This article describes the preparation of a graphene electrode modified with a new conjugate of peptide nanotubes and folic acid for the selective detection of human cervical cancer cells over-expressing folate receptors. The functionalization of peptide nanotubes with folic acid was confirmed by fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The peptide nanotube-folic acid modified graphene electrode was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The modification of the graphene electrode with peptide nanotube-folic acid led to an increase in the current signal. The human cervical cancer cells were bound to the modified electrode through the folic acid-folate receptor interaction. Cyclic voltammograms in the presence of [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-) as a redox species demonstrated that the binding of the folate receptor from human cervical cancer cells to the peptide nanotube-folic acid modified electrode lowered the electron transfer resulting in a decrease in the measured current. A detection limit of 250 human cervical cancer cells per mL was obtained. Control experiments confirmed that the peptide nanotube-folic acid electrode specifically recognized folate receptors. The modified electrode described here opens up new possibilities for future applications in early stage diagnoses of diseases where cells over-express folate receptors, such as in cancer or leishmaniasis disease.


Locusts and grasshoppers are truly cosmopolitan pests. In an effort to reduce the environmental side-effects of current chemical control practices, several programmes around the world are developing biopesticides, based on fungal entomopathogens, for locust and grasshopper control. Unfortunately, these biocontrol products have achieved mixed success. One of the principal reasons is that locusts are active behavioural thermoregulators, enabling them, under certain environmental conditions, to elevate their body temperatures to levels where fungal growth is suppressed. Here we develop a dynamic behavioural model to predict how locust thermoregulatory behaviour influences disease development. We use the model to explore what the overall consequences of infection might be (i.e. the net effect of disease capturing elements of both pathogen development and host defence) under different conditions in terms of locust mortality, fecundity and crop damage. We modelled two empirical fungal entomopathogens, Metarhizium anisopliae var. acridum and Beauveria bassiana, together with two hypothetical pathogens representing a temperature generalist and a temperature specialist. The model leads to predictions that the effects of a fungal biocontrol agent are strongly mediated by environmental temperature and host behaviour. The positive control effects are manifested through direct mortality and also sub-lethal effects on feeding and fecundity that result from modifications in behaviour associated with host defence and optimization of locust fitness. M. anisopliae var. acridum is predicted to provide the best control of locusts and the specialist fungus to provide the worst. Under hotter conditions, B. bassiana is predicted to provide substantially worse biocontrol than the other fungal strains. These predictions match well with empirical data. In addition, the model reveals the possibility for locusts to balance the costs of host defence through selective expression of behavioural fever in response to individual fungal diseases. We conclude that models like this one may facilitate prospective evaluation of biocontrol and advance our understanding of the role of behaviour and thermal ecology in insect– pathogen interactions.


Recently, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks have emerged as an attractive solution to enable large-scale content distribution without requiring major infrastructure investments. While such P2P solutions appear highly beneficial for content providers and end-users, there seems to be a growing concern among Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that now need to support the distribution cost. In this work, we explore the potential impact of future P2P file delivery mechanisms as seen from three different perspectives: i) the content provider, ii) the ISPs, and iii) individual content consumers. Using a diverse set of measurements including Bit-Torrent tracker logs and payload packet traces collected at the edge of a 20,000 user access network, we quantify the impact of peer-assisted file delivery on end-user experience and resource consumption. We further compare it with the performance expected from traditional distribution mechanisms based on large server farms and Content Distribution Networks (CDNs).
 While existing P2P content distribution solutions may provide significant benefits for content providers and end-consumers in terms of cost and performance, our results demonstrate that they have an adverse impact on ISPs' costs by shifting the associated capacity requirements from the content providers and CDNs to the ISPs themselves. Further, we highlight how simple "locality-aware" P2P delivery solutions can significantly alleviate the induced cost at the ISPs, while providing an overall performance that approximates that of a perfect world-wide caching infrastructure.


Based on a random survey sample, this study examines audience assessments of different media platforms in Pakistan. We found that in the complex Pakistani media landscape, ethnicity is a key indicator in predicting media credibility. Our study's results indicate that minority ethnic groups tend to find domestic television to be less credible, and international television or traditional media to be more credible, than do members of the majority Punjabi group. Media reliance was found to be a significant indicator of media credibility assessment—particularly regarding media such as international television and the Internet—as media reliance hinges on the availability of a media infrastructure, especially in the context of a developing society such as Pakistan.


The geochemistry of three urban streams in Athens was analysed and compared on the basis of major elements and heavy metals content in water and active sediment. The studied streams of Kifissos, Podoniftis and Pikrodafni run through the Athens basin of a total area of 540 km2 but differ with respect to the origin of their headwaters i.e., Parnitha, Penteli and Hymettus mountains. The main aim of the study was to determine the geochemical signature of water and sediment within the Athens hydrological basin and evaluate the effect of natural and anthropogenic environment on these water courses. A total of 56 stream water samples were obtained and analysed for major anions, cations and heavy metals (Mn, Cr, Cu, Zn, Pb) as well as nitrate and phosphate concentrations. Active stream sediments were collected at 22 locations along the streams and were analysed for heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn, Cr, Ni, Cd). Results indicated that rock weathering, rather than atmospheric or pollution influx is the dominant process affecting the major ion geochemistry of stream flow in the urban setting. However, Kifissos and Podoniftis waters had higher nitrate and phosphate concentrations indicating greater influence by anthropogenic activities. In general the quality characteristics of water and sediment in the study area were found to be in a good state regarding the studied parameters.


Religious tourists are making visit to temples and holy places for worships and doing meditation and performing religious functions and also they understand features and specialty of those places, attracting by various attributes and enjoying different atmospheres particularly in holy places. The results show that the religious tourists are agreed with holy places are providing divine feeling, giving good cultural experience, offering mental freshness, giving peacefulness and happiness, well connected with transport facilities and giving spiritual experience. Significant difference amid perception of religious tourists towards attributes of holy places and their demographics. Perception towards attributes of holy places is positively, significantly and highly related with their revisiting intention. Thus, holy places should give adequate information and they must offer emotional refreshment. Holy places should provide adequate security and they must give best accommodation to religious tourists.


Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive neoplasm considered incurable with current therapies. Both the Cyclin D1 translocation and the profile of genomic alterations are well known but the landscape of somatic mutations has only been recently characterised. Overall, numerical and structural alterations, amplifications, homozygous deletions, and somatic mutations affect components of the cell cycle regulation, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage response, cell survival pathways, NOTCH and NFκB pathways, and the chromatin modification machinery. These alterations are potentially involved in the pathogenesis, progression and poor response to treatment of these lymphomas. In this review, the pathogenetic mechanisms of MCL, and how their better knowledge may help in offering new perspectives for the treatment of patients providing potential targets for individualised therapeutic intervention is discussed.

Key Concepts:

MCL is an aggressive B-cell lymphoma.

A subset of patients follows an indolent clinical course.

Translocations of CCND1 (or CCND2) are the primary genetic alterations.

MCL have a very specific profile of secondary chromosomal gains and losses.

Several crucial genes are targeted by homozygous deletions and amplifications.

MCL SOX11-positive with unmutated-IGHV show high genomic complexity and worse prognostic compared to SOX11-negative with mutated-IGHV.

The different molecular and clinical subtypes of MCL have a different mutation distribution pattern.

The main pathways affected by molecular alterations in MCL are cell cycle regulation, DNA damage response, cell survival pathways, NOTCH and NFκB pathways, and chromatin modification machinery.

Identifying molecular mechanisms that contribute to MCL pathogenesis and progression may offer potential targets for the management of the patients.

Keywords:

Mantle cell lymphoma;
hallmark translocation;
copy number alteration;
homozygous deletion;
CNN-LOH;
target gene;
pathway;
mutation;
targeted treatment;
prognosis


As socio‐environmental problems have proliferated over the past decades, one narrative which has captured the attention of policymakers and scientists has been the need for collaborative research that spans traditional boundaries. Collaboration, it is argued, is imperative for solving these problems. Understanding how collaboration is occurring in practice is important, however, and may help explain the idea space across a field. In an effort to make sense of the shape of fisheries science, here we construct a co‐authorship network of the field, from a data set comprising 73,240 scientific articles, drawn from 50 journals and published between 2000 and 2017. Using a combination of social network analysis and machine learning, the work first maps the global structure of scientific collaboration amongst fisheries scientists at the author, country and institutional levels. Second, it uncovers the hidden subgroups—here country clusters and communities of authors—within the network, detailing also the topical focus, publication outlets and relative impact of the largest fisheries science communities. We find that whilst the fisheries science network is becoming more geographically extensive, it is simultaneously becoming more intensive. The uncovered network exhibits characteristics suggestive of a thin style of collaboration, and groupings that are more regional than they are global. Although likely shaped by an array of overlapping micro‐ and macro‐level factors, the analysis reveals a number of political–economic patterns that merit reflection by both fisheries scientists and policymakers.


