Southern Iberia is a geologically, climatically and topographically heterogeneous region associated with speciation events and phylogeographic breaks across a variety of taxa. The Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) shows high diversity in this region, with five subspecies co-occurring in a relatively small area. Salamandra s. crespoi and S. s. morenica show a relatively continuous distribution (with punctually occurrences of S. s. gallaica and S. s. bejarae, as this is the southern limit of their ranges) along a west-east axis from the Alentejo in Portugal to Murcia in Spain, with a potential contact zone near the Portuguese-Spanish border, whereas S. s. longirostris is geographically isolated from the other taxa, south of the Guadalquivir river basin. Previous studies based on phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences have identified S. s. longirostris as the sister group to all remaining S. salamandra lineages, which, in addition to its allopatric distribution, and specific morphology, has led some authors to propose full species status for S. s. longirostris. However, no previous studies have assessed patterns of gene flow or environmental differences among neighboring Salamandra subspecies. Here we combined genetic (mtDNA, nuclear genealogies and microsatellites) and spatial data (climate and landcover) in an integrative approach to: (1) delineate the distribution of the studied subspecies; (2) quantify gene flow between them; (3) assess potential environmental differences between the two main southern Iberian lineages, (4) characterize patterns of genetic diversity and structure for each southern Iberian subspecies, and (5) evaluate connectivity among S. s. longirostris populations. While mtDNA analyses recovered five clades associated with the five subspecies, nuclear genealogies show allele sharing among all taxa that could be the result of incomplete lineage sorting, or introgression events, under the influence of specific evolutionary mechanisms (e.g. sex-biased dispersal or mitochondrial selection). Microsatellite analyses found no evidence of gene flow between the allopatric isolated S. s. longirostris and other subspecies. Additionally, nuclear admixture was detected in two different contact zones, one involving S. s. crespoi and S. s. gallaica, and another among these two subspecies together with S. s. morenica, presenting again a possible scenario for nuclear introgression under the hypothesis of male-biased dispersal. Genetic structure analysis among S. s. longirostris populations, together with habitat connectivity analysis, detected a potential isolated population in the eastern extent of S. s. longirostris distribution range, while for other population no lack of connectivity was identified. Geographic distance was identified as the main driver of genetic differentiation Evaluating gene flow and habitat connectivity between S. salamandra lineages across heterogeneous landscapes FCUP v among S. s. longirostris populations, however it could be a byproduct of the extremely isolated eastern population. Ecological niche models (ENMs) for the present identified the Guadalquivir river basin as a highly unsuitable area, separating S. s. longirostris from neighboring S. salamandra lineages. Past projections of ENMs (LIG, LGM, Mid-Holocene), together with current projections, identified two isolated refugia in southern Iberia, associated with this two different S. salamandra lineages. Regarding niche comparisons, S. s. longirostris niche was identified as non-equivalent to those of other subspecies. Our results provide a comprehensive view of the historical and contemporary processes affecting biodiversity across southern Iberian Peninsula. This study supports the existence of multiple isolated refugia in southern Iberia, allowing S. salamandra to persist in this area during past climatic fluctuations, fitting in a scenario of range contractions leading to allopatric isolation (associated with speciation processes), and posteriorly expansions resulting in secondary-contact zones (allowing gene flow). Currently, contact zones involving the parapatrically distributed subspecies (S. s. crespoi, S. s. morenica and S. s. gallaica), showing patterns of nuclear introgression possibly caused by male-biased dispersal. Salamandra s. longirostris was allopatrically isolated from other subspecies, with the Guadaquivir river basin identified as a barrier to gene flow, which seems to be playing an important role in species formation in southern


Using an interactive aerosol‐climate model we find that absorbing anthropogenic aerosols, whether coexisting with scattering aerosols or not, can significantly affect the Indian summer monsoon system. We also show that the influence is reflected in a perturbation to the moist static energy in the sub‐cloud layer, initiated as a heating by absorbing aerosols to the planetary boundary layer. The perturbation appears mostly over land, extending from just north of the Arabian Sea to northern India along the southern slope of the Tibetan Plateau. As a result, during the summer monsoon season, modeled convective precipitation experiences a clear northward shift, coincidently in general agreement with observed monsoon precipitation changes in recent decades particularly during the onset season. We demonstrate that the sub‐cloud layer moist static energy is a useful quantity for determining the impact of aerosols on the northward extent and to a certain degree the strength of monsoon convection.


Four glasses in the Bi2O3/TiO2/SiO2 and Bi2O3/TiO2/SiO2/Nd2O3 systems are melted and poured into graphite moulds where they show spontaneous crystallization during cooling. The crystal phases α-Bi2Ti4O11, Bi4−xNdxTi3O12, Bi2Si1−yTiyO5, TiO2 and probably Bi2Ti2O7 are shown to crystallize using X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). A previously unknown miscibility of Bi2SiO5 and Bi2TiO5 is indicated. Oriented layers of monoclinic α-Bi2Ti4O11, Bi4−xNdxTi3O12 and Bi2Si1−yTiyO5 are observed. A perfectly epitaxial relationship between Bi4−xNdxTi3O12 and Bi2Si1−yTiyO5 is proven by EBSD. Crystals with the composition Bi2Si1−yTiyO5 with y = 0.33, 0.5 and 0.66 are detected.


About the book: The relationships between perception and imagery, imagery and spatial processes, memory and action: these are the main themes of this text. The interest in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience on imagery and spatial cognition has remarkably increased in the last decades. Different areas of research contribute to the clarification of the multiple cognitive processes subserving spatial perception and exploration, and to the definition of the neurophysiological mechanisms underpinning these cognitive functions. The aim of this book is to provide the reader (post-graduate students as well as experts) with a complete overview of this field of research. It illustrates how brain, behaviour and cognition interact in normal and pathological subjects in perceiving, representing and exploring space.(Series B).


Race and ethnic wealth differentials are wide and increasing. Some of the gaps are associated with education differences, but education alone cannot account for the substantially higher net worth of White families than of Black and Hispanic families. As of 2013, the median wealth of Black college graduate families had fallen to only 13 percent of the median wealth of White families. One possible explanation is the significantly lower shares of married couple and married parent households among minorities. For example, even among college graduates, only 41 percent of Black family heads were married, compared with 68 percent of White family heads. Did these trends in family status contribute significantly to differences between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics in the declines in wealth among college graduates? The author finds that family status changes between 2007 and 2013 were too small to play a large role and even married couple families among Blacks and Hispanics suffered sharp declines in home equity and net worth. Still, married couples retained at least a 70 percent advantage over the unmarried groups.


Rhyme and Stress in Georgian Dialects (Towards the Versification Typology of Georgian Verse) Word stress is weak in standard Georgian. The typology of Georgian verse is an uncertain issue. Some researchers argue that the Georgian verse is accentual-syllabic, while according to another point of view, it is syllabic. An assertion about the exclusively specific nature of Georgian verse has also appeared. This paper is an attempt to introduce dialect data as material for versification research in Georgian. Georgian dialects have clearly marked stress patterns unlike the standard Georgian. It is noteworthy that the Georgian verse retains its structure regardless whether it is pronounced in standard Georgian intonation or in a dialectal accent. At the same time, the placement, tone pitch and intensity of a stressed syllable is quite diverse depending on dialects in Georgian. However, these differences do not affect the structure of Georgian verse. Especially significant is the fact that the place of dialectal stress (regardless of the diverse placement in various dialects) does not influence the length of a rhyme segment. On the basis of these data the following conclusions are suggested: 1. In difference from an accentual-syllabic verse (e.g. Russian verse) or syl¬labic verse (e.g. French verse), the stress (either a word stress or stress of a rhythmic segment) is not able to create a rhyme segment in Georgian. 2. Rhyme segments as well as feet in general are usually created by word boundaries in Georgian verse. 3. Word boundaries, in turn, are marked with pitch, intensity, and pause. A stress, characteristic of the standard Georgian or dialects, is usually presented along with word boundary markers, but the decisive factor for the verse structuring in Georgian is a word boundary and not a specific stress of dialects or that of the standard language. In other words, a word boundary forms a metrical stress in the Georgian verse. 4. In respect to the relation between a metrical stress, on the one hand, and a word stress (or rhythmic group stress), on the other hand, especially within a rhyme segment, an accentual-syllabic and a syllabic verse (at least, English and French verses) fall into one type. Georgian verse, along with certain languages, having a weak stress, makes up another group where the structural factor creating a rhythmi¬cal diversity is a word boundary.


Cannulated Screw Fixation is the first volume of its kind to provide both the biomechanics of these screw systems as well as complete operative techniques. This book teaches the orthopaedic surgeon and resident all aspects of cannulated screw fixation from principles (biomechanics, design, materials, manufacturing) to clinical uses including anatomy, imaging techniques, advantages, complications and outcomes. This comprehensive text includes chapters written by well-known orthopaedists in their respective anatomical areas with material on preferred operating techniques and uses in more specialized clinical situations for both upper and lower extremities. Edited by pioneers in the development of the cannulated screw this volume is a "must have" for all orthopaedic surgeons and residents.


