Video is becoming more and more popular as a learning medium in a variety of educational settings, ranging from flipped classrooms to MOOCs to informal learning. The prevailing educational usage of videos is based on watching prepared videos, which calls for accompanying video usage with activities to promote constructive learning. In the Active Video Watching (AVW) approach, learner engagement during video watching is induced via interactive notetaking, similar to video commenting in social video-sharing platforms. This coincides with the JuxtaLearn practice, in which student-created videos were shared on a social networking platform and commented by other students. Drawing on the experience of both AVW and JuxtaLearn, we combine and refine analysis techniques to characterise learner engagement. The approach draws on network-text analysis of learner-generated comments as a basis. This allows for capturing pedagogically relevant aspects of divergence, convergence and (dis-) continuity in textual commenting behaviour related to different learner types. The lexical-semantic analytics approach using learner-generated artefacts provides deep insights into learner engagement. This has broader application in video-based learning environments.


Mathematicians have started to recognize their responsibility in the mathematical education of pre-service elementary teachers. In the last decade, math courses have been developed specifically for elementary education majors. Unfortunately, these courses have often been viewed by the community of mathematicians as remedial. As a result, the courses have sought to remedy content deficiencies at the expense of addressing the more pressing issue of math anxiety. As mathematicians we often do not understand those students paralyzed by this anxiety. Consequently we tend, therefore, to ignore the problem and continue to teach the familiar and easy to teach area - the content. Teaching content is not necessarily addressing the needs of the pre-service teacher. This article recommends reinforcing the strengths of the elementary education major as a means of overcoming math anxiety. Consider the typical elementary education major. S/he has probably enjoyed school in general, has been influenced by a model teacher, wants to work with young children, is enthusiastic, energetic, has gotten satisfactory grades and may dread the math course required as part of his/her teacher preparation. S/he has been in the college prep track in high school and probably taken at least algebra, maybe geometry and possibly trigonometry. While proficiency in certain content areas (e.g. probability and statistics) of the NCTM Standards may be absent, the greatest obstacle some of these students may need to overcome is a poor attitude towards mathematics. If we continue to simply teach the math that fills in the content gaps, we have not taught towards their strengths but rather affirmed their weaknesses. The student, likely as not, will leave the class with the same view of mathematics as when s/he entered the class. The result may be that the prospective elementary school teacher is a little more academically prepared to teach elementary school math but no more enthusiastic about the subject. We should be seeking to change the attitude rather than cramming more facts into the prospective teacher's head. The teacher's manuals are well written, have the "correct" answers, and many even detail the major points that the teacher should discuss. However, the pre-service elementary education teacher does not know this. Until s/he is willing to delve into the new teacher's manual with confidence and search for appropriate supplemental material, the elementary school children will be left with "drill and kill" arithmetic and we could lose another generation to math anxiety and/or poor attitude. There are several ways in which we can teach towards the strengths of the elementary education major. First, most elementary education majors hold traditional values. They belong to sororities, clubs, and athletic teams. They will seek out classmates to share experiences and stories; except in mathematics. Mathematics is more likely to be viewed as an individual endeavor - just one student, with one pencil, an eraser, and lots of tedious problems. Yet, mathematics as practiced in academia or industry is rarely done by an individual. The elementary education course for pre-service teachers typically conveys both mathematical content and information about mathematics. We do a disservice when we promote the idea that success of a singly individual is the ultimate goal. Rather, teaching methods that emphasize group learning must be employed. One such means is cooperative and active learning. Here students work together to learn and teach each other material. These groups, which can be used during class time, should also be utilized for the homework. Students that are already sharing experiences need to be encouraged to share mathematical ideas, problem solving approaches, and frustrations. Traditionally, homework has been used to reinforce and extend ideas presented in class. The opportunity for immediate positive feedback and the chance to gain confidence in one's knowledge and understanding is multiplied when students work together and without the acknowledged expert. …


The various forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome have been classified in several different ways. Originally, 11 forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome were named using Roman numerals to indicate the types (type I, type II, and so on). In 1997, researchers proposed a simpler classification (the Villefranche nomenclature) that reduced the number of types to six and gave them descriptive names based on their major features. In 2017, the classification was updated to include rare forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome that were identified more recently. The 2017 classification describes 13 types of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.


The purpose of this study was to find out the effects of Early Childhood Education on children with hearing impairment (HI) in Kiambu, Murang'a and Nyeri counties, Kenya. Vigotsky's theory of cognitive development guided the study. The specific objectives were to (i) find out the enrollment trend of children in special schools for HI in the counties. (ii) Determine the type of ECE services provided to children with HI and their effect on the children with HI. (iii) Investigate the role played by the parents and the teachers of the children with HI in ECE. (iv) Identify the constraints experienced by the teachers of the children with HI in ECDE. The study employed descriptive survey method whereby the target population included children with HI between ages 3-6 years in special schools for the children with HI from the selected districts, their teachers, the headteachers and their parents. Purposive sampling was used to select the schools, classes, children, teachers and headteachers while convenience sampling was used to select the parents. The research instruments were interview schedules for headteachers, pre-primary teachers and for parents. The instruments were pre-tested for validity and reliability at Racecourse Primary School's HI unit, Nairobi. The unit was representative sample that was not included in the study. Split-half technique was used to assess the instruments' reliability while their validity was determined after it was read through with the representative respondents. The findings revealed that 70% of children with HI are enrolled for ECD when they are over age that is, at the age of 6 years and above. Those enrolled benefit especially in acquisition of social skills. Teachers exposed the children in ECDE activity areas effectively, however parents delayed in their roles of identification of HI, taking intervention measures and enrolment of their children for ECDE. Teachers faced communication problems as the main constraints in the teaching and learning of ECDE children. Therefore, in conclusion, it was found that although the teachers played their role effectively, the delays by the parents in enrolling their children for ECDE during the required early child years curtailed adequate effect of ECDE on the children with HI. Recommendations were made to parents to enrol their children for ECDE during the early childhood years i.e. 3-6 years, the teachers to organize opportunities for remedial teaching for sign language and the government to subsidize ECDE. Further research needs to be done on smooth transition of children from home to pre-schools.


Objective: 1) To describe the prevalence of undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and depressive symptoms in hypertensive men and women below 65 years of age, and 2) to describe the association of OSA to subjective sleep complaints, depressive symptoms and global perceived health. Design: Cross-sectional design focusing on nursing care outcomes of obstructive sleep apnea. Setting: Four primary care health centres in Sweden. PATIENTS: 411 consecutive patients (52% women), mean age 57.9 years (SD 5.9 years), with diagnosed hypertension (BP > 140/90). Main Outcome Measures: Prevalence of OSA and depressive symptoms, and association of OSA to sleep complaints, depressive symptoms and global perceived health. RESULTS: Mild, moderate and severe OSA was seen among 29%, 16% and 14% of patients, respectively. Depressive symptoms were seen in 16% of the total group, with a higher prevalence among men, compared to women, 21% vs. 12%. No differences were found regarding blood pressure, estimated sleep need, sleep sufficiency index, insomnia symptoms, daytime sleepiness or depressive symptoms with respect to different degrees of OSA. Apnea-hypopnea index was significantly associated to perceived health after adjustment for gender and comorbidities, but when depressive symptoms and non-restorative sleep were added to the model, 33% of the variance in global perceived health was explained. Conclusion: OSA is highly prevalent among patients with hypertension in primary care and does together with sleep complaints and depressive symptoms have a negative impact on global perceived health. Hypertensive patients without subjective sleep complaints or depressive symptoms may still have OSA.


Based on thorough bibliographic research of a highly controversial topic, this report, jointly sponsored by IUCN, UNEP and WWF, shows the potential of plantations, while also exposing problems which may arise if massive tree plantations proposed for the tropics are to be established. Major issues covered include; species selection, soil and water cycle effects, fires, pests and diseases, effects on biodiversity, carbon dioxide fixation, land tenure and social issues, and plantation economics. Some broad conclusions and guidelines to be considered when establishing large scale plantations in the tropics complete this study.


