This study compares psychometric properties of the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and Autonomy over Tobacco Scale (AUTOS), which are measures of nicotine dependence. This study is a secondary analysis of data obtained from a smoking cessation study conducted with 49 Korean American women. We compared the FTND and AUTOS assessed at baseline regarding their internal consistency reliability and concurrent and predictive validities. The AUTOS outperformed the FTND in reliability and concurrent validity by yielding a higher Cronbach's alpha and having significant relationships with smoking-related variables such as age at smoking onset, perceived risks of quitting, and self-efficacy in quitting. In contrast, there was no relationship between the FTND and any of the variables. Both measures had a significant relationship with post-quit nicotine withdrawal symptoms but failed to predict abstinence at follow-ups. The AUTOS seems to be a better assessment tool for Korean American women than the FTND. Before fully adopting the AUTOS as a measure of nicotine dependence for this group, factor structure of the scale should be tested with a larger sample of Korean American women.


How to cite this article: Paola ID, Graziano M, Rosa D. Optic nerve sheath diameter, strain ratio, and shear wave elastography. Ultrasonography. 2022 Oct;41(4):796-797. We read with great interest the article by Razek et al. [1] concerning the optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD), strain ratio, and shear wave elastography of the optic nerve in patients with idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) and the combination of these three parameters as markers of the degree of papilledema [1]. The topic of this paper is very interesting, but in our opinion, there are some points of the study that need to be discussed. The authors stated that 34 consecutive female patients diagnosed with IIH and 16 ageand sex-matched healthy volunteers were examined. It is very easy to match the patients by sex if all participants are female. However, matching the ages of two groups composed of 34 and 16 patients each would not be a straightforward task. Since agematching usually uses groups of the same size, it would be interesting to know how the authors matched the two groups. Moreover, the authors, as in most published studies, utilized B-scans to measure the ONSD "between the external edges of the hyperechogenic area surrounding the optic nerve (ON)." Unfortunately, correctly measuring the optic nerve with the B-scan technique is not an easy task, because it is affected by several limitations due to the presence of artifacts [2-4]. The main problem is that the sound beam reaches the ON in a non-perpendicular way, so what is believed to be the ON with this technique is just an artifact, as described by Copetti and Cattarossi [5], who suggested using color Doppler to visualize the central retinal artery to detect the real course of the optic nerve. The authors stated that a cutoff value of 5.45 mm showed the best results. It is not clear how they reached this conclusion, because B-scans are also affected by the so-called blooming effect, which makes the measurements unreliable [6,7]. For these reasons, we suggest that future studies should use the standardized A-scan to prevent mistakes and to make reliable measurements. This technique requires some skill, but it is much more reliable, and it also makes it possible to distinguish fluid thickening, as occurs in cases of IIH, from solid thickening, as occurs in cases of neuritis or tumors [810].


The emerging social psychology of citizenship has made use of qualitative methods to explore people's understandings of issues such as polity membership and its associated rights and responsibilities. Whereas there is a burgeoning tradition of work on conceptions of polity membership, as well as on civil and political citizenship, relatively little work has thus far focussed on the concept of social citizenship – that aspect of citizenship which ensures that citizens have access to a basic income and standard of living. The present paper explores this in the context of debates over polity membership in relation to European Union (EU) immigration in the United Kingdom. Data collected from posts to an internet discussion forum are analysed using an approach informed by discursive and rhetorical psychologies. The findings indicate a range of arguments in relation to social citizenship that were used by posters to suggest that EU immigration would have a negative effect on the UK, and that such arguments frequently involved particular constructions of groups (e.g. 'immigrants', 'Romanians', 'Eastern Europeans') as likely to claim welfare benefits, or as low-skilled. However, pro-immigration arguments could equally involve outgroup derogation, but in these arguments posters constructed images of sub-groups of British citizens (e.g. 'white working class Brits') in order to suggest that immigration solved problems brought about due to the psychological deficiencies of these sub-groups. It is suggested that this constitutes a previously under-explored dimension of immigration discourse, and that renewed attention to social citizenship and welfare can bring these complexities into focus.


Research suggests that Black sexual minority men (BSMM; i.e. non-heterosexual and non-straight) experience more depressive symptoms and anxiety disorders than their White gay and Black heterosexual counterparts. Little is known about the factors that influence the psychosocial health of BSMM. The limited research conducted with men who have sex with men and Black men in generalsuggests that ethnic and sexual identity development; exposure to violence, discrimination, and harassment (VDH); and coping skills may influence the psychosocial health of BSMM. The primary aim of this study was to examine the relationships between depression, anxiety, identity development (operationalized as Black identity achievement and internalized homonegativity), exposure to VDH, and coping skills. A cross-sectional convenience sample of 61 BSMM completed a battery of assessments designed to explore these relationships. The average age of participants was 31 years old, 77% were homosexual, and 77% identified as gay. To assess statistical associations between dependent and independent variables multiple linear regression analysis was used to answer the following research questions: 1. Are internalized homonegativity and VDH significantly positively associated with depression and anxiety? 2. Is Black identity achievement significantly negatively associated with depression and anxiety? 3. Is there an interaction effect between internalized homonegativity and Black identity achievement on depression and anxiety? 4. Does coping skill level moderate the associations between depression and anxiety and internalized homonegativity, VDH, and Black identity achievement? The construct internalized homonegativity is multifaceted, multidimensional, and nuanced, and therefore difficult to operationalize in appropriate sociocultural context. Thus, it is important that tools available to measure this construct have established validity and reliability for this specific subgroup. Thus, a secondary aim of this study was to evaluate construct validity and reliability among BSMM of the internalized homonegativity inventory (IHNI). This aim was achieved by establishing translation and criterion-relation validity. The IHNI was minimally altered to better suit a specific subpopulation, BSMM. Factor analysis revealed a slightly better performance of the altered IHNI as compared to the original. Experience of VDH and internalized homonegativity explained a large portion of the variability in depression and anxiety scores, findings in line with other similar and related studies. A high percentage of the sample screened positive for likelihood of both depression and anxiety. Violence, discrimination, and harassment appeared to be chronic among participants in the current study. These findings offer further validation of the IHNI for use among BSMM and provides additional data on factors influencing the mental health of BSMM. Further validation research and investigation of factors influencing the psychosocial health of BSMM is needed.


In clinical trials of psychological treatments, attaining adequate Treatment Fidelity (TF) is important for efficacy and effectiveness assessment. Inclusion of TF tools in empirical studies can assist hypothesis-testing, enhance internal and external validity, and encourage study replication. Measuring TF assists program evaluators in attributing the absence of desired results in a service setting to program design deficiencies, poor implementation, or a combination of both. In many ways then, measurement of TF contributes to the development of evidence relevant to clinicians, managers and healthcare commissioners. The aims of this research are to firstly systematically to evaluate the role and utility of TF within evidence based psychological therapies, then to explore and extend the fidelity approaches contained in two interventions: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Motivational Care Planning (MCP). MBCT is an intensive eight-week program aimed at preventing relapse and recurrence of Major Depressive Disorder. MCP is a culturally adapted brief intervention designed for Indigenous Australians experiencing mental health issues including depression in community settings. Systematic review and meta-evaluation examined TF research from the last decade. A mixed methods approach examined the role of TF in delivery of MBCT and MCP. This work informed development of an abbreviated self-assessment TF tool for MBCT, suggested as a measure practical for routine clinical use. Meta-evaluation identified differences in TF Models and disparities in researcher investment in TF methods. Systematic review found that although studies with embedded fidelity tools attained higher TF levels, there was overall low usage of fidelity measures. It is suggested that this inconsistency may in part be attributable to the lack of specific recommendations within widely used clinical-trial guidelines. An existing MBCT Adherence Scale (the MBCT-AS) proved valuable in assessing MBCT treatment fidelity while the newly developed MCP-Adherence Scale showed promise in terms of strengthening MCT fidelity. Self-assessment scales can provide a portable and cost effective fidelity tool to support clinicians' daily practice and the newly developed MBCTSelf Assessment Scale (MBCT-SAS) offers another method to reinforce the MBCT fidelity framework and promote program quality assurance. The body of work in this thesis affirms that integration of TF measures supports quality research outcomes. Inclusion of fidelity tools is linked to higher TF levels during program implementation. The quality of clinical trials would be enhanced through integration of multi-method TF strategies within existing Guidelines. The establishment of a suite of robust TF tools would better equip clinicians to practice with high levels of fidelity. The MBCT and MCP adherence scales strengthen the TF frameworks of those programs. The development of the MBCT-SAS can contribute to strengthening TF assessment in MBCT delivery. Suggestions for further research include: generally working better to link psychological TF with research and clinical outcomes; specifically further validation work on the MCP-AS and MBCT-SAS could strengthen their basis for consideration in translational research and clinical practice. A case is suggested for revision of current clinical trials guidelines to promote consistency of TF measurement in future research.


Marital satisfaction is associated with numerous positive factors while dissolution of marriage is associated with numerous negative factors, especially within the first four years of marriage. Positive factors that contribute to successful marital outcomes are being first married at age 25 and older, possessing a higher level of education, and homogeneous traits such as race, age, and education. Risk factors associated with dissolution of marriage are cohabitation, remarriage, and having children in the family. Identifying strategies to reduce divorce proneness is critical since 20% of first marriages end within five years.


