There has been increasing interest in the use of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) for the synthesis and application of functional hybrid nanomaterials. Here, for the first time, we prepared MoS2 nanosheets that were modified with organic copper (OCu) nanowires by a facile two-step hydrothermal synthesis. Multi-characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy were used to observe the conjugation of OCu with MoS2 and the morphology of the fabricated MoS2–OCu nanohybrids. In addition, other methods such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction were utilized to understand the structure and properties of the prepared MoS2–OCu nanohybrids. Finally, the synthesized MoS2–OCu nanohybrids were further utilized to fabricate multi-functional electrochemical sensors for highly sensitive detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and ascorbic acid (AA). The obtained results indicate that the synthesized novel MoS2–OCu nanohybrids exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity towards both analytes, and present potential applications for detecting H2O2 and AA with high stability, sensitivity, and selectivity.


The cycloadducts formed on addition of triazolium-l-imides to a variety of dipolarophiles were originally assigned as pyrazolotriazoles. Subsequent re-examination in the 1980's led to the discovery of a tandem cycloaddition - sigmatropic rearrangement mechanism leading to pyrrolotriazoles. These pyrrolotriazoles contain an azimine function as part of the ring system and the thermal and photochemical transformations of these compounds are of interest because of the wide structural variety found among the products.

In the current work on cycloaddition reactions leading to pyrrolotriazoles a number of side products, including triazoles and substituted anilines are identified The acid catalyzed epimerization of the cycloadduct was also observed. A range of new cycloadducts have been synthesized.

The thermal reaction of hexahydropyrrolo[2,3-i/]triazoles led to fragmentation to substituted triazoles The tetrahydro-analogues, however underwent a 1,3-sigmatropic rearrangement followed by electrocyclic ring expansion to substituted 2,5-dihydro-l,2,3- triazines in high yield, and the structure was confirmed by x-ray crystallography. The importance of the unsaturation was confirmed as hexahydro derivatives were oxidized and found to produce the triazines in high yield.

The photochemical rearrangements of these species were found to depend on both the degree of unsaturation and the bridgehead substituents. For the 3a,6a-diaryl hexahydroderivatives, irradiation led to a disrotatory ring expansion to the new 2,5,6,7-tetrahydro- 184.108.40.206-tetrazocines, the structure of which was confirmed by x-ray crystallographic determination. The tetrahydro-analogues, on ring opening to 2,5-dihydro-l,2,3,5- tetrazocine underwent a transannular ring contraction followed by a 1,4-sigmatropic rearrangement to imidazo[4,5-c]pyrazoles The proposed intermediacy of 2,5-dihydro- 126.96.36.199-tetrazocine in the rearrangement of 3a,6a,-diaryl tetrahydropyrrolotriazoles was confirmed.

Irradiation of 3a,6a-dimethyl hexahydropyrrolo[2,3-i/] 1,2,3-triazole led to pyrrolo[3,2- 6 ]indole via a complex series of sequential transformations. The pathway was investigated by isolation of the intermediates and was found to consist of an initial epimerization, a 1,2-phenyl migration and an eliminative rearrangement followed by 5-exotrig closure to pyrrolo[3,2-6]indole. Two intermediates were characterized by x-ray crystallographic analyses.

Irradiation of the tetrahydro-analogues led to the formation of substituted pyrroles and azobenzene.


Process integration methods allow one optimizing industrial processes. The main goals are decreasing energy demand and operating costs as well as reduction of pollutants emissions. High fuel costs promote installation of heat pumps. In a heat pump process waste energy is valorized by electrical power to produce higher quality energy. That is used to satisfy a part of the process demand so that less fuel is required and CO2 emission will decrease. This paper presents a methodology, based on pinch analysis, which demonstrates the opportunity of integrating heat pumps in industrial processes. The method considers the whole process including utilities and the energy conversion system. A combined analysis which considers thermal and material streams in the process is realized to optimize the heat recovery and the integration of energy conversion units. By analogy all material streams are listed and the potential of water recuperation is obtained. The combination of appropriate refrigeration and heat pump cycles leads to an important energy saving potential. The respective flow rates are defined by optimization. The application case of a dairy is used to calculate the energy and operating cost savings potential.


Online Material: Discussion, figures of resolution matrix analysis of alternative cell geometries; alternative station distributions.

When geoscientists study the structure and history of old orogens, basins, and cratons, information from teleseismic data may provide important constraints on the present distribution of seismic velocities. The existing networks of permanent observatories are typically quite sparse, so temporary arrays are installed for a limited period of time with carefully designed measurement geometry. A dense grid of stations should ideally be deployed, but logistics, like road access and coastlines, combined with limited resources, commonly result in a distribution of the available seismometers along profiles perpendicular to the supposed strike direction of the target structures. This study focuses on the tomographic resolution of velocity structure from teleseismic travel‐time residuals. In particular, we identify some potential pitfalls when using a conventional tomographic model with regular cells, and we use a ray‐adapted model type that provides optimized resolution with much fewer artifacts.

The resolution and reliability of such an image depend on the density of stations (receivers), the diversity of azimuths of incoming information, and parameterization (shape and size of the cells) of the study area. Generally, the teleseismic ray incidence angles are rather steep, so vertical smearing in tomographical models is a problem that cannot be avoided but must be reduced as much as possible. Earthquakes (sources) are mostly located at plate boundaries. The period for data acquisition is limited so that, in most cases, the datasets are clearly biased with respect to azimuths and distances. A global‐scale illustration of this problem is shown in Figure 1 in which events with M w>5.5 occurring in 2006 are plotted. Rose diagrams for every 25° of latitude by 50° of longitude show the azimuthal distribution of teleseismic P arrivals, that is, for source–receiver distances between 30° and …


Abstract The article analyses the public attribution of blame and the use of presentational strategies of blame avoidance in complex delegation structures. We theorize and empirically demonstrate that complex delegation structures result in the diffusion of blame to multiple actors so that a clear allocation of responsibility becomes more difficult. The article shows that public attribution of blame follows a distinct temporal pattern in which politicians only gradually move into the centre of the blame storm. We also find that blame-takers deploy sequential patterns of presentational management and use blame shifting to other actors as a dominant strategy. However, the analysis suggests that complex delegation structures impose limitations on blame-takers' use of blame avoidance strategies, and that sequential presentational management becomes less useful over time. The article uses media content analysis to study blame games during a major crisis of the public transport system in Berlin, Germany.


I. IN THE WAKE OF CORPORATE SCANDAL The "irrational exuberance"1 of the late 1990s, marked by frenzied stock trading and risky investment strategies,2 fueled aggressive accounting practices that exaggerated real achievements and camouflaged setbacks.3 During that time, investors accepted business practices that measured performance by revenue, rather than earnings or cash, and by the number of "eyeballs hitting Internet sites."4 According to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, "when greed swept through our nation, we were not prepared to address it."5 The result was accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom and other organizations, in which directors failed to ask "questions of management to determine whether the stock was rising solely as a result of smoke and mirrors."6 In 2002, Congress responded to these scandals with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which modified governance, reporting and disclosure rules for public companies.7 Beyond the federal legislative response, these corporate scandals occasioned a new judicial and regulatory focus on directors' good faith performance of their corporate responsibilities. This trend has been evident in recent state and federal court decisions addressing directors' fiduciary duty of good faith and the business judgment rule.8 Most notably, in the 2003 decision In re The Walt Disney Co. Derivative Litigation, a Delaware chancery court declined to apply the business judgment rule in a derivative action where the court found that the company's directors failed to exercise any judgment in their decision making.9 According to one commentator, the court's decision raised concerns among many corporate directors about their own personal liability when making decisions on behalf of their corporations, and "serves as a warning to corporate directors that state courts are now willing to allow plaintiffs to prove that directors who fail to exercise due care in carrying out their fiduciary duties should be liable to the shareholders of the corporation, even without the suggestion of self-dealing."10 The Disney case seems to have been well-received by the Delaware Supreme Court,11 suggesting that this approach will influence other jurisdictions.12 In the regulatory context, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently displayed a "willingness to pursue cases against outside directors who [are] reckless in their oversight of management and asleep at the switch . . . ."13 Specifically, in SEC v. Adley, the SEC brought its first charges ever against an outside director who allowed securities fraud to occur under his watch.14 The Adley action may signal a new regulatory emphasis on directors' good faith performance of their duties and, as a result, directors may face increased liability exposure. Corporate directors' concern for the continued viability of the business judgment rule15 underscores the importance of understanding the current status of the law. Part II of this Note surveys the development of directors' fiduciary duties and the business judgment rule in Delaware and details the SEC's initiative targeting directors. Part III gauges the extent to which recent case law and regulatory action signal a change in the application of the business judgment rule or signal expanded regulatory liability for directors. Part IV provides practical guidance to corporate practitioners, who may counsel outside directors, about procedural failures that may expose directors to liability and steps those directors can take to minimize their exposure. Part V considers the policy implications of stricter directorial liability and offers suggestions for courts and the SEC to proceed in this area. II. BACKGROUND ON DIRECTORS' LIABILITY: CASE LAW AND REGULATORY ACTION A. Delaware's Business Judgment Rule In the Disney case, the central issue was whether to apply the business judgment rule to the board of directors.16 Under Delaware law, the business judgment rule is a presumption that in making a business decision, corporate directors "acted on an informed basis, in good faith and in the honest belief that their action was in the best interests of the corporation. …


This thesis is about designing, through drawing and fabricating, a High-Performance Wooden Wall for Ontario. To achieve this goal, the dissertation is grounded in the following premises. First, the correlation between location and material. The Forest Regions have engineered the different tree genus by enduring each tree under a specific location and climate. This natural technology has been distributed accordingly throughout Canada. Second, the use of naturally engineered materials. In Canadian weather, when the winter is cold, and the interior of the building is warm, the difference in temperature produces higher pressure in the envelope, forcing air through the wall and stimulating its cleansing. This tissue-like condition of the fiber is ideal for air-tight building envelopes. This thesis will argue that science should be behind the decision while making a wall and that a high-performance wall should be treated as an artifact.