Abstract The attack behavior of the cobweb spider Achaearanea tesselata (Keyserling 1884) is roughly separated into three sequential steps: descend from the suspended retreat, pass through the sheet threads, and wrap the prey from underneath the sheet. The position and speed as the spider descended varied apparently according to prey type. In the fastest descent, A. tesselata fell free upside down, with all legs free and stretched upward. Two other relatively slow types of descent occurred when spiders approached the sheet head down or climbing down on a mesh thread. The behavior used to pass between the sheet lines showed little variation. It occurred at high speed with the legs folded dorsally; when the legs were in this position the spider offered a very small area of impact, apparently permitting the femora to penetrate or open a space between the lines of the sheet. The spider then opened the femora of the legs to create enough space for the cephalothorax, and seizing the sheet from underneath with legs I, II, and III, the spider pulled the abdomen and hind legs through the sheet. Then the spider rushed to the prey, flung viscid lines at the prey, and wrapped it. Attacks occurred in as little as 0.11 s after the spider began its descent. The design of the webs of A. tesselata transmits information regarding the location of the prey trapped on the sheet to reach the resting spider inside the retreat. The first response of the spider in her retreat was to turn to face the prey; the spider then climbed down along mesh threads following a nearly straight line to the prey.


Regional surveys in Greece have only rarely identified Mesolithic sites, which consist typically of small, unobtrusive scatters of microlithic artifacts. Recently, a site location model was used along with targeted surveys to identify Mesolithic sites in the Argolid, Epirus, and the Sporades, and the results suggest that the Mesolithic may have been overlooked in some early surveys because, in part, the characteristic features of Mesolithic assemblages were unknown at the time. Using lithic assemblages from published sites as a guide, a re-study of lithics from a regional survey in the Southern Argolid (1979–83) was undertaken to determine if some small undated lithic sites from that survey were Mesolithic. Seven probable Mesolithic sites were identified, and the spatial distribution of the sites suggests that a logistical land-use foraging strategy was used in the Argolid during the Mesolithic.


Abstract. Gas and particle-phase organic carbon compounds soluble in water (e.g., WSOC) were measured simultaneously in Atlanta throughout the summer of 2007 to investigate gas/particle partitioning of ambient secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Previous studies have established that, in the absence of biomass burning, particulate WSOC (WSOCp) is mainly from secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production. Comparisons between WSOCp, organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) indicate that WSOCp was a nearly comprehensive measure of SOA in the Atlanta summertime. WSOCp and gas-phase WSOC (WSOCg) concentrations both exhibited afternoon maxima, indicating that photochemistry was a major route for SOA formation. An additional nighttime maximum in the WSOCg concentration indicated a dark source for oxidized organic gases, but this was not accompanied by detectable increases in WSOCp. To study SOA formation mechanisms, WSOC gas/particle partitioning was investigated as a function of temperature, RH, NOx, O3, and organic aerosol mass concentration. No clear relationship was observed between temperature and partitioning, possibly due to a simultaneous effect from other temperature-dependent processes. For example, positive temperature effects on emissions of biogenic SOA precursors and photochemical SOA formation may have accounted for the observed similar proportional increases of WSOCp and WSOCg with temperature. Relative humidity data indicated a linear dependence between partitioning and predicted fine particle liquid water. Lower NOx concentrations were associated with greater partitioning to particles, but WSOC partitioning had no visible relation to O3 or fine particle OC mass concentration. There was, however, a relationship between WSOC partitioning and the WSOCp concentration, suggesting a compositional dependence between partitioning semi-volatile gases and the absorbing organic aerosol. Combined, the overall results suggest two dominant SOA formation processes in urban Atlanta during summer. One was the photochemical production of SOA from presumably biogenic precursors that increased with the onset of sunrise and peaked in the afternoon. The other, which showed no apparent diurnal pattern, involved the partitioning of semi-volatile gases to liquid water, followed by heterogeneous reactions. The co-emission of water vapor and biogenic VOCs from vegetation may link these processes.


Gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a potential strategy in manipulating cancer causing genes by complementary base-pairing mechanism. Small interfering RNA (siRNA) is an important RNAi tool that has found significant application in cancer therapy. However due to lack of stability, poor cellular uptake and high probability of loss-of-function due to degradation, siRNA therapeutic strategies seek safe and efficient delivery vehicles for in vivo applications. The current review discusses various nanoparticle systems currently used for siRNA delivery for cancer therapy, with emphasis on liposome based gene delivery systems. The discussion also includes various methods availed to improve nanoparticle based-siRNA delivery with target specificity and superior efficiency. Further this review describes challenges and perspectives on the development of safe and efficient nanoparticle based-siRNA-delivery systems for cancer therapy.


The whimsical upper-voice texts of the anonymous fourteenth-century motet Musicalis / Sciencie stage an epistolary exchange between Rhetoric, Music, and a long list of French composers and singers. The letters complain that these musicians, whose ranks include Guillaume de Machaut and Philippe de Vitry, split words with rests when they write hockets. The critical tone of Musicalis / Sciencie implies that some ars nova composers must have regularly split words with hockets, while others—the motet's composer, for one—held this to be bad practice. But since modern editions and medieval scribes alike are imprecise in the placement of text around hockets, the existence of such opposing camps seems difficult to substantiate. An analysis of text-note alignment in four sources for Apta / Flos reveals that some scribes were prescriptive in their texting of hockets, while others, like the scribe of the important Ivrea codex, were pragmatic. An awareness of these differences can lead to alternate modes of interpreting ambiguous text underlay. In the case of Philippe de Vitry's Petre / Lugentium , shifting syllables adjacent to hockets can transform the work, highlighting carefully differentiated textural zones that are key to its structure. Such editorial intervention can in turn yield fresh insight into competing compositional approaches.


Background: The Y-chromosome azoospermic factor (AZF) regions consist of genes whose specific roles and functions in spermatogenesis have not been completely clarified. Hence, recognition of the association between AZF microdeletions and male infertility has suggestions for the diagnosis, treatment, and genetic counseling among infertile patients. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 47 infertile men with non-obstructive azoospermic and normal karyotypes referred to infertility center of Alzahra hospital in Tabriz. Molecular AZF screening technique was performed on the genomic DNA from peripheral blood samples. Multiplex PCR and two different sets of sequence-tagged sites (STS) were used to detect the microdeletions in Y-chromosomal AZF regions and the Y specific sequences. Results: Seventeen (36.17%) out of 47 infertile men had deletions in the AZFc and AZFd regions (P<0.05). Among the 17 azoospermic subjects harbouring Y chromosome microdeletions, fourteen were detected in AZFc , two in AZFc+d and one in AZFd regions. Therefore, microdelitions in the AZF regions have a significant effect on azospermia occurrence in the infertile men. Conclusion: Y-chromosome microdeletion analysis can be recommended as an important molecular test among infertile males to obtain reliable genetic information before the administration of assisted-reproductive techniques. It will help to decrease the cost and technical difficulty of the procedure.


Glochinema bathyperuvensis sp. n., the first record of Epsilonematidae from bathyal muddy sediments of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) off Callao, Peru (eastern Pacific Ocean) is described. The new species belongs to the subfamily Glochinematinae and is characterized by the possession of more than 8 pairs of subdorsal thorns asymmetrically arranged and a single dorsal one in the pharyngeal region, as well as by the presence of ten to thirteen blade-like cuticular protrusions forming a latero-dorsal palisade around the posterior head region and anterior cervical region. In addition, G. bathyperuvensis is characterized by its large size, more than 240 cuticular annules, provided with an extremely dense "hairy" body ornamentation and, four rows of ambulatory setae: two inner subventral ones with 8 to 9 setae in males, and 5 to 6 setae in females, and two outer subventral rows composed each of 9-12 ambulatory setae followed by a large number of modified somatic setae. The dense hairy body spines, the large number of modified somatic setae, its dominant occurrence exclusive in oxygen-depleted, organicrich soupy surface sediments indicate an adaptation to the stressed OMZ habitat conditions.


In the market-leading CALCULUS FOR THE MANAGERIAL, LIFE, AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, Soo T. Tan provides an accurate, accessible presentation of calculus combined with just the right balance of applications, pedagogy, and technology to help students succeed in the course. The new Seventh Edition includes highly interesting current applications and exercises to help stimulate student motivation. An exciting new array of supplements, including iLrn Tutorial and the Interactive Video Skillbuilder CD-ROM, provides students with extensive learning support so instructors will have more time to focus on teaching the core concepts.


In the present study I tested the effect of stereoscopic depth on the lightness of two targets equal in size, presented simultaneously so that one target appeared in depth coplanar to the background and the other appeared floating in a frontal plane closer to the observer. When targets were equal in luminance, the target that appeared more distant from the observer appeared also more contrasted to the background: when targets were increments with respect to the luminance of the background the distant target appeared lighter than the closer one; vice versa when targets were decrements the distant target appeared darker. Results are discussed with respect to the Gestalt factor "belongingness", and to more recent finding of the effect of perceived size on lightness in the Delboeuf and the Ebbinghaus Illusions.