In Indonesia, land cover change for agriculture and mining is threatening tropical forests, biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, land cover change is highly dynamic and complex and varies over time and space. In this study, we combined Landsat-based land cover (change) mapping, pixel-to-pixel cross tabulations and expert knowledge to analyze land cover change and forest loss in the West Kutai and Mahakam Ulu districts in East Kalimantan from 1990–2009. We found that about one-third of the study area changed in 1990–2009 and that the different types of land cover changes in the study area increased and involved more diverse and characteristic trajectories in 2000–2009, compared to 1990–2000. Degradation to more open forest types was dominant, and forest was mostly lost due to trajectories that involved deforestation to grasslands and shrubs (~17%), and to a lesser extent due to trajectories from forest to mining and agriculture (11%). Trajectories from forest to small-scale mixed cropland and smallholder rubber occurred more frequently than trajectories to large-scale oil palm or pulpwood plantations; however, the latter increased over time. About 11% of total land cover change involved multiple-step trajectories and thus "intermediate" land cover types. The combined trajectory analysis in this paper thus contributes to a more comprehensive analysis of land cover change and the drivers of forest loss, which is essential to improve future land cover projections and to support spatial planning.


The United States needs to improve accountability for its service members' war crimes. President Donald J. Trump dangerously intensified a growing national misunderstanding regarding the critical nexus between compliance with the laws of war and the health and efficacy of the U.S. military. This Article pushes back against such confusion by demonstrating why compliance with the laws of war, and accountability for violations of these laws, together constitute vital duties owed to our women and men in uniform.

This Article reveals that part of the fog of war surrounding criminal accountability for American war crimes is due to structural defects in American military law. It analyzes such defects, including the military's failure to prosecute war crimes as war crimes. It carefully highlights the need for symmetry between the disparate American approaches to its enemies' war crimes and its own service members' battlefield offenses.

To help close the current war crimes accountability deficit, we propose a comprehensive statutory remedial scheme that includes: the enumeration of specific war crimes for military personnel analogous to those applicable to unlawful enemy belligerents as found in the Military Commissions Act; the formal addition of command responsibility liability doctrine to military criminal law; the provision of criminal defenses relevant to war crimes allegations; and the extension of court-martial jurisdiction over all enemy belligerents using the same enumerated war crimes proposed for U.S. service members.


In the present Clobetosole Propionate (CP) Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLN) have been formulated, to increase drug stability and to improve skin retention properties. The nanoparticles were prepared using lipid extrusion method followed by high pressure homogenization at speed of 15000 rpm for 30 min. Six formulations were prepared using variable ratio of the lipids, keeping rpm, time, concentration of surfactants, and active ingredient constant. Formulations were prepared using bees wax, carnauba wax, cetyl alcohol as oil phase, lecithin soya and tween 20 as emulsifying agent. The SLNs were characterized for visual appearance, drug content, particle size analysis, zeta potential, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Six formulations were subjected to in vitro release characteristics. The formulation F6 with highest drug content and encapsulation efficiency was incorporated into carbopol gel base. The particle size was ranged between 46.33-301.2 nm and zeta potential ranged between 18.5 mV-29.9 mV. The particle size was found to be increased with increase in the concentration and ratios of lipids. The ex vivo skin permeation studies on rat skin showed an appreciable increase in drug permeation in comparison to pure drug. The short term stability studies indicated no considerable change in drug content, loading and release profiles.


Soil depth is an important input parameter in hydrological and ecological modeling. Presently, the soil depth data available in national soil databases (STATSGO, SSURGO) is provided as averages within generalized land units. Spatial uncertainty within these units limits their applicability for spatially distributed modeling. This work reports a statistical model for prediction of soil depth in a semiarid mountainous watershed that is based upon topographic and other landscape attributes. Soil depth was surveyed by driving a rod into the ground until refusal at geo-referenced locations selected to represent the range of topographic and land cover variations in Dry Creek Experimental Watershed, Boise, Idaho. The soil depth survey consisted of a model calibration set, measured at 819 locations over 8 sub-watersheds, and a model testing set, measured at 130 locations randomly distributed throughout the remainder of the watershed. Topographic attributes were derived from a Digital Elevation Model. Land cover attributes were derived from Landsat remote sensing images and high resolution aerial photographs. A Generalized Additive Model was developed to predict soil depth over the watershed from these attributes. This model explained about 50% of the soil depth spatial variation and is an important improvement towards solving the need in distributed modeling for distributed soil depth data.


Training saliency detection models with weak supervisions, e.g., image-level tags or captions, is appealing as it removes the costly demand of per-pixel annotations. Despite the rapid progress of RGB-D saliency detection in fully-supervised setting, it however remains an unexplored territory when only weak supervision signals are available. This paper is set to tackle the problem of weakly-supervised RGB-D salient object detection. The key insight in this effort is the idea of maintaining perpixel pseudo-labels with iterative refinements by reconciling the multimodal input signals in our joint semantic mining (JSM). Considering the large variations in the raw depth map and the lack of explicit pixel-level supervisions, we propose spatial semantic modeling (SSM) to capture saliency-specific depth cues from the raw depth and produce depth-refined pseudo-labels. Moreover, tags and captions are incorporated via a fill-in-the-blank training in our textual semantic modeling (TSM) to estimate the confidences of competing pseudo-labels. At test time, our model involves only a light-weight sub-network of the training pipeline, i.e., it requires only an RGB image as input, thus allowing efficient inference. Extensive evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach under the weakly-supervised setting. Importantly, our method could also be adapted to work in both fully-supervised and unsupervised paradigms. In each of these scenarios, superior performance has been attained by our approach with comparing to the state-of-the-art dedicated methods. As a by-product, a CapS dataset is constructed by augmenting existing benchmark training set with additional image tags and captions. Code and dataset are available at https://github.com/jiwei0921/JSM.


Generating explanations of device behavior is a long-standing goal of AI research in reasoning about physical systems. Much of the relevant work has concentrated on new methods for modeling and simulation, such as qualitative physics, or on sophisticated natural language generation, in which the device models are specially crafted for explanatory purposes. We show how two techniques from the modeling research-compositional modeling and causal ordering-can be effectively combined to generate natural language explanations of device behavior from engineering models. The explanations offer three advances over the data displays produced by conventional simulation software: (1) causal interpretations of the data, (2) summaries at appropriate levels of abstraction (physical mechanisms and component operating modes), and (3) query-driven, natural language summaries. Furthermore, combining the compositional modeling and causal ordering techniques allows models that are more scalable and less brittle than models designed solely for explanation. However, these techniques produce models with detail that can be distracting in explanations and would be removed in hand-crafted models (e.g., intermediate variables). We present domain-independent filtering and aggregation techniques that overcome these problems.


Summary

There is growing international focus on how to support more integrated approaches to addressing climate change in ways that capture synergies and minimise the trade-offs between climate change mitigation, adaptation and development. These aims are embodied in the concept of climate compatible development (CCD). But what does this look like in practice in Kenya?

With a National Action Plan on Climate Change, a Vision 2030 Strategy, a new constitution and a revised Energy Policy, Kenya is at a critical cross-roads with respect to defining its energy future for the years to come. The challenge is to enable a just transition to a lower carbon economy that delivers poverty reduction and climate resilience at the same time. But thinking about who sets the terms of transition and for whom, raises key political questions about the role of actors, interests and institutions in the energy sector. In other words, who has the power to change power?

Drawing on 29 interviews with government officials, donors and businesses conducted during 2013, insights gleaned from an interactive workshop with practitioners on the themes of the research, as well as available academic and grey literature, this paper explores the role of politics, actors and institutions in enabling or frustrating the pursuit of climate compatible energy development in Kenya. This is a critical time for Kenya in deciding its energy future and whether and how it will aim to make it 'climate compatible'. Issues of power and political economy will play a key role in determining technological and social outcomes: the winners and losers from different energy pathways and on whose terms and how the trade-offs between competing policy objectives are resolved. In particular political economy analysis helps to understand the potential for energy systems to meet climate, development and adaptation needs simultaneously.


This study presents a method to melt-spun biocompatible composite fibres from poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and nano-sized hydroxyapatite (HAp) particles. Different loading concentrations of HAp particles in the PLA fibres and solid-state draw-ratios (SSDR) were evaluated in order to study their influence on the mechanical, thermal and morphological properties. The results showed that the incorporation of the HAp particles was homogeneously distributed in the PLA fibres towards their surface and that the SSDR played an important role in order to improve the mechanical properties. The melt-spun PLA/HAp composite fibres, produced in this study, had also the potential to be processed into a fibrous scaffold, which was demonstrated by a 3D woven structure.


Heavy metals and radionuclides are naturally present in the environment. However, the
anthropogenic activity may cause their content to accumulate in the environment. Due to
this, the hyper-accumulation of radioactive in the environment may cause a toxic. Kg.
Gajah has a lot of examining area and it has been selected as the study area. Objective of
this study is to identify heavy metals and radionuclides presence in the aqua plant in the
ex-tin mines in Kampung Gajah, Perak by selected Ottelia alismoides as the subject to
run and also to determine the concentrations of heavy metals and radionuclides in the
various part of Ottelia alismoides. The heavy metals and radionuclides selected are U, Th
,Ti, Br, La, Nd, Sm, Al, V, Mn, K, Na, Cl, and Mg. Technique use for this study is
Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). Samples were collected four times in every three
months for one year duration time. The samples were dried in the oven and converts to
the powder by grinder. Two irradiation procedure were used which is short radiation and
long radiation before proceed to count by using gamma spectrometer. From the result, the
concentration of heavy metals and radionuclides were calculation. The concentration
range of U, Th ,Ti, Br, La, Nd, Sm, Al, V, Mn, K, Na, Cl, and Mg is 0.6 mg/kg to 6.2
mg/kg, 34070.6 mg/kg to 1056666 mg/kg, 621 mg/kg to 1727.7 mg/kg, 0.03 mg/kg to
0.5 mg/kg, 201.5 mg/kg to 1708 mg/kg, 10.5 mg/kg to 215 mg/kg, 5.8 mg/kg to 1157.1
mg/kg, 9017.3 mg/kg to 31182 mg/kg, 1.60 mg/kg to 12.7 mg/kg, 58.7 mg/kg to 716.6
mg/kg, 125708 mg/kg to 4305459 mg/kg, 7403 mg/kg to 10423 mg/kg, 0.0327 mg/kg to
2.24 mg/kg and 1157.5 mg/kg to 3821 mg/kg respectively.
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In this column will be published from time to time extracts, taken from medical journals, newspapers, official and historical records, diaries and so on, dealing with events connected with the early medical history of Australia.


