The production of hydrogen from water and sunlight is a way to address the intermittency in renewable energy production, while simultaneously generating a versatile fuel and a valuable chemical feedstock. Photoelectrochemical water splitting is one possible approach to accomplish this that has been researched since the early seventies. It has for a long time held the promise of having the potential to become the best, cheapest, and most efficient way to convert solar energy into chemical energy in the form of hydrogen, but in this paper, I argue that the time window where this could have happened has now come to an end. With the rapid development of both PV-technology and earth-abundant electrocatalysis, it will be tremendously difficult, even in the best-case scenario, for a classical photoelectrochemical water splitting device to compete with what PV-driven electrolysers can already do today. This is an insight that should influence the future of solar fuel research.


In this paper we consider tilings of rectangular regions with two types of tiles, $1 \times 2$ tiles (dimers) and $1 \times 1$ tiles (monomers). The tiles must cover the region and satisfy the constraint that no four corners of the tiles meet; such tilings are called tatami tilings . We provide a structural characterization and use it to prove that the tiling is completely determined by the tiles that are on its border. We prove that the number of tatami tilings of an $n \times n$ square with $n$ monomers is $n2^{n-1}$. We also show that, for fixed-height, the generating function for the number of tatami tilings of a rectangle is a rational function, and outline an algorithm that produces the generating function.


This paper summarizes the state of the art in the thermal deformation techniques. Alternate analytical methods are described. The limitations and accuracy of these models are noted, and the practical range of applicability for each model is discussed. Example calculations are performed for a curved built-up bridge girder. The calculations are used to predict the required temperature and heat pattern for a fabricated curved girder and the residual stress and deformation which results. Calculations are performed to show how the resulting stress and deformation affect the behavior of the completed member. The results show that prediction of the plastic deformation caused by thermal stress can be achieved and the use of such calculations can result in improvement in engineering fabrication practice.


Privacy is as complex a concept as it is ubiquitous. But Vanderbilt law and history professor Sarah Igo bravely takes on the challenge of chronicling the history of this mutable, yet fundamental American value. In doing so, she demonstrates the irreconcilable trade-off between privacy and exposure, both of which can be liberating and oppressive in their own right. Readers will be impressed by the depth and the breadth of this tome, as Igo examines privacy's role in fields as disparate as law, psychometrics, philosophy, and technology. As a result, they will come away with a profound, new consciousness of being "known" to the government and to all facets of society. Despite the feelings of vulnerability this awareness may induce, Igo's book gives us the knowledge, perspective, and foresight to revisit our own privacy debates with agency and determination. As known citizens, the future of privacy is in our hands.


Programmed cell death (PCD) plays a fundamental role in animal development and tissue homeostasis. It is now well known that abnormal regulation of this process is associated with a wide variety of human diseases, including cancer. Historically, the concept of PCD, meaning that cells followed a sequence of controlled (implying an intracellular genetic program) events though their own death, was used by Lockshin and Williams in 1964 in relation to insect metamorphosis (Lockshin and Williams, 1964). However, several years before, embryologists such as Saunders and Glucksmann had observed the frequent occurrence of cell death in various locations and stages of embryo development, and suggested that cell death functions as a crucial mechanism in integrating cells into tissues and organs in normal vertebrate development. Around eight years after the Lockshin and Williams' paper, the term "apoptosis" was coined by three pathologists, Kerr, Wyllie and Currie, to describe common morphologies of cell death in several pathological tissues (Kerr et al., 1972). An essential contribution for the development of this research field was given by the genetic dissection of the cell death pathway in the nematode C. elegans carried out by H. Robert Horvitz and his co-workers in the 80s (Ellis and Horvitz, 1986). For these important studies, H. Robert Horvitz together with Sydney Brenner and John E. Sulston received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2002 "for their discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death".


This study explores the relationship between child sexual abuse, interpersonal difficulties, and intimate partner violence. Three inventories were used to assess each factor in this research: child violence experience (5 items), interpersonal difficulties (16 items), and adult violence victimization (3 items). Twenty-ninth females from the Syracuse University Couple and Family Therapy Center completed inventories. Respondents were categorized into four groups: no victimization (group 1); child violence (CV) victimization with no adult revictimization (group 2); CV with single adult victimization (group 3); CV with long-term intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization (group 4). The researcher hypothesized that 1) child sexual abuse (CSA) will lead to adult interpersonal difficulties; 2) Re-victimized CSA survivors will have more interpersonal difficulties than those CSA survivors who have not experienced IPV; and 3) CSA victims who stay in IPV relationships will have more interpersonal difficulties. The sample size was small so descriptive and correlational analysis was also conducted. The preliminary results show that CSA can lead to some interpersonal difficulties. The pattern of interpersonal difficulties across four groups were presented, which indicated that people who stayed in abusive intimate relationships might have different profiles from people who experienced single or short-term revictimization. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future researches were included. CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, INTERPERSONAL DIFFICULTIES, AND STAYING IN RELATIONSHIPS WITH INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE: A PRELIMINARY STUDY


Studies of the link between music and emotion have primarily focused on listeners' sensitivity to emotion in the music of their own culture. This sensitivity may reflect listeners' enculturation to the conventions of their culture's tonal system. However, it may also reflect responses to psychophysical dimensions of sound that are independent of musical experience. A model of listeners' perception of emotion in music is proposed in which emotion in music is communicated through a combination of universal and cultural cues. Listeners may rely on either of these cues, or both, to arrive at an understanding of musically expressed emotion. The current study addressed the hypotheses derived from this model using a cross-cultural approach. The following questions were investigated: Can people identify the intended emotion in music from an unfamiliar tonal system? If they can, is their sensitivity to intended emotions associated with perceived changes in psychophysical dimensions of music? Thirty Western listeners rated the degree of joy, sadness, anger, and peace in 12 Hindustani raga excerpts (field recordings obtained in North India). In accordance with the raga-rasa system, each excerpt was intended to convey one of the four moods or "rasas" that corresponded to the four emotions rated by listeners. Listeners also provided ratings of four psychophysical variables: tempo, rhythmic complexity, melodic complexity, and pitch range. Listeners were sensitive to the intended emotion in ragas when that emotion was joy, sadness, or anger. Judgments of emotion were significantly related to judgments of psychophysical dimensions, and, in some cases, to instrument timbre. The findings suggest that listeners are sensitive to musically expressed emotion in an unfamiliar tonal system, and that this sensitivity is facilitated by psychophysical cues.


The doctrine of limited liability of shareholders often prevents victims harmed by a corporation's foreign subsidiary's violation of international human rights norms from obtaining a remedy when that subsidiary operates in a country that has a weak or ineffective judicial system. This is because victims are often unable to obtain a remedy in these countries, and the doctrine almost always prevents victims from seeking a remedy from the parent corporation. Given this problem, in what situations should parent corporations be liable for the tortious activities of their foreign subsidiaries? This Article discusses the circumstances where imposing liability on parent corporations is justified and provides a specific statutory recommendation for such liability. The Article outlines the three primary solutions various authors and practitioners have advocated thus far to address the problem — the enterprise liability approach, the due diligence approach, and the direct parental duty-of-care approach — and addresses the limitations of each of these proposed solutions. The Article then recommends a different, primarily statutory, approach: that Congress or states (or both) should enact legislation disregarding limited liability of parent corporations for claims of customary international human rights violations and serious environmental torts where a parent corporation takes a majority interest or creates a subsidiary as part of unified economic enterprise that operates in a "high-risk host country," i.e., one that has a weak, ineffective, or corrupt judicial system, and victims cannot obtain an adequate judicial remedy for such harms in the host country. This proposed solution moves away from the current notion that a parent corporation should only be liable where it has some actual control over the subsidiary, toward parent corporate liability where the parent benefits financially from the subsidiary's actions at the expense of unconsenting, third parties — typically members of the community where the subsidiary operates.


The Review has chosen to open this issue with the voices of those who have suffered sexual violence and have been overcoming the multiple ensuing challenges. All have benefited from health care, psychological, psychosocial or material support and/or legal advice provided by the ICRC, the relevant National Red Cross Society or local partners – the non-governmental organization Profamilia in Colombia and the "maisons d'écoute" in the Kivus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The testimonies below reflect real, personal – sometimes very intimate – stories of persons who have agreed to share their experience, their trauma, the difficulties they and their loved ones have been facing, the way they have worked to overcome them, as well as their hopes for the future. In order to protect them and their relatives, their testimonies have been anonymized and references to specific locations deleted.


Nations around the world are facing various crises of ineffective government. Basic governmental functions—protecting rights, preventing violence, and promoting material well-being—are compromised, leading to declines in general welfare, in the enjoyment of rights, and even in democracy itself. This innovative collection, featuring analyses by leaders in the fields of constitutional law and politics, highlights the essential role of effective government in sustaining democratic constitutionalism. The book explores "effective government" as a right, principle, duty, and interest, situating questions of governance in debates about negative and positive constitutionalism. In addition to providing new conceptual approaches to the connections between rights and governance, the volume also provides novel insights into government institutions, including courts, legislatures, executives, and administrative bodies, as well as the media and political parties. This is an essential volume for anyone interested in constitutionalism, comparative law, governance, democracy, the rule of law, and rights.