This project examined the role that road shoulders play in the stormwater runoff process. The goal of the research was to determine the type of shoulder treatment that yields the least quantity of runoff of the highest quality. Three types of shoulder materials were tested: conventional asphalt, gravel, and porous asphalt. Porous asphalt allows water to penetrate and flow through the pavement to a sublayer, and it can be used in place of conventional asphalt on low-traffic roadways. Each of the three shoulder materials were tested in duplicate on a heavily traveled, two-lane road north of Redmond, Washington. Stormwater runoff from the road flowed onto the shoulder test sections and was collected in a stormwater collection system at the base of the test sections. Flow-weighted composite samples were collected, and both runoff quantity and quality were evaluated. On the basis of results from 11 storms monitored between November 1995 and August 1996, several trends were identified. The porous asphalt shoulders demonstrated a greater potential to reduce runoff volumes and peak discharge rates than gravel and conventional asphalt shoulders. During typical wet season storms [0.76 cm (0.3 in.)], the porous asphalt and gravel shoulder test sections reduced runoff volumes by approximately 85% and 30%, respectively, in comparison to the conventional asphalt test sections. The ability of the porous asphalt shoulders to reduce pollutant loads far exceeded that of the gravel and conventional asphalt shoulders. During typical wet season storms the solids and pollutant loads from the porous asphalt shoulders were more than 90% lower than the loads from the conventional asphalt shoulders. The gravel shoulders yielded load reductions ranging from 10% to 70% lower than the conventional asphalt, although ortho-phosphorus loads exceeded those of the conventional asphalt shoulder by nearly 30%. Removal rates were highest for those pollutants that were correlated with total suspended solids (0.70<r-squared<0.95), indicating that physical mechanisms of settling and filtration were critical in removing pollutants from the runoff over both porous asphalt and gravel shoulders. The porous asphalt shoulders were more efficient at removing soluble pollutants, particularly ortho-phosphorus, than the conventional asphalt and gravel shoulders. After one year of use the porous asphalt shoulders showed no signs of clogging, maintaining infiltration rates of 4445 cm/hr (1750 in./hr).


I describe a new algorithm for approximating continuous functions in high-dimensional input spaces. The algorithm builds a tree-structured network of variable size, which is determined both by the distribution of the input data and by the function to be approximated. Unlike other tree-structured algorithms, learning occurs through completely local mechanisms and the weights and structure are modified incrementally as data arrives. Efficient computation in the tree structure takes advantage of the potential for low-order dependencies between the output and the individual dimensions of the input. This algorithm is related to the ideas behind k-d trees (Bentley 1975), CART (Breiman et al. 1984), and MARS (Friedman 1988). I present an example that predicts future values of the Mackey-Glass differential delay equation.


Introduction: Cerebral ischemia arise due to insufficient/ interrupted blood supply to brain and is accompanied by pathologies like degradation of extracellular matrix resulting in blood brain barrier disruption, intra cranial haemorrhage, activation of astroglial cells and hence death of neurons. In addition, oxidative stress and inflammation is common to all neurodegenerative diseases enhancing the harmful consequences of diseases.
Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP) are normally involved in extracellular matrix remodelling and are regulated while injury and inflammation in tissue. Over expression of MMP2 and MMP9 results in progression of ischemic conditions by extracellular matrix degradation thus compromising the structural integrity of Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) proving them a potent targets for the disease.
Violacein (source: Chromobacterium violaceum), purple pigment from microbial origin is a bisindole have high anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-cancer and anti-parasitic properties. Present study is to study the effective potential of violacein against cerebral ischemia.
Methods and findings: Violacein's ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, Toxicity), properties were calculated and structural inhibition of MMPs through molecular docking was evaluated.
Violacein resulted six H-bonds with MMP2 with high binding energy of -11.83 kcal/mol and two H-bonds with MMP9 with binding energy of -9.889 kcal/mol. The Ki values of violacein with MMP2 and MMP9 were 2.12 nM and 56.14 nM respectively which proved high affinity of violacein towards the target.
Conclusion: Violacein with its high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory property can be a potent all round treatment for cerebral ischemia and demands extensive research.


This paper focuses on Buddhism in America, an neglected area of inquiry in anthropological study. There is a need for modern ethnographic studies to shed light on historical issues, paradigms for comparative inquiry, and thus, explore the impact of Buddhism on modern American society (Glazier, 1997). The enormous growth of Buddhism in the last quarter century (Smith, 2002) makes this an especially pertinent topic in American anthropology. We utilize Glazier's model to add Buddhism as a topic in the area of modernity studies. This is a preliminary study of the nature of Buddhism in America. We conducted participant observation with a Buddhist meditation group in a north eastern state in the US for four months in the spring of 2010. Based on our preliminary ethnographic data, we believe that a unique perspectives of Buddhism in America can be identified: nonreligious and therapeutic involvement or use of Buddhism. Also, new forms of practice become evident, for example, 'walking meditation' and 'bowing to other Buddhists,' are identified as characteristics of Buddhism in America. It is interesting to note that at the end of meditation sessions, participants not only bow to the Buddha statue, but also bow to each other. This is a unique ritual dynamic which appears to be consistent with the worldview of American people - being equal and individual. The meditation group also practiced 'walking meditation' which is easy to do in everyday life. Additionally, we observed that American meditation rooms provide additional cushions to sit on which are a further element, along with walking meditation, which help American beginners to meditate more easily. These study observations shed light on the current situation by providing new lenses from which to understand and focus on different ritual performances/interpretations of Buddhism, and their meanings and functions in society. The most important reflection is that religious change is not an isolated cultural phenomenon but that it happens within multiple aspects of social change (Winzeler, 2008). Thus, 'a change in symbolic contents can be meaningfully achieved only if the social reality changes as well' (Malefijt, 1968: 359). Spiro states that 'ritual activities can be a form of expressive culture' (p. 120), and the different and unique forms of rituals of Buddhism may be expressive of different elements of American culture.


A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Gezira in Partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the award of Degree of Master of Sciences in Medical Microbiology Department of Medical Microbiology , Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences University of Gezira October / 2016


The scenario of the brain in a vat, first aired thirty-five years ago in Hilary Putnam's classic paper, has been deeply influential in philosophy of mind and language, epistemology, and metaphysics. This collection of new essays examines the scenario and its philosophical ramifications and applications, as well as the challenges which it has faced. The essays review historical applications of the brain-in-a-vat scenario and consider its impact on contemporary debates. They explore a diverse range of philosophical issues, from intentionality, external-world skepticism, and the nature of truth, to the extended mind hypothesis, reference magnetism, and new versions of realism. The volume will be a rich and valuable resource for advanced students in metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy ofmind and language, as well as for anyone interested in the relations between language, thought, and the world.


Abstract In this research, it is aimed to find out (i) the efficiency of a character education program based on overt values of Turkish 7th grade social studies lesson, and (ii) its hidden effects on the academic success. This research employed a semi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and control group For this research primarily character education program and quantification tools were developed and then the practice process of the research was carried out. The practice of the research was made in a state primary school in Umraniye, Istanbul. Before the practice one of the classes is assigned as experiment and the other is as control group, equality of the groups has been determined through statistical progress. While character education program is being applied to the experiment group, normal course program has been applied to control group. The practice was continued totally 39 course hours being 3 course hours in a week. Key Words Character Education, Social Studies, Values Education. Decline of human rights and the idea towards their deficient consideration were issued frequently both in academic and popular publications in last two decades and, it was stated that the societal structure and individual characters which were necessary to derive benefit from main human rights began to get lost (Lickona, 1991; Ryan & Bohlin, 1999). Studies towards removing this concern are in workspace of different disciplines and one of them is education because, in its' general meaning, education is a process that aims to change individual's behaviour for societal life (Akbas, 2004). In this process, societal values and cultural elements are purposely transferred to individuals for the purpose of maintaining societal structure (Demirel, 2007; Eturk, 1997). In other words, societal values and attitudes are transferred to young generations in school environment (Nucci, 2001). Besides, it is among educational aims to ensure individuals embrace universal values and the society also expects this from schools (Eksi, 2003b). In Turkey, National Education Act with number1739 which organizes governments' tasks and responsibilities in educational area highlights training people who are academically succesful and have rational character properties, when it defines the general aims of Turkish national education (Milli Egitim Bakanligi [MEB], 1997). According to this, we can say that the governmental demand is towards young generations' character development and, research about this issue includes practices in the context of character education (Lickona, 1991). The origins of character education start from antiquity and, it was defined as intentional implementations which were done with the aim of providing students to know good, to desire it and to do good (Healea, 2006; Lickona, 1991). As we can understand form this definition, good character is a concept which contains knowing good, embracing good and doing well. Therefore, intentional implementations towards knowing good, embracing good and doing good are remembered when we ad- dress activities related with character development (Ryan & Bohlin, 1999; Lickona, 1993). The rationale of these implementation is formed parallel to the considerations that positive character traits cannot be spontaneously existed, and intentional implementations are necessary (Arthur, 2008; Lickona, 1991). Besides, character education is supported by its' advocators because of the thinking that the individual whose moral development has reached a relatively mature level might gain responsibility sense and s/he might be academically successful at the same time (Arthur, 2008; Lickona, 1991; Nucci, 1989). In this context, we can define the character education as intentional implementations that organize behaviors according to main human values and are provided with the aim of training academically successful individuals. Social studies researchers have stated that there is an interaction between character education and citizenship education (Johnson, 2005, p. …


The effects of iron plaque on the growth of Typha latifolia L. and accumulation of copper and nickel in T. latifolia were investigated under laboratory conditions in nutrient solution cultures. Seedlings with and without iron plaque on their roots were exposed to 0.05 μg ml-1 Cu and 0.10 μg ml-1 Ni solutions for 72 d. The results showed no differences in root and shoot d. wt and leaf elongation when Cu or Ni were added to the solution and in the presence or absence of plaque. However, root length was reduced by Cu and Ni, and the reduction in root length was greater in the presence of plaque. Some Cu and Ni was adsorbed on root surfaces; roots with plaque took up more Cu, but less Ni than those without. The presence of plaque did not alter Cu uptake and translocation but increased Ni uptake and translocation. Most of the Cu and Ni taken up was retained in the roots, suggesting that the root tissue rather than the root surface or plaque is the main barrier for Cu and Ni transport. The results differ from those reported for other species.


