This article argues that empirical developments in international security governance offer untapped opportunities for strengthening intellectual links between European Union (EU) studies and international relations. To uncover these links, the article first demonstrates how the EU has started to address various chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear security risks through adopting an approach conceptualized as 'transnational security governance'. The article subsequently argues that this approach can be convincingly explained by drawing on the insights from the study of the sociology of bureaucracy and bureaucratic behaviour in international relations. In this story, the EU's approach to international security is an example of normal bureaucratic practice, stemming in particular from the bureaucracy's moral and expert authority. Importantly, the engagement with the broader social science scholarship will benefit EU studies as much as other sub-disciplines.


This thesis, based on a six months study of a Norwegian NGO funded development project in northern Ethiopia, is about discourses of development as they are featured in a particular donor– recipient relationship. The intention is to get a grip with the processes involved, and not to give an assessment of the project itself. Focus is on the encounter between a western development discourse and local practical knowledge as articulated by various development agents. The thesis argues that this interface generates counter-tendencies: Local informal strategies evolve in relation and as coping-mechanisms to the formal order of development. The opposing and diverging strategies serve not only to contextualise the imposed knowledge and thus make the project viable, but also to reproduce the formal order, which they are reactions to. The double effects of these strategies are identified on two separate but interconnected levels, i.e., among local practises and in the project's formal codified order. Development agents' knowledge about the discourse they encounter enables them to be reflexive and eclectic in their practices relating to the imposed structures. The thesis also discusses actors' role regarding the ambiguity identified in general development rhetoric between policy coherence and bottom-up planning. Focusing on the formal order and planning, this is accounted for. Relations between the state and NGOs concerning policy, activities and planning are also examined, arguing that NGOs produce state-like effects. Theoretically, this thesis draws on and combines the approaches of post-development theory and orientated analysis. Post-development theoreticians see development as a hegemonic, monolithic and homogenising discourse. They criticise development as a western construction to bring about western modernity, values and mentality. By including agency (and thus giving the analysis an ethnographic grounding) and moving attention from discourses to the situations where these meet, a more nuanced picture of development discourse appears. This becomes not only a critique of post-development theory, but also a strengthening of its relevance when studying the knowledge encounters of the development sector.


This thesis is based on an ethnographic study of the process of exhumation, identification and reburial of the human remains of Republican civilians killed during the Spanish Civil War and buried in mass graves located in two rural communities in the Burgos province of Castile Leon, Spain. This ethnography is based on participant-observation as an archaeologist in the exhumation process, informant interviews with participants in the exhumation, as well as an analysis of material culture in these field sites. There are estimated to be thirty thousand Republican civilian victims of political killings buried in mass graves throughout Spain. The wider context of this thesis is the resurgence of public awareness and debate of the Republican experience of political repression during Spain"s Civil War and subsequent dictatorship. This repression engendered a condition of atomization amongst the relatives of Republican victims, accompanied by state prohibitions on Republican mourning and commemoration. This condition of atomisation remained unchallenged during Spain's democratic transition, a period of political consensus characterised as the 'pact of silence'. This thesis contends that the radical rupture in the 'pact of silence' observable in Spanish society since 2000 is attributable in large part to an orchestrated campaign across Spain to exhume the bodies and personal possessions contained within the mass graves from the Civil War, and the subsequent processes of scientific identification and the return of bodies to communities for commemorative acts of reburial, which this thesis argues should be understood as a sequence of radical shifts in the way the way the past is materialised.
To enable a more detailed understanding of how this rupture has been produced, this thesis follows the exhumation process in two communities, identifying a series of shifts in the material register within in which the dead Republicans, as well as the traumatic events surrounding their deaths, are materialised. Different forms of materialising the past in my field sites were identified before, during and after exhumation. An analysis of these shifts in material register entail a consideration of a broad range of material: the imagined and remembered objects that recur in informants" narratives on the past; photographs and personal possessions from the dead; the bodies of the dead; the personal possessions retrieved from the mass grave; and the material culture that accompanies the reburial and commemoration of these bodies. The potentially divergent roles of the relatives of the dead, expert practitioners and pro-exhumation campaigners are identified. Shifts in material register are viewed as opportunities for divergent representations of the dead and of the traumatic past to be made and contested by these different participants. The question of how far these representations of the dead foster new affective bonds between the living and dead, and may form the basis for new collective identities amongst the living is assessed.


Despite the enormous impact of Enron on the accounting profession, the general malaise amongst the profession more broadly, and the significant legislative and institutional reforms that have taken place as a result, there are still surprisingly few textbooks on accounting ethics.

This concise introductory text takes a broad view of ethics and accounting, taking into account contemporary social trends, such as globalization and terrorism. Rather than delineating codes of professional conduct, this text pushes the reader towards an understanding of the nature of ethical dilemmas and the factors that influence the ways in which accountants frame ethical questions.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on developing thinking about the different kinds of ethical questions that could be posed in relation to accounting. The second part focuses more explicitly on accounting practice, exploring the ethical function of accounting in relation to the market economy, ethics in relation to the accounting profession, and the ethics of the international accounting harmonization project.

Accounting and Business Ethics is a compact introduction aimed at both students and practitioners who want to understand more about the ethics of accounting.


A novel alternative methodology (direct crystallisation) to the traditional calcium precipitation to obtain succinic acid (SA) from defined and wheat-based fermentation broths is reported. SA crystals were successfully recovered from fermentation broths (FB) using this method. A higher SA crystal purity (95%) and yield (70%) were obtained in the direct crystallisation method compared to a slightly modified traditional calcium precipitation method (90% and 24%, respectively). Chemical transformations (e.g. esterifications) to high-added value derivatives of both recovered SA crystals were then investigated using a range of solid acids including our acidic tunable mesoporous carbonaceous materials denoted as Starbon® acids. Results showed that SA crystals could be successfully converted into mono- and diesters in high yields and selectivities employing solid acids regardless of the reaction conditions. The order of reactivity was found to be: pure SA crystals > SA crystals from defined FB > FB SA crystals. Results demonstrate that SA can be effectively purified from actual fermentation broths, showing the importance of integrating the fermentation and downstream processing to optimise the fermentative production of SA and its chemical transformations to produce high-added value derivatives.


An ageing population has raised the priority of reducing the risk for age-related eye diseases that impair sight and quality of life. Chief among these diseases is age- related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of visual impairment among older adults in the developed world. The dietary xanthophylls lutein and zeaxanthin may be effective at attenuating the risk and/or progression of AMD due to their antioxidant and photo-protective properties in the macula, where they are known as the macular pigment. The macular pigment is entirely of dietary origin therefore it is important that AMD patients adopt appropriate dietary modification.
Currently, there is a lack of information regarding the lutein values of specific xanthophyll containing food sources. A lab based investigation was undertaken to determine the lutein concentrations in kale by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); information was established that may improve knowledge on the climate and post-harvest handling, processing and storage effects. Lutein concentrations in minimally processed kale were significantly lower (p<0.001) than that of kale freshly harvested. Domestic cooking and storage also had substantial negative effects on kale lutein levels.
A dietary analysis study and a qualitative based study were conducted to determine dietary habits in AMD patients. In align with previous work, AMD patients were found to be under consuming nutrients regarded as important for their condition. Subjects consumed an average of 1.7 mg of L and Z per day, and calorie intakes were significantly below government DRVs (p<0.05). Further investigations suggested that this may be attributed to certain physical and psychosocial barriers. Using the results of the laboratory based study, ready meals were created as a novel intervention to improve diet in this population.
This body of research adds insights into dietary interventions within visually impaired groups, studies embedded may enrich dietary advice in the context of AMD.


ABSTRACT The discovery of influenza virus broadly neutralizing (BrN) antibodies prompted efforts to develop universal vaccines. Influenza virus stem-reactive (SR) broadly neutralizing antibodies have been detected by screening antibody phage display libraries. However, studies of SR BrN antibodies in human serum, and their association with natural infection, are limited. To address this, pre- and postpandemic sera from a prospective community cohort study in Vietnam were assessed for antibodies that inhibit SR BrN monoclonal antibody (MAb) (C179) binding to H1N1 pandemic 2009 virus (H1N1pdm09). Of 270 households, 33 with at least one confirmed H1N1pdm09 illness or at least two seroconverters were included. The included households comprised 71 infected and 41 noninfected participants. Sera were tested as 2-fold dilutions between 1:5 and 1:40. Fifty percent C179 inhibition (IC50) titers did not exceed 10, although both IC50 titers and percent C179 inhibition by sera diluted 1:5 or 1:10 correlated with hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and microneutralization (MN) titers (all P < 0.001). Thirteen (12%) participants had detectable prepandemic IC50 titers, but only one reached a titer of 10. This proportion increased to 44% after the pandemic, when 39 participants had a titer of 10, and 67% of infected compared to 44% of noninfected had detectable IC50 titers (P < 0.001). The low levels of SR antibodies in prepandemic sera were not associated with subsequent H1N1pdm09 infection (P = 0.241), and the higher levels induced by H1N1pdm09 infection returned to prepandemic levels within 2 years. The findings indicate that natural infection induces only low titers of SR antibodies that are not sustained. IMPORTANCE Universal influenza vaccines could have substantial health and economic benefits. The focus of universal vaccine research has been to induce antibodies that prevent infection by diverse influenza virus strains. These so-called broadly neutralizing antibodies are readily detected in mice and ferrets after infection with a series of distinct influenza virus strains. The 2009 H1N1 pandemic provided an opportunity to investigate whether infection with a novel strain induced broadly neutralizing antibodies in humans. We found that broadly neutralizing antibodies were induced, but levels were low and poorly maintained. This could represent an obstacle for universal vaccine development and warrants further investigation.


