Historically, unexpected improvements in mortality rates have led to large, unanticipated increases in life expectancy, with accompanying increases in the value of defined benefit pension liabilities. As a result, longevity risk needs to be measured and managed alongside the financial risks facing these plans. The emergence of new instruments for hedging longevity risk means that a complete toolkit is now available for managing these plans in a way that is sustainable over the long term. Decisions to hedge or eliminate longevity risk need to be made in a holistic framework. For corporate pension plans this means taking account of the corporate finance perspective, as well as the inter-dependencies between the sponsor and the plan. This paper addresses the importance of measuring and managing longevity risk and presents a holistic framework for sustainable pension plan management that facilitates longevity risk management decision-making.


We present in this paper, a context-driven search engine called XCDSearch for answering XML Keyword-based queries as well as Loosely Structured queries, using a stack-based sort-merge algorithm. Most current research is focused on building relationships between data elements based solely on their labels and proximity to one another, while overlooking the contexts of the elements, which may lead to erroneous results. Since a data element is generally a characteristic of its parent, its context is determined by its parent. We observe that we could treat each set of elements consisting of a parent and its children data elements as one unified entity, and then use a stack-based sort-merge algorithm employing context-driven search techniques for determining the relationships between the different unified entities. We evaluated XCDSearch experimentally and compared it with five other search engines. The results showed marked improvement.


AIM
Brain metastasis in pediatric neuroblastoma is uncommon and with poor prognosis. This study was aimed to analyze the prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of neuroblastoma patients with brain metastasis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The medical records of 7 patients with brain metastasis among 120 neuroblastoma patients treated with radiotherapy between June 2002 and December 2018 at our department were collected retrospectively. Survival time and prognostic factors were evaluated.

RESULTS
The prevalence of brain metastasis was 7/120 (5.8%). The median age was 35 months (25-64). Three (43%) patients had single brain metastasis. Two (29%) patients with solitary metastases underwent gross total resection and 1 (14%) patient with two lesions underwent subtotal resection for brain metastasis. All patients received chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The median time interval between the initial diagnosis and the brain metastasis was 14 months (0-28 months) in all patients; 12 months (0-28 months) in deceased patients and 23 months (19-26 months) in patients who were still alive at the time of this analysis (p=0.245). The median overall survival time after the treatment of brain metastasis was 14 months (7-22 months). Five patients died from progressive disease and 2 patients who had gross total resection were alive for 164 and 187 months, respectively. While the 5-year overall survival rate was 67% in patients with isolated brain metastasis, the 5-year overall survival rate was 0% in the presence of other metastases (p = 0.221).

CONCLUSION
Isolated brain metastasis and gross total resection of the brain metastasis seems to be favorable prognostic factors. Patients with solitary brain metastasis should be consulted for brain surgery.


The aim of this study is to investigate dispersion and deposition characteristics of different particle diameters (0.5–5–10 μm) for a displacement ventilated and floor heated environment, experimentally and numerically. The experiments are performed in a reduced scale model with the operating parameters determined regarding to the similarity. Results are used to validate simulation outputs obtained via Eulerian-Lagrangian method. Three different outlet opening configurations and particle source heights are considered. Results are compared in terms of air change efficiency (ACE), average concentration of the room and the breathing height, contaminant removal effectiveness (CRE) and deposition fraction. It is disclosed that contaminant distribution is highly related with the outlet opening configuration and particle source position. Moreover, it is figured out that for the best ventilation strategy with the operating parameters to be determined, related performance indices and area of concern to be protected from particles must be well defined.


A semiflexible polymer confined to a spherical surface is used as a basic model for understanding DNA conformation in restricted space. By means of Monte Carlo simulation for a bead-rod chain generated on a spherical surface, we find an ordered helicoidal phase at sufficiently high surface density and determine the critical density of the isotropichelicoidal phase transition for various persistence lengths. We verify that the excluded volume effect is the key factor to cause the helicoidal state. In addition to Monte Carlo simulations, we utilize the model of wormlike chain with Onsager's excluded volume interaction and examine the Landau expansion of the free energy involving both the orientational and spatial order parameters. We also analytically figure out the critical density and transition gap for various ratios of persistence lengths of the polymer chain and the radius of spherical surface. The results from both simulation and analysis are consistent with each other.


Venture funding for social enterprises has seen significant growth in the first decade of the 21st century. Using the traditional approaches of venture investing in social enterprises to create positive social impact while simultaneously achieving financial returns has been intuitively appealing. India has emerged as one of the largest marketplaces for social venture investing. This article provides a perspective of social venture investments in India based on an analysis of 523 deals in 212 companies. The results indicated that venture funding for social enterprises had several distinctive characteristics such as smaller investment sizes, early stage investing, and longer investment duration. Financial inclusion has been the main investment thesis, as evidenced by the large number of investments in microfinance companies. Most investments were in companies that facilitated consumption at the base of the pyramid segment, rather than in companies that created income and employment opportunities. Creation of dedicated social venture funds would benefit the sector, as such funds made more investments as compared to mainstream venture funds. Evidence from the microfinance industry showed that the scale of the investee company was one of the important criteria for investment. Performance parameters of microfinance companies that had venture investment did not significantly vary from those that were not venture funded, indicating the need for more active contributions and value addition from the investors.


RFC 6514 created a space of Tunnel Type code points for a new BGP
attribute called the "P-Multicast Service Interface Tunnel (PMSI
Tunnel) attribute". However, the RFC did not create a corresponding
IANA registry. There now is need to make further code point
allocations from this name space. This document serves to update RFC
6514 in that it creates an IANA registry for that purpose.


A prominent challenge in replacing petrochemical polymers with bioderived alternatives is the efficient transformation of biomass into useful monomers. In this work, we demonstrate a practical process for the synthesis of multifunctional alcohols from five‐ and six‐carbon acids using heterogeneous catalysts in aqueous media. Design of this process was guided by thermodynamic calculations, which indicate the need for two sequential high‐pressure hydrogenations: one, reduction of the acid to a lactone at high temperature; two, further reduction of the lactone to the corresponding diol or triol at low temperature. For example, the conversion of mesaconic acid into (α or β)‐methyl‐γ‐butyrolactone was achieved with 95 % selectivity at a turnover frequency of 1.2 min−1 over Pd/C at 240 °C. Subsequent conversion of (α or β)‐methyl‐γ‐butyrolactone into 2‐methyl‐1,4‐butanediol was achieved with a yield of 80 % with Ru/C at 100 °C. This process is an efficient method for the production of lactones, diols, and triols, all valuable monomers for the synthesis of bioderived branched polyesters.


"The organized woman's club movement spread into the State of Texas. Beginning as associations for self-culture and intellectual development, the clubs were soon laying the foundation for better conditions of living in their communities. Since Texas was largely in the pioneer stage of development with widely separated communities, the women's clubs in small centers became the nucleii for civic improvements. One of these small centers was the town of Gainesville, Texas, with a population of about 6,000 in the year 1893. That year the first women's club in the town was organized and named the Gainesville XLI Club. This club helped form the State Council of Women of Texas, formerly called the Women's Congress, in 1894, which was three years before the formation of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs."-- pg. 9-10 "It will, perhaps, be seen from the above survey that no transformation in modern society has been more striking or more fraught with significance than the change in the political, legal, economic, moral, and social status of women. Women's clubs were organized for discussion and study, with interests that varied according to location, surroundings, opportunities, and aspirations. The history of a pioneer club portrays the stages of development of clubs in general from institutions for self-improvement to institutions interested in national and international problems." -- pg. 11-12


Not available – first paragraph follows:
The variegated grape leafhopper, the principal pest of grapes in southern California and Arizona, was reported for the first time in 1980 on grapes in Fresno County, in the San Joaquin Valley. Its widespread distribution there, however, suggested that it had been present before then. This leafhopper has since been found also in Tulare County. A closely related species, the grape leafhopper, is the most common grape pest in central and northern California.


Wolbachia are endosymbionts of numerous arthropod and some nematode species, are important for their development and if present can cause distinct phenotypes of their hosts. Prophage DNA has been frequently detected in Wolbachia, but particles of Wolbachia bacteriophages (phage WO) have been only occasionally isolated. Here, we report the characterization and isolation of a phage WO of the southern ground cricket, Allonemobius socius, and provided the first whole-genome sequence of phage WO from this arthropod family outside of Asia. We screened A. socius abdomen DNA extracts from a cricket population in eastern Missouri by quantitative PCR for Wolbachia surface protein and phage WO capsid protein and found a prevalence of 55% and 50%, respectively, with many crickets positive for both. Immunohistochemistry using antibodies against Wolbachia surface protein showed many Wolbachia clusters in the reproductive system of female crickets. Whole-genome sequencing using Oxford Nanopore MinION and Illumina technology allowed for the assembly of a high-quality, 55 kb phage genome containing 63 open reading frames (ORF) encoding for phage WO structural proteins and host lysis and transcriptional manipulation. Taxonomically important regions of the assembled phage genome were validated by Sanger sequencing of PCR amplicons. Analysis of the nucleotides sequences of the ORFs encoding the large terminase subunit (ORF2) and minor capsid (ORF7) frequently used for phage WO phylogenetics showed highest homology to phage WOAu of Drosophila simulans (94.46% identity) and WOCin2USA1 of the cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cingulata (99.33% identity), respectively. Transmission electron microscopy examination of cricket ovaries showed a high density of phage particles within Wolbachia cells. Isolation of phage WO revealed particles characterized by 40–62 nm diameter heads and up to 190 nm long tails. This study provides the first detailed description and genomic characterization of phage WO from North America that is easily accessible in a widely distributed cricket species.