Abstract Formulas are given for extrapolating uranium prices that could result from future trajectories for the cumulative use of native uranium. The logarithm of the extrapolated price is given by a monotonically increasing trend curve plus a sinusoidal oscillation calibrated to historical data. The trend curve as a function of cumulative extraction of native uranium accounts both for accessing lower ore grades and for exploiting more-difficult-to-access richer ores as the more easily accessed richer ores are depleted. Accounting for both of these effects, the logarithm of the monotonic price trend is linear in the logarithm of cumulative extraction of native uranium, with least variance between observations and data of a power-law slope of 1/4.5 up to the point where a limit on the accessibility of the remaining highest-grade ores is reached. (However, a slope of 1/5.6 gives an almost equally good fit.) As an example, a ratio 4 of maximum depth of other mines to maximum depth of current uranium mines is used as a measure of the accessibility limit. This limit is first reached when the background trend curve uranium price reaches $143/kg of elemental uranium, in U.S. dollars inflation adjusted to year 2007 prices ($US2007). Thereafter, the accessibility limit gradually reduces the cumulative amount of native uranium extracted at a given cost below that computed from the power law, multiplying it by a factor of 0.59 when the trend price reaches 300 $US2007/kg. Increases of nuclear energy produced per kilogram of uranium mined with increasing uranium costs are also accounted for. A fraction of global nuclear energy users can develop a higher nuclear energy production rate per kilogram of mined uranium, e.g., by reusing the fissile material in spent fuel. Resulting cumulative cost changes as a function of cumulative nuclear energy use are presented in graphical and tabular form for a variety of input parameters.


The Impacts of Feral Horses on the Use of Water by Pronghorn on the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada Amy M. J. Gooch Department of Plant and Wildlife Sciences, BYU Master of Science Feral horses occupy 31.6 million acres throughout western North America. Feral horses share similar habitats with a wide range of animal species, including pronghorn. Since horses are larger and often more aggressive than other animals of this region, they are generally socially dominant over all other native ungulate species. Pronghorn share water sources with horses in areas where both occur. In situations where horses exclude pronghorn from water, pronghorn fitness may be impaired, especially during the hottest months of the year when water is limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate interference competition between pronghorn and feral horses at water sources. During spring and summer 2010-11, we placed motion-sensitive cameras at water sources across the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Nevada. Cameras were used to examine the overlap of water use by pronghorn and horses and to determine the occurrence of spatial or temporal partitioning of water between these species. Additionally, we made direct observations of horses and pronghorn at high-use water sources to record the occurrences and outcomes of pronghorn/horse interactions as well as differences in pronghorn behavior in the presence and absence of horses. Pronghorn spent more time on vigilance behavior and less time foraging or drinking in the presence of horses than in their absence. Nearly half of pronghorn/horse interactions at water resulted in pronghorn exclusion from water. Our data also suggest that temporal partitioning of water between horses and pronghorn on an hourly basis may be occurring.


Excerpt] The immigration policy of the United States is steeped in legal complexities and is considered to be so politically combustible that most politicians are loathe to address the issue unless circumstances absolutely require them to act. In those instances when extant policies have become so incongruent with prevailing national interests that public pressure can no longer be ignored, the reform process has usually been preceded by the formation by Congress of a national commission or congressional panel to study the needs and to frame the appropriate policy responses before the professional politicians will touch the subject. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find another policy issue where the use of special commissions or committees has been so frequently used to identify policy shortcomings and to offer policy changes. Social security and welfare policies have sometimes relied on commissions to serve the same buffer role because they are also complex and controversial for politicians to address directly. But commissions were used to review immigration policy long before these other two public policies ever existed.


Data dependencies play an important role in the design of a database. Many legacy database applications have been developed on old generation database management systems and conventional file systems. As a result, most of the data dependencies in legacy databases are not enforced in the database management systems. As such, they are not explicitly defined in database schema and are enforced in the transactions, which update the databases. It is very difficult and time consuming to find out the designed data dependencies manually during the maintenance and reengineering of database applications. In software engineering, program analysis has long been developed and proven as a useful aid in many areas. With the use of program analysis, this paper proposes a novel approach for the recovery of common data dependencies, i.e., functional dependencies, key constraints, inclusion dependencies, referential constraints, and sum dependencies, designed in a database from the behavior of transactions, which update the database. The approach is based on detecting program path patterns for implementing most commonly used methods to enforce these data dependencies.


Recent research finds that doubts about the integrity of the secret ballot as an institution persist among the American public. We build on this finding by providing novel field experimental evidence about how information about ballot secrecy protections can increase turnout among registered voters who had not previously voted. First, we show that a private group's mailing designed to address secrecy concerns modestly increased turnout in the highly contested 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election. Second, we exploit this and an earlier field experiment conducted in Connecticut during the 2010 congressional midterm election season to identify the persistent effects of such messages from both governmental and non-governmental sources. Together, these results provide new evidence about how message source and campaign context affect efforts to mobilize previous non-voters by addressing secrecy concerns, as well as show that attempting to address these beliefs increases long-term participation.


Treatment options for advanced metastatic thyroid cancer patients are limited. Vemurafenib, a BRAFV600E inhibitor, has shown promise in clinical trials although cellular resistance occurs. Combination therapy that includes BRAFV600E inhibition and avoids resistance is a clinical need. We used an in vitro model to examine combination treatment with vemurafenib and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors, metformin and rapamycin. Cellular viability and apoptosis were analyzed in thyroid cell lines by trypan blue exclusion and TUNEL assays. Combination of vemurafenib and metformin decreased cell viability and increased apoptosis in both BCPAP papillary thyroid cancer cells and 8505c anaplastic thyroid cancer cells. This combination was also found to be active in vemurafenib-resistant BCPAP cells. Changes in expression of signaling molecules such as decreased mTOR expression in BCPAP and enhanced inhibition of phospho-MAPK in resistant BCPAP and 8505c were observed. The second combination of vemurafenib and rapamycin amplified cell death in BCPAP cells. We conclude that combination of BRAFV600E and mTOR inhibition forms the basis of a treatment regimen that should be further investigated in in vivo model systems. Metformin or rapamycin adjuvant treatment may provide clinical benefits with minimal side effects to BRAFV600E-positive advanced thyroid cancer patients treated with vemurafenib.


Domainal trace lineation is defined by the intersection of two foliations, where at least one of these foliations is a composition banding formed by deformational processes (e.g. differentiated crenulation cleavage). The diagnostic feature of this lineation is a pronounced striping observed on the foliation surface that intersects the banding. An example of domainal trace lineation is displayed on the dominant foliation surfaces in New Harbour Group metasediments, near Rhoscolyn, Anglesey. The lineation is produced by the intersection of two foliations of domainal type, which produces prismatic domains resembling stretched objects. This probably explains the previous identifications of the lineation as a stretching lineation. The new interpretation of the lineation has potentially important implications for the deformation history of the New Harbour Group.


The problem considered here is output regulation of a large-scale hydraulic network where the structure of the network is subject to change and where the actuation is subject to a non-negativity constraint. Previous results have shown that semi-global practical output regulation is achievable using a set of decentralised, logarithmic quantised and constrained control actions with properly designed quantisation parameters. That is, an attractor set with a compact basin of attraction exists. Subsequently, the basin can be increased by increasing the control gains. In our work, this result is extended by showing that an attractor set with a global basin of attraction exists for arbitrary values of positive control gains, given that the upper level of the quantiser is properly designed. Furthermore, the proof is given for general monotone quantisation maps. Since the basin of attraction is global and the result is independent on the size of the network, this shows that structural changes can be implemented without destabilising the closed-loop system.


Abstract. Over the last decade, geographers have paid a great deal of attention to transnational firms (TNCs) and global production networks (GPNs) in the global economy, to the emergence of a mobile transnational business class and also to the development of global or globalizing cities. All three literatures have made important contributions to understanding the spatiality of global economic activity, but each adopts a fairly discreet theoretical and empirical focus. This article aims to outline a number of theoretical dimensions for thinking about how these key strands to the globalization debate can be brought together through the concept of global business spaces. It will propose a framework for understanding the spatialities of global economic activity that seeks to capture the complex interaction of material, social, organizational and virtual spaces that form the context through which it is constituted. With reference to business travel as a key form of economic practice which plays a central role in (re)producing these spaces, it assesses how these emerging spaces of global economic activity present problems for the conceptual categories commonly used by both urban and economic geographers. In so doing, it proposes a series of ways in which a different research agenda can produce new insight into the complex forms of social practice at the centre of global economic activity.


The main objective of this investigation is to validate a measurement model that identifies the dimensions of inflexibility in organizational decision-making. For this purpose a Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to assess how well the measured variables represent the constructs, which according to several authors of the literature, have been identified as limitations to organizational decision-making. In this study they were classified in three dimensions: limitations on Strategic Management, limitations on Human Resource Management and limitations on Financial Management.
The analysis is based on data collected from 229 Mexican companies. The results show that the proposed model is a good measure of inflexibility in decision-making of these organizations. In addition, it was identified that the variable that best predicts the limitations in strategic management is the lack of clear objectives. Furthermore, it was found that the strongest predictor of limitations on human resources management is the presence of conflicts between employees; and regarding limitations on financial management, the best predictor is the falling profits of the organization. It is expected that this model will help organizations to identify and eliminate these limitations that constraint the organizational decision-making, facilitating their capability to adapt to the changing environment.


