Flocks of starlings exhibit a remarkable ability to maintain cohesion as a group in highly uncertain environments and with limited, noisy information. Recent work demonstrated that individual starlings within large ocks respond to a xed number of nearest neighbors, but until now it was not understood why this number is seven. We analyze robustness to uncertainty of consensus in empirical data from multiple starling ocks and show that the ock interaction networks with six or seven neighbors optimize the trade-o between group cohesion and individual eort. We can distinguish these numbers of neighbors from fewer or greater numbers using our systems-theoretic approach to measuring robustness of interaction networks as a function of the network structure, i.e., who is sensing whom. The metric quanties the disagreement within the network due to disturbances and noise during consensus behavior and can be evaluated over a parameterized family of hypothesized sensing strategies (here the parameter is number of neighbors). We use this approach to further show that for the range of ocks studied the optimal number of neighbors does not depend on the number of birds within a ock; rather, it depends on the shape, notably the thickness, of the ock. The results suggest that robustness to uncertainty may have been a factor in the evolution of ocking for starlings. More generally, our results elucidate the role of the interaction network on uncertainty management in collective behavior, and motivate the application of our approach to other biological networks.


LeuO is a LysR-type transcriptional regulator that is conserved among many gram negative enteric pathogens. LeuO is a bifunctional regulator that is capable of both repression and activation of gene targets. The function of LeuO has been characterized in several members of the Enterobacteriaceae where it has been found to be a global regulator of diverse phenotypes, often by functioning as an H-NS antagonist. In this work we sought to characterize LeuO in Vibrio cholerae. RNA sequencing was used to identify LeuO regulated genes, many of which appeared to be involved in environmental adaptation. Interestingly, our results suggested that LeuO did not function as an H-NS antagonist in V. cholerae, but appeared to function redundantly with H-NS at many H-NS regulated promoters. In subsequent experiments, genetic approaches were used to confirm the RNA sequencing studies and to define the function of LeuO in V. cholerae adaptive responses. We found that LeuO was part of a complex regulatory cascade in which the one-component virulence regulator ToxR directly activated leuO expression in response to environmental cues. LeuO then went on to directly regulate genes that contributed to bile resistance, acid tolerance, and cationic antimicrobial peptide resistance. Our collective results suggest a model whereby LeuO contributes to temporal and spatial regulation of adaptive responses during V. cholerae passage through the host gastrointestinal tract.


One of the major challenges of modern biology and medicine consists in finding means to visualize biomolecules in their natural environment with the greatest level of accuracy, so as to gain insight into their properties and behaviour in a physiological and pathological setting. This has been achieved thanks to the design of novel imaging agents, in particular to fluorescent biosensors. Fluorescence Biosensors comprise a large set of tools which are useful for fundamental purposes as well as for applications in biomedicine, drug discovery and biotechnology. These tools have been designed and engineered thanks to the combined efforts of chemists and biologists over the last decade, and developed hand in hand together with imaging technologies. This volume will convey the many exciting developments the field of fluorescent biosensors and reporters has witnessed over the recent years, from concepts to applications, including chapters on the chemistry of fluorescent probes, on technologies for monitoring protein/protein interactions and technologies for imaging biosensors in cultured cells and in vivo. Other chapters are devoted to specific examples of genetically-encoded reporters, or to protein and peptide biosensors, together with examples illustrating their application to cellular and in vivo imaging, biomedical applications, drug discovery and high throughput screening. * Contributions from leading authorities* Informs and updates on all the latest developments in the field


Nucleos is a web server for the identification of nucleotide-binding sites in protein structures. Nucleos compares the structure of a query protein against a set of known template 3D binding sites representing nucleotide modules, namely the nucleobase, carbohydrate and phosphate. Structural features, clustering and conservation are used to filter and score the predictions. The predicted nucleotide modules are then joined to build whole nucleotide-binding sites, which are ranked by their score. The server takes as input either the PDB code of the query protein structure or a user-submitted structure in PDB format. The output of Nucleos is composed of ranked lists of predicted nucleotide-binding sites divided by nucleotide type (e.g. ATP-like). For each ranked prediction, Nucleos provides detailed information about the score, the template structure and the structural match for each nucleotide module composing the nucleotide-binding site. The predictions on the query structure and the template-binding sites can be viewed directly on the web through a graphical applet. In 98% of the cases, the modules composing correct predictions belong to proteins with no homology relationship between each other, meaning that the identification of brand-new nucleotide-binding sites is possible using information from non-homologous proteins. Nucleos is available at http://nucleos.bio.uniroma2.it/nucleos/.


Down in the jungle where nobody goes, there is something very exciting going on! If you are very quiet, you will see lots of very busy animals. But what they are getting ready for? Find out by peering through the die-cut holes on each page. Then join in the party spirit by singing along with this well-loved song, and imitating the animals' actions as you do! All children love this traditional rhyme and singing along will help to develop number skills. Bouncy illustrations, innovative die cutting and popular rhymes make Books with Holes a must for every child. Available in three formats, suitable for babies, toddlers, pre-schoolers and the nursery or classroom.


Pancreatic beta cell lines may offer an abundant source of cells for beta-cell replacement in type I diabetes. Using regulatory elements of the bacterial tetracycline (tet) operon for conditional expression of SV40 T antigen oncoprotein in transgenic mouse beta cells, we have shown that reversible immortalization is an efficient approach for regulated beta-cell expansion, accompanied by enhanced cell differentiation upon growth arrest. The original system employed the tet-off approach, in which the cells proliferate in the absence of tet ligands and undergo growth arrest in their presence. The disadvantage of this system is the need for continuous treatment with the ligand in vivo for maintaining growth arrest. Here we utilized the tet-on regulatory system to generate beta cell lines in which proliferation is regulated in reverse: these cells divide in the presence of tet ligands, and undergo growth arrest in their absence, as judged by [3H]thymidine and BrdU incorporation assays. These cell lines were derived from insulinomas, which heritably developed in transgenic mice continuously treated with the tet derivative doxycycline (dox). The cells produce and secrete high amounts of insulin, and can restore and maintain euglycemia in syngeneic streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice in the absence of dox. Such a system is more suitable for transplantation, compared with cells regulated by the tet-off approach, because ligand treatment is limited to cell expansion in culture and is not required for long-term maintenance of growth arrest in vivo.


Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses a substantial threat to human health worldwide and evolves rapidly by acquiring mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids. Here we investigate how the copB-mco copper hypertolerance operon carried on a mobile genetic element contributes to the virulence potential of clinical isolates of MRSA. Copper is a key component of innate immune bactericidal defenses. Here we show that copper hypertolerance genes enhance the survival of S. aureus inside primed macrophages and in whole human blood. The copB and mco genes are carried by clinical isolates responsible for invasive infections across Europe, and more broadly among three successful clonal lineages of S. aureus. Our findings show that a gain of copper hypertolerance genes increases the resistance of MRSA to phagocytic killing by host immune cells and imply that acquisition of this mobile genetic element can contribute to the success of MRSA. ABSTRACT Pathogens are exposed to toxic levels of copper during infection, and copper tolerance may be a general virulence mechanism used by bacteria to resist host defenses. In support of this, inactivation of copper exporter genes has been found to reduce the virulence of bacterial pathogens in vivo. Here we investigate the role of copper hypertolerance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We show that a copper hypertolerance operon (copB-mco), carried on a mobile genetic element (MGE), is prevalent in a collection of invasive S. aureus strains and more widely among clonal complex 22, 30, and 398 strains. The copB and mco genes encode a copper efflux pump and a multicopper oxidase, respectively. Isogenic mutants lacking copB or mco had impaired growth in subinhibitory concentrations of copper. Transfer of a copB-mco-carrying plasmid to a naive clinical isolate resulted in a gain of copper hypertolerance and enhanced bacterial survival inside primed macrophages. The copB and mco genes were upregulated within infected macrophages, and their expression was dependent on the copper-sensitive operon repressor CsoR. Isogenic copB and mco mutants were impaired in their ability to persist intracellularly in macrophages and were less resistant to phagocytic killing in human blood than the parent strain. The importance of copper-regulated genes in resistance to phagocytic killing was further elaborated using mutants expressing a copper-insensitive variant of CsoR. Our findings suggest that the gain of mobile genetic elements carrying copper hypertolerance genes contributes to the evolution of virulent strains of S. aureus that are better equipped to resist killing by host immune cells. IMPORTANCE Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses a substantial threat to human health worldwide and evolves rapidly by acquiring mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids. Here we investigate how the copB-mco copper hypertolerance operon carried on a mobile genetic element contributes to the virulence potential of clinical isolates of MRSA. Copper is a key component of innate immune bactericidal defenses. Here we show that copper hypertolerance genes enhance the survival of S. aureus inside primed macrophages and in whole human blood. The copB and mco genes are carried by clinical isolates responsible for invasive infections across Europe, and more broadly among three successful clonal lineages of S. aureus. Our findings show that a gain of copper hypertolerance genes increases the resistance of MRSA to phagocytic killing by host immune cells and imply that acquisition of this mobile genetic element can contribute to the success of MRSA.


