Abstract. Transpiration is commonly conceptualised as a fraction of some potential rate, driven by so-called "atmospheric evaporative demand". Therefore, atmospheric evaporative demand or "potential evaporation" is generally used alongside with precipitation and soil moisture to characterise the environmental conditions that affect plant water use. Consequently, an increase in potential evaporation (e.g. due to climate change) is believed to cause increased transpiration and/or vegetation water stress. In the present study, we investigated the question whether potential evaporation constitutes a meaningful reference for transpiration and compared sensitivity of potential evaporation and leaf transpiration to atmospheric forcing. A physically-based leaf energy balance model was used, considering the dependence of feedbacks between leaf temperature and exchange rates of radiative, sensible and latent heat on stomatal resistance. Based on modelling results and supporting experimental evidence, we conclude that stomatal resistance cannot be parameterised as a factor relating transpiration to potential evaporation, as the ratio between transpiration and potential evaporation not only varies with stomatal resistance, but also with wind speed, air temperature, irradiance and relative humidity. Furthermore, the effect of wind speed in particular implies increase in potential evaporation, which is commonly interpreted as increased "water stress", but at the same time can reduce leaf transpiration, implying a decrease in water demand at leaf scale.


This article investigates the claim made by some Pentecostal preachers that prosperity is part of the atonement. The biblical basis that such preachers present for their claims is a specific understanding of 2 Corinthians 8:9. The phrase, δια υμας, is sometimes translated 'for your sakes' or 'because of you', and the verse is understood by these preachers as indicative of the vicarious nature of the poverty of Jesus. A reading of the Greek text of 2 Corinthians 8:9, however, does not lend itself to this interpretation. Furthermore, Paul's act of soliciting for funds to help the poor saints in Jerusalem makes the claim that prosperity is part of the atonement quite unwarranted by the text. Intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary implications: The contextual perspective this work is challenging is the Neo-Pentecostal interpretation of 2 Corinthians 8:9, that prosperity is part of the atonement. This research discountenances such understanding and affirms the traditional view that the scope of the atonement of Christ does not imply financial abundance. The atonement of Christ, however, does have financial implications, for it has brought about a new community that cares for its members.


Prompted by the observation that some Australian universities state that they wish to be entrepreneurial, and appear to be only mildly successful at it, whilst others are entrepreneurial by any measure and yet do not state that aim, this study explores what it means to be an entrepreneurial university in the complex and challenging Australian context. It asks the key question 'What does it take?' in seeking to identify the organisational and managerial capabilities that underpin successful entrepreneurial outcomes with a view to developing a model that can assist senior university executives in their managerial and leadership practice. The study is undertaken in an interpretive, qualitative research framework where an initial model based on a literature synthesis, using the work of Clark as a starting point, is presented to a group of participants. All are either present or recent vicechancellors, higher education industry experts and bureaucrats, or are senior technology transfer managers concerned with direct entrepreneurial efforts in larger universities. In two iterations, the participants are engaged in dialogue about the model, refining and commenting on it until their views are incorporated and it more closely approximates their own mental models for the practice of entrepreneurship in the university. Their comments about related issues of government policy, current national and international trends, their respective university strategies and concerns are also incorporated to add rich meaning to their views on the model itself. The study concludes that there are five clusters of capabilities involved in building an entrepreneurial university in the Australian setting. They are labelled Context, Strategy, People, Enabling Mechanisms and Culture and Internal Politics in this study. There is some overlap with those elements Clark originally identified but also some notable additional emphasis and detail added. In this study, the capability clusters related to relationship with environment and Context and that relating to Strategy and strategic leadership in general are found to be more important than Clark indicated, more crucial in the present Australian context and generally more underdeveloped in Australia than the current circumstances would indicate is necessary. It is concluded that where entrepreneurship is handled as a marginal, optional, or halfhearted pursuit, and the concept not fully embraced, it is likely to result in haphazard outcomes, not always enhancing or progressing the institution in its desired direction. In contrast, successful entrepreneurship in and by Australian universities essentially requires greater emphasis on the capabilities of strategic management and plans that place entrepreneurship centrally in an integrated strategic entrepreneurship framework. ________________________


Effective and efficient operations management is the cornerstone of any company's success. Presently, because of cost-cutting pressures, all investors look out for companies' operations before making any investment commitment. The South African Government (through the Department of Public Enterprises), as an owner and investor in Eskom, is looking at optimising operational excellence within state-owned enterprises like Eskom. Eskom is presently experiencing problems with increased electricity consumption which it cannot meet due to the limited plant capacity it presently has. These challenges are forcing Eskom to be more efficient and effective in management of the present plant assets (like Matimba Power Station) it presently operates. Matimba Power Station has consistently shown improvement in the areas of plant, financial and operations performance over the last three years. It is presently the standard bearer for the whole Eskom in terms of plant and operational performance. Asset management (through maintenance and management thereof) , especially preventative management with in a power utility like Eskom, is a critical factor because supply (generation of electricity) has to meet demand (consumption of electricity) instantaneously as electricity cannot be saved . The planning, scheduling and execution of maintenance (through a work management process) to ensure success of business operations are very critical. An Eskom document titled Routine Work Management Manual emphasised the criticality of preventative management and included a six-step process of work management within the power generation business. The Japanese success in ensuring that operations costs are limited by implementing total productive maintenance (which includes work management) is suggested in the study as a way to go for operational success at Matimba Power Station. Many of the research studies done at Eskom in regard to maintenance were based on and confined to a sampling population of senior staff members like managers, engineers and supervisors. Experience has shown that progress of implementing change (whether in systems or structures) is slow if there was no proactive involvement of all participants and stakeholders, especially employees at lower levels involved in operations. A work management process, which is one of the pillars of total productive maintenance, was ii recently implemented at Matimba and is currently experiencing teething problems which are being attended to. Employee involvement in making sure of the success of work management is critica l. The study investigates the implementation of work management from the employees' perspective in order to address problems for possible full implementation of total productive maintenance.


The effects of storage of buffalo milk Ujani basundi , incorporated with or without potassium sorbate (0.1% w/w) and with or without cardamom (0.1% w/w) under ambient (30±1°C) and refrigerated temperature (5±1°C) over a period of 20 days were s tudied. The physicochemical as well as sensory quality of stored product samples were studied. The stored product samples at refrigerated and ambient temperature with potassium sorbate gave shelf life up to 20 and 10 days respectively. The product stored with cardamom gave best flavor score in both the temperature.


Designing efficient algorithms for combinatorial optimization appears ubiquitously in various scientific fields. Recently, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) frameworks have gained considerable attention as a new approach: they can automate the design of a solver while relying less on sophisticated domain knowledge of the target problem. However, the existing DRL solvers determine the solution using a number of stages proportional to the number of elements in the solution, which severely limits their applicability to large-scale graphs. In this paper, we seek to resolve this issue by proposing a novel DRL scheme, coined learning what to defer (LwD), where the agent adaptively shrinks or stretch the number of stages by learning to distribute the element-wise decisions of the solution at each stage. We apply the proposed framework to the maximum independent set (MIS) problem, and demonstrate its significant improvement over the current state-of-the-art DRL scheme. We also show that LwD can outperform the conventional MIS solvers on large-scale graphs having millions of vertices, under a limited time budget.


Underwater mines and explosives, left in ports and harbours after World War II, can still pose a threat to subsea pipelines. In case of an accidental explosion, or even during controlled detonation, such explosives can cause significant damage to subsea pipelines. To assess the safety of pipelines exposed to an underwater explosion, finite element analyses are performed to predict the transient response of the pipeline to an acoustic pressure shock wave.This type of problem is characterized by a strong coupling between the structural response of the pipe and the acoustic pressure on the wetted interface between the pipe surface and the surrounding seawater. The spherical pressure wave induced by an underwater explosion is characterized by a very steep wave front, where the maximum pressure is attained over an extremely short rise time. The pressure then drops off exponentially over a significantly longer period of time. As a result, the structural behaviour is a combination of a long time response, dominated by an added mass effect (low frequency), a short time response, governed by radiation damping (high frequency), and an intermediate time-frequency response, where both added mass and radiation damping effects are present.In this paper, a finite element model is presented to simulate the transient response of a subsea pipeline subjected to an underwater explosion. The close coupling between acoustic pressure and structural response gives rise to numerical challenges like the accurate formulation and representation of the shock wave, the mesh requirements for the acoustic domain, and the position of the surface based absorbing radiation boundaries. An explicit dynamic solver is used to tackle these challenges, and to predict the behaviour of subsea pipelines exposed to an underwater explosion. The numerical results are compared to published experimental data, and can be used to assess the safety of submerged pipelines in the vicinity of explosives.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The study aimed to examine gender resource accessibility and profitability among groundnut producers in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to sample 54 respondents (27 male and 27 female) by the use of a structured questionnaire. The data from the survey were analysed using frequency distribution and gross margin analysis. The results showed that the men were generally older and more experienced than the women with 77.8% and 55.5% of men and women respectively being over 40 years of age and 51.9% and 37.1% of men and women respectively having farming experience of over 20 years. The perception of the respondents was that men had more access to resources and opportunities that enhance productivity (land, labour, chemicals, market and education) than women (fertilizer, seeds, and cooperatives). Gross margin per hectare of men was N62, 693 while that of women was N37, 732. It was recommended that credit provision in cash and kind to women by Government and other relevant organisations be encouraged in order to give women improved access to production resources to increase women's productivity and profitability.


