Osteoporosis in elderly men is becoming an important health issue with the aging society. Elderly men with androgen deficiency are exposed to osteoporosis and can be treated with testosterone replacement. In this study, Eurycoma longifolia (EL), a plant with androgenic effects, was supplemented to an androgen-deficient osteoporotic aged rat as alternative to testosterone. Aged 12 months old Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into groups of normal control (NC), sham-operated (SO), orchidectomised-control (OrxC), orchidectomised and supplemented with EL (Orx + El) and orchidectomised and given testosterone (Orx + T). After 6 weeks of treatment, serum osteocalcin, serum terminal C-telopeptide Type 1 collagen (CTX) and the fourth lumbar bone calcium were measured. There were no significant differences in the osteocalcin levels before and after treatment in all the groups. The CTX levels were also similar for all the groups before treatment. However, after treatment, orchidectomy had caused significant elevation of CTX compared to normal control rats. Testosterone replacements in orchidectomised rats were able to prevent the rise of CTX. Orchidectomy had also reduced the bone calcium level compared to normal control rats. Both testosterone replacement and EL supplementation to orchidectomised rats were able to maintain the bone calcium level, with the former showing better effects. As a conclusion, EL prevented bone calcium loss in orchidectomised rats and therefore has the potential to be used as an alternative treatment for androgen deficient osteoporosis.


Isolated converters are desirable in the DC-DC power conversion applications where isolation and/or a large voltage step-up gain is needed. Traditional isolated DC-DC converters either utilize many switches to achieve high efficiency or use few switches which result in low efficiency. This paper proposes a new single-switch isolated DC-DC converter with a LCL-resonant circuit. The proposed isolated DC-DC converter has the advantages of not only using the least number of (i.e., one) switch, but also achieving zero-current switching (ZCS) and zero-voltage switching (ZVS) when the switch is turned on and off, respectively. Experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis and simulation. The proposed converter has achieved the maximum efficiency of 93.5%, which is higher than the corresponding hard-switching converter with a similar topology.


Although the American belief system surrounding the concept of work has been analyzed and challenged by social scientists seeking solutions to the problem of poverty, the strength of the work ethic philosophy is still evident in public resistence to welfare reform which would support adequate income maintenance and government efforts at job creation. This paper discusses the relationship between the work ethic philosophy, job creation programming and welfare reform. It reviews relevant theoretical and empirical literature and identifies some misconceptions which continue to hamper policy formulation and program development in welfare reform.


Two-spotted mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, was until recently regarded as a minor and infrequent pest of papaya in Queensland through the dry late winter/early summer months. The situation has changed over the past 4-5 years, so that now some growers consider spider mites significant pests all year round. This altered pest status corresponded with a substantial increase in the use of fungicides to control black spot (Asperisporium caricae). A project was initiated in 1998 to examine the potential reasons for escalating mite problems in commercially-grown papaya, which included regular sampling over a 2 year period for mites, mite damage and beneficial arthropods on a number of farms on the wet tropical coast and drier Atherton Tableland. Differences in soil type, papaya variety, chemical use and some agronomic practices were included in this assessment. Monthly visits were made to each site where 20 randomly-selected plants from each of 2 papaya lines (yellow and red types) were surveyed. Three leaves were selected from each plant, one from each of the bottom, middle and top strata of leaves. The numbers of mobile predators were recorded, along with visual estimates of the percentage and age of mite damage on each leaf. Leaves were then sprayed with hairspray to fix the mites and immature predators to the leaf surface. Four leaf disks, 25 mm in diameter, were then punched from each leaf into a 50 ml storage container with a purpose-built disk-cutting tool. Disks from each leaf position were separated by tissue paper, within the container. On return to the laboratory, each leaf disk was scrutinised under a binocular microscope to determine the numbers of two-spotted mites and eggs, predatory mites and eggs, and the immature stages of predatory insects (mainly Stethorus, Halmus and lacewings). A total of 2160 leaf disks have been examined each month. All data have been entered into an Access database to facilitate comparisons between sites.


This thesis argues that the role of the criminal law in response to
the emergence of AIDS should be a limited one and that this is largely
dictated by the goals and processes of the criminal law. The research also
isolates questions which need to be addressed and changes that need to be
considered to present law, procedure and policies In light of AIDS, within
public health departments and the various arms of the criminal justice
system.
The first chapter describes HIV/AIDS Infection, compares it
epidemlologically with other infectious diseases and examines the present
and predicted global epidemiology of the disease. Chapter two focuses on
the alms of the criminal law simpliciter and in the context of AIDS. Chapter
three analyses how and if so, how well, existing criminal law provisions could
be applied to particular circumstances of HIV transmission. In chapter four
pre-existing public health legislation that penalises the transmission of
communicable diseases is examined in the context of AIDS. In this chapter
the political and societal processes that led to the adaptation of pre-existing
legislation to cope with HIV/AIDS are considered.
Chapters five through seven focus on how the public health and
criminal justice systems have adapted in light of HIV/AIDS Infection. The
theme behind this part is to examine how individual Interests are threatened
by the powers held by particular individuals and to strike a balance betweencompeting
interests. Chapter five considers the breadth of the powers of
public health officials to Implement procedures designed to control the
spread of communicable diseases. Chapter six considers how the criminal
justice system will impact upon both HIV-infected persons and their victims
duhng the criminal process. In particular, the chapter examines changes that
have or should be made to investigatory and trial procedures. Chapter seven
considers the nsk of transmission of HIV within the prison system and then
canvasses the legal implications of a variety of procedures that have been or
could be introduced with the aim of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS within
Australian prisons. The dominating throughout these two chapters is to
consider whether the criminal justice system can make an effective and
worthwhile contribution to the overall strategy aimed at checking progression
of the AIDS epidemic. Chapter eight contains a general conclusion.


Tumor suppressor genes may be viewed as the antithesis of oncogenes. These genes normally function not only to suppress transformation but also govern the regulatory proteins to suppress cellular proliferation. Mutation in these genes (and the resultant proteins) arising from environmental exposure, genetic susceptibility, other infectious agents etc. serves as the main cause of various types of cancers. Classical examples of these tumor suppressor genes are proteins like p53, Wilm's tumor and BAPI, which are associated with a wider range of neoplasm including breast tumor.

We have selected three tumor suppressor proteins, bovine. API, human WTI (C-terminal region) and human Prohibitin and predict the 3D structures based either on sequence homologies with the proteins of known structures (Homology Modeling) or by the fold recognition techniques (Threading).

The 3D structure of bovine .:API (AP lyase) has been predicted based on the crystal coordinates of ldew. BAPI repairs the apurinic/apyrimidinic sites produced as a result of damage to DNA. The sequence of BAPI is significantly homologous to human AP endonuclease. The model mainly consists of a 2 domain globular protein. Both domains display similar topology comprising of a six stranded beta sheet surrounded by alpha helices which pack together to form 4 layered alphalbeta sandwich. The active site is located in a pocket at the top of alphalbeta sandwich and is surrounded by loop regions. It has been proposed that His309, Asp283 and Thr265 play an important role in repairing AP sites.

The recognition and binding of AP endonucleases to DNA primarily involves 3 alpha helical loop regions. The helical loop, alpha8 (residues 222-228) is positioned within the DNA major groove where Asn222 and Asn226 make water mediated contacts with the phosphate of G9. The second helical loop, alpha5 (residues 175-181) is also positioned within the major groove with Arg 177 making two hydrogen bonds with phosphate (OIP) of nucleotide C8. The helical loop alpha11 (residues 266-277) is oriented near the DNA minor groove and could make additional phosphate backbone interactions between amino acid residues Phe266 and Met271 and nucleotide base 3DR7 and G25.

The structural characteristics of BAP1 were also studied by mutating amino acids involved in DNA binding or catalysis i.e. Arg177→7Ala, Asp283→7 Ala and His309→7 Asn. Thus in the Arg 177→7 Ala mutant, insertion of Ala at position 177 causes loss of DNA binding possibly arising from the uncapping of DNA bound active site which results in the destabilization of the extra-helical AP site conformation. Similarly mutation of Asp283→7 Ala and His309→7 Asn resulted in an elimination of enzymatic activity.

Wilm's tumor protein (WT1) is a nuclear transcription factor that regulates the activity of insulin growth factor (IGF) and transforming growth factor (TGF) system, both of which are implicated in breast tumorigenesis. The complete sequence of WT1 protein does not show significantly homology with other proteins of known structure. The C-terminal region of human WT1 (residues 310-449) was modeled using a chimeric template constructed by superposing the two proteins, GLI and Zif268. The 3D model shows that the C-terminal region of WT1 is folded into 4 helices and 8 beta pleated sheets. One cobalt and three zinc ions are coordinated by conserved residues, with 2 cysteines contributed by each I²3 sheet and 2 histidines by each I± helix. These are held together by a hydrophobic core and by Co/Zn ion

The protein-DNA complex in the predicted WTl model involves four zinc finger containing Cys(2)-His(2) located in the C-terminal region of WTl. These residues coordinate with cobalt and three zinc metal ions. The hydrogen bonding was observed only between His373, His401 and DNA base G7 and G4.

A 17 amino acid domain contain Cys-His-Zn motif is responsible for DNA and RNA binding which coordinate with Zn203 and DNA bases AI, G2, C3, G4, T5, C56, C57, A58 and G60.