The English language lesson scene in Shakespeare's Henry V has attracted more critical attention for its sexual innuendoes than for its political significance even though King Henry was historically instrumental in the demise of French in medieval England. Closely modeled on early modern primers, the language lesson is a stage metaphor of the king's language policy, and settles old ideological scores by canceling the effects of the Norman Conquest. Traces of insular French in Kate's morphosyntactic idiosyncrasies serve the political agenda of a play chronicling the process that took the French tongue from authority to disempowerment. Keywords: Shakespeare; Henry V; language primers; French; Anglo-French


A series of copper(II) complexes with 4- hydroxybenzhydrazone-related ligands was synthesized by using various methods, including conventional solution-based method, solvothermal route and electrochemical synthesis. The complexes can be classified as mononuclear [Cu(L3OMe)(py)] (2py), dinuclear [Cu2(LH)2(py)2] (1py), [Cu2(LH)2] (1 and 1β), [Cu2(LH)2(py)2] (1py), [Cu2(L4OMe)2(py)2] (3py), [Cu2(L4OMe )2] (3), [Cu2(L4OMe )2(MeOH)2] (3MeOH), [Cu2(L4OMe)2(EtOH)2] (3EtOH), cubane tetranuclear [Cu4(L3OMe)4]∙xsolv (2MeOH and 2EtOH), or polynuclear [Cu(LH)(py)]n (1py*), where LH = 2- oxybenzaldehyde 4- hydroxybenzhydrazonato, L3OMe = 3-methoxy-2- oxybenzaldehyde 4- hydroxybenzhydrazonato, and L4OMe = 4-methoxy-2- oxybenzaldehyde 4- hydroxybenzhydrazonato ligands. The presented study indicates that complexes having different nuclearities or/and geometries can be achieved by changing synthetic conditions and methods. Thermally induced structural transformations of the dinuclear complexes under solvent-free conditions were also investigated. Crystal and molecular structures of 1β, 1py*, 2MeOH, 2EtOH, 2py, 3 and 3MeOH were determined by the single crystal X-ray diffraction method. All complexes were characterized by microanalysis, FT- IR and CW-EPR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and powder X-ray diffraction method.


The kraft pulp and paper industry is currently faced with the challenge of substantially reducing the discharge of conventional and toxic pollutants to the receiving environment without compromising its competitiveness. Ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) are among the various unit processes that are being investigated by researchers interested in developing alternative schemes for meeting this challenge. The objectives of the work presented here were: (i) to review the potential uses for UF and NF in the kraft pulp and paper industry and (ii) to evaluate the performance of eleven UF and NF membranes using a caustic extraction stage effluent from a kraft mill pulping softwood with a 0 Dss/C4s EO H D bleaching sequence. The experimental work was conducted with two flat-sheets bench-scale units fed in paralle l: a low shear and a high shear unit. The most promising UF membrane gave an average permeate flux of 9 m'/m2/d for a volume reduction factor (VRF) of 30, under high-shear conditions at 0.69 MPa. The associated COD rejections ranged from 85%-90% at a VRF of 1 down to 70-75% at a VRF of 30. While the results demonstrated in this study show promise, further research is needed to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of both high-shear and low-shear equipment for this application as well as options for the reuse or treatment of the diluted and concentrated streams produced by the UF/NF systems.


This article investigates the impulse response path through which an information or liquidity shock reveals itself first in depths and then in subsequent adjustments of the spread. A three-equation error correction model investigates the equilibrium properties of spread and depth adjustment. In particular, the authors estimate orthogonalized impulse responses and Gonzalo-Granger common factor weights to discern whether spreads or depths are first to permanently impound the common stochastic trends in liquidity and information fundamentals. Using three years of NYSE quote data on the DJIA stocks, the authors show that depths decline in response to positive shocks to the spread but that this effect is not permanent. In contrast, spreads widen initially in response to positive depth shocks as orders "walk the book," but subsequent net tightening occurs within less than two minutes and proves to be a permanent effect. As order flow imbalance appears, the resulting quote changes quickly elicit undisplayed (off...


We study the properties of a GEI model with nominal assets, outside money (injected into the economy as in Magill and Quinzii (J Math Econ 21:301–342, 1992)), and multiple currencies. We analyze the existence of monetary equilibria and the structure of the equilibrium set under two different assumptions on the determination of the exchange rates. If currencies are perfect substitutes, equilibrium allocations are indeterminate and, generically, sunspot equilibria exist. Generically, given a nonsunspot equilibrium, there are Pareto improving (and Pareto worsening) sunspot equilibria associated with an increase in the volatility of the future exchange rates. We interpret this property as showing that, in general, there is no clear-cut effect on welfare of the excess volatility of exchange rates, even when due to purely extrinsic phenomena.


Background: There is no disease activity index (DAI) currently available that can objectively assess the disease status of intestinal Behcet's disease (BD). The aim of this study was to develop a novel specific DAI for intestinal BD through a prospective study. Methods: Items included in the index were produced and graded by experts in intestinal BD. Two separate cohorts of patients (weighting and validation cohorts) with intestinal BD were prospectively enrolled, and their clinical and laboratory data were collected. Through weighting items by multiple regression modeling, the DAI for intestinal BD (DAIBD) was derived using the weighting cohort and validated using the validation cohort. The index's responsiveness was evaluated using a longitudinal cohort derived from the weighting cohort at a follow‐up visit 2‐3 months later. Results: A total of 110 patients with intestinal BD were enrolled in the weighting cohort. Eight of the 17 items selected by the experts accounted for 86.8% of the physician's global assessment (PGA) variance. The DAIBD calculated with gradations of weighted items correlated more strongly with PGA (r = 0.850) than did the Crohn's disease activity index (CDAI) (r = 0.649) in 50 patients of the validation cohort. Furthermore, quiescent, mild, moderate, and severe could be discriminated using the best cutoff scores. The DAIBD showed much higher responsiveness than did the CDAI (r = 0.812 vs. 0.645, respectively) in 109 patients in the longitudinal cohort. Conclusions: This novel DAIBD is an easy, valid, and responsive index to assess disease activity and can be useful to physicians who treat intestinal BD. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2011


Modern theory explains visual selective attention as a competition for receptive fields in the extrastriate cortex. The present study examined whether this competition contributes to older adults' difficulty in processing visual clutter. In 2 experiments, young and older adult subjects made same-different judgments of target shapes in displays with or without clutter. The target shapes were either high or low in discriminability. The spatial separation between targets varied across trials, and the effects of competitive selection were gauged through decrements in task performance that resulted as separation decreased. Both age groups showed a competition-in-clutter effect, evincing a stronger influence of target separation within cluttered displays. However, the costs of clutter in general and the strength of the competition-in-clutter effect more specifically were both substantially larger for older adults. Effects of clutter and competition also varied with stimulus discriminability; judgments of highly discriminable stimuli evinced no intertarget competition in uncluttered displays for either age group, while judgments of less discriminable stimuli showed competition whether clutter was present or not. Results suggest that clutter disproportionately degrades older adults' visual performance by forcing more careful stimulus resolution, engendering stronger competition for selection.


Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Optimized High-Turning Supercritical Compressor Blades Bo Song Mechanical Engineering Department Virginia Tech Cascade testing and flow analysis of three high-turning supercritical compressor blades were conducted. The blades were designed at an inlet Mach number (M1) of 0.87 and inlet flow angle of 48.4°, with high camber angles of about 55°. The baseline blade was a conventional Controlled Diffusion Airfoil (CDA) design and the other two were optimized blades. The blades were tested for an inlet Mach number range from 0.61 to 0.95 and an inlet flow angle range from 44.4° to 50.4°, at high Reynolds numbers (1.2– 1.9×10 based on the blade chord). The test results have shown lower losses and better incidence robustness for the optimized blades at higher supercritical flow conditions (M1>0.83). At the design condition, 30% loss reduction was achieved. The blade-to-blade flow was computed by solving the two-dimensional steady Navier-Stokes equations. Experimental results, in conjunction with the CFD flowfield characterization, revealed the loss reduction mechanism: severe boundary layer separation occurred on the suction surface of the baseline blade while no separation occurred for the optimized blades. Furthermore, whether the boundary layer was separated or not was found due to different shock patterns, different shock-boundary layer interactions and different pressure distributions on the blades. For the baseline blade, the strong passage shock coincided with the adverse pressure gradient due to the high blade front camber at 20% chord, leading to the flow separation. For the optimized blades, the high blade camber shifted to more downstream (30-40% chord), resulting in stronger flow leading edge acceleration, less strength of the passage shock near the blade surface, favorable pressure gradient right after the passage shock, thus no flow separation occurred. The flow understanding obtained by the current research can be used to guide the design of high-turning compressor blades at higher supercritical flow conditions.


To investigate the consequences of inborn excessive erythrocytosis, we made use of our transgenic mouse line (tg6) that constitutively overexpresses erythropoietin (Epo) in a hypoxia-independent manner, thereby reaching hematocrit levels of up to 0.89. We detected expression of human Epo in the brain and, to a lesser extent, in the lung but not in the heart, kidney, or liver of tg6 mice. Although no acute cardiovascular complications are observed, tg6 animals have a reduced lifespan. Decreased swim performance was observed in 5-mo-old tg6 mice. At about 7 mo, several tg6 animals developed spastic contractions of the hindlimbs followed by paralysis. Morphological analysis by light and electron microscopy showed degenerative processes in liver and kidney characterized by increased vascular permeability, chronic progressive inflammation, hemosiderin deposition, and general vasodilatation. Moreover, most of the animals showed severe nerve fiber degeneration of the sciatic nerve, decreased number of neuromuscular junctions, and degeneration of skeletal muscle fibers. Most probably, the developing demyelinating neuropathy resulted in muscular degeneration demonstrated in the extensor digitorum longus muscle. Taken together, chronically increased Epo levels inducing excessive erythrocytosis leads to multiple organ degeneration and reduced life expectancy. This model allows investigation of the impact of excessive erythrocytosis in individuals suffering from polycythemia vera, chronic mountain sickness, or in subjects tempted to abuse Epo by means of gene doping.


