The Middle East is the most concentrated region of water scarcity in the world. Since biblical times, the region, specifically the Jordan River Valley, which comprises modern Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank, has been assailed by a profound shortage of water. Today, as was true in the past three millennia, this region has found itself strewn into the most constricted area of water scarcity in the world. Furthermore, due to mounting demands on the region's water resources in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, water remains a very precious commodity that cannot continue to support the current population or the ever-increasing one. The Jordan River Valley extends from the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon in the north to the Dead Sea in the south and includes Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank. The river's watershed drains 18,300 square kilometers in these political entities and includes the Sea of Galilee. Eighty percent of the basin, however, is in Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank, which do not have other significant surface water sources, and have only limited groundwater resources. The region's groundwater resources are also over-taxed. But can a comprehensive water allocation plan be worked out? Numerous plans for water allocation of Jordan River Basin waters have been suggested over the past nine decades. One of the first proposals was introduced in 1913 by the Ottoman Turkish Empire. In 1922, following the League of Nations' grant of a mandate over Palestine to Britain, the latter realized that water management and allocation were critical for the region. Ultimately, a plan developed in the 1950s by U.S. Ambassador, Eric Johnson, is the most workable. In addressing international/transboundary water issues international lawyers have developed a number of principles, which are applicable here. These include the doctrine of equitable utilization, as developed in The Helsinki Rules on the Uses of the Waters of International Rivers. I propose a system based on the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty, entered into by the United States and by Great Britain, on behalf of Canada. That treaty required the establishment of an International Joint Commission, which had three members from each jurisdiction. The IJC has been working to pacifically resolve disputes for all these years. This system is ideal in light of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty of 1994 and The Oslo II Israeli-Palestinian Water Agreement, which form the basis for a future plan under the doctrine of equitable utilization.


Summary: Is the ``Directive on Environmental Liability with regard to prevention and remedying of environmental damage'' justified under the subsidiarity principle? This article examines the pros and cons of arguments submitted by recognised lawyers, non-governmental organisations and industry on the one hand to show whether the agreed Directive complies with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in the Treaty establishing the European Community (ECT) but on the other that the Community institutions have failed in their duty to adequately observe the application of the subsidiarity principle. The author draws two conclusions: the subsidiarity principle remains a ``dynamic concept'' and the Commission, Parliament and Council have collectively failed to acquit themselves of their duty to justify the Directive.


Beginning with an assessment of new thinking in macroeconomics and monetary theory, this book suggests that many countries have adopted the New Consensus Monetary Policy since the early 1990s in an attempt to reduce inflation to low levels. It goes on to illustrate that the explicit control of the money supply, which was fashionable in the 1970s and 1980s in the UK, US, Europe and elsewhere, was abandoned in favour of monetary rules that focus on interest rate manipulation by the central bank. The objective of these rules is to achieve specific, or a range of, inflation targets.


Copper antimony disulfide (CuSbS2) with the chalcostibite structure is a promising photovoltaic (PV) absorber material with several excellent measured optoelectronic properties, such as a solar matched band gap and tunable hole concentration. However, much less is known from an experimental perspective about defects in CuSbS2, even though the defects are critical for solar cell performance. Here, we explore the defect properties in CuSbS2 thin film materials and photovoltaic devices using photoluminescence and capacitance-based spectroscopies, as well as first principles theoretical calculations. We measured three electrically and optically active acceptor defects in CuSbS2, and assigned them to the copper vacancies, sulfur vacancies, and/or copper on antimony antisites by comparison with theoretical calculations. Their activation energies, concentrations, and capture cross sections have been determined and compared to other chalcogenide absorber materials. These fundamental parameters should enable more accurate simulations of CuSbS2 PV devices, paving the way for future improvements in CuSbS2 solar cell efficiencies.


Background Physiological track and trigger systems (PTTSs) regulate the monitoring of patients' vital signs and facilitate the detection and treatment of deteriorating patients. These systems are widely used, although compliance with protocol is often poor. Objective This study aimed to examine the perceptions of a national PTTS among nurses and doctors and to identify the variables that impact on intention to comply with protocol. Methods A mixed-methods research design was employed. During the initial qualitative phase, 30 hospital-based nurses and doctors participated in a series of semistructured interviews. During the subsequent quantitative phase, 215 nurses and doctors (24.1% response rate) responded to a questionnaire designed to assess attitudes towards the PTTS and factors that influence adherence to protocol. Results Interview data revealed largely positive attitudes towards the PTTS but highlighted a number of barriers to its implementation and indicated that it is sometimes a source of tension between doctors and nurses. Quantitative data confirmed the validity of these findings, although nurses appeared to have more positive attitudes towards, and to perceive fewer barriers to, the usage of PTTS than were reported by the participating doctors. Conclusions These findings reveal that non-compliance with PTTS protocol is unlikely to be attributable to negative perceptions of PTTSs. Instead, there are a number of barriers to the implementation of the system. These findings suggest that interprofessional training in PTTSs is essential while increased support for PTTS implementation among senior doctors would also yield improved adherence to protocol.


For some computer vision tasks, the presence of shadows in images can cause problems. For example, object tracks can be lost as an object crosses over a shadow boundary. Recently, it has been shown that it is possible to remove shadows from images. Assuming that the location of the shadows are known, shadow-free images are obtained in three steps. First, the image is differentiated. Second, the derivatives at the shadow edge are set to zero. Third, reintegration delivers an image without shadows. While this process can work well, the resultant shadow free image often has artifacts and, moreover, the reintegration is an expensive computational procedure. In this paper we propose a method which can produce shadow free images quickly and without artifacts. Our algorithm is based on two observations. First, that shadows in images are closed regions and if they are not closed artifacts can result during reintegration. Thus we propose to extend the existing methods and enforce the constraint that shadow boundaries must be closed prior to reintegration. Second, that the standard reintegration method used (solving a 2D Poisson equation) also, necessarily, introduces artifacts. The solution here is to reintegrate shadow and non shadow regions almost separately. Specifically, we reintegrate the image along a Hamiltonian path that enters and exists the shadow regions once. Detail that was masked out at the shadow boundary is then infilled in a second step. The resulting reintegrated image has much fewer artifacts. Moreover, since the reintegration method is path based it is both simple and fast. Experiments validate our approach.


In this paper we evaluate the basic methods of video transmission, focusing on multicast, the popularity of which has increased over the last years. Although the specific technique is able of reducing significantly the consumption of network resources, such as the bandwidth, the specifications of IEEE 802.11 family networks do not support the mechanisms for reliable multicast transmission. Therefore, multicast video transmission over those wireless networks is considered to be almost inapplicable. In this paper we propose the use of VPN technologies for deploying an efficient and low cost infrastructure of multicast video transmission over wireless networks.


Abstract. Snowmobile use is a popular form of winter recreation in Colorado, particularly on public lands. To examine the effects of differing levels of use on snowpack properties, experiments were performed at two different areas, Rabbit Ears Pass near Steamboat Springs and at Fraser Experimental Forest near Fraser, Colorado USA. Differences between no use and varying degrees of snowmobile use (low, medium and high) on shallow (the operational standard of 30 cm) and deeper snowpacks (120 cm) were quantified and statistically assessed using measurements of snow density, temperature, stratigraphy, hardness, and ram resistance from snow pit profiles. A simple model was explored that estimated snow density changes from snowmobile use based on experimental results. Snowpack property changes were more pronounced for thinner snow accumulations. When snowmobile use started in deeper snow conditions, there was less difference in density, hardness, and ram resistance compared to the control case of no snowmobile use. These results have implications for the management of snowmobile use in times and places of shallower snow conditions where underlying natural resources could be affected by denser and harder snowpacks.


While numerous studies have been made upon the ecology, control and economic importance of the blue tick, Boophilus decoloratus (Koch), its behaviour has not been investigated to any great extent. Since Boophilus is a one-host tick, its success in finding a host will, to a considerable degree, be dependent upon the behaviour of the larvae. The present work was carried out with the aim of analyzing in the laboratory the responses of the unfed larvae into constitutive patterns in order to determine which environmental factors are of significance to the larvae in establishing themselves in such a position to facilitate attachment to their hosts and which are of value in allowing them to recognize a host as an object to which to attach.


Whilst the participation of women in sport can be traced back at least as far as 1000BC, there is evidence to suggest that barriers to women's participation in sport still exist. One possible barrier that can be investigated is the representation of female athletes in the media. This paper outlines the results of two studies designed to investigate the coverage of female participation in sport by newspapers and television companies in the UK. Both studies involved a media watch. The results of both studies indicated that the British media give preference in their coverage to male athletes, often ignoring female athletic achievements. Similar results have been found in earlier studies carried out in other countries (e.g. Australia and the USA).


This Note proposes that states should develop error-correction bodies to identify past errors that have resulted in wrongful convictions of people accused of shaking a child. These institutions, which I call SBS Review Panels, would be similar to the error-correction bodies and commissions that have recently been established throughout the world to deal with various sorts of wrongful convictions. An SBS-specific commission should be developed because of the high level of scientific expertise that is required to fully understand this diagnosis and the problems associated with using the triad of medical findings as evidence of the defendant's conduct. Part I will define SBS and detail the medical and social perceptions of the diagnosis from the 1970's until the present. In describing in greater depth the recent changes in the medical consensus behind SBS, Part II illustrates why our legal system should not permit convictions based exclusively on disputed medical evidence. Part III analyzes the current state of the law, with several case studies to illustrate the problems with the use of this potentially faulty diagnosis. This Part further details the challenges that face defendants seeking relief from SBS convictions. To address these problems, Part IV proposes the creation of error-correcting bodies to discover errors that have resulted in wrongful convictions or miscarriages of justice for those accused of shaking a child. This Part evaluates examples of post-conviction review boards, and concludes by proposing a Shaken Baby Syndrome Review Panel, and a model statute for its enactment.