Connections between the Gothic and opera remain a subsidiary concern to most writers on the Gothic and on opera, if they are even addressed at all. In this study I wish to illuminate how the Gothic is presented both musically and visually on stage through the setting and thematic traits in select nineteenth-century Italian operas. A number of ideas are central to this aim. Firstly, that the 'Gothic' dimension of 'Gothic opera' is overtly represented through staging. The settings of many 'Gothic operas' in Scotland and England reveal the continental European fascination with northern Europe and its history. This stemmed from the influx of English and Scottish literature, most prominently the Ossian poems and the works of Walter Scott and Shakespeare. Consequently, Gothic scenes such as ruined medieval castles and rugged cliffs, masked by darkness or mist are enmeshed with a northern landscape. Tartan costuming also visually situates the Gothic scenes in Northern Europe. Furthermore, the use of musical mannerisms of Scotland and England, particularly in chorus scenes, reinforces this parallel between the Gothic and the north, linking music to the visible Gothic setting. Secondly, I will explore the way in which Gothic imaginings of both immaterial and physical incarnations of the supernatural move between the latent subconscious and conscious realisation. This is evident through the interplay between voice, orchestra and the singer's corporeality and draws upon recent operatic studies concerning representation of 'others', dramatisation, and theatrical spaces. This second section positions women at the heart of the Gothic in opera, as the soprano is most often the character susceptible to other-worldly encounters and madness. The fundamental figure in this study is Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848). A number of his operas from the 1830s, especially Lucia di Lammermoor, emphasise how the Gothic may be revealed in opera. However, I conclude with a chapter on Macbeth, the 'Gothic opera' of Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), for this work demonstrates how the configuration of the Gothic is developed in musical and dramatic terms and presents a case where the supernatural influence becomes all-empowered.


Multilumen catheters are commonly used to simultaneously administer incompatible drugs to critically ill patients. Though there are no known documented reports that this practice has been responsible for harmful events in patients, likewise there are no published data to verify the safety and efficacy of this practice. This study utilized an in vitro model flow system to examine the physicochemical phenomena that occur when two incompatible drugs (phenytoin and total parenteral nutrition) are simultaneously administered through multilumen catheters. Flow conditions and drug infusions in the venous model were designed to mimic the in vivo clinical situation to evaluate two central venous catheter types, a double- and a triple-lumen catheter. Video recordings were made of drug interactions, and assays of phenytoin concentration were performed on samples of the circulating fluid. White clouds of phenytoin precipitation were observed near the tip of the double-lumen catheter but not the triple-lumen catheter. Infusion through the double-lumen catheter resulted in an average of 6% loss of phenytoin to precipitate, which, on microscopic examination, appeared as spindle-shaped crystals 25 to 50 microns in length and 5 to 10 microns wide. In some cases, millimeter-size fragments of phenytoin precipitate were seen to dislodge from the tip of the double-lumen catheter. The adjacent orifices at the tip of the end hole of the double-lumen catheter appeared to permit interaction of the two effusing streams of the incompatible drugs, whereas the staggered orifices of the triple-lumen catheter reduce this interaction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Abstract The commercialization of products with cannabidiol (CBD) has undergone a significant increase. These products can be presented in different forms such as baked goods, gummies or beverages (such as kombucha, beer or teas, among others) using wide concentrations ranges. The use of CBD in edibles favors its consumption, for medicinal users, during the work week, avoid its possible social stigma and facilitates its transport. These products can be purchased on store shelves and online. There is a large number of specialized studies, in which the possible advantages of CBD consumption are described in the preclinical and clinical trials. It is also necessary to recognize the existence of other works revealing that the excessive consumption of CBD could have some repercussions on health. In this review, it is analyzed the composition and properties of Cannabis sativa L., the health benefits of cannabinoids (focusing on CBD), its consumption, its possible toxicological effects, a brief exposition of the extraction process, and a collection of different products that contain CBD in its composition.


In this contribution I would like to put forward an original project for a transcendental philosophy or a transcendental phenomenology that takes seriously the concept of the "transcendental" in so far as it is centered on the idea of "conditioning" (in so doing, I likewise seek to answer some critical questions concerning this concept in Kant and Husserl). This newly founded transcendental phenomenology will be developed as a "generative phenomenology" that links my previous attempt at a "constructive phenomenology" (which had introduced the concept of a "phenomenological construction" in a non-Heideggerian and non-Finkian way) to my earlier attempt at a "speculative transcendentalism" (where I had already distinguished between Kantian and Husserlian transcendentalisms). This project is not limited to internal considerations within the tradition of transcendentalism, but extends to discussion of a host of contemporary "new realisms."


A Brief Introduction to Engineering Computation with MATLAB is specifically designed for students with no programming experience. However, students are expected to be proficient in First Year Mathematics and Sciences and access to good reference books are highly recommended. Students are assumed to have a working knowledge of the Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows operating systems. The strategic goal of the course and book is to provide learners with an appreciation for the role computation plays in solving engineering problems. MATLAB specific skills that students are expected to be proficient at are: write scripts to solve engineering problems including interpolation, numerical integration and regression analysis, plot graphs to visualize, analyze and present numerical data, and publish reports.


Introduction: Various herbs have been
used as treatment and prevention for several chronic diseases such as diabetes,
hypercholesterolemia and triglyceridemia; one of those herbs is Rosemary, which has biological antioxidant mechanisms.
Rosemary is a thorny Rhamnaceous plant which is widely distributed in
Europe and South-Eastern Asia. It's used in traditional medicine for its therapeutic
properties. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) leaves powder on glucose level and
lipid profile in human. Material and Methods: Forty eight adults' men and women
participated in this study which has been carried out in the UOK University.
The participants were randomly selected and divided into 3 groups. The first group was given 2 g/day of Rosemary leaves powder,
the second group was given 5 g/day
of Rosemary leaves powder while the third group was given 10 g/day of Rosemary
leaves powder for a period of 4 weeks. Blood samples were analyzed for glucose,
lipid profile and antioxidant at the beginning and the end of the study and the
results were statistically analyzed. Results: The results indicated that a
significant decrease in blood glucose level in the groups given 5 g and 10 g of the herb powder was
observed but the difference was more significant in the group given 10 g/day.
Values for total cholesterol and triglycerides were very significantly lower in
the three treated groups. LDL-C level was significantly lower in the group
given 10 g of the herb powder, while the increased levels of HDL-C was
statistically significant in the group that was given 10 g/day. With regard to
lipid peroxidation, giving 10 g/day of Rosemary leaves powder decreased
significantly MDA and GR values whereas significantly increases the values of
vitamin C and β carotene. Conclusion:
In conclusion Rosmarinus officinalis appears to improve not only
hyperglycemia but also dyslipidemia in a dose dependent manner and decreases
lipid peroxidation through increasing antioxidants levels and this will reduce
the risk of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease.


An organic crystal of Thiosemicarbazone of acetaldehyde was grown by adopting slow evaporation solution growth technique (SESGT) using methanol as a solvent. The crystal dimension up to 10X4X6 mm 3 was obtained. The harvested crystal were purified by repeated recrystallization. The induction period was measured at various super saturations. These crystals were characterized by FT-IR spectra to identify functional groups. The molecular structure was analyzed by 1 H NMR. The semiconducting property was calculated by band gap energy calculation. Vickers microhardness studies provides information about the hardness of the grown crystal. Second harmonic generation efficiency of the powdered thiosemicarbazone of acetaldehyde was tested using Nd:YAG laser and it is found to be 1.6 times higher than that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate.


This paper discusses the relationship between the open government data (OGD) movement and the right to information (RTI) movement. While both movements are closely related, there are some differences that may have a considerable impact on the right of the citizen to access government information. The article argues that the calls for OGD may on the one hand risk limiting the access to government information, while on the other hand they may also provide an alternative source of access to information for existing freedom of information legislation, which is being threatened in some countries.


Chemical investigation of the methanolic extract of pomegranate fruit following antibacterial activity directed isolation led to the isolation of pelargonidin-3-galactose, cyanidin-3-glucose, gallic acid, quercetin, and myricetin. All these compounds exhibited substantial activity against species of corynebacteria, staphylococci, streptococci, Bacillus subtilis, Shigella, Salmonella, Vibrio cholera, and Escherichia coli. However, all these compounds were more active against Gram-positive species. On comparing the activity of all the isolated pure compounds, it was found that gallic acid showed the highest antibacterial activity against all the tested sensitive strains and the activity of the remaining pure compounds was almost same due to the structural similarities of the compounds. The reason for antibacterial activity of all pure compounds was attributed to their phenolic structure.


Background Plasmodium requires an obligatory life stage in its mosquito host. The parasites encounter a number of insults while journeying through this host and have developed mechanisms to avoid host defenses. Lysozymes are a family of important antimicrobial immune effectors produced by mosquitoes in response to microbial challenge. Methodology/Principal Findings A mosquito lysozyme was identified as a protective agonist for Plasmodium. Immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated that Anopheles gambiae lysozyme c-1 binds to oocysts of Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium falciparum at 2 and 5 days after infection. Similar results were observed with Anopheles stephensi and P. falciparum, suggesting wide occurrence of this phenomenon across parasite and vector species. Lysozyme c-1 did not bind to cultured ookinetes nor did recombinant lysozyme c-1 affect ookinete viability. dsRNA-mediated silencing of LYSC-1 in Anopheles gambiae significantly reduced the intensity and the prevalence of Plasmodium berghei infection. We conclude that this host antibacterial protein directly interacts with and facilitates development of Plasmodium oocysts within the mosquito. Conclusions/Significance This work identifies mosquito lysozyme c-1 as a positive mediator of Plasmodium development as its reduction reduces parasite load in the mosquito host. These findings improve our understanding of parasite development and provide a novel target to interrupt parasite transmission to human hosts.


