DBA/2FG-pcy/pcy (D2-pcy) mice are a hereditary murine model of slowly progressive polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and characterized by the persistent excretion of acidic urine, in association with polyuria, after weaning. In this study, the activity of carbonic anhydrase (CA) and it histological distribution in the kidney of D2-pcy mice were investigated by immunohistochemistry. Significantly higher CA activity was detected in the cytosolic, but not membrane, fraction of kidney homogenates in 5-week-old D2-pcy mice than in age-matched, control DBA/2 (D2) mice, and a more rapid rate of urine acidification was noted in 11-week-old mice when acetazolamide, an inhibitor of the enzyme, was administered orally. By immunohistochemistry for the major renal CA isoenzyme (CA II), epithelial cells in the distal straight tubules and the cortical collecting ducts were stained intensely, whereas those of the proximal convoluted tubules had only weak and diffuse staining. The glomeruli, the proximal straight tubules and the ascending thin limb of Henle's loop were almost free from staining. In the cells lining cysts and/or dilated tubules, CA II activity was well preserved, although the staining intensity was considerably reduced in fully-flattened, lining cells of cysts, but no difference was found between D2-pcy and D2 mice in any segmental localization of renal CA II activity. From these results it seems that D2-pcy mice in the early stages of the cystic disease continue to secrete excess protons through the CA-mediated reaction that is stimulated for regulation of acid-base balance in the distal portion of the nephron and the collecting duct in kidney. It also suggests that monitoring urine pH may be useful in predicting the effects of early interventions on the progression of slowly developing renal cysts.


In this book J.E.R. Staddon proposes an explanation of behavior that lies between cognitive psychology, which seeks to explain it in terms of mentalistic constructs, and cognitive neuroscience, which tries to explain it in terms of the brain. Staddon suggests a new way to understand the laws and causes of learning, based on the invention, comparison, testing, and modification or rejection of parsimonious real-time models for behavior. The models are neither physiological nor cognitive: they are behavioristic. Staddon shows how simple dynamic models can explain a surprising variety of animal and human behavior, ranging from simple orientation, reflexes, and habituation through feeding regulation, operant conditioning, spatial navigation, stimulus generalization, and interval timing.


On September 16, 2008, President Rodriguez Zapatero recognized the severity of Spain's macroeconomic situation and clearly pointed to the culprit in front of the Spanish Congress: "Let nobody doubt it; there is already a wide consensus about the origin of the crisis: [It is] in the U.S. and its subprime mortgages." During the last eight years, Spain had gone through a phenomenal expansion that has had many important ingredients: immigration, housing boom, banking and financial market regulation, current account deficit and productivity growth. This case analyzes how they interacted during the period 2000-2007 and what drove the Spanish recession in 2008.


Introduction: Lumbar disc disease comprises of a heavy portion of the workload in spinal as well as general orthopaedic clinic. It is well accepted that nerve root tension signs such as straight leg raise (SLR) & Lasegue's test are sensitive at diagnosing nerve root impingement secondary to lumbar disc degeneration. In isolation, however, they lack specificity & have a poor positive predictive value (PPV). This can lead to uncertainty in clinical diagnosis. Our study proves that a structured approach to clinical examination with cumulative nerve root tension signs (RTS) significantly increases the tests' specificity and PPV, therefore giving clinicians more confidence in their diagnosis. Methods: Prospective review of 1303 patients seen in one Orthopaedic consultant's spinal clinic from 2004 until 2008. Data was collected using a standardized proforma. Pattern of pain as well as RTS (SLR, Lasegue, bowstring and crossover) were recorded and cross-referenced with subsequent MRI findings. In our dataset a positive MRI result was one in which the demonstrated disc lesion and nerve impingement corresponded with patient symptoms. Patients included were all those presenting with lower back and/or neuropathic leg pain. Patients had to be excluded from series due to incomplete datasets & missing MRI scans. Results: N = 858. Our results showed that as we progressed from 1 RTS up to 4 RTS there was a significant increase in the PPV : 1RTS PPV = 0.333 (CI 0.25 – 0.43), 2RTS PPV = 0.78 (CI 0.69 – 0.86), 3RTS PPV 0.87 (CI 0.81 – 0.91), 4RTS PPV 0.93 (CI 0.66 – 0.99). There was also significant increases in specificity compared with 1RTS: 1RTS 0.75 (CI 0.70 – 0.8), 2RTS 0.94 (CI 0.91 – 0.96), 3RTS 0.92 (CI 0.89 – 0.95), 4RTS 0.99 (CI 0.98 – 0.99). Discussion: This study shows that combining root tension signs as part of a structured assessment leads to a significant cumulative increase in the PPV and specificity of the diagnosis of nerve root impingement. Hence proving the importance of clinical examination. This method of sequential, cumulative RTS has not previously been documented in the literature.


In the United States, both taxes and old age Social Security benefits depend on one's marital status and tend to discourage the labor supply of the secondary earner. To what extent are these provisions holding back female labor supply? We estimate a rich life cycle model of labor supply and savings for couples and singles using the method of simulated moments (MSM) on the 1945 and 1955 birth-year cohorts and use it to evaluate what would happen without these provisions. Our model matches well the life cycle profiles of labor market participation, hours, and savings for married and single people and generates plausible elasticities of labor supply. Eliminating marriage-related provisions drastically increases the participation of married women over their entire life cycle, reduces the participation of married men after age 60, and increases the savings of couples in both cohorts, including the later one, which has similar participation to that of more recent generations. If the resulting government surplus were used to lower income taxation, there would be large welfare gains for the vast majority of the population.


Gambling is a popular activity, both globally and in the UK, with the majority of adults engaging in some degree of gambling behaviour. Contemporary views of gambling behaviour, addiction and behaviour change suggest that such behaviours move along a continuum and are subject to a variety of influences. Theories such as dual processing have highlighted the effects of implicit mechanisms on changing problem behaviours.

In a longitudinal mixed methods design, a group of sixty regular gamblers were interviewed and tested at three-month intervals for up to two years. Data was gathered via semi-structured interviews, explicit self-report questionnaires (PGSI, Fallacious Beliefs, Dissociation) and implicit tasks (Gambling Stroop Task, Roulette MouseTracker Task). From the first session data levels of problem gambling (PGSI) were predicted by elements of each type of data collected (Self-reported gambling behaviours, MouseTracker and interview content analysed by LIWC2007). The same measures were analysed as potential predictors of change in PGSI (N41), but found no significant relationships. A quantitative analysis of interview data revealed measurable change in gamblers' narratives (N12) when comparing interviews from low scoring PGSI periods to interviews during high scoring PGSI periods. Further in-depth IPA analysis (N12) identified six main themes including; external influence, conflict, self-identity, organisation and change.

The findings support concepts of dual processing theory, demonstrating that a variety of methods are a stronger predictor of change than any one. Gambling behaviour as a multifaceted construct, which relies on individual self-concept alongside unconscious processes, held in place by gamblers' narratives which adhere to a modern acceptance of gambling behaviour. The resulting conflict appears to sustain problem gambling for many regular gamblers, rather than allowing them either an acceptable gambling identity or a social view that assists their cessation.

Suggested applications of the findings require an equally multi-faceted approach, exploring the psychological processes involved and helping both the individual and the society around them to develop a new narrative for gamblers.


Background. Health profession students require knowledge and skills in nutrition and physical activity for patient/client care and for their own wellness. This is generally lacking in their preprofessional didactic education. Method. Based on an environmental scan of health profession student education programs at our university and a conceptual framework based on adult learning theory and Kolb's cycle, interprofessional stakeholders developed online learning modules on nutrition and physical activity for incorporation into course curricula by health science faculties. This process included articulating goals and objectives, with an outcome of enhancing student knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs). Pilots of the modules included student KSA assessment and interviews/focus groups. Results. Designing learning modules on nutrition and physical activity for individualized implementation in different faculties was a priority. Two learning modules were developed and pilot-tested within one faculty. Pre- and posttests of student knowledge were used to assess effectiveness. Knowledge scores improved from pretest (54.7%) to posttest (68.2%, p < .001) for the module "Nutrition and Physical Activity Across the Life Cycle" but did not change significantly (pretest 76.3%, posttest 77.0%; p = .70) for the "Self-Health" module. Interviews/focus groups showed students perceived the two modules as influencing their learning of KSAs. Conclusions. This process addressed a curricular gap across health science faculties. The consensus-building design process helped focus curriculum priorities and develop a shared curriculum vision. Students demonstrated KSA learning as shown in their pre–post assessments and comments. Further module development and larger scale implementation and evaluation studies are proposed.


The Miocene Paine Granite in the Torres del Paine Intrusive Complex, southern Chile, is an extraordinary example of an upper crustal mafic and granitic intrusion. The granite intruded as a series of three sheets, each one underplating the previous sheet along the top of the basal Paine Mafic Complex. High-precision U/Pb geochronology on single zircons using isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry yields distinct ages of 12.59 ± 0.02 Ma and 12.50 ± 0.02 Ma, respectively, for the first and last sheet of the laccolith. This age relationship is consistent with field observations. The zircon ages define a time frame of 90 ± 40 k.y. for the emplacement of a >2000-m-thick granite laccolith. These precise U-Pb zircon ages permit identification of the pulses in a 20 k.y. range. The data obtained for the Paine Granite fill the gap between 100 k.y. and 100–1000 yr pulses described in the literature for crustal magma chambers.


Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are an increasingly popular technology for implementing digital signal processing (DSP) systems. By allowing designers to create circuit architectures developed for the specific applications, high levels of performance can be achieved for many DSP applications providing considerable improvements over conventional microprocessor and dedicated DSP processor solutions. The book addresses the key issue in this process specifically, the methods and tools needed for the design, optimization and implementation of DSP systems in programmable FPGA hardware. It presents a review of the leading-edge techniques in this field, analyzing advanced DSP-based design flows for both signal flow graph- (SFG-) based and dataflow-based implementation, system on chip (SoC) aspects, and future trends and challenges for FPGAs. The automation of the techniques for component architectural synthesis, computational models, and the reduction of energy consumption to help improve FPGA performance, are given in detail. Written from a system level design perspective and with a DSP focus, the authors present many practical application examples of complex DSP implementation, involving: high-performance computing e.g. matrix operations such as matrix multiplication; high-speed filtering including finite impulse response (FIR) filters and wave digital filters (WDFs); adaptive filtering e.g. recursive least squares (RLS) filtering; transforms such as the fast Fourier transform (FFT). FPGA-based Implementation of Signal Processing Systems is an important reference for practising engineers and researchers working on the design and development of DSP systems for radio, telecommunication, information, audio-visual and security applications. Senior level electrical and computer engineering graduates taking courses in signal processing or digital signal processing shall also find this volume of interest.


When faced with complex challenges or uncertain outcomes, many leaders believe that if they are smart enough, work hard enough, or turn to the best management tools, they will be able to find the right answer, predict and plan for the future, and break down tasks to produce controllable results. But what are leaders to do when this isn't the case? Rather than offering one-size-fits-all tips and tricks drawn from the realm of business as usual, Simple Habits for Complex Times provides three integral practices that enable leaders to navigate the unknown. By taking multiple perspectives, asking different questions, and seeing more of their system, leaders can better understand themselves, their roles, and the world around them. They can become more nimble, respond with agility, and guide their organizations to thrive in an ever-shifting business landscape. The more leaders use these simple habits, the more they enhance their performance and solve increasingly common, sticky business issues with greater acumen. Whether in large or small organizations, in government or the private sector, in the U.S. or overseas, leaders will turn to this book as a companion that helps them grow into the best version of themselves.


Pak1 (p21-activated kinase-1) and the dynein light chain, LC8, are overexpressed in breast cancer, and their direct interaction has been proposed to regulate tumor cell survival. These effects have been attributed in part to Pak1-mediated phosphorylation of LC8 at serine 88. However, LC8 is homodimeric, which renders Ser88 inaccessible. Moreover, Pak1 does not contain a canonical LC8 binding sequence compared with other characterized LC8 binding sequences. Together, these observations raise the question whether the Pak1/LC8 interaction is distinct (i.e. enabled by a unique interface independent of LC8 dimerization). Herein, we present results from biochemical, NMR, and crystallographic studies that show that Pak1 (residues 212-222) binds to LC8 along the same groove as canonical LC8 interaction partners (e.g. nNOS and BimL). Using LC8 point mutants K36P and T67A, we were able to differentiate Pak1 from canonical LC8 binding sequences and identify a key hydrogen bond network that compensates for the loss of the conserved glutamine in the consensus sequence. We also show that the target binding interface formed through LC8 dimerization is required to bind to Pak1 and precludes phosphorylation of LC8 at Ser88. Consistent with this observation, in vitro phosphorylation assays using activated Pak1 fail to phosphorylate LC8. Although these results define structural details of the Pak1/LC8 interaction and suggest a hierarchy of target binding affinities, they do not support the current model whereby Pak1 binds to and subsequently phosphorylates LC8 to promote anchorage-independent growth. Rather, they suggest that LC8 binding modulates Pak1 activity and/or nuclear localization.


Abstract Accessibility measures are useful for studies in Economic Geography. For example, accessibility to potential customers can be used in a study of firm behaviour. In such a study, it would be relevant to consider where potential customers live. This can be accomplished by splitting the accessibility measure into three parts: accessibility within the municipality, in other municipalities within the functional region, and in other regions. Many studies have proved this to be a very useful way to incorporate the spatial structure of the economy into economic studies. This paper deals with the issue of finding the distance-friction parameters needed to calculate such accessibility measures. There is a particular distance-friction parameter for interaction within the municipality, between municipalities within the functional region, and between regions. One way to find the distance-friction parameters is to solve a constrained gravity model, in which the functional regions are used as constraints. Both the models and the optimisation procedures in matrix form, and the Matlab programs used in the research are presented. The spatial constraints are gradually introduced into the models, which empowers the researcher to make such adjustments on their own. The data set used is available for downloading, and the reader can then try the models before creating a data set of their own.


Extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) is a Linux subsystem that allows safely executing untrusted user-defined extensions inside the kernel. It relies on static analysis to protect the kernel against buggy and malicious extensions. As the eBPF ecosystem evolves to support more complex and diverse extensions, the limitations of its current verifier, including high rate of false positives, poor scalability, and lack of support for loops, have become a major barrier for developers. We design a static analyzer for eBPF within the framework of abstract interpretation. Our choice of abstraction is based on common patterns found in many eBPF programs. We observed that eBPF programs manipulate memory in a rather disciplined way which permits analyzing them successfully with a scalable mixture of very-precise abstraction of certain bounded regions with coarser abstractions of other parts of the memory. We use the Zone domain, a simple domain that tracks differences between pairs of registers and offsets, to achieve precise and scalable analysis. We demonstrate that this abstraction is as precise in practice as more costly abstract domains like Octagon and Polyhedra. Furthermore, our evaluation, based on hundreds of real-world eBPF programs, shows that the new tool generates no more false alarms than the existing Linux verifier, while it supports a wider class of programs (including programs with loops) and has better asymptotic complexity.


The NYSE boom of the 1920s ended with the infamous crash of October 1929 and subsequent collapse in common stock prices from 1929-1932. Most approaches have suggested an overvaluation of 100%, usually dating from mid-1927 to September 1929.Excessive speculation based on high real earnings growth rates from 1921-8, amid a euphoric "new age" for the US economy, has been given as the cause. However, the 1920s witnessed the emergence of new ideas emanating from new research on the long-term returns to common stocks (Smith, 1924). The research identified a large premium on common stocks held over the long term compared to corporate bonds. This, in turn led to the formation of new investment vehicles that aimed to hold diversified stock portfolios over the long run in order to earn the large equity risk premium. Whilst such an approach was capable of earning substantial excess returns over bonds, new ideas derived from the research led to a change in stock valuations. The paper reconstructs fundamental values of NYSE stocks from long run dividend growth and stock volatility data, and demonstrates why such a change in theoretical values was unjustified. Investors switched to valuing stocks according to a new theory, which ignored the compensation for stock return volatility, which made up the Equity Risk Premium (ERP), on the assumption that "retained earnings" were the source of the observed ERP.


This paper attempts to investigate the supervision behaviour as a viable way of guiding, educating and supporting trainee teachers. 32 clinical supervision techniques were measured in terms of the degree of clinical supervisory behaviours. The respondents consisted of 102 guiding teachers from the University Technology of Malaysia who involved in 2004 school-based teaching practicum. The data yielded that guiding teachers were agreed in most of the techniques. Although there were uncertainty in several techniques it was not affected the overall agreement of the activity. This was however suggests that there was still work to be done regarding the implementation of various techniques in supervising teacher trainee. The study also indicates that teacher trainees may experience considerable variation in the quality of the supervision they received depending on the approaches that the guiding teacher's practising. Implications however, are drawn about the role of the guiding teachers in helping teacher trainees overcome their concerns associated with the early stages of professional development; setting up a comprehensive programme which includes the activities of identifying appropriate approaches, clarifying the function of the guiding teachers and strengthening the existing school – university partnership in teacher education.