In this paper, a demonstration on the model-based approach for fault detection has been presented. The aim of this demo is to provide students a desk-top tool to start learning model-based approach. The demo works on a traditional three-tank system. After a short review of the model-based approach, this paper emphasizes on two difficulties often asked by students when they start learning model-based approach: how to develop a system model and how to generate residual for fault detection. The demo represents the three-tank system in the Simulink environment so that no hardware is really needed. Faults such as tank leakages, connecting pipe blockage and sensor failure are also simulated in the virtual way by means of different switches. Different residual generation approaches are implemented using this desk-top demonstration. Consequently, students will gain an objective view and practical understanding of the model-based approach works and its procedure in industrial implementation.


In this paper, we examine the validity of one of the most controversial issues in the economic research called the Ricardian equivalence hypothesis. It stipulates that there is no effect of budget deficit (BD) on household consumption (HC) [3]. Our approach is based on a Copulas model in the objective to select the best dependence structure between the two variables BD and HC in Moroccan economy during the 1980-2011 period where other econometric methods, like the vector autoregressive analysis model, do not give any answer. Especially, we use the Farlie-Gumbel-Morgenstern (FGM) family of copulas and we show that there is a significant non-linear cause-effect relationship between the BD and HC variables. We determine various conditional probabilities of the household consumption once the budget deficit is fixed. We found that a conditional distribution of the household consumption varies significantly for each fixed level of the budget deficit, and so an expansionist fiscal policy can improve the household consumption unlike to the restrictive one. This result permits us to reject the Ricardian equivalence hypothesis for the Moroccan economy.


This study explores the predicament of Anglophone Cameroon – from the experiment in federation from 1961 to the political liberalisation struggles of the 1990s – to challenge claims of a successful post-independence Cameroonian integration process. Focusing on the perceptions and actions of people in the Anglophone region, Atanga argues that what has come to be called the "Anglophone Problem" constitutes one of the severest threats to the post-colonial nation-state project in Cameroon. As a linguistic and cultural minority, Anglophone Cameroonians realised that the Francophone-led state and government were keener in assimilation than in implementing the federal and bilingual nation agreed upon at reunification in 1960. Calls for national integration became simply a subterfuge for the assimilation of Anglophones by Francophones who dominated the state and government. The book details the various measures undertaken to exploit the Anglophone region's economy and marginalise its people. Principally the economic structures meant to facilitate self-reliant development were undermined and destroyed. Institutionalised discrimination took the form of the exclusion of Anglophones from positions of real authority, and depriving the region of any meaningful development. With the advent of multi-party politics, most Anglophone Cameroonians increasingly have made vocal demands for a return to a federation, in order to adequately guarantee their rights and recognition for them as a political and cultural minority. Actively encouraged by France, the Francophone-led regime in Cameroon has refused to yield to such demands, despite the grave danger of violent conflict and possible secession.


Background:High rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Neisseria gonorrhoeae hinder effective treatment, but molecular AMR diagnostics may help address the challenge. This study aimed to appraise the literature for resistance-associated genotypic markers linked to fluoroquinolones and macrolides, to identify and review their use in diagnostics. Methods: Medline and EMBASE databases were searched and data pooled to evaluate associations between genotype and phenotypic resistance. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) cut-offs were ≤ 0.06 mg L-1 for non-resistance to ciprofloxacin and ≤ 0.5 mg L-1 for non-resistance to azithromycin. Results: Diagnostic accuracy estimates were limited by data availability and reporting. It was found that: 1) S91 and D95 mutations in the GyrA protein independently predicted ciprofloxacin resistance and, used together, gave 98.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 98.0-99.0%) sensitivity and 91.4% (95%CI 88.6-93.7%) specificity; 2) the number of 23S rRNA gene alleles with C2611T or A2059G mutations was highly correlated with azithromycin resistance, with mutation in any allele giving a sensitivity and specificity of 66.1% (95%CI 62.1-70.0%) and 98.9% (95%CI 97.5-99.5%) respectively. Estimated negative (NPV) and positive predictive values (PPV) for a 23S rRNA diagnostic were 98.6% (95%CI 96.8-99.4%) and 71.5% (95%CI 68.0-74.8%) respectively; 3) mutation at amino acid position G45 in the MtrR protein independently predicted azithromycin resistance; however, when combined with 23S rRNA, did not improve the PPV or NPV. Conclusions: Viable candidates for markers of resistance detection for incorporation into diagnostics were demonstrated. Such tests may enhance antibiotic stewardship and treatment options.


Recessive mutations at the suppressor of sable [su(s)] locus in Drosophila melanogaster result in suppression of second site mutations caused by insertions of the mobile element 412. In order to determine whether su(s) mutations might have other phenotypes, a saturation mapping of the su(s) region was carried out. The screen yielded 76 mutations that comprise ten genetic complementation groups ordered distal to proximal as follows: l(1)1Bh, l(1)1Bi, M(1)1B, su(s), l(1)1Bk, l(1)1Ca, mul, tw, l(1)lDa and brc. Twenty-three of the mutations are su(s) alleles, and all are suppressors of the 412-insertion-caused v1 allele. Although the screen could have detected su(s) mutations causing sex-specific dominant lethality or sterility as well as all types of recessive lethality or sterility, the only other phenotype observed was male sterility that is enhanced by cold temperature. This type of sterility is exhibited only by alleles induced by base-substitution-causing mutagens. Genetic functions of the poly(A+) messages transcribed from the su(s) microregion were identified by the reintroduction of cloned sequences into embryos by P element transformation. su(s) function has been attributed to a 5-kb message. The segment of DNA encoding only this 5-kb message rescues both the suppression and cold-sensitive male sterility phenotypes of su(s). Minute (1) 1B has been provisionally identified as encoding a 3.5-kb message; lethal (1)1Bi encodes a 1-kb message; and lethal (1)1Bk encodes a 4-kb message. The possible functions of su(s) and M(1)1B are discussed.


The study was carried out in Polytechnic Kuching Sarawak. The theoretical framework used in the study was adapted from earlier work by Swales (1990, 1991), Bhatia (1993) and Halliday (1994). The research analyzed the chosen genre (job application letters) from two possible angles; the linguistic features and the rhetorical features analysis. The linguistic features analysis focused
on the politeness strategies that appeared in the mini-corpus. Under this analysis, the research focused on four elements that reflect politeness in a job application letter, namely; the salutation, the positive and negative politeness strategies and the complimentary close. The rhetorical features analysis, on the other hand, focused on the rhetorical moves and the rhetorical move sequences that appeared in the mini-corpus. The materials used in the research were letters of application produced by the students. 166 students were selected based on convenient sampling; therefore, the mini-corpus consisted of 166 letters produced by the students. The findings revealed interesting information within the scope of the research. Firstly, under the
linguistic analysis, the results indicate although a significant number of students employed linguistic features such as salutation, and complimentary close, there are instances where they are used inappropriately. In addition, the students also included different rhetorical moves in their letters to enable
them to achieve the communicative purpose of the letter. The results from the rhetorical features analysis indicate that there are eleven moves that appear in the mini-corpus. Moreover, results of the analysis indicate that even though the sequence of moves may differ from one job applicant to another, in general, there are certain moves patterns that are commonly shared by the students. It is important to note that genre analysis is not meant to replace
other approaches but instead complement them by providing an alternative way in teaching and learning. It is hoped that teachers/lecturers, students, educators and anyone who has interest in the education field may benefit from reading this thesis.


We study distributed protocols for finding all pairs of similar vectors in a large dataset. Our results pertain to a variety of discrete metrics, and we give concrete instantiations for Hamming distance. In particular, we give improved upper bounds on the overhead required for similarity defined by Hamming distance r > 1 and prove a lower bound showing qualitative optimality of the overhead required for similarity over any Hamming distance r. Our main conceptual contribution is a connection between similarity search algorithms and certain graph-theoretic quantities. For our upper bounds, we exhibit a general method for designing one-round protocols using edge-isoperimetric shapes in similarity graphs. For our lower bounds, we define a new combinatorial optimization problem, which can be stated in purely graph-theoretic terms yet also captures the core of the analysis in previous theoretical work on distributed similarity joins. As one of our main technical results, we prove new bounds on distance correlations in subsets of the Hamming cube.


The moisture performance of building envelope systems are strongly dependent on the materials used, the workmanship, and the exposure loads from the interior and exterior environments. The authors have long recognized the need to include the effects of exterior cladding ventilation in the predictive capability of software tools used for hygrothermal analysis. Exterior cladding ventilation has been studied, but no conclusive recommendations have been generated until recently (Burnett, E., Straube, J., and Karagiozis, A., "Synthesis Report and Guidelines," ASHRAE TRP-1091 Report No. 12, Nov. 2004). While the physics describing the thermal and moisture transport in the presence of air convection is understood, the pressure dynamics is still somewhat qualitatively known. With the addition of new literature data and available field generated monitored data, a simplified model for the wall air cavity ventilation was developed. The scientific approach followed initially included the benchmarking of multi-dimensional advanced hygrothermal model with laboratory and field data. The flow was understood for a wide range of exterior loadings, and once this was completed, an attempt to reduce the complex three-dimensional air flow characteristics into a simple one-dimensional analogue was made. The paper describes how this important feature was included into the WUFI-4.1 software. The paper also describes how users may employ this feature in hygrothermal designs to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of cavity ventilation. Results are also presented on the hygrothermal performance of two walls, one ventilated and the other is unvented. Results show that major differences were predicted and the wall with the ventilation cavity dried out nearly five times faster than the wall without the ventilation. Field monitored stucco wall systems with and without cavity ventilation are also included compared to the prediction provided by the hygrothermal model. Good agreement is shown between the field and WUFI 4.1 model.


