1. Adaptive adjustments in offspring sex ratios in mammals have long been reported, but the conditions and mechanisms that prompt shifts in the proportion of sons and daughters born are still unclear.

2. Empirical evidence indicates that offspring sex in mammals can be related to a diversity of environmental and maternal traits. However, the underlying assumptions regarding offspring and maternal fitness are rarely tested.

3. Physiological mechanisms of maternal selection of offspring sex may occur at many stages during the prolonged maternal investment stage, and a pluralistic approach to studying mechanisms might prove fruitful.

4. This review highlights the apparent frequency, in marsupial mammals, of sex ratio bias, which has largely been recorded as conforming to one of a few hypotheses.

5. Marsupials are ideally suited to experiments involving cross-fostering of offspring, which can allow rigorous tests of the fitness consequences of rearing one sex vs. the other. The reproductive biology of marsupials lends the group to detailed studies of the timing and physiological correlates of offspring sex biases.

6. Many components of metatherian biology may prove advantageous in experimental studies of sex allocation in mammals, and together may provide a prosperous avenue for examining adaptive and mechanistic hypotheses in mammalian sex allocation.


Cytoskeleton inhibitors were used to study morphogenesis in the pathogenic and dimorphic fungus Candida albicans. Nocodazole is a specific microtubule inhibitor and chloropropham (CIPC), at high concentrations, is an inhibitor of microtubules and microfilaments. Distribution of microtubules and microfilaments was studied by immunofluorescence techniques using anti-tubulin antibody with FITC-conjugated secondary antibody, and by staining with Rh-phalloidin. Nocodazole did not arrest apical cell elongation at a concentration (20 micrograms ml-1) that inhibited nuclear division and migration. Cytoplasmic and nuclear microtubules disappeared within 30 min in filamentous cells under these conditions. However, the Rh-phalloidin-stained actin granules which were localized in the tips of filamentous cells, and the microfilaments, were arranged normally at this concentration of nocodazole. Growth, and normal distribution of microtubules and microfilaments, were inhibited by a high concentration (200 micrograms ml-1) of CIPC. At a concentration (100 micrograms ml-1) of CIPC that permitted nuclear division, apical cell elongation was arrested, and filamentous growth was converted into yeast growth. At this concentration of CIPC, microtubules were distributed normally in filamentous cells. Long microfilaments were not observed, and actin granules did not localize in the tips of filamentous cells, but were distributed throughout the cytoplasmic cortex. Our results show that cytoplasmic microtubules are not essential for the elongation of filamentous cell tips but that microfilaments are apparently essential for this process.


An introduction to the phenomenon of Weblogs--online journals and diaries--and the people who keep them. Instantaneous and raw, unedited and uncensored, Weblogs are self-publishing at its best and its worst--occasionally brilliant but often pretentious, sometimes shocking but always fascinating. We've Got Blog is the first book to explore this phenomenon, which has been quickly rising from obscure Webpages to national attention in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Weblogs are free, searchable journals of opinions and links updated daily by an individual or a group and they have become some of the hottest Websites. We've Got Blog has pulled together some of the best writing explaining their history, the mavericks who created them, and how they are changing the way we use the Internet.


Temporal point processes (TPP) are probabilistic generative models for continuous-time event sequences. Neural TPPs combine the fundamental ideas from point process literature with deep learning approaches, thus enabling construction of flexible and efficient models. The topic of neural TPPs has attracted significant attention in the recent years, leading to the development of numerous new architectures and applications for this class of models. In this review paper we aim to consolidate the existing body of knowledge on neural TPPs. Specifically, we focus on important design choices and general principles for defining neural TPP models. Next, we provide an overview of application areas commonly considered in the literature. We conclude this survey with the list of open challenges and important directions for future work in the field of neural TPPs.


Long‐term monitoring of matric suction and in situ soil water chemistry is critical to investigating vadose zone processes. This paper presents a new method of making these measurements, based on the concept of a sealed, high‐walled zero‐tension lysimeter referred to as a standpipe lysimeter (SPL). We present the design and operational principles of the SPL and provide proof of concept and operation from experiments and modeling. The SPL, designed to measure matric suction primarily in the range of 0 to 30 kPa, provides an alternate measurement strategy to in situ tensiometers or electronic sensors. It requires no calibration or maintenance, is suited to installation at any depth using a drilling rig, and is constructed of readily available, inexpensive, materials. A prototype design was tested in a laboratory column (0.56 m diam., 3.6 m height) over a range of infiltration fluxes encompassing two to three orders of magnitude. Laboratory testing indicated the preliminary SPL design underestimated matric suction by <4 to 12%. Further improvements to the design were developed using numerical modeling studies of unsaturated water flow. The modeling of the improved SPL design was used to assess its accuracy in matric suction measurements compared with the laboratory tested and modeled preliminary design. The modeling studies indicate improvement in measurement accuracy with the improved SPL design to a range of accuracy (<± 2.5% error) similar to the modeled accuracy achieved by installations of tensiometers or other matric suction sensors in typical borehole configurations. The SPL's response time may be days to months and is a function of construction materials, the properties of the surrounding soil, and the magnitude of infiltration fluxes. The SPL is therefore best suited to specific uses requiring long‐term monitoring (years to decades) of deep vadose zones where response times are similar to those of the SPL.


Microscale sampling techniques and flow cytometry were employed to measure the distribution patterns of 8 subpopulations of bacteria separated according to variations in cell fluores- cence and light scatter properties. Subpopulations of bacteria defined on the basis of these para- meters have recently been shown to represent cells exhibiting dissimilar activity levels, and we therefore assume that the subpopulations of bacteria identified here represent metabolically diverse groups. Microscale distribution patterns of these subpopulations were measured at a resolution of 4.5 and 12 mm, within 2 dissimilar coastal habitats. A mean 2-fold change in the abundance of the total bacterial community across sample sets was observed. However, levels of spatial heterogeneity were consistently higher for the cytometrically defined subpopulations than total counts. In most samples, the population of bacteria exhibiting the highest levels of green fluorescence, or DNA content, and hence assumed to represent the most active bacteria in the community, also showed the highest lev- els of microscale spatial variability, with a maximum change in abundance of 14.5-fold observed across a distance of 9 mm. Where Zipf rank-size analysis was conducted, the microscale distributions of subpopulations differed significantly (p < 0.05) in 79% of cases, implying that bacterial communi- ties are made up of physiologically distinct compartments, perhaps influenced by different microscale features of the environment. We suggest that these results provide the first evidence for the existence of microscale heterogeneity in the metabolic activity of aquatic bacterial communities.


We report about memory retrieval experiences to help students retrieve content they learned in class, retain it, and apply it in different contexts to solve novel problems. Supported by multi-year fall/spring professional development opportunities for teachers, these technological and pedagogical experiences range in complexity from simple electronic flashcards for basic retrieval strategies to low-stakes quizzes for spaced-out (initial exposure and retrieval effort are spaced out) and interleaved (two or more spaced-out topics are interleaved) practices. A sequential mixed-methods approach was used to collect quantitative data from a large number of participating teachers (N=180), followed by an enriched case study with a qualitative component to explore the meaning of the quantitative trends/findings in the first part of the study. Participants reported that they gained a greater understanding of the science behind the concept of interleaving, a greater understanding of how it can be implemented and tested in the classroom, and a higher level of confidence in the effectiveness of interleaving on knowledge retention than they had prior to training. While deployment of retrieval strategies in the classroom has been required of all participants, those who attended additional training in the summers (N=68) have also conducted Action Research to measure the effect of new strategies on learning. These teachers randomly selected control and target student groups within the same school, grade and course environment. They also self-selected an area of content within their respective science disciplines or mathematics curriculum and created two different retrieval practices – a blocked practice that examines student knowledge and skills for applying a certain method to the solution of various questions on only one topic or type, and the interleaved practice that involves questions on two or more topics that need different methods to solve. Results from the first summer cohort (N=16) show that students who learned math and science topics through interleaved practices consistently scored 5-30% better than those who learned it in the more traditional blocked practice. In many cases, the differences were statistically significant (p <0.05). While the second summer cohort (N=42) continues its action research, our future work will attempt to reduce confounding variables in research experiments and repeat them with more robust techniques and another level of memory retrieval strategy to help students not only recall what they learned in a classroom but also apply their content knowledge and computational skills to problem solving in a generative fashion beyond just answering multiple-choice questions.


Single-beam multiple intensity reconstruction is an error-reduction algorithm used in wavefront reconstruction employing intensity measurements in different axial planes and a wave propagation equation. Possible stagnation to a local minimum is thus a drawback of this technique. This paper presents an optimization process to overcome stagnation and produce enhanced reconstruction by applying modulated randomization on the amplitude measurements. The proposed method were validated from the results of simulations and experimental data subjected in this algorithm.