Large amounts of medical visual data are produced daily in hospitals, while new imaging techniques continue to emerge. In addition, many images are made available continuously via publications in the scientific literature and can also be valuable for clinical routine, research and education. Information retrieval systems are useful tools to provide access to the biomedical literature and fulfil the information needs of medical professionals. The tools developed in this thesis can potentially help clinicians make decisions about difficult diagnoses via a case-based retrieval system based on a use case associated with a specific evaluation task. This system retrieves articles from the biomedical literature when querying with a case description and attached images. This thesis proposes a multimodal approach for medical case-based retrieval with focus on the integration of visual information connected to text. Furthermore, the ImageCLEFmed evaluation campaign was organised during this thesis promoting medical retrieval system evaluation.


OBJECTIVE--To assess the ability of radiographers to identify abnormal radiographs of patients attending accident and emergency departments. DESIGN--Prospective study over six weeks. SETTING--Teaching hospital casualty x ray department. PATIENTS--3394 consecutive patients referred for radiography. INTERVENTIONS--Radiographs were assessed by radiographers who were offered a four point triage scheme: normal, abnormal, insignificantly abnormal, or further advice required. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Comparison of radiographers' assessments with an assessment made independently by the reporting radiologists. RESULTS--Overall disagreement between the radiographers and radiologists was 9.4%. There were 7% false positives and 14% false negatives. Most errors occurred in assessing radiographs of the skull, facial bones, chest, abdomen, and soft tissues. CONCLUSION--Unselected radiographers can offer useful advice on radiographs to casualty officers, but their high rate of false positive diagnoses indicates that they cannot triage casualty radiographs sufficiently accurately to allow them to extend their current reporting role.


With cyber-physical systems opening to the outside world, security can no longer be considered a secondary issue. One of the key aspects in security of cyber-phyiscal systems is to deal with intrusions. In this paper, we highlight the several unique properties of control applications in cyber-physical systems. Using these unique properties, we propose a systematic intrusion-damage assessment and mitigation mechanism for the class of observable and controllable attacks. On the one hand, in cyber-physical systems, the plants follow certain laws of physics and this can be utilized to address the intrusion-damage assessment problem. That is, the states of the controlled plant should follow those expected according to the physics of the system and any major discrepancy is potentially an indication of intrusion. Here, we use a machine learning algorithm to capture the normal behavior of the system according to its dynamics. On the other hand, the control performance strongly depends on the amount of allocated resources and this can be used to address the intrusion-damage mitigation problem. That is, the intrusion-damage mitigation is based on the idea of allocating more resources to the control application under attack. This is done using a feedback-based approach including a convex optimization.


Distributional properties of the verb in Germanic languages have to be accounted for by a rule that moves a verb into sentence initial position ('verb second/V2'). Traditionally it is claimed that this rule applies exclusively to finite verbs in main sentences. In this paper, we will discuss some phenomena in West Frisian that lead to some new proposals with respect to the factors that are involved in V2. A major role in our exposition is played by the so-called Frisian ' en +imperative' construction. We will argue that an account for the properties of this construction lead to a reconsideration of some of the factors relevant for V2: finiteness, the obligatoriness of verb movement and the distinction between main and embedded clauses.


Bred cows are an input into beef production. Often producers are directly marketing bred cows as beef replacement animals. Alternatively, some producers are capitalizing on alternative marketing opportunities and are selling cull cows as bred. However, in auctions across the state of Oklahoma, quality and value variation in the bred cows is apparent. Product differentiation and price variability is frequently modeled using the hedonic approach. Hedonic models have previously been applied to various classes of cattle including cull cows and cow-calf pairs. However, no previous research has determined the value of bred cow characteristics. The objective of this paper is to determine the market value of various bred cow traits, including age, weight, months bred, cow quality, and hide color. The model accounts for seasonal and cyclical influences on bred cow value. Fifteen years of USDA AMS data for seven Oklahoma auctions is used to estimate the bred cow hedonic model. We expect significant premiums for young, productive, black-hided, late gestation cows. Results will help producers improve replacement cow procurement and cow marketing strategies. Producers will be able to identify traits buyers find desirable allowing them to market a more valuable product.


The current fiscal imbalances and fragilities in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMC) are the result of decades of instability, but have become more visible since 2008, when a combination of adverse economic and political shocks (the global and European financial crises, Arab Spring) hit the region. In an environment of slower growth and higher public expenditure pressures, fiscal deficits and public debts have increased rapidly. This has led to the deterioration of current accounts, a depletion of official reserves, the depreciation of some currencies and higher inflationary pressure. To avoid the danger of public debt and a balance-of-payment crisis, comprehensive economic reforms, including fiscal adjustment, are urgently needed. These reforms should involve eliminating energy and food subsidies and replacing them with targeted social assistance, reducing the oversized public administration and privatizing public sector enterprises, improving the business climate, increasing trade and investment openness, and sector diversification. The SEMC may also benefit from a peace dividend if the numerous internal and regional conflicts are resolved. However, the success of economic reforms will depend on the results of the political transition, i.e., the ability to build stable democratic regimes which can resist populist temptations and rally political support for more rational economic policies.


The Jobs-Plus Public Housing Revitalization Initiative (1998-2003) was designed to raise and sustain the employment and earnings of residents of public housing developments. It had three parts: (1) employment services offered at on-site job centers, (2) changes in rent rules that provided financial incentives to work, and (3) community support for work through neighbor-to-neighbor conversations. The initiative was subject to a rigorous evaluation, which found that where implemented fully, Jobs-Plus boosted residents' annual earnings by 16 percent, or $1,300 per year, an effect that endured seven years without abating. This report investigates how Jobs-Plus was replicated in more contemporary settings, analyzing the early implementation experiences of a community-based provider in the Bronx and the San Antonio Housing Authority in Texas, both funded by the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) of the Corporation for National and Community Service. Main Findings: Providers in the Bronx and in San Antonio were able to enroll substantial proportions of residents of very large housing developments. This represents a strong early indication of program "saturation," or offers of services. At the same time, providers found that the three components of Jobs-Plus — and especially their integration and coordination with each other — were difficult to manage in practice. Both providers generally placed residents in low-wage work, and struggled to find ways of helping residents who were already employed. Rent-based financial incentives were very seldom used by Jobs-Plus members, for reasons largely out of the control of program implementers. In the original demonstration, housing authorities could develop a variety of rent incentives, because they had legal authority to do so. However, in the SIF version of Jobs-Plus, the only rent incentive available to the providers in both the Bronx and San Antonio was the Earned Income Disregard (EID). During early implementation, EID receipt was very low (at about 1 percent of residents in the Bronx and 3 percent in San Antonio), despite providers' extensive efforts to promote its use. Jobs-Plus cost $672 per household per year in the Bronx and $503 in San Antonio. These costs would likely have increased had residents made greater use of the EID. In the SIF version of Jobs-Plus, neither the community-based organization nor the housing authority appeared to have a clear advantage in providing services. Instead, organizations' ability to implement the program appeared to depend on their administrative flexibility, their front-line staff members' ability to work as a team, their ability to tailor their strong workforce development experience to a variety of participants, their ability to conduct vigorous outreach and marketing, and the strength of their connection to property managers. The Jobs-Plus "Collaborative," a support and accountability body made up of local city agencies involved in workforce services, income support, and other social services, emerged as an important entity promoting strong implementation in the Bronx.


BACKGROUND
Congenital ptosis is a drooping of one or both eyelids at birth, often due to poor development of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle. This can result in amblyopia, astigmatism, and ocular torticollis and therefore may necessitate surgical intervention in early childhood if visual development is compromised. Patients may have varied levels of levator function. Those with moderate to good function may elect to first attempt ptosis repair with external levator advancement or mullerectomy/Fasanella-Servat procedures. For those with poor function, those procedures are less likely to be effective, so they may undergo frontalis sling surgery, in which the tarsal plate is coupled to the frontalis muscle, so that movement of the brow and forehead result in movement of the eyelid. The optimal material to use in this surgery is unknown.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of various materials used in frontalis sling surgery for congenital ptosis.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register) (June 2018), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE E-pub Ahead of Print, Ovid Medline In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE Daily (January 1946 to 20 June 2018), Embase (January 1947 to 20 June 2018), PubMed (1948 to 20 June 2018), Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature Database (LILACS) (1982 to 20 June 2018), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic search for trials. We last searched the electronic databases on 20 June 2018.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomized trials that compared one material to another for the treatment of congenital ptosis.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently completed eligibility screening, data abstraction, 'Risk of bias' assessment, and grading of the evidence.