Peter van Inwagen's brand of materialism leads him to speculate that God actually removes the deceased at the moment of death and replaces the corpse with a simulacrum that decays or is cremated. Dean Zimmerman offers an account of resurrection that is loyal to Peter van Inwagen's commitment to a materialist metaphysics, with its stress on the earlier life processes of an organism immanently causing its later ones, while maintaining that resurrection is possible without involving God in any 'body snatching'. My contention is that Zimmerman's account is metaphysically impossible. His alleged 'solution' is at odds with the principles governing the ways in which an organism can assimilate new parts. Instead of providing a scenario where we can be resurrected, Zimmerman has merely sketched a scenario where we are duplicated. An alternative materialist account of resurrection is offered, one in which immanent causation is not necessary.


• A double-blind evaluation of the efficacy and safety of minocycline hydrochloride and tetracycline hydrochloride was conducted and completed using 49 patients with Pillsbury grade 2 or grade 3 acne. For six months, half of the patients received minocycline and half received tetracycline. Although the differences between treatment groups were not statistically significant at any evaluation, more patients treated with minocycline reached and maintained a noninflammatory acne status in less time than did patients treated with tetracycline. After six weeks, twice as many patients in the group treated with minocycline had reached noninflammatory status. Side effects reported by 17 patients were equally distributed between treatment groups. No notable abnormalities were observed in the results of blood chemistry studies, hematologic tests, quantitative serum immunoglobulin determinations, or thyroid function tests in 20 of the patients examined. ( Arch Dermatol 1982;118:989-992)


High-coverage testing is challenging. Modern object-oriented programs present additional challenges for testing. One key difficulty is the generation of proper method sequences to construct desired objects as method parameters. In this paper, we cast the problem as an instance of program synthesis that automatically generates candidate programs to satisfy a user-specified intent. In our setting, candidate programs are method sequences, and desired object states specify an intent. Automatic generation of desired method sequences is difficult due to its large search space---sequences often involve methods from multiple classes and require specific primitive values. This paper introduces a novel approach, called Seeker, to intelligently navigate the large search space. Seeker synergistically combines static and dynamic analyses: (1) dynamic analysis generates method sequences to cover branches; (2) static analysis uses dynamic analysis information for not-covered branches to generate candidate sequences; and (3) dynamic analysis explores and eliminates statically generated sequences. For evaluation, we have implemented Seeker and demonstrate its effectiveness on four subject applications totalling 28K LOC. We show that Seeker achieves higher branch coverage and def-use coverage than existing state-of-the-art approaches. We also show that Seeker detects 34 new defects missed by existing tools.


The use of many distributed, heterogeneous resources as a large collective platform offers great potential. A key issue for these grid platforms is middleware scalability and how middleware services can be mapped on the available resources. Optimizing deployment is a difficult problem with no existing general solutions. In this paper, we address the following problem: how to perform out an adapted deployment for a hierarchy of servers and resource brokers on a heterogeneous system? Our objective is to generate a best platform from the available nodes so as to fulfill the clients demands. However, finding the best deployment among heterogeneous resources is a hard problem since it is close to find the best broadcast tree in a general graph, which is known to be NP-complete. Thus, in this paper, we present a heuristic for middleware deployment on heterogeneous resources. We apply our heuristic to automatically deploy a distributed problem solving environment on a large scale grid. We present experiments comparing the automatically generated deployment against a number of other reasonable deployments.


The aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE) of African smoke was analyzed in cloud scenes over the southeast Atlantic Ocean, using Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) satellite observations and Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model version 2 (HadGEM2) climate model simulations. The observed mean DRE was about 30–35 W m−2 in August and September 2006–2009. In some years, short episodes of high‐aerosol DRE can be observed, due to high‐aerosol loadings, while in other years the loadings are lower but more prolonged. Climate models that use evenly distributed monthly averaged emission fields will not reproduce these high‐aerosol loadings. Furthermore, the simulated monthly mean aerosol DRE in HadGEM2 is only about 6 W m−2 in August. The difference with SCIAMACHY mean observations can be partly explained by an underestimation of the aerosol absorption Ångström exponent in the ultraviolet. However, the subsequent increase of aerosol DRE simulation by about 20% is not enough to explain the observed discrepancy between simulations and observations.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence of misdiagnosis of the hearing impaired children, in order to investigate the existence of Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder.

METHODS
Analytical, prospective study conducted with 15 participants (30 ears) aged 10-12 years, with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, attending a Hearing Rehabilitation Center, accompanied by a multidisciplinary team with otolaryngologist, audiologist, psychologist, teacher and social worker. The participants underwent ENT examination and audiological assessment: tympanometry, acoustic reflexes, otoacoustic emissions test and Auditory Evoked response.

RESULTS
From the total sample (30 ears), 8 ears (26.7%) presented absent responses in the Auditory Evoked response with the presence of cochlear microphonism. Within the selected eight ears, six (75%) showed presence of otoacoustic emissions test in isolated frequencies and two (25%) ears had otoacoustic emissions test even in the presence of the isolated frequencies. It was found that 26.7% of the ears tested presented results that are compatible with Auditory Neuropathy Spectrum Disorder.

CONCLUSION
The results of this study have identified characteristics related to ANSD in 26.7% of ears tested, 6 participants with age over 10 years old, showing that misdiagnosis in hearing loss patients is still very frequent.


The intriguing Dirac cones in honeycomb graphene have motivated the search for novel two-dimensional (2D) Dirac materials. Based on density functional theory and the global particle-swarm optimization method, herein, we predict a new family of 2D materials in honeycomb transition-metal carbides M3C2 (M = Zn, Cd and Hg) with intrinsic Dirac cones. The M3C2 monolayer is a kinetically stable state with a linear geometry (CMC), which to date has not been observed in other transition-metal-based 2D materials. The intrinsic Dirac cones in the Zn3C2, Cd3C2 and Hg3C2 monolayers arise from p–d band hybridizations. Importantly, the Hg3C2 monolayer is a room-temperature 2D topological insulator with a sizable energy gap of 44.3 meV. When an external strain is applied, additional phases with node-line semimetal states emerge in the M3C2 monolayer. These novel stable transition-metal–carbon-framework materials hold great promise for 2D electronic device applications.


In almost all of the previous studies on the seabed configuration, the seabed configuration is classified based on the bottom shear stress, or Shields number. While, in the wave field, the wave-induced-water-pressure change can have a secondary effect on the sediment transport. The laboratory experiment on the seabed configuration under the coexistence of the oscillatory flow and the water-pressure change is conducted in this study, to investigate the effect of water-pressure change on the seabed regime classification. The existing region of various bed configurations, such as no-motion, bed-lad, suspension over ripple and sheet flow, changes with the change of the amplitude of water-pressure change. The ripple geometry, or flatness of ripple, are also affected by the water-pressure change. The mechanism of theses changes are discussed related to the lift force due to the porewater-pressure distribution in sand layer.


For individuals with Down syndrome, the extent of the effect of intellectual disability depends largely on the degree of provision of appropriate support and intervention. In Educating Learners with Down Syndrome, editors Rhonda Faragher and Barbara Clarke have brought together a number of expert contributors, whose chapters review recent findings in the field of DS education, highlight promising practices, and identify areas for future research. While the emphasis is primarily on the school years, links to early intervention and to life post-16 are made, with chapters organized into three parts: conceptual overview of issues in learning and teaching, learning mathematics, and literacy development. The book is also united by the cohesive themes of assessment, evidence-based practice, and inclusive practices. Educating Learners with Down Syndrome importantly incorporates the voices of individuals with Down syndrome, whose personal narratives add significance to the research mission of the text and demonstrate the authors' inclusive philosophy. Aimed at researchers, teacher educators, higher degree students, and policy makers, this book is the first of its kind to provide a compendium of research on educating learners with Down syndrome.


A review is given of the dielectric properties of mammalian tissues for the frequency range 1 Hz to 10 GHz. Such information is of relevance to a number of medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications which involve the use of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, as well as to studies of the possible biological effects arising from exposure to electric and magnetic fields. Dielectric studies of tissues and biomolecules can also aid the further understanding of some biochemical and physiological processes. The dielectric properties of amino acids, proteins, biological electrolytes, cell membranes, tissue-bound water and of normal and cancerous tissues are discussed with the emphasis being directed at the underlying molecular and biophysical processes involved. Clinical aspects such as the hyperthermic treatment of cancer and the stimulation of bone healing are discussed also.


