Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore how involvement within New Zealand's elite athlete development programme – athlete carding – has impacted the identity construction of this elite athlete population. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 17 carded athletes from 8 different sports, followed by inductive thematic analysis of emerging key themes. In order to ensure that participants' voices were accounted for throughout the data representation process, athlete's individual stories were collated into collective accounts and represented using direct quotes. The potential for participants to become engulfed within the athlete role was evident throughout each of the carded athletes' stories. In many cases this role was consolidated through expectations on athletes' time and energies, as well as external scrutiny and performance pressures resulting from their involvement within the carding system. Whilst many athletes appeared to passively accept an increasing emphasis being placed upon their athlete role identity, some seasoned participants questioned why the carding system encouraged this solitary existence at the expense of a more multi-dimensional sense of self. Results suggest that the carded athlete system it is not currently meeting its potential to develop world class 'holistic' athletes. As such, it is important that High Performance Sport New Zealand re-examines its policy of performance-based funding and engages in a wide-reaching education programme which promotes the importance of athletes developing a well-balanced sense of self alongside their sporting potential.


The probability of developing melanoma of the skin in the United States has been previously reported as a whole entity. This study aimed to describe lifetime risks of cutaneous melanoma by histological subtype among different racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Melanoma cases newly diagnosed in 2005-2007 were obtained from 16 registries participating in the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program. Lifetime risks of developing melanoma subtypes (nodular melanoma, lentigo maligna melanoma, superficial spreading melanoma, acral lentiginous melanoma and desmoplastic melanoma) were examined among non-Hispanic whites, Hispanic whites, Blacks, and Asian/Pacific Islanders. Of the total 43,690 melanoma cases, 18,910 cases (43%) diagnosed with one of the five histological subtypes were included in the study. The results reveal that lifetime risks of melanoma subtypes differ among racial and ethnic groups, and therefore, stratification of the risks by subtype provides useful information in evaluating and counseling patients.


The writ of habeas corpus activates the courts' duty to check the arbitrary or unlawful restraints by the executive on individual liberty. In times of war, the courts have been compelled to determine whether the writ is available to individuals held by the executive outside of the territorial boundaries of the United States. The Supreme Court in Johnson v. Eisentrager, in which World War II detainees were held in Germany, answered in the negative, while in Boumediene v. Bush, involving post-9 11 detainees housed in Guantanamo, reached the opposite conclusion. Operating within these two guideposts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in al Maqaleh v. Gates decided that three detainees held in Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan are not entitled to the constitutional habeas privilege. The purpose of this Article is to explain why the D.C. Circuit got it wrong. Part I provides an overview of the facts and relevant law that formed the basis for the decision. Part II will show that the court misapplied the basic factors set forth initially by the Court in Eisentrager and later clarified by it in Boumediene. Part III will contain a proposed framework that reorients and reframes these factors in order to make habeas jurisdiction analyses more workable and consistent with the historical justifications for the writ, separation of powers considerations, and governing case law. Part IV applies this framework to the Bagram petitions and in doing so highlights the problematics of the D.C. Circuit's decision. In short, under both existing standards and the suggested new way of looking at questions of wartime habeas jurisdiction, I posit that the petitions should not have been dismissed. If left to stand, al Maqaleh will not only cast the detainees into an indefinite legal abyss, but will place the executive beyond the courts' traditional constitutional checking duties, precisely when the wartime executive is most tempted to act outside of established law – that is, when judicial review is most critically needed.


DNA synthesis is a fundamental requirement for cell proliferation and DNA repair, but no tools exist to identify the location, direction and speed of replication forks with base pair resolution. Mammalian cells have the ability to incorporate thymidine analogs along with the natural A, T, G and C bases during DNA synthesis, which allows for labelling of replicating or repaired DNA. The Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) MinION infers nucleotide identity from changes in the ionic current as DNA strands are pulled through nanopores and can differentiate noncanonical nucleotides from natural ones. Here, we demonstrate the use of the ONT MinION to detect 11 different thymidine analogs including CldU, BrdU, IdU, as well as, EdU alone or coupled to Biotin and other bulky adducts in synthetic DNA templates. We also show detection of IdU label, incorporated during DNA replication in the genome of mouse pluripotent stem cells. We find that different modifications generate variable shifts in signals, providing a method of using analog combinations to identify the location and direction of DNA synthesis and repair at high resolution. We conclude that this novel method has the potential for single-base, genome-wide examination of DNA replication in stem cell differentiation or cell transformation.


This paper characterizes the complexity of the core in coalitional games. There are different proposals for representing coalitional games in a compact way, where the worths of coalitions may be computed in polynomial time. In all those frameworks, it was shown that core non-emptiness is a co-NP-hard problem. However, for the most general of them, it was left as an open problem whether it belongs to co-NP or it actually is an harder problem. We solve this open problem in a positive way; indeed, we are able to show that, for the case of transferable payoffs, the problem belongs to co-NP for any compact representation of the game where the worths of coalitions may be computed in polynomial time (also, non-deterministic polynomial time), encompassing all previous proposals of this kind. This is proved by showing that games with empty cores have small infeasibility certificates. The picture is completed by looking at coalitional games with non-transferable payoffs. We propose a compact representation based on marginal contribution nets. Also in this case, we are able to settle the precise complexity of core non-emptiness, which turns out to be Σ2p-complete.


We estimate a sales response model to evaluate the shortand long-term value of pharmaceutical sales representatives' detailing visits to physicians of different types. By understanding the dynamic effect of sales calls across heterogeneous doctors, we provide guidance on the design of optimal call patterns for route sales. Our analyses reveal that the long-term persistence effect of detailing is more pronounced for specialist physicians; the contemporaneous marginal effect is higher for generalists. Free samples have little effect on any type of physician. We also introduce a key methodological innovation to the marketing and economics literatures. We show that moment conditions—typically used in traditional dynamic panel data methods—are vulnerable to serial correlation in the error structure. However, traditional tests to detect serial correlation have weak power and can be misleading, resulting in misuse of moment conditions and incorrect inference. We present an appropriate set of moment conditions to properly address serially correlated errors in analyzing dynamic panel data.


The number of women starting and owning their own businesses has grown dramatically over the past decade. Concurrent with this trend, there has been an increase in the number of research studies focusing on or including women business owners in their samples. This paper reviews empirical research studies on women business owners and their ventures, classifies the studies in a framework, and summarizes trends emerging from this research. To guide future research, a new perspective on women-owned businesses is proposed and research questions, methods, and implications are discussed.


In recent years, the development of high throughput devices for the massive parallel analyses of genomic data has lead to the generation of large amount of new biological evidences and has triggered the proliferation of data mining algorithms for the extraction of meaningful information. Microarrays for gene expression analyses are part of this revolution and provide important insight in molecular biology often in the form of coherent sets of genes representing previously uncharacterized processes. Large amount of data are continuously produced in this form, and computational approaches can significantly improve the efficient use of these results, since comparison among numbers of genes sets can give new meaningful information at no cost from the experimental biology point of view. To address this opportunity we designed and implemented FIT, a scalable, unsupervised algorithm that quantitatively compares different populations of gene sets using two distinct measures of similarity between any two gene sets. These measures are then used to obtain a summary statistic that describes the tightness of fit between sets belonging to two distinct populations of gene sets. We present the results of FIT on two data sets for the study of Lymphoma and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. In both cases FIT was able to recapitulate the previous analyses on these datasets, to extend the results and to extract information likely to offer potential insights into the underlying biology.


Diabetes mellitus is associated with deterioration of glycemic control and progressive metabolic derangements. This study investigated the effect of honey as an adjunct to glibenclamide or metformin on glycemic control in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced in rats by streptozotocin. The diabetic rats were randomized into six groups and administered distilled water, honey, glibenclamide, glibenclamide and honey, metformin or metformin and honey. The animals were treated orally once daily for four weeks. The diabetic control rats showed hypoinsulinemia (0.27 ± 0.01 ng/ml), hyperglycemia (22.4 ± 1.0 mmol/L) and increased fructosamine (360.0 ± 15.6 µmol/L). Honey significantly increased insulin (0.41 ± 0.06 ng/ml), decreased hyperglycemia (12.3 ± 3.1 mmol/L) and fructosamine (304.5 ± 10.1 µmol/L). Although glibenclamide or metformin alone significantly (p < 0.05) reduced hyperglycemia, glibenclamide or metformin combined with honey produced significantly much lower blood glucose (8.8 ± 2.9 or 9.9 ± 3.3 mmol/L, respectively) compared to glibenclamide or metformin alone (13.9 ± 3.4 or 13.2 ± 2.9 mmol/L, respectively). Similarly, glibenclamide or metformin combined with honey produced significantly (p < 0.05) lower fructosamine levels (301.3 ± 19.5 or 285.8 ± 22.6 µmol/L, respectively) whereas glibenclamide or metformin alone did not decrease fructosamine (330.0 ± 29.9 or 314.6 ± 17.9 µmol/L, respectively). Besides, these drugs or their combination with honey increased insulin levels. Glibenclamide or metformin combined with honey also significantly reduced the elevated levels of creatinine, bilirubin, triglycerides, and VLDL cholesterol. These results indicate that combination of glibenclamide or metformin with honey improves glycemic control, and provides additional metabolic benefits, not achieved with either glibenclamide or metformin alone.


