In comparison to the Pacific Ocean climate, there has been relatively little research into the climate of the Indian Ocean. Recently, however, studies have examined the variability of tropical Indian Ocean climate and the influence of oscillations such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation and the proposed Indian Ocean Dipole. Existing palaeoclimate records from this region, primarily derived from coral geochemistry, are limited and are largely from the western Indian Ocean with few sites in the eastern Indian Ocean tropics. A Porites microatoll from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, eastern Indian Ocean, was sampled in 1992 and has been analysed to determine the extent of correlation between the corals' geochemistry and climatic data for the site. In order to look for correlations, Oxygen isotope data and various climatic datasets, including sea surface temperature and precipitation, were analysed statistically, using singular spectral analysis, cross-spectral analysis, multi-taper method analysis, and wavelet analysis in addition to visual analysis, to determine the significance of cycles occurring between 1924 and 1992. As a consequence of initial Oxygen isotope results, StrontiumCalcium analysis was also undertaken for the years 1935 to 1992 and the results were statistically analysed with relation to climate records. SST was shown to be influenced by the El Niño Southern Oscillation and potentially by the Indian Ocean Dipole whereas precipitation did not correlate with either. Neither the SST data nor the precipitation data correlated significantly with the geochemical records at meaningful frequencies. The Oxygen isotopes and Strontium-Calcium ratio of Porites coral at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands did not, therefore, appear to be suitable for use as Palaeoclimate proxies. Further research would be necessary to determine the full range of factors that influence the geochemistry of coral at this isolated site and whether alternative proxies from the coral better correlate with climate conditions at the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Table of


The relationships in the stock markets, the impact on them of the structural changes in the economy, the ability to adequately forecast for a certain period are investigated. The analysis of the interdependence of stock prices by using copula functions is carried out. The statistical estimations of copulas on a lattice with a step 0.1 are constructed. The distances in the metric L1 from the empirical copula to the maximum (comonotonic), minimum (countermonotonic) and independent copulas are compared


This paper reports on the results of a controlled experiment in Minnesota in which a random sample of taxpayers was informed that their income tax returns would certainly be closely examined. We analyze reported income of this sample of taxpayers, reported income on their previous year's returns, and reported income from the two corresponding years' returns of a control group of taxpayers that did not receive the letter. We find that the treatment effect varies depending on the level of income. Low and middle income taxpayers increased reported income and tax liability relative to the control group, which we interpret as indicating the presence of noncompliance. The effect was much stronger for those with more opportunity' to evade, as measured by their source of income. However, the reported income of the high-income treatment group fell sharply relative to the control group. We suggest a model based on tax audits as a negotiation that can explain this apparently perverse result.


A state-space model of a second-order random process is a representation as a linear combination of a set of state-variables which obey first-order linear differential equations driven by an input process that is both white and uncorrelated with the initial values of the state-variables. Such a representation is often called a Markovian representation. There are applications in which it is useful to consider time running backwards and to obtain corresponding backwards Markovian representations. Except in one very special circumstance, these backwards representations cannot be obtained simply by just reversing the direction of time in a forwards Markovian representation. We show how this problem can be solved, give some examples, and also illustrate how the backwards model can be used to clarify certain least squares smoothing formulas.


From flora of North West of Iran, four contrasting species in term of frequency and coverage on heavy metal rich soils were selected to study physiological mechanisms for different tolerance of Zn and Cu toxicity in a hydroponic culture experiment. For study of Zn toxicity, Dactylis glomerata and Secale monatum and for Cu, Cichorium intybus and Astragalus echinops were selected. A clear difference was observed between S. monatum and D. glomerata for tolerance to Zn toxicity and between C. intybus and A. echinops for Cu toxicity. Higher sensitivity to Zn and Cu toxicity in D. glomerata and C. intybus was associated with higher Zn and Cu accumulation in root and shoot. In order to determine the possible role of chelating/detoxifying molecules, changes in the content of amino and organic acids in response to metal treatment were studied. A relative high citrate and malate content in D. glomerata in comparison with S. monatum, was not the reason of higher Zn tolerance. In contrast, endogenous malate content in A. echinops was accompanied by higher Cu tolerance in this species. Cysteine was the only possible chelating/detoxifying molecule for Cu, but not for Zn. Our results showed that a high Cu tolerance in A. echinops was associated with higher endogenous and inducible cysteine content of shoot. Activity of peroxidase decreased under Cu toxicity, interestingly, this reduction was much higher in C. intybus (susceptible) when compared with A. echinops (tolerant). Because of possible role of lignin in establishing an apoplasmic transport barrier, higher uptake and transport of Cu into shoot in C. intybus could be due to the result of stronger inhibition of guiacol peroxisdase i.e. inhibition of lignin formation, in this species under Cu toxicity.


Few people recall, and the history books still do not record, the oppressiveness of the practice, and especially the education, of architecture in the 1960s and 1970s. Nothing was permitted in schools or reported in the journals that was not "orthodox modern," and no forms from any other century were allowed. Gropius-Mies-Corbu were the Holy Trinity. There were no "alternative modernisms" (art deco, reductive classicism, and so on) of the type that historians now include in the narrative of the architecture of the twentieth century. Even Louis Kahn's luminous monumentality, redolent of Rome and heroic striving, was often suspect.

The salient assertion of modernism was that the present is so different that the forms of the past are irrelevant. Modernism is well named, since the Latin word modernus means simply "just recent" (from modo , "just now"). From Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier onward this committed designers to a formal vocabulary and problem-solving method that was primarily autarkic and purist: new forms were to be reasoned abstract forms detached from history.

Robert Venturi's "gentle manifesto" Complexity and Contradiction came out at a critical period in architectural history, when "a false complexity [had] recently countered the false simplicity of an earlier Modern architecture" (25).1 Venturi refers to what we now know—pace Charles Jencks—as late modern architecture as histrionic arbitrary forms, and which he and Scott Brown would later categorize as "ducks."2 More significantly, the book arrived at a time when a younger generation was just beginning to feel that modernism had debased the language of architecture with its idealization of the "primitive and the elementary," to the …


In the present work an existing dwelling, situated in the Netherlands, has been modeled by means of a parallel object-oriented simulation tool, called NEST-Buildings. The model is based on a pre-defined collection of elements (e.g., walls, rooms, openings, outdoors, occupants, ventilation tubes and boxes, solar radiation distributors, HVAC equipment, etc.) that are connected to each other conforming a dynamic thermal system. New configurations can be easily handled by adding or removing elements. Moreover, the building elements can be modeled at distinct levels of accuracy ranging from lumped volumes mixed with one-dimensional to detailed CFD&HT models. This approach makes possible the assessment of general-type buildings (residential, services, old, modern, etc.) using the appropriate modeling level at each component. The work is one more step in the improvement of this computer simulation tool. So far, the full simulation of the overall building model is based on block-Jacobi and Gauss-Seidel algorithms. With the current implementation, the computational time for performing practical simulations may become an important impediment as the size of the building increases. For instance, the computational expenses of a family house are far larger than those in a single apartment since the number of rooms, walls, events and so on is bigger. The last advances in this research line, including the use of optimum time stepping, proper mesh sizes, convergence criteria, loop control strategies and the use of other non-linear solvers based on the Newton method, are presented and discussed through comparative analysis of the simulated dwelling. The advances in this direction will help first to better understand the behavior of the already available algorithms and later to speed up the simulations. The second is important in the attainment of optimal designs of dwellings or other type of buildings.


Floods can have a tremendous impact on water resources but their properties may fluctuate at frequencies that defy recognition in short-term instrumented records. Paleoflood deposits provide insight into this component of the hydrological system by preserving evidence of the largest discharges that have occurred on a given river over time periods that often exceed 1000 years. A regional paleoflood analysis currently in progress in the southwestern United States incorporates study sites on more than twenty rivers. Previous studies on rivers in central Arizona and southern Utah indicate periods of flooding around 800-1000 A.D., 1400-1600 A.D., the late 1800's and the present, separated by periods of relative quiescence. These consistent variations in the long-term flood series within a region suggest a hydroclimatic cause. As the paleoflood dataset from the Southwest becomes more complete, it will indicate variations in the spatial and temporal distributions of large floods in relation to past climatic conditions. The present flooding regime, while not particularly anomalous when viewed in the context of the entire paleoflood record, nevertheless does not contradict the possibility that we are moving into a period of climatic response to general global warming.


Brand resonance is the psychological bond and engagement that a customer shares with a brand and the challenge of branding is to develop and augment this interface between brands and customers profitably through deployment of state of the art marketing programmes that can render delighted customers and infuse community-feeling centring the brand. Thus, greater numbers of marketers are using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linkedin etc. to enhance brand visibility and resonance. The aim of this study is to find out the extent to which brand resonance is possible through social media marketing and the dark sides of it. For this an online survey of 300 users selected through convenience sampling was used over a period of one month. The findings are of indicative nature which may be a limitation to draw independent conclusion. However, the study emphasizes that social networking is a strong mechanism to resonate brands as it has manifold potentialities of spreading awareness, generating opinions, influencing consumer behaviour and diffusing viral content. The paper is managed in four sections; the first section being an introduction, the second part explains the methodology adopted, the third part bearing discussion on findings, and lastly the paper concludes with important managerial lessons for digitally marketing brands in line with resonance and high visibility. In a nutshell, the study presents an analysis of the role of social networking or social media marketing in creating brand resonance.