It is widely recognised that monetary paper instruments appeared in China earlier than in the West, paper itself having been invented there during the Han era. However, there have been to date few direct scholarly attempts to place the early-modern Western and pre-modern Chinese formative experiences with paper money in detailed comparison by way of attaining a better understanding of the evolution of money as a whole. This article aims to make a tentative first step toward bridging this scholarly gap. It will survey in particular the extent to which the inception of Chinese paper money in 11th-century Chengdu differed from the circumstances in which European paper money emerged. Whilst some similarity between 17th-century Stockholm and 11th-century Chengdu might arguably be traced back insofar as the emergence of paper money is concerned, British banknote issuance subsequently took on new important functions. These, in turn, ushered in our modern "national-debt" economy.


Combustion is the most important process in engine operation; the development of engine technology, therefore, relies upon the advancement of combustion technology. Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), low temperature combustion (LTC) and controlled auto ignition (CAI) have the potential to allow for better fuel economy and reduced emissions in comparison with spark ignition (SI) combustion. Transient temperature distribution is crucial for understanding combustion, especially heat and mass transfer as well as the chemical reactions of combustion. The authors attempt to measure 2D gas temperature distribution using laser induced phosphorescence (LIP) techniques in a single-cylinder optical engine. The intensity ratio method from phosphorescence was employed to measure the temperature distribution. Dy:YAG phosphor was used, and excited by the 3rd harmonic of an Nd:YAG laser at a wavelength of 355nm. The phosphorescence was captured by an ICCD camera connected to an image doubler. The relationship between the intensity ratios of the two wavelengths and therefore temperature were calculated. The temperature distribution of the compression stroke was measured and compared with the mean temperature calculated from in-cylinder pressure data. The results suggest that this technique can be used for 2D gas-phase temperature measurement. This technique was also used for combustion temperature measurement. The mean temperature from LIP is generally consistent with the mean temperature calculated from in-cylinder pressure in the pre- and post-combustion processes.


Abstract Context. Bovine tuberculosis is a persistent disease of livestock in many parts of the world, especially where wildlife hosts co-exist with livestock. In south-western Spain, despite the widespread implementation of test-and-cull strategies for cattle, the herd prevalence in areas with high wild boar densities remains stable. The control of M. bovis infection in wild boar is likely to be essential for effective disease control in livestock. Methods. We developed an individual-based model to evaluate whether vaccinating wild boar piglets with oral bait would be an effective strategy to reduce the prevalence of M. bovis infection in wild boar populations. Specifically, we quantified the proportion of piglets requiring vaccination and the number of years the vaccination programme would need to continue to eradicate bTB from wild boar within 25 years, comparing 'managed' populations on hunting estates where supplementary food is provided, with 'unmanaged', free-living populations. Successful vaccination was defined as the proportion of piglets that were delivered the vaccine and were effectively protected from infection. Key results. Longer-term (25-year) vaccination strategies were more successful than short-term (5-year) strategies at either eradicating M. bovis or reducing it to below 90% of its original prevalence. M. bovis infection could be eradicated under a 25-year vaccination strategy if 80% of piglets were vaccinated in a managed population or 70% of piglets were vaccinated in an unmanaged population. In contrast, 5-year strategies in which 80% of piglets were vaccinated reduced the prevalence of M. bovis only by 27% or 8% in the managed and unmanaged populations, respectively. Conclusions. The results of our simulation model, coupled with the promising results of initial vaccine and oral bait-uptake trials in wild boar indicated that vaccination could be an effective strategy to reduce the prevalence of M. bovis infection in wild boar if used in conjunction with other disease-control measures. Implications. The vaccination of piglets over a long-term period has the potential to make an important contribution to the eradication of M. bovis infection from wild boar reservoirs in southern Spain.


A mathematical model of the attack success of planktonic predators (fish larvae and carnivorous copepods) is proposed. Based on a geometric representation of attack events, the model considers how the escape reaction characteristics (speed and direction) of copepod prey affect their probability of being captured. By combining the attack success model with previously published hydrodynamic models of predator and prey perception, we examine how predator foraging behaviour and prey perceptive ability affect the size spectra of encountered and captured copepod prey. We examine food size spectra of (i) a rheotactic cruising predator, (ii) a suspension-feeding hovering copepod and (iii) a larval fish. For rheotactic predators such as carnivorous copepods, a central assumption of the model is that attack is triggered by prey escape reaction, which in turn depends on the deformation rate of the fluid created by the predator. The model demonstrates that within a species of copepod prey, the ability of larger stages to react at a greater distance from the predator results in increased strike distance and, hence, lower capture probability. For hovering copepods, the vorticity field associated with the feeding current also acts in modifying the prey escape direction. The model demonstrates that the reorientation of the prey escape path towards the centre of the feeding current's flow field results in increased attack success of the predator. Finally, the model examines how variability in the kinetics of approach affects the strike distance of larval fish. In cases where observational data are available, model predictions closely fit observations.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation engines use a variety of different approaches for modeling molecular systems with force fields that govern their dynamics and describe their topology. These different approaches introduce incompatibilities between engines, and previously published software bridges the gaps between many popular MD packages, such as between CHARMM and AMBER or GROMACS and LAMMPS. While there are many structure building tools available that generate topologies and structures in CHARMM format, only recently have mechanisms been developed to convert their results into GROMACS input. We present an approach to convert CHARMM-formatted topology and parameters into a format suitable for simulation with GROMACS by expanding the functionality of TopoTools, a plugin integrated within the widely used molecular visualization and analysis software VMD. The conversion process was diligently tested on a comprehensive set of biological molecules in vacuo. The resulting comparison between energy terms shows that the translation performed was lossless as the energies were unchanged for identical starting configurations. By applying the conversion process to conventional benchmark systems that mimic typical modestly sized MD systems, we explore the effect of the implementation choices made in CHARMM, NAMD, and GROMACS. The newly available automatic conversion capability breaks down barriers between simulation tools and user communities and allows users to easily compare simulation programs and leverage their unique features without the tedium of constructing a topology twice.


ABSTRACT The experimental delivery of spinal anaesthetics to the desired heights in the body, even above the termination of the spinal cord (thoracic level), has been shown to be potentially very valuable. Since there is no blockade of the lower extremities, little caudal spread, a significantly larger portion of the body experiences no venal dilation, and may offer a compensatory buffer to adverse changes in blood pressure intra-operatively. Further, the dosing of the anaesthetic is exceedingly low, given the highly specific block to only certain nerve function along a section of the cord. Thirdly, the degree of muscle relaxation achievable without central or peripheral respiratory or circulatory depression is superior to that with general anaesthesia. Results from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) studies indicate that the spinal cord lies anteriorly within its thecal boundaries in the apex of the thoracic curve. Intrathecal injections, therefore, at thoracic levels may have a greater absolute margin of error before needle contact with neural tissue—although the consequences of inadvertent contact are possibly more disastrous. The thoracic CSE technique has been practised in twelve patients with cardiovascular and/or pulmonary problems. Despite bad haemodynamic situations and/or severe end-stage lung problems, abdominal surgery (i.e. cholecystectomy, bowel and vascular surgery) could be performed successfully with the thoracic CSE method, with low impact on the patient. Anaesthetic care of the patients would have been more difficult, with consequently larger impacts on haemodynamic and pulmonary function, should these surgeries have occurred under general anaesthesia—the usual anaesthetic technique of choice. CSE techniques can be used in the thoracic region in patients who otherwise would receive general anaesthesia. High risk patients, with limited cardio-respiratory reserves, present challenges to the anaesthesiologist. Using the thoracic CSE technique in the thoracic space is extending the boundaries of regional anaesthesia.


In addition to their well characterized effects at dopamine receptors, neuroleptic drugs have been shown to affect the level and in vitro metabolism of neuropeptides. In the present study, the effect of acute and subchronic administration of the neuroleptic haloperidol and the nonselective, dopamine agonist apomorphine on neuropeptidase activity was determined in regional, rat brain P2 membranes. Subchronic administration of haloperidol decreased the activity of aminopeptidase N in the frontal cortex and caudate-putamen. In contrast, subchronic administration of apomorphine increased aminopeptidase N activity in the frontal cortex and caudate-putamen. Neutral endopeptidase 24.11 also was affected differentially in the caudate-putamen, but both subchronic haloperidol and apomorphine decreased neutral endopeptidase 24.11 activity in the frontal cortex. Metalloendopeptidase 24.15 activity was decreased in the caudate-putamen after acute haloperidol and increased in the frontal cortex after acute apomorphine administration; however, no effect was noted after subchronic administration of either drug. Angiotensin converting enzyme was not affected by any treatment. Therefore, neuroleptic-induced alterations in aminopeptidase N, neutral endopeptidase 24.11 and metalloendopeptidase 24.15 activity may account for previously reported alterations in neuropeptide degradation. In view of the interaction between mesocorticolimbic dopamine neurons and neuropeptides, e.g., substance P, neurotensin and enkephalins, neuroleptic-induced alterations in the activities of neuropeptidases, and thus neuropeptide metabolism can, in turn, play a role in modulating midbrain dopaminergic activity.