In a change from previous sentencing reviews, this review focuses principally on the activities of the
sentencing advisory councils in Australia. Due to this focus and spatial constraints, certain recent
developments will not be covered in this review but are worthy of further consideration. In particular,
Western Australia has introduced a Bill to permit GPS tracking of serious offenders after the end of
their sentence, expand the definition of "crime victims" to include immediate family members, and
include psychological and psychiatric harm.1 The South Australian Government has introduced a draft
Bill for comment which, if passed, would repeal the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988 (SA) and
make the protection of the safety of the community the primary consideration in sentencing.2 In
addition, Queensland is currently reviewing its parole regime,3 following the high-profile alleged
murder of an elderly woman by a man released on parole only hours earlier.4 It should also be noted
that, on 27 October 2016, the Australian Government announced that the Australian Law Reform
Commission would inquire into "the factors leading to the over representation of Indigenous
Australians in our prison system, and consider what reforms to the law could ameliorate this national
tragedy".5 The terms of reference for this inquiry will be subject to consultation with Indigenous
Australians, State and Territory governments and the broader legal profession. The first part of this review considers the evolution and recent activities of sentencing councils
across Australia.6 As the discussion below highlights, there are established and active councils in New
South Wales (NSW), Tasmania and, especially, Victoria, while the South Australian council is less
active. The existence of the Queensland Council has been somewhat at the whim of the government of
the day, having been established under the Bligh Labor Government, abolished by the Newman
Liberal National Government and recently reinstated by the Labor Palaszczuk Government. The only
jurisdictions without sentencing councils are the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Northern
Territory (NT) and Western Australia, although the latter is the only jurisdiction where there does not
appear to have been any consideration of the possible introduction of a body of this nature. The second part of this review focuses on another form of institutional response, namely Royal
Commissions. There are currently two Royal Commissions appointed by the Australian Government,
both of which relate to the criminal justice system and have particular implications for sentencing. The
second part of this review examines the relevant work to date of the Royal Commission into
Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which was established in 2013, and the Royal
Commission into the Child Protection and Youth Detention Systems of the Government of the
Northern Territory, which commenced in August 2016 and held its first hearings in October 2016. This
part also summarises the relevant sections of the report of the Victorian Royal Commission into
Family Violence, which was established in February 2015 and completed its inquiry in March 2016.


Political settlement (PS) frameworks are gender blind. In this paper, we interrogate the nature of gendered political settlements through analyzing selected country cases studies of the gendered nature of political and policy-making processes and identifying the different contextual and structural factors that promote gender inclusive development policies and outcomes. These factors include: elite support for a gender equity agenda; ability of the women's movement to contain oppositional elite or non elite groups; transnational discourse and actors creating space for the gender equity agenda; presence of male allies and 'femocrats' within the state apparatus; and policy coalitions exerting pressure on the state. The political opportunity structure and the history of how women's political entitlement was established influence the dynamics between these factors. Based on this analysis, we argue that a political settlement framework stands to gain from using a gender lens as it allows for exploration of the role played by (gendered) ideas, (gender) ideology, informal relations, policy coalitions, bottom-up strategies in how settlements are reached and sustained. The challenge is whether the parameters of PS can be expanded.


Abstract SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, emerged in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and spread rapidly throughout the world. Understanding the introductions of this new coronavirus in different settings may assist control efforts and the establishment of frameworks to support rapid response in future infectious disease outbreaks. We investigated the first four weeks of emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Scotland after the first case reported on the 1st March 2020. We obtained full genome sequences from 452 individuals with a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, representing 20% of all cases until 1st April 2020 (n=2310). This permitted a genomic epidemiology approach to study the introductions and spread of the SARS-2 virus in Scotland. From combined phylogenetic and epidemiological analysis, we estimated at least 113 introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Scotland during this period. Clusters containing multiple sequences suggestive of onward transmission occurred in 48/86 (56%). 42/86 (51%) clusters had no known international travel history indicating undetected introductions. The majority of viral sequences were most closely related to those circulating in other European countries, including Italy, Austria and Spain. Travel-associated introductions of SARS-CoV-2 into Scotland predated travel restrictions in the UK and other European countries. The first local transmission occurred three days after the first case. A shift from travel-associated to sustained community transmission was apparent after only 11 days. Undetected introductions occurred prior to the first known case of COVID-19. Earlier travel restrictions and quarantine measures might have resulted in fewer introductions into Scotland, thereby reducing the number of cases and the subsequent burden on health services. The high number of introductions and transmission rates were likely to have impacted on national contact tracing efforts. Our results also demonstrate that local real-time genomic epidemiology can be used to monitor transmission clusters and facilitate control efforts to restrict the spread of COVID-19.


PERTURBED SPHERICAL OBJECTS IN ACOUSTIC AND FLUID FLOW FIELDS by Manmeet Kaur In this study, the time averaged acoustic radiation force and drag on a small, nearly spherical object suspended freely in a stationary sound wave field in a compressible, low viscosity fluid is to be calculated. This problem has been solved for a spherical object, and it has many important engineering applications related to segregation and separation processes for particles in fluids such as water. Small but significant errors have occurred in the predicted behavior of the particles using the existing approximate solutions based on perfect spheres. The classical approach has been extended in this research to objects that deviate slightly from spherical shape whose boundary may be expressed in the general form, in spherical coordinates r p = a{1 €5(0, φ)} where a is the radius of an unperturbed sphere, 1E1 < 1 is a small radius variation parameter and J(9, φ) is a smooth, perturbation function, Ir -periodic in 9 and 27r periodic in φ, chosen such that A simple and straightforward method for treating the scattering problem of an irregular shaped nearly spherical object is presented. Detailed calculations are carried out to estimate the contributions to the acoustic and drag forces generated by the perturbations in shape to the first order in the small parameter E. A mathematical model is developed to calculate trajectories of perturbed particles due to application of acoustic standing waves. The resulting system of second order ordinary differential equations does not have a closed form solution, and it is so stiff that it is even difficult to solve numerically. A combination of phase space and asymptotic analysis turns out to be far more useful in obtaining approximate solutions. Analysis of the solutions shows that all particles move towards the pressure node to first order in €. Moreover, it is found that the first order correction term tend to be several orders of magnitude larger than the zeroth order terms, which is an indication of their importance in the analysis of the particle dynamics. PERTURBED SPHERICAL OBJECTS IN ACOUSTIC AND FLUID FLOW FIELDS


This paper presents the first empirical investigation of the Multifractal Model of Asset Returns ("MMAR"). The MMAR, developed in Mandelbrot, Fisher, and Calvet (1997), is an alternative to ARCH-type representations for modelling temporal heterogeneity in financial returns. Typically, researchers introduce temporal heterogeneity through time-varying conditional second moments in a discrete time framework. Multifractality introduces a new source of heterogeneity through time-varying local regularity in the price path. The concept of local Holder exponent describes local regularity. Multifractal processes bridge the gap between locally Gaussian (Ito) diffusions and jump-diffusions by allowing a multiplicity of Holder exponents. This paper investigates multifractality in Deutschemark/US Dollar currency exchange rates. After finding evidence of multifractal scaling, we show how to estimate the multifractal spectrum via the Legendre transform. The scaling laws found in the data are replicated in simulations. Further simulation experiments test whether alternative representations, such as FIGARCH, are likely to replicate the multifractal signature of the Deutschemark/US Dollar data. On the basis of this evidence, the MMAR hypothesis appears more likely. Overall, the MMAR is quite successful in uncovering a previously unseen empirical regularity. Additionally, the model generates realistic sample paths, and opens the door to new theoretical and applied approaches to asset pricing and risk valuation. We conclude by advocating further empirical study of multifractality in financial data, along with more intensive study of estimation techniques and inference procedures.


The objective of the present research work is to develop a suitable LC-MS/MS method for the quantitative determination of genotoxic alkylating impurity 2-butyl p-toluenesulfonate present in naproxen drug substance at ppm level. The LC-MS/MS method was developed on Xterra MS C18 50 mm column using the mobile phase consists a mixture of 10 mM ammonium acetate and acetonirile using a isocratic composition of 20:80 v/v. Ion source is electrospray ionization (ESI) positive mode, source temperature is 300 °C, gas flow is 10 L/min, Nebuliser pressure is 50 psi, capillary voltage is 4000 V. Under these LC and MS conditions 2-butyl p-toluenesulfonate was quantified by selected ion mode (SIM) of 173. The limit of detection and the limit of quantitation for the impurity were established. This method has been tested in a number of naproxen samples and used successfully for quantification of the genotoxic impurity at ppm level. Validation of the developed LC-MS/MS method was carried out as per ICH requirements and the data shows that the proposed method is specific, linear, accurate, precise and robust. The developed LC-MS/MS method was found to be suitable to quantify the genotoxic impurity at ppm level present in naproxen drug substance.


