In this book, Sabine Huebner explores the world of the protagonists of the New Testament and the early Christians using the rich papyrological evidence from Roman Egypt. This gives us unparalleled insights into the everyday lives of the non-elite population in an area quite similar to neighbouring Judaea-Palestine. What were the the daily concerns and difficulties experienced by a carpenter's family or by a shepherd looking after his flocks? How did the average man or woman experience a Roman census? What obstacles did women living in a patriarchal society face in private, in public and in the early Church? Given the flight of Jesus' family into Egypt, how mobile were the lower classes, what was their understanding of geography, and what costs and dangers were associated with travel? This volume gives a better understanding of the structural, social and cultural conditions under which figures from the New Testament lived.


Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) analysis is a powerful means for evaluating gene expression and discovering novel genes. The method is relatively simple and particularly important for species where knowledge of the genome is unavailable or limited. In this study, we compare EST profiles of Emiliania huxleyi cultures grown under conditions that promote biomineralization and coccolithogenesis (F/50 media) and conditions that reduce these processes (F/2 media). A total of 3,527 clones from the F/50 and 4,116 clones from F/2 library were randomly selected and sequenced, resulting in a unigene set of 4,057 unique sequences comprised of 540 contigs and 3517 singletons. More than 40% of the expressed genes showed similarity to known genes from other organisms deposited in GenBank (e>10 −2 ) and have been functionally categorized. The comparative data provide cues for further studies pertaining to genes and proteins involved in biomineralization and coccolithogenesis, and taken together serve as a valuable resource for the coccolithophorid research community.


This presentation comes from the Asset Allocation for Institutional Portfolios conference held in San Francisco, California, on February 10-11, 1986.


Acidity and dissolved oxygen as indicator of water quality for Cisadane estuary. A lot of waste which flows into the rivermouth of Cisadane River were considered to influence to degree of acidity (pH) value and oxygen concentration of that waters. The change of those values will be indicator of waters quality. Based on that condition, the research at the rivermouth of Cisadane and at vicinity was carried out in 2003 – 2005 and two different monsoon. As long as those periods the waters quality were increased, the degree of acidity was increased between 0.88% - 3.49%, whereas oxygen concentration between 12.55% - 39.15%. The influence of river flows with a lot of organic matter were caused the lower of oxygen concentration and pH value. The oxygen concentration at the Cisadane River just 1.89 ml/l and pH 6.8. The lowest of those parameters were equal to the highest of nitrate concentration (29.53 μgA/l). Nevertheless those condition were better after to river outside.


Examination of crash patterns is one way of identifying key factors on which focus should be directed for improving road safety. This paper has researched the current status of a number of selected crash patterns in Western Australia and compared this status where possible with that existing 10 or 20 years ago. The crash patterns examined are road type crash risks, speed, fatigue, night-time, severity and collision types. It is considered that the results should be useful not only to Western Australia but also to road safety agencies elsewhere. The paper provides quantitative information on crash risks of various levels of road design ranging from unsealed country roads to freeways using a large sample of some 100 000 crashes. Quantitative estimates based on surrogate measures show that both speed and fatigue are major contributing factors in crash occurrence. In taking traffic into account it is shown that both the risk and severity of crashes is higher at night than daytime particularly in the open road environment. In addition to numbers and risk values, patterns are also expressed in terms of crash costs. Crash costs are proposed and demonstrated as a method for the optimum allocation of resources directed towards road safety improvement.


in recent years, as described in other chapters in this book, the intention to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been growing across a diverse range of non-Annex I countries. Often, these countries signal their intentions by announcing their commitments to Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) in a list of policies and programmes that is submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat. Indonesia is no exception in this regard. At the 2009 Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Pittsburgh, the president of Indonesia announced for the first time the country's national commitment to mitigating CO2 emissions, particularly through the reduction of deforestation rates and forest degradation. It stated that Indonesia 'will reduce its annual emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 from BAU (Business As Usual)', and that, with international support, the country 'could reduce emissions by as much as 41 per cent' (Yudhoyono 2009). Indonesia was among the first non-Annex I countries to make such a commitment (Jotzo 2012), and it was subsequently submitted to the UNFCCC Secretariat as the country's NAMA on 30 January 2010. It was, nevertheless, a surprising move, and, domestically, was not well understood. Until that point, there had been important national discussions of Indonesia's contribution to global CO2 emissions, but discussions of the kinds of programmes that should be adopted, if any, had been limited. The international community embraced this commitment by promising funding and technical assistance to facilitate and encourage Indonesia's efforts. In May 2010, the government of Norway pledged to support Indonesia in its preparations for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD+) by promising US$1 billion conditional on Indonesia fulfilling certain tasks set out in a letter of intent (LOI) between the two countries. Within Indonesia, the commitment announced by the president was then translated into a national strategy for reducing CO2 emissions as well as related


The course of the Islamic debate over the origin of the world through Ibn Rushd (d. 595/1198) is well known. Kalam theologians and al-Ghazali seek to prove the temporal origination of the world, while philosophers such as Ibn Sina argue for the world's eternal emanation from God. Ibn Rushd reasserts the world's eternity against al-Ghazali, portraying creation, however, not as emanation but as a perpetual process rooted in God's perfection. Almost completely unknown to Western-language scholarship is that the Hanbali theologian Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328)—known in some quarters to be anti-rationalist—makes a philosophical contribution to this debate and follows very closely in the footsteps of Ibn Rushd. As a first step in the more extensive study that Ibn Taymiyya's views on creation deserve, this article introduces and translates his commentary on the hadith found in Bukhari, 'God was, and there was nothing before Him, and His Throne was on the water … Then, He created the heavens and the earth'. In this commentary, Ibn Taymiyya sets forth a speculative theological model of God's perpetual creativity. Although neither the world nor any one part of it is eternal, God's perfection entails that He create one thing or another from eternity. Ibn Taymiyya maintains that this philosophically derived vision of God accords with revelation, and it forms the viewpoint from which he polemicizes against Kalam theologians and Ibn Sina on creation.


During the course of studying the dehydrogenation reactions of hydrocarbons by titanium atoms, ions, and clusters, an exceptionally stable and abundant cluster which contains 8 titaniums and 12 carbons was discovered. "Titration" reactions with ND3 reveal the uptake of eight molecules, pointing to the fact that the titanium atoms are at exposed positions of similar coordination. A dodecahedral structure of Th point group symmetry is proposed to account for the unusual stability of this molecular cluster. The Ti8C12+ dodecahedron has 12 pentagonal rings and each of the rings is formed by two titanium and three carbon atoms, where each titanium is bound to three carbons. Based on the model, it is expected that neutral Ti8C12 would be a stable metallo-carbododecahedral molecule and may comprise one member of a new class of molecules, namely metallo-carbohedrenes.


Social networks are attracting significant interest from researchers in different domains, especially with the advent of social networking systems which enable large-scale collection of network information. However, as much as analysis of such social networks can benefit researchers, it raises serious privacy concerns for the people involved in them. To address such privacy concerns, several techniques, such as k-anonymity-based approaches, have been proposed in the literature to provide user anonymity in published social networks. However, these methods usually introduce a large amount of distortion to the original social network graphs, thus, raising serious questions about their utility for useful social network analysis. Consequently, these techniques may never be applied in practice. We propose two methods to enhance edge-perturbing anonymization methods based on the concepts of structural roles and edge betweenness in social network theory. We experimentally show significant improvements in preserving structural properties in an anonymized social network achieved by our approach compared to the original algorithms over several data sets.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) disrupts the topological architecture of whole-brain connectivity. Minimum spanning tree (MST), which captures the most important connections in a network, has been considered an unbiased method for brain network analysis. However, the alterations in the MST of functional brain networks during the progression of AD remain unclear. Here, we performed an MST analysis to examine the alterations in functional networks among normal controls (NCs), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and AD patients. We identified substantial differences in the connections among the three groups. The maximum betweenness centrality, leaf number, and tree hierarchy of the MSTs showed significant group differences, indicating a more star-like topology in the MCI patients and a more line-like topology in the NCs and AD patients. These findings may correspond to changes in the core of the functional brain networks. For nodal properties (degree and betweenness centrality), we determined that brain regions around the cingulate gyrus, occipital lobes, subcortex, and inferior temporal gyrus showed significant differences among the three groups and contributed to the global topological alterations. The leaf number and tree hierarchy, as well as the nodal properties, were significantly correlated with clinical features in the MCI and AD patients, which demonstrated that more star-to-line topology changes were associated with worse cognitive performance in these patients. These findings indicated that MST properties could capture slight alterations in network topology, particularly for the differences between NCs and MCI patients, and may be applicable as neuroimaging markers of the early stage of AD.