INTRODUCTION This research is part of a regional research on women homeworkers and their use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) for their work in three countries of South-east Asia – Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. It tries to answer two main questions:- ƒ What are the key gender-specific issues and challenges faced by urban poor women homeworkers in Thailand carrying out home-based work? ƒ How can women homeworkers be empowered by the use of ICTs for economic activities and thus take ownership/control of the management of social networks, information sharing and other activities that enable them to work from home and enjoy the full benefits thereof? In relation to the above questions, the research project, thus, focuses on the following key areas: a) The enabling environment or the contexts, structures and mechanisms supporting women homeworkers and their use of ICTs for work; b) Activities or efforts to address gender issues of urban women homeworkers; and c) Understanding the potential for ICT-Empowered Women Homeworkers


The number of online resources read by and pertinent to clinicians has increased dramatically. However, most healthcare professionals still use mainstream search engines as their primary port of entry to the resources on the Internet. These search engines use algorithms that do not make it easy to find clinician‐oriented resources. FOAMSearch, a custom search engine (CSE), was developed to find relevant, high‐quality online resources for emergency medicine and critical care (EMCC) clinicians. Using GoogleTM algorithms, it searches a vetted list of >300 blogs, podcasts, wikis, knowledge translation tools, clinical decision support tools and medical journals. Utilisation has increased progressively to >3000 users/month since its launch in 2011. Further study of the role of CSEs to find medical resources is needed, and it might be possible to develop similar CSEs for other areas of medicine.


This chapter contends that the historical Buddha is best understood as advocating an exclusivist view of other religions. Contrary to common belief, the Buddha, as represented by the Pali Nikāyas and their parallels, did not subscribe to the view that the ultimate goal of the spiritual life could be attained through diverse spiritual paths but rather that the ultimate goal is accessible solely through the noble eightfold path, the distinctive discovery of the sammā-sambuddhas, those who attain perfect enlightenment. Nevertheless, through the centuries Buddhism has displayed an impressive tolerance in its relationship to other faiths. The chapter explains this apparently paradoxical attitude on the basis of a dual perspective that the Buddha adopts on the diversity of spiritual paths. On the one hand, he asserts that the eightfold path is the sole means to the final goal of the spiritual life, irreversible release from the cycle of repeated birth and death. At the same time the cosmology of Early Buddhism allows a more accommodative stance according to which the provisional goal of the spiritual life, the achievement of a blissful rebirth, is not exclusive to the Buddha's teaching but can be reached through other faith commitments.


This study was conducted by carrying out nonlinear FE analysis of RC slabs subjected to punching failure, using three-dimensional (3D) continuum elements. The influence of several modelling choices for concrete material were investigated by comparing results such as load-carrying capacity, load-deflection response and crack pattern from the FE analyses with available experimental data. The analyses of the tested slabs show possibility to accurately predict the load-carrying capacity and realistically simulate the behavior of slabs using the proposed method.


We present a liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) method for long-chain and very-long-chain fatty acid analysis and its application to (13)C-tracer studies of fatty acid metabolism. Fatty acids containing 14 to 36 carbon atoms are separated by C(8) reversed-phase chromatography using a water-methanol gradient with tributylamine as ion pairing agent, ionized by electrospray and analyzed by a stand-alone orbitrap mass spectrometer. The median limit of detection is 5 ng/mL with a linear dynamic range of 100-fold. Ratios of unlabeled to (13)C-labeled species are quantitated precisely and accurately (average relative standard deviation 3.2% and deviation from expectation 2.3%). In samples consisting of fatty acids saponified from cultured mammalian cells, 45 species are quantified, with average intraday relative standard deviations for independent biological replicates of 11%. The method enables quantitation of molecular ion peaks for all labeled forms of each fatty acid. Different degrees of (13)C-labeling from glucose and glutamine correspond to fatty acid uptake from media, de novo synthesis, and elongation. To exemplify the utility of the method, we examined isogenic cell lines with and without activated Ras oncogene expression. Ras increases the abundance and alters the labeling patterns of saturated and monounsaturated very-long-chain fatty acids, with the observed pattern consistent with Ras leading to enhanced activity of ELOVL4 or an enzyme with similar catalytic activity. This LC/MS method and associated isotope tracer techniques should be broadly applicable to investigating fatty acid metabolism.


AIM
To compare the efficacy of reciprocating and rotary techniques with that of hand files for removing gutta-percha and sealer from root canals.

METHODOLOGY
The root canals of fifty-four human extracted maxillary central incisors were cleaned and shaped using a crown-down technique to a size 40 and filled with gutta-percha and a zinc oxide-eugenol-based sealer using a lateral compaction technique. Teeth were divided into three groups according to the technique used for removing the root filling material: group I - Gates-Glidden burs and stainless steel hand files up to size 50; group II - rotary technique with NiTi Mtwo R files and additional Mtwo files to size 50, 0.04 taper; group III - reciprocating technique with the Reciproc instrument R50, size 50, 0.05 taper. Chloroform was used as a solvent in all groups. Teeth were then split longitudinally and photographed under 8× magnification. The images were transferred to a computer, and the total canal space and remaining filling material were quantified. The ratio of remaining filling material to root canal periphery was computed with the aid of Image Tool 3.0 software. The mean percentages of remaining filling material and time required to remove it were compared using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests (P < 0.05).

RESULTS
The mean percentage of remaining filling material was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in group II, with Mtwo rotary files (12.17%), than in group I, with the hand file technique (7.19%), and group III, with Reciproc instruments (4.57%), which were statistically similar (P > 0.05). The time required to remove filling material was significantly shorter (P < 0.05) in group III (194 s), followed by group II (365 s) and group I (725 s) (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
Remaining endodontic filling material was observed on the canal walls of all teeth regardless of the technique used. Hand files combined with Gates-Glidden burs (group I) and the reciprocating technique (group III) removed more filling material from the canal walls than the Mtwo R files. The reciprocating technique was the most rapid method for removing gutta-percha and sealer, followed by the rotary technique and the hand file technique.


In this paper we propose a probabilistic approach to synthesize an agent-based heterogeneous population interaction model to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of an air-born epidemic, such as influenza, in a metropolitan area. The methodology is generic in nature and can generate a baseline population for cities for which detailed population summary tables are not available. The joint probabilities of population demographics are estimated using the International Public Use Microsimulation Data (IPUMS) sample data set. Agents, are assigned various activities based on several characteristics. The agent-based model for the city of Lahore, Pakistan is synthesized and a rule based disease spread model of influenza is simulated. The simulation results are visualized to analyze the spatio-temporal dynamics of the epidemic. The results show that the proposed model can be used by officials and medical experts to simulate an outbreak.


Initiation of lactation and newborn piglet nursing ability are 2 factors that can influence preweaning mortality. We have developed the "immunocrit" that can assess both lactation initiation and neonatal piglet nursing ability based on the transfer of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from the sow to the piglet. To perform an immunocrit, 50 μL serum was mixed with 50 μL 40% ammonium sulfate, the mixture was loaded into a hematocrit capillary tube and centrifuged for 5 min. The result was the ratio of the mm precipitate to mm solution in the tube. To test the immunocrit, the smallest piglet in 205 litters was sacrificed, blood was collected and full and emptied stomachs were weighed to obtain the weight of stomach contents. Blood was analyzed for IgG by precipitation of serum samples with protein A-Sepharose followed by SDS-PAGE. Densitometry of the heavy chain of IgG was used to quantify IgG. To test use in cattle, blood samples from 96 calves were obtained 24 h after birth and IgG was measured (Bovine IgG radial immunodiffusion kit; VMRD, Inc.). Piglet and calf blood samples were also analyzed by immunocrit. For piglets, the correlation between densitometry and immunocrit values was 0.83. For calves, the correlation between kit IgG and immunocrit values was 0.90. Piglet immunocrit values were also correlated (r = 0.44; P < 0.01) with stomach contents at 24 h, indicating that immunocrits could be used to screen for piglet nursing ability. To assess the influence of immunocrit values on piglet preweaning survival, immunocrits were performed on every piglet in 48 1st and 68 2nd parity litters and survival to weaning was recorded. Preweaning survival was independently associated (P < 0.01) with birth weight of the piglet and immunocrit values. Second parity sows had greater litter average immunocrit values compared with 1st parity sows (0.133 ± 0.003 and 0.123 ± 0.004, respectively; P < 0.05). These results indicate that the immunocrit is a useful tool to monitor colostrum intake in piglets and calves.


