Information Technology Services are moving beyond outsourcing and offshoring models to Virtualization of the services on the cloud. This means that a composite service is delivered to end users as a single product. This composite Service comprises of individual services that could be produced by different sources. Each service in turn depends on backend services (such as database, web server) and resources (such as storage, bandwidth, CPU) for it's successful delivery. It provides consumers the flexibility of using an IT product without spending resources on hosting, maintaining or upgrading it. Unlike other services, Virtualized service does not correspond to the Business to Client (B-C) delivery models. Existing quality metrics for services, mostly developed in terms of B-C interactions in the physical (SERVQUAL) or electronic-retailing (ES-QUAL) do not directly translate to this domain. In this paper, we propose a new classification for IT services. This classification enables Service providers to identify the type of service they are offering and depending on their service class, the expectation service consumers might have of their service. This classification is based on the two measures we define -- Service Coupling and Degree of Separation. The first measure, Service Coupling, measures the dependencies between two services and explores how the quality of a service is affected by its constituents. The second measure of Degree of Separation determines the level of interaction between service consumer and the service provider and how that affects Consumer perception of Service Quality. This enables service providers to define and judge what quality metrics are appropriate for a particular service, and also helps create mechanisms where quality metrics at different levels can be related.


The dissociation reaction: MgSiO 3 (perovskite) = MgO (periclase) + SiO 2 (high pressure silica phase) was studied at 82 (3) GPa by in situ heating to temperatures between 300 and 1780 (50) K and X-ray diffraction. The orthorhombic perovskite changed to a pseudo-cubic phase between 1280 to 1485 K followed by a break down to the oxide mixture which was observed to grow at temperatures between 1600 to 1700 K; orthorhombic perovskite was recovered upon cooling at 1140 K. In yet another experiment, MgO and the silica phase grew from a sample of enstatite composition at 82 GPa and 1250 K. Compositionally, the instability of perovskite makes the oxide mixture as the most probable mantle material which can provide a variety of possible mantle compositions. Dynamically, the lighter SiO 2 component would facilitate differentiation of the lower mantle.


Objective: The aim of this study was to answer the question, Do drivers take into account the action boundaries of their car when overtaking? Background: The Morice et al. affordance-based approach to visually guided overtaking suggests that the "overtake-ability" affordance can be formalized as the ratio of the "minimum satisfying velocity" (MSV) of the maneuver to the maximum velocity (Vmax) of the driven car. In this definition, however, the maximum acceleration (Amax) of the vehicle is ignored. We hypothesize that drivers may be sensitive to an affordance redefined with the ratio of the "minimum satisfying acceleration" (MSA) to the Amax of the car. Method: Two groups of nine drivers drove cars differing in their Amax. They were instructed to attempt overtaking maneuvers in 25 situations resulting from the combination of five MSA and five MSV values. Results: When overtaking frequency was expressed as a function of MSV and MSA, maneuvers were found to be initiated differently for the two groups. However, when expressed as a function of MSV/Vmax and MSA/Amax, overtaking frequency was quite similar for both groups. Finally, a multiple regression coefficient analysis demonstrated that overtaking decisions are fully explained by a composite variable comprising MSA/Amax and the time required to reach MSV. Conclusion: Drivers reliably decide whether overtaking is safe (or not) by using low- and high-order variables taking into account their car's maximum velocity and acceleration, respectively, as predicted by "affordance-based control" theory. Application: Potential applications include the design of overtaking assistance, which should exploit the MSA/Amax variables in order to suggest perceptually relevant overtaking solutions.


This ELLA Brief presents cases of land grabbing in Latin America and explores the controversy around this phenomenon. It reviews the causes and characteristics of land grabbing around the world and specifies the ways in which land grabbing in Latin America differs from typical scenarios in Africa and Asia. In particular, this Brief explains the history behind land grabbing for soybean production in the so-called Soybean Republic (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and examines the strategies employed by the Argentine and Brazilian governments to capitalise on economic opportunities presented by the current boom in this sector. The Brief also presents some initial policy responses that are intended to improve state control over foreign land purchases. Finally, it identifies the main enabling factors behind this process and summarises some key policy lessons. SUMMARY Policy Brief


Is it reasonable for humans to draw temporal conclusions from omissive causal assertions? For example, if you learn that not charging your phone caused it to die, is it sensible to infer that your failure to charge your phone occurred before it died? The conclusion seems intuitive, but no theory of causal reasoning explains how people make the inference other than a recent proposal by Khemlani and colleagues [2018a]. Other theories either treat omissions as non-events, i.e., they have no location in space or time; or they account for omissions as entities that have no explicit temporal component. Theories of omissions as non-events predict that people might refrain from drawing conclusions when asked whether an omissive cause precedes its effect; theories without any temporal component make no prediction. We thus present Khemlani and colleagues' [2018a] theory and describe two experiments that tested its predictions. The results of the experiments speak in favor of a view that omissive causation imposes temporal constraints on events and their effects; these findings speak against predictions of the non-event view. We conclude by considering whether drawing a temporal conclusion from an omissive cause constitutes a reasoning error and discuss implications for AI systems designed to compute causal inferences.


Purpose In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, changes to chemotherapy services were implemented as a means of managing imposed workload strains within health services and protecting patients from contracting COVID-19. Given the rapidly evolving nature of the pandemic many changes were rapidly adopted and were not substantiated by robust evidence. This study aimed to describe the changes adopted internationally to chemotherapy services, which may be used to guide future changes to treatment delivery. Methods A survey was developed to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACT). It comprised 22 questions and examined the strategies implemented during the pandemic to prioritise and protect patients receiving SACT and the participants' professional opinion of the strategies employed. The survey was available in English, Spanish and French and was distributed via professional bodies. Results 129 responses were obtained from healthcare professionals working across 17 different countries. 45% of institutions had to implement treatment prioritisation strategies and all hospitals implemented changes in the delivery of treatment, including: reduction in treatments (69%), using less immunosuppressive agents (50%), allowing treatment breaks (14%) and switching to oral therapies (45%). Virtual clinic visits were perceived by participants as the most effective strategy to protect patients. Conclusions The pandemic has forced chemotherapy healthcare professionals to adopt new ways of working by reducing health interactions. Many areas of research are needed following this period, including understanding patients' perceptions of risks to treatment, utilisation of oral treatments and the impact of treatment breaks on cancer outcomes.


Water fluxes in the subsurface of forested and agricultural ecosystems vary spatially across wide ranges because of several interconnected phenomena. On the one hand, subsurface environments are often highly heterogeneous. On the other hand, infiltration water is often distributed unevenly due to aboveground interception and redistribution of rainfall by the plant canopy. These phenomena have important hydro‐ecological consequences because they significantly affect groundwater recharge and nutrient leaching. Field experiments involving subsurface lysimeters and tensiometers were performed to quantify the spatial distribution of fluxes in an Andisol under a banana plant (Musa acuminata Colla). Wick lysimeters were installed at a depth of 70 cm at several locations with respect to the banana stem to measure the spatial distribution of subsurface water fluxes. Collected experimental data were simulated using the HYDRUS software package, which numerically solves the Richards equation describing three‐dimensional variably saturated water flow in the subsurface. Spatially distributed drainage fluxes were well reproduced with the numerical model. Due to the impact of stemflow, drainage volumes under the banana stem were up to six times higher than in the row downstream from the stem, as well as between rows, as these areas were sheltered from direct rainfall by the banana leaves and received only throughfall.


Abstract Efficient increase in the content of available forms of elements in soil depends not only on their total content introduced to soil material, but also on the technology of its application. Technology consists of techniques and date of application as well as agronomic practices aimed at maintaining proper conditions for element transformations. The method of application of waste elemental sulfur and ground phosphate rock was assessed. Doses of 20 and 40 mg S as well as 40 and 80 mg P·kg−1d.m. were added to medium soil; 30 and 60 mg S as well as 60 and 120 mg P·kg−1d.m. were added to heavy soil. The soil samples were collected on the day of application of materials and after 15, 30, 60 and 90 days. The soil pH value decreased during the incubation. An increase in available sulfur content was observed in both soils after elemental sulfur application; the sulfur content in the medium soil depended on the dose of waste. The soils with the addition of a double dose of ground phosphate rock had the highest content of available phosphorus.


Reprints of the original articles abstracted in TEXTILE RESEARCH JOURNAL are often available from the publishers. Otherwise, it may be possible to secure copies of the periodicals. Orders should be sent direct to the publishers. Photostat negatives of articles abstracted will be furnished to members of the Institute at a cost of 25 cents per page for pages not exceeding 7 inches in width and 35 cents per page for larger sizes up to 11 ½ x 14 inches. Photostats of patents are 35 cents a page. Postage will be added. Microfilm copies and paper enlargements of microfilm may be obtained from: Microfilms Inc., 313 N. First St., Ann Arbor, Mich.; New York Public Library, New York, N. Y.; Yale University Library, New Haven, Conn.; Harvard University Library, Cambridge, Mass.; and Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Transla tions may also be obtained from the above sources. The JOURNAL is again offering to its subscribers reprints of the Abstracts and Book Reviews sections, printed on one side of the sheet so that the items may be clipped, pasted on cards, and filed for permanent reference. Sub scriptions to this service for 1947 are $3.00 each. Orders for this special service should be mailed at once to Textile Research Institute, Inc., 10 East 40th Street, New York 16, N. Y. A list of periodicals, the abbreviations used in references to articles, and the addresses of publishers of English language publications is given on page 37 of the January, 1947, issue.