This paper reports from a design process within an e-learning project. An e-learning web lecture on how to search the World Wide Web was created based on narrated screen captures and power point slides. A framework grounded in situated learning was used to create the multimedia instruction for the web lecture. Flexibility vs. collaboration, multimedia instruction vs. multimedia interaction and situated content vs. situated use headlines the discussion on challenges where theory and practice deliver conflicting implications for system design.


Producing unusual fatty acids (FAs) in crop plants has been a long-standing goal of green chemistry. However, expression of the enzymes that catalyze the primary synthesis of these unusual FAs in transgenic plants typically results in low levels of the desired FA. For example, seed-specific expression of castor (Ricinus communis) fatty acid hydroxylase (RcFAH) in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) resulted in only 17% hydroxy fatty acids (HFAs) in the seed oil. In order to increase HFA levels, we investigated castor phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT). We cloned cDNAs encoding three putative PDAT enzymes from a castor seed cDNA library and coexpressed them with RcFAH12. One isoform, RcPDAT1A, increased HFA levels to 27%. Analysis of HFA-triacylglycerol molecular species and regiochemistry, along with analysis of the HFA content of phosphatidylcholine, indicates that RcPDAT1A functions as a PDAT in vivo. Expression of RcFAH12 alone leads to a significant decrease in FA content of seeds. Coexpression of RcPDAT1A and RcDGAT2 (for diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2) with RcFAH12 restored FA levels to nearly wild-type levels, and this was accompanied by a major increase in the mass of HFAs accumulating in the seeds. We show the usefulness of RcPDAT1A for engineering plants with high levels of HFAs and alleviating bottlenecks due to the production of unusual FAs in transgenic oilseeds.


Food security is the idea by which a population has enough food to sustain itself without famine. A large number of factors can influence the stability of food production, including diseases caused by microorganisms. Pectobacterium spp. is one of the leading causes of soft rot disease, resulting in crop losses both pre- and post-harvest.
Bacteriocins are potent narrow spectrum protein antibiotics which target closely related bacteria to the producing strain. Ferredoxin-containing bacteriocins produced by and targeted towards Pectobacterium species have both a different domain organisation and uptake mechanism to all known Gram-negative bacteriocins. This work has shown that pectocins are able to pass through the outer membrane of Pectobacterium spp. by parasitising the ferredoxin uptake receptor, FusA. This uptake requires the pectocins to be flexible in order to pass through the lumen of the barrel and enter the periplasm. This work has shown an interaction between FusB and pectocin M1, suggesting a novel mechanism of uptake.
Streptococcus agalactiae is the causative agent of disease in a wide range of hosts, ranging from human neonates to farmed Tilapia. S. agalactiae infection has a detrimental effect on the dairy industry each year as it is the leading cause of mastitis in cattle. As well as this, the prevalence of S. agalactiae in farmed fish has resulted in large numbers of infected fish and subsequently the infection of consumers.
Bacteriocins produced by Gram-positive bacteria are often small modified peptides which target the peptidoglycan layer or cytoplasmic membrane of the target cell. However, a small number of protein bacteriocins produced by Gram-positive bacteria have been discovered, with the best characterised of these being lysostaphin. It has been shown that bacteriocins similar to lysostaphin are also produced by other Gram-positive bacteria, such as zoocin A produced by Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Prior to this work a novel protein bacteriocin produced by and targeted towards S. agalactiae, named agalacticin A, was discovered. It was predicted that this bacteriocin was similar in structure and function to zoocin A. This work has gone some way to structurally characterising agalacticin A, showing a two-domain structure joined by a flexible linker region allowing for the two domains to move independently. As well as this it has shown the importance of the histidine residues at the predicted active site confirming the similarities between agalacticin A and zoocin A. Together this work has gone some way to showing the potential of agalacticin A as a novel therapeutic.
Altogether this work has characterised three novel bacteriocins active against pathogenic bacteria to gain a better understanding of their structure, mechanism of action and uptake.


The demand for an increasing diversification of the product spectrum associated with the current huge customization desire and subsequently the decreasing unit quantities of each production lot is gaining more and more importance within a great variety of industrial branches, e.g. automotive industry. Nevertheless, traditional product development and production processes (molding, extrusion) are already reaching their limits or fail to address these trends of a flexible and digitized production in view of a product variability up to lot size one. Thus, upcoming innovative production concepts like the additive manufacturing technology basically create new opportunities with regard to extensive potentials in product development (constructive optimization) and manufacturing (economic individualization), but mostly suffer from insufficient strength regarding structural components. Therefore, this contribution presents an innovative technological and procedural conception of a hybrid additive manufacturing process (fiber-reinforced sandwich structures based on selective laser sintering technology) to overcome these current structural weaknesses, and consequently support the design of complex lightweight components. Keywords—Additive manufacturing, fiber-reinforced plastics, hybrid design, lightweight design.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the UK with 41,000 new cases diagnosed in 2011. Despite undergoing potentially curative resection, a significant amount of patients develop recurrence. Biomarkers that aid prognostication or identify patients who are suitable for adjuvant treatments are needed. The TNM staging system does a reasonably good job at offering prognostic information to the treating clinician, but it could be better and identifying methods of improving its accuracy are needed.
Tumour progression is based on a complex relationship between tumour behaviour and the hosts' inflammatory responses. Sustained tumour cell proliferation, evading growth suppressors, resisting apoptosis, replicative immortality, sustained angiogenesis, invasion & metastasis, avoiding immune destruction, deregulated cellular energetics, tumour promoting inflammation and genomic instability & mutation have been identified as hallmarks. These hallmarks are malignant behaviors are what makes the cell cancerous and the more extreme the behaviour the more aggressive the cancer the more likely the risk of a poor outcome.

There are two primary genomic instability pathways: Microsatellite Instability (MSI) and Chromosomal Instability (CI) also referred to as Microsatellite Stability (MSS). Tumours arising by these pathways have a predilection for specific anatomical, histological and molecular biological features. It is possible that aberrant molecular expression of genes/proteins that promote malignant behaviors may also act as prognostic and predictive biomarkers, which may offer superior prognostic information to classical prognostic features.

Cancer related inflammation has been described as a 7th hallmark of cancer. Despite the systemic inflammatory response (SIR) being associated with more aggressive malignant disease, infiltration by immune cells, particularly CD8+ lymphocytes, at the advancing edge of the tumour have been associated with improved outcome and tumour MSI. It remains unknown if the SIR is associated with tumour MSI and this requires further study.

The mechanisms by which colorectal cancer cells locally invade through the bowel remain uncertain, but connective tissue degradation by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) such as MMP-9 have been implicated. MMP-9 has been found in the cancer cells, stromal cells and patient circulation. Although tumoural MMP-9 has been associated with poor survival, reports are conflicting and contain relatively small sample sizes. Furthermore, the influence of high serum MMP-9 on survival remains unknown.

Src family kinases (SFKs) have been implicated in many adverse cancer cell behaviors. SFKs comprise 9 family members BLK, C-SRC, FGR, FYN, HCK, LCK, LYN, YES, YRK. C-SRC has been the most investigated of all SFKs, but the role of other SFKs in cellular behaviors and their prognostic value remains largely unknown. The development of Src inhibitors, such as Dasatinib, has identified SFKs as a potential therapeutic target for patients at higher risk of poor survival. Unfortunately, clinical trials so far have not been promising but this may reflect inadequate patient selection and SFKs may act as useful prognostic and predictive biomarkers.

In chapter 3, the association between cancer related inflammation, tumour MSI, clinicopathological factors and survival was tested in two independent cohorts. A training cohort consisting of n=182 patients and a validation cohort of n=677 patients. MSI tumours were associated with a raised CRP (p=0.003). Hypoalbuminaemia was independently associated with poor overall survival in TNM stage II cancer (HR 3.04 (95% CI 1.44 – 6.43);p=0.004), poor recurrence free survival in TNM stage III cancer (HR 1.86 (95% 1.03 – 3.36);p=0.040) and poor overall survival in CI colorectal cancer (HR 1.49 (95% CI 1.06 – 2.10);p=0.022). Interestingly, MSI tumours were associated with poor overall survival in TNM stage III cancer (HR 2.20 (95% CI 1.10 – 4.37);p=0.025).

In chapter 4, the role of MMP-9 in colorectal cancer progression and survival was examined. MMP-9 in the tissue was assessed using IHC and serum expression quantified using ELISA. Serum MMP-9 was associated with cancer cell expression (Spearman's Correlation Coefficient (SCC) 0.393, p<0.001)) and stromal expression (SCC 0.319, p=0.002). Serum MMP-9 was associated with poor recurrence-free (HR 3.37 (95% CI 1.20 – 9.48);p=0.021) and overall survival (HR 3.16 (95% CI 1.22 – 8.15);p=0.018), but tumour MMP-9 was not survival or MSI status.