DNA recognition is mediated through base contacts with the side chains of amino acids located at 4 positions of the recognition helix (Le. amino acid at positions 1,2, 3 and 6). Asp396, Asp429, present at 2nd position of helix 3 and 4 as well as Arg366 and Arg427 present at 1st position of helix 2 and 4 make hydrogen bonds with DNA bases C3, C55 and, A52, Tll, G4 and T5 respectively.

In helix 1, His339 present at the 3rd position, stacks against G4, T5 and G6 making van der Waal's interaction which may be significant for site specific recognition. Helix 2 and 4 have glutamine (Gln369) and glutamic acid (Glu430) at the 3rd position of helix .which helps in stabilizing the conformation of other residues of the helix. Thr400 is at the 6th position of helix 3 making a water mediated contact with 01P of G4. Arg372 and Arg433 are present at the 6th position of helix 2 and 4 respectively which make contacts with C9, G54 and AI, C3 respectively.

Linker sequences in WTl capping the helix recognizes the DNA and facilitates the specificity of DNA binding with zinc finger. The residues of the linker region are stabilized by H-bonds present between the linker residues as well as the extra linker amino acids. Only Lys351 make H-bond with DNA base C8.

Mutation of important site in the WTl molecule did not indicate any significant change in the case of Lys371→Ala and Ser415→Ala mutants. In the case of mutant Cys416→Ala, reduction in the van der Waal's contact between the amino acids was observed. Also a loss of coordination with the metal ion Zn appears possible. Two other mutants i.e. His434→Asp and His434→Arg showed a loss of coordination with the metal ion (Zn203). Also His434 does not interact directly with any DNA base, whereas the mutated Arg434. may interact directly with Al which may affect the DNA binding pattern.

PROSITE search shows that Ser313, Ser365 and Ser393 may undergo phosphorylation by casein kinase II whereas Tyr353 may be targeted by tyrosine kinase.

Prohibitin contributes to the control of the G1→S transition in the cell cycle in a complex manner which involves both transcriptional and post translational mechanisms. The target sequence of Prohibitin does not show any homology with other proteins of known 3D structure thus excluding the possibility of direct homology modeling. The method adopted in this case is. based on fold recognition technique. Three-dimensional model of human Prohibitin was constructed using the crystal coordinates of 1dkx and 1fpo. The C-terminal region of prohibitin shows a predominant helical topology whereas N-terminal region has a sheeted structure. The overall structure may be divided into three domains. The sequence patch 74-82 is homologous to the loop region in the Dnak, which helps in binding the substrate (Rb protein) while the sequence patch 107-116 is homologous to the J-domain of Hsc20, which shows ATPase activity. The region 185-214 acts as a transcriptional repressor of E2F activity. This region consists of 2 alpha helices (D and E) with structural homology to Hsc20 and may serve as a site of interaction with other proteins. The functional domain of prohibitin which interacts with Raf-l is the carboxyl terminal region Le. residues 243-272 (Raf-l can bind to prohibitin which in turn could bind to Rb). The region between 261-272 showed no homology with any known structure and as such this region was analyzed by secondary structure prediction. This region consists of helix-loop-helix motif and Asn256 (a glycosylated residue) which play an important role in recognition of Raf-l.

Among the five prohibitin mutants modeled no significant change was seen in the Glu52→Ala and Val88→Ala. In the Argl05→His mutant, both Argl05 as well as the Hisl05 mutant show 4 H-bonds although with a slightly different pattern. Besides, a salt bridge originally seen in the prohibitin model between Argl05 and Glu112 is also lost. This can account for the charge disruption which may in turn affect the antiproliferative activity of the protein. In Thrl08→I1e mutant, a significant increase in the accessibility of mutated He was observed. Also this mutation resulted in loss of a number of H-bonds. Mutation Thr→I1e shows that presence of hydrophobic amino acid in helix A might account for more interactions. within the helix. In Glul12→Ala mutant, a significant decrease in the accessibility of Ala was observed. Glu112 forms ion pair with Arg 105 and Arg 117. However the mutant form is devoid of these interactions.

Thus these tumor suppressor proteins appear to play an important role not only in DNA repair but also in the control of transcription, cell proliferation as well as protection of the newly synthesized protein from misfolding.


Given two strings S and T , each of length at most n, the longest common substring (LCS) problem is to find a longest substring common to S and T . This is a classical problem in computer science with an O(n)-time solution. In the fully dynamic setting, edit operations are allowed in either of the two strings, and the problem is to find an LCS after each edit. We present the first solution to this problem requiring sublinear time in n per edit operation. In particular, we show how to find an LCS after each edit operation in Õ(n2/3) time, after Õ(n)-time and space preprocessing. 1 This line of research has been recently initiated in a somewhat restricted dynamic variant by Amir et al. [SPIRE 2017]. More specifically, they presented an Õ(n)-sized data structure that returns an LCS of the two strings after a single edit operation (that is reverted afterwards) in Õ(1) time. At CPM 2018, three papers (Abedin et al., Funakoshi et al., and Urabe et al.) studied analogously restricted dynamic variants of problems on strings. We show that the techniques we develop can be applied to obtain fully dynamic algorithms for all of these variants. The only previously known sublinear-time dynamic algorithms for problems on strings were for maintaining a dynamic collection of strings for comparison queries and for pattern matching, with the most recent advances made by Gawrychowski et al. [SODA 2018] and by Clifford et al. [STACS 2018]. As an intermediate problem we consider computing the solution for a string with a given set of k edits, which leads us, in particular, to answering internal queries on a string. The input to such a query is specified by a substring (or substrings) of a given string. Data structures for answering internal string queries that were proposed by Kociumaka et al. [SODA 2015] and by Gagie et al. [CCCG 2013] are used, along with new ones, based on ingredients such as the suffix tree, heavy-path decomposition, orthogonal range queries, difference covers, and string periodicity. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Theory of computation → Pattern matching


All antenatal fetal heart-rates recorded over 15 months were examined for moderate basal bradycardia (100-120/min). There were 5,644 tests in 3,894 fetuses of which 104 (2.7%) demonstrated bradycardia. This study group was then compared with a randomly selected control group. Fetal outcome (measured by intra-uterine death, number of fetal movements, 5-minute Apgar score and birth weight for gestational age) was similar for the study and control groups. Moderate fetal bradycardia does not seem therefore to indicate fetal jeopardy and delivery for this reason per se is probably unjustified. To avoid unnecessary interference for fetal distress, the range of the normal heart rate should be extended and 100-120/min included as normal.


Neuroendocrine tumors (NET´s) are often characterized by overproduction of peptide hormones. In spite of pronounced clinical symptoms, the tumor lesions can be small and difficult to detect. The general aim of this thesis was to investigate, in vitro and in vivo, some of the potential monoamine pathways present in NET´s, using radiolabeled tracers for positron emission tomography (PET), with the intention to explore the value of PET-imaging in the management of NET´s. We used the 11C-labeled serotonin precursor 5-hydroxy tryptophan (HTP) as the tracer for imaging of NET´s. More than 95% of the subjects displayed a high tracer uptake on PET and tumor detection rate with PET was higher in >50% of the patients compared both to computed tomography (CT) and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS). The primary tumor was imaged by PET in 84% (16/19), compared to 47% and 42% for SRS and CT, respectively. Tumor visibility was better with PET due to a higher tumor-to-background ratio and a better spatial resolution. There was a strong correlation (r = .907) between changes in urinary-5-hydroxy indole acetic acid and changes in transport rate of 11C-5-HTP during treatment, indicating the use of PET in treatment monitoring of NET´s. Pretreatment with carbidopa decreased the urinary radioactivity concentration four-fold and significantly (p<0.001) increased the tumor tracer uptake. This greatly improved image interpretation and tumor lesion detection. A screening for expression of monoamine pathways in NET´s revealed a high in vitro binding of the monoamineoxidase-A ligand harmine to tumor sections. PET examinations with 11C-harmine could visualize tumors in all patients, including non-functioning endocrine pancreatic tumors (EPT´s). Finally, the in vitro turnover and in vivo distribution of the amino acids glutamate, glutamine and aspartate was investigated. Limited uptake in vivo indicates the lack of utility for these substances as PET-tracers for imaging and characterization of NET´s.


In "How Chiefs Became Kings", Patrick Vinton Kirch addresses a central problem in anthropological archaeology: the emergence of "archaic states" whose distinctive feature was divine kingship. Kirch takes as his focus the Hawaiian archipelago, commonly regarded as the archetype of a complex chiefdom. Integrating anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, traditional history, and theory, and drawing on significant contributions from his own four decades of research, Kirch argues that Hawaiian polities had become states before the time of Captain Cook's voyage (1778-1779). The status of most archaic states is inferred from the archaeological record. But Kirch shows that because Hawaii's kingdoms were established relatively recently, they could be observed and recorded by Cook and other European voyagers. Substantive and provocative, this book makes a major contribution to the literature of precontact Hawaii and illuminates Hawaii's importance in the global theory and literature about divine kingship, archaic states, and sociopolitical evolution.


