ABSTRACTPolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a class of semi-volatile organic carbons that are emitted from both natural and anthropogenic sources therefore are ubiquitous in nature. Their main sources are both fossil and biomass fuels as well as other feedstocks used in chemical and combustion processes. Mostly the combustion processes are PAH depletion processes rather than PAH generating processes. PAHs are emitted from both stationary and mobile sources at varying levels depending on the operation conditions such as fuels, feedstock, and control devices in use as well as process parameters for example combustion temperatures.
After emission from sources, the fates of PAHs in the atmosphere include partitioning between gas and particulate phases, particle size distribution, long range transport, dry and wet deposition on to water bodies, soil, vegetation and other receptor surfaces as well as resuspension from receptor surfaces back to the atmosphere. These processes are controlled by their physiochemical properties. Additionally, it is through these processes that human beings are exposed to PAHs via inhalation, ingestion and dermal contact.
Dry deposition is the major process through which PAHs from the atmosphere are made available to receptor surfaces including the human respiratory system. From studies with cumulative fractions of dry deposition and size distribution for particulate PAHs, it is evident that the coarse particles are majorly responsible for the highest fraction of deposition fluxes. This is especially true for the high molecular weight PAHs, since the low molecular weight PAHs are majorly in the gas phase, which have lower dry deposition velocities. On the other hand, the highest risk for human being comes in the form of fine particles, whose mean aerodynamic diameter is below 2.5 µm. This is because the particle bound content results and particle size distributions of PAHs indicate that the fine particles have the most PAH content owing to their large surface areas and high organic carbon content. For the wet deposition of PAHs, more research is recommended for measurement of scavenging ratios of individual PAHs, since there is a scarcity of studies focusing on this issue.
PAH mutagenic activity and exposure risk of humans can be estimated using the deposition rates, toxicity levels based on benzo(a)pyrene, or biomarkers such as urinary 1-hydroxypyrene. Other parameters that have been used to evaluate the risks of various exposure groups include inhalation exposure levels (IEL), incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), and estimation of maximum consumption time (tmax). Highway toll workers, back carbon workers and food vendors in night markets are among susceptible groups identified using these biomarkers and exposure parameters.
To reduce exposure to human beings, PAH emissions need to be controlled at the sources. Control and reduction of PAH emissions from various sources involves largely altering the fuel and feedstock characteristics, using air pollution control devices and/or adjusting the operating parameter's such as temperatures and air-fuel ratios or turbulence in combustion processes.
Unfortunately, albeit all the studies done on PAHs, they still remain a concern in our environment and more attention and research should be dedicated to this group of compounds.


Objective Maternal nutritional status is an important predictor of birth outcomes, yet little is known about the nutritional status of HIV-infected pregnant women treated with combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). We therefore examined the relationship between maternal BMI at study enrollment, gestational weight gain (GWG), and hemoglobin concentration (Hb) among 166 women initiating cART in rural Uganda. Design Prospective cohort. Methods HIV-infected, ART-naïve pregnant women were enrolled between 12 and 28 weeks gestation and treated with a protease inhibitor or non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-based combination regimen. Nutritional status was assessed monthly. Neonatal anthropometry was examined at birth. Outcomes were evaluated using multivariate analysis. Results Mean GWG was 0.17 kg/week, 14.6% of women experienced weight loss during pregnancy, and 44.9% were anemic. Adverse fetal outcomes included low birth weight (LBW) (19.6%), preterm delivery (17.7%), fetal death (3.9%), stunting (21.1%), small-for-gestational age (15.1%), and head-sparing growth restriction (26%). No infants were HIV-infected. Gaining <0.1 kg/week was associated with LBW, preterm delivery, and a composite adverse obstetric/fetal outcome. Maternal weight at 7 months gestation predicted LBW. For each g/dL higher mean Hb, the odds of small-for-gestational age decreased by 52%. Conclusions In our cohort of HIV-infected women initiating cART during pregnancy, grossly inadequate GWG was common. Infants whose mothers gained <0.1 kg/week were at increased risk for LBW, preterm delivery, and composite adverse birth outcomes. cART by itself may not be sufficient for decreasing the burden of adverse birth outcomes among HIV-infected women. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00993031


Lisa Joy Pruitt offers a new look at women's involvement in the mission movement, with a welcome focus on the often overlooked antebellum era. Most scholars have argued that the emergence of women as a dominant force in American Protestant missions in the late nineteenth-century was an outgrowth of nascent feminist activism in the various denominations. This new contribution suggests that the feminization of the later mission movement actually stemmed in large part from images of the "degraded Oriental woman" that popular evangelical literature had been circulating since the 1790s, and that the increasing focus on and involvement of women was supported by male denominational leaders as an important strategy for reaching the world with the Christian gospel. In the late eighteenth through the early nineteenth-centuries, popular evangelical literature began circulating descriptions of women of the "Orient" designed to illustrate the need of those women for the Christian gospel. Such powerful and widely disseminated images demonstrated to young American women their relatively privileged position in society and, throughout the nineteenth-century, led many to support the cause of missions with their money and sometimes their lives. A belief in the desperate need of "Oriental" women for salvation and social uplift was largely responsible for feminizing the American Protestant foreign mission movement. "A Looking-Glass for Ladies": American Protestant Women and the Orient in the Nineteenth Century traces the creation and dissemination of images of women who lived in that part of the world known to nineteenth-century Westerners as the "Orient." It examines the emotional power of those images tocreate sympathy in American women for their "sisters" in Asia. That sympathy catalyzed many evangelical women and men to argue for vocational roles for women, both married and single, in the mission movement. The book demonstrates the ways in which assumptions about the condition and needs of "Oriental" women shaped American evangelical women's self perceptions, as well as the evangelizing strategies of the missionaries and their sending agencies.


The spawning areas of tropical anguillid eels in the South Pacific are poorly known, and more information about their life histories is needed to facilitate conservation. We genetically characterized 83 out of 84 eels caught on Gaua Island (Vanuatu) and tagged 8 eels with pop-up satellite transmitters. Based on morphological evidence, 32 eels were identified as Anguilla marmorata, 45 as A. megastoma and 7 as A. obscura. Thirteen of these eels possessed a mitochondrial DNA sequence (control region, 527 bp) or nuclear haplotype (GTH2b, 268 bp) conflicting with their species designation. These individuals also had multi-locus genotypes (6 microsatellite loci) intermediate between the species, and 9 of these eels further possessed heterozygote genotypes at species-diagnostic nuclear single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). We classified these individuals as possibly admixed between A. marmorata and A. megastoma. One A. marmorata and one A. megastoma migrated 634 and 874 km, respectively, towards the border between the South Equatorial Current and the South Equatorial Counter Current. Both species descended from around 200 m depth at night to 750 m during the day. Lunar cycle affected the upper limit of migration depths of both species. The tags remained attached for 3 and 5 mo and surfaced <300 km from the pop-up location of a previously tagged A. marmorata. A salinity maximum at the pop-up locations corresponding to the upper nighttime eel migration depths may serve as a seamark of the spawning area. The similar pop-up locations of both species and the evidence for admixture suggest that these tropical eels share a sympatric spawning area.


Obesity and its associated disorders are a growing epidemic across the world. Many genetic, physiological, and behavioral factors play a role in the etiology of obesity. It is being characterized by high cholesterol, fatty acid levels, Insulin desensitization; high blood pressure; and excessive adipose mass accumulation. Currently more than 1 billion adults are overweight and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese. It is defined by body mass index and further evaluated by both percentage body tat and total body fat. Diet and exercise are known to play a valuable role in the treatment and prevention of obesity and associated disorders such as hypertension, heart disease, retinopathy, neuropathy, cancer and diabetes. Various factors modulating the development of obesity are age, sex, smoking, growth hormone level, skeletal muscle metabolism. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the prevalence, etiology, consequences, and treatment of obesity.


The Limits of Thought is a series of penetrating dialogues between the great spiritual leader, J. Krishnamurti and the renowned physicist, David Bohm. The starting point of their engaging exchange is the question: If truth is something different than reality, then what place has action in daily life in relation to truth and reality? We see Bohm and Krishnamurti explore the nature of consciousness and the condition of humanity. These enlightening dialogues address issues of truth, desire awareness, tradition, and love. Limits of Thought is an important book by two very respected and important thinkers. Anyone interested to see how Krishnamurti and Bohm probe some of the most essential questions of our very existence will be drawn to this great work.


During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Juozas Gabrys alias Parsaitis already played an active political role as leader of the "Farmer's Union"and one of the three secretaries of the "Great Diet of Vilnius". Because of Russian repression he had to emigrate to Western Europe and in 1907 settled down in Paris, where he soon established an important political network. In 1911, he founded the "Lithuanian Information Bureau" and, together with the French journalist Jean Pelissier, the "Union des Nationalites" and its journal, the "Annales des Nationalites". His aim was to achieve independence through propaganda, not only for the Lithuanians, but also for the other oppressed nationalities in Europe. World War I offered him a great chance to realize his aim. However, as France was allied with Russia he was obliged in July 1915 to move to Lausanne in neutral Switzerland. Here he was free to organize, with only seven employees, a vast propaganda campaign to liberate Lithuania from the Russian yoke. He published three specialist periodicals but also succeeded in flooding more than 50 European newspapers with Lithuanian propaganda. He also organized several conferences the most important being the 3rd "Conference of Nationalities" on June 1916 in Lausanne, where more than 400 delegates from various nationalities denounced their oppression by Russia and Britain. He was financed by Lithuanian emigrants in America and by the German Embassy in Berne, but his greatest exploit was the world-wide collect in support of Lithuanian war victims during "Lithuanian Day" on 20 May 1917 organized by the Catholic Church, which made this "Ethnic Entrepreneur" a millionaire. His influence on political events – the creation of the "Taryba" (Lithuanian Council) and the proclamation of the independence of Lithuania as German satellite state in March 1918 – was negligible. He supported the Taryba against the oppressive German military occupation regime but neglected to create a personal power base in Lithuania, and when after the German defeat, Lithuania became genuinely independent in November 1918, he was completely excluded from the government. Last efforts in 1919 to seize power in Lithuania either with the help of a French military mission or a coups d'etat failed, and thereafter the political role of Gabrys was finished.