A 6m thick section of organic-rich sediment, exposed at Karioi, near Ohakune, central North Island (672m above sea level), presents an opportunity to form a detailed palynological record of Late Quaternary vegetation and climate change. The organic-rich sequence at Karioi lies beneath a 3.29m thick cover-bed sequence that contains towards its base the c. 25.4 ka cal BP Kawakawa/Oruanui Tephra, a key chronostratigraphic marker for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) throughout New Zealand. A previous palynological investigation of the underlying organic sediments suggested they extended back from the LGM (Marine isotope stage 2) to the previous interglacial (MIS 5). Such apparently continuous terrestrial records spanning this age range and located at this altitude are rare. A key feature of the Karioi organic sequence is the occurrence of numerous millimetre- to decimetre- thick tephra, derived from a variety of North Island eruptive sources. The possibility that volcanic processes have influenced vegetation change makes climate inferences at this important site potentially problematic. In this new study of the Karioi section, centimetre-scale palynological and diatom sampling conducted above and below three selected tephra (here named 'Big Lower Lapilli', 'Unknown' tephra, and 'Little' tephra) at Karioi, were used to assess the influence of these volcanic events on the vegetation and local hydrology. Loss-on-ignition and magnetic susceptibility were used, alongside pollen and diatom analysis, to infer changes in local hydrology and depositional processes in relation to environmental stability. Together, these analyses helped determine the volcanic impacts on vegetation assemblages gained from the pollen record at the site and allowed these to be disassociated from larger scale climate influences of interest. The results of this study indicate a discernible volcanic impact on vegetation and hydrology following just one of the three volcanic events targeted in the record. High-resolution (0.5cm) pollen analysis above and below the largest of the three tephra layers, the 22cm thick 'Big Lower Lapilli' showed a notable change in vegetation assemblage immediately following tephra deposition. The most significant of these changes was the marked increase in herbs. This was an unexpected result thought to be due to the proximity of the site to sub-alpine and alpine herbaceous communities, which in turn were closer to the source of volcanism than other vegetation communities depicted in the pollen record. The changes to the pollen spectra are estimated to have taken 300 years to return to pre-eruption assemblages. Magnetic susceptibility and loss-on-ignition results further add to this research by indicating the comparative stability of the depositional environment around the time of deposition of the 'Big Lower Lapilli'. Statistical analysis further identified a change in vegetation communities associated with tephra deposition, coinciding with an increase in diatom species abundance, which signified an increase in water volume and depth at the site. This was most clearly seen by the marked increase in Aulacoseira ambigua, which is almost exclusively found in water bodies of at least 2 metres depth. These results have major implications for pollen-based climate reconstructions from sequences with interbedded tephra layers. First, such investigations should include fine resolution analyses around prominent tephra layers to test for possible volcanic disturbance that may be a confounding factor in any paleoclimatic reconstructions applied. In this study, for example, vegetation assemblages may have taken up to 300 years to return to pre-eruption levels, but this recovery phase was well within the c. 1000 year inter-sample period of the original coarse (10cm) resolution record. Without the fine resolution study conducted here, the decline of shrubs and increase in grasses, with no obvious changes to trees following deposition of the 'Big Lower Lapilli' could have been inferred as a short-term cooling interval. Beyond this restricted zone of volcanic disturbance, greater confidence in the paleoclimatic interpretation of the Karioi pollen record has been achieved as a result of this finer resolution 'test' for volcanic disturbance. Second, the volcanic disturbance indicated following the 'big lower lapilli' has shed light on pollen taphonomic sources and pathways at this site and in turn, on spatial patterns of vegetation communities. In this case, the increase in tree pollen relative to non-arboreal pollen is interpreted as originating from more distant forest stands that have been comparatively less affected by the deposition of tephra than locally growing vegetation.


This article attempts to wed together two supposedly disparate works of Jean-Paul Sartre, The Psychology of the Imagination (1940) and Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960) in order to construct a theory of the imagination that will aid progressive political theory in its pursuit of perpetual 'mediated reciprocity.' Often assumed incapable of providing a viable theory of positive intersubjective relations, this article asserts that Sartre's work does in fact have the resources for such an endeavor. Through the continual creation of 'images,' the group-in-fusion is shown to be able to sustain a perpetual project of negating original negation throughout the milieu of scarcity. Although 'images' themselves are incapable of creating novelty, they do have use insofar as they are able to reproduce affective impressions that can motivate group praxis , which in turn creates new situations of exigence from which apocalyptic moments might arise. Therefore, by tethering the balance between the real and the imaginary, a novel social theory emerges that is both faithful to the work of Sartre and that also pushes it into new, fruitful directions.


The simple formula derived in the paper establishes a direct relationship between moire beat patterns and basic grids for minute displacements. The possibilities of finding a basic grid for a desired moire pattern are pointed out. The analysis is illustrated by several examples of Fresnel moire zone plate patterns and concentric equidistant circular moire patterns obtained by changes of scale and rotation. Possible advantages of the practical use of this element are outlined.


Climate change has increased rainfall uncertainty, leading to greater production risks in agriculture. We examine the gender-differentiated labor impacts of droughts resulting from lower precipitation using unique individual-level panel data for agricultural households in India over half a decade. Accounting for unobserved heterogeneity in individual responses, we find that women's workdays fall by 11% more than men's when a drought occurs, driven by former's lack of diversification to the non-farm sector. Women are less likely to work outside their village and migrate relative to men in response to droughts, and are consequently unable to cope fully with the adverse agricultural productivity shock. Our findings can be explained by social costs emanating from gender norms that constrain women's access to non-farm work opportunities. The results highlight the gendered impact of climate change, potentially exacerbating extant gender gaps in the labor market.


The objective of the present paper is to confirm or reject the possible use of recycled asphalt to reinforce forest haul roads regarding the technical requirements set by the standards and directives relevant to the construction of forest road surfaces. The hypothesis is based on the presumption that recycled materials, if correctly used, can reach the same construction properties as standard materials, hence their application does not have a negative effect on reinforcement quality. On a selected stretch of forest road, three test sections were constructed with the use of recycled asphalt, however, each of them with a different technological solution. The first section was reinforced with unbound mixture – Type1 without added water, the second section was constructed using a version of vibrated macadam technology, and recycled asphalt was applied to the third section by the method of basic compacting. In each of the sections, tacheometric cross profile measurement was carried out at monthly intervals to monitor the changes in the cross profile shape, and the number of passages of fully loaded logging trucks was registered; static load tests were performed at pre-defined time intervals to determine the deformation moduli such as deformation characteristics of the road surface structural layers. In all three reinforcement versions, the values of deformation moduli observed during the static load tests were between 68–90 % of the values set by relevant standards for these technologies using natural aggregates. However, the tacheometric measurements did not reveal statistically significant changes in the shape of the reinforcement cross-section. Based on the obtained results, applying recycled asphalt to reinforce forest roads seems to be a suitable alternative to natural quarry aggregate used in unbound structural layers. Recycled material needs to meet the regulatory limits for foreign elements and pass ecotoxicity tests, which is evidenced by a certificate on material compliance issued by the test laboratory.


Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has been crucial for the breakthrough experienced by cancer genomics during the last decade. In turn, the knowledge gathered has fostered the development of targeted drugs and genomics-driven cancer treatment. Some university hospitals have built the infrastructure and invested in human resources for the implementation of NGS within precision medicine initiatives. However, the expertise required to integrate the data with available knowledge spans several disciplines; the information to decipher the clinical implications codified in the genome of a tumor is scattered across many resources; and the complexity of the data demands of computational support.
In the anticipation of a widespread use of clinical sequencing, this thesis describes an evidence-based workflow, the Molecular Tumor Board (MTB) Report, aimed at paving the way for genomics-driven oncology. Deciding whether or not a molecular alteration entails clinical action (i.e. if the variant is actionable) involves a wide-range of expertise and the need to keep up with the pace of new discoveries (e.g. clinical trials, conferences, preclinical studies). The workflow presented here uses public resources to narrow somatic variants from a tumor's genomic profile down to actionable variants. Furthermore, actionable variants are classified into a six-level system based on the evidence that supports the actionability. The variables considered are cancer type in which the evidence exists and grade of predictive association between a variant and a drug. The classified variants and the evidence that supports their actionability are detailed in a concise report to support clinical discussions. To increase the usability and availability of the workflow, it has been implemented as a web-based application. The user can provide custom data as well as explore a public dataset. Actionable variants can be visualized in an interactive setting and downloaded in the aforementioned report format or in a tabular data file.
The MTB Report workflow was tested over two different large public datasets to evaluate its scope and strengths, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange (GENIE). The results concerning variants currently used to guide treatment were in line with published numbers of patients receiving genomics-driven therapies. The results also suggested that these numbers could be increased to a large extent if low-evidence (clinical and preclinical evidence) and predictive associations that have not been established for the cancer type in the patient being tested (i.e. off-label) were considered.
A retrospective comparison study was performed for a subset of patients from the Molecularly Aided Stratification for Tumor Eradication Research (MASTER) precision medicine program. The variants identified by the MTB Report were compared to the variants suggested by the experts of the MASTER program. The results showed high concordance between both approaches, as the majority of expert suggestions were identified by the workflow. The workflow identified a plethora of other variants, that, though not yet actionable, depicted a comprehensive landscape of the actionability of the patient.
In all, this thesis work established a computational workflow aimed at enabling a widespread use of NGS for guiding clinical decisions. We envision that such efforts on standardizing genomic data interpretation and reporting will become useful resources in the field of precision medicine.


This thesis work aims at investigating the use of an active noise control (ANC) system on a radial fan. This was done by studying the fan structure and its potential working environment (the ducts). This includes measuring the sound levels on several positions and select suitable positions to apply the ANC system. Moreover, the tested ANC system was implemented on the ventilation system and acceptable results were obtained. Further analyses were made based on the obtained results and some explanations were derived to investigate the reason behind the ANC systems incapability to attenuate the noise generated by the fan at some frequencies.


Relations between Muslims and Christians in Syria are as heterogeneous and complex as the country itself. They differ from region to region, from city to city and from village to village. They are also linked to class and urban–rural divisions. It can be argued that it is meaningless to try to categorize relationships between Christians and Muslims in Syria in terms of 'Christian' and 'Muslim'. It is a country where all citizens are constitutionally equal before the law and where the co-existence of Christians and Muslims is lauded officially and – generally speaking – among citizens at large in everyday life. But in personal status law Muslims and Christians are firmly categorized, and there is no escape from the way law divides and categorizes individuals. In these categorizations and in the practice of law, gender is crucial. In this article the complexity and fluidity of relations between Christians and Muslims in Syria is explored, as well as the plurilegal Syrian personal status law, which is based on a mandatory religious affiliation. The article shows how gender and religion interact to create an ambiguous situation of 'same but different' for Syria's Christian citizens.