ABSTRACT As research by the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor documents, the years 1975–1980 constituted the worst period of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor, during which grave human rights took place involving a high loss of life. In Australia, the government headed by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser (1975–1983) sought to present itself as a supporter of human rights and the international rule of law. It also prioritized relations with the Suharto regime, which it saw as key to its policy position in Southeast Asia. These two positions came into conflict due to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. The Fraser government therefore worked to propagate a narrative concerning East Timor which denied the seriousness of the situation, distorted the historical narrative, deflected blame from Indonesia, and depicted the Australian position as principled and realistic. This paper examines the development of this narrative as events progressed and information concerning the crisis in East Timor came to the attention of the outside world. It also examines how the Fraser government employed this narrative internationally in order to protect the Suharto regime from scrutiny.


We used cosmogenic 10 Be to measure erosion rates over 10 k.y. time scales at 32 Idaho mountain catchments, ranging from small experimental watersheds (0.2 km 2 )t o large river basins (35 000 km 2 ). These long-term sediment yields are, on average, 17 times higher than stream sediment fluxes measured over 10‐84 yr, but are consistent with 10 m.y. erosion rates measured by apatite fission tracks. Our results imply that conventional sediment-yield measurements—even those made over decades—can greatly underestimate long-term average rates of sediment delivery and thus overestimate the life spans of engineered reservoirs. Our observations also suggest that sediment delivery from mountainous terrain is extremely episodic, sporadically subjecting mountain stream ecosystems to extensive disturbance.


In this paper I propose a framework to understand the transition in Foucault's work from the disciplinary model to the governmentality model. Foucault's work on power emerges within the general context of an expression of capitalist rationality and the nature of freedom and power within it. I argue that, thus understood, Foucault's transition to the governmentality model can be seen simultaneously as a deepening recognition of what capitalism is and how it works, but also as a recognition of the changing historical nature of the actually existing capitalisms and their specifically situated historical needs. I then argue that the disciplinary model should be understood as a contingent response to the demands of early capitalism, and argue that with the maturation of the capitalist enterprise many of those responses are no longer necessary. New realities require new responses; although this does not necessarily result in the abandonment of the earlier disciplinary model, it does require their reconfiguration according to the changed situation and the new imperatives following from it.


Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on embedding open and reproducible approaches into research. One essential step in accomplishing this larger goal is to embed such practices into undergraduate and postgraduate research training. However, this often requires substantial time and resources to implement. Also, while many pedagogical resources are regularly developed for this purpose, they are not often openly and actively shared with the wider community. The creation and public sharing of open educational resources is useful for educators who wish to embed open scholarship and reproducibility into their teaching and learning. In this article, we describe and openly share a bank of teaching resources and lesson plans on the broad topics of open scholarship, open science, replication, and reproducibility that can be integrated into taught courses, to support educators and instructors. These resources were created as part of the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science (SIPS) hackathon at the 2021 Annual Conference, and we detail this collaborative process in the article. By sharing these open pedagogical resources, we aim to reduce the labour required to develop and implement open scholarship content to further the open scholarship and open educational materials movement.


In her recent Columbia Law Review article, "Infant Safe Haven Laws: Legislating in the Culture of Life," Professor Carol Sanger shows that American safe haven laws, viewed "within a larger political culture," promote the "goal of the culture of life: the reversal of Roe v. Wade." Their effectiveness in that pursuit, she correctly notes, depends on whether judges and others recognize the "strong differences" between varying culture of life settings. Like Professor Sanger, I see differences between safe haven abandonment and abortion. Unfortunately, Professor Sanger fails to note that American safe haven laws, within a larger political culture, also significantly promote the culture of motherhood, that is, the unconditional respect for relatively exclusive maternal decisionmaking about newborns, regardless of children's best interests, of any legal paternity interests, and of the strong social policy favoring two parents for each child born alive as a result of consensual sex. As with culture of life settings, there are "strong differences" in culture of motherhood settings. I see significant differences between protecting potential human life from maternal acts and protecting actual human life from maternal acts. I see differences between pursuing actual deadbeat dads and simply projecting certain dads as deadbeat. I see differences between children conceived as a result of artificial insemination via an anonymous donor and children conceived as a result of consensual sex. I see differences between terminating potential or actual legal paternity before and after birth. The culture of motherhood, as the culture of life, in American family law merits our serious attention. There "are strong differences of opinion" on some forms of exclusive maternal decisionmaking. In particular, beyond revisiting safe haven laws, state legislators (and Congress, through the Social Security Act) need to reform many of the adoption and birth certificate laws governing children born as a result of consensual sex. American laws should better assure that the men named as legal fathers at birth merit that designation and that more children have legal fathers named at the time of birth.


Realizing maximum performance from high bit-rate and RF circuits requires close attention to IC technology, circuit-to-circuit interconnections (i.e., the interconnect ) and circuit design. Circuit and Interconnet Design for RF and High Bit-rate Applications covers each of these topics from theory to practice, with sufficient detail to help you produce circuits that are first-time right . A thorough analysis of the interplay between on-chip circuits and interconnects is presented, including practical examples in high bit-rate and RF applications. Optimum interconnect geometries for the distribution of RF signals are described, together with simple models for standard interconnect geometries that capture characteristic impedance and propagation delay across a broad frequency range. The analyses also covers single-ended and differential geometries, so that the designer can incorporate the effects of interconnections as soon as estimated interconnect lengths are available. Application of interconnect design is illustrated using a 12.5 Gb/s crosspoint switch example taken from a volume production part.


Aims of study: The present study was carried out to assess whether as received arch wires from manufactures are free of microbial contamination as well as to identify the bacterial count and types attached to arch wires. Materials and Methods: Eighty samples were included in this study consisting of two types of arch wires (nitinol and stainlesssteel); they were from four companies (3 M, Ortho-Technology, Jiscop and G&H). The wires were inserted into plane tubes that contain 10 ml of BHI broth and tris-EDTA. Further 0.1 ml was withdrawn from plane tube and spread on agar plates. Moreover 16 plane tubes (8 tubes with brain heart infusion broth and 8 with tris-EDTA) without arch wires were considered as controls group. Results: Microbial sampling yielded growth from 7 of the 80 arch wires studied, the predominant bacteria isolated were staphylococci spp. No growth was recovered from 73 of the samples and from controls. The total viable count of bacteria in BHI reagent is more than that in Tris-EDTA reagent with statistically significant difference (P 0.05). In regard to the presence and distribution of bacteria according to types of wires, the stainless-steel wires have more viable count (49.58) than that in nitinol (47.42) but statistically not significant (P0.05). Conclusion: The arch wires received from manufacturer are often contaminated and therefore there is a need for routine disinfection of such items. This study found that the BHI more is effective in dislodging the bacteria from orthodontic arch wires than tris- EDTA. However, the stainless-steel arch wires were more contaminated than nitinol and most common contaminant were Staphylococci spp


Raised a Muslim but increasingly outraged by her religion's hostility towards women, Ayaan Hirsi Ali has now become one of today's most talked-about, admired and controversial political figures because of her desire to free women from an oppressive Muslim culture. Her bestselling collection of essays, "The Caged Virgin", now available in English for the first time, brings together some of her most passionate and compelling writing on a wide range of issues concerning Islam. Drawing on her own first-hand experience and cultural background, she assesses the role of women in Islam both in practice and in theory; the rights of the individual; fanaticism; and Western policies towards immigrant communities. Provocative and compelling in equal measure, "The Caged Virgin", is an important addition to the ongoing debate about the 'clash of civilizations' and marks the debut of a writer and activist destined to be one of the key international figures of the early twenty-first century.


This study examines leading psychosocial safety climate (PSC) within the organization and psychological safety in teams in remote work conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These topical working life phenomena have an essential role in health, well-being and productivity in today's working life, but they have rarely been studied in remote work context. A total of 26 supervisors and leaders at three Finnish universities participated in semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, resulting in four main categories: supportive and challenging aspects of leading psychological safety and well-being, supportive and challenging aspects of organizational psychosocial safety climate leadership, support for working as a supervisor, and characteristics specific to working in academia. The results indicate that leading psychological safety remotely requires more time, deliberation and intentionality than when working face to face, and that the role of remote interaction is underlined in it. As to PSC, it is important to improve the cohesion in leading psychological safety and health in academic organizations. How PSC is led in the organizations affects not only the general psychosocial working conditions, but also the possibilities for good leadership of psychological safety in smaller units in the organization. The study makes a novel contribution especially in understanding (1) leadership of PSC and psychological safety in remote work conditions, and (2) the reciprocal relations between leading psychological safety and well-being at the organizational level and the team level.