This paper aims to document and reflect on experiments in the practice of the academic writing by engineering students. As a professor of a Federal University located in one of the areas with the lowest HDI of Minas Gerais Federal State, I usually receive students with a high deficit of writing skills, which becomes a barrier to success in their college life. In order to tackle this situation, I ended up using some text revision techniques performed by professionals in the area and the creation of a didactic methodology that I named "floor plan" so that we could ensure that students improve their writing skills in a short period of time. Also, I focus on text education based on academic formats that encourage self-autonomy. In conclusion, regarding didactics, I propose the notion of assisted revision where the student, endowed with a perception of inquiry towards his own writings, is able to resolve inherent problems within the three writing levels: mor- phology, syntax and semantics. This practice has been developed over the last two years with incoming students of Science and Technology of the Federal University of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys (UFVJM) and a private institution. Keywords: Academic writing production, assisted writing revision, text revision as an investigation, academic literacy.


A Total Cost Approach to Supply Chain Risk Modeling Brian Jeffery Saunders School of Technology Master of Science The modern supply chain is long, complex, interconnected and global, and plays a fundamental role in business competitiveness. These conditions, along with various supply chain management trends in recent years have increased risks in supply chains which threaten supply chain performance. Greater impact, especially on cost, from an increased threat of supply disruptions is one area of particular concern. Companies today are struggling to find effective means to manage this increased risk and avoid adverse financial impacts. An approach to managing supply disruption risk in supply chains based on the minimization of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of the supply chain is explored in this thesis. Insights are provided into an appropriate view of supply chain risk and a general four step risk management process to guide the design and evaluation of a new risk management tool based on such an approach. A prototype of the new total cost-based, modeling and simulation tool was created in partnership with ProModel Corporation and a government contractor that requested to remain anonymous. A preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of this tool in minimizing TCO and providing an interface useable by non-modelers is provided. This study also reviews and compares a sample set of current supply chain risk management methods and tools and compares them with the new tool for relevance in aiding users in managing supply disruption risk. Based on literature findings and preliminary feedback from pilot contextual demonstrations of the tool, the total cost approach to risk modeling appears promising, although the execution needs to be improved with further enhancements made to the prototype tool. In this preliminary study and evaluation, sufficient evidence is not available to determine that the new prototype tool is any more effective than other currently available risk management tools to provide necessary information to make supply chain risk management decisions that minimize TCO of a supply chain. Suggestions for further development of the tool, especially for improvement of the total cost approach, are provided as well as a preliminary evaluation procedure and survey instruments for a more robust evaluation of the new tool.


Abstract This study applied Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images from 2000 to 2010 to obtain and analyze the spatiotemporal variation of suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and discussed factors affecting it in Poyang Lake, China. Results showed that (1) the mean SSC was lower in the south, higher in the north, and moderate in the central lake region; (2) the mean SSC in the south was lower than or close to 20 mg/L, with no clear annual trend; (3) the mean SSC in the north was slightly higher than 20 mg/L in 2000 and increased from 2001, with the highest value >60 mg/L in 2006; (4) the mean SSC in the central lake region, except for 2009, ranged from 20 to 40 mg/L and had an annual pattern similar to that in the southern lake region; (5) for the entire lake, the mean SSC declined from January to March, increased from September to December, and fluctuated from April to August; and (6) several higher SSC values were found in the central or southern lake regions. The spatiotemporal variation of SSC was controlled by natural and human factors, in which dredging was dominant. Limiting the area of dredging and reducing dredging intensity would decrease SSC and maintain sustainable development of Poyang Lake. Remote sensing can obtain the spatiotemporal information of some water quality parameters, which will help managers understand the lake dynamics and mechanisms to make better decisions for lake management.


For energy independence to become a reality, whether through the more effective use of US natural resources such as natural gas or through the continued development of the hydrogen economy, efficient and reliable large-scale compressors are needed to enhance the existing pipeline infrastructure that moves energy storing gases from production sites to end user locations. Oil-free, non-contacting seal and bearing technologies are critical to the successful development of new high efficiency and power dense compressors. Similarly with increasing emphasis on energy conservation, power and propulsion gas turbine engines will require advanced low leakage seals and may take advantage of efficiencies offered by compliant foil gas bearings. When properly applied these oil-free, non contacting technologies will have a positive impact on the operating efficiency and life of compressor and gas turbine engine systems. The overall objective of this paper is to present recent advances in compliant foil bearings and seals that make them attractive for a wide array of systems. The paper documents the design approach that includes analytical trade off studies to establish overall requirements followed by an experimental program to demonstrate the ability of the identified foil technology to meet the machine requirements. A summary of advancements in foil bearing load carrying capacity, size scaling from 6 mm to 150 mm in diameter, the ability to operate under shock loads greater than 40 g as well as under steady side loads with two different gases and finally the ability to operate at temperatures greater than 750 C will be presented. Data will also be presented showing the application of foil bearings to several different machines. Similarly, results from design, fabrication and testing of compliant foil radial and axial face seals will be discussed. Data from axial face seals testing at differential pressures, surface velocities, and normal loads greater than 675 kPa, 350 m/s, and 1100 N respectively will be presented to demonstrate non-contacting performance. Results of subcomponent testing will also be presented to demonstrate the capability of the face seal to accommodate axial excursions of up to 3.8 mm. Compliant foil radial seal testing in sizes ranging from approximately 60 to 215 mm in diameter under differential pressures to 690 kPa and surface velocities to 340 m/s will be presented and compared to prediction. The culmination of the work presented supports the application of compliant foil bearings and seals in a wide array of advanced machinery.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Prehistoric depositional signatures for large-scale washover involving marine inundation events such as storm and tsunami have been the subject of considerable research over the last 15 years. Much of this research has focused on the identification of sand sheets in back-barrier environments as depositional records for extreme washover events. All these deposits must have a sediment source, and by their nature, the most likely source of sediment for washover into back-barrier environments is the barrier itself. This study identifies an erosional signature for large-scale washover from a small coastal barrier on the southeast Australian coast. A distinct lense of marine sand, up to 90 cm thick, is confined vertically by peat and is found in the upper fill of a closed freshwater back-barrier lagoon sequence. This sand lense is attributed to a large-scale washover event that occurred at approximately 1500 AD, possibly by tsunami. The hypothesis for this study was that any event that breached the dune system must have caused considerable geomorphic change to the dunes and hence may leave an erosional signature of the event. Ground penetrating radar transects of the system show an erosional contact between a series of truncated pre-event dunes and several small overlying post-event dunes. This study outlines a relatively simple non-invasive method for the identification of an erosional signature for prehistoric largescale washover by storm surge, exceptionally large waves or Tsunami.


From the point of view of public health and the environment, it can be argued that people who spontaneously walk great distances display a desirable behaviour, whereas those who drive a car without any walking in public space do not. A suggested metric can describe the relationship between these two behaviours within a conurbation, with a view to informing public policy. The Swiss transport and mobility micro-survey is based on a representative sample of the general population, who were asked about their mobility behaviour on a reference day. In 2010, the 62'868 surveyed persons walked on average 1.7 km. However, analysis of the data shows a shockingly skewed distribution. Fully 38% of survey respondees did not walk on the reference day (only trips > 25 metres outside buildings or premises were considered). Among these, around 11.5% (of the total sample) stayed at home, 22.5% drove a car or motorbike without any walking in public space, and a further 4% rode a bicycle without walking. At the other end of the spectrum, around 13% of the sample were found to walk over 5 km. For this segment, we have coined the expressions "great walkers" or "frequent walkers". We suggest the creation of a new metric, which is the proportion of people walking > 3 km on the reference day (thereby exceeding WHO guidelines), divided by the proportion of people driving a motorised vehicle without any walking in public space. Because these two groups exist in roughly equal proportions in Switzerland, the value of this metric is equal to 1 for the whole country. The metric is specific and time-bound (the survey is repeated every 5 years). It is relatively easy to calculate and the basic data are available. It deals away with the problem of defining a denominator since it is a ratio of two quantities which are investigated in the same way, on the same population. Especially, it can be seen at first glance whether frequent walkers are more prevalent than non-walking drivers (metric > 1) or the opposite (metric < 1). We therefore believe that it will be useful for planners and decision-makers. Preliminary analysis on the 50 conurbations in Switzerland shows that the new metric discriminates well between conurbations. The implications for policy are discussed, in the context of Switzerland which is a decentralised country where most walking-related policy is decided and rolled out at the level of cantons, communes and/or conurbations. The results are discussed in the light of two reviews of urban sustainable development indicators (Tanguay et al. 2010; Mori and Christodoulou 2012) which reveal a general lack of consensus as well as problems surrounding the accessibility of data on which to base the indicators. We suggest that the new metric describing frequent walkers/non-walking drivers be integrated into the leading urban sustainable development indicator systems, most of which, as yet, contain very little on walking.


