim for damages arising out of misdisclosures made in the absence of a request for stockholder action.


To obtain a better understanding of water's journey from the hillslope to the stream, water level time series from 26 groundwater wells in a hillslope–riparian study area in the Panola Mountain Research Watershed, Georgia, USA, were examined with respect to the occurrence of perched groundwater and groundwater flow directions. A connected groundwater table was taken as an indication of a hydrologic connection between the hillslope and the stream. Flow directions were determined based on observed water levels at different combinations of three neighbouring wells. The analyses indicated that the hillslope was disconnected from the stream most of the time but that almost the entire hillslope became connected to the stream during large rainfall events. This coincided with more sustained streamflow during these events. There were clear differences in the timing of the groundwater response between the upper hillslope, lower hillslope and riparian zone, with water levels near the stream and on the upper hillslope rising earlier than on the midslope. The flow directions were generally downslope and were most variable around a bedrock depression on the midslope. On the hillslope, the direction of the water table followed the local bedrock topography when the water level was low at the start and end of an event and the overall surface topography when water levels were high. In the riparian zone, flow directions either did not change significantly during events or turned from a more downstream (i.e. downvalley) direction to a more downslope (i.e. towards the stream) direction. These results highlight the competing influence of surface and bedrock topography on hillslope flow directions and improve our understanding of hillslope–riparian‐stream connectivity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Both UNESCO and OECD have recognized the public policy benefit of publicizing information on linguistic diversity on the Internet. However, the published methodologies for estimating "linguistic diversity" or "Internet statistics (by language)" do so with different interpretations of these key terms. This article creates a new taxonomy, defining and contrasting user activity, user profile, web presence, and diversity index to distinguish among the various indicators used to estimate language usage on the Internet. This taxonomy facilitates comparisons of the available methodologies, whose limitations are then critiqued. It also helps to resolve the apparent paradox as to whether the use of English on the Internet has declined rapidly or has remained fairly stable. The study concludes that the best estimates of web presence can be achieved by direct measurement: randomly addressing and analyzing a representative sample of all public websites. However, this approach will only suffice if the language detection software used is progressively extended to recognize all the world's written languages.


OBJECTIVES
Mycoplasma pneumoniae respiratory infection is a common cause of acute respiratory infection in children and adults. We evaluated the efficacy of increasing dosages of clarithromycin for the optimized therapy of M. pneumoniae respiratory infection in a mouse model.

METHODS
BALB/c mice were intranasally inoculated once with M. pneumoniae or SP4 broth (control). Groups of mice were treated with increasing dosages of clarithromycin (10, 25 or 75 mg/kg/day) or placebo subcutaneously daily. Groups of mice were evaluated after 1, 2, 3, 6 and 12 days of therapy. Outcome variables included quantitative M. pneumoniae culture, histopathological score of the lungs, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytokine/chemokine/growth factor concentrations and plethysmography after aerosolized methacholine to assess airway hyperresponsiveness.

RESULTS
Elevated dosages of clarithromycin resulted in greater antimicrobial efficacy with significantly reduced M. pneumoniae quantitative cultures (P < 0.05), as well as greater improvement in markers of disease severity with significantly reduced lung histopathology scores, BAL cytokine concentrations and airway hyperresponsiveness (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Escalated dosing of clarithromycin resulted in significantly greater therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of experimental M. pneumoniae respiratory infection.


Nelson Maldonado-Torres argues that European modernity has become inextricable from the experience of the warrior and conqueror. In Against War , he develops a powerful critique of modernity, and he offers a critical response combining ethics, political theory, and ideas rooted in Christian and Jewish thought. Maldonado-Torres focuses on the perspectives of those who inhabit the underside of western modernity, particularly Jewish, black, and Latin American theorists. He analyzes the works of the Jewish Lithuanian-French philosopher and religious thinker Emmanuel Levinas, the Martiniquean psychiatrist and political thinker Frantz Fanon, and the Catholic Argentinean-Mexican philosopher, historian, and theologian Enrique Dussel.

Considering Levinas's critique of French liberalism and Nazi racial politics, and the links between them, Maldonado-Torres identifies a "master morality" of dominion and control at the heart of western modernity. This master morality constitutes the center of a warring paradigm that inspires and legitimizes racial policies, imperial projects, and wars of invasion. Maldonado-Torres refines the description of modernity's war paradigm and the Levinasian critique through Fanon's phenomenology of the colonized and racial self and the politics of decolonization, which he reinterprets in light of the Levinasian conception of ethics. Drawing on Dussel's genealogy of the modern imperial and warring self, Maldonado-Torres theorizes race as the naturalization of war's death ethic. He offers decolonial ethics and politics as an antidote to modernity's master morality and the paradigm of war. Against War advances the de-colonial turn, showing how theory and ethics cannot be conceived without politics, and how they all need to be oriented by the imperative of decolonization in the modern/colonial and postmodern world.