It is an honor to pay tribute to a man who truly needs no tributes- Justice John Paul Stevens of the Class of 1947. Justice Stevens was born in 1920 here in Chicago, Illinois, and he graduated from Northwestern Law School sixty-four years ago with the highest grade point average ever earned up to that time in the history of the law school. He served on the United States Supreme Court from 1975 to 2010, when he retired at the age of ninety after the third-longest tenure in the Court's history. During his thirty-five years on the high court, he wrote many landmark opinions on subjects like the constitutionality of term limits, the line item veto, the death penalty, and the freedom of speech and of religion. Justice Stevens's opinion in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC1 revolutionized the field of administrative law while his famous dissents in the flag burning case and in Bush v. Gore2 inspired many critics of the Supreme Court. Justice Stevens's opinions were exceptionally well written and well crafted, and he enjoyed a sterling reputation as an intellectual leader on the Supreme Court. He started out strong in 1975, and, if anything, his opinions got even better in his last fifteen years on the Supreme Court. For all of my adult lifetime, Justice Stevens has been the gold standard for excelling in the art of being a Supreme Court justice. He is quite simply, as one of my best conservative friends said, "a class act."3 The ancient Greeks wrote that a good man is one who is wise, brave, moderate, and just. Justice Stevens exhibited all four of these virtues during his tenure on the Supreme Court. First, Justice Stevens exhibited wisdom by repeatedly exercising sound judgment in practical affairs. Justice Stevens was neither an abstract philosopher on the bench nor was he a Justice who was influenced by his emotions rather than by his mind. Practical wisdom is the virtue of having common sense and foresight, of being able to weigh competing values and give each of them their due. Justice Stevens exhibited practical wisdom, in my view, when he wrote majority opinions for the Court striking down state-imposed term limits on members of Congress4 and a statutorily conferred line item veto for the President.5 Justice Stevens reached the right result in those two cases by looking forward and by thinking deeply. Justice Stevens exhibited wisdom during his tenure on the bench. Second, Justice Stevens was brave from the start of his tenure up to the day of his retirement. He was not afraid to buck the conventional wisdom and practice. Justice Stevens did this in a small way by wearing his trademark bow tie for which he was renowned during his tenure on the bench. This was surely an affirmation of individual independence. But Justice Stevens was also brave in more important ways by fighting vigorously in case after case for the values he believed in even when he was often in dissent. Justice Stevens repeatedly and vociferously challenged the view of five of his colleagues on the scope of sovereign immunity,6 a battle that he never won but never gave up on. He fought similar battles on the scope of the commerce power,7 the constitutionality in various settings of imposition of the death penalty,8 and the balance as to how much federal courts ought to defer to executive branch interpretations of law.9 In short, Justice Stevens was brave as well as wise. Third, Justice Stevens was moderate during his tenure on the Court. He was a paragon of self-control and self-restraint both in talking with his colleagues and subordinates and in the opinions he wrote and the speeches he gave. Justice Stevens arrived on the Supreme Court in 1975 at a time in American history when the virtues of self-control and self-discipline were in short supply. …


ABSTRACT Periplasmic binding protein-dependent maltose transport system (MBP-MalFGK2) of Escherichia coli, an important member of the Adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporter superfamily, is in charge of the transportation of maltoses across cellular membrane. Studies have shown that this transport processes are activated by the binding of maltose and are accompanied by large-scale cooperative movements between different domains which are mediated by a network of important residues related to signal transduction and allosteric regulation. In this paper, the functionally crucial residues and long-range allosteric pathway of the regulation of the system by substrate were identified by utilising a coarse-grained thermodynamic method proposed by our group. The residues whose perturbations markedly change the binding free energy between maltoses and MBP-MalFGK2 were considered to be key residues. In result, the key residues in 62 clusters distributed in different subdomains were identified successfully, and the results from our calculation are highly consistent with experimental and theoretical observations. Furthermore, we explored the long-range cooperation within the transporter. These studies will help us better understand the physical mechanism of the effects of the maltose on MBP-MalFGK2 by long-range allosteric modulation.


Introduction Fas is expressed on a majority of human leukemic cells. Fas-mediated cell death is involved in drug-induced apoptosis in various cell types. Hence, failure of apoptosis could lead to chemoresistance and may therefore have an impact on clinical outcome. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the percentage of Fas receptor expression on blast cells in patients with adult acute leukemia and blastic transformation phase of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML-BT), and to find out the impact of Fas expression on prognosis. Subjects and methods The participants of this study were 80 adult acute leukemia patients classified as follows: 40 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, 32 ALL patients, and eight CML-BT patients. In addition, 10 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls were also included in the study. Patients with acute leukemia were studied at diagnosis and after treatment. The diagnosis of AML, ALL, and CML-BT was assessed by morphological study, cytochemical analysis, and immunophenotyping of peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow aspirate according to FAB classification. Fas expression on blast cells from bone marrow aspirate or PB samples of the patients or on normal monocytes, granulocytes, and lymphocytes obtained from PB samples of controls was measured using flow cytometry. The correlation between prognostic markers (age, sex, total leukocytic count, serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and cytogenetic risk categories) and Fas expression levels on blast cells of leukemic patients at diagnosis was ascertained. After treatment, patients were followed up for periods ranging from 25 to 31 months. Results Fas expression was seen to be the highest on control monocytes (31.2 ± 6.95%), followed by granulocytes (24.8 ± 7.61%), whereas lymphocytes expressed the lowest levels (17.1 ± 4.01%) with a highly statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) between variables. The mean value of Fas expression by blast cells from AML patients at diagnosis was 41.72 ± 10.3%. AML patients were divided into the Fas-positive group [29 patients (72.5%)] and the Fas-negative group [11 patients (27.5%)]. The mean values of expression increased significantly from M1 to M5 with the weakest expression in M1 (20.28 ± 5.3%) and the strongest in M5 (52.91 ± 11.3%) with highly significant differences (P < 0.001) between Fas expression levels in different FAB subtypes of AML. The mean value of Fas expression in ALL patients was 42.87 ± 11.5%. Twenty-three (71.88%) patients were positive for Fas expression, whereas nine (28.12%) were negative. Fas expression was positive in 12/19 (63.2%) precursor B-ALL patients and in 11/13 (84.6%) T-ALL patients. The mean value of Fas expression was significantly higher (P = 0.039) in T-ALL (55.15 ± 7.8%) in comparison with precursor B-ALL (34.47 ± 5.76%). CML-BT patients were all transformed to AML type and expressed Fas with a mean of 31.0 ± 7.63%. Only three of them (37.5%) were Fas negative and the remaining five (62.5%) were Fas positive. The percentage of Fas-positive patients was 0% (0/1) in M1, 50% (2/4) in M2, 100% (1/1) in M4, and 100% (2/2) in M5. No significant differences could be detected between Fas-positive and Fas-negative patients with respect to baseline patient characters (age, sex, total leukocytic count, serum LDH levels, and cytogenetic risk category). Highly significant correlation was found between Fas-positive expression and response to therapy (P < 0.001) in AML and ALL patients. Fas-negative patients in CML-BT were nonresponders to chemotherapy with a significant correlation between low Fas expression and failure to respond to therapy (P = 0.049). Overall survival between Fas-positive and Fas-negative patients was statistically significant in AML, ALL, and CML-BT patients (P = 0.001, 0.002, and 0.002, respectively). Conclusion The mean value of Fas expression by blast cells from AML, ALL, and CML-BT patients at diagnosis was 41.72 ± 10.3, 42.87 ± 11.5, and 31 ± 7.63%, respectively. We can conclude that Fas receptor expression on blast cells from ALL, AML, and CML-BT patients could serve as an independent prognostic factor and help in monitoring the outcome of chemotherapy.


This paper explores the discourses of power in adult literacy and numeracy (ALN) teaching and learning that were highlighted through the processes of accessing and gaining the views of ALN learners for a research project on the quality of learning and teaching. It details the problems encountered in gaining access to this group of learners and discusses how they are rooted within the discourses of power and deficit that permeate ALN teaching and learning. It also argues that the pedagogical structures of 1:1 learning that characterise sections of ALN provision reinforce the suppression of collective voice by individualising the 'problem' and its solution. It suggests that whilst ALN learning aims to effect change in individuals and in society, the structures and power relationships within it militate against such change. The paper shows that in learning communities where power and meaning are mutually negotiated learners do begin to recognise their personal worth and power and its impact in the wider world. However, it argues that critical, radical adult learning extends beyond the parameters of individual change. It is a collective process whereby people who begin to see themselves differently as individuals also question together the asymmetrical power relationships that have marginalised them and their practices, and act to change them. The learners' comments show that, although they had changed through participating in learning, the change process was essentially individualised, and almost entirely devoid of these critical elements.