In opposition to the premises of Against Homeopathy – a Utilitarian Perspective, all four respondents base their objections on the central claims that homeopathy is in fact scientifically plausible and is supported by empirical evidence. Despite ethical aspects forming the main thrust of Against Homeopathy, the respondents' focus on scientific aspects represents sound strategy, since the ethical case against homeopathy would be weakened concomitant with the extent to which any plausibility for homeopathy could be demonstrated. The trouble here is that the respondents are attempting to perpetuate a sterile debate. The notion that homeopathic preparations could have any biological effects represents a fringe viewpoint, one not entertained by serious scientists nor supported by reason and evidence. In the present article, I shall endeavour to explain why the respondents do not have a valid case. I will deal firstly with their general approach to scientific plausibility and evidence, and then consider some of the specific claims they have made. Finally, I will answer the philosophical arguments some of the respondents have raised.


A theory for non‐Gaussian transport, based on concepts from percolation theory, is applied here to the development of weathering rinds on surface and near surface clasts. In this theory, solute transport through heterogeneous media behaves distinctly from the fluid flow. In particular, although the solute transport velocity and fluid velocities are identical at the scale of a single pore, as transport distances increase, the solute velocity diminishes approximately as a power law. Solute transport distances, x, thus increase as a sublinear power, q, of the transport time, t, with predicted values of q intermediate between 0.5 and 1.0. The known behavior of the solute transport distance as a function of time turns out to be identical to the observed thickness of weathering rinds as a function of time. The value of q depends on conditions of saturation and dimensional constraints to flow. Fractures, for example, constrain flow to two‐dimensional surfaces. Both two‐ and three‐dimensional values were found in nature. However, nearly all the weathering rind studies analyzed yielded values of q consistent with unsaturated conditions. One of three exceptions was the case of submarine basalts, which yielded a q value consistent with saturated conditions, as expected. The cases of the Yakima and Truckee River valley weathering rinds, however, where the values of q also indicated saturated conditions, were less easily explained. On the other hand, four Alpine rind studies analyzed, as well as three others derived from the literature, were all consistent with unsaturated conditions and flow constrained to two dimensions. Microfractures could guide flow along two‐dimensional surfaces in Alpine environments. Occurrence of frost shattering of surface clasts in Alpine environments has been cited by other authors. Contrasts in rind thicknesses were found to be generally compatible with contrasts in total solute transport distances when fluid flow velocities were assigned based on geometric mean values of the hydraulic conductivity for a given rock type and gravity flow. However, rind development under Alpine conditions may be slower than expected.


In this paper, we focus on the roles that race, ethnicity, and academic skills play in predicting whether high school students persist along each of the various steps of the path into teaching. We show that the challenge of creating a racially and ethnically diverse teaching force is not primarily one of influencing the occupational decisions of minority college graduates. Instead, the critical challenge is to increase the high school graduation, college enrollment, and college graduation rates of minority youth. We use a sequence of four samples originating in the sophomore cohort of High School and Beyond (1992). We explore high school sophomores' career transitions along each step of the path into teaching—high school graduation, entry into college, college graduation, and entry into teaching.


PURPOSE
Bilateral orchiectomy or luteinizing hormone releasing hormone agonists represent the standard of care for metastatic prostate cancer. In this population based study we assessed the use rates of these therapies in men who died of prostate cancer.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 9,110 men 65 years or older who died of prostate cancer in 1991 to 2000 were identified through the population based Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results, and Medicare linked database to determine hormonal therapy use rates. A modified Poisson regression model was used to estimate the adjusted effects of various factors associated with hormone use.

RESULTS
Approximately 38% of black and 25% of white men did not receive hormonal therapy before dying of prostate cancer. After adjusting for cancer status at diagnosis and other potential confounding factors black race and residence in low income areas were associated with lower hormonal therapy use (relative risk 0.73, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.80 and 0.91, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.98, respectively). Hormonal therapy use was most comprehensive in the Northeast.

CONCLUSIONS
A substantial number of men who die as a consequence of prostate cancer never receive hormonal therapy. The use of hormonal therapy varies significantly. Further studies are warranted to determine factors that may be associated with the incomplete use of hormonal therapy for metastatic prostate cancer.


The catalytic properties of ruthenium nanoparticles (RuNPs) supported in carbon nanoreactors of different diameters – single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs, width of cavity 1.5 nm) and hollow graphitised nanofibers (GNFs, width of cavity 50-70 nm) – were evaluated using exploratory alkene hydrogenation reactions and compared to RuNPs adsorbed on the surface of SWNT or deposited on carbon black in commercially available Ru/C. Supercritical CO2 is shown to be essential to enable efficient transport of reactants to the catalytic RuNPs, particularly for the very narrow RuNP@SWNT nanoreactors. Though the RuNPs in SWNT are observed to be highly active, they simultaneously reduce the accessible volume of very narrow SWNTs by 30-40 % resulting in lower overall turnover numbers (TONs). In contrast, RuNPs confined in wider GNFs were completely accessible and demonstrated remarkable activity compared to unconfined RuNPs on the outer surface of SWNTs or carbon black. Control of the nanoscale environment around the catalytic RuNPs significantly enhances the stability of the catalyst and influences the local concentration of reactant molecules in close proximity to the RuNPs, illustrating the comparable importance of confinement to that of metal loading and size of NPs in the catalyst. Interestingly, extreme spatial confinement also appeared not to be the best strategy for controlling the selectivity of hydrogenations in a competitive reaction of norbornene and benzonorbornadiene, with wider RuNP@GNF nanoreactors displaying enhanced selectivity for the hydrogenation of the aromatic group containing alkene (benzonorbornadiene). This is attributed to the presence of nanoscale graphitic step-edges within the GNF making them an attractive alternative to the extremely narrow SWNT nanoreactors for preparative catalysis.


Key management has two important aspects: key distribution, which describes how to disseminate secret information to the principals so that secure communications can be initiated, and key revocation, which describes how to remove secrets that may have been compromised. Key management in sensor networks face constraints of large scale, lack of a priori information about deployment topology, and limitations of sensor node hardware. While key distribution has been studied extensively in recent works, the problem of key and node revocation in sensor networks has received relatively little attention. Yet, revocation protocols that function correctly in the presence of active adversaries pretending to be legitimate protocol participants via compromised sensor nodes are essential. In their absence, an adversary could take control of the sensor network's operation by using compromised nodes which retain their network connectivity for extended periods of time. In this paper, we present an overview of key-distribution methods in sensor networks and their salient features to provide context for understanding key and node revocation. Then, we define basic properties that distributed sensor-node revocation protocols must satisfy and present a protocol for distributed node revocation that satisfies these properties under general assumptions and a standard attacker model.


Beijing Time, by Michael Dutton, Hsiu-ju Stacy Fo and Dong Dong Wu. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2008. xiv + 265 pp. US$26.95 (hardcover). The Forbidden City, by Geremie R. Barme. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2008. xxxvi + 251 pp. US$19. 95/£12.95/euro15.00 (hardcover). Historian Geremie R. Barme and political scientist Michael Dutton are well known to contemporary China scholars for their consistently incisive analyses of contemporary mainland China. Their most recent publications, The Forbidden City (Barme) and Beijing Time (Dutton, Hsiu-ju Stacy Fo and Dong Dong Wu) converge upon the city of Beijing and its material manifestations. The two volumes offer a delicious romp through the geographical and philosophical world of China's most vaunted architectural wonders as well as through the refuse dumps, karaoke bars and revenant alleyways of the capital city. In so doing they address a readership both within and beyond the confines of academic sinology; their wanderings through the material world of Beijing allow access to a vast citystate more typically but incompletely confined to history textbooks and popular travel guides. Barme' s The Forbidden City examines the physical and ideological complex in central Beijing which housed the imperial family from the early 15th century through the last years of dynastic rule. The Forbidden City constituted the political and ceremonial locus of Chinese government during the imperial era and reemerged in the present as the Palace Museum, a World Heritage Site and one of the world's most popular tourist attractions. Published in Harvard University Press' "Wonders of the World" series, which includes studies of the Parthenon, the Coliseum and Westminster Abbey, The Forbidden City defies categorization. Its lack of footnotes and the appended visitors' guide and suggested reading sections (the latter including a Frommer' s guide), reminiscent of both traditional tour books and suburban book group selections, furnish a decidedly non-academic feel. On the other hand, its attention to the minutiae of the historical record locate it firmly within a realm of scholarly production. Nonetheless, its non-chronological progression through the various dynasties and republics, combined with the frequent insertion of captivating anecdotes about its inhabitants (that the Qianlong emperor was a prolific poet whose art works were forgeries, for example) make its inclusion as a purely scholarly "history" a rather limiting classification. One of Barme' s appealing asides is his discussion, throughout the various historical eras, of classic Western texts that endeavored to explain the Forbidden City and its inhabitants to an English-speaking authence. There is no need to push hard to understand how this book will fit neatly into this trajectory of representation. Part anthropological exploration, part alternative travelogue, part political exposition, Dutton, Lo and Wu's Beijing Time similarly defies easy categorization. It moves outside the palace's walls to examine the ancient alleys, flea markets and garbage dumps that, though constituting a Beijing foreign to visitors to the Forbidden City, nevertheless equally represent the capital. One of the more forceful aspects of this book is its highlighting of the quirky human element. These moments are compelling, frequently poignant and sometimes comic. The chapter entitled "The Community", for example, takes us on a tour of "old Beijing". Yet, whereas "old Beijing" has more commonly come to refer to the antiquated hutong (alleyways) of the city which have been renovated and equipped with Starbucks, trendy clothing shops and Western-style cocktail bars, this old Beijing is centered on the sense of community that came of common sacrifice and mutual purpose during the Maoist era. This story of a neighborhood community of predominantly elderly people working collectively to win an award for their district is not the globally ubiquitous one of rising Chinese property values but of the rejection of the social values which those market ideals imply. …