ABSTRACT The essay discusses one characteristic of colonial archives – how the ruling state plunders/loots the colonized' archives and treasures and controls them in its colonial archives - erasing them from the public sphere by repressive means, censors and restricts their exposure and use, alters their original identity, regulates their contents and subjugates them to colonizer's laws, rules and terminology. It focuses on two archives plundered by Israel in Beirut in 1980s: the Palestine Research Center and archive of Palestinian films. The essay continues my earlier research on Palestinian visual (and other) archives taken as booty or looted by pre-state Jewish military organizations and soldiers or civilians in the first half of the twentieth century, especially during the Nakba (the Palestinian catastrophe, 1948), and later by Israel's military bodies. It analyzes the plunder itself while focusing on the power relations reflected toward the hybrid gazes of the colonizer and the colonized and discusses colonial features of military archives holding and controlling seized materials. While colonial museums have been largely discussed, and also archives holding colonial history, this is one of the first essays to discuss features of colonial archives holding plundered archives/material.


Purpose: To compare the Modified Screening Tool for Identifying at Risk Seniors (mSTIRS) against the Triage Risk Screening Tool (TRST) and the Identification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR) for predictive value and assess the relationship between presenting complaint with unanticipated return visit (URV) occurrence in geriatric patients. Design: A prospective, observational study conducted at a large academic medical center. Descriptive statistics and psychometric analyses were used to analyze the association between demographics, clinical data, and to evaluate the modified screening tool. Methods: 38 geriatric participants in the Emergency Department (ED) were enrolled and 21 completed the study. The screening tools were administered after triage and patients were contacted 72-hours post-discharge from the ED for URV evaluation. Results: The mSTIRS demonstrated greater sensitivity (87.5%), specificity (57.1%), and predictive value (PPV 50%; NPV 88.9%) than the TRST and ISAR. No association was found between URV and presenting complaint (X2(6, n=21) = 3.161, p = 0.788). Conclusions: The mSTIRS screening tool better identified geriatric patients at risk for unanticipated 72-hour return visits to the ED compared to the TRST and ISAR. Additional testing with a larger sample is needed to replicate results and determine the validity of this modified screening tool.


Bailey, Elizabeth, Comparative study of perceived barriers to faculty participation in distance education at a four-year university. Doctor of Philosophy (Education), December 2015, 103 pp., 21 tables, references.
The purpose of this Bailey study was to identify perceived barriers of faculty participation in distance education courses in a four-year university and identify the differences in perceived barriers between the Hebert 2003 study and this Bailey study. The literature review covers numerous studies and articles written within the last 10 years that are related to a variety of barriers perceived by faculty and administrators.
There were no statistically significant relationships found between faculty demographics including gender, age, position at the university, tenure status, and number of years faculty have taught in post-secondary education. There were no statistically significant relationships found between the top administrator-ranked motivators and corresponding faculty-ranked motivators, nor between the top administrator-ranked inhibitors and the corresponding faculty-ranked inhibitors. Out of the top four non-participating, faculty-ranked barriers, three were found to have statistically significant relationships with the corresponding administrator-ranked barriers. Statistically significant relationships were found between the faculty-ranked motivators and corresponding administrator identified motivators and between the top ranked barriers identified by non-participating faculty and administrators in Hebert's study compared to non-participating faculty-ranked and administrator-ranked barriers identified in this study.


Micturating cystourethrogram (MCUG) is advocated in all patients with antenatally detected hydronephrosis to diagnose vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). In this study, the authors have tried to identify if MCUG is really needed for all these patients. They followed 55 children with antenatal hydronephrosis (ANH) by adopting a selective approach to performing MCUG. Ultrasound examination was done at one week for all unilateral hydronephrosis. It was done at two to three days postnatally in patients with bilateral hydronephrosis. All these patients were periodically followed up every two to three months by ultrasound. If the Antero-posterior (AP) diameter was more than 15 mm or more than 10 mm with calyceal dilatation on two months' ultrasound, Mercapto-acetyl Triglycine-3 renogram was done to rule out pelviureteric junction (PUJ) obstruction. None of the patients with AP diameter of less than 10 mm had antibiotic prophylaxis. In this study, 29 patients had MCUGs done to rule out VUR, based on the presence of any of the following ultrasound findings: bilateral hydronephrosis, ureteric dilatation, renal scarring, bladder wall thickness greater than 5 mm or presence of duplex system or ureterocele. Out of these only eight patients had VUR, of which resolution occurred in five cases. The remaining three patients did not require reimplantation of ureter. However, surgical correction was needed in one patient who underwent bilateral pyeloplasty and two who needed upper pole heminephrectomies. In 26 patients of ANH, followed without MCUGs, 18 had spontaneous resolution, five required pyeloplasty for increasing hydronephrosis and three had Multicystic Dysplasia of Kidneys (MCDK) on follow-up scans. Minimum follow-up in this study was three years. The authors believe that VUR in most antenatally diagnosed hydronephrotic kidneys is more physiological than pathological and hence resolves without long-term renal damage. More conservative approach to postnatal investigations of ANH reduces the number of unnecessary tests like MCUGs and does not result in missed renal scars.


The Afrotropical subgenus Phornus Paulian, 1948 of the genus Orphnus MacLeay, 1819 is revised and currently comprises six species. Four new species are described: Orphnus renaudi sp. nov., Orphnus valeriae sp. nov., Orphnus ferrierei sp. nov. and Orphnus parastrangulatus sp. nov. The subgenus is characterized by the coarse stridulatory field, sclerotized plate on the second abdominal sternite near plectrum, absence of the pronotal lateral processes in males, rounded apices of the parameres and endophallus without armature, although some of these characters differ in O. giganteus Paulian, 1948. Symphysocery is reported for the first time for members of the Orphninae. In O. giganteus , the majority of specimens have malformed antennomeres. Four of the six species of Phornus are brachypterous and all species except for O. giganteus are known only from males. A key to Phornus species and a map of their localities are provided.


Phytoremediation or use of plants to extract soil nutrients is a practice used to ameliorate the impacts of excessive soil nutrients. Pensacola bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum Fliigge) and 'Floralta' limpograss [Hemarthria altissima (Poir.) Stapf & Hubb] were grown in a P-impacted Immokalee fine sand (Mehlich-1 P ≈ 30 mg P kg -1 ) to evaluate increasing N levels on dry matter yield (DMY), forage P concentration, P removal, and P dynamics in the soil profile. Treatments were four levels ofN fertilization (0, 50, 67, and 101 kg N ha -1 harvest -1 ) replicated four times for each species. Both grasses showed increases in P removal with increasing N fertilizer applications. Phosphorus removed by forages for the highest N application level ranged from 59 (bahiagrass; 2-yr period) to 83 kg ha -1 (limpograss; 3-yr period). The initial soil P content of the Ap horizon of all N > 0 treatments decreased by ≥85% over the study period. However, more P from the control (N = 0) plots leached to subsurface horizons compared to P lost from the plots receiving N fertilizer. Nitrogen application enhanced P uptake from the soil and consequently reduced off-site P losses from the surface soil. Nitrogen application of 67 kg ha -1 harvest -1 optimized P removal by bahiagrass and limpograss. These data show that well managed, warm-season perennial forage grasses with adequate N fertilization and managed for hay production or greenchop are an option for reducing off-site P losses from P-impacted soils.


In a recession, jobs are destroyed and inventories are liquidated. I concentrate on the intertemporal mechanisms that result in economy-wide job destruction and inventory runoffs. Forces that raise the real interest rate -- especially temporarily -- also cause destruction and runoffs. I consider a model where the job destruction decision is made efficiently, will full consideration of the search costs imposed on discharged workers. I also consider a model of inefficient job destruction, where employers discharge workers who are paid fixed wages as long as they are employed. The impulse response functions for these models resemble those found in data for the United States. A shock that causes a jump in the expected real interest rate results in an immediate spike of job destruction and inventory liquidation, followed by a declining pattern of additional destruction and runoff.


PURPOSE
To perform a secondary dose calculation for an IMRT or VMAT plan to a point on or off axis within 2% using open field data.

METHODS
The calculation is performed by subdividing dose into the contributions from each opposing leaf pair for a given MLC configuration. Leaf pair dose is determined by drawing four rectangular fields based on leaf positions that are symmetric about the point of calculation. Field dose is determined using isocentric monitor unit calculation formalism with open field data. Superposition of these fields yields the dose from the leaf pair to the point. VMAT plans are approximated by a static MLC configuration at four degree intervals. The algorithm requires standard open field data (e.g., Scps, TPRs), and the MLC control point information. These calculations were done with additional measured small field output factors down to a 1.2 cm2. Algorithm doses were compared with homogeneous and heterogeneous Pinnacle calculations of a series of prostate, head and neck, and chest wall treatment plans. For each treatment plan the calculation point was taken as the isocenter and/or the center of the PTV. Delivery techniques included SMLC-IMRT and VMAT.

RESULTS
Good agreement was obtained between doses calculated by the algorithm and the Pinnacle Treatment Planning System. For homogeneous cases, the total calculated doses were within 2% for all patient plans. Individual beam errors were as high as 7.8% with an average of 2.8%. Larger errors were associated for beam segments with leaf positions very near the calculation point. Larger errors were also found for heterogeneous calculations, where a simple ratio of TPR correction factor was utilized in the algorithm.

CONCLUSION
Results demonstrate that clinically acceptable agreement is obtained using this method. Further improvement could be made with more accurate heterogeneity correction factors and/or incorporation of MLC leaf end effects. This work was supported in part by a research agreement with Oncology Data Systems, Inc.