Decision-making pertaining to development control has been
increasingly complex as urbanization extends into environmentally sensitive hilly areas. Coupled to that, the traditional data analysis method of sieving maps is very cumbersome and inefficient for processing planning applications. Here a Geographical Information System [GIS] is seen as the ideal tool of the information age to improve the current inadequacies of the present planning system. Henceforth, the study aimed to adapt GIS as a decision support tool for processing planning applications specifically, in hilly areas. The study methodology basically involved the identification of a problem statement, formulation of goal and objectives, literature review on the application of GIS in local planning, the development of a planning data model and the design of a planning expert system. The planning data model consolidated relevant data for processing potential development in hilly areas. Hence, it was structured into common groups namely town planning, administration, utilities, environment and transportation. The principle object behind data analysis was to query site suitability and to determine whether the detailed proposals conformed to planning requirements. To aid decision-making, the decision support system employed a planning expert system. The knowledge base rules of the planning expert system incorporated planning guidelines development in hilly areas. An inference engine consisted of various scripts based on Boolean argument was designed to enable comparative assessment between detail proposals and planning parameters and provided technical advice to support or reject an application. A customised pull-down menu was designed to simplify data query and data
retrieval. The study found that although GIS was effective at data analysis, for the moment, it would be of limited success in processing planning applications because there are many types of planning issues to consider. This would
require further development of GIS analytical techniques before it could comprehensively process planning applications. The expert system while effective, depended on a standard format to process layout plans. Overlaying
regularly used for data analysis but proved more effective when combined with other techniques e.g. buffering or spatial analysis. Although planning criteria were available, they had to be reviewed to weed out ambiguous
terminologies. Attributes tables were vital to ensure the expert system worked because the inference engine is critical where data are kept. Since GIS was in various stages of implementation, it was concluded GIS could serve as a decision support system for processing planning applications in hilly areas. Further research was still required to develop new planning expert systems in various sectoral studies e.g. transportation planning. This included
the development of digital supporting database, expansion in the scope and depth of data analysis, development of planning design models, fine-tuning planning criteria and the establishment a uniform digital format for the
preparation of layout plans.


This paper describes the creation of online tutorials that teach about the PEP (Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing) Archive, a full-text bibliographic database, for two small, graduate-level psychoanalytic institutes. used Camtasia Studio software and incorporated principles of cognitive learning theory. Research questions are, first, the practicality of creating and maintaining such online tutorials, and second, their effectiveness in providing PEP training. Methodology includes a literature review, pre-project survey, software choice and training, and preparation of recording scripts. The resulting tutorials do display features of cognitive learning theory, including learner control, encoding and individual differences, perception and attention, memory, and active learning. Conclusions are that for future projects, it would be best to create shorter tutorials along with additional, text-based training materials. The second research question is yet to be answered, and finding effective means of evaluation and assessment remains a challenge.


Abstract The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between money supply, price level and economic growth in the context of Pakistan by using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, covered a period of 1980 to 2016. The results confirm the long-run relationship between the variables while using broad money supply as a response variable. However, in the price and income modeling, the variables do not support the cointegration relationship between the variables. The causality results confirmed the unidirectional relationship running from income to money supply, which implies that income do causes money supply in the short run, whereas money supply leads to inflation to support Monetarist view of inflation in a country. The results conclude that economic growth is imperative to stabilize money supply and price level through sound economic policies in a country.


Issues concerning religion in the public sphere are rarely far from the headlines. As a result, scholars have paid increasing attention to religion. These scholars, however, have generally stayed within the confines of their own respective disciplines. To date there has been little contact between lawyers and sociologists. Religion, Law and Society explores whether, how and why law and religion should interact with the sociology of religion. It examines sociological and legal materials concerning religion in order to find out what lawyers and sociologists can learn from each other. A groundbreaking, provocative and thought-provoking book, it is essential reading for lawyers, sociologists and all who are interested in the relationship between religion, law and society in the twenty-first century.


The ubiquitously expressed multifunctional cytolinker protein plectin is essential for muscle fiber integrity and myofiber cytoarchitecture. Patients suffering from plectinopathy-associated epidermolysis bullosa simplex with muscular dystrophy (EBS-MD) and mice lacking plectin in skeletal muscle display pathological desmin-positive protein aggregation and misalignment of Z-disks, which are hallmarks of myofibrillar myopathies (MFMs). Here, we developed immortalized murine myoblast cell lines to examine the pathogenesis of plectinopathies at the molecular and single cell level. Plectin-deficient myotubes, derived from myoblasts, were fully functional and mirrored the pathological features of EBS-MD myofibers, including the presence of desmin-positive protein aggregates and a concurrent disarrangement of the myofibrillar apparatus. Using this cell model, we demonstrated that plectin deficiency leads to increased intermediate filament network and sarcomere dynamics, marked upregulation of HSPs, and reduced myotube resilience following mechanical stretch. Currently, no specific therapy or treatment is available to improve plectin-related or other forms of MFMs; therefore, we assessed the therapeutic potential of chemical chaperones to relieve plectinopathies. Treatment with 4-phenylbutyrate resulted in remarkable amelioration of the pathological phenotypes in plectin-deficient myotubes as well as in plectin-deficient mice. Together, these data demonstrate the biological relevance of the MFM cell model and suggest that this model has potential use for the development of therapeutic approaches for EBS-MD.


Tropical explosive volcanism is one of the most important natural factors that significantly impact the climate system and the carbon cycle on annual to multi‐decadal time scales. The three largest explosive eruptions in the last 50 years—Agung, El Chichón, and Pinatubo—occurred in spring/summer in conjunction with El Niño events and left distinct negative signals in the observational temperature and CO2 records. However, confounding factors such as seasonal variability and El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) may obscure the forcing‐response relationship. We determine for the first time the extent to which initial conditions, i.e., season and phase of the ENSO, and internal variability influence the coupled climate and carbon cycle response to volcanic forcing and how this affects estimates of the terrestrial and oceanic carbon sinks. Ensemble simulations with the Earth System Model (Climate System Model 1.4‐carbon) predict that the atmospheric CO2 response is ˜60% larger when a volcanic eruption occurs during El Niño and in winter than during La Niña conditions. Our simulations suggest that the Pinatubo eruption contributed 11 ± 6% to the 25 Pg terrestrial carbon sink inferred over the decade 1990–1999 and −2 ± 1% to the 22 Pg oceanic carbon sink. In contrast to recent claims, trends in the airborne fraction of anthropogenic carbon cannot be detected when accounting for the decadal‐scale influence of explosive volcanism and related uncertainties. Our results highlight the importance of considering the role of natural variability in the carbon cycle for interpretation of observations and for data‐model intercomparison.


Anthocyanins (ACN) are part of a large and wide spread group of plant constituents known collectively as flavanoids. In the present research work anthocyanins were extracted from Ficus racemosa fruit. Family: Moraceae, using acidified methanol (1% HCL in methanol). The extracted anthocyanins were isolated and purified using the Amberllite - XAD4 resin. Anthocyanins were characterized by means of Chromatographic and Spectral data obtained from HPLC and UV Spectroscopy. Two major pigments identified were Peonidin -3-glucoside and Pelargonidin -3-glucoside. Peaks for anthocyanins, which are present in very low amount, and in less concentration, can be verified by means of commercially available external standards. The samples were diluted in the mixture of methanol and formic acid just before the injection on the column and separated on Lichrospher-100 Reversed phase C18 end capped column (5 micron) 125mm x 4mm using gradient solvent system consisting of 5Mm of phosphoric acid and acetonitrile . DAD detector was employed at 520 nm for anthocyanins. An Ficus racemosa fruit anthocyanosides preparation (equivalent to 30% of anthocyanidins) demonstrated significant vasoprotective effect in rabbits, the skin capillary permeability increase, due to chloroform, was reduced after i.p. (25-100 mg/kg) anthocyanosides. Comparison was made between the action of the methanol extract and a known protective microvascular drug proxerutin (25 mg/kg). The mixed of anthocyanosides was more active that the proxerutin.


Many researchers are attempting to create systems which mimic human thought, or understand speech, or beat to the best human chess-player [14]. Understanding intelligence and Creating intelligent artifacts both are the twin goals of Artificial Intelligence (AI).In more recent times, the interest is focused on problems related with Complex Networks [3, 5,6, 19], in particular on questions such as clustering search and identification. We attempt, in this paper, a panoramic vision of such mathematical methods in AI.


This article develops a unified framework, based on Rossi's factorial survey method, for studying positive beliefs and normative judgments. The framework enables estimation of individuals' positive-belief and normative-judgment equations, leading to analysis of the components of beliefs and judgments, assessment of interpersonal variability in the components, and estimation of two further equations, representing, respectively, the determinants and consequences of the components. We describe procedures for data collection, assemble a set of tools for estimating the positive-belief and normative-judgment equations and carrying out the corresponding homogeneity tests, and propose ways of estimating the determinants and consequences equations. To illustrate the framework, we investigate both a positive-belief equation (describing adolescents' views concerning determination of marital happiness) and a normative-judgment equation (describing judgments of the justice of earnings). This article thus provides a guide to contemporary factorial survey analysis, and points the way to its further development.


The clinical importance of monitoring liver fibrosis lies in the morbidity and mortality of the chronic liver diseases in relation to the stage and progression of fibrosis. Whether the fibrosis stabilizes or regresses depends on the specific treatment. Liver biopsy, the current standard for the diagnosis, has implicit limitations due to sampling heterogeneity. There are noninvasive imaging methods, such as transient elastography that measures the stiffness of the liver, but it has some limitations (feasibility and unreliability), particularly in obese patients. FibroTest is the most widely used noninvasive serological method worldwide which is efficacious in the extreme stages of fibrosis, but these methods cannot discern intermediate stages. Liver fibrosis is a dynamic response that involves multiple cellular and molecular events with an excessive deposit of extracellular matrix. Even though there is much information on the pathophysiology of fibrosis, that knowledge is still incomplete, greatly hindering the development of both an accurate treatment and a noninvasive diagnostic method with adequate sensitivity for all the stages of fibrosis. It is known that IGFBP participates in liver homeostasis, and thus these proteins can be used as serum biomarkers during the progression of liver fibrosis in chronic hepatitis C.