Modern distributed applications are embedding an increasing degree of dynamism, from dynamic supply-chain management, enterprise federations, and virtual collaborations to dynamic resource acquisitions and service interactions across organizations. Such dynamism leads to new challenges in security and dependability. Collaborating services in a system with a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) may belong to different security realms but often need to be engaged dynamically at runtime. If their security realms do not have a direct cross-realm authentication relationship, it is technically difficult to enable any secure collaboration between the services. A potential solution to this would be to locate intermediate realms at runtime, which serve as an authentication path between the two separate realms. However, the process of generating an authentication path for two distributed services can be highly complicated. It could involve a large number of extra operations for credential conversion and require a long chain of invocations to intermediate services. In this paper, we address this problem by designing and implementing a new cross-realm authentication protocol for dynamic service interactions, based on the notion of service-oriented multiparty business sessions. Our protocol requires neither credential conversion nor establishment of any authentication path between the participating services in a business session. The correctness of the protocol is formally analyzed and proven, and an empirical study is performed using two production-quality Grid systems, Globus 4 and CROWN. The experimental results indicate that the proposed protocol and its implementation have a sound level of scalability and impose only a limited degree of performance overhead, which is for example comparable with those security-related overheads in Globus 4.


Abstract : On October 1, 1990, two months after Iraq's surprise invasion and annexation of Kuwait had put the United States and other members of the international community on a collision course with the Saddam Hussein regime, President George H.W. Bush spoke to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York. He described Iraq's brutal aggression against its neighbor as a throwback to another era, a dark relic from a dark time. Noting that Saddam Hussein had waged a genocidal poison gas war against Iraq's restive Kurdish minority during the 1980s, President Bush hinted that if it ultimately proved necessary to liberate Kuwait by force, the United States and its allies could face Iraqi attacks with chemical weapons highly toxic chemicals designed to incapacitate or kill. This looming threat made it all the more important to conclude the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), a multilateral treaty banning the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical arms. Both as Vice President under Ronald Reagan and as President himself, Bush had played a leading role in the negotiation of the CWC, and he was now determined to make it a reality. A year earlier, in September 1989, Bush had come to the UN General Assembly to present new U.S. proposals designed to speed the conclusion of the treaty. Now the possibility of war with Iraq gave additional urgency to this goal. The Gulf crisis, President Bush told the General Assembly, proves how important it is to act together, and to act now, to conclude an absolute, worldwide ban on these weapons. The CWC was the culmination of a 70-year effort to ban chemical arms, which are widely considered indiscriminate and inhumane.


Background Asthma attacks are a common and important problem. Someone experiences an asthma attack in the United Kingdom every 10 seconds. Asthma attacks cause coughing, wheezing, breathlessness, and chest tightness and are highly stressful for patients. They result in reduced quality of life, with days lost from work or school. Asthma attacks are treated with oral corticosteroids (OCSs), but these have many short- and long-term side effects. Asthma monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have revolutionized the treatment of severe asthma by reducing asthma attacks and OCS burden by over 50%, but some people still experience attacks while on mAbs. The MEX study showed that residual asthma attacks are broadly eosinophilic (high fractional exhaled nitric oxide [FeNO]) or noneosinophilic (low FeNO), but it did not measure response to OCS treatment. There is an evidence gap in understanding the clinical and inflammatory responses that occur when using OCSs to treat residual asthma attacks in patients taking asthma mAbs. Objective The primary objective is to compare the clinical recovery between high-FeNO and low-FeNO attacks after acute treatment with oral prednisolone among people established on long-term asthma mAb treatment. The exploratory objective is to compare the inflammatory response to acute treatment with oral prednisolone between high-FeNO and low-FeNO attacks. Methods BOOST (Breakthrough Asthma Attacks Treated With Oral Steroids) is a single-center, prospective observational study of 60 adults established on long-term asthma mAb treatment who receive acute treatment with oral prednisolone (usual care) for an asthma attack. The primary outcome will be the proportion of treatment failure (the need to start oral prednisolone or antibiotics or an unscheduled health care visit for asthma, following an attack) at day 28. The secondary outcomes will be the change in forced expiratory volume in 1 second and the change in visual analogue scale symptom score between the stable state, attack, day 7, and day 28 visits. The exploratory outcomes include the changes in sputum, nasal, and blood inflammometry between the stable state, attack, day 7, and day 28 visits. Results The last asthma attack visit is anticipated to occur in December 2023. Data analysis and publication will take place in 2024. Conclusions We will test the hypothesis that there is a difference in the rate of recovery of clinical and inflammatory measures between high-FeNO and low-FeNO asthma attacks that occur in patients on mAb therapy. The study data will help power a future randomized placebo-controlled trial of prednisolone treatment for nonsevere attacks in patients treated with asthma mAbs and will provide important information on whether corticosteroid treatment should be FeNO-directed. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/46741


The thesis focuses on different aspects of management and ecology of commercially important fish species in Lake Annecy: an oligotrophic lake situated in Rhone-Alpes region of France. The main objectives of the study were to evaluate the fisheries data, growth of whitefish and Arctic char in Lake Annecy, study the trophic interactions in food web and to propose a trophic model for the lake using Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) software using data collected mostly during the last 10 years from commercial and recreational fisheries monitoring. Fish monitoring data was found to be effective for management purpose. Growth of whitefish was found to be fluctuating during last 20 years. Food resources appeared to be partitioned among the Lake Annecy fish community during summer possibly limiting competitive interactions. The results from Lake Annecy trophic analysis including showed that fishery in Lake Annecy is sustainable at the present exploitation rate. Few conclusions were proposed for the fisheries management based on the results.


With the information age in full and rapid development, users are becoming accustomed to having immediate access to information. Users demand more capabilities from every kind of electronic device: more processing power, more features, and better connectivity. Users are also realizing the benefits of collaborating with others in their communities to help expand the body of knowledge. One user that understands the benefits of information sharing is the United States Department of Defense. The DoD's Network-Centric Enterprise Services initiative, along with the concept of pushing the "power to the edge," aims to enable end users with maximum situational awareness and the most comprehensive battlespace, all in a secure networking environment. Providing so much data and capabilities to the end user, however, will require an increase in communications capability and efficiency. To address increased capability needs, the DoD is continually developing and enhancing the global information grid (GIG) throughout its various "layers" of communication infrastructure. One such layer of infrastructure involves the use of cooperative low Earth orbiting satellites for efficient multicasting communications. In this article we review the network-centric concept and the GIG infrastructure. We then discuss the potential benefits to adding a low Earth orbit satellite communications infrastructure to the GIG model. Finally, we show how multicasting protocols can enhance the efficiency within the GIG and reduce some of the long-haul communications burdens


Targeted sanctions—often referred to as "smart sanctions"—began in large measure as a response to the UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 and 1991, after its invasion of Kuwait. By 1991 it was clear that the sanctions on Iraq, initially welcomed by antiwar activists as a peaceful alternative to military action, were different from any sanctions seen before. Combined with the destruction from the bombing campaign of the Gulf War, they were devastating to the Iraq economy and infrastructure, resulting in widespread malnutrition, epidemics of water-borne diseases, and the collapse of every system necessary to ensure human well-being in a modern society. As the sanctions seemed to have no end in sight, there was considerable "sanctions fatigue" within the United Nations, as well as a growing body of literature that questioned whether sanctions were effective at obtaining compliance by the target state, even when there was considerable impact on its economy. In the wake of these concerns, there were efforts in many venues to design sanctions that would not have the humanitarian impact of broad trade sanctions, and that would also be more effective by putting direct pressure on individual national policy-makers. These targeted sanctions included arms embargoes, financial sanctions on the assets of individuals and companies, travel restrictions on the leaders of a sanctioned state, and trade sanctions on particular goods. Many viewed targeted sanctions as an especially promising tool for foreign policy and international governance, and many still see targeted sanctions as a natural and obvious solution to a broad array of difficult situations. But there are considerable difficulties with each type of targeted sanction, with regard to implementation, humanitarian impact, and, in some cases, due process rights. Some of these difficulties may be resolved as these measures continue to be refined. Others are rooted in fundamental conflicts between competing interests or intractable logistical challenges.


In this work we describe a new approach using relative debugging to find differences in computation between a serial program and a parallel version of that program. We use a combination of re-execution and backtracking in order to find the first difference in computation that may ultimately lead to an incorrect value that the user has indicated. In our prototype implementation we use static analysis information from a parallelization tool in order to perform the backtracking as well as the mapping required between serial and parallel computations.


This paper addresses the problem of activity and event discovery in multi dimensional time series data by proposing a novel method for locating multi dimensional motifs in time series. While recent work has been done in finding single dimensional and multi dimensional motifs in time series, we address motifs in general case, where the elements of multi dimensional motifs have temporal, length, and frequency variations. The proposed method is validated by synthetic data, and empirical evaluation has been done on several wearable systems that are used by real subjects.


The High Average Power Laser (HAPL) program is focusing on the development of laser IFE power plants based on lasers, direct-drive targets and dry wall chambers. One key issue is the survival of the chamber wall under the ion threat spectra (representing ˜25% of the yield energy). The possibility of steering the ions away from the chamber to specially-designed dump chambers using magnetic intervention is being investigated. This brings up the intriguing possibility of utilizing a liquid wall to accommodate the ion fluxes in the dump chamber provided the right measures are taken to prevent the liquid from contaminating the main chamber. This paper covers the initial assessment of different magnetic configurations for a laser IFE chamber. Their key characteristics are described; results of the supporting design analyses are summarized; and the major findings and issues are highlighted.