Introduction: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a very common condition that causes cardiac rhythm disturbance and affects 2.7 to 6.1 million individuals in the United States (US). Warfarin, which is considered as a gold standard anticoagulant for the last 50 years to treat AF has limitations pertaining to the risk of bleeding, interaction with drugs and requires frequent monitoring. Novel Oral Anti-Coagulants (NOAC including dabigatran and rivaroxaban) are new promising drugs which have shown better or similar efficacy to lower stroke risk and fewer side effects compared to warfarin in the clinical trials. To compete with warfarin, NOACs may need to demonstrate substantial real-world evidence in regards to improving clinical outcomes and cost savings. Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the extent of undertreatment (adherence), and its predictors along with the impact of adherence on clinical outcomes, including ischemic stroke, bleeding, and Deep Vein Thrombosis and Pulmonary Embolism (DVTPE). Furthermore, the analysis helped to estimate the economic burden of NOACs vs. warfarin and identify specific subgroups with high-cost drivers and Healthcare Resource Utilization (HCRU) to achieve optimal benefits and devise strategies for cost-savings. The objective was achieved by conducting the following studies: Study 1 To examine patterns of medication adherence (measured by Proportion of Days Covered [PDC]) in patients with atrial fibrillation taking NOACs vs. warfarin for 6 or 12 months (post index). Furthermore, the study examined the short and long-term factors predicting adherence to the NOAC therapy after controlling potential confounders. Study 2 To examine the impact of adherence on the short and long-term risk of ischemic stroke, bleeding DVTPE and recurrent DVTPE in patients with AF taking NOACs during a one-year period (post index). The impact of adherence on outcomes was investigated by comparison of risk among propensity-matched adherence (adherent vs. non-adherent) cohorts. Study 3 – To describe and compare the economic burden (cost and HCRU) in patients using NOACs vs. warfarin therapy. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify specific subgroups and key drivers of high-costs and HCRU. The final aim of the study was to explore if there are any differences in cost/HCRU between adherent and non-adherent NOAC patients. Methods: The research utilized a retrospective cohort study design. Atrial fibrillation patients (ICD-9-CM codes 427.31/32), with ≥2 prescription fills for NOAC or warfarin, CHA2DS2VASC score ≥1, and 6-months pre-index continuous enrollment from the Optum® ClinformaticsTM Data Mart (Optum Insight, Eden Prairie, MN) (Jan 1, 2010 and Dec 31, 2012) were included. The index date was the first prescription claim for NOAC or warfarin. Adherence was calculated using Proportion of Days Covered (PDC) over a 1-year period. Predictors of adherence (PDC ≥ 80%) were examined using a logistic regression model controlling for the covariates including age, gender, stroke risk, comorbidities, insurance type, region, pre-index cardiac drug use (beta-blocker, Angiotensin II receptor blockers [ARB] or Angiotensin-converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitor, statin), etc. For the second study, adherent (PDC ≥ 80%) and non-adherent patients were matched on the above covariates using propensity score (Inverse Probability Treatment Weighting). The adjusted risk estimates were obtained at 6 and 12 months using a Cox proportional hazards model or generalized linear models (Poisson, negative Binomial) and compared across adherence based matched cohorts. In the final study, the economic value in terms of adjusted healthcare costs (inpatient, outpatient, and drug costs) and HCRU was estimated using a GLM model with gamma distribution and compared between patients taking NOACs vs. warfarin. Unadjusted costs were presented using descriptive analysis by subgroups based on demographic and clinical characteristics (age, gender, Charlson's comorbidity index (CCI), insurance type, CHA2DS2VASC score, region, pre-index cardiac drug use, including beta-blocker, ARB-ACE inhibitor, statin use). Cost specific to bleeding events were calculated as an exploratory analysis. Similarly, the costs and HCRU were descriptively compared between the adherent and non-adherent patients taking NOACs. Results: A total of 5057 (N=1770 NOAC vs. N=3287 warfarin) patients with mean age of 66 years were included in the cohort based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For a 12-month follow-up, the proportion of adherent (PDC ≥80%) patients were higher among NOACs users (78.42%) compared to warfarin users (61.88%). Using multivariate logistic model controlling for the confounders; Age, CCI and statin use were major predictors of both short (6-month) and long-term (12-month) adherence to NOACs. The CHA2DS2VASC score was significantly associated with the short-term adherence while but not associated with the long-term adherence. For 12-month of adherence assessment, the three cohorts for bleeding, ischemic stroke, and DVTPE included 1617, 1651, 1739 patients (N=3440 for recurrent DVTPE at 6month assessment). For 12-month drug use, the incidence of bleeding, ischemic stroke, and DVTPE was 4.21%, 3.11%, and 1.11% respectively. Based on the multivariate analysis at 6 and 12 months of adherence assessment, the non-adherence was significantly associated with 1.72 and 1.94 times increase in the stroke risk respectively. Similarly, non-adherence was found to be significantly associated with elevated risk of recurrent DVTPE 3 and 6 months and DVTPE risk at 3, 6, 9 months. The risk of bleeding in non-adherent patients was slightly lower (HR= 0.84 – 6 months, HR= 0.94 – 12 months) but not significant compared to the risk of bleeding in adherent patients. High annual drug cost for NOAC users ($4988 vs. $331) was offset by higher medical (inpatient and outpatient) costs for warfarin users (Total annual cost for warfarin $31,400 vs. $22,134). The mean of annual ER visits (14 vs. 13) and office visits (76 vs. 49) was also higher for warfarin users compared to the patients taking NOACs. Overall, among warfarin users, female patients had higher HCRU, patients from the South had higher medical costs and office visits. Highest cost drivers for drug cost for warfarin users was patients from Northeast. Conversely, highest cost drivers for medical cost were patients less than <65 years and patients with CCI +3. For NOACs, the highest cost driver for the drugs was user who were 65 and above, from Northeast, CHA2DS2VASC >2 (mod-high risk), and independent insurance. Additionally, medical cost was driven by EPO insurance and CCI+3. Although medical costs and HCRU were lower for adherent vs. non-adherent patients taking NOACs, the differences were non-significant. Conclusion: Use of NOACs due to its better adherence compared to warfarin may help prevent inadequate anticoagulation and complications. Determining the factors influencing the adherence such as age, CCI, and stroke risk can help plan targeted approaches and interventions to improve adherence. Our results can help healthcare providers and managed care organizations to recognize the importance of adherence to NOAC medications among patients to prevent clinical risks including stroke, DVTPE and bleeding events. The study provides a valuable estimate of the economic burden in AF patients using NOACs and warfarin. These cost estimates can be further used as inputs in the studies involving cost-effectiveness analysis and indirect treatment comparisons. We found the higher drug costs for NOACs were offset by lower inpatient costs, outpatient costs, and HCRU; which can lead to overall monetary savings to the patient taking NOACs and to the healthcare system. Overall, the conducted research provides comprehensive evidence to help support NOACs as an optimal treatment choice for the AF patients.


High-grade hematite ore (so-called "hard ore") was first mined in
the Lake Superior region of North America in A.D. 1848. The development
of ore deposit models from the region has strongly influenced
research on the origin of this deposit type worldwide. The inability to
date high-grade hematite ores has hindered the testing of competing
genetic models. In the Marquette Range, northern Michigan (USA),
high-grade hematite ore is hosted by the 1.9–1.85 Ga Negaunee Iron
Formation and unconformably overlying Goodrich Quartzite. Field
relations and new in-situ U-Pb geochronology of monazite and xenotime
intergrown with hematite from six mines across the Marquette
Range, Michigan, indicate that the formation of high-grade hematite
ore bodies involved up to three events. The presence of pebbles of
hematite ore in basal conglomerate of the Goodrich Quartzite indicates
that the first episode of iron-oxide mineralization occurred after
deposition and deformation of the Negaunee Iron Formation, but
before the ca. 1.85 Ga Sudbury impact. Monazite in iron-ore deposits
within the hinges of Penokean-aged folds yields an age of ca. 1.8 Ga,
which is interpreted to record a second phase of hematite enrichment.
Monazite and xenotime in iron-ore deposits along the limbs of regional
folds give ages of ca. 1.77 Ga and are interpreted to record a later episode
of hematite upgrading. The ca. 1.8 Ga and ca. 1.77 Ga phosphate
ages coincide with the timing of regional tectonic events, suggesting
hematite mineralization was coeval with the Penokean orogeny and
Yavapai-interval accretion. Our results support the proposal that the
formation of high-grade hematite ore bodies is a multistage process
linked to discrete orogenic events.


The performance of a warehouse is impacted by how it is configured, yet there is no optimization model in the literature to answer the question of how to best configure the warehouse in terms of warehouse shape and the configuration of the dock doors. Moreover, the building blocks for such a model (put-away, replenishment, and order picking models that can be combined in an optimization model) are either not available (in the case of replenishment) or built on a set of inconsistent assumptions (in the case of put-away and order picking). Therefore, this article lays the foundation for more sophisticated warehouse configuration optimization models by developing the first analytical model for replenishment operation performance and extending put-away and order picking performance models. These new models are used to address a question motivated by industry: the optimal configuration of a case-picking warehouse in terms of the shape of the facility and whether the facility is configured with dock doors on one or both sides. An example is presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed models in answering such a question, quantifying the benefit of using an integrated approach to warehouse configuration.


This document is a case study that focuses on the air pollution problems of Bogota and Medellin. These are the largest; most populated and industrialized cities of Colombia. The document presents a brief description of the evolution of relevant institutional aspects. It describes the pollution problems of these cities, their sources, their effects on health and the measures to control and to prevent them. Following the framework of the WDR 20031, this document analyzes how society becomes aware of air pollution problems and the mechanisms that have generated the decision to undertake air pollution control strategies. It also discusses the mechanisms which have been in place to balance legitimate, competing social interests, and the means by which the adopted solutions are executed. Finally, the document presents a series of lessons and recommendations.


In a pair of very important papers, namely "Space, Time and Individuals" (STI) in the Journal of Philosophy for October 1955 and "The Indestructibility and Immutability of Substances" (IIS) in Philosophical Studies for April 1956, Professor N. L. Wilson began something which badly needed beginning, namely the construction of a logically rigorous "substance-language" in which we talk about enduring and changing individuals as we do in common speech, as opposed to the "space-time" language favoured by very many mathematical logicians, perhaps most notably by Quine. This enterprise of Wilson's is one with which I could hardly sympathize more heartily than I do; and one wishes for this logically rigorous "substance-language" not only when one is reading Quine but also when one is reading many other people. How fantastic it is, for instance, that Kotarbinski1 should call his metaphysics "Reism" when the very last kind of entity it has room for is things—instead of them it just has the world-lines or life-histories of things; "fourdimensional worms", as Wilson says. Wilson, moreover, has at least one point of superiority to another rebel against space-time talk, P. F. Strawson; namely he (Wilson) does seriously attempt to meet formalism with formalism—to show that logical rigour is not a monopoly of the other side. At another point, however, Strawson seems to me to see further than Wilson; he (Strawson) is aware that substance-talk cannot be carried on without tenses, whereas Wilson tries (vainly, as I hope to show) to do without them. Wilson, in short, has indeed brought us out of Egypt; but as yet has us still wandering about the Sinai Peninsula; the Promised Land is a little further on than he has taken us.