One way to solve the problem of chemistry learning is that teachers are expected to have methods, models of teaching and learning, as well as learning media that can choose according to the subject concepts to be conveyed. This research was aimed to develop a learning media called as ingenious circuit, and to describe the activity also users' feedback on the developed media. The type of research was research and development (R & D). While the used design of development was ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) using qualitative methods. The research was conducted in senior high school named SMAN 1 Krueng Barona Jaya in class XI MIA 2 with a number of 20 students. The instruments used to collect the data were a sheet for media validation, questionnaires to measure the response, and the observation sheet to measure student activity during use the developed media. After the ingenious circuit was developed with the phase of ADDIE, the validation results showed that a viable ingenious circuit up to 100 percent on aspects of the format. While the visual aspect, the feasibility of achieving 90.62 percent. In addition, the circuit was also tested for eligibility based on the aspect of clarity in the presentation of the question and the results was found to reach 100 percent, as well as on aspects of functioning or quality of 87.5 percent. This study also found that the response of the students after they used the media, including the highly positive, as much as 90.00 percent. As well as with teachers, the responses were in very good condition, which reached 89.29 percent. In addition, the student activity test results when they use this developed circuit was considered very active, with an average percentage score of 80.57. Based on the overall results of the study, it can be concluded that a series of ingenious circuit could be developed with ADDIE model and feasible to implement in the learning process of colloids. In addition, the responses of students and teachers those who used the circuit were also very positive, especially the students more active in the learning process of colloids


To study the performance of an attached growth reactor on nitrate-nitrogen (NO 3 -N) removal by a hydrogenotrophic denitrification process, the reactor was operated under various H 2 flow rates (30, 50 and 70 mL/min), hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (2.6, 3.1, 4.7 and 6.7 h) and inorganic carbon (IC) concentrations (excess and no IC addition). Synthetic NO 3 -N water was prepared in accordance with the groundwater quality of the study area: Chyasal in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The results show an increase in denitrification efficiency with H 2 flow rate and HRT. Further, for effective denitrification, the dissolved hydrogen (DH) during operation should be maintained at greater than 0.1 mg/L. A sharp decrease in the denitrification efficiency from ∼96% (under excess IC) to 10–35% (under no IC) suggested occurrence of denitrification inside the attached growth reactor by a hydrogenotrophic process (using H 2 ) as well as heterotrophic process (using internal organic carbon). The good performance of the attached growth reactor in terms of high efficiency, low H 2 supply and short HRT requirement indicates the reactor9s appropriateness for groundwater remediation through NO 3 -N removal.


The Current economic and population growth has increased the water supply gap in Maralal, Samburu County. Water sources include boreholes, pans and the Suyien dam. Despite the high rainfall in the area, Suyien dam has never filled since its construction in March 2010. This study investigated the geological factors hindering the dam's impoundment of water. The aim was to determine the characteristics of the subsurface compromising this process. A desk survey of existing geological and hydrological reports as well as topographic and geological maps was undertaken. Analysis of laboratory tests, aerial photographs, electrical resistivity and trial pits was done. Results showed that the topography, dotted with several sinusoidal hills comprises Mozambiquan rocks, igneous intrusives, and Paleogene-Quaternary volcanics and sediments. Neo-Proterozoic and volcanic formations had surface joints and fractures implying secondary porosity and permeability. Hydrogeological information showed boreholes sited near rivers or laggas, yield about 1.4-2.5 m3/hour and about 4 m3/hour in volcanic rocks. Geophysical investigations showed subsurface rock sequences were fractured allowing groundwater leakage. Sediment deposition and vegetation growth at the dam's entrance also block water drainage into the dam. Suggested mitigation include, unblocking the dam's entrance to allow in surface runoff and the sealing of fractures with waterproof cement.


23 This viscometer (which can also be used as a rheometer) is designed for use with liquids over a large temperature range. The device consists of horizontally disposed, similarly sized, parallel plates with a precisely known gap. The lower plate is driven laterally with a motor to apply shear to the liquid in the gap. The upper plate is freely suspended from a double-arm pendulum with a sufficiently long radius to reduce height variations during the swing to negligible levels. A sensitive load cell measures the shear force applied by the liquid to the upper plate. Viscosity is measured by taking the ratio of shear stress to shear rate. The bearing points of the suspended plate and the upper arms of the pendulum ensure any motion is constrained to one axis, and no friction or resistance from the apparatus contributes to the load. Unlike other viscometers, e.g., those using rotating cylinders or disks, this design follows the simplest mechanical model to measure viscosity. By using large vitreous quartz plates and small gaps, liquids with very low viscosities at low temperatures can be measured with the same tooling as viscous liquids, like glass at elevated temperatures. By maintaining a constant gap and driving the lower plate with a linear driver motor, the liquid between the plates undergoes a uniform amount, and therefore rate, of shear over its volume. When using the vitreous quartz plates to contain the liquid, high-temperature operation up to 800 oC, or more, can be considered. The transparency of the plates permits a precise measure of the liquid area of contact on the plate with a camera or similar method. One can recover the gap dimension from knowledge of the liquid area and the amount of liquid volume used; alternatively, one can set the gap and measure the area of spread to determine the liquid volume if it is an arbitrary amount. Another advantage of this method is the ability to quickly adjust the gap, and to determine what it is precisely (from the liquid spread area) between measurements of viscosity. Although not implemented in the prototype, the plates can be temperature-controlled to ensure the liquid in contact with them is at proper temperatures. By building heaters and temperature sensors into the plates, one can be certain the liquid in contact will have the proper temperature. The thickly spread liquid will respond to the substrate (heater plate) temperature very rapidly. The thermal lag will be confined to the heater plates themselves, but not to support structures or fixtures. The pendulum mounting of the upper plate offers noise elimination because only the lateral shear force is read on the load cell. The fixture and sample mass do not interfere with the load measurement. Furthermore, particularly worthwhile with viscous glasses, only small displacements away from the rest position of the pendulum are required to make a measurement. This reduces instrument error to a minimum. This work was done by Edwin Ethridge of Marshall Space Flight Center and William Kaukler of the University of Alabama, Huntsville. For more information, contact Sammy Nabors, MSFC Commercialization Assistance Lead, at firstname.lastname@example.com. Refer to MFS-32558-1. Physical Sciences


Imaging neuroscience links human behavior to aspects of brain biology in ever-increasing datasets. Existing neuroimaging methods typically perform either discovery of unknown neural structure or testing of neural structure associated with mental tasks. However, testing hypotheses on the neural correlates underlying larger sets of mental tasks necessitates adequate representations for the observations. We therefore propose to blend representation modelling and task classification into a unified statistical learning problem. A multinomial logistic regression is introduced that is constrained by factored coefficients and coupled with an autoencoder. We show that this approach yields more accurate and interpretable neural models of psychological tasks in a reference dataset, as well as better generalization to other datasets.


In this paper, we present the results of a two-stage expert elicitation (Delphi) study conducted to provide input to contingent valuation (CV) studies. These CV studies are designed to estimate the benefits of various public and private strategies for the control of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) across the study countries of Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria. The results of these CV studies are expected to feed into the cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyzes, which will be conducted to identify the effective HPAI control strategies in each study country. The information gathered through the Delphi study included (1) definitions of the small-scale producers (noncommercial/semicommercial and commercial) across the study countries, (2) estimations of the efficacy of various private and public control strategies in HPAI control, and (3) estimates of the proportion of poultry producers who are expected to adopt these control strategies under different scenarios. In this Delphi study, we collected data from 23 experts and analyzed the data by using statistical analysis methods. The results reveal that small-scale flocks are significantly larger in Indonesia, compared to the four African countries. The efficacy levels of both private and public HPAI control strategies investigated are significantly higher for commercial producers than for their noncommercial/semicommercial counterparts. Across private strategies and study countries, regular monitoring is thought to have the highest efficacy for those in the noncommercial/semicommercial sector, whereas regular disinfection and containment in hard material (as a combined strategy) was found to be the most effective strategy in minimizing risk in the commercial sector. Across public strategies and study countries, experts see surveillance by veterinary services as the most effective public sector HPAI control strategy in both the noncommercial/semicommercial and commercial sectors. Finally, according to the experts, small-scale poultry producers' likelihood of adoption is low overall, although adoption rates are higher for commercial producers than for noncommercial/semicommercial producers.


HIV and AIDS prevention efforts have relied heavily on providing information, and have sometimes provided a weak link to services, without perceiving or addressing the factors which make adolescent girls particularly vulnerable. Social factors, such as friendship networks, and economic factors, such as financial literacy and financial goals, independently but synergistically decrease girls' risk of coerced sex or exchanges of sex for money, and increase their ability to cope in HIV-affected households. Current work focusing on HIV and youth is failing to reach many of the most vulnerable girls. This article discusses innovative interventions in four African countries, which explicitly address the distinctive social, economic, and cultural factors that shape girls' vulnerability, and build up their health, social, and economic assets.


The aim of our study was the investigation of biological properties of pathogens which cause various forms of mastitis and the establishment of antibiotic resistance and antagonistic activity of B. subtilis against allocated strains of patogenic microorganisms, and develop a treatment regimen subclinical mastitis in cow's probiotic Vetom-3. Monocultures were isolated from 11 samples of udder secretion. Studies have shown that the subclinical form of mastitis caused by Staphylococcus spp. Staphylococcus aureus were isolated in 16.7%, Staphylococcus saprophyticus – 8.6 %). Cultures of microorganisms isolated from 22 samples of mammary ecretion were represented by the following associations: Staphylococcus aureus + E. coli - 11.5%, Staphylococcus aureus + Enterococcus faecalis - 3.4%, Staphylococcus aureus + E. coli + Enterococcus faecalis - 2.1%, Staphylococcus aureus + E. coli + Enterococcus faecalis + Staphylococcus saproph. - 5.4%, E. coli + Enterococcus faecalis - 10.2%. It was found that the isolated microflora was highly sensitive to cefotaxime, neomycin, enrofloxacin; to a lesser extent - gentamicin, tetracycline, erythromycin, rifampicin, streptomycin, penicillin, ampicillin; isolates were resistant to рolymyxin. The B. subtilis strain has a broad spectrum of antagonistic activity to pathogenic bacteria causing mastitis in cows. In the group of animals with a subclinical mastitis, which were treated by the probiotic preparation Vetom-3, the recovery mean time composed 4 days and a positive therapeutic effect was obtained in 85.0% of the cows. Bacteriological examination of udder secretion found out that patogenic microorganisms were isolated from 25% of the samples only.