If ever you suspected that economic humor is an oxymoron, read on. This anthology, offering over a hundred selections of economic humor in the form of essays, fables, cartoons, verses, parodies, and epigrams drawn from works ancient and modern, will disabuse you of that notion by way of laughter. The contributors, about evenly divided between economists and noneconomists, share a common urge to poke fun at economics and its practitioners. Their styles and methods, however, range from kind and gentle to mordant and misanthropic; this is not surprising given the diversity of their professions: diplomat, playwright, printer's devil, publisher, columnist, physician, inventor, minister, corporate president, radio star, New York Stock Exchange member, and philosopher, to name but a few. Bringing economic humor into the light of day, Caroline Clotfelter gathers her collection of materials into recognizable categories: economists as others see them, the language and methods of economics, Econ 101, micro- and macroeconomics, and basic economic models and ideas. Aiding and abetting her include such luminaries as John Stuart Mill, George Bernard Shaw, "Mad Magazine, " Stephen Leacock, Emily Dickinson, Rube Goldberg, Pogo, and John Kenneth Galbraith. As no other, this book will challenge economists to enjoy jokes at their own expense; noneconomists may have even less difficulty finding something funny in this most dismal of sciences.Caroline Postelle Clotfelter, former Professor of Economics, Mercer University, is now retired.


Relational program logics have been used for mechanizing formal proofs of various cryptographic constructions. With an eye towards scaling these successes towards end-to-end security proofs for implementations of distributed systems, we present RF*, a relational extension of F*, a general-purpose higher-order stateful programming language with a verification system based on refinement types. The distinguishing feature of F* is a relational Hoare logic for a higher-order, stateful, probabilistic language. Through careful language design, we adapt the F* typechecker to generate both classic and relational verification conditions, and to automatically discharge their proofs using an SMT solver. Thus, we are able to benefit from the existing features of F*, including its abstraction facilities for modular reasoning about program fragments. We evaluate RF* experimentally by programming a series of cryptographic constructions and protocols, and by verifying their security properties, ranging from information flow to unlinkability, integrity, and privacy. Moreover, we validate the design of RF* by formalizing in Coq a core probabilistic λ calculus and a relational refinement type system and proving the soundness of the latter against a denotational semantics of the probabilistic lambda λ calculus.


Apparently featureless ancient Northern landscapes have long been represented as places of darkness, disease and death within Western culture. Despite an increasing acknowledgment for the need to readjust our perceptions of these spaces and to acknowledge their environmental importance as living landscapes there is, as yet little publicity to promote this new way of seeing. Through my artworks I show how historic perceptions of 'The Waste' (Defoe, D. 1726) can be challenged through cross-disciplinary fine art practice.

As we search for the beginning of the Anthropocene epoch, our legacy and presence as a civilization will be defined through the very fabric of the earth. The scale of environmental damage caused in the name of 'progress' will be visible as a stark measure of how detached we have become from the land on which we live. My artwork communicates the forgotten possibility of a deeper and more intuitive understanding with the earth beneath our feet offering images, which are thought-provoking, sensory responses to places encountered through walking.

By exploring the relationship between the aesthetic, handmade surface and the capabilities of the developing digital era it is possible to explore a wider relationship between artist and new technology and how in turn that can affect, reimagine and challenge preconceptions of a wider social understanding of our place in the world. My aim is to show the beauty in walking these unique northern spaces, to question our interpretation of and to be cautious of the digital data sources on which we are increasingly reliant but above all to invite encounters with forgotten landscapes, landscapes which have shaped our past and have the capability to protect our future.


Past and current forest management affects wildland fire smoke impacts on downwind human populations. However, mismatches between the scale of benefits and risks make it difficult to proactively manage wildland fires to promote both ecological and public health. Building on recent literature and advances in modeling smoke and health effects, we outline a framework to more directly quantify and compare smoke impacts based on emissions, dispersion, and the size and vulnerability of downwind populations across time and space. We apply the framework in a case study to demonstrate how different kinds of fires in California's Central Sierra Nevada have resulted in very different smoke impacts. Our results indicate that the 257,314-acre Rim Fire of 2013 probably resulted in 7 million person-days of smoke impact across California and Nevada, which was greater than 5 times the impact per burned unit area than two earlier wildfires, Grouse and Harden of 2009, that were intentionally managed for resource objectives within the same airshed. The framework and results suggest strategies and tactics for undertaking larger-scale burns that can minimize smoke impacts, restore forest ecosystems, and reduce the potential for more hazardous wildfire and smoke events.


We present new excess risk bounds for general unbounded loss functions including log loss and squared loss, where the distribution of the losses may be heavy-tailed. The bounds hold for general estimators, but they are optimized when applied to $\eta$-generalized Bayesian, MDL, and empirical risk minimization estimators. In the case of log loss, the bounds imply convergence rates for generalized Bayesian inference under misspecification in terms of a generalization of the Hellinger metric as long as the learning rate $\eta$ is set correctly. For general loss functions, our bounds rely on two separate conditions: the $v$-GRIP (generalized reversed information projection) conditions, which control the lower tail of the excess loss; and the newly introduced witness condition, which controls the upper tail. The parameter $v$ in the $v$-GRIP conditions determines the achievable rate and is akin to the exponent in the Tsybakov margin condition and the Bernstein condition for bounded losses, which the $v$-GRIP conditions generalize; favorable $v$ in combination with small model complexity leads to $\tilde{O}(1/n)$ rates. The witness condition allows us to connect the excess risk to an "annealed" version thereof, by which we generalize several previous results connecting Hellinger and Renyi divergence to KL divergence.


Aby Warburg, Images and Exhibitions Review of: Aby Warburg, Bilderreihen und Ausstellungen edited by Uwe Fleckner and Isabelle Woldt, Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2012. 470 pp. ISBN: 978-3-05- 004268-8. 248 EurosAs Aby Warburg has become the object of increasing critical attention in the past 30 or so years, scholars have encountered a basic difficulty: the restricted availability of his writings. During his lifetime Warburg published only a small number of articles and essays, and plans to bring out his complete works in the 1930s stopped with the two-volume The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity, which mostly consisted of material that had already appeared in the public domain, but with the addition of synopses of some of his lectures.1 For Anglophone scholars the problem was even worse; aside from his lecture on the serpent ritual that was published in the Journal of the Warburg Institute in 1939, the only other writings that were available in English were those passages selected by Sir Ernst Gombrich for inclusion in his intellectual biography of Warburg of 1970.2Since the mid-1990s the situation has dramatically changed. Not only did Nicholas Mann, director of the Warburg Institute, open up the Warburg Archive and encourage scholars to engage with its material, also, the Getty Research Institute funded a translation of The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity, while a revised version of his serpent ritual lecture was also published in the United States.3 As anyone familiar with the Warburg Archive in London will know, however, this represents only the tip of the iceberg. Indeed, Gombrich's biography, for all its limitations, performed an invaluable service in indicating the intellectual richness of Warburg's extensive unpublished oeuvre, from lecture drafts to notebooks and countless unfinished projects.There have been attempts to bring some of this material to light, such as a German edition of his lecture on astrology dedicated to the memory of Franz Boll, or an Italian translation (with parallel German text) of Warburg's early notebooks 'Basic Fragments towards a monistic Psychology of Art'.4 A recent single-volume of Warburg's collected works included the contents of The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity as well as various other essays and lectures from the archive, including the introduction to the Mnemosyne Atlas and his early text 'Symbolism as the Determination of Scope.'5 By far the most ambitious project, however, has been the edition of the complete works of Warburg published by the Akademie Verlag in Berlin, of which this is the latest volume. Beginning with the re-publication of The Renewal of Pagan Antiquity in 1998, the project, a collaboration between the Warburg Institute and the University of Hamburg, will include all the significant material in the Warburg Archive.The current volume, which gathers together the various thematic sets and series of images Warburg compiled after his return to Hamburg from Kreuzlingen in 1925, is very much a companion to the Mnemosyne Atlas, already published as part of the edition in 1999.6 Publication of the latter was already a welcome step, for although it had become the object of a considerable degree of interest, the Atlas remained elusive, its plates existing in several different versions in the Warburg Archive, successive commentaries offering only glimpses. The latest volume is not only significant in its right for making a new body of material available, it is also valuable in casting light on the Mnemosyne.One of the key questions to do with the Atlas has been that of its status. While its format was novel, it was generally assumed to represent the culmination of Warburg's oeuvre, a synoptic presentation of the themes that had preoccupied him for the previous 35 to 40 years. Thus, familiar subjects reappear, such as the Palazzo Schifanoia frescoes, the Tempio Malatestiano, Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, astrological symbols, or the pathos formulae of Mantegna, Durer and Rembrandt, confirming the sense that it was, in a certain sense, merely a restatement of his lifelong concerns. …


The performance of two conductors for the ITER central solenoids was tested. The current sharing temperatures were measured over 17 050 electromagnetic cycles, including four thermal cycles between 4.2 K and room temperature. declined almost linearly over the 10 000 rated electromagnetic cycles. was nearly constant for 70% of the rated electromagnetic cycles, which implies the existence of a fatigue limit in the conductors. For 85% of the rated cycles, a very sharp degradation of approximately 0.2 K occurred. Some type of large deformation of strands, such as buckling, may have caused this sharp degradation. The effective strain degraded linearly with the electromagnetic force on the cable. The gradient after 10 000 cycles was 1.5 times greater than that before cycling. After 10 000 cycles, the ac losses of both conductors considerably decreased to less than half of those before cycling. These ac losses before cycling were less than a fourth of those of toroidal field conductors. After the test campaign, destructive inspection of the conductor clarified that on average, the distribution of residual strain along the cable was almost uniform at 32 ppm. It was also clarified that some strands were visibly deformed under a high magnetic field, whereas strands under a low magnetic field did not appear to be deformed. The deformations of the central solenoid cable were larger and wavier in subcables than those observed in the toroidal field cable. This plastic deformation of the strands could be one of the major reasons for the degradation during cyclic operation.