This work has been triggered by an industrial project targeting the design of a mechatronic injector for the medical field. Injections are usually performed using a syringe, a quite clumsy tool that transforms the injection task in a positioning one. The quality of injections can be enhanced by using devices that help control the injected dose, or the injection rate, but usually at the cost of a slower operation, a reduced manoeuvrability, or a short battery life for electrically-powered devices. The idea was therefore to provide a cordless miniaturised injector capable of managing the dosage as well as injection rate according to the user's desires, with the constraint that it should have a long battery life. This is why escapementbased movements are investigated in this work. Such stepper movements, where a regulator controls the speed at which a stock of mechanical energy is emptied, have been used for centuries in clockwork. Purely mechanical devices, the regulators are designed to work at a given frequency, with the stability of said frequency as the main objective. For the discussed application, the use of an electronic regulator permits variable injection rates and simplifies dosage control. Beingmostly used in clockwork, escapement-based movements are hardly mentioned, let alone studied, outside this field in the literature. This research is aimed at filling this void to provide engineers with the basics for the design of escapement-based movements, using Pahl & Beitz's design methodology. First of all, a general structure of suchmovements is proposed. Using functional analysis, a canvas for the requirements specification of a movement is given. To ensure an efficient and fast evaluation of the quality of a solution at any stage of the development, modelling and design tools are suggested. The industrial project is then used as a case study that exemplifies the concepts introduced. The requirements, a selected functioning principle, and the main technical solutions are described. The application of the modelling tools is done in two parts, representing two subsystems designed concurrently but separately: the purely mechanical part of the movement that includes the escapement, and the mechatronic regulator. The dynamic and energetic performances of both subsystems are modelled, using relevant techniques. Analytical models characterise the mechanical part of the system, using advantageously the stepper nature of the system. Because they are analytical, the models require very limited computational resources and are thus extremely convenient design tools. They also permit a stochastic study of the influence of manufacturing tolerances on said performance. Regulators, in particular electronically-controlled ones, are then discussed. An optimisation strategy for highly constrained problems is proposed. It consists in first optimising a set of input parameters towards acceptable values for the constraints. Once one or more sets of parameters respecting the constraints are found, these sets are used as initial points for the actual optimisation of the objectives. The efficacy of this strategy is demonstrated by an example. Finally, a prototype of the devised escapement-based movement is presented. It is used to establish the validity of the developedmodels, but also demonstrate the capabilities of the retained functioning principle.


The promise and potential of the Philippine economy has remained unrealized notwithstanding the country`s talented labor force, skilled professionals, and relatively abundant resources. What ails the Philippines? This paper argues that the incompetence and downright corruption of Philippine institutions have much to do with the country`s dismal performance in economic growth and poverty reduction. It draws attention to the significance of effective institutional and regulatory frameworks in orchestrating the policy development process and the need to create competent institutions to nudge such process in the direction of implementing better policies, examines strategic triggers for reform while the final section explores institutions and strategies to support the policy development process.


Three major studies of globalisation and its effects have recently been published. One of these is the report of an international commission of eminent persons. The other two are books by leading economists, one by Jagdish Bhagwati and the other by Martin Wolf. David Henderson comments on all these volumes, while placing the issues that they raise and discuss in the wider context of economic liberalisation in general and the attitudes and beliefs that bear on it.


Diagnostic tools were developed and utilised to detect Toxoplasma gondii infection in a range of Australian marsupial species and identify epidemiological trends. An ELISA was developed to detect anti-T. gondii IgG in macropod marsupials. When compared with the commercially available MAT (modified agglutination test), the ELISA was in high agreement and yielded a e coefficient of 0.96. Of 18 western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus) tested for the presence of T. gondii DNA by PCR, the 9 ELISA positive kangaroos tested PCR positive and the 9 ELISA negative kangaroos tested PCR negative indicating that the ELISA protocol was both highly specific and sensitive and correlated 100% with the more labour intensive PCR assay.

A T. gondii seroprevalence study was undertaken on free ranging Australian marsupials. There was a T. gondii seroprevalence of 15.5% (95%CI: 10.7-20.3) in western grey kangaroos located in the Perth metropolitan area. The T. gondii seroprevalence in male western grey kangaroos was significantly less than their female counterparts (p=0.038), which may be related to behavioural differences causing differences in exposure to oocysts or recrudescence of T. gondii infection in pregnant females. Marsupial populations located in islands free from felids had a low overall T. gondii seroprevalence. A case control study determined that marsupials located in areas where felids may roam are 14.20 (95%CI: 1.94-103.66) times more likely to be T. gondii seropositive than marsupials located on felid-free islands.

PCR, immunohistochemistry and serological techniques were used to detect T. gondii infection in marsupial dams and their offspring. T. gondii DNA was detected in the pouch young of chronically infected western grey kangaroos and a woylie (Bettongia penicillata). T. gondii DNA was also identified in the mammary gland of the woylie dam suggesting that infection of the woylie pouch young was from suckling milk from the mammary gland. Results of the study demonstrate that vertical transmission of T. gondii occurs in Australian marsupials and may be of importance in the maintenance of T. gondii infection in Australian marsupial populations.

Animal tissue and meat from Australia, predominately from Australian marsupials, were screened for T. gondii DNA using PCR primers for the multi-copy, T. gondii specific B1 gene. Sequencing of the B1 gene revealed atypical genotypes in 7 out of 13 samples from Australia. These 7 isolates contained single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the B1 gene that could not be matched with known sequences from strains I, II, III and X. Six unique genotypes were identified out of the 7 atypical isolates; two out of the 7 isolates had the same unique sequence at the B1 gene whereas the other 5 isolates each had different combinations of SNPs at the B1 gene. A majority of T. gondii isolates sampled from native Australian marsupials were of an atypical genotype. The discovery of atypical strains of T. gondii in Australia leads to further questions regarding the origin and transmission of these atypical strains. Additional studies linking atypical strains with their clinical manifestation are also warranted.


A powerful and simple method based on the use of a plano-concave microcuvette was investigated for measuring the absorption coefficient of highly absorbing liquids. A plano-convex lens put on a plane-parallel plate formed a microcuvette with small, continuously varying thicknesses. This microcuvette was filled with liquid and illuminated by a homogeneous beam. The parabolic variation of the liquid thickness generates a Gaussian spatial intensity distribution behind the cuvette. This Gaussian profile, detected by a CCD camera, was used to determine the absorption coefficient of the liquid. An absorption coefficient as high as 1.54 x 10(4) cm(-1) was measured by use of high-concentration malachite green dye solutions. A comparison of the results with data extrapolated from those of conventional methods showed good agreement.


Quercetin, a well-known bioflavonoid, is commonly found in human diet. This flavonoid along with Genistein gained much attention during the last few years as a potential anticancer drug. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of quercetin on tumour growth in vivo after determining its toxicological profile. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of quercetin was found to be 100 mg/kg. Fifty percent of the S-180 ascitic tumour bearing mice, treated with quercetin with a daily intraperitoneal dose (100 mg/kg) for nine consecutive doses, survived for more than 2 mo. Quercetin did not show significant inhibitory effect on the growth of established mammary tumour inoculated in C3H/J mice. However, increase in tumour size was significantly lower when administered in combination with cyclophosphamide compared to remaining groups. Quercetin was found to be protecting the mouse bone marrow from radiation-induced toxicity by creating hypoxic conditions in the marrow. Hypoxic conditions resulted in elevated LDH levels in quercetin-treated group compared to levels in the control group. Haematological parameters did not show significant difference in treated and control groups. Spleen colony assays suggest quercetin to be nontoxic and that it can be administered at 100 mg/kg dose levels in further studies.


Colletotrichum species have the capacity to produce asymptomatic latent (quiescent) infections on various olive tree tissues: during this symptomless biotrophic phase, the pathogen invades the host without killing them and feeds on living cells. Re-infection of the tree by the repeating conidial stage is then responsible for increased anthracnose symptoms during summer, leading to new growths. Normally developed fruit and fruit damaged by abiotic factors, leaves and stems may have asymptomatic infections of Colletotrichum acutatum and C. gloeosporioides in susceptible cultivars 'Barnea', 'Manzanillo' and 'Kalamata'. Anthracnose under favourable conditions can also infect less susceptible cultivars. The infection can persist from season to season, depending on olive cultivar, environment, crop management, and pathogen virulence. Brown lesions with anthracnose fungal spores were observed in young green stems and leaves and dieback of young shoot tips of olive susceptible cultivars in orchards in early spring and summer. Flowering, fruit set and immature fruits can be observed during fruit development on a single peduncle; both flowers and fruit set late in the season, in summer rather than spring, and carry fungal infection. Immature rotten fruits are mummified. Colletotrichum fungi overwinter in mummified fruits on the tree, woody tissue and leaves; the fungus has long saprophytic survival ability on dead peduncle and pedicels. Fungal inoculum present year-round throughout the canopy. Hemibiotrophic anthracnose fungal pathogens grow first on living tissue and then cause host death in later, necrotrophic growth. The ability to survive and multiply in the absence of symptoms may explain why anthracnose fungi often cause unexpected crop losses in olives. Successful management of anthracnose relies on understanding the conditions that promote disease development. The complexities of anthracnose epidemiology, including the presence of different species, point to the need for continued research around disease management, particularly regarding new control strategies for Colletotrichum in olives.


The OregonSaves program began in July 2017 to provide defined contribution (DC) plan coverage for those workers in the state of Oregon who are not currently eligible for an employer-sponsored DC plan. The program requires employers to automatically enroll workers into a post-tax individual retirement account (IRA). The program's default contribution rate is 5 percent; contributions automatically increase by 1 percent each year until they reach 10 percent (unless the employee opts out of automatic increases). Employees can opt out of the program or choose a savings rate of as little as 1 percent and as much as 100 percent of gross pay, up to annual Roth IRA contribution limits.

With more than a year of experience with the OregonSaves plan, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) asked the question: What if OregonSaves were a national program? How would that impact the retirement security of American workers? We further asked how a national version of OregonSaves would compare with nationwide implementation of 401(k) safe harbor plans among employers who do not currently offer a defined benefit (DB) or DC plan. We examined both using EBRI's Retirement Security Projection Model® (RSPM). The incremental benefit of including a full auto portability system in addition to these changes was also simulated.