MAIN RESULTS
We identified three randomized trials that had compared four different materials, two materials in each trial. The studies included a total of 160 participants. The surgical procedures compared were polytetrafluoroethylene (Gore-Tex), Ethibond suture, Mersilene mesh, and autogenous fascia lata.We judged all studies to be at unclear risk of bias due to incomplete reporting of methods and other methodological deficiencies.Because the three included studies compared different types of implants, we were unable to combine data in a meta-analysis. The limited data preclude any conclusion regarding the optimal implant for frontalis sling surgery.In terms of the primary outcome of functional success, this was defined as widening of the opening between eyelids, assessed either by grade or by millimeter measurement. Bajaj 2004 showed that 93% of the Gore-Tex group and 83% of the Ethibond group had a good or satisfactory outcome (as defined by investigators). Elsamkary 2016 reported that 78.1% of the autogenous fascia group and 61.8% of the Gore-Tex group had a very good or good outcome. Salour 2008 did not include this type of grading system; they showed that the lid fissure increased 4.0 mm ± 1.46 mm in the Mersilene group and 3.13 mm ± 1.72 mm in the fascia lata group.In terms of adverse events, Bajaj 2004, which included 15 patients per group, showed no recurrence in the Gore-Tex group and 1 in the Ethibond group; no need for removal in the Gore-Tex group and 1 in the Ethibond group; and no infections in the Gore-Tex group and 1 in the Ethibond group. Elsamkary 2016, which included 55 patients per group, had 3 recurrences in the fascia group and 6 in the Gore-Tex group; no need for removal in either group; and 1 infection in the fascia group and 2 in the Gore-Tex group. Salour 2008, which included 10 patients per group, had no recurrence, removals, or infections in either the Mersilene or the fascia group.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The three trials included in this review evaluated four materials for frontalis sling surgery. Assessment of these three studies does not allow us to identify the optimal material. Future randomized trials should be rigorously designed so as to identify the best treatment for this condition.


Corporate social responsibilities (CSR) are becoming increasingly important in today's business world. Companies should care about their stakeholders' interests but at the same time, they should place more emphasis on other areas apart from solely profits making. Most people used to think that businesses are taking advantages from consumers. Nonetheless, nowadays stakeholders are not only concern about profits; they are more interested in company regarding various economic, environmental, ethical, governance, and social aspects, since these factors significantly affect the fate of the company in long term. Research has proven that there is a competitive advantage for corporations that have a higher reputation and are more socially responsible in their CSR program. Many multinational companies such as Starbucks, the Body Shop, and Microsoft, establish well-developed code of conduct; they also strive to achieve some social missions in order to do businesses ethically, minimize negative environmental impacts, raise public attention on certain issues, raise funds and donations, increase employees' job satisfaction, and more. The thesis will further demonstrate the significance of CSR and explore what companies have done to contribute to the world by comparing Apple and Microsoft, two well-known multinational corporations in the information technology industry.


The objective of this article is to explore what impacts NAFTA might have on Mexican maquila operations. Our main focus is on the fate of the maquiladoras located in a narrow strip along Mexico's northern border which account for approximately eighty percent of the total. Our concerns about the future development of the United States-Mexico border region derive partly from the fact that we live there and have no immediate plans to depart, but also due to the region's strategic, geographic, economic and cultural importance. Our observations, couched in a framework of evolutionary change, lead us to more pessimistic prognostications about industrialization in the frontera norte than other projections mentioned below. We conclude that the fundamental shortcoming in the northern border region is the lack of a technological base sufficient to support sustained, dynamic socioeconomic development.


The decision by the US and UK governments to use military force against Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent occupation and administration of that State, has brought into sharp focus fundamental fault lines in international law. The decision to invade, the conduct of the war and occupation and the mechanisms used to administer the country all challenge the international legal community placing it at a crossroads. When can the use of force be justified? What are the limits of military operations? What strength does international criminal law possess in the face of such interventions? How effective is the international regime of human rights in these circumstances? What role does domestic law have to play? How the law now responds and develops in the light of these matters will be of fundamental global importance for the 21st century and an issue of considerable political and legal concern. This book explores this legal territory by examining a number of issues fundamental to the future direction of international law in the War's aftermath. Consideration is also given to the impact on UK law. Both practical and academic perspectives are taken in order to scrutinise key questions and consider the possible trajectories that international law might now follow.

Book description from publisher website at: http://www.hartpub.co.uk/books/details.asp?isbn=9781841136691


It is not easy to come to terms with retirement, failing bodily functions, increased vulnerability, potential institutionalisation and inevitable death. For some this is a stage of life tinged with difficult memories of being cared for when they were younger. It is not uncommon to see some older adults with a past history of childhood trauma and adversity develop new onset relationship problems having lost the containment of a career or a loved one. Older people can derive huge benefit from psychotherapeutic approaches. Personal transformation may enable them to go on to enjoy meaningful and fruitful old and new relationships whether in the community or in a care home.


This paper describes stability testing of the new wireless communication platform for home automation. In the paper is description of two test-cases for wireless communication parameters evaluation to determine the limits of stability and low error rate. The paper also describes used statistical method and discusses testing results together with the main advantages of tested wireless communication platform. This new wireless communication platform was designed and developed especially for home automation and telemetry projects and test case results prove suitability of this wireless communication technology for home and office buildings environment.


The pattern of cross stream migration of neutrally buoyant particles in a pressure driven flow depends strongly on the properties of the suspending fluid. These migration effects have been studied by direct numerical simulation in planar flow. Shear thinning has a large effect when the inertia or elasticity is large, but only a small effect when they are small. At moderate Reynolds numbers, shear thinning causes particles to migrate away from the centerline, creating a particle-free zone in the core of the channel, which increases with the amount of shear thinning. In a viscoelastic fluid with shear thinning, particles migrate either toward the centerline or toward the walls, creating an annular particle-free zone at intermediate radii. The simulations also give rise to precise determination of slip velocity distributions in the various cases studied. ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


Abstract Plant biomass is usually assumed to be positively correlated with canopy cover. Measurements of canopy cover can now be easily and precisely made through image processing of high-resolution digital photography. This study aims to determine rapid, accurate and non-destructive ecological measurements of the aboveground biomass of selected plant species of the dry rangelands of southern Tunisia. The digital vegetation charting technique was used to estimate the canopy cover of three plant species: Artemisia herba-alba Asso., Rhanterium suaveolens Desf. and Stipa tenacissima L. Biomass of the selected species was also determined to develop regression models and correlation equations with the relative canopy cover. The main result was a strong correlation between canopy cover and dry biomass: coefficients of determination of 0.46 and 0.96 for A. herba-alba during the springs of 2014 and 2015, respectively; and correspondingly 0.9 and 0.97 for R. suaveolens and 0.69 and 0.97 for S. tenacissima. This digital charting technique offers a non-destructive, accurate and rapid means for monitoring and assessment of rangeland productivity dynamics as well as an efficient tool for developing range management strategies in dry areas.


Heating of surfaces by optical beams is investigated theoretically and compared with experimental results in the context of infrared imaging with vanadium dioxide thin films. Using known solutions for the diffusion of point heat sources at the interface between two semi-infinite media, the theory is extended to beams of Gaussian and flat profiles, for steady-state and dynamic regimes. Parameters relevant to imaging, such as spatial resolution and response time, are linked to thermal diffusivity, beam dimensions, and intensity.


Evangelism has long been at the heart of God's mission for the church. The arrival of the twenty-first century brought with it renewed interest in both the mission of the church and evangelism, a practice central to the church's mission. A leading factor in this resurgence is the decline in church attendance over the past several decades. The most influential factors leading to the decline in attendance are culture changes from modernism to postmodemism and from a Christendom society to a post-Christian pluralistic society. These culture shifts resulted in the diminishing influence of the church and non-Christians' often harboring hostile feelings toward the church. Some missional churches, attempting to contextualize the gospel by not offending or alienating non-Christians, emphasize a nonverbal form of evangelism through blessing others with good deeds. Verbally telling the gospel story of Jesus is deemphasized. The problem this dissertation addresses, as presented in chapter 1, is, What should be the nature of evangelism in missional churches? Should evangelism take the form primarily of nonverbal proclamation, or should evangelism include verbally sharing the gospel of Jesus alongside blessing others by good deeds? To answer this important question, I propose finding the answer in Scripture. Otherwise, missional churches may be behaving in ways not entirely congruent with scriptural guidelines for evangelism. My claim is that evangelism in missional churches should be verbally telling the gospel message in the context of blessing those in one's community with good deeds carried out with love, compassion, and respect. Chapter 2 explores the culture changes affecting the church from earliest Christianity to today, especially noting the effects of Christendom on ecclesiology. The Vlll chapter is divided into three periods: The Earliest Church and the Birth of Christendom, The Modem Era: The Death of Christendom, and The Postmodern Era: The Beginning of a Post-Christian America. A statistical portrait showing the declining church attendance in America is included. Chapter 3 surveys a history of evangelism beginning in the late eighteenth century. Particular to this discussion is the division between mainline Protestants and evangelicals over the definitions of evangelism, which reveals that nonverbal proclamation had its roots in the mainline Protestant movement. Chapter 4 examines the history of the missional-church movement, which was born in response to culture and church crises described in chapter 2. Emerging from these crises is a missional theology and ecclesiology that focuses on the missio Dei, the mission of God. Lesslie Newbigin 's influence on the development of a missional hermeneutic receives special attention. Chapter 5 presents a biblical rationale for answering the question, What should be the nature of evangelism in missional churches? First, biblical authority is established. Then, I survey the sending language in the Old and New Testaments and evangelism language in the New Testament. The meaning of mission and evangelism are explored, including an exposition of the Great Commission. Chapter 6, the concluding chapter, addresses what should be the nature of evangelism in missional churches. Based on the biblical rationale presented in chapter 5, there is clear evidence that evangelism in missional churches should include verbal proclamation in the context of blessing people with good deeds. Finally, I suggest areas for further study.