Between 1994 and 2001, several experiments (ARCANE, SEFOS, INTERAFOS) were conducted to directly measure the general and mesoscale Lagrangian circulations over the Bay of Biscay abyssal plain and slopes. Two levels (~100 m and ~450 m) were selected to cover the North Atlantic Central Water range. Two types of Lagrangian instruments, drogued surface drifters tracked by satellite (Surdrift) and acoustically tracked subsurface floats (Rafos and Marvor), were used. Overall, more than 36 instrument-years were collected in the Bay of Biscay region (43-49°N, 01-12°W). The weak general circulation in the Bay of Biscay is seen to be highly influenced by the occurrence of several mesoscale coherent features, notably slope currents and eddies, and these affect the exchanges between the abyssal plain and the slopes. The objective of this paper is to depict some specific examples of the observed mesoscale field. Selected float trajectories are shown and used to discuss observations of slope currents and of both anticyclonic and cyclonic eddies. Slope currents exhibit alternation of poleward and equatorward directions, depending on both the period and the geographic area considered. Although the generation process of mesoscale eddies is difficult to observe unambiguously from Lagrangian instruments, eddies are nevertheless ubiquitous over the abyssal plain. Some characteristics of the observed cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies are presented. Smaller anticyclones, localised over the outer shelf and interpreted in terms of ajustment of slope water intrusions, are also depicted.


General Motors's (GM's) acquisition of Fisher Body is the classic example of market failure in the literature on contracts and the theory of the firm. According to the standard account, in 1926 GM merged vertically with Fisher Body, a maker of auto bodies, because of concerns over transaction‐specific investment and contractual holdup. That account exhibits errors of historical fact and interpretation. General Motors acquired a 60 percent interest in Fisher Body in 1919. Moreover, the contractual arrangements and working relationship prior to the 1926 merger exhibited trust rather than opportunism. Fisher Body's production technology did not exhibit asset specificity. The merger reflected economic considerations specific to that time, not some immutable market failure. We demonstrate that vertical integration was directed at improving coordination of production and inventories, assuring GM of adequate supplies of auto bodies, and providing GM with access to the executive talents of the Fisher brothers.


OBJECTIVE: To study the effectiveness of cognitive enhancers for patients with mild to moderate AD+svCVD in a clinic cohort.
 BACKGROUND: The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasing worldwide. Among Asians, high prevalence of small vessel cerebrovascular disease (svCVD) has resulted in AD+svCVD to be a major cause of dementia. There is limited data on the effectiveness of cognitive enhancers in these patients.
 DESIGN/METHODS: Retrospective analysis of a prospective clinical database. Demographics, cerebrovascular risk factors, medications and cognitive scores were studied. Patients with mild to moderate AD were included. AD was diagnosed using NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. White Matter Hyperintensities scored using the modified Fazekas scale, was used to diagnose svCVD. AD patients with a modified Fazekas score of 蠅6 were classified as AD+svCVD. Effectiveness of cognitive enhancers was compared between AD and AD+svCVD group using regression analyses.
 RESULTS: 192 patients were identified, 31 patients with AD and 161 patients with AD+svCVD. Mean age was 71.8 (SD 8.66) years. 84.9% of the patients were Chinese. 60.4% of the cohort had a diagnosis of hypertension. Baseline MMSE for AD+svCVD and pure AD were 20.0 (SD 5.38) and 22.9 (SD 4.68) respectively. Despite patients with AD+svCVD having significantly lower baseline MMSE scores, the rate of decline in MMSE in this group was lower compared to patients with pure AD and by month 24, the difference in MMSE between patients with AD+svCVD and pure AD were no longer significantly different. Based on 48 month data, with cognitive enhancer treatment, the annual change in MMSE among pure AD patients was -0.2 points/year while the change in MMSE score among AD+svCVD patients was +0.15 points/year.
 CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrated a trend towards greater benefit with cognitive enhancers among patients with AD+svCVD compared to pure AD. These findings would need to be confirmed in randomized clinical trials. Disclosure: Dr. Ng has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ng has nothing to disclose. Dr. Heng has nothing to disclose. Dr. Huang has nothing to disclose. Dr. Assam has nothing to disclose. Dr. Kandiah has received personal compensation for activities with Lundbeck Research USA Inc., Novartis and Eisai Inc.


The authors present a case of a 39-year-old man with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis that was admitted in the emergency department after a car accident, complaining of abdominal pain and looking pale. The patient was hemodinamically unstable, requiring blood transfusions. He underwent computed tomography angiogram of the abdomen and pelvis, showing a pseudoaneurysm of the gastroduodenal artery and a hemoperitoneum. He was referred to our interventional radiology unit and submitted to endovascular treatment, consisting of 'backdoor' and 'frontdoor' embolization of the gastroduodenal artery and pseudoaneurysm neck with coils, with total exclusion in control angiography. With this case description we intend to highlight the rarity of the pseudoaneurysm rupture of the gastroduodenal artery and to emphasize the importance of an interventional radiology response that had a fundamental role in the endovascular treatment, in an emergency context.


In the present work, the seed germination of brinjal (Solanum melongena), tandaljo (Amaranthus polygamous), radish (Raphanus Sativus) and bhindi (Abelmoschus esculentus) on the basis of different salinity levels has been studied. Different salinity levels of soil samples have been collected from the specific area of the Gujarat state like Ahmedabad, Surat and Ghandhidham. It was observed that plants like brinjal, tandaljo, radish, and bhindi are more sensitive towards salinity during germination and early seeding growth, while some are during later stages of development. 0.2% and 0.4% salinity levels have affected most to the seed germination.


Motivated by the practical needs for efficiently processing large-scale taxi trip data, we have developed techniques for high performance online spatial, temporal and spatiotemporal aggregations. These techniques include timestamp compression to reduce memory footprint, simple linear data structures for efficient in-memory scans and utilization of massively data parallel GPU accelerations for spatial joins. Our experiments have shown that the combined performance boosting techniques are able to perform various spatial, temporal and spatiotemporal aggregations on hundreds of millions of taxi trips in the order of a few seconds using commodity personal computers equipped with multi-core CPUs and many-core GPUs. The high throughputs in a personal computing environment are encouraging in the sense that high-performance OLAP queries on large-scale data is feasible when the parallel processing power of modern commodity hardware is fully utilized which is important for interactive OLAP applications.


Challenging the dominant paradigm that relationships with the deceased must be terminated, our goal in this article is to exemplify how these relationships can be maintained. We demonstrate, in particular, how friends with a similar loss can help one another continue bonds with their deceased loved ones. Having both lost our mothers as young adults, we provide personal insight about this process and the ways in which our friendship has been influential in maintaining strong, posthumous connections with our mothers. By sharing our personal experiences, we illustrate that continuing bonds with the deceased is not a pathological choice, but rather a mechanism through which we can enrich our lives, open spaces for emotional growth, and understand ourselves as well as our deceased loved ones better.


Coral reefs, among Earth's richest ecosystems, traditionally teem with an abundance of life. The tiny corals that form the foundation of the community are microcosms themselves, sheltering single-celled algae that feed the community with energy from the sun. The three-dimensional physical space they create with their skeletons supports an astounding array of other animals, from sponges to sharks.

But in recent years, corals have been dying in droves. Scientists suspect a variety of factors, ranging from accidental damage from fishing activity to the effects of polluted runoff from land. One threat that appears to be growing dramatically in Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef is white syndrome, a mystery-riddled disease that is spreading rapidly, leaving stripes of dead corals like ribbons of death in its wake. But why?

Global warming seems a likely suspect for several reasons. Past epidemiological studies across a broad range of life forms have shown that stress—including the stress of changing environmental conditions—often increases disease susceptibility. As temperatures rise, pathogens can reproduce more quickly. The fact that coral diseases seem to spread faster in summer also provides support for the notion that warmer temperatures may be involved.

In hope of improving understanding of the spread of white syndrome, John Bruno, Amy Melendy, and colleagues conducted a regional-scale longitudinal study of the hypothesized link between warm temperature deviations and the presence of white syndrome, considering the density of coral cover as an additional variable of interest.

To quantify temperature fluctuations, the researchers used a high-resolution dataset on ocean surface temperature provided by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the University of Miami. They used the dataset to calculate weekly sea surface temperature anomalies (WSSTAs)—instances in which temperature was higher by 1°C or more from mean records for that week—for 48 reefs within the Great Barrier Reef. To evaluate the extent of white syndrome and coral cover, the researchers used data collected by the Australian Institute of Marine Science Long-term Monitoring Program on 48 reefs from a 1,500-kilometer stretch of the Great Barrier Reef from 1998 to 2004 at a depth of 6 to 9 meters. Divers counted the number of infected colonies on each reef. Coral cover, the amount of the bottom with living corals, was measured from videos taken of the reefs.