Abstract Kant famously insisted that "the idea of the will of every rational being as a universally legislative will" is the supreme principle of morality. Recent interpreters have taken this emphasis on the self-legislation of the moral law as evidence that Kant endorsed a distinctively constructivist conception of morality according to which the moral law is a positive law, created by us. But a closer historical examination suggests otherwise. Kant developed his conception of legislation in the context of his opposition to theological voluntarist accounts of morality and his engagement with conceptions of obligation found in his Wolffian predecessors. In order to defend important claims about the necessity and immediacy of moral obligation, Kant drew and refined a distinction between the legislation and authorship of the moral law in a way that precludes standard theological voluntarist theories and presents an obstacle to recent constructivist interpretations. A correct understanding of Kant's development and use of this distinction reveals that his conception of legislation leaves little room for constructivist moral anti-realism.


1. Proteins of the Kv4 or Shal-related subfamily are key components of transient K+ channels (A channels) operating at subthreshold values of the membrane potential. We have cloned and characterized a new mammalian Kv4 or Shal-related cDNA (Kv4.3) that predicts a protein with strong sequence conservation with the other known members of this subfamily. 2. Injection of Kv4.3 transcripts into Xenopus oocytes generates an A type K+ current, with small but physiologically significant differences from the currents expressed by Kv4.2 and Kv4.1 mRNAs. Kv4.3 currents can be modified to resemble native A currents by coinjection with a low molecular weight mRNA fraction from rat brain which does not express detectable currents on its own. Particularly striking is a 7-to-10-fold increase in the rate of recovery from inactivation, a 5- to 10-fold increase in current magnitude and a 3- to 4-fold increase in sensitivity to 4-amino pyridine (4-AP). 3. In situ hybridization histochemistry was used to compare the expression of the three known Kv4 genes. Kv4.2 and Kv4.3 (but not Kv4.1) are abundant in the adult rat brain, with each displaying a specific, but sometimes overlapping pattern of expression. Moreover, a reciprocal gradient of expression of Kv4.2 and Kv4.3 transcripts is seen in some brain areas, such as in the pyramidal cell layers of the hippocampus and the granule cell layer of the cerebellum. Therefore Kv4 proteins may form heteromultimeric channels of distinct subunit composition in different neurons. Moreover, the results suggest that neurons such as pyramidal cells in the hippocampus and granule cells in the cerebellum represent heterogeneous cell populations in terms of their ISA, and hence in their firing patterns. Kv4.2 and Kv4.3 also display complementary expression in the heart, with Kv4.3 being more abundant in atria and Kv4.2 in ventricle. The existence of multiple Kv4 proteins forming channels of variable subunit combinations helps explain the diversity of ISA channels in neurons.


This study examined the effects of separate and combined applications of 3-methylcholanthrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and potent carcinogenic agent, and butylated hydroxytoluene, the antioxidant food additive, on the glycogen levels of liver, muscle, testis, and tumor tissues in rats. Adult male Wistar albino rats weighing 100-110 g at 8 weeks of age were used in this study. This study consisted of a control group (n = 9) and 3 different experiment groups in which rats were chronically treated with 3-methylcholanthrene (n = 9) or butylated hydroxytoluene (n = 11) or a combination of these agents (n = 14). Rats were intraperitoneally injected with a 200 mg kg-1 dose of butylated hydroxytoluene and a 40 mg kg-1 dose of 3-methylcholanthrene. At the end of the 26-week experimental period, tissues of rats killed via cervical dislocation were placed in 10% trichloroacetic acid for glycogen determination. Our results showed that the administration of 3-methylcholanthrene, butylated hydroxytoluene, and 3-methylcholanthrene + butylated hydroxytoluene caused statistically significant changes in the glycogen levels of liver, muscle, and testis tissues, and glycogen was stored in tumor tissue.


Background: Filiform polyposis is a rare benign condition referred to as inflammatory polyposis, or pseudopolyposis that is usually found in association with Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis or granulomatous colitis which is formed by non-specific mucosal and submucosal reactions to previous severe inflammation. It is characterized by multiple finger-like projections most commonly in the transverse and descending colon. Case Report: A 15-year-old girl with a history of ulcerative colitis was admitted to the pediatric emergency department with abdominal pain attacks for the past 2 weeks. Abdominal ultrasound and magnetic resonance enterography revealed mucosal thickening in the transverse and descending colon. Colonoscopy revealed small filiform polyps throughout the colon. Histopathological examination revealed inflammatory polyps associated with ulcerative colitis. Conclusion: Non-neoplastic filiform polyps can be detected even in children with ulcerative colitis with long-term remissions.


The ATLAS experiment collects data on the world's highest energy proton-proton collisions. Its primary goals are to search for direct evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, and to provide a final verdict on the existence of the Standard Model Higgs boson. A robust τ identification procedure is an important ingredient in the search for Standard Model and supersymmetric Higgs bosons. In this study, new τ identification variables based on calorimeter topological clusters are investigated. These variables complement existing calorimeter-based variables by bringing additional discriminating power against hadronic jets. They have a straightforward physics interpretation which allows them to be calculated at particle-level. Some of these new variables are shown to be robust against background noise from the underlying event and in-time pileup, two effects which negatively impact τ identification. Several of these new variables are now part of the official τ reconstruction software at ATLAS.


An educational ePortfolio usually contains work that a student has collected, reflected, designed, and published to demonstrate personal learning and growth over time. However, previous studies have shown that traditional ePortfolio systems lack flexibility, peer review, and group collaboration. Without these features, ePortfolios do not have the benefits of social learning or Communities of Practice. In this paper, we propose a new design that integrates and coordinates emerging Web 2.0 services into ePortfolio systems to enable community-wide annotation, interaction, and collaboration, with the goal of enhancing the learning experience for individuals as well as the community. We review relevant literatures, theories, and development of traditional ePortfolio systems. We conduct a preliminary survey study to explore users' perceived values in ePortfolio and Web 2.0 services. The survey results show opportunities to design a new generation of ePortfolio systems enabled with Web 2.0. We illustrate and discuss an ePortfolio 2.0 conceptual model, and a system prototype.


Video-based camera tracking consists in trailing the three dimensional pose followed by a mobile camera using video as sole input. In order to estimate the pose of a camera with respect to a real scene, one or more three dimensional references are needed. Examples of such references are landmarks with known geometric shape, or objects for which a model is generated beforehand. By comparing what is seen by a camera with what is geometrically known from reality, it is possible to recover the pose of the camera that is sensing these references. In this thesis, we investigate the problem of camera tracking at two levels. Firstly, we work at the low level of feature point recognition. Feature points are used as references for tracking and we propose a method to robustly recognise them. More specifically, we introduce a rotation-discriminative region descriptor and an efficient rotation-discriminative method to match feature point descriptors. The descriptor is based on orientation gradient histograms and template intensity information. Secondly, we have worked at the higher level of camera tracking and propose a fusion of top-down (TDA) and bottom-up approaches (BUA). We combine marker-based tracking using a BUA and feature points recognised from a TDA into a particle filter. Feature points are recognised with the method described before. We take advantage of the identification of the rotation of points for tracking purposes. The goal of the fusion is to take advantage of their compensated strengths. In particular, we are interested in covering the main capabilities that a camera tracker should provide. These capabilities are automatic initialisation, automatic recovery after loss of track, and tracking beyond references known a priori. Experiments have been performed at the two levels of investigation. Firstly, tests have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the recognition method proposed. The assessment consists in a set of patches extracted from eight textured images. The images are rotated and matching is done for each patch. The results show that the method is capable of matching accurately despite the rotations. A comparison with similar techniques in the state of the art depicts the equal or even higher precision of our method with much lower computational cost. Secondly, experimental assessment of the tracking system is also conducted. The evaluation consists in four sequences with specific problematic situations namely, occlusions of the marker, illumination changes, and erratic and/or fast motion. Results show that the fusion tracker solves characteristic failure modes of the two combined approaches. A comparison with similar trackers shows competitive accuracy. In addition, the three capabilities stated earlier are fulfilled in our tracker, whereas the state of the art reveals that no other published tracker covers these three capabilities simultaneously. The camera tracking system has a potential application in the robotics domain. It has been successfully used as a man-machine interface and applied in Augmented Reality environments. In particular, the system has been used by students of the University of art and design Lausanne (ECAL) with the purpose of conceiving new interaction concepts. Moreover, in collaboration with ECAL and fabric | ch (studio for architecture & research), we have jointly developed the Augmented interactive Reality Toolkit (AiRToolkit). The system has also proved to be reliable in public events and is the basis of a game-oriented demonstrator installed in the Swiss National Museum of Audiovisual and Multimedia (Audiorama) in Montreux.