ABSTRACT This study evaluates the use of virtual reality (VR) platforms, which is an integrated part of the digital factory for an industrial training and maintenance system. The digital factory-based VR platform provides an intuitive and immersive human–computer interface, which can be an efficient tool for industrial training and maintenance services. The outcomes from this study suggested that use of the VR platform for training and maintenance of complex industrial tasks should be encouraged and use of the VR platform for that purpose should be further evaluated. This paper highlighted the generic concept of the application of virtual reality technique within the digital factory to industrial maintenance and to build a low-cost VR application for a training and maintenance system. An application case on virtual reality technique in a power plant operations and maintenance is demonstrated within the scope of this research. Overall research implications on virtual reality concept in industrial applications are concluded with future research directions.


Blogs are a very important "tool" for professionals and individuals wishing to promote products, services, thoughts, ideas, news. It is one of the most important channels of communication which brings them into contact with a very important public figure, the internet. Creating a blog is not a simple process but a complex mixture of different points and signs. In the present work we make an effort to define well-known blogs using semiotics. Our research material consists of the 20 most visited blogs, according to the list appearing in the «Technorati» blog search tool. For the analysis of the visual material we use the Grammar of Visual Design by Kress G. & Van Leeuwen T. (1996), a methodology based on the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar, which is the main subject of Halliday M. (1994). More specifically, in order to understand the power of weblogs, we are searching for: a) the mechanisms of organization and reconstruction of reality (representations), b) the production of meanings or even new ideologies by words and images (discourse) and c) the precise form and structure, signifiers and absences. It seems that web-blogs are creating a timeless space regulated by a nameless founder where the bits of information given although pointing to a specific date are part of a virtual non-time continuum.


"Close to one billion people worldwide depend directly upon the drylands for their livelihoods. Because of their climatic conditions and political and economic marginalization drylands also have some of the highest incidents of poverty. Pastoral and sedentary production systems coexist in these areas and both very often use common property arrangements to manage access and use of natural resources. Despite their history of complementary interactions, pastoralists and sedentary farmers are increasingly faced with conflicting claims over land and other natural resources. Past policy interventions and existing regulatory frameworks have not been able to offer lasting solutions to the problems related to land tenure and resource access; problems between the multiple and differentiated drylands resource users, as part of broader concerns over resource degradation and the political and economic marginalization of the drylands. This paper discusses enduring tension in efforts to secure rights in drylands. On the one hand are researchers and practitioners who advocate for statutory law as the most effective guarantor of rights, especially of group rights. On the other side are those who underscore the complexity of customary rights and the need to account for dynamism and flexibility in drylands environments in particular. It explores innovative examples of dealing with secure access to resources and comes to the conclusion that process, rather than content, should be the focus of policy makers. Any attempt to secure access for multiple users in variable drylands environments should identify frameworks for conflict resolution, in a negotiated manner, crafting rules from the ground upwards, in addition to a more generalized or generic identification of rights. Elite capture and exclusion of women and young people continue to pose significant challenges in such decentralized processes. For rights to be meaningfully secured there is need to identify the nature and sources of threats that create insecurities " Author's Abstract


Anti-slavery, feminist, and civil rights movements in American history have shaped the interpretation, reception, and application of the Declaration of Independence. This tradition heightens our sense of joy and wonder that "all men are created equal." At the same time, the tradition deepens our sorrow and shame as we accept responsibility for systemic failures to understand "created equal" and to embody that truth in our lives and conduct. Through a verse translation of the Declaration of Independence, reflecting the glosses that history has written on that text, I aim to express both the joy and the sorrow. Notes to the poem, and an accompanying essay, explain the Declaration's reception tradition and relate it to the text as written by Jefferson and the drafting committee, and edited and approved by the Continental Congress. The tradition is seen as exposing, unfolding, and (to a degree) resolving ambiguities (such as pagan v. Biblical senses of "created equal" and "nature's god") which were latent within the Declaration as it emerged within the eighteenth-century intellectual horizon.


Patent ductus arteriosus is a prevalent problem in low birth weight infants and it has an important morbidity and mortality in this group of patients. Classical treatment options include drugs (intravenous cyclooxygenase inhibitors: indomethacin and ibuprofen) and surgical ligation, but these treatments are associated with significant adverse effects. An alternative treatment with fewer side effects is needed. The role of oral paracetamol has gained importance in recent years, this new therapeutic option is being widely studied, and there are already many studies which support oral paracetamol as first line treatment for PDA, due to its better safety profile than classical drugs. In LBW infants is difficult to administer enteral treatment, since they are often multi pathological patients with several complications that preclude oral administration and they usually receive intravenous treatments. This multicenter, prospective, single blinded, randomized, controlled, parallel-group and noninferiority trial is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of intravenous paracetamol versus intravenous ibuprofen in the treatment of PDA in LBW infants. Sixty eight infants with echocardiography confirmed PDA will be randomly assigned to receive either intravenous paracetamol or intravenous ibuprofen. The main endpoints will be the rate of ductal closure of each drug and adverse events in each group of treatment


Touch (or tactile) sensors are gaining renewed interest as the level of sophistication in the application of minimum invasive surgery and humanoid robots increases. The spatial resolution of current large-area (greater than 1 cm2) tactile sensor lags by more than an order of magnitude compared with the human finger. By using metal and semiconducting nanoparticles, a ∼100-nm-thick, large-area thin-film device is self-assembled such that the change in current density through the film and the electroluminescent light intensity are linearly proportional to the local stress. A stress image is obtained by pressing a copper grid and a United States 1-cent coin on the device and focusing the resulting electroluminescent light directly on the charge-coupled device. Both the lateral and height resolution of texture are comparable to the human finger at similar stress levels of ∼10 kilopascals.


[A]part from the Green movement, there is little evidence of widespread public opposition to the continued operation of existing nuclear plants in Western and Northern Europe Recent elections in Sweden, Germany and France have helped shift the political balance in Europe from the center-right to the center-left, with the result that in one-third of European Union (E.U.) member states, green parties either support or are represented in the ruling government. With the environmental ministers of Finland, France, Germany and Italy representing their respective green parties, environmental issues--especially the future of nuclear power--have moved up on the European political agenda. In Germany following the 1998 election, the so-called Red-Green coalition, comprising the Social Democratic Party and the Alliance 90/The Greens (the Green Party), made a commitment to phase out nuclear power entirely. Despite these political developments, European public opinion towards nuclear power has been less hostile than the ascendancy of the environmentalists would suggest. Lately, the balance in the debate about energy and the environment has in fact shifted more in favor of nuclear power, given its potential as an alternative to fossil fuel combustion in an era when greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced. In short, public opinion about nuclear power and nuclear policy itself are functions of wide-ranging economic, political and market considerations--not solely shifts in the political winds. Many Europeans are quite aware that the feasibility of plans for early nuclear phase-out is dubious for cost and market-based reasons. At times of concern about energy security, public opinion about nuclear power tends to become more positive, whereas public support for nuclear power declines following accidents like that at Chernobyl in 1986. Using Sweden and Germany as examples, this article examines the future of nuclear power in Europe in light of recent political realignments and fluctuations in public opinion. It concludes that the political shift to the center-left and the increasing concern with nuclear energy is more a reflection of the arithmetic of coalition politics in Europe--and as such is not likely to be sustained--than of a major shift in public opinion. European public opinion, in fact, though less enthusiastic than it was in the period immediately following the 1973 oil crisis, continues to favor nuclear power. In support of my conclusions, I examine the Swedish government's continuing, and so far unsuccessful, attempts to pioneer anti-nuclear policy; the German coalition's early signs of strain about the pace of phase-out; and related market and environmental pressures. NUCLEAR ENERGY POLICY IN THE EUROPEAN UNION The potential for nuclear power to play a major role in European energy supplies was acknowledged in the 1950s by the treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom Treaty), which along with the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Rome comprised the founding treaties of the European Union. Euratom outlined a vision of nuclear power as a clean, safe fuel. Its signatories "resolved to create the conditions necessary for the development of a powerful nuclear industry which will provide extensive energy resources, lead to the modernization of technical processes and contribute, through its many other applications, to the prosperity of their peoples."(1) Although E.U. regulations and directives relating to energy and the environment are binding on member states, the choice of power and energy supplies remains firmly within the sphere of member-state sovereignty. In practice, therefore, the future of nuclear power within Europe lies not in the hands of E.U. institutions but in those of individual member states. The Periodic Illustrative Nuclear Programmes for the Community (PINC)(2) are the nearest the European Union comes to a nuclear policy. The PINCs review the role of nuclear energy within the framework of E. …