Current permissionless cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin suffer from a limited transaction rate and slow confirmation time, which hinders further adoption. Payment channels are one of the most promising solutions to address these problems, as they allow the parties of the channel to perform arbitrarily many payments in a peer-to-peer fashion while uploading only two transactions on the blockchain. This concept has been generalized into payment channel networks where a path of payment channels is used to settle the payment between two users that might not share a direct channel between them. However, this approach requires the active involvement of each user in the path, making the system less reliable (they might be offline), more expensive (they charge fees per payment), and slower (intermediaries need to be actively involved in the payment). To mitigate this issue, recent work has introduced the concept of virtual channels (IEEE S&P'19), which involve intermediaries only in the initial creation of a bridge between payer and payee, who can later on independently perform arbitrarily many off-chain transactions. Unfortunately, existing constructions are only available for Ethereum, as they rely on its account model and Turing-complete scripting language. The realization of virtual channels in other blockchain technologies with limited scripting capabilities, like Bitcoin, was so far considered an open challenge.In this work, we present the first virtual channel protocols that are built on the UTXO-model and require a scripting language supporting only a digital signature scheme and a timelock functionality, being thus backward compatible with virtually every cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin. We formalize the security properties of virtual channels as an ideal functionality in the Universal Composability framework and prove that our protocol constitutes a secure realization thereof. We have prototyped and evaluated our protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain, demonstrating its efficiency: for n sequential payments, they require an off-chain exchange of 9+2n transactions or a total of 3524+695n bytes, with no on-chain footprint in the optimistic case. This is a substantial improvement compared to routing payments in a payment channel network, which requires 8n transactions with a total of 3026n bytes to be exchanged.


We present the results of the <bigwig> project, which aims to design and implement a high-level domain-specific language for programming interactive Web services. A fundamental aspect of the development of the World Wide Web during the last decade is the gradual change from static to dynamic generation of Web pages. Generating Web pages dynamically in dialogue with the client has the advantage of providing up-to-date and tailor-made information. The development of systems for constructing such dynamic Web services has emerged as a whole new research area. The <bigwig> language is designed by analyzing its application domain and identifying fundamental aspects of Web services inspired by problems and solutions in existing Web service development languages. The core of the design consists of a session-centered service model together with a flexible template-based mechanism for dynamic Web page construction. Using specialized program analyses, certain Web specific properties are verified at compile-time, for instance that only valid HTML 4.01 is ever shown to the clients. In addition, the design provides high-level solutions to form field validation, caching of dynamic pages, and temporal-logic based concurrency control, and it proposes syntax macros for making highly domain-specific languages. The language is implemented via widely available Web technologies, such as Apache on the server-side and JavaScript and Java Applets on the client-side. We conclude with experience and evaluation of the project.


I wanted Jim to start this discussion precisely because there are UN instruments, and we do not have a specific instrument in the Inter-American system as yet on the rights of indigenous peoples. There has been one in progress for 23 years. We may break the UN record in terms of how long it takes to negotiate a final text. We are meeting again in the middle of April for another negotiating session, so there does seem to be some slow progress. But, ironically, the adoption of the UN instrument has provided an excuse for not going forward with an American declaration in the minds of some governments, and they say, "What's the point? The UN has done the state-of-the-art," and I think that's not accurate. There are some issues the UN declaration does not touch upon, and we can come back to that later in terms of what those are. The question is then, what do we do and what law do we make reference to in the Inter-American system? I'll do a little compare-and-contrast about my mandate and the Inter-American system compared to Jim's mandate. Unlike the UN, we do not pull in outside people, by and large, to be our rapporteurs. Instead, the members of the Commission themselves are country and thematic rapporteurs. We have seven members elected for four-year terms by the OAS General Assembly, and they are staggered terms. So during every even-numbered year we have a certain number of new commissioners come in, and in January, we sit down and do orientation for the new commissioners and play OAS monopoly. We divide up the 35 countries in the hemisphere in terms of who is going to be the rapporteur for the countries, and then we allocate the thematic rapporteurship. I have a couple of countries in which indigenous issues are prevalent--Guatemala and Ecuador. Then, to balance that with a slightly easier mandate, I have the English-speaking Caribbean. I'm still waiting for my yacht to visit all of them. [Laughter] And so in that context, we each have a certain population. We are much less like the UN in terms of having rapporteurships for specific rights. We tend to have seven of our eight rapporteurships deal with vulnerable populations. We only have one--freedom of expression--that deals with a specific right. So the mandate of the Commission is to promote and protect human rights, which we do not see as promote or protect. We see them as overlapping, and we do many of the same things that Jim does. We do country visits. We do thematic reports. We hold hearings. Jim didn't mention anything about invoking people to have hearings, but we hold hearings in two of our three sessions. We just finished the spring session yesterday, so we have five days of hearings during the session. That can be either addressing a country/case, or a theme/ issue that crosses several countries. This year, eight out of our approximately 50 hearings concerned indigenous peoples. I think that is the highest number that we've ever had on this issue, and it's indicative of the demand for the hearings--we get over 200 requests for hearings--and also the issues that are seen to be particularly important by the Commission. As I mentioned, we issue thematic reports. I've put our most recent thematic report on indigenous peoples on the back table, which is a compilation of the standards and jurisprudence of the system on the land and resource rights of indigenous peoples. Please feel free to take that with you. It came out at the beginning of last year, and it was a very long process of drafting. In addition to hearings and thematic reports, we sometimes issue country reports that can either be on the general situation of human rights in a country or on a specific issue. One of the specific ones that was done by the Commission some years ago was on the Miskito Indians of the eastern region of Nicaragua. We have in mind to be doing another of those this year. We also are in the planning stage of having a joint report done by my rapporteurship and the rapporteurship on the status of women on the issue of discrimination against indigenous women and the problems they face in the hemisphere. …


PURPOSE
To develop a single unifying device that will record, document and track mechanical, optical and dosimetric measurements to reduce the number of devices used and time spent to perform the monthly Quality Assurance (QA) tasks recommended in AAPM Task Group 142 Report.

METHODS
This device includes a novel multi-mirror system with rotating capabilities which directs the optical and radiation sources to a stationary camera to acquire images of all planes centered on the isocenter of the medical accelerator. A single phosphor screen is used as the receptor for optical light imaging. A plastic buildup sheet is added for radiation measurements. A computer interface allows efficient pass/fail analysis for laser alignment, light/radiation field coincidence, flatness and symmetry tests and MLC QA.

RESULTS
The system has been used to successfully acquire images that have never been recorded before, such as a combination of the light field, optical distance indicator and lasers as well as radiation field. QA of mechanical motions such as table rotation is readily captured. Radiation QA measurements accommodate both x-ray and electron beams. QA of gantry motion can be performed by rotating the device. The time spent in Monthly QA according to TG-142 for these tasks will be reduced in half.

CONCLUSION
A single device has been successfully developed to unify all mechanical, optical and radiation components for required and recommended monthly QA tasks, reducing monthly machine maintenance time. In particular, the device records and documents optical measurements that are now only evaluated visually which will strengthen the confidence for safe patient treatment. Dr. John W. Wong is a founder of JPLC Associates LLC which has licensed the technology from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Daniel J. Mirota's participation in this publication was as a paid consultant for JPLC Associates LLC. All opinions expressed and implied by Dr. Daniel J. Mirota in this publication are solely those of Dr. Daniel J. Mirota and do not represent or reflect the views of Johns Hopkins University. The work is supported in part by a grant from Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) of Maryland.


Since identification, instrumental variables and variables exclusion, core concepts in econometrics, are entwined, several questions arise: How is identification related to the existence of IVs? How are identification criteria related to omitted variables? Is omission/inclusion of variables from a model's equations part of the definition of IVs? Is exogeneity a critical claim to an IV? Is 'omitted variables' a meaningful term for a single equation when its 'environment' is incompletely described? Which are the borderlines between omitted, observable variables, omitted non-modeled variables, latent variables represented by proxies or measurement error mechanisms? These are among the questions addressed in this paper, partly with reference to the conflict between 'experimentalists' and 'structuralists', specifically relating to: (i) the contrast between 'rudimentary models' and models for 'limited information inference', (ii) the distinction between exogeneity of variables and the orthogonality claim for IVs and disturbances or errors, (iii) the role of predetermined variables in selecting IVs, and (iv) the 'omitted variables' concept and the role of IVs in 'handling' such variables, when considering the 'origin' of the omission.


Hydrogen storage in porous geological formations is a potential option to mitigate offsets between power demand and generation in an energy system largely based on renewables. Incorporating hydrogen storage into the energy network requires the consideration of multiple scenarios for storage settings and potential loading cycles, causing a high computational effort. Therefore, homogenous replacement models are constructed by applying different spatial averaging methods for permeability and linearized relative permeability to an ensemble of heterogeneous reservoir representations of a potential hydrogen storage site. The applicability of these replacement models for approximating storage characteristics, such as well flow rates, pressure changes and power rates, is investigated by comparing their results to the results of the full heterogeneous ensemble. It is found that using the arithmetic mean to estimate the lateral and the harmonic mean for the vertical permeability in the homogeneous replacement models provides an approximation to the median of the heterogeneous ensemble for pressure changes, storage flow rate, gas in place and power output. Basic time-dependent effects of reducing well flow, and thus the power rates, during an extraction cycle can also be represented by these homogeneous replacement models. Using geometric means is found not to yield a valid representation of the storage behaviour.