Although maternal health in Ghana has generally improved over the past two decades, the current MMR implies that Ghana"s MMR is approximately 2.4 times higher than the set target in MDG 5. Using data from the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey 2008, an attempt is made in this study to investigate the rural-urban differences in maternal health care (antenatal and delivery care) service utilization in Ghana. Most previous studies focused more broadly on the utilization of MHC services either in the entire country or some parts of the country. This study fills the gap by looking at women from the rural and urban areas with varying standards of living and other socioeconomic attributes. The study also includes some women autonomy variables to find out their effect on MHC service utilization in both areas. Lastly, an attempt is also made to investigate the effect of informal education on the use of MHC services using a logistic regression model. The results from the rural sample show that, women with some degree of autonomy are more likely to use MHC services than their counterparts who lack such autonomy. Again, informal education through the media is more effective in the rural areas than in the urban areas, and wealth still remains an issue particularly in the urban areas.


The placenta is a crucial element of human life. It sustains and enables the development from a small group of cells to a whole organism. The placenta is a unique organ that fulfils multiple roles, from delivery of oxygen and nutrients, to removal of waste products. During embryo implantation, the trophoblast cells on the outside of the blastula invade the maternal endometrium and contact maternal spiral arteries. These trophoblast cells extensively remodel the maternal spiral arteries, establishing a blood supply to the growing embryo. On occasion, elements of this process malfunction, resulting in placental pathology. Pre-eclampsia is a serious and unfortunately common disease that arises only during pregnancy. The main clinical hallmarks of pre-eclampsia are the new onset of maternal hypertension, and proteinuria. These symptoms arise only in the second half of pregnancy, but the pathogenesis lies much earlier in pregnancy. Preeclamptic placentas display reduced invasion of the trophoblast, and restriction of maternal spiral arteries, in turn restricting blood flow to the fetus, and causing a hypoxic state. Epigenetic modifications in the placenta are distinct from those in any somatic tissue. Hypomethylation across the genome, and in particular at promoter regions, imprinted genes, and repetitive regions within the genome of placental cells appears to play a crucial role in the development of the placenta. Therefore, I have hypothesised that alterations to the methylation of placental cells may contribute to aberrant placentation. This thesis demonstrates the first use of Reduced Representation Bisulphite Sequencing to investigate genome-wide DNA methylation in pre-eclampsia/toxaemia. In the course of this investigation, significant progress has been achieved in our understanding of data from Reduced Representation Bisulphite Sequencing, contributing to the bioinformatic and biostatistic pipeline for the analysis of this data. A large number of CpG sites have been identified in a matched cohort of pre-eclamptic placentas to show differential methylation when compared to a cohort of control placentas. The majority of these sites display hypomethylation in pre-eclamptic placentas, and globally, CpG sites from pre-eclamptic placentas show 2% less methylation than their control counterparts. In addition, an investigation has been undertaken into the methylation status of two genes that have shown evidence of differential methylation. This particular study was undertaken in human blood to establish a baseline of normal methylation in a normal, accessible, and well phenotypes tissue. These results will contribute towards our understanding of DNA methylation in both normal and diseased states, with particular emphasis on the role that methylation plays in placental development.


Ganglioneuroma is a rare, differentiated, benign and slow-growing tumor that commonly arises from sympathetic ganglion cells. Most of them are asymptomatic and found incidentally. We here report a quite rare case of silent huge ganglioneuroma growing in both posterior mediastinum and retroperitoneum occurring in a 3.5-year-old girl. The patient was relatively well before and incidentally found to have a huge chest mass by chest X-ray film at an episode of respiratory tract infection. Computed tomography showed a huge tumor extending from bilateral posterior mediastinum to the level of the adrenal gland in the retroperitoneum. Initially, neuroblastoma was highly suspected and 24-hour urine vanillyl mandelic acid was slightly elevated. Cytology by bone marrow aspiration revealed no tumor nests or clumps. Biopsy and pathology proved it as ganglioneuroma (GN). Due to too extensive involvement of the tumor and compression of the vital vessels, surgical removal became difficult. The family of the patient refused surgery due to there being no significant symptoms. Because of the potential for growth of unresectable GN and because the component of neuroblasts could not be completely excluded, the patient was still in dangerous status. The only thing we can do is to keep the family alert and continue regular follow-up.


Despite increasing attention on gender-specific programming for girls involved in the juvenile justice system, not much is known about the effectiveness of gender-specific programs. The authors review the evidence base for the effectiveness of programs for girls in custody or under supervision by examining the evaluation evidence for nine gender-specific programs (which exclusively target girls) and six gender-non-specific programs (which target both girls and boys). Through this process, the authors summarize the evidence of effectiveness available to researchers and practitioners, identify barriers to determining what programs work for adjudicated girls, and make recommendations for building a solid evidence base on what works for adjudicated girls.


A Customer Rewards Program (CRP) or a loyalty program is characterized by customers being rewarded for repeated purchases. The goal of these programs is to increase sales and profit through offering purchase incentives in the form of delayed rewards, as a result influencing customer behavior and in the end increasing company profit. It is an open debate in the literature if such reward programs are truly profitable for the company running it. This thesis therefore proposes a new approach to designing a CRP based on optimization methods with a focus on maximizing the expected profitability of the program. The key finding of the thesis is that such an approach can be applied to CRPs in order to increase the profitability of the companies running such programs. The approach offers promising results towards applicability to specific business segments and as a result towards maximizing the expected profits resulting from customer rewards programs. Since a largescale CRP may require significant developments on existing infrastructure and can pose high costs through the rewards redeemed during the program, the perspective of being able to maximize profits through fine-tuning the program parameters could be of great help. It can even be crucial to a company considering large investments on necessary developments or aiming to increase the returns on an existing CRP infrastructure. As part of the thesis we have analyzed the – at the time of writing – running CRP programs of several major companies present on the Hungarian market based on publicly available data in order to evaluate the applicability of the proposed optimization approach to real-world CRP designs. The analysis done on these real-world CRP designs indicates that the proposed optimization approach is applicable to a class of CRP designs witnessed to be popular among companies operating in various business segments. We have also investigated Hungary's largest pharmacy-chain to gain insight into real-world CRP design considerations. Based on guided interviews conducted with the head of marketing at the aforementioned pharmacy-chain we conclude that the relevant information needed for our proposed optimization approach can be available to a company from business data (e.g. through billing and accounting information) readily available in an integrated IT infrastructure. We also conclude that the proposed theoretical results on CRP design are based on valid mathematical assumptions and correlate to accounting considerations related to the introduction of a CRP program.


We have analysed a new high-resolution e-MERLIN 1.5 GHz radio continuum map together with HST and SDSS imaging of NGC 5322, an elliptical galaxy hosting radio jets, aiming to understand the galaxy's central structure and its connection to the nuclear activity. We decomposed the composite HST + SDSS surface brightness profile of the galaxy into an inner stellar disc, a spheroid, and an outer stellar halo. Past works showed that this embedded disc counter-rotates rapidly with respect to the spheroid. The HST images reveal an edge-on nuclear dust disc across the centre, aligned along the major-axis of the galaxy and nearly perpendicular to the radio jets. After careful masking of this dust disc, we find a central stellar mass deficit Mdef in the spheroid, scoured by SMBH binaries with final mass MBH such that Mdef/MBH ∼ 1.3 − 3.4. We propose a three-phase formation scenario for NGC 5322 where a few (2 − 7) 'dry' major mergers involving SMBHs built the spheroid with a depleted core. The cannibalism of a gas-rich satellite subsequently creates the faint counter-rotating disc and funnels gaseous material directly onto the AGN, powering the radio core with a brightness temperature of TB, core ∼ 4.5 × 107 K and the low-power radio jets (Pjets ∼ 7.04 × 1020 W Hz−1) which extend ∼1.6 kpc. The outer halo can later grow via minor mergers and the accretion of tidal debris. The low-luminosity AGN/jet-driven feedback may have quenched the late-time nuclear star formation promptly, which could otherwise have replenished the depleted core.


Ribosomal S6 kinase 1 (S6K1) is a downstream component of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and plays a regulatory role in translation initiation, protein synthesis, and muscle hypertrophy. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a cellular energy sensor, a negative regulator of mTOR, and an inhibitor of protein synthesis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the hypertrophy/cell growth-associated mTOR pathway was downregulated during muscle atrophy associated with chronic paraplegia. Soleus muscle was collected from male Sprague-Dawley rats 10 wk following complete T(4)-T(5) spinal cord transection (paraplegic) and from sham-operated (control) rats. We utilized immunoprecipitation and Western blotting techniques to measure upstream [AMPK, Akt/protein kinase B (PKB)] and downstream components of the mTOR signaling pathway [mTOR, S6K1, SKAR, 4E-binding protein 1 (4E-BP1), and eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4G and 2alpha]. Paraplegia was associated with significant soleus muscle atrophy (174 +/- 8 vs. 240 +/- 13 mg; P < 0.05). There was a reduction in phosphorylation of mTOR, S6K1, and eIF4G (P < 0.05) with no change in Akt/PKB or 4E-BP1 (P > 0.05). Total protein abundance of mTOR, S6K1, eIF2alpha, and Akt/PKB was decreased, and increased for SKAR (P < 0.05), whereas 4E-BP1 and eIF4G did not change (P > 0.05). S6K1 activity was significantly reduced in the paraplegic group (P < 0.05); however, AMPKalpha2 activity was not altered (3.5 +/- 0.4 vs. 3.7 +/- 0.5 pmol x mg(-1) x min(-1), control vs. paraplegic rats). We conclude that paraplegia-induced muscle atrophy in rats is associated with a general downregulation of the mTOR signaling pathway. Therefore, in addition to upregulation of atrophy signaling during muscle wasting, downregulation of muscle cell growth/hypertrophy-associated signaling appears to be an important component of long-term muscle loss.