Some themes are recurrent in my music: the use of voices, the multiple transformations that radically modify the original sounds whilst keeping a clear trace of their energetic profiles, the use of clouds of particles, the broad use of spatialisation and multiphony… But some instruments inspire new ways of doing things. The spatial discrimination made possible by the 44 speakers of sound dome in the Kubus at ZKM and it's driving software, the Zirkonium made me want to explore spatialisation modes that are not possible with traditional surround systems where the positioning of a sound in the centre is done by sending the same level to all speakers, which only works for the few lucky listeners in the small sweet spot in the center of the hall. The possibility of moving sounds across or near the centre convincingly made me want to revive old ideas of spatialisation that I dropped because most sound systems wouldn't concretise the idea tangibly. I therefore wrote algorithms that extend the use of the Zirkonium and help make those ideas a reality. This piece uses sound spatialisation in a way that goes often beyond moving and locating sounds, going from disappearance and reappearance, coalescence and dissolution to the creation of demultiplied sound masses to the emergence of space-rhythmical forms impressed on continuous sound materials. The spatialisation and the sound transformations are both controlled in real-time with sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes, digital Theremins, contact microphones). Linking sound analysis and sensor data with the spatialisation they control also creates a strong bind between the nature of sounds and their spatial manifestation.This desire to interpret electroacoustic music beyond spatialisation and to partly improvise with the help of sensors grew from my work for the last 10 years with the choreographer Michele Noiret and her dancers.The setup of the dome also means a predominance in sounds localised around and above the audience which favours the feeling of floating, weightless sound sources. This feeling of weightlessness has been resonating with me for a long time and the instrument allows me to explore it musically deeper than ever. [Todor Todoroff]


The postnatal period represents a time of risk for the emergence of Postnatal Depression (PND), a common maternal mental health problem affecting the well-being of the mother, the newborn and the entire family. Previously, it was postulated that African women were not affected by PND, due to traditional rituals and other cultural factors. However, the assumption has been refuted because of the existence of empirical evidence of PND in Africa and beyond, particularly among women living in socio-economic disadvantaged regions. Despite the growing magnitude of PND reported in South Africa, the country continues to focus more on reducing maternal and infant mortality and promoting infant physical health with limited efforts made to address PND among postpartum women.

 To screen for PND and determine the associated risk factors among postpartum women in selected community health centres situated in the Nkangala District, South Africa.

 The study was cross-sectional in design and applied a quantitative approach. Random sampling was used to select the three community health centres in the Nkangala District. A sample of 228 women who had delivered a live infant within 12 weeks of the time of data collection was selected using purposive sampling from the three community health centres. Trained research assistants administered a questionnaire to obtain information on demography and obstetric history, while the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EDPS) was used to screen for postnatal depression. An EDPS score of 13+ confirmed the probability of PND. Data was analysed using STATA 14.

 The mean age of women was 28±7 years. The majority of women were single (61%), living in large households (77%), and living in households with a monthly income of less than $291.10 (63%). Most women had normal (i.e., vaginal) delivery (83%) and reported unplanned pregnancies (65%). The probability of developing PND among women was 22%. The odds of developing PND were 3.17 times more likely in women with babies aged six weeks and above (AOR=3.17, CI; 1.39 - 7.23) and 4.50 times more likely in women living in households with an income of less than $115.55 (AOR=4.50, CI; 1.03 - 19.74). Partner/husband violence increased the odds of developing PND (AOR = 6.89, CI; 1.49 - 31.93), as well as a stressful life event (AOR= 3.73, CI: 1.52 - 9.17). Having partner/husband support (AOR=0.10, CI: 0.03 - 0.37) and receiving social support (AOR=0.28, CI: 0.09 - 0.93) reduced the risk of developing PND. A chi-square test showed significant associations between the EDPS scores and partner/husband support, partner/husband having another sexual partner, receiving social support, having a person who offers social support, partner/husband violence, and stressful life events.

 The probability of PND was high among postpartum women in the Nkangala District of the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. The key determinants for the probability of PND were the age of a baby, household income, partner/husband violence, partner/husband support and receiving social support. Routine screening to identify women who are at risk of PND should be integrated into postnatal care settings for immediate intervention to protect the mother and her baby from different forms of morbidity.


A novel approach for highly linear automatic gain control (AGC) in small-signal ampli¯ers is presented in this paper. A HEMT based topology was implemented, biasing the transistor in the transition between the saturated and linear operation regions. Gain control with low distortion is achieved by simultaneous adjustments of the gate to source (Vgs) and drain to source (Vds) voltages, along the line where the second derivative of the transconductance (Gm3) has a null. Comparatively to the traditional approach, with the transistor biased in the saturated region, this ampli¯er has better intermodulation behavior and e±ciency, without important reduction in the gain control range.


What happens to color emotion responses when texture is added to color samples? To quantify this we performed an experiment in which subjects ordered samples (displayed on a computer monitor) along four scales: Warm-Cool, MasculineFeminine, Hard-Soft and Heavy-Light. Three sample types were used: uniform color, grayscale textures and color textures. Ten subjects arranged 315 samples (105 per sample type) along each of the four scales. After one week, they repeated the full experiment. The effect of adding texture to color samples is that color remains dominant for the WarmCool, Heavy-Light and Masculine-Feminine scale (in order of descending dominance), the importance of texture increases in that same order. The Hard-Soft scale is fully dominated by texture. The average intra-observer variability (between the first and second measurement) was 0.73, 0.66 and 0.65 for the uniform color, grayscale texture and color texture samples, respectively. The average inter-observer variability (between an observer and the other observers) was 0.68, 0.77 and 0.65, respectively. Using some 25,000 observer responses, we derived analytical functions for each sample type and emotion scale (except for the Warm-Cool scale on grayscale textures). These functions predict the group-averaged scale responses from the samples' color and texture parameters. For uniform color samples, the accuracy of our functions is significantly higher (average adjusted R 2 = 0.88) than that of functions previously reported. For color texture, the average adjusted R 2 =0.80.


ABSTRACT Background Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) is a hematophagous insect and the main vector of Trypanosoma cruzi (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae). In the present study, the authors investigated whether a serine protease activity from the saliva of T. infestans has a role in vasomotor modulation, and in the insect-blood feeding by cleaving and activating protease-activated receptors (PARs). Methods T. infestans saliva was chromatographed as previously reported for purification of triapsin, a serine protease. The cleavage activity of triapsin on PAR peptides was investigated based on FRET technology. Mass spectrometry was used to analyze the sites of PAR-2 peptide cleaved by triapsin. NO measurements were performed using the DAN assay (2,3-diaminonapthalene). The vasorelaxant activity of triapsin was measured in vessels with or without functional endothelium pre-contracted with phenylephrine (3 µM). Intravital microscopy was used to assess the effect of triapsin on mouse skin microcirculation. Results Triapsin was able to induce hydrolysis of PAR peptides and showed a higher preference for cleavage of the PAR-2 peptide. Analysis by mass spectrometry confirmed a single cleavage site, which corresponds to the activation site of the PAR-2 receptor. Triapsin induced dose-dependent NO release in cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), reaching a maximum effect at 17.58 nM. Triapsin purified by gel-filtration chromatography (10-16 to 10-9 M) was applied cumulatively to mouse mesenteric artery rings and showed a potent endothelium-dependent vasodilator effect (EC30 = 10-12 M). Nitric oxide seems to be partially responsible for this vasodilator effect because L-NAME (L-NG-nitroarginine methyl ester 300 µM), a nitric oxide synthetase inhibitor, did not abrogate the vasodilation activated by triapsin. Anti-PAR-2 antibody completely inhibited vasodilation observed in the presence of triapsin activity. Triapsin activity also induced an increase in the mouse ear venular diameter. Conclusion Data from this study suggest a plausible association between triapsin activity mediated PAR-2 activation and vasodilation caused by T. infestans saliva.


This review of the late Kathie Durbin's final book discusses the unlikely enactment of the 1986 Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act and the events leading up to it. The statute's circuitous route through Congress was managed by Oregon's Senator Mark Hatfield, who convinced a skeptical President Reagan to sign the law he essentially opposed. Durbin's account examines both the legislation and the first quarter-century of its implementation. Protecting scenery the 85-mile long, 292,000-acre area with a majority of the land owned by over 50,000 residents required difficult balancing, and Durbin explains the many compromises struck in the legislation and ensuing management by an interstate compact commission and the U.S. Forest Service. The Gorge Commission, through its authority to approve county zoning ordinances in the Scenic Area, fundamentally changed local land use practices. The legislation also directed the Forest Service not only to manage its land to preserve the Gorge's scenery but also gave the agency unprecedented authority to regulate private lands in so-called special management areas, consisting of some 114,000 acres of the area's most environmentally and visually sensitive lands. Durbin's book offers many insights of federal-state and state-local relations that should be of value to other efforts to preserve natural resources in areas dominated by private lands. The book also spotlights a number of controveries involving air quality, treaty fishing rights, dam removal, and efforts to site wind farms, a destination resort, and an Indian casino. Natural resources law would benefit from more case studies such as that provided by Durbin's engaging look at the Columbia River Gorge.


Options for athletes with disabilities to participate in sport have risen and, with them, supercrip representation. Supercrip is defined as a stereotypical representation of individuals with disabilities that highlights their accomplishments as inspirational stories of defying or overcoming their disability to succeed. With little consensus on how to represent disability in sport, it is imperative that this representation be investigated. The purpose of this commentary is to broadly examine assumptions of the supercrip model as a mode of representation for athletes with disabilities, explore its connection to able-bodied hegemony, and propose next steps in facilitating research and discourse around representation for athletes with disabilities. We conclude that able-bodied hegemony is the root of the supercrip model and that participatory action research, with stakeholders at the center, is necessary to fully evaluate the supercrip model.