Risk management and the thorough understanding of the relations between financial markets and the standard theory of macroeconomics have always been among the topics most addressed by researchers, both financial mathematicians and economists. This work aims at explaining investors' behavior from a macroeconomic aspect (modeled by the investors' pricing kernel and their relative risk aversion) using stocks and options data. Daily estimates of investors' pricing kernel and relative risk aversion are obtained and used to construct and analyze a three-year long time-series. The first four moments of these time-series as well as their values at the money are the starting point of a principal component analysis. The relation between changes in a major index level and implied volatility at the money and between the principal components of the changes in relative risk aversion is found to be linear. The relation of the same explanatory variables to the principal components of the changes in pricing kernels is found to be log-linear, although this relation is not significant for all of the examined maturities.


Axonal degeneration is a hallmark feature of numerous neurological conditions; one suggested cause of this degeneration is an accumulation of the NAD precursor molecule nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), which has been found to signal for cellular apoptosis following axonal injury. Upon treatment with the NAMPT inhibitor FK866 the accumulation of NMN is prevented and axonal survival rate is increased. A similar improvement in axonal survival is shown when nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 2 (NMNAT2), the enzyme responsible for conversion of NMN to NAD is present in excess. Previous studies have indicated that FK866 reduces the occurrence of axonal dystrophies and axonal swellings in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Huntington's disease (HD) models respectively, my study seeks to expand on these findings by assessing the effect of FK866 on amyloid plaques in AD mice and nuclear aggregates of mutant huntingtin in HD mice, as well as exploring a potential interaction between Huntingtin (Htt) and NMNAT2. No evidence was found to suggest a direct bind between NMNAT2 and Htt, although an indirect interaction cannot be ruled out. My results indicate that while neither medication was found to be effective at reducing amyloid plaque count in the AD model both medication groups showed a reduction in plaque size, potentially accounting for previous findings of a reduced number of axonal dystrophies. It was found that FK866/NA promoted the formation of nuclear aggregates of mHtt in HD model mice while showing no negative cognitive effects, this warrants future study as the role of nuclear aggregates is currently still debated within the literature.


I was the Fool-king of Soho and the number-one slag in the Groucho Club, the second drunkest member of the world's drunkest band. This was no disaster, though. It was a dream coming true.' For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more eventful life. But as bass player of Blur - one of the most successful British bands of all time - his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. In Bit of a Blur he chronicles his journey from a slug-infested flat in Camberwell to a world of screaming fans and private jets - and his eventual search to find meaning and happiness (and, perhaps most importantly, the perfect cheese), in an increasingly surreal world.


Background Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters (PICCs) are long-term intravenous catheters used for drug administration when the duration of parenteral treatment exceeds six days. Purpose To analyse the incidence and nature of PICC-related complications in routine clinical practice. Material and methods A monocentric, prospective study. All PICCs implanted between December 1, 2012 and March 6, 2013 were included. Clinical data of inpatients and outpatients were collected until May 1, 2013. Results Of the 206 PICCs successfully inserted in 184 patients, 204 were analysed. They represented 5,116 catheter-days, of which 1,503 related to outpatients. Antibiotic treatment was the main use (70.5%). At the end of the follow-up, 194 PICCs had been removed with a median duration of 16.0 days (0–97). Complications led to the removal of 58 PICCs: two thromboses, 26 suspected infections, 12 obstructions and 18 accidental removals. The incidence rates were 2.45% or 0.98 per 1,000 catheter-days for catheter-related bloodstream infection with parenteral nutrition as a risk factor (OR = 13.0; CI95: 2.77–82.38, p = 0.0002), and 0.98% or 0.39 per 1,000 catheter-days for thrombosis. Catheter obstruction occurred for 40/204 PICCs with blood transfusion and blood samples as risk factors (OR = 3.0; CI95: 1.21–8.53, p = 0.01). Conclusion Due to their low organic complication rates and their significant use for outpatients, PICCs appear to be a good alternative if there is a need for central venous access in case of a medium- or a long-term catheter. A better understanding of their usage and training of healthcare workers are required to avoid complications. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


Stress is a universal phenomenon that essentially manifests itself in human as a result of pressure emanating from several experiences or challenging situation. Due to the nature of the construction industry which embraces a wide range of loosely integrated activities, stress becomes an issue of concern. This research work focuses on identifying the sources of stress among construction professionals, assessing the impact of stress on the productivity of professionals and examining ways of effectively managing stress level among construction professionals. To achieve these objectives, 100 questionnaires were administered to professionals in the construction industry out which 70 were returned and suitable for analysis. Using descriptive statistical analysis tool on the data obtained shows that insufficient finance/resources, staff shortage, and conflicting roles ranked highest as the main sources of stress. Delay in job completion, deterioration of power of organization and planning, increase in error rate during manipulative and cognitive task, depression and feeling of helplessness and over sensitivity are the major impact of stress on the productivity of professionals. In order to minimize stress, delegating some work, share burden with colleagues, leave and time off work with family and love ones, as well as reducing work overtime ranked highest as strategies for stress management. Based on the findings, it was concluded that stress has a great impact on the professionals and thereby affects the level of productivity. It was therefore recommended that professionals should exhibit self-control and good self-esteem; engage in continuous professional development on skills for better organization, integration of work within specified project constraints and delegation of assignment, authority and breaking work into manageable parts so as to be able to cope with stress.


Leaf phenology refers to the timing of leaf life cycle events and is essential to our understanding of the earth system as it impacts the terrestrial carbon and water cycles and indirectly global climate through changes in surface roughness and albedo. Traditionally, leaf phenology is described as a response to higher temperatures in spring and lower temperatures in autumn for temperate regions. With the advent of carbon ecosystem models however, we need a better representation of seasonal cycles, one that is able to explain phenology in different areas around the globe, including tropical regions, and has the capacity to predict phenology under future climates. We propose a global phenology model based on the hypothesis that phenology is a strategy through which plants reach optimal carbon assimilation. We fit this 14 parameter model to five years of space borne data of leaf area index using a Bayesian fitting algorithm and we use it to simulate leaf seasonal cycles across the globe. We explain the observed increase in leaf area over the Amazon basin during the dry season through an increase in available direct solar radiation. Seasonal cycles in dry tropical areas are explained by the variation in water availability, while phenology at higher latitudes is driven by changes in temperature and daylength. We explore the hypothesis that phenological traits can be explained at the biome (plant functional group) level and we show that some characteristics can only be explained at the species level due to local factors such as water and nutrient availability. We anticipate that our work


ABSTRACT Background: PDAC carries a poor prognosis. Recently ABX combined with GEM was shown to improve overall survival compared with standard single agent GEM. The mechanism by which ABX and GEM interact is not fully understood, but limited preclinical and clinical data has led to two hypotheses: 1: ABX may act to deplete the tumour stroma by binding to the protein, SPARC (secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine), facilitating GEM penetration of and access to the tumour; 2: ABX may increase intratumoural levels of the active GEM triphosphate by decreasing cytidine deaminase (CDA) activity, thus enhancing GEM cytotoxicity. Mouse models of PDAC suggest that delivery of ABX 24 hours prior to GEM might result in even higher intratumoural GEM concentrations. Thus, scheduling of these 2 agents may be critical to optimising clinical benefit. Optimal scheduling of ABX + GEM and effect on quality of life is the subject of the SIEGE clinical trial. Trial design: Patients with previously untreated, histologically or cytologically confirmed metastatic PDAC are randomised to receive a 4-weekly cycle of ABX + GEM until disease progression, administered either concomitantly (IV ABX 125mg/m2 d1, d8 and d15 immediately followed by IV GEM 1000mg/m2 d1, d8 and d15) or sequentially (the same regimen with GEM given 24hr after ABX). Prior to randomisation, tumour tissue and blood is obtained for analysis of the tumour stroma, SPARC and CDA activity. Blood is collected prior to each treatment cycle and on disease progression. Tumour biopsies are collected prior to starting cycle 3 and at disease progression. The clinical primary endpoint is progression-free survival. Tumour assessments are performed using RECIST every 8 weeks until progression. Recruitment started in January 2014 and a total of 120 patients will be recruited over 2 years at 20 UK sites. Biological samples will be used to determine the mechanism of action of ABX + GEM. Biomarker analyses may identify whether a particular patient subgroup is likely to benefit more than others. The trial is registered as EudraCT 2013-001868-40. Disclosure: P. Corrie: I have received funds from Celgene Ltd for: 1. Work in a consultant/advisory role 2. As research funding 3. To fund travel to conferences/meetings; D.I. Jodrell and B. Basu: I have been awarded funds by Celgene Ltd for: 1. To fund aspects of my research. 2. To fund travel to conferences/meetings; J.W. Valle: I have received funds from Celgene Ltd for: 1. Work in a consultant/advisory role 2. As research funding 3. To fund travel to conferences/meetings. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


This paper presents the design and simulation of a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) controller which is one of the key shunt controllers in flexible alternating current transmission system (FACTS) to control the transmission line voltage and can be used in power systems to enhance the power transmission capacity and extend the transient stability margin. In this paper, the STATCOM based on the voltage source converter (VSC) topology is proposed as it is conventionally realized by a VSC that can generate a controllable current directly at its output terminals. The performance and behavior of the STATCOM is simulated at different cases which result in excellent current and voltage waveforms as well as short response time while operating at a low switching frequency. The transmission system is divided into two portions; one is consisted of two sets of three phase transmission lines in parallel and another is consisted of a three phase transmission line. When the STATCOM is not installed, interruption of either three phase line due to a fault decreases the transmission line voltage as the line impedance increases to double before the interruption. Different bus voltages at different cases are simulated and it is observed that installing the STATCOM makes it possible to control the transmission line voltage. The proposed STATCOM has been simulated using the MATLAB/Simulink package.


