STUDY QUESTION
Which is the most suitable clinical strategy in egg donation IVF cycles conducted with imported donated vitrified oocytes?

SUMMARY ANSWER
The importation, and allocation, of at least eight vitrified eggs per couple during an egg donation cycle is associated with a high cumulative live birth delivery rate per cycle, as well as the confident adoption of a single blastocyst transfer strategy to minimize the risk of multiple pregnancies.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
IVF using donor eggs is commonly used worldwide to treat women who are unable to conceive with their own oocytes. In 2014, the Constitutional Court (n.162/2014) gave permission for gamete donation to be allowed for ART in Italy. Initially recommended as a therapeutic approach for premature ovarian insufficiency, the use of donated oocytes has become more and more common. In countries such as Italy, fresh oocyte donation is theoretically possible, but practically impossible due to the lack of donors. In fact, the Italian law does not allow reimbursement to the young women, who can only voluntarily donate their eggs. Therefore, Italian IVF centers have established several collaborations with international oocyte cryo-banks. The most popular workflow involves the importation of donated oocytes that have been vitrified. However, recent evidence has questioned the overall efficacy of such an approach. This is because detrimental effects arising from oocyte vitrification and warming might reduce the number of eggs available for insemination, with a consequential reduction in the achievable live birth rate per cycle.

STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
This was a longitudinal cohort study, conducted between October 2015 and December 2018 at two private IVF centers. Overall, 273 couples were treated (mean maternal age: 42.5 ± 3.5 years, range: 31-50 years; mean donor age: 25.7 ± 4.2, 20-35 years) with oocytes purchased from three different Spanish egg banks.

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
We performed an overall analysis, as well as several sub-analyses clustering the data according to the year of treatment (2015-2016, 2017 or 2018), the number of warmed (6, 7, 8 or 9) and surviving oocytes (≤4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9) and the cycle strategy adopted (cleavage stage embryo transfer and vitrification, cleavage stage embryo transfer and blastocyst vitrification, blastocyst stage embryo transfer and vitrification). This study aimed to create a workflow to maximize IVF efficacy, efficiency, and safety, during egg donation cycles with imported vitrified oocytes. The primary outcome was the cumulative live birth delivery rate among completed cycles (i.e. cycles where at least a delivery of a live birth was achieved, or no embryo was produced/left to transfer). All cycles, along with their embryological, obstetric and neonatal outcomes, were registered and inspected.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
The survival rate after warming was 86 ± 16%. When 6, 7, 8 and 9 oocytes were warmed, 94, 100, 72 and 70% of cycles were completed, resulting in 35, 44, 69 and 59% cumulative live birth delivery rates per completed cycle, respectively. When ≤4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 oocytes survived, 98, 94, 85, 84, 66 and 68% of cycles were completed, resulting in 16, 46, 50, 61, 76 and 60% cumulative live birth delivery rates per completed cycle, respectively. When correcting for donor age, and oocyte bank, in a multivariate logistic regression analysis, warming eight to nine oocytes resulted in an odds ratio (OR) of 2.5 (95% CI: 1.07-6.03, P = 0.03) for the cumulative live birth delivery rate per completed cycle with respect to six to seven oocytes. Similarly, when seven to nine oocytes survived warming, the OR was 2.7 (95% CI: 1.28-5.71, P < 0.01) with respect to ≤6 oocytes. When cleavage stage embryos were transferred, a single embryo transfer strategy was adopted in 17% of cases (N = 28/162); the live birth delivery rate per transfer was 26% (n = 43/162), but among the pregnancies to term, 28% involved twins (n = 12/43). Conversely, when blastocysts were transferred, a single embryo transfer strategy was adopted in 96% of cases (n = 224/234) with a 30% live birth delivery rate per transfer (N = 70/234), and the pregnancies to term were all singleton (n = 70/70). During the study period, 125 babies were born from 113 patients. When comparing the obstetric outcomes for the cleavage and blastocyst stage transfer strategies, the only significant difference was the prevalence of low birthweight: 34 versus 5%, respectively (P < 0.01). However, several significant differences were identified when comparing singleton with twin pregnancies; in fact, the latter resulted in a generally lower birthweight (mean ± SD: 3048 ± 566 g versus 2271 ± 247 g, P < 0.01), a significantly shorter gestation (38 ± 2 versus 36 ± 2 weeks, P < 0.01), solely Caesarean sections (72 versus 100%, P = 0.02), a higher prevalence of low birthweight (8 versus 86%, P < 0.01), small newborns for gestational age (24 versus 57%, P = 0.02) and preterm births (25 versus 86%, P < 0.01).

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
This retrospective study should now be confirmed across several IVF centers and with a greater sample size in order to improve the accuracy of the sub-analyses.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
Single blastocyst transfer is the most suitable approach to achieve high success rates per procedure, thereby also limiting the obstetric complications that arise from twin pregnancies in oocyte donation programs. In this regard, the larger the cohort of imported donated vitrified oocytes, the more efficient the management of each cycle.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
None.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
None.


Construction organizations have to overcome many problems in order to achieve high quality performance. The complex nature of the industry can result in the lack of alignment of project objectives between participants. Effective pre-project planning can improve project performance. In order to improve pre-project planning tools need to be developed that enable activities during this phase to be measured, monitored and improved as well as improving the relationship between customer and supplier. These tools include project definition rating index (PDRI) and project alignment thermometer. Despite their success, these tools have limitations as they have been specifically designed for large industrial projects. The theory behind pre-project planning is discussed in this paper along with examples of pre-project planning tools that deal with cultural and process issues.


By far the largest and most up-to-date single-volume English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary available and endorsed by academics worldwide, the Oxford Chinese Dictionary has been designed both for English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese and Mandarin Chinese speakers learning English. It has been produced using the latest lexicographic methods and the unique dictionary resources of Oxford University Press in Oxford and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press in Beijing, together with an international body of expert advisors. The Oxford Chinese Dictionary contains over 300,000 words and phrases and 370,000 translations, including the latest vocabulary from computing, business, the media, and the arts, and tens of thousands of example phrases illustrating key points of construction and usage. There are over 300 cultural notes giving essential information about many aspects of life and culture in the Chinese- and English-speaking worlds. The dictionary is based throughout on corpus research for both English and Chinese, providing up-to-date evidence on real language. The English is based on the Oxford English Corpus, and the Chinese draws on the LIVAC corpus from the City University of Hong Kong. Extensive supplementary material includes sample letters and emails, guides to telephoning and text messaging in both Chinese and English, chronologies of Chinese history and culture, and features on particularly difficult aspects of the Chinese language, such as kinship terms and measure words. There are also over 50 pages of lexical and usage notes which contain helpful extra information about Chinese and English. The organization and layout have been designed for maximum clarity and accessibility. All Chinese headwords and compounds are shown with Pinyin transcriptions, so that the learner of Chinese can pronounce each one correctly. Chinese headwords are given in Simplified Chinese characters, but Traditional Chinese character versions are also given in brackets after the headwords when they differ from the Simplified form. All the English headwords are also shown with phonetics, so that the learner of English can pronounce each one correctly. The Chinese-English section of the dictionary is organised alphabetically by Pinyin and there is also a radical index which allows you to look up a character without knowing its Pinyin form. Explore our language resources on oxforddictionaries.com, Oxford's home for dictionaries and language reference. Updated regularly with the latest changes to words and meanings, the site provides hundreds of thousands of definitions, synonyms, and pronunciations in a range of languages. Access the highest quality language content, built from our extensive research, for free on your desktop or device.


Abstract. The object of research in the article is the vibroisolated foundation of a high-power turbine unit (1000 MW). World energy is developing rapidly today and there is a need to build energy facilities in areas of high seismicity. The acute question is the lack of a comprehensive methodology for calculating and designing earthquake-resistant foundations of turbine units. The article proposes a general procedure of actions aimed at increasing the seismic resistance of the foundations of turbine units. Implementation of the proposed methodology was carried out on a specific example of a vibroisolated foundation: the dependences of seismic accelerations and displacements were obtained for different variants of seismic isolation. Application of the above technique allows to reduce seismic acceleration on capacitors by more than 2 times, seismic movements of capacitors by more than 3 times.


New Zealand breastfeeding experts have long contended that New Zealand does not have a breastfeeding culture, as demonstrated by anecdotal evidence suggesting that women find breastfeeding difficult to initiate and sustain. A review of the l iterature indicates that, in New Zealand, breastfeeding knowledge falls within the domain of health care professionals, which marginalises women's own experiential knowledge about breastfeeding. Therefore, this study explores the experience of breastfeeding for women in New Zealand. A reflective l ifeworld research methodology underpins this study, allowing the participants' narratives to be explored without the use of pre-existing theoretical frameworks that may close down on aspects of the interpretive analysis. Nineteen women were interviewed for this study, al l of whom were New Zealanders who were either breastfeeding at the time of the interviews, or had breastfed within the last two years. Many of the participants had breastfed more than one child. What emerges as the central thesis of this study is that breastfeeding is a priori to unique embodied experiences. A number of sub-themes, which further explicate this central thesis, include: the silencing of the real ity of breastfeeding within the public domain, the pervasive i nfluence of society, or 'the they', through the accepted frameworks by which breastfeeding women interpret their individual breastfeeding experiences, and breastfeeding as a means of facilitating close relationships between women and their infants. The findings of this study wil l assist health care professionals working a longside breastfeeding women, as it offers fresh understandings of what it is to be a breastfeeding woman. It is important that health care professionals lay aside their previously-held perceptions about breastfeeding, and pay careful attention to individual women's experiences prior to planning interventions. If health care professionals value women's embodied breastfeeding narratives, women wil l be supported to articulate their breastfeeding experiences, thereby increasing women's confidence in their embodied breastfeeding knowledge and capabilities.