Summary As the law moves inexorably to a digital publication model in which books no longer play a role, the problem of how to continue to make the law available to all becomes more acute. Open access initiatives already exist, and more are on the way, but all are limited by their inability to provide more than self-indexed search options for their users. Self-indexing, although a powerful alternative to the traditional pre-indexed searching made possible by systems like West's "Key Number" digests, has inherent limitations which make it a poor choice as the sole means of researching the law. But developing a new pre-indexed legal digest would be a prohibitively expensive and complex undertaking, making it unlikely that open access legal information sites can develop and maintain a fully-implemented digesting approach to legal research. This article proposes a reconceptualization of the information already contained within most American judicial opinions in order to permit open access sites to offer a form of pre-indexed research to their users. By mapping a case's location in a graphical representation of the doctrinal development of an issue under consideration, this approach allows the court's citations to prior authority to act as a pre-indexing tool, allows the researcher to update the law by showing more recent cases that have cited to the target case, and gives the researcher the opportunity to trace network links in order to uncover connections between cases that might otherwise have been difficult to discern.


1. A radial immunodiffusion technique was used to determine the concentrations of five rat serum proteins, slow α 1 - and α 2 -globulin, transferrin, albumin and γ 2 -globulin before and after the induction of immune complex nephritis. 2. Four weeks after immunization with renal tubular antigen significant increases in transferrin, slow α 2 -globulin and γ 2 -globulin concentrations were observed but albumin showed a significant fall and slow α 1 -globulin did not change. 3. After the development of proteinuria 7 weeks after immunization significant falls in the concentrations of albumin transferrin and γ 2 -globulin were noted along with significant increases in the macroglobulins, slow α 1 - and α 2 -globulin, the changes being similar to those seen in the nephrotic syndrome in man. 4. At the end of the experiment the typical ultrastructural features of immune complex nephritis were observed.


Abstract The untimely death of Ellen Meiksins Wood on January 14, 2016 deprived the Left of one of its most original voices. Following Meiksins Wood's own approach to political theory, we consider her work about the contradictory relationship between capitalism and democracy, and her commitment to a political program that led beyond capitalism towards a genuinely democratic society, in the context of her life and times.


of paper presented at Bird Strike Committee USA/Canada Meeting, Lake Mary and Sanford, Florida, August 18–21, 2008. A Practical and Cost Effective Approach to Airport Wildlife Management in the Context of Local Landuse: Two Australian Case Studies Phil Shaw Avisure, P.O. Box 404, West Burleigh, Qld 4219, Australia The average strike rates at Australian airports are 4.5, 6 and 0.9 per 10,000 movements for different category airports. These rates reflect the diversity and density of Australian avifauna as well as the littoral distribution of most of our major airports. In the past, isolated and piecemeal management approaches such as fixed position scare devices and dispersal by poorly trained and equipped patrols were ineffective at managing strike risk. Here we describe a practical, cost effective and integrated approach that commences with audit, habitat review and field surveys and is followed by risk assessment and mitigation strategies that are reviewed according to quantifiable targets. Risk assessments are based on both historical strike and current survey data. Mitigation strategies include on and off airport habitat management, regional wildlife population assessments, surrounding landuse refinement, airport staff training programs in addition to expanded options for active dispersal. At each airport the process is coordinated by a local wildlife consultative committee which comprises operators, airport tenants, air traffic control, regulators and local land users and authorities. Two case studies using this approach and spanning the period 19972007 are presented. At one airport strikes reduced by 88% over the first two years of the integrated program. At a second airport strikes reduced by 30% and risk indices reduced by 50% in the first two years of the program. However, in the following 5 years, while strike risk and damaging strikes remained steady, total strikes steadily increased.


Guangdong: Preparing for the WTO Challenge, edited by Joseph Y. S. Cheng. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2003. viii + 370 pp. US$39.00 (hardcover). We have not had such a comprehensive volume as this on Guangdong Province's economy since the seminal study by Ezra F. Vogel, One Step Ahead in China: Guangdong under Reform (1989). Given the importance of Guangdong as a laboratory for China's opening up and economic reforms, the book is a timely contribution, setting the southern province's development in the international context of China's WTO accession. Including a well-articulated synthesis by the editor, Joseph Y.S. Cheng, the volume is divided into 13 chapters covering almost every dimension of Guangdong's economic and social development, from industrial structural change to public finance, education and environmental issues. One theme running through many of these chapters concerns the considerable leeway provided by Beijing for Guangdong to allow its traditional entrepreneurial spirit full sway. Although the book is sometimes insufficiently critical towards the official stance, it also does not shrink from examining the inherent difficulties that have affected Guangdong more than other regions of China, as the province undergoes a chaotic process of transition towards a market economy. Dealing with the question of public finance, Linda Chelan Li's chapter underlines the flawed mechanism that subjects poor localities to greater pressure to enlarge government functions, while the predatory behavior of cohorts of unpaid or partly paid local officials makes the population even poorer. She analyses in great detail the reform of public administration in the province and presents the results of a field study conducted with local officials. This casts a new light on the process-occurring not only in Guangdong-of handing over to social organizations dozens of administrative services originally under the strict control of government departments. Guangdong increased its contribution to national GDP utilizing foreign direct investment from 1995 through 2000. However, the rivalry with the Yangtse River Delta is already palpable. With Taiwanese investment moving north, Guangdong has to find creative ways to maintain its competitive edge. In this context, the growing interaction with Hong Kong constitutes a lever for southern China's economy. The Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) starting in 2004 will surely bring extra dynamism to Guangdong, especially since the mainland has opened up more of its service sector. The changes in industrial structure induced by ongoing reforms and WTO accession are also well documented. The emphasis put on the development of high-tech industries will affect the spatial structure of the province, and the Pearl River Delta in particular. This will exert a deep influence on the structure of exports. Lau Pui-king shows the fiscal reasons that local governments are so actively involved in the economic development of their region. However, a number of questions remain unresolved, such as how provincial authorities can successfully help private enterprises to develop into high-tech enterprises. C. S. Tseng's chapter on Guangdong enterprises' internationalization, although sketchy in some parts, underlines the success of the province's enterprises. …


This paper offers a critical analysis of the popular control-flow-oriented workflow modeling paradigm and argues that time is not just an additional property specified on the top of control flows as it is commonly done in commercial and research workflow models. It also explains why this way of time modeling can easily lead to an inability to properly specify temporal constraints and verify their consistency. The paper proposes a two-level workflow modeling where the control-flow level is used for modeling of control flows, monitoring of workflow execution and reasoning about the order of tasks while the operational level is used for more precise time modelling and verification of temporal constraints.


We propose a novel multi-task pre-training method for Speech Emotion Recognition (SER). We pre-train SER model simultaneously on Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and sentiment classification tasks to make the acoustic ASR model more "emotion aware". We generate targets for the sentiment classification using text-to-sentiment model trained on publicly available data. Finally, we fine-tune the acoustic ASR on emotion annotated speech data. We evaluated the proposed approach on MSP-Podcast dataset, where we achieved the best reported concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) of 0.41 for valence prediction.


This is the second part of a rigorous model evaluation study involving five global Chemistry-Transport and two Chemistry-Climate Models operated by different groups in Europe. Simulated trace gas fields were interpolated to the exact times and positions of the observations to account for the actual weather conditions and hence for the specific histories of the sampled air masses. In this part of the study we focus on a detailed comparison with two selected campaigns, PEM-Tropics A and SONEX, contrasting the clean environment of the tropical Pacific with the more polluted North Atlantic region. The study highlights the different strengths and weaknesses of the models in accurately simulating key processes in the UT/LS region including stratosphere-troposphere-exchange, rapid convective transport, lightning emissions, radical chemistry and ozone production. Model simulated Radon, which was used as an idealized tracer for continental influence, was occasionally much better correlated with measured CO than simulated CO pointing towards deficiencies in the used biomass burning emission fields. The abundance and variability of HOx radicals is in general well represented in the models as inferred directly from the comparison with measured OH and HO2 and indirectly from the comparison with hydrogen peroxide concentrations. Components of the NOy family such as PAN, HNO3 and NO were found to compare less favorably. Interestingly, models showing good agreement with observations in the case of PEM-Tropics A often failed in the case of SONEX and vice versa. A better description of NOx and NOy emissions, chemistry and sinks is thought to be key to future model improvements with respect to the representation of chemistry in the UT/LS region.


This book, the first book-length study of pioneering and prolific filmmakers Ted and Leo Wharton, offers a fascinating account of the dynamic early film industry. As the book demonstrates, the Wharton brothers were behind some of the most profitable and influential productions of the era, including The Exploits of Elaine and The Mysteries of Myra, which starred such popular performers as Pearl White, Irene Castle, Francis X. Bushman, and Lionel Barrymore. Working from the independent film studio they established in Ithaca, New York, Ted and Leo turned their adopted town into "Hollywood on Cayuga." By interweaving contemporary events and incorporating technological and scientific innovations, the Whartons expanded the possibilities of the popular serial motion picture and defined many of its conventions. A number of the sensational techniques and character types they introduced are still being employed by directors and producers a century later.


A new type rhodanine ramification 3-(4'-methoxyphenyl)-5 (2'- arsenoxylphenylazo)- rhodanine (4MORAAP) was prepared as fluorescent reagent in this paper. A new pectrofluorimetry method was proposed to determine the trace bismuth based on the reaction between potassium periodate and 4MORAAP. The fluorescence intensity was found to be quenched by the oxidation of 4MORAAP by potassium periodate with bismuth as catalyst in the buffer medium of potassium hydrogen phthalate-sodium hydroxide (pH=5.2). Under the optimum conditions, the fluorescent intensity was correlated to be linear with the concentration of bismuth over the range of 2.0×10-7-1.8×10-6 g×L-1 and the detection limit was 2.9×10-8 g×L-1. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was 2.4 % for determined1.0×10-6 g×L-1 bismuth (n=11). The method was proved to be sensitive and selective and was successfully applied to determine trace bismuth in domestic water.