We found that the "national" OregonSaves plan would provide a 16.3 percent reduction in retirement deficits (as measured by the average retirement savings shortfalls (RSS)) for the youngest age cohort simulated (those currently ages 35–39). The reduction would be smaller for those closer to age 65, with the reduction being only 3.1 percent for those currently ages 60–64. Overall, this would reduce the simulated retirement deficits by $456 billion, or 12 percent of the $3.83 trillion under the baseline assumptions.

In contrast, the 401(k) safe harbor plan expansion would reduce the retirement deficits for the youngest cohort by an additional 8.8 percentage points (for an overall reduction of 25.2 percent). The additional reduction for those ages 40–44 would be slightly higher (9.2 percentage points), but by ages 60–64 the additional reduction would only be 2.5 percentage points. Overall, this scenario would reduce the simulated retirement deficits by $645 billion, or 17 percent of the $3.83 trillion under the baseline assumptions.

Finally, we added a full auto portability scenario to both of the access expansion scenarios. Under the "national" OregonSaves plan with a full auto portability scenario, simulated retirement deficits would be reduced by $759 billion, or 20 percent of the $3.83 trillion under the baseline assumptions. Under the 401(k) safe harbor plan expansion with a full auto portability scenario, simulated retirement deficits would be reduced by $1,031 billion, or 27 percent of the $3.83 trillion under the baseline assumptions.


Important information about the earthquake generation process can be gained from instrumental earthquake catalogs, but this requires complete recordings to avoid biased results. The local completeness magnitude Mc is known to depend on general conditions such as the seismographic network and the environmental noise, which generally limit the possibility of detecting small events. The detectability can be additionally reduced by an earthquake‐induced increase of the noise level leading to short‐term variations of Mc, which cannot be resolved by traditional methods relying on the analysis of the frequency–magnitude distribution. Based on simple assumptions, I propose a new method to estimate such temporal excursions of Mc solely based on the estimation of the earthquake rate resulting in a high temporal resolution of Mc. The approach is shown to be in agreement with the apparent decrease of the estimated Gutenberg–Richter b‐value in high‐activity phases of recorded data sets and the observed incompleteness periods after mainshocks. Furthermore, an algorithm to estimate temporal changes of Mc is introduced and applied to empirical aftershock and swarm sequences from California and central Europe, indicating that observed b‐value fluctuations are often related to rate‐dependent incompleteness of the earthquake catalogs.


Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form the most wide-spread symbiosis of the plant kingdom. More than 80% of vascular plants are susceptible to colonization by the zygomycetous fungi from the order Glomales, and profit significantly by the nutrient exchange between plant and fungus. However, knowledge of the biology of these fungi still remains elusive because of their obligate biotrophism and, up to now, unculturability. The molecular mechanisms underlying the pre-symbiotic stages and the cell-to-cell communication between AM fungi and other soil microorganisms are, particularly, unknown. Here, we study these aspects by means of a molecular approach to monitor changes in the gene expression of the fungus Glomus mosseae (BEG12) in response to the rhizobacterium Bacillus subtilis NR1. The bacterium was found to induce specific increases in mycelial growth as well as changes in expression of GmFOX2, a highly conserved gene encoding a multifunctional protein of the peroxisomal beta-oxidation. We determined the gene structure and studied its expression in response to rhizobacteria at two time points. The results show that the fungus is able to change its gene expression in response to stimuli other than the plant.


[M(η6-arene)(ptn)Cl]X (M = Ru, Os; arene = p-cymene, benzene, toluene, hexamethylbenzene; ptn = 3,7-dimethyl-7-phospha-1,3,5-triazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane; X = Cl-, BF4-) were prepd. and characterized spectroscopically. X-ray diffraction was addnl. used to characterize four of the complexes in the solid state. The hydrolysis of the compds. was studied, and their cytotoxicity was evaluated in A2780 ovarian cancer cells and is comparable to that of known RAPTA complexes based on 7-phospha-1,3,5-triazatricyclo[22.214.171.124]decane (pta). The reactivity of the complexes toward double-stranded oligonucleotides and the model protein ubiquitin was studied using Fourier transform ICR mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and gel electrophoresis, demonstrating a strong preference for the formation of covalent adducts with the protein. Correlations among compd. structure, hydrolysis, biomol. interactions, and cytotoxicity are established.


We pose a new problem of discovering associations between events in our daily lives and their characteristic items, such as (Halloween, pumpkin) and (Christmas, chimney). To solve the problem, we dopted an approach similar to that of existing research on event detection, which tries to discover events by detecting bursts of occurrence frequency of a relevant term in a document stream, where the term (item) is associated with the discovered event. We extracted events from blog entries available on the Web, while the previous studies mostly used news articles as document streams. Blog entries are shown to have quite different characteristics to news articles. Considering this fact, we developed a method for discovering the associations by integrating existing techniques that can handle and take advantage of the characteristics of blog data. We verified through experiments using actual data that the proposed approach works quite well.


Due to policies supporting the inclusion of disabled children in mainstream schools and the use of technologies to enable personalized schooling, there are broad research incentives and opportunities to design technologies for disabled children in educational contexts. A workshop at CHI 2018 with researchers and practitioners working on accessible and assistive technologies for children in educational settings raised two on-going challenges in this area: (1) Very few assistive technologies proposed in research are evaluated in context, notably because of the many practical constraints on evaluation when working with these small communities of diverse individuals; (2) The scholars turning their attention to context raise new design preoccupations, such as interdependence, for which we do not yet have a community consensus regarding the suitable approaches to evaluation. Although this workshop was conducted with researchers working with children with visual impairments, these challenges apply more widely to the field of technologies for children with disabilities in educational settings. The purpose of this SIG is to bring together researchers and practitioners to encourage the homogenization of evaluation approaches for accessible and assistive technologies in schools.


One of the most remarkable features of the contemporary Yemeni political formula has been its capacity to deal with the various Islamist ideal-types through integration and cooptation rather than repression. Muslim Brothers, Salafists, violent "jihadi" fringes, Sufis, and Zaydi revivalists have all at some point collaborated with the state to a certain extent. Since the 1970s, such an equilibrium has proved rather functional, as it has reduced the level of political violence, allowed the participation of most, and maintained government stability. Yet due to internal developments and external pressures after September 11, this system has increasingly been placed in jeopardy with still unknown consequences.


This paper argues initially that socio-legal studies are important for legal education and juristic inquiry, and it outlines problems facing social studies of law in law schools. It claims that legal theory is necessary for practical legal studies but that legal philosophy's purportedly timeless theories about the nature of law have largely failed to meet this need. They have often been relatively unconcerned with social variation and historical change and so have not adequately reflected the varieties of possible legal experience. Juristic theory must be sociologically informed. But, equally, socio-legal studies must examine the nature of law as ideas as well as focusing on behaviour in legal contexts. Legal ideas need sociological interpretation. Social theory is essential to inform legal inquiries, and the long tradition of social theories of law is important. Alongside recent theories, the classics of socio-legal theory give deep perspective for studies of present-day law in society.


Hydrogeological studies were undertaken in Garhwal Himalaya of Uttarkashi district; Uttarakhand to characterize the fractured; hard rock aquifer systems by inventorying cold-water springs; thermal spring and Key Observation Wells. Three major aquifer systems are identified in Bhagirathi valley along ChinyalisaurDunda-Uttarkashi-Bhatwari-Gangnani section. Spring discharge analysis has shown that spring magnitude and spring discharge variability are lowest in metavolcanics of Garhwal Group; whereas both of them are highest in slate-phyllite-quartzite aquifer system of Morar-Chakrata Formation. Anomalous seasonal discharge variation in selected springs indicates isolation of spring flow system from the atmosphere; which is correlated with regionally extensive thrust-fault system in Lesser and Central Himalaya. Long-term depth to water level analysis in Key Observation Wells indicate rise in water table in majority of the wells. This may be attributed to hydraulic connection between Bhagirathi River and the fractured rock aquifers and the rapid groundwater flow in interconnected fractures. The localized fractured rock aquifers are generally isolated from surface flow regime; which is indicated by absence of seasonal variability in groundwater levels upstream of Chinyalisaur-Dharasu area. Supply side aquifer management requires identification of sixth order springs that are most suitable for gravity supply through spring boxes at Ratodi Sar; Jestwari and Bagsari; among others. Groundwater recharge worthy areas are demarcated using multi-parameter analysis in ArcGIS; which shows that feasible sites for construction of mini tube wells are at Jaspur; Baldogi; Phari; Pipli Dhanari; Fold; Chakon; Dandagaon; Matli and in Uttarkashi-Gyansu-Mando section. Existing Water use efficiency needs to be increased by changing the cropping pattern and implementing participatory groundwater management at local and community level.