Objective: Low back pain in adults is the most commonly reported cause of the pain. After the surgery, some patients may have low back pain that is different from that seen before the surgery.
The aim of the present study was to demonstrate that this post-fusion pain is originated from the sacroiliac joint.
Methods: This study was carried out on 93 patients previously underwent lumbar or lumbosacral fusion surgery and admitted to our outpatient clinic between July 2011 and September 2014 with postoperative persistent chronic pain (for more than 3 months) which is different from the preoperative pain.
Results: The VAS scores in patients having fusion ending at L5 and S1, respectively. Mean pre-procedural VAS scores of the patients from S1 and L5 groups suggest that patients having fusion ending at S1 have admitted to our clinic with a more severe pain.
Conclusion: The percutaneous tripolar electrode RF device designed as a safe, easily applied and encouraging method will eliminate the unnecessary and in accurate surgical interventions and revision surgeries. This will also increase the success of the surgeon.


This article investigates the conditions necessary for the emergence of the city as a space for political action. It draws on the example of transport policies in Greater Geneva, where the pursuit of projects with metropolitan overtones was favored to the establishment of a new metropolitan entity. The current majority trend, in response to decades of liberal thought and 20 years of New Regionalism and urban governance, tends to promote vertical and horizontal project-centered coordination in a flexible and fluid manner, embracing private interests and civil society without institutional shackles. Yet, evidence of the operability of flexible forms of governance is not supported by a broad spectrum of empirical data. This article aims to answer two questions: First, is it possible to implement projects necessary for the metropolis without a metropolitan institution? Second, do the projects undertaken strengthen, or help to create, a metropolitan scale of intervention through the emergence of a metropolitan frame of reference?


The paper is based on an individual life-cycle model, which describes the purely economic components of human capital. The present value of human capital is determined by all future income flows, which at the same time constitute the individual as well as the total tax base of a nation. Therefore, the income of the productive population determines the total tax revenue, which is spent for public goods (including education) and transfers (for poverty reduction). The efficient design of the education system (by private and public education investments) determines the quality of the human capital stock as well as the future gross income flows. The costs of public goods and the transfer expenditures have to be financed from the total tax revenue, which also affects the individual tax burden via the specific tax bases and tax rates. Especially the redistribution of income is connected with serious disincentives, influencing the preferences for work and leisure as well as for consumption and saving. An efficient tax and transfer system being accompanied by an education system financed in public private partnership, which treats equally labor and capital income, sets positive incentives for the formation of human, financial, and real capital. An important prerequisite for a sustainable growth process is the efficient design of the social security system, being based on the family as well as a collective risk equalization scheme. If that system is diminishing absolute poverty in an appropriate time period by transfers and vocational education measures for the grown-up as well as high quality primary, secondary and tertiary education programs for the children, the transfer expenditure would decrease and the tax bases (income and consumption) increase, lowering the burden on the productive population. For the first time, this micro model presented in this paper pools all the relevant variables for development within a simple life-cycle model, which can also be used for a powerful analysis of the current failures in existing tax and transfer schemes and fruitful empirical investigations. Hence, an efficient tax and transfer scheme strongly contributes to an improved national position in the global competition.


Background Access to prompt and appropriate treatment is key to survival for children with malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea. Community-based services are vital to extending care to remote populations. Malaria Consortium supported Niger state Ministry of Health, Nigeria, to introduce and implement an integrated community case management (iCCM) programme for four years in six local government areas (LGAs). The objective was to increase coverage of effective treatment for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea among children aged 2-59 months. Methods The programme involved training, equipping, ongoing support and supervision of 1320 community volunteers (CORPs) to provide iCCM services to their communities in all six LGAs. Demand creation activities were also conducted; these included community dialogues, household mobilization, sensitization and mass media campaigns targeted at programme communities. To assess the level of changes in care seeking and treatment, baseline and endline household surveys were conducted in 2014 and 2017 respectively. For both surveys, a 30×30 multi-stage cluster sampling method was used, the sampling frame being RAcE programme communities. Results Care-seeking from an appropriate provider increased overall and for each iCCM illness from 78% to 94% for children presenting with fever (P < 0.01), from 72% to 91% for diarrhoea cases (P < 0.01), and from 76% to 89% for cases of cough with difficult or fast breathing (P < 0.05). For diagnosis and treatment, the coverage of fevers tested for malaria increased from 34% to 77% (P < 0.001) and ACT treatments from 57% to 73% (<0.005); 56% of cases of cough or fast breathing who sought care from a CORP, had their respiratory rate counted and 61% with cough or fast breathing received amoxicillin. At endline caregivers sought care from CORPs in their communities for most cases of childhood illnesses (84%) compared to other providers at hospitals (1%) or health centres (9%).This aligns with caregivers' belief that CORPs are trusted providers (94%) who provide quality services (96%). Conclusion Implementation of iCCM with focused demand creation activities can improve access to quality lifesaving interventions from frontline community providers in Nigeria. This can contribute towards achieving SDGs if iCCM is scaled up to hard-to-reach areas of all states in the country.


Prisoner reentry has received great interest in political sociology, criminology, and beyond. Research documents the struggles of individuals trying to find their way back into society. Less attention has been given to the organizational aspects of reentry. This is unfortunate given the rapid growth of nonprofit reentry organizations in the U.S., which introduces a new set of questions about the context and challenges to prisoner reentry. Drawing on an ethnography of Safe, a nonprofit reentry organization in the Northeast, I describe the organization's pivotal role in institutionalizing the pathway to prisoner reentry: a road to reentry, which takes former prisoners through a process that reconfigures their morality, identity, and social relationships. The road to reentry concept helps bring together scholars of the welfare state and criminology by highlighting how the challenges of prisoner reentry rely on how this process is organized. The way in which prison reentry is organized, in turn, affects former prisoners' agency and shapes the relationship between these men and women and their respective families and communities.


Malaria is the principal cause of morbidity and
mortality
in
Mozambique,
accounting
for
more than 40% of the attendance in the
public
health
clinics.
Insecticide-treated
bednets;
(ITNs) have proved to be a cost-effective means
of preventing
of malaria.
Most previous ITN projects have been implemented in
pilots or
trials
and
with substantial
financial, human and technical resources. Presently however, in
many
African
countries
services can no longer be provided
"free" (at
no charge to
users).
There is
still a
lack
of
knowledge of how financially sustainable and
equitable
a
cost-sharing
ITN
programme
implemented through the primary health care system
would
be.
In Mozambique no ITNs were available, and
very
few
households
had
bednets before the
start of this study. Thus before introducing an
ITN
programme
in Mozambique, it
was
important to evaluate whether the primary
health
care system could
deliver ITNs,
and to
determine how sustainable and equitable such
a programme
would
be.
The study which forms the basis for this thesis took
place
in
Boane,
Mozambique from,
1996 to 1998. The aim of the study was to
determine
how financially
sustainable
and
equitable an ITN programme could
be
when
implemented through the
primary
health
care
system, and how the socio-economic
level
of the
community
would
affect such a
programme.
Bednets were treated with Lambdacyalothrin and sold at the
health
centre
at price equal to
the factory's wholesale price. The willingness to
pay of the
households, the ITN
coverage
which was achieved, the total cost of
implementing the
project,
and the financial
resources which would be required to implement
a national
ITN
programme
in
Mozambique were calculated. The main
findings
of the
study
were
as
follows:
- The Boane community accepted the ITNs
very well.
However, the
purchase
of
ITNs
was dependent on the socio-economic
level
of the
buyer;
poor
households
were
less
likely to buy than richer households (p<0.001).
Thus, there
was not
an equitable
distribution of ITNs in the community.
- Many households whose stated maximum
willingness to
pay
before the
project
was
less than US$5 actually did pay that
amount
for
an
ITN
during the
project.
Thus,
willingness to pay was not a reliable way
of predicting the
households'
probable
purchase of ITNs.
- The estimate of the cost of the project
demonstrated that the
financial
cost per
ITN
delivered ($9.60) was much higher than the
price
at
which the
ITNs
were
sold to the
consumers ($5 on average). Thus, the
project
was not
financially
sustainable.
Moreover, given the cost structure covering
a
larger
area
or
achieving
wider coverage
would have required an even higher level
of
subsidy.
- In order to guarantee an equitable national
ITN
programme through the
public
health
system in Mozambique, the govermnent will
have to
mobilise
external
donors to
fmance the ITN programme.
This study contributes to an understanding of the implications
of
how the
price of
ITNs
affects the financial sustainability, equity
and coverage
of the
programme,
and
makes
recommendations for obtaining the funds
required to
heavily
subsidise
ITN
programmes
in Mozambique in particular, and in Sub-Saharan
Africa in general.