Abstract In this article I discuss how Maori and Pacific people are positioned as practical and physical in relation to societal norms. I first discuss the ways that the Maori body has historically been thought about, drawing links between these and contemporary representations of the Pacific sporting body. I use the development of sporting academies to illustrate these points before teasing out some implications for physical educators. To conclude, I argue for a critical physical education pedagogy that embraces the holistic nature of tikanga Maori and one that moves us beyond the limitations continuing to regard Maori or Pacific cultures as 'physical.' Key words: Maori, Pacific peoples, physicality There is a certain stereotype for Maori and Pâkeha that you have to face up to.. .Maori are good at PE... [Teachers need to) ensure that the structure of courses are shaped around their interests, such as sport, so there is a "practical" application they can relate to (Physical Education Teacher, cited Palmer 2000, p. 275, emphasis added). Many physical educators hold on to the idealistic egalitarian philosophy of the 'level playing field,' which describes the sportsfield as an objective site where race, gender, class, and sexuality drop by the wayside to enable people from all persuasions an 'equal opportunity.' Yet, as physical educators, we are not immune to pre-conceptions and, indeed, these affect our practices, as the above statement by a physical educator, taken from Farah Palmer's doctoral thesis, highlights. As a Maori who lives beyond the stereotypical constructions of Maori found within various New Zealand discourses, I am irritated by the continued perception of Maori as either sports-stars or criminals, and, as a consequence, view the above quote as merely a diluted version of such representations. Conceptualising Maori and Pacific peoples as 'practical' or 'physical' will ultimately limit their potential. The purpose of this article is to discuss how Maori and Pacific people are positioned as practical and physical in relation to societal norms. The article firstly discusses the genealogical development (or historical conceptualisation) of the Maori body, tithing this to contemporary representations of the Pacific sporting body and the advent of sports academies in the New Zealand education system. Finally, I suggest that physical educators have a role to play in interrupting the continued subjugation of the Maori and Pacific bodies to the physical realm. Here I argue for a critical physical education pedagogy that realises the holistic nature of tikanga Maori and that moves us beyond the limitations of constructing Maori or Pacific cultures as 'physical.' The Maori body Maori were good at war and they were damn good at playing rugby, so they took on a special status of being Kiwi males with a slightly exotic flavour. (Jock Philips, cited in Schick & Dolan, 1999, p. 56). Where do these preconceptions come from? Or more importantly, how do they appear to be so real, truthful, and 'commonsense'? Firstly, as physical educators, we must recognise that our practice is centred upon educating the body and, furthermore, that how we treat various bodies is shaped by an inconceivably complex power network that works to produce certain 'truths.' When I talk of a 'power complex,' I am suggesting that how we think about and interpret the Maori body can not be located within the languages of any one discourse or institution, but rather throughout multiple diffuse institutions that control the very reality and truths that we come to understand our world by. Put simply, as educators, we are influenced by a myriad of ideas, which impact our practice. From a Maori perspective, I have previously examined how historical and contemporary discourses have imparted a regime of control through the chronic employment of stereotypes aimed at legitimising certain truths about the Maori body. …


The principle of optimism in the face of uncertainty underpins many theoretically successful reinforcement learning algorithms. In this paper we provide a general framework for designing, analyzing and implementing such algorithms in the episodic reinforcement learning problem. This framework is built upon Lagrangian duality, and demonstrates that every model-optimistic algorithm that constructs an optimistic MDP has an equivalent representation as a value-optimistic dynamic programming algorithm. Typically, it was thought that these two classes of algorithms were distinct, with model-optimistic algorithms benefiting from a cleaner probabilistic analysis while value-optimistic algorithms are easier to implement and thus more practical. With the framework developed in this paper, we show that it is possible to get the best of both worlds by providing a class of algorithms which have a computationally efficient dynamic-programming implementation and also a simple probabilistic analysis. Besides being able to capture many existing algorithms in the tabular setting, our framework can also address largescale problems under realizable function approximation, where it enables a simple model-based analysis of some recently proposed methods.


Time-domain analytical solutions of the diffusion equation for photon migration through highly scattering two- and three-layered slabs have been obtained. The effect of the refractive-index mismatch with the external medium is taken into account, and approximate boundary conditions at the interface between the diffusive layers have been considered. A Monte Carlo code for photon migration through a layered slab has also been developed. Comparisons with the results of Monte Carlo simulations showed that the analytical solutions correctly describe the mean path length followed by photons inside each diffusive layer and the shape of the temporal profile of received photons, while discrepancies are observed for the continuous-wave reflectance or transmittance.


Difficulty in balancing the global carbon budget has lead to increased attention on tropical forests, which have been estimated to account for up to one third of global gross primary production. Whether tropical forests are sources, sinks, or neutral with respect to their carbon balance with the atmosphere remains unclear. To address this issue, estimates of net ecosystem exchange of carbon (NEE) were made for 3 years (1998–2000) using the eddy‐covariance technique in a tropical wet forest in Costa Rica. Measurements were made from a 42 m tower centred in an old‐growth forest. Under unstable conditions, the measurement height was at least twice the estimated zeroplane height from the ground. The canopy at the site is extremely rough; under unstable conditions the median aerodynamic roughness length ranged from 2.4 to 3.6 m. No relationship between NEE and friction velocity (u*) was found using all of the 30‐min averages. However, there was a linear relationship between the nighttime NEE and averaged u* (R2 = 0.98). The diurnal pattern of flux was similar to that found in other tropical forests, with mean daytime NEE ca. − 18 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 and mean nighttime NEE 4.6 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1. However, because ∼ 80% of the nighttime data in this forest were collected during low u* conditions (< 0.2 m s−1), nighttime NEE was likely underestimated. Using an alternative analysis, mean nighttime NEE increased to 7.05 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1. There were interannual differences in NEE, but seasonal differences were not apparent. Irradiance accounted for ∼ 51% of the variation in the daytime fluxes, with temperature and vapour pressure deficit together accounting for another ∼ 20%. Light compensation points ranged from 100 to 207 μmol PPFD m−2 s−1. No was relationship was found between 30‐min nighttime NEE and tower‐top air temperature. A weak relationship was found between hourly nighttime NEE and canopy air temperature using data averaged hourly over the entire sampling period (Q10 = 1.79, R2 = 0.17). The contribution of below‐sensor storage was fairly constant from day to day. Our data indicate that this forest was a slight carbon source in 1998 (0.05 to −1.33 t C ha−1 yr−1), a moderate sink in 1999 (−1.53 to −3.14 t C ha−1 yr−1), and a strong sink in 2000 (−5.97 to −7.92 t C ha−1 yr−1). This trend is interpreted as relating to the dissipation of warm‐phase El Niño effects over the course of this study.


We are working as clinical psychologists in a long term care institution with physically and psychically dependent older patients, some of whom suffering from of Alzheimer or other types of dementia. For some of them, we have set up a therapeutical service to remobilize psychical functioning, in order to stimulate their creative potential and their capacity to experience pleasure. Indeed, these residents have to cope with multiple losses due to ageing, including the ultimate loss, that of their life. Among these losses, the loss of their dwelling, and sometimes that of their husband or wife, and its corollary, the adaptation to the institution, often causes great suffering, at both personal and familial levels. With Photolangage, we propose a therapeutical framework susceptible to bring help and support, in order to let them work through and assimilate this stage of their life.


Although penile fracture is a rare case, it is a well-described urologic emergency. It results from the rupture of the tunica albuginea of corpora cavernosa by blunt strain that commonly mandates immediate surgical exploration. Urethral injury may also accompany penile fracture. An ideal anamnesis and a special physical examination were determinant to achieve a correct diagnosis. It is usually diagnosed based on clinical examination, but ultrasonography can be very helpful in diagnosis. The treatment is based on the presence of associated urethral injury. Early surgery is preferable to conservative management, because it is associated with better outcomes and fewer long-term complications. The surgical repair of cavernous body can produce good results, with a favorable prognosis and minimal rate of complications. We present a penile fracture case of 34-year-old with subtotal rupture of the right corpus cavernosum without urethral injury who treated by early surgery and good results.


Multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) techniques are developed to address challenging classification problems arising in engineering management and elsewhere. MCDA consists of a set of principles and tools to assist a decision maker (DM) to solve a decision problem with a finite set of alternatives compared according to two or more criteria, which are usually conflicting. The three types of classification problems to which original research contributions are made are (1) Screening: Reduce a large set of alternatives to a smaller set that most likely contains the best choice. (2) Sorting: Arrange the alternatives into a few groups in preference order, so that the DM can manage them more effectively. (3) Nominal classification: Assign alternatives to nominal groups structured by the DM, so that the number of groups, and the characteristics of each group, seem appropriate to the DM. Research on screening is divided into two parts: the design of a sequential screening procedure that is then applied to water resource planning in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; and the development of a case-based distance method for screening that is then demonstrated using a numerical example. Sorting problems are studied extensively under three headings. Case-based distance sorting is carried out with Model I, which is optimized for use with cardinal criteria only, and Model II, which is designed for both cardinal and ordinal criteria; both sorting approaches are applied to a case study in Canadian municipal water usage analysis. Sorting in inventory management is studied using a case-based distance method designed for multiple criteria ABC analysis, and then applied to a case study involving hospital inventory management. Finally sorting is applied to bilateral negotiation using a case-based distance model to assist negotiators that is then demonstrated on a negotiation regarding the supply of bicycle components. A new kind of decision analysis problem, called multiple criteria nominal classification (MCNC), is addressed. Traditional classification methods in MCDA focus on sorting alternatives into groups ordered by preference. MCNC is the classification of alternatives into nominal groups, structured by the DM, who specifies multiple characteristics for each group. The features, definitions and structures of MCNC are presented, emphasizing criterion and alternative flexibility. An analysis procedure is proposed to solve MCNC problems systematically and applied to a water resources planning problem.