Classic epistemic logic focuses on propositional knowledge expressed by "knowing that" operators. However, there are various types of knowledge used in natural language, in terms of "knowing how", "knowing whether", "knowing what", and so on. In [10], Plaza proposed an intuitive know-what operator which was generalized in [16] by introducing a condition. The latter know-what operator can express natural conditional knowledge such as "I know what your password is, if it is 4-digits", which is not simply a material implication. Essentially this know-what operator packages a first-order quantifier and an S5-modality together in a non-trivial way, thus making it hard to axiomatize. In [16] an axiomatization is given for the single-agent epistemic logic with both know-that and know-what operators, while leaving axiomatizing the multi-agent case open due to various technical difficulties. In this paper, we solve this open problem. The completeness proof is highly non-trivial, compared to the singleagent case, which requires different techniques inspired by first-order intensional logic.


This article offers an alternative explanation of the 'Greek crisis' by using the rentier-state theory. Past explanations referred to domestic pitfalls of the Greek economic development or to external constraints such as the incomplete architecture of the Eurozone. Without rejecting these interpretations, we offer a complementary interpretation underlining the facility and large scale with which external funds have flowed into Greece. This pattern was reminiscent of cases of resource-rich countries of the developing world and have created a semi-rentier state. External resources have spread a 'rentier mentality' among state actors and a 'get-rich-quick mentality' among business entrepreneurs and interest groups. Political decisions were characterised by riskaverse attitudes, while private actors spent their energy in seeking political protection rather than in initiating new enterprises. Three factors that played a significant role in shaping the Greek crisis and continue to plague Greece are foreign loans, EU funds and tax evasion.


The studies were undertaken in seven Nursery Schools in order to give emphasis to the value of observational methods of enquiry in work with young children. Three techniques were adopted adhering to the following principles. 1) suitability for use by practising teachers. 2) inviolability of school settings and programmes. The whole is prefaced by a short account of the development of observational techniques over the last century. The First Study is a psychological ecology of the total indoor play space of each Nursery School, using recording schedules to highlight the population densities of the designated areas, their mobility patterns and qualities of elicited behaviours. The Second Study records, with the use of machines, the verbal behavioural responses of the children against the continuing background of uninterrupted play with manipulation of the variable of teacher presence. The third study of teachers' descriptions of the children's behaviours using a standardised multiple choice technique. While each study had its own particular structure, it was hypothesised that each would be complementary to the others. Conducted entirely in the schools, with teacher co-operation, the data was later processed by simple count and by computer. The quality of data from each study dictated the choice of statistical technique. The ecology study revealed the characteristics of the play areas in respect of population density, mobility and qualities of behaviour with reference to sex and age differences. Adult presence was thought to be a most powerful determining influence on children's choice of play area, superceding area density and quality of equipment. Within the second study the manipulation of this variable showed the adult drawing children's verbal response towards herself in a didactic setting with some emphasis on the age factor. She favoured teaching method was Socratic and verbal control was through suggestion rather than request. Ratings of behaviours corresponded favourably with the hypothesised distribution, socio-economic factors playing no part in the judgment of behaviour or quality of home and school integration. Items from the three studies revealed high correlation within each and correlation between children's ways of expressing personal feeling through speech. The educational implications underlying the three studies pointed to the need for wider and more predictive assessment procedures, new ways to promote more intensive interaction between children and adults together with some imaginative departures from the traditional programme. The schools, though happy, positive places, did not appear to be structuring programmes likely to utilise the dynamic forces of human growth and development in the early years.


Despite rapid economic growth and massive inflows of aid, in Mozambique rural poverty is worsening. Agricultural production and productivity have not increased in the last decade. Use of chemical fertilisers and other modern technology is low and decreasing. The present development model emphasises that the government and donor role is to provide human capital and infrastructure, while the private sector is responsible for economic development and ending poverty. The most recent national surveys confirm what is being seen elsewhere in Africa, that this non-interventionist strategy does not raise agricultural productivity or reduce poverty. Of Mozambique's population, 80 per cent is engaged in agriculture, but contributing only one fifth of the GDP. This suggests that investments in agriculture are likely to generate pro-poor growth, both to rural and urban dwellers. The policy failure is increasingly recognised, but donors and government have invested too much political capital in this policy to change easily


PURPOSE
  The comorbidity of chronic pain and sleep disturbances has received increasing research attention in Western clinical pediatric populations; yet, little is known about its sociodemographic and psychological correlates in non-Western community pediatric populations. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of comorbid chronic pain and sleep disturbances and its associated factors in a community sample of Chinese adolescents.

METHODS
  A total of 1,518 adolescents aged from 11 to 19 years participated in this school-based study. Apart from sociodemographic background, participants were assessed on chronic pain, sleep disturbances, depression, perceived stress, and social support. Prevalence of co-occurrence of chronic pain and sleep disturbances was determined. Participants with single symptom were compared with those with symptom co-occurrence on pain characteristics and sleep patterns. Multiple regression model evaluated factors associated with symptom comorbidity.

RESULTS
  While the prevalence of chronic pain and sleep disturbances was 11.4% and 25.6%, respectively, the overall prevalence of comorbid chronic pain and sleep disturbances was 19.1% (95% confidence interval: 16.9, 21.4). Fully adjusted stepwise regression analysis identified being female, more depressive symptoms, and higher perceived stress to be significantly associated with comorbid symptoms. Adolescents with both symptoms reported significantly more pain sites, higher worst pain, and higher pain-associated interference than those reported chronic pain only. Participants with comorbid symptoms also had poor subjective sleep quality, greater sleep disturbances, and more daytime dysfunction than those reported sleep disturbances only.

CONCLUSIONS
  Our data offered preliminary evidence that comorbid chronic pain and sleep disturbances occurred among about one-fifth in the present sample of Chinese community adolescents. Future studies should examine whether the two symptoms interact with each other in affecting the physical, mental, and cognitive development of adolescents.


We present a modelling study of the effect of cirrus clouds on the moisture budget of the layer wherein the cloud formed. Our framework simplifies many aspects of cloud microphysics and collapses the problem of sedimentation onto a 0-dimensional box model, but retains essential feedbacks between saturation mixing ratio, particle growth, and water removal through particle sedimentation. The water budget is described by two coupled first-order differential equations for dimensionless particle number density and saturation point temperature, where the parameters defining the system (layer depth, reference temperature, amplitude and time scale of temperature perturbation and inital particle number density, which may or may not be a function of reference temperature and cooling rate) are encapsulated in a single coefficient. This allows us to scale the results to a broad range of atmospheric conditions, and to test sensitivities. Results of the moisture budget calculations are presented for a range of atmospheric conditions ( T : 238–205 K; p : 325–180 hPa) and a range of time scales τ T of the temperature perturbation that induces the cloud formation. The cirrus clouds are found to efficiently remove water for τ T longer than a few hours, with longer perturbations (τ T ≳10 h) required at lower temperatures ( T ≲210 K). Conversely, we find that temperature perturbations of duration order 1 h and less (a typical timescale for e.g., gravity waves) do not efficiently dehydrate over most of the upper troposphere. A consequence is that (for particle densities typical of current cirrus clouds) the assumption of complete dehydration to the saturation mixing ratio may yield valid predictions for upper tropospheric moisture distributions if it is based on the large scale temperature field, but this assumption is not necessarily valid if it is based on smaller scale temperature fields.


Comparison of Electrocardiographic Findings and Holter Recordings in Patients with Behcet's Disease and Healthy Volunteers
Objective: Behcet's disease (BD) is known as a chronic relapsing, inflammatory process manifesting with multi systemic involvement. The aim of this study was to compare resting electrocardiography (ECG), exercise ambulatory ECG and Holter recording findings and autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in patients with BD versus healthy volunteers. Methods: The present study involved 90 subjects including 54 patients with BD (42 female, 12 male, mean age 29.8 ± 8.1 years) and 36 healthy volunteers (24 female, 12 male, mean age 28.1 ± 4.7) as a control group. All patients and controls had 12 lead ECG recorded at rest and exercise stress test. Digital ECG files were retrieved and analyzed with use of a software system. The corrected QT interval (QTc) was calculated by Bazzet's formula. To test autonomic nervous system function, heart rate variability (HRV) studies were performed Results: Basal clinical, hematologic and biochemical characteristics were similar between groups. PR interval was longer in patients than in controls (161 ± 10, 145 ± 11, respectively, p=0.0005) however atrioventricular block was not detected in any group. Basal heart rate, QRS duration and QTc were similar between groups. All exercise ECG parameters were similar between groups. SDNN was less in patients than in controls; however SDANN was similar in both groups. There was a decrease in RMSSD and PNN50 and this finding was compatible with decreased HRV. Conclusions: Our data suggest that patients with BD may have asymptomatic ANS dysfunction, which is in the form of increased sympathetic and decreased parasympathetic modulation, and power spectral analysis of HRV is beneficial in assessing the ANS function. Also, we concluded that rest and exercise ECG cannot be used to evaluate cardiac involvement in BD.