This paper examines Emonds' Structure Preserving Hypothesis, and suggests that the insight behind this hypothesis survives reformulation in terms of recent minimalist theory: each structure created by internal merge can also, independently, be created by external merge. As before, this makes movement (as expressed by its successor concept "internal merge") redundant. From a meta-theoretical perspective, merge has the same formas other local relations, such as "displacement", reflexivization and agreement. This suggests a generalization in terms of triads: linguistic relations can only affect sisters and/or their immediately dominating node. Variables can be eliminated by successive chaining of triads.


The fatal immune dysregulation that sometimes follows EBV infection in boys has been linked to mutations in two X chromosome-encoded genes, SLAM-associated protein (SAP) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP). In this study we describe 2 girls from a consanguineous Turkish family who died after developing severe immune dysregulation and therapy-resistant EBV-positive B cell proliferation following EBV infection. SNP array-based genome-wide linkage analysis revealed IL-2-inducible T cell kinase (ITK) as a candidate gene for this immunodeficiency syndrome. Both girls harbored a homozygous missense mutation that led to substitution of a highly conserved residue (R335W) in the SH2 domain of ITK. Characteristics of ITK deficiency in mouse models, such as absence of NKT cells and high levels of eomesodermin in CD8+ cells, were seen in either one or both of the girls. Two lines of evidence suggested that R335W caused instability of the ITK protein. First, in silico modeling of the mutant protein predicted destabilization of the SH2 domain. Additionally, Western blot analysis revealed that, unlike wild-type ITK, the R335W mutant was nearly undetectable when expressed in 293 T cells. Our results suggest that ITK deficiency causes what we believe to be a novel immunodeficiency syndrome that leads to a fatal inadequate immune response to EBV. Because ITK deficiency resembles EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorders in boys, we suggest that this molecular cause should be considered during diagnosis and treatment.


Objectives Acute respiratory infections and fever among children are highly prevalent in primary care. It is challenging to distinguish between viral and bacterial infections. Norway has a relatively low prescription rate of antibiotics, but it is still regarded as too high as the antimicrobial resistance is increasing. The aim of the study was to identify predictors for prescribing antibiotics or referral to hospital among children. Design Secondary analysis of a randomised controlled study. Setting 4 out-of-hours services and 1 paediatric emergency clinic in Norwegian primary care. Participants 401 children aged 0–6 years with respiratory symptoms and/or fever visiting the out-of-hours services. Outcomes 2 main outcome variables were registered: antibiotic prescription and referral to hospital. Results The total prescription rate of antibiotics was 23%, phenoxymethylpenicillin was used in 67% of the cases. Findings on ear examination (OR 4.62; 95% CI 2.35 to 9.10), parents' assessment that the child has a bacterial infection (OR 2.45; 95% CI 1.17 to 5.13) and a C reactive protein (CRP) value >20 mg/L (OR 3.57; 95% CI 1.43 to 8.83) were significantly associated with prescription of antibiotics. Vomiting in the past 24 hours was negatively associated with prescription (OR 0.26; 95% CI 0.13 to 0.53). The main predictors significantly associated with referral to hospital were respiratory rate (OR 1.07; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.12), oxygen saturation <95% (OR 3.39; 95% CI 1.02 to 11.23), signs on auscultation (OR 5.57; 95% CI 1.96 to 15.84) and the parents' assessment before the consultation that the child needs hospitalisation (OR 414; 95% CI 26 to 6624). Conclusions CRP values >20 mg/L, findings on ear examination, use of paracetamol and no vomiting in the past 24 hours were significantly associated with antibiotic prescription. Affected respiration was a predictor for referral to hospital. The parents' assessment was also significantly associated with the outcomes. Trial registration number NCT02496559; Results.


The ability of viability selection to maintain allelic polymorphism is investigated using a constructionist approach. In extensions to the models we have previously proposed, a population is bombarded with a series of mutations whose fitnesses in conjunction with other alleles are functions of the corresponding fitnesses with a particular allele, the parent allele, already in the population. Allele frequencies are iterated simultaneously, thus allowing alleles to be driven to extinction by selection. Such models allow very high levels of polymorphism to evolve: up to 38 alleles in one case. Alleles that are lethal as homozygotes can evolve to surprisingly high frequencies. The joint evolution of allele frequencies and viabilities highlights the necessity to consider more than the current morphology of a population. Comparisons are made with the neutral theory of evolution and it is suggested that failure to reject neutrality using the Ewens-Watterson test cannot be regarded as evidence for the neutral theory.


Tourism is a fast growing and emerging economic sector. Because of its continuous and rapid development, it represents an indispensable part of leisure time of almost every individual. Nowadays, especially in developed countries with a rising standard of living, tourism has been facing higher demands placed on tourism by its participants. For this reason, interest in passive recreation tourism has decreased and a new potential is seen in a new tourism trend in the form of active spending of leisure time. Therefore, tourism is diversified into various specific forms that are targeted to a specific audience. One of these forms is gastronomic tourism taking gastronomy as a key element. A primary motive of gastronomy tourism is to travel because of knowledge and discovery of secrets of local, regional and international cooking. This new trend offers to its participants' extraordinary gastronomic experience though gastronomic events or visiting certain sites associated with gastronomy. The aim of this research is to find and recommend new attractive opportunities within culinary tourism in a chosen region and thus increase its attractiveness and competitiveness, simply to add value and add something extra in comparison to other regions in the Czech Republic. The initial part of the research is dedicated to mapping of current state of culinary tourism in Zlín region and subsequently this state is compared to other regions in the country. A current state of culinary tourism in the region will be mapped by using questionnaire survey or personal interviews and field investigation. The last part of the research will contain a comparative analysis according to specific criteria of chosen gastronomic events taking place in Moravia. Finally, conclusions are specified to create a new event in the region. Key-Words: culinary tourism,


Cognitive impairment (CI) is one of symptoms that adults with cancer frequently report. Although there are known factors that contribute to a patient's CI, these factors did not sufficiently explain its variability. Several studies conducted in patients with neurocognitive disorders have reported relationships between patients' cognitive function and caregiver characteristics, which are poorly understood in the context of cancer. This scoping review aims to map the literature on caregiver characteristics associated with CI in adults with cancer. We used the framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley and PRISMA-Sc. Studies published in English by 2019 were searched through seven electronic databases. All retrieved citations were independently screened and eligibility for inclusion was determined by two independent authors. Ten studies met inclusion for this review with all of them showing significant associations between a patient's cognitive function and caregiver characteristics. Caregiver's mental health was the most commonly associated with a patient's cognitive function followed by family functioning, adaptation to illness, attitude toward disclosure of the illness, burden, coping and resilience, and demographic characteristics. These review findings suggest that enhanced information about CI in relation to caregiver characteristics will eventually provide the foundation for multifocal interventions for patients with impaired cognitive function. This scoping review identified caregiver characteristics that are associated with patients CI. These characteristics should be also assessed when health providers assess and treat CI of adults with cancer.


The distribution and timing of bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) vocalizations reflect changing environmental conditions in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas Kalyn Quintin MacIntyre Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Assistant Professor Kristin L. Laidre School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences The Arctic is experiencing dramatic shifts in climate that have led to changes in sea ice distribution, extent, and timing that pose adaptability challenges for Arctic species. Ice obligate species, such as the bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus, are inherently vulnerable to Arctic warming due to their reliance on seasonal sea ice as a platform for pupping and molting. Bearded seals are a highly vocal panArctic species, in which males produce underwater vocal displays as part of courtship behavior during mating season. Bearded seal vocalizations were once believed to be a spring phenomenon, but results of this study have revealed year-round acoustic activity by bearded seals in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas (BCB). This new insight suggests that passive acoustic monitoring can be employed as an effective method to examine bearded seal distribution, migration patterns, and population structure year-round. This study provides a more complete understanding of bearded seal behavior and ecology through the analysis of year-round passive acoustic data collected in the BCB between 2008 and 2011. The BCB comprises three ecologically distinct bodies of water connected by the currents that flow northward from the Pacific Ocean through the Bering Strait and into the Arctic. The fineand broad-scale oceanographic and physiographic variability that exists among the BCB may directly or indirectly (through sea ice conditions) affect bearded seal distributions. Analysis of seal vocal presence relative to sea ice distribution helped to clarify the relationships between bearded seal vocal behavior, habitat preferences and sea ice conditions. Regional and recording-site variability in call activity was largely related to sea ice conditions and geography, however oceanographic variability may contribute to the fine-scale variability in call activity that was present between closely located sites. This research provides a contemporary baseline of bearded seal distributions needed for detecting future population fluctuations as a result of sea ice variability in the disrupted polar climate. Results of this study revealed a positive correlation between bearded seal call activity and sea ice conditions. This tight coupling of sea ice and call activity provide evidence that variability in sea ice conditions may have major implications for the success of the bearded seal population in the BCB as the climate continues to change.