This review essay considers Martha Fineman's provocative new book, The Autonomy Myth (2004). In it, Fineman argues that popular ideology in the United States has become fixated on the myth that citizens are and should be autonomous. Yet the fact that dependency is unavoidable in any society and must be dealt with to sustain the polity, Fineman contends, gives the state the responsibility to support caretaking. Fineman surveys a range of public policies and argues that the autonomy myth has caused the United States to fail woefully in this task. She also criticizes proposals to shore up and subsidize marriage and the marital family as misguided attempts to cabin dependency issues within families. This review essay discusses the contributions that The Autonomy Myth makes, as well as assesses Fineman's normative proposals. I argue that Fineman carries her point that dependency is a condition for which a good and just polity should assume responsibility. Fineman's conceptualizing this responsibility in terms of a debt that society owes to caregivers, however, raises particular conceptual difficulties that weaken her claim for state support. In place of Fineman's framing of this issue, I suggest that the state's responsibility should be conceived as grounded in its obligation to protect its most vulnerable citizens. This alternative conceptualization, I contend, not only provides a firmer ground for the state's duty to support caretaking, it also more clearly delineates the limits of that support in a liberal society that seeks to pursue multiple goods. The essay also situates Fineman's proposal in context with competing feminist proposals for dealing with the issue of caretaking, and argues that the state should seek to support caretaking in a manner that encourages citizens to integrate these responsibilities with work in the labor market. Finally, this essay asserts that while Fineman is correct that the fact of dependency should cause the state to redirect much of its support toward caretaker-dependent relationships, this does not require the state to abandon civil recognition of relationships between adults, as Fineman would have it. Instead I argue that according legal status to relationships between adults can be one of the ways through which the state takes account of dependency.


Within American sociolinguistics there is a substantial body of research on race as a social variable that conditions language behavior, particularly with regard to black speakers of African American English (AAE) in contact with their white neighbors (e.g., Wolfram, 1971; Rickford, 1985; Myhill, 1986; Bailey, 2001; Cukor-Avila, 2001). Today, the communities that sociolinguists study are more multi-layered than ever, particularly in a metropolis like New York City, thus warranting more complex analyses of the interaction between race and language. Along these lines, Spears (1988) notes the sorely underestimated social and linguistic heterogeneity of the black population in the U.S., which needs to be considered in studies of the language of black speakers. This critique is addressed in work of Winer and Jack (1997), as well as Nero (2001), for example, on the use of Caribbean English in New York City. These two studies broaden our notions of the Englishes spoken in the United States by black people, particularly first generation immigrants. The current research goes one step further with an examination of the English spoken by children of black immigrants to New York City. We focus on second generation Caribbean populations whose parents migrated from the English-speaking Caribbean to the United States, and who commonly refer to themselves as West Indians.


Extracellular deposits of the β-amyloid protein and intraneuronal neurofibrillary changes are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. Neurofibrillary changes in the cell body of neurons are the neurofibrillary tangles, while β-amyloid deposits containing dystrophic neurites with neurofibrillary changes are called neuritic plaques. β-Amyloid deposits and neurofibrillary tangles display a sequential accumulation in the cerebral cortex. In the present study, the topographical distribution of β-amyloid deposits and neuritic plaques in the entorhinal region, perirhinal cortex and hippocampal formation was investigated in relationship to the amyloid and neurofibrillary staging proposed by Braak. The number of subregions displaying β-amyloid deposits and neuritic plaques continuously increases in correlation with the amyloid stage (for β-amyloid deposits r = 0.90, p < 0.0001, for neuritic plaques r = 0.74, p < 0.0001) and neurofibrillary stage (for β-amyloid deposits r = 0.53, p < 0.0001, for neuritic plaques r = 0.68, p < 0.0001). Parallel to the advancement in the neurofibrillary stage, early and late predilection sites of β-amyloid deposits and neuritic plaques can be distinguished. The early predilection sites correspond to projection areas of regions which exhibit incipient neurofibrillary tangles. Furthermore, neuritic plaques only occur in the presence of neurofibrillary tangles in the areas investigated. The findings indicate that neuritic plaques gradually develop in the projection areas of tangle-bearing neurons.


Objective: Through our experiment studying the effect of supine exercise on conduit veins, we attempt to investigate the physiology of venous return, cardiac filling, and its relationship to BMI.
Design: Uncontrolled longitudinal study. Setting: Single urban academic medical center.
Subjects: Adult subjects free of cardiovascular disease, and without a history of abdominal surgery that might interfere with CT scan measurements of IVC size and no contraindications to performing near-maximal levels of exercise. Interventions: we studied 14 healthy subjects at supine rest, legs elevated and incremental levels of supine exercise. We calculated an index of venous resistance (VR), and measured aortic and IVC cross-sectional areas (CSA), transmitral filling parameters, and IVC ellipticity. The participants were dichotomized based on BMI: normal BMI ≤ 25 (n=6) and elevated BMI >25 (n=8).
Measurements and main results: Measurements included: Hemodynamics, Transthoracic mitral inflow, Computed Tomography and BMI data. There was decreased IVC CSA in the elevated BMI group at each intervention (p=0.007). VR of the elevated BMI group was consistently higher at all interventions with a group effect noted 1.15 ± 0.14 cm H2O.min/L vs. 0.55 ± 0.15 cm H2O. min/L (p=0.011). Ellipticity was lower in the normal BMI group (p=0.032). EVTI during exercise was lower in the elevated BMI group 11.0 ± 0.90 vs. 15.8 ± 1.04 (p=0.004) and also correlated negatively with VR (r=-0.848 p=0.007).
Conclusion: VR and ellipticity are higher; and IVC CSA is lower in the elevated BMI group. This study points to a negative effect of increasing BMI on cardiac filling due to diminutive IVC remodeling and extramural compression.


In response to a paper published in a previous issue of British Food Journal, it criticises the methodology of the previous research. Examines the earlier findings on the projected epidemic size of the new variant of Creutzfeldt‐Jakob Disease (vCJD) in humans. Argues that the earlier research is flawed and there exists no data which can provide adequate predictions for the extent of the vCJD epidemic.


This project is concerned with the way that illustrations, photographs, diagrams and graphs, and typographic elements interact to convey ideas on the book page. A framework for graphic description is proposed to elucidate this graphic language of 'complex texts'. The model is built up from three main areas of study, with reference to a corpus of contemporary children's science books. First, a historical survey puts the subjects for study in context. Then a multidisciplinary discussion of graphic communication provides a theoretical underpinning for the model; this leads to various proposals, such as the central importance of ratios and relationships among parts in creating meaning in graphic communication. Lastly a series of trials in description contribute to the structure of the model itself.
At the heart of the framework is an organising principle that integrates descriptive models from fields of design, literary criticism, art history, and linguistics, among others, as well as novel categories designed specifically for book design. Broadly, design features are described in terms of elemental component parts (micro-level), larger groupings of these (macro-level), and finally in terms of overarching, 'whole book' qualities (meta-level). Various features of book design emerge at different levels; for instance, the presence of nested discursive structures, a form of graphic recursion in editorial design, is proposed at the macro-level. Across these three levels are the intersecting categories of 'rule' and 'context', offering different perspectives with which to describe graphic characteristics. Contextbased features are contingent on social and cultural environment, the reader's previous knowledge, and the actual conditions of reading; rule-based features relate to the systematic or codified aspects of graphic language.
The model aims to be a frame of reference for graphic description, of use in different forms of qualitative or quantitative research and as a heuristic tool in practice and teaching.


Detrital mineral thermochronology of modern sediments is a valuable tool for interrogating landscape evolution. Detrital zircon (U‐Th)/He thermochronology is of particular interest because zircons are durable and withstand transport in glacial and fluvial systems far better than, for example, apatite. However, because of the time‐intensive nature of conventional zircon (U‐Th)/He thermochronology, most previous studies of this kind have relied on data for a few tens of grains, even though conventional wisdom holds that a substantially larger number is necessary for a robust characterization of the population of cooling ages in a sample. Here, we introduce a microanalytical approach to detrital zircon (U‐Th)/He thermochronology that addresses many factors that can complicate the interpretation of conventional zircon (U‐Th)/He data, particularly with respect to alpha ejection and injection and U + Th zoning. In addition, this technique permits the effective dating of naturally abraded and broken grains, and, therefore, lessens the potential for sampling bias. We apply both conventional and laser microprobe techniques to a detrital sample from the Ladakh Range in the northwestern Indian Himalaya, showing that the two yield very similar principal modes of apparent ages. However, the laser microprobe data yield a broader spectrum of ages than that of the conventional data set, which we interpret to be caused by bias related to the selection requirements for zircons used for conventional dating. This method thus provides a time‐efficient route to obtaining a higher‐resolution distribution of dates from a single sample, which will, in turn, yield higher‐fidelity constraints regarding catchment‐wide erosion rates for surface process studies.


This guide provides information on the 7th edition of APA Citation Style as used at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.