In chapter 5, the role of SFK expression and activation in colorectal cancer progression and survival was studied. On PCR analysis, although LYN, C-SRC and YES were the most highly expressed, FGR and HCK had higher expression profiles as tumours progressed. Using IHC, raised cytoplasmic FAK (tyr 861) was independently associated with poor recurrence free survival in all cancers (HR 1.48 (95% CI 1.02 – 2.16);p=0.040) and CI cancers (HR 1.50 (95% CI 1.02 – 2.21);p=0.040). However, raised cytoplasmic HCK (HR 2.04 (95% CI 1.11 – 3.76);p=0.022) was independently associated with poor recurrence-free survival in TNM stage II cancers. T84 and HT29 cell lines were used to examine the cellular effects of Dasatinib. Cell viability was assessed using WST-1 assay and apoptosis assessed using an ELISA cell death detection assay. Dasatinib increased T84 tumour cell apoptosis in a dose dependent manner and resulted in reduced expression of nuclear (p=0.008) and cytoplasmic (p=0.016) FAK (tyr 861) expression and increased nuclear FGR expression (p=0.004).

The results of this thesis confirm that colorectal cancer is a complex disease that represents several subtypes of cancer based on molecular biological behaviors. This thesis concentrated on features of the disease related to inflammation in terms of genetic and molecular characterisation. MSI cancers are closely associated with systemic inflammation but despite this observation, they retain their relatively improved survival. MMP-9 is a feature of tissue remodeling during inflammation and is also associated with degradation of connective tissue, advanced T-stage and poor outcome when measured in the serum. The lack of stromal quantification due to TMA use rather than full sections makes the value of tumoural MMP-9 immunoreactivity in the prognostication and its association with MSI unknown and requires further study. Finally, SFK activation was also associated with SIR, however, only cytoplasmic HCK was independently associated with poor survival in patients with TNM stage II disease, the group of patients where identifying a novel biomarker is most needed. There is still some way to go before these biomarkers are translated into clinical practice and future work needs to focus on obtaining a reliable and robust scientific technique with validation in an adequately powered independent cohort.


Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of shortened longevity in individuals with type 1 diabetes. Dyslipidemia is one of the important modifiable risk factors. Aims: To investigate different aspects of dyslipidemia in type 1 diabetes. Assessing available blood lipid variables as markers of CVD risk in type 1 diabetes and the associations between lipid-lowering therapy (LLT) and CVD in primary prevention. Investigating the adherence to LLT, the association between non-adherence and CVD risk, and the factors associated with non-adherence from a demographic and socioeconomic perspective. Methods: The studies comprise individuals with type 1 diabetes registered in the Swedish National Diabetes Register (NDR). Clinical characteristics and laboratory measures were collected from the NDR together with data from other nationwide Swedish registries on health and socioeconomy. In study I, Cox regression analyses were performed to assess low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol ratio as predictors of CVD in individuals with type 1 diabetes. In study II, the association between primary prevention with LLT and the risk of CVD was analyzed in 24,330 individuals with type 1 diabetes applying propensity scores to balance the groups. In studies III and IV, we utilized the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register to investigate adherence and non-adherence in 6192 individuals with type 1 diabetes and novel users of LLT in the context of CVD and socioeconomy. Results: Total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol ratio was a better predictor for cardiovascular risk in primary prevention than LDL-cholesterol, with a 12% elevated risk of CVD per 1 unit increase in the ratio. Individuals with type 1 diabetes and no history of CVD had a 22-44% lower risk of CVD and cardiovascular death when on LLT compared to the untreated individuals. High adherence to LLT was associated with a 22% lower risk of non-fatal CVD compared to a lower degree of adherence. Individuals discontinuing LLT within 18 months had a 43% higher risk of non-fatal CVD. Lower adherence was associated with male gender, younger age, marital status, and


Meiotic recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is initiated by double- strand breaks (DSBs). We have developed a system to compare the properties of meiotic DSBs with those created by the site-specific HO endonuclease. HO endonuclease was expressed under the control of the meiotic-specific SPO13 promoter, creating a DSB at a single site on one of yeast's 16 chromosomes. In Rad+ strains the times of appearance of the HO-induced DSBs and of subsequent recombinants are coincident with those induced by normal meiotic DSBs. Physical monitoring of DNA showed that SPO13: : HO induced gene conversions both in Rad+ and in rad50 delta cells that cannot initiate normal meiotic DSBs. We find that the RAD50 gene is important, but not essential, for recombination even after a DSB has been created in a meiotic cell. In rad50 delta cells, some DSBs are not repaired until a broken chromosome has been packaged into a spore and is subsequently germinated. This suggests that a broken chromosome does not signal an arrest of progression through meiosis. The recombination defect in rad50 delta diploids is not, however, meiotic specific, as mitotic rad50 diploids, experiencing an HO-induced DSB, exhibit similar departures from wild-type recombination.


This paper examines government policies aimed at rescuing banks from the effects of the great financial crisis of 2007-2009. To delimit the scope of the analysis, we concentrate on the fiscal side of interventions and ignore, by design, the monetary policy reaction to the crisis. The policy response to the subprime crisis started in earnest after Lehman's failure in mid September 2008, accelerated after February 2009, and has become very large by September 2009. Governments have relied on a portfolio of intervention tools, but the biggest commitments and outlays have been in the form of debt and asset guarantees, while purchases of bad assets have been very limited. We employ event study methodology to estimate the benefits of government interventions on banks and their shareholders. Announcements directed at the banking system as a whole (general) and at specific banks (specific) were priced by the markets as cumulative abnormal rates of return over the selected window periods. General announcements tend to be associated with positive cumulative abnormal returns and specific announcements with negative ones. General announcements exert cross-area spillovers but are perceived by the home-country banks as subsidies boosting the competitive advantage of foreign banks. Specific announcements exert spillovers on other banks. Our results are also sensitive to the information environment. Specific announcements tend to exert a positive impact on rates of return in the pre-crisis sub-period, when announcements are few and markets have relative confidence in the "normal" information flow. The opposite takes place in the turbulent crisis sub-period when announcements are the order of the day and markets mistrust the "normal" information flow. These results appear consistent with the observed reluctance of individual institutions to come forth with requests for public assistance.


Three-dimensional holographic images of extended diffusing objects are simultaneously recorded and reconstructed by optical cross correlation in a second-order nonlinear crystal. An interaction geometry in which the phase-matched object and reference fields propagate slightly noncollinearly is particularly convenient for producing these second-harmonic-generated holograms.


Much effort and funding is spent on GP training in Australia but there is little data on how GP training in rural and remote areas impacts communities. Since 2001, the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) program has required at least 50% of general practice training to occur in rural areas despite lack of information about the effectiveness of rural training. A study conducted by a new RTO, Generalist Medical Training (GMT), part of James Cook University's (JCU's) College of Medicine and Dentistry, aimed to identify aspects of GP training which have impacted rural/remote registrars' experience, their supervisors, training posts/practices, and the local community. Perspectives were obtained from 37 semi-structured interviews with 14 GP registrars, 10 supervisors, and 13 practice managers. This presentation focuses on the community impact of training and supervising GP registrars in rural and remote areas of north-west Queensland. The primary themes extracted from the data relate to the perceptions of doctors' contribution to underserved communities and community expectations of the medical workforce. Rural and remote communities hold three main expectations of the medical workforce: 1) Patient-Centred Care; 2) Preventive Care and Continuity of Practice; and 3) Quality of GP registrars and supervisors. It was also identified that registrars and supervisors who uphold these expectations are involved and invested in the community and in their role of being a trusted "family doctor". Effective and well-focused training is also said to impact positively on registrars' learning by enhancing their scope of practice, their feeling of accomplishment, and resilience. As a whole, community involvement and investment also enhances medical reputation and morale amongst doctors and community members. Further investigations are underway to explore how best to approach community engaged GP training.


It is morally impossible to justify the power wielded by the livestock industry. This paper describes the human, ecological and animal welfare concerns caused by excessive meat production and consumption, including climate change, water depletion and degradation, land misappropriation and degradation, rainforest destruction, biodiversity and rapid species loss and the significant threats and challenges presented to human health and wellbeing. It offers flexitarianism (flexible or part-time vegetarianism) as a personal opportunity and moral responsibility to combat the destructive duplicity of the global livestock megamachine. Through personal nutritional paradigm shifts and the resulting food choices, individuals can reclaim the possibility of a more sustainable world and global society.


Abstract We utilized computerized record-linkage methods to link HIV and cancer databases with limited unique identifiers in Pune, India, to determine feasibility of linkage and obtain preliminary estimates of cancer risk in persons living with HIV (PLHIV) as compared with the general population. Records of 32,575 PLHIV were linked to 31,754 Pune Cancer Registry records (1996–2008) using a probabilistic-matching algorithm. Cancer risk was estimated by calculating standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) in the early (4–27 months after HIV registration), late (28–60 months), and overall (4–60 months) incidence periods. Cancers diagnosed prior to or within 3 months of HIV registration were considered prevalent. Of 613 linked cancers to PLHIV, 188 were prevalent, 106 early incident, and 319 late incident. Incident cancers comprised 11.5% AIDS-defining cancers (ADCs), including cervical cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), but not Kaposi sarcoma (KS), and 88.5% non-AIDS-defining cancers (NADCs). Risk for any incident cancer diagnosis in early, late, and combined periods was significantly elevated among PLHIV (SIRs: 5.6 [95% CI 4.6–6.8], 17.7 [95% CI 15.8–19.8], and 11.5 [95% CI 10–12.6], respectively). Cervical cancer risk was elevated in both incidence periods (SIRs: 9.6 [95% CI 4.8–17.2] and 22.6 [95% CI 14.3–33.9], respectively), while NHL risk was elevated only in the late incidence period (SIR: 18.0 [95% CI 9.8–30.20]). Risks for NADCs were dramatically elevated (SIR > 100) for eye-orbit, substantially (SIR > 20) for all-mouth, esophagus, breast, unspecified-leukemia, colon-rectum-anus, and other/unspecified cancers; moderately elevated (SIR > 10) for salivary gland, penis, nasopharynx, and brain-nervous system, and mildly elevated (SIR > 5) for stomach. Risks for 6 NADCs (small intestine, testis, lymphocytic leukemia, prostate, ovary, and melanoma) were not elevated and 5 cancers, including multiple myeloma not seen. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of using probabilistic record-linkage to study cancer/other comorbidities among PLHIV in India and provides preliminary population-based estimates of cancer risks in PLHIV in India. Our results, suggesting a potentially substantial burden and slightly different spectrum of cancers among PLHIV in India, support efforts to conduct multicenter linkage studies to obtain precise estimates and to monitor cancer risk in PLHIV in India.