The context of international business has evolved over the years, and has always reflected the climate of the time. This book addresses three major changes that have taken place in the last decade in a series of articles compiled by the authors. First, the landscape of the global economy changed drastically in the last decade or so. The Asian and Latin American financial crises, the further expansion of the European Union (EU), and the emergence of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) as economic powerhouses have occurred during this period. And most recently, the global financial and economic crisis, caused primarily by the U.S. subprime mortgage loan crisis since late 2008, is ravaging the integrity of the global economy with unprecedented severity. Second, the explosive growth of information technology tools, including the Internet and electronic commerce (e-commerce), has had a significant effect on the way we do business internationally. On the one hand, everyone seems to agree that business transactions will be faster and more global. As a result, the nature of global supply chain and global trade as managed by multinational firms has fundamentally changed. However, on the other hand, the more deeply we have examined this issue, the more convinced we have become that certain things will not change, or could even become more local as a result of the globalization that the Internet and e-commerce bestow on us. Third, it is an underlying human tendency to desire to be different when there are economic and political forces of convergence (often referred to as globalization). When the globalization argument (and movement) became fashionable in the 1980s and 1990s, many of us believed that globalization would make global business easier. Doing business beyond national borders, indeed, has become easier, but it does not necessarily mean that customers want the same products in countries around the world. Attention to local market demands remains a global business imperative. This book constitutes a timely compilation of work addressing marketing in an uncertain world, competition from emerging and re-emerging markets, global sourcing, and the meeting of old and new global challenges


Research in workplace safety has focused on either the physical approach that emphasizes ergonomic design of the environment and work-related equipment, an environmental approach that emphasizes potential hazards such as noise, toxins, and temperature, or a behavioural approach that emphasizes changing employee behaviours that are deemed to be responsible for workplace incidents such as accidents, injuries, fatalities, and safetyrelated events. I built on this research (i) to develop and validate an HPWS for safety scale, and (ii) to propose and test a model of processes through which unit level HPWS for safety influence individual level safety outcomes. This thesis reports the findings of four studies. Three of these studies focused on the development and validation of an HPWS for safety scale while the fourth study used the validated scale to examine the processes through which HR practices influence workplace safety. Data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation modelling (MSEM) with Mplus version 7.3. The findings revealed that (i) experienced HPWS for safety directly relates to safety behaviours and also indirectly through safety knowledge and safety motivation, (ii) experienced HPWS for safety relates to both safety-specific events and workplace injuries through a mediational chain of safety knowledge and safety compliance, (iii) experienced HPWS for safety relates to workplace injuries through a mediational chain of safety knowledge and safety initiative, (iv) experienced HPWS for safety relates to both safety-related events and workplace injuries via safety motivation and safety compliance, (v) the use of HPWS for safety significantly related to unit safety climate, (vi) the use of HPWS for safety significantly related to experienced HPWS for safety while unit-level safety climate moderated the safety knowledge-safety compliance relationship. Lastly, the findings provide support for the psychometric properties of the scale. I also discussed the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, highlighted the study's strengths and limitations, and then mapped out some directions for future research.


This paper describes a course taught in restorative justice during fall semester 2003. The objective of this semester‐long class was to offer a unique educational experience to incarcerated youth and traditional college students. Youth from a correctional facility traveled to campus once a week to participate in the class. The theory and practices of restorative justice provided the foundation for the content of the course. Restorative justice, one of many correctional ideologies, seeks to repair the harm caused by crime, mend the relationship between the community and offenders, and attempts to reintegrate the youth back into society. As such, the course itself was an attempt to practice restorative justice principles by strengthening the damaged relationship between offenders and the community. Using qualitative data, the paper examines the impact of the course on court‐involved youth and the college students, and provides a detailed description of the course itself. Problems and issues are also discussed to facilitate replication of the class.


The applications of coherent elastic neutron scattering from single crystals are reviewed, with emphasis on Earth Sciences materials. The peculiar character of the neutron interaction with matter is naturally exploited in a number of typical experiments: (1) the location of light atoms in the presence of heavy atoms in the structure; (2) the determination of the distribution of elements with similar atomic number over symmetry-independent crystallographic sites; (3) the determination of the position of the atomic nuclei for the extraction of the electron-density distribution by X-N maps; (4) the detailed study of the thermal components of the atomic-displacement parameters. The specific application of neutron-scattering experiments to the study of magnetic structures is not discussed here. The low absorption coefficient for neutrons of most materials suitable for the construction of conditioning chambers (furnaces, cryostats, pressure cells) makes neutron scattering an excellent choice for in situ studies in non-ambient conditions.


In Graham v. John Deere, the Supreme Court explained that patent law's nonobviousness doctrine is meant to restrict the award of patents only to "those inventions which would not be disclosed or devised but for the inducement of a patent." This Article argues that this inducement standard, largely ignored in practice, should serve as the doctrinal polestar. Such an approach would provide a solid economic foundation for the patentability standard and would align patent law with the many other fields of regulatory law that currently apply economic analysis in determining the scope and content of regulation. The Article also offers several refinements to the inducement standard and explains how the patent office and courts could implement the inducement standard in an administrable way.


Hardware reverse engineering is a powerful and universal tool for both security engineers and adversaries. From a defensive perspective, it allows for detection of intellectual property infringements and hardware Trojans, while it simultaneously can be used for product piracy and malicious circuit manipulations. From a designer's perspective, it is crucial to have an estimate of the costs associated with reverse engineering, yet little is known about this, especially when dealing with obfuscated hardware. The contribution at hand provides new insights into this problem, based on algorithms with sound mathematical underpinnings. Our contributions are threefold: First, we present the graph similarity problem for automating hardware reverse engineering. To this end, we improve several state-of-the-art graph similarity heuristics with optimizations tailored to the hardware context. Second, we propose a novel algorithm based on multiresolutional spectral analysis of adjacency matrices. Third, in three extensively evaluated case studies, namely (1) gate-level netlist reverse engineering, (2) hardware Trojan detection, and (3) assessment of hardware obfuscation, we demonstrate the practical nature of graph similarity algorithms.


Turbulence is one of the most interesting and important, yet poorly understood, aspects of fluid mechanics. The transition from an unstable laminar flow to a fully turbulent flow can follow many paths depending on the background flow, stratification, and the boundary conditions. This study reconsiders a well-studied transition route, namely shear instability of a stratified fluid. The primary objectives of this study are the quantification of the effects of confinement by no slip walls on the evolution of Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) billows, the application of metrics from turbulence theory to this flow, and the visualization of the dominant three-dimensional dynamics of the flow at a given time. The results are presented in three chapters. First, the evolution of confined KH billows is examined as it is affected by the vertical domain in a tilted-tube type numerical experiment for a variety of vertical domains and stratifications. The results indicate that confinement dramatically affects the evolution of the KH instability and the induced regions of viscous dissipation. A novel flow structure is the development of anti-billows in the unstratified portion of the domain prior to spanwise destabilization of the flow. Borrowing from turbulent literature the second and third invariants of the velocity gradient tensor (Q and R) are examined as a tool for the visualization and categorization of flow topology. These tools are used to analyze several canonical fluid flows (such as channel flow and Burgers vortex) from an analytical point of view; they are then applied to transitional flows (namely KH billow formation and evolution). Simple extensions to the confined KH billows and turbulent metrics are presented in the final chapter with emphasis on verification of established techniques and an eye for future research directions. The role of no-slip boundaries is investigated and deemed critical to the results of the KH billow simulations. The turbulent metrics Q and R are applied to a different type of numerical simulation (large eddy simulation) and a variety of visualization techniques from the literature is compared with a goal of unambiguously identifying coherent structures.


In this superbly illustrated volume, Daniele Cohn, who has worked alongside Anselm Kiefer for many years, explains the central role the artists studios play in his artistic process. She reveals how Kiefer's ateliers their layout and organization, and their location are intrinsic to his work as a painter and sculptor. The reader is taken on an exploration of Kiefer's ateliers around the world, from the attic of a former school and a disused brickyard in Germany, via ateliers in the rural south of France and the urban setting of the Marais in Paris, to his current studio in Croissy-Beaubourg on the outskirts of the capital. Throughout, we discover how Anselm Kiefer's work spaces have influenced his art.