Cynthia Sandberg is proprietor of Love Apple Farm—an establishment unique among Central Coast small farms in its combination of biodynamic techniques, an exclusive supply relationship with a single high-end restaurant, a focus on heirloom tomatoes, a rich public offering of on-farm classes, and a successful Internet-based marketing strategy. Love Apple occupies two productive acres in Ben Lomond, in Santa Cruz County's San Lorenzo Valley. Sandberg farms according to the biodynamic principles developed in the 1920s by Rudolph Steiner, and is seeking certification for Love Apple through Demeter USA, the country's only certifying agent for biodynamic farms. In addition to shunning synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, a certified biodynamic farm must also be managed, according to Demeter's website, as if it were "a living organism," minimizing waste and external inputs. As the kitchen garden for upscale Manresa restaurant in nearby Los Gatos (Santa Clara County), Love Apple enjoys a symbiotic business relationship with the two-Michelin-star restaurant and its executive chef-proprietor, David Kinch, who often visits the farm. While Sandberg grows a wide variety of produce for Manresa and for sale in her seasonal on-site farm cart, she specializes in heirloom tomatoes, of which she produces more than 100 varieties. (Locals sometimes refer to her as "The Tomato Lady.") She sells tomato starts every spring, and teaches popular classes on a wide variety of topics including growing tomatoes from seed, building tomato cages, and gardening in containers. And she has cultivated an effective online marketing strategy centered on her blog/website. Farming is a second career for Sandberg, a former attorney. She unwittingly launched her new life in the early 1990s, when, hoping to improve her rudimentary gardening skills, she enrolled in horticulture classes at Cabrillo, Santa Cruz County's community college. A few years later, her early-spring gardening preparations proved unexpectedly successful, and she found herself puzzling about what to do with 290 excess tomato seedlings. She arrayed them in the driveway along with a sign and an honor-system money jar—and passersby quickly snapped them up. Thus was born Love Apple Farm. "Love apple" is an old French name for the tomato, historically associated with aphrodisiac qualities. The farm's name also commemorates Harry Love, a former Texas Ranger who led the attack on Mexican Robin-Hood figure Joaquin Murrieta and his band of outlaws in San Benito County in 1853. Sandberg has been told that the house she inhabits, now surrounded by garden beds and greenhouses, was built with Love's reward money. Sarah Rabkin interviewed Cynthia Sandberg on the back porch of Sandberg's Love Apple farmhouse in Ben Lomond, California, on March 9, 2009.


In this paper we present a novel structure from motion (SfM) approach able to infer 3D deformable models from uncalibrated stereo images. Using a stereo setup dramatically improves the 3D model estimation when the observed 3D shape is mostly deforming without undergoing strong rigid motion. Our approach first calibrates the stereo system automatically and then computes a single metric rigid structure for each frame. Afterwards, these 3D shapes are aligned to a reference view using a RANSAC method in order to compute the mean shape of the object and to select the subset of points on the object which have remained rigid throughout the sequence without deforming. The selected rigid points are then used to compute frame-wise shape registration and to extract the motion parameters robustly from frame to frame. Finally, all this information is used in a global optimization stage with bundle adjustment which allows to refine the frame-wise initial solution and also to recover the non-rigid 3D model. We show results on synthetic and real data that prove the performance of the proposed method even when there is no rigid motion in the original sequence.


Since the U.S. Catholic bishops gave their "strictly conditioned" moral acceptance of nuclear deterrence in 1983, much has changed on the strategic landscape, most notably with the emergence of numerous space-based and defensive schemes, and it is not clear how a committee struck by the hierarchy to review recent developments will respond. There are reasons to suggest the outcome will not be a complete condemnation of deterrence, whatever judgment is mode of current U.S. policies. It is equally likely that the review will fail, as did the 1983 letter, to provide sufficient justification for what it conditionally accepts. The 1983 letter cannot be construed as "soft" on the Soviet Union. But Us scant account of an expansionist adversary appears only after its moral judgments and prudential alternatives are stated. The letter, argued in a just war framework, cannot find the language to refer to a particular adversary by name or indicate why deterrence is justified on an interim basis. This f allure is ascribed to two factors. First, Catholic teaching increasingly has restricted the scope of jus ad bellum and shifted its emphasis to jus in bello criteria of discrimination and proportionality in judging modem war. Second, within a generation, the U.S. hierarchy has redefined its relationship to its society and become less willing to alter Church teaching to accomodate national purposes, even while affirming in general terms the traditional right and duty of self-defence. Y et insofar as this right remains operative, the bishops' inability to describe what is to be defended, and from what, leaves the reader unclear as to why the U.S. and its allies should possess nuclear weapons even, or only, conditionally.


There can be no doubt that the Bush Administration's policies have massively contributed to a hitherto unprecedented deterioration in European-American relations. However, European antipathies towards many things American date back at least to July 5, 1776, if not before. Following a conceptual discussion of anti-Americanism, the paper then turns to an account of these historical dislikes and anchors them particularly among Europe's elites. A discussion of anti-Semitism in relation to anti- Americanism follows in the subsequent section. A summary of an analysis of newspaper articles collected in the decade of the 1990s highlights the widespread nature of anti-American sentiments in Britain, France, Germany, Italy. Lastly, anti-Americanism's functionality as a useful ingredient in Europe's burgeoning state building process concludes the paper.


PET imaging is well established for the diagnosis of brain tumours. Its metabolic specificity delivers valuable information about the malignancy and the extent of tumour tissue. Tumour growth forces the brain to reorganize itself to compensate for the lost areas. It has been shown that DTI is a valuable tool to demonstrate the plasticity of the brain and it therefore offers information about the reorganization caused by tumour growth as well as surgical intervention [1, 2]. The acquisition of trimodal PET, MP-RAGE and DTI data on an MR-PET hybrid scanner, capable of simultaneous MR and PET, to investigate plasticity and reorganisation in human brain tumours is demonstrated.


We introduce a class of discrete point processes that we call the Submodular Point Processes (SPPs). These processes are characterized via a submodular (or supermodular) function, and naturally model notions of information, coverage and diversity, as well as cooperation. Unlike Log-submodular and Log-supermodular distributions (Log-SPPs) such as determinantal point processes (DPPs), SPPs are themselves submodular (or supermodular). In this paper, we analyze the computational complexity of probabilistic inference in SPPs. We show that computing the partition function for SPPs (and Log-SPPs), requires exponential complexity in the worst case, and also provide algorithms which approximate SPPs up to polynomial factors. Moreover, for several subclasses of interesting submodular functions that occur in applications, we show how we can provide ecient closed form expressions for the partition functions, and thereby marginals and conditional distributions. We also show how SPPs are closed under mixtures, thus enabling maximum likelihood based strategies for learning mixtures of submodular functions. Finally, we argue how SPPs complement existing LogSPP distributions, and are a natural model for several applications.


Plasmodium falciparum,the causative agent of the most lethal form of human malaria, is incapable of de novo purine synthesis, and thus, purine acquisition from the host is an indispensable nutritional requirement. This purine salvage process is initiated by the transport of preformed purines into the parasite. We have identified a gene encoding a nucleoside transporter from P. falciparum,PfNT1, and analyzed its function and expression during intraerythrocytic parasite development. PfNT1 predicts a polypeptide of 422 amino acids with 11 transmembrane domains that is homologous to other members of the equilibrative nucleoside transporter family. Southern analysis and BLAST searching of TheInstitute for Genomic Research (TIGR) malaria data base indicate that PfNT1 is a single copy gene located on chromosome 14. Northern analysis of RNA from intraerythrocytic stages of the parasite demonstrates thatPfNT1 is expressed throughout the asexual life cycle but is significantly elevated during the early trophozoite stage. Functional expression of PfNT1 in Xenopus laevis oocytes significantly increases their ability to take up naturally occurringd-adenosine (K m = 13.2 μm) and d-inosine (K m = 253 μm). Significantly, PfNT1, unlike the mammalian nucleoside transporters, also has the capacity to transport the stereoisomer l-adenosine (K m > 500 μm). Inhibition studies with a battery of purine and pyrimidine nucleosides and bases as well as their analogs indicate that PfNT1 exhibits a broad substrate specificity for purine and pyrimidine nucleosides. These data provide compelling evidence thatPfNT1 encodes a functional purine/pyrimidine nucleoside transporter whose expression is strongly developmentally regulated in the asexual stages of the P. falciparum life cycle. Moreover, the unusual ability to transport l-adenosine and the vital contribution of purine transport to parasite survival makes PfNT1 an attractive target for therapeutic evaluation.


Herein we describe the first example of a ratiometric lanthanide luminescent oxygen sensing interface. Immobilisation of terbium and europium cyclen complexes on glass substrates was achieved by a novel aryl nitrene photografting approach. The resulting interfaces demonstrated a ratiometric oxygen response between 0 and 0.2 atm partial oxygen pressure.