Background Hepatic steatosis is caused by metabolic stress associated with a positive lipid balance, such as insulin resistance and obesity. Previously we have shown the anti-obesity effects of inhibiting serotonin synthesis, which eventually improved insulin sensitivity and hepatic steatosis. However, it is not clear whether serotonin has direct effect on hepatic lipid accumulation. Here, we showed the possibility of direct action of serotonin on hepatic steatosis. Methods Mice were treated with para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) or LP-533401 to inhibit serotonin synthesis and fed with high fat diet (HFD) or high carbohydrate diet (HCD) to induce hepatic steatosis. Hepatic triglyceride content and gene expression profiles were analyzed. Results Pharmacological and genetic inhibition of serotonin synthesis reduced HFD-induced hepatic lipid accumulation. Furthermore, short-term PCPA treatment prevented HCD-induced hepatic steatosis without affecting glucose tolerance and browning of subcutaneous adipose tissue. Gene expression analysis revealed that the expressions of genes involved in de novo lipogenesis and triacylglycerol synthesis were downregulated by short-term PCPA treatment as well as long-term PCPA treatment. Conclusion Short-term inhibition of serotonin synthesis prevented hepatic lipid accumulation without affecting systemic insulin sensitivity and energy expenditure, suggesting the direct steatogenic effect of serotonin in liver.


Although initially proposed as the deployable alternative to IP multicast, the overlay network actually revolutionizes the way network applications can be built. In this paper, we study the rate allocation problem in overlay-based multirate multicast, which can be understood as a utility-based resource allocation problem. Each receiver is associated with a utility defined as a function of its streaming rate. Our goal is to maximize the aggregate utility of all receivers, subject to network capacity constraint and data constraint. The latter constraint is unique in overlay multicast, mainly due to the dual role of end hosts as both receivers and senders. We use a price-based approach to address this problem. Two types of prices, network price and data price, are generated with regard to the two constraints of the problem. A distributed algorithm is proposed, where each receiver adjusts its flow rate according to the associated network price and data price. The algorithm is proved to converge to the optimal point, where the aggregate utility of all receivers is maximized. We implement our algorithm using an end-host-based protocol. Our protocol purely relies on the coordination of end hosts to accomplish tasks originally assigned to network routers, which makes it directly deployable to the existing network infrastructure.


Falling output and living standards have pushed countries in transition from the socialist system to re-consider how best to target public resources on those in need. The paper investigates the workings of a new social assistance benefit in Uzbekistan, the largest of the former Soviet Central Asian republics, administered by community organizations, the Mahallas. Data are used from a 1995 household survey to assess the scheme's success in targeting the most vulnerable households, using a variety of indicators including income, durable goods ownership, agricultural assets, employment status, and the anthropometric status of children. The separate probabilities of knowledge of the scheme, of application for benefit, and of award are modelled.


Three Ohio soils of fine sandy loam, silt loam, and clay loam textures were subjected to treatments of comparable levels of potassium as KCl and K-soil (exchangeable plus fixed K prepared by adding 1000 pounds per acre of K as KCl to portions of the same soils followed by successive wetting and drying). The soils were cropped to alfalfa in pots in the greenhouse for a period of six harvests. Potassium uptake by alfalfa was 76 to 95% as great from soils treated with K-soil as from those with similar rates of KCl. Following removal of the third crop, soil samples were taken and subjected to various chemical extractions. They included 1.0N NH₄OAc extraction of both moist and dry soils, and extractions with 1.0N boiling NHO₃. In general, none of these extractions gave a consistent indication of the residual K available to succeeding crops of alfalfa following initial K treatments and removal of the first three crops (cuttings). The results suggest some inadequacies in existing soil analyses for indicating residual K available to crops.


The Analysis of Noise Level in Elementary School at Medan Baru and Medan Petisah Subdistrict in 2013. Noise is an element of the physical environment that can interfere with human health and the environment because of convenience distraction in daily activities. Activities in urban transportation is one thing that has high potential as a source of noise. To avoid noise impact stipulated limit their level of noise that can be accepted by hearing, for a school environment which is equal to 55 dB (A).This study is an descriptive survey study, that aims to determine the noise level classrooms and libraries, highway noise levels, the distance of school to the highway, the physical condition of the public elementary school at the Medan Baru and Medan Petisah Sub District in 2013. Population elementary school in Medan Baru and Medan Petisah Sub District entirely sampled is 23 schools. Data collected by direct measurements of noise levels by using a Sound Level Meter and direct observation using the observation sheet about the physical condition of school buildings. Measurement results and observations are presented descriptively in tabular form. The results showed that the noise level around the class room and library room 23 Public Elementary School is 55,9-71,5 dBA, no qualified health determined that all of > 55 dB (A). For the physical condition of the building, all the school has met the requirements of the noise, but none of the schools that have control of noise from both outside and inside the room. According to the results of the research, it is suggested should be made efforts to reduce the noise level by installing noise barriers in school room, the use green belt along the highway, planting trees and creating a barrier or obstacle (fance) that not disconnected, solid, and not hollow between schools and roads highway. For the near future, the noise can be reduced by covering the walls of the classroom with thick curtains and close the door during the learning procces. Keywords: Noise levels, Schools, Highways, Distance, Physical Condition


There are circumstances where independent consent to research by children is appropriate (for example, where the participants are older adolescents and the research approximates minimal risk). However, in many instances an important safeguard will be a dual consenting process involving an appropriate adult alongside the potential child participant (according to their evolving capacities). But what adults are appropriate in what instances? We attempt to use principles set out in the Children's Act (2010) to address this question. This article differentiates between those adults who according to the Children's Act (2010) have full parental responsibilities and rights (i.e. parents/guardians) and those who have no parental responsibilities and rights (i.e. caregivers). We argue that some responsibilities accorded to caregivers are substantially similar to the authority to provide proxy consent to research in which the research risks approximate those risks present in the child's everyday life. In these instances, we argue that where parents and guardians are not available, caregivers should be considered by research ethics committees as a possible source of proxy consent for younger children. This approach might not be logically extended to caregiver consent for clinical trial enrolment, for which alternative arguments may need to be debated.


Punica granatum (PG) contained anthocyanin, the chemical compound that played significant role in increasing bone cell proliferabbitsion and osteoblasts differentiation in bone remodelling. This research was aimed at measuring the effect of Punicagranatum on maxilla bone remodelling relating to the profile of both osteoblast and osteoclast. Punicagranatum was extracted by using butanol while the analysis of bone remodelling was conducted by observing the profile of osteoblast and osteoclast cells using histopathologic method. Butanol hydrogel of Punicagranatum was abled to enhance bone reabsorption which was proven by the increase of osteoclast and new bone formation since the osteoblast was presented. Moreover, bone remodelling activity was characterised by increased collagen fibres and osteocyte cell, in addition, bone shape compactness was getting better. Statistical analysis revealed that the histoscore profile of osteoblast was influenced by butanol fraction dosage with significance level (p<0.05) which was at medium criteria according to Pearson correlation (r=0,6). While the effect of dosage on osteoclast was at significance level (p<0.05) but was poorly correlated with (r=0.01) and osteoblast frequency was dominant at the concentrabbitsion of 125 mg/ml and 250 mg/ml. On the other hand, at the concentrabbitsion of 175 mg/ml osteoclast presentation was found to be more dominant. The fraction of butanol PG was abled to induce osteoblast increment and osteoclast at the concentrabbitsion of (mg/ml) 125, 175, and 250 and accelerabbitse the remodelling of alveolar maxilla.


A vexing question for investors who must be concerned with taxes relates to assessment of after-tax performance of a full portfolio or of any of its component parts. Performance analysis usually has two main components: measuring returns, pre- or after-tax; and assessing the returns. The author reviews a common benchmarking approach in the private equity industry and draws an analogy between the private equity problem and the issues faced in assessment of after-tax performance. He proposes two variants on the private equity performance assessment approach as possible solutions to the problem. The main drawbacks of direct use of vintage year portfolios are both complexity and the fact that vintage year portfolios would still not allow one to differentiate between various levels of unrealized capital gains in portfolios at the onset. An alternative would group portfolios into various baskets determined according to the ratio of market-to-book value of the portfolio at the initial management mandate.


United States patent law has traditionally been based on the proposition that the first inventor, not the first person to file a patent application, is the only person entitled to a patent. Nevertheless, the President's Commission on the Patent System has proposed that patent rights be awarded on a first-to-file basis, and this recommendation is now embodied in bills before Congress. The author urges that the conclusion that a pure first-to-file system would be better for the United States should not be too hastily drawn. He reveals that the present United States patent system is neither purely a first-to-invent nor first-to-file system, but a hybrid system containing many features of both that gives a great advantage to the first person to file a patent application while also retaining important aspects of a first-to-invent system.


The fast escaping set, A(f), of a transcendental entire function f has begun to play a key role in transcendental dynamics. In many cases, A(f) has the structure of a spider's web, which contains a sequence of fundamental loops. We investigate the structure of these fundamental loops for functions with a multiply connected Fatou component, and show that there exist transcendental entire functions for which some fundamental loops are analytic curves and approximately circles, while others are geometrically highly distorted. We do this by introducing a real‐valued function that measures the rate of escape of points in A(f), and show that this function has a number of interesting properties.