Although learning resources are often considered as key intellectual property in a competitive higher education world, more and more institutions and individuals are sharing their digital learning resources over the Internet openly and for free, as Open Educational Resources. The OECD's OER project asks why this is happening, who is involved and what the most important implications are of this development. In the following paper some preliminary findings are presented.


This paper examines corporate interests in the evolution of the Internet, arguing that the Internet is not a neutral configuration of technologies. In reviewing the state's role in regulating the Internet, the paradoxical alliance between the neoliberal economic and political agenda and advocacy of an open unregulated Internet is highlighted. Evidence of neoliberal strategies in telecommunication, broadcasting and the Internet is considered alongside private sector interests in exploiting labour power, in managing information diversity and in creating new choke points on the Internet. In the cases of infrastructure investment, content production and radio spectrum policy the continuing primacy of market valuation suggests that the neoliberal paradigm is influencing whether the state seeks to regulate indicating that there is a need for pro-active policy and regulatory intervention to secure the Internet as a communicative space for an engaged citizenry.


In mid -February  1949, workers at  the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Québec, voted to strike against the American-owned Johns-Manville Company. This work stoppage precipitated a provincial industry-wide strike that lasted for almost five months. The 1949 Asbestos strike has been incorporated into Québec's broader political historiography, and is generally regarded as a critical turning point in the history of labour and social relations in French-speaking Canada. Yet the environmental health aspects of the conflict in Asbestos remain largely unexamined. Showing how environmental health issues were a trigger for the strike and a sustained goal of the Asbestos workers seeking improvements in their conditions of work, this article demonstrates how central dust and disease were in the negotiations and arbitration hearings involving unionized workers and the company, both in 1949 and in the years that followed. It also accents the extent to which these environmental issues became health concerns that spread throughout the community. In looking at the Asbestos strike of 1949 through the lens of environmental concerns, fresh insight is gained about the nature of one of Canada's major labour conflicts, expanding our understanding of how health issues emerging in the workplace but extending well past it can affect the nature of everyday life and well being in a resource community.


To encourage individuals and businesses to write in simpler, more readable English, private and government-backed enterprises have created a number of freely available online resources. While most relate to general English use, some are devoted to writing about medical matters. In this summary article, I take a brief look at what is available and how good it is.


This solo exhibition aimed at examining my works in comparison to a wider construct of contemporary British painting. Emerging from the transformations of the British art scene over the last two decades is a pool of artists working in the field of abstract painting. As a loose group of well-established innovators these artists opening up complex new meanings for abstract art in particular by questioning what constitutes a painting and how it is made. The values of abstraction in Britain today are very much at one-remove from the rigours of modernist Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism.

By mixing and grinding decorators materials and graphic symbols, I am responding not only to the concerns of my generation (Fiona Rae, Ian Davenport, Paul Morrison, Glenn Brown, Gary Hume etc), but also synthesising contrasting ideas of popular culture with high art and decoration with humour.

My paintings are constructed by combining poured, abstract configurations of transparent varnishes and opaque household paints with embedded graphic stencils. These technical resources are at the service of a sharp-edged clarity and viscous liquidity. I juxtaposes Baroque elaboration with Morris Louis style poured veils. What becomes visible between the flattened layers are echoes and references to art history and popular culture, unfolding into a multiple mix of sensual and dense visual planes.


We describe a novel fully automatic algorithm for identifying salient objects in video based on their motion. Spatially coherent clusters of optical flow vectors are sampled to generate estimates of affine motion parameters local to super-pixels identified within each frame. These estimates, combined with spatial data, form coherent point distributions in a 5D solution space corresponding to objects or parts there-of. These distributions are temporally denoised using a particle filtering approach, and clustered to estimate the position and motion parameters of salient moving objects in the clip. We demonstrate localization of salient object/s in a variety of clips exhibiting moving and cluttered backgrounds.


Recent research in aquatic systems suggests that productivity-richness re- lationships change with spatial scale and that species turnover (i.e., spatial and temporal variation in species composition) plays an important role in generating this scale depen- dence. The generality of such scale dependence and the effects of variation in temporal scale remain unknown. We examined the extent to which the richness-productivity rela- tionship in terrestrial plant communities depends on spatial or temporal scale and evaluated how spatial and temporal turnover (i.e., species turnover in space and time) generates scale dependence in these relationships using data from two Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites (Jornada and Konza). We found a weak hump-shaped relationship (Jornada) and no relationship (Konza) between richness and productivity at the smallest focal scale (1 m 2 at Jornada and 50 m 2 at Konza) at each site, but strong hump-shaped relationships at the largest focal scale (49 m 2 at Jornada and 200 m 2 at Konza) for each site. Relationships between spatial turnover and productivity at each site mirrored the productivity-richness relationships that emerged at the larger spatial scale (i.e., a significant hump-shaped pattern). In contrast, temporal turnover was unrelated to productivity, and hence increasing temporal scale did not appreciably change the form of the productivity-richness relationship. Our study suggests that the way in which productivity-richness relationships change with spatial or temporal scale depends on the form and strength of the underlying relationship between species turnover and productivity. Moreover, we contend that a dominant effect of increasing productivity is the generation of dissimilarity in species composition among localities that comprise a region, rather than increasing the number of species that occur within local communities. Thus, understanding the mechanisms that cause species turnover to vary with productivity is critical to understanding scale dependence in richness-productivity rela- tionships.


A functional weakness of the training market is the extreme difficulty with which potential purchasers of "training" can gauge the quality of training programs in advance of payment. However, no training provider would allow a customer to delay payment of course fees until the course has been completed. In such a circumstance, upon completion of the course, the trainee has received what he wanted to acquire (knowledge and skills), and therefore has a strong incentive to refuse payment. An effective instrument would promote investment in the training market, and also reduce the information gap and improve quality control. This document analyzes the specific problems and pitfalls encountered by previous supply-oriented programs in Paraguay and describes a new approach to microenterprise training, which uses an information system associated with vouchers. The concluding section highlights the challenges still facing this approach, and touches on expectations for future program interventions.


This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin America. Attention is given to understanding the 'working rules', comprising both formal and informal rules, that individuals use in making their decisions for land and forest resources access and use, which in turn affect benefits generation and distribution from such resources use. The dichotomy between formal and informal institutions take on relative importance, it is their interaction that matters in assessing human behavior. Three areas of behavior that affect forest resource use by smallholders and communities are examined: (1) the interface of formal rules, often contained in written laws, and practiced 'rules of the game' that guide how smallholders and communities control, allocate, legitimize and enforce land and forest tenure rights, (2) local systems for forest resource use and management under the imposition of formal regulations and models, and (3) smallholder interaction with markets influenced by the constraints and opportunities produced by formal regulations. The principal findings suggest that in spite of the fact that many governments have introduced progressive policies intended to benefit rural populations and their forest use, it is questionable the extent to which such policies have actually brought about any real change to benefit communities. Exploring the role of informal institutions, as they interact with formal law, is important to explain these outcomes in practice. This study draws on five case studies that provide evidence supporting this argument. Field research was carried out from 2006 to 2007 in four different countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua.


The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) among others has been developing an extensive jurisprudence on the protection of privacy. Its scope is wide and context-dependant, interferences must be provided by a legal framework of certain quality and they must be proportional to a pursued legitimate aim, such as national security.

Two key technologies behind smart-cities, the Internet of Things (IoT) and big-data analytics, are changing the nature, scale and purpose of data collected by institutions, public or private. Yet, most of current research on the topic is focused on EU or US law. With this in mind, and in order to bridge this gap in the literature, this research aims to assess how government surveillance relying on smart-city technologies could create a chilling effect, thus curtailing the actual enjoyment of privacy and freedom of expression.

We argue that smart-cities are likely to (a) generally weaken privacy by allowing massive data-sets to be cross-referenced, and (b) to obscure the purpose of data collection and thus trump individuals' perceptions of privacy. We hypothesis that such phenomena may bring a cloud of suspicion on any collection of data and could create a general chilling effect. In such case, even the strong legal safeguards the Court has discovered in recent years may not be enough to prevent it.