Background Data on the efficacy of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for treatment of multiple coronary chronic total occlusion (CTO) lesions are scanty. The optimal revascularization strategy for multiple coronary CTO disease in the era of drug-eluting stents (DES) has become more controversial between coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and PCI. Objective The aim of the present study is to compare the long-term outcomes of DES implantation for multiple coronary CTO lesions compared with CABG. Methods We analysed 261 patients who underwent coronary angiography for at least two de novo CTO lesions in our centre from November 2000 to November 2006. Among them, 118 patients (45.2%) received DES implantation after recanalization for CTO lesions and 143 patients (54.8%) received CABG. Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE: death, acute myocardial infarction, stroke and repeat revascularization) and hospitalisation costs were compared. Long-term survival rates were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Results Patients in the CABG group were likely to have hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, multivessel disease and higher euroSCORE. The mean follow-up was 4.2 ± 0.7 years in the CABG group and 4.3 ± 0.5 years in the DES group. Total hospitalisation costs were lower (P = 0.017) in the CABG group (median: 107 thousand Yuan) than in the DES group (median: 156 thousand Yuan). Rates of MACCE at 12 months were higher in the PCI group (16.9% vs. 11.2% for CABG; P = 0.179), but not statistically significant, in large part because of an increased rate of repeat revascularization (15.3% vs. 7.0%, P = 0.016). The overall survival rate (CABG: 73.4% and DES: 76.2% at 5 years, P = 0.599) and the TVR-free survival rate did not differ between the groups. Conclusions This study demonstrates the long-term (up to 5 years) efficacy and safety of DES for treatment of multiple coronary CTO lesions. The long-term survival rate of PCI with DES was comparable to that of CABG for the treatment of multiple coronary CTO. PCI with DES was more costly than CABG. PCI using DES might be an alternative to CABG in selected patients with multiple coronary CTO disease.


Background: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in using food additives from natural sources to improve taste and also extend shelf life of semi-preserved food. The aim of this paper was to examine chemical and microbiological changes promoted by a traditional marinating process in rainbow trout fillets during frozen storage. Methods: Fish fillets were immersed in traditional marinades and stored at -18 ° C for 56 days. Some chemical and microbial characteristics like total volatile basic nitrogen (TVN), thiobarbituric acid (TBA), water holding capacity (WHC), pH, mesophilic, and psychrophilic bacterial count were performed with 7 days interval. The results were analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA test using SPSS v. 16.0 software. Results: Data showed that although the value of TVN, TBA and, WHC in marinated samples were higher than control ones, but the differences were not significant (p>0.05). The numbers of bacteria in marinated samples were lower than control groups and for psychrophilic bacteria was significant (p<0.05). Conclusion: The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that rainbow trout flesh could be marinated and stored at -18 ˚ C for at least 56 days with no major unfavorable changes.


Helicobasidium purpureum (anamorph Rhizoctonia crocorum) is the causal organism of the carrot disease violet root rot, common in the Ohakune region of New Zealand. Helicobasidium purpureum has proven a difficult organism to isolate and grow in culture, confounding diagnosis of early infections. To enable early diagnosis of the disease, a conventional PCR assay was developed with the primer sequences (HelicoPurp1 and HelicoPurp2, 101bp amplicon) targeting part of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the organism. The assay detected all 15 H. purpureum isolates collected and maintained by our laboratory in pure culture. The assay was also robust enough to detect the fungi's full range of inoculum types from the field (sclerotia, hyphae, mycelial mats and 'black sheaths'), and was also able to detect the fungus when it was in association with plant tissues. Samples required washing, as soil inhibited this assay.


Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver diseases worldwide. It encompasses a spectrum of disorders ranging from isolated hepatic steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. One of the key challenges in NAFLD is identifying which patients will progress. Epidemiological and genetic studies indicate a strong pattern of heritability that may explain some of the variability in NAFLD phenotype and risk of progression. To date, at least three common genetic variants in the PNPLA3, TM6SF2, and GCKR genes have been robustly linked to NAFLD in the population. The function of these genes revealed novel pathways implicated in both the development and progression of NAFLD. In addition, candidate genes previously implicated in NAFLD pathogenesis have also been identified as determinants or modulators of NAFLD phenotype including genes involved in hepatocellular lipid handling, insulin resistance, inflammation, and fibrogenesis. This article will review the current understanding of the genetics underpinning the development of hepatic steatosis and the progression of NASH. These newly acquired insights may transform our strategy to risk-stratify patients with NAFLD and to identify new potential therapeutic targets.


The main objective was to improve the learning of Chemistry subject using Flipped classroom, because it makes class time more engaging. The lecture portion of General Chemistry courses in engineer's degrees have been pushed outside the classroom using prerecording technology and steaming delivery of content, to make classes more interactive and participative. The Flipped classroom model has become one of the main topics in the higher education space in recent years thanks to improvements in technology. Those videos where recorded by the students about themes like radioactivity, chemistry bonds, the evolution of the atom theory, and so on. Those videos were showed on classes and after the videos were evaluated using a rubric. Statistical significance of the data has shown, and proved with, that implementing the Flipped classroom model could not only benefit professors, but also it could also help us adapt the classes to the various learning styles that exist among the students.


Among the many derivatives of the inositol-based signalling family are a subgroup that possess diphosphates. In this review, some recent research into the actions of these specialized polyphosphates is analysed, and key goals for future studies are identified, which, it is hoped, will result in the wider cell-signalling community giving considerably greater attention to this intriguing but relatively neglected class of inositol polyphosphates.


The simplest definition of a biomarker is a molecule that indicates an alteration in physiology from normal. A more practical definition of a biomarker would require clinical utility of this molecule. In this sense, the biomarker would specifically and sensitively reflect a disease state and could be used for diagnosis as well as for disease monitoring during and following therapy. The need for such biomarkers in all clinical fields is urgent, since the current arsenal of biomarkers is sadly deficient and, in most cases, non-specific. In this review, we discuss strategies that use a proteomics approach to identify novel biomarkers and give examples of recent studies employing these strategies.


The article deals with the reception of traditional notions in contemporary philosophy. The transformation of singular and plural in philosophy of G. Deleuze, J. Derrida, J.-L. Nancy, A. Badiou is analyzed. The author draws a conclusion that the relation between singular and plural is problemizing in postmetaphysical philosophy and realization of the impossibility of their opposition takes place.


This is the first nationwide study of the effects of the Immigration Reform and Control Act on agriculture. This benchmark study provides both case studies and surveys to explain the major reason why IRCA was a case of good intentions gone awry. Contributors: Shirley Buzzard, Frederick J. Conway, Robert C. Smith, and Suzanne Vaupel.


Background: The impact of heat waves on mortality and health inequalities is well documented. Very few studies have assessed the effectiveness of heat action plans (HAPs) on health, and none has used quasi-experimental methods to estimate causal effects of such programs. Objectives: We developed a quasi-experimental method to estimate the causal effects associated with HAPs that allows the identification of heterogeneity across subpopulations, and to apply this method specifically to the case of the Montreal (Quebec, Canada) HAP. Methods: A difference-in-differences approach was undertaken using Montreal death registry data for the summers of 2000–2007 to assess the effectiveness of the Montreal HAP, implemented in 2004, on mortality. To study equity in the effect of HAP implementation, we assessed whether the program effects were heterogeneous across sex (male vs. female), age (≥ 65 years vs. < 65 years), and neighborhood education levels (first vs. third tertile). We conducted sensitivity analyses to assess the validity of the estimated causal effect of the HAP program. Results: We found evidence that the HAP contributed to reducing mortality on hot days, and that the mortality reduction attributable to the program was greater for elderly people and people living in low-education neighborhoods. Conclusion: These findings show promise for programs aimed at reducing the impact of extreme temperatures and health inequities. We propose a new quasi-experimental approach that can be easily applied to evaluate the impact of any program or intervention triggered when daily thresholds are reached. Citation: Benmarhnia T, Bailey Z, Kaiser D, Auger N, King N, Kaufman J. 2016. A difference-in-differences approach to assess the effect of a heat action plan on heat-related mortality, and differences in effectiveness according to sex, age, and socioeconomic status (Montreal, Quebec). Environ Health Perspect 124:1694–1699; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP203


Background: Indiscriminate sneezing and coughing with infectious runny nose pose threats to public health. In this study, we investigate knowledge and practice of sneeze and cough etiquettes among residents in Ekiti-State, South- Western Nigeria.

Objective: To sensitize the public on the roles of sneeze and cough etiquettes in the prevention the spread of infectious respiratory diseases.

Methodology: A prospective, cross-sectional, randomized study of respondents in Ekiti State was conducted.

Results: In all, 395 participants were studied. Of this number, 228 (57.7%) sneeze or cough into air without a cover on their nose or mouth, 82 (20.7%) into handkerchiefs, 20 (5.1%) into tissue, 22 (5.6%) into bare hand, 5 (1.3%) into sleeve or crook of elbow and 38 (9.6%) use a combination of methods. The proportion of respondents that wash hands or handkerchief soon after clean-up of the runny nose was only 38%. There was an inverse relationship between education attainment and hospital care of runny nose

Conclusion: This study shows that the majority (57.7%) of the respondents sneeze or cough into air without a cover on the nose or mouth. Only 1.3% of the respondents sneezes or coughs into sleeve or crook of the elbow which is the most acceptable form of hygiene etiquette. The proportion of respondents that wash hands or handkerchief soon after a clean-up of runny nose was quite small. Education has no comparative advantage over illiteracy in the uptake of treatment of runny nose. We, therefore, recommend that the public must be educated on the best sneeze, cough and respiratory hygiene etiquettes irrespective of their educational attainment.