Childhood and adult obesity pose major risks for cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, with the poor and racial minorities suffering from disproportionately high burdens of obesity and chronic disease. With current policies failing, cities and states have moved forward with creative prevention measures –- with boards of health driving policy innovation in many local jurisdictions. The New York City Board of Board of Health's (NYCBH) soda portion limit pushed the boundaries of innovation, but was struck down on June 26, 2014 by New York State's highest court, which held that the Board trespassed on the City Council's authority.The Court's decision ignored the critical role of local health agencies in responding to 21st century public health threats, including epidemics of obesity and chronic disease. The Court narrowly construed the NYCBH's authority, characterizing its powers as administrative, and thus potentially stifling local innovation. The decision also obscured the fundamental truth that public health policymaking requires complex trade-offs and incremental action, as well as a multifaceted approach to reducing population weight gain. Policymaking often relies upon limited evidence, and agencies experiment with novel ideas while also transforming social norms and pushing the boundaries of public opinion. Although the portion rule would disproportionately affect disadvantaged individuals who drink the largest amount of soda, government's failure to act represents a greater injustice. Enhancing opportunities to choose a healthy life path better serves the interests of justice, but the Court's judgment takes us further away from realizing this social aspiration.


This book is a contribution to the discussion about religion in contemporary Western society, characterized by the privatization of religion. The concept religion is not easily operational and does not carry meaning or implications that remain valid or consistent over time. It must be re-substantiated in order to remain descriptive and operational. This book's ambition is to explore a means of re-substantiating the concept of religion. Data created in focus groups on 1) What does it mean to be a believer today, and 2) Can one be more or less religious shows that religion as a concept pertains to five distinct aspects; belief, routinized religion, religion-as-heritage, practice and tradition. While these aspects are in themselves not novel, it is interesting that these aspects do not pertain directly to a common core. Beliefs emerge as highly personal emotions and reflections that reside in the inner life of each individual and are developed cognitively through life experiences. Beliefs are actualized ad-hoc in respect to context. Routinized religion pertains to the religious system and institution, the organization to which one can belong. Certain practices also belong in this domain, such as sermons, the Eucharist, etc. These practices are perceived as alien by most focus group participants. There are practices that are embraced by all participants, namely traditions. They are acknowledged to have originated in a routinized religious context but have become devoid of religious content to most of the people, who participate in them. They are upheld for the affirmation of social life and shared heritage. This is where the wider religion-as-heritage comes in. It signifies the cultural history, the norms, values, perceptions, etc. that are shared by people, whose heritage lies in that given church or religious organization. Indeed the processes of privatization are conducive to segregating belief from religion. Belief is relegated into the inner minds of individuals, whereas religion is entrenched in institutions and denominations in a pluralized market. The increasing gap between these two spheres gives rise to a social domain in which traditions and heritage become shared ways of establishing bonds and affinities and staging belonging in respect to other kinds of traditions and heritages. For this reason it is assuredly the case that religion in the conventional mode, what this book calls packaged religion, is bound to decline, whereas unpacked religion, where several aspects perform different functions in respect to the individual and society is more descriptive of the norm in Danish society. (Less)


• Problems with involuntarily hospitalized patients refusing to take psychopharmacological medications has taken on several new dimensions in recent years. It is no longer possible to assume that granting of a commitment is tantamount to free license to use standardized and accepted preparations. Many legal concepts and social policy questions have been introduced. Competency to consent or to refuse treatment, or incompetency to consent or to refuse treatment, the nature of informed consent, intrusiveness of the type of treatment, and inquiries into assessment and role of dangerousness connected with mental illness are recurring themes. If we start with mental illness as a preliminary but insufficient condition in itself for involuntary hospitalization, we are left with residual problems of determining which patients, and under what conditions, will receive chemotherapy. A proposal is made that the competent patient, not admitted with dangerousness as an integral part of his mental illness, would have the presumption of choice with respect to the medications he receives. However, if a judicial determination of incompetency with respect to a refusal or consent state was established, treatment with medications could proceed. For those patients in the different category of a joint finding of dangerousness and mental illness, medications could be given without a separate finding of incompetency being made by virtue of their hospitalization under the police power of the state.


Enterprise architectures create a technical platform to meet current and future business needs. In this sense, architectural components ensure IT capabilities are modelled in every business process. Current approaches to enterprise architecting tend to focus on reducing the effort required to design business processes by using the resources provided by the Web to support new inter-organisational processes. This often leads to the development of services where some generic features or rules are particularly similar across different processes. We describe and illustrate the use of business rules to share components across many different views. Having a business rule front end lets a component offer different access rights and visibility to different clients. We present an approach that might be used in the process of enterprise architecting in conjunction with a service-oriented perspective.


A computer chip that mimics the natural neuronal network can potentially bypass or replace damaged neuronal circuitry in the brain. When a memory chip in our laptop goes bad, we simply plug in a replacement chip. When our own biological computer (our brain) malfunctions—for example, because of stroke, trauma, or degenerative disease—can we too just swap in a new chip? Neuroprosthetic research is now at the tipping point of unveiling such possibilities: Berger et al. demonstrate a prosthetic system that can partially reestablish the broken linkage between two cortical areas, restoring normal nervous system function. Berger and colleagues used a rat model to study memory formation and enhancement with their neuroprosthetic system. Thirty-two micro-wire electrodes were implanted bilaterally in the CA3 and CA1 areas of hippocampus—the brain structure that is responsible for memory formation—and were used for multichannel neural stimulation and recording. The authors modeled neuronal activity patterns at CA3 and CA1 as a multi-input/multi-output system; from this, they could predict CA1 neuronal activity (output) on the basis of CA3 neuronal activity (input). Using this computational model and the neuroprosthetic hardware, they were able to form an information pathway that bypassed damaged neuronal connections between those areas. To demonstrate the effectiveness of their device in memory function, the authors tested whether the rats could memorize which lever (left or right) it had pushed up to 60 seconds prior. Importantly, when the CA3–CA1 circuit was damaged artificially with a pharmacologic agent that blocks synapses, the neuroprosthetic device was able to restore memory function in the rats, thus demonstrating the potential clinical use of such devices. Although this study focused on hippocampus and memory, the implication is broad for repairing or replacing any damaged neuronal circuit, which will hopefully lead to a new paradigm for treating stroke, spinal cord injury, and other neurological disorders. T. W. Berger et al., A cortical neural prosthesis for restoring and enhancing memory. J. Neural Eng. 8, 046017 (2011). [Abstract]


Introduction:
Clozapine is a cornerstone in the treatment of resistance schizophrenia, whereas long-acting antipsychotics (LAA) are central in the care of patients with poor compliance. Both populations represent daunting challenges. We aim to compare pre-treatment disease severity and treatment outcome of patients receiving clozapine and LAA.
Methods:
Medical records of patients who attend an outpatient schizophrenia clinic were randomized and examined retrospectively. Demographics and psychiatric history prior hospitalizations and suicide attempts were reviewed. Additionally, the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) and Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) were administered to patients during their last visit.
Results:
Preliminary results from 27 patients show that those on LAA had more hospitalizations (p=0.021) and suicide attempts (75% vs. 11%, p=0.034) than patients on clozapine before initiation of treatment. There were no differences in frequency of visits, MARS or PANSS scores between the two groups. Negative symptoms were more predominant among the patients on long-acting antipsychotics than in those on clozapine, although the difference was borderline significant.
Discussion:
Patients on LAA had a more severe disease course prior to the initiation of LAA, reflected in more hospitalizations and suicide attempts, possibly due to persistent non-compliance with oral treatment in the past. Patients on clozapine had more recent hospitalizations, perhaps due to suboptimal dosing. Treatment adherence and symptom burden were similar in both patient groups. There was an expected trend of patients on long acting antipsychotics to display poorer negative symptom control than those on clozapine.


Modern deep learning approaches have shown promising results in meteorological applications like precipitation nowcasting, synthetic radar generation, front detection and several others. In order to effectively train and validate these complex algorithms, large and diverse datasets containing high-resolution imagery are required. Petabytes of weather data, such as from the Geostationary Environmental Satellite System (GOES) and the Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) system, are available to the public; however, the size and complexity of these datasets is a hindrance to developing and training deep models. To help address this problem, we introduce the Storm EVent ImagRy (SEVIR) dataset a single, rich dataset that combines spatially and temporally aligned data from multiple sensors, along with baseline implementations of deep learning models and evaluation metrics, to accelerate new algorithmic innovations. SEVIR is an annotated, curated and spatio-temporally aligned dataset containing over 10,000 weather events that each consist of 384 km x 384 km image sequences spanning 4 hours of time. Images in SEVIR were sampled and aligned across five different data types: three channels (C02, C09, C13) from the GOES-16 advanced baseline imager, NEXRAD vertically integrated liquid mosaics, and GOES-16 Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) flashes. Many events in SEVIR were selected and matched to the NOAA Storm Events database so that additional descriptive information such as storm impacts and storm descriptions can be linked to the rich imagery provided by the sensors. We describe the data collection methodology and illustrate the applications of this dataset with two examples of deep learning in meteorology: precipitation nowcasting and synthetic weather radar generation. In addition, we also describe a set of metrics that can be used to evaluate the outputs of these models. As of this writing, the SEVIR dataset can be downloaded from https://registry.opendata.aws/sevir/. Baseline implementations of selected applications are also available at https://github.com/MIT-AI-Accelerator/neurips2020-sevir.