This practicum was designed to integrate a study skills program throughout special education classes in a middle school. The major objectives were to develop a variety of instructional strategies to meet the students' needs in the area of study skills, to foster the teaching of study skills in each subject area by the special education teachers through direct instruction, and to provide specific segments of time for study skills awareness activities in each subject area of the students' core curriculum. The practicum project involved designing and administering a study skills self-assessment inventory to special education students and a staff needs assessment to special education teachers, and sharing with teachers activities that would enhance classroom study skill instruction. Informal meetings were held between the practicum implementor and special education teachers to offer assistance to teachers and to monitor weekly study skill objectives. Results revealed an increase in the amount of time spent in direct instruction of study skills in each of nine special education classrooms. Students' use of a unified assignment book resulted in a significant increase in the number of students completing long-term and short-term assignments both on time and as directed. Seven'y percent of the teachers and 60 percent of the students deemed the practicum successful in teaching study skills that resulted in academic progress. Appendices contain a needs assessment survey for teachers, a study skills self-assessment inventory for students, a list of study skills, samples of teachers' lesson plans, and evaluation questionnaires. (Contains approximately 40 references.) (JDD) ***************************************************************, e.**** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Integrating a Study Skills Program Throughout Special Education Classes in a Middle School Setting


Aim/Purpose: This study reports the outcome of how a first pilot semester introductory programming course was designed to provide tangible evidence in support of the concept of Student Ownership of Learning (SOL) and how the outcomes of this programming course facilitate effective student learning.

Background: Many instructors want to create or redesign their courses to strengthen the relationship between teaching and learning; however, the researchers of this study believe that the concept of Student Ownership of Learning (SOL) connects to student engagement and achievement in the classroom setting. The researchers redesigned the introductory programming course to include valuable teaching methods to increase Student Ownership of Learning and constructive approaches such as making students design an authentic mobile app project as individuals, partners, or within teams. The high quality of students' projects positioned them as consultants to the university IT department.

Methodology: This paper employs a case study design to construct a qualitative research method as it relates to the phenomenon of the study's goals and lived experiences of students in the redesigned introductory programming course. The redesigned course was marketed to students as a new course with detailed description and elements that were different from the traditional computer science introductory programming course requirement. The redesigned introductory programming course was offered in two sections: one section with 14 registered students and the other section with 15 registered students. One faculty member instructed both sections of the course. A total of 29 students signed up for the newly redesigned introductory programming course, more than in previous semesters, but two students dropped out within the first two weeks of the redesigned course making a total of 27 students. The redesigned coursework was divided into two parts of the semester. The first part of the semester detailed description and elements of the coursework including a redesigned approach with preparation for class, a quiz, and doing homework in class, which gives students control of decisions whenever possible; and working with each other, either with a partner or in a team. The second part of the semester focuses on students designing a non-trivial working mobile app and presenting their developing mobile app at a significant public competition at the end of the semester. Students developed significantly complex mobile apps and incorporated more complex functionality in their apps. Both Management Information System (MIS) major students and Computer Science major students were in the same course despite the fact that MIS students had never taken a programming course before; however, the Computer Science students had taken at least one course of programming.

Contribution: This study provides a practical guide for faculty members in Information Technology programs and other faculty members in non-Computer Science programs to create or redesign an introductory course that increases student engagement and achievement in the classroom based on the concept of Student Ownership of Learning (SOL). This study also deepens the discussion in curriculum and instruction on the value to explore issues that departments or programs should consider when establishing coursework or academic programs.

Findings: This study found two goals evidently in support to increase Student Ownership of Learning (SOL). The first goal (Increase their ownership of learning SOL) showed that students found value in the course contents and took control of their learning; therefore, the faculty no longer had to point out how important different programming concepts were. The students recognized their own learning gap and were excited when shown a programming concept that addressed the gap. For example, student comments were met with "boy, we can really use this in our app" instead of comments about how complex they were. The coursework produced a desired outcome for students as they would get the knowledge needed to make the best app that they could. The second goal (Develop a positive attitude toward the course) showed positive results as students developed a more positive attitude towards the course. Student actions in the classroom strongly reflected a positive attitude. Attendance was almost 100% during the semester even though no points for attendance were given. Further evidence of Student Ownership of Learning and self-identity was students' extensive use of the terminology and concept of the course when talking to others, especially during the public competition. Students were also incorporating their learning into their identities. For example, teams became known by their app such as the Game team, the Recipe team, and the Parking team. One team even made team t-shirts. Another exciting reflection of the Student Ownership of Learning which occurred was the learning students did by themselves.

Recommendations for Practitioners: Practitioners can share best practices with faculty in different departments, programs, universities, and educational consultants to cultivate the best solution for Student Ownership of Learning based on student engagement and achievement in the classroom setting.

Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can explore different perspectives with scholars and practitioners in various disciplinary fields of study to create or redesign courses and programs to reflect Student Ownership of Learning (SOL).

Impact on Society: Student Ownership of Learning is relevant for faculty and universities to incorporate in the creation or redesigning of coursework in academic programs. Readers can gain an understanding that student engagement and achievement are two important drivers of Student Ownership of Learning (SOL) in the classroom setting.

Future Research: Practitioners and researchers could follow-up in the future with a study to provide more understanding and updated research information from different research samples and hypotheses on Student Ownership of Learning (SOL).


Article History: Received: 28 jun. 2016 Accepted: 7 Aug. 2016 Surface-Piercing Propellers (SPPs) have been widely used in high speed craft due to some desirable features such as high efficiency, omission of resistance of equipment attached to the propeller and proper functioning of cavitation. Unlike the submerged propellers, theoretical methods have no significant application on simulation of SPPsbecause of problems related to modeling of these propellers. Design of SPPs is mainly done based on empirical studies and model experiments. Water tunnel or free surface cavitation tunnel is among the most important devices to perform SPPs model testing. In this paper, the design algorithm of a free surface water tunnel to test the SPPs has been described. The design and construction stages of the free surface cavitation tunnel of Babol Noshirvani University of Technology are provided. Also,calculation of its various sectors such as elbows, nozzle, settling chamber, test section, diffuser and calculation of pressure drops, proper pump selection and dynamometer has been showed.


This project deals with capitalisms entry into our physical and mental space, and aims to demonstrate another way of seeing the outside world. Capitalism can be described as "capital to such an extent of accumulation that everything becomes its abstract image". Its abstractions are projected on and through us, as life is synchronised with the accumulation of money. One can say that capitalism is trying to project its own image upon us; which then appears to be its most "efficient" and "rationalised" idea – straightness – through goods, environments, thoughts and processes. In the end, everything tends to become "the same".


Formal verification of the security of software systems is gradually moving from the traditional focus on idealized models, to the more ambitious goal of producing verified implementations. This trend is also present in recent work targeting the verification of cryptographic software, but the reach of existing tools has so far been limited to cryptographic primitives, such as RSA-OAEP encryption, or standalone protocols, such as SSH. This paper presents a scalable approach to formally verifying implementations of higherlevel cryptographic systems, directly in the computational model. We consider circuit-based cloud-oriented cryptographic protocols for secure and verifiable computation over encrypted data. Our examples share as central component Yao's celebrated transformation of a boolean circuit into an equivalent "garbled" form that can be evaluated securely in an untrusted environment. We leverage the foundations of garbled circuits set forth by Bellare, Hoang, and Rogaway (CCS 2012, ASIACRYPT 2012) to build verified implementations of garbling schemes, a verified implementation of Yao's secure function evaluation protocol, and a verified (albeit partial) implementation of the verifiable computation protocol by Gennaro, Gentry, and Parno (CRYPTO 2010). The implementations are formally verified using EasyCrypt, a tool-assisted framework for building high-confidence cryptographic proofs, and critically rely on two novel features: a module and theory system that supports compositional reasoning, and a code extraction mechanism for generating implementations from formalizations.


"The History of King Richard the Third" is Thomas More's English masterpiece. With the help of Shakespeare, whose "Richard the Third" took More's work as its principal model, the "History" determined the historical reputation of an English king and spawned a seemingly endless controversy about the justness of that reputation. George M. Logan has produced a scholarly yet accessible edition of the "History", designed to make More's exhilarating work fully accessible to 21st-century readers. More's text is presented here with modern English spelling and punctuation, and with full annotation of linguistic difficulties and the historical background. The text is preceded by a general introduction, a chronology, and suggestions for further reading. An appendix reprints passages from key sources and analogues, enabling the reader to see how More worked with his English sources and classical models, and finally how Shakespeare worked with More. George M. Logan is the James Cappon Professor of English and former Head of the Department of English at Queen's University, Canada. He is the author of the history of the IU School of Music and an editor of the Norton Anthology of English Literature.