The last decade has seen a proliferation of codereuse attacks in the context of web applications. These attacks stem from Object Injection Vulnerabilities (OIV) enabling attacker-controlled data to abuse legitimate code fragments within a web application's codebase to execute a code chain (gadget) that performs malicious computations, like remote code execution, on attacker's behalf. OIVs occur when untrusted data is used to instantiate an object of attacker-controlled type with attacker-chosen properties, thus triggering the execution of code available but not necessarily used by the application. In the web application domain, OIVs may arise during the process of deserialization of client-side data, e.g., HTTP requests, when reconstructing the object graph that is subsequently processed by the backend applications on the server side. This paper presents the first systematic approach for detecting and exploiting OIVs in .NET applications including the framework and libraries. Our key insight is: The root cause of OIVs is the untrusted information flow from an application's public entry points (e.g., HTTP request handlers) to sensitive methods that create objects of arbitrary types (e.g., reflection APIs) to invoke methods (e.g., native/virtual methods) that trigger the execution of a gadget. Drawing on this insight, we develop and implement SerialDetector, a taint-based dataflow analysis that discovers OIV patterns in .NET assemblies automatically. We then use these patterns to match publicly available gadgets and to automatically validate the feasibility of OIV attacks. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by an indepth evaluation of a complex production software such as the Azure DevOps Server. We describe the key threat models and report on several remote code execution vulnerabilities found by SerialDetector, including three CVEs on Azure DevOps Server. We also perform an in-breadth security analysis of recent publicly available CVEs. Our results show that SerialDetector can detect OIVs effectively and efficiently. We release our tool publicly to support open science and encourage researchers and practitioners explore the topic further.


Services such as content distribution, distributed databases, or
inter-data center connectivity place a set of new requirements on the
operation of networks. They need on-demand and application-specific
reservation of network connectivity, reliability, and resources (such
as bandwidth) in a variety of network applications (such as point-to-
point connectivity, network virtualization, or mobile back-haul) and
in a range of network technologies from packet (IP/MPLS) down to
optical. An environment that operates to meet these types of
requirements is said to have Application-Based Network Operations
(ABNO). ABNO brings together many existing technologies and may be
seen as the use of a toolbox of existing components enhanced with a
few new elements. This document describes an architecture and
framework for ABNO, showing how these components fit together. It
provides a cookbook of existing technologies to satisfy the
architecture and meet the needs of the applications.


Ever since Corlett and Hague (1953), it has been understood that it tends to be optimal on second-best grounds to (relatively) tax complements to leisure and subsidize substitutes because doing so helps to offset the distorting effect of taxation on labor supply. Yet in the context of simultaneous optimization of a nonlinear income tax and commodity taxes, Atkinson and Stiglitz (1976) claim to have demonstrated the opposite, that goods complementary with leisure should "face lower tax rates, whereas substitutes face higher tax rates." Derivations in leading texts on optimal taxation seem to yield opposing conclusions regarding the sign of optimal deviation of commodity taxes from uniformity. It is demonstrated that the optimality of relatively taxing leisure complements is indeed correct, and conflicting results are explained.


Society is facing growing environmental problems that require new research efforts to understand the way ecosystems operate and survive, and their mutual relationships with the hydrologic cycle. In this respect, ecohydrology suggests a renewed interdisciplinary approach that aims to provide a better comprehension of the effects of climatic changes on terrestrial ecosystems. With this aim, a coupled hydrological/ecological model is adopted to describe simultaneously vegetation pattern evolution and hydrological water budget at the basin scale using as test site the Upper Rio Salado basin (Sevilleta, NM, USA). The hydrological analyses have been carried out using a recently formulated framework for the water balance at the daily level linked with a spatial model for the description of the spatial organization of vegetation. This enables quantitatively assessing the effects on soil water availability on future climatic scenarios. Results highlighted that the relationship between climatic forcing (water availability) and vegetation patterns is strongly non-linear. This implies, under some specific conditions which depend on the ecosystem characteristics, small changes in climatic conditions may produce significant transformation of the vegetation patterns.


Abstract There is an increasing interest in assessing unmet need for health care services particularly in European countries. Despite this there has been relatively little analysis of unmet need in the European or wider international setting. It remains a challenge to pin down what types of unmet need can and should be addressed by health care policymakers, and how to go about identifying and quantifying those unmet needs. The objective of this paper is to propose a new way of thinking about unmet need for health care which can in turn guide analysis of unmet need in terms of potential data sources and analytic approaches. Unmet need is shown to be a complex multi-faceted concept that cannot be captured by a single indicator or measurement. To advance the literature in this field, this paper considers what happens to unmet need over time. By introducing a dynamic perspective, three alternative trajectories for health care needs are outlined: non-use of health care, delayed use of health care and sub-optimal use of health care. These trajectories are discussed with a view to improving the focus, and policy applicability, of empirical research in this field.


This department highlights nursing leaders who have demonstrated the ability to inspire and lead change. This competency is seen in the ability to create, structure, and implement organizational change through strategic vision, risk taking, and effective communication. Each article showcases a project of a nurse leader that demonstrates change in a variety of environments ranging from acute care hospitals to home care and alternative practice settings. Included are several ''lessons learned'' applicable to multiple settings that provide insight for other nurses in executive practice.


OBJECTIVE To determine the effect on a cohort of family physicians of health care system reforms in Ontario and the relationship of reforms to their career satisfaction. DESIGN Follow-up survey in 1999 of a cohort initially studied in 1993, posing many of the original questions along with some new ones. Four focus groups of other Ontario family physicians. SETTING Family practices in Ontario. PARTICIPANTS All family physicians who had received certification after completing a family medicine residency between 1989 and 1991 and were practising in Ontario in 1993. This report addresses only those members of the cohort who continued to practise family medicine in Ontario (N = 236). Four focus groups with a total of 27 family physicians. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Reaction to health care system reforms. Perceived effect of reforms on practice. Current perception of quality of health care system and level of career satisfaction and changes in these variables since 1993. RESULTS Response rate was 53% of original cohort. Only three of 13 selected health reforms were believed to have had a favourable effect. Physicians reported lower levels of satisfaction with their careers. Overall quality of the health care system was perceived by both respondents and focus group members to have declined. Several difficulties affected practice and personal life. CONCLUSION Family physicians viewed the effect of health care reforms negatively and were significantly less satisfied with their careers than they were in 1993. Better consultation with stakeholders before implementation of reforms is needed to ensure that these stakeholders understand the likely effects of these reforms. RESUME


Market pressures and external demands to sustain access, improve cost management and accountability, and increase productivity continue to persist in departments and schools of kinesiology. Confidence in the sustainability of an institution's business model is eroding. To address these challenges, one possible approach for enhancing institutional performance, accountability, and stability is to revise an institution's management process or budgeting model. Indicators suggest that many institutions are changing budget models to an incentive-based budgeting (IBB) system (i.e., responsibility-centered management [RCM]). The management strategies reviewed in this article are important for higher education budget administrators that implement, or are considering implementing, an IBB system as a means for assessing outcomes or institutional decision-making.


Numerical modelling has gained popularity in many science and engineering streams due to the economic feasibility and advanced analytical features compared to conventional experimental and theoretical models. Food drying is one of the areas where numerical modelling is increasingly applied to improve drying process performance and product quality. This investigation applies a three dimensional (3-D) Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) and Coarse-Grained (CG) numerical approach to predict the morphological changes of different categories of food-plant cells such as apple, grape, potato and carrot during drying. To validate the model predictions, experimental findings from in-house experimental procedures (for apple) and sources of literature (for grape, potato and carrot) have been utilised. The subsequent comaprison indicate that the model predictions demonstrate a reasonable agreement with the experimental findings, both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this numerical model, a higher computational accuracy has been maintained by limiting the consistency error below 1% for all four cell types. The proposed meshfree-based approach is well-equipped to predict the morphological changes of plant cellular structure over a wide range of moisture contents (10% to 100% dry basis). Compared to the previous 2-D meshfree-based models developed for plant cell drying, the proposed model can draw more useful insights on the morphological behaviour due to the 3-D nature of the model. In addition, the proposed computational modelling approach has a high potential to be used as a comprehensive tool in many other tissue morphology related investigations.


Using the popular movie The Matrix to evoke both metaphors for human existence and models for teaching and learning, this article revisits arguments made by educators, philosophers, linguists, and anthropologists that metaphors govern our ways of perceiving, naming, and acting in the world, whether we are aware of this phenomenon or not. Building on this premise and through an examination of two metaphors that have dominated notions of and approaches to education in the United States, the article invites readers to make conscious the metaphors that inform our thoughts and actions, discern the "realities" we construct for ourselves and for others, and imagine the possibility of changing those. The argument made is for seeking, crafting, and embracing metaphors that cast students not only as active participants in their own education but as the principle creators of their education and themselves.


We study the ergodic secrecy capacity of a block- fading wiretap channel when there are multiple antennas at the transmitter, the legitimate receiver and the eavesdropper. We consider that the receivers are aware of their respective channel matrices while the transmitter is only provided by a B-bits feedback of the main channel state information. The feedback bits are sent by the legitimate receiver, at the beginning of each fading block, over an error free public link with limited capacity. Assuming an average transmit power constraint, we provide an upper and a lower bounds on the ergodic secrecy capacity. Then, we present a framework to design the optimal codebooks for feedback and transmission. In addition, we show that the proposed lower and upper bounds coincide asymptotically as the capacity of the feedback link becomes large; hence, fully characterizing the secrecy capacity in this case.