Background In recent years, there has been a concerted effort to identify biomarkers derived from body fluid in various cancers. Exosomal microRNA (miRNA) has been used as one of useful diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers. We aimed to investigate the prognostic role of the exosomal miRNAs in serum samples derived from patients with primary breast cancer. Additionally, we evaluated whether the exosomal miRNA in serum reflect the origin of primary tumor by means of comparing their expression levels between in serum and tumors. Patients and Methods Exosomes in serum sample (500uL) were extracted using ExoQuick (System Biosciences) and miRNAs were isolated using SeraMirTM Exosome RNA Amplification Kit (SBI). We compared the miRNA profile derived from exosome between the patients with breast cancer with recurrence (n=16) and without recurrence (n=16) by miRNA PCR array. Further, we examined the expression of miRNA derived from tumor tissues in the patients with breast cancer recurrence (n=35) and without recurrence (n=39) by qRT-PCR. All samples were collected before treatment and surgery. Results Of the 384 miRNAs, 11 miRNAs were significantly expressed; three miRNAs (miR-338-3p, miR-340-5p, and miR-124-3p) were significantly up-regulated and eight (miR-29b-3p, miR-20b-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-130a-3p, miR-18a-5p, miR-195-5p, miR-486-5p, and miR-93a-5p) were significantly down-regulated in the patients with recurrence compared to those without recurrence. Next, we evaluated expression of the above miRNAs in tumor tissues. The patients with recurrence have higher levels of miR-340 at their primary site as well as in the serum. On the contrary, miR-195-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-93-5p, and miR-130a-3p derived from tumor tissues that were down-regulated in the patients with recurrence in serum, were highly expressed in the patients with recurrence than those with no-recurrence. In logistic regression analysis, tumor size, miR-340-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-130a-3p, and miR-93-5p were significantly associated with breast cancer recurrence (each P Conclusions Several exosomal miRNAs at diagnosis may be useful biomarker to predict the breast cancer recurrence. Moreover, we showed the different expression pattern of miRNAs between tumor tissues and serum. These findings may suggest selective mechanism of release of exosomal miRNA by cancer cells to regulate their progression. Further studies to confirm our results are needed. Citation Format: Sueta A, Yamamoto Y, Tomiguchi M, Takeshita T, Ibusuki M, Iwase H. Differential expression of exosomal miRNAs between breast cancer patients with recurrence and no-recurrence [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-02-13.


This theoretical case study starts from a brief critical discussion of Eurocentrism in translation studies, underscoring the importance of the efforts toward a more inclusive, truly global and culturally balanced approach to translation which are increasingly being made in our field, often under the banner of "the international turn." However, the rejection of Eurocentrism leaves open a wide range of alternative models and approaches, and this paper aims to show that the search for alternatives is not without its own difficulties. For example, it might be tempting for non-European scholars to derive an alternative way of thinking about translation from translational practices and discourses in their own continent that appear to be at odds with what is perceived as the "European" model of translation. A post-colonial sensibility would seem to make this an extremely attractive proposition. This is the line of thinking which inspired Edwin Gentzler's Translation and Identity in the Americas. New Directions in Translation Theory (2008). The paper enters into a critical dialogue with Gentzler's book in order to argue the general thesis that the replacement of one (perceived) continent-based paradigm by another (perceived) continent-based paradigm is not the best way forward, suffering as it does from a range of methodological problems. The best way to overcome Eurocentrism is not to construct and promote an American continentalism ("translation in the American sense") as an alternative to it, or any other nationally or continentally defined concept of translation, for that matter.


The paper analyses the changed development path of the metropolitan area of Rome. It aims to analyse the evolution and modernization of Rome in the last thirty years and to examine whether or not the consequent cultural regeneration promotes social cohesion. To this end we focus on both structural and institutional change in Rome, trying to identify the main ruptures and continuities in the development path, as well as the driving forces of the new model. After WWII, Rome was generally considered to be a cumbersome capital city, with a heavy bureaucracy sector and without any strong "local" political forces and social movements capable of bringing about economic and political change. Nevertheless, a new and more democratic local governance and subregulation mode have emerged during the post-Fordist era, which have allowed for the production and reproduction of new socioeconomic relations that in turn influenced a new economic model for the city. This new governance is an important leading theme; it brings about some interesting forms of "democratisation" that are difficult to find in other post-Fordist metropolises. The new economic model is characterised, on the one hand, by the development of the advanced tertiary sector, i.e., knowledge intensive services, tourism services, business services, cultural industries, R&D activities. On the other hand, the Roman model is also characterised – in line with other national and global metropolises – by forms of social exclusion, a new poor, and polarisation between the peripheries and central/high income districts, in a sort of multi-speed development. At the same time, the traditional bureaucracy and its connected "state bourgeoisie", although still relevant, are no longer dominant. New service activities have brought about new agents, new powers and new institutions. In addition to a review of the literature and an analysis of existing statistics, interviews were undertaken with informed political leaders and economic and social actors of the emblematic moments of change in order to capture the driving forces of the new development path.


Objectives While genetic determinants of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels are well characterised in the general population, they are understudied in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our objective was to determine the association of established LDL and RA genetic alleles with LDL levels in RA cases compared with non-RA controls. Methods Using data from electronic medical records, we linked validated RA cases and non-RA controls to discarded blood samples. For each individual, we extracted data on: first LDL measurement, age, gender and year of LDL measurement. We genotyped subjects for 11 LDL and 44 non-HLA RA alleles, and calculated RA and LDL genetic risk scores (GRS). We tested the association between each GRS and LDL level using multivariate linear regression models adjusted for age, gender, year of LDL measurement and RA status. Results Among 567 RA cases and 979 controls, 80% were female and mean age at the first LDL measurement was 55 years. RA cases had significantly lower mean LDL levels than controls (117.2 vs 125.6 mg/dl, respectively, p<0.0001). Each unit increase in LDL GRS was associated with 0.8 mg/dl higher LDL levels in both RA cases and controls (p=3.0×10−7). Each unit increase in RA GRS was associated with 4.3 mg/dl lower LDL levels in both groups (p=0.01). Conclusions LDL alleles were associated with higher LDL levels in RA. RA alleles were associated with lower LDL levels in both RA cases and controls. As RA cases carry more RA alleles, these findings suggest a genetic basis for epidemiological observations of lower LDL levels in RA.


To mimic the anion channels in biomembrane, a novel strategy based on the membrane-modified liquid/liquid interface using anion-exchange membranes was firstly proposed to study simple ion transfer processes of highly hydrophilic anions at the modified liquid/liquid interface by employing voltammetric methods. Significantly, fascinating ion transfer phenomena were observed at the water/1,2-dichloroethane (W/DCE) interface modified by a homogeneous anion-exchange membrane, including the remarkable extension of the polarization window; well-defined transfer waves of some highly hydrophilic anions, such as sulfate and nitrite; and an amazing positive-shift of their transfer potentials. According to both ion-exchange membrane models, a new mechanism based on the sieving effect and pre-dehydration in combination with electrostatic effects dominantly induced by the gel phase of anion-exchange membrane on ion transfer reactions was preliminarily proposed to explain those fascinating ion transfer phenomena.


This investigation considers the thermo-mechanical effects of an asperity traversing at a high speed over a semi-infinite medium with a thin, hard coated surface. The general analytical solution of the temperature field and the thermal stress state are obtained and expressed in Fourier transform space. The analysis emphasizes the heating effect of the friction force, which leads to the initiation of the thermo-mechanical cracking or "heat-checking," in the coating layer, the substrate, or their interface. For hard coated layers, the initiation of a crack will occur either in the coating layer, the substrate or the interface depending on the relative properties of the coating and the substrate and their bonding strength.


As delphinid populations become increasingly under threat we rely on our capacity to produce accurate estimates of abundance and distribution with which to make management decisions. Many studies have favoured population models where the underlying model assumptions of population closure may be violated due to the movements and biology of the species. This study applied the Robust Design and used photo-identification as a capture-recapture method for estimating abundance, demographic parameters and temporary emigration of an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population between 2007 and 2009. Surveys were conducted along pre-determined transect lines over a 120 km2 study area and occurred year-round through all austral seasons. The model with Markovian temporary emigration was favoured with all other parameters (survival, capture probability and emigration time) varying. Abundance estimates varied seasonally with a low of 65 (± SE 8.53, 95% CI: 54 to 90) in winter 2007 and a high of 139 (± SE 3.41, 95% CI: 134 to148) in autumn 2009. The overall survival estimate was 0.985 (± SE 0.006, 95% CI: 0.964 to 0.994). The abundance estimates provide a baseline for monitoring this population and should be used to parameterise future population viability analyses. These methods set a precedent for abundance estimation of dolphins using a systematic approach with intensive and consistent survey effort year round. The findings show that temporary emigration of individual dolphins from an area can result in different estimates of dolphin abundance seasonally. These modelling techniques could be applicable to population studies of coastal delphinids elsewhere. Given the current rate of coastal development in Western Australia this approach is highly relevant to Environmental Impact Assessment for evaluating impacts on coastal dolphin populations.