Abstract The adoption and dissemination of evidence-based programs is predicated on multiple factors, including the degree to which key stakeholders are motivated to implement program best practices. The present study focuses on the development of indicators that capture motivations of teachers to adopt school wellness programming since personal motivations are central to achieving sustainable impacts in these settings. The study specifically describes the measurement development and validation of the Self-Regulations for Educators Questionnaire (SREQ), designed to measure educators' autonomous and controlled motivation for adopting evidence-based programming in their schools. A naturalistic design to study motivation to adopt aspects of NFL PLAY60 programming through the NFL PLAY60 FitnessGram Partnership Project was used. A total of 1,106 teachers completed the SREQ online. Internal validity was assessed through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and predictive validity using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results supported the two-factor solution with separate items capturing aspects of autonomous and controlled motivation. Both factors had good internal reliability and the item-total correlation coefficients were above 0.40 for both factors. The results also supported the predictive validity as autonomous motivation positively predicted the level of overall engagement, teaching effectiveness, fitness testing reports sent home, and completion of fitness testing with students (p < .05). Controlled motivation positively predicted whether the teachers conducted fitness testing and the engagement of Play 60 Challenge (p < .05). Findings suggest that the SREQ displays a number of psychometric characteristics that make the instrument useful for examining motivation of providers to implement evidence-based best practices.


Achieving transportation equity is a transportation system goal that is becoming increasingly important in both the public sector and academia. An equitable transportation system would ensure that the benefits and burdens created by transportation projects, policies, and plans are shared fairly such that no groups would be unduly burdened by a lack of access to adequate transportation nor by the negative effects of proximity to transportation infrastructure. Such a system would also ensure that public participation in the transportation decision making process is meaningful and effective and that participants would have a reasonable expectation that their voices would be heard and decisions changed in response. The purpose of this white paper is to provide an overview, synthesis, and critical assessment of academic research and transportation planning practice in order to provide a shared foundation for the many parties working toward equitable transportation systems. Throughout, the authors highlight key dimensions of transportation equity to provide a common language and to facilitate collaboration among transportation decision makers, planners, policymakers, advocates, and the general public. These groups will also be able to use the white paper to identify key research needs and promising strategies for advancing transportation equity goals. The authors hope that this shared understanding of the definitions, challenges, and opportunities in this field will enable often conflicting parties to collaborate in achieving the common goal of transportation equity: in other words, to "get there from here." View the NCST Project Webpage


Schedules, budgets, communications, resources. Projects big and small include them all, and Microsoft Project 2007 can help you control these variables -- not be controlled by them. But Project is complex software, and learning it is, well, a project in itself. Get up to speed fast with Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual. Written by project management expert Bonnie Biafore, this book teaches you how to do everything from setting budgets and tracking schedules to testing scenarios and recognizing trouble spots before your project breaks down. Find out what's new in Project 2007 from previous versions, and get help choosing the right edition, whether it's Project Standard, Project Professional, or Enterprise Project Management Solution. With Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual, you get more than a simple software how-to. You also get a rundown on project management basics and plenty of solid advice on how to use Project to: Define your project and plan your approachEstimate your project, set up a budget, define tasks, and break the work into manageable chunksCreate a schedule, define the sequence of work, and learn the right way to use date constraints and deadlinesBuild a project team and assign resources to tasks: "who does what"Refine the project to satisfy objectives by building reality into the schedule, and learn to keep project costs under controlTrack progress and communicate with team members via reports, information sharing, and meetings that workClose out your project and take away valuable lessons for the future Microsoft Project 2007 is the flagship of all project management programs, and this Missing Manual is the book that should have been in the box. No project manager should be without it.


The underground miner radon epidemiology reported in the past 15 years has led to modeling of the lung cancer risk from [sup 222]Rn exposure, quantitating the risk in present day mines, extrapolating the risk to environmental [sup 222]Rn exposure, and relating effects of low and high LET radiation. Many countries have occupational guidelines that now better conform to the actual risks experienced in mining and some have governmental guidelines regarding environmental exposure which, when fully implemented, can impose substantial benefit but also substantial cost to society. For this reason it important to follow the health of underground mining populations to better understand the risk that has been deduced, inferred or calculated. The purpose of this report is to describe the most recent results and advances. In this examination a biological basis for a new model for [sup 222]Rn decay product risk is developed.


In this text, a numerical model using the finite element method (FEM) is developed to describe absorption phenomena using the Beer–Lambert law. Numerical results are compared against experimental measurements made on alpha brass, characterized by photothermal radiometry (PTR). Results from the numerical analysis are in good agreement with the measurements obtained from the radiometry tests. In this technique the material is subjected to a laser heating, producing a thermal wave that is captured with a detector by means of the amplitude and phase parameters. The analysis of the data obtained from six samples provides information about their thermal properties, such as conductivity and diffusivity, which can be correlated with structural changes in a material. Results from this research lead to the characterization of mechanical properties of metallic materials.


1-Butane sulfonic acid-3-methylimidazolium tosylate, [BSMIM]OTs, is found to be a remarkable catalyst for the tandem cyclization of 4-hydroxycoumarin with chalcones for the syntheses of pyrano[3,2-c]coumarins under solvent-free conditions. The developed protocol is applicable for the construction of biologically important pyranocoumarins from easily accessible chalcones having various substituents. This reaction possibly proceeds through Michael addition followed by cyclization. The feasibility of catalyst recycling is also demonstrated. This method produces only water as the byproduct and represents a green synthetic protocol. The catalytic reaction proceeded very smoothly under solvent-free conditions and showed high regioselectivity. Clean reaction, non-chromatographic purification technique, easily accessible reactants, and metal and solvent-free and environmentally friendly reaction conditions are the notable advantages of this procedure. In addition, this method shows lower E-factors.


In some mammalian genes, the paternally and maternally derived alleles are expressed differently: this phenomenon is called genomic imprinting. Here we study the evolution of imprinting using multivariate quantitative genetic models to examine the feasibility of the genetic conflict hypothesis. This hypothesis explains the observed imprinting patterns as an evolutionary outcome of the conflict between the paternal and maternal alleles. We consider the expression of a zygotic gene, which codes for an embryonic growth factor affecting the amount of maternal resources obtained through the placenta. We assume that the gene produces the growth factor in two different amounts depending on its parental origin. We show that genomic imprinting evolves easily if females have some probability of multiple partners. This is in conflict with the observation that not all genes controlling placental development are imprinted and that imprinting in some genes is not conserved between mice and humans. We show however that deleterious mutations in the coding region of the gene create selection against imprinting.


Abstract Although maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain (GWG) are related to fetal growth, there is a paucity of data regarding how offspring sex affects the relationship between maternal BMI in underweight mothers (pre-pregnancy BMI <18.5 kg/m2) and size for gestational age at birth. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of offspring sex on the relationships among maternal pre-pregnancy BMI, GWG and size for gestational age at birth in Japanese underweight mothers. Records of women with full-term pregnancies who underwent perinatal care at Kawasaki Municipal Hospital (Kawasaki, Japan) between January 2013 and December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. The study cohort included underweight (n=566) and normal-weight women (18.5 kg/m2⩽pre-pregnancy BMI<25 kg/m2; n=2671). The incidence of small for gestational age (SGA) births in the underweight group was significantly higher than that in the normal-weight group (P<0.01). Additionally, SGA incidence in the underweight group was significantly higher than that in the normal-weight group (P<0.01) in female, but not male (P=0.30) neonates. In the women with female neonates, pre-pregnancy underweight was associated with a significantly increased probability of SGA (odds ratio [OR]: 1.80; P<0.01), but inadequate GWG was not (OR: 1.38; P=0.11). In contrast, in women with male neonates, inadequate GWG was associated with a significantly increased probability of SGA (OR: 1.53; P=0.03), but not with pre-pregnancy underweight (OR: 1.30; P=0.10). In conclusion, the present results suggest that pre-pregnancy underweight is associated with SGA in female offspring but not in male offspring.


For markets, European economic governance faces a crisis of policy effectiveness, while for citizens the European Union faces a democratic legitimacy crisis. The introduction of the European Semester economic policy surveillance system has not resolved these problems. Policy guidance deriving from the Semester is not focused enough on areas of significant spillovers and on problem countries, and national compliance is often procedural rather than actual. This brings into question both the Semester's effectiveness and the democratic legitimacy of the EU's new intervention rights, which allow intrusion into national policy-making.


Field and greenhouse experiments were carried out in order to determine the effects of water supply and sowing date on the performance and essential oil production of anise (Pimpinella anisum L.). The results indicated that mean leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), relative growth rate (RGR), relative water content (RWC), grain yield and essential oil decreased, while the root/shoot ratio and the oil percentage of the seeds increased when the available soil water decreased to below 80% in the greenhouse. It was concluded that for higher grain and essential oil production, anise must be sown early in the spring (April 4 to 16) in Tabriz. Water deficit during stem elongation and umbel appearance reduced anise growth, grain yield and oil production. Seeds harvested at the waxy stage had higher oil content than those harvested at earlier or later stages.