Purpose: Paclitaxel and carboplatin are frequently used in advanced ovarian cancer following cytoreductive surgery. Threshold models have been used to predict paclitaxel pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamics, whereas the time above paclitaxel plasma concentration of 0.05 to 0.2 μmol/L (tC > 0.05−0.2) predicts neutropenia. The objective of this study was to build a population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model of paclitaxel/carboplatin in ovarian cancer patients. Experimental Design: One hundred thirty-nine ovarian cancer patients received paclitaxel (175 mg/m2) over 3 h followed by carboplatin area under the concentration-time curve 5 mg/mL*min over 30 min. Plasma concentration-time data were measured, and data were processed using nonlinear mixed-effect modeling. Semiphysiologic models with linear or sigmoidal maximum response and threshold models were adapted to the data. Results: One hundred five patients had complete pharmacokinetic and toxicity data. In 34 patients with measurable disease, objective response rate was 76%. Neutrophil and thrombocyte counts were adequately described by an inhibitory linear response model. Paclitaxel tC > 0.05 was significantly higher in patients with a complete (91.8 h) or partial (76.3 h) response compared with patients with progressive disease (31.5 h; P = 0.02 and 0.05, respectively). Patients with paclitaxel tC > 0.05 > 61.4 h (mean value) had a longer time to disease progression compared with patients with paclitaxel tC > 0.05 < 61.4 h (89.0 versus 61.9 weeks; P = 0.05). Paclitaxel tC > 0.05 was a good predictor for severe neutropenia (P = 0.01), whereas carboplatin exposure (Cmax and area under the concentration-time curve) was the best predictor for thrombocytopenia (P < 10−4). Conclusions: In this group of patients, paclitaxel tC > 0.05 is a good predictive marker for severe neutropenia and clinical outcome, whereas carboplatin exposure is a good predictive marker for thrombocytopenia.


Computational portal developers often reimplement functionality found in existing portals because there are no common discovery and access mechanisms in place to enable sharing of portal functions. The Web services architecture provides an implementation independent, protocol based mechanism for entities to find, share, and invoke remote services. We developed complementary web services at SDSC and IU that generate batch scripts for different batch queuing schedulers.


Social media has become a staple of everyday life among over one billion people worldwide. A social networking presence has become a hallmark of vibrant and transparent communications. It has quickly become the preferred method of communication and information sharing. It offers the ability for various entities, especially residency programs, to create an attractive internet presence and "brand" the program. Social media, while having significant potential for communication and knowledge transfer, carries with it legal, ethical, personal, and professional risks. Implementation of a social networking presence must be deliberate, transparent, and optimize potential benefits while minimizing risks. This is especially true with residency programs. The power of social media as a communication, education, and recruiting tool is undeniable. Yet the pitfalls of misuse can be disastrous, including violations in patient confidentiality, violations of privacy, and recruiting misconduct. These guidelines were developed to provide emergency medicine residency programs leadership with guidance and best practices in the appropriate use and regulation of social media, but are applicable to all residency programs that wish to establish a social media presence.


Kent Jennings and Richard Nieini arc recognized widely for their 1965 study of the development of political attitudes and behavior among a large, nationally representative sample of high school seniors and their parents (The Political Character of Adolescence, Princeton). Now they present the results of a follow-up study of these same individuals in 1973 along with a fresh study of 1973 high school seniors. Spanning a dramatic eight-year historical period and an important transitional phase in the life cycle of the younger generation, this material provides a unique opportunity to assess the development of political attitudes and participation.Originally published in 1981.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Although research on gay and lesbian students has taken off in recent years, there is a serious lack of research devoted solely to the transgender population, and even less specifically focused on transgender students. The research that has been conducted on transgender individuals is often focused on discrimination that they experience, and the effects of that discrimination. College is a period of personal growth and discovery for all students, but perhaps especially for transgender students. This study, therefore, aims to better understand how being transgender affects the college experience. This qualitative study interviewed self-identified transgender students within the University of Maine system. Data was collected via interviews focused on the academic and environmental experiences of these students. The aim of this exploratory study was to gain further understanding of the unique needs of this student population, with the hope that it may inform future research on the trans community, as well as influence University of Maine policy to better suit the particular needs of these students. Results revealed a number of of concerns regarding academic, residential, transgender-specific resources, health, and safety. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. !


BACKGROUND
Bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) are positively correlated with dietary protein intakes, which account for 1-8% of BMC and BMD variances. However, the relation between bone strength and microstructure, which are variables that are not captured by areal bone mineral density (aBMD), and dietary protein intakes, particularly from specific dietary sources, has not been clearly established.

OBJECTIVE
We investigated the association between the peripheral skeleton-predicted failure load and stiffness, bone microstructure, and dietary protein intakes from various origins (animal, divided into dairy and nondairy, and vegetable origins) in healthy postmenopausal women.

DESIGN
In a cross-sectional study in 746 Caucasian women aged 65.0 ± 1.4 y, we measured the aBMD with the use of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, the distal radius and tibia bone microstructures with the use of high-resolution peripheral quantitative computerized tomography, and bone strength with the use of a finite element analysis, and we evaluated dietary protein and calcium with the use of a validated food-frequency questionnaire.

RESULTS
Mean dietary calcium and protein intakes were greater than recommended amounts for this class of age. The predicted failure load and stiffness at the distal radius and tibia were positively associated with total, animal, and dairy protein intakes but not with vegetable protein intake. Failure load differences were accompanied by modifications of the aBMD and of cortical and trabecular bone microstructures. The associations remained statistically significant after adjustment for weight, height, physical activity, menopause duration, calcium intake, and the interaction between calcium and protein intake. A principal component analysis of the volumetric BMD and bone microstructure indicated that trabecular bone mainly contributed to the positive association between protein intakes and bone strength.

CONCLUSIONS
These results, which were recorded in a very homogeneous population of healthy postmenopausal women, indicate that there is a beneficial effect of animal and dairy protein intakes on bone strength and microstructure. Specifically, there is a positive association between the bone failure load and stiffness of the peripheral skeleton and dietary protein intake, which is mainly related to changes in the trabecular microstructure. This trial was registered at www.controlled-trials.com as ISRCTN11865958.


New Orleans Chapter of the EBA, Panel Presentation - October 11, 2006* MODERATOR COVERT GEARY A partner with the New Orleans law firm of Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre. Mr. Geary specializes in energy litigation and insurance coverage issues. PANELISTS JUDY Y. BARRASSO A founding member of the law firm of Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver, L.L.C., a New Orleans litigation firm ranked among the top litigation firms in Louisiana. VALERIE CUSANO President of Iridium Risk Services, a retail insurance brokerage firm based in Calgary, Alberta, which specializes in the provision of insurance and risk management expertise for the energy industry. SIMON PRINGLE A Director and founding member of Newman Martin and Buchan Limited, (NMB), a wholesale insurance brokerage firm based in London, England. Mr. Pringle specializes in the design and placement of insurance programs for energy companies around the world. MARK ROBERTON Director of Risk Management for Nexen, Inc., an independent Exploration & Production company based in Calgary, with operations around the world. Mr. Roberten has spent more than twenty years in risk management and is recognized as a leading expert in the field. WILLIAM A. (BILL) ROTHHAMMER President and CEO of Bateman Chapman Group's Houston office, a leading international loss adjusting firm with offices around the world. Mr. Rothhammer has been a loss adjuster for over twenty-five years, specializing in energy related claims for worldwide insurers. PRESENTATION TRANSCRIPT MS. BROWN: Good morning. I'm Stacy Brown, and on behalf of the New Orleans Chapter of the Energy Bar Association, I would like to welcome you this morning to our presentation of Insurance for the Energy Industry in the Wake of Katrina and Rita. While the energy industry is recovering from the property damage and business interruption losses that were suffered last year, the long and even short-term effects of the industry's ability to insure for these type of losses in the future is still uncertain. We have an exceptional panel here today to discuss these issues. So without further delay, I would like to introduce our moderator. Covert Geary. Cove is a lawyer with Jones Walker. He has been with the firm since 1985. He is a member of the firm's Energy Practice Group, and also co-chair of the firm's Insurance and Financial Services Group. He has handled a wide variety of energy litigation and insurance coverage issues. And in 2005, he spoke at an American Association of Professional Landman seminar on the well-known Corbello lawsuit and the wave of property restoration cases pending in Louisiana.1 His paper from that seminar was published in AAPL's Landman Magazine.2 After Hurricane Katrina, he wrote a paper on business interruption claims resulting from hurricane losses, and that paper was published by HarrisMartin's Catastrophic Loss and Liability Update. Earlier this year, Cove was recognized by the New Orleans City Business Magazine as one of New Orleans's leaders in law, due in part to his contributions to nonprofit agencies involved in the rebuilding of our city. Cove MR. GEARY: Thank you very much, Stacy, and welcome everyone. Right here in New Orleans, we have some of the world's leading experts in this field assembled for the panel today. We have an outstanding group. Mark Roberten is the director of risk management for Nexen, which is a publicly-traded independent oil and gas company based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with operations world-wide. Mark is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg, and he has over twenty years of experience in all aspects of risk management. Valerie Cusano is the President of Iridium Risk Services, a retail brokerage firm in Calgary. Valerie has an LLB from British Columbia and also a BSC from the University of Alberta. She practiced law in Calgary before working as a claims manager at Marsh McClendon. …