Image registration is an important component of image analysis used to align two or more images. In this paper, we present a new framework for image registration based on compression. The basic idea underlying our approach is the conjecture that two images are correctly registered when we can maximally compress one image given the information in the other. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we show that the image registration process can be dealt with from the perspective of a compression problem. Second, we demonstrate that the similarity metric, introduced by Li et al., performs well in image registration. Two different versions of the similarity metric have been used: the Kolmogorov version, computed using standard real-world compressors, and the Shannon version, calculated from an estimation of the entropy rate of the images


Aim Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are primitive cells found in the bone marrow and peripheral blood (PB). In particular, the potential of EPCs to differentiate into mature endothelial cells remains of high interest for clinical applications such as bio-functionalized patches for autologous seeding after implantation. The objective of this study was to determine EPCs' kinetics in patients undergoing carotid artery thromboendarterectomy (CTEA) and patch angioplasty. Methods Twenty CTEA patients were included (15 male, mean age 76 years). PB samples were taken at 1 day preoperatively, and at 1, 3, and 5 days postoperatively. Flow cytometric analysis was performed for CD34, CD133, KDR, and CD45. Expression of KDR, SDF-1α, and G-CSF was analyzed by means of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis revealed 0.031%±0.016% (% of PB mononuclear cells) KDR+ cells and 0.052%±0.022% CD45−/CD34+/CD133+ cells, preoperatively. A 33% decrease of CD45−/CD34+/CD133+ cells was observed at day 1 after surgery. However, a relative number (compared to initial preoperative values) of CD45−/CD34+/CD133+ cells was found on day 3 (82%) and on day 5 (94%) postoperatively. More profound upregulated levels of CD45−CD34+/CD133+ cells were observed for diabetic (+47% compared to nondiabetic) and male (+38% compared to female) patients. No significant postoperative time-dependent differences were found in numbers of KDR+ cells and the concentrations of the cytokines KDR and G-CSF. However, the SDF-1α levels decreased significantly on day 1 postoperatively but returned to preoperative levels by day 3. Conclusion CTEA results in short-term downregulation of circulating EPCs and SDF-1α levels. Rapid return to baseline levels might indicate participation of EPCs in repair mechanisms following vascular injury.


There is more to sound recording than just recording sound. Far from being simply a tool for the preservation of music, the technology is a catalyst. In this award-winning text, Mark Katz provides a wide-ranging, deeply informative, consistently entertaining history of recording's profound impact on the musical life of the past century, from Edison to the Internet. Fully revised and updated, this new edition adds coverage of mashups and Auto-Tune, explores recent developments in file-sharing, and includes an expanded conclusion and bibliography.


ABSTRACT An embryonic literature exists on policy failures by the Australian Government, which has examined inter alia the Home Insulation Program, the Green Loans Program, the Building the Education Revolution, and the macroeconomic stimulus package following the global financial crisis. This article contributes to this literature by considering the introduction of the Mineral Resources Rent Tax (MRRT) and its subsequent performance in terms of revenue. We evaluate the implementation of the MRRT using theoretical insights from the policy analysis literature and attempt to draw some broader public policy "lessons".


While there are many sources of federal data on educational attainment, there is much more limited information on nondegree credentials, such as professional certifications and state or industry licenses. Including a small set of questions about certifications and licenses on the Current Population Survey (CPS)—the source of the labor force statistics, including the official unemployment rate, that are published every month by BLS—would add valuable information about the labor market and would enable researchers and policy makers to examine how these types of credentials affect labor market success. After a lengthy development process, three questions on certifications and licenses were added to the monthly CPS in January 2015. This paper will describe the process of developing the CPS questions, starting with the early work on question development done by the Interagency Working Group on Expanded Measures of Enrollment and Attainment (GEMEnA), which was formed late in 2009. It will then describe the work done by BLS to adapt the questions developed by GEMEnA to the CPS, the development and acceptance of a proposal to add the questions, and the fielding of the questions.


Sensorimotor adaptation occurs when there is a discrepancy between the expected and actual sensory consequences of a movement. This learning can be precisely measured, but its source has been hard to pin down because standard adaptation tasks introduce two potential learning signals: task performance errors and sensory prediction errors. Here we employed a new method that induces sensory prediction errors without task performance errors. This method combines the use of clamped visual feedback that is angularly offset from the target and independent of the direction of motion, along with instructions to ignore this feedback while reaching to targets. Despite these instructions, participants unknowingly showed robust adaptation of their movements. This adaptation was similar to that observed with standard methods, showing sign dependence, local generalization, and cerebellar dependency. Surprisingly, adaptation rate and magnitude were invariant across a large range of offsets. Collectively, our results challenge current models of adaptation and demonstrate that behavior observed in many studies of adaptation reflect the composite effects of task performance and sensory prediction errors.


This paper examines weekly wet-only precipitation chemistry in the Lienhuachi Experimental Forest between October 2004 and September 2005. The volume-weighted mean annual pH was 4.84, lower than the Taiwan Environmental Protection Adminstration's criterion for acid rain (pH<5.0). It was also lower than the value measured 13 years ago at the same site (5.51), despite decreases in the emissions of acidic pollutants over the same period of time. Coincident decreases in the emission of particulate pollutants with high concentrations of acid-neutralizing base cations, as well as differences in the collection methods (wet-only versus bulk precipitation) are possible explanations for the observed differences in precipitation pH. Seasonally, pH was lower in spring and winter than in summer and fall. This pattern is in agreement with many other studies throughout Taiwan and is often attributed to the high contribution of pollutants transported from China in the winter and spring. The rates of S and inorganic N deposition, of 11.5 and 13.8 kg ha-1 yr-1, respectively, were higher than those in the northeastern US where high acid deposition is a major concern in forest nutrient cycling and health. The impacts of such high acidic deposition on forest ecosystems need to be thoroughly examined. The rate of S deposition observed in the Lienhuachi Experimental Forest is similar to those of several other forest ecosystems in central Taiwan, whereas the rate of N deposition at the Lienhuachi Experimental Forest is considerably higher. It appears that areas of high N deposition are more localized than those of S deposition. The application of commercial fertilizers around the Lienhuachi Experimental Forest may explain the observed higher N deposition at our study site compared to other forest ecosystems in central Taiwan.


The experimental demonstration of vertical microring lasers requiring only one single epitaxial growth and two single-side lithographic steps is presented, in what is the simplest fabrication scheme for such devices published to date. The fabricated lasers show series resistance of around 20 Ω at forward bias, threshold currents at room temperature between 35 and 58 mA, and single-mode emission with a side-lobe suppression ratio higher than 30 dB. The measured optic output power level is of tens of microwatts. The approach allows the improvement of the optical features maintaining the simplicity of the manufacturing procedure.


Background : In the present study localisation and pattern of spinal fractures due to horse riding-related accidents were analysed.
Research question : What is the most common mechanism of accidents of equine-related spinal fractures?
Type of study : A retrospective review of patients who underwent spinal surgery due to horse riding-related accidents over a time-span of 10 years.
Methods : In consideration of ethics commissions, as well as data protection officers' requirements, data of equine-related spinal injuries were collected from the medical information and imaging systems.
Results : Forty-seven spine fractures were found in 45 patients. 40 patients (88.9%) were female and 5 (11.1%) were male. The median age at the time of injury was 38 years (range 15 - 74 years). Over 80% of the fractures (n=38) were localised between level Th11-L2. Type AO A fractures were found in 40 (85.1%), type B in 4 (8.5%), and type C in one (2.1%) of the cases. In one case (2.1%) a fracture on level C1 was classified as Jefferson III and in another case (2.1%) a fracture on level C2 (odontoid fracture) was classified as Anderson II.
Conclusions : Falling from the horse on the rump is a common mechanism of accident during riding activities. Then, axial forces exerted through the rump and transmitted through the lumbar spine are leading to fractures between Th11 and L2. Therefore the development of new safety vests which protect the thoracolumbar junction is important if the number and severity of spine injuries during riding activities in the future are to be reduced.


Using the English Housing Survey, we estimate a supply side selection model of the allocation of properties to the owner-occupied and rental sectors. We find that location, structure and unobserved quality are important for understanding housing prices, rents and selection. Structural characteristics and unobserved quality are important for selection. Location is not. Accounting for selection is important for estimates of rent-to-price ratios and can explain some puzzling correlations between rent-to-price ratios and homeownership rates. We interpret this as strong evidence in favor of contracting frictions in the rental market likely related to housing maintenance.