The assessment of the impacts of growing genetically modified (GM) crops remains a major political and scientific challenge in Europe. Concerns have been raised by the evidence of adverse and unexpected environmental effects and differing opinions on the outcomes of environmental risk assessments (ERA).
The current regulatory system is hampered by insufficiently developed methods for GM crop safety testing and introduction studies. Improvement to the regulatory system needs to address the lack of well designed GM crop monitoring frameworks, professional and financial conflicts of interest within the ERA research and testing community, weaknesses in consideration of stakeholder interests and specific regional conditions, and the lack of comprehensive assessments that address the environmental and socio economic risk assessment interface. To address these challenges, we propose a European Network for systematic GMO impact assessment (ENSyGMO) with the aim directly to enhance ERA and post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) of GM crops, to harmonize and ultimately secure the long-term socio-political impact of the ERA process and the PMEM in the EU. These goals would be achieved with a multi-dimensional and multi-sector approach to GM crop impact assessment, targeting the variability and complexity of the EU agro-environment and the relationship with relevant socio-economic factors. Specifically, we propose to develop and apply methodologies for both indicator and field site selection for GM crop ERA and PMEM, embedded in an EU-wide typology of agro-environments. These methodologies should be
applied in a pan-European field testing network using GM crops. The design of the field experiments and the sampling methodology at these field sites should follow specific hypotheses on GM crop effects and use state-of-the art sampling, statistics and modelling approaches. To address public concerns and create confidence in the ENSyGMO results, actors with relevant specialist knowledge from various sectors should be involved.


Abstract The Caribbean region is considered a threatened biodiversity hotspot because of its high levels of biotic endemism and widespread habitat destruction. On Caribbean islands, as elsewhere in the world, ants are a critical component of virtually every terrestrial ecosystem. Nonetheless, the ants of most Caribbean islands remain poorly known. Here, we reviewed historical accounts, compiled published and unpublished ant records, and collected new specimens to document the diversity of ants on the Caribbean island of Barbados, including summary accounts for each species. We expected Barbados to have a relatively depauperate native ant fauna with few endemic species because of high isolation, young age, flat terrain, and high degree of habitat destruction. Furthermore, we expected to find many exotic ants, introduced throughout a long history of international commerce dating back to the 1600s. Our investigations increased the list of ant taxa known from Barbados to 69 (46 New World and 23 Old World). Of these, 62 are represented among specimens we collected, and seven are New World species only known from earlier records. We found that Barbados has fewer New World ant species and more Old World ant species than are known for Grenada and St. Vincent, two neighboring Caribbean islands of similar size. Most of the New World ant species in Barbados are continuously distributed from South American and Trinidad, through the Lesser Antilles and are probably native (i.e., predating human arrival). Some New World species in Barbados, however, may be exotics introduced through human commerce, as are all Old World ant species present. Six previously recorded New World species that we did not find may now be extinct in Barbados. These include Atta cephalotes lutea and Crematogaster brevidentata, the only two ant taxa thought to be endemic to Barbados, each collected just once >110 years ago.


This article reports a survey of 196 river managers in seven states across the USA assessing their perceptions of in‐stream wood. This survey followed corresponding questionnaires given to undergraduate students representing non‐expert views in the same states and in 10 countries around the world. Whereas most students registered predominantly negative views of in‐stream wood (i.e. not aesthetically pleasing, dangerous and needing improvement), American managers perceive rivers with wood as significantly more aesthetically pleasing, less dangerous and needing less improvement than rivers without wood. These views were consistent across different types of managers (conservation, fisheries, forestry, recreation and water), suggesting that because of education, training and field experience beyond the undergraduate degree, managers gain more positive views of in‐stream wood. Analysis of manager responses grouped by years in the profession suggests that professional experience or information within professional networks plays a role. As years worked in the profession increase, managers' responses to photos with and without wood became significantly different, showing sharper discernment in viewing in‐stream wood more positively. We conceptualize evolving management strategies involving wood in American rivers as a series of iterative states within changing human–landscape systems produced by interacting impacts and feedbacks. In this example application, the Interactive, Integrative, and Iterative (III) Framework for Human Landscape Change highlights the importance of public education and policy as necessary feedback linkages to close the gap between people's perceptions of wood and scientific advances that recognize the significant role of wood in rivers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Performance on a target can be modified by contextual elements. For example, when a Vernier is flanked by two lines, offset discrimination deteriorates compared to an unflanked presentation. This contextual modulation is usually explained by local spatial interactions between the Vernier and the flanks. We have shown that this explanation is inadequate. Instead, we propose that flanks interfere most strongly when they are grouped with the Vernier. In a number of experiments, we have shown that interference between flanks and Vernier can be reduced when the flanks form an independent group and the Vernier stands out. Our experiments show that this ungrouping can be established by differences in features like contrast polarity, colour, and stereoscopic depth, as well as flank grouping by figural properties. For example, Vernier discrimination thresholds are significantly lower when the Vernier is flanked by two cuboids compared to being flanked by two lines which are contained in the cuboids. Our results show that global Gestalt aspects are crucial in contextual modulation


The oligomeric state of the chicken liver receptor (chicken hepatic lectin), which mediates endocytosis of glycoproteins terminating with N-acetylglucosamine, has been investigated using physical methods as well as chemical cross-linking. Receptor isolated from liver and from transfected rat fibroblasts expressing the full-length polypeptide is a homotrimer immediately following solubilization in non-ionic detergent, but forms the previously observed hexamer during purification. These results are most consistent with the presence of a trimer of receptor polypeptides in liver membranes and in transfected cells. Analysis of truncated receptors reveals that the C-terminal extracellular portion of this type-II transmembrane protein does not form stable oligomers when isolated from the membrane anchor and cytoplasmic tail. The behaviour of chimeric receptors, in which the cytoplasmic tail of the glycoprotein receptor is replaced with the corresponding segments of rat liver asialoglycoprotein receptor or the beta-subunit of Na+,K(+)-ATPase, or with unrelated sequences from globin, indicates that the cytoplasmic tail influences oligomer stability. Replacement of N-terminal portions of the receptor with corresponding segments of influenza virus neuraminidase results in formation of tetramers, suggesting that the membrane anchor and flanking sequences are important determinants of oligomer formation.


In process-driven organizations, process models are the basis on which their supporting processaware information systems are built. Process modeling today is a highly complex, time consuming and error-prone task. In this paper, we define the abstraction levels of process modeling and extract the business knowledge required for modeling a process. Further, we present a processoriented enterprise ontology framework for capturing all relevant aspects of process models. Finally, we provide a set of application scenarios to illustrate the usage of the ontology framework. In this way, we reduce the complexity of process modeling, enable improved enterprise transparency and help ensuring the quality of designed process models.


This landmark global study makes us rethink what happened when the Cold War ended and our present era was born. The world changed dramatically as the Berlin Wall fell and protest turned to massacre in Tiananmen Square. Now, with deft analysis and a wealth of newly declassified archival sources, historian Kristina Spohr offers a bold and novel interpretation of the revolutionary upheaval of 1989 and, how in its aftermath, a new world order was forged without major conflict. The Post-Wall world, Spohr argues, was brought about in significant measure through the determined diplomacy of a small cohort of international leaders. They engaged in tough but cooperative negotiation and worked together to reinvent the institutions of the Cold War. Exploring this extraordinary historical moment, Spohr offers a major reappraisal of US President George H. W. Bush and innovative assessments of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and President Francois Mitterrand of France. But the transformation of Europe must be understood in global context. Spohr elegantly weaves together the Western and Asian timelines to revelatory effect, by contrasting events in Berlin and Moscow with the story in Beijing, where the pro-democracy movement was brutally suppressed by Deng Xiaoping. Post Square, he pushed through China's very different Communist reinvention. Meticulously researched and brilliantly original, Post Wall, Post Square provides an authoritative contemporary history of those crucial hinge years of 1989-1992 and their implications for our times. The world of Putin, Trump and Xi, with a fractious European Union, rogue states and the crisis of mass migration has its roots in the global exit from the Cold War.