Formal methods have been used to establish the idea of safety and monitorable properties. Drawing from such work, we provide here two examples of monitorable properties, affecting the security of the systems. In this work we have constructed two sensors using run-time monitors. One of them detect the anomalies in the system operations due to an internal error, while the other due to an disruption by an external agency. A formal representation of the target program is presented establishing the monitorable property used to detect the anomalies. Being able to sense the anomalies during execution is the first step in ensuring the security of a system. Constructing such sensors is the first step in constructing security systems. Such sensors have to detect malfunctions caused both by internal errors and external intrusions. In the examples discussed, the executions are monitored for violations of the identified property by monitors constructed using JavaMop tool. The programs monitored are simple versions of Java programs used in common web applications.


This thesis explores the scope for children's voices offered to children in court mandated investigations regarding custody, residence or contact. The focus is on children who have been exposed to their father's violence against their mother The aim is to study how the legislators' intentions concerning children's participation in this area are implemented in work groups. The assumption is that implementation can be seen as collective learning. Implementation may in this case challenge established relations of power like age and gender orders. Professional discourses on violence have to shift from gender neutral to gendered discourses and discourses on children have to include a participation discourse. Learning which includes a shift in discourses and challenges established power relations is defined as radical learning.The approach is social constructionist and draws on group interviews with social workers specialized in family law.The thesis analyses which discourses of violence and of children are accessible and used at group level. This can be seen as a discursive opportunity structure. The discourses in question are: gender violence, child protection, treatment and family law discourses as well as care and participation discourses. The conclusion is that all these discourses are accessible to the professionals and the effects of the different discourses are discussed regarding the possibilities for creating a safe situation for mother and child during the investigation.The thesis furthermore analyses the organisation of the work groups. These characteristics can be seen as an organisational opportunity structure. The analysis shows different patterns in the groups when it comes to structure and stage of learning process. One group seems to be at the stage where the members are prepared to start talking to the child about the father's violence.The final chapter presents a discussion of radical learning and the possibilities for radical social change when established power relations are challenged.


Autopsy findings in 58 patients with intracranlal lesions were compared with those in 50 control patients for myocardial damage, characterised by a change from a myofibrillar to a granular staining pattern, using a histochemical method for succinic dehydrogenase. Transmurally scattered foci of damaged myocardial fibres were significantly more common (p<0.01) in patients with intracranlal lesions (62%) compared to controls (26%). No victims of sudden violent deaths showed these cardiac lesions. Focal myocardial damage required at least six hours to develop after onset of the acute neurological event and was not observed after the second week. It was associated with lesions producing a rapid increase in intracranial pressure and was usually absent in patients with slowly enlarging or small cerebral lesions. Similar myocardial changes were seen in patients in the control group dying from prolonged shock or other forms of acute circulatory or metabolic failure. The postulated mechanism of cardiac damage in these patients is increased levels of plasma catechola- mines secondary to rapidly increasing intracranial pressure, irrespective of the cerebral pathology. Stroke Vol 15, No 6, 1984


Although the potential of continuous fiber reinforced polymers (FRPs) was recognized more than 50 years ago, bottlenecks such as vulnerability to static fatigue, ultraviolet radiation, alkaline environment, etc., continued to restrict their use as a construction material. Extensive research across the world during approximately the last 25 years has led to a better understanding of properties and behavior of the FRPs under different conditions. Given their lightweight, noncorrosive, and nonmagnetic nature and their high tensile strength, FRP composites are being used as reinforcement in concrete, especially in prestressed concrete construction, anchors for slope stabilization, and use in special structures such as high-speed linear motor railway tracks, MRI units of hospitals, and repair and rehabilitation works. An attempt has been made in this paper to comprehensively put together the various aspects of FRPs, including their structural and durability characteristics, the ongoing research in the areas related to their utilization as a reinforcing material for concrete structures, and the application of FRP sheets in rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete structures. Though issues related to the manufacture of FRP composites and design procedures have not been considered in detail, they have been included for information and completeness. The paper also presents the current thinking on the design and construction procedures using FRP composites—rods and sheets—as reinforcement in concrete construction. It may also be mentioned that the paper is largely based on the case studies and research work carried out in Japan; appropriate references to related work in other parts of the world are also included, though in principle there is very little difference in the approaches being adopted across the world. (150th Anniversary Paper)


From the Publisher:
Kevin David Mitnick was cyberspace's most wanted hacker. Mitnick could launch missiles or cripple the world's financial markets with a single phone call - or so went the myth. The FBI, phone companies, bounty hunters, even fellow hackers pursued him over the Internet and through cellular airways. But while Mitnick's alleged crimes have been widely publicized, his story has never been told. Now Jonathan Littman takes us into the mind of a serial hacker. Drawing on over fifty hours of telephone conversations with Mitnick on the run, Littman reveals Mitnick's double life; his narrow escapes; his new identities, complete with college degrees of his choosing; his hacking techniques and mastery of "social engineering"; his obsession with revenge.


Selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are first-line antidepressants but require several weeks to elicit their actions. Chronic SSRI treatment induces desensitization of 5-HT1A autoreceptors to enhance 5-HT neurotransmission. Mice (both sexes) with gene deletion of 5-HT1A autoreceptors in adult 5-HT neurons (1AcKO) were tested for response to SSRIs. Tamoxifen-induced recombination in adult 1AcKO mice specifically reduced 5-HT1A autoreceptor levels. The 1AcKO mice showed a loss of 5-HT1A autoreceptor-mediated hypothermia and electrophysiological responses, but no changes in anxiety- or depression-like behavior. Subchronic fluoxetine (FLX) treatment induced an unexpected anxiogenic effect in 1AcKO mice in the novelty suppressed feeding and elevated plus maze tests, as did escitalopram in the novelty suppressed feeding test. No effect was seen in wild-type (WT) mice. Subchronic FLX increased 5-HT metabolism in prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and raphe of 1AcKO but not WT mice, suggesting hyperactivation of 5-HT release. To detect chronic cellular activation, FosB+ cells were quantified. FosB+ cells were reduced in entorhinal cortex and hippocampus (CA2/3) and increased in dorsal raphe 5-HT cells of 1AcKO mice, suggesting increased raphe activation. In WT but not 1AcKO mice, FLX reduced FosB+ cells in the median raphe, hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and median septum, which receive rich 5-HT projections. Thus, in the absence of 5-HT1A autoreceptors, SSRIs induce a paradoxical anxiogenic response. This may involve imbalance in activation of dorsal and median raphe to regulate septohippocampal or fimbria-fornix pathways. These results suggest that markedly reduced 5-HT1A autoreceptors may provide a marker for aberrant response to SSRI treatment. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Serotonin-selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are effective in treating anxiety and depression in humans and mouse models. However, in some cases, SSRIs can increase anxiety, but the mechanisms involved are unclear. Here we show that, rather than enhancing SSRI benefits, adulthood knockout (KO) of the 5-HT1A autoreceptor, a critical negative regulator of 5-HT activity, results in an SSRI-induced anxiety effect that appears to involve a hyperactivation of the 5-HT system in certain brain areas. Thus, subjects with very low levels of 5-HT1A autoreceptors, such as during childhood or adolescence, may be at risk for an SSRI-induced anxiety response.


Many doctors believe that bevacizumab (Avastin) is a clinically acceptable alternative to ranibizumab (Lucentis) for patients with wet age related macular degeneration (AMD) and presents a more cost effective alternative for the NHS. However is a doctor acting lawfully when prescribing bevacizumab for patients with wet AMD?

Every drug for clinical use needs a marketing authorisation, commonly called a licence, before it can be lawfully marketed by a drug company in the UK. The marketing authorisation defines the patient group for which the drug can be advertised. A drug that does not have a marketing authorisation is unlicensed and (broadly) can be sold in the EU only if there are no licensed alternatives. But the licensing regime does not impose legal obligations on doctors to use drugs only for the conditions set out in the licence. Using a licensed drug for conditions that are outside those described in the licence is commonly called "off-label" prescribing.