A most persuasive work that repositions the American debates over emancipation where they clearly belong, in a broader Anglo-Atlantic context."" -- Reviews in History While many historians look to internal conflict alone to explain the onset of the American Civil War, in The Problem of Emancipation, Edward Bartlett Rugemer places the origins of the war in a transatlantic context. Addressing a huge gap in the historiography of the antebellum United States, he explores the impact of Britain's abolition of slavery in 1834 on the coming of the war and reveals the strong influence of Britain's old Atlantic empire on the United States' politics. He demonstrates how American slaveholders and abolitionists alike borrowed from the antislavery movement developing on the transatlantic stage to fashion contradictory portrayals of abolition that became central to the arguments for and against American slavery. Richly researched and skillfully argued, The Problem of Emancipation explores a long-neglected aspect of American slavery and the history of the Atlantic World and bridges a gap in our understanding of the American Civil War. ""Most discussions about the roots of the American Civil War seldom stray beyond the nation's borders, but Rugemer makes a persuasive case for why that should change."" -- Charleston (SC) Post and Courier ""A tremendous contribution to the greatest issue and ongoing controversy in pre--twentieth-century American historiography: the causes of the American Civil War. I was quite unprepared for Rugemer's crucial discoveries as he studied the way dozens of southern and northern newspapers responded to the British West Indian slave insurrections, to the British act of emancipation, and to the consequences of this so-called Mighty Experiment. Few historians have shown such sophistication in analysing the rapidly changing pre--Civil War media and the shifts in public opinion."" -- David Brion Davis, author of Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World


Back in 1997, New Labour came to power amid much talk of regenerating the inner cities left to rot under successive Conservative governments. Over the next decade, British cities became the laboratories of the new enterprise economy: glowing monuments to finance, property speculation, and the service industry-until the crash. In A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain, Owen Hatherley sets out to explore the wreckage-the buildings that epitomized an age of greed and aspiration. From Greenwich to Glasgow, Milton Keynes to Manchester, Hatherley maps the derelict Britain of the 2010s: from riverside apartment complexes, art galleries and amorphous interactive centers,A" to shopping malls, call centers and factories turned into expensive lofts. In doing so, he provides a mordant commentary on the urban environment in which we live, work and consume. Scathing, forensic, bleakly humorous, A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain is a coruscating autopsy of a get-rich-quick, aspirational politics, a brilliant, architectural state we're in.A"


Animals colonizing urban habitats are often noticeably bold in the presence of
humans, and such boldness is typically thought to arise as urban individuals habituate to
the repeated presence of humans. However, recent studies in animal behavior suggest
that: 1) boldness may be an inherent trait as opposed to a learned behavior and 2) some
individuals exhibit behavioral syndromes that restrict behavioral plasticity, and may limit
an individual's ability to adapt to environmental change. In a recent study, we examined
differences in urban and rural populations of song sparrows and confirmed that urban
birds were bolder toward humans, but also, this boldness was correlated with higher
levels of territorial aggression. This study also examined the correlation between
testosterone, a hormone associated with aggression in birds, and variation in aggression
and boldness in urban and rural song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Despite significant
differences in aggression and boldness between urban and rural populations, this study
found no evidence of differences in testosterone between the two populations. It is
possible that other mechanisms (e.g. sensitivity to circulating testosterone) may be involved, and further examination into these possibilities will provide better
understanding of these behavioral differences.


A common argument we read everytime, everywhere. All with the same common mistake. It consists in squaring the correlation. For example : "Your brain-IQ correlation is r=0.40, so if you square it, that only amounts to a tiny 16% (r2=0.40* 0.40=0.16) of variance explained which is not impressive". Or something in this vein. R2 use and abuse caused enough damage. It is more than time to put an end to this utter fallacy.


Author(s): Chang, Sarah | Advisor(s): Insel, Paul; Hedrick, Stephen | Abstract: Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the most prevalent type of pancreatic cancer and is characterized by dense fibrosis (termed desmoplasia) in the tumor microenvironment. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which are thought to derive from pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) and fibroblasts (PFs), play a large part in this desmoplasia. Signaling from cancer cells activates CAFs, which in turn can signal to promote tumorigenesis. Previous work done in the Insel lab had identified a GPCR, Orphan 1, as one of the most highly up-regulated GPCRs in CAFs compared to normal PSCs and PFs. This thesis project identifies TGFβ and TNFα as factors that, increase, respectively, the expression in PSCs of fibrotic markers and Orphan 1. Other work in this project shows that Orphan 1 in CAFs regulates the expression and secretion of Interleukin-6 (IL-6). Orphan 1 signals through a Gs-coupled pathway (via cAMP and protein kinase A [PKA]) to increase IL-6 formation and secretion by CAFs; IL-6 can aid in the development of PDAC. Thus, inhibiting the secretion of IL-6 through Orphan 1 may be a novel strategy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.


This research is focused on the lived experience of individuals with albinism, both OCA (oculocutaneous albinism) and OA (ocular albinism). The cultural aspects of albinism are what will be primarily looked at during this study, as it is what the majority of the interview questions will be focused on. Following this will be a review of literature that is based on albinism, historical components, and how albinism has progressed over time. The main objective of this research is to aid in the reduction of stigmatization that is associated with albinism, further educate those who are unaware of the cultural complexities of albinism, and lastly to give agency to individuals with albinism through open ended interviews to share their lived experiences. INDEX WORDS: Albinism, Oculocutaneous Albinism, Ocular Albinism, Skin, Pigmentation, African American, Blackness ALBINISM: CULTURAL AND ETHNOGRAPHIC PERSPECTICES IN A SOUTHERN CITY


We conducted an experimental observation of polydisperse premixed-spray flames of kerosene in a stagnation flow. For monitoring behaviors of fuel droplet and flame we adopted laser sheet visualization consisting of a high-speed digital CCD camera and Ar-ion laser, and OH-radical and CH-band emissions detected from local region in the vicinity of propagating flame by using a light-collecting probe. Three flames with different oxygen concentration in gaseous phase (21%, 19% and 17%) were examined. These flames had the same initial droplet size-distribution measured by Phase Doppler Anemometry at the burner exit, and all the other experimental conditions were kept same except oxygen concentration. In the case of oxygen concentration of 21%, various shape of spray boundary was formed depending on time, and combustion reaction zone overlapped considerably with spray area. On the other hand, in the case of 17%, the flame showed relatively flat-shaped spray boundary. Furthermore, we compared these flame behaviors and structures with those of premixed-spray flames we had observed before.


Abstract. Sensitive field-deployable diagnostic tests can assist malaria programs in achieving elimination. The performance of a new Alere™ Malaria Ag P.f Ultra Sensitive rapid diagnostic test (uRDT) was compared with the currently available SD Bioline Malaria Ag P.f RDT in blood specimens from asymptomatic individuals in Nagongera, Uganda, and in a Karen Village, Myanmar, representative of high- and low-transmission areas, respectively, as well as in pretreatment specimens from study participants from four Plasmodium falciparum-induced blood-stage malaria (IBSM) studies. A quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) and a highly sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test for histidine-rich protein II (HRP2) were used as reference assays. The uRDT showed a greater than 10-fold lower limit of detection for HRP2 compared with the RDT. The sensitivity of the uRDT was 84% and 44% against qRT-PCR in Uganda and Myanmar, respectively, and that of the RDT was 62% and 0% for the same two sites. The specificities of the uRDT were 92% and 99.8% against qRT-PCR for Uganda and Myanmar, respectively, and 99% and 99.8% against the HRP2 reference ELISA. The RDT had specificities of 95% and 100% against qRT-PCR for Uganda and Myanmar, respectively, and 96% and 100% against the HRP2 reference ELISA. The uRDT detected new infections in IBSM study participants 1.5 days sooner than the RDT. The uRDT has the same workflow as currently available RDTs, but improved performance characteristics to identify asymptomatic malaria infections. The uRDT may be a useful tool for malaria elimination strategies.


Do superpower interventions to install and prop up political leaders in other countries subsequently result in more or less democracy, and does this effect vary depending on whether the intervening superpower is democratic or authoritarian? While democracy may be expected to decline contemporaneously with superpower interference, the effect on democracy after a few years is far from obvious. The absence of reliable information on covert interventions has hitherto served as an obstacle to seriously addressing these questions. The recent declassification of Cold War CIA and KGB documents now makes it possible to systematically address these questions in the Cold War context. We thus develop a new panel dataset of superpower interventions during the Cold War. We find that superpower interventions are followed by significant declines in democracy, and that the substantive effects are large. Perhaps surprisingly, once endogeneity is addressed, US and Soviet interventions have equally detrimental effects on the subsequent level of democracy; both decrease democracy by about 33%. Our findings thus suggest that one should not expect significant differences in the adverse institutional consequences of superpower interventions based on whether the intervening superpower is a democracy or a dictatorship.


To estimate the remaining life of existing RC bridge decks damaged by alkali silica reaction (ASR), multi-scale numerical analysis with chemo-hygral model is integrated with visual inspection data at site. First, the applicability of the poro-mechanical models for ASR expansion in the multi-scale frame are examined with the experiments of the real scale RC slabs and the model is validated to bring about fair prediction of the 3D anisotropic expansion and the fatigue life of the slabs. Second, visually inspected cracks on bottom surfaces of RC decks are converted to space-averaged strains, and the magnitude of ASR is estimated from the vertical deformation, based on which the internal pre-stress and the damage fields are re-produced by numerical predictor-corrector cycles, and the remaining life of ASR damaged RC bridge decks is fairly estimated. By conducting sensitivity analyses in terms of ASR-gel volumes and cracks, allowable error range of site inspection data is clarified to meet the requirement of asset management.


"Houston, we have a problem." In 1970, an explosion on board the Apollo 13 spacecraft's flight to the moon damaged the air filtration system, causing carbon monoxide to build up in the cabin. The astronauts on board would be dead in mere hours if the system could not be fixed or replaced. NASA's Mission Control in Houston, Texas called for engineers, scientists, and technicians to work with a set of materials identical to those on the spacecraft to build a filtration system under extreme time pressure. The result may have been ugly, inelegant, and far from perfect, but it saved the astronauts' life. The Apollo 13 situation may be a dramatic example of problem solving, creativity, and completing a task under extreme time pressure with life or death consequences; however, lawyers also work in stressful environments, under time pressure, while juggling multiple tasks involving life, liberty, or millions of dollars. How do recent law school graduates perform when facing a time-sensitive task when the stakes are high, when they are accustomed from law school of having several weeks or more, with feedback along the way, to complete that type of assignment?