Abstract Objective. There are few prospective studies of the prevalence of colonic neoplasia in the normal population. In order to properly evaluate screening-protocols for colorectal cancer in risk groups (e.g., older subjects or those with a family history), it is essential to know the prevalence of adenomas and cancer in the normal population. Methods. A prospective population-based colonoscopy study on 745 individuals born in Sweden aged 19–70 years was conducted (mean age 51.1 years). All polyps seen were retrieved and examined. Results. Out of the 745 individuals 27% had polyps, regardless of kind. Adenomas were found in 10% of the individuals and finding of adenomas was positively correlated to higher age. Men had adenomas in 15% and women in 6% of the cases. Women had a right-sided dominance of adenomas. Hyperplastic polyps were seen in 21% of the individuals. The presence of hyperplastic polyps was significantly positively correlated to the presence of adenomas. Advanced adenomas were seen in 2.8% of the study participants, but no cancers were detected. Conclusion. One in 10 healthy subjects had an adenoma but advanced adenomas were uncommon. Men and women have a different adenoma prevalence and localization. The results provide baseline European data for evaluating colonoscopy screening-protocols for colorectal cancer risk groups, and the findings may have implications for colon cancer screening in the normal, otherwise-healthy population.


Locating the continuation of the ca. 1.30–1.00 Ga Grenville orogen on continents formerly adjacent to Laurentia is central to resolving the paleogeography of the supercontinent Rodinia. Here we emphasize a correlation of late Mesoproterozoic foreland basins that, prior to truncation by Neoproterozoic rift margins, may have extended west of Laurentia within Rodinia. We propose correlation of the Unkar Group (Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA) with the upper Rocky Cape Group (Tasmania, southeast Australia) based on their similar stratigraphy, 1.25–1.10 Ga depositional age, and detrital zircon U-Pb age distribution and Hf isotope composition. This correlation places Tasmania adjacent to southwest Laurentia in the late Mesoproterozoic, which supports a new paleogeographic model for Rodinia. In this model, Tasmania and crustal fragments of Laurentia comprising the South Tasman Rise and the Coats Land block form key links between the Grenville orogen in southwest Laurentia and the Maud orogen (East Antarctica). A 1.14–1.07 Ga connection between the combined Grenville-Maud orogen and the Musgrave orogen of central Australia is compatible with paleomagnetic data but requires ∼4000 km of relative motion between Australia-Antarctica and Laurentia prior to the final assembly of Rodinia at ca. 0.90 Ga. We hypothesize that the final assembly of Rodinia was achieved by dextral motion between the crust of Australian and Laurentian affinity along a plate boundary concealed beneath ice cover in East Antarctica.


IZA Policy Paper No. 176 APRIL 2021 Labour Market Policy if the General Public Was in Charge This study uses survey data among both a random sample (N = 500) and a convenience sample (N = 2,919) of Flemish adults to assess public support for 24 potential labour market reforms. The results show that there is a lot of public support for (both encouraged and mandatory) training and community service for the unemployed and for the so-called 'job bonus', which are all reforms planned by the Flemish government Jambon I. However, there is little public support for reforms which should make the – apparently strongly desired – increase of the minimum pension to 1,500 euro after taxes possible, such as gradually eliminating early retirement possibilities, decreasing how much equated periods (such as periods of sick leave and unemployment) count towards pension accrual, and (partly) unlinking wages from seniority. This indicates that the end-of-career-debate that the Belgian federal government De Croo I wants to have will not be an easy one. For the planned increased monitoring to fight social and fiscal fraud, there is, however, a lot of public support. Somewhat surprisingly, there is little public support for reforms which aim to strengthen the position of women on the labour market, such as more quota for women in boards of directors in private companies, more parental leave for couples who divide this leave more equally, and increased paternity leave from 10 to 20 days. JEL Classification: J0, J28, J38, J58, J68, J78


Dietary carotenoids have been shown to confer immunological benefits to some species of animals in which males also use these pigments to attract mates. Thus, the potential exists for an allocation trade-off between the sexual and immunological functions of carotenoids. Food availability may also influence immune system function. The present study examined the effects of carotenoid and food availability on the resistance of male guppies (Poecilia reticulata Peters) from four wild populations to the parasite Gyrodactylus turnbulli Harris. Intermediate levels of carotenoid ingestion resulted in the lowest parasite loads, which suggests that carotenoids strengthen parasite resistance at low levels but either benefit parasites or suppress host immunity at high levels. Males raised on the high-food level initially had fewer parasites, suggesting heightened innate immunity relative to males raised on the low-food level. Over the course of the experiment, however, the high-food males supported higher parasite population growth rates than the low-food males. The results obtained emphasize the importance of evaluating the effects of diet on multiple aspects of immune system function, and caution against assuming that positive effects of carotenoids on immunity in one context will automatically translate to other contexts.


Iris recognition system provides automatic identification of an individual based on a unique feature that located inside the iris. To detect these features Ridge Energy Detection (RED) algorithm, which is one of the most accurate and fast identification method to detect iris, features today. RED algorithm is applied to rectangle iris that generated from the normalization process. RED algorithm constructed a template contains the features of the iris by using two types of filter (horizontal and vertical). In this paper, two different rectangle iris templates were generated, the first rectangle iris template is generated as common way in this filed by taking rectangle iris template that contains full iris region, while the other is a novel rectangle iris template which contains a ring from the iris that near to the pupil. Both rectangle iris templates were applied to the RED algorithm in order to compare the accuracy and time between them. The novel rectangle iris template has 0% fault in recognition and faster in extraction process by six times than the common rectangle iris template in extracting the features of iris when using RED algorithm and also three times faster in matching process when comparing with novel rectangle iris template than rectangle iris template that contains full iris region.


The traditional explanation of the emergence of DP-internal possessors (due to H. Paul and O. Behaghel) assumes a kind of structural reanalysis: The DP-internal possessor originated from an adverbal dative DP which became reanalysed as part of the possessee-DP since both DPs supposedly happened to appear adjacent in most cases. This paper proposes a new explanation, based on the development of possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns evolved out of genitive forms of personal pronouns and Old High German still lacked true possessive pronouns. They developed into adjectives only later in the Middle High German period and into determiners in New High German. Adopting a small clause analysis for possessive constructions, the development of possessive pronouns and the emergence of DP-internal possessors can be reconstructed as follows: As personal pronouns they occupied the possessor position within the small clause, and only when they developed into adjectives and determiners, their base position must be higher within the DP leaving the DP-internal possessor position empty which thus could be filled by a full DP which then moves to Spec-DP. This possessor DP was originally case-marked with genitive and not with dative.


Benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis (BRIC) is characterized by episodes of liver dysfunction called cholestasis. During these episodes, the liver cells have a reduced ability to release a digestive fluid called bile. Because the problems with bile release occur within the liver (intrahepatic), the condition is described as intrahepatic cholestasis. Episodes of cholestasis can last from weeks to months, and the time between episodes, during which there are usually no symptoms, can vary from weeks to years.


Part 1 Introduction: defining subjectivism and individualism the inquires ahead. Part 2 Germanic foundations: the rise of the historical school Droysen's subjectivist philosophy of history Austrian philosophy Germanic subjectivist economics situating Menger and Mises. Part 3 Carl Menger's seminal subjectivist legacy: a subjectivist ontology of economic phenomena epistemological intentions and methodological realities critical reflections and open questions. Part 4 Wilhelm Dilthey and subjectivism the human sciences: introduction - from natural to human sciences a descriptive psychology of individuals human agents in their life-world situations agents' expressions and the foundations of the human sciences conclusions and inconclusions. Part 5 Metatheory of the sciences of culture and Man: historical-cultural science and the science of Man neoKantian historical-cultural science empirical reality and scientific inquiry a metatheory of the historical-cultural sciences ontology in Rickert's metatheory Rickert's rejection of human science Rickerts's legacy. Part 6 Human agents and rationality in Max Weber's metatheory for the human sciences: introduction to Max Weber the problem of human agency in economic theory the individual human agent and rationality human agents in situ ontology, rationality and ideal types conclusion - outstanding problems with agent rationality. Part 7 Mises and the subjectivism of economic action: philosophical orientations praxeology: Kantian and realist perspectives human actions and human agency time and human action from praxeology to the relations of human agency concluding observations. Part 8: A retrospective summary.


Book synopsis: An extraordinary yet little-known scientific advance occurred in the opening years of the nineteenth century when a young amateur meteorologist, Luke Howard, gave the clouds the names by which they are known to this day. By creating a language to define structures that had, up to then, been considered random and unknowable, Howard revolutionized the science of meteorology and earned the admiration of his leading contemporaries in art, literature and science.