This work presents modelling aspects of automatic gain control (AGC) loops based on linear-in-dB variable gain amplifiers (VGAs). In these loops, the VGA control voltage is also an excellent received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The VGA gain is however nonlinearly related to the control voltage. Moreover, VGAs and detectors undergo nonlinear compression under high input amplitudes during settling transients. In this work, these effects are captured by a nonlinear model based on simple and readily available components from the "analogLib" and "functional" libraries in CADENCE design environment making it very easy and fast to build and simulate. The model is capable of verifying the AGC loop stability and capturing the loop dynamics with high accuracy compared to time consuming circuit level simulations. This provides insights into system level parameters such as AGC loop bandwidth, phase margin, settling time as well as estimating the AGC range and RSSI voltage vs. input power. Measurement results from a fabricated AGC prototype are in good agreement with simulation and modelling results thus validating the proposed modelling approach.


This work studies personalization from the perspective of human computer interaction. The objectives are to examine the effects of various personalization strategies on users' information processing and decision-making. We commence by reviewing the literature on personalization in the five research domains defined by Banker and Kauffman (2004), and then highlight the debates regarding the effectiveness of personalization in influencing users' decision-making. To bridge the gap between the proliferation of personalization technologies and the uncertainty of their effectiveness, this work addresses the following research question: What are the effects of different personalization strategies on users' information processing? We examine two common personalization strategies: preference matching and set size of personalized content. We explore how these strategies affect users' decision-making. An information processing model rooted in the Heuristic-Systematic Model is developed. We formulate 10 hypotheses on the relationship between personalization strategies and users' information processing. Data collected from two online field studies are used to assess the validity of the proposed hypotheses. The results of the studies indicate that personalization can capture users' attention, and, personalization is also associated with an increase in users' exploration of other content. This effect becomes less salient when the amount of non-personalized content increases.


For years, librarians have been able to distill the notion of authority, in its purest form, to two simple questions: Who said it? and Under whose auspices? Now, as more content migrates online, understanding authority is a more complex process. Social news sites, like Digg.com allow these traditional authority structures to be bypassed, creating a new, socially-driven authority, based upon an author expertise that is not necessarily recognized by academia. In order for researchers, especially student researchers, to evaluate these sources, they must learn to construct their own authority.


Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a promising tool for the development of comprehensive models of gas-phase polymerization in fluidized bed reactors. However, CFD models of gas-solids flow in fluidized beds are still under development and validation of these models on relatively simple test cases is essential if we hope to achieve reliable predictions of the complex phenomena associated with polyolefin production in commercial reactors. In the present study, numerical simulations of bubbling fluidized beds were performed in two (2-D) and three-dimensions (3-D) using the Eulerian granular multiphase model in Fluent, a commercial CFD package. The CFD simulation results are validated against experiments conducted on a small diameter, low-pressure fluidization column with ideal particles (glass beads with a narrow PSD). X-ray fluoroscopy and image processing techniques were applied to obtain detailed information about the bubbles in the bed, e.g. frequency distribution, bubble diameter and axial velocity. The 2-D simulations showed reasonably good agreement with the experimental bubble data on the coarse meshes but the predictions deviated as the mesh was refined. Next, a novel "numerical" x-ray technique was introduced to facilitate a direct comparison of the bubble properties from the 3-D CFD simulations with the x-ray based measurements. The 3-D bubble sizes and frequency data is well predicted using this approach but bubble velocities are significantly overpredicted by the 3-D simulations. Further work is needed to refine the numerical x-ray approach and the x-ray fluoroscopy based imaging technique.


The C2-symmetric Schiff-base proligand (H2L1) synthesized by condensation of 2,2′-diamino-6,6′-dimethylbiphenyl and 3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylaldehyde reacted in its deprotonated form with [MCl4(THF)2] (M = Zr or Hf) to give [ML1Cl2]. The molecular structures of these complexes show that they belong to the hitherto unknown cis-cis class of quadridentate Schiff-base complex. Most importantly, the two chloride ligands occupy mutually cis co-ordination sites in a well expressed chiral ligand environment that is structurally analogous to that of the ansa-metallocenes. Alkylations of the zirconium complex were unsuccessful, but an unstable complex [ZrL1(CH2Ph)2] was synthesized from H2L1 and Zr(CH2Ph)4. Amido complexes [ZrL1(NR2)2] (R = Me or Et; R2 = HBut) were synthesized by substitution reactions of [ZrL1Cl2] and by reaction of H2L1 with Zr(NR2)4. The reactions of [ZrL1(NR2)2] (R = Me or Et) with SiH(OEt)3 and SiMe3Cl gave [ZrL1(OEt)2] and [ZrL1Cl2] respectively. The reaction of [ZrL1Cl2] with LiOPh gave [ZrL1(OPh)2]. The molecular structure of the latter confirms that it also has the cis-cis structure and also indicates the presence of edge–face arene interactions between the phenoxide ligands and the salicylidene units. The reaction of [ZrL1Cl2] with LiAlH4 in pyridine (py) led to reduction in situ of the imine groups and elimination of both chloride ligands to give a complex containing the quadruply deprotonated reduced form of L1, i.e. [ZrL2(py)2]. This complex is also formed by reaction of H4L2 with Zr(NR2)4 in pyridine.


We theoretically demonstrate that complete absorption of light can be realized in a heterostructure composed of a thick metal film and truncated photonic crystals with a lossy dielectric defect. Because of the coupling between the interface mode and the defect mode, all of the light can enter the heterostructure. Meanwhile, the fields are enhanced remarkably in the defect, so the light is fully absorbed by the lossy defect. When the coupling between two different localized modes is strong, two absorption peaks are obtained, while a weak coupling leads to a narrow absorption band due to the degeneracy of two localized modes.


This article gives a general characteristic of the publications of the Russian philosophers in the oldest Kantian Journal "Kant-Studien". The study embraces the entire period of the existence of this magazine, from the very beginning down to our days. In general, after compiling all materials related to Russia published in "Kant-Studien", I became aware of get a picture of a significant presence of Russian philosophers in this periodical. This gives me a good reason to conclude that even if the impact of the Russian philosophical thought on the international Kant studies was not decisive, then, at least, it was tangible. This influence was due to the phenomenon which was later called the "Silver Age of Russian philosophy", as well as the phenomenon of Russian emigration, arising as a result of wars and revolutions in Russia and the exodus of the Russian philosophers of the West, where one of their main initial shelters was Germany.


This paper presents a new non-photorealistic/stroke-based rendering (NPR/SBR) framework for the stylization of videos featuring head shots of people, such as home videos, movies, and camera mobile phone clips. Spatiotemporal skin and edge detection are used to locate and emphasize the semantic content in the stylization process. The SBR portion of the algorithm features novel techniques for motion expression with elliptical brush strokes, brush stroke anchor point distribution, spatio-temporal color-sampling, and brush stroke animation with regard to state-of-the-art issues such as object occlusion and uncovering in the source video. A wide user-accessible parameter space and finishing touches such as cartoon-like edge decoration and other quirky effects empowers a variety of artistic outputs. The resulting stylized sequences are fun and interesting with regard to compression, summarization, motion visualization, story-boarding and art. Both the semantic content, and underlying video motion is highlighted and summarized on every frame of the stylized output sequence.


We assessed the effect of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on secondary production in a first‐order intermittent stream at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine (BBWM). BBWM is a paired‐catchment experiment designed to determine the effects of N deposition on a forested ecosystem. Nitrogen as NH4)2SO4 has been applied to the treatment catchment since 1989, with the adjacent catchment serving as a reference (both are drained by a first‐order intermittent stream). Secondary production and detritus biomass were quantified for 2 yr. Production did not vary between streams (range = 1.7‐2.3 g ash‐free dry mass m−2 yr−1) but was ∼35% higher for both streams in the second year. The distribution of production among functional feeding groups varied little between streams but differed among taxa. Detritus biomass was similar between streams but was ∼25% higher in the second year. The (NH4)2SO4 treatment had no effect on production in the treatment stream. The statistically identical level of production between streams is presumably because of similar habitat, channel drying, and trophic resources. Difference in production between years was positively related to detritus biomass. Differences in the distribution of production among taxa between streams were likely the result of contrasts in the duration of flowing water, with the treatment stream having the longer duration. Our study indicates that patterns of litter input and channel drying, rather than N deposition, control levels of secondary production in these intermittent streams by altering both resource availability and community structure. These variables apparently override the effects of N deposition in regions where nitrogen is not a limiting nutrient.


The Byrd rule, a once-obscure Senate procedural provision, captured the spotlight in December 2017 when it briefly derailed an effort by congressional Republicans to enact the most sweeping tax overhaul in a generation. And while the Byrd rule did not prevent the ultimate passage of the new tax law, it profoundly influenced both the substance and the form of the final legislation. The immediate aftermath of the 2017 tax overhaul thus provides an opportune moment to take stock of the Byrd rule's role in the making of federal tax law. This essay—part of a symposium issue of Law and Contemporary Problems on "The Past, Present, and Future of the Tax Legislative Process"—considers the myriad ways in which the Byrd rule has influenced federal tax law and policy in the three dozen years since the rule's emergence.
Our overall assessment of the Byrd rule's impact is mixed. The Byrd rule arguably imposes a measure of fiscal discipline on the Senate by requiring reconciliation bills to stay within specified budgetary parameters. Moreover, the Byrd rule—at least in its more recent applications—has led the Senate to remove what might be described as "special interest" provisions from legislation passed through the reconciliation process. But the Byrd rule also has—perversely—prevented the Senate from passing provisions that would impose greater fiscal discipline on the upper chamber. And the Byrd rule also has had the surprising effect of freezing in place certain elements of the tax code that confer outsized benefits on narrow interest groups. All the while, the Byrd rule has added to the complexity of the tax code and the opacity of the tax legislative process. We conclude by suggesting steps that Senators, staff members, and—in particular—the Senate Parliamentarian could take to increase transparency and avoid some of the Byrd rule's unintended consequences.