To prepare students for the bar exam and teach them the fundamental lawyering skills needed for legal practice, legal education should incorporate, into the law school curriculum, performance tests consisting of time-pressured assessments. While time-pressured performance assessments may push students out of their comfort zone, they are realistic to legal practice and necessary to help students develop the competencies needed for success on the bar exam and high-stakes legal practice, such as rapid cognitive processing, application, synthesis, and effective articulation. This Article offers such an initiative to help law students, law schools, and the legal profession. At a time of declining bar passage rates, the adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam, a majority of jurisdictions incorporating a Multistate Performance Test component, a competitive legal job market, and an expectation of practice-ready law graduates, the time is urgent to adequately prepare law students.


Abstract. This study characterizes a massive African dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin and southern US in June 2020, which is nicknamed the "Godzilla"
dust plume, using a comprehensive set of satellite and ground-based observations (including MODIS, CALIOP, SEVIRI, AERONET, and EPA Air Quality
network) and the NASA GEOS global aerosol transport model. The MODIS data record registered this massive dust intrusion event as the most intense
episode over the past 2 decades. During this event, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) observed by AERONET and MODIS peaked at 3.5 off the coast of
West Africa and 1.8 in the Caribbean Basin. CALIOP observations show that the top of the dust plume reached altitudes of 6–8 km in West Africa
and descended to about 4 km altitude over the Caribbean Basin and 2 km over the US Gulf of Mexico coast. The dust intrusion event degraded the
air quality in Puerto Rico to a hazardous level, with maximum daily PM10 concentration of 453 µg m−3 recorded on
23 June. The dust intrusion into the US raised the PM2.5 concentration on 27 June to a level exceeding the EPA air quality standard in
about 40 % of the stations in the southern US. Satellite observations reveal that dust emissions from convection-generated haboobs and other
sources in West Africa were large albeit not extreme on a daily basis. However, the anomalous strength and northern shift of the North Atlantic
Subtropical High (NASH) together with the Azores low formed a closed circulation pattern that allowed for accumulation of the dust near the African
coast for about 4 d. When the NASH was weakened and wandered back to the south, the dust outflow region was dominated by a strong African easterly
jet that rapidly transported the accumulated dust from the coastal region toward the Caribbean Basin, resulting in the record-breaking African dust
intrusion. In comparison to satellite observations, the GEOS model reproduced the MODIS observed tracks of the meandering dust plume well as it was
carried by the wind systems. However, the model substantially underestimated dust emissions from haboobs and did not lift up enough dust to the
middle troposphere for ensuing long-range transport. Consequently, the model largely missed the satellite-observed elevated dust plume along the
cross-ocean track and underestimated the dust intrusion into the Caribbean Basin by a factor of more than 4. Modeling improvements need to focus on
developing more realistic representations of moist convection, haboobs, and the vertical transport of dust.


While Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) determined gated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) functional parameters have been previously validated, acquisition and processing parameters consistent with those utilised in validation studies are adhered to infrequently. The aim of this investigation was to determine the impact on left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) determination of 8 versus 16 bin data in post stress data. The gated stress studies of 160 patient files were examined. Each gated study was acquired using a 16 bin gated SPECT acquisition. On completion of the acquisition, the 16 bin data was reconstructed to produce short axis slices. The short axis slices were re-binned to produce 8 bin data which, with the 16 bin data, used QGS to generate functional data. The mean LVEF for the 16 bin data was 64.0% (95% CI 61.9-66.1%) and for the 8 bin data was 59.9% (95% CI 57.8-62.0%). Excellent correlation was demonstrated with a correlation coefficient of 0.99. The mean difference between matched pairs of 16 and 8 bin LVEF data was 4.1% (95% CI 3.8-4.5%). The matched pair t test demonstrated a statistically significant difference (P < 0.0001) and a statistically significant difference was shown between the means (P = 0.0002). The impact of performing 8 bin data collection results in a 4.1% underestimation of the stress LVEF due to temporal under-sampling. This approximates the 3.7% underestimation widely reported in the literature for post-filtered resting data although there is a statistically significant difference between matched pairs (P = 0.02). Using stress data does, however, require the same 4% LVEF correction recommended for rest data.


Addition of iron oxide to arsenic-contaminated soil has been proposed as a means of reducing the mobility of arsenic in the soil. Arsenic and zinc are common coexisting contaminants in soils. The presence of zinc therefore may affect the adsorption properties of arsenic on iron oxide, and may thus affect its mobility in the soil. The influence of Zn(II) on the adsorption of arsenate ions on iron oxide was studied. Batch adsorption experiments indicated that Zn(II) increased the arsenate removal from a solution by ferrihydrite at pH 8. However, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy showed that no adsorption of arsenate on a ferrihydrite film occurred at pD 8 in the presence of Zn(II). Precipitation of zinc hydroxide carbonate followed by arsenate adorption onto the precipitate was found to be a plausible mechanism explaining the arsenate removal from a solution in the presence of Zn(II) at pH/pD 8. The previously suggested mechanisms attributing the enhanced removal of arsenate from solution in the presence of Zn(II) to additional adsorption on iron oxides could not be verified under the experimental conditions studied. It was also shown that at pH/pD 4, the presence of Zn(II) in the system did not significantly affect the adsorption of arsenate on ferrihydrite.


As the first African-American fiction writer to achieve a national reputation, Ohio native Charles W. Chesnutt (1858 1932) in many ways established the terms of the black literary tradition now exemplified by such writers as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Charles Johnson. Following the highly autobiographical nonfiction produced by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and other slave narrative writers, Chesnutt's complex, multi-layered short fiction transformed the relationship between African-American writers and their readers. But despite generous praise from W. D. Howells and other important critics of his day, and from such prominent readers as William L. Andrews, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Eric Sundquist in ours, Chesnutt occupies a curiously ambiguous place in American literary history. In "The Absent Man," Charles Duncan demonstrates that Chesnutt's uneasy position in the American literary tradition can be traced to his remarkable narrative subtlety. Profoundly aware of the delicacy of his situation as a black intellectual at the turn of the century, Chesnutt infused his work with an intricate, enigmatic artistic vision that defies monolithic or unambiguously political interpretation, especially with regard to issues of race and identity that preoccupied him throughout his career. In this first book-length study of the innovative short fiction, Duncan devotes particular attention to elucidating these sophisticated narrative strategies as the grounding for Chesnutt's inauguration of a tradition of African-American fiction."


This groundbreaking application of contemporary philosophy to human rights law proposes significant innovations for the progressive development of human rights. Drawing on the works of prominent "philosophers of the Other," including Emmanuel Levinas, Gayatri Chakravorti Spivak, Judith Butler, and, most centrally, Argentine philosopher of liberation Enrique Dussel, this book advances an ethics based on concrete face-to-face relationships with the Marginalized Other. It proposes that this ethics should inspire a human rights law that is grounded in transcendental justice and framed from the perspective of marginalized groups. Such law would continuously deconstruct the original violence found in all human rights treaties and tribunals and promote preferential treatment for the marginalized. It would be especially attentive to such issues as access to justice, voice, representation, agency, and responsibility. This approach differs markedly from more conventional theories of human rights that prioritize the autonomy of the ego, state sovereignty, democracy, and equality.


Tissue velocity imaging (TVI) and strain rate imaging (SRI) were recently introduced to quantify myocardial mechanical activity in patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy. To clear whether atrial-demand-based (AAI) (R) atrial pacing can fully simulate the electromechanical conduction of physiological state and to clarify which one is more appropriate for the assessment of electromechanical activity of the heart between TVI and SRI, 30 normal subjects and 31 patients with sick sinus syndrome (SSS) before and after AAI(R) pacemaker implantation (PI) were investigated in this study. The results showed that the time intervals (ms), P-SRa assessed by SRI (not P-Va assessed by TVI) prolonged step by step from the lateral wall of the right atrium (RA), the interatrial septum (IAS) and the left atrium (LA) in normal subjects(5.01±0.62, 17.05±3.54 and 45.09±12.26, p<0.01). P-Va and P-SRa did not differ at the RA, IAS and LA in patients with SSS before PI (p>0.05), and they were significant longer than those of normal subjects (p<0.01). However, they shortened to normal levels in patients with SSS after PI and P-SRa showed again the trend of gradually prolonging from the RA, IAS to LA. At the same time, the peak velocities and the peak strain rates during atrial contraction also returned to normal values from lower levels. These data suggested that AAI(R) atrial pacing can successfully reverse the abnormal interatrial electromechanical conduction in patients with SSS, and SRI is more appropriate for the assessment of the electromechanical activity of atrial wall than TVI.


A study of the role of taxis and private hire cars in and around the provincial town of Basingstoke is reported. For a period of a week towards the end of 1981 the drivers of 29 taxis and 31 private hire cars (almost 90 per cent of the total number operating in the town) helped to carry out a survey which provided information on the number, age and sex of users, the frequencies with which they travelled by various forms of public transport, and the timing, purpose, means of booking origin and destination of their journeys. Details of approximately 5,000 taxi hirings and 2,000 private hire car hirings were obtained. The data have been used to investigate the operating methods and markets of the taxi and hire car industries, to compare the role of the taxi trade in Basingstoke with that in Northampton (which has been the subject of an earlier TRRL study), and to consider the importance of taxis and private hire cars in the overall context of public transport provision.(a) (TRRL)


Since the introduction of the WSP approach in the 3rd edition of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality in 2004, there has been widespread progress in WSP implementation. This paper discusses a number of resources that are currently being initiated to facilitate continued support for water safety planning. Furthermore, the concept of sanitation safety plans is being introduced.