A novel C-Nafton/Fe-ion structured fabric capable of mediating Orange II decomposition in Fenton-immobilized photoassisted reactions is presented. The catalyst preparation requires the right balance between the amount of the Nafion necessary to protect the C-surface and the minimum encapsulation of the Fe-cluster catalytic sites inside the Nafion to allow the photocatalysis to proceed. The C-Nafion/Fe fabric can be used up to pH 10 under light to photocatalyze the disappearance of Orange II in the presence of H2O2. The photocatalysis mediated by the C-Nafion/Fe-ion fabric increased with the applied light intensity and reaction temperature in the reaction needing an activation energy of 9.8 kcal/mol. This indicates that ion- and radical-molecule reactions take place during Orange II disappearance. The build up and decomposition of intermediate iron complexes under light involves the recycling of Fe2+ and was detected by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This observation, along with other experimental results, allows us to suggest a surface mechanism for the dye degradation on the C-Nafion/Fe-ion fabrics. The C-Nafion/Fe-ion fabric in the presence of H2O2 under solar simulated light transforms the totally nonbiodegradable Orange II into a biocompatible material with a very high BOD5/COD value. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and sputtering by Ar+-ions of the upper surface layer of the C-Nafion/Fe-ion fabric allow us to describe the intervention of the photocatalyst down to the molecular level. Most of the Fe clusters examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed particle sizes close to 4 nm due to their encapsulation into the Gierke cages of the Nafion thin film observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy (OM).


The macromolecular surface components involved in intraspecific cell surface interactions of the green microalga Chlorella vulgaris and closely associated bacteria were investigated. The specific surface attachment between this alga and its associated bacteria is mediated by lectin-like macromolecules associated with the surfaces of these cells. The binding activity of these surface polymers was inhibited by specific simple sugars; this suggests the involvement of specific receptor-ligand binding sites on the interactive surfaces. Epifluorescent microscopic evaluation of bacteria-alga interactions in the presence and absence of the macromolecules that mediate these interactions showed that the glycoproteins active in these processes were specific to the microbial sources from which they were obtained. The demonstration and definition of the specificity of these interactions in mixed microbial populations may play an important role in our understanding of the dynamics of marine microbial populations in the sea.


The social work profession is facing a critical gap in its provision of effective services to an increasingly large number of clients who are affected by trauma. To explore for the presence of common components in evidence-based trauma treatments, a qualitative content analysis of 8 trauma treatment manuals was undertaken. Analysis resulted in the identification of 35 Intervention Objectives and 59 Practice Element codes. These were further organized into nine domains: trauma assessment, safety, engagement, attachment, core treatment interventions, attention to the social context, trauma processing, post trauma growth, and therapist self-care. Future work for the profession may involve synthesizing and integrating what has already been learned, and translating that knowledge into the classroom. Significantly, three domains which stress activities with the client in their social context were found to be common to trauma treatments, including safety promoting activities. Implications for social work education, practice, policy, and research are discussed.


Debates about the Appointments Clause tend to turn on drawing the right distinctions. This Article argues that the Appointments Clause draws a little-recognized distinction between the officers specifically enumerated by the Clause ("Ambassadors," "other public Ministers and Consuls," and "Judges of the supreme Court") and the officers referred to only as a residual category ("all other officers of the United States"). The basic claim is that enumerated offices need not be "established by Law" — that is, by congressional legislation — but are established instead by the Constitution or the law of nations.

Although the "enumerated-residual distinction" has been essentially ignored by judges and scholars, it raises a basic interpretive puzzle. The Appointments Clause appears to give the President the same authority to appoint each category of enumerated officers. But in practice, we have construed the President's authority to appoint diplomats and Supreme Court Justices quite differently. Since the Founding, the President has appointed diplomats without congressional authorization, but at the same time everyone has assumed that Congress must pass a statute before the President may appoint any Justices.

This Article argues that the President has the authority to appoint both diplomats and Justices without congressional authorization. This view accords with the Constitution's text, suits the unique constitutional status of the Supreme Court, and was advanced by political actors soon after the Constitution's ratification. But even if one rejects the strongest version of this argument, the Article's core insight — that the Appointments Clause requires parallel treatment of diplomats and Justices — has a series of potential implications for constitutional doctrine.


Toxoplasmosis is caused by an infection with an obligate intracellular parasite, Toxoplasma gondii. The patients are usually immunocompromised. It causes a silent infection in healthy individuals. Trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole is the most common drug used for toxoplasmosis. A fifty year old male applied to our out-patient department with the complaint of right hemiparesis, walking difficulty, ear humming and facial asymmetry on May 2010. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a left cerebellary mass lesion. He was operated and the pathological findings were consistent with 'toxoplasmosis'; although we could not demonstrate an immunodeficiency in this patient.


Genomicists study genetic information to understand how animals and plants survive and breed in their habitats, and how evolution happens to enhance survival. Shaffer describes how his study of genomics has colored the way he sees the world, the possibilities it opens up, and two examples of how the field has shaped understanding of species in California: the desert tortoise and the California tiger salamander.


One of the key problems in spoken language understanding (SLU) is the task of slot filling. In light of the recent success of applying deep neural network technologies in domain detection and intent identification, we carried out an in-depth investigation on the use of recurrent neural networks for the more difficult task of slot filling involving sequence discrimination. In this work, we implemented and compared several important recurrent-neural-network architectures, including the Elman-type and Jordan-type recurrent networks and their variants. To make the results easy to reproduce and compare, we implemented these networks on the common Theano neural network toolkit, and evaluated them on the ATIS benchmark. We also compared our results to a conditional random fields (CRF) baseline. Our results show that on this task, both types of recurrent networks outperform the CRF baseline substantially, and a bi-directional Jordantype network that takes into account both past and future dependencies among slots works best, outperforming a CRFbased baseline by 14% in relative error reduction.


This is a translation of the eighth edition of "Urbanisme, " a landmark work in the development of modern city planning. It was so recognized when it first appeared in English in 1929. A review in the "Nation" stated that "Le Corbusier ranks with Freud, Picasso, and Einstein as a leading genius of our time. The only great architect alive, he has turned his attention from the individual house to town-planning. And the result is 'The City of To-morrow, ' a book not for aesthetics but for statesmen."At the same time, Edgar Johnson wrote in the "New York Evening Post" that "M. Le Corbusier's extremely important book is an analysis of the problem of the city and a solution. It sidesteps none of the issues, admits the inevitable growth in population, the need for speed and centralization, and provides a reasoned and thorough overcoming of the difficulties. This book is, both practically and artistically, a work of vision."The book was one of the first to recognize an approaching "urban crisis," and its main thesis is that such a vast and complicated machine as the modern great city can only be made to function adequately on the basis of strict order, that we must aim first of all at efficiency but that it must lead us on to a fine and noble architecture. Le Corbusier raises questions in this work that are still being raised today. He concludes from his study that the whole urban scene is one of wasted opportunities and inefficiency. He proposes an alternative course, which is a bold and drastic reconstruction of the entire machine.Le Corbusier presents in this work two schemes for the reconstruction of a modern city. One is the "Voisin" plan for the center of Paris and the other is his more developed plans for the "City of Three Million Inhabitants." In both these schemes he adopts the skyscraper as his most important unit, but they are set at immense distances from one another and are surrounded by large open spaces or parks. They are allocated to commercial, not residential purposes; the great tenement houses and other buildings will remain relatively low in height. The plans included in this book demonstrate clearly the scope and general appearance of such a reconstruction as Corbusier proposes of a great modern city.


Copper indium sulphide films were deposited by the pulse plating technique with different OFF times in the range of 5s - 30s and at a constant current density of 5 mA cm-2. The films exhibited single phase copper indium sulphide. The grain size increased with decrease of OFF time. Optical band gap of the films increased from 1.44- 1.497 eV with decrease of OFF time. Optical constants (refractive index, n, and extinction co-efficient, k) of the films have been obtained in the wavelength range 800 - 1700 nm by using spectrophotometric measurement. The obtained results concerning the absorption index yield the energy gap in addition to the type of the allowed optical transitions. N/m* ratio has been obtained from refractive index data. The dispersion of refractive index is analyzed by using a single


Quantum Computing represents the next big step towards speed boost in computation, which promises major breakthroughs in several disciplines including Artificial Intelligence. This paper investigates the performance of a genetic algorithm to optimize the realization (compilation) of nearest-neighbor compliant quantum circuits. Currrent technological limitations (e.g., decoherence effect) impose that the overall duration (makespan) of the quantum circuit realization be minimized, and therefore the makespanminimization problem of compiling quantum algorithms on present or future quantum machines is dragging increasing attention in the AI community. In our genetic algorithm, a solution is built utilizing a novel chromosome encoding where each gene controls the iterative selection of a quantum gate to be inserted in the solution, over a lexicographic double-key ranking returned by a heuristic function recently published in the literature.Our algorithm has been tested on a set of quantum circuit benchmark instances of increasing sizes available from the recent literature. We demonstrate that our genetic approach obtains very encouraging results that outperform the solutions obtained in previous research against the same benchmark, succeeding in significantly improving the makespan values for a great number of instances.