Vertebrate pest management on Macquarie Island has removed five vertebrate species since 1988; weka (Gallirallus australis scotti), cats (Felis catus), rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), ship (black) rats (Rattus rattus) and house mice (Mus musculus). The latter three were eradicated in a combined eradication operation that commenced in 2006 and was declared successful in 2014. Eradication planning for removal of rabbits, rats and mice took about five years, with implementation another three years. The eradication comprised a two-phase project, with aerial baiting followed up by ground hunting using hunters and trained detection dogs to remove surviving rabbits. Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus was used as a non-target mitigation strategy prior to a second attempt at aerial baiting after adverse weather forced the abandonment of the first attempt. The project was considered complex, ambitious and challenging, partly because of the remote location with adverse weather conditions, but especially because multiple-species eradications are considered more difficult to achieve than single-species eradications. In addition, when eradication planning commenced Macquarie Island (12,785 ha) was many times larger than had previously been attempted for the removal of black rats and house mice (1000 and 800 ha, respectively). Preliminary empirical and anecdotal evidence is demonstrating the recovery of native flora and fauna in the absence of grazing and predatory mammals.


Abstract Questions: What are the long-term effects of climate change on the plant species composition and carbon sequestration in peat bogs? Methods: We developed a bog ecosystem model that includes vegetation, carbon, nitrogen and water dynamics. Two groups of vascular plant species and three groups of Sphagnum species compete with each other for light and nitrogen. The model was tested by comparing the outcome with long-term historic vegetation changes in peat cores from Denmark and England. A climate scenario was used to analyse the future effects of atmospheric CO2, temperature and precipitation. Results: The main changes in the species composition since 1766 were simulated by the model. Simulations for a future warmer, and slightly wetter, climate with doubling CO2 concentration suggest that little will change in species composition, due to the contrasting effects of increasing temperatures (favouring vascular plants) and CO2 (favouring Sphagnum). Further analysis of the effects of temperature showed that simulated carbon sequestration is negatively related to vascular plant expansion. Model results show that increasing temperatures may still increase carbon accumulation at cool, low N deposition sites, but decrease carbon accumulation at high N deposition sites. Conclusions: Our results show that the effects of temperature, precipitation, N-deposition and atmospheric CO2 are not straightforward, but interactions between these components of global change exist. These interactions are the result of changes in vegetation composition. When analysing long-term effects of global change, vegetation changes should be taken into account and predictions should not be based on temperature increase alone.


This paper examines how change in cultural values could contribute to achieving sustainability and explores the timing of a possible transition. Global modeling of unsustainability points to a need for both technological changes and a shift in social priorities to make the socio-economic system sustainable. The technological changes are well understood in broad terms and could be achieved with existing know-how. The critical requirement is the social and political will for implementation, but until recently only a minority of the population in the global North had adopted the new cultural values this requires. However, social survey data indicates that in many affluent nations close to 50 percent of the population have now adopted post-materialist values. Modeling this cultural shift as a substitution phenomenon shows the values of modernity being rapidly replaced by the values of transmodernity and suggests an important turning point in progress towards sustainability. The potential of this shift in values for shaping different future scenarios of the transition to global sustainability is discussed.


Investors increasingly seek to go international on real estate markets. Many studies have been carried out with respect to the benefits of such strategies for stocks and bonds, but less attention has been given to real estate stocks. The aims of this study are twofold. First, a national analysis is realized in order to evaluate the impact of the broader domestic stock market on the volatility of real estate stocks. This first part is motivated by the fact that real estate stocks are stocks by definition, even though the underlying asset is direct real estate. Second, the linkages between the world market and selected domestic real estate stock markets are studied. We focus on the three most important markets in terms of market capitalization, i.e., on those of the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Using daily data from 1987 to 2009, these relations are analyzed using a multivariate GARCH model. More precisely, we estimate a series of bivariate models with an asymmetric BEKK specification of the variance. It has been well documented that the stock market reacts asymmetrically to the sign of its own innovation, consequently it is of interest to verify whether this characteristic also prevails for real estate stock market contagion. Conditional correlations are also calculated from the estimates of the previous model. This paper thus contributes to a better understanding of the nature of real estate stocks and of the usefulness of international portfolio strategies.


Objectives: This study aims to compare the stria vascularis and spiral ligament, and evaluate the bony arch around the vestibular aqueduct, in temporal bones with endolymphatic hydrops (EH) from patients with (EH+), and without (EH-) vestibular symptoms, compared to control temporal bones, to better understand the mechanism of vestibular symptoms in Meniere disease. Patients and Methods: A total of 30 temporal bones (twelve EH+, six EH-, and twelve controls from 27 subjects [mean age 72 years; range 61-89 years]) were retrospectively evaluated in this study. Exclusions were ototoxicity, systemic or neurologic diseases. Stria vascularis areas were measured in all cochlear turns. The spiral ligament was divided into four sections according to fibrocytes. The bony area around the vestibular aqueduct was evaluated according to cellular appearance. Results: Stria vascularis area between EH+ and EHin any turn except upper middle was statistically insignificant. Loss of fibrocytes was not statistically different between any groups. Denuded osteoblasts, and diminished edges around bony layer of vestibular aquaduct were statistically different in EH+ and EH(p=.0003). Conclusion: Lack of histopathologic differences in cochlear lateral walls between any group suggest that these changes might not be responsible for generation of vestibular symptoms. Significant degenerative changes in the vestibular aqueduct in EH+ compared to EHbones may suggest a relationship of the vestibular aqueduct and vestibular symptoms.


This article maintains that power enhances consumers' ability to resist social influence but produces different resistance outcomes, depending on the level of certainty with which consumers hold their own attitudes. When attitude certainty is high, empowered consumers resist social influence by discounting others' opinions. When attitude certainty is low, empowered consumers intentionally diverge from others' opinions to signal their independence. Data from the first two experiments provide consistent support for the dual impact of power. The last two experiments examine the processes leading to the reactant response. Experiment 3 finds that the experience of uncertainty weakens empowered consumers' confidence in their sense of power, leading them to perceive others' unsolicited opinions as a threat to their autonomy, which then triggers the reactant response. Finally, consistent with a self-presentation interpretation of reactance, experiment 4 finds that power leads to reactance when evaluations are public but not when they are private.


There is much evidence that price-adjustment frequencies vary widely across industries. This paper shows that inflation persistence is lower with heterogeneity in price stickiness than without it, taking as given the degree of persistence in variables affecting inflation. Differences in the frequency of price adjustment mean that the pool of firms which responds to any macroeconomic shock is unrepresentative, containing a disproportionately large number of firms from industries with more flexible prices. Consequently, this group of firms is more likely to reverse any initial price change after a shock has dissipated, making inflation persistence much harder to explain.


Psychological theories often locate the problem of prejudice within people. However, prejudice stems from both people and places. Prejudiced contexts are places with predictable, systematic inequalities in experience and outcomes based on people's social group memberships—advantaging people from some social groups, while disadvantaging people from others. The prejudice-in-places model illuminates sources of inequality that would otherwise be overlooked and suggests novel avenues for intervention. By understanding how norms, values, policies, practices, and procedures can create prejudiced places, leaders and policymakers can intentionally debias environments so that members of all social groups can flourish in educational and organizational settings.


In this paper a protocol, local to the satellite link, is defined in order to boost TCP performance in mobile integrated wired-satellite Internet. It has been conceived to help to overcome the well known retransmissions competition problem that arises when a satellite reliable link layer protocol is used to face satellite link errors. This protocol, called Local IPSec-aware Freezing proTocol (LIFT), has been designed to allow the satellite gateway, even in the presence of communications secured by IPSec, to freeze the TCP sender when it perceives a possible delay due to satellite channel conditions. The effectiveness of LIFT has been evaluated, using the ns-2 tool, in terms of Web page download mean time for a satellite mobile host. Simulation results have shown that the adoption of LIFT protocol provides substantial improvements in TCP performance.


In recent years, collaborative governance has been used as an innovative approach by government, NGOs, and business for consensus building in the process of policy making and service delivery (Ansell and Gash, 2008, Brown et al., 2006). However, little has been written on the psychological aspects of collaborative governance. What are the antecedents of collaborative decisions? To what extent and in what ways can NGOs' advocacy impact community residents' opinions? For example, in the field of environmental protection, the conflict between environmental conservation and economic development has been a key issue, which presents a fundamental challenge to the formation of collaborative environmental governance. Environmental NGOs have used educational approaches to influence key stakeholders; but it remains an intriguing issue as in what ways and to what extent their educational efforts have impacted these stakeholders. To answer these questions, we explored the attitudinal antecedents of collaborative governance by conducting an experimental study on the effects of environmental education in rural China. Specifically, we focus on two types of environmental education programs: Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainability (ESD). While EE focuses on providing scientific education in raising environmental awareness, ESD incorporates economic, social, and environmental factors to bring about solutions to achieve sustainability. We found that ESD is more effective in stimulating attitudinal changes towards environmental conservation, and EE is more powerful in generating a hidden effect: the anti-development attitude, among participants in China. We also studied the moderating effects of economic pressure, place attachment, and we found that being poor and being nonlocal may strengthen a participant's likelihood to develop attitudinal changes towards economic development. Overall, our research contributes to a better understanding of the psychological aspects of collaborative governance, and it calls a more balanced approach in environmental education.