Drawing on extensive primary research into John Ford's early films, from the silent era up until the late 1920s, the thesis charts the evolution of what has become known as the 'Fordian sensibility' through a close textual analysis of the director's extant silent films, taking into account the implications of the auteur theory as applied to Ford's work. A major part of the research process has been devoted to the appropriation of the director's surviving early titles, in order that all existing film materials relevant to the thesis can be included. Prior to examining Ford's silent film output, the thesis covers the evolution of the auteur theory, and the nature of the 'Fordian sensibility'. This chapter also discusses key thematic and visual motifs that have been identified by various film scholars over the years, along with a number of other patterns discerned by the author of this thesis, through a close examination of all of Ford's sound films, from The Black Watch (1929) through to 7 Women (1966). The main text of the thesis considers whether the identified key thematic and visual motifs can be detected in the director's early work, and how these themes and motifs evolved chronologically into fully formed components of the 'Fordian sensibility'. The four main chapters of the thesis cover the following periods: Pre-directing career 1914 – 1917; Apprenticeship at Universal 1917 – 1921; Early 1920s work at Fox 1921 – 1926; Late silent period at Fox 1927 – 1930.

This examination of the director's work analyses how John Ford, the man and the director, became 'John Ford', the brand, and the label. Using the director's early silent work as a case study, it questions how the idea of 'authorship' is formed and studies how Ford's style and aesthetic evolved during the silent period due to the influence of other artists; biographical factors; technological innovations; and institutional, cultural and social issues.


Various forms of concrete have been used for buildings since the time of Egyptian
civilisation. The art of cement manufacture was however lost during the Middle Ages.
The rediscovery of the art in the nineteenth century and the subsequent development
of reinforced and prestressed concrete have seen concrete become the most commonly
used construction material throughout the world.
While concrete structures perform well in many situations, lack of durability in others
over the last two or three decades in particular has emerged as a significant issue for
asset owners internationally. While there is a number of mechanisms by which
concrete deteriorates, chloride induced corrosion of bridge and marine structures and
carbonation induced damage of buildings are perhaps the most significant.
The various concrete deterioration mechanisms and, to a lesser extent, cover to
reinforcement have been researched and reported extensively, particularly in the last
twenty years. The research has however tended to focus on specific aspects of the
durability performance of concrete structures.
From an asset owner's perspective, it is the interaction of the various aspects of the
deterioration processes that determines management strategies for affected structures
and code and specification requirements for new structures. The literature relating to
the interaction of the chloride and carbonation deterioration mechanisms and cover to
reinforcement is however limited.
The Tasmanian Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources is responsible for
the management of a substantial bridge asset with a high proportion of its value in
close proximity to salt water. The durability of its concrete structures is a significant
management issue. A series of corrosion investigations and structural surveys have
provided a substantial body of data which has been analysed and reported in this thesis
to assist with the management of the asset and provide the basis for enhancements to
specifications and codes.
This work has highlighted the high variability in the parameters used to describe the
durability related properties of in situ aged concrete and in cover to reinforcement.
The high variability leads to high probabilities of corrosion initiation, particularly for chloride induced corrosion, that are reflected in the durability related performance of
the bridge asset. A high and continuing demand for maintenance, rehabilitation and
replacement of corrosion affected structures is indicated.
The high variabilities also suggest that incremental changes to existing approaches to
durability in aggressive environments will not achieve the improvements in
performance required to increase materials related reliability to levels that are
consistent with, albeit lower than, levels of structural reliability. Approaches to
enhance the durability, reflecting the significant level of change required, of concrete
structures are proposed.


The objective is to present historical asbestos airborne concentrations associated with activities involving presumably asbestos-containing materials in steel mills. A total of 138 historical industrial hygiene air samples collected in three US steel mills from 1972 to 1982 were analyzed. The majority of samples were collected during relining of open hearth furnaces, stoves, and blast furnaces by steel mill bricklayers and bricklayer helpers. Over 75% of the samples (n = 106) were collected for 50 min or less, four samples were collected for 227 to 306 min, and sample durations were not reported for the remaining 28 samples. Average airborne fiber concentrations measured during relining activities of open hearth furnaces, stoves, and blast furnaces were 0.21 f/cc, 0.72 f/cc and 0.13 f/cc phase-contrast microscopy (PCM), respectively. Measured airborne fiber concentrations of four time-weighted average (TWA) samples (>227 min) averaged 0.045 f/cc. Estimated 8-h TWAs concentrations averaged 0.34 f/cc for bricklayers and 0.2 f/cc bricklayer helpers. While 8-h TWA concentration estimates for monitored tasks/jobs may often have exceeded current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Permissible Exposure Limits (PELs), they did not exceed relevant contemporaneous occupational exposure standards. This analysis provides a better understanding of historical airborne asbestos exposures that bricklayers and other tradesmen experienced during furnace and stove work in the US steel mills.


The winners of auctions for PPP contracts, especially for major infrastructure projects such as highways, often enter financial distress, requiring the concession to either be re-allocated or re-negotiated. We build a simple model to identify the causes and consequences of such problems. In the model, firms bid toll charges for a fixed-term high- way concession, with the lowest bid winning the auction. The winner builds and operates the highway for the fixed concession period. Each bidder has a privately known construction cost and there is common uncertainty regarding the level of demand that will result for the com- pleted highway. Because it is costly for the Government to re-assign the concession, it is exposed to a hold-up problem, which bidders can exploit through the strategic use of debt. Each firm chooses its finan- cial structure to provide optimal insurance against downside demand risk: the credible threat of default is used to extort an additional transfer payment from the Government. We derive the optimal finan- cial structure and equilibrium bidding behaviour and show that (i) the auction remains efficient, but (ii) bids are lower than they would be if all bidders were cash financed, and (iii) the more efficient the winning firm, the more likely it is to require a Government bail-out.


The inherent persistence of bacterial populations after exposure to antibiotics or other stress is well known but little understood. Such persistence is distinct from acquired antibiotic resistance and, on regrowth, such bacteria are still antibiotic sensitive (see the Perspective by Levin). Balaban et al. investigated the growth dynamics of various mutant and wild-type Escherichia coli using a microfluidic device to track individual organisms. At least three different phenotypes were revealed. Those with a normal growth rate were killed. Type I persisters exited stationary phase very slowly--hours rather than minutes after nutrients were restored. Type II persisters arose by a spontaneous switch from the normal growth rate to grow consistently more slowly, regardless of growth conditions, and, rarely, could switch back to the normal growth rate. Many pathogens have become resistant to the β-lactam antibiotics, like penicillin, by a variety of mechanisms, including mutation of penicillin-binding protein genes, destruction of the antibiotic by β-lactamases, or inhibition of uptake by the bacterial cells. Miller et al. (see the Perspective by Levin) describe another mechanism for avoiding the lethal effects of antibiotics. Damage to penicillin binding protein 3 activates the DpiBA two-component signal transduction cascade and eventually triggers the SOS DNA repair response. When SOS kicks in, cell division pauses, and the bacteria escape lethal damage, at least from short-term antibiotic exposure, because synthesis of new cell walls shuts down. N. Q. Balaban, J. Merrin, R. Chait, L. Kowalik, S. Leibler, Bacterial persistence as a phenotypic switch. Science 305, 1622-1625 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text] B. R. Levin, Noninherited resistance to antibiotics. Science 305, 1578-1579 (2004). [Summary] [Full Text] C. Miller, L. E. Thomsen, C. Gaggero, R. Mosseri, H. Ingmer, S. N. Cohen, SOS response induction by ß-lactams and bacterial defense against antibiotic lethality. Science 305, 1629-1631 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This study evaluates the potential economic impacts of ten novel traits in canola by employing a stochastic economic surplus model. Nitrogen use efficiency, water use efficiency, flea-beetle resistance, cold/freeze tolerance, and drought tolerance traits would have the largest economic impacts. Major beneficiaries of the surplus benefits are consumers as well as Canadian producers and innovators. The magnitudes of economic impacts varied substantially across the three major canola-growing Canadian provinces. Net benefits were sensitive to supply elasticity and R&D lags.


Hospital in-patients need sleep so that restorative process and healing can take place. However, over one third of in-patients experience sleep disturbance, often caused by noise. This can compromise patients' perceptions of care quality and cause physical and psychological ill health.

 To assess 1) in-patients sleep quality, quantity, reported sources of sleep disturbance and their suggestions for improvement 2) objectively measure decibel levels recorded at night.

 This descriptive study conducted in a Medical Assessment Unit used multi-methods; a semi-structured 'sleep experience' questionnaire administered to a purposive sample of in-patients; recording of night-time noise levels, on 52 consecutive nights, using two calibrated Casella sound level meters.

 Patient ratings of 'in-hospital' sleep quantity (3.25; 2.72 SD) and quality (2.91; 2.56 SD) was poorer compared to 'home' sleep quantity (5.07; 2.81 SD) and quality (5.52; 2.79 SD). The difference in sleep quality (p<0.001) and quantity (p<0.001) ratings whilst in hospital, compared to at home, was statistically significant. Care processes, noise from other patients and the built environment were common sources of sleep disturbance. Participants' suggestions for improvement were similar to interventions identified in current research. The constant noise level ranged from 38-57 decibels (equivalent to an office environment), whilst peak levels reached a maximum of 116 decibels, (equivalent to banging a car door one metre away).

 The self-rated patient sleep experience was significantly poorer in hospital, compared to home. Noise at night contributed to sleep disturbance. Decibel levels were equivalent to those reported in other international studies. Data informed the development of a 'Sleep Smart' toolkit designed to improve the in-patient sleep experience.