The off-gassing of ammonia from hardware and metabolic sources presents a unique challenge to trace contaminant control system design, driving process flowrates to meet crewed air quality requirements. Accurately simulating representative trace contaminant cabin loads during ground testing is necessary to validate component design as well as understand potential contaminant propagation across life-support system process interface boundaries. This effort is complicated by the observed temporal concentration instability of gaseous ammonia in ground test chambers. To this end, ammonia concentration decay rates were characterized under controlled environmental conditions to better understand underlying phenomena and quantify incidental mass losses. The suspected chemical interaction between ammonia and trace acetaldehyde was investigated and its effect on species quantification was examined by both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and Fouriertransform infrared spectroscopy. Recommendations for ground test procedures were made in order to best compensate for undesirable ammonia mass losses and mitigate test artifacts.


The restructuring of regional and national electricity markets in the U.S. and around the world has been accompanied by numerous problems, including generation capacity shortages, transmission congestion, wholesale price volatility, and reduced system reliability. These problems have created new opportunities for technologies and business approaches that allow load serving entities and other aggregators to control and manage the load patterns of wholesale and retail end-users they serve. Demand Response Programs, once called Load Management, have re-emerged as an important element in the fine-tuning of newly restructured electricity markets. During the summers of 1999 and 2001 they played a vital role in stabilizing wholesale markets and providing a hedge against generation shortfalls throughout the U.S.A. Demand Response Programs include ''traditional'' capacity reservation and interruptible/curtailable rates programs as well as voluntary demand bidding programs offered by either Load Serving Entities (LSEs) or regional Independent System Operators (ISOs). The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) has been monitoring the development of new types of Demand Response Programs both in the U.S. and around the world. This paper provides a survey and overview of the technologies and program designs that make up these emerging and important new programs.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify sources and quantifying distortions to agricultural incentives to produce along the small ruminant value chains in Ethiopia.

Design/methodology/approach
National and district level average nominal rate of protection (NRPs) were computed for a five-year period (2010–2015). The authors developed four scenarios based on combinations of the different data generation processes employed in relation to each of the key variables.

Findings
The NRPs at farm gate and retail market for both sheep and goats are negative indicating a strong deviation of producer and retailer prices from the comparable export prices over the five-year period. Policy induced distortions were separated from market inefficiencies through use of data on access costs throughout the value chain. These access costs are positive and significant in value. It is clear that market inefficiencies are also due to government policy to a certain extent.

Research limitations/implications
This study focuses only on sheep and goat value chains and covers only five-year period. This certainly limits the extrapolability of the results.

Originality/value
This study presents the extent to which smallholder livestock keepers are discouraged through disincentives in a unique context. This is the first study done on small ruminant value chains in the developing world.


Voice controlled web browsers allow users to navigate by speaking the text of a link or an associated number instead of clicking with a mouse. One such browser is Conversa, by Conversational Computing. This within subjects study with 18 subjects compared voice browsing with traditional mouse-based browsing. It attempted to identify which of three common hypertext forms (linear slide show, grid/tiled map, and hierarchical menu) are well suited to voice navigation, and whether voice navigation is helped by numbering links. The study shows that voice control adds approximately 50% to the performance time for certain types of tasks. Subjective satisfaction measures indicate that for voice browsing, textual links are preferable to numbered links.


We describe the development of a new German parser that uses a hybrid approach, combining a hand-written rule-based grammar with a probabilistic disambiguation system. Our evaluation shows that this parsing approach can compete with state-of-the-art systems both in terms of efficiency and parsing quality. The hybrid approach also allows for the integration of the morphology tool GERTWOL, which leads to a comparatively high precision for core syntactic relations.


"Some Pow'r did us the giftie grant/ To see oursels as others can't." With that play on Burns' famous line as a preface, Willard Van Orman Quine sets out to spin the yarn of his life so far. And it is a gift indeed to see one of the world's most famous philosophers as no one else has seen him before. To catch an intimate glimpse of his seminal and controversial theories of philosophy, logic, and language as they evolved, and to hear his warm and often amusing comments on famous contemporary philosophers.From his beginnings in Akron, Ohio in the early 1900s, Quine takes us on a tour of over 100 countries over three-quarters of a century, including close observations of the Depression and two world wars. Far from a philosophical tract, it is an ebullient, folksy account of a richly varied and rounded life. When he does dip into philosophy, it is generally of the armchair sort, and laced with a gentle good humor: "There is that which one wants to do for the glory of having done it, and there is that which one wants to do for the joy of doing it. One can want to be a scientist because he wants to see himself as a Darwin or an Einstein, and one can want to be a scientist because he is curious about what makes things tick...In normal cases the two kinds of motivation are in time brought to terms...In me the glory motive lingered...In this book, Quine approaches the details of his life the way he has always approached them with a sharp sense of interest, adventure and fun. And he has a skill for picking a word that is just off-center enough to pull an ordinary event out of the humdrum of daily life and evoke its personal meaning. The result is a book of memories that is utterly mesmerizing.Willard Van Orman Quine is the author of numerous books, including Word and Object, published by The MIT Press in 1960.A Bradford Book.


From the crowded tenements of Edinburgh to the Female Factory nestling in the shadow of Mt Wellington, dozens of Scottish women convicts were exiled to Van Diemen's Land with their young children. This is a rich and evocative account of the lives of women at the bottom of society two hundred years ago. In the early nineteenth century, crofters and villagers streamed into the burgeoning cities of Scotland, and families splintered. Orphan girls, single mothers and women on their own all struggled to feed and clothe themselves. For some, petty theft became a part of life. Any woman deemed 'habite & repute a thief' might find herself before the High Court of Justiciary, tried for yet another minor theft and sentenced to transportation 'beyond Seas'. Lucy Frost memorably paints the portrait of a boatload of women and their children who arrived in Hobart in 1838. Instead of serving time in prison, the women were sent to work as unpaid servants in the houses of settlers. Feisty Scottish convicts, unaccustomed to bowing and scraping, often irritated their middle-class employers, who charged them with insolence, or refusing to work, or getting drunk. A stint in the female factory became their punishment. Many women survived the convict system and shaped their own lives once they were free. They married, had children and found a place in the community. Others, though, continued to be plagued by errors and disasters until death.


Assessments of knowledge and perceptions about influenza were developed for high school students, and used to determine how knowledge, perceptions, and demographic variables relate to students taking precautions and their odds of getting sick. Assessments were piloted and validated using the Rasch model (n = 205). The 2parameter logistic model and the k-means clustering algorithm were used for scoring of final participants (n = 410). Kendall-tau correlations were evaluated at the  = 0.05 level, multinomial logistic regression was used to identify the best predictors and to test for interactions, and neural networks were used to test how well precautions and illness can be predicted using the significant correlates. Knowledge was positively correlated to compliance with vaccination, hand washing frequency, and respiratory etiquette, and negatively correlated with hand sanitizer use. Perceived risk was positively correlated to compliance with flu vaccination; perceived complications to personal distancing and staying home when sick. Perceived risk and complications increased with reported illness severity. Perceived barriers decreased compliance with vaccination, hand washing, and respiratory etiquette. Factors such as gender, ethnicity, and school, had effects on more than one precaution. Hand washing quality and frequency could be predicted moderately well. Implications for future uses of the instruments and development of interventions regarding influenza in high schools are discussed.


This paper studies tax evasion at the top of the U.S. income distribution using IRS micro-data from (i) random audits, (ii) targeted enforcement activities, and (iii) operational audits. Drawing on this unique combination of data, we demonstrate empirically that random audits underestimate tax evasion at the top of the income distribution. Specifically, random audits do not capture most tax evasion through offshore accounts and pass-through businesses, both of which are quantitatively important at the top. We provide a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon, and we construct new estimates of the size and distribution of tax noncompliance in the United States. In our model, individuals can adopt a technology that would better conceal evasion at some fixed cost. Risk preferences and relatively high audit rates at the top drive the adoption of such sophisticated evasion technologies by high-income individuals. Consequently, random audits, which do not detect most sophisticated evasion, underestimate top tax evasion. After correcting for this bias, we find that unreported income as a fraction of true income rises from 7% in the bottom 50% to more than 20% in the top 1%, of which 6 percentage points correspond to undetected sophisticated evasion. Accounting for tax evasion increases the top 1% fiscal income share significantly.


Few historical figures can claim to have had so many of the Earth's topographical features named after them as Sir John Franklin. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin may dominate the place names of the United States of America, but the reach of Sir John Franklin's name is truly global, from the Arctic in the north to Australia and Antarctica in the south. The names of a river, an island, a fort, a strait, a cape, a bay, a sound, a point, a lake, a national park, a town, a village, two mountains and a mountain range memorialise the achievements of the Royal Navy explorer. In only one place has he failed to be commemorated: on the Moon. No fewer than six nineteenth-century polar explorers including Francis Crozier, Franklin's second-in-command on his final journey have features of the Moon named after them, but Sir John's name was rejected in the 1860s, no doubt because a crater already commemorated his namesake, Benjamin. Despite Sir John Franklin's undoubted impact on the world's atlas, today he is remembered, if at all, only for his ultimately disastrous Arctic expedition in search of the final section of a navigable North - West Passage. Currently, many historians do not hold Franklin in high esteem, especially those based in North America and influenced by the disciplines of anthropology and ethnography. He has been criticised for his inflexibility, his cultural myopia and his ethnocentrism; he is parodied as 'the man who ate his boots' to prevent starvation and much is made of a comment by the American Dr. Richard King in 1845 that he had sailed to the Arctic 'to become the nucleus of an iceberg'. Yet, like Henry Hudson and James Cook before him and Robert Falcon Scott after, Franklin belongs in a pantheon of British maritime heroes who died, in extremis, on missions of exploration that helped to create and define the modern world. Perhaps paradoxically and like other explorers, he not only helped to open up the world but also, by his surveying so much of the North American coastline, helped to define and delimit it. Reserved, good-natured, dutiful but unlucky, Franklin was an unlikely but genuinely heroic figure whose reputation has not survived the passing of his era and its replacement by one which focuses on the dark underside of western imperial expansion rather than on its achievements. Modern explanations of the mystery of Franklin's last expedition need to be considered within this context. This article reviews the recent interpretations of Franklin and reassesses the evidence relating to his final expedition. It concludes that the lampooning of Franklin is unwarranted and that most of the mystery surrounding the crews' fate has now been satisfactorily explained.