Golf is a very popular sport with approximately 289,120 people playing golf in Ireland(European Golf Association, 2008). The amount of scientific research that has been conducted into the biomechanics of the golfer and club is limited, with the majority of the research focusing on the golf drive. The purpose of this study was to identify the
biomechanical performance determining factors of the 5-iron golf swing when hitting for maximum distance. Golfer joint kinematics, club swing characteristics and weight transfer data were obtained from thirty male golfers. This data was collected using a twelve camera (250 Hz) motion analysis system (Vicon, Oxford Metrics, UK), Pro V Swing Analyser (Golftek, USA) and a pressure plate (100 Hz) (RSscan Lab Ltd., UK). Participants were divided into two groups, based on their ball launch speed (high vs. low). Those in the high ball speed group were deemed to be the more skillful group. Statistical analysis was used to identify the variables which differed significantly between
the two groups, and could therefore be classified as the performance determining factors. Eight key events were identified during the swing for analysis (take away, mid
backswing, late backswing, top of backswing, early downswing, mid downswing, ball contact and mid follow through).

Significant differences were found between the two groups for club speed, club impact point, the majority of the measured joint angles and angular velocities (X Factor, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip and knee) and weight transfer at
a number of the key events. Two mechanisms are proposed to explain the greater generation of ball speed in the high ball speed group and these are discussed in relation to the results for the individual joint kinematics.


Minimizing time delays in manufacturing vaccines appropriate to rapidly mutating viruses is the key step for improving vaccine effectiveness. The vaccine for the H3N2 flu type has failed for the last two years (~ 15% effective). Here we summarize the state of the predictive art and report the most current results for H3N2 flu vaccine design. Using a 2006 model of dimensional reduction of viral mutational complexity, we show that this model can reduce vaccine time delays by a year or more in some cases.


This is a searing account of George Orwell's observations of working-class life in the bleak industrial heartlands of Yorkshire and Lancashire in the 1930s, the Road to Wigan Pier is a brilliant and bitter polemic that has lost none of its political impact over time. His graphically unforgettable descriptions of social injustice, cramped slum housing, dangerous mining conditions, squalor, hunger and growing unemployment are written with unblinking honesty, fury and great humanity. It crystallized the ideas that would be found in Orwell's later works and novels, and remains a powerful portrait of poverty, injustice and class divisions in Britain. Published with an introduction by Richard Hoggart in Penguin Modern Classics. "It is easy to see why the book created and still creates so sharp an impact...exceptional immediacy, freshness and vigour, opinionated and bold...Above all, it is a study of poverty and, behind that, of the strength of class-divisions." (Richard Hoggart).


Between mid-1939 and mid-1943 almost 2.2 million additional women were recruited into Britain's essential war industries. These consisted, predominantly, of young women recruited into metal and chemical industries. Much of the increased labour supply was achieved through government directed labour initiatives. This culminated, in January 1942, with the Control of Engagement Order whereby women between the ages of 18 and 40 who either entered the labour market or who changed employment were compulsorily directed into jobs and industries that were vital to the war effort. There were also many woman volunteers for such work, partly due to the fact that extreme labour scarcity drove up relative female wage rates. At least 42% of the 18-20 age cohorts and 32% of the 21-25 age cohorts in 1943 worked in the essential industries. Two-thirds of those involved owed their jobs to wartime industrial expansion. The majority of such women entered a world of work that had been previously dominated by men. They obtained considerable training, job experience and pay advantages compared to subsequent age cohorts who were not eligible for war work. This bestowed on them subsequent labour market advantages that would otherwise not have occurred. Using a regression discontinuity design the empirical work shows that the long term earnings benefits of those age cohorts eligible for conscription, measured 30 years after the war, were in the order of between 2% and 9% higher than the age cohorts that followed them.


»Die Geschichte der Sportmedizin in Deutschland. Einleitende Reflexionen zu einem vielschichtigen Forschungsprojekt«. The paper presents the concept underlying a research project on the history of sports medicine in Germany. The origins and most intensive development of sports medicine have been in Germany. In fact, sports medicine in Germany is associated with various doping scandals from the past, beginning with the Sports Medical Service in the former East Germany, which consistently delivered so-called "sustaining means" to East German athletes. However, so too were there the West-German networks of doping doctors like those at Freiburg University, represented by such protagonists as Joseph Keul and Armin Klümper. However, (West-) German society has made these and other sports physicians into celebrities, which seems to be unique compared to other countries. Yet the history of German sports medicine is by no means limited to unethical or even illegal doping. Sports doctors also initiated anti-doping concepts. Beyond doping and antidoping, the history of German sports medicine reveals a broad spectrum of genuine medical aid and research, all located somewhere between prevention, medical and social aid, medication, trauma surgery, and rehabilitation by means of physical exercise, education, and sports. Sports medicine, not only in Germany, "sells" movement and sport as the most effective and legitimate drug against diseases of every kind, and for health and well-being. The project aims to research the remarkable and ambivalent history of German sports medicine by studying new and complex historical documents and oral history. The first and main part of the article provides essentially a state of the art history of German sports medicine, including an overview of the essential steps comprising its complex historical development. The second part is an attempt to conceptualize the current research project with respect to the various issues within


Finite element analysis is conducted on an elastic-plastic full stick contact between a rigid flat and a deformable coated sphere with a soft coating. A combined normal and tangential load is applied to the rigid flat, and the sliding inception is assumed as a result of the decreasing tangential stiffness of the contact junction. As the coating becomes thicker, the static friction coefficient first decreases reaching a minimum and then increases. This demonstrates a friction reduction effect of soft coatings that is opposite to hard coatings. The static friction coefficient decreases with increasing normal load as the contact junction contains more plasticity and becomes more compliant.


Architectural projects contribute to economic development through many channels, including the specifying of materials and building systems. As specification systems become more standardized, relying on familiar manufacturers or product lines, architects inadvertently contribute to concentrations of opportunity – and potentially resulting wealth – along established supply chain channels. With increased globalization of product manufacturers and supply chains, those who benefit from this system are frequently distant from the community in which the project resides. This research identifies an interdisciplinary process to help refocus the economic benefits of material choices through repositioning the design professional within the ecosystem of those decisions. This process leverages architectural services to enhance local economies through social and material capital. Developed through a national research consortium connecting academia and architectural practice, the research is led by a HGA Architects & Engineers and the University of Minnesota who teamed to explore these questions beginning in 2016. Preliminary outcomes of the research identified ways architecture projects could embed data-driven processes within an effective economic development strategy, in turn opening possibilities for architects to impart positive change in a project's local economy and improve their agency in the systems of material and social currency that enable local economic growth. Through this research a 'locally-sourced' design process was developed in which embedding the data of local economic experts within the process of material and systems selections could maximize targeted impact, and architects would be able to track the benefits of these selections for ultimate sustainment. This research not only offers architects an opportunity for expanded architectural services, it also posits an equitable design and construction process with the potential to enhance client relationships, increase supplier partnerships, and benefit local communities.


—The combination of real video images and virtual graphical objects is a basic principle in many computer graphics applications. In recent years, mixed reality has become a widespread technique for superimposing registered three-dimensional models on the real world. Whereas most mixed reality applications use conventional photorealistic rendering methods for overlaying their graphical content, alternative display methods are being developed. We discuss the use of artistic and illustrative rendering techniques for combined real-virtual environments. This concept has a dual purpose. Depending on the type of stylization used, a novel user experience can be created. For instance, the use of a technical illustration style can provide a more appropriate and useful display in a technical design application. Moreover, since the difference in visual realism between real and virtual scene elements is reduced, the environment can become more immersive for the user. In this article, we give a survey of methods for the artistic depiction of combined real-virtual environments and discuss potential applications.


Identifying interesting patterns from a huge amount of data is a challenging task across a wide range of application domain. Especially, for cyber security being able to identify rare types of network activities or anomalies from network traffic data (a.k.a. Big Data!) is an important but time-consuming data analysis task having moderate computing resources. Existing research has shown that it is possible to detect rare anomalies from the summarized version of big data. Therefore, summarization is an effective preprocessing function before applying anomaly detection techniques. This aim of this paper is to improve and quantify the scalability and accuracy of the anomaly detection techniques by using summarization. Hence, we propose a sampling-based summarization technique (SUCh: Summarization Using Chernoff-Bound) which is computationally effective than the existing techniques and also performs better in identifying rare anomalies from twelve benchmark network traffic datasets. The experimental results show that, instead of using original dataset, a summary of the data yields better performance in terms of true positive and false positive rates, when used for anomaly detection with less time required.


Acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) is an acute event characterized by a worsening of the patient's respiratory symptoms that is beyond normal day-to-day variations and leads to a change in medication. Exacerbations of COPD are caused by various factors such as viruses, bacteria, and possibly common pollutants. The study is conducted to know the bacteria predominantly causing the acute exacerbation of COPD in our region. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted among 180 patients, admitted to the pulmonology department of a tertiary care hospital. Bacterial infections of AECOPD were analyzed. The sputum samples were subjected to culture study. Results: About 42.77% of cultures were positive for pathogenic bacteria. Among the pathogenic bacterial growth, the most common pathogenic bacteria isolated in sputum culture was Klebsiella pneumoniae, followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter, Haemophilus influenzae, E. coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Moraxella catarrhalis.