In an attempt to develop a standardized instrument to measure subjective voice and pronunciation quality a sample op 35 bipolar seven-point scales was selected and tested for reliability among raters by a preliminary pencil-and-paper investigation.Different groups of subjects were asked to rate the ideal male voice, the ideal female voice, and their own voice on each of the 35 items. The contribution of different subject factors to the variance in the ratings of each concept on each scale separately was established. One of those factors was sex of the rater.For practical reasons, we want this nascent instrument to be equally applicable for male and female speakers. We therefore studied the differences between mean ratings for ideal male speaker and ideal female speaker on each of the scales as well.The results show (1) many significant differences between perceived ideal male and ideal female voice, which qualitatively are rather inde-pendent of the sex of the informant; quantitatively female raters show a tendency to make smaller differences between male and female ideal speaker on the rating scales; (2) male and female raters often differ significantly in their judgment of ideal male voice alone or of ideal female voice alone; where this is the case, the mean judgment of the female raters practically always stands on a more 'extreme' point of the rating scale; (3) male and female raters often differ significantly in the ratings of their own voice; in general, the differences between own voice ratings by males and females on the 35 rating scales are qualitatively the same as those between ratings of male and female ideal voice respectively.These results were compared with Kramer's (1977) study on perceptions of (typical) male and female speech. It is concluded that the same stereo-types play a part in our subject's ideal and self ratings as in the 'typical speech' ratings of Kramer's subjects.


The visual display of Filipinos in the United States temporally and ideologically coincides with the American military conquest of the Philippines at the end of the 19th century, a brutal and brutally forgotten war that some scholars have described as genocidal according to even the most conservative definitions of genocide. This intimacy between empire and vision in the Philippine case has shaped and sharpened the stakes of studying Filipino American visual culture and its history, aesthetics, and politics. As with other minoritized communities in the United States, Filipino American visual culture is a means and site of lively and often contentious debates about representation, which typically revolve around how to document absence and how to establish presence in America. However, because Filipino Americans historically have a doubled status as minoritized and colonized—Filipinos in the United States were legally categorized as "nationals" during the colonial period even as the Philippines was deemed "foreign in a domestic sense" by the US Supreme Court—the matter of legal and visual representation is particularly complex, distinct from that of other Asian Americans and comparable with that of Native Pacific Islanders and Native Americans. So, while the politics of Asian American representation generally can get mired in debates about the absence or presence of "voice" in literature and the stereotypical or authentic depiction of the "body" in visual culture, Filipino American studies scholars of visual culture have provided valuable, clarifying insights about the relationship between imperial spectacle and history. To wit, the hypervisible representation of the Filipino in American popular cultural forms in the early decades of the 20th century—from the newspaper cartoon to the photograph to the World's Fair exhibition—ironically enabled the erasure of the extraordinarily violent historical circumstances surrounding the emergence of the Filipino's visibility. This relationship between spectacle and history or, rather, between visual representation and historical erasure, continues to redound upon a wide range of Filipino American visual cultural forms in the 21st century, from the interior design of turo turo restaurants to multimedia art installations to community-based murals.


We study a continuous-time problem of optimal public good contribution under uncertainty for an economy with an finite number of agents. Each agent can allocate his wealth between private consumption and repeated but irreversible contributions to increase the stock of some public good. We study the corresponding social planner problem and the case of strategic interaction between the agents and we characterize the optimal investment policies by a set of necessary and sufficient stochastic Kuhn-Tucker conditions. Suitably combining arguments from Duality Theory and the General Theory of Stochastic Processes, we prove an abstract existence result for a Nash equilibrium of our public good contribution game. Also, we show that our model exhibits a dynamic free rider effect. We explicitly evaluate it in a symmetric Black-Scholes setting with Cobb-Douglas utilities and we show that uncertainty and irreversibility of public good provisions do not affect free-riding.


Abstract The purpose of this study is to show that the logical content of a Tann'ayitic hermeneutic changed and developed as it passed into the hands of the 'Amor'ayim, the Tann'ayim's successors, and then into the anonymous stratum of the Babylonian Talmud. This hermeneutic was based on a very specific syntactical order in a biblical verse, which was formed by an initial inclusive clause, followed by a list of specifics, and then followed by a second inclusive clause. This hermeneutic is called in Hebrew kelal uferaṭ ukelal. In the Tann'ayitic period the hermeneutic required that the second inclusive clause had to be more extensive than the first one. It appears that this new degree of extensiveness suggested that the list of specifics was not definitive of the initial inclusive clause and that other things might be implied by the second one. The way that the rabbinic interpreter determined what these things might be was by seeking the common characteristics that the items in the specifics clause shared. By the time of the late Tann'ayim and early 'Amor'ayim the requirement for the two inclusive clauses had changed. The formal syntax of the hermeneutic remained, but inclusive clauses had to be equal in their degree of inclusivity. The change in logic seems to be the result of viewing a second, more inclusive clause as a distinct element that could be disconnected from the first inclusive clause and the specifics that follow it. If the two inclusive clauses were, however, the same or similar, the rabbinic interpreter could argue that they belonged to the same categories and thus formed a legitimate kelal uferaṭ ukelal. In the final period of the Talmud's creation neither the syntactic nor logical requirements were any longer needed to form a kelal uferaṭ ukelal. Two artificially constructed inclusive clauses and some specifics could appear in almost any order within a biblical verse and be considered a kelal uferaṭ ukelal. It appears that the desire of the rabbinic interpreters of each era to connect their halakot to the Torah was the force behind the changes we have described.


The debate between 'realism' and 'social constructivism', rehearsed and overviewed in Ian Hacking's book, "The Social Construction of What," (Hacking 1999) has nonetheless seen a number of attempts to find common ground, or unifying principles / theoretical frameworks. Notable amongst these have been Karen Barad's feminist/cyborgian inspired agential realism, and Wanda Orlikowski's actor-network-theory inspired sociomateriality. Barad links Neils Bohr's quantum mechanical reformulation of objective reality with Michel Foucault's theorising of the social and political aspects of practices and apparatuses (Foucault 1995; 1997), to conceive objects as material-discursive phenomena: 'agential realism.' "If our descriptive characterizations do not refer to properties of abstract objects or observation-independent beings but rather describe agential reality, then what is being described by our theories is not nature itself but our participation within nature" (Barad 1999:7). Beyond the similar dichotomies between 'techno-centric' and 'human-centred' approaches to understanding technology, whereby either technology "leverages human action" or "'vanishes' from view in the preoccupation with the social," (Orlikowski 2006:461), Orlikowski proposes a third approach, citing Latour (1992; 2004), and Law (1992) among others as having provided a theoretical framework that eschews this binarism. Orlikowski's approach focuses on what she terms the "scaffolding of knowledgeability" (ibid 2006:462), characterising knowing as being scaffolded "culturally (e.g., through codes, language, norms) and materially (e.g., through physical objects, biological structures, spatial contexts, and technological artifacts)," (ibid 2006:462) with special emphasis upon the last.

This paper offers a brief precis of the position taken by these two authors, in the context outlined by Hacking, and picks out some of the linkages between the two. It then seeks to explore how these two attempts to bridge the gap between realist and social constructionist points of view might benefit from the philosophical standpoint of Henri Bergson's concept of the duree reelle, or real duration, and its poststructuralist interpretation by Gilles Deleuze (Bergson 1944; Deleuze, 1991). Bergson maintains that intellection splits and categorises the past, not the unified unfolding present, which is apprehended intuitively, rather than intellectually, in our consciousness, thus offering a reconceptualisation of time and space that allows for both realism (in our intellectual apprehension of the past) and social constructivism (in our immediate experience of the present.)

Finally, smartphones have enjoyed phenomenal growth in the latter part of the first decade of this century. By 2012 sales of such devices are predicted to outstrip sales of PCs, and by 2015 more people will be accessing the internet with such devices than they will be with a PC. (Meeker et al 2010) Key to the growth and popularity of such devices has been the convergence, not just of telecomms and photographic equipment, which helped drive mobile phone sales, and the addition of internet access, which defined the smartphone, but the addition, following the success of in-car satellite navigation devices, of GPS receivers into mobile internet devices. The integration of GPS technology into smartphones, coupled with the consumer-led approach of Apple's iPhone, gave birth to a whole new class of location-based services for mobile internet devices, available in particular for the iPhone, but also for Android, and other devices.

With location based services becoming an increasingly important part of our lives, this paper lastly asks whether daily and intensive use of smartphones offers us a virtual layer to sociomaterial agential reality - making agential reality media-rich - and how this might present us both with further Bergsonian intellection ever closer to the present, but at the same time a much more ephemeral sense of the 'real.' Is such virtuality, the paper concludes, to be seen as any the less real than Barad's objectivity-as-phenomenon?


Regan Tamanui is a Melbourne-based street artist and a pivotal figure in Melbourne's stencil and graffiti art scene. He talks about the rise of the underground culture of stencil art and his participation in various art events.


Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), this paper investigates how pro-active time-use (e.g., in sports/arts/socializing) relates to subjective well-being of the unemployed and their probability of finding a new job. Allowing for a variety of socio-demographic and -economic observed characteristics, we find that pro-activity is negatively associated with the well-being loss upon unemployment. That is, the negative unemployment shock on their well-being is mitigated through various stress-reducing activities including, in particular, art participation, socializing, going on trips, and visiting a church. We also find that the probability of returning to the labor market later is positively associated with proactivity during the unemployment period. The results are robust to various checks including estimators, measures, and individual personality characteristics which can correlate with time-use activities.


Lidar is a useful tool for taking metrology measurements without the need for physical contact with the parts under test. Lidar instruments are aimed at a target using azimuth and elevation stages, then focus a beam of coherent, frequency modulated laser energy onto the target, such as the surface of a mechanical structure. Energy from the reflected beam is mixed with an optical reference signal that travels in a fiber path internal to the instrument, and the range to the target is calculated based on the difference in the frequency of the returned and reference signals. In cases when the parts are in extreme environments, additional steps need to be taken to separate the operator and lidar from that environment. A model has been developed that accurately reduces the lidar data to an absolute position and accounts for the three media in the testbed air, fused silica, and vacuum but the approach can be adapted for any environment or material. The accuracy of laser metrology measurements depends upon knowing the parameters of the media through which the measurement beam travels. Under normal conditions, this means knowledge of the temperature, pressure, and humidity of the air in the measurement volume. In the past, chamber windows have been used to separate the measuring device from the extreme environment within the chamber and still permit optical measurement, but, so far, only relative changes have been diagnosed. The ability to make accurate measurements through a window presents a challenge as there are a number of factors to consider. In the case of the lidar, the window will increase the time-of-flight of the laser beam causing a ranging error, and refract the direction of the beam causing angular positioning errors. In addition, differences in pressure, temperature, and humidity on each side of the window will cause slight atmospheric index changes and induce deformation and a refractive index gradient within the window. Also, since the window is a dispersive media, the effect of both phase and group indices have to be considered. Taking all these factors into account, a method was developed to measure targets through multiple regions of different materials and produce results that are absolute measurements of target position in three-dimensional space, rather than simply relative position. The environment in which the lidar measurements are taken must be broken down into separate regions of interest and each region solved for separately. In this case, there were three regions of interest: air, fused silica, and vacuum. The angular position of the target inside the chamber is solved using only phase index and phase velocity, while the ranging effects due to travel from air to glass to vacuum/air are solved with group index and group velocity. When all parameters are solved simultaneously, an absolute knowledge of the position of each target within an environmental chamber can be derived. Novel features of this innovation include measuring absolute position of targets through multiple dispersive and non-dispersive media, deconstruction of lidar raw data from a commercial off-the-shelf unit into reworkable parameters, and use of group velocities to reduce range data. Measurement of structures within a vacuum chamber or other harsh environment, such as a furnace, may now be measured as easily as if they were in an ambient laboratory. This analysis permits transformation of the raw data into absolute spatial units (e.g., mm). This technique has also been extended to laser tracker, theodolite, and cathetometer measurements through refractive media.


To test the effects of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) on ovalbumin (OVA)-induced airway hyper-reactivity in guinea pigs, a total of 40 young guinea pigs was individually vaccinated subcutaneously with 0.2 mL of 2% OVA, 50 microg BCG, or a mixture of OVA and BCG (OVA+BCG). Airways were sensitized using nebulization with 1% OVA for 3 min once a week for two applications, followed by 2% OVA nebulized challenge for 3 min 1 week after the last application. Different concentrations of methacholine were used to detect airway hyperreactivities. At the third week, the guinea pigs were nebulized with either methacholine or OVA to test airway hyperreactivity. The OVA-vaccinated group presented with severe airway hyperresponsiveness after OVA and methacholine challenges; the BCG-vaccinated group showed mild airway hyperreactivity; and the OVA+BCG group showed the least amount of airway hyperreactivity. Lung histopathology in all groups, except the OVA+BCG-vaccinated group, showed severe thickening of the alveolar walls which became firmly fibrotic, and narrowing of the alveolar spaces was also noted. The guinea pigs in the OVA+BCG-vaccinated group had similar pulmonary morphology with that of naive guinea pigs, and had mild cell infiltration in the alveolar wall. The results of the skin biopsies at 6 h (2% OVA, 0.05 mL) and 36 h (20 microg PPD, 0.05 mL) after purified protein derivative (PPD) inoculation showed that infiltration of eosinophils and activation of CD4+ T-cells occurred in the OVA-vaccinated group. In the BCG-vaccinated groups, infiltration of CD4+ T-cells, CD8+ T-cells and macrophages occurred. OVA-specific IgG2 increased in the BCG-vaccinated groups after OVA-induced airway hyperreactivity occurred. The peripheral cell subpopulation showed that there was obviously increased activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells in the OVA+BCG-vaccinated group. The phagocytic activity of macrophages also increased in both BCG- and OVA+BCG-vaccinated groups. The prevention of OVA-induced airway hyperreactivities using BCG vaccination in conjugation with OVA in these young guinea pigs indicated that it might be a good approach to avoid allergic reactions in humans.


Exciting intellectual discoveries often happen on the boundaries between academic disciplines. Historically, the interface between epidemiology and social science has clearly been one of the most fruitful as it has enabled the "fusion of data with ideas":1 epidemiology has developed and refined sophisticated methods of data collection, while the diverse and fluid social sciences have offered multiple theories through which such data can be interpreted and applied. Combining epidemiological methods with social science theories has thus unleashed the potential to both describe and explain the nature of population health. The subdiscipline of social epidemiology (the study of the social distribution and social determinants of health) is probably the most prominent outcome of the interface. The combination of social science theories and epidemiological methods has resulted in a strong and widely accepted view that the most important determinants of inequalities in health are social, economic and political,2 3 4 and that the solutions to health inequality also lie in the social, political and economic fields. This has inevitably resulted in the promotion of upstream policy interventions as the best way of improving population health and reducing health inequalities.5 The interaction with social science has thereby enabled epidemiology to move beyond the proximate and embrace the study of the more macro determinants of health and …


The applicability of glass in structures is continuously ascending, as the transparency and high compressive strength of the material render it the optimum choice for realizing diaphanous structural components that allow for light transmittance and space continuity. The fabrication boundaries of the material are constantly stretching: visible metal connections are minimized and glass surfaces are maximized, resulting to pure all-glass structures. Still, due to the prevalence of the float glass industry, all-glass structures are currently confined to the limited forms and shapes that can be generated by planar, 2D glass elements. Moreover, despite the fact that glass is fully recyclable, most of the glass currently employed in buildings is neither reused nor recycled due to its perplexed disassembly and its contamination from coatings and adhesives. Cast glass can be the answer to the above restraints, as it can escape the design limitations generated from the 2-dimensional nature of float glass. By pouring molten glass into moulds, solid 3-dimensional glass components can be attained of considerably larger cross-sections and of virtually any shape. These monolithic glass objects can form repetitive units for large all glass-structures that do not buckle due to slender proportions and thus can take full advantage of the stated compressive strength of glass. Such components can be accordingly shaped to interlock towards easily assembled structures that do not require the use of adhesives for further bonding. In addition, cast glass units–due to their increased cross section– can tolerate a higher degree of impurities and thus can be produced by using waste glass as a raw source.


Consumer capitalism dominates our economy, our politics and our culture. Yet there is a growing body of research from a range of disciplines that suggests that consumer capitalism may be past its sell-by date.
Beyond Consumer Capitalism begins by showing how, for people in the developed world, consumer capitalism has become economically and environmentally unsustainable and is no longer able to deliver its abiding promise of enhancing quality of life . This cutting-edge book then asks why we devote so little time and effort to imagining other forms of human progress. The answer, Lewis suggests, is that our cultural and information industries limit rather than stimulate critical thinking, keeping us on the treadmill of consumption and narrowing our vision of what constitutes progress. If we are to find a way out of this cul de sac, Lewis argues, we must begin by analysing the role of media in consumer capitalism and changing the way we organize media and communications. We need a cultural environment that encourages rather than stifles new ideas about what guides our economy and our society.
Timely and compelling, Beyond Consumer Capitalism will have strong appeal to students and scholars of media studies, cultural studies and consumer culture.


An OH-rich topaz, Al 2 SiO 4 F 1.4 OH 0.6 , occurring in a kyanite quartzite of the Sulu UHP terrane (eastern China) has been optically and chemically (electron microprobe) characterised and its crystal structure refined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction data. Anisotropic refinement converged to R = 0.024 in the Pbnm space group with cell parameters a = 4.6696(8) A, b = 8.8486(17) A, c = 8.3915(22) A. The position of the hydrogen atom has been detected; because the OH → F substitution is less than 50 %, the disorder of H does not lower the overall symmetry. The influence of the OH → F substitution on the lattice parameters is discussed in terms of crystal structure and shown to affect primarily the a and b cell edges; instead c is almost constant. A critical revision of earlier linear correlations of the F content ( w f ) vs the lattice parameters and the availability of new data recently published, allowed to obtain improved regression lines for w f vs a ( r 2 = 0.982) and b ( r 2 = 0.968) cell edges.


In this paper, the model of a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) spring resonator with end stopper for an energy harvesting application is presented. Then we characterize its nonlinear dynamical behavior by numerical simulations when some suitable parameters are varied. The system is formed by two resonators subject to external vibrational excitation and with an end stopper. We present the continuous time dynamical model of the system in the form of a switched fourth order differential equation. Harmonic vibrations are considered as the main ambient energy source for the system and its frequency response representing the RMS value of the displacement is first computed. The dynamical behavior is unveiled by computing state-space trajectories, time- domain series and FFT spectra and frequency response as the excitation amplitude is varied.