This book is part of a larger effort undertaken by the World Bank to understand the development experience of the 1990s, an extraordinary eventful decade. Each of the project's three volumes serves a different purpose. Development Challenges in the 1990s: Leading Policymakers Speak from Experience offers insights on the practical concerns faced by policymakers, while At the Frontlines of Development: Reflections from the World Bank considers the operational implications of the decade for the World Bank as an institution. This volume, Economic Growth in the 1990s: Learning from a Decade of Reform, provides comprehensive analysis of the decade's development experience and examines the impact of key policy and institutional reforms of growth. Economic Growth in the 1990s confirms and builds on the conclusions of an earlier World Bank book, The East Asian Miracle (1993), which reviewed experiences of highly successful East Asian economies. It confirms the importance of growth of fundamental principles: macro stability, market forces governing the allocation of resources, openness, and the sharing of the benefits of growth. At the same time, it echoes the finding that these principles translate into diverse policy and institutional paths, implying the economic policies and policy advice must be country-specific and institutional-sensitive if they are to be effective. The authors examine the impact of growth of key policy and institutional reforms: macroeconomic stabilization, trade liberalization, deregulation of finance, privatization, deregulation of utilities, modernization of the public sector with a view to increasing its effectiveness and accountability, and the spread of democracy and decentralization. They draw lessons both from a policy and institutional perspective and from the perspective of country experiences about how reforms in each policy and institutional area have affected growth.


Abstract—The off-gas from the basic oxygen furnace (BOF), where pig iron is converted into steel, is treated in the primary ventilation system. This system is in full operation only during oxygen-blowing when the BOF converter vessel is in a vertical position. When pig iron and scrap are charged into the BOF and when slag or steel are tapped, the vessel is tilted. The generated emissions during charging and tapping cannot be captured by the primary off-gas system. To capture these emissions, a secondary ventilation system is usually installed. The emissions are captured by a canopy hood installed just above the converter mouth in tilted position. The aim of this study was to investigate the dependence of Zn and other components on the particle size of BOF secondary ventilation dust. Because of the high temperature of the BOF process it can be expected that Zn will be enriched in the fine dust fractions. If Zn is enriched in the fine fractions, classification could be applied to split the dust into two size fractions with a different content of Zn. For this air classification experiments with dust from the secondary ventilation system of a BOF were performed. The results show that Zn and Pb are highly enriched in the finest dust fraction. For Cd, Cu and Sb the enrichment is less. In contrast, the non-volatile metals Al, Fe, Mn and Ti were depleted in the fine fractions. Thus, air classification could be considered for the treatment of dust from secondary BOF off-gas cleaning.


We have employed x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Ni and Mn L3,2 edges in LaMnO3/LaNiO3 superlattices grown along (001) and (111) orientations. Our results show a significant XMCD signal and thus the presence of magnetic moments localized on both Ni and Mn, which are ferromagnetically coupled to each other. X-ray absorption experiments reveal a charge transfer between Ni and Mn which is larger for (111) than for (001) superlattices. These results are compared to theoretical predictions for such superlattices.


Introduction: Systemic loxoscelism is the most severe complication of loxoscelism. The management of the cadre by health personnel presents a high variability due to factors that are currently unknown. There is no standard of reference or a clinical prediction model that can guide our decisions when approaching a spider bite patient. Objective: Develop and validate a clinical prediction rule for systemic loxoscelism. Methods: An observational study of derivation and validation of a clinical prediction model was carried out with diagnostic test validation based on a historical single-arm cohort in patients treated at Vitarte Hospital between 2007 and 2016 and international clinical reports published. Results: Systemic loxoscelism occurred only in 32.9% (n = 24) of cases. For the bivariate analysis, the variables that showed a statistically significant association (P <0.05) were sex, bite in an independent abdomen in relation to other parts of the body, bite in other parts of the body than the abdomen, vomiting , fever and hemoglobinuria. The regression analysis included in the analysis the variables: sex, vomit, fever and hemoglobinuria. Bootstrapping determined the internal validity of the model. The area under the curve was 0.91 (P <0.05) and the sensitivity, specificity, LR + and LRwere 79.1%, 93.8%, 12.9 and 0.22 respectively. Conclusion: The protocol of prediction of systemic derived loxoscelism is valid, for the moment.


Social presence has two opposing effects on human corruption: the collaborative and contagious nature of another person's presence can cause people to behave in a more corrupt manner. In contrast, the monitoring nature of another person's presence can decrease corruption. We hypothesize that a robot's presence can provide the best of both worlds: Decreasing corruption by providing a monitoring presence, without increasing it by collusion. We describe an experimental study currently underway that examines this hypothesis, and report on initial findings from pilot runs of our experimental protocol.


Hume insisted that property serve as the foundation of society because it best promotes the greatest amount of industry and therefore contributes to public utility. Industry thus plays a central role in Hume's theory of justice. Given that Hume extensively discussed the social, political, cultural, and moral implications of industry in the Political Discourses, I suggest that Hume's economic writings should be understood as an integral part of his overall philosophical project. In offering a parallel reading of the Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals and the Political Discourses, I argue that Hume's theory of justice does not resolve into a mere theory of property, as many philosophers complain, but rather, emerges as a rich account of how justice both generates the greatest material affluence and promotes the formation of the most virtuous society.


&NA; The past decade has seen unprecedented growth in the number of hip arthroscopies. Acetabular labral tears are the leading indication for arthroscopy of this joint. However, labral anatomy and function, as well as the effects of labral tears and surgical outcomes, have only recently been studied. Labral tears may cause pain and microinstability of the hip joint. They also may increase friction within the joint, cartilage consolidation, and strain within the articular cartilage, thereby possibly resulting in accelerated degeneration of the joint. Partial labrectomy and labral repair are the current surgical options, and basic science data suggest that labral repairs can heal and subsequently restore function. However, a good, validated outcomes measure to adequately assess active patients with a painful nonarthritic hip is needed to determine the efficacy of such repair and aid in managing patient expectations.


Emonds (1980) conjectured that in one limited domain there is a robust correlation between the complexity of a syntactic derivation and the rarity of the sentence type produced by that derivation. Other scholars, however, have hypothesized a more general correlation complexity and rarity which is not well motivated. In the three major historical periods of transformational syntax, we find typologically rare sentence types derived by means of simple operations and typologically common sentence types with complex derivations. By investigating syntactic complexity, I speculate that, in general, we cannot expect to see correlations between complexity and rarity, since implicational and frequency-based typological generalizations do not belong to the realm of I-language.


Starting with a critique of the term "addictive conducts," the author proposes a metapsychological reflection centered upon the repetition compulsion and its effects in adolescence, more precisely in anorexic pathologies. The clinical study of the therapeutic process deployed in psychodrama in the treatment of an adolescent girl with severe anorexia is built around theoretical constructions concerning the dialectic of internal and external perceptions. The essential question is that of the over-investment of external perceptions – of which narcissism is constituted – to the detriment of internal perceptions, which are considered to be intricately tied to the affects that constitute the "raw material" of the transference.The second part of the article is devoted to analytical psychodrama, its value and its functions in such situations: the fragmentation of the transference, the play of doubles, and the putting into words of affects all offer ways to deal with drive violence, insofar as the method ensures the connection between images and words, when the affects are barred off, imprisoned or even stifled. Thus psychodrama traces the path of the effective experience of breakdown in its twofold aspect, as witness to both early infantile distress and to the loneliness of the Œdipal stage.


One of the characteristics of film viewing since the beginning is the reaction film causes in the audience. This emotional reaction puzzles me. The aim of this study is to discover how film conveys emotions to the viewer and how these emotions are triggered. Film viewing has an emotional response often expressed by the viewer whether the film was good or not. What is it that makes it so appealing to our emotions?In order to find an answer I have looked through the theories of Greg M. Smith, Annette Kuhn, Allan Casebier and Colin McGinn, among others, to unveil how this emotions emerge. These theories approach the emotions in different ways giving a wider view of how emotions emerge during the film viewing. Personally, I am emotionally attracted to black and white Mexican films from the 40's and 50's and based the analysis on some of this films.After analysing Mexican films from the 40's and 50's I have come to the conclusion that the emotional reaction can be analysed by filmic tools such as the mood-cue system or the reading of thresholds and boarders, among others. The sum of visual, aural, narrative, movement among other elements together trigger emotions expressed depending of one's own beliefs. Films have developed a wide range of ways to cue the viewer to a certain response and enhance determined emotions. The emotional response is however strongly linked to the individual background of the viewer and its beliefs. This makes a general reading not always easy to predict.


Over the past years, the financial stock market – providing the capital demand that is the result of stockpiling and the characteristic strong seasonality observed in the agricultural sector – has increasingly grown and become more "used" by market participants. Its size had reached an annual value of 200 billion HUF, of which agricultural products had received the largest proportion through the various market participants (producers, integrators, traders, feed producers, mills). In the meantime, this market had become part of the competition between the commercial banks that are the largest financers of the sector, due to which the financing credit institutions had undertaken increasing risk levels, with respect to both degree of financing and the VAT financing related to stockholding. The practice of commodity financing by banks display a rather varied picture at present. Considering the exceptional degree of fall in prices and the actions of companies totally disregarding business ethics in 2008, it seems necessary to reveal the full scope of risks inherent in commodity financing. The primary aim of such an exercise is to ensure the prudent operation of refinancing activities for commercial banks. The inherent risks in trade financing – as has been proven by the experiences of previous years – are not found primarily in the goods themselves, but rather at the actual storage facility and also emerge in relation to clients, as well as the inadequate and ineffective risk management of price volatility by the financers. Therefore, the establishment of banking risk management and risk prevention techniques, including the development of new financing procedures become indispensable, minimizing all types of risks that had emerged in previous years.