The Minorities in Engineering Division (MIND) of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) created the MIND Links project in 2004, recognizing that, although there are many resources available to inform, motivate, fund, mentor, promote, and support minorities and women to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, but finding these resources is not easy. MIND Links gathers and updates each year links to resources in an organized manner that is useful for parents, students, professionals, academics and administrators. Special attention is paid to provide useful resources to every stage of forming the engineer, including • Exploratory and motivational stage: K-12, enrichment activities, competitions • Preparatory: scholarships, fellowships, rankings of undergraduate and graduate engineering programs, internships • Professional careers: publications, salary surveys, organizations • Academic careers: career development, evaluating institutions and offers, research opportunities and grants, summer research opportunities, fellowships, organizations • Leadership: leadership training, career advancement programs and administration in higher education • Recognition: awards In 2005, the first MIND Link paper appeared with a little more than 300 links. This year's MIND Links paper organizes and provides over 780 links to resources that can be used to motivate minorities and women to study, stay and succeed in engineering and technology disciplines. The This survey organizes these opportunities and resources, specially targeting those of particular interest to engineering students and engineering faculty, and provides links to internet sites containing further detail. This paper available online at http://www.asee.org/conferences/papersearch-form.cfm using the keywords MIND Links. To recommend links for inclusion please contact please email email@example.com with the subject MIND Links.


An action selection problem arises whenever stimuli (external or internal) requiring behavioural responses co-occur or overlap in time. It has been proposed that the basal ganglia, a collection of nuclei predominantly located in the forebrain, are a crucial part of the neural substrate of the action selection process. The work presented here builds on a previous computational model of intrinsic basal ganglia processing (Gurney et al. 2001a, 2001b) which demonstrated that its function was consistent with a selection mechanism. Two groups of extensions to this original model are described. First, structural extensions, comprising the addition of new internal connections or of structures extrinsic to the basal ganglia. Second, the instantiation of the extended model at a lower level of abstraction through the use of spiking model neurons. Results from the former group showed that the selection and switching capabilites of the basal ganglia were maintained following all biologically-constrained additions and demonstrated the existence of other action selection mechanisms in the brain instantiated outside of, but in contact with, the basal ganglia. These results support the hypothesis that the basal ganglia play a crucial role in action selection. Modelling at a lower level of detail provided four main results. First, selection and switching were maintained. Second, inputs which represented equally urgent actions caused oscillations in basal ganglia output which were consistent with rapid alternations of selected actions. Third, neural noise was required for selection of low-level inputs and, paradoxically, for ensuring that a model neuron's output was a coherent representation of its input. Fourth, the successful simulation of the results from an in vitro study of a basal ganglia sub-circuit provided evidence for a channel-based architecture within the basal ganglia. These results emphasise the utility of modelling the same neural circuit at different levels of abstraction.


In the past century, more people have perished from famine than from the two World Wars combined. Many more were exposed to famine and survived. Yet we know almost nothing about the long run impact of famine on these survivors. This paper addresses this question by estimating the effect of childhood exposure to China's Great Famine on adult health and labor market outcomes of survivors. It resolves two major empirical difficulties: 1) data limitation in measures of famine intensity; and 2) the potential joint determination of famine occurrences and survivors' outcomes. As a measure of famine intensity, we use regional cohort size of the surviving population in a place and time when there is little migration. We then exploit a novel source of plausibly exogenous variation in famine intensity to estimate the causal effect of childhood exposure to famine on adult health, educational attainment and labor supply. The results show that exposure to famine had significant adverse effects on adult health and work capacity. The magnitude of the effect is negatively correlated with age at the onset of the famine. For example, for those who were one year old at the onset of the famine, exposure on average reduced height by 2.08% (3.34cm), weight by 6.03% (3.38kg), weight-for-height by 4% (0.01 kg/cm), upper arm circumference by 3.95% (0.99cm) and labor supply by 6.93% (3.28 hrs/week). The results also suggest that famine exposure decreased educational attainment by 3% (0.19 years); and that selection for survival decreased within-region inequality in famine stricken regions.


Background Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection has become a major public health problem worldwide. Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most opportunistic infection (OI) among HIV infected patient. This study was conducted to study the prevalence of Opportunistic Infection TB among HIV positive patients visiting UMN Hospital Tansen, Palpa. Methods HIV cases were diagnosed on the basis of rapid test kit HIV TRI DOT. TB cases were diagnosed on the basis of AFB staining, cultural methods, positive tuberculin test, radiographic abnormalities, and positive response to anti-tuberculous drugs. Results A total of 8510 suspected HIV were included for the study. Of which, 81(0.95%) were found HIV positive. Out of 81 HIV infected patients, 80% (65/81) were Hospital OPD Patients and 16 (20%) were Hospital admitted In-Patient. Among 81 HIV infected patients, 28 patients were diagnosed as TB infection and 53 were without tuberculosis infection. Eighty six percent of TB cases were pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and 14% were extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. Out of 28 Co-infected HIV/TB cases, 75% were male and 25%were female. Of the 24 HIV/PTB Co-infected cases, 16 (66.6%) were sputum AFB positive pulmonary tuberculosis and 33.3% (8/24) were sputum AFB negative pulmonary tuberculosis. Out of 4 HIV/Extra-PTB co-infected patient,75%(3/4) were TB Meningitis and 25% (1/4) were Miliary TB, in which 3 male patients and a female patient. Conclusion: Infection of TB among HIV infected patients of this study were ranged in age from 25 years–50 years.


Image content verification is to confirm the validity of the images, i.e. . To test if the image has experienced any alteration since it was made. Computerized watermarking has turned into a promising procedure for image content verification in light of its exceptional execution and capacity of altering identification. In this study, a new scheme for image verification reliant on two dimensional chaotic maps and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is introduced. Arnold transforms is first applied to Host image (H) for scrambling as a pretreatment stage, then the scrambled host image is partitioned into sub-blocks of size 2×2 in which a 2D DWT is utilized on  each sub-block to produce corresponding sub-block of DWT coefficients (LL, LH, HL and HH). Meanwhile, watermark image is encrypted using the introduced chaos-based enciphering algorithm. The watermarked image is obtained by updating the approximation coefficients (LH sub-band) of each 2×2 sub-block of DWT coefficients of the host image with the enciphered watermark image bits. Different investigational tests are performed to evaluate the act of the introduced approach. Investigation results clearly present that the proposed approach can detect and localize editing attacks perfectly.


In this study, fibre pressed oil palm frond (FPOPF) was introduced as the raw material for the production of glucose using Sacchariseb C6 to maximise the utilisation of oil palm waste. Sacchariseb C6 is a commercial cellulase blended enzyme from Advanced Enzymes Technology. In order to achieve maximum glucose production, a factorial analysis 25–1 using response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to screen the best enzymatic hydrolysis condition by varying the parameters such as agitation speed, enzyme loading, glucan loading, temperature and hydrolysis time. FPOPF was treated with 4.42% (w/v) of sodium hydroxide at 100°C prior to the enzymatic hydrolysis. Raw FPOPF consists of 40.7% glucan, 26.1% xylan, 26.2% lignin, 1.8% ash and 4.5% extractives. On the other hand, pretreated FPOPF consists of 61.4% glucan, 20.4% xylan, 13.3% lignin,
1.3% ash and 0.3% extractives. From this study, it was found that the best enzymatic hydrolysis condition yielded 33.01 ± 0.73 g/L of glucose when performed at 200 rpm of
agitation speed, 60 FPU/mL of enzyme loading, 4% (w/w) of glucan loading, temperature at 55°C and 72 h of reaction time. The model obtained from RSM was significant with
p-value <0.0001. It is suggested that this model had a maximum point which is likely to be the optimum point and possible for the optimisation process.


In honey bees (Apis mellifera), the development of a larva into either a queen or worker depends on differential feeding with royal jelly and involves epigenomic modifications by DNA methyltransferases. To understand the role of DNA methylation in this process we sequenced the larval methylomes in both queens and workers. We show that the number of differentially methylated genes (DMGs) in larval head is significantly increased relative to adult brain (2,399 vs. 560) with more than 80% of DMGs up-methylated in worker larvae. Several highly conserved metabolic and signaling pathways are enriched in methylated genes, underscoring the connection between dietary intake and metabolic flux. This includes genes related to juvenile hormone and insulin, two hormones shown previously to regulate caste determination. We also tie methylation data to expressional profiling and describe a distinct role for one of the DMGs encoding anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), an important regulator of metabolism. We show that alk is not only differentially methylated and alternatively spliced in Apis, but also seems to be regulated by a cis-acting, anti-sense non–protein-coding transcript. The unusually complex regulation of ALK in Apis suggests that this protein could represent a previously unknown node in a process that activates downstream signaling according to a nutritional context. The correlation between methylation and alternative splicing of alk is consistent with the recently described mechanism involving RNA polymerase II pausing. Our study offers insights into diet-controlled development in Apis.


This article proposes novel rules for false discovery rate control (FDRC) geared towards online anomaly detection in time series. Online FDRC rules allow to control the properties of a sequence of statistical tests. In the context of anomaly detection, the null hypothesis is that an observation is normal and the alternative is that it is anomalous. FDRC rules allow users to target a lower bound on precision in unsupervised settings. The methods proposed in this article overcome short-comings of previous FDRC rules in the context of anomaly detection, in particular ensuring that power remains high even when the alternative is exceedingly rare (typical in anomaly detection) and the test statistics are serially dependent (typical in time series). We show the soundness of these rules in both theory and experiments.


In this paper we introduce a new shape constraint for interactive image segmentation. It is an extension of Veksler's [25] star-convexity prior, in two ways: from a single star to multiple stars and from Euclidean rays to Geodesic paths. Global minima of the energy function are obtained subject to these new constraints. We also introduce Geodesic Forests, which exploit the structure of shortest paths in implementing the extended constraints. The star-convexity prior is used here in an interactive setting and this is demonstrated in a practical system. The system is evaluated by means of a "robot user" to measure the amount of interaction required in a precise way. We also introduce a new and harder dataset which augments the existing Grabcut dataset [1] with images and ground truth taken from the PASCAL VOC segmentation challenge [7].