This title presents an infamous lynching and its screen portrayals. The Leo Frank case of 1913 was one of the most sensational trials of the early twentieth century, capturing international attention. Frank, a northern Jewish factory supervisor in Atlanta, was convicted for the murder of Mary Phagan, a young laborer native to the South, largely on the perjured testimony of an African American janitor. The trial was both a murder mystery and a courtroom drama marked by lurid sexual speculation and overt racism. The subsequent lynching of Frank in 1915 by an angry mob only made the story more irresistible to historians, playwrights, novelists, musicians, and filmmakers for decades to come.Matthew H. Bernstein is the first scholar to examine the feature films and television programs produced in response to the trial and lynching of Leo Frank. He considers the four major surviving American texts: Oscar Micheaux's film "Murder in Harlem" (1936), Mervyn LeRoy's film "They Won't Forget" (1937), the "Profiles in Courage" television episode "John M. Slaton" (1964), and the two-part NBC miniseries "The Murder of Mary Phagan" (1988). Bernstein explains that complex issues like racism, anti-Semitism, class resentment, and sectionalism were at once irresistibly compelling and painfully difficult to portray in the mass media. Exploring the cultural and industrial contexts in which the works were produced, Bernstein considers how they succeeded or failed in representing the case's many facets. Film and television shows can provide worthy interpretations of history, Bernstein argues, even when they depart from the historical record."Screening a Lynching" is an engrossing meditation on how film and television represented a traumatic and tragic episode in American history - one that continues to fascinate people to this day.


Context. HD 179949 is an F8V star, orbited by a close-in giant planet with a period of ∼3 days. Previous studies suggested that the planet enhances the magnetic activity of the parent star, producing a chromospheric hot spot which rotates in phase with the planet orbit. However, this phenomenon is intermittent since it was observed in several but not all seasons. Aims. A long-term monitoring of the magnetic activity of HD 179949 is required to study the amplitude and time scales of star-planet interactions. Methods. In 2009 we performed a simultaneous optical and X-ray spectroscopic campaign to monitor the magnetic activity of HD 179949 during ∼5 orbital periods and ∼2 stellar rotations. We analyzed the Ca ii H&K lines as a proxy for chromospheric activity, and we studied the X-ray emission in search of flux modulations and to determine basic properties of the coronal plasma. Results. A detailed analysis of the flux in the cores of the Ca ii H&K lines and a similar study of the X-ray photometry shows evidence of source variability, including one flare. The analysis of the time series of chromospheric data indicates a modulation with a ∼11 days period, compatible with the stellar rotation period at high latitudes. Instead, the X-ray light curve suggests a signal with a period of ∼4 days, consistent with the presence of two active regions on opposite hemispheres. Conclusions. The observed variability can be explained, most likely, as due to rotational modulation and to intrinsic evolution of chromospheric and coronal activity. There is no clear signature related to the orbital motion of the planet, but the possibility that just a fraction of the chromospheric and coronal variability is modulated with the orbital period of the planet, or the stellar-planet beat period, cannot be excluded. We conclude that any effect due to the presence of the planet is difficult to disentangle.


The present study investigated the effect of learner generated illustrations on the immediate and delayed idiom recall of Iranian EFL (English as a foreign language) learners. To accomplish this end, 40 female students participated in this study. A placement test (Quick Placement Test, Version 2) was administered to the participants to ascertain that they were all at intermediate level of proficiency. Since the design of the study was quasi experimental, they were randomly assigned to control (N: 20) and experimental (N: 20) groups. A pretest of idioms was given to the participants to ensure that they were homogeneous in terms of their knowledge of idioms. Both groups were provided with the clarification of idioms through definitions and examples. However the experimental group was required to draw their own mental image of the idioms on a paper. At the end of the treatment, students took an immediate posttest of idioms. After an interval of 2 weeks, a similar posttest was given to the students to examine the delayed recall ability of the learners. The obtained results through an independent samples t-test indicated that the experimental group slightly outperformed the control group on immediate posttest, but the difference was not statistically significant. However the results on the delayed posttest suggested that there was a significant difference between the two groups and the participants in the experimental group had stronger delayed recall ability.


The rate of appearance, in a population of mouse-human heterokaryons, of cells with intermixed mouse and human surface antigens may be used to estimate the rate of lateral diffusion of the antigens in a single cell. Most heterokaryons appear to restrict diffusion of their surface antigens. These restrictions are altered by exposing either heterokaryons or their parent cells to conditions that change cell surface membrane potential. Media containing unphysiological concentrations of potassium ion, drugs, affecting the Na+,K+ ATPase, or a channel-forming antibiotic, gramicidin, all affect lateral mobility of cell surface antigens in a manner consistent with a common effect on membrane potential.


The K-ras mutation in pancreatic cancer can inhibit drug delivery and increase drug resistance. This is exemplified by the therapeutic effect of PH-427, a small molecule inhibitor of AKT/PDK1, which has shown a good therapeutic effect against a BxPC3 pancreatic cancer model that has K-ras, but has a poor therapeutic effect against a MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer model with mutant K-ras. To increase the therapeutic effect of PH-427 against the MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer model with mutant K-ras, we encapsulated PH-427 into poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles (PNP) to form drug-loaded PH-427-PNP. PH-427 showed a biphasic release from PH-427-PNP over 30 days during studies in sodium phosphate buffer, and in vitro studies revealed that the PNP was rapidly internalized into MiaPaCa-2 tumor cells, suggesting that PNP can improve PH-427 delivery into cells harboring mutant K-ras. In vivo studies of an orthotopic MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer model showed reduced tumor load with PH-427-PNP as compared with treatment using PH-427 alone or with no treatment. Ex vivo studies confirmed the in vivo results, suggesting that PNP can improve drug delivery to pancreatic cancer harboring mutant K-ras.


Social entrepreneurship or enterprise is considered as an innovative form, which combines economic and social value creation to improve societal development. Theory and practice of this field are attracting more attention. In this article, we identified significant literature and journals as well as academic citation relationships for advancing scholarly research on social entrepreneurship. Then, we established a dual-approach for social entrepreneurship with China's cases: public and commercial, to illustrate the question why social entrepreneurship arises. At the end, future directions about legislation, contexts and performance were discussed.


We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and deep ground-based images of the Red Rectangle (RR), a bipolar proto–planetary nebula associated with the post-AGB binary system HD 44179. The high-resolution HST images reveal complex new structures, many of them unique to this object. The RR nebula is dominated by a discontinuous "bicone," whose bright, sharp linear edges give the nebula an overall X-shaped appearance. The edges of the bicone are connected by a remarkable series of linear features elongated perpendicular to the radius vector, giving the object a ladder-like structure. The "rungs" of the ladder structure show a quasi-periodic spacing, suggesting that they have arisen from discrete episodes of mass loss from the central star, separated by a few hundred years. The total timescale over which mass has been shed into the visible nebula is of order 14,000 yr. Outside the X-shaped bicone, parabolas curl inward, resembling wineglasses, which terminate on the bicone edges in large, limb-brightened vortices. The central object is bisected by a dark band, indicating that the star is not seen directly but is instead obscured by a surrounding opaque dust disk.


Discrete-time multiserver queues have been successfully used in the performance evaluation of computer and communication systems in various contexts such as TDM, voice-data integration, deflection routing and more recently, ATM-switching technology. In digital communication systems, buffers are used for the temporary storage of digital information awaiting transmission via some communication channel(s). Usually, information presents itself in the form of fixed-size packets, and synchronous (slotted) transmission is used so that the buffers can be modelled as discrete-time queuing systems. In this article, performance analysis of space division output buffered switches operating in an ATM multimedia environment is presented. Fixed size packets arrive onto the switch inputs in each time slot. The switch is modelled as a discrete-time, batch arrival, multiserver queuing system, with infinite buffer and geometric service times. The main contribution of this work is using multiserver case and geometric service time. Many performance measures such as System occupancy, Queuing time, Unfinished work and Waiting time are analysed. Probability Generating Functions (PGFs) and expectations for the corresponding random variables are derived. The results of the analysis have been verified in many ways. First, they have been used to generate the results of some previous analyses as special cases. Second, they obviously seem to preserve classical queuing relations (e.g. the famous Little's formula). Last, they have been shown to generate intuitively acceptable graphs, when translated into numerical values.


There are 18 Islamic universities and institutes in Indonesia, and each offers some sort of journalism education. These courses are not located in the social sciences, but rather in schools of dakwah, where they are seen as key elements of Islamic propagation. This article focuses on three aspects of journalism education in Islamic Indonesia: the "vision and mission" of dakwah, the curriculum and course content, and what happens to students upon graduation. It concludes with thoughts on the similarities and differences with what has been called "prophetic journalism" in the United States, and a discussion of the overall goals of journalism in an Islamic context.


Searles Lake is a salt-saturated, alkaline brine unusually rich in the toxic element arsenic. Arsenic speciation changed from arsenate [As(V)] to arsenite [As(III)] with sediment depth. Incubated anoxic sediment slurries displayed dissimilatory As(V)-reductase activity that was markedly stimulated by H2 or sulfide, whereas aerobic slurries had rapid As(III)-oxidase activity. An anaerobic, extremely haloalkaliphilic bacterium was isolated from the sediment that grew via As(V) respiration, using either lactate or sulfide as its electron donor. Hence, a full biogeochemical cycle of arsenic occurs in Searles Lake, driven in part by inorganic electron donors.


As the drive toward more efficient, sustainable, and affordable methods of chemical synthesis continues, the focus on biocatalysts has grown significantly. Using the Hammett linear free-energy relationship (LFER), we can gain mechanistic insight into chemical transformations such as those catalyzed by enzymes. In this study, we investigated the catalytic mechanisms of trypsin, lipase, and nattokinase by using the Hammett LFER to compare the electronic effects of various para-substitutions on ester hydrolysis. We synthesized a class of nitrophenyl benzoate esters with electron-withdrawing and electron-donating para-substituents and subjected them to enzymatic hydrolysis, from which we obtained kinetic data by spectroscopically tracking the release of 4-nitrophenol, a bright yellow compound that forms upon hydrolysis. We then used the Hammett equation to analyze kinetic trends, and further supported our study with computational modeling, through which a direct correlation between the carbonyl carbon Mulliken charge and the σ_para constant was established. These results suggest that the hydrolysis reaction, when catalyzed by either of the three enzymes, exhibited a change in the rate-determining step. We also observed relative differences in enzymatic sensitivity to substrate electronic effects and enzymatic ability to stabilize charged intermediates.