Two contrasting types of Palaeozoic granitoids are of widespread occurrence in SE Australia and can generally be distinguished by their chemistry, mineralogy, field relations and initial strontium isotope ratios. Chappell & White (1974) have proposed that the granitoids are derived by partial melting of two different types of source materials: (1) igneous or 'I-type,' and (2) sedimentary or 'S-type.' Oxygen and hydrogen isotope compositions were measured on 63 whole-rock samples of both fresh and altered granitoids and xenoliths. Analyses were also made of representative mineral separates from these rocks. For 'S-type' plutons, average δ18O values range from 9.9 to10.5, whereas for the 'I-types' the range is 7.9 to 9.4 Xenoliths are about 1 per mil depleted in 18O and generally enriched in D relative to the hose rocks. The average δD values (and water contents) are –62 ± 4 (1.10%) and –77 ± 12 (0.73%) for 'S' and 'I' granitoids, respectively. Individual δD values range from –50 to –102 and correlate well with water contents: the more water-rich the granitoid the greater the deuterium content. Per mil 18O fractionations between quartz and biotite are rather large ranging from 5.0 to 6.9 (independent of granitoid type), with a mean of 6.0. Thus typical isotope temperatures of about 520°C are inferred and retrograde effects are indicated.


In this work we present the use of EMFAAS (Electrothermal Metallic Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy) for the determination of Cd in the tobacco cigarettes of five commercial brands. Optimization of the experimental conditions was done by controlling the sample flow rate and the temperature of both the injection capillary and the atomization cell. The determination was made in the whole cigarettes, filters and ashes of the cigarettes once consumed, cases in which the Cd concentration is much lower and its quantification is more difficult. For the validation of the results, the ICP-OES technique was used, obtaining good agreement within the experimental error. The results show that EMFAAS is a promising tool for the determination of volatile analytes.


Zoonotic infections caused by several orthopoxviruses (OPV) like monkeypox virus or vaccinia virus have a significant impact on human health. In Europe, the number of diagnosed infections with cowpox viruses (CPXV) is increasing in animals as well as in humans. CPXV used to be enzootic in cattle; however, such infections were not being diagnosed over the last decades. Instead, individual cases of cowpox are being found in cats or exotic zoo animals that transmit the infection to humans. Both animals and humans reveal local exanthema on arms and legs or on the face. Although cowpox is generally regarded as a self-limiting disease, immunosuppressed patients can develop a lethal systemic disease resembling smallpox. To date, only limited information on the complex and, compared to other OPV, sparsely conserved CPXV genomes is available. Since CPXV displays the widest host range of all OPV known, it seems important to comprehend the genetic repertoire of CPXV which in turn may help elucidate specific mechanisms of CPXV pathogenesis and origin. Therefore, 22 genomes of independent CPXV strains from clinical cases, involving ten humans, four rats, two cats, two jaguarundis, one beaver, one elephant, one marah and one mongoose, were sequenced by using massive parallel pyrosequencing. The extensive phylogenetic analysis showed that the CPXV strains sequenced clearly cluster into several distinct clades, some of which are closely related to Vaccinia viruses while others represent different clades in a CPXV cluster. Particularly one CPXV clade is more closely related to Camelpox virus, Taterapox virus and Variola virus than to any other known OPV. These results support and extend recent data from other groups who postulate that CPXV does not form a monophyletic clade and should be divided into multiple lineages.


BACKGROUND
Detection of transplant coronary disease remains difficult. Both intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging and functional coronary vasomotion studies have been used to evaluate this process. However, the time course of intimal thickening as assessed by IVUS and the relation between structure and function have not been explored.

METHODS AND RESULTS
In 40 patients 1 to 8 years after transplantation, 108 coronary artery segments were analyzed by IVUS. Intimal index [% intimal area (lumen+intimal area)] and maximal thickness were used to quantify intimal thickening. Abnormal IVUS was present in 53 of 108 segments (49%) (mean intimal index of diseased segments, 23 +/- 2%; maximal thickness, 530 +/- 47 microns). For those patients with intimal thickening in all segments of the analyzed artery, more time had elapsed since transplantation (4.3 +/- 0.6 years) than for those whose arteries contained some normal (2.6 +/- 0.3 years) or all normal segments (2.2 +/- 0.6 years, P < .05). Both the proportion of segments with intimal thickening and the degree of thickening increased as a function of time after transplantation (P < .5). By multivariate analysis, the independent predictors of intimal thickening were increasing time after transplantation and pretransplantation hypercholesterolemia (P = .02). Within the cohort of 40 patients, endothelium-dependent vasomotor function was evaluated in 26 matched segments from 11 patients studied 1 year after transplantation and in 15 matched segments from 8 patients studied > or = 5 years after transplantation by serial infusions of acetylcholine (10(-8) to 10(-6) mol/L). Of the 26 segments assessed for structure/function correlation at 1 year after transplantation, 22 had no intimal thickening by IVUS. However, endothelial dysfunction was present in 13 of these normal segments (mean diameter constriction, 18.8 +/- 2.3%). Of the 15 segments studied > or = 5 years after transplantation, 11 had intimal thickening. Nine of these 11 segments had preserved endothelial function (mean diameter dilation, 8.6 +/- 2.9%). There was no relation between the degree of intimal thickening and the magnitude of the endothelium-dependent response to acetylcholine.

CONCLUSIONS
This study has shown that intimal thickening after transplantation begins as a heterogeneous process and increases in extent and magnitude over time. Also, endothelial dysfunction occurs early before the intimal thickening; yet in those patients surviving > or = 5 years, endothelial function may recover even in the presence of moderate intimal pathology. The variable relation between intimal pathology and endothelial function is probably a result of the episodic nature of immune injury.


In this dissertation we study graph directed Markov systems (GDMS) and limit sets associated with these systems. Given a GDMS S, by the Hausdorff dimension spectrum of S we mean the set of all positive real numbers which are the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set generated by a subsystem of S. We say that S has full Hausdorff dimension spectrum (full HD spectrum), if the dimension spectrum is the interval [0, h], where h is the Hausdorff dimension of the limit set of S. We give necessary conditions for a finitely primitive conformal GDMS to have full HD spectrum. A GDMS is said to be regular if the Hausdorff dimension of its limit set is also the zero of the topological pressure function. We show that every number in the Hausdorff dimension spectrum is the Hausdorff dimension of a regular subsystem. In the particular case of a conformal iterated function system we show that the Hausdorff dimension spectrum is compact. We introduce several new systems: the nearest integer GDMS, the Gauss-like continued fraction system, and the Renyi-like continued fraction system. We prove that these systems have full HD spectrum. A special attention is given to the backward continued fraction system that we introduce and we prove that it has full HD spectrum. This system turns out to be a parabolic iterated function system and this makes the analysis more involved. Several examples have been constructed in the past of systems not having full HD spectrum. We give an example of such a system whose limit set has positive Lebesgue measure.


We have measured coincidences between neutralized projectiles and He recoil ions for 50--175-keV proton-helium collisions. From the data we obtained transfer ionization (TI) cross sections differential in the projectile scattering angle. Laboratory scattering angles range from 0 to 2.0 mrad. The experimental method allowed separation of the postcollision charge states of the target atoms. The ratio of the cross sections for TI to the sum of TI and single capture, [ital F], is presented as a function of projectile scattering angle. Comparison is made to previous measurements of this ratio where data is available. The differential cross sections are compared to dynamical classical trajectory Monte Carlo (dCTMC) calculations. Agreement in the shape of the differential cross sections is good between the theory and measurement over the entire energy range.


When states assert the right to exclude unwanted would-be immigrants, they are asserting a right to use coercive force. Those who attempt to cross the borders of the state will be met with violence; borders have guards, after all, and these guards have guns. That these facts are rarely questioned in our world does not mean that they are not morally exceptional. Those who propose to use violence must justify to others, in a manner that respects the moral equality of all, why they have a right to do so. If the state demands the right to use coercive force in repelling would-be immigrants, it has to justify its right to do so.