BACKGROUND
Rapid NAT2 acetylation has been considered as a risk factor for developing colon cancer in a number of studies, however the overall results of such studies are inconsistent. To clarify the influence of NAT2 rapid acetylation status on colon cancer risk, we have performed a meta-analysis of 20 published case-control studies (4431 cases, 4547 controls).

MATERIAL/METHODS
Odd ratio was employed to evaluate the risk of colon cancer and NAT2 rapid acetylation status. To take into account the possibility of heterogeneity across the studies, a statistical test for heterogeneity across the studies was performed. The summary odds ratios were assessed by calculating a weighted average of odds ratios for all of the studies.

RESULTS
The pooling of studies based on phenotyping methods indicated that the overall odds ratio of colon cancer risk associated with rapid acetylator was 1.51 (95%CI: 1.07-2.12). However, the risk of colon cancer associated with rapid acetylator from the studies based on genotyping method was lower with a calculated overall odds ratio of 1.06 (95%CI: 0.97-1.15). Pooling studies were also conducted on specific tumour sites and ethnic groups. The results show that effect of rapid acetylator on colon cancer risk was not obviously different.

CONCLUSIONS
The results of our meta-analyses do not support the hypothesis that NAT2 alone is an important risk factor for colon cancer and suggests that NAT2 rapid acetylation status has no specific effect on the risk of developing colon cancer.


OBJECTIVE
To examine determinants of maternal mortality and assess the effect of programmes aimed at increasing the number of births attended by health professionals in two districts in West Java, Indonesia.

METHODS
We used informant networks to characterize all maternal deaths, and a capture-recapture method to estimate the total number of maternal deaths. Through a survey of recent births we counted all midwives practising in the two study districts. We used case-control analysis to examine determinants of maternal mortality, and cohort analysis to estimate overall maternal mortality ratios.

FINDINGS
The overall maternal mortality ratio was 435 per 100,000 live births (95% confidence interval, CI: 376-498). Only 33% of women gave birth with assistance from a health professional, and among them, mortality was extremely high for those in the lowest wealth quartile range (2303 per 100,000) and remained very high for those in the lower middle and upper middle quartile ranges (1218 and 778 per 100,000, respectively). This is perhaps because the women, especially poor ones, may have sought help only once a serious complication had arisen.

CONCLUSION
Achieving equitable coverage of all births by health professionals is still a distant goal in Indonesia, but even among women who receive professional care, maternal mortality ratios remain surprisingly high. This may reflect the limitations of home-based care. Phased introduction of fee exemption and transport incentives to enable all women to access skilled delivery care in health centres and emergency care in hospitals may be a feasible, sustainable way to reduce Indonesia's maternal mortality ratio.


Declining plant species richness in agro-ecosystems and thus reduced habitat quality can have cascading effects on ecosystem functioning, leading to reduced pollination and biological control. Here we test if plant diversity can affect arthropod diversity and abundance on a very small scale, manipulating plant species richness (2, 6, 12 and 20 sown species) in small adjacent subplots (6 × 9 m) in 10 wildflower strips in an agricultural landscape. We simultaneously analyzed the effect of plant species richness, vegetation structure, and plant composition on the species richness and abundance of cavity-nesting wild bees, wasps, their prey and natural enemies, and on the structure of their food webs. By separating the trap-nesting species into functional groups according to their prey, we aimed to understand the underlying patterns for the effects of plant diversity. Increasing plant species richness had a significant effect only on spider-predating wasps, the group of wasps trophically most distant from plants. In contrast, bees and food-web structure were unaffected by plant diversity. Spider-predating wasp abundance negatively correlated with the abundance of spiders, suggesting top-down control. Interestingly, the abundance of spiders was the only variable that was strongly affected by plant composition. The hypothesis that the effect of plant diversity decreases with increasing trophic level is not supported by our study, and the mobility of species appears to play a greater role at this small spatial scale.


We investigate the nonlinear interactions between pulses of two different wavelengths within a single cross-mode-locked femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser. We show that the nonlinear interaction caused by self-focusing can correct for a difference in cavity lengths of as much as +/-3 microm, corresponding to 20% of the pulse width on each round trip. Further, we show that the concept of mean group delay can be extended to a pair of pulses with disparate spectra and spatial distribution in a nonlinear regenerative system.


Dust is formed in the outer atmospheres and winds of AGB stars and severely affects their observed spectra and colours. Synthetic JHK colours from a grid of time-dependent C-star models are presented and compared to observed colours. The combined effects of pulsation and dust are significant, especially for the coolest and most luminous models. We are now extending the calculations with respect to effective temperature, luminosity, stellar mass, and pulsation amplitude, as well as the carbon excess.


Soil temperature can influence the functioning of roots in many ways. If soil moisture and nutrient availability are adequate, rates of root length extension and root mortality increase with increasing soil temperature, at least up to an optimal temperature for root growth, which seems to vary among taxa. Root growth and root mortality are highly seasonal in perennial plants, with a flush of growth in spring and significant mortality in the fall. At present we do not understand whether root growth phenology responds to the same temperature cues that are known to control shoot growth. We also do not understand whether the flush of root growth in the spring depends on the utilization of stored nonstructural carbohydrates, or if it is fueled by current photosynthate. Root respiration increases exponentially with temperature, but Q10 values range widely from c. 1.5 to > 3.0. Significant questions yet to be resolved are: whether rates of root respiration acclimate to soil temperature, and what mechanisms control acclimation if it occurs. Limited data suggest that fine roots depend heavily on the import of new carbon (C) from the canopy during the growing season. We hypothesize that root growth and root respiration are tightly linked to whole-canopy assimilation through complex source–sink relationships within the plant. Our understanding of how the whole plant responds to dynamic changes in soil temperature, moisture and nutrient availability is poor, even though it is well known that multiple growth-limiting resources change simultaneously through time during a typical growing season. We review the interactions between soil temperature and other growth-limiting factors to illustrate how simple generalizations about temperature and root functioning can be misleading.


The majority of churches in South Africa offer some form of healing, be it diaconal, ritual or faith healing. Western and township views on healing differ significantly in terms of the natural and supernatural causes of and cures for illnesses. This article tells the stories of township women who were trapped between the binaries presented by Western, cultural and township healings, and their choicelessness in terms of abortion, adoption, abuse, death and sex. Through narrative counseling, based on social construction theories, the women experienced healing by exploring the healing spaces between the binaries of cultural contexts and Western medicine, through the liberty afforded them by the perspective of a preferred way of being.


This study was a continuation of complex research on the gene pool of indigenous Siberian populations conducted at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences. In the population of South Altaians from the Mendur-Sokkon village, Ust'-Kanskii raion, Altai Republic, polymorphism for the following genetic markers was studied: blood groups ABO, MNSs, Rhesus, Kell, Duffy, and P; erythrocyte acid phosphatase (AcP); phosphoglucomutase 1 (PGM1); haptoglobin (Hp); and transferrin (Tf). The genetic position of South Altaians relative to the populations of the European part of Russia, Siberia, and the Urals was estimated. It was demonstrated that the gene pool of the South Altaian population of Mendur-Sokkon possessed both Caucasoid and Mongoloid genetic characteristics, with the latter prevailing. Genetically, this population is most closely related to Mongols and Nentsis. The genetic distance between South and North Altaians was large; this agreed with earlier genetic data and confirmed anthropological and ethnographic evidence indicating that these two groups had different backgrounds and were at different stages of ethnogenesis.


The synthetic lease is a hybrid financing structure that allows a company to obtain many of the benefits of asset ownership, including capital lease treatment for tax purposes, while treating lease payments as operating expenses on the firm's income statement. Proponents of these off balance sheet transactions argue that the economic benefits to the firm and its shareholders outweigh the costs of complexity and opacity, while critics argue that the benefits of these transactions are the result of short-sighted opportunistic behavior by managers that lead to wealth extraction at the expense of other groups of stakeholders. I jointly examine (1) whether the structure of the synthetic lease provides favorable financing terms for firms that choose this type of transaction, and (2) the economic and financial accounting incentives that influence the manager's financing choice. I find evidence that supports both economic benefits associated with the lease, as well as managers using synthetic lease financing for opportunistic gains. Tests examining the role of the board of directors in the financing decision help to reconcile these two findings, as strong boards serve as a substitute for the opacity of the transaction, and prevent managers from opportunistic behavior. I also find that synthetic lease users have lower costs associated with future bank debt, and these savings do not appear to be the result of withholding information about the synthetic lease from lenders.


Background: To assist physicians with difficult decisions about hospital admission for patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) presenting in the emergency department, we sought to identify clinical characteristics associated with serious adverse events. Methods: We conducted this prospective cohort study in 6 large Canadian academic emergency departments. Patients were assessed for standardized clinical variables and then followed for serious adverse events, defined as death, intubation, admission to a monitored unit or new visit to the emergency department requiring admission. Results: We enrolled 945 patients, of whom 354 (37.5%) were admitted to hospital. Of 74 (7.8%) patients with a subsequent serious adverse event, 36 (49%) had not been admitted after the initial emergency visit. Multivariable modelling identified 5 variables that were independently associated with adverse events: prior intubation, initial heart rate ≥ 110/minute, being too ill to do a walk test, hemoglobin < 100 g/L and urea ≥ 12 mmol/L. A preliminary risk scale incorporating these and 5 other clinical variables produced risk categories ranging from 2.2% for a score of 0 to 91.4% for a score of 10. Using a risk score of 2 or higher as a threshold for admission would capture all patients with a predicted risk of adverse events of 7.2% or higher, while only slightly increasing admission rates, from 37.5% to 43.2%. Interpretation: In Canada, many patients with COPD suffer a serious adverse event or death after being discharged home from the emergency department. We identified high-risk characteristics and developed a preliminary risk scale that, once validated, could be used to stratify the likelihood of poor outcomes and to enable rational and safe admission decisions.