Cystic changes in metastatic cervical lymph nodes (CLN) from papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) may be a diagnostic pitfall in fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) cytology. We investigated in a series of CLN metastases from thyroid cancers (TC), including cystic PTC, and from a wide spectrum of extrathyroidal malignancies, the diagnostic role for metastatic TC of the rapid detection of thyroglobulin in eluates from FNAB (FNAB-Tg) of CLN. The study was carried out in a group of 79 subjects (22/57 M/F; median age, 56 years; range, 20-86 years) with enlarged CLN and thyroid nodules (TN), examined for potential metastatic TC, and harboring a large spectrum of incidentally diagnosed extrathyroidal malignancies (n = 24, mostly represented by lymphomas, lung, and breast cancers), CLN metastases from thyroid cancers (n = 28, including 6 cystic metastatic PTC), 6 specific lymphadenitis and 21 reactive lymphadenitis mostly detected (n = 16) during follow-up of patients with previously ablated TC. Markedly high FNAB thyroglobulin (Tg) values were found in all metastatic CLN TC. Two of the six cases with cystic metastatic CLN PTC were diagnosed by FNAB-Tg but not by cytology. In conclusion, FNAB-Tg has been confirmed as an easy modality and fast procedure to diagnose CLN metastasis from TC and high FNAB-Tg values with nondiagnostic cystic cytology strongly suggest cystic metastatic PTC.


This study investigates the perceived safety of passengers while being on board of a driverless shuttle without a steward present. The aim of the study is to draw conclusions on factors that influence and contribute to perceived safety of passengers in driverless shuttles. For this, four different test rides were conducted, representing aspects that might challenge passengers' perceived safety once driverless shuttles become part of public transport: passengers had to ride the shuttle on their own (without a steward present), had to interact with another passenger, and had to react to two different unexpected technical difficulties. Passengers were then asked what had influenced their perceived safety and what would contribute to it. Results show that perceived safety of passengers was high across all different test rides. The most important factors influencing the perceived safety of passengers were the shuttle's driving style and passengers' trust in the technology. The driving style was increasingly less important as the passengers gained experience with the driverless shuttle. Readily available contact with someone in a control room would significantly contribute to an increase in perceived safety while riding a driverless shuttle. For researchers, as well as technicians in the field of autonomous driving, our findings could inform the design and set-up of driverless shuttles in order to increase perceived safety; for example, how to signal passengers that there is always the possibility of contact to someone in a control room. Reacting to these concerns and challenges will further help to foster acceptance of AVs in society. Future research should explore our findings in an even more natural setting, e.g., a controlled mixed traffic environment.


The size of search space has an impact on the efficiency of test data generation by meta-heuristic algorithms. To enhance the efficiency of test data generation, a method that reduces search space utilizing interval arithmetic is proposed. Firstly, all input variables of the program are presented as interval variables. Then, the interval of each variable is gradually reduced by many constraint conditions in the target path. Finally, meta-heuristic algorithm with reduced search space is carried out to generate test data. Experimental results show the proposed method has advantages in the number of generations, running time, and success rate, which can significantly enhance the efficiency of test data by using meta-heuristic algorithms.


Since 1999, one of the main strategies the Colombian government has used to mitigate coca cultivation is to spray the crops with herbicide, which is carried out from airplanes. This paper evaluates the consequences of this strategy for rural households in areas where coca is cultivated, specifically the effects of aerial spraying on child labor and education. Since the areas where spraying takes place are fundamentally different from those where it does not, I use a two-stage least squares model, instrumenting for aerial eradication with the number of days high-speed winds in the municipality made spraying difficult. These were days in which the wind was one standard deviation above the municipality's monthly average. This corrects for possible sources of endogeneity due to selection bias. The results of this study show that aerial spraying was associated with a one percentage point increase in the likelihood that children ages 12-17 would work instead of going to school. Crop spraying was further associated with a 0.15 percentage point increase in the probability that older siblings in families living in a coca-growing area would fall behind in school, and a five percentage point increase in the probability that younger siblings would drop out of school. Thus, the findings of this research, based on data that cover the period from 2008 to 2012, suggest that the war on drugs has the potential to generate new barriers to educational access for children who live in areas where aerial spraying occurs.


This work proposes an accounting calculation scheme for hedging swaps based on the requirements listed under International Accounting Statement (IAS) 39. In particular we developed a procedure that assists risk managers in the identification of the hedging efficiency between a group of loans (or bonds) and swaps held in a bank portfolio qualifying for hedge accounting. The proposed scheme aims at associating to any given swap of the bank portfolio, a certain collection of loans (or bonds) whose risk exposures offset each other. The final result is the construction of a number of hedges that are effective according to IAS 39.


Although sperm binding proteins on the inner layers of the extracellular matrix of vertebrate eggs have received a good deal of attention, sperm attractants in the outer jelly area have been detected in bioassays, but have not been identified. Now Olson et al. have purified a sperm chemoattractant from the egg jelly of Xenopus eggs. The protein, which they name allurin, turns out to have sequence similarity to members of the CRISP (cysteine-rich secretory protein) family. The new results indicate that CRISP family members escort or guide sperm on their voyage from the testes to the egg. The CRISP protein TPX-1 functions to promote adhesion of sperm to Sertoli cells in the testes. During maturation in the epididymis, sperm bind another set of CRISP proteins, the acidic epididymal secretory proteins, or AEGs. And finally, they encounter the new CRISP member, allurin, the first to be identified as a product of the female. The authors suggest that receptors on the surface of the sperm likely sense a gradient in the concentration of allurin that guides the sperm to their target. J. H. Olson, X. Xiang, T. Ziegert, A. Kittelson, A. Rawls, A. L. Bieber, D. E. Chandler. Allurin, a 21-kDa sperm chemoattractant from Xenopus egg jelly, is related to mammalian sperm-binding proteins. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98, 11205-11210 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The very fact that Phillis Wheatley, a black female slave, wrote at all has attracted more attention, prompted more theories, and inspired more heated debate than any line of her poetry ever has. From its very publication in 1773, Wheatley's book, Poems on Various Occasions, Religious and Moral, has served to signify more than itself. In the eighteenth century, Voltaire advertised her poetry as evidence of "genius on all parts of the earth" and the perfectibility of the Negro. When Thomas Jefferson claimed her writing proved that the Negro lacked imagination and was dull, tasteless, and anomalous, the tenor of the debate was set for over two centuries.(1) In addition, Wheatley's biography has achieved legendary status. The story of the little black girl, stolen from her parents and sold as a slave to the kind family that furnished her with pen and paper, taught her to read and write, and distinguished her at mealtimes by not permitting her to eat with the other slaves, is familiar to most of us. Also familiar is the account of what transpired in 1774 when her book first appeared. Afraid that no one would believe a female slave had actually written these poems, her publishers enlisted twelve of the most distinguished men in Boston--including John Hancock and the Reverend Charles Chauncey--to swear that she had. After the publication of her book, which included tiffs testimony of authenticity, Boston and London society paraded Wheatley from one genteel drawing room to another where she entertained, simply by reading her work aloud. She performed with charm and poise, assets that contributed to her growing fame. For those assembled to watch a young black female slave read poems that she had written, Wheatley seemed to be a miracle. Neither the content nor the quality of these poems was ever at issue: merely the fact that she had written them constituted a major event. It is no tribute to literary scholarship that succeeding generations of critics did not substantially distance themselves from the response Wheatley's poetry elicited in those eighteenth-century drawing rooms. While contemporary scholarship no longer regards Wheatley as an anthropological test case, the seemingly debatable quality of her work juxtaposed to the fascinating details of her biography have continued to dominate the critic's attention. Even in the second half of the twentieth century, when scholarship begins to examine African American authors more fully, the actual substance and language of Wheatley's poetry has been overlooked in favor of a discussion of her historical significance. I would argue that the reticence to bestow on Wheatley a legitimate place in the canon can best be perceived as a function of the critic's inability to find a constructive way in which to discuss the actual poetry itself. First, this essay will give a brief overview of the twentieth century's misreading of her career; second, it will closely read several of Wheatley's poems in order to expose key themes that have been overlooked in the sociological and political mayhem generated by a black female slave having taken up the pen. Benjamin Brawley's judgments in The Negro Genius: A New Appraisal of the Achievement of the Negro in Literature and the Fine Arts (1930) illustrate the classic pose of the Wheatley critic in the first half of the twentieth century. While Brawley first writes that Wheatley stands as a "shining example of Negro genius," he concludes that she "has historical significance far beyond what the intrinsic merit of her verses might warrant" (Brawley 19). Seven years later, Sterling Brown had similar reservations.(2) In his anthology, Negro Poetry and Drama, Brown calls her verses "polished and elegant," yet ultimately claims that they lack "any real emotion" and that Wheatley's position in American literature "remains one solely of curiosity" (Brown 6). In 1966, Julian Mason furnishes a thoroughly ambivalent introduction to a first complete collection of Wheatley's work. …


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current trend of designing workspaces to foster creativity. The paper brings forth themes that seem to be connected with the so-called 'creative workspaces'. The paper discusses how the findings relate to recent theory and research. Finally, the paper develops propositions to further elaborate the issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts an inductive and social constructionist approach. In all, 40 internet pictures of workspaces claimed to be creative among a broad range of industries and companies which were analyzed through an aesthetic lens and compared to what theory and research about organizational creativity and space inform us.