The phenomenon of nozzle failure of an inkjet printhead due to entrainment of air bubbles was studies using analytical and numerical models. The studied inkjet printheads consist of many channels in which an acoustic field is generated to eject a droplet. When an air bubble is entrained, it disrupts the droplet formation process. This phenomenon is called nozzle failure. A very simple analytical model of a bubble in a nozzle was shown to qualitatively capture the dependence of the droplet velocity on the bubble volume. A more advanced model in which the two-way coupling between the channel acoustics and the bubble volume oscillations is taken into account, is shown to quantitatively agree with experimental data. The two-way coupling between bubble volume oscillations and channel acoustics is essential in this case. To determine when two-way coupling can be neglected, a complete set of dimensionless groups is derived. This set of dimensionless groups yields sharp criteria for the significance of two-wat coupling and for nonlinearity in the volume oscillations. A fully nonlinear numerical model is developed to test the predictions from the dimensionless groups. The predictions are confirmed by the results from the numerical model. This model is extended to also calculate the translational motion of the bubble and its growth by rectified diffusion. The effects that cause air entrainment were also studied. The outside of the printhead is coated by a thin ink film. This ink film flows whenever the printhead is actuated due to Marangoni stress. This flow is the first link in a chain of events that causes air entrainment. A careful analysis of the governing equations shows that these thin Marangoni flows satisfy potential flow. This result is used to analytically calculate the evolution of a moving droplet and a fingering instability, and the theoretical predictions are confirmed by the observations.


Abstract Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the availability of, access to and nutrition-related uses of African leafy vegetables in rural and urban households; and to determine the β-carotene content of the dominant African leafy vegetable. Design: The study consisted of a qualitative explorative phase (field walks, semi-structured interviews with key informants, focus group discussions) at two rural sites; and a quantitative household survey (questionnaire) at two rural and one urban site. Amaranth leaves were analysed for β-carotene content. Setting and subjects: The household survey included households at a rural site in Limpopo province (n = 100); and a rural (n = 101) and urban (n = 391) site in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Results: A variety of edible plants were identified during field walks at the two rural sites. Focus group discussions narrowed this down to ten plants at the rural Limpopo site and six at the rural KwaZulu-Natal site. The most popular leaves were amaranth (Amaranthus spp), spider plant (Cleome gynandra), wild watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) and blackjack (Bidens spinosa), consumed individually or mixed with other leaves. Rural households procured leaves mostly from the wild whereas urban households relied more on informal markets. In Limpopo, leaves were dried and stored for consumption during winter. KwaZulu-Natal households considered African leafy vegetables food for the poor. Leaves were boiled in salted water, or steamed and then fried in oil. Fried and boiled amaranth leaves contained 627 and 429 µg retinol activity equivalents/100 g respectively. Conclusions: Availability of, access to and nutrition-related uses of African leafy vegetables are context-specific, with inter- and intraprovincial rural/urban differences. Information collected during small studies within a specific area can therefore not be generalised for the overall South-African population. Amaranth can potentially contribute significantly to vitamin A requirements of nutritionally vulnerable communities.


Colonic epithelial cells undergo cell cycle arrest, lineage specific differentiation, and apoptosis, as they migrate along the crypt axis toward the lumenal surface. The Caco-2 colon carcinoma cell line models many of these phenotypic changes, in vitro. We used this model system and cDNA microarray analysis to characterize the genetic reprogramming that accompanies colon cell differentiation. The analyses revealed extensive yet functionally coordinated alterations in gene expression during the differentiation program. Consistent with cell differentiation reflecting a more specialized phenotype, the majority of changes (70%) were down-regulations of gene expression. Specifically, Caco-2 cell differentiation was accompanied by the coordinate down-regulation of genes involved in cell cycle progression and DNA synthesis, which reflected the concomitant reduction in cell proliferation. Simultaneously, genes involved in RNA splicing and transport, protein translation, folding, and degradation, were coordinately down-regulated, paralleled by a reduction in protein synthesis. Conversely, genes involved in xenobiotic and drug metabolism were up-regulated, which was linked to increased resistance of differentiated cells to chemotherapeutic agents. Increased expression of genes involved in extracellular matrix deposition, lipid transport, and lipid metabolism were also evident. Underlying these altered profiles of expression, components of signal transduction pathways, and several transcription factors were altered in expression.


Companies have invested large amounts of money on information systems development. Unfortunately, not all information systems developments are successful. Software project failure is frequent and lamentable. Surveys and statistical analysis results underscore the severity and scope of software project failure. Limited research relates software structure to information systems failures. Systematic study of failure provides insights into the causes of IS failure. More importantly, it contributes to better monitoring and control of projects and enhancing the likelihood of the success of management information systems. The underlining theories and literature that contribute to the construction of theoretical framework come from general systems theory, complexity theory, and failure studies. One hundred COBOL programs from a single company are used in the analysis. The program log clearly documents the date, time, and the reasons for changes to the programs. In this study the relationships among the variables of business requirements change, software complexity, program size and the error rate in each phase of software development life cycle are tested. Interpretations of the hypotheses testing are provided as well. The data shows that analysis error and design error occur more often than programming error. Measurement criteria need to be developed at each stage of the software development cycle, especially in the early stage. The quality and reliability of software can be improved continuously. The findings from this study suggest that it is imperative to develop an adaptive system that can cope with the changes to the business environment. Further, management needs to focus on processes that improve the quality of the system design stage.


This article's aim is to explore the role of personal contacts at the transition from school to work and compare these effects across countries with various levels of market development. Using data from school-leaver surveys for Ukraine and Croatia and applying propensity score matching, we focus on the probability of finding initial employment and the quality of this employment among those youths who adhered to personal contacts compared to those relying on formal methods of job searching. Our results reveal that personal connections yield greater economic benefits for job entry in transformation countries with more developed market structures.


She teaches goss anatomy, histology, and embryology and her research interests are drug addiction and memory. Introduction: Lead (Pb) is a neurotoxin that its different effects on the central nervous system are well-known. Previous studies have reported the potent effects of vitamin C on memory. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the protective effects of vitamin C against lead-induced amnesia. Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: the control (saline), negative control (lead), positive control (Vitamin C, 150 mg/kg), and experimental (Lead+Vitamin C). To induce lead toxicity, the rats received water containing 0.2% Pb instead of regular water for 1 month. Passive avoidance learning was assessed by Shuttle Box 2 months later. Retention was tested 24 hours after training. Results: The results showed that lead causes impairment in acquisition and retrieval processes of passive avoidance learning and memory. However, vitamin C administration reinforced passive avoidance learning and memory. All results were significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: Vitamin C administration in rats counteracts the negative effect of lead on spatial learning and memory.


A granular hydrogel based on chitosan (CTS) and acrylic acid (AA) was prepared using Fenton's reagent as the redox initiator and N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide as the crosslinker under ambient conditions. The resulting three-dimensional (3D) networks can serve as micro- or nano-reactors for the production of highly stable silver nanoparticles by the in situ reduction of silver nitrate (AgNO3) with sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as reducing agent and Al3+ as surface crosslinking agent. The as-prepared Ag-entrapped hydrogel was successfully confirmed by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and then tested to catalyze the NaBH4 reduction of two organic dyes: methylene blue (MB) and Congo red (CR). The catalytic results indicate that within 30 min, MB and CR with an initial concentration of 20 mg L−1 can be reduced completely, and the catalytic activity is independent of initial pH and ion strength. In addition, the Ag-entrapped hydrogel shows excellent reusability for ten successive cycles, with no appreciable decrease in the catalytic effects.


In this essay, I aim to engage the growing body of scholarship that employs Indigenous feminist theories to understand and mobilize against the sexual and gendered violence committed against Native peoples. To accomplish this, I construct a Native feminist analysis of the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act. I posit that despite the overwhelmingly positive characterizations of the legislation as "historic" in its potential to address violence against Native women and reduce crime in Indian country, a Native feminist reading of the Tribal Law and Order Act illuminates the degree to which the Act emerges from, engages with, and advances settler colonial and heteropatriarchal logics that cause violence against Native women in the first place. I suggest that although the Act does contain measures that have the potential to alleviate the experience of violence in Native women's lives, it also diminishes tribal sovereignty, perpetuates the ongoing encroachment of tribal jurisdiction, regulates the boundaries of Native identity, and limits our ability to envision and enact practices of decolonization.