Bevacizumab is licensed for treatment of cancer, but Roche cannot advertise it for wet …


Introduction ... Who is she anyway, this amazing, fascinating, bewildering, spectacular creature; at her best so beautiful, at times so commonplace and coarse and tawdry and painted; so meekly innocent, a veritable saint ... licensed to preach seven nights a week, yet suspiciously familiar with all the deadly sins abhorrent to sainthood; so lacking in reticence, yet withal too timid to her veil in sunlight; a veritable Circe in whose herd may be seen priest and scholar and grimy-faced street urchin, yet, miracle of miracles, dumb--absolutely dumb save for a click in her throat? Whoever she be, one thing is certain: she's into the house bag and baggage, and settled, not in the third floor back, but in the very best room --come to stay. Not even by fasting and prayer goeth she forth...(1) For this high school English teacher, the unscrupled, whorish female was Hollywood's moving picture show. The picture show, he railed, threatened to "disease" the minds of his young students with its flickering "kaleidoscopic jumble of unrelated information."(2) Indeed,the strumpet endangered the very future of education, for how could a teacher possibly present a history, or English, or science lesson that would engage a child's attention so completely as did the moving picture? How could a teacher compete with: ... a runaway express train; a house-fly on the face of a sick baby; a safe- breaker making his get-away; a jolly business man drinking thirty-two cocktails in comic succession; a missionary performing the last sad rites; a brave Indian, the limp heroine in his arms, baffling the villain pursuer by leaping into the ocean from a cliff as high as the steeple of the Park Street church; a waiter tumbling downstairs and smashing his tray of cheap crockery; a chambermaid smoking one of her master's Havanas (awfully funny); a sleeping hobo tied to the rear axle of a touring car and dragged through the street; ... a screaming farce in which two quarreling servants trip and fall into a bed of fresh mortar; a long moral story picturing the miseries of the drink habit, with fascinating views of a fashionable gambling hell, the boudoir of a painted lady, a tenderloin barroom, [and] a squalid room where a murder takes place ...[?](3) Indeed, for educators the advent of the motion picture threatened more than just an English lesson; the picture show, with its unregulated portrayal of American life, imperiled public education's turn-of-the-century mission--the creation of good citizens, whose highly-defined moral behavior would prove that America's experiment with democracy would survive. As discussed below, educational philosophy in the late 1800s embodied scant regard for the expressive rights of children or adults. For, at the turn of the century, the perils of urbanization, industrialization, and immigration so frightened Americans that the great republican experiment seemed doomed to die in anarchy. It was then that Americans turned to their schools; the public school, it was reasoned, would inculcate by rote repetition the values of democracy, of good moral citizenry, such that each child would be "joyous[ly] obedien[t] to the laws of life and the state in general."(4) Of course, such a method of instruction excluded the freedom for a child, a future citizen, to exercise any of the democratic principles of free inquiry or judgment. Clearly, when society's very survival depended upon a tightly controlled educational environment, the motion picture emerged as subject matter over which educators had to gain control. A Preliminary Investigation of Educators as Censors of the Motion Picture Industry Ever since Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope peep-show machine debuted on April 14, 1894, in New York,(5) civic-minded moralists have tried to censor the "pictures that lived and moved."(6) While a substantial body of research has shown that the Catholic Church played a leading part in censoring the motion picture industry,(7) a smaller body of research shows that during the 1920s and 1930s public educators also played a significant role in film censorship. …


Plurisexuals are often interpreted as half gay/half straight due to the prevailing belief that multigendered attractions are temporary, or illusory. This interpretation is also strongly connected to the gender binary, gender norms, and cisnormativity. Based on these social forces, this article explores how plurisexuals represent themselves in a culture that does not see their identities as viable, often through the use of gender norms. Informed by queer theory, this research is based on semi-structured interviews (n = 30) and photo diaries (n = 9). Findings demonstrate that plurisexuals wish to present visually, but are not certain of how to do so. Plurisexuals see gender and sexuality as connected, and reference transforming outfits through feminization or masculinization. Finally, plurisexuals reference the homophobic, monosexist, transphobic social world by describing how they communicate gender and sexual identities only in certain spaces, or for certain audiences.


The typical approach of affordable housing research views cost reduction as one single determinant. Other crucial factors such as lifestyles of the targeted populations, people satisfaction of their current houses and residential environments, and their aspirations and preferences in future houses are always oversimplified or superficially addressed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop and present a comprehensive approach for investigating affordable housing in Saudi Arabia. The approach is based on a new paradigm of research: transdisciplinarity; a form of inquiry that crosses the boundaries of different disciplines. An argument\non the impact of trans-disciplinary thinking on understanding affordable housing is developed, then is placed within the perspective of how lifestyle theories and their underlying concepts including place attachment, appropriation, visual preferences, and people satisfaction, can be integrated into a comprehensive investigatory process. In turn, a framework of inquiry is developed while reflected on affordable housing knowledge types. An interpretation of the framework into a survey tool is conceptualized. The tool is introduced in the form of a questionnaire to be implemented in the context of Saudi Arabia. The testing of the questionnaire\nas a tool of inquiry reveals its validity, corroborates the value of integrating different knowledge types into affordable housing research, and accentuates the value of introducing lifestyle theories as a new form of knowledge necessary for future inquiry on affordable housing.


As an opening reflection to Volume 4 of Patient Experience Journal (PXJ), this editorial reviews the progress of the journal and the implications seen both in the evolving healthcare marketplace globally as well as reviews the data on the developing field of patient experience. It reinforces the need for an integrated view of experience as supported by data in the most recent State of Patient Experience research – one encompassing quality, safety, service, cost and population health implications and one driven on an engine of both patient and family engagement and employee/staff engagement. The article offers that healthcare is as dynamic as it has ever been and is now being pushed at speeds it has not been built to handle, suggesting the need for agility and vision, redesign and expanded thinking. The recognition of these intertwined realities reveals what the author suggests is a return to purpose in healthcare. This is framed by the reinforcement that engagement, communication, quality and safe outcomes are unquestionably central issues for healthcare and they are all now coming together as central to the overall experience dialogue. From these insights, the article offers an invitation for contributions to PXJ that will both underline and expand the exploration found on its pages, from types of submissions to topics including national and global perspectives, technology and culture. The author calls on readers to share their voice, stories, thoughts, research and experiences grounded in the essence of generosity that inspires each of us to sustain a commitment to positive experience efforts each day. The article leaves us in suggesting the powerful simplicity of a return to purpose may be one of the strongest foundations we could hope for in building the future of healthcare.


In a network with capacity constraints congestion effects such as bottlenecks, spillbacks and gridlocks can be observed. These can be described with a queueing network model. The main challenge of such an approach lies in adequately capturing the between-queue correlation, which explains these congestion effects as well as their overall network impact. We present an analytic queueing network model, with finite capacity queues, where structural parameters are used to capture the between-queue correlation. We describe the methods validation versus both pre-existing methods and simulation runs. The method is then applied to study patient flow within a set of hospital units of the Geneva University Hospitals. In this context the main source of congestion is known as bed blocking. The model has allowed us to identify three main sources of bed blocking and to quantify their impact upon the different hospital units.


The research are conducted in order to study the feasibility of opening furniture distributions business in MERR IIC area in Surabaya. This research will look upon several aspect of feasibility studies including law, management, technical and technology, marketing, and financial aspects. In the aspect of the market, as a first step to do projections for future demand that will come with the linear regression method. For terms of marketing and target market analysis company 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) and STP (Segmentatiom, Targeting, Positioning). On the technical aspects, carried out calculations to determine the layout of the place of business and the division based on the function of the room. The total floor area of operations which will be used by 385 m2 with a building area of 600m2. Besides that, there will be distribution system settings based on the type of purchase and delivery area. From the aspect of management, the new organizational structure is not much different from the old company's organizational structure. The difference is in the leadership, which in the company to be established is headed by a manager as head of the company that is responsible directly to the owner. Owner of the company once led in the old company still overseeing the operations of the company just not routine. In this business expansion project carried out additional workforce. From the financial aspect unknown Total Project Cost Rp 3.937638 billion, and all from their own capital, profit and loss statements, cash flow, and balance sheet. Assuming a discount rate of 10% calculation of NPV is Rp 6,200,463,264.62, Discounted Payback Period 4 years 6 months 22 days, an IRR of 20.16%. From these calculations it can be seen that the value of a positive NPV, DPP slightly over the planning horizon and the IRR is greater than the discount rate assumption that the financial aspect of the project is said to be feasible. From the results of feasibility studies can be done, it can be concluded that the establishment of a wood furniture factory in The Third International Conference on Entrepreneurship Book Two` 327 Surabaya review of aspects of the market, technical aspects, management aspects and financial aspects declared eligible.


Nanostructured poly(anthranilic acid) was synthesized by oxidative polymerization using potassium persulfate as an oxidant and malonic acid (MA) as dopant. The synthesized polymer was characterized by various techniques. The structure of poly(anthranilic acid) was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. The UV-Vis spectra of poly(anthranilic acid) shows �-�* and inter-ring charge transfer bands. The shift in optical spectra is related to steric repulsion due to the presence of -COOH groups. The morphological properties were characterized by FESEM which shows the synthesized polymer has rod-like morphology. The electrochemical properties of the poly(anthranilic acid) were studied by cyclic voltammetric method. The synthesized poly(anthranilic acid) nanorods were used to modify the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and the modified GCE was found to exhibit electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of dopamine. It shows that the poly(anthranilic acid) will exhibit promising applications in the development of bio-sensors.


We report on a pixel whose aperture can be varied electrically. The pixel is confined by a hole-patterned polymer wall and a dielectric liquid forms a ring shape around the wall surface. Without an electric field, the pixel has the largest aperture. The applied fringing field stretches the liquid surface, leading to a decrease in the aperture size. The switchable aperture ratio of the pixel is over 80% and the response time is ~10 ms. Such a device is useful for an optical attenuator, a light shutter, an adaptive iris, and an information display.


From the Publisher:
The explosive growth of multimedia data transmission has generated a critical need for efficient, high-capacity image databases, as well as powerful search engines to retrieve image data from them. This book brings together contributions by an international all-star team of innovators in the field who share their insights into all key aspects of image database and search engine construction. Readers get in-depth discussions of the entire range of crucial image database architecture, indexing and retrieval, transmission, display, and user interface issues. And, using examples from an array of disciplines, the authors present cutting-edge applications in medical imagery, multimedia communications, earth science, remote sensing, and other major application areas.