Phase Shifts: Managing Chaos and Convergence in Today's Business Environment Identifying the Drivers of Organizational Performance in Your Company No Simple Shell Game: How and Why Royal Dutch Shell is Reinventing Itself at Both the Global and Local Level. (Interviews with Mac McDonald, head of Shell's Internal Transformation Team, and Errol Marshall, CEO of Shell South Africa) Only the Vigilant Survive: The SmithKline Beecham Merger Story (Interview with former SmithKline Beecham CEO Robert Bauman) We Were Profitable but Not Competitive: The Premier Bank Reengineering Story (Interview with Lee Griffin, CEO of Bank One of Louisiana) Plane Talk about Change: How Lord Colin Marshall Transformed British Airways Into a Customer-Service Powerhouse The Learning Leader: How AlliedSignal Uses Learning to Drive Business Transformation (Interviews with Fred Poses, President and CEO of AlliedSignal, and Donnee Ramelli, AlliedSignal's Vice President of Learning and Organization Development) Delivering the Future: The Changing Face of Today's Postal Service (Interview with Bill Henderson, CEO and Postmaster General, U.S. Postal Service) Managing Growth in a Shrinking Marketplace: How British Aerospace is Reinventing Itself for the Next Century (Interview with British Aerospace CEO, Sir Richard Evans) Let "Service to Customers" Drive Your Company's Structure (Profiles of USAA, Mercedes-Benz USA, and Sun MicroSystems) Beating the Millennium Bug: How the FAA Created a Culture of Commitment and Accountability to Solve the Y2K Problem (Interviews with FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, and Ray Long, Director of Y2K Preparedness) The Case for Charismatic Leadership: Why Former NatWest Bancorp EVP Roger O. Goldman Banks on the Power of Personality to Help Drive Change (Interview with Roger Goldman, former EVP of NatWest Bank ) Epilogue: The Future of Change


Using a suite of detailed numerical simulations, we estimate the level of anisotropy generated by the time evolution along the light cone of the 21 cm signal from the epoch of reionization. Our simulations include the physics necessary to model the signal during both the late emission regime and the early absorption regime, namely X-ray and Lyman band 3D radiative transfer in addition to the usual dynamics and ionizing UV transfer. The signal is analysed using correlation functions perpendicular and parallel to the line of sight. We reproduce general findings from previous theoretical studies: the overall amplitude of the correlations and the fact that the light-cone anisotropy is visible only on large scales (100 comoving Mpc). However, the detailed behaviour is different. We find that, at three different epochs, the amplitudes of the correlations along and perpendicular to the line of sight differ from each other, indicating anisotropy. We show that these three epochs are associated with three events of the global reionization history: the overlap of ionized bubbles, the onset of mild heating by X-rays in regions around the sources, and the onset of efficient Lyman alpha coupling in regions around the sources. We find that a 20 x 20 deg(2) survey area may be necessary to mitigate sample variance when we use the directional correlation functions. On a 100 Mpc (comoving) scale, we show that the light-cone anisotropy dominates over the anisotropy generated by peculiar velocity gradients computed in the linear regime. By modelling instrumental noise and limited resolution, we find that the anisotropy should be easily detectable by the Square Kilometre Array, assuming perfect foreground removal, the limiting factor being a large enough survey size. In the case of the Low-Frequency Array for radio astronomy, it is likely that only one anisotropy episode (ionized bubble overlap) will fall in the observing frequency range. This episode will be detectable only if sample variance is much reduced (i.e. a larger than 20 x 20 deg(2) survey, which is not presently planned).


The twenty first century is witnessing a shocking upsurge in the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndromes and other lifestyle related diseases. As a result there is a sharp escalation in the number of local fitness centers and health clubs, leading to a rampant employment of fitness trainers, who lack adequate knowledge and training. We used a questionnaire to evaluate fitness trainers from local health clubs of North and Northwest Delhi in the following 3 domains: (1) Human kinesiology, anatomy and physiology (2) Nutrition, and (3) Exercise prescription. The answers were tabulated and statistically evaluated qualitatively as well as using the Microsoft Excel 2007 software. 20 fitness trainers were enrolled in the study. An average score obtained was 57.2% on the questionnaire administered, with a minimum average of 51% in the domain of Nutrition. Our findings suggest that fitness trainers are not well equipped with adequate knowledge of their field. They cannot successfully fulfill the multiple roles of fitness advisors, diet and wellness counselors and hence there is an urgent need to improve the quality of instruction provided by them by making necessary recruitment guidelines not available in India yet.


This paper reports the results obtained in four experiments conducted at different localities of the State of Sao Paulo with the dwarf variety of castor beans IA-38 and designed to study the effect of nitrogen (Chilean nitrate), phosphorus (superphosphate) and potassium (potassium chloride), applied alone or in various combinations, under three plant spaeings: wide (1.50x1,20m), medium (1.00x0.90m) and close (1.00x0t45m). In three of the experiments, which were carried out under fairly favorable conditions, the average yields obtained with the wide spacing were lower than those obtained with the medium or close spacings, the difference betwen these two being very small. The three nutrients tested, principally nitrogen and potassium, greatly influenced the determination of the best spacing; while in their absence the advantage of increasing the density of plants was null or small, in their presence it became considerable. Likewise the responses to those nutrients, particularly to nitrogen and potassium, which were small or even negative with the wide spacing, increased substantially under the medium or close spacings. One of the experiments was carried out under poor conditions, principally because the rainfall was far below normal. In this case the yields were very low, the reduction of the spacing did not increase them and the responses to the nutrients tested, viz. phosphorus and potassium, decreased as the density of plants was increased. As the wide spacing used in the present experiments was much closer than those used in most of the previous experiments with castor beans, the authors assumed that the adoption of too wide spaeings have contributed appreciably to reduce the effect of the fertilizers then tested.


Shelley's "Mont Blanc" and the final book of Wordsworth's The Prelude each tell the story of an individual's encounter with a vast mountain landscape. Although there are many similarities between the two poems, the poets' experiences of the mountain-landscapes—and their interpretations of those experiences—are quite different, reflecting the poets' respective philosophies of epistemology and poetic inspiration and composition. This project addresses two seemingly oppositional concepts: the Romantic sublime and Merleau-Ponty's theory of embodiment. Discussions of the sublime tend to focus on its supersensory nature—that the human subject undergoes an experience that catapults the mind beyond what the senses are able to perceive. It attempts to bring focus back to the sensory encounters that enable this experience to take place. Were it not for the embodied experience of the physical world, the supersensory experience of the sublime could not occur. In considering the poems above, we will find that the poet's unique situation within a physical landscape plays a crucial role in his interpretation of that landscape, and this in turn affects the poetic expression of the landscape and all that follows.


We combine Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra of 22,000 luminous, red, bulge-dominated galaxies to get high signal-to-noise ratio average spectra in the rest-frame optical and ultraviolet (2600-7000 Å). The average spectra of these massive, quiescent galaxies are early type with weak emission lines and with absorption lines indicating an apparent excess of α-elements over solar abundance ratios. We make average spectra of subsamples selected by luminosity, environment, and redshift. The average spectra are remarkable in their similarity. What variations do exist in the average spectra as a function of luminosity and environment are found to form a nearly one-parameter family in spectrum space. We present a high signal-to-noise ratio spectrum of the variation. We measure the properties of the variation with a modified version of the Lick index system and compare to model spectra from stellar population syntheses. The variation may be a combination of age and chemical abundance differences, but the conservative conclusion is that the quality of the data considerably exceeds the current state of the models.


In this paper we demonstrate an optically controlled 1 × 4 remote node switch, based on membrane InP switches bonded to a silicon-on-insulator circuit. We show that the switch exhibits cross talk better than 25 dB between the output ports, and that the switch operates without receiver sensitivity penalty. Furthermore, the proposed switch architecture allows for optical clock distribution as a means to avoid the need for clock recovery at the receiver side. This is demonstrated in a proof-of-principle experiment where data and clock are sent through a single membrane InP switch.


The key problem afflicting the eurozone today seems clear: the periphery experienced a large loss of competitiveness during the boom years. In order for these economies to recover, they must restore their competitiveness, ideally by increasing productivity. This contribution shows, however, that the story line is not that straightforward. The drivers of competitiveness might have been more macro than micro in nature. The relationship between productivity and competitiveness is sometimes the opposite of what one would expect; and the link between competitiveness and exports is also much weaker than generally believed. Daniel Gros is Director of CEPS. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the 14th Munich Economic Summit on "Competitiveness and Innovation: The Quest for Best", co-organised by CESifo and the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, 21-22 May 2015, and published in CESifo Forum, Vol. 16 (3):18-25 (www.cesifo-group.de/ifoHome/publications/docbase/details.html?docId=19173034). He gratefully acknowledges useful comments and suggestions received from Stefano Micossi, who recently completed a related contribution to the "Rebooting Europe – Step 2" project organised by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). CEPS has published this latter paper on its website as a companion piece to the present study (see "Balance-of-Payments Adjustment in the Eurozone", CEPS Policy Brief No. 38, January 2016).