Due to the increasing demand on wireless technologies, many researches are trying to find a way to support a continually growing number of users and services which consume bandwidth. Multi-carrier with code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) is a promising candidate for mobile radio systems. On the other hand, Space Time Block Code (STBC) as a spatial diversity multi input multi output technique (MIMO) increases the bit rate without consuming additional bandwidth. The proposed model is to enhance MIMO MC-CDMA system using rotated quasi-orthogonal STBC (QOSTBC) to achieve full diversity and rate one code in case of four transmitter antennas in a quasi static Rayleigh fading channel to design an efficient system.


The Unites States College and University system is schooling an increasing number of students from all over the world. For a very large portion of those, namely those on F1 visas and those with no documentation, the transition to the US labor market can be very difficult, if not impossible. This results into re-migration or under-employment of these highly skilled workers. We quantify the size of these populations and the employment and wage losses to US states and local economies from the constraints imposed by immigration status on those students. We suggest that some recent policies that have increased legal access to jobs for these two categories, such as the extension of optional practical training (OPT) in 2008 and the temporary status granted by DACA to undocumented college educated in 2012 may have increased their college to local jobs transition rates. There is scope for larger gains when adopting policies that would substantially increase the labor perspectives in the US of F1 and undocumented college students. We suggest some local policies that could prove to be innovative ways to strengthen local economies and link immigration policies to local economic incentives.


Standards-based grading is gaining popularity at the high school level, including physics courses. The basic notion is to give your students a list of objectives upfront that they need to master. Students can reassess often and their final grade is determined solely by their last reassessment on each standard. It is the instructor's job to help students find ways of showing their mastery to you. I implemented this in a junior-level mechanics course where the small numbers allowed me to introduce a novel twist: all assessments had to include the student's voice. This meant that students turned in pencasts, screencasts, and in-person assessments. Several days were also set aside for collaborative oral assessments, where students offered up honest advice and scores were mutually determined. In this paper, I'll share my experience trying out this pedagogical experiment and try to convey how it has improved my own understanding of my students' understanding.


Legal academics study the law extensively, but the great bulk of this research dwells upon the analysis of particular laws or doctrines as judged by standards of justice, individual liberty, or simple positive formalism. While such research is unquestionably valuable, law professors have fallen far short when it comes to the study of the effect of law and laws on the economic welfare of nations.1 The now-flourishing law and economics movement has stepped into this void, but even much of that movement's research has focused on particularized doctrines and micro-level theoretical analyses of efficiency rather than empirical studies of the structural features that are conducive to growth.2 There remains a relative paucity of academic legal research about the big picture. What particular mix of laws and legal institutions encourage the ultimate overall economic welfare of society?3 Economists have increasingly studied the importance of law to economic growth and made key contributions to our understanding of the issue. Most of these economists, though, are not trained in law and do not test many of the hypotheses that are most important to pragmatic legal and policy determinations.4 Indeed, much of the economic research appears to reflect a fundamental misunderstanding about what is meant by basic terms such as "law" or "rights" or "property rights." The contribution of economists to this study is invaluable, but the field cannot be left to this discipline; law professors must themselves add their understanding to the conversation.5 This Article surveys the field of empirical research on law and economic growth and analyzes its findings. The Article begins with a review of the theoretical and historical evidence associating good legal institutions with economic growth rates. The new institutional economics has used history and theory to make the case that legal institutions are crucial to economic development. While some may argue that such institutions are unnecessary for growth or are ineffective in light of local cultures, these positions contain only a grain of truth. There is ample reason to believe that law and legal institutions are fundamental to a nation's economic development. Considerable empirical research now informs the economic and other theories about the relationship of law and economic growth. There is substantial evidence that some major legal rules and institutions (such as democracy, property rights, and certain government regulations) have a distinctly positive effect on growth. The findings, though, are too generalized and for the most part do not focus on the features of democracy, property rights, and regulations that are malleable policy positions. Moreover, much of the research has been conducted by economists who may fail to capture relevant legal variables. The current issue "before policy makers therefore is no longer `do institutions matter?' but `which institutions matter and how does one acquire them?"'6 These are precisely the questions for which input from legal academics is essential. They are trained in the pragmatic operation of laws and legal institutions, unlike many economists. Legal academics should build upon and enhance the existing economic research and help discern the laws and legal institutions that facilitate the economic well-being of nations. I. The Theoretical Importance of Legal Institutions for Economic Growth Much research effort has been devoted to ascertaining the determinants of economic growth. Economic well-being cannot be ascribed to such fortuities as the natural resource endowments of nations.8 Factors such as investment and labor productivity are clearly critical to economic growth, and the important research question is how these and other contributors to economic growth may be encouraged. It is now generally recognized that government institutions and the law are relevant to increasing economic growth. This section will review the current understanding of the theory of economic growth. …


A high beta-glucosidase (BGL)-producing strain, Stereum hirsutum, was identified and isolated and showed a maximum BGL activity (10.4 U/ml) when cultured with Avicel and tryptone as the carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. In comparison with other BGLs, BGL obtained from S. hirsutum showed a higher level of activity to cellobiose (V(max) = 172 U/mg, and k(cat) = 281/s). Under the optimum conditions (600 rpm, 30°C, and pH 6.0), the maximum BGL activity of 10.4 U/ml with the overall productivity of 74.5 U/l/h was observed. BGL production was scaled up from a laboratory scale (7-L fermenter) to a pilot scale (70-L fermenter). When S. hirsutum was cultured in fed-batch culture with rice straw as the carbon source in a 70-L fermenter, a comparable productivity of 78.6 U/l/h was obtained. Furthermore, S. hirsutum showed high levels of activity of other lignocellulases (cellobiohydrolase, endoglucanase, xylanase, and laccase) that are involved in the saccharification of biomasses. Application of S. hirsutum lignocellulases in the hydrolysis of Pinus densiflora and Catalpa ovata showed saccharification yields of 49.7% and 43.0%, respectively, which were higher than the yield obtained using commercial enzymes.


The relationship between food consumption and health outcomes has become a priority research focus in Canada. This has driven an emerging interest in functional foods, natural health products and nutrigenomics. Capitalizing on its abundant natural resources, world class research expertise, renown facilities and collaborative research environment, Canadian researchers are developing innovative approaches to reduce the incidence of diseases such as hypertension, diabetes type II and cardiovascular disease. Canada boasts approximately 15 government research centres, 16 universities and colleges, 4 technology centres and 2 institutes actively carrying out research in the area of functional foods, natural health products and nutrigenomics. These include three organizations, The Institute of Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, The Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals, and The Canadian Centre for Agri-food Research in Health and Medicine, that are solely dedicated to food and health research. Many of the researchers at these organizations have benefited from investments from the Government of Canada through both the Advanced Foods and Material Network and the Canada Research Chairs Program, that have made significant investments in cutting edge functional food, natural health product and nutrigenomics research in Canada.


Garnet megacrysts found in the Cretaceous Group II Monteleo kimberlite (Free State province, South Africa) exhibit an unusual flattened and elongated morphology. Internally, the garnets are characterized by abundant kelyphite veins and microcracks, arranged as preferentially orientated microstructural sets. Numerous rod-like sulphide inclusions are present within the garnets, also characterized by a preferential orientation, with their long axes generally normal to the short axis of the host megacryst. The observed garnet megacryst morphologies and internal micro-structures are consistent with a shear-related deformation event, although the deformation mechanism remains unresolved. The deformation of the garnet megacrysts is inferred to have occurred prior to the entrainment of the garnets in their host kimberlite and is attributed to localized shearing in the lithospheric mantle, possibly associated with overlying crustal shearing that developed parallel to the Agulhas-Falkland Fracture Zone during Gondwana breakup. Variations in major and trace element concentrations indicate that the garnet megacrysts formed as a result of a simple fractional crystallization process, and pressure-temperature modelling indicates that they crystallized from a >1330°C melt at a depth of ~180 km, within a zone of metasomatism within the lithospheric mantle. A similarity in chemical composition between the megacrysts and garnets from associated lherzolitic lithologies suggests that percolation of the megacryst parental melt through the lithospheric mantle may have contributed to the metasomatism.