Abstract The European Commission requested the EFSA Panel on Plant Health to prepare and deliver risk assessments for commodities listed in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/2019 as 'High risk plants, plant products and other objects'. This Scientific Opinion covers plant health risks posed by plants of Prunus domestica grafted on Prunus cerasifera imported from Ukraine, taking into account the available scientific information, including the technical information provided by Ukraine. All pests associated with the commodity were evaluated against specific criteria for their relevance for this opinion. One quarantine pest (Lopholeucaspis japonica), two protected zone quarantine pests (Erwinia amylovora and Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni) and one non‐regulated pest (Eotetranychus prunicola) that fulfilled all relevant criteria were selected for further evaluation. For these four pests, the risk mitigation measures proposed in the technical dossier from Ukraine were evaluated taking into account the possible limiting factors. For the selected pests, an expert judgement is given on the likelihood of pest freedom taking into consideration the risk mitigation measures acting on the pest, including uncertainties associated with the assessment. The degree of pest freedom varies among the pests evaluated, with Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni being the pest most frequently expected on the imported plants. The Expert Knowledge Elicitation indicated with 95% certainty that between 9,870 and 10,000 bundles (consisting of 10 plants each) per 10,000 would be free from Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni.


Research on students' learning in computing typically investigates how to enable individuals to develop concepts and skills, yet many forms of computing education, from peer instruction to robotics competitions, involve group work in which understanding may not be entirely locatable within individuals' minds. We need theories and methods that allow us to understand learning in cognitive systems: culturally and historically situated groups of students, teachers, and tools. Accordingly, we draw on Hutchins' Distributed Cognition [16] theory to present a qualitative case study analysis of interaction and learning within a small group of middle school students programming computer music. Our analysis shows how a system of students, teachers, and tools, working in a music classroom, is able to accomplish conceptually demanding computer music programming. We show how the system does this by 1) collectively drawing on individuals' knowledge, 2) using the physical and virtual affordances of different tools to organize work, externalize knowledge, and create new demands for problem solving, and 3) reconfiguring relationships between individuals and tools over time as the focus of problem solving changes. We discuss the implications of this perspective for research on teaching, learning and assessment in computing.


In the field of the preparation of chemotherapeutic agents with new mechanism distinct from currently approved drugs is important. The implication of different members of Histone Acetyl Transferase (HAT) in cancer disease is well documented in literature, however the clinically effective approved small inhibitor molecule is still lacking. Previous reports indicated that 4-aryl-2-hydrazinothiazole derivatives provided a useful start point to develop HAT inhibitors. Consequently, preparation and biological evaluation of a focused library of 4-aryl-2- hydrazinothiazole based derivatives as useful as anti-cancer agents. Synthesis of 4-aryl-2-hydrazinothiazoles (1a-d), (2a-d), (3a-c), (4a-b), (5ab), (6a-b) studied by either conventional method and free solvent microwave one pot method, the activity against different cancer cell-lines and the antimicrobial activities against different organisms also studied. It was found that all of the prepared thaizoles derivatives were active toward many cell lines (breast, liver, and prostate) where the more active compounds were 4a, 4b, and 6a. Most of these compounds showed highly activity as antibacterial for gram positive and gram negative. However it showed also antifungal activity. Molecular docking studies guided and proved the biological activities of these novel 4-aryl-2-hydrazinothiazoles. Also Infrared Radiation (IR), Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H-NMR), Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (13C-NMR), Gas chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and elemental analysis were studied.
Graphical Abstract

3D plot of the interaction against receptors of 3EQM

3D plot of the interaction against receptors of 3CQX protein with 4b

3D plot of the interaction against receptors of 4ihz protein with 4a


Any ambitious construction project requires architects for its design and engineers who apply the design to the real world. As scientific research shifts towards large groups which focus on the engineering aspects of linking data to existing models, architectural skills are becoming rare among young theorists. Senior researchers should mentor qualified students and postdocs to think creatively about the big picture without unwarranted loyalty to ancient blueprints from past generations of architects.


The first spectrum of vanadium has been observed in the 1.0–5.6 μm extraphotographic infrared region by means of Fourier spectroscopic techniques. These observations have produced measurements for about 450 infrared V i lines and preliminary analysis has led to a revision and extension of the spectroscopic terms arising from the 3d5 configuration. The 4F term at about 37 000 cm−1 formerly ascribed to 3d5 has been reassigned to 3d44s. The lowest term of the 3d5 configuration, 6S5/2 at 20 202.47 ± 0.05 cm−1 has been reaffirmed by means of high-precision infrared measurements. In addition, three probable new 3d5 terms, 4G at about 34 200 cm−1, 4P at about 33 000 cm−1 and 2F at about 35 700 cm−1 have been tentatively identified.


The Web of data is constantly evolving based on the dynamics of its content. Current Web search engine technologies consider static collections and do not factor in explicitly or implicitly available temporal information, that can be leveraged to gain insights into the dynamics of the data. In this paper, we hypothesize that by employing the temporal aspect as the primary means for capturing the evolution of entities, it is possible to provide entity-based accessibility to Web archives. We empirically show that the edit activity on Wikipedia can be exploited to provide evidence of the evolution of Wikipedia pages over time, both in terms of their content and in terms of their temporally defined relationships, classified in literature as events. Finally, we present results from our extensive analysis of a dataset consisting of 31,998 Wikipedia pages describing politicians, and observations from in-depth case studies. Our findings reflect the usefulness of leveraging temporal information in order to study the evolution of entities and breed promising grounds for further research.


From the child taunted by her playmates to the office worker who feels stifled in his daily routine, people frequently take out their pain and anger on others, even those who had nothing to do with the original stress. The bullied child may kick her puppy, the stifled worker yells at his children: Payback can be directed anywhere, sometimes at inanimate things, animals, or other people. In Payback, the husband-and wife team of evolutionary biologist David Barash and psychiatrist Judith Lipton offer an illuminating look at this phenomenon, showing how it has evolved, why it occurs, and what we can do about it. Retaliation and revenge are well known to most people. We all know what it is like to want to get even, get justice, or take revenge. What is new in this book is an extended discussion of redirected aggression, which occurs not only in people but other species as well. The authors reveal that it's not just a matter of yelling at your spouse "because" your boss yells at you. Indeed, the phenomenon of redirected aggression-so-called to differentiate it from retaliation and revenge, the other main forms of payback-haunts our criminal courts, our streets, our battlefields, our homes, and our hearts. It lurks behind some of the nastiest and seemingly inexplicable things that otherwise decent people do, from road rage to yelling at a crying baby. And it exists across boundaries of every kind-culture, time, geography, and even species. Indeed, it's not just a human phenomenon. Passing pain to others can be seen in birds and horses, fish and primates-in virtually all vertebrates. It turns out that there is robust neurobiological hardware and software promoting redirected aggression, as well as evolutionary underpinnings. Payback may be natural, the authors conclude, but we are capable of rising above it, without sacrificing self-esteem and social status. They show how the various human responses to pain and suffering can be managed-mindfully, carefully, and humanely.


IZA DP No. 14260 APRIL 2021 Ethnic Mixing in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment and a Structural Model* We study the social integration of ethnic minority children in the context of an early childhood program conducted in Turkey aimed at preparing 5-year-old native and Syrian refugee children for primary school. We randomly assign children to groups with varying ethnic composition and find that exposure to children of the other ethnicity leads to an increase in the formation of interethnic friendships, especially for Turkish children. We also find that the Turkish language skills of Syrian children are better developed in classes with a larger presence of Turkish children. We then develop a model of friendship formation with two key mechanisms: preference bias and congestion in the friendship formation process. Structural estimation of the model suggests that interethnic exposure reduces the share of own-ethnicity friends (homophily) and has a non-monotonic effect on the propensity to form own-ethnicity friendships beyond what would be expected given the size of the group (inbreeding homophily). Counterfactual analysis indicates that improvement in the language skills of Syrian children can offset more than half of the effect that ethnic bias has on friendship formation patterns. Finally, we find that for Syrian children exposure to Turkish children in the pre-school program has a long-term effect on primary school absenteeism. JEL Classification: D85, J15, J18, Z13


The molecular packing of bidisperse matrixes of amorphous carbohydrates consisting of a fractionated maltopolymer supplemented with various amounts of the disaccharide maltose is investigated by combining Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) with specific volume measurements. The maltopolymer-maltose blends are equilibrated at a range of water activities between 0 and 0.75 at 25 degrees C in order to investigate the effect of water content and carbohydrate molecular weight distribution on the size of the molecular free volume holes in both the glassy and rubbery states. In the rubbery state, the size of the intermolecular holes is only very weakly dependent on the carbohydrate molecular weight, provided that the carbohydrate blends are analyzed at the same water content. In contrast, in the glassy state, significant differences in the size of the free volume holes are observed between the various blends at constant water content. Both the specific volume and the hole volume decrease with increasing maltose content, initially rapidly up to a maltose content of about 40 wt % on total carbohydrate. In addition, we find that the role of water as a plasticizer and matrix constituent is a complex one. At very low water contents, water acts by filling the free volume holes between the carbohydrate molecules. This hole-filling mechanism could well be related to the phenomenon of anti-plasticization observed before. At higher water contents, corresponding generally to water activities above 0.11 at 25 degrees C, water conversely increases the average hole volume in the carbohydrate matrixes, most likely caused by water interfering with the hydrogen bonding between the carbohydrate molecules, leading to a local expansion of the molecular packing.