Prostate cancer is the most common male-specific form of cancer in the U.K. Current treatments for the aggressive disease by androgen-deprivation therapy gives a rapid initial response, but the disease ultimately progresses into an androgen-independent state for which there are no effective treatments. α-Methylacyl-CoA racemase (AMACR, P504S) is an enzyme which is involved in metabolism of branched-chain fatty acids and the pharmacological activation of some NSAID drugs, such as Ibuprofen and most other 'profens'. AMACR is over-expressed in prostate cancer and some other cancers, including colon and breast cancers. Reduction of AMACR protein levels inhibits proliferation of prostate cancer cells and restores the requirement for androgens for growth. Although the exact role of AMACR in prostate cancer progression is currently unknown, several other experiments show that AMACR is functionally important for prostate cancer proliferation, validating it as a drug target. There is no convenient high-throughput assay for AMACR and as a result only a few inhibitors have been reported to date. This thesis reports a study on whether other reactions can be catalysed by AMACR. 2-Methyl-3-enoyl-CoA esters are good substrates of AMACR but do not undergo double bond migration, while 2-methyl-2-enoyl-CoA esters are not converted to products. Acyl-CoA esters that contain a fluorine atom at carbon-3 undergo a fluoride elimination reaction to give 2-methyl-2-enoyl-CoA esters. This elimination reaction was investigated for use in the development of a high-throughput assay. A fluorescent binding assay, which can be adapted for the screening of large libraries of compounds, was developed and several known and novel inhibitors were tested. Finally, metabolism of mandelic acid was investigated. It was shown that chiral inversion of mandelic acid in humans proceeds via a different pathway to Ibuprofen and related drugs, in contrast with previous reports.


The European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st century, within the Digital Agenda, one of the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy, has led to
an increased demand for fast, efficient and faithful 3D digitization technologies for cultural heritage artefacts. 3D digitization has proven to be a promising
approach to enable precise reconstructions of objects. Yet, unlike the digital acquisition of cultural goods in 2D which is widely used and automated today, 3D
digitization often still requires significant manual intervention, time and money. To enable heritage institutions to make use of large scale, economic, and
automated 3D digitization technologies, the Competence Center for Cultural Heritage Digitization at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research
IGD has developed CultLab3D, the world's first fully automatic 3D mass digitization technology for collections of three-dimensional objects. 3D scanning robots
such as the CultArm3D-P are specifically designed to automate the entire 3D digitization process thus allowing to capture and archive objects on a large-scale
and produce highly accurate photo-realistic representations. The unique setup allows to shorten the time needed for digitization from several hours to several
minutes per artefact.


The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana and its insect host target represent a model system with which to examine host-pathogen interactions. Carbohydrate epitopes on the surfaces of fungal cells play diverse roles in processes that include adhesion, non-self recognition and immune invasion with respect to invertebrate hosts. B. bassiana produces a number of distinct cell types that include aerial conidia, submerged conidia, blastospores and haemolymph-derived cells termed in vivo blastospores or hyphal bodies. In order to characterize variations in the surface carbohydrate epitopes among these cells, a series of fluorescently labelled lectins, combined with confocal microscopy and flow cytometry to quantify the response, was used. Aerial conidia displayed the most diverse lectin binding characteristics, showing reactivity against concanavalin A (ConA), Galanthus nivalis (GNL), Griffonia simplicifolia (GSII), Helix pomatia (HPA), Griffonia simplicifolia isolectin (GSI), peanut agglutinin (PNA), Ulex europaeus agglutinin I (UEAI) and wheatgerm agglutinin (WGA), and weak reactivity against Ricinus communis I (RCA), Sambucus nigra (SNA), Limax flavus (LFA) and Sophora japonica (SJA) lectins. Lectin binding to submerged conidia was similar to that to aerial conidia, except that no reactivity against UEAI, HPA and SJA was noted, and WGA appeared to bind strongly at specific polar spots. In contrast, the majority of in vitro blastospores were not bound by ConA, GNL, GSII, GSI, SNA, UEAI, LFA or SJA, with PNA binding in large patches, and some polarity in WGA binding noted. Significant changes in lectin binding also occurred after aerial conidial germination and in cells grown on either lactose or trehalose. For germinated conidia, differential lectin binding was noted between the conidial base, the germ tube and the hyphal tip. Fungal cells isolated from the haemolymph of the infected insect hosts Manduca sexta and Heliothis virescens appeared to shed most carbohydrate epitopes, displaying binding only to the GNL, PNA and WGA lectins. Ultrastructural examination of the haemolymph-derived cells revealed the presence of a highly ordered outermost brush-like structure not present on any of the in vitro cells. Haemolymph-derived hyphal bodies placed into rich broth medium showed expression of several surface carbohydrate epitopes, most notably showing increased PNA binding and strong binding by the RCA lectin. These data indicate robust and diverse production of carbohydrate epitopes on different developmental stages of fungal cells and provide evidence that surface carbohydrates are elaborated in infection-specific patterns.


In this letter, we provide a theoretical analysis of optimal predictive transform coding based on the Gaussian Markov random field (GMRF) model. It is shown that the eigen-analysis of the precision matrix of the GMRF model is optimal in decorrelating the signal. The resulting graph transform degenerates to the well-known 2-D discrete cosine transform (DCT) for a particular 2-D first order GMRF, although it is not a unique optimal solution. Furthermore, we present an optimal scheme to perform predictive transform coding based on conditional probabilities of a GMRF model. Such an analysis can be applied to both motion prediction and intra-frame predictive coding, and may lead to improvements in coding efficiency in the future.


Rationale: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in patients with sepsis and has been associated with high mortality rates. The provision of thiamine to patients with sepsis may reduce the incidence and severity of sepsis‐related AKI and thereby prevent renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT). Objectives: To test the hypothesis that thiamine supplementation mitigates kidney injury in septic shock. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a single‐center, randomized, double‐blind trial comparing thiamine to placebo in patients with septic shock. Renal function, need for RRT, timing of hemodialysis catheter placement, and timing of RRT initiation were abstracted. The baseline creatinine and worst creatinine values between 3 and 24 hours, 24 and 48 hours, and 48 and 72 hours were likewise abstracted. Results: There were 70 patients eligible for analysis after excluding 10 patients in whom hemodialysis was initiated before study drug administration. Baseline serum creatinine in the thiamine group was 1.2 mg/dl (interquartile range, 0.8‐2.5) as compared with 1.8 mg/dl (interquartile range, 1.3‐2.7) in the placebo group (P = 0.3). After initiation of the study drug, more patients in the placebo group than in the thiamine group were started on RRT (eight [21%] vs. one [3%]; P = 0.04). In the repeated measures analysis adjusting for the baseline creatinine level, the worst creatinine levels were higher in the placebo group than in the thiamine group (P = 0.05). Conclusions: In this post hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial, patients with septic shock randomized to receive thiamine had lower serum creatinine levels and a lower rate of progression to RRT than patients randomized to placebo. These findings should be considered hypothesis generating and can be used as a foundation for further, prospective investigation in this area.


The Food Processing and Postharvest Handling
Innovation Lab (FPIL) project seeks to reduce food loss and link up consumers
with food-to-food fortified instant products that are enriched with
micronutrient sources that target vitamin A, zinc, and iron deficiencies. These
are mostly maize-based products, but may be combined with other cereals, such
as sorghum, and pseudocereals, such as amaranth. The general goal of this
thesis study was to facilitate the adoption of extrusion technology to process
instant flours, assess the acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) for these
products, and to assess the health impacts of the products on gut health. A
low-cost, single-screw extruder was used that was developed at Purdue, and has
been placed in different locations in Africa country study sites. The first study
aimed to optimize process conditions of a low-cost single-screw extruder,
currently done at 35% feed moisture, for African small- to medium-scale
entrepreneurs to produce good quality and low-cost pregelatinized instant pearl
millet porridge flours and other whole grains by relating feed moisture (27,
29, 31, 33, and 35%) to extrusion energy, drying time and physicochemical
properties. We found that we could lower the feed moisture to 27% and still
attain good pasting profiles of the porridges, reduce drying time, have better
expansion of the extrudates, obtain increased L* color values of the
flours, and with a higher extrusion energy but lower drying time. In
conclusion, the single screw extruder can be efficiently operated at 27% feed
moisture compared to the currently used 35% feed moisture and obtain instant
flours with desired quality. It is not known whether higher extrudate energy
consumption may be offset by the lower drying time representing lower drying
energy. In
the second study, we investigated extrusion enhance in vitro fecal
fermentation of maize bran, which has been characterized by a poor gut
microbiota fermentation property due to its highly crosslinked and densely
branched arabinoxylan chemical structure, making it poorly available to the gut
microbiota. We hypothesized that this dense cell wall matrix can be opened for
better fermentation by applying extrusion. Test conditions of a twin-screw
extruder at Purdue were low (200 RPM) and high (400 RPM) shear rates applied to
a maize meal and bran mixture (60:40) at different feed moisture conditions
(20, 25, 30%). In vitro fermentation
of test materials was conducted on stool samples from three donors. Extrusion
increased total short chain fatty acids and produced individualized donor effects
on the gut microbiota. Some extruder test condition effects were observed on
certain bacteria. For example, extrusion at 30% feed moisture and 400 RPM tended
to increase genera of Subdoligranulum and Eubacterium hallii and Ruminococcus
torques groups in Donor 1 compared to non-extruded bran. There was also
a trend of increase in Subdoligranulum and Blautia in extruded
compared to non-extruded bran in Donor 2. In Donor 3, Lachnospiraceae
NK4A136 group was increased at 20 and 25% feed moistures at 200 RPM and 30%
feed moisture at 400 RPM compared to non-extruded bran. In the
final study, we investigated the acceptance and WTP for instant fortified
flours using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism when consumers are incrementally
given nutrition information and demonstration how to reconstitute instant
flours. This study was conducted in Eldoret, Kenya. Participants preferred the
fortified thick porridge higher in maize content than fortified thin porridge
prepared from the same blend. Contrarily, thin porridge made from fortified
flour with higher sorghum content was ranked more highly than for the
corresponding thick porridge. Participants were willing to pay more for instant
fortified products higher in sorghum when given product name and nutrient
composition, even without a practical demonstration of how to reconstitute the flours.
For the instant product higher in maize, consumers needed demonstration of how
to reconstitute the instant flour for them pay a higher premium. These findings
suggest that food-to-food fortified instant porridge flours have the potential
to be adopted and can be used as a vehicle to deliver micronutrients to these
populations and that extrusion somewhat enhances fermentation of whole grain
fibers by the gut microbiome.