Introduction: The triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) phenotype, which lacks the presence of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (ErbB-2 or Her-2), is highly aggressive and resistant to chemotherapy. In fact, some of the patients under hormone deprivation and/or Herceptin therapy acquire resistance. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify new diagnostic as well as therapeutic markers for treatment of such patients. Herceptin, an immunotherapy directed against the Her-2 receptor, inhibits cancer growth and progression in Her-2 positive breast cancer by blocking the downstream survival pathways. In these cells however, the expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is significantly low. Interestingly, EGFR expression is significantly increased in triple negative and Her-2 resistant breast cancer thereby contributing to cancer growth and progression. Present studies were designed to investigate whether or not Annexin A2 (AnxA2), a calcium dependent phospholipid binding protein, regulated EGFR downstream signaling pathway and if the functions of EGFR can be inhibited by the AnxA2 antibody in TNBC and Herceptin resistant cancer cell lines. Methods: AnxA2 function at cell surface of the triple negative breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and Her-2 resistant breast cancer cell line JIMT-1 was blocked incubating with AnxA2 antibody (2μg/ml) after 12h of serum starvation. The cells were treated with/without EGF (50ng/ml) for 20 min after 2h of antibody treatment. The cell lysate was analyzed for pEGFR and EGFR mediated downstream signaling by Western blotting. Cell migration was analyzed by scratch wound healing assay. Results: The results of the present study indicate that AnxA2 interacts with EGFR at the cell surface and plays an important role in the regulation of EGFR mediated downstream signaling. Treatment of MDA-MB-231 and JIMT-1 cells with AnxA2 antibody causes significant decrease in EGF-induced phosphorylation of EGFR at Y845 and Y1068 sites. Our results also demonstrate that blocking cell surface AnxA2 functions causes the downregulation of proteins such as pAKT, and pERK1/2 which are regulated by EGFR resulting in lower cell survival, proliferation, and migration. Conclusions: Our data indicate that association of AnxA2 with EGFR in the membrane domain plays a positive regulatory role in keeping EGFR signaling events in an activated state in both triple negative and Her-2 resistant breast cancer cells, thus making AnxA2 an important therapeutic target. Citation Format: Pankaj Chaudhary, Jamboor K. Vishwanatha. Inhibition of triple-negative and Her-2 resistant breast cancer proliferation and migration by Annexin A2 antibodies. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Advances in Breast Cancer Research: Genetics, Biology, and Clinical Applications; Oct 3-6, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2013;11(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A052.


In this position paper we propose a novel approach to online argumentation. It avoids the pitfalls of unstructured systems such as asynchronous threaded discussions and it is usable by any participant without training while still supporting the full complexity of real-world argumentation. The key idea is to let users exchange arguments with each other in the form of a time-shifted dialog where arguments are presented and acted upon one-at-a-time. We highlight the key research challenges that need to be addressed in order to realize such a system and provide first solutions for those challenges.


Background and objectives: Machine learning approaches using random forest have been effectively used to provide decision support in health and medical informatics. This is especially true when predicting variables associated with Medicare reimbursements. However, more work is needed to analyze and predict data associated with reimbursements through Medicare and Medicaid services for physical therapy practices in the United States. The key objective of this study is to analyze different machine learning models to predict key variables associated with Medicare standardized payments for physical therapy practices in the United States. Materials and Methods: This study employs five methods, namely, multiple linear regression, decision tree regression, random forest regression, K-nearest neighbors, and linear generalized additive model, (GAM) to predict key variables associated with Medicare payments for physical therapy practices in the United States. Results: The study described in this article adds to the body of knowledge on the effective use of random forest regression and linear generalized additive model in predicting Medicare Standardized payment. It turns out that random forest regression may have any edge over other methods employed for this purpose. Conclusions: The study provides a useful insight into comparing the performance of the aforementioned methods, while identifying a few intricate details associated with predicting Medicare costs while also ascertaining that linear generalized additive model and random forest regression as the most suitable machine learning models for predicting key variables associated with standardized Medicare payments.


The spirituality portrayed in Ancrene Wisse and the texts associated with it is rooted in the anchoress' own situation; a female solitary enclosed within the four walls of her anchorhouse. The images used to express that spirituality are tied to her experience of enclosure and to her gender. These two elements come together in the matrix of anchorhouse/body/heart, in which the anchoress' female body becomes identified with the anchorhouse in which it is enclosed. The spirituality of these texts is thus deeply grounded in the anchoress' sexuality and her perception of her own body. -- The images of enclosure and female sexuality which dominate these texts are expressed in terms of the paradox of the virgin who is at the same time the lover and bride of Christ. The female body enclosed within the anchorhouse is sealed by physical chastity, just as the anchoress is sealed within her anchorhouse. Physical purity is itself an image or symbol of the purity of heart and soul which is an essential prerequisite for the anchoress' goal of union with God. It is for this, and this alone, that she has turned from the world and enclosed her body and heart in the confines of her anchorhouse. -- The union with God which the anchoress seeks is also described in images which are governed by both her enclosure and her gender. The spiritual quest of the anchoress is unequivocally the search of a female devotee for a male God, who approaches her in very human terms. The enclosed chamber of her heart which she prepares for his coming is the arbour or bower in which she greets her beloved, and the nest or womb in which she nurtures her God. Her union with God is described in terms both sensual and sensuous, combining erotic imagery with imagery of motherhood and fertility. The erotic union with Christ available to the anchoress in her enclosure transforms and redeems, as the body which is vulnerable to lust (her own and others') becomes the vessel which bears Christ through imitation and union.


The Parliamentary Library of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan website provides a fair and objective channel for the public to track daily activities of the Legislative Yuan and legislators' inquiries. However the quantity of generated documents is so large that the general public may not be able to keep track of the legislative performance of each legislator from these contents. To mitigate the gap of legislative document generation and the sense making by the general public, this study proposed a text mining mechanism to automatically classify legislative documents referring to each legislator, and then represent the proportion of their legislative performance on certain categories. This study first initiated a basic legislative categorical structure by domain experts. Then a two-stage clustering was applied to perform feature selection for legislative documents. The SVM method was applied to build a model to classify the new document to the appropriate category. In order to maintain the classification categories up to date, in this study, we also evaluate the difference between labeling contents by domain experts and the general public. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed test mining mechanism, which automatically classifies legislative documents to reveal legislators' performance accordingly. With this result, people can monitor legislators and track their legislative activities using the information from the Parliamentary Library of Legislative Yuan to update their perception on legislative performance in various categories.


The Arabidopsis mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) MPK6 has been proposed to participate in signaling through the ethylene receptor. New evidence from Liu and Zhang now suggests that MPK6 does not respond to ethylene signals. Rather, it appears to be a key regulator of synthesis of the gaseous plant hormone ethylene. Ethylene is produced in response to a broad range of stress signals in the plant, and MPK6 appears to be a key regulator of this response. Activation of MPK6 through expression of an exogenous MAPK showed that MPK6 promotes the synthesis of ethylene in a manner that depends on activation of ACS (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase), which catalyzes the rate-limiting step in ethylene biosynthesis. In vitro studies showed that ACS isoforms are direct substrates of MPK6. Furthermore, phosphorylation of ACS in response to wounding was lost in mpk6 knockout plants. Protein immunoblotting showed that phosphorylation of ACS was associated with increased stability (and thus increased abundance) of the protein. Ecker provides commentary on the findings and helps reconcile them with previous contradictory results in the literature. Y. Liu, S. Zhang, Phosphorylation of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase by MPK6, a stress-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinase, induces ethylene biosynthesis in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell 16, 3386-3399 (2004). [Abstract] [Full Text] J. R. Ecker, Reentry of the ethylene MPK6 module. Plant Cell 16, 3169-3173 (2004). [Full Text]


This study aims to uncover the attributes of effective English lecturers and any significant differences between male and female EFL learners in determining the attributes of effective EFL lecturers. The study utilized a descriptive study design by asking 52 EFL learners to be respondents by filling in a questionnaire. The results depicted that the attributes associated with the 'rapport' category were friendliness, relationship, experiences, positive attitudes, and sense of humour. An independent t-test also showed there was no significant difference between male and female EFL learners in determining these attributes. The attributes of the 'delivery' category included enthusiasm, clarity, correction, and encouragement. The attributes of the 'fairness' category included treatment and standard. The attributes of the 'knowledge and credibility' category included proficiency and knowledge. The attributes of the 'organization and preparation' category included preparation, course contents, objectives, and materials. As for the implications, the attributes enable EFL lecturers to figure out various strategies for teaching English. Moreover, it is advantageous for EFL learners in that they can adjust their learning styles with the attributes.


A deeper understanding of the mechanisms that underlie plant growth and development requires quantitative data on three-dimensional (3D) morphology and gene activity at a variety of stages and scales. To address this, we have explored the use of optical projection tomography (OPT) as a method for capturing 3D data from plant specimens. We show that OPT can be conveniently applied to a wide variety of plant material at a range of scales, including seedlings, leaves, flowers, roots, seeds, embryos, and meristems. At the highest resolution, large individual cells can be seen in the context of the surrounding plant structure. For naturally semitransparent structures, such as roots, live 3D imaging using OPT is also possible. 3D domains of gene expression can be visualized using either marker genes, such as β-glucuronidase, or more directly by whole-mount in situ hybridization. We also describe tools and software that allow the 3D data to be readily quantified and visualized interactively in different ways.