The interaural time difference (ITD) between sounds at the two ears is an important cue in low-frequency sound localisation. Sensitivity to ITD is created in the medial superior olive (MSO), where neurons show an ITD-dependent response tuned to some preferred ITD. The traditional model of ITD sensitivity suggests that this best ITD arises from a difference in the length of projections from the two ears to the MSO. However, recent experiments in gerbil MSO instead indicate that glycinergic inhibitory mechanisms are responsible for establishing a neuron's best ITD. This study examined the role of mechanisms thought to underlie the establishment of the best ITD and their effects on shape of ITD tuning curves. The predictions of models of these mechanisms were then compared to responses to both pure-tone and broadband noise stimuli, recorded from binaural nuclei in the midbrain. Asymmetrical responses were observed, indicating some frequency-dependence in the mechanisms determining best delay. In addition, an envelope-sensitive component to the noise responses was observed at lower frequencies than previously reported. While the observed asymmetry was qualitatively consistent with the effect of carving inhibition, the traditional model of ITD sensitivity could not be distinguished from other mechanisms capable of introducing frequency-dependent delays. However, this study shows that mechanisms usually considered only to affect the best ITD, can have profound effects on ITD tuning curve shape. These effects can have a strong impact on the functional encoding of ITDs beyond the establishment of the best ITD.


Humans host complex microbial communities believed to contribute to health maintenance and, when in imbalance, to the development of diseases. Determining the microbial composition in patients and healthy controls may thus provide novel therapeutic targets. For this purpose, high-throughput, cost-effective methods for microbiota characterization are needed. We have employed 454-pyrosequencing of a hyper-variable region of the 16S rRNA gene in combination with sample-specific barcode sequences which enables parallel in-depth analysis of hundreds of samples with limited sample processing. In silico modeling demonstrated that the method correctly describes microbial communities down to phylotypes below the genus level. Here we applied the technique to analyze microbial communities in throat, stomach and fecal samples. Our results demonstrate the applicability of barcoded pyrosequencing as a high-throughput method for comparative microbial ecology.


America was born in revolution. Outraged at numerous abuses by the British crown — to include the conduct of British soldiers in the colonists' daily lives — Americans declared their independence, creating a new republic with deep suspicions of a standing army. These suspicions were intensely debated at the time of the nation's formation and enshrined in the Constitution. But congressional limitations on the role of the military in day-to-day affairs would have to wait. This did not occur until after the Civil War when Southern congressmen successfully co-opted the framers' earlier concerns of a standing army and passed a criminal statute — the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act (PCA) — that restricted the ability of the army to be used as a "posse comitatus" to "execute the laws." Today, the PCA's history and scope are often misunderstood with continual unintended consequences for today's modern military that are far removed from the law's earlier constitutional and statutory origins. This Article addresses a significant unintended consequence in the modern era: the PCA's peculiar modern application to the Navy. The text of the PCA is silent on the Navy, yet the Department of Defense (DoD) has determined that the PCA applies to the Navy worldwide. The early civil libertarian concerns that originated with the birth of the republic and at the time of the PCA's passage are based on concerns over a standing army. These are fundamentally distinguishable from the navy, the maritime-based armed force that largely operates on the high seas, far away from America's geographic borders and removed from its citizenry. And the Navy's modern mission includes the maintenance of freedom of the seas to include the suppression of piracy. But the DoD's application of the PCA to the Navy limits its ability to participate in the full array of maritime missions — of continual concern with the rise of maritime terrorism that continually blurs the line between law enforcement and military activities. Building on the Navy example, this Article concludes by offering recommendations to remedy this historical incongruity while touching upon other areas — such as the rise of the National Security Agency and the complex modern military organization — where the PCA and associated civil-military relationship need further re-examination.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: This study examines how the surgical team accomplishes surgical communication at the micro-analytic-level. It documents how verbal, behavioral, and robotic console movements serve to move forward, delay, disrupt, and/or repair communication and activities related to surgical procedures. This taxonomy allows us to identify specific sources, repairs, and outcomes for each communication breakdown, permitting quantitative comparison of breakdown types across team members and their roles, tasks, interaction modes. METHODS: 10 robot-assisted radical prostatectomies (35 hours of recordings) were transcribed and coded by a trained research assistant and 100 interaction exchanges were randomly selected for analysis. Topic-focused interactions were measured for structure, communication grounding, pragmatic function, interaction mode (e.g., voice, pointing), proximity, trouble sources breakdown level, and communication repair strategies. Outcome variables include the type, number, and duration of communication breakdowns. RESULTS: The number of speaking participants in a given surgery ranged from 2 - 13, with an average of 4.2 ( sd = 1.9). The 100 exchanges were comprised of 3840 utterances, whose frequency varied considerably across surgical roles (Table 1). The Surgeon produced most utterances (33%), meanwhile, others produced utterances which ranged between 10-15%. Questions were asked for 22% of all utterances, and repair-oriented questions occurred for 1/3 of all questions. The core surgical team (Surgeon, Assistant Surgeon, Bedside Assistant) produced most of the questions.The proportion of both overall and repair-oriented questions were distributed equally across participants (chi-square df=6 = 4.03 (p= 0.67)). CONCLUSIONS: The expression of communication problems in Robot-Assisted Surgery are not authority-based, but situation-based. Results from this study will have implications for the design of better surgical communication protocols and will impact training, technology design, and ultimately safety. Table. No title available. Source of Funding: Bisantz & Higginbotham (Co- PIs). Communication in Robotic Assisted Surgery: Detailed Analysis to understand communication success, repair, and the consequences of miscommunication. 2016 IMPACT research grant (University at Buffalo).


Glycogenosis type II (GSD II, Pompe disease) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease that results from a deficiency of acid α-glucosidase (GAA). Patients with this disorder are unable to break down lysosomal glycogen, which consequently accumulates in the lysosome, To evaluate enzyme replacement therapy for GSD II patients, we have expressed human GAA cDNA in Chinese hamster ovary-K1 cells utilising a vector that places the cDNA under the transcriptional control of the human polypeptide chain elongation factor 1α gene promoter. A clonal cell line that secreted precursor recomibinant GAA at approximately 18 mg · 1−1 day−1 was identified. The precursor recombinant GAA was purified to homogeneity, had a molecular mass of 110 kDa as measured by SDS/PAGE, and was shown to have pH optima and kinetic parameters similar to those of GAA purified from human tissues. The partial N-terminal amino acid sequence of recombinant GAA conformed to that derived from the nucleotide sequence of the cloned cDNA. The recombinant enzyme was taken up by cultured fibroblasts and skeletal muscle cells from GSD II patients, and was shown to correct the storage phenotype. Endocytosed GAA was localised to the lysosome and showed evidence of intracellular processing to a more mature form. Activity levels increased up to twice the normal value and uptake was prevented if cells were cultured in the presence of mannose 6-phosphate.


An S-restricted composition of a positive integer n is an ordered partition of n where each summand is drawn from a given subset S of positive integers. There are various problems regarding such compositions which have received attention in recent years. This paper is an attempt at finding a closed- form formula for the number of S-restricted compositions of n. To do so, we reduce the problem to finding solutions to corresponding so-called interpreters which are linear homogeneous recurrence relations with constant coefficients. Then, we reduce interpreters to Diophantine equations. Such equations are not in general solvable. Thus, we restrict our attention to those S-restricted composition problems whose interpreters have a small number of coefficients, thereby leading to solvable Diophantine equations. The formalism developed is then used to study the integer sequences related to some well-known cases of the S-restricted composition problem.


This papers reviews main topics concerning sub-national revenues (intergovernmental transfers and taxes) and discusses some policy options to develop own sub-national revenues. The review covers the political-legal framework and the fiscal outcomes, finding that: i) intergovernmental transfers policies have expanded over time, generating inequity problems, principally at the departmental level; ii) sub-national revenues depend mostly on intergovernmental transfers; this has generated high levels of vertical imbalances, mainly for department governments whose revenues rely mostly on the hydrocarbons sector; and iii) lack of adequate tax policies that promote fiscal effort and equity led to large horizontal imbalances in municipal per capita tax collection, unrelated to poverty or human development differences. In this regard, policy options were discussed to increase own sub-national revenues, taking into account political and social discussions, the economic, fiscal and legal base, and relevant tax principles. The main recommendations are: i) to promote in-kind contributions (materials and labour) at the municipal level, especially in poor rural municipalities; ii) to improve municipal tax administration supporting the continuation of the RUAT's work and improving the registry with the new census; and iii) to evaluate the possibility of redefining the RC-IVA as a personal income tax shared between the central government and the departments.


In 12 unrelated Italian cystic fibrosis (CF) families the frequencies of four DNA polymorphisms closely linked to the CF gene on chromosome 7 were quite similar to those reported for other population samples. Among the 23 affected children from the 12 families, only one recombinant occurred between the CF gene and the met locus, thus confirming the hypothesis of genetic homogeneity of CF previously suggested by the analysis of consanguineous marriages among 624 couples of CF parents. Chi-square test of association indicates a possible linkage disequilibrium between the CF gene and the DNA polymorphism that is most informative in our sample (pmetH TaqI).