Abstract. The paleoclimatic significance of the perennial ice deposit in Scărisoara Ice Cave has been remarked on since the early 20th century, but a lack of understanding of the processes involved in the genesis, age and long-term dynamics and volume fluctuations of ice hampered all attempts to extract valuable data on past climate and vegetation changes. In this paper, we present a model of ice genesis and dynamics, based on stable isotopes, ice level monitoring (modern and archived) and radiocarbon dating of organic matter found in the ice. Ice in this cave mostly consists of layers of lake ice, produced as liquid water freezes from top to bottom in mid-autumn, and floor ice, produced as inflow water in winter freezes on top of the lake ice. This mechanism was also acting in the past, during the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age. The ice block is not stable in shape and volume, being continuously modified by ablation on top and sides, basal melting and lateral flow. Radiocarbon dating shows that the ice block is older than 1000 years, but ice flow and differential basal melting suggesting that the ice could be much older.


South Africa is presently experiencing a serious shortage of skilled workers. This situation is negatively influencing the economic prospects and global participation of the country. The primary purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of sa's immigration policy to support skills immigration. The outcome of this study indicated that South Africa's immigration policy is restrictive and has undoubtedly influenced the shortage of skills in the country. This study has confirmed the findings of similar studies undertaken by the Centre for Development and Enterprise that South Africa's skills immigration policy is very restrictive and is thus not helpful in addressing the skills shortages of the country


The purpose of this investigation was to determine how co-teaching training using the five models of co-teaching and the eight components of the co-teaching relationship impacts the relationship of co-teachers. Most teachers enter into a co-taught class setting with little to no experience as a co-teacher and this impacts the dynamics of the relationship. The participants in this study were faculty from one public elementary school in the Southeastern United States. The participants included 5 special education teachers and 5 general education teachers. The coteaching pairs taught grades K-5. The effects of co-teaching were examined using a pre/posttest design as well as qualitative surveys to evaluate the teachers' perceptions of their experiences implementing the different co-teaching models throughout the duration of the study. Although there were no significant differences in the pre-test/ post-test results, the participants did report that they benefitted from the professional development related to co-teaching and that they felt that their co-teaching relationships and communication skills were stronger after the training.


Every year consumers voluntarily give away billions of dollars to service workers in the form of tips. The voluntary nature of tipping raises interesting questions about why people tip and what factors influence their tipping decisions. These questions are addressed in a review of theoretical work on tipping and in a metaanalysis of 22 published and 14 unpublished studies examining the predictors of tip size in restaurant settings. Our findings suggest that tipping is predominantly affected by social expectations, server attractiveness, server friendliness and customer mood. Service quality and cost considerations appear to have only weak effects on tipping. The theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of these findings are discussed along with directions for future research.


As part of a symposium issue of the Indiana Law Journal devoted to our Civil Recourse Theory of Tort Law, we respond to criticisms by Judge Calabresi, Judge Posner, and Professors Chamallas, Robinette, and Rustad. Calabresi and Posner criticize Civil Recourse Theory as a bit of glib moralism that fails to generate useful answers to the difficult questions that courts face when applying Tort Law. We show with several examples, both old and new, that the glibness is all on their side. From duty to causation to punitive damages, from products liability to fraud to privacy, our scholarship has had a great deal to say on pressing questions in tort. Posner and Calabresi seem to assume that, because our work engages rather than deconstructs concepts such as 'duty', it cannot address the 'practical' issues raised by tort cases. They have things exactly backwards. Civil Recourse Theory engages Tort Law's concepts precisely in order to address those issues; that is, to a great extent, the point of the enterprise. In a similar vein, Professors Chamallas, Rustad, and Robinette allege that Civil Recourse Theory is blind to various 'realities'; including that Tort Law's value resides in part in its furtherance of certain policies, that it sometimes operates as an agent of injustice, and that it departs in practice from theory. Of course we have never denied any of these obvious truths. Rather, we have argued that, if Tort Law's instrumental value is to be appreciated and enhanced, its content as a body of common law cannot be treated in a facile manner. If its discriminatory impact is to be grasped and eliminated, the particular way in which it empowers injury victims must be made clear. If the behavior of legal actors in the shadow of the law is be understood and evaluated, the structure and content of Tort Law's rules must be rendered more transparent.


Abstract. A network of balloon-borne radiosonde observations employing chilled-mirror hygrometers for water and electrochemical concentration cells for ozone has been operated since the late 1990s in the Tropical Pacific to capture the evolution of dehydration of air parcels advected quasi-horizontally in the Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL). The analysis of this dataset is made on isentropes taking advantage of the conservative properties of tracers moving adiabatically. The existence of ice particles is diagnosed by lidars simultaneously operated with sonde flights. Characteristics of the TTL dehydration are presented on the basis of individual soundings and statistical features. Supersaturations close to 80% in relative humidity with respect to ice (RH ice ) have been observed in subvisible cirrus clouds located near the cold point tropopause at extremely low temperatures around 180 K. Although further observational evidence is needed to confirm the credibility of such high values of RH ice , the evolution of TTL dehydration is evident from the data in isentropic scatter plots between the sonde-observed mixing ratio (OMR) and the minimum saturation mixing ratio (SMR min ) along the back trajectories associated with the observed air mass. Supersaturation exceeding the critical value of homogeneous ice nucleation (OMR > 1.6 × SMR min ) is frequently observed on the 360 and 365 K surfaces indicating that cold trap dehydration is in progress in the TTL. The near correspondence between the two (OMR ~ SMR min ) at 380 K on the other hand implies that this surface is not sufficiently cold for the advected air parcels to be dehydrated. Above 380 K, cold trap dehydration would scarcely function while some moistening occurs before the air parcels reach the lowermost stratosphere at around 400 K where OMR is generally smaller than SMR min .


A novel, quantitative trimethylsilylation approach derivatizing 11 primary phenylalkyl amines (PPAAs), including amphetamine (A) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), was noted. Triggering the fully derivatized ditrimethylsilyl (diTMS) species with the N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide (MSTFA) reagent, a new principle was recognized followed by GC/MS. In the course of method optimization, the complementary impact of solvents (acetonitrile, ACN; ethyl acetate, ETAC; pyridine, PYR) and catalysts (trimethylchlorosilane, TMCS; trimethyliodosilane, TMIS) was studied: the role of solvent and catalyst proved to be equally crucial. Optimum, proportional, huge responses were obtained with the MSTFA/PYR = 2/1-9/1 (v/v) reagent applying catalysts; A and MDA needed the TMIS, while the rest of PPAAs provided the diTMS products also with TMCS. Similar to derivatives generated with hexamethyldisilazane and perfluorocarboxylic acid (HMDS and PFCA) ( Molnár et al. Anal. Chem. 2015 , 87 , 848 - 852 ), the fully silylated PPAAs offer several advantages. Both of our methods save time and cost by allowing for direct injection of analytes into the column; this is in stark contrast with the requirement to evaporate acid anhydrides by nitrogen prior to their injection. Efficiences of the novel catalyzed trimethylsilylation (MSTFA) and our recently introduced (now, for A and MDA extended) acylation principle were contrasted. Catalyzed trimethylsilylation led to diTMS derivatives resulting in on average a 1.7 times larger response compared to the corresponding acylated species. Catalyzed trimethylsilylation of PPAAs, A, and MDA were characterized with retention, mass fragmentation, and analytical performance properties (R(2), LOQ values). The practical utility of ditrimethylsilyation was shown by analyzing A in urine and mescaline (MSC) in cactus samples.


We study action rule based systems with two forms of negation, namely classical negation and "negation as failure to find a course of actions". We show by several examples that adding negation as failure to such systems increase their expressiveness, in the sense that real life problems can be represented in a natural and simple way. Then, we address the problem of providing a formal declarative semantics to these extended systems, by adopting an argumentation based approach, which has been shown to be a simple unifying framework for understanding the declarative semantics of various nonmonotonic formalisms. In this way, we naturally define the grounded (well-founded), stable and preferred semantics for production systems with negation as failure. Next, we characterize the class of stratified production systems, which enjoy the properties that the above mentioned semantics coincide and that negation as failure can be computed by a simple bottom-up operator.


The issue addressed by this study is informed by the experiences of employees in community services in medication-assisted rehabilitation (MAR) in relation to current practices. The study was carried out in a Norwegian municipality with 53,000 inhabitants. An electronic questionnaire with multiple choice answers and options for freetext responses was issued to 11 municipal employees and 13 general practitioners (GPs). The municipal employees perceive the current MAR system as deficient. The diversity of the patients gives rise to great variation in professional experience. Cooperation and follow-up is to a very great extent dependent on the individual concerned. The respondents also state that the medical aspect of MAR work has become overly predominant, and call for a more systematic approach to improve common professional understanding, division of responsibility and coordination. The material suggests that each general practitioner attends to too few MAR patients to be able to accumulate sufficient expertise in treatment and care pathways. Current practice, where general practitioners often feel themselves as 'being useful puppets in the MAR system', is regarded with relatively high dissatisfaction. Respondents in this Norwegian study assert the need to consider a more centralised form of organisation releasing general practitioners from MAR responsibility. In the analysis, the focus was on how municipal employees and general practitioners interpret MAR. This lead to various reflections and issues of concern arising out of the materials obtained.