This project was born with the aim of developing an environmentally and financially sustainable process to dispose of end-life tires. In this perspective was devised an innovative static bed batch pilot reactor where pyrolysis can be carried out on the whole tires in order to recover energy and materials and simultaneously save the energy costs of their shredding. The innovative plant is also able to guarantee a high safety of the process thanks to the presence of a hydraulic guard.
The pilot plant was used to pyrolyze new and end-life tires at temperatures from 400 to 600°C with step of 50°C in presence of steam. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of the maximum process temperature on yields and chemical-physics properties of pyrolysis products. In addition, in view of a scale-up of the plant in continuous mode, the influence of the nature of several different tires as well as the effects of the aging on the final products were studied.
The same pilot plant was also used to carry out pyrolysis on polymeric matrix composites in order to obtain chemical feedstocks from the resin degradation together with the recovery of the reinforcement in the form of fibers. Carbon fibers reinforced composites ad fiberglass was treated in the 450-600°C range and the products was fully characterized. A second oxidative step was performed on the pyrolysis solid residue in order to obtain the fibers in a suitable condition for a subsequent re-impregnation in order to close the composite Life Cycle in a cradle-to-cradle approach.
These investigations have demonstrated that steel wires, char, carbon and glass fibers recovered in the prototypal plant as solid residues can be a viable alternative to pristine materials, making use of them to obtain new products with a commercial added value.


Abstract In this study we analyse the development of business investments in Finland and in other countries of comparison on the basis of national accounts, survey data and a sector-level general equilibrium model. According to the results, the decline in investments in Finland is mainly explained by two factors: the decrease in the investments in construction and the collapse of the research and development costs of the Nokia cluster. The aggregate production has, however, dropped almost at a corresponding rate with the investments. For this reason, the investment rate of companies is currently almost at the same level as in the years 2000–2008. However, after the financial crisis the development of investment volume has been weaker in Finland than in many other countries. The differences cannot be explained by the availability of debt financing, as access to capital in clearly better in Finland than in most other European countries. The investment rate in Finland is reduced especially by weak future prospects for the growth of productivity. The anticipated decline in the labour force also somewhat hinders the rate of investment. The analyses also show that Finland competes against Estonia for manufacturing investments as well as for headquarter locations. In the long term, the greatest concern is that in industries other than electronics, the Finnish private R&D investments are no higher than the European average. In other words, Finland does not seem to have an especially strong ambition to seek for a competitive advantage in innovations.


Motivation: The enormous amount of short reads generated by the new DNA sequencing technologies call for the development of fast and accurate read alignment programs. A first generation of hash table-based methods has been developed, including MAQ, which is accurate, feature rich and fast enough to align short reads from a single individual. However, MAQ does not support gapped alignment for single-end reads, which makes it unsuitable for alignment of longer reads where indels may occur frequently. The speed of MAQ is also a concern when the alignment is scaled up to the resequencing of hundreds of individuals. Results: We implemented Burrows-Wheeler Alignment tool (BWA), a new read alignment package that is based on backward search with Burrows–Wheeler Transform (BWT), to efficiently align short sequencing reads against a large reference sequence such as the human genome, allowing mismatches and gaps. BWA supports both base space reads, e.g. from Illumina sequencing machines, and color space reads from AB SOLiD machines. Evaluations on both simulated and real data suggest that BWA is ∼10–20× faster than MAQ, while achieving similar accuracy. In addition, BWA outputs alignment in the new standard SAM (Sequence Alignment/Map) format. Variant calling and other downstream analyses after the alignment can be achieved with the open source SAMtools software


Abstract. This study investigates the concentration, cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity and hygroscopic properties of particles influenced by biomass burning in the eastern Mediterranean and their impacts on cloud droplet formation. Air masses sampled were subject to a range of atmospheric processing (several hours up to 3 days). Values of the hygroscopicity parameter, κ, were derived from CCN measurements and a Hygroscopic Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (HTDMA). An Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) was also used to determine the chemical composition and mass concentration of non-refractory components of the submicron aerosol fraction. During fire events, the increased organic content (and lower inorganic fraction) of the aerosol decreases the values of κ, for all particle sizes. Particle sizes smaller than 80 nm exhibited considerable chemical dispersion (where hygroscopicity varied up to 100 % for particles of same size); larger particles, however, exhibited considerably less dispersion owing to the effects of condensational growth and cloud processing. ACSM measurements indicate that the bulk composition reflects the hygroscopicity and chemical nature of the largest particles (having a diameter of  ∼  100 nm at dry conditions) sampled. Based on positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the organic ACSM spectra, CCN concentrations follow a similar trend as the biomass-burning organic aerosol (BBOA) component, with the former being enhanced between 65 and 150 % (for supersaturations ranging between 0.2 and 0.7 %) with the arrival of the smoke plumes. Using multilinear regression of the PMF factors (BBOA, OOA-BB and OOA) and the observed hygroscopicity parameter, the inferred hygroscopicity of the oxygenated organic aerosol components is determined. We find that the transformation of freshly emitted biomass burning (BBOA) to more oxidized organic aerosol (OOA-BB) can result in a 2-fold increase of the inferred organic hygroscopicity; about 10 % of the total aerosol hygroscopicity is related to the two biomass-burning components (BBOA and OOA-BB), which in turn contribute almost 35 % to the fine-particle organic water of the aerosol. Observation-derived calculations of the cloud droplet concentrations that develop for typical boundary layer cloud conditions suggest that biomass burning increases droplet number, on average by 8.5 %. The strongly sublinear response of clouds to biomass-burning (BB) influences is a result of strong competition of CCN for water vapor, which results in very low maximum supersaturation (0.08 % on average). Attributing droplet number variations to the total aerosol number and the chemical composition variations shows that the importance of chemical composition increases with distance, contributing up to 25 % of the total droplet variability. Therefore, although BB may strongly elevate CCN numbers, the impact on droplet number is limited by water vapor availability and depends on the aerosol particle concentration levels associated with the background.


Hyperexcitability of peripheral nociceptive pathways is often associated with inflammation and is an important mechanism underlying inflammatory pain. Here we describe a completely novel mechanism via which nociceptor G-protein-coupled receptor kinase 2 (GRK2) contributes to regulation of inflammatory hyperalgesia. We show that nociceptor GRK2 is downregulated during inflammation. In addition, we show for the first time that prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-induced hyperalgesia is prolonged from <6 h in wild-type (WT) mice to 3 d in mice with low GRK2 in Nav1.8+ nociceptors (SNS–GRK2 +/− mice). This prolongation of PGE2 hyperalgesia in SNS–GRK2 +/− mice does not depend on changes in the sensitivity of the prostaglandin receptors because prolonged hyperalgesia also developed in response to 8-Br-cAMP. PGE2 or cAMP-induced hyperalgesia in WT mice is PKA dependent. However, PKA activity is not required for hyperalgesia in SNS–GRK2 +/− mice. SNS–GRK2 +/− mice developed prolonged hyperalgesia in response to the Exchange proteins directly activated by cAMP (Epac) activator 8-pCPT-2′-O-Me-cAMP (8-pCPT). Coimmunoprecipitation experiments showed that GRK2 binds to Epac1. In vitro, GRK2 deficiency increased 8-pCPT-induced activation of the downstream effector of Epac, Rap1, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). In vivo, inhibition of MEK1 or PKCε prevented prolonged PGE2, 8-Br-cAMP, and 8-pCPT hyperalgesia in SNS–GRK2 +/− mice. In conclusion, we discovered GRK2 as a novel Epac1-interacting protein. A reduction in the cellular level of GRK2 enhances activation of the Epac–Rap1 pathway. In vivo, low nociceptor GRK2 leads to prolonged inflammatory hyperalgesia via biased cAMP signaling from PKA to Epac–Rap1, ERK/PKCε pathways.


We develop a novel methodology to identify competitors in markets where spatial location is an important factor of differentiation. In differentiated product markets, determining the key competitors of a focal product requires a characterization of customer demand that includes the identification of heterogeneous customer segments. The prevalent approach to characterize such a demand system is through a random utility model of customer choice. The existing methods used to estimate these models based on aggregate product sales data exploit variation in the set of product offerings to identify customer heterogeneity. Our proposed methodology uses a different empirical strategy: we use variation in observable attributes that determine the size of the distinct customer segments. This approach is useful to study markets where the set of product offerings and their characteristics are fixed or change infrequently. We apply our methodology in the hotel travel industry, where the characterization of key competitors is commonly used in practice to benchmark hotel performance. We collect publicly available data on local events to explain variation in customer segments, differentiating events by location and business/leisure purposes. Our methodology can be used effectively to characterize customer heterogeneity and identify the closest competitors to any focal hotel.