Lena Trough is the southern continuation of the ultraslow-spreading Gakkel Ridge and with its position in the Fram Strait between Greenland and Spitsbergen it is the only deep-sea gateway to the Arctic Ocean. DFG funded Emmy Noether group 'Mid-Ocean Volcanoes and Earthquakes' located at Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research is focusing on the seismicity of ultraslow spreading ridges and is especially interested in Lena Trough as an ultraslow spreading ridge in a developing stage. The southern Lena Trough shows similarities to the northern Red Sea spreading center which is in the early stage of development from continental to oceanic rift. It is known that the continental crust within the water-covered Red Sea is less than 10 km thick and that the northern part of the Red Sea rift spreads ultraslow as well (Cochran, 2003). At Lena Trough an actively spreading mid-ocean ridge with a narrow rift valley has already developed but continental crust lies within a short distance.Lena Trough is extending from 83°N/5°W to 80.3°N/2°W where it passes into the transform fault of the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone. The geometry of Lena Trough and certain asymmetric structures in the rift valley indicate oblique spreading and mostly tectonic and amagmatic rifting. There are several topographic highs west of the ridge axis which could be bounded by deep faults with normal faulting or detachment character exposing mantle material at the surface.Seismicity at the Lena Trough shows apparently the same asymmetric character with epicenters of teleseismically recorded earthquakes concentrating predominantly west of the ridge axis. The most abundant focal mechanism of the earthquakes within the rift valley is normal faulting, whereas strike-slip faults occur in the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone.We relocalized teleseismic earthquakes recorded from May 1973 to April 2009 in the region using a refined localization algorithm and could confirm systematic asymmetry in the distribution of earthquakes relative to the ridge axis. There are several high magnitude earthquakes (mb > 6) which are abnormally strong even for ultraslow spreading ridges. A major recent seismic crisis with 33 events from beginning of February 2009 until end of March 2009 peaked in a mb 6.5 earthquake occurring on March 6, 2009. We recorded the microseismicity in the area in July 2008 and August 2009 using small-aperture seismic arrays on drifting ice floes and noted ongoing increased seismicity in the region of the southern Lena Trough in 2009. We analysed the waveforms of these swarm-like events extracting improved traveltime picks and polarities and could localize the epicenters close to the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone in a narrow cluster striking almost parallel to the Fracture Zone. The Mb 6.5 event is located at the outside-corner southern Lena Trough in the prolongation of the Spitsbergen Fracture Zone. We are currently identifying geological structures and faults that are linked to these events.


Universities have historically merited a special place in world history as the locus of science, upbringing, humanism, and freedom of expression. However, modernity is routinely putting their tenacity and toughness to test by challenges of social existence, where every individual, government and society alike are transforming faced with globalization, communicative technologies, climate change and the new type of the world economy. The Institute of International Relations is therefore seeking to reiterate the irreplaceable value, virtues and vistas of a classical university in the ever-changing world of today.
Since its inception, the IIR has come a long way from a small department to the major educational and methodological centre of Ukraine for training experts in international relations and foreign policy. Nevertheless, the life in the precincts of the Institute is not confined to research in the silence of laboratories or libraries. Thus, under interuniversity agreements, the IIR cooperates with more than 60 higher educational establishments from Belgium, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Japan, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Spain, and the US. Within the framework of international cooperation attention is also attached to the matters of professional ethics: For four consecutive years, the IIR has taken part in the Strengthening Academic Integrity in Ukraine Project (SAIUP) under the aegis of the American Councils for International Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine backed by the US Embassy in Ukraine.
In recent years, the Institute has set up an extensive network of international project activities, as amply demonstrated by the establishment of Ukraine's sole Centre for Arabic Studies and the Youth Information Centre of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. Capitalizing on the generated momentum, in 2019, the IIR won an overarching victory in the competition for the establishment of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence under the EU's Erasmus + Programme to become the only such project in Ukraine.
The Institute of International Relations is also mindful of employability and future careers of its graduates. Such initiatives as the Career Day, traditionally bringing together the world's leading employers, the IIR Business School and the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine are there to serve this purpose.
Our Institute is an opportunity to open up to the world by virtue of new knowledge, academic exchange programs and internship in the best universities. This is the place not only to meet loyal friends and wise teachers, but also to unite the IIR traditions and achievements with the global perspective and break new ground of thinking.
Keywords: the Institute of International Relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, joint degree, master classes of practitioners, case studies, language training, English-language master programmes.


MekB from Pseudomonas veronii and CgHle from Corynebacteriumglutamicum belong to the superfamily of α/β‐hydrolase fold proteins. Based on sequence comparisons, they are annotated as homoserine transacetylases in popular databases like UNIPROT, PFAM or ESTHER. However, experimentally, MekB and CgHle were shown to be esterases that hydrolyse preferentially acetic acid esters. We describe the x‐ray structures of these enzymes solved to high resolution. The overall structures confirm the close relatedness to experimentally validated homoserine acetyl transferases, but simultaneously the structures exclude the ability of MekB and CgHle to bind homoserine and acetyl‐CoA. Insofar the MekB and CgHle structures suggest dividing the homoserine transacetylase family into subfamilies, namely genuine acetyl transferases and acetyl esterases with MekB and CgHle as constituting members of the latter.


The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is recognized as a key half-reaction in water electrolysis for clean hydrogen energy, which is kinetically not favored and usually requires precious metal catalysts such as IrO2 and RuO2 to reduce the overpotential. The major challenge in using non-precious metals in place of these precious metal catalysts for OER is their low efficiency and poor stability, which urgently demand new concepts and strategies to tackle this issue. Herein, we report a universal strategy to directly synthesize single layer graphene encapsulating uniform earth-abundant 3d transition-metal nanoparticles such as Fe, Co, Ni and their alloys in a confined channel of mesoporous silica. The single atomic thickness of the graphene shell immensely promotes the electron transfer from the encapsulated metals to the graphene surface, which efficiently optimizes the electronic structure of the graphene surface and thereby triggers the OER activity of the inert graphene surface. We investigated a series of non-precious 3d metals encapsulated within single layer graphene, and found that the encapsulated FeNi alloy showed the best OER activity in alkaline solutions with only 280 mV overpotential at 10 mA cm−2, and also possessed a high durability after 10 000 cycles. Both the activity and durability of the non-precious catalyst even exceed that of the commercial IrO2 catalyst, showing great potential to replace precious metal catalysts in the OER.


Conductive polymer composites were synthesized by the polymerization of methylmethacrylate in the presence of ionic liquid solvents. These composites were characterized by attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and dynamic mechanical analysis. AC impedance measurements were performed on these composites as a function of ionic liquid type, ionic liquid concentration, crosslinker density, and molecular weight between crosslinks at various temperatures. 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium thiocyanate produced composites with a greater conductivity than 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonimide, despite having a higher viscosity. The viscosity of the virgin ionic liquid could not be used to predict the order of ionic conductivity for composites made from these ionic liquids. The effect of crosslink density within the range of 0–0.6 mmol crosslinking agent per gram of monomer was studied. Composites with 25% ionic liquid (w/w) appeared to have an optimum crosslink density for maximum ionic conductivity. In the range of crosslink densities studied, composites with greater ionic liquid concentration exhibited no significant effect of crosslink density on ionic conductivity. This could be due to the fact that the difference in crosslink density did not effectively change the Tg of these composites. The composite with the lowest theoretical molecular weight between crosslinks had the lowest ionic conductivity. This could be due to restriction of ion movement at this molecular weight between crosslinks. The composite with the highest molecular weight between crosslinks had comparable ionic conductivity to an uncrosslinked composite. This study showed that these materials have ionic conductivities practical for advanced energy applications over a wide range of morphologies with dimensional stability. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009


In this short position paper we examine some of the dimensions and dynamics of the algorithmic age by considering three broad questions. First, what are the problematic consequences of life mediated by 'algorithm machines'? Second, how are individuals or groups and associations resisting the problems they encounter? Third, how might the algorithmic age be re-envisioned and re-made in more normative terms? We focus on two key aspects of living with ubiquitous computing, 'acceleration' and 'data grabbing,' which we contend are two of the most prominent and problematic features of the algorithmic age. We then begin to shed light on the sorts of practices that constitute slow computing responses to these issues. In the conclusion, we make the case for a widescale embrace of slow computing, which we propose is a necessary step for society to make the most of the undeniable opportunities for radical social change emerging from contemporary technological


Context is important for AI applications that interact with users. This is true both for natural language interfaces as well as for multi-modal interfaces. In this paper, we consider the kinds of contexts that are important in a multi-modal interface combining natural language and graphical input to describe locations. The descriptions will then be converted into queries to a geographical database system. We have identified several kinds of contexts in our preliminary study. We describe them and consider how each affects the system's interpretation of user input. Plans for future work on the project are also presented, both for implementation and for empirical studies.


Cytometry is an important single cell analysis technology in furthering our understanding of cellular biological processes and in supporting clinical diagnoses across a variety hematological and immunological conditions. Current data analysis workflows for cytometry data rely on a manual process called gating to classify cells into canonical types. This dependence on human annotation significantly limits the rate, reproducibility, and scope of cytometry's use in both biological research and clinical practice. We develop a novel Bayesian approach for automated gating that classifies cells into different types by combining cell-level marker measurements with an informative prior. The Bayesian approach allows for the incorporation of biologically-meaningful prior information that captures the domain expertise of human experts. The inference algorithm results in a hierarchically-structured classification of individual cells in a manner that mimics the tree-structured recursive process of manual gating, making the results readily interpretable. The approach can be extended in a natural fashion to handle data from multiple different samples by the incorporation of random effects in the Bayesian model. The proposed approach is evaluated using mass cytometry data, on the problems of unsupervised cell classification and supervised clinical diagnosis, illustrating the benefits of both incorporating prior knowledge and sharing information across multiple samples.


The statistics globally are chilling. And the Asia-Pacific region bears the brunt of the killing of journalists with impunity disproportionately. Revelations in research published in this edition of Pacific Journalism Review on the trauma experienced by television journalists in the Philippines covering President Rodrigo Duterte's so-called 'war on drugs', or as many describe it, a 'war on poverty', with more that 12,000 dead is deeply disturbing (Amnesty International, 2017). While these deaths, allegedly mostly extrajudicial killings, do not relate directly to the murders of journalists, the highest death toll ever of journalists in a mass execution took place in the southern Philippines almost nine years ago.