The researchers then evaluated the relationship between the occurrence of white syndrome and three variables: number of WSSTAs occurring during the previous 52 weeks, coral cover, and the interaction between the two. They found that the third variable showed a statistically significant correlation with number of white syndrome cases, indicating that the presence of both conditions—temperature anomalies and high coral cover—creates the conditions in which white syndrome outbreaks are most likely to occur. In other words, WSSTAs were a necessary but not sufficient condition for white syndrome outbreaks, whereas the combination of heat stress and a dense colony was deadly.

What does this mean for corals and the ecosystem they support? If global warming increases the incidence of warm temperature anomalies in tropical oceans the years ahead, these results suggest that corals in high-cover areas will be increasingly vulnerable to white disease. If the effect is large enough, the tightly woven web of life within coral reefs could begin to unravel, potentially transforming habitats that were once among the planet's richest ecosystems into underwater wastelands.

This strong evidence for a link among a warming ocean, coral density, and white syndrome provides a rich foundation for further work to understand the spread of coral disease in the Great Barrier Reef. It also provides valuable insights into marine epidemiology that could be of much value in investigating and potentially mitigating other devastating global-warming–related disease outbreaks in the world's vast and vulnerable oceans.


Objective To examine whether unintentionally injuring others is associated with subsequent mental illness, and whether mental illness is a risk factor for unintentionally injuring others. Methods Onset of first psychiatric diagnoses was compared with onset of first unintentional injuring. Multivariate logistic regression estimated the association between unintentional injuring and lifetime prevalence of mental illness, specifically of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV disorders associated with trauma exposure among respondents of part II of the National Co-morbidity Survey Replication a household survey of 5692 US adults. Analyses controlled for age, sex, race and having been injured in a serious accident. Results Of 5692 respondents, 110 reported unintentionally causing death or injury to another person. Unintentionally injuring others was a risk factor for subsequent mental health problems. Multivariate regression results showed an increased risk of subsequent depression (OR 3.1, CI 1.7 to 5.7), anxiety (OR 3.3, CI 1.6 to 6.6), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (OR 6.6, CI 3.1 to 14.0), alcohol use (OR 3.8, CI 1.9 to 7.3) and drug use (OR 8.0, CI 4.1 to 15.3). Conversely, mental health problems were a risk factor for unintentionally injuring another person. Multivariate regression results showed an increased risk of unintentional injuring among those with a prior diagnosis of depression, PTSD, alcohol use, and drug use. Conclusions After injuring, unintentional injurers are likely to experience depression, anxiety, PTSD and drug or alcohol abuse/dependence compared with non-injurers. Those diagnosed with depression, anxiety, PTSD, alcohol or drug or alcohol abuse/dependence are more likely to cause serious injuries to others.


We evaluate the effects of aging on productivity using piece-rate earnings as a proxy for worker output. Our data contain the population of Finnish blue collar workers in 61 different industries during 1990-2002. A unique feature of the data is that we can observe the exact hours worked on piece rates and on fixed time rates as well as earnings under both performance schemes. We account for the selection into piece rates by using firm-level changes in pay systems as instruments for the probability of working on piece rates. A subset of workers also receive both piece rates and time rates within the same quarter. For these workers, we can directly compare the age profile of hourly earnings under piece rates and fixed rates. The results indicate that productivity increases with age until age 40 after which it stays roughly constant. Wage growth is faster than productivity growth for young workers but after age 40 both wages and productivity grow approximately at the same rate.


Abstract. Graphoglyptids are deep-marine trace fossils, often found preserved as casts in positive relief on the base of turbidites. Previous analyses of the behavioral evolution of graphoglyptids suggested they were slowly diversifying, becoming optimized, and getting smaller over time until the Late Cretaceous, when a sudden increase in diversification occurred. This current study quantifies the morphology of approximately 400 different graphoglyptid specimens, ranging in age from the Cambrian to the present, in order to evaluate the behavioral evolutionary interpretations made previously. Results from this study indicate that although some general evolutionary patterns can be discerned, they are not as straightforward as previously reported. Different topological categories of trace fossils represent organisms' responses to evolutionary pressures in unique ways. While burrow widths of meandering traces were becoming smaller over time, as predicted by previous workers, the burrow widths of the network traces were becoming smaller only until the Late Cretaceous, when they started to get larger again. The times of significant evolutionary changes in behavior were not consistent among various topological categories, with some morphological features being affected in the Late Cretaceous and others during the beginning of the Eocene. It is likely that the behavioral evolution of graphoglyptids was influenced by deep-marine global influences linked to climate change, glaciation, and deep-ocean warming. These influences affected each topological group uniquely, suggesting that different species or genera of trace makers were creating each of the topological categories. This is contrary to the hypothesis that all graphoglyptids were created by closely related species.


Some reasons are given to suggest that the interpretation of the Lorentz' transformations as if they referred to coordinates instead of to intervals could be incorrect. Besides, the usual form of such transformations, by using variables that represent finite values instead of differentials, could be another error. Later it is shown that the Lorentz contraction factor must not have the form currently accepted for it if the Lorentz contraction factor is assumed to be equal to the quotient between time differentials.


Abstract. Termites are eusocial insects currently classified into nine families, of which only Stylotermitidae has never been subjected to any molecular phylogenetic analysis. Stylotermitids present remarkable morphology and have the unique habit of feeding on living trees. We sequenced mitogenomes of five stylotermitid samples from China and Taiwan to reconstruct the phylogenetic position of Stylotermitidae. Our analyses placed Stylotermitidae as the sister group of all remaining Neoisoptera. The systematic position of Stylotermitidae calls for additional studies of their biology, including their developmental pathways and pheromone communication, which have the potential to change our understanding of termite evolution.


Background It is necessary to know the impact of the haematological toxicity in patients starting treatment with triple therapy for chronic hepatitis C in daily clinical practice. Purpose To check the haematological side effects of telaprevir, ribavirin and interferon, in patients with chronic hepatitis C genotype 1. Materials and methods A retrospective, observational study of patients in treatment with a triple therapy including telaprevir. All patients who started treatment during 2012 and had at least 3 months of treatment were included. All the medicines dispensing and blood test records were collected and haemoglobin, lymphocyte and platelet levels were examined. Results 53 patients were included, 36 men and 17 women. The average age was 56 (max. 73; min 40). The baseline haemoglobin was 15.2 g/dl. The lowest average level of Hb was 9.9 and was reached on day 81 of treatment, around the 12th week of the telaprevir treatment. In 52.9% of patients, the value was under 10 g/dl. 12 patients reached a mild anaemia, 14 reached moderate anaemia and 2 reached severe anaemia. The average concentration of lymphocytes at the beginning was: 2.1 × 103/μl (max. 4.3; min 0.7 × 103/μl). The minimum value was 0.83 × 103/μl (max. 1.8; min 0.2 × 103/μl) at day 89. The average concentration of platelets at the beginning was: 160.85 × 103/μl (max. 317; min 61 × 103/μl). The minimum value was 84.8 × 103/μl (max. 253; min 24 × 103/μl) reached at day 82. 26 of the patients reached thrombocytopenia grade 2, 10 reached grade 3 and 1 reached grade 4. Conclusions The reduction of the blood parameters in patients treated with triple therapy started around one month after initiating the treatment, reaching the lowest levels after 12–16 weeks, coinciding approximately with the end of the protease inhibitor treatment. This fits our expectations concerning to the studies. No conflict of interest.


This paper presents a new two-terminal impedance-based fault location algorithm, which takes into account the distributed parameter line model. The algorithm utilizes unsynchronized measurements of voltages and currents from two ends of a line and is formulated in terms of the fundamental frequency phasors of symmetrical components of the measured signals. First, an analytical synchronization of the unsynchronized measurements is performed with use of the determined synchronization operator. Then, the distance to fault is calculated as for the synchronized measurements. Simultaneous usage of two kinds of symmetrical components for determining the synchronization operator makes that the calculations are simple, noniterative and at the same time highly accurate. The developed fault location algorithm has been thoroughly tested using signals of ATP-EMTP versatile simulations of faults on a transmission line. The presented evaluation shows the validity of the developed fault location algorithm and its high accuracy.


During this time responsiveness and participation in local financial management processes -including financial statements - is still relatively low. Community participation should be given atevery stage of financial management areas ranging from drafting and ratification of the budget,implementation, up to local financial accountability reports. Constraints in the development ofresponsiveness and participation in local finance partly because of the lack of socialization intothe community and the difficulty of accessing a variety of public policy. The lack of responsivenessis also due to the lack of government support in the form of laws and regulations such as localregulations (Regulation). This article tried to give a review of the concept: good governmentgovernance, public accountability, accounting and operational scope of local government andthe local government financial statements. In this article also discussed advocacy and effortsto develop indicators of financial statements responsive community. Discussion of advocacyand the development of indicators in an attempt to overcome the lack of responsiveness andparticipation. An understanding of the concepts, advocacy and the development of indicatorsof financial statements responsive community are expected to be the starting point to promotethe establishment of good governance and accountability local goverment in governancecorrespondence with community participation


Although federal, state and local government officials are subject to applicable codes of ethical conduct and are under the jurisdiction of ethics enforcement agencies created pursuant to these laws, ethics oversight agencies are limited in the breadth and scope of covered activities. With an increase in reported allegations of corruption, particularly at the local government level, this article explores the addition of the audit function, through inspectors general, to ensure greater transparency and accountability of public officials. The article begins with a very brief historical overview of the emergence of the inspector general concept in Europe and its adoption in the United States at the federal and state levels. The article continues with a focused examination of the reasons behind the creation of inspectors general at the municipal level and the various models or forms that have emerged in the establishment, jurisdiction, the operation of these offices and budget issues. The next section examines the interplay between inspectors general, ethics commissions and law enforcement agencies. Consideration is then given to the cost-benefit analysis of the municipal inspector general, exploring whether the expense can be justified by the savings and other associated benefits. Finally, the article concludes with a recommendation that in the current era of scarce fiscal resources, especially at the local level, municipalities should consider whether the establishment of an inspector general office can assist in not only furthering a commitment to ethical government, but in identifying cost-savings for the locality.