The overarching theme of this journal is design activism. Designers need to be activists, and radical shifts are needed to allow any form of activism to evolve. Institutions of higher learning and the profession need to nurture and equip the next generation of designers with new ways of learning and practice; to achieve any form of positive change, design institutions, scholars and practitioners need to urgently change their models, modes and methodologies. Design pedagogy and practice needs to be realigned away from the current asymmetrical approaches to teaching, practice and research. Over the years, I have been nurturing and expanding an overall agenda that consistently works toward developing innovative solutions to benefit civil society and improve social innovation, sustainability and the environment. Design activism informs not only my philosophy as a designer, but my philosophy and practice as a teacher and scholar.


Birds of prey are difficult to study and the status and distribution of many species is poorly known. As top predators usually occurring at low densities, raptors may be particularly sensitive to habitat degradation. Conservation of raptors might be vital to prevent further loss of species and ecosystems. Between April and December in 2008 and 2009, raptors and associated habitat data were surveyed using a distance sampling transect method in 70 randomly selected one square kilometre plots in the Cerros de Amotape National Park, the Tumbes National Reserve and buffer areas within the North West Biosphere Reserve in Peru. A total of 1261 detections of 19 diurnal raptor species were recorded.
I examined community structure, diversity across land uses and relationships between abundance and niche attributes within species. Abundance and richness were highest outside protected areas and lowest in the national park. A Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) of raptor species and habitat variables ordinated them according to latitude, elevation, percentages of vegetation cover, and, in some cases, individual tree species.
I used logistic regressions (GLMs) to obtain habitat distribution models for eleven raptor species. Twenty eight habitat models were obtained and twelve habitat variables were included. Best models included measured percentage of vegetation cover at different strata, elevation and latitude. My findings suggest that vertical structure of forested areas is of particular importance for raptors in extreme northwest Peru.
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Density and population size estimates were calculated for 15 species using distance sampling line transect counts. Densities were stratified by time of detection (morning or afternoon) and by habitat type. Flying birds were included in the analysis. For all but two species, density estimates were higher in the morning than in the afternoon. Absolute density was higher than 1 individual km-2 for three species and for seven species it lay between 0.34 and 0.86 individuals km-2. Some species showed a marked preference for particular habitat types.
I used generalized additive models (GAMs) to examine the relationship between the occurrence of six diurnal raptors and species diversity and abundance to vegetation structure, elevation and cattle "density" in 39 km² plots within my study area. Percentage of vegetation cover 5-15 m above the ground was the most important feature influencing the distribution of most species, including the rarer ones. Raptors responded differently to cattle density: Presence of species that foraged in open habitats increased with cattle density, while presence of range restricted or declining species decreased.
Conservation efforts of raptors in extreme northwest Peru should also be conducted in areas outside the North West Biosphere Reserve by protecting remaining forests. Moderate cattle densities can benefit some species and help maintain a high raptor diversity in the study area. However, this activity should be strictly monitored so further fragmentation of forests and damage to vegetation structure is significantly reduced particularly inside the Tumbes National Reserve.


The development of spoken language involves the acquisition of a complex system of knowledge and processing mechanisms that recruits a number of neural systems. These neural systems depend on numerous genetically influenced biological functions that provide for experience dependent learning. That language development and use entail genetic mechanisms is clear. A substantial literature shows that individual differences in language are partially heritable. This evidence of heritability has now motivated efforts to uncover specific genetics mechanisms using modern molecular genetics. To date, one gene, FOXP2, has been shown to be associated with speech and language. However, it is not appropriate to conclude that FOXP2 contains the human language faculty. Instead, it likely participates with many genetic systems to support language development. What these genetically influenced systems are is only beginning to be revealed.

Key Concepts:

There is considerable support for a role for genes in language development and function.

Twin studies along with adoption studies show that individual differences in language are partially attributable to genetic factors.

There is little evidence that vocabulary and grammar are differentially influenced by genetic factors.

Heritability of language increases through childhood.

Twin research suggests that the genetic influence on language development is shared with nonlanguage cognitive skills.

Substantial evidence shows that FOXP2 plays an important role in the neurobiology of language via it regulation of the expression of other genes.

CNTNAP2 is a downstream regulatory target of FOXP2 that has been associated with developmental language impairment.

Future progress in understanding a complex trait such as language may come from understanding genetic mechanisms controlling the expression levels of genes (eQTLs).

Keywords:

spoken language;
language development;
language impairment;
heritability;
linkage;
CNTNAP2;
FOXP2


Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common infectious agents in children. It causes a broad spectrum of infections ranging from trivial to severe life-threatening presentations. The possibility of complications in case of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) appears to be high, being described in up to 43% of cases in adult patients. However, metastatic infections seems to be less frequent in pediatric patients. There is no agreement on when or to whom complementary tests should be requested to rule them out. The aim of this study is to describe the frequency and characteristics of secondary impacts of SAB identified at "Hospital Gutierrez" in a period of two years, and assess potential risk factors for their occurrence. Metastatic infection rate was 15.8%. The main risk factor was the persistence of positive blood cultures more than 48 hours.


Mailing address: Andréa Rodrigues Motta Faculdade de Medicina da UFMG Av. Professor Alfredo Balena, 190 sala 251 Santa Efigênia – Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil CEP: 30130-100 E-mail: email@example.com ABSTRACT Objective: to investigate the correlation between the tongue pressure and the electrical activity of the suprahyoid muscles. Methods: a across-sectional, observational and analytical study conducted with 15 men and 22 women. Each participant underwent simultaneous assessment of maximal tongue pressure through the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI) and the surface electromyography of the suprahyoid muscles. They were asked to press the tongue against the hard palate in the anterior and posterior region, with and without IOPI. The adopted significance level of the performed analyses was 5%. Results: there was a moderate and significant correlation only between suprahyoid electrical activity and tongue pressure in the posterior region. It was verified that the measured electrical potentials, when using the IOPI, were greater in the tasks of anterior pressure than in the tasks of the posterior one, bilaterally. Without using the IOPI, the electrical potentials were greater in the posterior pressure than in the anterior one, bilaterally. Finally, the values of lingual pressure were compared with the bulb positioned in the anterior and posterior parts, and the anterior tongue pressure was higher. Conclusion: there was a moderate correlation between tongue pressure and electrical potential of the suprahyoid muscles, researched by the surface electromyography, only when performing activities with the posterior portion of the tongue.


Many studies address cell migration using in vitro methods, whereas the physiologically relevant environment is that of the organism itself. Here we present a protocol for the mounting of Drosophila melanogaster embryos and subsequent live imaging of fluorescently labeled hemocytes, the embryonic macrophages of this organism. Using the Gal4-uas system1 we drive the expression of a variety of genetically encoded, fluorescently tagged markers in hemocytes to follow their developmental dispersal throughout the embryo. Following collection of embryos at the desired stage of development, the outer chorion is removed and the embryos are then mounted in halocarbon oil between a hydrophobic, gas-permeable membrane and a glass coverslip for live imaging. In addition to gross migratory parameters such as speed and directionality, higher resolution imaging coupled with the use of fluorescent reporters of F-actin and microtubules can provide more detailed information concerning the dynamics of these cytoskeletal components.


The objective of the study was to characterize the germplasm for identification and phylogeny study for conservation. Identification and characterization of germplasm is an important link between the conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources. The present investigation was undertaken to draw the phylogenetic relationship between twelve species from India belonging to genus Phyllanthus with the help of molecular markers. In total, 259 marker loci were assessed, out of which 249 were polymorphic revealing 96.13% polymorphism. Nei's similarity index varies from 0.23 to 0.76 for RAPD and 0.26 to 0.81 for ISSR marker systems. Cluster analysis by unweighted pair group method (UPGMA) of Dice coefficient of similarity generated dendogram with more or less similar topology for both the analysis that gave a better reflection of diversity and affinities between the species. The phylogenetic tree obtained from both RAPD and ISSR marker has divided the 12 species in two groups: group I consisting of only one species Phyllanthus angustifolius and the group II with the rest 11 species. This molecular result is comparable to notable morphological characteristics. The present study revealed the distant variation within the species of Phyllanthus. This investigation will help for identification and conservation of Phyllanthus species.


Solar subsurface zonal- and meridional-flow profiles during the rising phase of solar cycle 24 are studied using the time–distance helioseismology technique. The faster zonal bands in the torsional-oscillation pattern show strong hemispheric asymmetries and temporal variations in both width and speed. The faster band in the northern hemisphere is located closer to the equator than the band in the southern hemisphere and migrates past the equator when the magnetic activity in the southern hemisphere is reaching maximum. The meridional-flow speed decreases substantially with the increase of magnetic activity, and the flow profile shows two zonal structures in each hemisphere. The residual meridional flow, after subtracting a mean meridional-flow profile, converges toward the activity belts and shows faster and slower bands like the torsional-oscillation pattern. More interestingly, the meridional-flow speed above latitude 30° shows an anti-correlation with the poleward-transporting magnetic flux, slower when the following-polarity flux is transported and faster when the leading-polarity flux is transported. It is expected that this phenomenon slows the process of magnetic cancellation and polarity reversal in high-latitude areas.