Regulatory capital requirements are in place to improve bank (and systemic) stability, by forcing banks to fund themselves with more loss-absorbent equity. But banks have strong incentives to prefer debt funding to equity funding, and thus to arbitrage regulatory capital requirements. In particular, banks have (often successfully) petitioned regulators to allow them to satisfy regulatory capital requirements with hybrid debt-equity instruments that can be treated as debt for tax purposes. Unfortunately, the Financial Crisis showed that the first generation of these hybrid instruments, including trust preferred securities, did not live up to their promise of promoting bank stability. The next generation of hybrids, the contingent convertible bonds or "cocos", have the potential to be downright harmful to stability. We therefore need to address bank incentives to create hybrid instruments, and otherwise arbitrage regulatory capital requirements. While regulatory capital requirements are almost always discussed in isolation from tax policy, this Article recognizes that banks' reluctance to fund themselves with larger cushions of common equity is, in large part, a tax problem. Financial regulators, rather than accepting such tax preferences as a given, should engage with their tax colleagues and revisit the wisdom of tax policies that incentivize reliance on debt funding, and the instability such reliance creates. To that end, this Article takes the first step in fusing together regulatory capital scholarship with the tax literature on reducing debt bias, and proposes that common equity held by banks as regulatory capital should be made tax deductible. The hope is that this will inspire experts in the fields of economics, tax and financial regulation (particularly within the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision) to collaborate in refining this Article's proposal, so that the efficacy of regulatory capital requirements (and financial stability) can be maximized.


We present a physical setup with which it is possible to produce arbitrary symmetric long-lived multiqubit entangled states in the internal ground levels of photon emitters, including the paradigmatic Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and W states. In the case of three emitters, where each tripartite entangled state belongs to one of two well-defined entanglement classes, we prove a one-to-one correspondence between well-defined sets of experimental parameters, i.e., locally tunable polarizer orientations, and multiqubit entanglement classes inside the symmetric subspace.


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous pathogen that infects most of the adult population and persists for life after the initial contact. The extreme success of the virus is attributed to its bipartite life cycle, which consists of a dormant-like state of latency, with periodical reactivation to the virus producing, lytic phase. Zta (BZLF1, Z, Zebra or EB1) is a multifunctional viral protein that belongs to the bZIP family of transcription factors and is known as the master lytic regulator of EBV. Together with transcriptional activation, Zta has been shown to be involved in DNA binding-dependent transcriptional repression, particularly of the host class II major histocompatibility complex transactivator, CIITA. Distinct protein domains, as well as various post translational modifications, like phosphorylation of Serine 209 by the viral protein kinase (VPK), have been linked to different functional roles of Zta.
In the present study, it was shown that VPK can partially inhibit SUMOylation of Zta on Lysine 12, in a manner which was not dependent on Serine 209 phosphorylation. However, no direct interaction of VPK and Zta could be observed and no significant effect of either proteins on histone H2AX phosphorylation was seen.
Interestingly, in vitro reporter assays revealed that fusion of a SUMO moiety to the amine-terminus of Zta inhibited repression of the CIITA promoter, but not the activation of the viral BHLF1 promoter, pointing at divergent mechanisms of action of transcriptional repression and activation by Zta. Moreover, truncation of the carboxy-terminal dimerisation domain of Zta (crucial for protein-DNA interaction) abrogated BHLF1 transactivation but not CIITA down-regulation, revealing underlying diffe rences in DNA binding requirements for the two processes.
Further in silico sequence analysis, coupled with a mutation approach of the CIITA promoter, confirmed that an alternate route to the Zta DNA binding-dependent repression exists. Finally, no single promoter element could be linked to down-regulation of CIITA, suggesting sequestration of a possible, yet unknown cofactor, by Zta.


London became an international center for import and export trade in the late Middle Ages. The export of wool, the development of luxury crafts and the redistribution of goods from the continent made London one of the leading commercial cities of Europe. While capital for these ventures came from a variety of sources, the recirculation of wealth through London women was important in providing both material and social capital for the growth of London's economy. A shrewd Venetian visiting England around 1500 commented about the concentration of wealth and property in women's hands. He reported that London law divided a testator's property three ways allowing a third to the wife for her life use, a third for immediate inheritance of the heirs, and a third for burial and the benefit of the testator's soul. Women inherited equally with men and widows had custody of the wealth of minor children. In a society in which marriage was assumed to be a natural state for women, London women married and remarried. Their wealth followed them in their marriages and was it was administered by subsequent husbands. This study, based on extensive use of primary source materials, shows that London's economic growth was in part due to the substantial wealth that women transmitted through marriage. The Italian visitor observed that London men, unlike Venetians, did not seek to establish long patrilineages discouraging women to remarry, but instead preferred to recirculate wealth through women. London's social structure, therefore, was horizontal, spreading wealth among guilds rather than lineages. The liquidity of wealth was important to a growing commercial society and women brought not only wealth but social prestige and trade skills as well into their marriages. But marriage was not the only economic activity of women. London law permitted women to trade in their own right as femmes soles and a number of women, many of them immigrants from the countryside, served as wage laborers. But London's archives confirm women's chief economic impact was felt in the capital and skill they brought with them to marriages, rather than their profits as independent traders or wage labourers.


Endotracheal intubation (EI) is the most commonly performed in the intensive care unit but has the potential to lead to critical complications [1]. Hence, the use of fluid loading, preoxygenation with noninvasive positive pressure ventilation, rapid sequence induction or capnography monitoring is recommended to make EI safer [2]. In this topic of The Korean Journal of Critical Care Medicine, Yoon et al. [3] reported a case "Endotracheal Tube Completely Severed by a Patient Bite and Lodged in the Right Main Bronchus." In that case, the authors had difficulty inserting a suction catheter into the endotracheal tube (ETT) and after 30 minutes, they observed ETT damage caused by increased peak airway pressure, lower tidal volumes and reduced oxygen saturation. If the patient had been monitored using a capnography, such problems could have been detected sooner. According to a human cadaveric study, capnography is highly accurate in detecting a correct ETT placement showing 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity with the ability to provide highly reliable readings in low-perfusion states (cardiac arrest). Capnographic monitoring is therefore recommended as a gold standard for patients undergoing endotracheal intubation [4]. Capnography provides critical physiologic data regarding ventilation and perfusion matching in the lung, heart and metabolic rate [5]. In addition, it provides valuable patient safety information that can be used for a variety of clinical decisions, including the prediction of acute respiratory distress syndrome gradient [6], determination of outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation [7] and decision about esophageal intubation, unexpected extubation, disconnection of breathing circuit, the mechanical state of the lung. Therefore, the capacity of capnography can be aggressively used for monitoring critically ill patients.


This paper summarizes recent trends in community development schemes aimed at improving health through the improvement of the overall living conditions. Based on our combined 22-years of experience working in holistic community development (HCD) in Nepal, we argue that selective, single pronged approaches to health development are less effective in general in comparison to comprehensive ones. Though selective approaches to development (projects with only single components such as indoor lighting or a village drinking water system) are effective in achieving carefully de-limited goals, selective approaches cannot produce the critical synergistic benefits of the multi-pronged, holistic project framework we have designed and are implementing in Humla District, one of Nepal's remotest and most underdeveloped mountain areas. Further, we describe why in remote, impoverished communities, it is absolutely essential that projects are sustainable, locally appropriate, and are developed in close partnership with the local community. The availability of elementary energy services is a crucial agent of long-term community development. We argue that tapping locally available renewable energy sources, through applied renewable energy technologies, developed for a defined geographical, cultural and climatic context, is central to project success. These technologies, in concert with the other contextualized project components we describe herein, form the backbone of our holistic approach to community development.


Boilers in power, refinery and chemical processing plants contain extensive range of tube bends. Tube bends are manufactured by bending a straight-section tube. As a result, the crosssection of a tube bend becomes oval. Using the finite element analysis (FEA) and artificial neural network (ANN), the paper presents the relationships between the plastic collapse pressures and tube bend dimensions with various degrees of ovality. It is found that as ovality increases the plastic collapse pressure decreases. Also, the reduction of plastic collapse pressure with ovality is small for a thick tube bend when compared with that for a thin tube bend.


Recent UK studies highlight some of the challenges of adjustment facing the farming industry; an ageing farming population, a common absence of successor, and economic barriers combining to deter new entrants to the industry. Yet the future of farming is dependent on continued entry by new farm operators, either through the family farm business, new entrants from other sectors or via the 'agricultural ladder' i.e. from a farm worker to tenant to owner operator. Evidence suggests that new entrants in each situation encounter difficulties, some generic and some specific to individual cases. What is unclear is the role and influence of a range of policies on new entrant decisions. At a time when the farming industry is under pressure to compete and adjustment becomes increasingly urgent, the influential (direct or indirect) role of policy becomes more pertinent. This paper will review the current entry/exit situation in Scotland and, drawing upon recent research, highlight the main barriers affecting new entrants. The role and influence of various policies on new entrant decisions will be discussed. The paper concludes with a debate as to whether the issues raised warrant further intervention.