Background The Salmonella genomic island 1 is an integrative mobilizable element (IME) originally identified in epidemic multidrug-resistant Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) DT104. SGI1 contains a complex integron, which confers various multidrug resistance phenotypes due to its genetic plasticity. Previous studies have shown that SGI1 integrates site-specifically into the S. enterica, Escherichia coli, or Proteus mirabilis chromosome at the 3′ end of thdF gene (attB site). Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we report the transfer of SGI1 to a ΔthdF mutant of S. Typhimurium LT2. In the absence of thdF, the frequency of transconjugant formation was reduced by around thirty times of magnitude. Through DNA sequencing SGI1 was shown to integrate specifically into a secondary attachment site (2nd attB), which is located in the intergenic region between the chromosomal sodB and purR genes. At this 2nd attB site, we found that a significant fraction of SGI1 transconjugants (43% of wild type and 100% of ΔthdF mutant) contained tandem SGI1 arrays. Moreover, in wild type S. Typhimurium LT2 transconjugants, SGI1 integrated into both attachment sites, i.e., thdF and sodB-purR. The formation of SGI1 tandem arrays occurred in both specific attB sites. There was heterogeneity in the size of the SGI1 tandem arrays detected in single transconjugant colonies. Some arrays consisted as far as six SGI1s arranged in tandem. These tandem arrays were shown to persist during serial passages with or without antibiotic selection pressure. Conclusions/Significance The ability of integration into two distinct chromosomal sites and tandem array formation of SGI1 could contribute to its spread and persistence. The existence of a secondary attachment site in the Salmonella chromosome has potential implications for the mobility of SGI1, which may integrate in other attachment sites of other bacterial pathogens that do not possess the 1st or 2nd specific SGI1 attB sites of Salmonella.


When George W. Bush took office in 2001, North Korea's nuclear program was frozen and Kim Jong Il had signaled he was ready to negotiate. Today, North Korea possesses as many as ten nuclear warheads, and possibly the means to provide nuclear material to rogue states or terrorist groups. How did this happen? Drawing on more than two hundred interviews with key players in Washington, Seoul, Tokyo, and Beijing, including Colin Powell, John Bolton, and ex-Korean president Kim Dae-jung, as well as insights gained during fourteen trips to Pyongyang, Mike Chinoy takes readers behind the scenes of secret diplomatic meetings, disputed intelligence reports, and Washington turf battles as well as inside the mysterious world of North Korea. "Meltdown" provides a wealth of new material about a previously opaque series of events that eventually led the Bush administration to abandon confrontation and pursue negotiations, and explains how the diplomatic process collapsed and produced the crisis the Obama administration confronts today.


A mutex pair in a state space is a pair of assignments of values to state variables that does not occur in any reachable state. Detecting mutex pairs is a problem that has been addressed frequently in the planning literature. In this paper, we present the Coarse Abstraction (CA) method, a new efficient method for detecting mutex pairs in state spaces represented with multi-valued variables. CA detects mutex pairs based on exhaustive search in a collection of very small abstract state spaces. While in general CA may miss some mutex pairs, we provide a formal guarantee that CA finds all mutex pairs under a simple and quite natural condition. Using this formal guarantee, we prove that these properties hold for a range of common benchmark domains. We also show that CA can find all mutex pairs even if the formal guarantee is not satisfied. Finally, we show that CA's effectiveness depends on how the domain is represented, and that it can fail to find mutex pairs in some domains and representations.


Rationale Muscle atrophy confers a poor prognosis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), yet the molecular pathways responsible are poorly characterised. Muscle-specific microRNAs and serum response factor (SRF) are important regulators of muscle phenotype that contribute to a feedback system to regulate muscle gene expression. The role of these factors in the skeletal muscle dysfunction that accompanies COPD is unknown. Methods 31 patients with COPD and 14 healthy age-matched controls underwent lung and quadriceps function assessments, measurement of daily activity and a percutaneous quadriceps muscle biopsy. The expression of muscle-specific microRNAs, myosin heavy chains and components of the serum response factor signalling pathway were determined by qPCR. Results A reduction in expression of miR-1 (2.5-fold, p=0.01) and the myocardin-related transcription factors (MRTFs) A and B was observed in patients compared with controls (MRTF-A mRNA: twofold, p=0.028; MRTF-B mRNA: fourfold, p=0.011). miR-1 expression was associated with smoking history, lung function, fat-free mass index, 6 min walk distance and percentage of type 1 fibres. miR-133 and miR-206 were negatively correlated with daily physical activity. Insulin-like growth factor 1 mRNA was increased in the patients and miR-1 was negatively correlated with phosphorylation of the kinase Akt. Furthermore, the protein levels of histone deacetylase 4, another miR-1 target, were increased in the patients. Conclusions Downregulation of the activity of the MRTF-SRF axis and the expression of muscle-specific microRNAs, particularly miR-1, may contribute to COPD-associated skeletal muscle dysfunction.


Many African playwrights have consistently criticised the emphasis that Africans place on the boy child. These playwrights have done so by projecting the pain and anguish that women who are unable to bear a male child are subjected to in their plays, the attendant stigma and downright condemnation and hostility of all and sundry towards them. They have further explicated this issue by graphically detailing how the girl child is disdained, maligned or outrightly rejected in most occasions because she was not the expectation of the parents who would have preferred a boy child in her stead. They further expose how the girl-child is denied educational opportunities or even 'sacrificed' to make the boy child comfortable either by being 'sold' off to pay for his fees or lacking the attention of the parents in accessing some other basic needs of life. This plaintive cry by most of these playwrights is a reaction to the 'voracious' appetites and premium placed on the male child to the detriment of the girl child. This paper investigates the phenomenon of the male child preference in selected plays from Nigeria. A content analysis of these plays is made to highlight this phenomenon which projects the sociological realities in many African communities whether traditional or modern. Findings by this study indicate that the quest for heirs among Africans and the erroneous views in some quarters that the boy child is more important than the girl child, among other issues, is responsible for the boy child preference in Africa. This has the result of inflicting serious psychological trauma on women who are pressured as a result of the quest for the boy child.


This systematic review examined whether event-related potentials (ERPs) during higher cognitive processing can detect subtle, early signs of neurodegenerative disease. Original, empirical studies retrieved from PsycINFO and PubMed were reviewed if they analyzed patterns in cognitive ERPs (≥150 ms post-stimulus) differentiating mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), or cognitively intact elders who carry AD risk through the Apolipoprotein-E ε4 allele (ε4+) from healthy older adult controls (HC). The 100 studies meeting inclusion criteria (MCI = 47; AD = 47; ε4+ = 6) analyzed N200, P300, N400, and occasionally, later components. While there was variability across studies, patterns of reduced amplitude and delayed latency were apparent in pathological aging, consistent with AD-related brain atrophy and cognitive impairment. These effects were particularly evident in advanced disease progression (i.e., AD > MCI) and in later ERP components measured during complex tasks. Although ERP studies in intact ε4+ elders are thus far scarce, a similar pattern of delayed latency was notable, along with a contrasting pattern of increased amplitude, consistent with compensatory neural activation. This limited work suggests ERPs might be able to index early neural changes indicative of future cognitive decline in otherwise healthy elders. As ERPs are also accessible and affordable relative to other neuroimaging methods, their addition to cognitive assessment might substantively enhance early identification and characterization of neural dysfunction, allowing opportunity for earlier differential diagnosis and targeting of intervention. To evaluate this possibility there is urgent need for well-powered studies assessing late cognitive ERPs during complex tasks, particularly in healthy elders at risk for cognitive decline.


A growing segment of patients in hospitals are considered outpatients, classified as observation. These patients neither have the severity of illness nor the intensity of service to qualify as inpatients, yet are not well enough to be discharged. Hospitals have created observation units to address the clinical needs of this growing patient type to provide care in the right setting by managing emergency department throughput and utilizing the most efficient staffing resources. This article describes the change processes and improvements in quality, length of stay, and patient satisfaction, which occurred following the implementation of an adult observation unit.


Design and implementation of the first (asymmetric) Fe-catalyzed intra- and intermolecular difunctionalization of vinyl cyclopropanes (VCPs) with alkyl halides and aryl Grignard reagents has been realized via a mechanistically driven approach. Mechanistic studies support the diffusion of the alkyl radical intermediates out of the solvent cage to participate in an intra- or -intermolecular radical cascade with the VCP followed by re-entering the Fe radical cross-coupling cycle to undergo selective C(sp2)-C(sp3) bond formation. Overall, we provide new design principles for Fe-mediated radical processes and underscore the potential of using combined computations and experiments to accelerate the development of challenging transformations.