I. INTRODUCTION1 Since the Republicans swept back into control of Congress in 1994, the issue of constitutional amendments has received more attention from the American people than it has in some time. Proposals for a Balanced Budget Amendment2 and a Flag Protection Amendment,3 in particular, have caused many Americans and, thus, their representatives in Congress, to ponder not only the general wisdom of constitutional amendments, but also the appropriate time and place for such amendments. In line with the recent spate of proposed amendments,4 a proposal for "Guidelines for Constitutional Amendment" ("the Guidelines") was recently offered for consideration.5 The authors of these Guidelines maintain that constitutional amendments should be reserved only for "great and extraordinary occasions," a sentiment that is reflected in the title of their publication submitting the Guidelines, Great and Extraordinary Occasions: Developing Guidelines for Constitutional Change.6 I argue here, however, that constitutional change is not a danger to be feared, but rather a tool for democratic action-a tool thought vital by the Founders themselves.7 How, then, might one go about determining what ought to be the appropriate practice with regard to constitutional amendments? Surely the most sensible approach is to begin with the thoughts of the Framers themselves. II. INTENT OF THE FRAMERS AND THE HISTORY OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS When the Constitution was first proposed, many states were reluctant to ratify it until further amendments were added to the draft that had emerged from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.8 Recognizing that if each state proposed amendments it might be years before all the states could agree on what those amendments might be, and recognizing further the need to establish a national government as quickly as possible, the proponents of the Constitution assured the American people that it would be better to pass amendments after ratification, rather than before.9 Several critics of the proposed Constitution argued that the proponents of the Constitution had first created an amendment procedure that was virtually impossible to accomplish, and then sought to defer the amendments sought by the Constitution's opponents. These critics claimed that the real goal of the Constitution's supporters was to foist a noxious artistocracy on the American people-one that could never be eliminated because the difficulty of amendment would entrench it in power.10 In contrast, those who sought to defend the Constitution argued that amendments could be achieved, that this eliminated the danger of monarchy or aristocracy,11 and that amendments would be appropriate whenever the need became evident to make the Constitution more "perfect"12 or even less "[i] nconvenient."13 When the first ten Amendments, now known as the Bill of Rights, were passed a scant two years after the adoption of the Constitution,14 it demonstrated that amendments were possible. Since then, however, it has been difficult to achieve constitutional amendments: only seventeen have been passed since 1791.15 The first two of these seventeen were ratified relatively soon after the first ten, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, respectively.16 The aftermath of the Civil war resulted in passage of the next three Amendments: one prohibiting slavery,17 another guaranteeing the freedmen the right to vote,18 and a third restricting the states from interfering with due process, the privileges and immunities of United States citizens, or the equal protection of the laws.19 This last Amendment, as interpreted, has fundamentally altered the balance struck by the original document in the allocation of power between the state and federal governments.20 Since 1971, however, no new amendment proposals have succeeded, although the nation has been through some of the most profound economic and cultural changes in its history. …


To improve the current collection quality of pantograph-catenary system at high-operating speed, the effect of contact wire tension and messenger wire tension on catenary elasticity and contact force has been analysed, respectively, by adopting the finite element method, and which is analysed by introducing the moving standard deviation value and the moving average value. The results show that the influence of contact wire tension and messenger wire tension on elasticity of catenary between two droppers periodically is different and the non-smooth degree of elasticity at the dropper-point has a great influence on changes of contact force between pantograph and catenary. The smaller messenger wire tension is and the larger contact wire is, the smaller the change of non-smooth degree of elasticity at dropper-points is. When the pantograph runs at the speed of 500 km/h, the current collection quality can be improved effectively by decreasing messenger wire tension and increasing contact wire tension.


Abstract

Background

Toll-like receptor (TLR) -4 mRNA expression is higher in the acute stage of major depressive disorder (MDD) compared with healthy controls. Some previous studies showed that higher TLR-4 expression in male than in female. However, the result is opposite to the higher prevalence of MDD in female. Here, we sought to explore the biological sex difference in mRNA expression levels of negative regulators of the TLR-4 pathway to provide some reasonable explanations.

Methods

We obtained peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 100 patients with MDD and 53 healthy controls and used quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis for negative regulators of TLR 4 signaling studies. For androgen effect on the TLR regulator expression, we used the embryonic mouse hippocampal cell line (mHippoE-14), dihydrotestosterone as androgen receptor agonist, and flutamide as an antagonist.

Results

Among healthy controls, PBMCs from males had significantly higher TOLLIP and NOD2 mRNA levels than those from females. By contrast, mRNA for TOLLIP, but not NOD2, was higher in males than females in MDD. In addition, NOD2 and AR mRNAs were found to be lower in male MDD patients than in male healthy controls. Experiments using mHippoE-14 showed that inhibition of AR signaling with the antagonist flutamide suppressed NOD2 expression, whereas treatment AR signaling with the agonist dihydrotestosterone and antagonist flutamide could not increase NOD2 expression.

Conclusions

TOLLIP and NOD2, negative regulators for TLR-4 pathway, are significantly higher in male than female in health control. The difference in NOD2 disappeared in patients with MDD. The decrease of NOD2 mRNA expression is associated with androgen receptor.


Background: Violence is a major problem in India with family, domestic and honour-related violence having significant impacts on the wellbeing of Indian families and communities. There has been little attention paid to men's experiences, particularly in the Indian State's of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The objective of this study was to provide baseline data on Indian men's experiences of violence and the key predictors such as age, income, education and religion. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of men from Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Data were obtained from a non-probability purposive sample of 1000 adult men over a two-month period in late 2009. The respondents were selected from public spaces in 10 cities or towns within these two provinces. Results: The results found a lifetime prevalence of experiencing family violence of 99.2% (15.6% often and 64.1% sometimes), domestic violence 92.2% (21.1% often and 44.9% sometimes), and honour-related violence 99.7% (45.1% often and 41.7% sometimes). Moreover, when we analysed the men's responses across socio-demographic factors, age, income, religion, education and region were each shown to be important predictors of regular exposure to family, domestic and honour-related violence. Conclusions: The results of this survey provide much needed insight into the factors that predict experiences of violence. Such data can inform targeting by community development programs and Government policy in order to provide additional support to individuals and communities most likely to be exposed to these types of violence.


Last January The Lancet published the article by Traboulsee et al . Prevalence of extracranial venous narrowing on catheter venography in people with multiple sclerosis, their sibilings, and unrelated healthy controls: a blinded, case control study . These Authors confirmed the presence of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency with a high prevalence of about 70% in the Canadian population, but without significant differences between patients and healthy controls, yet. However, they used a criterion never published to assess stenosis, in alternative to the classic measurement of the diameter in the segment immediately preceding the narrowest point. Traboulsee et al . measure the stenosis along the entire length of the internal jugular vein, by comparing the maximum diameter with the narrowest point. It has been demonstrated, from normal anatomy findings, how the jugular bulb diameter normally exceeds 50% of the minimum diameter of the internal jugular vein, clearly showing the reason why Traboulsee et al . did not find significant differences between people with multiple sclerosis, their sibilings, and unrelated healthy controls. Furthermore, as the outcome measure of Traboulsee et al ., wall stenosis is a neglected part of primary venous obstruction, because in the majority of cases obstruction is the consequence of intraluminal obstacles, as a considerable part of truncular venous malformations, and/or compression; rarely of external hypoplasia. Finally, several recently published methods can be adopted for objective assessment of restricted jugular flow in course of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, by the means of non invasive magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound and plethysmography. This may help us in improving the assessment of cerebral venous return in the near future.


The majority of U.S. adults consume less than the recommended amount of whole grains, dietary fiber, and vegetables on a daily basis.  Increased intake of these foods is linked with reduced risks of developing chronic diseases, such as heart attack, cardiovascular disease, and stroke. With increased prevalence of such chronic health conditions and inadequate intakes of whole grains and vegetables, the need for an appealing enriched food product is evident.  Over the past decade, the tortilla industry has been the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. baking industry; therefore, enhancing the nutritional content of tortillas could result in healthier food products acceptable to consumers.  This research aimed to determine the effects of altering the flour component and adding a legume ingredient, specifically lentils, on the sensory attributes and overall characteristics of flour tortillas.  Sorghum, an ancient whole grain variety, is rich in antioxidants, dietary fiber, and iron.  Lentils, a type of grain legume, are high in fiber, B vitamins, minerals, proteins, and complex carbohydrates.  Ten phases of bench-top product development using standardized preparation techniques were completed, resulting in two optimal fortified tortilla product formulations.  Sensory evaluations were conducted among college students and instructors (n=35) for sensory attributes and overall likeability of four samples: two fortified tortilla products, a commercial tortilla made with refined flour, and a commercial health-enhanced tortilla.  Results indicate that fortified tortilla products enhanced with pureed cooked lentils and sorghum flour are acceptable among the sampled population.  Future research opportunities include conducting sensory evaluations among a larger population, optimizing product formulation for use in commercial production, extending product shelf life, and further enhancing nutritional qualities of tortillas by reducing sodium and fat content.


This paper examines the impact of intra-Asia exchange rate volatility on intra-Asia trade in primary goods, intermediate goods, equipment goods and consumption goods from 1980 to 2009. For Asia, the evidence shows that as intraregional exchange rate volatility increases, intraregional exports in these goods fall. This adverse impact is even more pronounced in the subregion of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+5 comprising ASEAN member countries plus the People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; and Taipei, China; and especially among intermediate and equipment exports. Again, the impact magnifies in an even smaller subgroup excluding the smaller ASEAN economies. These results underline the significant impact of exchange rate volatility on the region's production networks. For South Asia, however, exchange rate volatility appears to have a positive impact on exports. Still, caution is warranted given that South Asian economies trade relatively little with each other.