"Mad honey" is a complex mixture of numerous chemicals produced by honeybees from Rhododendron flowers. Consumption of mad honey leads to diarrhea, perspiration, dizziness, changes in consciousness, syncope, diplopia, as well as blurred vision, hypotension, and bradycardia due to the presence of grayanotoxins (GTXs). Therefore, it is important to detect the level grayanotoxins in mad honey. Besides its toxicity, mad honey also has antioxidant activity. This study was designed to determine the level of grayanotoxin-III toxin and antioxidant activity of ten different mad honey samples collected from the Black Sea region of Turkey. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was used for the quantitation of grayanotoxin-III. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using total phenolic contents, total ferric reducing antioxidant power, scavenging of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 3-(2-pyridyl)-5, 6-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazine-4',4''-disulfonic acid radicals. Quantities of grayanotoxin-III levels ranged from 68.754 to 0.701 µg grayanotoxin-III/g honey. Mad honey MH7 from Artvin/Hopa had the highest grayanotoxin-III level. Although there were varying levels of grayanotoxin-III, mad honey samples were outstanding in terms of antioxidant activity. MH3 had the highest antioxidant potential. Although toxicity effect comprises, a metered dose of mad honey might also be explored as a potential source in clinical trials due to high bioactivity levels.


Was Jesus of Nazareth a real historical person or a fictional character in a religious legend? What do the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal about the origins of Christianity? Has there been a conspiracy to suppress information in the Scrolls that contradicts traditional church teaching? John Allegro addresses these and many other intriguing questions in this fascinating account of what may be the most significant archaeological discovery of the twentieth century. As one of the original scholars entrusted with the task of deciphering these ancient documents, Allegro worked on some of the most important texts, including the Biblical commentaries. In 1961, King Hussein of Jordan appointed him to be honorary advisor to the Jordanian government on the Dead Sea Scrolls. In his engaging and highly readable style, Allegro conveys the excitement of the initial archaeological find and takes the reader on a journey of intellectual discovery that goes to the heart of Western culture.Allegro suggests that Christianity evolved out of the Messianic theology of the Essenes, the Jewish sect that wrote the "Dead Sea Scrolls". This new edition of Allegro's book also contains an essay in which he describes the in-fighting among the scholars assigned to study the scrolls and his thirty-year battle to release all of the texts to the public. Allegro was one of the first scholars to protest the long delay in publishing the Scrolls and to criticise his colleagues for their secretive and possessive attitudes. This issue has recently been the focus of national media coverage, with the result that after forty years, open access to all of the Dead Sea Scrolls has finally been permitted. If he had lived to see it, John Allegro would have been very pleased by this resolution of the controversy.


BACKGROUND
Rare mutations affecting the FOXP2 transcription factor cause a monogenic speech and language disorder. We hypothesized that neural pathways downstream of FOXP2 influence more common phenotypes, such as specific language impairment.

METHODS
We performed genomic screening for regions bound by FOXP2 using chromatin immunoprecipitation, which led us to focus on one particular gene that was a strong candidate for involvement in language impairments. We then tested for associations between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this gene and language deficits in a well-characterized set of 184 families affected with specific language impairment.

RESULTS
We found that FOXP2 binds to and dramatically down-regulates CNTNAP2, a gene that encodes a neurexin and is expressed in the developing human cortex. On analyzing CNTNAP2 polymorphisms in children with typical specific language impairment, we detected significant quantitative associations with nonsense-word repetition, a heritable behavioral marker of this disorder (peak association, P=5.0x10(-5) at SNP rs17236239). Intriguingly, this region coincides with one associated with language delays in children with autism.

CONCLUSIONS
The FOXP2-CNTNAP2 pathway provides a mechanistic link between clinically distinct syndromes involving disrupted language.


Research has shown that innovation, as a form of entrepreneurship, leverages social networks and enable entrepreneurs to access external resources and knowledge. This paper investigates the effect of entrepreneurs' networks on innovation outcomes within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The paper analyses the role of cultural contingencies, notably social norms on innovation. In addition to culture, a comprehensive model is posited that integrates cognitive and motivational aspects and examines their role on the relationship of networks and innovation. The proposed model is tested using SEM. The results confirm the relevance of networks for innovation outcomes in the MENA region. The entrepreneurs in the MENA region mainly rely on private networks, which have no relevance for innovation, unlike professional and international networks. Moreover, cultural environment has a negative effect on innovation outcomes. It is observed that network relations enhance motivation positively and motivation in turn impacts innovation in a positive manner.


Abstract. DRIAS (Providing access to Data on French Regionalized climate scenarios and Impacts on the environment and Adaptation of Societies) is a 2-yr project (2010–2012). It is funded by the GICC (Management and Impact of Climate Change) program of the French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transportation, and Housing (MEDDTL). DRIAS is to provide easy access to French regional climate data and products in order to facilitate mitigation and adaptation studies. The DRIAS project focuses on existing French regional climate projections obtained from national modelling groups such as: IPSL, CERFACS, and CNRM. It is more than a data server, it also delivers all kinds of climate information from numerical data to tailored climate products. Moreover, guidance is to be provided to end-users in order to promote best practices and know-how. Whilst the project is coordinated by the Department of Climatology at Meteo-France, a multidisciplinary group of users and stakeholders at large concerned by climate change issues is also involved with the project. The ultimate goal will be to identify societal needs, validate the decision making processes, and thus facilitate exchanges between producers and practitioners. Key results from the DRIAS project will contribute to the implementation of French Climate Services.


The sputtering method has been extensively adopted for the production of high-performance thin films and coatings. This can be attributed to its versatility and flexibility, which allows easier tailoring of the properties and characteristics of the sputtered films and coatings for the desired application and performance. Contrary to thermal spray and chemical techniques, sputtering can be performed at room temperature for a wide range of targets, thus overcoming the challenges, such as residual stresses and degradation of the substrates, associated with high-temperature processes. The most important aspect of the sputtering is the target from which the thin film material is derived. The quality of the target determines the properties and performance of the resulting film and coating. Published data reveal that the quality of the targets depends mainly on the method of production. Although different manufacturing techniques have been used to produce these targets, consolidation of powders has been shown to provide outstanding results. The production of these targets through powder metallurgy depends on the compaction or sintering methods and associated processing parameters. With the increasing demand for high-performance thin films and coatings, such as high-entropy alloy films, the quality of the targets used for sputtering is crucial for application in various fields that include medical, electronics, and energy. In this article, progress on the powder metallurgy on the manufacturing of sputtering targets is detailed. Advances in various powder technologies, process parameters, and conditions, and their interrelationships with properties and performance of targets and sputtered thin films will be discussed, synthesized, and general/specific trends will be derived. This article will serve as a resource for metallurgists in the optimization and development of advanced targets for industry 4.0.


In development policy circles, corruption has become a pressing global issue. Yet the contemporary relationship between corruption and development is complex and contested. For many, corruption robs people of economic resources and social wealth, and denudes the state of important capacities. That is, corruption prevents or blocks development. For others, corruption often occurs in the process of development as the form in which a class of developers accumulates wealth. That is, corruption is a phase of development. This article explores the contested relationship through two case studies: in Sub-Saharan Africa; and in the former Soviet Union. The article also links contemporary debates about corruption and development with earlier thinking about capitalist progress and development.


This symposium essay uses the popular game Pokemon Go as a case study for evaluating conflicts that arise when augmented reality is layered over the real property of non-consenting owners. It focuses on the challenges augmented reality technologies pose to the meaning and enforcement of formal and informal trespass norms, first examining physical trespass issues (and enforcement difficulties) associated with game players who sometimes break physical property boundaries.

The essay then undertakes a thought experiment regarding possible recognition of a new, different type of trespass—one to augmented space. Pollock and Maitland called trespass the "fertile mother of all actions," often breeding new or enlarged doctrines across the common law. Perhaps trespass has new breeding to do, providing the genetic material upon which the common law can birth new doctrines that preserve our private property values while adapting to technological advances. We could imagine allocating rights such that owners of physical real property are empowered to exclude others from augmented layering of their property. Only if property owners have "opted in" would any gaming company be permitted to make another's property an integral part of its augmented reality game. Financial incentives could emerge to make it beneficial for many property owners to choose inclusion of augmented layering. The number of willing properties opting-in might then make the game manageable without the need for layering over the properties of non-consenting owners.

Hypothetical or experimental legal innovations aside, the essay concludes with a focus on the evolution of informal norms furthering trespass avoidance. Trespass is an ideal case study of a type of action that already is more often deterred by informal social norms than by law. This the essay concludes by explaining why these informal norms and an appeal to civility may be the best ways to control unwanted augmented-world interference with real property in the real world.