The study of comparing gas reservoir performance using two different methods, namely numerical simulation and general material balance was conducted. The Songo Songo dry gas field in Tanzania was used for this study. The objective of this study was to compare results from the two methods with actual data obtained from the field and determine which one best fits the performance of dry gas reservoir. To accomplish the objective of this study, geology of the Songo Songo field was studied and physics and principles underlying gas reservoir simulation and material balance were reviewed. These guided to set-up simulation procedures, designing flowchart for material balance analysis and gathering relevant data. The geological formations and stratigraphy gave guidelines to reveal factors affecting the performance of the Songo Songo reservoir. From this study, it was determined that, reservoir simulation and general material balance gave similar trends of the performance curves in the pR/Z plot. The analysis of variance at 95% confidence level indicated that the probability of no significant difference between the results of the two methods was equal to 0.927. It is early to specify that reservoir simulation or general material balance gives better performance of the Songo Songo dry gas reservoir because the history of the field is short and the pressure support in reservoir simulation model and in general material balance model is different. Both reservoir simulation and general material balance models are advised for modelling the performance of Songo Songo dry gas reservoir. Estimated initial gas in place of 44.65 BCM was obtained using general material balance analysis and associate water volume ratio (M) of 1.55 was determined.


This research aimed to determine the effect comparison Red Yellow Podzolic soil and sludge as growing media and get the best comparison that can support the growth and development of cocoa seedlings. The research was carried out experiments with 5 treatments using completely randomized design (CRD), each treatment was repeated four times so that there are 20 experimental units and each unit consists of 6 seed experiment so that the total population are120 seedlings. Treatments are: yellow red podzolic land only, 3 parts yellow red podzolic land: 1 part sludge, 2 parts yellow red podzolic land: 1 part sludge, 1 part yellow red podzolic land: 1 part sludgeand 1 part yellow red podzolic land : 2 part sludge with a ratio of parts by weight. Parameters measured were higher seed, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area,roots and crown ratio and dry of weight. Data were analyzed statistically and followed by Duncan's test at 5% level. Comparison of yellow red podzolic land with sludge as a soil media showed significant effect on plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area, canopy ratio of dry weight of roots and seeds. Treatment of 1 part ground yellow red podzolic land: 1 part sludge showed the best results for the growth and development of cocoa seedlings. Keywords :cocoa, yellow red podzolic land, sludge


The Beijing Platform for Action and the CEDAW represent an important step in the affirmation of common values and of a shared opinion about gender equality for all human societies, regardless of their cultural and religious traditions. However, strong gender inequalities persist practically all over the world, as the four basic parameters -work, education, politics and health, which are used for the measurement of Gender Gap, the gender imbalance- indicate. The paper analyses the issue of gender equality versus persisting social and economic inequalities, taking into account an historical perspective, and focusing present problems. The paper raises a crucial question: is the persistence of sexism, discrimination, violence against women, the culmination of the resistances of religious institutions and conservative forces, undemocratic and authoritarian, or is it a consequence of the present World system, shaped by the dominating Western countries and their ideologies (namely market-centered ideologies) with their formal acceptation of democracy and of human rights?


Abstract. Marine N2 fixing microorganisms, termed diazotrophs, are a key functional group in marine pelagic ecosystems. The biological fixation of dinitrogen (N2) to bioavailable nitrogen provides an important new source of nitrogen for pelagic marine ecosystems and influences primary productivity and organic matter export to the deep ocean. As one of a series of efforts to collect biomass and rates specific to different phytoplankton functional groups, we have constructed a database on diazotrophic organisms in the global pelagic upper ocean by compiling about 12 000 direct field measurements of cyanobacterial diazotroph abundances (based on microscopic cell counts or qPCR assays targeting the nifH genes) and N2 fixation rates. Biomass conversion factors are estimated based on cell sizes to convert abundance data to diazotrophic biomass. The database is limited spatially, lacking large regions of the ocean especially in the Indian Ocean. The data are approximately log-normal distributed, and large variances exist in most sub-databases with non-zero values differing 5 to 8 orders of magnitude. Reporting the geometric mean and the range of one geometric standard error below and above the geometric mean, the pelagic N2 fixation rate in the global ocean is estimated to be 62 (52–73) Tg N yr−1 and the pelagic diazotrophic biomass in the global ocean is estimated to be 2.1 (1.4–3.1) Tg C from cell counts and to 89 (43–150) Tg C from nifH-based abundances. Reporting the arithmetic mean and one standard error instead, these three global estimates are 140 p 9.2 Tg N yr−1, 18 p 1.8 Tg C and 590 p 70 Tg C, respectively. Uncertainties related to biomass conversion factors can change the estimate of geometric mean pelagic diazotrophic biomass in the global ocean by about p70%. It was recently established that the most commonly applied method used to measure N2 fixation has underestimated the true rates. As a result, one can expect that future rate measurements will shift the mean N2 fixation rate upward and may result in significantly higher estimates for the global N2 fixation. The evolving database can nevertheless be used to study spatial and temporal distributions and variations of marine N2 fixation, to validate geochemical estimates and to parameterize and validate biogeochemical models, keeping in mind that future rate measurements may rise in the future. The database is stored in PANGAEA ( doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.774851 ).


An update of a classic book in the field, Modern Portfolio Theory examines the characteristics and analysis of individual securities as well as the theory and practice of optimally combining securities into portfolios. It stresses the economic intuition behind the subject matter while presenting advanced concepts of investment analysis and portfolio management. Readers will also discover the strengths and weaknesses of modern portfolio theory as well as the latest breakthroughs.


Observational evidence for differential inner core rotation has recently been reported. The most convincing evidence has been restricted to one ray path from earthquakes in the South Sandwich Islands to stations in Alaska. Here we show that the differential travel times between PKP(DF) and PKP(BC) for a new ray path from earthquakes in southern Alaska to the station at the South Pole have increased by about 0.6 s over 37 years, providing support for a differential inner core rotation. We apply a newly developed technique to invert simultaneously for the inner core structure and the rotation rate. The rotation rate determined from the new pathway is about 0.6°/yr faster than the mantle, compatible with the estimates of the rate from earthquakes in the South Sandwich Islands to stations in Alaska. We also address some criticisms concerning the reported detection of the differential inner core rotation, including biases from event mislocations, biases from mantle heterogeneity, and uncertainty in the tilt of the inner core anisotropy axis. We show that although these potential biases would affect the determination of the rotation rate, they are unlikely to account for the observed time dependence in the BC-DF times. We found no evidence for a correlation between BC-DF residuals and event magnitudes as suggested previously.


Abstract. This study highlights recent advances and challenges of applying coupled physical-biogeochemical modeling for investigating the distribution of the key phytoplankton groups in the Southern Ocean, an area of strong interest for understanding biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem functioning under present climate change. Our simulations of the phenology of various Phytoplankton Functional Types (PFTs) are based on a version of the Darwin biogeochemical model coupled to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) general circulation model (Darwin-MITgcm). The ecological module version was adapted for the Southern Ocean by: 1) improving coccolithophores abundance relative to the original model by introducing a high affinity for nutrients and an ability to escape grazing control for coccolithophores; 2) including two different (small vs. large) size classes of diatoms; and 3) accounting for two distinct life stages for Phaeocystis (single cell vs. colonial). This new model configuration describes best the competition and co-occurrence of the PFTs in the Southern Ocean. It improves significantly relative to an older version the agreement of the simulated abundance of the coccolithophores and diatoms with in situ scanning electron microscopy observations in the Subantarctic Zone as well as with in situ diatoms and haptophytes (including coccolithophores and Phaeocystis) chlorophyll a concentrations within the Patagonian Shelf and along the Western Antarctic Peninsula obtained by diagnostic pigment analysis. The modeled Southern Ocean PFT dominance also agrees well with satellite-based PFT information.


Due to its 1 eV band gap and GaAs-matched lattice constant, GaInNAs has long been considered for use in four-junction multi-junction solar cells; but, material quality issues have impeded its use in highly efficient devices. Here, we present an analysis of GaInNAs samples partially hydrogenated via a UV-activated process in which nitrogen-related alloy fluctuations, impurities, and defects have been passivated; remarkably, removing completely the 's-shape' dependence of the photoluminescence while keeping intact the effects of nitrogen substitution, i.e., the band gap of the alloy prior to passivation. Hydrogenation of the optical samples by a UV-activated process has resulted in GaInNAs photoluminescence dominated by the free-excitonic band gap transition, rather than radiative recombination processes from the shallow localized centers that result due to unavoidable alloy fluctuations. This behavior is unique since these centers dominate the low temperature photoluminescence even in the highest quality dilute nitrides. Density functional theory calculations show that the hydrogenation of the N and Ga atoms eliminates the defect levels from the band gap through the formation of H–N centers that act as donors; while at high concentration of hydrogen, Ga–H2–N complexes reside within the continuum. The formation of these hydrogen complexes, along with the incumbent change of the band structure, explains the reduction of emission from the localized centers upon hydrogenation.


Crime related immoral or prostitution Prostitution is a social problem that was and remains in Aceh, prostitution has existed in Aceh which is caused by the economic, sociological, and psychological factors. Although no single regulation which regulates prostitution, from its activity it violates Article 2 of Qanun No. 14/2003 on Khalwat which states that it leads to adultery. Qanun Khalwat states that every action which leads to adultery, such as staying close with someone who is not his muhrim will be punished. On the other hand, the Criminal Code only imposes the sanction on place providers (Article 296) and procuresses (Article 505) while the prostitutes are only given warning and rehabilitated. Qanun No. 14/2003 on Khalwat is only an alternative in punishing the perpetrators in prostitution while conventional law like the Criminal Code only punishes some parts of the perpetrators in prostitution. In Qanun Khalwat, any individual can be punished when he does some action which is categorized as adultery. It is recommended that some elements in Qanun should be included in the Criminal Code in order that any perpetrator in prostitution can be punished.