ABSTRACT We present a fast algorithm for generating Laguerre diagrams with cells of given volumes, which can be used for creating RVEs of polycrystalline materials for computational homogenisation, or for fitting Laguerre diagrams to EBSD or XRD measurements of metals. Given a list of desired cell volumes, we solve a convex optimisation problem to find a Laguerre diagram with cells of these volumes, up to any prescribed tolerance. The algorithm is built on tools from computational geometry and optimal transport theory which, as far as we are aware, have not been applied to microstructure modelling before. We illustrate the speed and accuracy of the algorithm by generating RVEs with user-defined volume distributions with up to 20,000 grains in 3D. We can achieve volume percentage errors of less than 1% in the order of minutes on a standard desktop PC. We also give examples of polydisperse microstructures with bands, clusters and size gradients, and of fitting a Laguerre diagram to 3D EBSD measurements of an IF steel.


The tasks performed by the healthcare interpreter are complex, as they involve bridging together beliefs and values from different speech communities. This complexity increases when conceptualizations of illnesses and worldviews are not shared. Pain is perceived and communicated differently by members of different cultural communities. Conversations about pain include discussions about intensity of pain based on pain-rating scales as well as discussions of pain management. Healthcare interpreters face challenges in constructing and co-constructing pain while facilitating cross-linguistic communication. In this chapter I analyze interactions of healthcare provider-and-patient interviews which are part of a larger study dealing with the issues faced by Spanish-speaking patients, English-speaking providers and Spanish-English interpreters who engage in measuring and describing pain with the use of a pain-rating scale. The implications of this work for professionals such as policy makers, educators, healthcare providers and interpreters are discussed.


Experiences with three approaches intended to achieve increasing levels of regional and collaborative engagement – Ministerial water advisory committees, Catchment Water Management Boards and Natural Resources Management Boards – are examined over the period from the 1970s to early 2014. Attention focuses on two tensions: (1) whether to have a system-wide or regional focus and (2) whether to pursue extensive consultation and seek consensus, or have government agencies limit consultation and take decisions in a timely manner, knowing that winners and losers will emerge. Supporting legislation, policies, plans and programmes were reviewed, and interviews were completed with 88 individuals. Support generally exists for regional and collaborative approaches, but with recognition of a need to balance strengths and limitations for whatever choice is made.


Contrary to the conventional belief that organisational supplier choice decisions are predominantly objective, this research draws on the Stereotype Content Model to examine the moderating effects of corporate reputation on supplier decisions. In an international field study with buying centre members, the results demonstrate that various dimensions of reputation differentially moderate the effects of intentions-based purchasing criteria versus ability-based criteria on supplier selection and termination behaviour. Specifically, only in the absence of a strongly Agreeable or Competent reputation do intentions and warm abilities-based purchasing criteria respectively have a significant influence on selection and termination. Conversely, only in the presence of a strongly Ruthless reputation do cold abilities-based purchasing criteria exert a significant influence on supplier selection or termination. These findings have implications for the corporate reputation and industrial buying literatures, as well as managerial practice.
Keywords: corporate reputation, moderation, supplier selection, termination


Intangible assets are very important and valuable elements of any organization. However, intangible assets are not measured by funders and are not specified by community-based nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits' inability to asses and measure intangible assets impedes a funder's ability to serve and impacts their decision making. Identification of intangible assets supports answering important questions about what a nonprofit brings to the table and can associate it with the value of the organization. Additionally, identification of intangible assets helps to demystify some of the considerations funders examine during the decision-making process. The purpose of this dissertation research was to define what intangible assets are and their value; explore the importance of identifying intangible assets for nonprofits as they relate to applying for funding; and examine what funders are doing about understanding and assessing intangible assets. The research question was: What are the perceptions of intangible assets of people in agencies that fund nonprofit organizations in Minnesota? An interpretive multiple case study explored the perspective of the interview participants and their knowledge of intangible assets. The findings indicate that if funders began to recognize and measure intangible assets, they would be able to make more sound decisions about which organizations they choose to fund. Additionally, it would add value to community-based nonprofit organizations to be able to identify their intangible assets and include them in funding applications.


Many analysts have advocated using commodity prices as a guide for monetary policy. A necessary condition is that changes in commodity prices are good predictors of future aggregate price changes. This paper examines that proposition. It shows that while commodity prices can help produce more accurate inflation forecasts, the amount of improvement is small.


The current paper reports results from a preliminary study on PREGCYL™ NC R2HM-01 which is a carbon nanotube doped prepreg produced by Nanocyl. The work consisted of sample manufacturing in autoclave, microcopy analysis with XHR-SEM and mechanical testing. The mechanical testing consisted of tensile tests of unidirectional (in longitudinal direction) and cross-ply laminates. Test of unidirectional laminates showed that stiffness of the PREGCYL material is slightly higher than that of MTM55 composites (111GPa vs 102GPa). The results from tests of cross-ply laminates indicated that damage (transverse cracks) initiation is delayed in PREGCYL composites compare to the MTM55 material. Damage accumulation also seems to be slower in nano-doped composites.


The layered FeTe2O5Cl compound was studied by specific-heat, muon-spin relaxation, nuclear magnetic resonance, and dielectric as well as neutron and synchrotron x-ray diffraction measurements, and the results were compared to isostructural FeTe2O5Br. We find that the low-temperature ordered state, similarly as in FeTe2O5Br, is multiferroic: the elliptical amplitude-modulated magnetic cycloid and the electric polarization simultaneously develop below 11 K. However, compared to FeTe2O5Br, the magnetic elliptical envelope rotates by 75(4). and the orientation of the electric polarization is much more sensitive to the applied electric field. We propose that the observed differences between the two isostructural compounds arise from geometric frustration, which enhances the effects of otherwise subtle Fe3+ (S = 5/2) magnetic anisotropies. Finally, x-ray diffraction results imply that, on the microscopic scale, the magnetoelectric coupling is driven by shifts of the O-1 atoms, as a response to the polarization of the Te4+ lone-pair electrons involved in the Fe-O-Te-O-Fe exchange bridges.


This article reports the findings of the first systematic overview of the statutory liberalization of trust law worldwide. Using a groundbreaking, manually collected, database of the trust legislation of every jurisdiction which has a trust regime respecting 22 trust law variables, I hand coded each jurisdiction's treatments of each variable since 1925 for their relative liberality. Aggregating all jurisdictions' scores regarding all variables, I produced a "trust liberality score" for each jurisdiction/year, expressing the extent to which trust law has been liberalized by each jurisdiction by each year.

Results show the United States to be the global leader in trust law liberality: 17 of the 20 jurisdictions which have the most liberal trust laws are American states. Trust law liberalization in the U.S. is a result of the widespread adoption of the Uniform Trust Code, which includes many highly liberal positions, among the states, as well as of many states having followed an offshore dynamic in adopting highly permissive positions in order to draw users from out of state to resident service providers. The trust laws of many American states are more liberal than those of small offshore island jurisdictions. Even the laws of such relatively conservative American states, on trust matters, as New York and California are quite liberal by global standards. Much of the recent global increase in trust law liberality occurred between 1988-2016.

Multivariate regression analysis of U.S. data shows that the statutory liberalization of trust law has had no effect on several indicia for the success of service provision to trusts as a commercial enterprise. It is especially clear that reforms seen as pandering to trust users' interests at great social cost, such as self-settled spendthrift trusts and perpetual trusts, all in order to create or sustain demand for professional services in the trust context, have had no impact on any of these indicia. As an exception to the general finding of a null result, some findings with marginal statistical significance may show that law reforms which reduced trustees' exposure to liability and entrenched their entitlement to remuneration led to a decline in their earnings per trust. Those reforms are also weakly associated with an increase in trust income. It is therefore possible that reforms widely seen as preferring trustees over their clients have resulted in trustees providing a better service at lower cost.


The extraction of information from the scientific literature is a complex task—for researchers doing manual curation and for automatic text processing solutions. The identification of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) requires the extraction of protein named entities and their relations. Semi-automatic interactive support is one approach to combine both solutions for efficient working processes to generate reliable database content. In principle, the extraction of PPIs can be achieved with different methods that can be combined to deliver high precision and/or high recall results in different combinations at the same time. Interactive use can be achieved, if the analytical methods are fast enough to process the retrieved documents. PCorral provides interactive mining of PPIs from the scientific literature allowing curators to skim MEDLINE for PPIs at low overheads. The keyword query to PCorral steers the selection of documents, and the subsequent text analysis generates high recall and high precision results for the curator. The underlying components of PCorral process the documents on-the-fly and are available, as well, as web service from the Whatizit infrastructure. The human interface summarizes the identified PPI results, and the involved entities are linked to relevant resources and databases. Altogether, PCorral serves curator at both the beginning and the end of the curation workflow for information retrieval and information extraction. Database URL: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Rebholz-srv/pcorral.


The heritage of San rock art in southern Africa is globally acknowledged, and was one of the primary reasons for the successful nomination of the uKhahlamba/ Drakensberg Park in South Africa as a World Heritage Site. 1 Deterioration of rock paintings in the reserve could adversely affect the international status of the region, particularly as little has been achieved with regard to preserving the art for future generations. A study is currently under way in the Injisuthi and Giant's Castle areas of the park, to investigate the deterioration of San art; this article serves to introduce the project and to highlight some initial findings. Previous research on the weathering of San paintings has focused largely on either monitoring rock shelters 2 or investigating rock surfaces that are adjacent to the paintings. None of the methods applied in earlier investigations has considered the interface between rock and pigments, mainly because of the potential damage that may result from the use of tactile monitoring equipment. Recent advances in weathering research, using improved techniques to measure conditions at the rock surface where the San art is painted, 3 provide new insights into surficial processes and suggest new lines of investigation.