Use of EPS (expanded polystyrene) geofoam as an ultra lightweight fill for construction over areas of soft ground has increased in recent years. An investigation of the interface friction between geofoam and construction materials that are commonly used with geofoam are presented in this paper. The interfaces studied included geofoam to geofoam, in dry and wet conditions. Geofoam to cast in place concrete as well as geofoam to geomembrane interfaces were also tested. Interface strengths between geofoam and HDPE as well as PVC geomembranes were determined. The effect of geofoam surface degradation due to extended exposure to sunlight on interface strength and adhesion bonding with cast in place were evaluated using field samples and samples degraded by accelerated weathering in the laboratory. The results indicate material density; sample size, stress level and surface moisture do not have significant influence on geofoam to geofoam interface strengths. A strong adhesion bond developed between geofoam and cast in place concrete. Both the peak and residual strength for geofoam and cast in place concrete surfaces were much greater than for geofoam to geofoam interfaces. Degradation due to exposure to sunlight and accelerated weathering in the laboratory reduced the strength of adhesion bonding between geofoam and cast in place concrete. The interface strength between geofoam and geomembranes was found to be much lower than any of the geofoam interfaces.


Influenza pandemics can emerge unexpectedly and wreak global devastation. However, each of the six pandemics since 1889 emerged in the Northern Hemisphere just after the flu season, suggesting that pandemic timing may be predictable. Using a stochastic model fit to seasonal flu surveillance data from the United States, we find that seasonal flu leaves a transient wake of heterosubtypic immunity that impedes the emergence of novel flu viruses. This refractory period provides a simple explanation for not only the spring-summer timing of historical pandemics, but also early increases in pandemic severity and multiple waves of transmission. Thus, pandemic risk may be seasonal and predictable, with the accuracy of pre-pandemic and real-time risk assessments hinging on reliable seasonal influenza surveillance and precise estimates of the breadth and duration of heterosubtypic immunity.


We introduce a highly error resistant method of extracting Itô processes as applied to market data. This method is inspired by an AI method known as Hough transforms (HT). The HT method has been used in extracting geometric shape patterns from noisy and corrupted image data. We use this method to extract simultaneously logistic geometric Brownian motion trends from simulated price histories data. It turns out that this approach is an effective method of extracting market processes for both simulated and real-world market price data.


Can subalpine grasslands recover their pristine conditions if they are abandoned? Since the mid-20th Century, the process of abandonment in European subalpine grasslands due to the decrease in the stocking rate has triggered changes in the forage quality and ecological characteristics of pastures. In this paper we explain the changes (and tendencies) in forage quality and biodiversity in grasslands of Festuca eskia Ramond ex DC from the Aiguestortes National Park (Spanish Pyrenees) that were quasi-abandoned for some years and regained their stocking rate at the beginning of the 21 st Century without great changes in climatic and edaphic conditions during the period. Results show a decrease in forage quality (measured as the content of crude protein, phosphorous, fat and pastoral value) and in specific richness at the beginning of abandonment and a regain when the stocking rate was restored. The changes in the variables studied over the period of loss and recovery of grazing show a direct relation to the changes in the functional groups.


In this classic of Japanese SF from 1964, American astronauts on a space mission discover a strange virus and bring it to Earth, where rogue scientists transform it into a fatal version of the flu. After the virulent virus is released, nearly all human life on Earth is wiped out save for fewer than one thousand men and a handful of women living in research stations in Antarctica. Then one of the researchers realizes that a major earthquake in the now-depopulated United States may lead to nuclear Armageddon...


Robots are steadily becoming one of the significant 21st century learning technologies that aim to improve education within both formal and informal environments. Such robots, called Robots for Learning, have so far been utilized as constructionist tools or social agents that aided learning from distinct perspectives. This thesis presents a novel approach to Robots for Learning that aims to explore new added values by means of investigating uses for robots in educational scenarios beyond those that are commonly tackled: We develop a platform from scratch to be "as versatile as pen and paper", namely as composed of easy to use objects that feel like they belong in the learning ecosystem while being seamlessly usable across many activities that help teach a variety of subjects. Following this analogy, we design our platform as many low-cost, palm-sized tangible robots that operate on printed paper sheets, controlled by readily available mobile computers such as smartphones or tablets. From the learners' perspective, our robots are thus physical and manipulable points of hands-on interaction with learning activities where they play the role of both abstract and concrete objects that are otherwise not easily represented. We realize our novel platform in four incremental phases, each of which consists of a development stage and multiple subsequent validation stages. First, we develop accurately positioned tangibles, characterize their localization performance and test the learners' interaction with our tangibles in a playful activity. Second, we integrate mobility into our tangibles and make them full-blown robots, characterize their locomotion performance and test the emerging notion of moving vs. being moved in a learning activity. Third, we enable haptic feedback capability on our robots, measure their range of usability and test them within a complete lesson that highlights this newly developed affordance. Fourth, we develop the means of building swarms with our haptic-enabled tangible robots and test the final form of our platform in a lesson co-designed with a teacher. Our effort thus contains the participation of more than 370 child learners over the span of these phases, which leads to the initial insights into this novel Robots for Learning avenue. Besides its main contributions to education, this thesis further contributes to a range of research fields related to our technological developments, such as positioning systems, robotic mechanism design, haptic interfaces and swarm robotics.


Exploring non-noble-metal-based bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts remains a challenge for renewable clean energy applications, including metal–air batteries and dual functionality regenerative fuel cells. Herein, a facile two-step rheological phase reaction strategy was proposed to synthesize metallic cobalt modified MnO–C nanocrystalline composites (Co/MnO–C) for efficiently catalyzing oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) and oxygen evolution reactions (OER). The resulting optimal catalyst, Co/MnO–C, exhibits comparable electrocatalytic properties and superior methanol tolerance relative to commercial platinum black catalyst towards ORR. Furthermore, the critical role of cobalt content on ORR catalytic activity was investigated. In addition, Co/MnO–C also displays remarkable OER activity with an overpotential of 385 mV. Importantly, the facile two-step rheological phase reaction strategy described in this work could provide new methodologies for the synthesis of transition-metal-based catalysts and also offers prospects in raising the ORR and OER activity for many different electrochemical energy technologies.


Scholars have focused on elite-level and mass-level changes to explain partisan polarization in Congress. This article offers a candidate entry explanation for the persistence of polarization and the rise in asymmetric polarization. The central claim is that ideological conformity with the party—what I call party fit—influences the decision to run for office, and I suggest that partisan polarization in Congress has discouraged ideological moderates in the pipeline from pursuing a congressional career. I test this hypothesis with a survey of state legislators and with ideology estimates of state legislators who did and did not run for Congress from 2000 to 2010. I find that liberal Republican and conservative Democratic state legislators are less likely to run for Congress than those at the ideological poles, though this disparity is especially pronounced among Republicans. The findings provide an additional explanation for recent patterns of polarization in Congress.


Anna Swanston, Dr. John Henrik Clarke: His Life, His Words, His Works. Atlanta: I AM Unlimited Publishing, 2003. In her timely book, Dr. John Henrik Clarke: His Life, His Words, His Works, Anna Swanston, Clarke's long-time secretary, fully and convincingly chronicles the miraculous rise from utter obscurity to international notoriety of the late and influential African American historian, John Henrik Clarke. Generously using Clarke's own words, Swanston provides interesting and much-needed insight into how Clarke, the son of a poverty-stricken Alabama sharecropper and a man who never received more than a seventh-grade formal education, greatly devoted himself to self-education and serious study. She describes how Clarke hoboed across the United States before settling in his beloved Harlem, New York for the remaining sixty or more years of his life. It was while living and doing low-paying odd jobs in Harlem that Clarke received what the sixth of the eleven chapters of the book calls "the essence of an education". That "essence" came at the hands of some of the great Black minds, well-known and little-know. They included university-trained historians, like Willis N. Huggins, a Ph.D. and author of numerous works on African history; and William Leo Hansberry, a major influence in the push for historical accuracy regarding the history of Africa and her people. Others who Clarke numbered among his "mentors", included the noted journalist, historian, and prolific writer Joel A. Rogers; and the historian and author John G. Jackson, who Clarke called both "a mentor" and "a multi-genius". Most central in Clarke's development as an intellect, Swanston writes, stood the Afro-Puerto Rican bibliophile and historian, Arthur Alfonso Schomburg, whose huge collection of books, pamphlets, and art work regarding African (Black) people worldwide laid the foundation for the world-famous Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York. Swanston quotes Clark in describing Schomburg's influence; "I thank Arthur A. Schomburg; for he is really responsible for what I am, and what value I have in the field of African history and the history of black people the world over," and "Arthur Schomburg literally trained me, not only to study African history and the history of black people the world over, but to teach history as well." During his gradual rise to fame as a noted historian of what he called "African world history," Clarke traveled extensively across the continent of Africa, gaining first-hand knowledge about its people, its culture, and its past and present status in the world. Armed with that knowledge, he dedicated the rest of his life to improving the overall status of Black people (collectively called "Africans" by him) both inside and outside of Africa. Clark's life work was devoted to researching, interpreting, preserving, and promoting the history of African-descended people worldwide. Along the way, he befriended, admired, and advised such historic figures as Malcolm X and Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana's first Black president); and wrote and lectured extensively about African world history. In the 1960s Clarke coordinated a CBS television production on the subject, and even became a well-respected college professor. Clarke is considered by many to be the "Father of Black Studies". Swanston's book also includes an extensive list of Clarke's books, essays, short stories, poetry, book reviews, and magazine and journal interviews. Swanston includes insightfully details of Clarke, the man, and his times. Additionally, her book is jam-packed with partial and even full speeches of Clarke's perspective on some of the key issues in African world history. Clarke writes about the would-be feud between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois; and the tension between Du Bois and Marcus Garvey; and various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement. Clarke even tells about his refusal to write smear books about Martin Luther King, Jr. …