Energy harvesting using solar panels can significantly increase the operational life of mobile robots. If a map of expected solar power is available, energy efficient paths can be computed. However, estimating this map is a challenging task, especially in complex environments. In this paper, we show how the problem of estimating solar power can be decomposed into the steps of magnitude estimation and solar classification. Then, we provide two methods to classify a position as sunny or shaded: a simple data-driven Gaussian Process method and a method that estimates the geometry of the environment as a latent variable. Both of these methods are practical when the training measurements are sparse, such as with a simple robot that can only measure solar power at its own position. We demonstrate our methods on simulated randomly generated environments. We also justify our methods with measured solar data by comparing the constructed height maps with satellite images of the test environments, and in a cross-validation step where we examine the accuracy of predicted shadows and solar current.


When should courts be responsible for designing federal administrative agencies? In Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the Supreme Court invalidated one specific mechanism that Congress employs to insulate agencies from presidential control. Lower federal courts have discerned wider implications in the decision's linkage of presidential power to remove agency officials with democratic accountability. Applied robustly, the Free Enterprise Fund principle casts doubt on many agencies' organic statutes. As the judiciary starts exploring those implications, this Article evaluates the effects of judicial intervention in administrative agency design in light of recent political science work on bureaucratic behavior, historical studies of state development, and comparative analyses of other countries' civil services. Judicial intervention in agency design, I conclude, will not generate consistent and predictable outcomes and instead risks diluting majoritarian control and fostering policy uncertainty. In light of the tenuous correlation between changes in presidential removal power and the underlying constitutional good of democratic accountability, I argue, removal power questions should be ranked as "political questions" beyond federal court competence.


Lyell visited Spain in the summer of 1830, after the publication of the first volume of Principles of Geology, and in the winter of 1853 coming back from his third trip to America. In his first stay he visited, among others, the Olot region (Catalonia, NE Spain) and in the second the Canary Islands. In both cases his major aim was to study these volcanic zones since volcanism constituted for Lyell the clearest evidence of the Earth interior energy, which had led to mountain building in the past. Another of his aims during his 1830 visit was to study the Pyrenees. Lyell endeavoured to show that this orogen did not result from a violent and rapid revolution, as proposed by Elie de Beaumont, but from processes that spanned long time periods. In the Pyrenees he also made some observations on the neogene lacustrine deposits of la Cerdanya basin, while in the southern Pyrenean foreland (i.e. Ebro basin) he paid attention to facies changes and correlations in the Eocene sequences. Lyell spent some days in Barcelona during this visit but at that time the country was in political turmoil and the main scientific institutions of the city had been closed down. Once in the Olot region, Lyell paid a visit to Bolos, pharmacist and botanist who had an interest in geology and introduced him in the volcanic zone. During his second trip in 1853, Lyell visited the Canaries and limited his personal contacts to Pedro Maffiote, professor of the Nautical School of Tenerife, who had made some interesting although never published geological observations in this island. In the Canary Islands Lyell sought to demonstrate the relationship between volcanism and coastal movement, and to confirm his theory of volcanic cone growth by accretion. Lyell's influence in Spain was not due to his personal contacts in the country but to his books and especially the translation into Spanish by Ezquerra del Bayo of the first edition of "Elements of Geology" in 1838. Lyell's ideas and especially his geological terminology, which was one of his most important contributions, spread in Spain thanks to this translation. Both the personality and the scientific reputation of Ezquerra del Bayo helped to promote the book that became for many years the official teaching book at the Schools of Mines in Spain and Mexico. Ezquerra del Bayo carried out the first geological map of the whole of Spain (1850) adopting in this and other publications (1850-1857) Lyell's nomenclature, although his theoretical concepts (e.g. actualism) did not exert the same influence. It should be borne in mind that Lyell regarded his Elements of Geology as a descriptive Geology, a text book for students and beginners. His more elaborated theories included in Principles of Geology resulted in little influence in Spain, since this book was not translated into Spanish.


The Aeronautics RTD programme in Sweden was in the past dominated by the needs for the development of military aircraft and this programme is still continued to support the Gripen but with a lower level of effort. The national Aeronautical Programme (NFFP) started in 1994 and is now in its fifth phase (2009-2012). Its objectives are to: (i) strengthen Swedish competitiveness; (ii) strengthen the capability to participate in international research cooperation; (iii) support Swedish Armed Forces.


NOVELTY - The scanning method involves generating data signal using a sensor. The first component based on a motion in a first direction of an actuator configured to provide motion between a sample and a probe in the first direction, the first direction substantially in the plane of sample (102). The second component based on topographic variations of the sample in a second direction, and a materials property of the sample. The processor is used to generate the compensatory signal based on the first component of the data signal generated by the sensor and providing compensatory signal to the actuator. USE - Method for scanning sample. ADVANTAGE - Allows high speed and high precision scanning with a scanning probe microscope while removing artifacts of scanner dynamics e.g. scanner resonances that would otherwise be present in the resulting images. Provides clearer images so that the topographical details of the scanned sample are readily resolved. The ability to perform high speed imaging enables the study of non-stationary or time-dependent samples such as live biological specimens. The real-time strategy of scanner characterization allows aggressive model-inversion filters to be designed that do not need to accommodate the wide variability of possible dynamics traditionally associated with robust control. The resonance compensation module is applied as a simple and inexpensive retrofit to existing scanning probe microscopes, while the resonance compensation module is versatile and can be used with various brands and models of scanning probe microscopes.


This study examines possible parallels between large-scale organization in music and discourse structure. Two experiments examine the psychological reality of topics in the first movements of W. A. Mozart9s String Quintet No. 3 in C major, K. 515, and L. van Beethoven9s String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132. Listeners made real-time judgments on three continuous scales: memorability, openness, and amount of emotion. All three kinds of judgments could be accounted for by the topics identified in these pieces by Agawu (1991) independently of the listeners9 musical training. The results showed hierarchies of topics. However, these differed for the three tasks and for the two pieces. The topics in the Mozart piece appear to function as a way of establishing the musical form, whereas the topics in the Beethoven piece are more strongly associated with emotional content.


The fantasy works of Beatrix Potter have entertained children of all ages for decades. Many children are familiar with the stories of Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten, The Flopsy Bunnies, and the dreamy prints of fuzzy little animals in jackets and aprons that accompany them. The characters of Beatrix Potter's beloved children's stories have transcended the written page and been marketed on infant layettes, children's dinnerware, stationary, bedroom linens, and even on cartons of infant formula. However, beneath these cheery stories, which seem to imply that children should perhaps heed their parents' advice concerning socially accepted conduct. Potter's tales suggest something darker. Themes of morality are overshadowed by images of physical bondage, parental domination, and near death experiences. Potter was notoriously private during her adult life, even at the height of her literary career, and it was not until after her death that we have discovered how her Victorian childhood had influenced her children's tales. The emotionally restrictive nature of Potter's childhood trickles down into the physically restrictive quandaries in which her animal characters find themselves. The parental characters in Potter's works often use physical force to control and admonish their children; the child characters of the tales are constantly attempting to escape fi'om the confines of clothing and smothering spaces. In order to understand the restriction and escape found in Potter's tales, it is essential to consider Potter's own life. From an early age, it was clear that she was a talented child. By age nine, she was drawing and sketching with the precision of an advanced artist. She spent most of her young life separated from her parents in the third-floor nursery of their home in London. Potter had little interaction with other children, and her only escape from the confines of her nursery were family holidays to Scotland and the Lake District. It is clear that Potter had an immediate connection with the natural surroundings she found during these rural holidays. Later in her life. Potter would make the Lake District her permanent residence and use the royalties earned from her publishing career to preserve the use of the Lake District properties in a National Trust. Using Potter's life—including her childhood, adulthood, and her legacy—as the basis for her children's stories, I have examined the forms of restriction, confinement, and escape in five of her tales, ranging from the most famous to some of the lesser-known titles: The Tale o f Peter Rabbit, The Tale o f Benjamin Bunny, The Tale o f Tom Kitten, The Tale o f Samuel Whiskers, and The Tale o f Pigling Bland.


The process of innovation takes significant resources, and therefore it is of great importance for companies that want to recognize the ideas with high innovation capacity as early as possible, and in a transparent manner, with the least necessary amount of expert knowledge. Current research indicates that companies often carry out the selection of ideas ad hoc or intuitively, and that only a small number of companies have defined the methods for ideas assessment and evaluation. In doing so, such problems as imprecise definition of the variables used in the evaluation process of the capacities of ideas, undefined metrics and interaction variables will arise. In order to determine the practical points of view in this area, a study was conducted in the form of a survey on a representative sample of Croatian companies which have product innovation in their production program. The survey is aimed at determining what motivates companies to innovate, and the ways in which companies carry out the assessment and selection of ideas. Through a thorough study of the literature, a set of variables that are commonly used in the idea capacities assessment for product development have been defined, and the survey tried to establish the practical significance of individual variables for the participants of the process. This paper presents the results of the study.