This paper discusses the effect of the values and interpretations of religion on economic activity. We argue that although the religions influence the economic activities, but the interpretations on the religions prove to have more profound impact on the activities. Islam and Protestant –i.e. the interpretations on them- have different views on the nature of behavior and the institutions involved, being Islam emphasis 'social' nature and Protestant emphasizes 'individual' nature. These emphases lead to differences in economic activities and institutions involved. PENDAHULUAN


If you're serious about your sport, you're serious about conditioning. Now, with one small device, you can apply the latest technology, science, and research to take the guesswork out of training, monitor progress, and see results. Heart RateTraining will show you how!
 From functions, features, and operational advice for your device to interpreting and applying the results, Heart RateTraining is a step-by-step guide to optimizing performance. You'll learn how, when, and why monitors can, and should, be incorporated into your workouts, training, and conditioning program to produce maximum results.
 In Heart Rate Training, authors Roy Benson and Declan Connolly show you how to determine deficiencies in training and performance, create targeted programs to increase endurance, raise lactate threshold, increase speed and power, and monitor your recovery between workouts. And the sample programs allow you to manipulate the training components to design a long-term training plan across eight endurance sports: walking, running, cycling, swimming, triathlon, rowing, cross-country skiing, and team sports.
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Student behavioral problems pose a myriad of challenges for schools. In this study, we examine the relations among teacher and school-level constructs (i.e., teacher collaboration, supervision/discipline, instructional management), and student-related outcomes (i.e., high-risk behaviors, barriers to learning, student social–behavioral climate). Teachers across 29 high schools, in a large urban school district serving primarily low-income students, completed self-report surveys. Multilevel regression was used to test both individual- and school-level predictors of student outcomes. Findings suggest that teacher practices at the individual and school levels are linked to student high-risk behaviors, barriers to student learning, and school climate. More specifically, findings indicate that better supervision/discipline and instructional management are associated with fewer high-risk behaviors and barriers to learning. More instructional management is also linked to positive social–behavioral climate. Results from this study highlight the association between teacher practices and a range of student-related problem behaviors, and suggest that system-level interventions in the school may have positive effects.


An analysis of the effects of climate change on 22 critical agricultural commodities and three important natural resources in the developing world reveals a number of cross-cutting themes: ` The world's agricultural systems face an uphill struggle in feeding a projected nine to ten billion people by 2050. Climate change introduces a significant hurdle in this struggle. ` Securing and maintaining necessary levels of calories, protein and nutrients for populations around the world will be an exceptional challenge. ` Recalibrating agriculture in the face of climate change is more than planting crops that can tolerate warmer weather. Some commodities, for example, can grow in warm weather but cannot resist the insects and diseases whose prevalence will increase. Others can tolerate a lack of water but not the sporadic flooding that occurs with more common weather extremes. ` Even as global deforestation continues, trees continue to be valued as a provider of agricultural commodities like nuts and fruit; as a mitigating resource that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; and also as a staple of adaptation—trees help stabilize soil erosion, better regulate water, as well as provide shade, firewood and fodder. ` Production of the most common commodity staples—wheat, maize and rice—will be challenged by new weather patterns. Adjustments in production, replacement with commodities that can tolerate the new conditions in different regions, and innovations in technology are key elements of adaptation. ` Raising livestock and catching fish and other aquatic products—two of the more common sources of protein—will also be challenged by a new climate. In some areas, different plants, breeds and species can provide substitutions, but in others, adaptation is critical. ` This recalibration of agriculture will eventually extend beyond what is grown and raised. The world's many cultures must adapt to the changing dinner menu forced upon them due to climate change. Philip Thornton


Musculoskeletal injuries have long been a problem in general purpose forces, yet anecdotal evidence provided by medical, human performance, and training leadership suggests musculoskeletal injuries are also a readiness impediment to Special Operations Forces (SOF). The purpose of this study was to describe the injury epidemiology of SOF utilizing self-reported injury histories. Data were collected on 106 SOF (age: 31.7 ± 5.3 years, height: 179.0 ± 5.5 cm, mass: 85.9 ± 10.9 kg) for 1 year before the date of laboratory testing and filtered for total injuries and those with the potential to be preventable based on injury type, activity, and mechanism. The frequency of musculoskeletal injuries was 24.5 injuries per 100 subjects per year for total injuries and 18.9 injuries per 100 subjects per year for preventable injuries. The incidence of musculoskeletal injuries was 20.8 injured subjects per 100 subjects per year for total injuries and 16.0 injured subjects per 100 subjects per year for preventable injuries. Preventable musculoskeletal injuries comprised 76.9% of total injuries. Physical training (PT) was the most reported activity for total/preventable injuries (PT Command Organized: 46.2%/60.0%, PT Noncommand Organized: 7.7%/10.0%, PT Unknown: 3.8%/5.0%). Musculoskeletal injuries impede optimal physical readiness/tactical training in the SOF community. The data suggest a significant proportion of injuries are classified as preventable and may be mitigated with human performance programs.


Two existing density estimators based on local likelihood have properties that are comparable to those of local likelihood regression but they are much less used than their counterparts in regression. We consider truncation as a natural way of localising parametric density estimation. Based on this idea, a third local likelihood density estimator is introduced. Our main result establishes that the three estimators coincide when a free multiplicative constant is used as an extra local parameter. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.


The aim of this study was to investigate the removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solution using magnetic alginate–layered double hydroxide (LDH) composites. Magnetic iron oxide and calcined Mg-Al LDH powders were synthesized in the laboratory. The magnetic composites were prepared through immobilization of synthetic magnetic iron oxide and calcined Mg-Al LDH powders into an alginate matrix. The magnetic composites had a particle size of 1.5 ± 0.1 mm and showed magnetic properties under an external magnetic field. Results demonstrated that the magnetic composites were effective in the removal of Cr(VI). In the magnetic composites, calcined Mg-Al LDH played a major role in the sorption of Cr(VI), whereas magnetic iron oxide provided the magnetic property along with a minor role in Cr(VI) sorption. Kinetic tests showed that Cr(VI) sorption to the magnetic composites reached equilibrium at 24 h. The maximum Cr(VI) removal capacity was 11.15 mg/g. Results also indicated that Cr(VI) removal was not sensitive to solution pH between 4.1 and 9.5. This study demonstrated the potential applications of magnetic alginate–LDH composites for chromate removal from aqueous solution in combination with magnetic separation.


Key Points • Zambia's maize crop grew by 48% between the 2009 and 2010 harvests, leading to the largest crop recorded in recent history. • Yield growth accounted for 59% of the maize production growth between 2009 and 2010. Expansion of area planted to maize explains an additional 23%, while the remaining 18% can be attributed to a rise in the ratio of harvested to planted land. • Favourable weather conditions contributed 47% of the maize yield growth between 2009 and 2010, whilst, 25% came from increased fertilizer use from both the private and public sectors, and 23% from area expansion. The remaining 5% can be attributed to hybrid seed use and improved management. • Due to favorable weather conditions in both 2008/09 and 2009/10 growing seasons, maize yield response rates to fertilizer application rose from about 3 kg of additional maize for each kg of fertilizer applied in 2006 to nearly 4 kg in 2010. • Though Zambia had a good harvest in 2010, the country remains vulnerable to weather shocks. • The unpredictability of government maize policies continues to generate uncertainty for participants in the marketing system. A decrease in maize production may occur next year due to the marketing problems faced by smallholder especially those caused by FRA's lateness in paying farmers.


As part of a growing body of research into potential ways of achieving a secure transition to a low-carbon energy system, this paper assesses the future security of the UK electricity system in a low-carbon context. A new mixed-method set of indicators for assessing security of both supply and demand has been developed and applied to a set of three transition pathways for the UK electricity system, all of which seek to reduce UK carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. This paper uses the results to highlight some of the key risks and trade-offs which may emerge under different routes to a low-carbon electricity transition. In particular, the results indicate that a major risk may be experienced by a lack of flexible, responsive supply capacity in low-carbon electricity pathways. A trade-off is also identified between 'affordability' and 'environmental sustainability' objectives. The paper finds that energy security is often conceptualised as the avoidance of causes of insecurity (such as insecure fuel imports), but that an equally important aspect of security lies in maximising responses to insecurity, for example by increasing the flexibility and responsiveness of both supply and demand.


This study was designed 1) to localize and 2) to characterize betaine reabsorption from the tubular lumen in rat kidney in vivo, and 3) to test whether reabsorption is modulated by the diuretic state. [(14)C]betaine (+ [(3)H]inulin) was microperfused through the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) and microinfused into late proximal (LP) and early distal (ED) tubules, long loops of Henle (LLH), and vasa recta of the rat in vivo et situ, and the fractional recovery of the (14)C label was determined end proximally (PCT) and in the final urine, respectively. [(14)C]betaine was not reabsorbed during ED microinfusion, whereas fractional reabsorption during LP microinfusion was 82% at 0.06 mM betaine and decreased gradually to 4.8% at 60 mM. L-Proline had lower Michaelis-Menten constant (K(m)) and sarcosine a higher K(m) than betaine. Chronic, but not acute, diuresis inhibited betaine reabsorption in Henle's loops. Fractional [(14)C]betaine reabsorption in PCT was much smaller than that during LP microinfusion. [(14)C]betaine (7.28 mM) microinfused 1) into LLH was reabsorbed to 30% and 2) into vasa recta appeared in the ipsilateral urine to a much higher extent than contralaterally. In both cases, no saturation was detected at 70 mM. We conclude that betaine is reabsorbed by mediated transport from descending limbs of short Henle's loops by a proline-preferring carrier in a diuresis-modulated manner. In the deep medulla, bidirectional blood/urine betaine transport exists.