The chemical adsorption of dissolved oxygen (DO) by co-oxide filter film-coated sands, formed through the filtration of ground water containing high concentrations of ammonia, manganese and iron, were studied. The results showed that the filter film consisted of silicates, carbonates, manganese and iron oxides and was constructed in a three-layer porous structure. The specific area of film-coated sands was 6.5 m2/g. The chemical adsorption sites of DO are composed of silicates, iron and manganese atoms, and the adsorption was a weak chemical effect. The O2− is the adsorbed species of DO.


We study the properties of powerful X-ray flares from 161 pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory in the Orion Nebula region. Relationships between flare properties, protoplanetary disks, and accretion are examined in detail to test models of star-disk interactions at the inner edge of the accretion disks. Previous studies found no differences in flaring between disk-free and accreting systems other than a small overall diminution of X-ray luminosity in accreting systems. The most important finding is that X-ray coronal extents in fast-rotating disk-free stars can significantly exceed the Keplerian corotation radius, whereas X-ray loop sizes in disky and accreting systems do not exceed the corotation radius. This is consistent with models of star-disk magnetic interaction in which the inner disk truncates and confines the PMS stellar magnetosphere. We also find two differences between flares in accreting and disk-free PMS stars. First, a subclass of superhot flares with peak plasma temperatures exceeding 100 MK are preferentially present in accreting systems. Second, we tentatively find that accreting stars produce flares with shorter durations. Both results may be consequences of the distortion and destabilization of the stellar magnetosphere by the interacting disk. Finally, we find no evidence that any flare types, even slow-rise top-flat flares, are produced in star-disk magnetic loops. All are consistent with enhanced solar long-duration events with both footpoints anchored in the stellar surface.


Catalytic partial oxidation (CPO) is considered to be a promising route to produce synthesis gas from methane. In this work cobalt supported on CeO2−Al2O3 nanocomposites calcined at temperatures ranging from 1173 K to 1473 K have been characterized and tested in a lab-scale reactor. The characterization techniques applied have been N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperatureprogrammed reduction (TPR) and H2 chemisorption. The activity testing has been done at three different furnace temperatures (923 K, 1023 K and 1123 K) at a GSHV of 75 LCH4/gcat·h with a CH4:O2:N2 ratio of 2:1:3.72. In this work the major objectives have been to investigate the catalytic behavior of Co/CeO2−Al2O3 towards CPO of methane, and whether the varying concentration of oxygen vacancies in the ceria lattice influences the catalytic activity. The BET surface area of CeO2−Al2O3 decreased as the calcination temperature increased. Comparison with pure Al2O3 calcined at corresponding temperatures confirmed the protective function of CeO2 against Al2O3 phase transformation. With XRD and subsequent Rietveld refinement the crystallite size and lattice parameter of CeO2 were found. As the former increased with increasing calcination temperature, the determination of the latter showed no clear correlation between the lattice parameter, crystallite size and presence of cobalt. The dispersion, which was estimated with H2 chemisorption, of cobalt on CeO2−Al2O3 calcined at 1173 K, 1273 K and 1373 K was quite uniform, whereas it decreased for the samples calcined at 1423 K and 1473 K. There is reason to believe that the results are affected by H2 spillover onto the CeO2. Catalytic partial oxidation of methane over the in situ reduced catalysts gave high methane conversion and selectivities towards CO and H2, even at moderate temperatures such as 1023 K. Co/CeO2−Al2O3 (1173 K), (1273 K) and (1373 K) showed the best performance. An enhanced activity with decreasing CeO2 crystallite sizes has not been observed. The results support the indirect partial oxidation pathway with complete combustion in the bed entrance area and endotherm reforming in the lower part of the catalyst. The stability of the catalysts seems limited, probably due to slow oxidation of the cobalt during time on stream and/or sintering. Mass transfer limitations are also suspected. A cordierite monolith with an Al2O3 washcoat impregnated with CeO2 and cobalt was tested in methane CPO at 1023 K with a GHSV of 8000 h−1. Even though the CH4 conversion and selectivity towards H2 and CO were satisfactory, the stability decreased quickly.


In the context of metric perturbation theory for nonspinning black holes, extreme mass ratio binary systems are described by distributionally forced master wave equations. Numerical solution of a master wave equation as an initial boundary value problem requires initial data. However, because the correct initial data for generic-orbit systems is unknown, specification of trivial initial data is a common choice, despite being inconsistent and resulting in a solution which is initially discontinuous in time. As is well known, this choice leads to a burst of junk radiation which eventually propagates off the computational domain. We observe another potential consequence of trivial initial data: development of a persistent spurious solution, here referred to as the Jost junk solution, which contaminates the physical solution for long times. This work studies the influence of both types of junk on metric perturbations, waveforms, and self-force measurements, and it demonstrates that smooth modified source terms mollify the Jost solution and reduce junk radiation. Our concluding section discusses the applicability of these observations to other numerical schemes and techniques used to solve distributionally forced master wave equations.


A high statistics measurement of the pp --> ppeta reaction at an excess energy of Q = 15.5 MeV has been performed at the internal beam facility COSY-11. The stochastically cooled proton beam and the used detection system allowed to determine the momenta of the outgoing protons with a precision of 4 MeV/c (sigma) in the center-of-mass frame. The determination of the four-momentum vectors of both outgoing protons allowed to derive the complete kinematical information of the ppeta-system.
An unexpectedly large enhancement of the occupation density in the kinematical regions of low proton-eta relative momenta is observed. A description taking the proton-proton and the eta-proton interaction into account and assuming an on-shell incoherent pairwise interaction among the produced particles fails to explain this strong effect. Its understanding will require a rigorous three-body approach to the ppeta system and the precise determination of contributions from higher partial waves.
We also present an invariant mass spectrum of the proton-proton system determined at Q = 4.5 MeV. Interestingly, the enhancement at large relative momenta between protons is visible also at such a small excess energy.
In contrast to all other determined angular distributions, the orientation of the emission plane with respect to the beam direction is extracted to be anisotropic.


A new ninja causes trouble among the ranks of Team Kakashi when they return from losing Granny Chiyo in the battle against Sasori. The secrets this stranger hides may be disastrous for Naruto. But Orochimaru may have bigger problems when the mysterious Akatsuki infiltrates his stronghold with a spy!


Objective The study examined whether cognitive functioning, history of concussion (HOC), and sex predicted risk of sport concussion. Design Retrospective study design. Predictive models were used to determine the predictive ability of each variable. Setting Canadian University. Participants 708 data observations from 701 varsity athletes (41.2% female), representing 14 sports. Assessment of risk factors Two measures of cognitive functioning (mean reaction time and throughput [speed and accuracy]) were assessed using the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics testing battery. Categorical and continuous measures of HOC, and sex, were examined. Outcome measures Occurrence of concussion after baseline testing. Main results HOC was a significant predictor for both sexes. For every previous concussion, the odds of sustaining another concussion increased by 1.5 (95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 1.1, 2.1 [females]; 1.2, 1.9 [males]). Females with a HOC had twice the odds of sustaining another concussion than those without a HOC (CI: 1.1, 4.0). For males, the odds were three times (CI: 1.7, 5.6). Cognitive functioning and sex were not meaningful predictors. Conclusions This study supports previous findings that HOC is a risk factor and suggests that pre-injury cognitive functioning is not a risk factor for sport concussion. Assessing HOC in all athletes prior to their competitive season provides information regarding their risk of future sport concussion. Thus, it is important for clinicians to record HOC, and to encourage athletes to report concussions to ensure an accurate HOC record. Pre-injury cognitive screening of athletes is not recommended for assessing risk of future concussion. Competing interests Sandhya Mylabathula, Lynda Mainwaring, and Michael Hutchison None. Doug Richards is the Medical Director at the MacIntosh Sports Medicine Clinic at the University of Toronto Paul Comper is a clinical neuropsychologist consultant with the NHLPA and a member of the Concussion Working Group, but neither were related to the current research