The availability of large-scale datasets has helped unleash the true potential of deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, for the single-image denoising problem, capturing a real dataset is an unacceptably expensive and cumbersome procedure. Consequently, image denoising algorithms are mostly developed and evaluated on synthetic data that is usually generated with a widespread assumption of additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). While the CNNs achieve impressive results on these synthetic datasets, they do not perform well when applied on real camera images, as reported in recent benchmark datasets. This is mainly because the AWGN is not adequate for modeling the real camera noise which is signal-dependent and heavily transformed by the camera imaging pipeline. In this paper, we present a framework that models camera imaging pipeline in forward and reverse directions. It allows us to produce any number of realistic image pairs for denoising both in RAW and sRGB spaces. By training a new image denoising network on realistic synthetic data, we achieve the state-of-the-art performance on real camera benchmark datasets. The parameters in our models are ~5 times lesser than the previous best method for RAW denoising. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed framework generalizes beyond image denoising problem e.g., for color matching in stereoscopic cinema. The source code and pre-trained models are available at https://github.com/swz30/CycleISP.


Culturalists claim that political outcomes, such as respect for human rights, are deeply rooted in culture. Some have singled out Islam as particularly problematic. We assess whether Muslim societies suffer higher levels of political terror compared with others. Our results show that countries containing larger shares of Catholics, and those dominated by Catholics, fare the worst. The share of the population Muslim and Membership in the Organization of the Islamic Conference predicts lower levels of political terror. Claims about the uniqueness of Islam for accounting for political repression seem to be exaggerated. Consistent with the findings on religion and democracy, our results indicate that it is the Arab region, not religion that matters, but Latin America shows the largest impact. Substantively, political and economic factors matter a whole lot more than do the variables on religion. This is good news for policy that seeks to end the scourge of political repression.


This paper describes a general-purpose extension of max-value entropy search, a popular approach for Bayesian Optimisation (BO). A novel approximation is proposed for the information gain -- an information-theoretic quantity central to solving a range of BO problems, including noisy, multi-fidelity and batch optimisations across both continuous and highly-structured discrete spaces. Previously, these problems have been tackled separately within information-theoretic BO, each requiring a different sophisticated approximation scheme, except for batch BO, for which no computationally-lightweight information-theoretic approach has previously been proposed. GIBBON (General-purpose Information-Based Bayesian OptimisatioN) provides a single principled framework suitable for all the above, out-performing existing approaches whilst incurring substantially lower computational overheads. In addition, GIBBON does not require the problem's search space to be Euclidean and so is the first high-performance yet computationally light-weight acquisition function that supports batch BO over general highly structured input spaces like molecular search and gene design. Moreover, our principled derivation of GIBBON yields a natural interpretation of a popular batch BO heuristic based on determinantal point processes. Finally, we analyse GIBBON across a suite of synthetic benchmark tasks, a molecular search loop, and as part of a challenging batch multi-fidelity framework for problems with controllable experimental noise.


For a number of years, United Kingdom Nirex Limited investigated the suitability of the area around Sellafield in NW England to assess its suitability to host a deep repository for intermediate-level and some low-level radioactive wastes resulting from Britain's nuclear programme. The investigation programme collected a large amount of lithological, hydrogeological and hydrochemical data from 18 boreholes up to 2000 m deep. A potential route by which radionuclides may leave the repository and return to surface is the groundwater pathway. It was recognized that the groundwater regime could be disturbed significantly by major climate changes, particularly glacial–interglacial cycles, over the very long time scales considered in the assessment of the radiological safety of a repository. Available geological and hydrogeological data for the Sellafield area are reviewed in the context of current thinking on glacial hydrogeology, showing that disturbance of the hydrogeological regime is possible during glaciation, and that there are significant uncertainties in determining the timing and magnitude of the effects caused by glaciation. However, the evidence available, both from Quaternary fracture-filling minerals and from the chemistry of groundwater now present, suggests that any disturbance to the deeper hydrogeological regime was relatively minor and that any subglacial recharge has been removed by the present flow regime. There is a possibility that high hydraulic heads at depth in the low-permeability basement rock considered as a host for the repository, the Borrowdale Volcanic Group of Ordovician age beneath a cover of Triassic sandstones, may be residual.


In this tumultuous time, the entire world has been shaken up by the COVID-19 outbreak. Italy has had one of the highest infection-related mortality rates. Bergamo, a city in eastern Lombardy, was among the most affected. Here, the authors describe the main healthcare actions taken at their institution to stem the crisis, with particular concern regarding the fate of their neurosurgery department. Among the different topics, the authors particularly focus on the retraining of neurosurgeons, organization of activities, and what should be the role of neurosurgeons during a pandemic.


The majority of studies on the control of coronary artery vasoactivity have examined changes in coronary blood flow and coronary vascular resistance, indices that primarily reflect regulation of small arterioles and precapillary vessels. With the emergence of coronary artery vasospasm as a significant cause of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, and sudden death, the control of large coronary artery caliber has assumed more significance. It is clear that resistance coronary vessels and large coronary arteries differ in response to both pharmacologic and physiologic stimuli. Vasodilation of large coronary arteries may occur by direct action of agents on the arterial smooth muscle or by the indirect action of receptor occupation, changes in blood flow, or liberation of endothelial factors. These indirect factors appear to contribute also to responses to agents that constrict coronary smooth muscle directly or through the autonomic nervous system. Furthermore, the mechanisms responsible for control of large coronary vessels in the normal circulation are likely to be profoundly different from those in the presence of diseased vessels. For example, several factors associated with coronary artery disease — elevated plasma cholesterol levels, endothelial disruption, atherosclerosis, vascular stenosis, and aggregated platelets — all have important actions on the control of large coronary arteries. (Circulation Research 1986;59:579-596)


FBK participated in the WMT 2010 Machine Translation shared task with phrase-based Statistical Machine Translation systems based on the Moses decoder for English-German and German-English translation. Our work concentrates on exploiting the available language modelling resources by using linear mixtures of large 6-gram language models and on addressing linguistic differences between English and German with methods based on word lattices. In particular, we use lattices to integrate a morphological analyser for German into our system, and we present some initial work on rule-based word reordering.


Principal-agent problems can reduce gains from exchange available in long distance trade. One solution to mitigate this problem is multilateral punishment, whereby groups of principals jointly punish cheating agents by giving them bad reputations. But how does such punishment work when there is uncertainty regarding whether an agent actually cheated or was just the victim of bad luck? And how might such uncertainty be mitigated---or exacerbated---by non-observable, pro-social behavioral characteristics? We address these questions by designing a simple modified trust game with uncertainty and the capacity for principals to employ multilateral punishment. We find that a modest amount of uncertainty increases overall welfare because principals are more willing to trust agents with bad reputations.


Arsenic exposure is associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. To explore the distribution of the arsenic methylation capability and myeloperoxidase (MPO) and sulfotransferase (SULT) 1A1 genotypes in patients at different stages and grades of urothelial carcinoma (UC), 112 UC cases were recruited between September 2002 and May 2004 for this study. Urinary arsenic species, including inorganic arsenic (AsIII + AsV), monomethylarsonic acid, and dimethylarsinic acid, were determined with a high-performance liquid chromatography-linked hydride generator and atomic absorption spectrometry. The MPO and SULT1A1 genotypes were examined with polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism. Differential effects of the arsenic methylation capability were found among patients with different stages of UC; however, urinary arsenic concentrations were borderline significantly increased with the progress of UC patients regardless of whether or not they had been exposed to arsenic from drinking water. The MPO and SULT genetic polymorphisms might modify the arsenic methylation profile and UC progression, and thus are worthy of further investigation.


From two of the world's most distinguished experts in animal behaviour, this book offers a radical, creative, and accessible new approach to understanding animal minds through the structures they build. Animal behaviour has long been a battleground between the competing claims of nature and nurture, with the possible role of cognition in behaviour as a recent addition to this debate. There is an untapped trove of behavioural data that can tell us a great deal about how the animals draw from these neural strategies: the structures animals build provide a superb window on the workings of the animal mind. "Building Minds" examines animal architecture across a range of species, from those whose blueprints are largely innate (such as spiders and their webs) to those whose challenging structures seem to require intellectual insight, planning, and even aesthetics (such as birds' nests, or beavers' dams). Beginning with instinct and the simple homes of solitary insects, James and Carol Gould move on to conditioning; the "cognitive map" and how it evolved; and the role of planning and insight. Finally, they reflect on what animal building tells us about the nature of human intelligence - showing why humans, unlike many animals, need to build their castles in the air.


Large DNA molecules were visualized with novel fluorescent protein–DNA binding peptides (FP–DBPs). We constructed FP–DBPs by linking fluorescent protein to the N- or C-terminal of one or two peptides. We designed these DNA binding peptides from various DNA binding motifs such as oligo-lysine (K) and Lys-Trp (KW) repeats, TPKRPRGRPKK from high mobility group (HMG) chromosomal protein, and Ser-Pro-Arg-Lys (SPRK) from histone protein. We demonstrated the use of FP–DBP to stain large DNA molecules, and then analysed the fluorescence brightness and their binding affinity to double stranded DNA. This investigation provided HMG-tagged FP–DBP as the best DNA staining reagent in terms of fluorescence intensity, signal-to-noise ratio, and DNA binding affinity (Kd = 586 nM). Furthermore, we measured elongation of FP–DBP-stained DNA molecules tethered on the surface in order to evaluate FP–DBP-induced structural deformation.