A ROLE FOR LIPID RAFTS IN EGFR TKI RESISTANCE IN BREAST CANCER by MARY ELIZABETH IRWIN December 2010 Advisor: Julie Boerner, PhD Major: Pharmacology Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Breast cancer can be divided into genetic sub-types including luminal, HER2+, and basaltype. With the introduction of targeted therapies against estrogen receptor and HER2 receptor mortality rates of American women with breast cancer have declined. Unfortunately, basal-type breast cancers, which have the worst clinical outcome, do not express estrogen receptor or HER2, and as such, have no targeted therapeutic option. The epidermal growth factor receptor is an attractive target for therapeutics in basal-type breast cancer, as it is over-expressed in 60% of these cases. Also, over-expression of EGFR correlates with poor patient prognosis. Unfortunately, inhibitors of EGFR have shown little clinical efficacy in basal-type breast cancers. We have utilized basal-type breast cancer cell lines to determine a potential mechanism of resistance to EGFR-targeted small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Specifically, we have shown that EGFR localizes to discrete membrane microdomains (lipid rafts) in cell lines that are resistant to EGFR TKIinduced growth inhibition. Depletion of lipid rafts via cholesterol reduction results in sensitivity of EGFR TKI resistant breast cancer cell lines to the EGFR TKI gefitinib. 243 Importantly, the effects of cholesterol lowering drugs and EGFR TKI in combination were synergistic. We have shown that the non-receptor tyrosine kinase c-Src, which is co-overexpressed with EGFR in a subset of breast tumors, also localizes to lipid rafts in the SUM159 breast cancer cell line. In this model system, c-Src kinase inhibition results in synergistically decreased cell viability in combination with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition. c-Src kinase inhibition and cholesterol depletion are additive, results that suggest these two inhibitors work within the same pathway. Indeed, treatment with either cholesterol lowering drugs or c-Src kinase inhibitors results in decreased EGFR-kinase independent Akt phosphorylation. Thus, lipid rafts may provide a platform whereby EGFR and c-Src interact to promote Akt signaling in the absence of EGFR kinase activity. These results suggest, for the first time, that lipid rafts are involved in EGFR-kinase independent signaling, and that depletion of these rafts may work in combination with EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition to decrease breast cancer cell growth.


In this article, we describe a program that we developed at The Ohio State University's Department of Linguistics that is geared towards foreign language learners. The goal is to teach students about language rather than about linguistics. The program has been implemented as a freshman university course (Basics of Language for Language Learners), a summer institute for high school students interested in language (Summer Linguistics Institute for Youth Scholars), and an institute for high school teachers of foreign languages (Linguistics Institute for Language Teachers). The fundamental philosophy of the program is that we focus on describing how language works, not on linguistic theory, even though our theoretical perspectives guide the materials we use, how we talk about them, and what we think students should know. In this article, we outline the reasons for developing the program, its general content, details about the course and institutes, as well as some of the challenges associated with offering them.


Following the Apollo era the moon was considered a volatile poor body. Samples collected from the Apollo missions contained only ppm levels of water formed by the interaction of the solar wind with the lunar regolith. However more recent orbiter observations have indicated that water may exist as water ice in cold polar regions buried within craters at concentrations of a few wt. %. Infrared images from M3 on Chandrayaan-1 have been interpreted as showing the presence of hydrated surface minerals with the ongoing hydroxyl/water process feeding cold polar traps. This has been supported by observation of ephemeral features termed "space dew". Meanwhile laboratory studies indicate that water could be present in appreciable quantities in lunar rocks and could also have a cometary source. The presence of sufficient quantities of volatiles could provide a resource which would simplify logistics for long term lunar missions. The European Space Agency (ESA's Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations) have provisionally scheduled a robotic mission to demonstrate key technologies to enable later human exploration. Planned for launch in 2018, the primary aim is for precise automated landing, with hazard avoidance, in zones which are almost constantly illuminated (e.g. at the edge of the Shackleton crater at the lunar south pole). These regions would enable the solar powered Lander to survive for long periods > 6 months, but require accurate navigation to within 200m. Although landing in an illuminated area, these regions are close to permanently shadowed volatile rich regions and the analysis of volatiles is a major science objective of the mission. The straw man payload includes provision for a Lunar Volatile and Resources Analysis Package (LVRAP). The authors have been commissioned by ESA to conduct an evaluation of possible technologies to be included in L-VRAP which can be included within the Lander payload. Scientific aims are to demonstrate the extraction of volatiles and determine the volatile inventory of the moon with a view for future In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Surface samples will be collected by a robotic arm with the possibility of a rover to collect more distant samples. The concentration, chemical and accurate isotopic ratios (D/H, 12 C/ 13 C, 15 N/ 14 N, 18 O/ 16 O and noble gases) of liberated volatiles will be determined, possibly using similar technology to the Philae comet lander of the Rosetta mission. An additional aim is the monitoring of the chemical and isotopic composition of the tenuous lunar atmosphere which will become contaminated by active human exploration. The lunar atmosphere will provide information on the processes involved in forming lunar volatiles and their concentration mechanisms. Modelling the effects of contamination from the Lander is an essential part of this study so that these can be recognized and minimized.


While assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have had an enormous impact on the breeding and understanding of reproduction in domestic and laboratory species as well as humans, progress is poor in many companion animals, non-domestic and endangered species (CANDES). The first draft program for this meeting was composed in April 2006 when members of the CANDES Parent Committee of the IETS (www.omahazoo.com/IETS/CANDEShomepage.htm) coined the idea of holding workshops to inform IETS members of realistic expectations when extrapolating ART from livestock and humans to CANDES. As co-chairs of the Research and Technology subcommittees, we and our colleagues, Rebecca Krisher and Monique Paris, are proud to deliver the first of these workshops entitled "Implementation of Artificial Insemination in CANDES".


Background Pharmacological interventions alone do not provide sufficient benefit for some individuals with bipolar disorder. Aims To determine the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions for the prevention of relapse in bipolar disorder. Method A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials were conducted. Results Cognitive-behavioural therapy or group psychoeducation may be effective for relapse prevention in stable individuals. Family therapy was no more or less effective than individual psychosocial therapy or crisis management. There is no evidence that care management or integrated group therapy is effective in the prevention of relapse. Conclusions Cognitive-behavioural therapy, group psychoeducation and possibly family therapy may be beneficial as adjuncts to pharmacological maintenance treatments.


Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, edited by Dinah I. Shelton. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. 3 vols., 1458 pp. $395.00. Responding but not limited to the near-successful state-authorized murder of European Jewry during World War II, professor and lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined and defined the term genocide as actions of deconstruction and elimination directed against individuals who are members of a national entity: "Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aimed at the destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be a disintegration of political and social institutions-of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups."1 Lemkin's study influenced the original draft of the United Nations 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Various aspects of the Draft's definitions of physical genocide, biological genocide, and cultural genocide are the glue that unite the multiple entries in this informative reference work geared to a general readership. Armenian genocide, apartheid in South Africa, the killing fields of the Communist Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, killing of Kurds in Iraq, genocidal activities in Rwanda and Sudan, persecution in the name of religion in Northern Ireland, in India, in Pakistan, in Malaysia and Indonesia, terrorism in Israel and reciprocal bombardment, the attack on America on September 11, 2001 and its consequences, race matters in the United States-the late twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first century are a minefield of ethnic and nationalistic conflict. Invariably, the world of one humanity is threatened by economic competition, political unrest, and social divisiveness. But the fact that man's distrust of man prevails at the end of the century of Shoah and genocide and in the beginning of the century of global terrorism requires examination. Are ordinary and extraordinary acts of "dislike of the unlike," individual and group, products of chance or fated by a predetermined goal? How to explain the ideologies of nationalism, tribalism, and racism in perpetuating a world-wide cycle of pain? Are premeditated crimes against humanity without end? If yes, what apparatus and measures are there to prevent the seemingly endless slaughter of innocents? This set of volumes, ably edited by Dinah L. Shelton (George Washington University Law School) and her editorial board, are an attempt to explain and inform about the what, when, where, who, and why of genocide. …


Although lacking an express mandate, since Federation courts have declared legislation ultra vires if they find it contrary to the Australian Constitution. This article undertakes an historical examination in four parts, to determine whether this judicial review of legislation is legitimate. First, objections to the institution are identified. Second, the justifications for judicial review of legislation developed in the United States, and expressed in the seminal 1803 decision of Marbury v Madison, are examined. Having identified the twin justifications as the supremacy of the Constitution and the primacy of the judiciary in its interpretation, the third section analyses Australian Federation records to see if these justifications are supported, and whether they rebut the objections raised. Finally, the persistence of these justifications after Federation is demonstrated. It is concluded that evidence of the supremacy of the Constitution, and the primacy of the judiciary in its interpretation, is sufficient to justify judicial review of legislation under the Australian Constitution.