Climate change and climate variability induce uncertainty in yields, and thus threaten long term economic viability of rain-fed agricultural enterprises. Enterprise mix diversification is the most common, and is widely regarded as the most effective, strategy for mitigating multiple sources of farm business risk. We assess the potential for enterprise mix diversification in mitigating climate induced variability in long term net returns from rain-fed agriculture. We build on APSIM modelling and apply Monte Carlo simulation, probability theory, and finance techniques, to assess the potential for enterprise mix diversification to mitigate climate-induced variability in long term economic returns from rain-fed agriculture. We consider four alternative farm enterprise types consisting of three non-diversified farm enterprises and one diversified farm enterprise consisting of a correlated mix of rain-fed agricultural activities. We analyse a decision to switch from a non-diversified agricultural enterprise with the highest expected return to a diversified agricultural enterprise consisting of a mix of agricultural enterprises. Correlation analysis showed that yields were not perfectly correlated (i.e. are less than 1) indicating that changes in climate variables cause non-proportional impacts on yield production. We conclude that at best, diversification can reduce the standard deviation of net returns by up to about A$110 Ha-1, or 52% of mean net returns; increase the probability of below-average net returns by up to about 4% and increase the mean of 10% of worst probable annual net returns by up to A$54/ha. At worst, diversification can reduce the mean of net returns by up to about A$95 Ha-1, or 46%.


Decision-making has been found to be a predictor for substance-dependence treatment outcomes (Bowden-Jones et al., 2005). Further understanding on decision-making and underlying factors may help tailoring treatment intervention for substance dependence. This study compared decision-making performance of a substance-dependent group after 56 days of abstinence with a control group using the Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara, Tranel & Damasio, 1997). Substance-dependent group were forty abstinent alcohol and amphetamine dependent individuals attending a residential substance dependent treatment program facility. Control group were forty four non-drug using volunteers. The Iowa Gambling Task is a decision-making test that emulates real-life scenarios involving risk, uncertainty, rewards and punishments, and is often used to examine decision-making performance of substance-dependent and other clinical populations. Consistent with past research, this study found that substance-dependent group performed significantly poorer relative to control group. This study also found the difference in the proportion of substance-dependent group relative to the control group who performed within the range of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortices lesions statistically significant.

Together these findings indicated that a subgroup of abstinent substance-dependent individuals attending substance dependence treatment programs may still experience difficulties in decision-making domain after a protracted period of abstinence. The findings suggest the tendency for myopia for the future or being oversensitive to reward and insensitive to punishment associated with substance dependence may underlie the decision-making deficits in some substance-dependent individuals. Intensive cognitive and behavioural training were recommended to improve substance dependence treatment efficacy.


Allusion, Identity and. Community in Recent British Writing builds on an eclectic theoretical framework combining insights from literary stylistics and pragmatics, traditional rhetoric, imagology and recent political and philosophical debates about identity in order to show how allusion - literary or otherwise - can play a part in the construction of identity for the sake of self-presentation. Of particular interest is the way allusion may be used as a strategy by outsiders - fictional and real - when seeking to be admitted into different kinds of community, from literary elites to national polities. Close readings of works by Salman Rushdie, Seamus Heaney, Caryl Phillips, Bridget O?Connor and Zadie Smith demonstrate allusion?s capacity to broker acceptance and generate empathy, to define models of identity and, in some cases, to backfire. By emphasizing individual autonomy in the process of self-expression, Allusion, Identity and Community in Recent British Writing also redeems the subject from the more repressive regimes of over-deterministic theory, while ultimately claiming that the very difference which necessitates the negotiation of identity through such strategies as the deployment of allusion is also the basic precondition of communication and community building, two activities in which literature is inalienably engaged.


This Article highlights the inherent ambiguities of racial antidiscrimination's core legal language: "equal protection under the law" and "discrimination based on race." It then analyzes how and why the Court has never answered fundamental questions regarding the meaning of these terms. Thus, this Article answers these fundamental questions itself by exploring the original intent behind the Equal Protection Clause. Against this backdrop, this Article reveals how the Court's standard for assessing discrimination claims, the intent doctrine, assumes a meaning for equal protection that is inconsistent with its original meaning. Rather than reflecting equal protection's meaning, the standard lacks any basis and is but a reflection of the Court's values. In addition, the intent standard has proven unreliable in application and has provided lower courts with inadequate guidance. This inconsistency and unreliability is increasingly surfacing in recent years as the Court's simplistic iterations of discrimination are insufficient to resolve complex situations. To create a consistency with equal protection's meaning and resolve application problems, this Article proposes a new standard of deliberate indifference. Deliberate indifference requires the government to consider the racial harms that it perpetrates and avoid them when possible or when no legitimate reason justifies them. In this respect, it ensures that the government affords its citizens the equal consideration, value, and protection to which the Fourteenth Amendment entitles them.


Advances made in the field of materials science leads to technological development. Nowadays, composite materials, used in various fields such as engineering, industry, medicine are corrosion resistance and have lightweight and high fatigue strength, and promise faster assembly –they can withstand loads, insulate or conduct heat and electricity, accept or reject magnetic flux, transmit or reflect light, be stable in hostile environments, and possesses all these characteristics cost-effectively and with minimal impact to the environment. The chosen material needs to be compatible with the manufacturing process; because even with the right materials, an incorrect manufacturing process can be disastrous. This study displays the impact of organoclay and/or natural fibers on the performance of polysulfone (PSF) nanocomposite materials for variable applications. First, PSF production and properties are outlined, and then a detailed study of organoclay and its importance as nanofiller in polymer matrices has been investigated, with a special attention to PSF. Properties of natural fibers reinforced variable nanocomposites for wide range of application together with PSF in the form of nanocomposites have also been researched and analyzed. Moreover, the recent research on the hybrid nanocomposite-based clay/natural fiber in the presence of different polymers has been also displayed in details.


Higher order statistics (HOS) of the channel capacity provide useful information regarding the level of reliability of signal transmission at a particular rate. In this paper, we propose a novel and unified analysis, which is based on the moment-generating function (MGF) approach, to efficiently and accurately compute the HOS of the channel capacity for amplify-and-forward (AF) multihop transmission over generalized fading channels. More precisely, our easy-to-use and tractable mathematical formalism requires only the reciprocal MGFs of the transmission hop signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Numerical and simulation results, which are performed to exemplify the usefulness of the proposed MGF-based analysis, are shown to be in perfect agreement.


This paper assessed the economic impact of improved agricultural technologies on cassava productivity in Kogi State, Nigeria. The results are drawn from a household survey covering the agricultural season of 2009/2010. The data obtained from interview schedule was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics for this study include frequency, percentages and means. The hypothesis was tested using chi- square. The result shows that 79.33% of the respondents adopt the use of improved variety within the period under study. The analysis done on the revenue of the respondents before and after the adoption of the improved agricultural technology shows that revenue of farmers after the adoption of innovations are better off than revenue generated before adoption by N27,750 on the average per farmer. This result shows that the impact of improved agricultural technologies on cassava productivity is positive. Additionally, the results attest to the importance of increasing agricultural productivity in tandem with improvements on the adoption and use of improved agricultural technologies and its availability to the reach of farmers with the farmers' ability to store food. This findings is consistence with Idachaba and Ayoola, (1995) who observed that improved agricultural helped in increasing agricultural productivity.


Purpose: The perturbation of metabolic pathways in high-grade bladder cancer has not been investigated. We aimed to identify a metabolic signature in high-grade bladder cancer by integrating unbiased metabolomics, lipidomics, and transcriptomics to predict patient survival and to discover novel therapeutic targets. Experimental Design: We performed high-resolution liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and bioinformatic analysis to determine the global metabolome and lipidome in high-grade bladder cancer. We further investigated the effects of impaired metabolic pathways using in vitro and in vivo models. Results: We identified 519 differential metabolites and 19 lipids that were differentially expressed between low-grade and high-grade bladder cancer using the NIST MS metabolomics compendium and lipidblast MS/MS libraries, respectively. Pathway analysis revealed a unique set of biochemical pathways that are highly deregulated in high-grade bladder cancer. Integromics analysis identified a molecular gene signature associated with poor patient survival in bladder cancer. Low expression of CPT1B in high-grade tumors was associated with low FAO and low acyl carnitine levels in high-grade bladder cancer, which were confirmed using tissue microarrays. Ectopic expression of the CPT1B in high-grade bladder cancer cells led to reduced EMT in in vitro, and reduced cell proliferation, EMT, and metastasis in vivo. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates a novel approach for the integration of metabolomics, lipidomics, and transcriptomics data, and identifies a common gene signature associated with poor survival in patients with bladder cancer. Our data also suggest that impairment of FAO due to downregulation of CPT1B plays an important role in the progression toward high-grade bladder cancer and provide potential targets for therapeutic intervention.