This early paper, published at a time when legal issues relating to the internet were still relatively new, examines the conflict of laws issues surrounding on-line defamation claims, and particularly the question of what choice of law should apply in Canada in light of the Canadian Supreme Court decision in Tolfson v. Jensen (1994), which established a new choice of law rule for tort cases involving conflict of laws. The paper begins by suggesting that on-line defamation claims will likely increase dramatically in the coming years, and examines the conflict of laws issues that will thus arise. It proceeds to examine the nature of the tort of defamation, emphasizing that the complex area of law is primarily concerned with protecting the private right to protection of one's reputation, which in turn will inform the analysis for choice of law. Next the analysis moves to an overview of the conflict of laws rules that governed defamation and all other tort claims prior to Tolofson, with the choice of law rule having been that to ground a claim a plaintiff had to prove that the wrong was actionable under the law of the forum in which the claim was made(lex fori), and that it was not justifiable under the law of the jurisdiction in which the tort was committed (lex loci). Moving to an analysis of the reasons in Tolofson, an automobile accident insurance claim case, the paper reviews the Court's establishment of lex loci delecti as the new rule governing choice of law in tort cases involving multiple jurisdictions. The paper analyzes the extent to which the Court may have left room for an exception for those cases in which the tort occurs in one jurisdiction but the greatest harm is suffered in another. Finally, the paper considers the nature of multi-state defamation via the internet, and queries the extent to which it really raises new and novel issues that require unique rules. It makes the modest claim that there are some circumstances in which on-line defamation may raise new issues. The paper concludes by suggesting that a consideration of the values that defamation law seeks to protect, the nature of on-line defamtion, and the narrow exception that the reasons in Tolofson may permit, would form a basis for a specific rule for choice of law in on-line defamation cases, that being to apply the law of the place of greatest harm.


Abstract This article investigates the relationship between urban gardening and planning by building upon the results of field research on gardening initiatives in the city of Rome, Italy. The work is aimed at suggesting that, while often associated in geography and planning literature with urban informality practices (e.g. accidental city or self‐made urbanism), urban gardening actually presents the character of a distinctive form of people's interaction with urban space, here defined as "informal planning". This includes practices that are intentionally put forward by local dwellers with the intention of urban space planning and organizing public life in the absence of legal definition, guidance and funds provided by public authorities or the private sector. Urban gardening cases in Rome exemplify the emergence of informal planning and show how, by questioning the counterplanning tradition that understands urban gardening as an antagonist spatial practice opposing institutional planning, informal planning can open up collaborative possibilities. A new mode of interaction between citizens' agency and the formal planning initiatives of local administration can lead to creative solutions to address some of the problems associated with the neoliberal transformation of the city space, most notably the decrease in public space and its deterioration.


The crystal structure of synthetic damaraite, Pb 3 O 2 (OH)Cl (orthorhombic, Pmc2 1 , a = 5.8052(7), b = 6.9025(8), c = 15.141(2) A, V = 606.7(1) A 3 has been solved by direct methods and refined to R1 = 0.039. The crystal structure of synthetic mendipite, Pb 3 O 2 Cl 2 (orthorhombic, Pnma, a = 11.879(7), b = 5.808(4), c = 9.505(6) A, V = 655.8(7) A 3 ) has been refined to R1 = 0.049. Both structures are based on [O 2 Pb 3 ] double chains of edgesharing OPb 4 oxocentered tetrahedra that extend parallel to the a and b axes in damaraite and mendipite, respectively. In mendipite, the chains occur in two mutually perpendicular orientations, whereas, in damaraite, the chains occur in two orientations inclined to each other by ∼50°. In mendipite, the chains are linked through weak Pb-Cl bonds only, whereas, in damaraite, the [O 2 Pb 3 ] chains are linked through OH(3) groups to form an [Pb 3 O 2 ](OH) sheet that is parallel to (010). Additional OH(4) groups in damaraite are attached to the [O 2 Pb 3 ] double chains. The OH groups in damaraite form two short (OH)-Pb bonds that results in (OH)Pb 2 dimers. It is shown that (consistent with previous studies) OH − -Cl − substitution is likely to occur in damaraite and possible structural schemes for this substitution are outlined. Both mendipite and damaraite are members of the structural family of minerals and synthetic compounds that are based upon [O 2 Pb 3 ] double chains of (OPb 4 ) oxocentered tetrahedra.


This paper presents two experimental findings pertaining to the semantics and pragmatics of superlative modifiers ("at least", "at most"). First, in a scenario with N objects of a given type, speakers consistently judge it true that there are 'at least N' and 'at most N' objects of that type. This supports the debated position that the ignorance conveyed by superlative modifiers is an implicature, not an entailment, and contrasts with results obtained using an inference-judgment paradigm, suggesting that truth-value judgment tasks are impervious to certain pragmatic infelicities that inference-judgment tasks are sensitive to. The second finding is not predicted by any previous theory: In a scenario with N objects, it is not consistently judged true that there are 'at most N + 1' objects, even though it is consistently judged true that there are 'at least N − 1' objects. To explain this, we propose a novel pragmatic principle requiring that the scenario depicted by a sentence must be considered possible by the speaker (the Maxim of Depictive Sincerity). Put together, the two findings show that truth-value judgment tasks are impervious to some aspects of pragmatics, but not all.


Effective wire bending techniques that are customized to each individual patient make orthodontic treatment more efficient and can reduce treatment time. In lieu of overly complicated wire bending, the author of this manual promotes precise, intuitive bending and presents the proven methods that work with any biologically compatible wire. The essential components and techniques of customized wire bending are detailed step-by-step, including trimming of casts; selection and proper manipulation of pliers; the first-order bends (in or out), second-order bends (up or down), and third-order bends (torque); and optimal methods of adjustment to be used during orthodontic treatment. In addition, the author elucidates the "fourth-order bend," which is the understanding of how to use a wire effectively to apply orthodontic force to a patient over time. Technical images and case presentations illustrate each step of the process to ensure maximum comprehension. A must-have guide for orthodontic residents and practitioners alike.


Berries contain significant amounts of phytochemicals, including polyphenols, which are reported to reduce cancer risk, coronary heart disease and other degenerative diseases. These effects are mainly attributed to the antioxidant capacity of polyphenols found in berries. Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) berries are used in folk medicine but seldom eaten as fresh fruits. Their phenolic profile and antioxidant capacity reveal a high potential, but they are not well characterized as a "health promoting food". The aim of this study was to assess the antioxidant properties of the edible strawberry tree fruit in vitro and in a neurodegeneration cell model. Raspberry (Rubus idaeus), a well documented health-promoting fruit, was used as a control for comparison purposes. A. unedo yielded a similar content in polyphenols and a slightly lower value of total antioxidant capacity in comparison to R. idaeus. Although the chemically-measured antioxidant activity was similar between both fruits, R. idaeus increased neuroblastoma survival in a neurodegeneration cell model by 36.6% whereas A. unedo extracts caused no effect on neuroblastoma viability. These results clearly demonstrate that a promising level of chemically-determined antioxidant activity of a plant extract is not necessarily correlated with biological significance, as assessed by the effect of A. unedo fruit in a neurodegeneration cell model.


A literature study was carried out to determine what is currently known about the contamination of irrigation water with plant-parasitic nematodes, and what control measures are currently available. Contamination sources of irrigation water with plant-parasitic nematodes were investigated, including wells, boreholes, collected rainwater, ponds, lakes, dams, rivers, municipal water, runoff water, irrigation canals and drainage water in soilless culture. Only when the origin of irrigation water was a capped borehole was the risk of contamination with plant-parasitic nematodes low. The plantparasitic nematodes of economic importance to grapevine reported to be found in irrigation water were Meloidogyne spp., Xiphinema spp., Tylenchulus semipenetrans, Trichodorus sp., Criconemoides xenoplax and Pratylenchus spp. The different sampling techniques used for the detection and monitoring of plant-parasitic nematodes and the sampling time and location are listed. The survival and infection potential reported for each species of plant-parasitic nematode found in irrigation water was noted. Serious nematode parasites of grapevines, such as Meloidogyne javanica, can survive for 16 to 32 days, M. incognita, for up to 14 days, Pratylenchus, for up to 70 days, T. semipenetrans, for up to 128 days, and X. index, for up to 13 days in irrigation water. All reported techniques used for the management of nematodes in irrigation water are listed and possible future research into the control of plant-parasitic nematodes in irrigation water is discussed. From this review, substantial evidence was obtained of the danger of introducing plant-parasitic nematodes to grapevine production sites by means of irrigation water.


A total of 261 digits affected in 100 patients of chronic paronychia were studied for clinical features. The bacteriological and mycological flora have been examined in 25 cases of the above 100 cases which were most severely affected. Aerobic bacteria were found in all cases. Staphylococcus aureus was seen in 60 percent. Klebsiella in 16 percent, Escherichia coli in 12 percent, Pseudomonas aeruginosa in 12 percent, Proteus mirabillis in 8 percent, Staphylococcus epidermidis in 4 percent and Streptococcus viridans in 4 percent. Culture for fungus revealed Candida albicans in 64 percent and other species such as C. krusei, C. stellatoides, C. viswanathi, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis were present in 1 case each. No fungus was detected in 4 cases(16percent). The present investigation was designed to compare the bacterial and mycotic flora of the nail folds of patients of chronic paronychia with that of western countries.