This paper describes the development of a specialized application for voice command recognition for the Jaguar V4 robot in conjunction with the Starkville, MS, USA Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team during training. This training took place at The Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS), which provides a specialized environment for police SWAT training. This reconfigurable space, setup during this study as a two bedroom apartment, includes video monitoring of the space, sound playback and capturing, reconfigurable lighting, etc. This training environment is used for testing different kinds of human-robot interfaces in SWAT training operations. The results of the voice integration evaluation indicated that voice commands could be successfully used for controlling additional functions of the robot after a short introductory training session with a few of the police officers. These preliminary observations were encouraging and provides support for further investigation into the usefulness of this technology.


Nobilitas: A Study of European Aristocratic Philosophy from Ancient Greece to the Early Twentieth Century Alexander Jacob University Press of America, 2001, 0-7618-1887-1. This study surveys the philosophical arguments for monarchical and aristocratic government from Greek antiquity to the early twentieth century. Dr. Jacob has already several learned and thoughtful books and articles to his credit. Among his translations of philosophical or political classics are Edgar J. Jung's The Rule of the Inferior from 1930 and Houston Stewart Chamberlain's Political Ideals from 1915. Then there is his study of natural philosophy, De Naturae Natura: A Study of Idealistic Conceptions of Nature and the Unconscious, published by Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, in 1992. In Nobilitas, first the political views of Plato and Aristotle are examined. As regards their civic duties Plato never forgets the distinction between superior and inferior. According to Plato's Republic, no cessation of troubles for our states or even for the human race can be expected before philosophers become kings, or kings become philosophers. Kingship is the best form of government, provided, of course, that it is directed by law. If lawless, it turns into unbearable tyranny. The rule of the many is the weakest in every way; it is not capable of any real good or of any serious evil as compared with monarchy and aristocracy. For Aristotle the end of politics is the good of man, but it is not sufficient to secure the good of one person only; the good of the nation is more important. Even slavery is considered natural. It is the duty of legislators to ensure the predominance of the higher and more rational aspect of the soul over the lower and irrational. War must be only for the sake of peace. i.e. for preservation of the liberty of the nation. Jacob comments, "Aristotle's political theories are in no way democratic, in the modern sense, but, on the contrary, quite ida in a Platonic manner." The case of Rome brings Jacob to Cicero, the most eloquent representative of the Republic, a staunch opponent of the demagogical - though noble - autocrat, Julius Caesar. When reading Cicero's De republica and De legibus, we see that this fine and admirable homo novus is heavily influenced by Plato, as also by the Stoics. Cicero, too, decides on the superiority of a monarchy that is just since he perceives it as ideally representing the prevalence of reason over the passions. But it being also true that monarchy may easily deteriorate into a tyranny, Cicero suggests a remedy in a mixed form of government that includes not only the regal element but also aristocratic and democratic participation. The best political system is seen as the aristocratic Roman Senate, where government is conducted by wisdom. The worst form of government, by contrast, is identified as the democratic, because there can be nothing more horrible than the deceptive politicians who falsely assume the name of the people. The ideal law, for Cicero, is no mere invention of the human spirit, but something eternal which reigns over the entire world by virtue of the wisdom of its commandments. This law is inscribed in the minds of all enlightened men and corresponds to what we would call rationality and conscience. Reason is derived from a correct perception of the Nature of the universe, and it came into being simultaneously with the divine mind. So, in the writings of Cicero we find the continuation of the political ethic of "the divine Plato". From Septimius Severus to Diocletian the Roman Empire gradually deteriorated to approximate oriental despotism, even though the emperors were never isolated dictators but always ruled with the support of a political elite. Later on, in spite of Christianity's insistence on the equality of men before God, the religion of Europe in the Middle Ages did not encourage the growth of democracy. Mediaeval Germanic government mostly retained an aristocratic quality. …


A Natal experience

The strike was a day old. I woke up wondering what the day would hold. I was not concerned about the principles of the strike. They were sound. Physically deteriorating hospitals such as King Edward VIII have been unfit for habitation for several years with collapsing roofs and nesting pigeons. Lack of essential equipment as evidenced by the collapse of any endoscopy service at a major regional hospital. This despite four full motivations which were "lost in translation since 2006". It includes the matter of deep frozen medical and nursing posts. They result in the curtailment of service delivery, the prevention of staff retention and development, and crucially for budding surgeons reduction in operating time. Then of course there is a matter in the driver's seat that of a market related wage for doctors in the public service which has taken the focus away from the other just as critical issues.

I was concerned whether my Interns and Registrars were going to be there and how the surgical department can still run a semblance of an emergency service. I was not relishing being hounded by Human Resources to furnish a positive and negative roll call for my vigilante superintendent. I arrived at my hospital still standing despite several political health policy decisions indicating its demise as a regional hospital and it sale or demolishment. I emerged from underground parking headed for the lifts the only ones in a state hospital where on the premise of efficiency you can only select your floor outside the lift, prior to embarkation. There in the short walkway to the lobby just next to the "Today Tomorrow, Together ATM" was a commotion. There was a lady lying on the tiled walkway with her legs asplay. Several matrons were faffing about her. One was comforting her at the head end and one was between the legs on her knees. The theatre matron had just arrived with a trolley. One with wheels which go round.

I was now a yard or two away from the melee and the baby had emerged and was grasped by the matron on her knees. She was so astounded by nature's success that she immediately handed the baby to the theatre matron who walked away with it to her trolley. There was however, a slight problem. Nobody had either the means or the fore sight to clamp the cord. It went twang. It was difficult to add to the mess on the tiles which was impressive but this did splatter it around a bit more. I thought the baby might exsanguinate. I quickly put my replacement computer from my recent high-jacking down on Matrons trolley, and finger clamped the cord. One of the other matrons with the modicum of obstetric experience took over this task. I then looked at the bloody mess on the tiles which was even more impressive than I noticed at first glance. The matrons were trying to provide a human shield to protect the lady's dignity from the rubberneckers in the passage. This was only part of their plan as it was now evident from forlorn gaze that they expected me to do something. They even provided me with some gloves for a purpose. I might say that usually little phases me but now I was expected to deliver the placenta. A task I had last done in 1974 as a medical student when as I recall I had an umbilical cord to help me retrieve it. There was no cord in sight, so I then went groping for the cord in the vagina. I then remembered that she still looked pregnant so I pressed on the uterine fundus and pulled gently on the cord and the membranes. The placenta slithered onto the floor. It turned out to be intact.

There were no vuvuzelas to herald the great event only the broad grin of a striking orthopaedic registrar who had joined the throng to witness my plight. By this time the essential heavy duty sanitary towel and another trolley with wheels which go round had arrived. The lady with the aid of a caring matron and some strategically draped towels hopped on board her transport to the post natal ward. I am pleased to report that the mum her third child, a baby girl, and my replacement computer are fine. I proudly reported my success to the head of obstetrics. Her district level department delivers each month some 600 babies of which 160 come into this world by caesarian section.

This experience certainly brightened my day and helped me to cope with the days ahead. Based on this I was left wondering whether I should change my bank from "Inspired, Motivated, Involved" to "Today, Tomorrow, Together". I hope, the strike galvanizes all involved in health care provision, to give these words credence.

Sandie R Thomson. Surgeon
33 Falkland Place
 Berea
Durban
4001
0824684860


ABSTRACT The goal of this investigation was the interpretation of genetic polymorphism in flax using the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD-PCR) technique in relation to genealogical information and eco geographic origin of the accessions. Protein markers have been successfully applied for identification of ecotypes of cultivated plants and for cultivar identification and registration. However, for intraspecific differentiation in flax effective protein markers have not been found. The DNA markers developed during the recent decades proved to be more efficient in detecting polymorphism in flax. The plant material were 287 accessions from the flax collection at the All-Russian Flax Research Institute (VNIIL) belonging to different botanical and eco-geographical groups based on the classification of the species Linumu sitatissimum L. On the basis of a molecular estimation the gene pool offlax it can be assumed that the fiber flax from northern continental Russia is not exclusively of Indo-afghan origin as suggested by Sinskaja (1959), but also has genetic roots in flax from Kolchidian. Essential genetic similarity between cultivar of fiber flax from Russia and other the European countries is established. Results of a generality of an origin of fiber flax cultivar from Russia are confirmed also with the analysis of their genealogy. Essential genetic polymorphism of linseed flax is shown. The distinctness of linseed and fiber flax in their genetic constitution as revealed by the RAPD analysis is of strategic importance in preservation of the genetic diversity and for efficient use of the flax gene pool in breeding.


This article examines the pedagogical role of the teacher in online education. Specifically, the transition from in-class room instruction to online instruction is a complex one involving specialized training in the technical aspects of delivering quality educational materials (or environments) to the students, and specialized training in how to foster knowledge acquisition within this new environment. The article focuses on the pedagogical training that an online instructor needs to become an effective teacher.The article investigates a two-week faculty development pedagogical training course aimed at preparing teachers to operate effectively within an online educational environment. In attempting to orient the teacher to the online environment, the course used a constructivist instructional methodology within an online context. Several types of collaborative exercises were employed such as virtual field trips, online evaluations, interactive essays, and group projects. The sample (N=44) represented veteran college teachers with little online teaching or studying experience. Tenured faculty (30%) and Instructors (25%) composed the majority of the class. The group had well over 13 years classroom teaching experience (53%), and over three-quarters are currently teaching in higher education institutions. Hypotheses were tested through online data collection and surveys to find out the effects of the pedagogical training on the participants. One important finding of the study concludes that teachers exposed to the course significantly changed their attitudes toward online instruction seeing it as more participatory, and interactive than face-to-face instruction. Another major finding is that after the course, teachers saw the online medium as more of an extension of their faculty work. That is, faculty were more willing to use the online medium as an extension of their duties.