Abstract We monitored the movements of nine radio-tagged, adult, male Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) in adjacent home ranges during the breeding seasons of 1996 or 1997 in Tucson, Arizona, to ascertain the sizes and degree of overlap of home ranges, and to assess habitat selection at two spatial scales. Size of home ranges differed among hawks (13.3–130.6 ha), but the average was small [65.5 ha ± 40.7 (SD)] compared to the size of home ranges reported for Cooper's Hawks in the literature. Home range size generally decreased with the number of years that a hawk had lived on its breeding territory. Only one pair of home ranges overlapped each other; overlap of one home range on the other in this pair was 14.2% and 10.6%. Proportions of land-use categories in home ranges varied widely among hawks, and suggested that the hawks did not select their home ranges on the basis of the categories we examined. Patterns of habitat use inside individual home ranges suggested that male hawks hunted primarily in the environments that surrounded their nests. Cooper's Hawks in Tucson feed primarily on doves [Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura), Inca Doves (Columbina inca), and White-winged Doves (Zenaida asiatica)], and we speculate that the abundance of doves throughout Tucson allowed the hawks to hunt successfully in several urban environments. We also speculate that Cooper's Hawks in Tucson have relatively small home ranges because they do not need to range far from their nests to find food.


Recent research at the University of Strathclyde culminated in the development of a numerical procedure for assessing the damage survivability of damaged Ro-Ro vessels. Using this as a basis, new survival criteria have been proposed and submitted to IMO for consideration by the international shipping community. This paper presents the results of a fundamental study aimed at enhancing insight into one of the most dominant parameters affecting the survival of a Ro-Ro vessel, the water accumulation on the vehicle deck. The investigation represents an attempt to identify the most important contributing factors to the flooding process by performing a series of experiments using a scaled model of a typical Ro-Ro vessel. The matrix considered involves a range of ship design and environmental parameters in a number of simplified damage scenarios, building up to the more realistic damages in a way that allows for isolation of individual contributions to the water accumulation on the Ro-Ro deck. The results of the experiments, supplemented by and contrasted with results of numerical simulations, are presented and discussed, leading to recommendations for characterising the flooding process for general assessment of damage survivability.


I composed the two companion pieces for piccolo 'mist/…branches against a white sky' during 2004 – started in the early late Winter and early Spring in Kedainiai (Lithuania), then Glasgow and finished them during a summer of work in Tuscany.

The overriding metaphor for these two movements is the witnessing of the gradual emanation and movement of life – from the harsh icy mists of a Lithuanian winter slowly, inevitably giving way to gentle tendrils of life.

By 2003 I had come to know the pioneering flute work of Roberto Fabbriciani very well – in fact by this time I was lucky enough to be able to count on him as a close friend. I was honoured by his invitation to compose a new work for solo piccolo.

Repertoire of works for solo piccolo is much smaller than that of the standard flute, perhaps because it is perceived as being limited from the perspectives of timbre and register – how is one to compose a structure of convincing dramatic contrast for such a small, high pitched instrument. Two important compositional models for me were the seminal piccolo works Nidi by Franco Donatoni (1979) and Superscriptio by Brian Ferneyhough (1981) – each commissioned and premiered by Fabbriciani. These works each demonstrated significant advances in the use of extended techniques, including microtonal trills, quarter tones, flutter tongue, multiphonics etc – each displayed the mercurial virtuosity that is achievable across its keys.

Many of the colourations of mist/branches against a white sky: intonated and tremolo breath, whistle tones, harmonics, lip bend, mobility of distance of lips to mouthpiece etc. recall the many colourations of the works mentioned above and many more besides – including those by Luigi Nono, Salvatore Sciarinno, Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna many of which were composed around the extraordinary musicianship of Roberto Fabbriciani. It was my intention to compose a work for this instrument of sonic brilliance that would draw upon and extend its many articulative colours that have been explored over the last few decades, while at the same time compose a work that would make a substantial contribution to the solo piccolo repertoire. Once I had settled upon its palette of sonic colours I allowed them to unfold ever so gradually over its canvas of time - aided by a probabilistic time-based computer algorithm realised in the ircam software environment OpenMusic.


To date findings demonstrate that the Microdictyon umbilicatum bloom biomass can be effectively composted with terrestrial greenwaste to provide a soil conditioner with a useful macronutrient and trace element profile, and with no evidence of metal contamination of concern. As expected with an unwashed marine algal source, the sodium concentrations were elevated and dosing of % seaweed biomass in compost should be controlled accordingly. Native plant growth responses to Microdictyon umbilicatum enhanced compost were positive up to 5% compost content in a 1:1 mix with potting mix (total 2.5% seaweed biomass), with increased growth rates for both species; saltbush (Rhagodia candoleana) and Coastal Banksia (Banksia integrifolia). Salt bush maintained enhanced growth rates for the 10% and 20% compost additions as well, but showed most benefit at 5% as an increase in leaf abundance as well. Banksia did not respond as well to higher seaweed concentration composts. Publication Details Winberg, P. C., DeMestre, C., Willis, S. (2011) Evaluating Microdictyon umbilicatum bloom biomass as an agricultural compost conditioner for native and commercial plants. Report to Shoalhaven City Council, 30p. This report is available at Research Online: http://ro.uow.edu.au/smfc/1


The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of conservation tillage adoption decisions by identifying key biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing no-till adoption by grain growers across four Australian cropping regions. The study is based on interviews with 384 grain growers using a questionnaire aimed at eliciting perceptions relating to a range of possible long- and short-term agronomic interactions associated with the relative economic advantage of shifting to a no-tillage cropping system. Together with other farm and farmer-specific variables, a dichotomous logistic regression analysis was used to identify opportunities for research and extension to facilitate more rapid adoption decisions. The broader systems approach to considering conservation tillage adoption identified important determinants of adoption not associated with soil conservation and erosion prevention benefits. Most growers recognised the erosion-reducing benefits of no-till but it was not an important factor in explaining whether a grower was an adopter or non-adopter. Perceptions associated with shorter-term crop production benefits under no-till, such as the relative effectiveness of pre-emergent herbicides and the ability to sow crops earlier on less rainfall were influential. Employment of a consultant and increased attendance of cropping extension activities were strongly associated with no-till adoption, confirming the information and learning-intensive nature of adopting no-till cropping systems.


A number of different approaches have been utilized in recent years for the treatment of Parkinson's disease with varying effects on associated communication disorders. In particular, the drug treatments based on levodopa therapy and, more recently, deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) have yielded variable effects on the speech disorders exhibited by the majority of persons with Parkinson's disease. With respect to STN-DBS, although reports indicate significant improvement in the symptomatology in Parkinson's disease associated with limb function, the majority of reports suggest that the procedure has either minimal or, in most cases, negative effects on speech abilities of the affected individuals. By far the most effective speech therapy technique applied to dysarthria in Parkinson's disease reported to date is the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) program. In addition to speech impairment, in recent years there has also been increasing awareness that Parkinson's disease is also associated with the occurrence of language disorders, especially in its later stages. This special issue contains 13 papers of which 10 are related to issues associated with speech impairment and 3 further papers explore aspects of language impairment in Parkinson's disease.

The first paper entitled "Perceived changes in communication as an effect of STN surgery in Parkinson's disease: a qualitative interview study" by E. Ahlberg et al. explored the perspective of four individuals with Parkinson's disease on the way their speech and communication changed as a result of STN-DBS. Overall the study confirmed earlier findings of negative effects on speech production; however, irrespective of this, the patients in general were positive as to the outcome of their surgery. The paper by F. Karlsson et al. "Deep brain stimulation of caudal zone incerta and subthalamic nucleus in patients with Parkinson's disease: effects on diadochokinetic rate," investigated the outcome of STN-DBS and stimulation of the caudal zone incerta (cZi-DBS) on articulation rate and quality of plosive consonants in two articulatory diadochokinetic tasks. Whereas patients receiving STN-DBS increased in articulation rate with no effect on production quality, patients receiving cZi-DBS decreased in articulation rate and further showed reduction in production quality suggesting that cZi-DBS is more detrimental for extended articulatory movements than STN-DBS.

The third paper, "Deep brain stimulation of caudal zone incerta and subthalamic nucleus in patients with Parkinson's disease: effects on voice intensity" by S. Lundgren et al. compares the effects of cZi-DBS and STN-DBS on voice intensity of patients with Parkinson's disease. Overall the results indicated that the two different surgical procedures may have differential effects on voice intensity. The fourth paper by C. Dromey and S. Bjarnason, "A preliminary report on disordered speech with deep brain stimulation in individuals with Parkinson's disease," attempted to determine which laryngeal and articulatory acoustic features changed in patients that reported negative speech outcomes subsequent to STN-DBS. Acoustic measures of articulation and phonation as well as verbal fluency scores showed mixed results with STN-DBS.

The fifth paper in this special issue, "Effects of LSVT on lexical tone in speakers with Parkinson's disease" by T. L. Whitehill et al. represents one of the very few studies to have investigated the effect of LSVT on lexical tone. The study involved 12 Cantonese speakers with idiopathic Parkinson's disease who underwent standard LSVT treatment. Although the results showed significant improvement in loudness and intonation after treatment, no significant changes were reported in lexical tone. The sixth paper included in the special issue, "Acoustic analysis of PD speech" by K. Chenausky et al. investigated speech changes as a result of STN-DBS settings chosen to maximize motor performance. Importantly, clinically motivated settings evaluated by the researchers showed a greater capacity to impair, rather than improve, speech. Lingual kinematics during consonant production in both dysarthric and nondysarthric speakers with Parkinson's disease were investigated in the seventh paper, "Lingual kinematics in dysarthric and nondysarthric speakers with Parkinson's disease" by M. N. Wong et al. The findings indicated that dysarthric and nondysarthric speakers with Parkinson's disease had deviant articulatory movement during consonant production that results in longer duration of consonant production. Importantly, these findings are contrary to contemporary theories that suggest articulatory imprecision in dysarthric speakers with Parkinson's disease is an outcome of reduced range of articulatory movement.