ABSTRACT Internationally, education reform has been directed towards describing educational goals that go beyond topic and content descriptions. The idea of mathematical competencies describes such goals. National tests have been seen as one way of communicating these goals and influence teaching. The present study analyses Swedish national tests in mathematics, and seeks evidence about the extent to which they represent these competencies and may play a role in reforming teaching. The results show that the national tests assess all competencies. However, the study also shows a limited focus on the competencies' interpretation and evaluation aspects. Thus, the tests do not fully capture the complex nature of the competencies. This may cloud the reform message and restrict the possibilities for the tests to function as levers for reform.


Most pieces of case furniture (kitchen and bathroom furniture, cabinets, wardrobes, tables and etc.) are made of 18 mm thick wood particle boards finished with various coatings. This three-layered constructional material is obtained by bonding wood particles of different fractions with synthetic resins using heating. The exploitation duration and quality of case furniture is determined by the mechanical properties of wood particle boards and the construction of joints of wood-based panels. On a frequent basis, pieces of case furniture with non-dismantable and dismantable construction are joined by using multidowel glued joints and cam connecting fittings intended for furniture, respectively. Wood-based panels can be joined with mitre joints whose mechanical properties have not undergone testing and comparison with regular joints when applying insertable wooden dowels or furniture connecting fittings. During the testing of particle board properties it was established that joining wood-based panels in this way ensures most efficient use of mechanical characteristics of the particleboard. In addition to the properties of the mitre joint, the tests also allowed determining the bending strength, tensile strength and bonding strength of the constructional material, and providing an original method for testing board properties, which can be successfully applied to the prediction of properties of the mitre joint. Tests were performed by using a universal tensile testing machine P-0.5. Joints were bonded by applying PVA dispersion. The surface of boards was veneered by using mahogany veneer and urea formaldehyde resin. It was found that mitre joints of wood particle boards can withstand loads that are higher from 2 to 4 times, in comparison to glued doweled joints or joints constructed with cam connecting fittings. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.18.4.3095


Settled migrants' influencing others to follow is considered to be an important explanation for sustaining migration. Migrants' role in stagnating migration dynamics is however relatively underresearched. Migration from Ukraine to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands introduces valuable insights: while a relatively sizeable number of migrants have arrived in those destinations in the early 20th century, this migration has not developed into self-sustaining flows. We argue that the relations between settled and newcoming migrants—bearing the legacy of a 40-year generation gap—led to an ambivalent welcome of new arrivals and a lack of responsiveness of the diasporic institutions toward newcomers.


Antimicrobial activities of many defense proteins are profoundly altered by inorganic cations, thereby controlling disease pathologies in a number of mammalian systems, such as cystic fibrosis in humans. Protein-based active defense systems in plants also are influenced by cations; however, little is known of how these cation effects are mediated. Cytotoxicity of the pathogenesis-related protein osmotin against the model fungus Saccharomyces cerevisiae was progressively abolished by K+. By the use of S. cerevisiae mannosylation mutants, this effect was shown to require mannosephosphate residues in the cell wall. However, osmotin activity was not suppressed by even high concentrations of Ca2+. Rather, submillimolar levels of Ca2+ specifically facilitated osmotin's activity, as well as its binding to the cell surface. This effect also was dependent on mannosephosphate groups on the cell surface, and appeared to require negative charge on a portion of the osmotin protein. Results suggest that Ca2+ modulates osmotin action by facilitating its binding to the fungal cell surface, but that K+ blocks this interaction by competing for binding to mannosephosphate groups. Therefore, we have identified glycan interaction as a mechanism for antimicrobial protein activity modulation by cations, a pattern that may apply to diverse innate defense responses.


Objective: A subset of women who are at elevated cancer risk due to family history exhibit evidence of cancer-specific distress. These stress responses may represent symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study assessed rates of PTSD related to personal or family cancer history and BRCA1/2 testing. Methods: Participants were 84 women enrolled in a larger project focused on genetic testing decisions. Semistructured diagnostic interviews were used to identify instances of threshold and subthreshold PTSD. Results: Results indicated that 16.7% of the women reported current threshold or subthreshold PTSD related to personal or family cancer history. An additional 26.2% reported past-only cancer-related threshold or subthreshold PTSD. Of the 65 women who received BRCA1/2 results and completed the test-related PTSD module, only 7.7% reported threshold or subthreshold PTSD related to the genetic testing process. However, when rates were examined based on carrier status, 25.0% of BRCA1/2 carriers reported test-related threshold or subthreshold PTSD compared with only 10.0% of variants and 2.3% of noncarriers. Conclusions: Results from this study suggest that both personal and family cancer diagnoses can be significant stressors for a subset of high-risk women. Rates of threshold and subthreshold PTSD related to genetic testing appear to be less common, although carriers may be at higher risk for significant posttraumatic symptoms. CI = confidence interval; DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; GAD = generalized anxiety disorder; MDD = major depressive disorder; PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder; SCID = Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; SPSS = Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.


The kea (Nestor notabilis) is a highly intelligent and adaptable omnivorous New Zealand parrot. These traits potentially put kea at risk of poisoning during vertebrate pest poisoning operations. However, as kea fall prey to introduced pests, they also gain from pest control, creating a cost-benefit situation. Pest control in kea habitat is mainly by aerial 1080, the distribution of sodium fluoroacetate poison pellets by helicopter. Understanding the net outcome for kea of this pest control method is extremely important because kea are endangered and aerial 1080 use is controversial. We use 222 monitoring cases of individually marked kea at 19 aerial 1080 operations to model kea survival of aerial 1080 operations with respect to five variables. Proximity to human-occupied sites where kea scrounge human food was inversely related to survival; the odds of survival increased by a factor of 6.9 for remote kea compared to those that lived near scrounging sites. High survival in remote areas is explained by innate neophobia and a short field-life of prefeed baits, which together preclude acceptance of poison baits as familiar food. Elevated risk to kea living near scrounging sites is explained by learned neophilia, possibly exacerbated by lead poisoning. Survival was also related to the history of aerial 1080 treatment at a site; the odds of survival increased by a factor of 21.3 at sites with repeated operations compared with first time treatments. This effect is possibly due to selection for neophobic phenotypes. We suggest that 1080 poisoning risk management for kea should focus on reducing human food availability through an advocacy campaign. If most kea have not been fed by humans, then the long term outcome of the South Island aerial 1080 programme should be positive for the kea.


Abstract This paper focuses on a specific type of perspective-indexing constructions in Tibetic and neighboring languages, namely a type of verbal marker that is consistently construed from the perspective of the speaker in statements, the addressee in questions, and the source (= the original/reported speaker) in reported speech clauses. As these markers indicate how one obtained the information profiled in a sentence and may thus be viewed as a type of evidential, they cannot at the same time establish reference to any participant of the current speech act and thus by default reflect the perspective of the 'informant' of the respective sentence type. If we define the encountered distinctions in relation to a cause-effect vector in the sense of DeLancey (1986), these languages all contain what we may call an 'insider' marker indicating access to the entire vector including its causal origin and an 'outsider' marker indicating access only to its effect end. Whereas the insider markers typically occur when the informant is the subject and the outsider markers when s/he is not, the present paper discusses the different ways in which Tibetic and neighboring languages deviate from this basic pattern, and argues that these differences reflect the fact that the markers in the latter languages were only secondarily evidentialized in reported speech clauses, likely due to contact with Tibetic.


It has been known since at least the groundbreaking work of Fama and French (1992) that there are specific attributes, so called factors, that can help predict the returns of individual assets above the return of the broader market. Since these predictive characteristics arise out of sample (with currently observable factor values predicting future returns), investors can earn excess returns with portfolios that are constructed to align with the factors. First introduced in the cross section of returns and focusing on individual equity securities, the efficacy of such factors has since been demonstrated at the asset class level as well, and found to work not only in the cross section but also longitudinally (for individual assets, through time). Factors like value, momentum, and carry have been found to work so broadly across different asset classes, security universes, countries, and time periods, that Asness et al. simply titled their influential 2013 Journal of Finance paper "Value and Momentum Everywhere". Our paper provides a first application of momentum, value, and carry based factor investing to the cryptocurrencies. We show that these same factors are effective in this relatively new and unexplored asset class, permitting the construction of portfolios that can earn excess returns over the cryptocurrency "market" as a whole.


The widespread use of encryption has triggered a new step in many criminal investigations: The encryption workaround. We define an encryption workaround as any lawful government effort to reveal unencrypted plaintext of a target's data that has been concealed by encryption. This Article provides an overview of encryption workarounds. It begins with a taxonomy of the different ways investigators might try to bypass encryption schemes. We classify six kinds of workarounds: find the key, guess the key, compel the key, exploit a flaw in the encryption software, access plaintext while the device is in use, and locate another plaintext copy. For each approach, we consider the practical, technological, and legal hurdles raised by its use. The remainder of this Article develops lessons about encryption workarounds and the broader public debate about encryption in criminal investigations. First, encryption workarounds are inherently probabilis tic. None work every time, and none can be categorically ruled out every time. Second, the different resources required for different workarounds will have significant distributional effects on law enforcement. Some techniques are inexpensive and can be used often by many law enforce ment agencies; some are sophisticated or expensive and likely to be used rarely and only by a few. Third, the scope of legal authority to compel third-party assistance will be a continuing challenge. And fourth, the law governing encryption workarounds remains uncertain and underdevel oped. Whether encryption will be a game changer or a speed bump depends on both technological change and the resolution of important legal questions that currently remain unanswered.