As medical schools begin to implement their new curricula under the guidance of Tomorrow's Doctors, the authors wish to raise some discussion on the form and content of the special study module (SSM) component. In order to do this they put forward in this paper proposals for an SSM in Medicine and Literature. This course has been designed jointly and will be run concurrently in three Scottish medical schools: Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee. Arguments for the course's acceptability to faculties of medicine and to students are discussed and its inclusion in the curriculum in terms of its educational impact, skills training, effect on personal development and broadening of the student's perspective are justified. The course structure, content and assessment procedures are described and a reading list proposed. The General Medical Council points out that SSMs should be seen as opportunities for innovation and this course demands a different educational approach from the standard objectives‐led approach of most medical education. A process‐led model is more appropriate as it stresses the way that students develop while taking the course rather than the end point reached at its finish.


The validity of statistical inference depends on proper randomization methods. However, even with proper randomization, we can have imbalanced with respect to important characteristics. In this paper, we introduce a method based on ranked auxiliary variables for treatment allocation in crossover designs using Latin squares models. We evaluate the improvement of the efficiency in treatment comparisons using the proposed method. Our simulation study reveals that our proposed method provides a more powerful test compared to simple randomization with the same sample size. The proposed method is illustrated by conducting an experiment to compare two different concentrations of titanium dioxide nanofiber (TDNF) on rats for the purpose of comparing weight gain.


Coupling to antigen-presenting cells through the T cell receptor renders T cells sensitive to mechanical force. The T cell receptor (TCR) is activated by antigenic peptide presented to it by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on the surface of an antigen-presenting cell (APC). Engagement of the TCR triggers the phosphorylation of tyrosine residues in associated CD3 subunits, which results in the activation of adaptor proteins and signaling molecules, such as intracellular Ca2+, that lead to T cell activation. Noting that previous studies have suggested that mechanical forces may play a role in regulating TCR responses, Li et al. investigated whether the TCR was sensitive to mechanical stimulation. The authors generated artificial APCs that had a stimulatory antibody against CD3 (CD3L) on their surface, using spacer molecules to generate CD3Ls of varying lengths. Although T cells bound to APCs with either short or long CD3Ls, only those APCs with short CD3Ls could activate the T cells, as assessed by measurement of intracellular Ca2+ by fluorescence microscopy. However, by applying a mild, perpendicular shear force through a micropipette, the authors generated Ca2+ responses in T cells bound to APCs with long CD3Ls. Applying shear stress to T cells bound to APCs or coverslips through antibodies against receptors other than the TCR did not generate Ca2+ flux. T cells that were bound to APCs with long CD3Ls also exhibited Ca2+ responses when they were physically pulled away from the APCs by a micropipette. Together, these data suggest that T cells can respond to physical forces through the TCR by initiating signaling. Y.-C. Li, B.-M. Chen, P.-C. Wu, T.-L. Cheng, L.-S. Kao, M.-H. Tao, A. Lieber, S. R. Roffler, Cutting edge: Mechanical forces acting on T cells immobilized via the TCR complex can trigger TCR signaling. J. Immunol. 184, 5959–5963 (2010). [PubMed]


This study is aimed at achieving improvement of service delivery through identification and establishing of main factors affecting professional services in the building industry. Questionnaire was used to elicit information about their perceptions of the factors affecting services from professionals who are involved in on-going and/or recently completed clients' building projects. Purposive sampling was used to select the population of the study. The  Mean Score(MS) was used to rank the factors as perceived by architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. The spearman rank order was calculated  and used  to test the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between the perceptions of the different group of professionals. The results showed that there is an agreement in the ranking with a strong relationship among the professionals. Ability of the client to choose the right design team is the most important factor in delivering quality service. Other important factors are staff motivation and training, commitment of members of staff of the design team, long term potential relationship with client organization, adequate authority for the design team to perform effectively and the client's financial position. The result will guide both client and practitioners about those factors that need to be focused to improve service delivery.


From 1980 to 2014, 87 persons drowned in New Zealand while attempting to rescue others; all incidents occurred in open water and most (80%) fatalities were male. While bystander rescue has been promoted as a way of preventing drowning, little is known about the knowledge base that informs potential rescuers. This study utilized a family water safety programme to promote a resource entitled the 4Rs of Aquatic Rescue. Participants (n = 174) completed a pre-intervention survey and were then provided with information and access to electronic resources on safe bystander rescue techniques. Most respondents (71%) had never been taught rescue techniques, and males were more confident of their rescue ability. Upon completion of the programme, significant differences were evident in respondents' understanding of rescue safety, but this did not translate to greater confidence or disposition towards performing a rescue. Ways of promoting bystander safety around water are discussed and recommendations for future studies are made.


Water conservation and pollution concerns from nutrient runoff will very likely dictate precise irrigation regimes for nursery managers in Virginia. Maximum plant growth with minimum input of water and fertilizer is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, water use and growth of red and sugar maple (Acer rubrum L. 'Franksred' and Acer saccharum Marsh.) were studied during two years of pot-in-pot (P+P) production and during three years after transplanting to field soil. Three major experiments were completed. The first experiment studied the effect of frequent irrigation (three-times-aday) versus standard once-a-day irrigation and found that frequent irrigation increased trunk diameter growth of sugar maples in the second production cycle and for red maples in both production cycles. Height growth of neither species was affected by frequent irrigation. A study of sap flow pattern indicated that late day water stress of red maples was partially alleviated by frequent irrigation. In the second experiment, red and sugar maples were transplanted to field soil after one (1-yr) or two (2-yr) years of P+P iii production. Irrigation frequency requirement decreased as the trees grew and depended on environmental conditions, size at planting, source of water (rainfall versus irrigation) and species. Height and trunk diameter of 1-yr red maple was equal to that of 2-yr trees after only one year. Height and trunk diameter differences between 1-yr and 2-yr sugar maple trees persisted three years after transplanting. In the third experiment water use of 1-yr and 2-yr red and sugar maple while in P+P production was investigated. Four models of daily water-use were developed. A simple model that is suitable for growers includes species, trunk cross-sectional area (BA) and air temperature (TA) observations. An environmental model was developed using the Penman-van Bavel estimate of evapotranspiration (ET). ET required modifications based on tree characteristics, air temperature, windspeed and relative humidity to be an effective predictor of water-use. A complex model was based on a sine-cosine function of day-of-the-year. This model fits water-use data well for each species and production cycle and includes BA, ET and TA. An alternate simpler model requires only day-of-the-year, TA and BA, offering growers a relatively simple and accurate model of water use.


The effect of various drugs and agonists on human platelet shape change (PSC) was assessed. PSC was expressed as the increase in median platelet volume (MPV). We developed a new sensitive and reproducible method to measure MPV using a high-resolution (0.07 fl) channelyzer coupled to a platelet counter. Scanning electron micrographs showed that the changes in platelet morphology were mirrored by the MPV.

We also used human platelets to assess the serotonergic action of two appetite suppressants, fenfluramine (d, l-F) and dexfenfluramine (d-F), as well as the main metabolite of d-F, d-norfenfluramine (d-norF). There was an increase in MPV in response to d-norF. This action was probably mediated via the serotonin (5HT) (receptor-subtype 2), because a specific antagonist blocked it. This is the first demonstration, using human tissue, of the serotonergic action associated with a metabolite of d-F. This serotonergic activity may be involved in the pathogenesis of pulmonary hypertension and heart valve pathology reported in patients on d,l-F and d-F.

We assessed two antihypertensive drugs, losartan and doxazosin. Doxazosin, a long acting [alpha][sub]1-adrenoceptor antagonist, inhibited SHT-induced PSC. This effect may have
potential clinical importance, because patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) or diabetes mellitus can have elevated circulating levels of SHT. This bioamine exerts harmful effects like stimulating vascular smooth muscle proliferation and inducing vasoconstriction. Losartan an angiotensin type I receptor blocker inhibited PSC induced by angiotensin II and a thromboxane A[sub]2 mimetic (U46619). Therefore, losartan in addition to lowering blood pressure has antiplatelet activity.

Endothelin-l (ET-l) is a potent endogenous vasoconstrictor. Naftidrofuryl inhibited platelet activation induced by ET-I alone or in combination with ADP or SHT. These actions may contribute to the beneficial effects of naftidrofuryl in patients with intermittent claudication.

These findings confirm the usefulness of the PSC technique in investigating the effect of agonists and drugs on human platelets.


Using a kinetic model for the ions and adiabatic electrons, we solve a steady state, electron-repelling magnetic presheath in which a uniform magnetic field makes a small angle $\alpha \ll 1$ (in radians) with the wall. The presheath characteristic thickness is the typical ion gyroradius $\rho_{\text{i}}$. The Debye length $\lambda_{\text{D}}$ and the collisional mean free path of an ion $\lambda_{\text{mfp}}$ satisfy the ordering $\lambda_{\text{D}} \ll \rho_{\text{i}} \ll \alpha \lambda_{\text{mfp}}$, so a quasineutral and collisionless model is used. We assume that the electrostatic potential is a function only of distance from the wall, and it varies over the scale $\rho_{\text{i}}$. Using the expansion in $\alpha \ll 1$, we derive an analytical expression for the ion density that only depends on the ion distribution function at the entrance of the magnetic presheath and the electrostatic potential profile. Importantly, we have added the crucial contribution of the orbits in the region near the wall. By imposing the quasineutrality equation, we derive a condition that the ion distribution function must satisfy at the magnetic presheath entrance --- the kinetic equivalent of the Chodura condition. Using an ion distribution function at the entrance of the magnetic presheath that satisfies the kinetic Chodura condition, we find numerical solutions for the self-consistent electrostatic potential, ion density and flow across the magnetic presheath for several values of $\alpha$. Our numerical results also include the distribution of ion velocities at the Debye sheath entrance. We find that at small values of $\alpha$ there are substantially fewer ions travelling with a large normal component of the velocity into the wall.