The eighth paper in the current issue, "Assessment of prosodic communicative efficiency in Parkinson's disease as judged by professional listeners" by H. Martens et al. investigated the impact of Parkinson's disease on communicative efficiency conveyed through prosody. Although no significant differences were found for emotional prosody, patients with a moderate or severe dysarthria performed significantly worse on imitation of Focus than on reading of Focus. The ninth paper included in the special issue, "Perception of speech by individuals with Parkinson's disease: a review" by L. C. Kwan and T. L. Whitehill, explored the possibility of the presence of a deficit in the perception of speech in individuals with Parkinson's disease. Based on a review of the literature, it was concluded that Parkinson's disease specifically impairs patients' perception of verbal emotions. The aim of the tenth paper, "A cognitive-perceptual approach to conceptualizing speech intelligibility deficits and remediation practice in hypokinetic dysarthria" by K. L. Landsford et al. was to introduce a novel framework for medical practitioners in order to conceptualize and justify potential targets for speech remediation in patients with Parkinson's disease. The most commonly targeted deficits, including speaking rate and vocal loudness, were supported by this approach.

The eleventh paper, "High-level language production in Parkinson's disease: a review" by L. J. P. Altmann and M. S. Troche, reviewed the literature on language production in Parkinson's disease and provided detailed discussion of the language production processes that are impaired in this condition. It was concluded that Parkinson's disease affects all stages of language production, including conceptualization, functional and positional processing. Two semantic priming tasks designed to isolate automatic and controlled semantic activation were utilized in the twelfth paper, "The influence of dopamine on automatic and controlled semantic activation in Parkinson's disease" by W. L. Arnott et al. to investigate the impact of dopamine depletion on semantic processing in Parkinson's disease. Overall, the results demonstrated that dopamine depletion can cause disturbances in both automatic and controlled semantic activation. The final paper in this special issue, "Sentence comprehension and its association with executive functions in patients with Parkinson's disease" by K. S. F. Colman et al. aimed to provide insight into the interaction between linguistic representation and processing and executive functioning in individuals with Parkinson's disease. Overall, it was concluded that there does not appear to be a language faculty independent of executive functioning.

Bruce Murdoch

Tara Whitehill

Miet de Letter

Harrison Jones


The epithelial-mesenchymal transition allows cancer cells to remodel the extracellular matrix and invade tissues. However, invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells do not lose their epithelial markers, which led Gaggioli et al. to investigate how these cells invaded tissues. The authors devised a three-dimensional culture system consisting of a matrix block, containing mainly collagen and laminin, placed in culture medium with its upper surface exposed. SCC cells placed on this surface did not invade the matrix when cultured alone but did so when cultured with fibroblasts from tumors, as determined by immunohistochemical staining. Invasion by SCC cells was blocked when a thin sheet of matrix was placed between the fibroblasts and the SCC cells. Differential fluorescent labeling of SCC cells and fibroblasts showed that a chain of invading SCC cells in the matrix was always preceded by a fibroblast. Electron and reflectance microscopy revealed that "tracks" in the matrix generated by fibroblasts contained deposits of fibronectin and evidence of matrix remodeling. Inhibitor studies showed that, whereas the invasion of the matrix by fibroblasts was dependent on the activities of matrix metalloproteinases, matrix remodeling was dependent on the small guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase) Rho and Rho-associated kinase (ROCK). Antibodies against the α3 and α5 integrins also inhibited matrix remodeling by fibroblasts. Inhibiting Rho or ROCK activity in SCC cells had no effect on their ability to follow fibroblasts; however, inhibition of the GTPase Cdc42 prevented invasion. Immunohistochemical analysis of sections from head and neck SCCs showed invading groups of SCC cells in close association with fibroblasts and fibronectin deposits. In commentary, Radisky discusses how the invasion process revealed in this study can help us in our understanding of metastasis. C. Gaggioli, S. Hooper, C. Hidalgo-Carcedo, R. Grosse, J. F. Marshall, K. Harrington, E. Sahai, Fibroblast-led collective invasion of carcinoma cells with differing roles for RhoGTPases in leading and following cells. Nat. Cell Biol. 9, 1392-1400 (2007). [PubMed] D. C. Radisky, Leading the charge. Nat. Cell Biol. 9, 1341-1342 (2007). [PubMed]


ABSTRACT It is the objective of the study to determine the extent to which human navigation is affected by perceptions of our immediate surroundings or by already established knowledge in terms of a cognitive map. The motivation is to contribute to the knowledge about human navigation and to inform planning with estimates of bicyclists' route preferences and 'willingness-to-pay' (in terms of transport distance vs. utility/disutility of route characteristics). The core method is choice modelling of observed route data. Thousand two hundred and sixty seven trips performed by 183 cyclists in Copenhagen (Denmark) were recorded by GPS. The trips were map-matched to a digital road and path network, which enabled the generation of choice sets: one for navigation as influenced by perception of immediate surroundings, comprising edges connected to network-nodes (hereafter called the edge dataset), and one for navigation based on a priori knowledge, comprising the trip itself and a number of alternative routes generated by a labelling algorithm (hereafter called the route dataset). The results document that choices based on characteristics of both the route and the edge data can be estimated and provide reasonable and significant parameter estimates regarding cyclists' preferences. Length was significant and negative, illustrating that cyclists – everything else kept equal – prefer to bike shorter distances. Preferences regarding characteristics of bike path, presence of traffic lights and road types show similar results to the two types of data; most importantly that routes with facilities, such as curbed tracks and segregated bikeways, were significantly preferred. The study concludes that cyclists' wayfinding can be modelled as choices based on both an edge dataset and a route dataset and, thus, may be influenced by both perceived information and a priori knowledge. We suggest that future analyses of movement and route preferences take both modes into account as actual movement may be based on a combination of the two and because assessment of the influence of the immediate, perceivable surroundings can provide information not to be considered in a wayfinding approach. In our case differences in preferences along the route is for example found, but this can be expanded in future studies to also include dynamic aspects such as weather and crowding.


Cactus is an open source problem solving environment designed for scientists and engineers. Its modular structure facilitates parallel computation across different architectures and collaborative code development between different groups. The Cactus Code originated in the academic research community, where it has been developed and used over many years by a large international collaboration of physicists and computational scientists. We discuss here how the intensive computing requirements of physics applications now using the Cactus Code encourage the use of distributed and metacomputing, describe the development and experiments which have already been performed with Cactus, and detail how its design makes it an ideal application test-bed for Grid computing.


This study aims to investigate the tensile mechanical behavior and fracture toughness of vinylester/polyester hybrid nanocomposites containing various types of nanofillers, including multiand double-walled carbon nanotubes with and without amine functional groups (MWCNTs, DWCNTs, MWCNT-NH2 and DWCNT-NH2). To prepare the resin suspensions, very low contents (0.05, 0.1 and 0.3 wt.%) of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were dispersed within a specially synthesized styrene-free polyester resin, conducting 3-roll milling technique. The collected resin stuff was subsequently blended with vinyl-ester via mechanical stirring to achieve final suspensions prior to polymerization. Nanocomposites containing MWCNTs and MWCNT-NH2 were found to exhibit higher tensile strength and modulus as well as larger fracture toughness and fracture energy compared to neat hybrid polymer. However, incorporation of similar contents of DWCNTs and DWCNT-NH2 into the hybrid resin did not reflect the same improvement in the corresponding mechanical properties. Furthermore, experimentally measured elastic moduli of the nanocomposites containing DWCNTs, DWCNT-NH2, MWCNTs and MWCNT-NH2 were fitted to Halphin–Tsai model. Regardless of amine functional groups or content of carbon nanotubes, MWCNT modified nanocomposites exhibited better agreement between the predicted and the measured elastic moduli values compared to nanocomposites with DWCNTs. Furthermore, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to reveal dispersion state of the carbon nanotubes within the hybrid polymer and to examine the CNT induced failure modes that occurred under mechanical loading, respectively. Based on the experimental findings obtained, it was emphasized that the types of CNTs and presence of amine functional groups on the surface of CNTs affects substantially the chemical interactions at the interface, thus tuning the ultimate mechanical performance of the resulting nanocomposites.


We report on a diode-pumped Nd:YAG ceramic laser operating at 1442.8 nm for the first time. In our experiment, two different Nd:YAG ceramics with the Nd-doped concentrations of 1.0 and 0.6 at. % and a Nd:YAG with the Nd-doped concentration of 1.0 at. % were used as the laser gain mediums, respectively. At a pump power of 20.7 W, a maximum output power of up to 3.96 W with optical-to-optical efficiency of up to 19.1% was obtained by using the 1.0 at. % Nd-doped ceramic as the laser gain medium. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest output power of a LD-pumped 1.44 μm Nd:YAG ceramic laser and the highest optical-to-optical efficiency of a LD-pumped 1.44 μm Nd-doped crystal laser.