Introduction: The aim of periodontal treatment is to regenerate periodontium. Regenerative treatments include the use of plasma that is rich in growth factors (PRGF). Materials & Methods: In a randomized clinical trial, 20 three-walled intrabony defects from five patients with moderate periodontitis were randomly assigned to three groups. Patients in the control group underwent debridement of lesions. In the first treatment group, the defects were debrided and cenomembrane was applied. The third group was treated with debridement, PRGF and cenomembrane. Measures of vertical probing depth (VPD), vertical clinical attachment level (VCAL), gingival index (GI; Sinless and Loe) and radiographic index (by digital subtraction) were made preoperatively and 6 months post-surgery. Wilcoxon signed-ranks and Chi-square tests were used for analyzing quantitative and qualitative variables, respectively. Results: All three groups showed improvements in all measures except GI. Intra-group comparison for clinical attachment level (CAL) indicated significant difference in all groups before and after surgery (P<0.05); there was no correlation in CAL among groups before surgery Intra-group comparison demonstrated significant differences in all three groups before and after surgery (P<0.001). A statistically significant difference was found in radiographic indices among the groups post-surgery (P=0.009). Conclusion: The use of PRGF was associated with improvements in all parameters but not for GI.


In this paper, we proposed a framework to evaluate information retrieval systems in presence of multidimensional relevance. This is an important problem in tasks such as consumer health search, where the understandability and trustworthiness of information greatly influence people's decisions based on the search engine results, but common topicality-only evaluation measures ignore these aspects. We used synthetic and real data to compare our proposed framework, named MM, to the understandability-biased information evaluation (UBIRE), an existing framework used in the context of consumer health search. We showed how the proposed approach diverges from the UBIRE framework, and how MM can be used to better understand the trade-offs between topical relevance and the other relevance dimensions.


The sparse principal component analysis is a variant of the classical principal component analysis, which finds linear combinations of a small number of features that maximize variance across data. In this paper we propose a methodology for adding two general types of feature grouping constraints into the original sparse PCA optimization procedure.We derive convex relaxations of the considered constraints, ensuring the convexity of the resulting optimization problem. Empirical evaluation on three real-world problems, one in process monitoring sensor networks and two in social networks, serves to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed methodology.


Detection of circulating tumor DNA in patients with resected stage II colon cancer provides evidence of residual disease. Footprints of persistent cancer Stage II colon cancer, which has spread through the wall of the colon but has not metastasized to the lymph nodes, can present a therapeutic dilemma. On one hand, these tumors can usually be completely removed by surgery, and the majority does not recur even without chemotherapy. On the other hand, it is difficult to determine which of these tumors will recur and to identify patients who would benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery. Tie et al. show that the presence of circulating tumor DNA in a patient's blood after surgery is a sign of persistent tumor and a greatly increased risk of relapse, suggesting that this group of patients may require chemotherapy to prevent recurrence. Detection of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after resection of stage II colon cancer may identify patients at the highest risk of recurrence and help inform adjuvant treatment decisions. We used massively parallel sequencing–based assays to evaluate the ability of ctDNA to detect minimal residual disease in 1046 plasma samples from a prospective cohort of 230 patients with resected stage II colon cancer. In patients not treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, ctDNA was detected postoperatively in 14 of 178 (7.9%) patients, 11 (79%) of whom had recurred at a median follow-up of 27 months; recurrence occurred in only 16 (9.8 %) of 164 patients with negative ctDNA [hazard ratio (HR), 18; 95% confidence interval (CI), 7.9 to 40; P < 0.001]. In patients treated with chemotherapy, the presence of ctDNA after completion of chemotherapy was also associated with an inferior recurrence-free survival (HR, 11; 95% CI, 1.8 to 68; P = 0.001). ctDNA detection after stage II colon cancer resection provides direct evidence of residual disease and identifies patients at very high risk of recurrence.


Egypt has a substantive and rich history in nursing education with continuous evolution over many years. A government commitment to further enhance the capacity of the nursing workforce recently required all nursing curricula to be upgraded and presented in a competency-based format. In response to this directive, lead agencies in Egypt, including the Educational Development Fund and the Nursing Sector Group of the Supreme Council of Universities, have garnered internal and external nursing expertise to provide guidance in the curriculum reform process. The authors of this presentation are currently working in close partnership with several Egyptian nursing education providers supporting the transition to competency-based nursing education. Shifting from bio-medical style syllabi to competency-based curricula is a time intensive and multifaceted process. Successful transition requires a base knowledge of the fundamentals of competencybased programme design and its associated pedagogies. An understanding of relevant definitions, curriculum development processes, mandatory curriculum inclusions, and assessment techniques are core requirements to the development processes. This presentation provides an oversight of these terminologies and processes. The presentation provides insights to policy makers and educators embarking on similar nursing curriculum reform and nursing workforce capacity development initiatives.


Biomaterial substrates composed of semi-aligned electrospun fibers are attractive supports for the regeneration of connective tissues because the fibers are durable under cyclic tensile loads and can guide cell adhesion, orientation, and gene expression. Previous studies on supported electrospun substrates have shown that both fiber diameter and mechanical deformation can independently influence cell morphology and gene expression. However, no studies have examined the effect of mechanical deformation and fiber diameter on unsupported meshes. Semi-aligned large (1.75 μm) and small (0.60 μm) diameter fiber meshes were prepared from degradable elastomeric poly(esterurethane urea) (PEUUR) meshes and characterized by tensile testing and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Next, unsupported meshes were aligned between custom grips (with the stretch axis oriented parallel to axis of fiber alignment), seeded with C3H10T1/2 cells, and subjected to a static load (50 mN, adjusted daily), a cyclic load (4% strain at 0.25 Hz for 30 min, followed by a static tensile loading of 50 mN, daily), or no load. After 3 days of mechanical stimulation, confocal imaging was used to characterize cell shape, while measurements of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) expression were used to characterize cell retention on unsupported meshes and expression of the connective tissue phenotype. Mechanical testing confirmed that these materials deform elastically to at least 10%. Cells adhered to unsupported meshes under all conditions and aligned with the direction of fiber orientation. Application of static and cyclic loads increased cell alignment. Cell density and mRNA expression of connective tissue proteins were not statistically different between experimental groups. However, on large diameter fiber meshes, static loading slightly elevated tenomodulin expression relative to the no load group, and tenascin-C and tenomodulin expression relative to the cyclic load group. These results demonstrate the feasibility of maintaining cell adhesion and alignment on semi-aligned fibrous elastomeric substrates under different mechanical conditions. The study confirms that cell morphology is sensitive to the mechanical environment and suggests that expression of select connective tissue genes may be enhanced on large diameter fiber meshes under static tensile loads.


SUMMARY
The Exon Array Analyzer (EAA) is a web server, which provides a user-friendly interface to identify alternative splicing events analyzed with Affymetrix Exon Arrays. The EAA implements the Splice Index algorithm to identify differential expressed exons. The use of various filters allows reduction of the number of false positive hits. Results are presented with detailed annotation information and graphics to identify splice events and to facilitate biological validations. To demonstrate the versatility of the EAA, we analyzed exon arrays of 11 different murine tissues using sample data provided by Affymetrix (http://www.affymetrix.com). Data from the heart were compared with other tissues to identify exons that undergo heart-specific alternatively splicing, resulting in the identification of 885 differentially expressed probe sets in 649 genes.

AVAILABILITY
The web interface is available at http://EAA.mpi-bn.mpg.de/. Detailed documentation is available on the EAA web site (http://EAA.mpi-bn.mpg.de/supp.php) including screen shots, example analyzes and step by step instructions.

CONTACT
firstname.lastname@example.com

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


Selenium is toxic at high doses, yet metabolically essential in trace amounts, and therefore provides an excellent illustration of the rule of paracelsus that "the dose alone determines the poison". The only mammalian selenoprotein of known function is glutathione peroxidase (GPx). This enzyme is expressed ubiquitously, and is responsible for detoxifying peroxides and hydroperoxides which, if left unchecked, may damage important biomolecules such as DNA and membrane fatty-acids. GPx is a homotetramer; each subunit contains one mole atom of selenium incorporated as a selenocysteine residue in the active site of the enzyme.

Using oligonucleotides generated against the known bovine GPx amino-acid sequence, cDNA clones were isolated corresponding to the
human GPx mRNA. Sequence analysis indicated that the selenocysteine in the active site of the enzyme was incorporated at an opal
terminator (UGA) codon. Therefore the glutathione peroxidase mRNA constitutes the first example of natural suppression of a
terminator codon in human cells.

Regulation of human GPx gene expression by selenium was examined. Selenium replete HL-60 cells possessed approximately 30-fold
more enzymatic GPx activity than selenium deficient cells. However steady-state GPx mRNA levels and rate of transcription of the
GPx gene differed by less than 1.5-fold. Cycloheximide abolished the increase in enzymatic activity observed upon selenium replenishment. Cellular immunoreactive GPx protein levels correlated with enzymatic activity, indicating that the human
GPx gene is regulated post-transcriptionally by selenium. The mechanism of this post-transcriptional regulation was investigated.

A selenium labelled tRNA species was identified which exhibited features in common with a previously characterized tRNA UGA . This data suggested that selenium may be incorporated into GPx via a co-translational mechanism using a selenocysteinyl tRNA intermediate. Selenium did not alter cytoplasmic levels of the tRNA UGA , indicating that accumulation of cytoplasmic suppressor tRNA was not the point of regulation of GPx by selenium. A model is proposed for the co-translational insertion of selenocysteine into GPx mediated by a charged tRNA species present in selenium replete but absent from selenium deficient cells. Models are also proposed to explain the discrimination between the selenocysteine UGA codon and authentic UGA terminator codons.

The regulation of the GPx gene was examined during mono-myelocytic differentiation of HL-60 cells in vitro and also during
interferon-gamma activation of human peripheral blood macrophages and PMN. During phagocyte cell differentiation or activation,
the ability to generate peroxide developed, however the peroxide-destroying capacities of GPx did not increase concomitantly.
Complex regulatory patterns involving both transcriptional and translational controls were observed.