This dissertation is an exploration of alternative visions of social organization beyond the horizon of capitalism. As such it is both a critique of the status quo in its current neoliberal capitalist configuration and a proposal for another world, a better world that has humanity—humaneness—as its central concern. The research trajectory parallels the transformation of the author from activist journalist into radical scholar, employing an open source methodology that interweaves the subject matter and infuses core of a new mode of social existence. Thus the dialectic between theory and practice comes alive for both researcher and "researched" even as the dialectical interplay between liberation and domination, as well as between society and technology, form the theoretical assumptions underlying this dissertation. A critique of post-industrial theories framing Information Society discourse as well as a consideration of the "newness" of information in the digital age provide fertile ground for a discussion of tech activism in contemporary social movements. Using the framework of critical constructivism, I analyze how tech activists consciously design technology that embodies values of equality, freedom and justice. Their creation and appropriation of free software indicates a more general argument for open knowledge production as the basis for a new mode of work, and indeed, a new set of social relations. In reconstructing the internet along a democratic model and through a democratic process, I argue, tech activists are creating a model of social organization that is radically transformative, refusing the reductive limits of the neoliberal world order, and enacting the possibility of a better world now. iii


Ontological and orientational metaphors arise from general cognitive processes and rely on our embodied experience of the physico-spatial world, providing us with image schemas that we commonly exploit in order to interpret and express abstract notions in terms of spatial configurations. This is particularly true in the case of emotions and feelings, which are much less clearly defined than our bodily functions. Indeed, recurrent embodied patterns building bridges between spatial orientations and feelings occur in a great variety of languages. It has long been noted, for instance, that the vertical axis up vs. down offers the basis for portraying many experiential metaphors in terms of 'happy/positive is up', 'sad/negative is down'. This paper shows that both ontological and orientational metaphorization is largely attested in this domain of experience in Latin, and provides corpus-based evidence for frequency and productivity effects and cross-linguistic comparisons that testify how the human body is a universal cognitive key to interpret and categorize emotions in modern as well as in ancient languages.


In the absence of approved drugs or vaccines, there is a pressing need to develop tools for therapy and prevention of Covid-19. Human monoclonal antibodies have very good probability of being safe and effective tools for therapy and prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease. Here we describe the screening of PBMCs from seven people who survived Covid-19 infection to isolate human monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Over 1,100 memory B cells were single-cell sorted using the stabilized prefusion form of the spike protein and incubated for two weeks to allow natural production of antibodies. Supernatants from each cell were tested by ELISA for spike protein binding, and positive antibodies were further tested for neutralization of spike binding to receptor(s) on Vero E6 cells and for virus neutralization in vitro. From the 1,167 memory B specific for SARS-CoV-2, we recovered 318 B lymphocytes expressing human monoclonals recognizing the spike protein and 74 of these were able to inhibit the binding of the spike protein to the receptor. Finally, 17 mAbs were able to neutralize the virus when assessed for neutralization in vitro. Lead candidates to progress into the drug development pipeline will be selected from the panel of neutralizing antibodies identified with the procedure described in this study. One Sentence Summary Neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies isolated from Covid-19 convalescent patients for therapeutic and prophylactic interventions.


A strophic song is in general a sequence of repetitions of the same tune, one repetition for each stanza. Strophic songs in French have the following properties: when two stanzas have the same tune, they have the same number of lines, and for any i , the i -th line in one stanza has the same number of syllables as the i -th line in the other, and it also has the same distribution of melismas. These properties follow from a more general requirement on textsettings that we call Positional Parallelism. Whereas violations of Positional Parallelism are rather infrequent in traditional French songs, they are quite common in English songs. We propose to relate this difference between French and English songs with another difference in textsetting practice. English matches stress and musical beat anywhere in a line. French enforces the stress/beat match in a rigid manner only at the end of lines, which is presumably a reflection of the fact that in French, stress is easily perceptible only before major breaks.


A child is presented with a marshmallow and given a choice: Eat this one now, or wait and enjoy two later. What will she do? And what are the implications for her behaviour later in life? Walter Mischel's now iconic "marshmallow test," one of the most famous experiments in the history of psychology, proved that the ability to delay gratification is critical to living a successful and fulfilling life: self-control not only predicts higher marks in school, better social and cognitive functioning, and a greater sense of self-worth; it also helps us manage stress, pursue goals more effectively, and cope with painful emotions. But is willpower prewired, or can it be taught? In his groundbreaking new book, Dr. Mischel draws on decades of compelling research and life examples to explore the nature of willpower, identifying the cognitive skills and mental mechanisms that enable it and showing how these can be applied to challenges in everyday life - from weight control to quitting smoking, overcoming heartbreak, making major decisions, and planning for retirement. With profound implications for the choices we make in parenting, education, public policy and self-care, The Marshmallow Test will change the way we think about who we are and what we can be. And since, as Mischel argues, a life with too much self-control can be as unfulfilling as one with too little, this book will also teach you when it's time to ring the bell and enjoy that marshmallow.


This life is basically a diplomatic arena, so that means everyone is a diplomat in their respective levels and environments. There are several other words that are synonymous with the word diplomacy, including negotiation and lobbying. Herb Cohen in his book You Can Negotiate Anything Reveals that "Your world is really a very long list of negotiations, and like it or not, you are a negotiator". The arrival of Muslims to many countries has made an extraordinary social revolution. This is because Muslims and Muslim scholars give "enlightenment not only in terms of spirituality, but also intellectuality to the native population in the area they explore. They" transfer "noble behavior (akhlaq alkarimah) which then becomes a daily habit. From that habit eventually became a culture, and from culture transformed into the most valuable civilization ever known to mankind, a civilization that not only prioritizes physical development, but also mentally, spiritually, and culture (culture) in general. , that they are indebted to Muslims in many ways, especially in the fields of science and research.


This paper compares the UK and Dutch occupational defined-benefit pension policies using the holistic balance sheet (HBS) framework. The UK DB pension system differs from the Dutch one in terms of the steering tools and adjustment mechanisms. In addition to the sponsor guarantee, the UK system has the protection from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) that guarantees DB pension schemes' funding shortfalls if the sponsors of the schemes are insolvent. The paper first introduces a multi-period model called value-based ALM to value the embedded options implied by both UK and Dutch pension policies and build the HBS. The HBS framework allows us to have a holistic view on the real and contingent assets and liabilities of a pension scheme and evaluate the impact of introducing a new policy for the stakeholders of the pension scheme. Then, we compare the results of a typical UK policy with a typical Dutch one. The comparison suggests the UK policy is better for participants but worse for the sponsor compared to the Dutch policy. The UK policy is more generous in indexation and participants do not have the burden to contribute to the funding recovery of the pension scheme. The PPF provides protection of the benefits up to a certain level if the sponsor is insolvent, thus, participants in a scheme with a UK pension policy are exposed to limited downside risk. On the other hand, the sponsor of the pension scheme with the UK policy shoulders a heavier burden to contribute to the recovery of the pension funding shortfalls than that of the pension scheme with the Dutch policy.


As friction reduction of an engine sometimes causes an increase in lubricating oil consumption, the requirement of reducing oil consumption has become crucial recently. The oil used for lubrication around a piston travels into the combustion chamber via piston ring' gap, side and back, and sliding surface. This study focused on the oil flow via the side of the lower rail of the three-piece type oil control ring (OCR). Oil film thickness was measured by the laser induced fluorescence method. Oil film thickness between the lower rail and the lower flank of the ring groove at the outer and the inner side was successfully measured. The waveform of the oil film thickness was compared to the wave forms of friction force, inertial force, pressure under the OCR and pressure at the third land. The waveform of oil film thickness was well explained by those forces. Furthermore, it was also found that the shape of the lower rail remarkably affected the oil film thickness.


The clinical syndrome of heart failure is one of the leading causes of hospitalisation and mortality in older adults. Due to ageing of the general population and improved survival from cardiac disease the prevalence of heart failure is rising. Despite the fact that the majority of patients with heart failure are aged over 65 years old, many with multiple co-morbidities, the association between cognitive impairment and heart failure has received relatively little research interest compared to other aspects of cardiac disease.

The presence of concomitant cognitive impairment has implications for the management of patients with heart failure in the community. There are many evidence based pharmacological therapies used in heart failure management which obviously rely on patient education regarding compliance. Also central to the treatment of heart failure is patient self-monitoring for signs indicative of clinical deterioration which may prompt them to seek medical assistance or initiate a therapeutic intervention e.g. taking additional diuretic. Adherence and self-management may be jeopardised by cognitive impairment.
Formal diagnosis of cognitive impairment requires evidence of abnormalities on neuropsychological testing (typically a result ≥1.5 standard deviation below the age-standardised mean) in at least one cognitive domain. Cognitive impairment is associated with an increased risk of dementia and people with mild cognitive impairment develop dementia at a rate of 10-15% per year, compared with a rate of 1-2% per year in healthy controls.1 Cognitive impairment has been reported in a variety of cardiovascular disorders. It is well documented among patients with hypertension, atrial fibrillation and coronary artery disease, especially after coronary artery bypass grafting. This background is relevant to the study of patients with heart failure as many, if not most, have a history of one or more of these co-morbidities.