Mediation is at a crossroads. Virtually every court system in the United States today promotes mediation in formal and informal ways. Mediation clauses are now considered utterly routine in most contracts. When disputes arise between sophisticated parties, the question is no longer whether to mediate, but rather how, when, and with whom. And yet, mediation has expanded with no systematic consideration of mechanisms for assuring the quality of the services mediators provide. This article outlines the framework that has been missing from public conversations about mediation. Over time, members of every practice or profession (whether doctors, lawyers, plumbers, or tattoo artists) fall under the influence of one or more of four possible quality control mechanisms. Some are required to have licenses in order to practice. Some are subject to state sanctions for misbehavior. Some practitioners are influenced heavily by consumers' reputation-driven choices in well-informed markets. And some practitioners restructure their practices in ways that minimize their exposure to liability for malpractice. As the title of my article suggests, however, none of these four quality-assurance mechanisms works as well for mediation as they do for other practice areas. Mediators today operate with no licensure, with little risk of state sanction for misconduct, with minimal public reputational information, and with virtually no risk of private liability for malpractice. This condition will not persist. And this article's framework explains the evolution to come.


Magnetic wheels are a powerful solution to design inspection climbing robots with excellent mobility. Magnetic wheels optimization based on simulations and the results that were obtained on prototypes are presented. The measured adhesion was doubled between the classic configuration and a novel multilayer one sharing exactly the same four magnets and the same total volume of iron. This know-how is then applied to optimize magnetic wheels for the existing robot called MagneBike. The adhesion force has been multiplied by 2 to 3 times depending on the conditions. Those amazing improvements open new possibilities for miniaturization of climbing robots or payload's increase.


The following Benchbook demonstrates the nature of the engagement of Pakistan's domestic courts with public international law. The primary audience for this document is the superior judiciary, including members of the special courts (i.e. Anti-Terrorism Court). Though the contents of the Benchbook are intended to be informative to all members of the judiciary, the superior judiciary is considered the primary audience because it exercises the most expansive jurisdiction over those issues that involve questions of international law.
The first section of the Benchbook encompasses an introduction to basic principles of public international law. Public international law is distinguished from private international law, which will not be considered in this book. The introduction includes an analysis of sources of international law, both primary and secondary.
The Benchbook then addresses the concept of the rule of law and the incorporation of international law within the domestic rule of law. This is followed by an examination of the role of the domestic judiciary with respect to international law. The Benchbook then examines the manner in which international law is incorporated in Pakistan's domestic law. This includes through legislative and judicial measures, including in relation to a conflict between domestic and international law. Also addressed is the value of understanding and interpreting the substance of an international treaty, particularly one to which Pakistan is a party. Finally, examples of the use of international law in Pakistan's domestic jurisprudence and the manner and method by which select other states incorporate domestic law is provided in the annexes.
To maintain a user-friendly approach, the Benchbook is written in an outline format similar to the Benchbook on International Law written by the American Society of International Law. It includes in its conclusion case law examples from Pakistan's superior courts. These cases reflect international law issues ranging from human rights to the use of force to access to justice and thus demonstrate the significant depth and breadth of domestic issues that relate to international law.


This study examines the impact of access to bank and non-bank credit on rice productivity and output. It employed the coarsened exact matching (CEM) model and qualitative methods for primary data on a purposive sample of 450 rice farmers across three Local Government Areas of Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Pre-matching results suggest that access to non-bank credit and access to total credit significantly affected labour productivity and output, while access to bank credit significantly affected output. However, the post-matching results show that access to all three categories of credit has no significant effect on either output or capital, labour, and total factor productivity. This study therefore recommends that for an improved production and productivity yield among rice farmers in the state, policies should focus on the issues of improved quality of education and constraints in accessing loans/credits.


Aim Marine macroalgae provide an excellent opportunity to test hypotheses about latitudinal diversity gradients because macroalgal richness decreases towards the tropics, contrary to classic patterns, and because three evolutionarily distinct macroalgal clades (Rhodophyta, Chlorophyta, Phaeophyceae) have converged ecologically. Specifically, we determine the extent to which environmental conditions can predict genus richness in macroalgae. We also evaluate whether the magnitude or direction of the effect of environmental factors, or their ability to explain variation in macroalgal diversity, varies geographically. Location Global oceans. Methods We formulated and fitted global spatial regression models and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models to determine the extent to which environmental conditions could predict genus richness in macroalgae. GWR allowed us to determine how the role of environmental conditions varied amongst geographical regions. Results The global regression model showed that sea surface temperature and nutrients were important predictors of macroalgal genus richness at a global scale. However, GWR revealed that environmental factors explained less variability in richness in the tropics than elsewhere. Main conclusions Our results show that whilst environmental conditions influence marine macroalgal diversity, the strength of this influence shows considerable geographical variation. In particular, environmental conditions explain more of the observed variation in diversity at high latitudes than at low latitudes. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that environmental tolerances influence species distributions more strongly at high latitudes, whereas other factors, such as biotic interactions, play a more prominent role in the tropics.


In February 1996, the Center for Archaeological Research of The University of Texas at San Antonio conducted monitoring for the construction of a handicap ramp in Landa Park, New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas. The work-required by the Texas Historic Commission-was performed under contract with the city of New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Department. The excavation of the footings for the handicap ramp covered an area roughly 2 x 5 m and was less than 70 cm in depth. Over 2,600 prehistoric artifacts were uncovered including bone, fIre-cracked rock, mussel shell, numerous platform and nonplatform flakes, cores, unifaces, several bifaces, and diagnostic projectile points. The diagnostic artifacts included Gower, Uvalde, Frio, Ellis, and Marcos projectile points as well as a Clear Fork biface and two Guadalupe bifaces. These diagnostics indicate at least three temporal assignments ranging from the Early Archaic to the Late Transitional Archaic periods. The artifacts were found in good archaeological and geological contexts despite the fact that the project area was in the midst of a heavily developed recreation area. The site has been assigned trinomial 41CM221.


This article presents new data on the start and end dates and the means of termination for armed conflicts, 1946—2005. These data contribute to quantitative research on conflict resolution and recurrence in three important respects: the data cover both interstate and intrastate armed conflicts, the data cover low-intensity conflicts, and the data provide information on a broad range of termination outcomes. In order to disaggregate the UCDP-PRIO Armed Conflict dataset into multiple analytical units, this dataset introduces the concept of conflict episodes, defined as years of continuous use of armed force in a conflict. Using these data, general trends and patterns are presented, showing that conflicts do not exclusively end with decisive outcomes such as victory or peace agreement but more often under unclear circumstances where fighting simply ceases. This pattern is consistent across different types of conflict, as is the finding that victories are more common in conflicts with short duration. The article then examines some factors that have been found to predict civil war recurrence and explores whether using the new dataset produces similar results. This exercise offers a number of interesting new insights and finds that the determinants for civil war recurrence identified in previous research are sensitive to alternate formulations of conflict termination data. The findings suggest that intrastate conflicts are less likely to recur after government victories or after the deployment of peacekeepers. If the previous conflict is fought with rebels aiming for total control over government or if the belligerents mobilized along ethnic lines, the risk of recurrence increases. The discrepancy in findings with previous research indicates the need for further study of conflict resolution and recurrence, for which this dataset will be useful.


Litigation finance is the new and fast-growing practice by which a non-party funds a plaintiff's litigation either for-profit or for some other motivation. Some estimates placed the size of the litigation finance market at 50–100 billion dollars. Both proponents and opponents of this newly -emergent phenomenon are in agreement that the it is the most important development in civil justice of this era. Litigation finance is already transforming civil litigation at the level of the single case as well as, incrementally, at the level of the civil justice system as a whole. It is also beginning to transform the way law firms are doing business and it will increasingly shape the careers of civil litigators at firms small and large. Consequently, Congress, state legislatures, state and federal courts, bar associations, international arbitration institutions, as well as legislatures and courts in other nations are all proceeding along dozens of parallel tracks grappling with how to regulate litigation finance and especially with the question of what, if any, disclosure requirements to impost on such financing.

This Essay aims to turn the debate inside out by proposing to abandon the quest for a bright line rule and to instead adopt a flexible, discretionary standard; a balancing test. The Essay then culminates in a specific proposal for the contours – the interests and factors – which judges and arbitrators should be empowered and required to weigh when deciding whether and what form of disclosure to require. More specifically, the Essay details and rationalizes the specific interests – public and private – and factors to consider including the profile of the plaintiffs and their motive for seeking funding; the funder's profile and motivation; the case type and the forum; the subject matter of the litigation; the potential effect on the development of the law; the structure of the financing; the purpose of the contemplated disclosure; and the procedural posture of the case.


We report the occurrence of two new species of the new agglutinated foraminiferal genus Ammogloborotaloides in the Miocene of western Venezuela. These two taxa have been assigned informal names and have been known to the petroleum industry in Venezuela for many years, but have never been described. A. truncatulinoidiformis n. sp. is the type species and the second species, A. sp. 16, is left in open nomenclature. The two species of Ammogloborotaloides are strongly isomorphic with the planktonic foraminiferal species Globorotalia truncatulinoides and Globorotalia crassaformis, and illustrate the possible evolutionary connections between agglutinated benthics and the planktonic foraminifera. J. Micropalaeontol. 30(1): 11–16, May 2011.