A discordant note. An alteration made by Annibale Carracci in his paintings in the Galleria Farnese betrayed by the incorrect posture of the musician.
In the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne painted by Annibale Carracci on the vault of the Farnese Gallery, the faun beside Silenus is playing the white cornet, but with an incorrect posture. Examining the preparatory drawings for the figure it is clear that initially, Annibale chose a double aulos as the instrument (see, for example, in the preliminary study in the Albertina, Vienna, inv. 23370). In a further drawing for the faun in the Louvre, Paris (inv. 7316), the aulos has already been changed into the cornet, but it is evident that the model was not in fact holding the instrument correctly, and that it was only added as a casual element in order to complete the study. The alteration was probably due to the intention to substitute what had been an antiquarian choice (the aulos), with the most fashionable musical instrument of the sixteenth century (the cornet), but the artist failed to adapt the figure to the pose appropriate for playing that instrument.


We study the task of semantic mapping – specifically, an embodied agent (a robot or an egocentric AI assistant) is given a tour of a new environment and asked to build an allocentric top-down semantic map ('what is where?') from egocentric observations of an RGB-D camera with known pose (via localization sensors). Importantly, our goal is to build neural episodic memories and spatio-semantic representations of 3D spaces that enable the agent to easily learn subsequent tasks in the same space – navigating to objects seen during the tour ('Find chair') or answering questions about the space ('How many chairs did you see in the house?'). Towards this goal, we present Semantic MapNet (SMNet), which consists of: (1) an Egocentric Visual Encoder that encodes each egocentric RGB-D frame, (2) a Feature Projector that projects egocentric features to appropriate locations on a floor-plan, (3) a Spatial Memory Tensor of size floor-plan length×width×feature-dims that learns to accumulate projected egocentric features, and (4) a Map Decoder that uses the memory tensor to produce semantic top-down maps. SMNet combines the strengths of (known) projective camera geometry and neural representation learning. On the task of semantic mapping in the Matterport3D dataset, SMNet significantly outperforms competitive baselines by 4.01−16.81% (absolute) on mean-IoU and 3.81−19.69% (absolute) on Boundary-F1 metrics. Moreover, we show how to use the spatio-semantic allocentric representations build by SMNet for the task of ObjectNav and Embodied Question Answering. Project page: https://vincentcartillier.github.io/smnet.html.


Light microscopy offers life sciences the possibility to study a variety of organisms on widely differing spatial and temporal scales. Recent years have seen the appearance of a multitude of important light microscopy techniques. To characterise and describe biological processes, however, sheer visualisation of images is inadequate. The assembly of image-processing algorithms, so-called workflows, is needed to extract meaningful quantitative data. These workflows are as important as image acquisition and, therefore, are critical components for data acquisition and sample preparation. Here, we describe a variety of image-processing workflows covering a large part of the biological landscape pointing out common themes and outlining a generic template for workflow assembly.

Key Concepts

Digital image analysis is an important tool to extract meaningful data out of an image.
Digital image analysis is the last component of a workflow comprising sample preparation and image acquisition.
Segmentation allows to identify objects in an image.
Filtering is needed to reduce noise in images from biological samples.
Digital image analysis is the key for reproducible workflows in life sciences.

Keywords:

image processing;
image analysis;
segmentation;
filtering;
data representation;
analysis workflow


Metamodel evolution and model co-evolution are considered to be essential ingredients for the successful adoption of model-driven engineering in practice. In this respect, on the one hand, dedicated coevolution languages have been proposed for migrating models conforming to an initial metamodel to models conforming to a revised metamodel with the drawback of requiring to learn a new language. On the other hand, the employment of dedicated model-to-model transformation languages has been proposed demanding for the specification of rules for copying unchanged elements. In this paper, we propose to tackle the co-evolution problem from a different viewpoint. Instead of describing the co-evolution of models as a transformation between two metamodels, we employ existing inplace transformation languages. For this, the prerequisite is to represent both language versions within one metamodel which is automatically computed by merging the initial and the revised metamodel. This ensures that the initial as well as the revised model conform to the merged metamodel, enabling the employment of inplace transformations for initializing new metamodel elements. Finally, a check-out transformation is used for eliminating model elements which are no longer covered by the revised metamodel. We demonstrate this idea by using ATL for merging the metamodels and realizing the check-out transformation. Furthermore, we discuss the ATL refinement mode for co-evolving the models.


A microscopic theory based on Bloch electrons and holes in a two-band approximation is applied in order to compute absorption and luminescence spectra for GaAs-type quantum wells at room temperature. Special focus is set to investigate the effect of the Coulomb interaction on the linewidth of the luminescence spectra and on the radiative recombination rates.


Pre-negotiation is widely accepted as a means to convince intrastate conflict parties to negotiate formally; however, research has not yet established a causal link between early efforts to bring warring parties together and the outcome of any negotiated settlement. This gap begs the question: To what extent do activities during the pre-negotiation phase contribute to the signing of a peace agreement? Theory on interstate conflict suggests that pre-negotiation reduces risk, thereby convincing conflict parties that they have more to gain from negotiating than from fighting. However, in conflicts between governments and non-state armed actors, this article argues that reciprocity paves the way for reaching peace agreements. This article introduces a new dataset on pre-negotiation including nearly all intrastate armed conflicts between 2005 and 2015. Confirming previous findings, mediation is significantly and positively correlated with reaching a type of peace agreement; conflicts over government are more likely to end in a negotiated agreement than conflicts over territory or both government and territory. In contrast to existing qualitative research, this study finds little evidence that pre-negotiation increases the likelihood that conflict dyads sign peace agreements. Future quantitative research on this topic requires more nuanced measures of the conditions under which conflict parties shift from unilateral to joint decisionmaking.


In this paper I try to shed some light on how one discerns a physical effect or phenomenon from experimental background 'noise'. To this end I revisit the discovery of Weak Neutral Currents (WNC), which has been right at the centre of discussion of some of the most influential available literature on this issue. Bogen and Woodward (1988) have claimed that the phenomenon of WNC was inferred from the data without higher level physical theory explaining this phenomenon (here: the Weinberg-Salam model of electroweak interactions) being involved in this process. Mayo (1994, 1996), in a similar vein, holds that the discovery of WNC was made on the basis of some piecemeal statistical techniques—again without the Salam-Weinberg model (predicting and explaining WNC) being involved in the process. Both Bogen & Woodward and Mayo have tried to back up their claims by referring to the historical work about the discovery of WNC by Galison (1983, 1987). Galison's presentation of the historical facts, which can be described as realist, has however been challenged by Pickering (1984, 1988, 1989), who has drawn sociological-relativist conclusions from this historical case. Pickering's conclusions, in turn, have recently come under attack by Miller and Bullock (1994), who delivered a defence of Galison's realist account. In this paper I consider all of these historical studies in order to evaluate the philosophical claims that have been made on the basis of them. I conclude that—contrary to Bogen & Woodward (1988) and Mayo (1994)—statistical methods and other experimental inference procedures from the "bottom-up" (i.e. from the data to the phenomena) were insufficient for discerning WNC from their background noise. I also challenge Galison's notion of the "end of experiments" and shall take the wind out of the sail of Miller and Bullock's attack on some of Pickering's claims, whilst rejecting Pickering's sociological-relativist conclusions. Instead, I claim that an epistemic warrant from the 'top down' in the form of a theoretical postulate of the Weinberg-Salam model was necessary for "ending the experiments", i.e. for the acceptance of WNC as a genuine phenomenon in the scientific community.


The teacher development project described in this article reveals ways in which the social consequences of poverty and racial marginalization may be crucial to the out -comes of educational reform in inner-city schools. The study demonstrates that educational reform can be affected by the economic, political, and cultural context of which a school is in large part a product. The author addresses the consequences of this educational embeddedness for school reform, and suggests that in order to create good schools in the inner cities, educational reform must be accompanied by other, more fundamental social changes.


Realistic modeling of polar sea ice dynamics and atmospheric processes over sea ice needs a detailed representation of the near‐surface atmospheric fluxes of momentum. In this study, parametrizations of neutral drag coefficients mostly used in different general circulation models are compared with a recently developed parametrization including the impact of sea ice morphology. The new parametrization, using the sea ice and melt pond fraction as governing parameters, accounts for the effect of form drag caused by edges at leads, melt ponds, and floes. Based on remote sensing data of ice and melt pond fraction, it is shown that during Arctic summer the traditionally used drag coefficients differ from the new ones by a factor 0.5–1.2. The geographic distribution of drag coefficients obtained from both parametrizations is very different. Differences are due to a nonlinear and non‐monotonic dependence of drag coefficients on sea ice concentration in the new parametrization.


The origin of the dissipation in liquid foams is not fully understood, especially in the large deformation, large velocity regime. Numerical simulations, now very accurate in the quasi static regime, are still sparse in the dissipative regime, and are all based on restrictive assumptions or very small bubble numbers. Here we present the results obtained with 2D numerical simulations involving 500 bubbles under simple shear, in a non-quasi static regime. The bubble description is kept as simple as possible and the dissipation is assumed to arise from surface tension variations induced by film area variations. This model leads to a steady state stress under simple shear that is well fitted by a Herschel–Bulkley law with an exponent 0.6. We show that small tension dynamical inhomogeneities induce foam structure modifications responsible for the largest part of the stress increase.


A bibliography on pyroelectricity is presented which includes 307 references published principally during 1985 and 1986. Research papers, reports, conference presentations, and patents are covered. A chronological bibliography is given, followed by an alphabetical list of all authors and a Key-Word-in-Context Index to all titles.