A disease is non-communicable when it is not transferred from one person to another. Typical examples include all types of cancer, diabetes, stroke, or allergies, as well as mental diseases. Non-communicable diseases have at least two things in common—environmental impact and chronicity. These diseases are often associated with reduced quality of life, a higher rate of premature deaths, and negative impacts on a countries' economy due to healthcare costs and missing work force. Additionally, they affect the individual's immune system, which increases susceptibility toward communicable diseases, such as the flu or other viral and bacterial infections. Thus, mitigating the effects of non-communicable diseases is one of the most pressing issues of modern medicine, healthcare, and governments in general. Apart from the predisposition toward such diseases (the genome), their occurrence is associated with environmental parameters that people are exposed to (the exposome). Exposure to stressors such as bad air or water quality, noise, extreme heat, or an overall unnatural surrounding all impact the susceptibility to non-communicable diseases. In the identification of such environmental parameters, geoinformation products derived from Earth Observation data acquired by satellites play an increasingly important role. In this paper, we present a review on the joint use of Earth Observation data and public health data for research on non-communicable diseases. We analyzed 146 articles from peer-reviewed journals (Impact Factor ≥ 2) from all over the world that included Earth Observation data and public health data for their assessments. Our results show that this field of synergistic geohealth analyses is still relatively young, with most studies published within the last five years and within national boundaries. While the contribution of Earth Observation, and especially remote sensing-derived geoinformation products on land surface dynamics is on the rise, there is still a huge potential for transdisciplinary integration into studies. We see the necessity for future research and advocate for the increased incorporation of thematically profound remote sensing products with high spatial and temporal resolution into the mapping of exposomes and thus the vulnerability and resilience assessment of a population regarding non-communicable diseases.


This paper compares water resource policies and management practices in China and Denmark. It takes two vulnerable water ecosystems as case studies: Baiyangdian wetland in China and Mariager fjord in Denmark. Based on the theories of the commons, this article explores the similarities and differences between the two ecosystems in terms of ecosystem characteristics, historical and cultural backgrounds of these societies, the technologies affecting the ecosystems and also how the ecosystems have been seen at different times as well as the existence of property rights through time. Both water bodies have experienced drastic and devastating impacts from human activities. The analysis shows both in Denmark and China, it can be expected that goals, once they are decided, will be implemented. But, in reality, it seems that this will be much easier to accomplish in Denmark than in China, probably due to the complicated administrative structure in China and clearer goals and better resources in Denmark. Denmark has also accomplished a large degree of environmental policy integration (EPI), which is not the case in China. But China has recently put environmental concerns high on the agenda, giving priority to environmental concerns, even highlighting sustainability as a future developmental goal. Denmark has also established a much more effective regulation of the different sectors contributing to the pollution of the ecosystems than China has.


This manuscript got started when one of us (G.H.M.) presented a lecture at the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications at the University of Minnesota. The presentation included a photograph of Rayleigh and made frequent mention of the Ohnesorge number. When the other of us (M.R.) enquired about a picture of Ohnesorge, we found out that none were readily available on the web. Indeed, little about Ohnesorge is available from easily accessible public sources. A good part of the reason is certainly that, unlike other "numbermen" of fluid mechanics, Ohnesorge did not pursue an academic career. The purpose of this article is to fill the gap and shed some light on the life of Wolfgang von Ohnesorge. We shall discuss the highlights of his biography, his scientific contributions, their physical significance, and their impact today.


Introduction to Econometrics provides students with clear and simple mathematics notation and step-by-step explanations of mathematical proofs, to give them a thorough understanding of the subject. Extensive exercises throughout build confidence by encouraging students to apply econometric techniques. Retaining its student-friendly approach, Introduction to Econometrics has a comprehensive revision guide to all the essential statistical concepts needed to study econometrics, additional Monte Carlo simulations, new summaries, and non-technical introductions to more advanced topics at the end of chapters. This book is supported by an Online Resource Centre, which includes: For lecturers: DT Instructor's manual for the text and data sets, detailing the exercises and their solutions. DT Customizable PowerPoint slides. For students: DT Data sets referred to in the book. DT A comprehensive study guide offers students the opportunity to gain experience with econometrics through practice with exercises. DT Software manual. DT PowerPoint slides with explanations.


The problem facing the Cuban Revolution after 1959 was how to increase productive capacity and labour productivity, in conditions of underdevelopment and in transition to socialism, without relying on capitalist mechanisms that would undermine the formation of new consciousness and social relations integral to communism. Locating Guevara's economic analysis at the heart of the research, the thesis examines policies and development strategies formulated to meet this challenge, thereby refuting the mainstream view that his emphasis on consciousness was idealist. Rather, it was intrinsic and instrumental to the economic philosophy and strategy for social change advocated. Analysing the evolution, impact and institutionalisation of his ideas, this thesis fills several gaps in the history of economic thought, Cuban economic history and the literature on Guevara. Highlighting his study of Marx's Capital, recourse to the technological and managerial advances of capitalist corporations and critique of Soviet political economy, the research offers a stimulating new contribution to the field of socialist theory. It examines the organisational structures and control mechanisms Guevara created, demonstrating how they link to his Marxist formation. It provides the first record of Guevara's role in several critical areas: promoting education and training; establishing accounting, investment and supervision systems; forging workers' participation in management; founding research and development institutions; formulating policies to raise consciousness and integrating psychology as an economic management tool. The research is based on new archival and interview sources. The thesis concludes that Ernesto 'Che' Guevara made an indispensable contribution to socialist political economy and played a vital role in industrial organisation and economic development in Cuba. It connects these two contributions, demonstrating how Guevara's analysis of the law of value was integral to the economic management system he created as Minister of Industries.


We explore the dynamic evolution of property rights regimes in R&D alliances using the incomplete contract approach pioneered by Grossman, Hart and Moore (Hart and Moore, Journal of Political Economy (1990), and Grossman and Hart, Journal of Political Economy (1986)). In contrast to the standard analysis, the productive asset is an excludable public good such as a patent. Moreover, both firms can decide whether to disclose their know-how and invest effort. Know-how that has once been released cannot be concealed later. We characterize different scenarios in which the optimal ownership structure may change over time due to a trade-off between inducing know-how disclosure and ensuring maximum effort.


ABSTRACT Treatment of hepatitis C patients with direct-acting antiviral drugs involves the combination of multiple small-molecule inhibitors of distinctive mechanisms of action. ACH-806 (or GS-9132) is a novel, small-molecule inhibitor specific for hepatitis C virus (HCV). It inhibits viral RNA replication in HCV replicon cells and was active in genotype 1 HCV-infected patients in a proof-of-concept clinical trial (1). Here, we describe a potential mechanism of action (MoA) wherein ACH-806 alters viral replication complex (RC) composition and function. We found that ACH-806 did not affect HCV polyprotein translation and processing, the early events of the formation of HCV RC. Instead, ACH-806 triggered the formation of a homodimeric form of NS4A with a size of 14 kDa (p14) both in replicon cells and in Huh-7 cells where NS4A was expressed alone. p14 production was negatively regulated by NS3, and its appearance in turn was associated with reductions in NS3 and, especially, NS4A content in RCs due to their accelerated degradation. A previously described resistance substitution near the N terminus of NS3, where NS3 interacts with NS4A, attenuated the reduction of NS3 and NS4A conferred by ACH-806 treatment. Taken together, we show that the compositional changes in viral RCs are associated with the antiviral activity of ACH-806. Small molecules, including ACH-806, with this novel MoA hold promise for further development and provide unique tools for clarifying the functions of NS4A in HCV replication.


Background and Purpose The relative frequency of computed tomographic evidence of old cerebral infarctions without prior history of stroke, and their effect on short- and long-term outcome of patients with first-ever ischemic stroke, are currently unknown. Silent infarctions may relate to specific risk factors and may influence the rate of survival free of handicap. Methods We studied the prevalence of such lesions in patients registered with SEPIVAC, a community-based survey of stroke incidence and outcome in the Sixth Local Health Unit of Umbria, Italy. Of 375 first-ever strokes, 209 patients with cerebral infarction (computed tomogram done within 30 days after the stroke) were included in this study. Computed tomograms were reviewed blindly, and cases were classified as having a single lesion or multiple lesions; in the latter case, it was assumed that at least one silent brain infarction was present. The two groups were compared in terms of risk factors and outcome. To avoid a selection bias, these patients were also compared with 68 patients who were not submitted to computed tomography but were judged on clinical grounds to have a >90% probability of having suffered a cerebral infarction. Results Risk factors and outcome did not differ between patients without and with a computed tomogram. In the latter group, 80 patients (38.3%; 95% confidence interval, 31.7%-44.9%) had silent brain infarction. Male sex (odds ratio, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1-3.4), ischemic changes on an electrocardiogram (odds ratio, 2.5; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-4.9), and –in the multivariate analysis – hypertension (odds ratio, 1.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-2) were significantly more frequent in these patients. Outcome at 1, 6, and 12 months was not influenced by the presence of silent infarctions. Conclusions This community-based study shows that silent brain infarctions in patients with first-ever stroke are not significantly related to risk factors commonly described in hospital-based series (atrial fibrillation, transient ischemic attack, etc.); rather, silent infarctions seem to be a marker of widespread vascular disease.


Inflation persists at moderate rates of 15-30 percent in all the countries that successfully reduced triple digit inflations in the 1980s. Several other countries, for example Colombia, have experienced moderate inflation for prolonged periods. In this paper we first set out theories of persistent inflation, which can be classified into those emphasizing seigniorage as a source of government finance and those that emphasize the costs of ending inflation. We then examine the sources and persistence of moderate inflation episodes. Most were triggered by commodity price shocks; they were brief; and very few ended in higher inflation. We then present case studies of eight countries, including three that now suffer from moderate inflation, and four that successfully moved down to single digit inflation rates. We examine the roles of seigniorage, indexation and disindexation, the exchange rate commitment, and monetary and fiscal policy. The evidence suggests that seigniorage plays at most a modest role in the persistence of moderate inflations, and that such inflations can be reduced only at a substantial short-term cost to growth.