Underwater sound is recognized as an important environmental issue because of the effects of sound on marine life. Government agencies and regulators worldwide are showing an increasing interest in sound-source-verification (SSV) techniques, analysis, and results. Analysis provides the necessary information to assess the impact of sound on marine mammals, which can range from behavioral changes to auditory damage, as well as to assess the impact on the environment. Marine mammals generally rely heavily on their sense of hearing for communication, prey location, predator detection, navigation, and echolocation, so prolonged exposure to continuous sound is potentially harmful.


Countries in the euro area periphery borrowed heavily from abroad in the years leading up to the sovereign debt crisis, largely to finance increased consumption and housing investment. When the crisis hit in 2010, capital flight by private investors forced these countries to bring domestic spending back into line with domestic incomes—the same adjustment required of countries facing a typical balance of payments crisis. Nevertheless, adjustment to the pullback of private capital was not as harsh as might have been expected, owing to the workings of the euro area's system for managing cross-border payment imbalances between regional commercial banks. This system, known as Target2, offset much of the capital flight with credits extended collectively by euro area central banks to central banks in the periphery.


Introduction: Acrylamide (ACR) consumption is increasing all over the world. There are some evidence on the literature about its neurotoxic effect on mature animals, but the effects of ACR on postnatal development have been less studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of ACR on development of cortical layer, white matter, and number of Purkinje cells of the cerebellum in rat newborns. Methods: This study was carried out on 20 female Wistar rats (average weight: 180 g, aged: two months). The rats were divided into four groups. Pregnant rats were orally fed with ACR 10 mg/kg and vitamin C 200 mg/kg. In this study, 6 infants of each group (weighting 32–35 g) were randomly selected at day 21 after birth and placed under deep anesthesia and transcardial perfusion. Their cerebellums were fixed and histopathological changes were evaluated with Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining and cresyl violet method. The volume of cerebellar cortical layers and number of Purkinje cells were investigated by Cavalieri's principle and physical dissector methods. The obtained data were analyzed by 1-way ANOVA and LSD test using SPSS. P<0.05 considered as statistically significant. Results: The results showed that newborns of ACR-treated female rats have decreased cerebellar weight (P≤0.05) and lower than average number of Purkinje cells (P≤0.001). ACR also decreased the volume of granular and molecular layer and increased the volume of white matter. While the results showed decreased in white matter volume in vitamin C group (P≤0.001). Conclusion: ACR induces structural changes in the development of the cerebellar cortical layers in rat newborns, but these changes may be prevented by vitamin C as an antioxidant.


Theme
This workshop will provide a range of
strategies to enable medical leaders to
increase their emotional resilience.
Increased levels of resilience selfawareness
will facilitate understanding of
their impact on teams/others. Medical
leaders 'must be resilient and consistently
demonstrate the energy, drive and
motivation to lead and work with others…
and to remain enthusiastic and optimistic
in the face of setbacks' (FMLM, 2015:4). In
order to be an emotionally resilient,
leaders require; self-awareness, selfmanagement,
moral courage, integrity,
clear purpose, confidence and adaptability
because without these critical
qualities/skills,
effective positive relationships with others
cannot be established.
The workshop content will be underpinned
by the Faculty of Medical Leadership &
Management Standards [FMLM] for
Medical Professionals (2015), the
GMC/AMRC consultation on Developing a
Framework for Generic Professional
Capabilities (2015) as well as elements of
Robertson & Cooper's (2015) Resilience
Model.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is key to
emotional resilience and the links between
these two concepts will be examined. In
addition practical strategies to gain
increased self-awareness will be discussed
in order to gain an understanding of how to
'top up' your personal resilience reservoir
and what causes your 'leaks'?


ABSTRACT In these uncertain times, politicians and society have been voicing high expectations from teacher education asking for evidence of added value and impact on the student. In this study a longitudinal mixed-methods approach was used to determine the impact of in-service Master of Education programmes on teachers (N = 1,917) and their work environment in the Netherlands. The results of online surveys were explained by means of realist evaluation using focus-group and in-depth interviews. The study shows that Master of Education programmes had an impact on professional and pedagogical skills of teachers, and in some cases also on their work environment. A two-tier mechanism is proposed: the Master's programmes provide teachers with more in-depth knowledge about teaching and learning and a more critical stance through inquiry and research. Consequently, some teachers contribute to a culture of inquiry in their schools, provided that the schools facilitate them in new roles.


Human colorectal cancer cell lines are used widely to investigate tumor biology, experimental therapy, and biomarkers. However, to what extent these established cell lines represent and maintain the genetic diversity of primary cancers is uncertain. In this study, we profiled 70 colorectal cancer cell lines for mutations and DNA copy number by whole-exome sequencing and SNP microarray analyses, respectively. Gene expression was defined using RNA-Seq. Cell line data were compared with those published for primary colorectal cancers in The Cancer Genome Atlas. Notably, we found that exome mutation and DNA copy-number spectra in colorectal cancer cell lines closely resembled those seen in primary colorectal tumors. Similarities included the presence of two hypermutation phenotypes, as defined by signatures for defective DNA mismatch repair and DNA polymerase ε proofreading deficiency, along with concordant mutation profiles in the broadly altered WNT, MAPK, PI3K, TGFβ, and p53 pathways. Furthermore, we documented mutations enriched in genes involved in chromatin remodeling (ARID1A, CHD6, and SRCAP) and histone methylation or acetylation (ASH1L, EP300, EP400, MLL2, MLL3, PRDM2, and TRRAP). Chromosomal instability was prevalent in nonhypermutated cases, with similar patterns of chromosomal gains and losses. Although paired cell lines derived from the same tumor exhibited considerable mutation and DNA copy-number differences, in silico simulations suggest that these differences mainly reflected a preexisting heterogeneity in the tumor cells. In conclusion, our results establish that human colorectal cancer lines are representative of the main subtypes of primary tumors at the genomic level, further validating their utility as tools to investigate colorectal cancer biology and drug responses.


The mononuclear phagocyte system is part of the innate immune system and comprises dendritic cells (DCs), monocytes and macrophages, which fulfil a range of tasks essential for homeostasis and immunity. Macrophages and DCs were originally thought to be variations of monocytes, but recent evidence has defined the distinct origins of macrophages, monocytes and DCs. Mononuclear phagocytes are functionally specialised and play a critical role in all phases of the immune response. They detect and phagocytose pathogens, recruit cells, initiate adaptive immunity by presenting antigens to T cells and coordinate the resolution of inflammation and wound healing. Macrophages have additional vital functions in tissue development and homeostasis.

Key Concepts

Mononuclear phagocytes (dendritic cells, monocytes and macrophages) are a diverse group of cells with a wide range of functions essential for maintaining organism integrity.
Macrophages are tissue resident, play a central role in homeostasis, perform tissue-specific functions and orchestrate immune responses.
Dendritic cells are specialised antigen-presenting cells with superior ability to initiate immune responses.
Monocytes are circulating leucocytes that can enter the tissue and have important roles in phagocytosis, inflammation and wound healing.
Mononuclear phagocytes coordinate innate and adaptive immune response.

Keywords:

macrophage;
monocyte;
dendritic cell;
mononuclear phagocyte;
phagocytosis;
Kupffer cell;
Langerhans cell;
osteoclast;
microglial cell


We propose a methodology for estimating the risk of portfolios that exhibit nonlinear dependence on the risk driving factors and have scarce observations, which is typical for portfolios of investments in hedge funds. The methodology consists of two steps: first, regressing the portfolio return on nonlinear functions of each single risk driving factor and second, merging together the obtained estimates taking into account the dependence between different factors. Performing the second step leads us to a certain probabilistic problem, for which we propose an analytic and computationally feasible solution for the case where the joint law of the factors is a Gaussian copula. A typical practical application can be to estimate the risk of a hedge fund or a portfolio of hedge funds. As a theoretical consequence of our results, we propose a new definition of the factor risk, i.e., the risk of a portfolio brought by a given factor.


This Note argues that the international community should relax prohibitions against unilateral humanitarian action until the international collective security measures of the U.N. Charter designed to prevent egregious human rights abuses are effective. Because modern technology has significantly increased the ability to discern pretextual actions from altruistic actions, the potential abuse of unilateral humanitarian intervention is minimized. While the meaning of the word "intervention" in itself is subject to debate, this Note will consider only military intervention. Part I of this Note discusses the historical background of humanitarian intervention. Part II first analyzes the arguments against legalization of humanitarian intervention, based on the U.N. Charter and state practice. Part II then analyzes the arguments for legalization and explains how the U.N. Charter and state practice can be read to mandate legality. Part III argues that the legalization of unilateral humanitarian intervention, within limits, would not create incentives for the doctrine's massive abuse as was once feared. This Note concludes that the legalization of limited unilateral humanitarian intervention would effectively balance human rights and legitimate state sovereignty, while maintaining international stability.


This paper discusses the issues concerning cookies and privacy and electronic commerce. After analysing the European and national legislation about protection of privacy and distance selling and electronic commerce, the attention is focused on consumers actual knowledge of cookies. The second part of the paper is a survey realized in 2010 in two high schools of Modena. The survey uncovers that the knowledge about cookies and related issues is superficial. The paper concludes that there are many instruments to protect consumers' privacy while they are surfing on or buying in the Internet. However there is the need to improve the effective knowledge of the so-called cyberconsumers about cookies and issues concerning privacy.