HIN‐1 (high in normal‐1) is a putative cytokine with growth inhibitory activities and is downregulated by aberrant methylation in breast cancers. We studied HIN‐1 methylation status in many types of adult and pediatric malignancies and cell lines. We examined the expression of HIN‐1 mRNA in 52 cell lines and the promoter methylation status in the cell lines and in over 800 primary tumors representing 17 tumor types using methylation specific PCR. Promoter methylation was observed in 73% of breast cancer, 67% of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), 30% of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 57% of malignant mesothelioma (MM) cell lines, and methylation was completely correlated with loss of expression. Expression negative cell lines restored HIN‐1 expression after treatment with 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine. Promoter methylation of HIN‐1 was found in 90% of retinoblastomas, 73% of Wilms' tumors, 61% of rhabdomyosarcomas, 57% of breast cancers, 52% of prostate cancers, 40% of MMs, 28% of NSCLCs and 27% of lymphomas. Methylation frequencies in colorectal cancers, cervical cancers, bronchial carcinoids, SCLCs, neuroblastomas, osteosarcomas, leukemia, medulloblastomas and bladder cancers were lower (4–21%), while hepatoblastomas lacked methylation. HIN‐1 methylation was rarely detected in nonmalignant tissues (8 of 165, 5%). Aberrant methylation of HIN‐1 with loss of expression is a common event and may contribute to the pathogenesis of many types of human malignancies.


Use of Sandwich construction for an aircraft structural component is very common to the present day. One of the primary requirements of aerospace structural materials is that they should have low density, very stiff and strong. Sandwich panels are thin-walled structures fabricated from two flat sheets separated by a low density core. The core investigated here is of aluminium honeycomb structure because of excellent crush strength and fatigue resistance. Sandwich panels have a very high stiffness to weight ratio with respect equivalent solid plate because of low density core. Modeling is developed in FEA (ANSYS) by consideration of rotary inertia. The free vibration analysis of isotropic plate and sandwich panels are studied. The results of FEA (ANSYS) are compared with results of experimental and analytical work. Eight nodded isoparametric shell element is used for FEA (ANSYS). Convergence study is also included for high accuracy of the results. Analytical results are based on classical bending theory. Mode shapes and corresponding natural frequencies are studied for simply supported sandwich panel. Parameter studies of isotropic plate and sandwich panel are also covered in this analysis. A detailed parameter study has been carried out of a simply supported sandwich panel by increasing the core depth as a percentage of its total thickness, while maintaining a constant mass.


of alcohol consumption in the development of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) are scarce. We aimed to examine associations between total alcohol consumption and specific alcoholic beverages and the hazard of AAA. Methods and Results —The study population was made up of 44 715 men from the Cohort of Swedish Men and 35 569 women from the Swedish Mammography Cohort who were 46 to 84 years of age at baseline in 1998. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for the associations between alcohol consumption, assessed through a food frequency questionnaire, and AAA, identified by means of linkage to the Swedish Inpatient Register and the Swedish Vascular Registry (Swedvasc). Over the 14-year follow-up until December 2011 (1 019 954 person-years), AAAs occurred in 1020 men and 194 w omen. Compared with the consumption of 1 glass of alcohol per week (12 g of ethanol), the hazard ratio of AAA among men who consumed 10 glasses per week was 0.80 (95% confidence interval, 0.68–0.94). The corresponding hazard ratio among women who consumed 5 glasses per week was 0.57 (95% confidence interval, 0.40–0.82). Among participants free from cardiovascular disease, total alcohol consumption did not seem to be associated with hazard of the disease. The most commonly consumed alcoholic beverages, beer among men and wine among women, were inversely associated, whereas no association was observed for liquor. Conclusions —Moderate alcohol consumption, specifically wine and beer, was associated with a lower hazard of abdominal aortic aneurysm. The associations between higher doses of alcohol and risk of the disease remain unknown. ( Circulation . 2014;130:646-652.)


The number of children referred to the courts under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 and the cost of care proceedings have been the target of several recent policy documents. Alongside a commitment to improving preventative or diversionary approaches, they contain incentives for courts, local authorities and lawyers to find mediated alternatives to local authority care. The main route by which it is hoped this is to be achieved is through involving children's extended families and networks in alternative care arrangements. It is intended that these arrangements will be voluntary wherever possible. The effect of such a change would be to move decision-making for some vulnerable children on the edge of care away from the courts, with their attendant safeguards for children's and parents' rights, into administrative settings managed or commissioned by local authorities. The potential impact of such a change on children and parents and their rights is explored. There is also discussion of some additional safeguards that will be needed if there is to be continuing adequate protection of their rights as well as their safety and welfare.


The objective of the investigation is to explore the spray evaporation and dispersion characteristics of impinged biodiesel-butanol blends at various n-butanol ratios (0, 10%, 30%, 50%) and ambient conditions. A total of 180 experimental cases were performed in a constant-volume combustion chamber. The liquid- and vapor-phase sprays were captured by backlight imaging technique and schlieren imaging technique, respectively. Several macroscopic parameters were set and discussed, including impinged spray structure, width, height and area. Some novel parameters are derived to analyze spray evaporation and dispersion. Results show that biodiesel blended with 30% n-butanol transits better from liquid-phase to vapor-phase compared with other blends, displaying rapid liquid-phase evaporation, steady vapor-phase dispersion and the largest pure vapor-phase area percentage. After wall impingement, an increase in the ambient pressure or temperature hinders the liquid-phase dispersion in the vertical direction significantly, leading to a rapid decrease in the height of the impinged spray. The vapor-phase diffusion rate in the horizontal direction is about four times the rate in the vertical direction, and the rate ratio is slightly affected by ambient conditions and injection pressure. Compared with the free jet, the impinged spray is not beneficial for liquid-phase evaporation and vapor-phase dispersion, presenting larger liquid-phase area and smaller vapor-phase area. However, impinged biodiesel blended with 30% n-butanol displays better spray evaporation and dispersion.


8 THE GUTENBURG printing press revolutionised the world in 1455. It brought the written word to the masses, though in its day critics thought it would corrupt language. Today, text and instant messages are the new technologies that critics are accusing of degrading writing. Research from Coventry University shows that online chatting can improve spelling, questioning the popular mythology spread by the media. Building on this foundation, Lara Vella (supervised by Professor Sandro Caruana) studied online chatting extracts by Maltese secondary school students. She found some evidence which shows that students who chatted online for several hours had a lower spelling ability. To measure chatting behaviour, she distributed a questionnaire to 205 Maltese secondary school students (95 males and 110 females, who were about 14 years and 5 months old). These students were assessed on their spelling by two different tests and an analysis on extracts of online conversations. In Malta, it seems that chatting might be linked to a lower spelling score in both Maltese and English. Chatting and instant messaging is normally assumed to be dotted with spelling errors and abbreviated words, like: u, lol, abt, c, msg, tks, rofl and others. Her study showed that only 16.21% of the words used included such alternative spelling. Stereotypical beliefs did not hold true and were clearly outweighed by normal spelling. Taken together, the study clearly shows that the relationship between spelling and online chatting is not clear-cut. Vella cautions that other factors affecting spelling need consideration. Speculation about the effect of online chatting needs to be replaced by research aimed at separating fact from fiction. Research will allow strategies to be developed that help improve literacy for Maltese students in the online world. •


The present work concerns the experimental evaluation of hazelnut shells as a low cost natural biosorbent. Adsorption of the direct azo dye Congo Red was performed within a concentrations range of 50-5000 mg/L. Hazelnut shells were employed as organic support for Phanerochaete chrysosporium cultures to study the best cultural medium composition for the MnP production. The capability of Phanerochaete chrysosporium to take macronutrients as carbon and nitrogen from hazelnut shells was demonstrated. Cultures of Phanerochaete chrysosporium were carried out with hazelnut shells coming from Congo Red adsorption tests, showing that 43% of the adsorbed dye was degraded.


A new economic approach to process capability assessment is presented, which differs from the commonly used engineering metrics. The proposed metric consists of two economic capability measures – the expected profit and the variation in profit of the process. This dual economic metric offers a number of significant advantages over other engineering or economic metrics used in process capability analysis. First, it is easy to understand and communicate. Second, it is based on a measure of total system performance. Third, it unifies the fraction nonconforming approach and the expected loss approach. Fourth, it reflects the underlying interest of management in knowing the expected financial performance of a process and its potential variation.


Recently, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) deficiency has been implicated in the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia (FM). It is our objective to present the findings of the FM evaluation before and after oral CoQ10 treatment using the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Diagnostic Criteria of 1990 and 2010, and Symptom Checklist-Revised (Scl-90-R). Four patients with FM were examined using the trigger points, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, visual analog scale (pain, fatigue, and sleep), Widespread Pain Index, symptom severity scale, and Scl-90-R. Previously, CoQ10 contents from patients were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. All patients showed CoQ10 deficiency. All patients meet the ACR 1990 and 2010 criteria. After treatment, all patients showed an important improvement in clinical symptoms in all evaluation methods. According to our results, and evaluated by three methods, patients with FM are candidates for treatment with CoQ10. However, more controlled clinical trials and investigations are needed to clarify the precise mechanism(s) by which CoQ10 may contribute in pathological and therapeutic processes of FM and to provide data on its effectiveness in FM. 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Imperfect transmission conditions modelling a thin 2D intermediate layer between two bonded materials in a dissimilar strip have been derived and analytically analysed in another paper of this issue. In this paper, the validity of these transmission conditions for heat conduction problems has been investigated due to the finite element method (FEM) for various cases: namely, steady-state under uniform boundary conditions with constant or functional- dependent, i.e. temperature or spatial coordinate, conductivities of the interphase, non-uniform boundary conditions and finally for transient analysis. It is shown that the accuracy of the transmission conditions is excellent over the whole range of the interphase and that typical edge effects known from structural problems are not observable under the chosen problem parameters.