The fine-tuning of pre-trained language models has a great success in many NLP fields. Yet, it is strikingly vulnerable to adversarial examples, e.g., word substitution attacks using only synonyms can easily fool a BERT-based sentiment analysis model. In this paper, we demonstrate that adversarial training, the prevalent defense technique, does not directly fit a conventional fine-tuning scenario, because it suffers severely from catastrophic forgetting: failing to retain the generic and robust linguistic features that have already been captured by the pre-trained model. In this light, we propose Robust Informative Fine-Tuning (RIFT), a novel adversarial fine-tuning method from an information-theoretical perspective. In particular, RIFT encourages an objective model to retain the features learned from the pre-trained model throughout the entire fine-tuning process, whereas a conventional one only uses the pre-trained weights for initialization. Experimental results show that RIFT consistently outperforms the state-of-the-arts on two popular NLP tasks: sentiment analysis and natural language inference, under different attacks across various pre-trained language models.


We report the coherent control of excitons in quantum wells with pairs of 150-fs infrared pulses. Oscillations in the exciton density versus inter-pump-pulse separation, which correspond to the resonant transition energy, yield new insight into coherent exciton dynamics when their phase is analyzed. We demonstrate that these oscillations are caused when the second laser pulse destroys or enhances excitons that were created by the first pulse. The coherent carrier destruction generates ultrafast exciton dynamics that are not limited by the linewidth of the optical transition.


The "Oxford Bookworms Library" offers new editions of the original Oxford Bookworms Black and Green series, merging the two series into one with new covers. The new editions build on the success of the original series and provide enhanced teaching support. Sixteen additional pages inside each book allow extra pages of activities and increased author and series information. Some of the titles have new illustrations. For those titles which had associated cassettes, the cassettes will remain available with the same ISBNs as before.


There is little doubt that the on-going sovereign debt and banking crisis within the Eurozone will have an enormous impact on the future of the European Union (EU). Indeed, the fate of the entire European project hangs in the balance. The eventual outcome of the crisis cannot yet be known as of this writing in August 2012, but anything within the wide array of possible outcomes—from a total collapse of European integration to a 'two-speed' Europe to a tight political union—will have a profound and lasting impact on the way the European states and peoples interact with each other.

For scholars interested in European foreign policy, it is crucial to note that he trouble in the Eurozone struck at a time when European foreign policy was already in flux: Greece reached agreement with the IMF over its first bailout package only five months after the Lisbon Treaty went into effect, creating the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR). These two institutions were designed with the intention of facilitating the coordination of national foreign policies among EU member states, but the novelty of the Lisbon Treaty left considerable uncertainty about how member states would incorporate the EEAS and the HR into their foreign policymaking procedures.

The turmoil in the Eurozone has only magnified the uncertainty surrounding the future of European foreign policy, both in areas related to the Lisbon Treaty and in other areas as well: can an economically weakened EU continue to use trade as a foreign policy instrument? Will austerity-induced cutbacks to national defence budgets mean the end of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)? Might, on the other hand, a new fiscal and political union finally make a 'European Army' feasible?


A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) with Monte Carlo simulation was used to estimate risks of Cryptosporidium infection from drinking water. Four different approaches to assess Cryptosporidium oocyst removal by filtration were compared using three relationships between turbidity removal and oocyst removal proposed in the literature, and an empirical model based on oocyst log removal credits associated with filtered effluent turbidity. Using a large database of a full-scale water treatment plant in Brazil, two of the turbidity removal-based models returned 1–3 log unit removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts and median values of Cryptosporidium annual infection risk estimates of approximately 10 −2 pppy (per person per year). The other model based on turbidity removal and the empirical model resulted, respectively, in 2–3.5 and 0–4 log removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts and corresponding infection risk estimates around 10 −2 pppy, close therefore to the health-based targets of the WHO guidelines for drinking water. The results of this study indicate that the empirical model appears to be particularly suitable for QMRA studies and that similar models should be tested in other site-specific assessments of treatment performance.


Financial statements are used by investors and financiers in their investment or financing decisions. The accounting treatment of individual transactions is reflected in the annual financial statements; therefore, similar transactions should be accounted for similarly by organisations in the same industry, otherwise these financial statements become incomparable. Commodity derivatives are utilised extensively by agricultural companies and processors in their risk management strategies. The accounting standard, IAS 39, on financial instruments such as commodity derivatives should be interpreted and applied consistently in order to ensure comparability of financial statements. Within the South African agricultural companies and processors context, this paper identified and considered eight basic transactions commonly used when buying and selling grain. It was found that there is not always a consistent accounting treatment of these transactions among industry players and therefore a best practice methodology for interpreting and applying the accounting standard was formulated for each of the eight transaction types.


We present a Systems Biology Toolbox for the widely used general purpose mathematical software MATLAB. The toolbox offers systems biologists an open and extensible environment, in which to explore ideas, prototype and share new algorithms, and build applications for the analysis and simulation of biological and biochemical systems. Additionally it is well suited for educational purposes. The toolbox supports the Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) by providing an interface for import and export of SBML models. In this way the toolbox connects nicely to other SBML-enabled modelling packages. Models are represented in an internal model format and can be described either by entering ordinary differential equations or, more intuitively, by entering biochemical reaction equations. The toolbox contains a large number of analysis methods, such as deterministic and stochastic simulation, parameter estimation, network identification, parameter sensitivity analysis and bifurcation analysis. Availability: The Systems Biology Toolbox for MATLAB is open source and freely available from http://www.sbtoolbox.org. The website also contains a tutorial, extensive documentation and examples.


Fifteen end-stage renal disease patients with high titres of panel reactive (PRA) antibodies were treated with immunoadsorption (IA) on sepharose-bound protein A columns in order to remove anti-HLA antibodies and facilitate transplantation. Infectious complications were not observed after IA and transplantation, and the procedure was well tolerated. In spite of the use of adjunctive immunosuppressive treatment with cyclophosphamide and prednisolone, this method produced only variable effects in lowering panel reaction antibodies, and was hampered by high de novo resynthesis of anti-HLA antibodies. Patients whose pre-IA antibody titre was greater than or equal to 1:64 clearly did not benefit from the procedure, but other immunological criteria were not predictive of efficacy. Twelve patients were transplanted on the basis of a negative cross-match with current serum, historical sera being retrospectively tested. Surprisingly, seven patients received a well-matched graft with both pre- and post-IA negative cross-matching. Graft survival was 86% in this group. Conversely, in the group of five transplants which were performed in recipients having a positive historical cross-match with the donor, graft survival was only 40%. One patient died with a functional graft, and two grafts failed due to hyperacute humoral rejection. Humoral rejection in a third patient was successfully treated by a second IA course and administration of polyclonal IgG. We conclude that IA is a safe procedure for managing hyperimmunized transplant candidates. However, its efficacy remains variable, and a better definition of patients who should benefit from IA needs to be found.


ABSTRACT Although a critical component of vascular disease is modulation of the differentiated state of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC), the mechanisms governing SMC differentiation are relatively poorly understood. We have previously shown that E-boxes and the ubiquitously expressed class I basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins, including E2-2 and E12, are important in regulation of the SMC differentiation marker gene, the SM α-actin gene. The aim of the present study was to identify proteins that bind to class I bHLH proteins in SMC and modulate transcriptional regulation of SMC differentiation marker genes. Herein we report that members of the protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) family interact with class I bHLH factors as well as serum response factor (SRF). PIAS1 interacted with E2-2 and E12 based on yeast two-hybrid screens, mammalian two-hybrid assays, and/or coimmunoprecipitation assays. Overexpression of PIAS1 significantly activated the SM α-actin promoter and mRNA expression, as well as SM myosin heavy chain and SM22α, whereas a small interfering RNA for PIAS1 decreased activity of these promoters, as well as endogenous mRNA expression, and SRF binding to SM α-actin promoter within intact chromatin in cultured SMC. Of significance, PIAS1 bound to SRF and activated SM α-actin promoter expression in wild-type but not SRF−/− embryonic stem cells. These results provide novel evidence that PIAS1 modulates transcriptional activation of SMC marker genes through cooperative interactions with both SRF and class I bHLH proteins.


The global economic crisis has shifted main attention to the role of innovative technologies in the forming of the innovation economy. Russian economy has been severely impacted by the crisis downslide. This was predetermined by the export-orientated nature of Russian economy. Manufacturing sector is poorly developed which contributes to Russia's falling behind from developed economies. So now the only way to eliminate the gap is to introduce innovation into production and manufacturing and save them from shutdowns and downslides. So aim of the paper is to find a mechanism for Russia to shift to innovative economy.