A systematic review of the literature to date has shown a wide variation in the reported prevalence of cognitive impairment in heart failure. This range in variation probably reflects small study sample sizes, differences in the heart failure populations studied (inpatients versus outpatients), neuropsychological tests employed and threshold values used to define cognitive impairment. The main aim of this study was to identify the prevalence of cognitive impairment in a representative sample of heart failure patients and to examine whether this association was due to heart failure per se rather than the common cardiovascular co-morbidities that often accompany it such as atherosclerosis and atrial fibrillation.

Of the 817 potential participants screened, 344 were included in this study. The study cohort included 196 patients with HF, 61 patients with ischaemic heart disease and no HF and 87 healthy control participants. The HF cohort consisted of 70 patients with HF and coronary artery disease in sinus rhythm, 51 patients with no coronary artery disease in sinus rhythm and 75 patients with HF and atrial fibrillation. All patients with HF had evidence of HF-REF with a LVEF <45% on transthoracic echocardiography. The majority of the cohort was male and elderly. HF patients with AF were more likely to have multiple co-morbidities.

Patients recruited from cardiac rehabilitation clinics had proven coronary artery disease, no clinical HF and a LVEF >55%. The ischaemic heart disease group were relatively well matched to healthy controls who had no previous diagnosis of any chronic illness, prescribed no regular medication and also had a LVEF >55%. All participants underwent the same baseline investigations and there were no obvious differences in baseline demographics between each of the cohorts.

All 344 participants attended for 2 study visits. Baseline investigations including physiological measurements, electrocardiography, echocardiography and laboratory testing were all completed at the initial screening visit. Participants were then invited to attend their second study visit within 10 days of the screening visit. 342 participants completed all neuropsychological assessments (2 participants failed to complete 1 questionnaire). A full comprehensive battery of neuropsychological assessment tools were administered in the 90 minute study visit. These included three global cognitive screening assessment tools (mini mental state examination, Montreal cognitive assessment tool and the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status) and additional measures of executive function (an area we believe has been understudied to date). In total there were 9 cognitive tests performed. These were generally well tolerated. Data were also collected using quality of life questionnaires and health status measures. In addition to this, carers of the study participant were asked to complete a measure of caregiver strain and an informant questionnaire on cognitive decline.

The prevalence of cognitive impairment varied significantly depending on the neuropsychological assessment tool used and cut-off value used to define cognitive impairment. Despite this, all assessment tools showed the same pattern of results with those patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation having poorer cognitive performance than those with heart failure in sinus rhythm. Cognitive impairment was also more common in patients with cardiac disease (either coronary artery disease or heart failure) than age-, sex- and education-matched healthy controls, even after adjustment for common vascular risk factors.


We consider detection over linear channels impaired by additive white Gaussian noise. For this general model, which describes a large variety of scenarios, novel detection algorithms are derived by applying the sum-product algorithm to a suitably designed factor graph. Being soft-input soft-output (SISO) in nature, the proposed detectors can be adopted in turbo processing without additional modifications. Among various applications, we focus on channels with known intersymbol interference, on frequency-division-multiplexed systems where adjacent signals are allowed to overlap in frequency to increase the spectral efficiency, and on code division multiple access systems. When compared with the existing interference-cancellation algorithms, the proposed schemes result very appealing in terms of tradeoff between performance and computational complexity. Particularly, the proposed schemes can approach or even outperform the performance provided by much more complex algorithms.


International trade is subject to information incompleteness. Firms must therefore engage in a costly search process to find business partners. Online platforms can reduce these search costs and thereby favor firms exports. We examine whether this is actually the case and the underlying mechanisms thereof by focusing on ConnectAmericas, a free, purely informational online platform that, by the end of 2018, connected more than 45,000 firms from 140 countries. In particular, we estimate the impact of using the platform on firms foreign sales utilizing detailed data on both firms participation therein and the entire universe of export transactions for Peru over the period 2010-2018. In so doing, we apply a difference-in-differences strategy and specifically exploit visits firms received to their profiles as a source of identifying variation. Consistent with the interpretation of the platform as a search cost-reducing mechanism, our estimates suggest that ConnectAmericas resulted in increased firms exports, particularly from those that had no digital presence, of differentiated products, and to less familiar destinations.


The aim of this paper is to test the main extraction techniques used in the bone tool manufacturing sequences of hunter-gatherers in the Low Parana wetland. For this purpose, we analyze archaeological assemblages, mainly based on their manufacturing waste-products, in light of the results of a previous experimental program. The results of this work confirm that two main extraction techniques were used in the area: fracturing and perimetral sawing. At the regional level, homogeneous technical strategies are seen among different archaeological sites, suggesting that despite some functional variability, hunter-gatherer societies of the Low Parana wetland shared manufacturing concepts during the Late Holocene.


Bubble Science is a rapidly growing field, which has applications in (but not restricted to) health, climate and food engineering. Within these remits, one area of interest is related to the surface of bubbles. In this thesis specially designed and constructed microfluidic devices are combined with polymeric solutions to generate near uniform bubbles with smart coatings. Conventional bubbles possess coatings, which burst or collapse resulting in daughter bubbles or debris. The coatings developed in this study demonstrate particle precipitation from the bubbles surface. In this sense the structure is downscaling in size by a new mechanism proposed for bubble breakdown. In addition to this method, the size of resulting particles can be controlled. The in-situ particle-forming step also provides a pathway, which can retain bio- and chemical media during the formation process. Although several fields can benefit from such platforms, one such area is drug delivery, where this method is a novel approach in particle forming and delivery, when compared to conventional encapsulation routes. After initially demonstrating the process using a T-junction device was used to produce drug loaded particles with haematoxylin dye and estradiol drug using a novel bubble encapsulation system, a simple microfluidic V-junction device was used to prepare near-monodisperse polymer coated microbubbles using a hydrophobic polymer (ethylcellulose). From this coating, nanoparticles were produced continuously at a rate of ~5×106 per minute. It has been shown that these particles can be used as nanocarriers for a hydrophilic drug such an amoxicillin. During processing, varying the gas pressure has a significant effect on the nanocarrier diameter, thus we are able to control the diameter of nanocarriers (between 40 and 800 nm). Encapsulation efficiency using this process was in the range 65–88%, increasing with decreasing particle diameter and the drug-loading (Amoxicillin) was ~0.6mg. An X-junction microfluidic device was also used to prepare N2 bubbles using Tween. This method delivered a new route to generate significantly smaller bubbles (<5 m in diameter) with narrow size distribution. Moreover, Janus (two-phase) submicrometre size particles (710 nm) can also be generated using this X-junction device. The results from these devices and polymer coatings demonstrate potential applications as nanocarriers, which have greater control on size, shape and distribution. These factors are crucial for advancing healthcare science.


The electronic and magnetic properties of FeBr2 have been studied in the framework of the local spin-density approximation (LSDA). In order to improve the intrinsic deficiency of the LSDA in describing orbital magnetism, two different orbital polarization corrections have been applied to Fe ions. The spin and orbital magnetic moments on the Fe and Br sites have been evaluated using the fully relativistic version of the full-potential local orbitals minimum basis method and the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave + local orbitals method. We found a partially quenched orbital moment on the Fe ion and a small spin moment on the p states of the Br ion.


This field activity is part of the effort to map geologic substrates of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary region off Boston, Massachusetts. The overall goal is to develop high-resolution (1:25,000) interpretive maps, based on multibeam sonar data and seabed sampling, showing surficial geology and seabed sediment dynamics. This cruise was conducted in collaboration with the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, and the data collected will aid research on the ecology of fish and invertebrate species that inhabit the region. The Sanctuary's research vessel, R/V Auk, visited 57 locations on Stellwagen Bank at which a customized Van Veen grab sampler (SEABOSS) equipped with a video camera and a CTD was deployed in drift mode to collect sediment for grain-size analysis, video imagery of the seabed, and measurements of water column properties.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Endothelins (ETs) are potent vasoconstrictors. Plasma ET levels increase during acute brain ischemia and may worsen the ischemic damage. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) and perfusion imaging (PI) are powerful tools for evaluation of acute cerebral ischemia. We studied the effects of A-127722, a novel ET(A)-selective ET antagonist, on cerebral ischemic lesion size using 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining postmortem, on acute ischemic lesion development with DWI, and on the cerebral circulation using PI.

METHODS
Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats received either 5 mg/kg of A-127722 or vehicle (n=10 per group) intravenously 30 minutes and subcutaneously 4 hours after middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Whole-brain DWI and single-slice PI were done before initiation of treatment and repeated frequently thereafter up to 4 hours after MCAO. The animals were reperfused in the MRI scanner 90 minutes after the onset of MCAO. At 24 hours the animals were killed, and the brains were cut into six 2-mm-thick slices and stained with 2% TTC. Percent hemispheric lesion volume (%HLV) was calculated for each animal.