The association of GPx gene expression with chronic granulomatous disease was explored. No correlation was found…


The high-temperature and liquid-dominated Mahanagdong geothermal field has supplied steam since 1997 to power plants with total installed capacity of 180 MWe. A geochemical assessment of the field is presented based on analytical data of fluids sampled at the wellheads of 26 wet-steam wells. The pH of the liquid samples ranges from 3 to 8 as measured on-site. Analyses of the water samples include major and minor elements. With the aid of speciation programs, the analytical data were used to model individual species activities in the initial aquifer fluids that feed the wells. The modelling indicates that excess discharge enthalpy of wells is mostly caused by phase segregation of the vapour and liquid phases in producing aquifers. The modelled aquifer fluid compositions were used to assess how closely equilibrium is approached between solution and various minerals. At inferred Mahanagdong aquifer temperatures (250-300°C), the concentrations of H2S and H2 in the initial aquifer fluids, assuming they are purely liquid, are somewhat higher than those at equilibrium with hydrothermal mineral assemblages, one of which incorporates grossular, pyrite, magnetite and wollastonite, and the other hematite, magnetite and pyrite. The equilibrium constant for both buffers is very similar. The observed distribution of the data points for the gases is attributed to the presence of equilibrium vapour in the aquifer fluid. The concentrations of H2,aq show more scatter. Aquifer fluid concentrations of CO2,aq are slightly above equilibrium curve for both of the assemblages considered (czo+cal+qtz+gro and czo+cal+qtz+gro+pre). However, variation in the composition of the solid-solution minerals may also contribute as well as departure from the model selected to calculate the gas concentration in the initial aquifer fluid. The aquifer liquid is in close saturation with various calcium-bearing, Fe-sulphide and Fe-oxide minerals but is significantly undersaturated with fluorite, grossular and wollastonite, all of which are rare at Mahanagdong. Departure from equilibrium for the Fischer-Tropsch and NH3-N2-H2 reactions is high. To move the system towards equilibrium, H2 concentrations need to increase, or in the case of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, CH4 must decrease. Initial aquifer vapour fractions were derived assuming equilibrium between H2,aq and the gro+mag+qtz+epi+wol assemblage at the chosen mineral composition. Selecting the hem+mag mineral assemblage will give similar results. H2Saq concentrations, considering equilibrium vapour fraction in the initial aquifer fluid, are significantly above the equilibrium curves for the gro+pyr+mag+qtz+epi+wol or the hem+mag mineral assemblages. However for CO2,aq, they closely approach equilibrium with either of the two mineral assemblages considered. Derived aquifer vapour fractions are highest in the upflow region (~4%) and in the collapse area (1-3%). The aquifer fluids east of the upflow region, which are at ~300°C, have equilibrium vapour fractions of ~1%. This possible extension of the upflow area is suggested by systematics of the rare alkali analyses. Earlier data and those produced for this study both indicate maximum vapour loss in the western peripheral wells and vapour gain in wells when brine injection was dispersed farther from the production zone. The most mobile elements in Mahanagdong fluids are Cl, As, Na, S, Rb, K, Li and Br. Ti and Al have the lowest mobility, both in neutral pH and acidic fluids. The acidic discharges have high metal content. Zn and Mg are probably mobilized from the reservoir rocks whereas Fe, Mn, Pb, Cu, Ni and Co in acidic waters are likely to come, at least partly, from well casing material. The only chemical differences between acidic and neutral pH waters, apart from pH and the mentioned metals, are higher levels of SO4 and Mg in the former. The modelled aquifer pH (~4.5) of two acidic samples is lower by about 1 unit compared to the other aquifer fluids. The acidity at the surface of the Cl-SO4-type waters is mainly caused by the dissociation of HSO4 as the fluids cool by depressurization boiling when they flow from the aquifer to the wellhead. The molar ratios of H2S and SO4 in the aquifer fluids, if they still retain the signal of their magmatic sources, suggest that the disproportionation of SO2 at subcritical conditions and hydrolysis of native sulphur contribute to acidity of fluids discharged in some wells.


When war breaks out, how important are risk preferences to explaining why some individuals stay in conflict zones while others take flight? We examine risk tolerance among rebel combatants and civilians in Aleppo, Syria using a variation of the Eckel-Grossman Choice Game. Field work in Syria was conducted in 2013–14 with a total of 232 participants to include both Syrian civilians and active rebel fighters in Aleppo and Idlib Province, as well as among Syrian refugees in neighboring Turkey. Compared to Syrians in other locations, people in rebel-held territory of Aleppo, both combatants and non-combatants, are significantly more risk tolerant. We consider possible explanations for elevated risk preferences in Aleppo based on self-selection, adaptive learning, a sense of self-efficacy to affect future outcomes, conflict-related grievances, and in-group solidarity. Our analysis suggests that self-selection based on access to resources and a strong sense of self-efficacy may explain higher propensity for risk-taking. Overall, our results speak to a plausible sorting mechanism during conflict where risk averse individuals select out of conflict, while highly risk tolerant individuals are more prone to discount the inherent dangers of remaining in conflict zones. Our results provide new micro-level explanation for why some societies become mired in conflict traps involving highly risk tolerant fighting communities.


An integrative process model of conflict settlement is developed and compared in the cases of three conflicts. The basic idea is that conflict settlement should be understood as a process unfolding in two steps, each of which needs to be explained. The first step is `getting to the table' (negotiation), the second step is `getting to yes' (agreement). Different conditions must be satisfied for the opponents to take these two essential steps of conflict settlement. Serious negotiations are causally linked to the emergence of a mixed-motives situation, and agreement is dependent on cost-benefit calculations that favor cooperation over self-help. A set of hypotheses drawn from the literature on conflict management is developed into an integrative model of conflict settlement. The model is integrative in that it offers a rationale for considering together hypotheses which are usually discussed separately. The model is applied to three conflicts which have all a territorial component and have all finally been settled in a peaceful way. The conflicts show a similar pattern of conflict management and conflict settlement. The analysis reveals that the successful settlement of conflict in the three cases was due mainly to three factors: a hurting stalemate in the issue-area, a crisis of the security situation of one conflict party, and time pressure. By acting together, these factors brought about conflict-settling agreements which had not been possible before.


Richard Hazenberg and Kelly Hall from the University of Northampton and Allison Ogden-Newton, Chair of the Transition Institute, consider how a more nuanced discussion of where, and under what conditions mutualisation brings social and financial value would be helpful. In his conclusion, Paul Buddery suggests that, just as the Enterprise Solutions project has itself seen a range of solutions, including but not limited to mutualisation, so the future of spin-outs is likely to take a number of different forms. Employee led mutuals may grow but so too will collaborative models, joint ventures, asset transfers and in house trading companies. As the appetite for spin-outs increases and new providers move into delivery, important opportunities arise for reviewing the evidence. It is important to assess the extent to which social enterprises and mutuals will or will not be able to effectively involve service users and deliver more efficient, responsive and high quality services than the public sector.


Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project developers have long complained about the complexities of project-specific baseline setting and the vagaries of additionality determination. In response to this, the CDM Executive Board took bold steps towards the standardization of CDM methodologies, culminating in the approval of guidelines for the establishment of performance standards in November 2011. The guidelines specify a performance standard stringency level for both baseline and additionality of 80% for several priority sectors and 90% for all other sectors. However, an analysis of 14 large-scale CDM methodologies that use performance standard approaches challenges this top-down approach to the performance standard design. An appropriate performance standard stringency level strongly depends on sector and technology characteristics. A single stringency level for baseline and additionality determination is appropriate only for greenfield projects, but not for retrofit ones. Overly simple, highly aggregated performance standards are unlikely to ensure high environmental integrity, and difficult questions regarding stringency and updating frequency will eventually have to be addressed on a rather disaggregated level. A careful balance between data requirements and the practicability of performance standards is essential because the heavy data requirements of the existing performance standard methodologies have been the key barrier to their actual implementation. Policy relevance CDM regulators have been pushed by many stakeholders to standardize baseline setting and eliminate project-specific additionality determination. At first glance, performance standards seem to provide the perfect solution for both tasks. However, a one-size-fits-all political decision – e.g. the average of the top 20% performers as enshrined in the Marrakech Accords – is inappropriate. Substantial disaggregation of performance standards is required both technologically and geographically in order to limit over- and under-crediting and close loopholes for non-additional projects. As a lack of reliable and complete data has been and will be a key bottleneck for the development of performance standards, international support for data collection will be indispensable, but costly, and time-consuming. Empirically driven, techno-economic assessments of performance standard stringency levels must be the central task of the future work on standardized methodologies, and should not be sidelined by perceived needs of policy makers to take bold decisions under time pressures.


Directional drilling has provided the coal mining industry with a means to position in-seam boreholes to achieve goals such as gas drainage, exploration and inrush protection. The evolution of the technology has progressed to a point where most drilling operators use the standard down-hole drilling configuration which has proven effective in most applications. Survey techniques have been modified to reduce the distance between bit and survey point without consideration of the effects on survey accuracy, driller skills and data collection. Data from two long in-seam boreholes is analysed to show the response curves of the standard down-hole configuration. An indication of the effects of in-hole friction, of feed pressures and limitations put on the eventual borehole depths is shown.