This article takes stock of the evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the prism of three recent shifts: the move away from targeting industrial country emissions in a legally binding manner under the Kyoto Protocol to mandating voluntary contributions from all countries under the Paris Agreement; the shift from the top-down Kyoto architecture to the hybrid Paris outcome; and the broadening out from a mitigation focus under Kyoto to a triple goal comprising mitigation, adaptation, and finance under Paris. This review discusses the implications of these processes for the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of the UNFCCC's institutional and operational settings for meeting the convention's objectives. It ends by sketching three potential scenarios facing the UNFCCC as it seeks to coordinate the Paris Agreement and its relationship to the wider landscape of global climate action.


The performance of introduced plants can be limited by the availability of soil mutualists outside their native range, but how interactions with mutualists differ between ranges is largely unknown. If mutualists are absent, incompatible or parasitic, plants may compensate by investing more in root biomass, adapting to be more selective or by maximizing the benefits associated with the mutualists available. We tested these hypotheses using seven non‐agricultural species of Trifolium naturalized in New Zealand (NZ). We grew seeds from two native (Spain, UK) and one introduced (NZ) provenance of each species in glasshouse pots inoculated with rhizosphere microbiota collected from conspecifics in each region. We compared how plant biomass, degree of colonization by rhizobia and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and the growth benefit associated with each mutualist differed between provenances (native and introduced populations) when grown with soil microbiota from each region. We also tested whether the growth benefit of colonization by mutualists was correlated with the extent to which alien plants were distributed in the introduced range. Rhizobia colonization was generally lower among introduced relative to native provenances. In NZ soils, 9% of all plants lacked rhizobia and 16% hosted parasitic nodules, whereas in native‐range soils, there was no evidence of parasitism and all but one plant hosted rhizobia. Growth rates as a factor of rhizobia colonization were always highest when plants were grown in soil from their home range. Colonization by AMF was similar for all provenances in all soils but for four out of seven species grown in NZ soils, the level of AMF colonization was negatively correlated with growth rate. In general, introduced provenances did not compensate for lower growth rates or lower mutualist associations by decreasing shoot–root ratios. Synthesis. Despite differences between introduced and native provenances in their associations with soil mutualists and substantial evidence of parasitism in the introduced range, neither level of colonization by mutualists nor the growth benefit associated with colonization was correlated with the extent of species' distributions in the introduced range, suggesting mutualist associations are not predictive of invasion success for these species.


Disregarded entities, single member limited liability companies whose separate legal existence is ignored for all purposes under the Internal Revenue Code, were created by the Check-the-Box regulations. Their creation was a logical consequence of the objective of those regulations, which was to provide certainty in entity classification. Nevertheless, following the promulgation of the regulations the Service has issued letter rulings that look to substance to determine whether an LLC will be treated as having a single member and has otherwise retreated from the mandate of the regulations to disregard the separate existence of such entities. By looking to substance the Service has departed from the rule-based approach that produced the regulations and risks unraveling the structure created by the regulations. To look to substance is to apply a standard: substantively similar transactions ought to be taxed similarly. While that is often an unassailable goal, in this case, its costs are too great. When deciding whether to disregard an entity to determine the tax consequences of business transactions, the Service should abandon the goal of substantive accuracy. Substantive accuracy is unachievable in a system of elective classification, because elective classification necessarily produces a system in which substantively identical organizations are treated differently for tax purposes. Having abandoned all attempts at classifying entities by reference to substance in the Check-the-Box regulations the government should resist the temptation to reintroduce substantive analysis. Instead, the Service should focus on achieving the primary objective of the regulations: administrability. Administrability is the god that the Treasury and the Service purport to have been worshiping by issuing the Check-the-Box regulations, and administrability should therefore drive the application of those regulations. Instead of the ad hoc, sometimes-rule, sometimes-standard approach the Service is currently taking, or an always-rule, or always-standard, approach that has the beauty of consistency, this article proposes a bifurcated analysis. The proposed analysis distinguishes between situations in which the characterization of an entity is important ex-ante, where knowing whether the entity will be disregarded would allow both taxpayers and the Service to predict accurately the tax consequences of particular transactions, and situations where the characterization is relevant only ex-post, where an event that is not susceptible of planning has already occurred. In developing the proposed analysis, I draw on scholarship that examines the application of rules and standards in a variety of legal contexts. I do that because many of the insights developed in that literature apply in tax and because I want to make that literature more prominent in tax scholarship generally. The increasing difficulty of administering the tax system suggests that policymakers should think more deeply about the tradeoff between equity and administrability. Disregarded entities can help to explore that tradeoff because they are the culmination of more than half a century of struggle with entity classification and represent one resolution of it.


Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida: The Impact of Colonialism. CLARK SPENCER LARSEN (ed.). University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 2001. 324 pp., $55 (cloth), ISBN 0-8130-2088-3. Reviewed by Ryan Harrod The field of bioarchaeology is a relatively new subdiscipline of physical anthropology that emerged in the 1970s as researchers pushed beyond simple osteological analysis and began using skeletal remains to address questions about lifestyle, diet, and the distribution of pathologies among past human societies. Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida is a unique text because it approaches these new questions in relation to Native American groups living in a region called La Florida, which encompasses modern-day Florida and Georgia prior to, during, and foUowing contact with Spanish missionaries. The 10 chapters of Bioarchaeology of Spanish Florida, while presented seemingly separate in the text, can be organized according to the question of lifestyle each researcher is trying to address, whether that be about diet, quality of life, genetic relation, or exposure to pathology. The first two chapters introduce the research topic and methodological approaches utilized in the field of bioarchaeology. Chapter 1 describes the overall culture and history of the region, as well as the events that took place, and the reaction of the people involved, as Native American groups were introduced to the Spanish mission system. Chapter 2 provides a broad overview of the discipUne of bioarchaeology and its application in understanding La Florida. Having established a solid foundation for the authence, the next two chapters provide an in-depth analysis of how Native American diet among the various groups was affected to various degrees with the estabUshment of Spanish missions. To understand the type and quality of diet, the researcher evaluated the ratio of stable isotopes of nitrogen and carbon within the bones as well as analyzed microscopic evidence of wear on the teeth. Only a single chapter is dedicated to the realm of more traditional osteology, with chapter 5 investigating the metric analysis of the size and shape of the skeletal remains to determine activity and lifestyle of the various groups. However, this chapter differs from earlier studies in that Ruff and Larsen utilize innovative techniques to improve on the accuracy of the analysis. They move beyond measuring the outside dimensions of the bones such as length, width, and circumference to trying to understand both the external and internal structure. The following two chapters are a synthesis of the previous chapters as the authors evaluate diseases and characteristics that are the result of an unknown etiology that could be the result of fluctuations in diet or lifestyle. In chapter 7 Hutchinson and Larsen evaluate enamel hypoplasia, while in chapter 8 the authors are charting the occurrence of porotic hyperostosis and cribra orbitalia. …


The Trade Policy Review Mechanism, a permanent feature of the World Trade Organization (WTO), is designed to contribute to improving adherence by all WTO members to rules, disciplines, and commitments made under the Multilateral Trade Agreement. This volume in the series provides information on the trade policies, practices, and macroeconomic situations of Australia. Each Trade Policy Review is expertly prepared after in-depth analysis of an individual nation by the WTO's Trade Policy Review Board.


Initial infection of the airway by Pseudomonas aeruginosa may occur through a variety of bacterial strategies including binding to epithelial receptors present at the surface of the respiratory epithelium. In order to characterize the adherence sites for P. aeruginosa in damaged and repairing bronchial tissue, an ex vivo model of airway epithelial injury and repair was developed using primary cell cultures of nasal cells from 14 subjects with polyposis. P. aeruginosa strongly adhered to flattened dedifferentiated (FD) bronchial and nasal cytokeratin 13-positive epithelial cells in the process of migration for repair. In in vitro experiments, competitive binding inhibition assays demonstrated that alpha5beta1 integrins and cellular fibronectin, in particular the RGD sequence, are receptors involved in P. aeruginosa adherence to FD nasal epithelial cells. Fluorescent cell sorting analysis and immunofluorescence techniques revealed that the alpha5beta1 integrins are overexpressed and apically exposed in FD nasal epithelial cells. One 50 kDa outer membrane protein was identified in piliated and nonpiliated strains of P. aeruginosa that was involved in binding to cellular fibronectin and alpha5beta1 epithelial integrins. These results demonstrate that Pseudomonas aeruginosa adherence is related to the dedifferentiation of airway epithelium during the repair process which unmasks and upregulates the alpha5beta1 integrin expression and induces active synthesis of cellular fibronectin. These epithelial receptors are then used by a Pseudomonas aeruginosa 50 kDa outer membrane protein as sites of bacterial adherence.