To read, see, talk and believe differently - a response to other readers' reading of 'Om die Bybel anders te lees : 'n Etiek van Bybellees'
As any exegesis is necessarily preceded by certain theological convictions, the author of the book Om die Bybel anders te lees : 'n Etiek van Bybellees (2007) responds to criticism on the book flowing from a seminar - especially the remarks made by Hans van Deventer and Jurie le Roux. Firstly, the ideas on a changed view of the deity are discussed. This conversation is augmented by a discussion of the criticism levelled at the idea that reading the Bible has consequences for other people, and that a different reading would lead to a different concept of God. Van Deventer's comments regarding the difficulty of debating theological issues are strengthened by a critical discussion of a debate in Die Kerkblad regarding the grammatical-historical method. His critical remarks regarding the value of a historical consciousness are discussed by way of a question on the relationship between a liberal theology and a conservative political point of view. Le Roux's struggle with Snyman's utilisation of apartheid as a rhetorical strategy leads the discussion to a recent example of overcoming racism while using unreflectingly racist imagery. This example indicates how theology effects cosmetic changes, without taking on the real issue. For this reason, the author concludes that a critical reading of the own Western tradition in Africa has become necessary.


An alternative to control diseases on the grapevine is the use of plastic overhead cover. The cost of developing a vineyard is a relevant factor in the use of plastic overhead cover and will be directly linked to the cost of pest control. The aim of this study was to establish criteria for the use of fungicides in vine plants with plastic overhead cover compared to conventional farming in order to reduce the number and cost of application. The experiment was conducted in the 2010/2011 crop year in Viamão RS, using the Cabernet Sauvignon cultivar grafted on Paulsen 1103 in "Y Shape" trained, with 1.80 x 2.50 m spacing. The following treatments were evaluated: Treatment 1: plastic overhead cover: phytosanitary treatment applied when leaf wetting was observed; Treatment 2: plastic overhead cover: curative treatment, when there were symptoms of disease in shoots; Treatment 3: plastic overhead cover: conventional calendar treatment every 15 days, with reapplication after leaf wetting and Treatment 4: without plastic overhead cover: conventional calendar treatment every 15 days, with reapplication after leaf wetting. The lowest number of applications was observed in treatment where the criteria for fungicide applications was only when symptoms were visualized and the greater number of applications was in the area without plastic overhead cover with conventional treatment, affecting the application cost, but without reflecting in higher productivity. The highest incidence of downy mildew was observed in treatment 4. It was concluded that it is possible to reduce the number of applications and the fungicide cost for disease control using plastic overhead cover. Moreover, this management may provide less contact with chemicals during crop and reduce chemical wastes in the environment and in the harvested product.


The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth collects information about over 20 separate components of respondent income. These disaggregated income components provide many opportunities to verify the consistency of the data. This note outlines procedures we have used to identify and `clean' measurement error in the disaggregated income variables. After cleanin the income data at the disaggregated level, we reconstruct the measure of 'family income' and re-evaluate poverty status. While people may not agree with all of our methods, we hope that they will be of some use to other researchers. A second purpose of this note is to highlight the value of the disaggregated data, since without it, it would be impossible to improve on the reported totals. Finally, we hope that with the advent of computerized interviewing technology, checks on the internal consistency of the data of the kind that we propose may eventually be built into interviewing software, thereby improving the quality of the data collected.


The Lepidium sativum plant and seeds are well known in the community of Saudi Arabia and some other Arabic countries as a good mediator for fracture healing in the human skeleton. However, there is no scientific proof for this phenomenon, except for the positive observation noted publicly by traditional medicine practitioners and people in the community as well as clinically by the author. Those healed fractures in human beings observed clinically due to the consumption of L sativum seeds propagated the attention of the author to carry out this study, with the goal of proving it in the laboratory by inducing fractures in the midshaft of the left femur of 6 adult New Zealand White rabbits divided into 2 groups (control, n = 3 and test, n = 3). The test rabbits were fed soon after surgery with L sativum seeds mixed with their normal diet, whereas no seeds were given to the control group. X-rays of the induced fractures were taken at 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively to assess the healing of the fractures and documenting the healing by direct measurements of callus formation in millimeters at the longitudinal medial (LM) and longitudinal lateral (LL) and circumferential (CM) areas. The test group had a statistically significant increase in the healing of fractures compared with the control group (P < .001 for CM/6 weeks and P < .004 for CM and P < .043 for LM/12 weeks). We concluded that L sativum seeds had a marked influence on fracture healing in rabbits, clearly supporting their effects on human beings as a well-known natural element to promote fracture healing in traditional medicine. This, of course, has a marked clinical implication that needs to be investigated further


Tune up combustion motorcycle engine made in order to obtain a perfect engine combustion category with maximum engine performance and fuel efficiency. Motorcycles with 4-stroke petrol injection system has facilities to process tune up in the form of engine control unit and engine scanner tool. While petrol 4 stroke motorcycle carburetor system is not equipped with facilities such as a motorcycle injection system, consequently, tune up the engine combustion process is done manually. Category of the combustion engine can be determined based on the levels of emissions of HC, CO, CO2 and O2 contained in the exhaust gases of vehicles. This study aims to create a system to detect and display patterns of data categories motorcycle combustion gasoline engine carburetor system through the detection of exhaust emissions. This system is made using four gas sensors are integrated with the system FPGA (Field Progrmable Gate Array) as the main system and a display system using a PC or Laptop. Tests performed on a number of motorcycles with the brand, manufacturer and year of manufacture are different. Detection results shown in graphical form a pattern data categories perfect combustion engine and the data pattern of incomplete combustion category with a response time to 10 seconds. This system is expected to be used as an alternative tool for mechanics in performing tune up combustion motorcycle engine.


Myocardial infarction is a leading cause of death globally due to the inability of the adult human heart to regenerate after injury. Cell therapy using cardiac-derived progenitor populations emerged about two decades ago with the aim of replacing cells lost after ischaemic injury. Despite early promise from rodent studies, administration of these populations has not translated to the clinic. We will discuss the need for cardiac regeneration and review the debate surrounding how cardiac progenitor populations exert a therapeutic effect following transplantation into the heart, including their ability to form de novo cardiomyocytes and the release of paracrine factors. We will also discuss limitations hindering the cell therapy field, which include the challenges of performing cell-based clinical trials and the low retention of administered cells, and how future research may overcome them.


The photophysical behavior of pyrrolocytosine (PC), a fluorescent base analogue of cytosine, has been investigated using theoretical approaches. The similarities between the PC and cytosine structures allow PC to maintain the pseudo-Watson-Crick base-pairing arrangement with guanine. Cytosine, similar to the other natural nucleobases, is practically non-fluorescent, because of ultrafast radiationless decay occurring through conical intersections. PC displays a much higher fluorescence quantum yield than cytosine, making it an effective fluorescent marker to study the structure, function, and dynamics of DNA/RNA complexes. Similar to 2-aminopurine, a constitutional isomer of adenine that base-pairs with thymine, PC's fluorescence is quenched when it is incorporated into a dinucleotide or a trinucleotide. In this work we examine the photophysical properties of isolated PC, microhydrated PC, as well as, complexes where PC is either base-stacked or hydrogen-bonded with guanine. Our results indicate that hydration affects the radiationless decay pathways in PC by destabilizing conical intersections. The calculations of dimers and trimers show that the radiative decay is affected by π stacking, while the presence of charge transfer states between PC and guanine may contribute to radiationless decay.


We propose what we believe to be a new method of high-resolution spectroscopy based on a single-sideband (SSB) optical modulator combined with an optical frequency comb. A spectral resolution of less than 1 MHz on the absolute frequency axis was ensured using the SSB optical modulator and a frequency-locked laser diode. Also, the measurement frequency range was expanded by installing an optical frequency comb into the light source, in which the peak intensity was individually measured by the optical heterodyne detection method. The performance was experimentally confirmed using a 1 MHz width resonator and a H13C14N gas cell. As a result, the measurement frequency range achieved was over 3 THz (1530–1560 nm) with a spectral resolution of less than 1 MHz.


High-pressure injection molding (nominal pressure 500 MPa) is known to substantially improve the mechanical properties of high-density polyethylene of a high molecular weight (HMWPE). This work shows that if the mold is equipped with an exit cavity, the tensile modulus and strength of HMWPE-bars molded is further improved at high pressure levels. The maximum values of the stiffness and strength (thin bars, 1 mm) obtained with the exit chamber is about 12 GPa and 260 MPa, respectively. The improvement due to the exit cavity is of the order of 30 percent for the tensile strength for thicknesses lower than 4mm, while the modulus increases about 1 to 1.5 GPa for bars with thicknesses between 1 and 6 mm. The orientation of the melt during the filling of the mold was also found to have an influence on the mechanical properties of the HMWPE bars.


Managing brownfields risks requires complex technical and legal analysis. Analyzing risks in renewable energy projects is equally complex. Both projects involve several contracts that must be integrated and made consistent with each other. Combining these types of projects creates a unique combination of risks, including, for sites where institutional/engineering controls are part of the remedy, risks that will not diminish over time. The best risk management tool is an insurance program that can integrate property and commercial general liability (CGL) coverage for renewable energy risks with manuscripted coverage under a site pollution liability (SPL) policy for brownfield risks.


Background: Hamstring injuries are common especially in athletes. Partial and complete tears of the proximal origin may cause pain and functional loss. Objective: To evaluate the results of surgical treatment for partial proximal hamstring tears. Methods: Between 1994 and 2005, 47 athletes (48 cases, 1 bilateral) with partial proximal hamstring tears were operated on. The cases were retrospectively analysed. Before surgery, 42 of the patients had undergone conservative treatment with unsatisfactory results, whereas in five patients the operation was performed within four weeks of the injury. Results: The mean length of the follow up was 36 months (range 6–72). The result of the operation was rated excellent in 33 cases, good in nine, fair in four, and poor in two. Forty one patients were able to return to their former level of sport after an average of five months (range 1–12). Conclusion: In most cases, excellent or good results can be expected after surgical repair of partial proximal hamstring tears even after conservative treatment has failed.