During the examination of two 19th century oil paintings by Swiss artists, the Reading pastor (ca. 1885) by Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) and Portrait of a young girl (ca. 1888) by Filippo Franzoni (1857–1911), it was observed that in particular locations, the surface had an unusually granular texture, given by the application of metallic particles and the presence of large translucent green agglomerates. In this paper we investigate the composition and origin of the metal particles and green agglomerates. A combination of bulk analysis (GC–MS and FTIR) and analytical microscopy techniques (X-ray tomographic microscopy, light microscopy, ATR–FTIR–FPA imaging and SEM–EDX) were used. It was concluded that the metal particles are composed of a lower quality brass (copper/zinc alloy) and ground from foil. The current appearance resulted from the reaction of the brass and its corrosion products with the fatty acids in the surrounding paint/varnish matrix. This has lead to the formation of agglomerates of zinc and copper carboxylates, the latter responsible for their green colour.


Transitional justice has an expectation management problem. International law imposes a right to justice and an obligation to defeat impunity from crimes against humanity. Yet there has not been a war where a substantial proportion of criminals against humanity have been convicted. Nor is one likely. The theoretical solution considered in this paper is to broaden, deepen, and lengthen our conception of justice so that more survivors might be vindicated by some kind of justice, even if a partial kind of justice. We broaden justice with a more holistic, yet multidimensional conception of what justice means, so that, for example, restorative justice, Islamic justice and indigenous justice can be embraced among many alternatives to impunity. Deepening justice means deeper survivor and citizen opportunities to shape a more responsive justice and to shape remedies through participation. Lengthening justice means giving less priority to speedy trial and closure as transitional justice values. It might mean a permanent Truth and Reconciliation Commission that keeps its doors open to victims decades on.


Temporal lobe epilepsy is a partial epileptic disorder in which mesial structures are responsible for the principal ictal symptoms. Its characteristic feature is the recurrence of simple and complex partial seizures, associated with postictal confusion and amnesia of the event. The facilitating effect of NREM sleep on the propagation of the seizure, as well as the sleep abnormalities provoked by epilepsy were evident in our two patients. Yawning is a physiological reflex induced by arousal and drowsiness and may appear in different neurological conditions. Its relation with epilepsy of limbic origin has been rarely reported. We describe in a 95 year old male patient, the occurrence of yawning followed by complex partial seizure during a state of drowsiness. His EEG showed independent bilateral interictal foci of temporal sharp waves and after being medicated with carbamazepine 400 mg/day, the episode did not recur. Another patient, a 17 year old female, displayed complex partial seizures and secondarily generalized seizures with yawning during the posictal period, after naps. The EEG was normal and her polysomnography showed bilateral synchronous temporal spikes and slow waves with secondarily generalization during stage 2 of NREM sleep that produce paroxysmal microarousals and increased stages 1 and 2 of NREM sleep and REM sleep diminished. After being medicated with divalproex sodium 750 mg/day, she suffered no further seizures. Temporal lobe epilepsy, sleep-wake cycles and yawning seem not only to share the same anatomic structures but also the same neurochemical mechanisms. The fact that endogenous opiods are considered as part of a protective system that stop and prevent seizures may allow us to postulate that yawning would be the expression of the endogenous opiods induced mechanisms that stop and prevent the recurrence of the temporal lobe epilepsy. Another hypothesis may be that this is only a particular form of temporal lobe epilepsy.


Equity markets in developing and emerging economies have grown in number and importance as a result of financial market globalisation. However, their role in economic growth and development is enhanced if nascent markets are integrated with well-established ones. Market integration, measured by the transmission of returns volatility, is identified across a sample of SSA countries, using a unique dataset. Evidence for potential integration between financial markets in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is found. Spillovers are found across markets, some unidirectional and others bi-directional. However, continued illiquidity and incomplete institutions indicate that an integrated financial community remains premature, and considerable regulatory reform and harmonisation will be necessary for this to succeed.


Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a rare inherited disease of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase system causing defective production of toxic oxygen metabolites, impaired bacterial and fungal killing, and recurrent life-threatening infections. We identified a novel gram-negative rod in excised lymph nodes from a patient with CGD. Gram-negative rods grew on charcoal-yeast extract, but conventional tests could not identify it. The best 50 matches of the 16S rRNA (using BLAST) were all members of the family Acetobacteraceae, with the closest match being Gluconobacter sacchari. Patient serum showed specific band recognition in whole lysate immunoblot. We used mouse models of CGD to determine whether this organism was a genuine CGD pathogen. Intraperitoneal injection of gp91phox −/− (X-linked) and p47 phox −/− (autosomal recessive) mice with this bacterium led to larger burdens of organism recovered from knockout compared with wild-type mice. Knockout mouse lymph nodes had histopathology that was similar to that seen in our patient. We recovered organisms with 16S rRNA sequence identical to the patient's original isolate from the infected mice. We identified a novel gram-negative rod from a patient with CGD. To confirm its pathogenicity, we demonstrated specific immune reaction by high titer antibody, showed that it was able to cause similar disease when introduced into CGD, but not wild-type mice, and we recovered the same organism from pathologic lesions in these mice. Therefore, we have fulfilled Koch's postulates for a new pathogen. This is the first reported case of invasive human disease caused by any of the Acetobacteraceae. Polyphasic taxonomic analysis shows this organism to be a new genus and species for which we propose the name Granulobacter bethesdensis.


High quality Mn-doped CdTe nanorods with uniform diameter were synthesized in aqueous phase by spontaneous self-organization of Mn-doped CdTe nanoparticles into nanorods. The diameter of the CdTe nanorods increased gradually from 4.1 to 10.2 nm for 0–4.2% Mn incorporations. The intermediate step in the nanorod growth was found to be double or triple chain aggregation. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the Mn doped samples retained the same crystal structure as the CdTe nanocrystals, indicating no second phase formation for Mn ion. XPS, ICP-AES and ESR data demonstrate successful incorporation of Mn ions in CdTe nanorods. Superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) measurements reveal that all of these nanocrystals exhibited ferromagnetic behavior, with a coercive field (Hc) of 2.6 kOe.


There is a growing demand for nonparametric conditional density estimators (CDEs) in fields such as astronomy and economics. In astronomy, for example, one can dramatically improve estimates of the parameters that dictate the evolution of the Universe by working with full conditional densities instead of regression (i.e., conditional mean) estimates. More generally, standard regression falls short in any prediction problem where the distribution of the response is more complex with multi-modality, asymmetry or heteroscedastic noise. Nevertheless, much of the work on high-dimensional inference concerns regression and classification only, whereas research on density estimation has lagged behind. Here we propose FlexCode, a fully nonparametric approach to conditional density estimation that reformulates CDE as a non-parametric orthogonal series problem where the expansion coefficients are estimated by regression. By taking such an approach, one can efficiently estimate conditional densities and not just expectations in high dimensions by drawing upon the success in high-dimensional regression. Depending on the choice of regression procedure, our method can adapt to a variety of challenging high-dimensional settings with different structures in the data (e.g., a large number of irrelevant components and nonlinear manifold structure) as well as different data types (e.g., functional data, mixed data types and sample sets). We study the theoretical and empirical performance of our proposed method, and we compare our approach with traditional conditional density estimators on simulated as well as real-world data, such as photometric galaxy data, Twitter data, and line-of-sight velocities in a galaxy cluster.


The paper is concerned with the classical occupancy scheme in which balls are thrown independently into infinitely many boxes, with given probability of hitting each of the boxes. We establish joint normal approximation, as the number of balls goes to infinity, for the numbers of boxes containing any fixed number of balls, standardized in the natural way, assuming only that the variances of these counts all tend to infinity. The proof of this approximation is based on a de-Poissonization lemma. We then review sufficient conditions for the variances to tend to infinity. Typically, the normal approximation does not mean convergence. We show that the convergence of the full vector of counts only holds under a condition of regular variation, thus giving a complete characterization of possible limit correlation structures.


This paper presents the effects of two factors on electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) resolution using numerical simulations. The results obtained from the first group of synthetic resistivity model numerical simulations with different electrode configurations illustrate that the inversion resolution can be improved if the current electrodes and potential electrodes are installed at a subsurface depth. The results obtained from the second group of synthetic resistivity models with different mesh densities illustrate that the inversion resolution can be improved if the mesh grid density is increased. The increased number of degrees of freedom necessary to fit the data to a prescribed target misfit leads to the inverted imagery deviating from the true resistivity model. Throughout the literature the inversion procedure is implemented in the conjugate gradient relaxation method and the model calculation speed is enhanced using the parallel processing mode. ERT surveys were employed for mineral exploration at Chifeng in Inner Mongolia, China. The inverted image clearly describes the vein behavior down to 200 m in depth in the prospect area and is consistent with the drilling data results.