Abstract. Air-coupled flexural waves (ACFWs) appear as wave trains of
constant frequency that arrive in advance of the direct air wave from an
impulsive source travelling over a floating ice sheet. The frequency of
these waves varies with the flexural stiffness of the ice sheet, which is
controlled by a combination of thickness and elastic properties. We develop
a theoretical framework to understand these waves, utilizing modern
numerical and Fourier methods to give a simpler and more accessible
description than the pioneering yet unwieldy analytical efforts of the
1950s. Our favoured dynamical model can be understood in terms of linear
filter theory and is closely related to models used to describe the flexural
waves produced by moving vehicles on floating plates. We find that
air-coupled flexural waves are a real and measurable component of the total
wave field of floating ice sheets excited by impulsive sources, and we present
a simple closed-form estimator for the ice thickness based on observable
properties of the air-coupled flexural waves. Our study is focused on
first-year sea ice of ∼ 20–80 cm thickness in Van
Mijenfjorden, Svalbard, that was investigated through active source seismic
experiments over four field campaigns in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018. The
air-coupled flexural wave for the sea ice system considered in this study
occurs at a constant frequency thickness product of ∼ 48 Hz m.
Our field data include ice ranging from ∼ 20–80 cm thickness
with corresponding air-coupled flexural frequencies from 240 Hz for the
thinnest ice to 60 Hz for the thickest ice. While air-coupled flexural waves
for thick sea ice have received little attention, the readily audible,
higher frequencies associated with thin ice on freshwater lakes and rivers
are well known to the ice-skating community and have been reported in
popular media. The results of this study and further examples from lake ice
suggest the possibility of non-contact estimation of ice thickness using
simple, inexpensive microphones located above the ice sheet or along the
shoreline. While we have demonstrated the use of air-coupled flexural waves
for ice thickness monitoring using an active source acquisition scheme,
naturally forming cracks in the ice are also shown as a potential impulsive
source that could allow passive recording of air-coupled flexural waves.


We introduce a new variational inference objective for hierarchical Dirichlet process admixture models. Our approach provides novel and scalable algorithms for learning nonparametric topic models of text documents and Gaussian admixture models of image patches. Improving on the point estimates of topic probabilities used in previous work, we define full variational posteriors for all latent variables and optimize parameters via a novel surrogate likelihood bound. We show that this approach has crucial advantages for data-driven learning of the number of topics. Via merge and delete moves that remove redundant or irrelevant topics, we learn compact and interpretable models with less computation. Scaling to millions of documents is possible using stochastic or memoized variational updates.


Human behavior stems from a fascinating tangle of conscious and subconscious impulses. While we are often quite aware of what we are doing and how we have come to do it, such is not always the case. Various human drives can lead us, for example, to be perfectly convinced that our actions are appropriate or that our motives are pure, despite considerable evidence to the contrary.The human mind is particularly important in the realm of intellectual property. The stuff of intellectual property, that which we choose to protect, flows from processes of the human mind as it interacts with the natural world and with creations that have come before. Without knowing any more, one might imagine that subconscious processes of the human mind could come to play a role in the unfolding doctrines.This piece will consider how Intellectual Property law handles subconscious impulses on the part of participants in the system. Looking at examples from Copyright, Trade Secret, and Patent law, the piece argues that although such impulses may be treated differently in different areas of Intellectual Property law, the variations can be understood in the context of the moral stance adopted in the doctrinal area. Where the connection between the moral stance of the doctrine and the approach taken by the doctrine is muddled, it may signal a doctrine in disarray. As an example, the piece analyszes the doctrine of Inequitable Conduct in patent law, concluding that this area of law has lost its bearings.


The current call for accountability in education increases the need for an understanding of best practices for administrators of specialized schools that serve students with special needs, including residential and day treatment programs. The literature revealed issues in curriculum planning and resource allocation to meet the complex and interrelated needs of students in specialized schools, and in effective program design for students with specific low incidence disabilities. No literature could be identified that addressed the challenges of administering specialized schools that integrate educational, therapeutic, and transitional and vocational programs in one setting. A survey of administrators of specialized schools in one Northern California county was conducted to identify best practices for decision making and resource allocation in a time of dwindling local, state and national resources. Four administrators working in specialized programs in Northern California were interviewed using a questionnaire. Findings indicated that administrators of specialized schools make decisions about staffing, training and curriculum based on their students' needs for integrated services in order to support development across three domains: 1) academic, 2) therapeutic, and 3) vocational, transitional and independent living skill training. Administrator responses emphasized communication and collaboration between all domains as essential for student success. Findings further indicated that administrators agreed that students do best when teachers receive support for their emotional and social needs as well as their curriculum and instructional planning needs. Critical Issues for Specialized Schools 7 Chapter


A Bachelor of Education course was developed at Edith Cowan University (ECU) Joondalup in 2002 with a significant focus on creating and sustaining mutually productive relationships with partner schools. These industry partnership links have afforded authentic workplace opportunities for prospective teachers to develop contextually, whilst undertaking field placements and making valid contributions to partner school priorities and children's learning. This has involved all stakeholders developing collegiality and professional interaction from a position of trust, respect and sense of contribution to the whole (Marlow and Nass-fuka, 2000). The involvement of industry partners is of a completely voluntary nature and hinges, almost entirely, on a commitment to teacher education and peripherally associated benefits. Sustaining the principles, processes and relationships on which partnerships have been developed is however, a consistent challenge. This paper outlines the development of professional relationships, the provision of service to schools through intensive teaching units and the central role of professional practice in the course, with explicit links between practice and theory. A model has evolved which supports the retention of stakeholders with the partnership at various developmental junctures of their careers that reflects the key elements of interdependency and mutually beneficial relationships for stakeholders within the school-university partnerships at ECU Joondalup. The partnership model affords stakeholders access and re-access points from undergraduate level to post-retirement and aims to retain school/industry partnership commitment, lifelong links to ECU and a sustainability provision for the future.


The US Army has been investigating an aerostable penetrator formed from sheetmetal using progressive die stamping technology. One advantage of this approach is that the penetrator shaft is substantially rectangular in cross section, increasing packing density relative to more conventional designs. A second advantage is that the sheet metal technology allows greater control of the tailfin geometry. The tailfin span can be increased beyond the limits that would be imposed by forging or swaging technologies if the increase is needed for optimal flight stability. The disadvantage of the sheetmetal technology is that conventional cruciform tailfins cannot be produced. The AMRDEC has investigated three tailfin design concepts and has found a configuration that provides both aerodynamic stability and good packaging density. This paper will provide an overview of the penetrator airframe design and will discuss flight testing aerodynamic results.


White-nose syndrome has devastated bat populations in eastern North America. In Midwestern United States, prevalence increased quickly in the first year of invasion (2012–13) but with low population declines. In the second year (2013–14), environmental contamination led to earlier infection and high population declines. Interventions must be implemented before or soon after fungal invasion to prevent population collapse.


Strictures of the biliary tract represent a common diagnostic and management problem in pancreaticobiliary practice, often requiring close multidisciplinary collaboration among endoscopists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists and oncologists. The underlying aetiologies, clinical manifestations and prognostic significance are protean, encompassing both benign and malignant entities; single and multifocal disease distributions; extrahepatic and intrahepatic site involvement; silent and symptomatic presentations, and clinically indolent as well as rapidly progressive natural histories. From a practical standpoint, however, the most critical distinction to make, both accurately and expeditiously, is between benign and malignant aetiologies since timely surgical resection of early-stage malignant disease remains the only route to cure. Definitive differentiation, however, is not always feasible, and many cases remain indeterminate even after extensive investigation.

The differential diagnosis of biliary strictures is predominantly a function of geography and consequent variations in disease epidemiology. In the Western world, most biliary strictures are secondary to malignant disease in the form of pancreatic cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, gallbladder cancer, malignant hilar lymphadenopathy and hepatocellular carcinoma. Important benign aetiologies include iatrogenic causes (usually in the setting of bile duct injury during cholecystectomy) chronic pancreatitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and immunoglobulin G-subfraction 4 (IgG4)-related sclerosing cholangitis (IgG4-SC). Other causes of benign biliary strictures include gallstone disease (choledocholithiasis or Mirizzi syndrome); ischaemic and non-ischaemic injury in the setting of liver transplantation; anastomotic disease after biliary tract surgery; abdominal trauma; percutaneous therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (radiofrequency or ethanol ablation and chemoembolisation); radiotherapy; portal bilopathy, vasculitides; and miscellaneous infections (such as recurrent pyogenic cholangitis, cytomegalovirus infection and human immunodeficiency virus).

The clinical manifestations of biliary strictures are equally diverse, principally dictated by the severity of luminal obstruction and nature of causative disease process, ranging from being entirely asymptomatic with or without biochemical or radiological features of cholestasis, as in many post-cholecystectomy bile duct injuries, to those of …


This article evaluates the EAEU through lenses of four salient regional integration theories: neofunctionalism, liberal intergovernmentalism, social constructivism and neorealism, in four corresponding dimensions of integration: economic, politico-institutional, cultural and geostrategic. It concludes that the EAEU is not a useful undertaking for Russia in any of the listed dimensions. The bloc's economic consequences for the smaller states will be harmful. They will experience major production cutbacks and huge adjustment costs because of their undersized firms.


The objective of this paper is to discuss unresolved research issues when linking the literatures on efficiency measurement and the design and operation of engineered systems. I focus on five themes that have emerged in the last decade. These include: engineering system design, resilience and sustainability of infrastructure systems, physical and behavioral representations of disaggregated subsystems, messy data, and the dynamic characteristics of engineered systems. I also provide an initial conceptualization of key yet interrelated issues within each of the themes. Along with the themes I suggest existing modeling formulations in the efficiency measurement literature (DEA, network DEA, fuzzy clustering, and the Dynamic Productive Efficiency Model) that serve as an initial starting point for modeling the efficiency performance of engineered systems. As illustrations, I present two examples, one from infrastructure management and one from transportation engineering.