Abstract. A comprehensive measurement program was conducted during 16 days of a 3 week long ice pack drift, from 15 August to 1 September 2008 in the central Amundsen Basin, Arctic Ocean. The data, sampled as part of the Arctic Summer Cloud Ocean Study (ASCOS), included upper ocean stratification, mixing and heat transfer as well as transmittance solar radiation through the ice. The observations give insight into the evolution of the upper layers of the Arctic Ocean in the transition period from melting to freezing. The ocean mixed layer was found to be heated from above and, for summer conditions, the net heat flux through the ice accounted for 22 % of the observed change in mixed layer heat content. Heat was mixed downward within the mixed layer and a small, downward heat flux across the base of the mixed layer accounted for the accumulated heat in the upper cold halocline during the melting season. On average, the ocean mixed layer was cooled by an ocean heat flux at the ice/ocean interface (1.2 W m−2) and heated by solar radiation through the ice (−2.6 W m−2). An abrupt change in surface conditions halfway into the drift due to freezing and snowfall showed distinct signatures in the data set and allowed for inferences and comparisons to be made for cases of contrasting forcing conditions. Transmittance of solar radiation was reduced by 59 % in the latter period. From hydrographic observations obtained earlier in the melting season, in the same region, we infer a total fresh water equivalent of 3.3 m accumulated in the upper ocean, which together with the observed saltier winter mixed layer indicates a transition towards a more seasonal ice cover in the Arctic.


Objective: The aim of this study is to establish evidence to support the validity of a novel faculty-resident intraoperative assessment tool for entrustment known as OpTrust. Background: Recently, the landscape of surgical training has been altered, in part, because of resident work-hour changes and increased supervision requirements. To address these concerns, a new model for assessment of teaching and learning in surgical residencies must be anchored on progression through milestones and entrustment. Methods: OpTrust was designed to assess the faculty-resident dyad in the operating room and measure the entrustment exhibited during intraoperative interactions across 5 domains: (i) types of questions asked, (ii) operative plan, (iii) instruction, (iv) problem solving, and (v) leadership by the surgical resident. After initial pilot testing and refinement of OpTrust, 5 individual raters underwent rater training sessions; 49 individual operating room observations were completed based on 28 cases. Results: OpTrust, as a tool for assessing intraoperative entrustment, is supported by strong validity evidence. In part, it demonstrates strong interrater reliability across all faculty domains as measured by intraclass correlation 1 (ICC1) (0.81–0.93). For resident domains the results were similar with ICC1 (0.84–0.94). Cronbach alpha was 0.89 and 0.87 for faculty and resident entrustment respectively, signifying the 5 domains could be combined into a single construct of entrustment. A high correlation existed between faculty and resident scores (Pearson r = 0.94, P < 0.001) indicating a strong positive linear relationship between faculty and resident mean entrustment scores across all scale domains. Conclusions: OpTrust successfully assesses behaviors associated with entrustment during intraoperative faculty-resident interactions, and has the potential to be adopted across other procedural-based specialties to promote autonomous training progression.


In 1995, the Biscay Dolphin Research Programme established a monthly, year-round seabird and cetacean monitoring programme in the western English Channel and eastern Bay of Biscay, using the P&O Portsmouth cruise-ferry the Pride of Bilbao and volunteer surveyors. On each four-day survey trip bird recording was made during all daylight hours, enabling the whole of the route to be sampled over much of the year. Over the 5.25 year recording period 44 seabird species were recorded, with more than 100 000 seabirds counted in approximately 50 000 km of search effort, spread over 85 ICES rectangles (measuring 15' latitude by 30' longitude). Shelf waters of the northern Bay of Biscay were found to have presumed important numbers of wintering Northern Gannet Morus bassanus and Great Skua Catharacta skua at relatively high densities. A number of other species including Divers Gaviiformes, gulls Laridae and auks Alcidae were present at lower abundance. During the summer, these shallow waters supported moulting populations of Mediterranean Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan (mauretanicus) at the northern edge of their range and European Storm-petrels Hydrobates pelagicus, which are scarce in north European waters at this time of year. A number of seabirds rare elsewhere in north European waters were regularly recorded during the late summer and autumn period in shelf-edge and deep water areas of the Bay of Biscay, including Little Shearwater Puffinus assimilis, Cory's Shearwater Calonectris diomedea, Great Shearwater Puffinus gravis, Grey Phalarope Phalaropus fulicaria, and Sabine's Gull Larus sabini. Spectacular numbers of Great and Cory's Shearwaters were found in most years of survey, with loafing flocks of hundreds of birds seen on numerous occasions. Recent methodology enhancements have been made to improve the quality of monitoring data, and further improvements are proposed. The BDRP surveys have demonstrated how volunteers and ferries can be used to generate low-cost, quantitative data in areas where large -scale systematic surveys are unlikely to be carried out. The results of such surveys may have considerable conservation and policy relevant implications, particularly in the designation and year-round management of marine Important Bird Areas.


Koolan Island supports an abundant population of the threatened northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus). We used a mark–release–recapture program that produced 2089 captures from 2009 to 2012 to examine demographic and genetic parameters in this insular population and compare to other localities. Every captured female was either lactating or carrying up to eight young over the breeding season, July–September. Unlike several other populations, males on Koolan Island can survive long after breeding, but never into a second breeding season. Females can survive and reproduce for two successive annual breeding seasons and occasionally survive to a third. There is marked sexual dimorphism but it is less pronounced, and both sexes are smaller than their mainland counterparts. Quolls were recorded moving over 4 km and apparent abundance was far higher on Koolan Island than the mainland. Genetic analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial markers demonstrate a distinctive signature. Koolan island has only 34% of the allelic richness of the entire species, and only 38% of the alleles in Kimberley mainland and near-shore island populations. There is no evidence of recent or long-term population decline. Kimberley island faunas have distinctive demographic and genetic profiles that should be appraised before considering translocations for conservation purposes.


Fear, rage, courage, discrimination. These are facts of everyday life for many Americans with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), has made working, traveling, and communicating easier for many individuals. But has this significant piece of civil rights legislation helped those with disabilities become fully accepted members of society? How does an individual deal with discriminatory situations that the law cannot, does not, or will not cover? What is life like in post-ADA America? The stories in this collection give readers a chance to visualize and perhaps resolve these questions for themselves. Using the techniques of both fiction and creative non-fiction, the contributors bring to life the everyday problems that people with disabilities face. Rather than analyzing the law, the writers dramatize the complex set of issues underlying the ADA as it is practiced and interpreted around the country: at a small Southern college, in the Library of Congress, on a New York City sidewalk. The stories from these local battlegrounds form a unique portrait of a continuing struggle. Ruth O'Brien's legal commentary on the Americans with Disabilities Act supplements these narratives. Organized analytically to reflect the ADA's main provisions, her commentary draws out and responds to the legal issues raised in each contributor's narrative. Discussing relevant Supreme Court and federal cases, O'Brien addresses key legal questions such as: What recourse do individuals have when enforcement of the law is ambiguous or virtually nonexistent? What is a disability? How will its changing definition affect individuals' lives-as well as their legal actions-in the future? Voices from the Edge seeks to challenge the mindset of those who would deny equal protection to the disabled, while providing informative analysis of the intent and application of the ADA for those who wish to learn more about disability rights. Giving voice to many types of discrimination the disabled face while illustrating the personal stakes underlying legal disputes over the ADA, this collection offers unparalleled insight into the lives behind the law.


Interleukin 6 (11-6) is a multifunctional cytokine important in the inflammatory response. Its potential role as an antitumor agent has been suggested by its demonstrated activity in a variety of tumor models. The mechanism of antitumor activity has been proposed to be its en hancement of cytotoxic T-cell function. In the current work we demon strate clear antitumor activity for this cytokine in a nonimmunogenic tumor system. B16 melanoma cells transfected with the human IL-6 complementary DNA demonstrated slower tumor growth in vivo. Tu mors that developed from these cells had a prominent stromal matrix, an easily recognized infiltration of inflammatory cells, fewer mitotic figures, and fewer blood vessels. These in vivo findings corresponded with a greater adhesion of the IL-6-transfected B16 cells to stromal matrix proteins (laminin, fibronectin, and vitronectin) and a less prom inent vascular response in an intradermal angiogenesis assay. There fore, we propose that with weakly antigenic tumors, such as B16 mela noma, IL-6 may mediate important antitumor responses by nonspecific proinflammatory mechanisms.


Fairness assumptions are needed to verify liveness properties of concurrent systems. In this paper we explore the so-called unconditional fairness in Markov decision processes (MDPs), which is a prerequisite for quantitative assume-guarantee reasoning. Unconditional fairness refers to executions where all processes are guaranteed to participate. We prove that realisability of unconditional fairness coincides with the absence of partial deadlocks, i.e., end components where a process suffers from starvation. We propose a weak variant of the stubborn set method to reduce MDPs, while preserving the realisability of unconditional fairness and maximal probabilities of reaching bottom end components under fair schedulers.