The rapid development and extensive use of so-called intelligence tests during the past few years is one of the most striking and interesting facts in the field of educational psychology and one of the most significant in the province of school administration. Not only are psychologists today giving a large measure of their attention to devising, improving, and applying mental tests, but teachers and school administrators are employing these tests more and more to determine the ability of school children to do school work. Indeed, there is danger at present that the movement in the direction of intelligence testing may grow out of all bounds; that it may be misunderstood in theory and erroneously and even harmfully applied in practice. 'It is with the purpose of making somewhat clearer the nature of intelligence tests and of pointing out their value and their limitations that this chapter is composed.


This Research Paper aimed to investigate donkey welfare in dairy husbandry systems and to identify the potential factors affecting it at animal level. In 2015, twelve dairy donkey farms (19–170 donkeys per farm, mean = 55 ± 48), distributed throughout Italy, were visited. On each farm, the Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) welfare assessment protocol for donkeys was used by two trained assessors to evaluate the welfare of animals for a total of 257 donkeys assessed. The protocol includes animal-based indicators that were entered in a digitalised system. Prevalence of different scores at individual, farm and category level were calculated. Farmers were asked to fill out a questionnaire including information regarding the management of donkeys and their final destination. Answers to the questionnaire were then considered as effects in the risk factor analysis whereas the scores of the animal-based indicators were considered as response variables. Most of the donkeys (80·2%) enjoyed a good nutritional status (BCS = 3). 18·7% of donkeys showed signs of hoof neglect such as overgrowth and/or incorrect trimming (Min = 0% Max = 54·5%). Belonging to a given farm or production group influenced many of the welfare indicators. The absence of pasture affected the likelihood of having skin lesions, alopecia, low BCS scores and a less positive emotional state. Lack of routine veterinary visits (P < 0·001) and having neglected hooves (P < 0·001) affected the likelihood of being thin (BCS < 3). Belonging to specific production groups, lack of access to pasture and showing an avoidance reaction to an approaching human (AD) resulted in risk factors associated with a higher prevalence of signs of hoof neglect. Our results support the idea that lack of knowledge of proper donkey care among owners was behind many welfare issues found.


David Wiggins, Glory Bound -- Black Athletes in a White AmericaDavid Wiggins' collection of essays focuses on black athletes' relationship to both the American white and black community and the closely connected issue of the role of sport in the black community. The underlying themes deal with black athletes' struggle against racist stereotypes and the duality of being both black and an athlete. It is a timely publication in the year Americans celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of Jackie Robinson's crossing the color barrier in national baseball and the media attention given the rise of pro golfing sensation Tiger Woods.Wiggins published ten of the eleven essays in various sports history journals over a period of seventeen years. Glory Bound is intended to make his scholarship available to a wider audience and spur further research into the experience of black athletes.One strength of the book is Wiggins' use of primary sources, especially black newspapers. Glory Bound can be thought provoking and does point to areas for further research. However the collection is not without problems. It does not include women athletes and the author often fails to place his discussions within a larger social framework. For example the first essay examining slave children's play activities needs an anchor in play theory to complete his analysis. Other essays would have been enhanced by a broader understanding of the theme of black self-help and more background on the Civil Rights Movement.According to his introduction to the collection Wiggins is well aware of some of the problems, but was disinclined to remedy them for this publication. This reader wishes he had.The three essays in Part One deal with the nineteenth century. "The Play of Slave Children in the Plantation Community of the Old South, 1820-1860" concludes that slave children's play contributed to the children's sense of community. Slave narratives provide the primary source of information and the essay is reminiscent of John Blassingame's work on slave culture. Of special note in this section are the biographies on two nineteenth century athletes: jockey Isaac Murphy and heavyweight boxer Peter Jackson ("Isaac Murphy: Black Hero in Nineteenth-Century American Sport, 1861-1896," and "Peter Jackson and the Elusive Heavyweight Championship: A Black Athlete's Struggle Against the Late Nineteenth-Century Color Line"). Wiggins examines the demands discrimination placed on both Murphy and Jackson and concludes that legalized segregation in the south played a role in the downfall of these two athletes. They were unable to achieve their full potential due to the color barrier. Little scholarship has appeared on black jockeys who dominated the profession in the post Civil War era. Perhaps Wiggins' article will spur further research in this area.Black athletes and civil rights issues tie together the 5 essays in Part Two. "The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin: The Response of America's Black Press," examined the black presses' stand on the proposed boycott of the Berlin games, their coverage of the games, and the meaning of the black participants' success to African Americans. By examining the 1936 Games from the perspective of the black press provides a fresh look of this much analyzed event. This essay and the following essay emphasize the role in and meaning of sport to the black community.Black newspapers contribution to the struggle to integrate national baseball forms the basis of the next article, "Wendell Smith, the Pittsburgh Courier-Journal, and the Campaign to Include Blacks in Organized Baseball, 1933-1945." Smith, sports editor for the black owned Pittsburgh Courier-Journal, waged a 12 year campaign against the exclusion of blacks from white organized baseball. Though Wiggins notes the theme of black self-help running through Smith's writings, he fails to locate Smith within the long tradition of black self-help as a communal strategy. …


The advent of globalisation has brought with it different innovations that include improved ways of communication. In Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), the impetus brought about by globalisation has seen HEIs craving for the assimilation of Information & Communication Technologies (ICTs) within their constituencies. Increased student numbers bestowed upon HEIs has necessitated lecturers to re-align and change their teaching approaches and opt for e-learning; its advantage over the traditional mode of instruction enables HEIs to contend with the high influx of students seeking higher education opportunities. This paper provides a case study of the University of the Western Cape, which has made inroads into the adoption of e-learning among its students and staff. The University has also embarked on a number of initiatives to enhance assimilation of e-learning among the university population, through use of e-tools used previously as part-time discourses and employed them for educational purposes. Various teams in the E-Learning Department have also embarked on a collaborative approach to promote the use of ICTs to enhance learning and provide an opportunity for a paradigm shift from the traditional mode of instruction to computer-assisted instruction.


(ABSTRACT) Scholarship on slave families has focused on the nuclear family unit as the primary socializing institution among slaves. Such a paradigm ignores the extended family, which was the primary form of family organization among peoples in western and central Africa. By exploring slave trade data, I argue that 85% of slave imports to Virginia in the 18 th century were from only four regions. Peoples from each region—the Igbo, the Akan, Bantu speakers from Angola and Congo, and the Mande from Senegambia—were marked by the prevalence of the extended family, the centrality of women, and flexible descent systems. I contend that these three cultural characteristics were transferred by slaves to Virginia. Runaway slave advertisements from the Virginia Gazette show the cultural makeup of slaves in eighteenth-century Virginia. I use these advertisements to illustrate the prevalence of vast inter-plantation webs of kin that pervaded plantation, county, and even state boundaries. Plantation records, on the other hand, are useful for tracking the development of extended families on a single plantation. William Massie's plantation Pharsalia, located in Nelson County, Virginia, is the focus of my study of intra-plantation webs of kin. Finally, I examine the years after the Civil War to illustrate that even under freedom, former slaves resorted to their extended families for support and survival.


Aim/Purpose This study aims to provide a description of how flipped classroom was designed in the Business Computing (BC) course in order to adapt with the changes in the Vietnamese students' learning needs, as well as social and technological developments that disrupt student' behaviours and living styles. Background The flipped classroom (FC) model is widely implemented, especially in the English language classes due to an immensely high demand in the Vietnamese market. However, there has not been any imperative published research on the impact of using FC models on higher education in Vietnam. The BC course was implemented the FC model across the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University's campuses. The idea of using this model was to adapt with changes in social and technological developments. Methodology A comprehensive literature related to the common pedagogy in practice in Vietnam was provided. This helped the design team of the BC course to understand the characteristics of the Vietnamese students and subsequently, offer a suitable flipped model that improves student's engagement. A proposed method of using the design thinking (DT) approach while flipping a BC class was underlined. Flipping Business Computing Class 2 Contribution The outcome of this study assists national educators in Vietnam to confidently embrace the FC concept as a model for pedagogical modernisation and advocate the real need to provide a dynamic learning environment. Findings The initial conclusion showed that there is an existence of preparation for student's study, especially during post-class periods. Recommendations for Practitioners It is vital to conduct a rigorous student's need and their learning styles before designing learning contents that matches with course learning outcomes. Recommendations for Researchers In order to increase student's engagement with the course content and materials, educators and designers may explore a combination of multimedia, pictures and narrative sources to enrich learning sessions while simplifying theoretical concepts. Impact on Society Utilizing advanced technologies in teaching gives students advantages to interact and gain other skills that meet the demands of potential employers.