At seismic discontinuities in the crust and mantle, part of the compressional wave energy converts to shear wave, and vice versa. These converted waves have been widely used in receiver function (RF) studies to image discontinuity structures in the Earth. While generally successful, the conventional RF method has its limitations and is suited mostly to flat or gently dipping structures. Among the efforts to overcome the limitations of the conventional RF method is the development of the wave‐theory‐based, passive‐source reverse‐time migration (PS‐RTM) for imaging complex seismic discontinuities and scatters. To date, PS‐RTM has been implemented only in 2D in the Cartesian coordinate for local problems and thus has limited applicability. In this paper, we introduce a 3D PS‐RTM approach in the spherical coordinate, which is better suited for regional and global problems. New computational procedures are developed to reduce artifacts and enhance migrated images, including back‐propagating the main arrival and the coda containing the converted waves separately, using a modified Helmholtz decomposition operator to separate the P and S modes in the back‐propagated wavefields, and applying an imaging condition that maintains a consistent polarity for a given velocity contrast. Our new approach allows us to use migration velocity models with realistic velocity discontinuities, improving accuracy of the migrated images. We present several synthetic experiments to demonstrate the method, using regional and teleseismic sources. The results show that both regional and teleseismic sources can illuminate complex structures and this method is well suited for imaging dipping interfaces and sharp lateral changes in discontinuity structures.


In this volume, for the first time Tibetan Medicine is approached from a combination of anthropology and history. These two disciplines appear to be vital to come to understand Tibetan medical knowledge and practice as being complex, diverse and dynamic phenomena which reflect changing social and historical conditions at the same time while also appealing to or preserving an older canon of traditions. Part One examines the impacts of various modernities in Tibet, the Himalayan borderlands and the Tibetan exile, including standardisation and scientization of Tibetan medicine. Part Two investigates the transmission and professionalisation of medical knowledge and its role in identity construction. Part Three traces connections between various body images, practices, and cosmologies in Tibetan societies and how mental and physical illnesses are understood. Part Four critically presents new or little known histories, commentarial practices, textual narratives and oral sources for investigating the history of Tibetan medicine.


The present investigation provides data on physico-chemical parameters, some major ions and nutrients on water samples of Tinishu Akaki River (TAR), Ethiopia. The pH, temperature, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS), dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD), Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3-, SO42-, NO3-, NO2-, PO43-, Cland NH3 have been determined to asses the chemical status and pollution levels of the TAR and its tributaries. The values of certain parameters have been evaluated with respect to the acceptable standard limits for drinking and surface water to indicate the pollution level of the TAR. Increasing in BOD, nitrite, ammonia and phosphate and decreasing in DO concentrations downstream of the TAR were observed with increasing domestic, industrial and agricultural activities. The mean Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO42-, HCO3-, NO3and PO43concentrations exceeded their most common natural concentrations' (MCNC) in world rivers by a factor of 6.3, 7.6, 27.2, 6.8, 9.2, 19 and 390, respectively.


The conservation of genetic information through the ages can not be explained unless one assumes the existence of genomic error-correcting codes, our main hypothesis. Shielding by phenotypic membranes does not protect the genomes against radiations and their own quantum indeterminism. The cumulated errors then make the genomic memory ephemeral at the time scale of geology. Only means intrinsic to the genome itself, taking the form of error-correcting codes, can ensure the genome permanency. According to information theory, they can achieve reliable communication over unreliable channels, so paradoxical it may look, provided some conditions are met. The experience of communication engineers witnesses their high efficiency. As a subsidiary hypothesis, we assume moreover they take the form of `nested codes', i.e., that several codes are combined into a layered structure which results in an unequal protection: the older and more fundamental parts of the genomic information are better protected than more recent ones. Looking for how nature implements error-correcting codes, we are led to assume that they rely on the many physical, steric, chemical and linguistic constraints to which the DNA molecule and the proteins for which they code are subjected. Taking account of these constraints enables to regenerate the genome provided the number of accumulated errors remains less than the correcting ability of the code, i.e., after a short enough time. Based on these hypotheses, fundamental results of information theory explain basic features of the living world, especially that life proceeds by successive generations, the discreteness of species and their hierarchical taxonomy, as well as the trend of evolution towards complexity. Other consequences are that evolution proceeds by jumps and that the genomic message originates in random regeneration errors. That basic results of information theory and error--correcting codes explain biological facts left unexplained by today's biology confirms the necessity of our hypotheses. The direct experimental identification of genomic error-correcting codes and regeneration means still lacks, however, but it would obviously require the active collaboration of practicing geneticists.


Summary 3450 bovine from different breeds and ages were clinically examined for the presence of arthritis. 120 cases showed macroscopic evidences of arthritis. Mycoplasma spp were isolated from synovial fluid of 21 affected animals. In addition to Mycoplasma spp. Arcanobacterium pyogenes and Staphylococcus epidermidis were isolated from 2 cases. The synovial fluid was markedly increased, straw color, turbid and mostly contained thick confluent fibrin. Thickening of the synovial membrane, villus hyperplasia, loss of the synovial cells, infiltration of leukocytes, hyperemia and edema of synovial membrane and periarticulare tissues were seen. Isolation of Mycoplasma from the bovine with arthritis indicates the importance of the organism as causative agent of the disease.


Bada', which may be loosely translated as 'the ability of God to change His decree', is a characteristically Shi'a doctrine that, historically, has been subject to severe critique outside Shi'a circles. Here, I would like to respond to these criticisms by explaining how the Twelve Imams derived the doctrine of bada' from Qur'anic verses. I would also like to clarify misconceptions about bada' which commonly recur in polemical discussions. Finally, in response to the claim that, psychologically, belief in bada' would weaken an individual's faith and is therefore religiously undesirable, I would like to outline a view to the contrary showing how belief in bada' can, in principle, strengthen individual and collective well-being.


There is considerable diversity in fertilization management of 'Ataúlfo' mango (Mangifera indica L.) in the state of Nayarit, Mexico, and there is no systematic information available in this regard. The aim of this research was to evaluate the medium-term effect (2010‑14) of the site-specif ic fertilization approach on fruit yield and size in 'Ataúlfo' mango grown under rainfed conditions (annual average summer rainfall 1300-1450 mm). Two commercial orchards at 8 × 8 m spacing, one each in San Blas and Compostela municipalities in Nayarit were chosen. Fertilization treatments were: 1) Normal dose, which considered tree nutrient demand, periods of maximum root growth, nutrients provided by the soil, leaf nutrient concentrations and fertilization eff iciency; 2) High dose (1.5 times the normal dose); 3) Control, annual application of 3 kg per tree of 17-17-17 (N, P2O5, K2O). Soil and leaf samples were taken for nutrient analysis throughout the study. Treatments were randomly applied to 20 single tree-replicates at each orchard. For cumulative yield and fruit size a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement (orchards × treatments) was used. For leaf nutrient concentrations, the year and fertilization treatments effect was analyzed using 10 replicates per treatment. Means comparison was performed with the Waller-Duncan test (P ≤ 0.05). The Normal dose increased yield 38% as compared to the Control, as well as fruit size. The highest total fruit yield and C22 (196-220 g) and C20 (221-250 g), as well as the highest cost-benef it, were obtained with the Normal dose. This treatment consisted of applying per year and tree, depending on the orchard, 509-608 g N, 21-206 g P, 132-582 g K, 19-234 g Mg, 6.5-18 g Fe, 6-46 g Mn, 2-6 g Zn and 3-13 g B.


It is believed that auditory processes governing grouping and segmentation of sounds are automatic and represent universal aspects of music perception (e.g., they are independent of the listener's musical skill). The present study challenges this view by showing that musicians and nonmusicians differ in their ability to preattentively group consecutive sounds. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) from professional musicians and nonmusicians who were presented with isochronous tone sequences that they ignored. Four consecutive tones in a sequence could be grouped according to either pitch similarity or good continuation of pitch. Occasionally, the tone-group length was violated by a deviant tone. The mismatch negativity (MMN) was elicited to the deviants in both subject groups when the sounds could be grouped based on pitch similarity. In contrast, MMN was only elicited in musicians when the sounds could be grouped according to good continuation of pitch. These results suggest that some forms of auditory grouping depend on musical skill and that not all aspects of auditory grouping are universal.


This book provides an introduction to all aspects of designing, manufacturing, and racing solar cars. Understanding the 'big picture' will help members of solar race car teams make design and manufacturing trade-offs to stay on schedule and allow time to test and practice racing the car. Based on the author's experiences designing and building five solar cars over the last ten years, this book focuses on the important aspects of designing a competitive solar car, including developing a racing strategy, efficient solar car driving, project management, and designing the specific subsystems of the car. Chapters Cover: Design Methodology Aerodynamics of Solar Cars Composite Materials Car Balance and Spring Rates Tires and Rolling Resistance Rear Suspension, Drive, and Chassis Structure Battery System Electrical Systems.


Purpose: The article's main aim is to evaluate and analyze effective factors that motivate employees of family businesses in the industrial processing sector to work Design/Approach/Methodology: The research results presented in the study were carried out in Poland The research tool was a self-questionnaire containing socio-demographic questions and statements regarding opinions about the workplace and factors motivating to work The survey research was preceded by a series of in-depth, unstructured expert interviews The questionnaire was developed using the Delphi method Findings: Employees of family production companies are to the greatest extent motivated by non-material motivation factors, the certainty of receiving remuneration on time, no mobbing and no discrimination, and job security Among the material factors, the respondents are most motivated by non-monetary factors, participation in training and holiday vouchers, and monetary factors: salary increase and receiving cash prizes The results of this survey provide important information for owners and managers of family businesses and researchers interested in the topic of employee motivation They refute the previous (and usually stereotypical) approaches to motivating, according to which Polish companies' employees positively assess only material motivation factors Practical Implications: The results can be used to build effective incentive systems in manufacturing family businesses The achieved results may turn out to be particularly important for companies in crises (such as, for example, the global COVID-19 epidemic), during which the business continuity is disturbed and limited financial liquidity results in the inability to use material motivating factors Originality/Value: The research provides practical answers to encourage further research and summary research globally about the family business