The injector of the European XFEL is in operation since December 2015. It includes, beside the gun and the accelerating section, containing 1.3 and a 3.9 GHz accelerating module, a variety of standard diagnostics systems specially designed for this facility. With very few exceptions, all types of diagnostics systems are installed in the injector. Therefore the operation of the injector is served to validate and prove the diagnostics characteristics for the complete European XFEL. Most of the standard diagnostics has been available for the start of beam operation and showed the evidence of first beam along the beam line. In the following months the diagnostics has been optimized and used for improvements of beam quality. First operational experiences and results from the standard beam diagnostics in the injector of the European XFEL will be reported in this contribution.


The excellent properties of ultra-fine grained (UFG) materials are relevant to substantial grain refinement and the corresponding induced small grains delineated by high-angle grain boundaries. The present study aims to understand the grain refinement mechanism by examining the nickel single crystal processed by high pressure torsion (HPT), a severe plastic deformation method to produce UFG materials based upon crystal plasticity finite element (CPFEM) simulations. The predicted grain maps by the developed CPFEM model are capable of capturing the prominent characteristics associated with grain refinement in HPT. The evolution of the orientation of structural elements and the rotations of crystal lattices during the HPT process of the detected differently oriented grains are extensively examined. It has been found that there are mainly two intrinsic origins of lattice rotation which cause the initial single crystal to subdivide. The correlation between the crystallographic orientation changes and lattice rotations with the grain fragmentation are analyzed and discussed in detail based on the theory of crystal plasticity.


The present study examined the first impressions that are formed of boys with either learning disabilities (LD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), or both disorders, in an effort to understand better why they are so often unpopular with and rejected by their peers. The intent of the study was to remedy methodological problems of previous first-impression studies to determine whether devaluation of boys with either LD or ADD after a brief exposure is a reliable and valid finding. To this end, physical attractiveness data were gathered, children were employed as judges, subgroups of stimulus children were formed, and situational demands were varied. Results indicated that the boys with either LD or ADD were devalued relative to controls on a variety of dependent variables, including popularity. Both situational demands, as well as judgments of physical attractiveness, appeared to play a role in accounting for these differences.


Speed breeding has revolutionized whole of the world in today's era. The first ever speed breeding procedure was developed through an inspiration from NASA which was adopted by the University of Queensland scientists. Speed breeding is a protocol which enables plant breeders to enhance the crop production changing the temperature and light duration and intensity to enhance the growth of the plant. It is using artificial source of light that too continuously which triggersthe photosynthesis process results in the growth and the process of reproduction comes very early as compared to normal timing. The researches show that by Speed breeding techniques we can grow approximately 6 generations of wheat, chickpea & barley and around 4 generations of canola plants in a single year. This will help us to meet the demands of the growing population of future. This can be accomplished through various technologies such as genotyping, MAS, highthroughput phenotyping; gene editing, genomic selection ,re-domestication which can be integrated with speed breeding to enable plant breeders to keep up with a evolving climate and ever-increasing human population.


In this paper, we revisit a generally accepted opinion: implementing Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem (ECC) over GF(2m) on sensor motes using small word size is not appropriate because XOR multiplication over GF(2m) is not efficiently supported by current low-powered microprocessors. Although there are some implementations over GF(2m) on sensor motes, their performances are not satisfactory enough to be used for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). We have found that a field multiplication over GF(2m) are involved in a number of redundant memory accesses and its inefficiency is originated from this problem. Moreover, the field reduction process also requires many redundant memory accesses. Therefore, we propose some techniques for reducing unnecessary memory accesses. With the proposed strategies, the running time of field multiplication and reduction over GF(2163) can be decreased by 21.1% and 24.7%, respectively. These savings noticeably decrease execution times spent in Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) operations (signing and verification) by around 15–19%. We present TinyECCK (Tiny Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem with Koblitz curve – a kind of TinyOS package supporting elliptic curve operations) which is the first implementation of Koblitz curve on sensor motes as far as we know. Through comparisons with existing software implementations of ECC built in C or hybrid of C and inline assembly on sensor motes, we show that TinyECCK outperforms them in terms of running time, code size and supporting services. Furthermore, we show that a field multiplication over GF(2m) can be faster than that over GF(p) on 8-bit Atmega128 processor by comparing TinyECCK with TinyECC, a well-known ECC implementation over GF(p). TinyECCK with sect163k1 can generate a signature and verify it in 1.37 and 2.32 secs on a Micaz mote with 13,748-byte of ROM and 1,004-byte of RAM.


This thesis studies psychotherapists' experiences of difficulties in practice. Building on previous work establishing content, prevalence, and relationship to professional development of difficulties, it reports three studies based on two surveys investigating dimensions and correlates of the pervasiveness of such experiences, both within (specificity) and between therapists (universality). In a first survey, 57 British psychotherapists each contributed two written accounts of difficulties and completed measures developed to tap emotional concomitants of these experiences. The hypothesised co-occurrence of extreme levels of these measures was not observed. In a second study using the same data, written accounts were rated in terms of theoretically refined definitions of transient and paradigmatic difficulty types, joined by a third, 'situational' category, denoting difficulties arising from external sources and universally experienced as problematic. Separate studies established reliability and validity of ratings. A further study based on a survey of 100 British and 30 German speaking therapists confirmed reliability of the rating system and, using difficulty types as dependent variables, validated them through their predicted associations with measures of competency deficits, therapists' internal conflicts, and indices of therapist/patient similarity; using newly developed as well as established (IIP, SASB) measures. Situational difficulties were associated with difficult patients but did not dislodge therapists from their professional stance. Transient difficulties were related to self-reported competency deficits, which occurred earlier in therapists' careers and were experienced as unfamiliar. Paradigmatic difficulties were found to be idiosyncratic, have a high impact, evoke negative internal states in therapists, arouse their wish for hostile control in the absence of perceived patient hostility, and relate to therapists' internal attachment conflicts and indices of similarity with their patients. Consequences for supervision and models of therapist development are discussed.


In this paper we propose an approach for monocular 3D object detection from a single RGB image, which leverages a novel disentangling transformation for 2D and 3D detection losses and a novel, self-supervised confidence score for 3D bounding boxes. Our proposed loss disentanglement has the twofold advantage of simplifying the training dynamics in the presence of losses with complex interactions of parameters, and sidestepping the issue of balancing independent regression terms. Our solution overcomes these issues by isolating the contribution made by groups of parameters to a given loss, without changing its nature. We further apply loss disentanglement to another novel, signed Intersection-over-Union criterion-driven loss for improving 2D detection results. Besides our methodological innovations, we critically review the AP metric used in KITTI3D, which emerged as the most important dataset for comparing 3D detection results. We identify and resolve a flaw in the 11-point interpolated AP metric, affecting all previously published detection results and particularly biases the results of monocular 3D detection. We provide extensive experimental evaluations and ablation studies and set a new state-of-the-art on the KITTI3D Car class.


Critical current density, J c, in superconductors is strongly connected with size of defects in the material. Frequently, the smaller defects, the higher J c. In this work, we tried to reduce the size of cheap commercial boron precursor powder using high energy ultra-sonication in ethanol media. The resulting powder was then utilized in synthesizing bulk MgB2 via sintering at 775 °C. Effect of boron powder ultra-sonication on superconducting properties of the bulk MgB2 was studied and discussed. SEM of ultra-sonicated boron showed fine particles with sharp edges (high-energy surfaces), irregular shapes and clustering of fine particles occurred for longer ultra-sonication durations. XRD proved a high quality of MgB2 with only small traces of MgO. Around 36% improvement in Jc at 20 K and Tc close to 39 K were observed in MgB2 bulk prepared with boron ultra-sonicated for 15 min. Microstructure studies showed numerous nanometre sized MgB2 grains in the bulk. Other bulks (made of boron ultra-sonicated longer, for 30, 45, and 60 min) have larger grains. It resulted in slightly lower J c, anyway, still by 22% higher than in reference bulk. The present results demonstrate that the high performance bulk MgB2 can be achieved without reduction in T c via employing a cheap boron, reduced in size by high-energy ultra-sonication.