Health changes experienced by populations living in regions of conflict have come to the forefront of research in light of recent increases in socio-political instability in modern populations. Political and ethnic unrest in modern populations have been shown to instigate a decline in the health of people living within the region of unrest. Population displacement and sabotage of resources associated with violent conflict has lead to increased prevalence rates of malnutrition and infectious diseases in addition to increased mortality. The aim of this study was to bridge the gap in literature between modern medical anthropology population studies of the health consequences of living in a conflict-zone and bioarchaeological population studies of demographic and palaeopathological indicators of stress. To achieve the aim, a bioarchaeological survey of four medieval (ca. 900 – 1600 AD) British cemetery populations along the Anglo-Scottish border, described as a conflict-zone in contemporary historical documents, was conducted to calculate rates of mortality and morbidity in a socio-politically 'stressed' population. This conflict-zone population was hypothesised to have demonstrated higher rates of mortality, stunting, wasting, non-specific indicators of stress, and metabolic bone diseases when compared to four 'unstressed' contemporary skeletal populations from neighbouring cemeteries. Direct comparison of the two regions did not indicate a difference in overall mortality or morbidity between the two populations. However, the conflict-zone population demonstrated higher prevalence rates of cribra orbitalia, periosteal bone lesions, and vitamin C deficiencies in the few available non-adults along with higher rates of enamel hypoplasia in the young adults. These contradictory results call into question both the documentary evidence regarding the longevity and severity of medieval border warfare and the sensitivity of osteological data to health changes associated with a conflict-zone lifestyle. The focus of future bioarchaeological research on conflict-zones in past populations must focus on refining the relationship between causal factors and skeletal indicators of stress.


We devise a distributional variant of gradient temporal-difference (TD) learning. Distributional reinforcement learning has been demonstrated to outperform the regular one in the recent study \citep{bellemare2017distributional}. In the policy evaluation setting, we design two new algorithms called distributional GTD2 and distributional TDC using the Cram{\'e}r distance on the distributional version of the Bellman error objective function, which inherits advantages of both the nonlinear gradient TD algorithms and the distributional RL approach. In the control setting, we propose the distributional Greedy-GQ using the similar derivation. We prove the asymptotic almost-sure convergence of distributional GTD2 and TDC to a local optimal solution for general smooth function approximators, which includes neural networks that have been widely used in recent study to solve the real-life RL problems. In each step, the computational complexities of above three algorithms are linear w.r.t.\ the number of the parameters of the function approximator, thus can be implemented efficiently for neural networks.


The typical difficulty of various NP-hard problems varies with simple parameters describing their structure. This behavior is largely independent of the search algorithm, but depends on the choice of problem ensemble. A given problem instance belongs to many different ensembles, so applying these observations to individual problems requires identifying which ensemble is most appropriate for predicting its search behavior, e.g., cost or solubility. To address this issue, we introduce a readily computable measure of randomness for search problems called "approximate entropy". This new measure is better suited to search than other approaches, such as algorithmic complexity and information entropy. Experiments with graph coloring and 3-SAT show how this measure can be applied.


ABSTRACT Although previous research and public debate argue that partnered sexual activity is construed in terms of being consensual or not, we know little about young people's own reasoning on sexual consent. This study aimed to investigate how sexual consent and sexual negotiations are interpreted by young people in Sweden. Forty-four female and male participants, ranging from 18–21 years old, took part in 12 focus groups, organised according to a set of vignettes. All focus groups were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The findings illustrate the complexity of the interpretation of sexual consent. There was a clear perception among the participants that sex between two individuals is a mutual process, and that sex should be consensual, expressed either through words, body language, or both. They all stated clearly that a 'No' has to be respected, independently of context. However, at the same time participants expressed contradictory norms and expectations in relation to the described situations, that showed an ambivalence concerning sexual scripts and consequences of challenging these in specific situations. Reasoning concerning discrepancy between ideals and actual possibilities to act in sexual encounters indicates differences in relation to gender, age and educational background and pathways.


Many healthcare organizations around the United States have developed and implemented Hospital-based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs) with the goal of addressing the pressing public health challenge of intentional violence. This literature review discusses the existing evidence on the efficacy of HVIPs, including the components necessary in highly successful models, barriers to success, and cost-effectiveness. The presented literature includes relevant studies published within the last 20 years and guided by four predetermined research questions around the necessary components of effective HVIPs; barriers to success in developing and implementing HVIPs; the impact of HVIPs on recidivism for intentional injuries in individuals ages 15 to 24; and the cost-effectiveness of HVIPs. The literature suggests that HVIPs are beneficial for healthcare organizations, as they generally reduce recidivism rates and contain costs. More research is needed on the ancillary benefits that these programs provide to individuals with intentional injuries. Although a limited number of these programs have been thoroughly evaluated, existing studies have illuminated best practices, including intensive case management, hospital leadership buy-in, and strong partnerships between hospitals and CBOs. These best practices can help to mitigate common barriers, such as identifying eligible HVIP participants and coordinating the program with internal and external stakeholders.


The Australian prison population, like the population in general, is ageing. Services in both areas have had to evolve to care for the increased proportion of aged people, especially those with complex challenges to their health and wellbeing. The proposed construction of hostel services for aged inmates in New South Wales is a recent innovation. Although not reported in the literature to have previously occurred in Australia, such hostels are becoming increasingly common in North America, although there has been no reported rigorous evaluation of outcomes. This paper discusses a proposed study to evaluate a prison aged care hostel in New South Wales and provides a plausible research framework within which to evaluate prison hostel outcomes. (author abstract)


Disaster Nursing and Emergency Preparedness for Chemical, Biological, and Radiological Terrorism and Other Hazards edited by Tener Good-win Veenema, PhD, MPH, MS, CPNP; New York: Springer Publishing, 2003; 616 pages, $79.95 With this book, Dr. Veenema has definitely met her objective - presenting the "foundation for best practice in disaster nursing and emergency preparedness" to help develop "a national nursing workforce that is adequately prepared to respond to any disaster or public health emergency." She has organized the current knowledge of disaster and emergency nursing into a well-written, coherent text and filled a gap that has long been empty in the nursing literature. Further, she has designed a text for flexibility and expansion as new developments arise. Introducing the reader to concepts and activities involved in incident management, Dr. Veenema organizes content into core sections - Disaster Preparedness, Disaster Management, Types of Disasters (natural/accidental and intentional), and Special Topics - that include implications for nursing education, research, and practice. Throughout the text, the emphasis is on health consequences for those involved. Chapters on disaster preparedness address the roles of local, state, and federal jurisdictions and discuss psychological, legal, and ethical issues. Content pertaining to hazard vulnerability analysis can be readily incorporated into community health curricula as a component of community assessment. A developmental approach for addressing psychological responses will serve as a guide for preparing to meet the needs of children. The chapter on legal and ethical issues is exceptionally well written. The juxtaposition of the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nursing and the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act provides critical information, yet can serve as source material for classroom debates. The need to participate in the preparedness phase is repeatedly emphasized. Chapters in the disaster management section clearly describe the implementation of plans developed in the preparedness phase. An exceptionally well-written chapter by Qureshi and Gebbie helps the reader through the intricacies of the Hospital Emergency Incident Management System (HEICS), which is developing into the standard for emergency management plans. Sample job action sheets facilitate the presentation and will help nurses in health care institutions encourage their organizations to adopt HEICS. A chapter on the management of psychosocial effects thoroughly describes interventional strategies for primary victims as well as responders and health care workers. Unfortunately, the authors cite the Cochrane Review to present a "debriefing controversy," in which "debriefings" have had "negative effects. …


With the emergence of any new technology, nanotechnology creates opportunities as well as challenges in adapting the patent regime to its particular context. There is some consensus that patenting nanotechnology innovations poses more problems than other technologies, owing to their multi-disciplinary character, cross-sectoral applications, broad claims as well as difficulties in fulfilling the patentability criteria. This is aggravated by the lack of a standardized terminology which impedes easy identification of nanopatents and also the fact that patent offices may not be well-equipped to handle nanotechnology. These problems are likely to be compounded for developing and least developed countries, which irrespective of their state of technological advancement, and capacity of the domestic regime, are obliged to confer IPR in the new technology. In order to keep a desired level of in depth analysis this work will only contemplate the TRIPS Agreement. The paper finally arrives at certain recommendations, to help reconcile the need to incentivize innovation in the new technology, with the imperative of ensuring that the public interest is served and access to the patented knowledge is not hindered.


Nowadays the sheet metal forming industry faces challenges regarding efficient usage of resources and sustainability. One strategy to increase the environmental friendliness is to abandon the application of lubricants. The direct contact between tool and workpiece leads to an intensive interaction which increases friction. Especially for deep drawing processes with long sliding distances, this causes distinctive wear. The tool sided application of carbon based coatings is a well-known approach to reduce friction and wear. Former studies have shown a beneficial behavior of hydrogenated amorphous carbon based coatings (a-C:H) to improve the tribological conditions in contact with steel sheets and aluminium alloys under dry conditions. Within this study the coating process and the resulting coating properties will be analyzed. Afterwards mechanical and laser based surface treatment processes prior and after the deposition process will be investigated to reduce the coating roughness. Different roughness values were achieved by varying the surface treatment processes. The laser based finishing enables a reduction of the Spk values by removing single roughness asperities. In order to identify the necessary process parameters for the laser treatment, an analytical model of the material removal was applied. The laser surface treatment achieved similar roughness characteristics compared to mechanical treatment. In this study the tribological behavior of a-C:H coated tools was analyzed under dry conditions within strip drawing tests. The tribological investigations revealed that for dry deep drawing of zinc coated DC04 a broader range of Spk values leads to acceptable tribological conditions whereas for AA5182 a smoother tool surface has to be ensured to prevent adhesion and utilize the full potential of a-C:H coatings.