Adapting to novel dynamics involves modifying both feedforward and feedback control. We investigated whether the motor system alters feedback responses during adaptation to a novel force field in a manner similar to adjustments in feedforward control. We simultaneously tracked the time course of both feedforward and feedback systems via independent probes during a force field adaptation task. Participants (n=35) grasped the handle of a robotic manipulandum and performed reaches to a visual target while the hand and arm were occluded. We introduced an abrupt counter-clockwise velocity-dependent force field during a block of reaching trials. We measured movement kinematics and shoulder and elbow muscle activity with surface EMG electrodes. We tracked the feedback stretch response throughout the task. Using force channel trials we measured overall learning, which was later decomposed into a fast and slow process. We found that the long-latency feedback response (LLFR) was upregulated in the early stages of learning and was correlated with the fast component of feedforward adaptation. The change in feedback response was specific to the long-latency epoch (50-100 ms after muscle stretch) and was observed only in the triceps muscle, which was the muscle required to counter the force field during adaptation. The similarity in time course for the LLFR and the estimated time course of the fast process suggests both are supported by common neural circuits. While some propose that the fast process reflects an explicit strategy, we argue instead that it may be a proxy for the feedback controller. New & Noteworthy We investigated whether changes in the feedback stretch response were related to the proposed fast and slow processes of motor adaptation. We found that the long latency component of the feedback stretch response was upregulated in the early stages of learning, and the time course was correlated with the fast process. While some propose that the fast process reflects an explicit strategy, we argue instead that it may be a proxy for the feedback controller.


Introduction
We often require students to draw upon academic papers on a given topic to develop a literature review, sometimes as part of a dissertation, other times as a standalone assessment. This can often present a challenge for students. Despite help and guidance with search, retrieval, recording, referencing and writing skills, students are rarely provided with practical guidance on synthesizing concepts and ideas to produce a coherent, critical, well-linked literature review. In response to this gap, "The Thematic Analysis Grid" was designed to help students in the Faculty of Business and Law when writing an academic literature review.

Existing guidance on writing a literature review
Whilst guidance on literature review writing is often to be found in text books on dissertation writing (e.g., Biggam 2011; Murray 2007; Swetnam and Swetnam 2010) there are also examples of text books wholly devoted to the literature review (e.g., Hart 1998). This type of guidance tends to focus on search, retrieval, recording and referencing. The emergence of the systematic literature review has led to sound guidance on search and recording of papers (Cronin et al. 2008; Tranfield et al. 2003) and often collaborations between faculty and librarians result in published guidance in this area (Green and Bowser 2006). Within institutions, workshops and support sessions are also often offered by academic and library staff, for example, on the use of journal databases.
However, a strong review of academic literature is not achieved simply by sourcing and reading relevant papers and knowing how to reference properly. Guidance on the vital organising and synthesis of materials is rare and as such, students often revert to producing a review which is simply an annotated list of the major works on a particular topic. This has led to accusations of "brief catalogues of previous research" or "article-by-article reports" (Nairn et al. 2007, p259). Yacobucci (2012) does provide some guidance here, although the focus is on systematically recording methodologies rather than overall themes in the literature. The Thematic Analysis Grid
In an attempt to provide some practical help with synthesis the authors developed "The Thematic Analysis Grid", a tool which enables students to record key ideas from the literature with a view to linking them with other ideas. In this way students are able to approach their literature review from an overview perspective rather than building it up from individual papers.
In brief, The Thematic Analysis Grid is a matrix with papers listed in the rows (in date order) and themes in the columns. Students are encouraged to identify possible themes from their cursory reading of abstracts, but to be prepared to introduce new ones as their reading progresses. Within the cells of the matrix students can make notes about the papers' content on each of the themes. By using a numbering system, they can cross reference the noted comment with where it is to be found on the paper itself. This approach allows students to keep meaningful notes on their reading, but more importantly enables them to review all ideas at once and see for themselves the consensus and contradictions amongst authors. A final column prompts them to think critically about the papers, in particular to look at the methodology used in an attempt to work out which studies might be more credible than others.
The Thematic Analysis Grid has been successfully used with students for several years. Although formal evaluation has not been carried out, many positive comments have been received through module evaluations:
"For me the grid helped to bring the key ideas and themes together. It was good to write the main points down in one place and be able to visualise them easily. So for that reason it is a method which would really benefit visual learners. The grid also really helped to save time as it meant I did not have to browse through my literature papers when I needed to find a specific quote/theme" (Dissertation student, 2014)
In summary, The Thematic Analysis Grid appears to be a helpful tool for encouraging synthesis and supplements the existing support on search, retrieval, referencing and writing skills.
References
Biggam, J. (2011) Succeeding with your Master's dissertation. Open University Press.
Cronin, P., Ryan, F. And Coughlan, M. (2008) Undertaking a Literature Review: A Step by Step Approach. British Journal of Nursing, 17 (1) 38-43.
Green, R. And Bowser, M. (2006) Observations from the field: sharing a literature review rubric. Journal of Library Administration, 45 (1), 185-202.
Hart, C. (2003) Doing a literature review. Sage Publications, London.
Murray, R. (2007) How to write a thesis. Open University Press, Maidenhead.
Nairn, A., Berthon, P. and Money, A. (2007) Learning from giants: exploring, classifying and analysing existing knowledge on market research. International Journal of Market Research, 49 (2) 257-274.
Swetnam, D. and Swetnam, R. (2010) Writing your dissertation. How to books Ltd.
Tranfield, D., Denyer, D. and Smart, P. (2003) 'Towards a Methodology for Developing Evidence-Informed Management Knowledge by Means of Systematic Review', British Journal of Management, 14, 207-222.

Yacobucci, P. (2012) Introducing the Literature Grid: Helping Undergraduates Consistently Produce Quality Literature Reviews. Proceedings of the American Political Science Association's Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, Washington, DC, February 2012


Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a popular nature-inspired meta-heuristic for solving continuous optimization problems. Although this technique is widely used, up to now only some partial aspects of the method have been formally investigated. In particular, while it is well-studied how to let the swarm converge to a single point in the search space, no general theoretical statements about this point or on the best position any particle has found have been known. For a very general class of objective functions, we provide for the first time results about the quality of the solution found. We show that a slightly adapted PSO almost surely finds a local optimum by investigating the newly defined potential of the swarm. The potential drops when the swarm approaches the point of convergence, but increases if the swarm remains close to a point that is not a local optimum, meaning that the swarm charges potential and continues its movement.


Among the least-chronicled aspects of post - World War II European intellectual and cultural history is the story of the Russian intelligentsia after Stalin. Young Soviet veterans had returned from the heroic struggle to defeat Hitler only to confront the repression of Stalinist society. The world of the intelligentsia exerted an attraction for them, as it did for many recent university graduates. In its moral fervor and its rejection of authoritarianism, this new generation of intellectuals resembled the nineteenth-century Russian intelligentsia that had been crushed by revolutionary terror and Stalinist purges. The last representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, heartened by Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism in 1956, took their inspiration from the visionary aims of their nineteenth-century predecessors and from the revolutionary aspirations of 1917. In pursuing the dream of a civil, democratic socialist society, such idealists contributed to the political disintegration of the communist regime. Vladislav Zubok turns a compelling subject into a portrait as intimate as it is provocative. The highly educated elite - those who became artists, poets, writers, historians, scientists, and teachers - played a unique role in galvanizing their country to strive toward a greater freedom. Like their contemporaries in the United States, France, and Germany, members of the Russian intelligentsia had a profound effect during the 1960s, in sounding a call for reform, equality, and human rights that echoed beyond their time and place. Zhivago's children, the spiritual heirs of Boris Pasternak's noble doctor, were the last of their kind - an intellectual and artistic community committed to a civic, cultural, and moral mission.


We present the results of a survey aimed at discovering and studying transiting planets with orbital periods shorter than one day (ultra-short-period, or USP, planets), using data from the Kepler spacecraft. We computed Fourier transforms of the photometric time series for all 200,000 target stars, and detected transit signals based on the presence of regularly spaced sharp peaks in the Fourier spectrum. We present a list of 106 USP candidates, of which 18 have not previously been described in the literature. This list of candidates increases the number of planet candidates with orbital periods shorter than about six hours from two to seven. In addition, among the objects we studied, there are 26 USP candidates that had been previously reported in the literature which do not pass our various tests. All 106 of our candidates have passed several standard tests to rule out false positives due to eclipsing stellar systems. A low false positive rate is also implied by the relatively high fraction of candidates for which more than one transiting planet signal was detected. By assuming these multi-transit candidates represent coplanar multi-planet systems, we are able to infer that the USP planets are typically accompanied by other planets with periods in the range 1–50 days, in contrast with hot Jupiters which very rarely have companions in that same period range. Another clear pattern is that almost all USP planets are smaller than 2 R⊕, possibly because gas giants in very tight orbits would lose their atmospheres by photoevaporation when subject to extremely strong stellar irradiation. Based on our survey statistics, USP planets exist around approximately (0.51 ± 0.07)% of G-dwarf stars, and (0.83 ± 0.18)% of K-dwarf stars.


The ChemCam instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, observed numerous igneous float rocks and conglomerate clasts, reported previously. A new statistical analysis of single‐laser‐shot spectra of igneous targets observed by ChemCam shows a strong peak at ~55 wt% SiO2 and 6 wt% total alkalis, with a minor secondary maximum at 47–51 wt% SiO2 and lower alkali content. The centers of these distributions, together with the rock textures, indicate that many of the ChemCam igneous targets are trachybasalts, Mg# = 27 but with a secondary concentration of basaltic material, with a focus of compositions around Mg# = 54. We suggest that all of these igneous rocks resulted from low‐pressure, olivine‐dominated fractionation of Adirondack (MER) class‐type basalt compositions. This magmatism has subalkaline, tholeiitic affinities. The similarity of the basalt endmember to much of the Gale sediment compositions in the first 1000 sols of the MSL mission suggests that this type of Fe‐rich, relatively low‐Mg#, olivine tholeiite is the dominant constituent of the Gale catchment that is the source material for the fine‐grained sediments in Gale. The similarity to many Gusev igneous compositions suggests that it is a major constituent of ancient Martian magmas, and distinct from the shergottite parental melts thought to be associated with Tharsis and the Northern Lowlands. The Gale Crater catchment sampled a mixture of this tholeiitic basalt along with alkaline igneous material, together giving some analogies to terrestrial intraplate magmatic provinces.