The Rules of Professional Conduct impose various restrictions relating to attorney fees and the payment of litigation costs, which are designed to preserve the lawyer's role as a zealous but objective advocate. Class actions stand apart from other kinds of litigation in that they are designed to promote efficiency by their combining like claims into single actions, and individual justice by their vindicating claims that if taken individually might not be economically viable. In light of these special concerns, the courts have carved out several exceptions to ordinary attorney's fees, litigation expense, and disbursement rules that they routinely apply to class action cases. These special allowances include special compensation for class representatives, additional recovery for expert plaintiffs, and up-front payments of litigation costs by attorneys. While, as some courts have recognized, innovations in the class action context create some ethical risks, this should not lead courts to sound the death knell for creative financing of class action litigation. Rather, courts should approach creative class action financing arrangements with an eye towards the special circumstances and goals of class action litigation. Creative financing arrangements that prejudice plaintiffs' cases should be viewed with appropriate skepticism. Arrangements that merely provide financing attorneys with reasonable returns on their investment in light of prospective expenditures of time and effort, however, should be allowed in order to achieve the unique goals of class action litigation.


The global financial crisis caused a huge loss of economic output, depletion of financial wealth, extended unemployment, psychological consequences and other significant costs. A quantitative exploration of modelling loss-in-output as a cost of financial crisis using macroeconomic indicators is useful in understanding the impact of a crisis. The conservative estimates for India suggest that, over a period of ten years, a financial crisis can cause a cumulative loss-in-output ranging from 48% of GDP to 59% of GDP after discounting at 0.025 and 0.07 respectively. Intermediate values are also explored. Estimating loss-in-output in terms of GDP simplifies estimation of the impact of financial crises. Policymakers and regulators must be more prudent and alert in sensing the early indicators of a financial crisis and act swiftly in containing its perils.


Given the perspective of the Swiss energy policy to support investments in renewable energy sources, it becomes highly relevant at this point to understand cross-border effects of imported electricity on the Swiss electricity prices. We found that German (Phelix) and Swiss (Swissix) electricity prices are cointegrated, given that the two markets are interconnected. We examined the cross-border effects of the German market fundamentals on Swissix, taking into account seasonality aspects. In the context of a dynamic fundamental model, we found that there is a continuous adaption process of electricity prices to market fundamentals and that this effect depends on the season of the year and the time of the day. Model results reveal the substitution effect between traditional fuels and renewable energies due to their alternative use in production and the shift in the merit order curve. Results are of great relevance to Swiss policy makers: Switzerland imports lower electricity prices due to the energy transition in Germany. In particular, because of the high infeed of PV (photovoltaic) during peak hours, the spread between Swissix peak and off-peak prices narrowed significantly over time. Incentives for investments in renewable energies in Switzerland as well as subsidies for hydropower should be considered in the light of these insights.


Rumina Sethi. The Politics of Postcolonialism: Empire, Nation and Resistance. London: Pluto, 2011. 190 pp. [pounds sterling]16.00. World War II was a watershed. Before, European colonial states in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean; after, anti-colonial struggles culminating in decolonization. During the conflicts, subaltern intellectuals gave voice to the colonized's yearning for collective self-determination, a yearning eventually satiated, the story goes, with decolonization. Newly independent, postcolonial states started fulfilling the promises of decolonization with modernization projects and policies designed to conserve the cultural heritage. To do so, they borrowed, often at usurious rates of interest. To finance these loans, they submitted to ruinous debt repayment regimes. Local production virtually asphyxiated by the imposed lifting of import restrictions, national economies collapsed. Those who could (skilled professionals and the educated) fled, most to Europe and North America, where a few entered the Academy. But access to the Academy, like emigration, exacted a price. At the level of the Postcolonial Studies curriculum, coming to terms with structuralist and post-structuralist theories entailed substituting hybridity and multiculturalism for foundational concepts of anti--colonial discourse such as the nation. At the level of ethics, it meant disengaging one's pedagogical practices and scholarly projects from ongoing struggles in the postcolony, including resistance against transnational capital. In the Canadian vernacular, it meant refusing to dance with the one what brung you. For Rumina Sethi, this refusal, this ideological disengagement from the postcolony, has been costly for Postcolonial Studies. For one thing, it has spawned a cadre of academic "celebrities" whose suspect analyses of postcolonial life are cast in the opaque idiom of "high' theory" (9). For another, having successfully challenged the essentialist notions of national identity that anchored struggles against colonial governance--for example, the stable, unchanging, and even primordial ethnic self--and having in some quarters even declared the nation-state itself irrelevant to the Empire of transnational finance capital, it has failed spectacularly to come to terms with the fact that the postcolonial nation remains, in fact, the site and object of the ongoing contest between globalization and its discontents. For Postcolonial Studies, the consequence has been ideological and political paralysis. So what to do? Give Postcolonial Studies "a historical-materialist twist" (123), Sethi recommends, returning to the nation and the tradition of activist scholarship that made national liberation possible. In short, Back to the Future! The Politics of Postcolonialism exemplifies this slogan as critical practice. In part, this return to the past entails historical memory. Beginning with nineteenth-century pluralism (Herder), Sethi draws attention to the geopolitical and economic forces at work when Postcolonial Studies was emerging as an academic discipline in the West: the post-Cold War ascendancy of the United States as a hyper power, the rise of monetary institutions (the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) and trade regulatory agencies (GATT, WTO), and postcolonial nations' loss of economic sovereignty. She links them with the poststructuralist assaults on foundational concepts such as "origin," "truth," essence, and the referential capacity of symbols, assaults that inspired the discipline to break with Marxism, abandoning the emancipatory ethos that had animated anti-colonialist discourse (Fanon, Senghor, Gandhi, etc. …


The objective of this thesis is to provide a theoretical analysis and conceptual history of the most
significant instances of convergence between 'anarchist' and 'Marxist' political ideas and practices,
circa 1872-1963. This study will be conducted with two key aims. First, reassessing some of the
dominant claims of a dichotomous relationship between the anarchist and Marxist traditions. Second,
with a view towards determining if moments of convergence exhibit sufficient continuity and coherence
to be considered as a distinct ideological current or sub-variant within the broader socialist tradition, or
what has sometimes been referred to as 'libertarian socialism' or 'libertarian communism'. I argue that
the communist, anti-statist, and anti-parliamentary currents in the international working-class
movement expose a neglected sphere of commonality which demands closer investigation.
 In part one, "Convergences and Divergences", I problematise the dominant interpretations of the
relationships between anarchism and Marxism as hostile and irreconcilable ideologies. Employing the
'morphological' approach to ideologies, I then recast this debate as an interplay between two core
political concepts: the 'libertarian' critique of hierarchy and authoritarianism and the 'communist'
critique of the capitalist mode of production and alienated labour.
 Part two, "Beyond the Red and Black Divide", examines the intersections of the libertarian and
communist critiques through three case studies. In the first case study, the 'Chicago Idea' movement
of the Haymarket Martyrs is examined as an instance of anarchist/Marxist synthesis – one of the
ideological precursors of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union. Case study two examines
ideological innovations which emerged in response to the Russian Revolution (1917-1921) and
Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) through an analysis of the Makhnovist-platformist, council communist,
and the 'Friends of Durruti' group conceptions of revolutionary organisation. The final case study
examines the post-war evolution of the Socialisme ou Barbarie, Johnson-Forest Tendency, and
Solidarity groups from Trotskyism to 'libertarian socialism'


Typically, small samples have always been a problem for binomial generalized linear models. Though generalized linear models are widely popular in public health, social sciences etc. In small sample scenarios the non-existence of the maximum likelihood (ML) estimators is very common as well as separation occurs in the data. In logistic regression the maximum likelihood estimates are found to have biased away from origin. My work examines the bias-reduced and exact estimators that have been used to estimate the slope parameters and standard errors of the estimated slope parameters as compared to the traditional ML method. The present work is noted for the logistic regression. For the models having categorical responses, bias-reduction performs the best. The latest research and methodological interest in the bias-reduction technique stimulate this current work and the main goal is to evaluate and broaden the application of this approach so it would identify the areas where bias-reduction can be helpful. This research is an effort to prove theoretically and practically that bias-reduced method should be considered as an improvement over the traditional ML method. This method not only removes the first order bias in the ML method but also equivalent to the penalization of the likelihood by Jeffreys prior. Moreover, bias-reduced estimates are always find to be finite.


Although scholars have constructed typologies of voluntary (fictive) kin, few have considered challenges and opportunities of interaction and relationships between biolegal and voluntary kin. This study focused on one type of voluntary kin, supplemental voluntary kin, relationships that often arise because of differing values, underperformed roles, or physical distance from the biolegal family, and wherein relationships are maintained with biolegal and voluntary kin. We examined how these family systems are constructed via interactions in relational triads of "linchpin" persons between biolegal family and voluntary kin. From in-depth interviews with 36 supplemental voluntary kin, we examined themes in the linchpins' discourse surrounding the interaction, rituals, and ideal relationship between biolegal family and voluntary kin. We constructed a typology of four relational triads representing these relationships: intertwined, limited, separate, and hostile. We describe the structure and communication within each type, and implications for helping families with these triangulated voluntary kin relationships.