With this study it is intended to determine the levels of life satisfaction, work satisfaction, conflict between daily life and work life and factors that cause stress at work of the physicians working in the primary health care in Uskudar district. 96 physicians participated in this research who is the members of the Uskudar Health Group Presidency. Research data were collected with the physician satisfaction survey. The results of analyses indicated that physicians were satisfied with their life and work at the middle level. Moreover, it was determined that doctors were sometimes conflicted between daily life and working life and they sometimes saw adequacy of work and the relationship between people and often the difficulty of the treatment of patients as the stress factor. It was also determined that Physician's work satisfaction and life satisfaction depended on each other by 35%, while the level of daily life and working life conflict increased, level of work and life satisfaction reduced, as the work life and daily life conflict level increases, work and life satisfaction reduce, by seeing the adequacy for the work and relationship between the people as a stress factor, reduces job satisfaction.


Objective: The main objective of this study is to identify the risk factors associated with anxiety and depression among Filipino patients with glaucoma at a tertiary hospital in Manila. The study also aims to determine the sociodemographic profile of patients diagnosed with glaucoma based on age, sex, and social history. Additionally, the study seeks to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression among Filipino glaucoma patients.
Methods: This is a single-center, cross-sectional study. The levels of anxiety and depression in 82 glaucoma patients, seen in a tertiary hospital in Manila, were evaluated using the Filipino version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-P) questionnaire, which consists of two subscales, representing HADS-anxiety (HADS-A) and HADS-depression (HADS-D). The sociodemographic profile of the glaucoma patients was identified using percentages and frequency distribution. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among the participants was determined using percentages. To identify the risk factors for anxiety and depression, Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis were performed with the HADS-A and HADS-D subscores as dependent variables and demographic and clinical features as independent variables.
Results: After analyzing the data available, it was noted that HADS-A score ≥ 11 was present in 15% of cases, indicating anxiety among the glaucoma patients. Borderline cases of anxiety were observed in 20% (HADS-A score of 8-10), and 65% were normal, with HADS-A scores of ≤ 7. Clinically diagnosed (HADS-D score of ≥11) cases of depression were 1%, borderline cases (HADS-D 8-10) were 12%, and patients with normal HADS-D score were 87%. The linear regression analysis revealed the following results: a significant relationship between the HADS-A subscore and age (B = −0.07, p = 0.0129); a significant relationship between the logarithm of minimum angular resolution (logMAR) best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the worse eye and HADS-A subscore (B = 0.424, p = 0.086); and the mean deviation of the worse eye and HADS-A subscore (B = 0.078, p = 0.025). The linear regression analysis revealed the following statistically significant relationships: HADS-D subscores and age (B = −0.06, p = 0.0125); logMAR BCVA of the worse eye and HADS-D subscore (B = 0.541, p = 0.006); mean deviation of the worse eye and HADS-D subscore (B = 0.070, p = 0.016); and mean deviation of the better eye and HADS-D subscore (B = 0.097, p = 0.032).
Conclusion: This study shows that the prevalence of anxiety is higher than that of depression in patients with glaucoma. It can also be concluded that younger age is a risk factor for both anxiety and depression. The patient's visual acuity in the worse eye and visual field severity are also risk factors for both anxiety and depression. It is therefore essential for physicians to be aware of the risk factors for anxiety and depression in patients with glaucoma and to provide glaucoma patients with appropriate psychological care, in addition to ophthalmological care, to prevent the development of these psychological conditions.


It is commonly held that machine-readable dictionaries play a key role in bootstrapping effective wide-coverage language-technology, especially in less well-resourced languages. However, while the linguistic knowledge they contain is clearly necessary for this goal, it is far from clear that the format it is presented in is sufficient to reach it. A crucial step in the deployment of such resources is to map them into lexical databases with standardised and well-understood structure and semantics. Furthermore, considerable additional benefits are obtained if such structure and semantics are shared with other linguistic resources. Achieving such a goal, however, is often not an easy task.
This paper describes how such a mapping was carried out in the CONCEDE project, for six Central and Eastern European Languages (Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovene) for which few wide-coverage lexical resources had previously been available. In a two-stage process, the machine-readable data for each language was first mapped into broadly compatible, TEI-compliant SGML representations, and then these representations were harmonised into a single XML scheme. The resulting framework offers a concise, flexible lexical database specification, with a demonstrable ability to cope with a diverse range of dictionary and language requirements, and lexical resources suitable for monolingual and multilingual application.


Objective: Livolin forte® (LIV) is a hepatoprotective drug that is being used in hospitals worldwide in the treatment and management of liver diseases. However, as it appear through the available published literature, the physiological effects of the drug on the liver using a rat model of hepatotoxicity is not yet well established. This study assessed the curative and prophylactic effects of LIV on carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) induced liver damage in rats.
Methods: Twenty-four adult Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: group I (normal control) received 0.3 ml/kg/day of propylene glycol for one month; group II (toxicant control) was given 0.7 ml/kg/day of CCl4 dissolved in olive oil (1:1, v/v) orally for 7 days; group III received 5.2 mg/kg/day of LIV for one month followed by CCl4 for one week; group IV received CCl4 for one week and subsequently LIV (5.2 mg/kg/day) was administered for one month. Half of the rats were sacrificed one day after the last treatment, the other half after a 2-week recovery period.
Results: The toxicant control group had significantly higher AST and ALT activities, total bilirubin and lower total protein and GSH levels compared to the normal control rats. Similarly, significant increase in serum activities of AST and ALT were observed in group III compared to the normal control rats a day after the last treatment with CCl4, whereas after the recovery period no significant differences were observed in nearly all the parameters. Moreover, group IV showed no significant differences in the parameters mentioned above compared to the normal control rats a day after the last treatment with LIV and after the recovery period.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that LIV was better as a curative agent rather than a prophylactic agent in rats.


In this study, the adsorption of 3-picrylamino-1,2,4-triazole (PATO) On the surface of fullerene (C60) was evaluated by density functional theory using, Becke, three-parameter and Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP). PATO as a green fuel, is such a green material and environmental friendly, because after combustion it produces excessive amounts of N2 gas. Due to the importance of these materials in protecting environmental pollution as well as protecting fossil fuel reserves, it is necessary to research in this field. For this purpose, the structures of PATO, C60, and the PATO-C60 complexes were optimized geometrically. Then, IR and Frontier molecular orbital calculations were performed on them. The calculated energies: Gibbs free energy changes (ΔGad) and adsorption enthalpy changes (ΔHad) revealed that the adsorption process of PATO-C60 complexes are experimentally feasible, spontaneous and exothermic. The specific heat capacity values (CV) showed the heat sensitivity has reduced significantly in the PATO-C60 complexes. The N‒O and C‒N bond lengths and the density values demonstrated that PATO-C60 complexes have higher explosive velocity and blasting pressure in comparison to the pure blasting materials without C60. The Frontier molecular orbital parameters such as band gap, chemical hardness, electrophilicity, chemical potential and charge capacity were also studied.


Abstract After a radiological dispersal device event, there may be internally and/or externally contaminated victims. Those with life-threatening injuries may require immediate medical assistance prior to decontamination. The dose rates to which a healthcare provider is exposed due to the internal and external contamination of the victim were computed using Monte Carlo simulations and five anthropomorphic phantoms. For the external contamination modeling, the contamination is assumed to be uniformly distributed over the entire exterior of the victim's body. For the internal contamination modeling, the contamination was distributed in the appropriate organs according to biokinetic modeling. The specific isotopes considered were 60Co, 137Cs, 131I, 192Ir, and 241Am. The calculated dose rates demonstrate that life-saving care to stabilize critical patients can be provided without exceeding dose guidelines for first responders.


We have theoretically investigated the phase dependence of high-harmonic generation with few-cycle laser pulses. We performed the analysis by solving the coupled evolution equations for the laser pulse and for the harmonic field in one space dimension. Our calculations reveal phase-dependent features in the cutoff region, such as a phase-dependent shift of the cutoff, that are preserved during propagation.


We introduce the experimental mobbing game. Each player in a group has the option to nominate one of the other players or to nominate no one. If the same person is nominated by all other players, he loses his payoff and the mob gains. We conduct three sets of experiments to study the effects of monetary gains, fear of being mobbed, and different types of focality. In the repeated mobbing game, we find that subjects frequently coordinate on selecting a victim, even for modest gains. Higher gains make mobbing more likely. We find no evidence that fear of becoming the victim explains mobbing. Richer and poorer players are equally focal. Pity plays no role in mobbing decisions. Ingroup members – introduced by colours – are less likely to be victims, and both payoff difference and colour difference serve as strong coordination devices. Commonly employed social preference theories do not explain our findings.


This research investigated the relationship between adolescent afterschool program attendance, self-esteem and feelings of community connectedness. Thirty-nine of the 61 at-risk adolescents enrolled in two federally funded, community based afterschool programs participated in the study. Participants completed a 10-item self-esteem questionnaire and a 5-item section of the Youth Involved in Community Issues Survey (YICI) to measure perceptions of community connectedness. Attendance records were also collected from the sites. Data were analyzed using Pearson Correlations. Results indicated that there was not a significant relationship between the total variables. The individual item analysis, however, did find a significant relationship between adolescent community connectedness and self esteem items. Findings suggest that there is a relationship to be explored and strengthened through means of community outreach for adolescents. Conclusions from this study have important implications for youth practice. Specifically, program leaders need to help adolescents get involved in the community as contributing members.