The UN Security Council undoubtedly is
the most prominent body of the world
organization's institutional machinery.
Through its key executive decisionmaking
powers it addresses conflicts and
crises which constitute threats to
international peace and security. Its
decisions are binding on the entire
membership. While the five permanent
members of the Security Council have a
pretty clear view on their role in the
Council (permanence indeed helps), that
is less so for the non-permanent
members (potentially the bulk of the
remaining 188 UN members) who only
intermittently experience the Council, if
at all. This paper addresses the question
of 'what is it like' to be a non-permanent
member of the Security Council in a
straightforward way. No grand theories
or speculative flights are involved. Just
sound common sense. But common
sense, as some of us know, can be a
scarce resource.


The aim of this essay is to develop the notion of "linguistic surface" as a way to interpret the city as locus of the multitude: a place where the city produces and reproduces itself as a shared and collective surface of conflict turned into coexistence, of the real and the imaginary condensed and inhabited by thinking, creating linguistic subjects. Three surfaces are discussed: the city surface, the surface of thought, the linguistic surface that joins city and thought, interpenetrating, constructing and constituting the other. I will draw on what the architect Aldo Rossi called the city as an "historical text" and link Rossi's notion of collective memory (memory ordered by language, syntax and association) with the description of the contemporary city as "modelled on language" put forward by the political theorist Paolo Virno. A close-reading of the city as locus of the multitude can help resituate the agency of architecture toward a new, collective, political and productive possibility.


A persuasive case is presented by Ringeisen, Henderson, and Hoagwood (2003) for the significance of school contexts in child development and the potential for improving child mental health and achievement through more sophisticated, integrative, multilevel, and multidisciplinary models of how schools and children change. This perspective reflects a transformation taking place in models of psychopathology in children and what to do about it, with implications for research, policy, treatment, and prevention efforts involving schools. The article underscores three fundamental tenets of developmental psychopathology with relevance to school-based practices and research: (a) children are living systems whose lives reflect complex interactions with other systems, including schools, which in turn are embedded in larger systems; (b) understanding positive adaptation and development is important for preventing and treating problems, particularly among children at risk for psychopathology; and (c) more complex approaches are required in order for interventions or research to accommodate the embedded multisystem realities of children's lives, and these approaches require collaborations at a much earlier and deeper level. Schools as Dynamic Systems Over the past three decades, developmental psychopathology has emerged and taken hold as an integrative framework for understanding behavioral and emotional problems in children and conceptualizing the processes by which such problems develop, change, and might be prevented (Cicchetti & Sroufe, 2000). Developmental systems theory has permeated this framework, emphasizing the dynamic nature of human development and the importance of many embedded and interacting systems at different levels of analysis for shaping the course of development (Ford & Lerner, 1992; Sameroff, 2000). Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model of embedded systems and their interactions has had a tremendous influence on models of etiology and intervention in developmental psychopathology. Figure 1 provides an illustration of the complex embedded nature of human individuals in interacting systems. Ringeisen et al. (2003) focus on the school context as a dynamic and complex system continually interacting and changing at many levels. Schools are contexts for children and for interventions, but schools also have contexts provided by larger systems such as school districts, communities, and national policies. These authors describe a three-level model of school dynamics that could influence the implementation and success of interventions or programs designed to improve mental health outcomes in children. In doing so, they illustrate one of the central implications of dynamic systems models for conceptualizing intervention and prevention. Insofar as change can arise (or be thwarted) in many different ways through multiple processes, it is important to consider the embedded contexts interacting with systems targeted for change. Researchers moving their interventions from controlled academic settings to ordinary school settings have learned from experience, as have school reformers, that it is unwise to ignore the fact that schools have distinct system characteristics and answer to larger systems. Further, it is wise to consider the inherent stability (i.e., resistance to change) of established social systems when one embarks on a change mission. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Particularly compelling in this article is the point that mental health practice models and education models may differ so much that system change is required to bring them together effectively in the school context. The successful implementation of school-based mental health programs, as well as the sustainability of any school-based changes toward this end, may depend critically on attention to the nature and processes characterizing the school as a dynamic system interacting with other systems. Integrating Competence, Resilience, and Psychopathology in Theory and Practice Also fundamental in the developmental psychopathology framework is the tenet that understanding positive pathways and processes is vitally important for theory, prevention, and treatment of psychopathology (Cicchetti & Hinshaw, 2002; Luthar & Cicchetti, 2000; Masten & Curtis, 2000). …


The popularity of the program DeepDream, created by Google engineer Alexander Mordvintsev, exploded due to the open source availability of its uncanny, hallucinogenic aesthetic. Once used to synthesize visual textures, the program popularized the concept of neural network training through image classification algorithms, inspiring visual art interrogating machine learning and the training of proprietary prediction algorithms; though DeepDream has facilitated the production of many mundane examples of surreal computer art, it has also helped to produce some conceptually rich visual investigations, including MacArthur "genius" awardee Trevor Paglen's recent installation A Study of Invisible I mages . While the significance of trained neural networks is presently considered valuable to computer vision experimentation, a medial archaeological investigation of the conceptual underpinnings of machine learning reveals the fundamental influence early sonic experiments in computational music have in its computational and conceptual framework. Early computational music works, such as Lejaren Hiller Jr. and Leonard Isaacson's Illiac Suite (1957), the first score composed by a computer, as well as Hiller and John Cage's ambitious multimedia performance HPSCHD (1969), used stochastic models to automate game-like processes, such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Renaissance-era polyphonic instruction, as well as the I Ching divination process of casting coins or yarrow stalks. Hiller's concerns regarding the historical use of compositional/mathematical gameplay uncovers a conceptual and performative emphasis anticipating the "training" of visual models. Through the adverse reactions of audiences to Hiller's compositions, written by what the press deemed derogatorily "An electronic brain" in 1957 parallel public reactions to the disturbing mutations of DeepDream, popular participation in the open source project signals a growing willingness to collaborate creatively with computers to interrogate both computational and cognitive processes.


Background: It is biologically plausible that genotoxic estrogens, namely estrogen DNA adducts (EDA), have a role in breast cancer development. Support comes from three prior studies that reported elevated concentrations of EDA relative to estrogen metabolites and conjugates (EDA:EMC) in women with breast cancer relative to control women. Methods: In postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), EDA:EMC in 191 controls was compared with findings in 194 prediagnosis urine samples from breast cancer cases. EDA:EMC determinations were by mass spectrometry as previously described, and logistic regression was employed to estimate ORs. Results: EDA:EMC did not differ in breast cancer cases compared with controls overall [0.93 (95% confidence interval, 0.71–1.23)], with a mean (SD) of 2.3 (0.8) and 2.4 (1.1) in cases and controls, respectively. Similarly, the ratio did not differ when examined by estrogen receptor or recency of biospecimen collection prior to breast cancer. Conclusions: Despite the demonstrated genotoxic properties of certain catechol estrogens resulting in EDAs, this analysis did not provide evidence for an increased breast cancer risk in relation to an elevated EDA:EMC. Impact: This analysis, conducted prospectively within postmenopausal women in the WHI study, suggests that a strong association between EDA:EMC and breast cancer could be ruled out, as this study was powered to detect an OR of 2.2 or greater.


Multi-span pre-tensioned pre-stressed concrete beam (PPCB) bridges made continuous usually experience a negative live load moment region over the intermediate supports. Conventional thinking dictates that sufficient reinforcement must be provided in this region to satisfy the strength and serviceability requirements associated with the tensile stresses in the deck. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications recommend the negative moment reinforcement (b2 reinforcement) be extended beyond the inflection point. Based upon satisfactory previous performance and judgment, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Bridges and Structures (OBS) currently terminates b2 reinforcement at 1/8 of the span length. Although the Iowa DOT policy results in approximately 50% shorter b2 reinforcement than the AASHTO LRFD specifications, the Iowa DOT has not experienced any significant deck cracking over the intermediate supports. The primary objective of this project was to investigate the Iowa DOT OBS policy regarding the required amount of b2 reinforcement to provide the continuity over bridge decks. Other parameters, such as termination length, termination pattern, and effects of the secondary moments, were also studied. Live load tests were carried out on five bridges. The data were used to calibrate three-dimensional finite element models of two bridges. Parametric studies were conducted on the bridges with an uncracked deck, a cracked deck, and a cracked deck with a cracked pier diaphragm for live load and shrinkage load. The general conclusions were as follows: (1) The parametric study results show that an increased area of the b2 reinforcement slightly reduces the strain over the pier, whereas an increased length and staggered reinforcement pattern slightly reduce the strains of the deck at 1/8 of the span length. (2) Finite element modeling results suggest that the transverse field cracks over the pier and at 1/8 of the span length are mainly due to deck shrinkage. (3) Bridges with larger skew angles have lower strains over the intermediate supports. (4) Secondary moments affect the behavior in the negative moment region. The impact may be significant enough such that no tensile stresses in the deck may be experienced.


The entrepreneur eco-system has drastically evolved over the past seven years in Bahrain. From government driven initiatives focusing on building awareness and various grants offered through Bahrain's Labor Fund (Tamkeen): A whole cultural movement towards a more entrepreneurial society has uncovered from both the public and private sector perspectives. It is now the time where we can see that both the public and private sector are aligned as to the importance of building an entrepreneurial economy building up Bahrain's economy to reach various strategic national goals, such as the Economic Vision 2030.