On the underlying principles of supplementing the collections of the History Museum of the University of Tartu: a future retrospect Leili Kriis, MA, Chief Treasurer of the History Museum of the University of Tartu The History Museum was created at the University of Tartu in 1976 with the aim of recording the history of the university in particular and of science in general. The museum statutes changed but its goals remained basically the same. From the outset the museum has been responsible for the safekeeping of the old items submitted to it – and for keeping an eye on the old items still used by the university. The elaborated plan with principles of collection was compiled in 1998. It was expanded in 2004 when the museums of nature, art and history of the University of Tartu were merged and each museum had to work on their autonomous collection policies. The sphere covered by the collecting work of the History Museum has essentially remained the same because while collecting things connected with the university the museum has also been collecting items pertaining to the Estonian (and, selectively, global) history of education and science. It is natural for the principles of supplementation of museum collections to be changing and evolving in accordance with overall developments at the University of Tartu and in universities worldwide. When the new collection principles plan for 2012 was being compiled, the focal issue was how the collections of the museum were special and different from other similar domestic and foreign collections. The collections of the History Museum of the University of Tartu are indeed unique in the context of Estonian memory institutions because it is the oldest (and, in the 17 th and 19 th centuries, the sole) university in the region. Our collections have distinctive features in the global context of university museum collections, too. This museum has the oldest, most extensive and unique collection of scientific equipment in Estonia. Of international interest are the collections dedicated to education and science and containing items of both local and foreign origin. The main emphasis for museum collection supplementation over the next few decades must be on gathering and documenting modern subject matter (or that from the recent past). These are the priorities: collecting of locally made (University of Tartu, City of Tartu and Estonia) scientific instruments and important scientific research results in the form of material, documentary or digital information; remarkable people with connections to the university (scientists, lecturers, students and alumni) and materials reflecting on their creative and other activities; recording of changes in the daily functioning of the university (anniversaries, events, renovations of historically valuable buildings etc.); and the history of education and science (in Estonia and globally) in the context of the University of Tartu. All personal archives are still to be submitted to the university library while the archives of digital photographs and videos are to evolve as part of the multimedia department. Among the planned activities for museum collection supplementation are the invariably vital tasks of preserving cultural heritage and facilitating historical research. In our collecting work we must take into account the stipulated preservation conditions (also applicable to digital materials) and the resources available for thorough processing of the collections and their public display (via databases, exhibitions, publications and otherwise). The collecting work is and will remain a creative activity, even within the framework of the set supplementation principles, and necessitates assessment of the value of the potential museum items and making of choices.


The demographic change that is lived worldwide, and of particular form in Europe, as consequence of the aging of the population because of the increase of the life expectancy and the drastic reduction of the rates of fertility, has made jump the alarms because of the need to get a suitable management that does not put in danger the financial viability of the social protection systems. The members states have to make the necessary reforms that they lead to the modernization of their social protection systems guaranteeing both suitable and viable pensions and a sanitary assistance and an assistance of long duration of quality, accessible and lasting. To achieve these aims there is a widespread agreement to foment employment policies that stimulate the active aging and the prolongation of the professional life to stop the premature exit of the labour market of the 45-year-old major workers. Among the measurements to adopt for the maintenance of the workers in the companies there are the adjustment of the contents of the working places, the use of the internal knowledge and the permanent training of the workers. In the cases in which already there has been produced the expulsion of the labour market, the participation companies will can represent an exit of the situation of unemployment. But in order that the unemployed ones of major age decide to tackle their own managerial initiative they need formation, advice and helps.


The northern Australian woody vegetation is predominantly evergreen despite an intensely seasonal climate and a diversity of deciduous species in the regional flora. From a global climatic perspective the dominance of evergreen rather than deciduous trees in the Australian savannas is apparently anomalous when compared with other savannas of the world. However, this pattern is not unexpected in light of existing theory that emphasises photosynthetic return relative to cost of investment between deciduous and evergreen species. (a) Climatically, monsoonal Australia is more extreme in terms of rainfall seasonality and variability and high air temperatures than most other parts of the seasonally dry tropics. Existing theory predicts that extreme variability and high temperatures favour evergreen trees that can maximise the period during which leaves assimilate CO2. (b) Soil infertility is known to favour evergreens, given the physiological cost of leaf construction, and the northern Australian vegetation grows mainly on deeply weathered and infertile Tertiary regoliths. (c) These regoliths also provide stores of ground water that evergreens are able to exploit during seasonal drought, thereby maintaining near constant transpiration throughout the year. (d) Fire disturbance appears to be an important secondary factor in explaining the dominance of evergreens in the monsoon tropics, based on the fact that most deciduous tree species of the region are restricted to small fire-protected sites. (e) Evolutionary history cannot explain the predominance of evergreens, given the existence of a wide range of deciduous species, including deciduous eucalypts, in the regional tree flora.


The flux flow equation of Burkhard and Shealy is a simplified equation which can be used to evaluate the energy flux density at the image plane for a general optical system. Since the flux flow equation is based on the differential geometry of the wave front passing through the system, the energy flux density at the image plane can be computed by tracing a single ray through the system and using the flux flow equation. This technique has been used to calculate the meridional section of the point spread function of Wolter I x-ray telescopes and thin-film multilayered optics. Results, which have been obtained by the flux flow ray tracing method for the point spread function of several Wolter I x-ray telescopes and hybrid x-ray telescopes using convexed thin-film multilayered optics located near the primary focus, are compared with the rms blur circle results and the point spread function results obtained by conventional ray tracing techniques.


During the last few decades, scientific evidence has confirmed a wide range of health benefits related to regular physical activity. How physical activity affects the immune function and infection risk is, however, still under debate. Commonly, intensive exercise suppresses the activity and levels of several immune cells, while other immune functions may be stimulated by moderate physical activity. With this knowledge, the understanding of the relationship between different levels of physical activity on the immune function has been raised as a potential tool to protect health not only in athletes but also in the general population; the mechanisms that translate a physically active lifestyle into good health continue to be investigated. Reviewing the literature, although several outcomes (i.e. the mechanisms by which different levels and duration of physical activity programmes affect numerous cell types and responses) remain unclear, given that the additional benefits encompass healthy habits including exercise, the use of physical activity programmes may result in improved health of elderly populations. Moderate physical activity or moderate–regulated training may enhance the immune function mainly in less fit subjects or sedentary population and the pre-event fitness status also seems to be an important individual factor regarding this relationship. Although adequate nutrition and regular physical activity habits may synergistically improve health, clinical trials in athletes using nutritional supplements to counteract the immune suppression have been inconclusive so far. Further research is necessary to find out to what extent physical activity training can exert an effect on the immune function.


We present a novel approach to retrieve metadata to scholarly papers stored locally as PDF files. A fingerprint is produced from the PDF fulltext to query an online metadata repository. The returned results are matched back to identify the correct metadata entry. These metadata can then be stored in the PDF itself, indexed for a desktop search engine, and collected in a user"s or community"s bibliography. We think this hitherto missing link but with our tool now available data eases the organization of scholarly papers, and increases accessibility to one"s collected academic content.


Though the main benchmark used to assess pension reforms continues to be the expected resulting fall in future government spending, the impact of policy changes on pension adequacy is increasingly coming to the fore. As yet, there does not seem to be a broad consensus in policymaking circles and academic literature on what constitutes the best measure of pension adequacy. While various indicators have been developed and utilised, no single measure appears to offer a clear indication of the extent to which reforms will impact on the achievement of pension system goals. Many indicators appear ill-suited to study the effective impact of reforms, particularly those that change the nature of the pension system from defined benefit to defined contribution. Existing measures are frequently hard to interpret as they do not have an underlying benchmark which allows their current or projected value to be assessed as adequate or inadequate. Currently used pension adequacy indicators tend to be point-in-time measures which ignore the impact of benefit indexation rules. They also are unaffected by very important factors, such as changes in the pension age and in life expectancy. This tends to make existing indicators minimise the impact of systemic reforms on the poverty alleviation and income replacement functions of pension systems. The emphasis on assumptions which are very unrepresentative of real-life labour market conditions also makes current indicators deceptive, particularly in relation to outcomes for women and those on low incomes. This paper posits that these defects can be remedied by using adequacy indicators based on estimates of pension wealth (i.e. the total projected flow of pension benefits through retirement) calculated using more realistic labour market assumptions. These measures are used to give a better indication of the effective impact of pension reforms enacted since the 1990s in ten major European countries. They suggest that these reforms have decreased generosity significantly, but that the poverty alleviation function remains strong in those countries where minimum pensions were improved. However, moves to link benefits to contributions have raised clear adequacy concerns for women and for those on low incomes which policymakers should consider and tackle.