The wide-spread adoption of merger regulations all around the globe raises the question of whether there is a one-size-fits-all merger policy, or whether some jurisdictions' economic characteristics affect their ability to effectively apply a merger policy in a way which requires some fine-tuning. This question, which generates interesting scholarly and practical debates, is addressed in this paper, focusing on small and on micro jurisdictions. The latter, in particular, bring some of the tradeoffs involved in the design of merger policy to an extreme and provide an interesting and under-explored case study.Two forces push and pull merger policy. On the one hand, the "follower push" whereby jurisdictions-mostly small, developing or young-benefit from transplanting and following the laws of large, developed jurisdictions with efficient and effective merger regimes. The follower push is often comprised of both internal and external forces. On the other hand, the "unique characteristics pull" whereby the characteristics of a jurisdiction affect its ability to effectively enforce a transplanted law and pull towards adopting a merger policy that best fits its characteristics. Designing a merger law mandates each jurisdiction to find its optimal balance between these two forces and may vary from one jurisdiction to another, depending, inter alia, on the jurisdiction's trade ties and the effectiveness of its enforcement system. Yet these forces do not necessarily lead in different directions; Rather, many parts of a merger regime may fit both the follower and the followed jurisdictions (e.g., adopting a Significant Lessening of Competition test as a benchmark for merger illegality). The challenge is to identify those instances in which the unique characteristics pull leads in a different direction and is stronger than the follower push and to design rules accordingly.Chapter I briefly explores the two forces noted above. The following chapters focus on the "unique characteristics pull." Chapter II introduces the methodology. Chapter III then explores the effects of the unique characteristics of small size on merger policy. This paper attempts to carry the analysis one step further than that previously performed by the author by proposing a methodological framework to assist in the analysis and by focusing on aspects not previously explored. Chapter IV performs such an analysis for micro economies, a subject which so far has been largely neglected in the literature. Of course, dealing with all aspects of merger policy in such jurisdictions is beyond the scope of a short paper, but some relevant observations and suggestions are offered, based on theoretical observations as well as real-world examples.


Local invariant features have been widely used as fundamental elements for image matching and object recognition. Although dense sampling of local features is useful in achieving an improved performance in image matching and object recognition, it results in increased computational costs for feature extraction. The purpose of this paper is to develop fast computational techniques for extracting local invariant features through the use of a graphics processing unit (GPU). In particular, we consider an algorithm that uses multiresolutional orientation maps to calculate local descriptors consisting of the histograms of gradient orientations. By using multiresolutional orientation maps and applying Gaussian filters to them, we can obtain voting values for the histograms for all the pixels in a scale space pyramid. We point out that the use of orientation maps has two advantages in GPU computing. First, it improves the efficiency of parallel computing by reducing the number of memory access conflicts in the overlaps among local regions, and secondly it utilizes a fast implementation of Gaussian filters that permits the use of shared memory for the many convolution operations required for orientation maps. We conclude with experimental results that demonstrate the usefulness of multiresolutional orientation maps for fast feature extraction.


Part 1 What is a geographic information system?: geographical information systems - an overview, Duane F.Marble geographical information systems - a new frontier, Roger F.Tomlinson a classification of software components commonly used in geographical information systems, Jack Dangermond GIS versus CAD versus DBMS - what are the differences?, David J. Cowen. Part 2 Examples of practical applications: MAGI - a state-level grid cell system, State of Maryland ARC/INFO - a modern GIS, Environmental Systems Research Institute technical description of the DIME system, US Bureau of the Census prinicpal components of the census bureau's TIGER file, Joel Sobel the Tiger system - automating the geographical structure of the United States, Robert W.Marx current and potential uses of geographical information systems - the north American experience, Roger F.Tomlinson an experiment in land-use allocation with a geographical information system, C.Dana Tomlin and Kevin M.Johnston Integration Of Geological Datasets For Gold Exploration In Nova Scotia, G.F.Bonham-Carter, F.P.Agterberg and D.F.Wright modeling community vulnerability to hazardous materials using geographical information systems, Robert B.McMaster representing and applying knowledge about spatial processes in environmental management, J.R.Davis, P.Whingham, and I.W.Grant. Part 3 Operations and problems of building a database: creating large digital files from mapped data, Hugh W.Calkins manual digitizing systems, E.Alan Cameron interaction between the cartographic document and the digitizing process, Donna J.Peuquet and A.Raymond Boyle a review of digital data commonly available and some of the practical problems of entering them into a GIS, Jack Dangermond efficient digitizing through the combination of appropriate hardware and software for error detection and editing, Nicholas R.Chrisman. Part 4 GIS internals - data representation and analysis techniques: spatial data models - a conceptual framework and comprehensive review, Donna J.Peuquet historical data as an explicit component of land information systems, Ric Vrana it makes me so CROSS, David Douglas the accuracy of map overlays - a reassessment, Nicholas R.Chrisman. Part 5 Design and evaluation of GIS: establishing a geographical information system in relation to its use, a process of strategic choices, W.H.Erik DeMan a conceptual model of the manual digitizing process, Duane F.Marble, Jean P.Lauzon and Matthew McGranaghan performance eval and work-load estimation for GIS, Michael Goodchild and Brian R.Rizzo liability for information, Earl F.Epstein and Howard Roitman.


Although investment in IT is growing rapidly, a number of studies have shown that the full benefits of this technology are not realised. One explanation is that these benefits exist, but have not been correctly measured. The other explanation is that they have not been achieved because of lack of management attention. Experience and common sense supports the latter assumption. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop and to trial a method which assists in the realisation of the benefits of a particularly problematic technology, executive information systems (EIS).The proposed method introduces the concept of generic benefits models into previous research on IT benefits management. This construct improves existing methods of benefits management in three respects. First, it employs reuse of benefits models in order to speed their development. Secondly, it allows these methods to be employed at any stage of a project, not just at the outset, in order to extract benefits. Thirdly, it provides a conceptual object which serves as the focus of organisational learning. The major focus of the research is on the development of generic benefits models of EIS. This requires an understanding of the role which information plays in executive work and how EIS technology may affect the manner in which executives use information. Unfortunately, the literature on executive work does not make this clear. Moreover, it seems that there is no agreed definition of EIS. As a result, it is necessary to create different generic models for different theories of executive work and different forms of EIS. The methodological approach adopted is pragmatism, in particular the experimentalism proposed by John Dewey and implemented by Donald Schon. The justification for this is that the primary objective of the study is to demonstrate the utility of the proposed method rather than its ability to explain, predict, or provide insight. The study includes six experiments conducted within the office of the Malaysian Prime Minister. Different types of EIS, with different degrees of benefits already realised, and at different stages of development are the subjects of these experiments. The results largely affirm the proposed method, but they do suggest some refinement of the original benefits models. They also indicate simplification of the models is possible. In addition the executives who participated in these experiments favour the proposed method. However, the IS practitioners in the organisation are less enthusiastic. The study proposes a solution to this problem which includes both changes to organisational structure and to the education of IS practitioners. The research also produced a number of supplementary findings. It reaffirmed the findings of Mintzberg's study of executive work. It demonstrated once again that executives rarely use EIS directly and that they mostly depended on subordinates to access information. When executives do employ EIS themselves, they are more likely to use it to enhance their learning than to support decision-making.


The origin of low-angle normal faults or detachment faults mantling metamorphic core complexes in the southwestern United States remains controversial. If [sigma][sub 1] is vertical during extension, the formation of, or even slip along, such low-angle normal faults is mechanically implausible. No records exist of earthquakes on low-angle normal faults in areas currently undergoing continental extension, except from an area of actively forming core complexes in the Solomon Sea, Papua New Guinea. In light of such geophysical and mechanical arguments, W.R. Buck and B. Wernicke and G.J. Axen proposed models in which detachment faults originate as high-angle normal faults, but rotate to low angles and become inactive as extension proceeds. These models are inconsistent with critical field relations in several core complexes. The Rawhide fault, an areally extensive detachment fault in western Arizona, propagated at close to its present subhorizontal orientation late in the Tertiary extension of the region. Neither the Wernicke and Axen nor Buck models predict such behavior; in fact, both models preclude the operation of low-angle normal faults. The authors recommend that alternative explanations or modifications of existing models are needed to explain the evidence that detachment faults form and operate with gentle dips.


BACKGROUND
Despite the enormous burden of alcohol-related injuries, the direct connection between college drinking and physical injury has not been well understood. The goal of this study was to assess the connection between alcohol consumption levels and college alcohol-related injury risk.

METHODS
A total of 12,900 college students seeking routine care in 5 college health clinics completed a general Health Screening Survey. Of these, 2,090 students exceeded at-risk alcohol use levels and participated in a face-to-face interview to determine eligibility for a brief alcohol intervention trial. The eligibility interview assessed past 28-day alcohol use and alcohol-related injuries in the past 6 months. Risk of alcohol-related injury was compared across daily drinking quantities and frequencies. Logistic regression analysis and the Bayesian Information Criterion were applied to compute the odds of alcohol-related injury based on daily drinking totals after adjusting for age, race, site, body weight, and sensation seeking.