Content-based video retrieval is maturing to the point where it can be used in real-world retrieval practices. One such practice is the audiovisual archive, whose users increasingly require fine-grained access to broadcast television content. In this paper, we take into account the information needs and retrieval data already present in the audiovisual archive, and demonstrate that retrieval performance can be significantly improved when content-based methods are applied to search. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the practice of an audiovisual archive has been taken into account for quantitative retrieval evaluation. To arrive at our main result, we propose an evaluation methodology tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of the audiovisual archive, which are typically missed by existing evaluation initiatives. We utilize logged searches, content purchases, session information, and simulators to create realistic query sets and relevance judgments. To reflect the retrieval practice of both the archive and the video retrieval community as closely as possible, our experiments with three video search engines incorporate archive-created catalog entries as well as state-of-the-art multimedia content analysis results. A detailed query-level analysis indicates that individual content-based retrieval methods such as transcript-based retrieval and concept-based retrieval yield approximately equal performance gains. When combined, we find that content-based video retrieval incorporated into the archive's practice results in significant performance increases for shot retrieval and for retrieving entire television programs. The time has come for audiovisual archives to start accommodating content-based video retrieval methods into their daily practice.


The interview study described in this chapter was performed in cooperation with two Nepalese non government organizations called Community Action Nepal (CAC Nepal) and Shakti Samuha. Informants were eight trafficking survivors who were independently living in various parts of Kathmandu Valley and six trafficking survivors who were currently staying at a rehabilitation centre. After being rescued, five of the informants now earned their living as prostitutes, one was a housewife, one had her own shop, and five were at a rehab centre. Most of the informants had been tricked into being trafficked. The most commonly used bait was a nice job in Kathmandu or abroad with a good salary, which would allow the informant to buy 'nice clothes' and eat 'good food'. To this need to be added that the migration decision of the informants (which turns out to be trafficking) takes place in an interface between economic hardships, the informant's own desire for better work and a better life, and pressure on her to assist sustaining her family.The trafficker was most often a known person, male or female, who had spent time and efforts in building a good relationship with the informant before taking off for the 'good job'. Life at the brothel was described as a prison, where the informants instantly and at any time of the day and night had to obey the brothel owner (who often was a woman, and sometimes Nepalese), and her 'guards' (male or female). If they refused or did not act accordingly they were severely punished often by physical means. The informant's life was reduced into one purpose 'how to satisfy brothel's customers'. The owners of the brothels were usually sitting at the main entrance and other guards were always around. The doors were always locked when the informants had some time off. Most informants had not been allowed to leave the house, and a few of them did not understand where they were until they later on could ask someone. The relief of finally returning home to Nepal was often clouded by difficulties. Only one of the informants could go directly back home to her family. She was well accepted by her husband and in-laws, but she had to face a lot of resistance from other community members. Later on she decided to leave her husband, as she realized that he was also to blame for her being trafficked.The informants revealed that their experiences while being trafficked were usually kept a secret during and after trafficking. According to several studies, the trauma of having been trafficked is often complicated by societal refusal upon return from the brothels. Survivors know who the traffickers are, but their reputation for cruelty and the failure of the police and legal system to enforce the law, contribute to creating an attitude that there is no point in making official reports. A puzzling fact is finally presented: during the last two decades Nepal has made great improvements in designing anti-trafficking programmes and implementing new anti-trafficking laws. Yet, trafficking seems to have become an increasing problem in Nepal during the same period. This poses an urgent challenge on both researchers and society.


This issue focuses on the Airborne Multisensor Pod System (AMPS) which is a collaboration of many of the DOE national laboratories to provide a scientific environment to research multiple sensors and the new information that can be derived from them. The bulk of the research has been directed at nonproliferation applications, but it has also proven useful in environmental monitoring and assessment, and land/water management. The contents of this issue are: using AMPS technology to detect proliferation and monitor resources; combining multisensor data to monitor facilities and natural resources; planning a AMPS mission; SAR pod produces images day or night, rain or shine; MSI pod combines data from multiple sensors; ESI pod will analyze emissions and effluents; and accessing AMPS information on the Internet.


Sprockets are a lightweight method for extending the functionality of distributed file systems. They specifically target file systems implemented at user level and small extensions that can be expressed with up to several hundred lines of code. Each sprocket is akin to a procedure call that runs inside a transaction that is always rolled back on completion, even if sprocket execution succeeds. Sprockets therefore make no persistent changes to file system state; instead, they communicate their result back to the core file system through a restricted format using a shared memory buffer. The file system validates the result and makes any necessary changes if the validations pass. Sprockets use binary instrumentation to ensure that a sprocket can safely execute file system code without making changes to persistent state. We have implemented sprockets that perform type-specific handling within file systems such as querying application metadata, application-specific conflict resolution, and handling custom devices such as digital cameras. Our evaluation shows that sprockets can be up to an order of magnitude faster to execute than extensions that utilize operating system services such as fork. We also show that sprockets allow fine-grained isolation and, thus, can catch some bugs that a fork-based implementation cannot.


In 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. This seemingly small act triggered civil rights protests across America and earned Rosa Parks the title OMother of the Civil Rights Movement.O This biography has blackand- white illustrations throughout."


Patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgery require the placement of at least one chest drain. Chest Drain Removal (CDR) has been considered to be a painful event in patient's postoperative recuperation.This study aimed to evaluate the impact of using ice on quality of pain associated with CDR in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgeryThis randomized, observer-blind, crossover trial was done on 51 post-cardiac surgery patients who had two chest drains in the Mashhad Heart Center in Iran. The patients were assigned to ice, placebo, and control groups. Ice and placebo bags were used over the region around the chest drains for 20 minutes prior to CDR. The quality of pain was assessedviaShort-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ) before and after CRT. The data were analyzed through the SPSS software using ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis, and Chi-square tests.The study findings revealed that the three groups were not significantly different regarding pain quality before CDR (p=0.24). However, the ice bag group (4.6±4.4) was significantly different from the placebo (8.1±6.9) and control groups (7.1±5.3) concerning the pain quality score immediately after CDR (p<0.05). The results of chi-square test also showed that the three groups were significantly different regarding "hot-burning" (p=0.009). However, no significant differences were observed with regard to other items of SF-MPQ.The results indicated that ice bag application could be used as an effective, safe, and inexpensive non-pharmacological intervention to reduce patients' pain and increase their comfort during CDR.


Dear Dr. Mossman: Lately, a physician colleague has been arriving late for work. He seemed drunk a couple of times, and he's been making some careless but minor mistakes. When would I have a duty to report him for suspected impairment? He is a longtime friend, which makes me uncomfortable with the prospect of having to report him. Submitted by "Dr. Z" Holding ourselves to ethical guidelines and standards of conduct sometimes is hard, but when we become responsible for our colleagues' behavior, things can get awkward. Yet the responsibilities of practicing medicine include professional self-regulation. (1) Failure to monitor ourselves and each other would put the reputation and integrity of the medical profession at risk--not to mention the safety of our patents. Despite this, many physicians are understandably reluctant to report colleagues who appear impaired. To decide whether you should report a colleague, you must: * know what behaviors constitute impairment * understand the duty to report impaired colleagues * realize reporting colleagues often creates emotional conflict * understand recovery options and resources available for impaired practitioners. After we examine these matters, we'll see what Dr. Z should do. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Impairment defined Physician impairment is a public health issue that affects not just physicians but their families, colleagues, and patients. In this context, "impairment" means a physical, mental, or substance-related disorder that interferes with a physician's ability to undertake professional activities competently and safely. (2) Although many mental conditions can cause impairment, we focus here on substance abuse, a condition that often leads to functional impairment. Physicians develop addictions at rates at least as high as those in the general population. (3) Physicians-in-training--including psychiatric residents--are at particularly high risk for developing stress-related problems, depression and substance misuse. (4), (5) Occupational demands, self-criticism, and denial of one's own distress are common failings among physicians (5) as is self-treatment, which may help explain the high rates of substance misuse among physicians. (6) Behaviors that suggest a colleague may be abusing substances and experiencing occupational impairment appear in Table 1 (page 67) (7) Reporting duties Table 1 Signs of physician impairment Deteriorating personal hygiene Increased absence from professional functions or duties Emotional lability Appearing sleep-deprived Increased professional errors (eg, prescriptions, dictations, clinical judgment) Not responding to pages or telephone calls Decreased concern for patient well-being Citing unexplained 'personal problems' to mask deficits in concentration or patient care Increased patient complaints about quality of care and bedside manner Many 'accidental' injuries (possibly contrived to obtain narcotic prescriptions). Source: Reference 7 Doctors and physician health programs have a duty to report impaired colleagues who continue to practice despite reasonable offers of assistance. This obligation appears in professional guidelines (Table 2) (2), (8) and in laws and regulations governing the practice of medicine. Laws and regulations are similar in spirit across jurisdictions, although the exact wording varies from state to state (Table 3). (9-11) Physicians are responsible for being familiar with reporting requirements in states they practice and complying accordingly. Table 2 Medical associations' official positions on reporting impairment American Medical 'Physicians have an ethical obligation to Association report impaired, incompetent, and unethical (Policy colleagues. …