The study examined the feasibility of differentiating frontotemporal dementia from Alzheimer's disease on the basis of retrospective historical information obtained from relatives of patients. A structured questionnaire was devised of patients' symptoms, with emphasis on those cognitive and neuropsychiatric features found in earlier prospective clinical studies to distinguish the two conditions. The questionnaire was given to close relatives of deceased patients in whom the diagnosis of non-Alzheimer's frontotemporal degeneration of Alzheimer's disease had been verified at necropsy. The interviewer had no previous contact or knowledge of those patients, nor clinical experience of patients with frontotemporal dementia. The questionnaire elicited a distinct profile of responses for the two diagnostic groups with emphasis on early personality change, unconcern, and socially inappropriate behaviour in frontotemporal dementia and disturbance in memory and topographical orientation prominent in patients with Alzheimer's disease. A scoring system separated out individual patients with frontotemporal dementia from those with Alzheimer's disease. It is concluded that it is possible to obtain useful information about the precise pattern of dementia from informants even many years after the patient's death. The questionnaire provides the foundation of a diagnostic instrument for use in family history studies of dementia.


By definition, there is little or no pasture production benefit of plant available soil phosphorus (P)
concentrations above agronomic optimum. Soil P concentrations above the agronomic optimum can result in
unnecessarily elevated P concentrations in runoff that can adversely impact on water bodies. I hypothesised
that a reduction in these excessive P concentrations in pasture soils may be achieved through applying
fertiliser P at rates that are less than those required to maintain soil P concentrations. This thesis considered
this hypothesis by utilising six established field sites which represented the broad range of soils used for
pasture production in south eastern Australia (Burkitt et al., 2001; Burkitt et al., 2006). The soils at the sites
encompassed a wide range of P buffering indices (PBI) (from 6–519) and textures (sand to clay loam). At each
site a replicated trial consisting of four initial soil P (Pinit) concentrations combined with four on-going P
fertiliser rates (Pfert) had been previously established, and soil samples taken from these trials formed the basis
for much of the work presented in this thesis.
The first experimental chapter (Chapter 2) reports on the changes in extractable P of these field soils
which were sampled (0-10 cm) once every six months (biannually) for up to four and a half years. Phosphorus
extractable in calcium chloride (CaCl2-P) was monitored using annual samples of the two lowest and the highest
Pinit concentrations receiving the two lowest and the highest on-going Pfert rates. Olsen- and Colwell-extractable
P concentrations were monitored biannually for all sixteen treatments. Excluding a soil with an extremely low
PBI where soil P concentrations could not be increased, the study revealed decreases to be larger the greater
the Pinit concentration, and the smaller the on-going rate of Pfert. The influence of Pfert on decreases in extractable
soil P was not as large as that of Pinit concentration. The relative decrease in the more readily available CaCl2-P (-
57%) was greater than relative decreases in the agronomic measures, Olsen-P (-25%) and Colwell-P (-12%).
When Pfert was withheld, soil P concentrations initially well above agronomic optimum remained above this level.
This study advances the knowledge of P decline characteristics and will aid land managers in understanding
likely changes in soil P concentrations when P fertiliser inputs are reduced.
The second experimental chapter (Chapter 3) reports the development of a model to assist policy
makers and land managers in setting realistic timeframes to return soils with excessive P to agronomic and/or
environmental optimum. The model utilised the original field study's (Chapter 2) CaCl2-P, Olsen-P and Colwell-
P dataset. The model assumed and confirmed the suitability of an exponential decay function and predicted
the final P concentration for CaCl2-P, Olsen-P or Colwell-P as: Final P concentration = (previously measured P
concentration + e x P fertiliser applied) exp (-d x years since P applied); where e is the increase in soil P for each
unit of applied P and d is the decay constant representing how quickly the soil P moved from the labile to
unavailable P pools. Using parameters derived across all the soils, where P exports ranged from 2.9 and 12.3 kg
P/ha.yr, the model predicts it would take approximately 14 years (ranging from 11 to 20 years) for Olsen-P
concentrations of between 34 and 44 mg/kg to decrease to an agronomic optimum of 17 mg/kg. An initial
Olsen-P concentration of between 55 and 96 mg/kg would take approximately 32 years (ranging from 26 to 49
years). Using soil specific parameters, the model also identified that some soils, i.e. those with high PBI, could be maintained at agronomic optimum P concentrations without the risk of environmental loss being above the
specified CaCl2-P threshold of 0.25 mg/kg (0.05 mg/L). In contrast, soils with low P sorption capacity exceeded
the environmental threshold even when soil P concentrations were below agronomic optimum i.e. Olsen-P 14-
17 mg/kg. Despite soil P decreases varying according to soil, a soil term was not incorporated into the model as
there were only six soils studied. Further work incorporating more soils and various P exports is required to
examine the influence of soil properties such as P sorption, and P export, on decreases in soil P.
Chapter 4 reports on an investigation of the changes in further soil P pools as extractable P
concentrations of selected treatments of Chapter 2 decreased. These treatments included the two lowest and
the highest Pinit concentrations which received no on-going Pfert treatment. This research revealed that the
majority of the P was not being exported or sorbed, but inorganic P (Pi) was being converted to organic P (Po).
A longer period of monitoring is required to examine if the Po concentration will stabilise once a maximum Po
concentration is approached. Relationships between the various P measures allowed us to calculate a degree
of P sorption saturation (DPSS) for these soils. Degree of P sorption saturation was relatively low for the two
lowest PBI soils when compared to higher PBI soils, despite CaCl2-P concentrations being some of the largest
reported in the literature. Further correlation of DPSS with P losses from Australian soils is required as we
suggest that the thresholds will vary for soils with extreme P sorption capacities. Alternative methods of
calculating DPSS, using Australian measures such as P sorbed after the addition of 1000 mg P/kg, as measured
as part of the PBI method, and Colwell-P, without the requirement of an alpha value, were proposed.
Chapter 5 reports the findings of an incubation study and the longer-term effect of drying and
rewetting soils. It was found that extremely low PBI soils with high organic matter (OM) contents may be at
high risk of P loss to the surrounding environment. Chapter 5 showed that drying and rewetting the soils with
the lowest PBI produced large increases in CaCl2-P and Olsen-P, hypothesised to be of microbial and OM origin.
Thus, irrespective of fertiliser management, there are large risks of P loss from such soils, even when Olsen-P
concentrations are below agronomic optimum. In comparison, P released from soils of higher PBI did not result
in large increases in CaCl2-P, which remained below the threshold of environmental concern, probably due to
chemical sorption.
The large potential for P loss from soils of extremely low PBI was further highlighted in the final
experimental chapter (Chapter 6). Chapter 6 compared extractable soil P concentrations of the lowest and
highest PBI soils to a depth of 100 cm. It was revealed that soil with an extremely low PBI was susceptible to
large P losses, with the majority of applied fertiliser P i.e. 81% (406 kg P/ha) not recovered in this deep
sampling zone. Such a large potential loss of applied P brings into question whether such soils should be used
for agricultural purposes, especially if soluble P fertiliser is applied, unless the soil's ability to sorb P is firstly
increased through the application of a suitable amendment.
Until preferred soil P extractions and thresholds have been accepted for determining the risk of P loss
according to soil P concentration and buffering capacity, the depletion of soil P concentrations of intensively grazed pastures to agronomic optimum must be encouraged. Only once agronomic optimum soil P
concentrations are reached should the appropriate maintenance P fertiliser application, to account for soil
sorption and P exported in produce, be supplied. However, the currently defined agronomic optimum i.e.
Colwell-P of 23 mg/kg for PBI <15, may be too high for extremely low PBI soils. Phosphorus fertiliser
management for low PBI soils requires more precision than higher PBI soils to limit environmental loss of P.
Indeed, intensive grazing of extremely low PBI soils is questionable until their PBI's are increased through
application of amendments.


Introduction Concerns have been raised about the increasing presentation of children and young people (CYP) to the Emergency Departments (EDs) having taken recreational drugs or alcohol. Aims The aims of this study are to estimate the proportion of drug and alcohol-related presentations to a large ED and to identify associated patient and presentation characteristics. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients aged 12–18 years attending a large ED from January 2012–December 2012 was carried out. Characteristics of all presentations related to alcohol and recreational drug use were recorded. Results 167 patients were included in the study. 35% of patients were under 16 years of age, over 50% were female and over half of the presentations were at night or weekends. 51% presented with an altered level of consciousness, other presentations included respiratory or circulatory compromise, agitation, vomiting and injuries. Alcohol was the commonest substance taken seen in over three quarters of presentations, 38% had taken illegal drugs and 18.5% admitted to taking both drug and alcohol. 78% presented to the ED via an ambulance. Investigations were performed in approximately half of the patients and included CT (0.5%), ECG (23%), blood tests (22%) and urine toxicology (4.3%). More than two-thirds did not receive any treatment but 16% of those attending the ED were admitted, mainly because of the effects of alcohol. 49% of admitted patients were under 16 years of age. Conclusion The number and presentations of alcohol and drug related attendances present a risk to CYP and is a burden to the ED and paediatric inpatient services. Effective intervention and preventative strategies are needed to reduce drug and alcohol related behaviour and co- morbidity.