We present a novel technique to fabricate conformal and pliable substrates for microwave applications including systems-on-package. The produced materials are fabricated by combining ceramic powders with polymers to generate a high-contrast substrate that is concurrently pliable (bendable). Several such polymer-ceramic substrates are fabricated and used to examine the performance of a patch antenna and a coupled line filter. This paper presents the substrate mixing method while measurements are given to evaluate the loss performance of the substrates. Overall, the fabricated composites lead to flexible substrates with a permittivity of up to epsivr=20 and sufficiently low loss


Abstract. Cities are facing important challenges due to population growth and massive development of high-rises and complex structures above and below the ground surface. In that respect, having an efficient land-use regulation framework in force is necessary for cities. In investigating current practices for processing spatial data when issuing building permits, in many cases, the planned building is drawn on 2D plans with cross-sections to represent their 3D dimensions. In complex multilevel developments, this method has significant shortcomings like the requirement of managing numerous plans and sections, and uncertainty in decisions more specifically when checking land-use regulations comprising 3D components (e.g. height limits, overhanging objects, solar rights). In order to support issuing a building permit and moving towards the establishment of 3D smart cities, this paper presents an inventory for land-use regulations with 3D components and functional classification of their possible conflicts. Two functional classifications of possible conflicts in a building permit process from two points of view (i.e. data integration process, and magnitude of land-use regulation conflicts) are proposed. These results are placed in the context of having 3D city models that integrate land-use regulation information.


Despite the prominence of multi-touch technologies, there has been little work investigating its integration into the desktop environment. Bringing multi-touch into desktop computing would give users an additional input channel to leverage, enriching the current interaction paradigm dominated by a mouse and keyboard. We provide two main contributions in this domain. First, we describe the results from a study we performed, which systematically evaluates the various potential regions within the traditional desktop configuration that could become multi-touch enabled. The study sheds light on good or bad regions for multi-touch, and also the type of input most appropriate for each of these regions. Second, guided by the results from our study, we explore the design space of multi-touch-integrated desktop experiences. A set of new interaction techniques are coherently integrated into a desktop prototype, called Magic Desk, demonstrating potential uses for multi-touch enabled desktop configurations.


A Longitudinal Study of the Outcomes from Participation in Wilderness Adventure Education Programs Jason Phillip Cummings The results from this study suggest that participants of wilderness adventure education programs offered by Outward Bound and the National Outdoor Leadership School felt challenged by many of the experiences from their programs. Interactions with their group helped in dealing with the challenges presented by the experience. The development of hard skills gave participants a confidence in their abilities to survive and feel safe in these wilderness environments, which allowed them to relax and enjoy the experience, develop new perspectives, become motivated and inspired, and develop a sense of independence. Participants developed a sense of growth and maturity from their experiences, which upon reflection led to a sense of accomplishment. This sense of accomplishment led to transference of program benefits and values into participants' lives, particularly in greater self-respect/esteem/confidence. The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the outcomes that individuals experienced from wilderness adventure programs and the effects they had on participants' lives. Means-end theory was used to understand the outcomes, more specifically attributes, consequences, and values, and their connections to each other. This study was longitudinal in nature and a comparison between the original data collection and follow-up interviews was done to investigate reported change in values over time. The results from this study show that the outcomes from participation in the Outward Bound and NOLS programs were transferring into participant's lives and leaving a lasting impression.


A 112 square kilometer research watershed was instrumented to study basic hydrologic processes in the mountainous areas of the Northeastern United States. Within this area the rainfall-runoff relationships are characterized by fast response but relatively low volumes of runoff. There is very little evidence of surface runoff and the partial-area hydrology concept appears to describe the runoff process. A partial area storm runoff process has been described and experimentally verified for an extremely small area in this watershed. This process attributes storm runoff to channel and near channel areas where surface runoff is generated because the groundwater or perched water table has intersected the surface and there is no resulting infiltration. Storm data for nine watersheds have been analyzed and the results demonstrate that the partial area concept can be generalized to large areas. Other data relating to the general hydrology and water balance of this watershed are also described.


Research gap & Purpose of study: There is lack of research on women's experience and gender inequalities in South Asian countries where gender issues are discussed less extensively. To fill this research gap, this study aims to explore gendering of work practices and identify how women workers make sense of these practices in the Pakistani banking sector. Methodology: The study is embedded in social constructionist paradigm and adopts a multiple case study research design. The research field work comprised of 49 semi-structured interviews, 6-8 weeks of observation in each bank and organisational documents. Data collected from four case studies was analysed using both thematic and discourse analyses. Key findings: · The institutional norms as well as gendered organisational culture, shape the gender sub-texts of the working practices in Pakistani banking sector. · The interrelation between gender, working practices and institutional and local cultural norms creates a paradox for Pakistani bankers, and shapes the process of identity work. While the individual and organisational level factors contribute towards framing the ways women make sense of themselves and their work, the institution of family and socio-economic class have a dominant influence. · The configuration of gender practices are constructed differently in a wider cultural context as well as in different organisational cultural-contexts. Theoretical Contributions: Theoretically, the study has contributed to performativity theory and Islamic feminism. Originality of the study: The uniqueness of study lies in recognising the significance of 'institutions' and 'context' in understanding the complexities of gender inequalities in a workplace. Implications for practice: The study recommends policy makers to focus on changing the underlying organisational culture and informal work practices which obscure gender inequalities under the cloak of equality legislations. Limitations: The study has only addressed women's experience from the Pakistan's banking sector and overlooked the heterogeneity in women's work experiences regarding occupation, ethnicity and geographical location.


A solution for the equation of torsional vibration of tapered beams has been found in terms of Bessel functions for beams satisfying the following conditions: (a) the cross sections along the span are similar in shape; and (b) the torsional stiffness of a section can be expressed as a power of a linear function of distance along the span. The method of applying the analysis to actual cases has been described. Charts are given from which numerical values can be immediately obtained for most cases of practical importance. The theoretical values of the frequency ratio have been experimentally checked on five beams having different amounts of taper.


Background. periods of voluntary abstinence from food, such as intermittent fasting, has been practiced since earliest antiquity by people around the globe. The benefits of restricting energy intake severely for two days a week while eating normally the rest of week has been popularised. However, the evidence for the health benefits of fasting in humans is often extrapolated from animal studies, based on observational data on religious fasting, or derived from experimental studies. Furthermore, periods of prolonged daily fasting may be especially beneficial to improving sensitivity to insulin. However, whether the reduced water consumption and physical activity during ramadan may mitigate these health is less well studied. Therefore, This study tested the hypothesis that prolonged daily fasting, for greater than 12 h in a 24 h cycle, without calorie restriction, reduces hyperinsulinaemia even in the absence of weight loss.Methods. All participants were non-Caucasians males. The study consisted of three phases: phase1:2 visit in the 10 days prior to the start of ramadan, phase 2:3 visits (1 per week) during the 30 days of ramadan and phase 3:1 vist one month after ramadan, when normal patterns of eating and exercising had been resumed. At each study day subjects attended twice, once in the morning (between 08:30 and 10 AM) and once in the afternoon (between 2.00 to 4.30 PM). All subjects completed a questionnair detailing age, smoking habits, medical history, sleeping patterns, dietary intake and training schedule. The studies were approved by National research Ethics Committee and written informed consent was obtained for all participants. 10 subjects completed the study.Weight (Kg) and body composition was measured by electrical bio-impedance (Tanita MC-980 MA) with light cloths at each AM visit. Height (m) was measured on the first visit and BMI was calculated by using formula body weight (kilometres) divided by height (meters) squared. All the participants remained seated for 10 minutes prior to determination of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate using an automatic digital blood pressure monitor from the non-dominate arm and mean atrial BP (MAP). blood samples were drawn at all occasions through the ante cubical vein into tubes containing no anti-coagulant or EDTA, separated and stored until analysis. Plasma glucose (mmol/L), serum triglycerides (mmol/L), high density lipoprotein cholestrol (mmol/L), total and direct bilirubin (umol/L), Alanine transaminase (U/L), Aspartate aminotransferase (U/L), urea (mmol/L), uric acid (umol/L), and creatinine (umol/L) concentrations were determined on a chemistry analyser. Insulin (mU/L) concentrations were determined by ELISA. Results are experssed as mean and standard deviattion for normally distributed data and median and iterquartile ranges for skewed data. Significance was defined as P < 0.05.Results. There was significant reduction in body weight during the 2nd and 3rd weeks of ramadan. This weight loss was not sustained in the period immediately following the fasting months as all weight loss was regaind. Body mass index followed the same pattern as body weight. Body fat, both % and mass, decreased soon after the start of fasting (within 2 - 3 days) and was sustaind through the three ramadan testing phases. However, like body weight this loss in body fat was regained in the period immediately after normal eating patterns were resumed.There were no significant changes in muscle mass or body water as a consequence of fasting during Ramadan.There were no significant changes in blood pressure, pulse or basal metabolice rate throughout the entire study.Please (see Table 1) for details.Of note is that all participants were hyperinsulinaemic through the periods of testing prior to and after the cessation of the fasting month. However, during the fasting period insulin levels were significatly reduced. Similar trends were also apparent for alanine transaminase and triglycerides (see Table 2). No changes were seen for all other measured variables. All subjects remained euglycaemic and normotentive.Conclusions. This study shows, for the first time that, prolonged periods of fasting during the day, even without reducing overall daily calorie intake, favours loss of body fat, while preserving muscle mass. This was accompanied by significant improvement in systemic hyperinsulinaemia and indices of liver function.