Over the past decades, global health has moved from discrete disease campaigns to major developmental strategies. However, medication affordability remains an important, unsolved challenge for industry and the global community. This effort requires coordinated actions by multiple stakeholders. Industry can play a specific role through responsible, differentiated pricing of medicines. Public policies should incentivize such pricing policies rather than discouraging them by external reference pricing or parallel trade. Providing opportunities for industry to invest in emerging markets sustainably, patients will benefit from greater access and support attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals.


Thomas Mann's Death in Venice serves as a 20th-century archetype of a tale of Venice as labyrinth fatal to the northern visitor. This essay discusses Mann's novella in relation to Daphne du Maurier's "Don't Look Now" and Ian McEwan's The Comfort of Strangers, as well as the three films which they inspired. In the Western literary tradition there is an archetypal tale of leaving the pedestrian security of one's northern home for the powerful seduction and attendant danger which await in regions far to the south. In this tale there is a particular destination fixed at a unique coordinate - geographical, historical, and cultural - which represents for the occidental stranger a confluence of all that is perceived as southern and eastern. This magnetic nexus is Venice, the attractions of which Tony Tanner has described in his delineation of the rich tradition of works born of the northern/western artist's experience of the place: For Melville, it was a triumph of the art of Pan, which proved to have a Basilisk glance; for Byron, the greenest island of his imagination turned into a sea-Sodom; for Ruskin it was the Hesperid Aegle with a Medusa face; for James, it was brilliantly Veronesean but also darkly venereal; for Hofmannsthal it offered ecstasy and effected dissolution; for Proust, the promise of all but unbearable beauty turned into vacancy; for Pound, it always retained some miraculous beauty, but, somehow, at some time, fraud and corruption had entered the city; for Rilke, it was voluptuous but weary, radiant and fatal.... (366) More generally, Millicent Bell has observed the way that "Venice-Venus, born of the sea" constitutes "the mythic representation of all desire," and how to the Western imagination it has become "a trope for all romantic expectation as well as for the melancholy of fulfillment, of postcoital languor, of the premonition of death" (145). In the 20th century, of course, Thomas Mann's Death in Venice (1912) is one of the crown-jewels of this tradition, as evidenced not only by its canonical status but also by its inspiration of two later British works of fiction: Daphne du Maurier's story "Don't Look Now" (1971) and Ian McEwan's novella The Comfort of Strangers (1981). The fascination with Venice, moreover, as well this tradition's extension across the arts, can in turn be seen in the way that each of these three literary works has provided the basis for a major motion picture: Luchino Visconti's 1971 adaptation of Mann's Death in Venice; Nicholas Roeg's 1973 adaptation of du Maurier's "Don't Look Now"; and Paul Schrader's 1991 adaptation of McEwan's The Comfort of Strangers. As I see it, central to the continuing fascination with Venice and the dominant metaphor in this archetypal tale is the "labyrinth," the paradoxical nature of which has been succinctly described by Penelope Reed Doob in her discussion of the Cretan origins and subsequent developments of the Daedalus myth: First, the labyrinth is a miraculous work of art, a masterpiece of master architects....Second, the very intricacy that makes the maze an architectural wonder as an artifact renders it almost incomprehensible as a process experienced by the disoriented wanderer....This characteristic ambiguity and convertibility of the maze, perceived as an inextricable prison one moment and as great art the next, is often encountered in later labyrinthine art and metaphor. In short, the maze is an embodiment of contraries - art and chaos, comprehensible artifact and inescapable experience, pleasure and terror....Darkness and noise, concomitants of chaos, recur in later labyrinths. So too with some of the maze's functions: as tomb (later associations will be with death or with hell)...as a place of worship or judgement...as a place requiring a guide...as a fitting habitat for monsters...as an image of deceptiveness.... (24-25) My purpose in the following essay, therefore, is to explore how the various 20th-century tellings and retellings of the tale immortalized by Mann constitute ways of both further constructuring and penetrating the maze, beginning with a consideration of how this tale of the stranger hopelessly imprisoned in the Venetian labyrinth owes its genesis to a combination of Mann's personal experience and the legacy of a variety of earlier writers, musicians, and artists. …


Family life since World War II has undergone dramatic changes. Cultural shifts emphasizing personal needs and fulfillment have transformed traditional understandings of marriage and divorce, gender equality, and sexual behavior, resulting in a marked increase in single-parent homes, dual-income couples, divorce, and blended families. In this book, contributors who represent diverse traditions in North America show how their respective traditions have responded to changes in the family in the last half-century. Exploring the broad range of responses in their traditions--from conservative to progressive--they reflect on the role that theology, Scripture, and the social sciences have played in this transformation. Further, they take a realistic look at the influence of mainstream religion and its role in future discussions of family life. The Family, Culture, and Religion series offers informed and responsible analyses of the state of the American family from a religious perspective and provides practical assistance for the family's revitalization.


The Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015 marks a decisive break from the unsuccessful Kyoto regime. Instead of targets and timetables, it established a Pledge and Review system, under which states will offer Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to reducing emissions that cause climate change. But this successful negotiation outcome was achieved at the price of vagueness of obligations and substantial discretion for governments. Many governments will be tempted to use the vagueness of the Paris Agreement, and the discretion that it permits, to limit the scope or intensity of their proposed actions. Whether Pledge and Review under the Paris Agreement will lead to effective action against climate change will therefore depend on the inclination both of OECD countries and newly industrializing countries to take costly actions, which for the OECD countries will include financial transfers to their poorer partners. Domestic politics will be crucial in determining the attitudes of both sets of countries to pay such costs. The actual impact of the Paris Agreement will depend on whether it can be used by domestic groups favoring climate action as a point of leverage in domestic politics—that is, in a "two-level game" simultaneously involving both international and domestic politics.


Cognitive behavioural therapists face numerous instances during each session and throughout the course of treatment in which they must make a clinical decision. These "decision points" include instances in which any number of clinical issues could be addressed, a specific intervention is not achieving its desired effect, the patient does not understand or accept the rationale for the technique, or a crisis has emerged that requires a shift in focus. This book describes strategic decision making, a flexible yet evidenced-based approach to working through decision points in order to move treatment forward in cognitive behavioural therapy. It dispels the myth that there is a single "right" therapeutic intervention that must be delivered in any one instance; in fact, many courses of action can facilitate change provided they are implemented strategically. Strategic decisions:follow logically from the case conceptualizationare arrived upon collaboratively between the therapist and patientallow the patient to leave the session with something neware seen through in their entirety before their effectiveness is evaluatedThis compelling, accessible book will benefit all cognitive behavioural therapists, especially those who have mastered basic concepts and are refining their skills in applying them to complex cases.


Developing countries experience a lack of resources, trained personnel and infrastructure that constrains their ability to cope with and recover from major disasters. Consequently they are reliant on support from external countries, but in particular the support of non-government development and relief organisations during the processes of response and recovery. Against this background of NGO (Non-Government Organisations) involvement, the NGOs themselves have been evolving through a process of adaptation to new responsibilities that challenge their capabilities, accountability and levels of involvement. The ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone resulted in enormous displacement of the population, issues relating to the problems of reintegrating child combatants and those who were maimed and traumatised in the war, and widespread destruction of housing, service facilities and infrastructure. While its economy had been in decline for more than a decade before 1990, the war dominated all sectors of the economy, reducing Sierra Leone to the status of one of the world's poorest countries. In the face of this devastation the government and the citizens are especially poorly resourced for the enormity of the reconstruction. Government policy was developed to encourage NGO to bring funds and personnel to the nation to work in partnership towards rebuilding the country's infrastructure and serving the needs of the people. The result has been a proliferation in the number of NGOs establishing themselves in the capital, Freetown, and in a piecemeal manner in the provinces. The variety and diversity of these organisations present difficulties and contradictions in the coordination of a policy of reconstruction and recovery. While NGOs provide recovery facilities for portions of the country, most of the citizens of Sierra Leone began independently reconstructing their own communities, within a preexisting traditional framework that was poorly integrated with the formal recovery programme.


Although there are a number of standardised measures to assess dyslexia in children, there are comparatively fewer instruments suitable for the assessment of dyslexia in adults. Given the growing number of students entering UK higher education institutions, there is a need to develop reliable tools for assessing the additional needs of those with dyslexia and related difficulties. This study reports data from a revised version of the York Adult Assessment: An Assessment Battery for Dyslexia Screening in Higher Education. The current York Adult Assessment-Revised (YAA-R) is an assessment battery consisting of tests of reading, spelling, writing and phonological skills. Data from a normative sample of 106 adults without dyslexia and a validation sample of 20 adults with dyslexia illustrate significant group differences on the tests comprising the YAA-R. Additionally, the YAA-R has good discriminatory power yielding 80% sensitivity and 97% specificity. Taken together, the YAA-R is a suitable test battery for the assessment and identification of dyslexia in university students.


Surgeons in 10 specialties in the NHS in England will be ranked in new league tables covering survival rates of patients and quality of care from next year, the NHS Commissioning Board has announced.

In its planning guidance for 2013-14, published this week, the board set out plans for healthcare providers to publish consultant level data for specialties including adult cardiac, vascular, and orthopaedic surgery by summer 2013.1

Results for individual cardiothoracic surgeons have been published since 2005, because the specialty was prompted to collect the data by the publication of the Kennedy report into children's heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

Publication of data from surgeons in a wider group of specialties will become a contractual obligation from 2014-15 to allow comparison across hospitals. Information on interventional cardiology, upper gastrointestinal, colorectal, bariatric, urological, head and …