The consumers in today's electricity market need to report their electricity consumption usually every third month, and occasionally even more often. The new paradigm in Norway's electricity system will be the use of smart meters that will do all the reporting. The electricity providers will be responsible for the deployment. This is an extensive and costly process. If you want remote electricity measurement today, you need to install an AMS meter priced at NOK 2,500, or find another solution involving an electrician to do the installation, and the costs get high. In this master's thesis, a solution reading the electricity consumption by using a Raspberry Pi and a camera will be described. This solution uses image analysis and object recognition, and retrieves the digits shown on the meter. Finally, it reports the measurement via its Internet connection to a server. The thesis describes the process of developing and implementing the product, and what the product ended up being. In addition, an assessment of the business opportunities of the product is made, including two different business models and product cost estimations.


The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-regulated transcription factor that stimulates cell growth and differentiation in androgen-responsive tissues. The AR N terminus contains two activation functions (AF-1a and AF-1b) that are necessary for maximal transcriptional enhancement by the receptor; however, the mechanisms and components regulating AR transcriptional activation are not fully understood. We sought to identify novel factors that interact with the AR N terminus from an androgen-stimulated human prostate cancer cell library using a yeast two-hybrid approach designed to identify proteins that interact with transcriptional activation domains. A 157-amino acid protein termed ART-27 was cloned and shown to interact predominantly with the AR(153-336), containing AF-1a and a part of AF-1b, localize to the nucleus and increase the transcriptional activity of AR when overexpressed in cultured mammalian cells. ART-27 also enhanced the transcriptional activation by AR(153-336) fused to the LexA DNA-binding domain but not other AR N-terminal subdomains, suggesting that ART-27 exerts its effect via an interaction with a defined region of the AR N terminus. ART-27 interacts with AR in nuclear extracts from LNCaP cells in a ligand-independent manner. Interestingly, velocity gradient sedimentation of HeLa nuclear extracts suggests that native ART-27 is part of a multiprotein complex. ART-27 is expressed in a variety of human tissues, including sites of androgen action such as prostate and skeletal muscle, and is conserved throughout evolution. Thus, ART-27 is a novel cofactor that interacts with the AR N terminus and plays a role in facilitating receptor-induced transcriptional activation.


The case describes the international problem of money laundering and summarizes U.S. bank regulations aimed at reducing money laundering activities. The introduction of H.R. 3886 in 2000 was one in a series of attempts to formalize U.S. banks' monitoring of their customers. The bill was prompted by a government report that named and criticized U.S. banks for laundering billions of dollars linked to drug trafficking, fraud, and organized crime. Interest groups in favor of H.R. 3886 were predominantly law enforcement agencies that viewed current anti-money laundering laws as ineffective. Groups opposed to the bill included the American Civil Liberties Union, which believed that the collection of more information about bank customers' activities was an invasion of privacy, and the American Bankers Association, which claimed that the legislation would impose unnecessary costs on banks. The case can be used to introduce the distributive politics framework for analyzing non-market issues and formulating nonmarket strategies in the context of government institutions. The epilogue reveals that H.R. 3886 died before it ever reached the House floor, but that an expanded version of the legislation ultimately passed---with the support of stakeholders who originally fought it---as part of the USA PATRIOT Act after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. This stance reversal provides an opportunity to explore how events, public opinion, and the media can create windows of policy opportunity

Utilize a framework for analyzing options for non-market action – Formulate a strategy for nonmarket action – Recognize how public opinion influences the opportunity for non-market action through events and/or new information, political actors, media coverage, and policy windows


In a number of cities around the world the adoption of climate policies has been driven by partnerships between multiple actors from the private sector, NGOs, and academia. With this paper we investigate the formulation and implementation processes of climate policy in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. We argue that the trend of multiactor and multilevel participation in climate policy making, detected in developed countries, can be observed in a major city from an emerging economy. We further argue that the ample engagement of actors driving the adoption of climate policies might not be reflected in policy implementation. Although São Paulo's Municipal Climate Law was adopted after a participatory process, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the transport sector have been largely absent from its implementation. We propose four reasons for further involvement of SMEs and suggest that participation of relevant actors and sectors is necessary in both the formulation and the implementation of climate policies.


Sclerosing extramedullary hematopoietic tumor has been described as a rare manifestation of chronic myeloproliferative neoplasm. The lack of knowledge about this entity has caused it to be mistaken for many types of nonhematopoietic and hematopoietic tumors. We present the case of a 71-year-old lady with a long history of primary myelofibrosis, which developed multiple abdominal sclerosing extramedullary hematopoietic tumors with good clinical evolution. Nonchronic myeloid leukemia myeloproliferative neoplasm included a JAK2 mutation as part of the diagnosis algorithm. Particularly, idiopathic myelofibrosis is related with a JAK2 mutation in 50% of the cases with a pejorative prognosis. The absence of JAK2 demonstrated in the paraffin samples of the tumors may be related to the unusual evolution in this particular case. Morphologically differential diagnoses considered in the evaluation of this entity and in our case included sarcomas mainly liposarcoma, anaplastic carcinoma, and Hodgkin lymphoma.


Internships in firms are becoming more widespread, either as an integral part of higher education courses, (ranging from engineering to accounting and social work), or are sought out by students themselves. This paper reports on a four-year period (2010-2013) of internship practice at a technological university on the Greek island of Crete – where internships are a compulsory part of undergraduate courses – and analyses the experiential-learning process as experienced by the students, academics and business managers. The particular internship programmes are described in terms of goals and procedures regarding employment conditions and assesses the students, employers and the process itself through questionnaires. Finally, recommendations are made for the future of internship programmes based on this assessment so as to benefit all stakeholders.


As primary health care disciplines evolve and strengthen both in Australia and internationally, primary care practitioners need to develop their research capacity at all levels. This paper discusses the changing face of primary health care and the emergence of primary care research networks as agents for research skills capacity building. Much can be learnt from international experiences, such as those in the United Kingdom, in terms of network models and approaches that have demonstrated successful outcomes including increased grant applications, research higher degree completions and publications. However, these outcomes are at least partly dependent on different contexts of health care services, and higher levels of funding. Enhancing change in Australian primary care research must take into account the Australian context, available resources, and be prepared to innovate in response to widely varying local and regional needs. The paper will discuss options and challenges for future directions in Australian research networks.


Water distribution networks optimization is a challenging problem due to the dimension and the complexity of these systems. Since the last half of the twentieth century this field has been investigated by many authors. Recently, to overcome discrete nature of variables and non linearity of equations, the research has been focused on the development of heuristic algorithms. This algorithms do not require continuity and linearity of the problem functions because they are linked to an external hydraulic simulator that solve equations of mass continuity and of energy conservation of the network.
In this work, a NSGA-II (Non-dominating Sorting Genetic Algorithm) has been used. This is a heuristic multi-objective genetic algorithm based on the analogy of evolution in nature. Starting from an initial random set of solutions, called population, it evolves them towards a front of solutions that minimize, separately and contemporaneously, all the objectives. This can be very useful in practical problems where multiple and discordant goals are common.
Usually, one of the main drawback of these algorithms is related to time consuming: being a stochastic research, a lot of solutions must be analized before good ones are found. Results of this thesis about the classical optimal design problem shows that is possible to improve results modifying the mathematical definition of objective functions and the survival criterion, inserting good solutions created by a Cellular Automata and using rules created by classifier algorithm (C4.5). This part has been tested using the version of NSGA-II supplied by Centre for Water Systems (University of Exeter, UK) in MATLAB® environment. Even if orientating the research can constrain the algorithm with the risk of not finding the optimal set of solutions, it can greatly improve the results.
Subsequently, thanks to CINECA help, a version of NSGA-II has been implemented in C language and parallelized: results about the global parallelization show the speed up, while results about the island parallelization show that communication among islands can improve the optimization.
Finally, some tests about the optimization of pump scheduling have been carried out. In this case, good results are found for a small network, while the solutions of a big problem are affected by the lack of constraints on the number of pump switches. Possible future research is about the insertion of further constraints and the evolution guide.
In the end, the optimization of water distribution systems is still far from a definitive solution, but the improvement in this field can be very useful in reducing the solutions cost of practical problems, where the high number of variables makes their management very difficult from human point of view.


Young people grow up in a culture in which drinking alcohol is widespread and socially acceptable. At the same time, 'excessive' drinking is increasingly being linked to various forms of anti-social behaviour and has been identified as a more important source of individual and social harm than most illicit drugs. The ambiguous position of alcohol provides the central theme in this comprehensive review.

The authors consider in detail the available evidence about young people's levels of drinking and examine different interpretations – including those which view learning to drink as a normal part of adolescent development. A discussion of the personal and social harm associated with alcohol use follows.

The authors conclude that the key questions for social policy are how to reduce the harm associated with alcohol consumption by young people and how to encourage more sensible drinking. They question the appropriateness of legislative approaches and argue that a range of initiatives to encourage more sensible drinking is required. These might include both public health approaches aimed at enhancing self-control and the creation of safer drinking environments through design, technology and possible changes to licensing laws.