Richard Hamblyn charts Howard's life from obscurity to international fame, and back to obscurity once more. He recreates the period's intoxicating atmosphere of scientific discovery, and shows how this provided inspiration for figures such as Goethe, Shelley and Constable. Offering rich insights into the nature of celebrity, the close relationship between the sciences and the arts, and the excitement generated by new ideas, The Invention of Clouds is an enthralling work of social and scientific history.


AbstractThe vertebrate immune system is composed of the innate and the adaptive branches. Innate immune cells represent the first line of defense and detect pathogens through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), detecting evolutionary conserved pathogen- and danger- associated molecular patterns. Engagement of these receptors initiates the inflammatory response, but also instructs antigen-specific adaptive immune cells. NOD-like receptors (NLRs) are an important group of PRRs, leading to the production of inflammatory mediators and favoring antigen presentation to Τ lymphocytes through the regulation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules.In this work we focused our attention on selected NOD-like receptors (NLRs) and their role at the interface between innate and adaptive immunity. First, we describe a new regulatory mechanism controlling IL-1 production. Our results indicate that type I interferons (IFNs) block NLRP1 and NLRP3 inflammasome activity and interfere with LPS-driven proIL-Ια and -β induction. As type I IFNs are produced upon viral infections, these anti-inflammatory effects of type I IFN could be relevant in the context of superinfections, but could also help explaining the efficacy of IFN-β in multiple sclerosis treatment.The second project addresses the role of a novel NLR family member, called NLRC5. The function of this NLR is still matter of debate, as it has been proposed as both an inhibitor and an activator of different inflammatory pathways. We found that the expression of this protein is restricted to immune cells and is positively regulated by IFNs. We generated Nlrc5-deficient mice and found that this NLR plays an essential role in Τ, NKT and, NK lymphocytes, in which it drives the expression of MHC class I molecules. Accordingly, we could show that CD8+ Τ cell-mediated killing of target lymphocytes lacking NLRC5 is strongly impaired. Moreover, NLRC5 expression was found to be low in many lymphoid- derived tumor cell lines, a mechanism that could be exploited by tumors to escape immunosurveillance.Finally, we found NLRC5 to be involved in the production of IL-10 by CD4+ Τ cells, as Nlrc5- deficient Τ lymphocytes produced less of this cytokine upon TCR triggering. In line with these observations, Mrc5-deficient CD4+ Τ cells expanded more than control cells when transferred into lymphopenic hosts and led to a more rapid appearance of colitis symptoms. Therefore, our work gives novel insights on the function of NLRC5 by using knockout mice, and strongly supports the idea that NLRs direct not only innate, but also adaptive immune responses.


Every day, everywhere in the world, the right of learners and teachers to quality public education is violated (Dorsi, 2014). The quality of education is undermined by a deficit of appropriately qualified teachers more particularly in the rural areas. It has been observed that there has been moral decadence in contemporary society, and a marked decline in the character, moral values and general behaviour of students coming out of our school system. According to Mangena (2006), modern society has become increasingly more corrupt, lawless, violent, undisciplined and permissive, and that the trend is more apparent among the younger generation. There is, thus, an urgent need for the country to strive to provide quality public education and to ensure that the products coming out of schools have moral values and good ethical behaviour. Research studies by Sergiovanni and Starratt (2007) suggest that, among the major school-related factors that influence learner achievement, teachers matter most. Accordingly, the study sought to investigate issues of the right of learners and teachers to quality public education in Zimbabwe. The investigation employed the documentary research method, and used the secondary documentary sources to gather data. The findings revealed that every learner has a right to quality public education provided by quality teachers. The learners' right to quality public education demands that teachers have a right to quality pre-service teacher education, moral education and in-service teacher education, and continuing professional education, financed by government. Quality education requires quality teachers who also have moral values and good ethical behaviour. The study recommended that government take practical measures to ensure that learners have access to quality education, quality schools staffed by appropriately-qualified school heads and teachers. Finally, a call was made to teacher unions to form a professional teachers' council and establish a code of professional ethics.


Knowledge of key philosophic terms or concepts is vital to the understanding of many issues in Christian theology. Diogenes Allen's book Philosophy for Understanding Theology explores such terms and concepts and their relationship to theology. This new anthology, edited by Allen and Eric Springsted, provides primary texts undergirding that earlier work. The writings included here deal with philosophical issues crucial to the understanding of theology and include responses to those questions from Plato to the present. Whether used alone or as a companion volume, this new reader is a valuable resource for theological studies.


In many practical scenarios, users are faced with the problem of choosing the most preferred outcome from a large set of possibilities. As people are unable to sift through them manually, decisions support systems are often used to automatically find the optimal solution. A crucial requirement for such a system is to have an accurate model of the user's preferences.Studies have shown that people are usually unable to accurately state their preferences up front, but are greatly helped by seeing examples of actual solutions. Thus, several researchers have proposed preference elicitation strategies based on example critiquing. The essential design question in example critiquing is what examples to show users in order to best help them locate their most preferred solution.In this paper, we analyze this question based on two requirements. The first is that it must stimulate the user to express further preferences by showing the range of alternatives available. The second is that the examples that are shown must contain the solution that the user would consider optimal if the currently expressed preference model was complete so that he select it as a final solution.


"The author has managed to combine successfully the professional approach of an anthropologist with that of a novelist to the description of an Indian village community...Srinivas has made a virtue out of the misfortune of losing all his field notes: The Remembered Village is a piece of art which is bound to become a classic of Indian ethnography." (T. Scarlett Epstein, Times Higher Education Supplement). "The real virtue of this most recent contribution by Dr. Srinivas is the consistently human, humane, and humanistic tone oft he observations and of the narration; the simple, straightforward style in which it is written; and the richness of anecdotal materials...He writes modestly as a wise and knowledgeable man. He restores faith in the best tradition of ethnography. Without being popular, in the pejorative sense, it is a book any uninitiated reader can read with pleasure and enlightenment." (Cora Du Bois, Asian Student). "Few accounts of village life give one the sense of coming to know, of vicariously sharing in, the lives of real villagers that this book conveys...The work is holistic in the best anthropological manner; the principal aspects of Rampura life are lucidly sketched and the interrelations among them are cogently considered. ..our collective knowledge and its practical relevance become enhanced." (David G. Mandelbaum, Economic and Political Weekly). "[Srinivas] has described and analyzed life in Rampura in the late 1940s with charm and insight. His book is enjoyable as well as illuminating...In addition to the rich detail of village life and of a number of individual villagers, Srinivas gives us valuable insights into the nature of ethnographic research. He relates how he came to study this particular village. He tells us how he got established in the village, and describes vividly his living quarters...He describes, at various places throughout the book, his reactions to the villagers and his perceptions of their reactions to him. He freely admits his own negative reactions to certain things and certain behavior. He discusses the factors that could and did bias his research...illuminate[s] both the problems and the rewards of the ethnographer...must reading." (Robert H. Lauer, Sociology: Reviews of New Books).


Addressing all those interested in the history of American science and concerned with its future, a leading scholar of public policy explains how and why the Office of Naval Research became the first federal agency to support a wide range of scientific work in universities. Harvey Sapolsky shows that the ONR functioned as a "surrogate national science foundation" between 1946 and 1950 and argues that its activities emerged not from any particularly enlightened position but largely from a bureaucratic accident. Once involved with basic research, however, the ONR challenged a Navy skeptical of the value of independent scientific advice and established a national security rationale that gave American science its Golden Age. Eventually, the ONR's autonomy was worn away in bureaucratic struggles, but Sapolsky demonstrates that its experience holds lessons for those who are committed to the effective management of science and interested in the ability of scientists to choose the directions for their research. As military support for basic research fades, scientists are discovering that they are unprotected from the vagaries of distributive politics.


The synthesis of the heterospirocyclic amino azirine N-methyl-N-phenyl-5-oxa-1-azaspiro[2.5]oct-1-en-2-amine (6a) was achieved from 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyrane (7) via N-methyl-N-phenyltetrahydropyran- 3-thiocarboxamide (11). The reactions of 6a with thiobenzoic acid and Z-Phe-OH, respectively, leading to the corresponding 3-benzoylaminotetrahydropyran- 3-thiocarboxamide (13) and the diastereoisomeric dipeptide amides (14), respectively, demonstrate that 6a is a valuable synthon for the hitherto unknown 3-aminotetrahydropyrane-3-carboxylic acid. The structure of 13 was established by X-Ray crystallography.