On most coral reefs, the percentage cover of scleractinian corals has declined greatly over the last 30 yr; some species that are more resistant to mortality have been less affected than others. Porites astreoides is one species that has become a more prominent com- ponent of coral reef communities throughout the Caribbean. Analyses of coral reefs in shallow water (5 to 6 m depth) at 6 locations spanning a 4100 km arc of the Caribbean were used to evaluate the contri- bution of P. astreoides to contemporary reefs. Photo- quadrats recorded in 2003/2004 were used to esti- mate the percentage cover and colony density of P. astreoides, and colony size-frequency structure was analyzed to gain insight into demographic processes. At all locations, reefs were characterized by <15% coral cover, but 16 to 72% of this cover was P. astreoides, at mean densities of 1.76 colonies per 0.25 m 2 . Most of these colonies (62%) were ≤50 cm 2 in size, demonstrating that the populations were young and influenced strongly by recruitment. Comparison to historical data collected between 1974 and 1992 suggests that the relative percentage cover of P. astreoides in shallow water reef habitats has increased at a rate of 1.5% yr -1 , from <20% in the 1970s to 50% in 2003/2004. These findings indicate that community structure of Caribbean coral reefs is changing on a decadal time scale to become dominated by 'weedy' corals that form rapidly growing, small colonies that are short lived and quickly replaced.


Hydrogen barrier coatings are protective layers consisting of materials with a low intrinsic hydrogen diffusivity and solubility, showing the potential to delay, reduce or hinder hydrogen permeation. Hydrogen barrier coatings are expected to enable steels, which are susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement, specifically cost-effective low alloy-steels or light-weight high-strength steels, for applications in a hydrogen economy. Predominantly, ceramic coating materials have been investigated for this purpose, including oxides, nitrides and carbides. In this review, the state of the art with respect to hydrogen permeation is discussed for a variety of coatings. Al2O3, TiAlN and TiC appear to be the most promising candidates from a large pool of ceramic materials. Coating methods are compared with respect to their ability to produce layers with suitable quality and their potential for scaling up for industrial use. Different setups for the characterisation of hydrogen permeability are discussed, using both gaseous hydrogen and hydrogen originating from an electrochemical reaction. Finally, possible pathways for improvement and optimisation of hydrogen barrier coatings are outlined.


For some time now we have been working both individually and together on a new approach to political economy that does not fit neatly into the standard ways of thinking about political economy as a discipline. Instead, wedescribe our shared approach as pre-disciplinary in its historical inspiration and post-disciplinary in its current intellectual implications. Of course, we are not alone in refusing disciplinary boundaries and decrying some of their effects. Indeed, there are many signs of increasing commitment among social scientists to transcending such boundaries to better understand the complex interconnections within and across the natural and social worlds. We advocate the idea of a "cultural political economy" and suggest how it might transform understandings of recent developments in political economy. Before doing so, however, we will situate our proposals for cultural political economy in the broader context of exciting recent developments in political economy.


In the late 1980s the Defense Mapping Agency began converting their paper maps into digital format. A military standard known as Vector Product Format emerged as the format for storing digital vector data. The VPF relational data model, however, has problems representing complex spatial data. In 1991, the US Navy, a DMA database user, began investigating how object technology could improve its digital maps. This research led to the development of the Object Vector Product Format, an object-oriented approach to viewing and editing digital maps and charts. By combining multiple relational databases into a single OO database, OVPF offers users such key advantages as the ability to immediately update and modify the content of the original data. Over the course of developing OVPF we have also learned some valuable lessons about managing OO projects. Our experiences have given us insight into some important risk-management techniques, including how to manage the expectations of decision-makers and sponsors and how to implement effective training methods. Managing the OVPF project was much more rewarding than most due to the greatly increased productivity offered by an OO approach.


The Ultimate Reference & Learning Guide for the SQL Professional! In depth and current overview of common challenges with SQL! Fluency with Structural Query Language (SQL) is essential for the database professional, however, a user-friendly and thorough resource can be difficult to locate. From helping you to assess your current skill level to preparing for an interview, this guide will tell any programmer with any level of SQL fluency the details of what you really need to know. Set yourself apart from other candidates and show that you have what it takes to land the job. More than just a rehash of the basics, more than just documentation and sales presentations, each section is based on project knowledge and experience gained on successful high-profile implementations so you can set yourself apart! Key topics include: . SQL Language Reference, SQL FAQ . Challenges in data projection . Transaction control . Trouble-shooting for runaway results and Cartesian joins


This study establishes a concept of culture and then combines it with Geertz' anthropological concept of thick description. Subsequently, the relation of texts to society and culture is discussed. In this manner, multiple methods of interpretation are used in an organized and programmatic way, allowing the reader insights into the development of early Christianity. In this study, Vernon Robbins expounds and develops his system of socio-rhetorical criticism, bringing together social-scientific and literary-critical approaches to explore early Christanity. This book investigates Christianity as a cultural phenomenon, and treats its canonical texts as ideological constructs.


Federal and state law prohibit government officials from accepting gifts or "emoluments" from outside sources. The purpose of gift bans, like restrictions on more explicit forms of bribery, is to protect the integrity of political processes and to ensure that decisions about public policy are made in the public interest — not to advance a private agenda. Similar considerations animate regulations on campaign funding and lobbying. Yet private entities remain free to offer gifts to government itself, to foot the bill for particular public projects they would like to see government pursue. Such gifts — dubbed "patriotic philanthropy" by one prominent donor — raise fundamental questions about the private role in public policymaking, questions that are central to debates over campaign finance, private philanthropy, and the privatization of government functions. Nevertheless, they have received virtually no attention in the legal literature. This Article offers a positive and normative account of gifts to government. Although we do not question the enormous good that patriotic philanthropy can do, we argue that gifts raise significant concerns about democratic process, equality, and state capacity.


This study has dealt with the role of the public prosecution in the implementation of the criminal judgments issued by the judiciary, which are covered by the imposition of criminal sanctions against the sentenced persons, and indicated that the stage of penal execution is a very important judicial process of the justice system. The implementation procedures often involve coercive measures, which would affect the rights of the sentenced persons. The legislator therefore took a number of guarantees that provided for certain mechanisms for their implementation, in order to ensure that such rights were not infringed or violated, except as provided by the law. The study concluded that the penal implementation is a judicial process that is subject to a specific legal regulation, and is stipulated by the legislator. It falls within the authority of the public prosecution and its powers, because there are many legal rules governing the work of the public prosecution in implementing these sanctions. This study was preceded by a number of recommendations. The most important of these recommendations was the necessity of the federal legislator adopting the deferred implementation rule for the sanctions, and the need to fill the legislative deficiency in the implementation procedures, which would obstruct the role of the public prosecution in carrying out its duties in implementing the judicial decisions issued in criminal penalties.


This study proposes Net Transaction Value (NTV), a unified theory of buyer decision-making. NTV hypothesizes that a buyer makes an implicit and subjective calculation before making a purchase in a high involvement context. In making this calculation, the buyer deducts the costs anticipated from a transaction or transaction stream from its associated benefits. In contrast to prior value equal benefits minus cost models, the NTV model conceptually expands, operationally defines, and empirically tests two types of benefits and costs. Benefits in the NTV equation reflect not only those derived from the product or service offering itself, but also from the monetary aspects of the transaction or purchase deal. Costs, over and above the selling price, reflect both the buyer's self-imposed costs as well as the costs sellers impose on the buyer. This study uses the NTV model to develop and test the relationships between these benefit and cost variables and the buyer's perceptions of net transaction value as manifest in purchase intention. Results confirm that the buyer includes the benefits of the product or service offering itself, benefits associated with the price deal, the buyer's own costs over and above price, and seller- imposed costs over and above price in the calculation of NTV. As a result, NTV extends extent research on decision-making and provides a valuable tool for describing, explaining and predicting buyer decisions.


Stim appears to trigger calcium-induced calcium release by inducing tetramerization of the pore-forming Orai subunits. Calcium-release-activated calcium (CRAC) channels are activated in response to depletion of the endoplasmic reticulum calcium stores. The channel is composed of two subunits: the pore-forming Orai subunit and the regulatory Stim subunit. Although it is known that Stim and Orai interact to trigger calcium flux, the structure of Orai is different from that of other channels, and thus the mechanism by which Orai is activated has been unclear. In addition, the stoichiometry of the Orai channel is unclear, with some evidence suggesting a dimer and some suggesting a tetramer. Penna et al. now provide an explanation for these conflicting results. Using biochemical cross-linking methods and single-molecule imaging of fluorescently tagged Orai based on total internal reflection microscopy, the authors demonstrated that in cells expressing only Orai, the protein was predominantly dimeric. When Orai was coexpressed with the C-terminal domain of Stim, which constitutively activates Orai but also prevents the formation of punctae that form when full-length Stim and Orai are coexpressed, Orai was predominantly a tetramer. Although it is possible that Stim triggers the formation of Orai tetramers from independent monomers, the authors favor a model in which Stim triggers the formation of a tetramer from previously formed dimers of Orai. This presents a new mechanism of channel regulation whereby activation and assembly of the functional channel are mediated by the same protein, in this case Stim. A. Penna, A. Demuro, A. V. Yeromin, S. L. Zhang, O. Safrina, I. Parker, M. D. Cahalan, The CRAC channel consists of a tetramer formed by Stim-induced dimerization of Orai dimers. Nature 456, 116-120 (2008). [PubMed]