Background Limited data exist on efavirenz pharmacokinetics in HIV-positive pregnant women and neonatal washout. Methods HIV-infected pregnant women receiving 600 mg efavirenz once daily had intensive steady-state 24-h pharmacokinetics profiles during the second trimester (2T), third trimester (3T) and 6–12 weeks postpartum (PP). Maternal and umbilical cord blood samples were drawn at delivery and neonatal washout pharmacokinetics were determined. Therapeutic targets were the estimated 10th percentile efavirenz area under the concentration–time curve (AUC) in non-pregnant historical controls (40.0 μg•h/ml) and a trough concentration (C24 h) of 1 μg/ml. Data were prospectively collected within two trials: IMPAACT P1026s (United States) and PANNA (Europe). Results Among 42 women studied, 15, 42 and 40 had efavirenz pharmacokinetic data available in 2T, 3T and PP, respectively. Median (range) 3T age 33 (20.7–43.5) years, weight 74 (50–132) kg and gestational age 33.4 (28.4–37.9 weeks). Efavirenz AUC during the 3T (60 μg•h/ml) was similar to that reported in non-pregnant adults (58 μg•h/ml). Exposure in the 2T was lower, but within the 0.80–1.25 range. C24 concentrations during pregnancy were lower compared to historical controls on 600 mg efavirenz, however, they were similar to the C24 concentrations after equally potent dose of 400 mg efavirenz. Cord blood/maternal plasma concentration ratio (range) was 0.67 (0.36–0.95). Among 23 infants with washout data available, median (interquartile range) elimination half-life was 65.6 h (40.6–129). HIV RNA viral loads at delivery were <400 and <50 copies/ml for 96.7% and 86.7% of women, respectively. In 3T and PP, respectively, 8/41 (19%) and 6/40 (15%) had AUC below target; 7/41 (17%) and 3/39 (8%) had C24 below target. Conclusions Efavirenz exposure was similar during pregnancy compared with PP, C24 was in line with C24 after 400 mg equipotent efavirenz dosing. Efavirenz readily crossed the placenta and infant elimination half-life was over twice that of maternal participants. Clincaltrials.gov identifiers: NCT00825929 and NCT00042289.


23 A compact and lightweight mechanism has been developed to accurately move a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) scan mirror (a cube corner) in a near-linear fashion with near constant speed at cryogenic temperatures. This innovation includes a slide mechanism to restrict motion to one dimension, an actuator to drive the motion, and a linear velocity transducer (LVT) to measure the speed. The cube corner mirror is double-passed in one arm of the FTS; double-passing is required to compensate for optical beam shear resulting from tilting of the moving cube corner. The slide, actuator, and LVT are offthe-shelf components that are capable of cryogenic vacuum operation. The actuator drives the slide for the required travel of 2.5 cm. The LVT measures translation speed. A proportional feedback loop compares the LVT voltage with the set voltage (speed) to derive an error signal to drive the actuator and achieve near constant speed. When the end of the scan is reached, a personal computer reverses the set voltage. The actuator and LVT have no moving parts in contact, and have magnetic properties consistent with cryogenic operation. The unlubricated slide restricts motion to linear travel, using crossed roller bearings consistent with 100-million-stroke operation. The mechanism tilts several arc seconds during transport of the FTS mirror, which would compromise optical fringe efficiency when using a flat mirror. Consequently, a cube corner mirror is used, which converts a tilt into a shear. The sheared beam strikes (at normal incidence) a flat mirror at the end of the FTS arm with the moving mechanism, thereby returning upon itself and compensating for the shear. This work was done by John C. Brasunas and John J. Francis of Goddard Space Flight Center. For further information, contact the Goddard Innovative Partnerships Office at (301) 286-5810. GSC-15556-1 Cryogenic Scan Mechanism for Fourier Transform Spectrometer This mechanism would be applicable to FTS use in forensic, scientific, medical, and defense industries. Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland


The market pulsates in the teleological dynamism of the economy. The price formations of the market focus on the problem of value. The various goods obtain a common denominator in value judgements through the three stages of evaluation. At the first stage in the ontological base constituted by the analogia proportionis of utility, reason, the mind, can recognise the teleological relationship. At the second stage in this light of aims, reason can appreciate the value relationships in the items' rarity compared with the goals proposed. At the third stage, reason compares the possibilities of means with the aims which count to the person's will, and the various disparate items become of equal value by the decision of the will, in which the standard is the virtue of prudence.  Economic value is measured by money, which is the product of the human society's will following our reason, as the society of monkeys lacks money. Money is such a tool of measuring economic value by which we might acquire anything accor...


ABSTRACT. Magalhaes G.M., Santilli J., Calazans S.G., Nishimura L.T., Cerejo S.A. & Dias F.G.G. [Primary fibrosarcoma im small intestine of dog - Case report.] Fibrossarcoma primario em intestino delgado de cao - Relato de caso. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinaria, 37(2):145-148, 2015. Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Medicina Veterinaria de Pequenos Animais, Universidade de Franca, Av. Dr. Armando Salles Oliveira, 201, Cx postal 82, Parque Universita- rio, Franca, SP 14404-600, Brasil. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Intestinal neoplasms are uncommon in dogs, and among the most frequently diagnosed are smooth muscle, lymphomas and carcinomas. The fibrosarcoma is extremely rare in the intestine of animals of this species therefore, little is known about the macroscopic and behavior of this tumor. Given this unusual intestinal disease in dogs, the present study aimed to report a case of intestinal fibrosarcoma in a poodle breed dog, 15 years old, with no apparent clinical signs. The mass was pedunculated, whitish and firm consistency. The diagnosis was made by histopathology. After four months of surgical excision, there was no recurrence and metastasis. We conclude that the intestinal fibrosarcoma has low aggressiveness, are rare and can present macroscopic pediculated.


Abstract This article contributes to current debates on the role and agency of actors on the receiving end in norm diffusion processes, and explores the role of the Government of Rwanda in appropriating gender equality norms through policy production. It considers policy production as a central meaning-making activity in norm diffusion and applies a definition of appropriation as a discursive mechanism through which meaning is negotiated and constituted. Through an analysis of national policy documents on gender equality, it finds that appropriation occurs when the meaning of gender equality is altered to serve as a central feature in the construction of a 'new' Rwandan identity.


Carbon dioxide chemistry is an area of continuing growth in recent times, due to socioeconomic and environmental reasons. Several methods have now been reported for obtaining N-methylation on primary and secondary amines directly from CO2. We have translated in two microfluidic setups (Slug Flow [SF] and Tube-in-Tube [TiT]) a ruthenium (Ru)-catalyzed process previously reported using a pressure vessel. Here, we demonstrate how the SF approach is more efficient but requires more input to reach a steady state, while the TiT system is less efficient but more tuneable. We have tested these processes on three model amines and two radiopharmaceutical precursors that are routinely used in 11C chemistry. The microfluidic processes tested are also potentially more efficient than the pressure vessel counterpart, in terms of amount of Ru catalyst needed (1% vs. 10%) and projected reaction completion time.


This study examines the characteristics and nature of rumor via mobile communication in contemporary China. By focusing on six concrete case studies with 50+ in-depth interviews, this study observes that mobile phone-mediated rumor has evolved into a special form of popular resistance at the grassroots level. The low-cost and user-friendly mobile device lowers the average protest threshold, creating an unprecedented op-portunity for people, especially those without complicated communication skills, to organize, coordinate, or participate in resistance. The mutual visibility of meta-communication through mobile network greatly increases both credibility of information and sense of security for participation. Additionally, the synchronous mobile communication accumulates rumor dis-course into resistance in a very short time. As a new kind of contentious politics, rumor dissemination via mobile phones show the opposition to government censorship and control of communications, and most im-portant, the resistance against the use of the accusation of "rumor" by authorities to stifle any different voices. (Less)


Dams impound streams, alter sediment regimes and other physicochemical characteristics, and fragment populations. Low-head dams are ubiquitous in eastern North America and impact communities across broad geographic scales. We sampled fish at 25 dams (9 breached, 7 relict, 9 intact) in the Tar, Neuse and Roanoke basins including reaches upstream, immediately downstream (mill reach) of and >500m downstream from each dam (n=75 reaches). CPUE, taxa richness, percent intolerant taxa, individual intolerant taxa and eel abundance were significantly higher in intact dam mill reaches and upstream of breached dams compared to other reaches. Relict dams had no between reach differences. Effects of land-use disturbance (total agriculture, urban, and cleared land covers) was quantified at riparian, reach catchment, and watershed scales at study sites on tolerant and intolerant fish and fish spawning guilds. Watershed and reach catchment scale land-use had the greatest effect on fish communities. Low and intermediate disturbance watersheds and reach catchments with breached dams contained fewer intolerant fish and species, more tolerant fish, and fewer rock-gravel spawners than those with relict and intact dams. These data suggest breached dams warrant higher removal priorities than intact dams and intact dams should be entirely removed on a case by case basis.