Findings

The designs of 'creative workspaces' follow a rather standardized and deterministic assumption of what kind of spaces are considered to produce creativity: open offices, happy, playful communities of close-knit teams and spatial arrangements that resemble home, symbols and memories, sports, technology and nature. This view of creativity and workspaces remains a management fad unless a more balanced approach to the issue is assumed.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is not to be representative and the findings generalizable as such, but to bring forth the phenomenon. This exploratory and inductive approach calls for a systematic study to prove the propositions in a more controlled research setting and with a bigger sample.

Practical implications

The paper makes a few suggestions of what companies should pay attention to when building workspaces to improve organizational creativity – and to overcome the fad.

Social implications

The proposed end-user perspective may ultimately save costs, if people can voice their needs on the space arrangements from the beginning and throughout the building process, not only after the spaces are fully complete, as is typically the case.

Originality/value

The paper provides a critical view on the trend of building work spaces to purposefully enhance organizational creativity. It brings forth themes that are connected to creativity and workspace designs and suggests that more nuances are involved in the issue.


The susceptibility of 2 strains of rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, 1 from North America (TL) and 1 from Germany (GR), to Myxobolus cerebralis (the cause of salmonid whirling disease) was assessed following exposure to the infectious stages (triactinomyxons). Two laboratory experiments were conducted with age-matched rainbow trout of each strain. At the beginning of the study, the 2 trout strains were aged ca. 570 degree-days in Expt 1, and ca. 999 degree-days in Expt 2. In both experiments, replicate groups of each trout strain were exposed to 10, 100, 1000 or 10000 triactinomyxons (TAMs) fish(-1) for 2 h. The fish were then held in aquaria receiving 15 degrees C well-water. Severity of infection was evaluated 5 mo after exposure by presence of clinical signs (whirling and/or black tail), prevalence of infection, severity of microscopic lesions, and spore counts. Clinical signs of whirling disease were evident only in the younger fish exposed in Expt 1: These occurred first among TL rainbow trout at the highest dose at 6 to 7 wk post exposure and then 2 wk later in fish at the 1000 TAMs dose. Black tail was also observed among GR rainbow trout at the 10000 TAMs dose only, but in fewer fish. The prevalence of infection, spore numbers, and severity of microscopic lesions due to M. cerebralis among GR rainbow trout were less at all doses compared to TL rainbow trout. Risk of infection analyses showed that TL rainbow trout were more prone to infection at the lower doses than GR trout. Mean spore counts were consistently (10- to 100-fold) less in GR than TL trout at doses of 1000 TAMs or lower. Microscopic lesions increased with increasing dose in both strains of rainbow trout. The mechanisms underlying the greater resistance of the GR strain to M. cerebralis infections are unknown, but are under investigation as part of a long-term project to determine the basis for resistance and susceptibility of salmonid fishes to whirling disease.


The starting point of this article is Irène Deliège's essay on the similarity relationships that, it is claimed, lie at the heart of creating and cognising musical structure (2007): in particular (though not exclusively) relations that function internally within works, and which may be perceived implicitly or conceived explicitly. Initially, a music-theoretical tack is adopted, commencing from Arnold Schoenberg's concept of the musical "motive",1 and his taxonomy of motivic transformations, which, he asserts, underpin musical coherence (1967). This and other classifications by the theorists Rudolph Ræti (1951), Jan LaRue (1970) and Wilson Coker (1972) are interrogated using the author's "zygonic" theory of music-structural understanding (Ockelford, 2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2006a), and, with reference to the music-psychological work of Mary Louise Serafine (1983), David Temperley (1995) and Bruno Repp (1997), a new, composite taxonomy is proposed, which sets out the forms of connection that can logically exist between one group of notes and another. This is illustrated with musical examples, which suggest (a) that similarity cannot be judged in isolation from the musical context in which it occurs (something that is modelled through an expanded version of Leonard Meyer's (1973) "formula of perceived conformance"); and (b) that similarity is likely to be judged differently between and even within subjects, depending on the listening style that they adopt. This will vary in general terms according to listeners' musical beliefs and experiences, and specifically in relation to the attitudes and attention that they bring to bear on a given occasion. Hence it is concluded that there is not, and could never be, a universal metric of perceived musical similarity. How, then, does one explain the coherence of music as a communicative medium, which purportedly depends on a common understanding of relationships of similarity between composers, performers and listeners? It is surmised that composers intuitively or consciously endow their music with sufficient similarity for it to be recognisable and meaningful to listeners, even if some connections, particularly those functioning at a conceptual level, are missed or construed in unanticipated ways (Ockelford, 2004). The highly repetitive nature of music means that analysts too are able to identify not only those similarity relationships that seek to illuminate the compositional process or reflect or influence the way that listeners approach pieces, but also those correspondences that are deemed to be intrinsically noteworthy, without necessarily having any direct bearing on the musical experience. Clearly, this stance is at odds with music-psychological methodologies that tend to examine aspects of similarity perception that are common across a population. That is to say, different music-related disciplines (and even different approaches within disciplines) are likely to afford similarity a different ontological status. Zygonic theory offers a way forward: a conceptual framework that different epistemological modi operandi can potentially share.


The objective of this proposed project is to research and develop a prediction tool for advanced additive manufacturing (AAM) processes for advanced materials and develop experimental methods to provide fundamental properties and establish validation data. Aircraft structures and engines demand materials that are stronger, useable at much higher temperatures, provide less acoustic transmission, and enable more aeroelastic tailoring than those currently used. Significant improvements in properties can only be achieved by processing the materials under nonequilibrium conditions, such as AAM processes. AAM processes encompass a class of processes that use a focused heat source to create a melt pool on a substrate. Examples include Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication and Direct Metal Deposition. These types of additive processes enable fabrication of parts directly from CAD drawings. To achieve the desired material properties and geometries of the final structure, assessing the impact of process parameters and predicting optimized conditions with numerical modeling as an effective prediction tool is necessary. The targets for the processing are multiple and at different spatial scales, and the physical phenomena associated occur in multiphysics and multiscale. In this project, the research work has been developed to model AAM processes in a multiscale and multiphysics approach. A macroscale model was developed to investigate the residual stresses and distortion in AAM processes. A sequentially coupled, thermomechanical, finite element model was developed and validated experimentally. The results showed the temperature distribution, residual stress, and deformation within the formed deposits and substrates. A mesoscale model was developed to include heat transfer, phase change with mushy zone, incompressible free surface flow, solute redistribution, and surface tension. Because of excessive computing time needed, a parallel computing approach was also tested. In addition, after investigating various methods, a Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics Model (SPH Model) was developed to model wire feeding process. Its computational efficiency and simple architecture makes it more robust and flexible than other models. More research on material properties may be needed to realistically model the AAM processes. A microscale model was developed to investigate heterogeneous nucleation, dendritic grain growth, epitaxial growth of columnar grains, columnar-to-equiaxed transition, grain transport in melt, and other properties. The orientations of the columnar grains were almost perpendicular to the laser motion's direction. Compared to the similar studies in the literature, the multiple grain morphology modeling result is in the same order of magnitude as optical morphologies in the experiment. Experimental work was conducted to validate different models. An infrared camera was incorporated as a process monitoring and validating tool to identify the solidus and mushy zones during deposition. The images were successfully processed to identify these regions. This research project has investigated multiscale and multiphysics of the complex AAM processes thus leading to advanced understanding of these processes. The project has also developed several modeling tools and experimental validation tools that will be very critical in the future of AAM process qualification and certification.


The goal of radiation therapy is to deliver a therapeuticdose of radiation to target tissues while minimizing the risks of normal tissue complications. Until recently, the quality of a radiation treatment plan has been judged by physical quantities, i.e., dose and dose‐volume parameters, thought to correlate with biological response rather than by estimates of the biological outcome itself. Developments in our understanding of advantages and limitations of existing dose‐response models begin to allow the incorporation of biological concepts and outcome data into treatment planning process. Any use of dose‐response (outcome) models that involves feedback from a model during the treatment planning process is referred here as biologically based treatment planning, which aims to design dose distributions that would produce the desired balance between tumor cure and normal tissue injury based on the knowledge of biological properties of the particular tumor and surrounding normal tissues. Such a multidimensional problem is most appropriately addressed in the framework of inverse treatment planning presently employed for the optimization of IMRT plans and will rely on models to describe relationships between dose distributions and biological outcomes. The feedback may be either passive/automated in the case of inverse treatment planning, or with active participation from the planner in the case of forward treatment planning.Treatment planning tools that use biologically‐related models for plan optimization and/or evaluation are being introduced for clinical use. However, due to factors such as the limitations of models and available model parameters, the incomplete understanding of dose responses, and the inadequate clinical data, the use of biologically‐based treatment planningsystem represents a paradigm shift and can be potentially dangerous. There will be a steep learning curve for most planners. This presentation will discuss various practical issues including (1) dosimetrical differences between biologically based and physical dose(dose‐volume) based treatment plan optimization and evaluation, and (2) general QA methodology for using biologically‐based models in treatment planningsystems. Learning Objectives: 1. Understand differences between the use of biologically‐based and dose‐volume based treatment plan optimization and evaluation; 2. Understand general QA methodology of a biologically based planning system.