RESULTS
Male college students in the study were 19% more likely (95% CI: 1.12-1.26) to suffer an alcohol-related injury with each additional day of consuming 8 or more drinks. Injury risks among males increased marginally with each day of consuming 5 to 7 drinks (odds ratio = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.94-1.13). Female participants were 10% more likely (95% CI: 1.04-1.16) to suffer an alcohol-related injury with each additional day of drinking 5 or more drinks. Males (OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.14-2.50) and females (OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.27-2.57) with higher sensation-seeking scores were more likely to suffer alcohol-related injuries.

CONCLUSIONS
College health clinics may want to focus limited alcohol injury prevention resources on students who frequently engage in extreme drinking, defined in this study as 8+M/5+F drinks per day, and score high on sensation-seeking disposition.


This thesis addresses the synthesis of organic compounds, some of them are derivatives of compounds with DNA binding properties, for potential use in targeted nuclide therapy. The compounds synthesized therefore also need to contain potent nuclides. Here the nuclides considered are the radionuclide 125I, and the stable isotope 10B, which becomes radioactive upon neutron activation. 125I is an Auger-electron emitter, which emits particles that can travel only about 1-2 µm through human tissue and hence has to be delivered to the cancer cell nucleus to cause DNA damage. Neutron activated 10B emits highly cell killing α-particles and 7Li3+ ions, the application of which in Boron Nuclide Capture Therapy (BNCT) has proven very promising. The thesis can be divided into three parts: i) A nido-carborate, 7-(3´-ammoniopropyl)-7,8-dicarba-nido-undecaborate(-1), has been synthesized and radioiodinated for use as a pendant group for attachment of 125I to tumor-seeking macromolecules. Radiolabeling was achieved in greater than 95% yield. ii) Both enantiomers of m-carboranylalanine, a carborane analogue of phenylalanine, have been prepared in high enantiomeric excess, and are of potential interest in BNCT. The synthesis involved amination of the N-acyl derivative formed from [3-(1,7-dicarba-closo-dodecarborane(12)-1-yl)-2-propanoic acid and Oppolzer's camphor sultam. iii) Derivatives of the DNA intercalating compounds 9-aminoacridine, daunorubicin and doxorubicin have been synthesized and labeled with 125I. The 9-aminoacridines were synthesised with a variety of functional groups such as carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl. The anthracylines daunorubicin and doxorubicin are efficient chemotherapeutic agents; the synthesis routes of ester, amide and amine derivatives of these compounds are presented. The Chloramine T method was used for the radioiodinations, and the radioiodination precursors of both the acridine and the anthracycline derivatives, were made to contain either a trimethylstannyl group or a phenolic substituent. In the former case the trimethylstannyl group was replaced by 125I, and in the latter case, the compounds were radiolabeled directly at the o- position to the phenolic hydroxyl group. Both methods gave high radiolabeling yields.


Non-traditional retailers such as warehouse club stores, discount drug stores, and discount mass merchandisers are new competitors for traditional food retailers. It is expected that non-traditional retailers will account for roughly 14 percent of total grocery sales by the turn of the century. The impact of a particular discount mass merchandiser (Wal-Mart) on the sales of a conventional retail grocery outlet (David's Supermarket, Inc.) located in the rural areas surrounding the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex is analyzed. In this case study, Wal-Mart alone is responsible for about a 21 percent reduction in sales.


The present study was employed A High Performance Liquid Chromatographic method coupled to a Diode-Array-Detector (HPLC-DAD) to identify the dyestuff in dyed wool samples collected from a rare tunic from the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Results indicated that mixtures of organic dyes were used in dying these samples to produce different colours and the most dominant dyes in the samples were madder and indigo. Based on this investigation, it was concluded that the tested dyed samples belong to the 6-7th century which is in agreement with initial dating of samples according to the style of the decoration.


The Kaap Valley pluton is one of several early Archean (3200-3500 Ma) tonalitetrondhjemite plutons that surround the Barberton Greenstone belt, southern Africa. Precise dating using single-grain 207 Pb/ 206 Pb evaporation of zircon and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar laser step-heating of hornblende and biotite indicates that, in its interior, the Kaap Valley pluton preserves a memory of its initial intrusion and cooling, which spanned a time from 3225 to 3142 Ma. The pluton also records the effect of a low-temperature thermal event at its margin as seen by a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite age of 3035 Ma, which is perhaps related to hydrothermal activity and gold mineralization in the adjacent Barberton Greenstone belt. These pre-3000 Ma ages are not in agreement with results of dating studies from sedimentary rocks in the Barberton Greenstone belt and plutons south of the belt which show evidence of having been overprinted by late Archean events (2650-2700 Ma), and the Bushveld Complex intrusion (2050 Ma). These events have been interpreted as affecting most of the Kaapvaal craton. That the Kaap Valley pluton has escaped these and all other events since 3035 Ma with temperatures never reaching 250 °C implies that these large-scale events did not affect the entire craton and the overprinting seen elsewhere is of a more local nature. Thus, it is possible to determine the intrusive and cooling history of the pluton; these data can be used in developing models of heat flow, paleomagnetic remanence acquisition, and deformation events.


A high sensitivity refractive index sensor based on a single mode-small diameter no core fiber structure is proposed. In this structure, a small diameter no core fiber (SDNCF) used as a sensor probe, was fusion spliced to the end face of a traditional single mode fiber (SMF) and the end face of the SDNCF was coated with a thin film of gold to provide reflective light. The influence of SDNCF diameter and length on the refractive index sensitivity of the sensor has been investigated by both simulations and experiments, where results show that the diameter of SDNCF has significant influence. However, SDNCF length has limited influence on the sensitivity. Experimental results show that a sensitivity of 327 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) has been achieved for refractive indices ranging from 1.33 to 1.38, which agrees well with the simulated results with a sensitivity of 349.5 nm/RIU at refractive indices ranging from 1.33 to 1.38.


An authoritative, deeply researched biography of the most controversial and outspoken Supreme Court justice of our time and how he chose to be right rather than influential. Antonin Scalia knew only success in the first fifty years of his life. His sterling academic and legal credentials led to his nomination by President Ronald Reagan to the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in 1982. In four short years there, he successfully outmaneuvered the more senior Robert Bork to be appointed to the Supreme Court in 1986. Scalia s evident legal brilliance and personal magnetism led everyone to predict he would unite a new conservative majority under Chief Justice William Rehnquist and change American law in the process. Instead he became a Court of One. Rather than bringing the conservatives together, Scalia drove them apart. He attacked and alienated his more moderate colleagues Sandra Day O Connor, then David Souter, and finally Anthony Kennedy. Scalia prevented the conservative majority from coalescing for nearly two decades. "Scalia: A Court of One" is the compelling story of one of the most polarizing figures ever to serve on the nation s highest court. It provides an insightful analysis of Scalia s role on a Court that, like him, has moved well to the political right, losing public support and ignoring public criticism. To the delight of his substantial conservative following, Scalia s originalism theory has become the litmus test for analyzing, if not always deciding, cases. But Bruce Allen Murphy shows that Scalia s judicial conservatism is informed as much by his highly traditional Catholicism, mixed with his political partisanship, as by his reading of the Constitution. Murphy also brilliantly analyzes Scalia s role in major court decisions since the mid-1980s and scrutinizes the ethical controversies that have dogged Scalia in recent years. "A Court of One" is a fascinating examination of one outspoken justice s decision not to play internal Court politics, leaving him frequently in dissent, but instead to play for history, seeking to etch his originalism philosophy into American law."


"Discovering the Kinetic Language of Violence on the Early Modern Stage" addresses the concern that scholars of early modern literature do not frequently historicize sword combat in their analyses of moments of violence. This project seeks to demonstrate the fruitful areas of inquiry that wait to be discovered. In this project, I theorize sword combat as a conversation, employing a variety of other theoretical frameworks to explain the various ways that swords influence our understanding of embodiment. I describe the conversational model of combat as the "kinetic language of violence," and I locate this conversation in the movements of swordsmen and the historical valences of their weapon choices. I begin my analysis with a focus on the falchion, a brutal medieval sword that had almost disappeared by the early modern period. Here, I argue that the sword is a "fecund arm" that bridges the gap between the body and the social self. I employ this construction to analyze the representation of disability in Shakespeare's history plays. The second chapter examines the way that the ballock dagger, which has a phallic hilt, negotiates gender in Macbeth, The Maid's Tragedy, and Merchant of Venice. The third chapter understands race as a prosthetic notion that can be troubled and naturalized through swords such as the curtle-ax and the scimitar. I focus on constructions of race in Tamburlaine I & II, Titus Andronicus, and Othello. Finally, I examine the extremely popular rapier in Romeo and Juliet, The Little French Lawyer, Othello, and The Roaring Girl to explain how the rapier renegotiates the line between the body and the social self.


By synthesizing stock-flow consistent models, input–output models, and aspects of ecological macroeconomics, a method is developed to simultaneously model monetary flows through the financial system, flows of produced goods and services through the real economy, and flows of physical materials through the natural environment. This paper highlights the linkages between the physical environment and the economic system by emphasizing the role of the energy industry. A conceptual model is developed in general form with an arbitrary number of sectors, while emphasizing connections with the agent-based, econophysics, and complexity economics literature. First, we use the model to challenge claims that 0% interest rates are a necessary condition for a stationary economy and conduct a stability analysis within the parameter space of interest rates and consumption parameters of an economy in stock-flow equilibrium. Second, we analyze the role of energy price shocks in contributing to recessions, incorporating several propagation and amplification mechanisms. Third, implied heat emissions from energy conversion and the effect of anthropogenic heat flux on climate change are considered in light of a minimal single-layer atmosphere climate model, although the model is only implicitly, not explicitly, linked to the economic model.