This thesis is concerned with the electrical properties of the disordered amorphous material, amorphous carbon and carbon nitride films. At first, hydrogenated amorphous carbon was deposited using rf plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition with methane as a precursor. Changing the deposition parameter, such as the input power results in the negative self bias modification and thus changes in the properties of the deposited film. The hydrogen condition in the deposition chamber is important for the growth of these films. With the demonstration of an achieve electronic device, a resonance tunnel diode, was reported using pulsed laser deposition; pulsed laser deposited amorphous carbon and carbon nitride thin films were studied. To understand the electrical properties of these films, a wide range of measurements were performed. The surface morphology was examined using atomic force microscopy and scanning tunnelling microscopy. The microstructure was investigated using electron energy loss spectroscopy giving data on the sp2 fraction, density, nitrogen content and Raman spectroscopy showed the degree of sp2 clustering. The band structure was investigated using electron energy loss spectroscopy, scarnning tunnelling spectroscopy and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, giving information on the density of empty conduction band states, close to the Fermi level and the occupied valence band states. The joint density of states was also measured by ultraviolet-visible-infrared optical transmittance, spectroscopic ellipsometry and Photothermal deflection spectroscopy. Electrical characterisations were carried out using both sandwich and coplanar structures. Pulsed laser annealing of amorphous carbon films was also studied, and the change on the surface morphology, microstructural and electrical properties studied. The conduction mechanism in amorphous carbon films at high electric fields was found to be based on classical Poole-Frenkel conduction, and the dielectric constants estimated from the model were found to be consistent with optical measurements. The neutral trapping centres were postulated to be localised sp2 sites below the conduction band according the analysis of the total band structure. Low field conduction in amorphous carbon films were thought to be controlled by band tail hopping through localised sp2 sites. Laser annealing shows the increase of the number of the sp2 sites which increase the conductivity of the film. However, the sp2 clustering does not necessarily increase the conductivity of the film. The optical band gap in high stress amorphous carbon films can be smaller than the other reports, as a bandtail exists in the bandgap which contributes to the hopping and Poole- Frenkel conduction process. The influence to the nitrogen atoms incorporated to laser deposited amorphous carbon nitride films was also studied. It was found that the nitrogen gas background pressure in the deposition chamber strongly affects the properties of the films. It was demonstrated that a higher nitrogen pressure does not always give rise to higher nitrogen content in the films. Higher nitrogen pressure reduces the velocity of the incident carbon species ablated by the laser, and less dense (less stress) films were deposited. Consequently, the conductivity of the film was reduced. However, the conduction mechanism appears still to be similar to that of amorphous carbon. The analysis of the change in the band structure due to the incorporation of the nitrogen atoms supports the analysis. Thus, the entire band structure of amorphous carbon was linked to the electrical conduction mechanism at both high and low electric fields, including the effect of nitrogen atom incorporation, and pulsed laser annealing. In this thesis we report the highest field effect mobility of a-C and a-CNx films ever reported in the literature of 0.01-0.02 cm2/Vs. This mobility is obtained due to the very high electric field that can be applied to our devices.


The enormity of the current financial collapse, widely described as a bursting bubble, raises the question whether the crisis could have been predicted, possibly permitting action to offset its effects. In the first of two Economic Letters on the subject, we look at developments in the United States and find evidence suggesting that simple indicators based on asset market developments can provide early warnings about potentially dangerous financial imbalances.


The increase on Business Social Responsibility (BSR) understanding in present-day businesses has led to postulations that the related behaviors would facilitate viable benefit to be attained as a firm different itself from its rivalry through such actions. Therefore, the objectives of this study was to carried out Data gathering in respect to Data screening and preliminary analysis in related to effect of business social responsibility on performance of SMEs in Nigeria. 514 respondents were derived from Small Scale Industries in Kano State Nigeria. The study employed purposive sampling techniques, equally the exercises was carried in order to suit the supposition of multivariate analysis. In view of that, an appraisal of Data missing, identify univariate and multivariate outlier and lastly, skewness and kurtosis were checked. In addition, factor analysis through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was also carried out. Similarly, all the exercises were prepared in Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software version 18, and the preliminary analysis reveals convinced that the data fulfill condition of multivariate analysis. The findings will give an insight to further analysis its hope to provide understanding of how and why this may be diverse in a perspectives rising environment.


Many cosmetic products now incorporate sunblock components to protect the skin from harmful ultra violet radiation. These products can be identified by the SPF value quoted on the label. A large proportion of these blocking components are nanoparticles that protect the skin, not by absorbing the harmful radiation, but by scattering it away from the skin. The most commonly used are nanoparticles of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. This paper will discuss a new method for characterization and quantitation of nanoparticles in sunscreens and cosmetics via the use of UV/Visible spectroscopy. The method utilizes a 150 mm integrating sphere equipped with center mount and is able to quantitate and compare the contributions of absorbance, large particle scattering, and nanoparticle scattering. Authors: Jeffrey L. Taylor, Ph.D. Chris Lynch Jillian F. Dlugos


1 ABSTRACT. The Pienides are structural units formed almost exclusively of deep-water siliciclastic deposits, Middle Jurassic-Oligocene in age, belonging of an oceanic crust-bearing domain. The Pienides form an elongate belt extending from Western Carpathians to Poiana Botizei (Maramures, northern Romania), which represents the easternmost outcrop of these units in the Eastern Carpa- thians. Petrographic analyses on sandstones of different nappes combined with sedimentologic studies (depositional systems, palaeocurrents) allow to con- sider the Inner Dacides (forming the pre-Apulian continental margin) the most probable source unit for most of the siliciclastic successions of the Pienides. The present arrangement of the structural units, geophysical and subsurface data and stratigraphic correlations with analogue sequences from Western Carpathians, allow to frame the Pienides in Maramures in an overall context of trench-slope basin and the related deposits may be considered as a part of an accretionary prism which developed during the whole Palaeogene.


The phytogeography of Western Melanesian (Papua New Guinea, West Irian and the Solomon Islands) Lejeuneaceae was studied on the basis of previous literature and the Huon Peninsula material from the Koponen-Norris expedition. The largest portion of the Lejeuneaceae belong to Western Melanesian and Malaysian endemics. The number of Western Melanesian endemic Lejeuneaceae (20.5 %) is, however, somewhat lower than generally in hepatics (38.2 %). This is apparently due to the large number of epiphyllous taxa in the Lejeuneaceae, a group especially widespread in lowland rainforests.


Electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVdF-HFP) nanocomposite membranes incorporated with different weight percentages (1, 2 and 3 wt%) of cobalt sulfide (CoS) were prepared by an electrospinning technique. The surface morphology, crystallinity, porosity and electrolyte uptake of the electrospun nanocomposite membranes were examined. The prepared electrospun PVdF-HFP/CoS nanocomposite membranes (esCPM) were activated by an ionic liquid electrolyte containing 0.5 M LiI, 0.05 M I2, 0.5 M 4-tert-butylpyridine and 0.5 M 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide in acetonitrile to obtain electrospun PVdF-HFP/CoS nanocomposite membrane electrolytes (esCPMEs). The uniformly dispersed CoS nanoparticles increased charge transport and facilitated the diffusion of the redox couple in the electrolyte system. The electrochemical characteristics of the dye-sensitized solar cells depended on the amount of CoS incorporated into the esCPMEs. The photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cell assembled using the esCPME incorporated with 1 wt% of CoS was measured and found to be 7.34%, which is higher than that of the dye-sensitized solar cell assembled using the esPME without CoS (6.42%).


Migrant workers, particularly those classified as "low-skilled," find that the denial of their rights is the "price of admission" to labor immigration programs. This is the global phenomenon described and analyzed by Martin Ruhs in The Price of Rights: Regulating International Labor Migration .  This book review provides an in-depth discussion of Ruhs's comprehensive study of labor immigration policies and the substantial questions it raises for the global migration debate.


The worldwide availability of easy external financing has been an essential driver of recent M&A activity and a growing perception exists that such conditions may have resulted in a large number of non-value increasing transactions. This paper evaluates the interaction between credit conditions, the method of payment and value creation in a sample of European M&A transactions. The contribution of the paper is twofold. First, we analyze to what extent more generous financing conditions lead to deals that were less-likely to be value creating. Second, we estimate a joint model on the likelihood of choosing cash as a method of payment and the amount of value-created by such deals, controlling for the impact of financial conditions. We find that lower corporate bond spreads are correlated with less value creation in M&A deals suggesting that easy financial conditions may have resulted in M&A deals less-likely to generate value. We also find that higher leverage and a better cash-flow position of the target are more likely to result in cash deals and these deals provide higher excess returns to targets although do not generate value for the deal.


Aristotle's ethical theory is often seen as instructing agents in the prudent pursuit of their own well-being, and therefore labeled egoistic. Yet it is also subject to the opposing charge of failing to direct agents to their well-being, directing them instead to perfection. I am here concerned chiefly with the second criticism, and proceed as follows: I first articulate Sumner's version of the criticism, and second assess his argument for his own (subjective) account of well-being. Third, I present reasons motivating a more objective account of well-being, reasons for taking another look at Aristotle. Finally, granting that Aristotle does indeed direct agents to pursue their perfection, I argue that perfection includes well-being within it. This shows how Aristotle escapes the second criticism, while at the same time pointing the way toward a defense against the first.