For many genes, their expression can be regulated by several factors, such as the presence of enhancer or silencing cis-elements, and trans-acting repressors and activators. Biggar and Crabtree established a fluorescence-activated cell-sorting assay to detect between an all-or-none (binary) response and a graded, continuous response of a the GAL1 promoter to various regulatory factors in isolation or combined with activation of cell signaling pathways. If expression is driven through a two-hybrid-like interaction whereby the GAL4 DNA binding domain is fused to FKBP12 and the GAL4 activation domain is fused to calcineurin, then transcription can be activated by the addition of FK506. Under these conditions, expression shows a graded response to increasing concentrations of FK506. When expression is activated by FK506 and then the cells are incubated in glucose to repress transcription through the repressor Mig1, expression is repressed in a graded manner. However, when the promoter is used with its native regulators (that is, not through forced activation by FK506) to drive expression of a reporter gene, then decreasing glucose led to a binary switch from cells not expressing the reporter to cells expressing the reporter. This binary switch occurred in cells null for the repressor Mig1, but the response was graded in cells null for the inhibitor Gal80, which inactivates the transcriptional activator Gal4. A last set of experiments showed that the environmental conditions can dictate whether the response will be binary or graded. Cells grown in the repressing conditions with glucose exhibit the Gal80-dependent binary response to glucose deprivation; whereas cells grown without glucose exhibit a graded response exposed to varying concentrations of glucose. Thus, a single promoter can direct both binary and graded responses depending on the signaling pathways activated and the cell status. S. R. Biggar, G. R. Crabtree, Cell signaling can direct either binary or graded transcriptional responses. EMBO J. 20, 3167-3176 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Between 1993 and 2013, the US trade deficit with Mexico and Canada increased from $17.0 to $177.2 billion, displacing 851 700 US jobs. All of the net jobs displaced were due to growing trade deficits with Mexico. The number of US jobs displaced by trade deficits with Canada declined slightly between 1993 and 2013. Prominent economists and US government officials predicted that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would lead to growing trade surpluses with Mexico and that hundreds of thousands of jobs would be gained. The evidence shows that the predicted surpluses in the wake of NAFTA's enactment in 1994 did not materialize. Growing trade deficits and job displacement, especially between the United States and Mexico, were the result of a surge in outsourcing of production by US and other foreign investors. The rise in outsourcing was fueled, in turn, by a surge in foreign direct investment into Mexico, which increased by more than 150 percent in the post-NAFTA period.


A new method of switching mode in AFLC cell is proposed for faster switching time and higher contrast ratio. In this mode the ″dark″ state is obtained by applying negative full voltage while the ″bright″ state is achieved by applying positive full voltage to the cell. The switching time is reduced to 100 $mutextrm{s}$ for the cell whose switching time is 22 ms when operated in conventional mode. The contrast ratio is also improved vastly with this method. The possibility of achieving gray scale was shown in this mode of operation.


Apart from the much-debated question of what legal form the 2015 climate agreement is supposed to have, another core issue is the substantive content of countries' commitments. While the climate regime has so far mostly been based on emission targets, literature has identified a broad range of other possible types of mitigation commitments, such as technology targets, emission price commitments, or commitments to specific policies and measures (PAMs). The nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) submitted by developing countries under the Cancun Agreements also show a broad range of different forms of participation. This article surveys the possible commitment types that have so far been discussed in literature and in the UNFCCC negotiations and assesses their respective advantages and disadvantages against a set of criteria: environmental effectiveness, cost effectiveness, distributional aspects and institutional feasibility. The article finds that no commitment option provides a silver bullet. All options have several advantages but also disadvantages. The environmentally most effective way forward may lie in pursuing a multi-dimensional approach, combining emission targets with other commitment types to compensate for the drawbacks of the emission-based approach. However, such an approach would also increase complexity, both in terms of the negotiations and in terms of implementation and administration.


Chinese students constitute the single largest group of overseas students in Australian universities. The prior learning experiences and academic traditions of countries from which international students are drawn can significantly impact on learning experiences and outcomes in new learning environments. In designing appropriate learning activities, we need to consider their learning problems and identify suitable teaching strategies to resolve these problems. The purpose of the current study was to develop such theoretical understandings by conducting an empirical investigation into students' needs and expectations during their study of accounting, for improvement to evaluate teaching strategies applied to overcome the problems they face and to provide suggestions. This paper seeks to highlight the initial problems faced by Chinese international students in terms of learning styles and how they strive to overcome these difficulties through discussions and practice. This paper tried to enhance the learning experience of International accounting students by adopting various teaching and learning strategies and reports research which investigates the effectiveness and way in which some of these students learn.


The distribution of the higher educational institutions to a great deal affects the access and enrolment of the surrounding population to higher education, whether urban-centric or rural- centric. On the other hand, the concentration gives a picture of the undersupply or oversupply of Higher Educational Institutes of a place. There exist regional inequalities in the development of Higher Educational Institutes of West Bengal which in the long run may come as a blow to the idea of knowledge centric development and detrimental to the once legacy of the state having been the precursor of modern day higher educational institutions. The number of colleges in West Bengal is 1371, with a college density of 13 colleges per lakh population and 25 universities. The paper analyses the spatial distribution and concentration of the Higher Educational institutes with various other indicators and how these indicators together give a specific development pattern to the districts. Accordingly, Kolkata has the highest development pattern and Uttar Dinajpur the lowest. It is also seen that despite the levels of development, the districts still have prospects of growth either in number of institutes or students based of the Average Size of the institutes. The paper is totally based on secondary data from the Census of India, All India Survey on Higher Education Reports and University Directory, University Grants Commission.


Lumbar spine bone mass was measured by dual photon absorptiometry (DPA) in 236 subjects aged between 3 and 30 years. Expected values of bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mass (BMC) for the lumbar vertebrae L2 to L4 were derived as a function of age, by non-linear regression analysis. The selected regression equation was the sum of two logistic expressions, one of which was assigned to growth at the time of puberty and the other to the slower long term component of growth. Growth during puberty contributed about 50% of peak bone mass in females, while in males this contribution was closer to 15%. No increase was found in lumbar spine bone mass in females after puberty.


ABSTRACT Objective: Cardiovascular diseases have been implicated in excess mortality in adult hypopituitary patients (HP) who do not receive growth hormone (GH) replacement. GH deficiency induces a proatherogenic state. In this study we aimed to investigate endothelial function and early atherosclerotic changes in GH-deficient HP. Material and methods: Endothelial function was assessed by flow mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery. Demographic, anthropometric, endocrine and biochemical findings, brachial artery FMD and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) were recorded. Results: Nineteen HP not receiving GH (9 women, age: 42±16 years) and 19 healthy controls (6 women, age: 39±16 years) were enrolled. In HP, the waist circumference (94.5±13.2 cm vs. 86.8±8.7 cm, p=0.04), and the body fat mass (%) were found higher(30.9±9.1 vs. 23.8±8.6, p=0.02), the lean body mass (%) was found lower (69.0±9.1 vs. 76.1±8.6, p=0.01). The carotid artery IMT was higher (0.80±0.22 vs. 0.56±0.25, p=0.01) and the brachial artery FMD was lower (8.8±6.06 vs. 13.5±4.6, p=0.02) in HP compared to healthy controls. There was a significant correlation between patient age and carotid artery IMT in both groups; the association was more prominent in the patient group (r=0.8624 p<0.001 for patients, r=0.7859 p=0.001 for controls). Conclusion: The decreased FMD in the GH-deficient HP established the endothelial dysfunction. The relationship between carotid artery IMT and age was more prominent in the hypopituitary group. Our findings suggest that endothelial function is impaired in HP and the effects of aging on atherosclerosis appear in a more pronounced way in HP. Key words: Hipopituitarism, growth hormone deficiency, endothelial function


This thesis evaluates, improves and develops methods for generating, simulating and rendering hair in real-time. The purpose is finding techniques which make use of recent hardware to present an as good as possible visual result while keeping performance at such a level that integration into a game scene is viable. The Kajiya-Kay and Marschner lighting models for hair are evaluated, including recent resource saving discretizations to the Marschner model. Two shadowing methods are adapted and investigated for the nature of hair and real-time applications, and one new method is presented as a lower quality and faster alternative for translucent occluders. For dynamics, two models are developed and an existing model for simulating trees is adapted. The implementation uses and takes into account the capabilities and limits of modern graphics hardware, including various techniques that greatly reduces the amount of data sent to the graphics card. The implementation also includes a Maya pipeline for modeling hair. The result is a state-of-the-art rendering and simulation of hair for real-time game purposes.


Weather and climatic conditions are among the most important factors to be taken into account when planning expeditions to remote and challenging locations on Earth. This is likely to be equally the case for expedition planners on Mars, where conditions (in terms of extremes of temperature, etc.) can be at least as daunting as back on Earth. With the success of recent unmanned missions to Mars, such as NASA's Mars Pathfinder, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey, there is now a great deal of information available on the range of environmental conditions on Mars, from the tropics to the CO2 ice-covered polar caps. This has been further supplemented by the development of advanced numerical models of the Martian atmosphere, allowing detailed and accurate simulations and predictions of the weather and climate across the planet. This report discusses the main weather and climate variables which future Martian human expedition planners will need to take into account. The range of conditions likely to be encountered at a variety of typical locations on Mars is then considered, with reference to predictions from the ESA Mars Climate Database.


In many cultures and industries gifts are given in order to influence the recipient, often at the expense of a third party. Examples include business gifts of firms and lobbyists. In a series of experiments, we show that, even without incentive or informational effects, small gifts strongly influence the recipient's behavior in favor of the gift giver, in particular when a third party bears the cost. Subjects are well aware that the gift is given to influence their behavior but reciprocate nevertheless. Withholding the gift triggers a strong negative response. These findings are inconsistent with the most prominent models of social preferences. We propose an extension of existing theories to capture the observed behavior by endogenizing the "reference group" to whom social preferences are applied. We also show that disclosure and size limits are not effective in reducing the effect of gifts, consistent with our model. Financial incentives ameliorate the effect of the gift but backfire when available but not provided.