Fifteen historical and contemporary curriculum designs were analyzed for elements of assessment that support student learning and inform instructional decisions. Educational researchers are purposely paying attention to the role assessment plays in a well-designed planning and teaching process. Assessment is a vital component to educational planning and teaching because it is a way to gather accurate evidence of student learning and information to inform instructional decisions. The purpose of this review was to analyze 100 years of curriculum designs to uncover elements of assessment that will support teachers in their desire to improve student learning. Throughout this research the author seeks to answer the question: Do historical and contemporary curriculum designs include elements of assessment that help teachers improve student learning? The results of the review reveal that assessment elements were addressed in all of the curricular designs analyzed, but not all elements of assessment were identified using similar terminology. Based on the analysis of this review, it is suggested that teachers not be particular about the terminology used to describe assessment elements, as all curriculum models discussed use one or more elements similar to the context of pre, formative, and summative assessments.


Medical image processing has experienced dramatic expansion, and has been an interesting research field that attracted expertise from applied mathematics, computer sciences, engineering, biology and even medicine. This work is concerned with developing image processing techniques to automate the detection and classification of cells in digital images of day 2 embryos for suitability for In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment. In IVF treatment eggs are removed from the ovaries of the woman and injected with sperms of the man in a dish in the laboratory so that fertilization can take place and yield embryos. The embryos are then graded and examined to decide which embryos are the best to be re-implanted into the woman's womb again. The grading system used in this work involved day 2 embryos, and a dataset of 40 images was provided by Al Agyal clinic in Alexandria. At this stage of development the embryos should have 4 approximately circular cells with similar sizes in order to be considered as suitable for re-implantation.
The work develops an automated image processing system which firstly locates the embryo in a microscope image, and then detects the cells in the embryo and matches their properties against the criteria for re-implantation. Although the main problem was the overlapping of the cells in the images, it was also found that the size (magnification) and the brightness also varied from one image to another and these factors had to be taken into consideration during the development of the detection algorithms. Once the perimeter of the embryo had been located, several edge detection techniques including the Sobel, Prewitt and Canny operators were examined as pre-processing for the circular Hough Transform. From 94 cells, only 62 cells (65%) were detected, but at the same time 226 of false cells were also detected. As an alternative approach, template matching was investigated, using templates with a range of sizes which were selected to match the acceptable size criteria for re-implantation and at the same time take into consideration the different magnification scales of the images used. The Sum of Added Differences (SAD) and the Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC) were used as a measure of the match. The NCC technique gave better results than SAD, which failed to detect any true cells. NCC technique only detected 50% of true cells, and further refinement to this approach was made. This involved binarisation of the images and templates, and the creation of two new edge-detection algorithms, one of which was based on the convolution technique while the other was based on the difference of the grey level between the border of the cell and its background. These changes have increased the cell detection accuracy to 80%, and reduced the detection of false cells from 118 to 39.
Of the 40 images available, 30 images were used to develop the automated system while 10 images were left to test the performance of the system. In the case of the 10 images, 5 had larger embryos and 5 smaller ones than the 30 images, where the embryos had similar sizes. It was found that 85% of the cells in the 10 images were properly detected with only 6 false cells found. As the missed cells and false cells were distributed among the 40 images, only 8 were analysed correctly (all true cells detected and no false cells found) but these were all correctly identified as suitable or not suitable for re-implantation. Further work is required to improve the cell detection algorithm, and to decrease further the number of false cells detected and hence improve the classification of the embryo.


As SMEs are the drivers of employment and GDP in many cases, SMEs are also critical to the development of any economy and their survival and success are, thus, important. With the high levels of failure of SMEs, it has become imperative that there is a drive to ensure the survival of SMEs. A way in which SMEs, can enhance their potential success rate and business performance is by means of proper target market selection in order for the business to focus their marketing efforts. This will allow the business to timeously identify opportunities and threats in the market and to react to these situations. The business will also have a greater understanding of their target market, and their needs and wants. Understanding the target market will assist the business in developing marketing strategies that are suited for the target market and enhance its chances of success. This study aimed to identify whether SME owners and managers have target market knowledge within a South African SME context. The main results indicate that although SME owners and managers claim they are aware of their specific target markets (90%), they do not have customer knowledge regarding the psychographic and demographic aspects of their target market. By using effective target marketing communication, SMEs can improve on their merchandising planning and product assortment and offerings to better serve their target market(s).


Reducing the European Union GHG emissions by at least 80% by 2050 will require a near zero carbon electricity, road and rail transport industry, and heating and cooling in buildings. As compared to "business as usual" the amount of energy required will basically vary according to the level of energy efficiency: it is the "system scale". Then it is the "system design" which will provide the needed carbon-free technologies consisting of renewable, nuclear and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage. A zero carbon energy system by 2050 is then demonstrated to be feasible. However it is far from easy and requires immediate and substantial policy action. The main policy implications are addressed in this paper. The 5 years 2010-2015 will be decisive in establishing a regulatory environment whereby the EU will be in a position, by 2020, to take the next steps to achieve the 2050 goal.


To date, the world continues to generate quintillion bytes of data daily, leading to the pressing needs for new efforts in dealing with the grand challenges brought by Big Data. When talking about big data, there is a growing consensus among the computational intelligence communities that data volume presents an immediate challenge pertaining to the scalability issue. Note that, when addressing volume in Big Data analytics, researchers have largely taken a one-sided study which refers to the "Big Instance Size" factor of the data. The flip side of volume which is the "Big Dimensionality" factor of big data, on the other hand, has received much less attention. A motivating example is related with cell phone manufacturing industry. It is worth noting that presently one can easily enjoy up to an extremely high resolution of 41-megapixels on the pictures taken, which is 400 times more than the 0.11-megapixels almost a decade ago. As a pixel based feature representation, this will explicitly translate to 41 million features. Taking this cue, in this dissertation, the first work represents an attempt to fill in this gap and places special focus on this relatively under-explored topic of big dimensionality, wherein the explosion of features brings about new challenges to computational intelligence. An analysis of three popular data repositories has uncovered an exponential increase in the dimensionality of many datasets that have been produced since early 2000s, there is much evidence reinforcing our contention that the upward trend of Big Dimensionality will only continue to follow, as influenced by the rapid advancements in computing and information technologies and the arising myriads of feature descriptors. Moreover, the blessings of Big Dimensionality is also discussed based on feature correlation, which serves as a cue to the success of handling such challenge. Based on the observation of the growing trend of big dimensionality on modern databases, existing approaches that require the calculations of pairwise feature correi lations in their algorithmic designs have scored miserably, since computing the full correlation/covariance matrix (i.e., square of dimensionality in size, where million features would translate to trillion correlation computations) can become computationally very impractical. This poses a notable challenge that has received little attention in the field of machine learning and data mining research. Thus, an efficient feature grouping and selection method has been proposed to fill in this gap, which is considered as the second work presented in this thesis. Specifically, the interesting findings on several established databases with big dimensionality have indicated that an extremely small portion of the feature pairs could contribute significantly to the underlying interactions and there exists feature groups that are highly correlated, which is termed as "sparse correlation" in this thesis. Inspired by the intriguing observations, a novel learning approach, namely, Group Discovery Machine (GDM) is hence introduced that exploits the presence of sparse correlations for the efficient identifications of informative and correlated feature groups from big dimensional data that translates to a reduction in complexity from O(mn) to O(m logm+Kamn), where Ka min(m,n) generally holds. In particular, the proposed approach considers an explicit incorporation of linear, nonlinear or specific correlation measures as constraints in the learning model. An efficient embedded feature selection strategy, designed to filter out the large number of non-contributing correlations that could otherwise confuse the classifier while identifying the correlated and informative feature groups, forms one of the highlights of this approach. Extensive empirical studies on both synthetic and several real-world datasets comprising up to 30 million dimensions are subsequently conducted to assess and showcase the efficacy of the proposed framework. In addition, to better illustrate the properties of the proposed framework, the sensitivity analysis of the key parameters in GDM are examined in this thesis to demonstrate the robustness and stability. Besides, the proposed framework on different machine learning settings is discussed, such as one-class learning, where notable speedup can be observed when solving one-class problems on big dimensional data. Further, to identify robust informative features with minimal sampling bias, the embedding of the V -fold cross validation in the learning model is hence considered, so as to seek for features that exhibit stable or consistent performance accuracy on multiple data folds. Last but not least, to ii better illustrate the usefulness of the informative feature groups, the potential benefits of affiliated features are presented using various real-world datasets.


In crowdsourced data aggregation task, there exist conflicts in the answers provided by large numbers of sources on the same set of questions. The most important challenge for this task is to estimate source reliability and select answers that are provided by high-quality sources. Existing work solves this problem by simultaneously estimating sources' reliability and inferring questions' true answers (i.e., the truths). However, these methods assume that a source has the same reliability degree on all the questions, but ignore the fact that sources' reliability may vary significantly among different topics. To capture various expertise levels on different topics, we propose FaitCrowd, a fine grained truth discovery model for the task of aggregating conflicting data collected from multiple users/sources. FaitCrowd jointly models the process of generating question content and sources' provided answers in a probabilistic model to estimate both topical expertise and true answers simultaneously. This leads to a more precise estimation of source reliability. Therefore, FaitCrowd demonstrates better ability to obtain true answers for the questions compared with existing approaches. Experimental results on two real-world datasets show that FaitCrowd can significantly reduce the error rate of aggregation compared with the state-of-the-art multi-source aggregation approaches due to its ability of learning topical expertise from question content and collected answers.