Despite all our highly publicized efforts to improve our schools, the United States is still falling behind. We recently ranked 15th in the world in reading, math, and science. Clearly, more needs to be done. In The Learning Brain, Torkel Klingberg urges us to use the insights of neuroscience to improve the education of our children. The key to improving education lies in understanding how the brain works: that is where learning takes place, after all. The book focuses in particular on "working memory"--our ability to concentrate and to keep relevant information in our head while ignoring distractions (a topic the author covered in The Overflowing Brain). Research shows enormous variation in working memory among children, with some ten-year-olds performing at the level of a fourteen-year old, others at that of a six-year old. More important, children with high working memory have better math and reading skills, while children with poor working memory consistently underperform. Interestingly, teachers tend to perceive children with poor working memory as dreamy or unfocused, not recognizing that these children have a memory problem. But what can we do for these children? For one, we can train working memory. The Learning Brain provides a variety of different techniques and scientific insights that may just teach us how to improve our children's working memory. Klingberg also discusses how stress can impair working memory (skydivers tested just before a jump showed a 30% drop in working memory) and how aerobic exercise can actually modify the brain's nerve cells and improve classroom performance. Torkel Klingberg is one of the world's leading cognitive neuroscientists, but in this book he wears his erudition lightly, writing with simplicity and good humor as he shows us how to give our children the best chance to learn and grow.


Chapter 1 Summary:

It is assumed that all students reading this material have had some course (e.g., the traditional semester of a junior-level physical chemistry course) presenting the basic elements of quantum mechanics with some treatment of the hydrogen atom, the harmonic oscillator, and angular momentum. This course will concentrate on the explanation of the structure and reactivity of molecules using quantum mechanical ideas. The explanations will stress qualitative and semi-quantitative considerations with the emphasis on developing principles (based on quantum mechanics) that can be used to make reliable predictions on new systems (rather than merely rationalize known results).

Chapter 1 is a review of materals that all students should have had previously, but with an emphasis on those points that will be important later in the course.

The basic principles of quantum mechanics are summarized in § 1.1. A key idea here is that in, the classical description of an atom, the electron would collapse into the nucleus. The critical difference with the quantum description is that the kinetic energy is proportional to the average value of the square of the gradient of the wavefunction, [equation]. Consequently, for an electron sitting on the nucleus, the kinetic energy is infinite (since Vp is infinite). This forces the electron to remain distributed over a finite region surrounding the nucleus and prevents the collapse of the electron into the nucleus. Thus the quantum deschption is essential for stability of atoms. We will find in later chapters that modifications in the khetic energy (due to superposition of orbitals) also plays the key role in the formation of chemical bonds.

Throughout ths course we will be searching for qualitative ideas concerning the sizes and shapes of wavefunctions and for simple ways of predicting the energy ordering of the states of a system. A useful concept here is the nodal theorem described in §1.3. Basically, this theorem tells us that the ground state of a system is everywhere positive [no nodal planes (zeros) interior to the boundaries of the system].

Chapter 2 Summary:

In this chapter we consider the two states of H2+ [equation] [equation] (the LCAO wavefunctions) arising from bringing a proton up to the ground state of hydrogen, and we consider the two states of H2 [equation] [equation] (the VB wavefunctions) arising from bringing together two hydrogen atoms each in the ground state. As expected from the nodal theorem, the g state (symmetric) is the ground state for both systems. Indeed, in each case we And that the g state leads to bonding, while the u state leads to a repulsive potential curve. The g state of H2+ leads to an increase of the electron density in the bond region; however (contrary to popular belief), this leads to an increase in the electrostatic interactions, thus opposing bond formation. A bond is formed because of a very large decrease in the kinetic energy due to the molecular orbital having a significantly decreased gradient in the bond region. The bonding of the g state of H2 arises from the same term (modified by an additional overlap factor due to the second electron).

The potential curves for both states of both molecules are dominated by exchange terms of the form [equation] [equation] for H2+ and [equation] [equation] for H2, where S is the overlap of the atomic orbitals. The quantity [tau] is the quantitative manifestation of the decreased kinetic energy (and increased potential energy) arising from interference of the [Chi][sub]t and [Chi][sub]r orbitals. It has the form [equation] for large R. Thus, at large R the bonding of H2+ is proportional to S, while the bonding of H2 is proportional to S^2. Consequently, for large R the bond energy of H2+ exceeds that of H2. For small R, where S~1, the bond energy of H2 is approximately twice that of H2+. The u states are far more repulsive than the g states are attractive (due to the 1 ± S and 1 ± S^2 terms in the denominators of [symbol] and [symbol]).

We also examine the molecular orbital (MO) wavefunction for H2 [equation] which provides a simple description of the ground and excited states for small R. For large distances, the ionic terms implicit in the MO wavefunction lead to an improper description.

The energy [epsilon][sub]0, of any approximate wavefunction [phi][sub]0, is an upper bound on the exact energy of the ground state E[sub]0, [equation] leading to the variational condition: If an approximate wavefunction (and hence the energy) is a function of some parameter [lamda], then the optimum wavefunction satisfies the (necessary) condition [equation]. Expanding the unknown wavefunction [phi] in terms of a basis [equation] and applying the variational condition leads to a set of matrix equations, HC = ESC
for obtaining the optimum coefficients (i.e., wavefunction).

More exact wavefunctions of H2+ are considered in §3.2, but in §3.3 we find that the description of bonding in terms of exchange energies is retained.

In §3.5 we present an overview of three useful methods for wavefunctions:
(a) The Hartree Fock (HF) method is a generalization of the MO wavefunction in which the wavefunction (ground state of a two-electron system) is taken as [equation] and the orbitals [phi] optimized by solving the differential equation [equation] or the matrix equation [equation]. These equations are nonlinear and must be solved iteratively.
(b) The generalized valence bond (GVB) method is a generalization of the VB method with the wavefunction taken of the form [equation] and the orbitals [phi][sub]a and [phi][sub]b optimized. This leads to two matrix equations [equation] [equation] analogous to the HF equations (3.5-18) and to two differential equations analogous to (3.5-20).
(c) The configuration interaction (CI) method with the wavefunction taken of the form [equation]. For the ground state this wavefunction can always be written in terms of natural orbitals [equation] as [equation].

In §3.5.5 we find that the ground state of any two electron system is nodeless and symmetric [equation].

In §3.6 and §3.7 we find that the HF wavefunction accounts for all but about 1.1 eV of the energy for He and H2 and that a CI wavefunction with five NO'S accounts for all but about 0.15 eV. The four correlating NO'S for this wavefunction all involve one nodal plane.

All these methods involve expansions in terms of basis sets. For He it is possible to obtain highly accurate HF and GVB wavefunctions with only two (s-like) basis functions [the double valence (DV) basis] and for H, similar quality wavefunctions can be obtained with six basis functions (two s and one p on each center), [the DVP or double valence plus polarization basis].


Most empirical work in vocal expression of emotion has emphasized prosodic components of speech produced by actors. In the present study, spectral properties of speech samples that were produced during naturally occurring emotional states were examined. Twenty subjects viewed 24 slides selected from the International Affective Picture System. Elicited emotional responses ranged from strongly negative to strongly positive. During the presentation of each slide, subjects provided a free‐form description of the feelings and thoughts evoked by the picture, preceded by the stock phrase ''This test picture....'' Subjects concluded each narrative with the prompt ''Next test picture.'' Analyses of the spectral properties of individual phonemes, drawn from the second stock phrase, showed statistically significant interaction effects involving slide valence and subject emotional intensity. Representations in the frequency space formed by F1 and F2, as well as the space formed by F0 and F2, were related to both current emotional state and to the intensity with which subjects typically experience emotional responses. The obtained effects were of sufficient magnitude to be perceptible, and indicate that an emotion experienced during vowel production can affect the same acoustic cues widely held to be used in a listener's phonemic processing. [Work supported by NIMH.]


Adequate country capacity is a key consideration in global efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Organization for Economic Co – operation and Development (OECD) has pointed out that even if there were greater financial resources for capacity development in many developing countries, it is still likely to fail. Capacity development has also moved beyond the individual level in terms of knowledge and skills to a focus on the quality of leadership and management of the public institution and organization. However, irrespective of the governmental structure, it is a given that local governments globally play a critical role in local governance by promoting local development and ultimately the MDGs. However, the level of public governance in many countries is still too weak to make a significant impact in terms of accelerating the pace to reach the MDGs. This paper will critically review the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Region with a particular emphasis on the local sphere of government. There are currently twelve countries in the SADC Region; however, this study will focus on a representative sample of countries, notably South Africa, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The countries chosen vary in size, physical attributes and political dynamics and more importantly in terms of levels of development. Adequate capacity is one of the critical missing factors in current interventions to attain the MDGs and other national development goals.


The global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education systems across the world has led to major and rapid changes in the provision of higher and medical education, with increasing delivery of the curriculum by online approaches. A recent synthesis of the global responses by universities to the COVID-19 pandemic noted that the majority of universities were using online learning, but with differences between countries in the rapidity and extent of the shift.1 These differences were attributed to the available resources, which included the previous experience of using online learning and the availability of technology. However, the authors also noted that there were similar differences within countries and they highlighted that the current and urgent challenge for all universities was to ensure that the educational potential of online learning was optimised in each university. This is an important message that is also highly relevant to all medical education providers, from basic (undergraduate) to postgraduate and continuing. The editorial highlights the importance of iteratively designing online learning to ensure that the development, delivery and implementation of online learning are optimised to a specific local context. In addition, the editorial discusses the importance of medical educators sharing their approaches in designing online learning.