Landscape governance refers to the combination of rules and decision-making processes of civic, private, and public actors with stakes in the landscape, that together shape the future of that landscape. As part of the Green Livelihoods Alliance, a program that supports civil society organizations (CSOs) to strengthen the governance of tropical forested landscapes, we developed and implemented a method that facilitates stakeholders to assess the status of governance in their own landscape and to identify options for improvement. In this article, we aim to reflect on landscape governance, based on our work within the Green Livelihoods Alliance. We present the method, summarize the results of its implementation, and draw practical lessons regarding the role of CSOs to improve landscape governance. We conducted workshops with stakeholders in 17 forested landscapes across 10 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. During each workshop, participants scored and discussed a set of governance indicators, developed a common vision for landscape governance, and identified the practical steps that would need to be taken to achieve that vision. Analyzing the results from the workshops, we found that landscape stakeholders tend to perceive that: opportunities to influence decision-making are unequal; integrated landscape planning efforts remain noncommittal; and implementation and enforcement of regulations is weak. To improve governance in the future, it is common to call for the development of multi-stakeholder processes, to allow different actors to discuss, negotiate, and develop collaborative action to address landscape-level challenges. CSOs can support such processes, by helping to develop a shared understanding of landscape governance, differences in interests, and possibilities for collaborative action. CSOs can also help stakeholders to develop multi-stakeholder procedures, and build trust and capacity among stakeholders to take an active role in such processes.


The production process of miniature devices and microsystems requires the utilization of nonconventional micromachining techniques. In the past few decades laser micromachining has became an important micromanufacturing technique for many industrial and research applications. The popularity of this technique lies mostly in its noncontact nature. Unique characteristic of the laser micromachining is the possibility of etching or ablating exceptionally small features in many different materials with minimal damage done to the non irradiated regions of the material. For the purposes of achieving of precise and high quality laser micromachining and for full exploration of laser advantages as microprocessing tool, the development of reliable and easy to use laser micromachining system is of great importance. In this thesis, the design approach to the general purpose laser micromachining system is discussed. Detailed description of implementation of each module of the system is given. The designed laser micromachining system can be used for many microprocessing applications such as micromarking, microchannels machining, thin film cutting, etc. The design of the precise positioning planar x-y stage and trajectory generation and control method for this stage are discussed. The development of software and man machine interface for laser micromachining system is also presented. In order to verify the functional and operational capabilities of the designed system, precise aluminum marking, subsurface marking of glass, brass ablation and drilling of miniature holes in brass are preformed and experimental results are presented.


This paper illustrates the design and implementation of a conflict-driven ASP solver that is capable of exploiting the Single-Instruction Multiple-Thread parallelism offered by General Purpose Graphical Processing Units (GPUs). Modern GPUs are multi-core platforms, providing access to large number of cores at a very low cost, but at the price of a complex architecture with non-trivial synchronization and communication costs. The search strategy of the ASP solver follows the notion of ASP computation, that avoids the generation of unfounded sets. Conflict analysis and learning are also implemented to help the search. The CPU is used only to pre-process the program and to output the results. All the solving components, i.e., nogoods management, search strategy, (non-chronological) backjumping, heuristics, conflict analysis and learning, and unit propagation, are performed on the GPU by exploiting SIMT parallelism. The preliminary experimental results confirm the feasibility and scalability of the approach, and the potential to enhance performance of ASP solvers.


Hispanics and the Future of America presents details of the complex story of a population that varies in many dimensions, including national origin, immigration status, and generation. The papers in this volume draw on a wide variety of data sources to describe the contours of this population, from the perspectives of history, demography, geography, education, family, employment, economic well-being, health, and political engagement. They provide a rich source of information for researchers, policy makers, and others who want to better understand the fast-growing and diverse population that we call a /Hispanic.a The current period is a critical one for getting a better understanding of how Hispanics are being shaped by the U.S. experience. This will, in turn, affect the United States and the contours of the Hispanic future remain uncertain. The uncertainties include such issues as whether Hispanics, especially immigrants, improve their educational attainment and fluency in English and thereby improve their economic position; whether growing numbers of foreign-born Hispanics become citizens and achieve empowerment at the ballot box and through elected office; whether impending health problems are successfully averted; and whether Hispanicsa (TM) geographic dispersal accelerates their spatial and social integration. The papers in this volume provide invaluable information to explore these issues.


Background: Cow's Milk protein Allergy (CMA) is a serious and potentially lifethreatening problem for an estimated 2.5 % of children. Infants with CMA are at risk of growth faltering, however, data are still limited. . Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess growth and nutritional status in infants with CMA and to evaluate the implications of CMA in infants with flatteringgrowth. Methods: This cross sectional study was performed in the period from April 2019 to September 2019 in Pediatrics Department of Zagazig University Hospitals. The study included 72 patients with CMA diagnosed by oral challenge test after elimination diet. Allergy work up included skin prick test and measuring specific (Immunoglobulin E) IgEforCow'sMilkprotein(CMP)forallpatients.Thegrowthandnutritionalstatusofthepatients wasassessedbasedon World Health Organization (WHO) growth charts and growth zscores for weight-for-age, weight-for-height and height-for-age, in addition to laboratoryinvestigations. Results: Data from 72 infants (43 male and 29 female) with age of 9.92 ± 5.853 months indicated that 9 out of 72 infants(12.5%)werediagnosedasImmediateIgEmediatedCMAwhiletheother63infants(87.5 %)wereconsidered delayed non-IgE mediated CMA. Twenty-five infant out of 72 (34.7%) suffered from faltering of growth. We found that 20.8% of infants had z score < -2SD as regard weight for age while (9.7%) and (4.3%) had z score < -2 SD as regard height for age and weight for height respectively. We also, found that 36.1% of infants suffered from iron deficiency anaemia with haemoglobin (11.16 ± 1.53) g/dl, while 29.2% of infants showed hypoalbuminemia with serum albumin level (2.9 ±0.177)g/dl. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 08, Issue 02, 2021 1089 Conclusion:GrowthfalteringandnutritionalproblemsaremajorconcernsininfantswithCMA. Propermanagement of infants with CMA, including specialist dietetic advice and regular growth monitoring, is mandatory to avoid these concerns. When evaluating an infant with flattering growth, iron deficiency anaemia and/ or hypoalbuminemia physicians should include in their evaluation extensive search forCMA.


It is well known that plastic waste has become a great problem for the environment all over the world. Conventional polymeric materials are not easily degraded because they are resistant against microbial attack; they accumulate in the environment and represent a significant source of environmental pollution. These problems caused by synthetic waste have led to the need for developing new polymeric materials that can be biodegradable and biocompatible with the environment, to replace the conventional ones. Over the past years a lot of attention has been paid to biodegradable polymers based on renewable resources because of their wide range of applications in packaging, agriculture or biomedical fields. This paper aims to present a review regarding the development of biopolymers and biocomposites based on renewable resources, their properties and the area of their application.


In this paper household level data are used to explore whether unemployment risk is an important factor in the timing of consumers' durable goods purchase decisions. A theoretical model is presented in which both income uncertainty and household debt play a direct role, offering a potential explanation for fluctuations in durable goods spending over the business cycle. The model predicts that consumers respond to increases in unemployment risk by postponing purchases of the durable good and reducing their spending on nondurable goods in order to bolster their precautionary buffer-stock of liquid assets. Consistent with the model, there is evidence that unemployment risk has a direct effect on the timing of home purchases: households with a higher probability of becoming unemployed are less likely to have recently purchased a home or a car, even after controlling for demographic variables. A prediction that the consumption decisions of older consumers are relatively less sensitive to unemployment risk is also validated. Another finding consistent with the theoretical model is that consumers who are observed to have bought a house despite facing high unemployment risk tend to have more liquid assets left over than homebuyers who face ordinary or low unemployment risks.


Learning with an objective to minimize the mismatch with a reference distribution has been shown to be useful for generative modeling and imitation learning. In this paper, we investigate whether one such objective, the Wasserstein-1 distance between a policy's state visitation distribution and a target distribution, can be utilized effectively for reinforcement learning (RL) tasks. Specifically, this paper focuses on goal-conditioned reinforcement learning where the idealized (unachievable) target distribution has full measure at the goal. This paper introduces a quasimetric specific to Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and uses this quasimetric to estimate the above Wasserstein-1 distance. It further shows that the policy that minimizes this Wasserstein-1 distance is the policy that reaches the goal in as few steps as possible. Our approach, termed Adversarial Intrinsic Motivation (AIM), estimates this Wasserstein-1 distance through its dual objective and uses it to compute a supplemental reward function. Our experiments show that this reward function changes smoothly with respect to transitions in the MDP and directs the agent's exploration to find the goal efficiently. Additionally, we combine AIM with Hindsight Experience Replay (HER) and show that the resulting algorithm accelerates learning significantly on several simulated robotics tasks when compared to other rewards that encourage exploration or accelerate learning.


Abstract Facial dysmorphism is a common diagnosis which represents a broad spectrum of aetiologies with different outcomes spreading from normal outcome to foetal demise or new-borns with multiple malformations. Prenatal diagnosis can be difficult, making counselling a challenging task even in experienced hands. This paper aims to present an unusual case of facial dysmorphism (Binder phenotype) which resulted in a normal pregnancy. However, throughout the pregnancy, future parents experienced excruciating anxiety, which required multiple prenatal counselling appointments. We believe that in case of a Binder phenotype, genetic testing, multiple scanning appointments and extensive discussion with future parents are vital in the prevention of an unneeded ending of a pregnancy.