RESULTS
Physiological parameters, body weight, neurological scores, and premature mortality (2 versus 2) did not differ between the two groups. No hypotension, abnormal behavior, or other adverse effects were seen. TTC-derived %HLV was 25.3+/-5.6% for controls and 16.2+/-9.6% for treated animals (36% reduction, P<.02). Six animals in each group had successful reperfusion as shown by PI. Among these animals, %HLV was 23.2+/-3.1% for controls and 9.3+/-4.4% for treated animals (60% reduction, P=.0001). The beneficial effect of A-127722 was limited to animals in which successful reperfusion was demonstrated. No difference in PI-detected perfusion deficit size was observed between the groups. DWI did not demonstrate significant in vivo lesion size differences.

CONCLUSIONS
A-127722 significantly reduced ischemic lesion size in rats without observable adverse effects. It is not clear whether the effect was due to vasodilatation of collateral arterioles not detectable by PI or whether A-127722 has neuroprotective properties that are independent of vascular effects.


Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988) offered a Hollywood narrative of one woman's achievement in the workplace, through its account of secretary Tess McGill (Melanie Griffiths) impersonating her female boss and eventually winning a place in senior management. The film represents a popular feminism which is firmly sited in the emotional rather than the political sphere, eliciting a Cinderella narrative of the poor girl who makes good in the big city. Critical readings of the film have noted the derogatory account of Tess's boss, Katherine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) and its skewed vision of feminist solidarity (Tasker 1998, Hallam 1993, Jones 1991). Framing the film as a Hollywood attempt to address the alleged outcomes of second wave feminism in the late 1980s – women in management and in power – and working through a close analysis of the film's emotive and triumphal ending, this paper re-examines this film as a fantasy of potential achieved and battles won. How does Working Girl look two decades after its original release; how does it deploy affect and what can it tell contemporary viewers about feminism and popular culture in the 1980s and the 2010s? In particular, how can we now read the 'happy ending' which depicts Tess in her own office, with her own secretary and a new life with a new partner (Harrison Ford), as the soundtrack proposes a 'new Jerusalem'?
This paper proposes that the rousing ending may be understood as more ambivalent than it first appeared, particularly when read through a retrospective lens. The fantasy of 'escape' and 'liberation' that such films offer should not simply be dismissed as bad faith but rather understood through what George Lipsitz calls 'memory as misappropriation' – as a means of negotiating feminist histories and desires.


To evaluate the pattern of co-occurrence between ant-mimicking jumping spiders and sympatric ants in a tropical rainforest, we sampled these arthropods and also non-mimicking jumping spiders by net-sweeping from the understory vegetation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We collected the spiders and ants from a total of 594 sample points, with ants occurring in 445 points (79.4%), non-mimicking jumping spiders in 308 (51.9%), Agorius ant-mimicking spiders in 40 (6.7%), and Myrmarachne ant-mimicking spiders in 59 (9.9%). Frequencies of occurrence of non-mimicking jumping spiders showed no significant difference in relation to ant-occurrence, whereas both of the ant-mimicking spider genera occurred significantly more frequently with ants. Agorius spiders co-occurred with a wider variety of different ant genera, compared to Myrmarachne, but logistic regression analyses and a null model test showed no specific associations between Agorius spiders and the sympatric ant genera. The mimetic resemblances of Agorius spiders are considered to be much less ant-like than those of Myrmarachne spiders, because their constriction of the cephalothorax is not as obvious as in Myrmarachne. These data provide support for the multi-model hypothesis (Edmunds 2000), which predicted that a poor ant-mimic should occur in ranges of many different ants, compared to good ant-mimic.


Frame Relay (FR) represents one of the most important paradigm shifts in modern telecommunication. This technology is beginning to evolve from data only application to broad spectrum of multimedia users and potential to provide end users with cost effective transport of voice traffic for intra office communication. In this project the recent development in voice communication over Frame relay is investigated. Computer ssimulations were carried out using the powerful simulation software OPNET. Performance measures such as delays, jitter, and throughput are reported. It is evident from the results that real-time voice or video across a frame relay network providing acceptable performance is possible.


This thesis addresses the issue of the millennial reign of Christ in Revelation 20: 1-1 O. It is an attempt to investigate whether the millennium is a future event or already inaugurated. The Apocalypse has been the focus ofattention ofmany end time movements down through the ages. This thesis picks up one of the most popular issues out of such a focus. One of the issues in the Apocalypse of John is the expectation of a thousand year reign of Christ. During the period of early Christianity up to the middle ages the question of the nature of the millennium has been controversial. Recently the debate over the millennial reign of Christ in the Apocalypse has intensified more than ever before. Three major views have been advocated and such views have brought in a greater dilemma, since the reader ofthe Apocalypse has to choose one ofthe views. Having grown up in an evangelical religious background, which places emphasis upon apocalyptic ideologies; I found myselfbecoming more and more attracted to this debate. At last I have entered the wagon with a view to demonstrate, in my own way, that the millennial reign is already actualised rather than expected. This sounds very controversial compared to what has always been thought by many Christians since their early days ofSunday School. This 'territory' has been trod by various scholars so much so that I am not in a position to claim to be a pioneer in this investigation. I endeavour to re-examine the issue of millennium in the light of a sociological analysis from my own perspective. I intend to perceive the other side of the mountain that has been hidden from me all along ( as a hidden transcript of the Apocalypse). After having established the task of rethinking millennium. I wish to go further and look at the East African concept of millennium, even though no comparative study is intended at this level ofmy research, apart from laying bare the framework, such is very important for the inculturation of theology today. This thesis will be tabulated into three main parts, the first deals with sociology of sects and the Apocalypse, in this part a model will be formulated, which will be applied in the delineation of the Apocalypse community in chapter three. The second part deals with the concept ofmillennium within the Bible and ends up with an exegesis ofthe passage that clearly mentions this term. The third part deals with the East African concept ofmillennium and the conclusion ofthe whole thesis. All Biblical quotations are from the Revised Standard Version Bible, while all the abbreviations follow Killian (1985).


Recent years have enjoyed an overwhelming interest in quantum thermodynamics, a field of research aimed at understanding thermodynamic tasks performed in the quantum regime. Further progress, however, seems to be obstructed by the lack of experimental implementations of thermal machines in which quantum effects play a decisive role. In this work, we introduce a blueprint of quantum field machines, which - once experimentally realized - would fill this gap. We provide a detailed proposal how to realize a quantum machine in one-dimensional ultra-cold atomic gases using a set of modular operations giving rise to a piston that can be coupled sequentially to thermal baths with the innovation that a quantum field takes up the role of the working fluid. We study the operational primitives numerically in the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid framework proposing how to model the compression of the system during strokes of a piston and the coupling to a bath giving rise to a valve controlling phononic heat flow. By composing the numerically modeled operational primitives we design complete quantum thermodynamic cycles that are shown to enable cooling and hence giving rise to a quantum field refrigerator. The active cooling achieved in this way can operate in regimes where existing cooling methods become ineffective. We describe the consequences of operating the machine at the quantum level and give an outlook of how this work serves as a road map to explore open questions in quantum information, quantum thermodynamics and the study of non-Markovian quantum dynamics.


The first step towards analysing social interactive behaviour in crowded environments is to identify who is interacting with whom. This paper presents a new method for detecting focused encounters or F-formations in a crowded, real-life social environment. An F-formation is a specific instance of a group of people who are congregated together with the intent of conversing and exchanging information with each other. We propose a new method of estimating F-formations using a graph clustering algorithm by formulating the problem in terms of identifying dominant sets. A dominant set is a form of maximal clique which occurs in edge weighted graphs. As well as using the proximity between people, body orientation information is used; we propose a socially motivated estimate of focus orientation (SMEFO), which is calculated with location information only. Our experiments show significant improvements in performance over the existing modularity cut algorithm and indicates the effectiveness of using a local social context for detecting F-formations.


Seafood plays an important role in human nutrition and its increased consumption is actively recommended for sustenance and health benefits in both developing and developed countries. In parallel to this, the public receives confusing advice as to what seafood is sustainably produced and is frequently misled about the environmental impacts of fishing, especially in locations such as Australia where contemporary fishery management has a conservation and sustainability focus. It is recognised globally that Australia's traditional fishery management driven by strict sustainability and biodiversity regulations, has achieved impressive results in managing both fish stocks and the effects of fishing on marine environments. Despite this, continued pressure from non-government organisations (NGOs) and a perpetuation of the misuse of management terms such as "overfished" is used to promote the misguided need for ever increasing fishing restrictions, most obviously in "protected areas". This paper questions the motives of some NGOs and governments in Australia in pursuing additional restrictions on fishing which are mostly unnecessary and disproportionate to the sustainability requirements of other sources of food. This is done within the context of the global need for sustainable seafood supply and the need for effective marine conservation that addresses all threats to marine ecosystems in proportion to the magnitude of each threat.


Abstract. Temperature inversions are one of the dominant features of the Arctic atmosphere and play a crucial role in various processes by controlling the transfer of mass and moisture fluxes through the lower troposphere. It is therefore essential that they are accurately quantified, monitored and simulated as realistically as possible over the Arctic regions. In the present study, the characteristics of inversions in terms of frequency and strength are quantified for the entire Arctic Ocean for summer and winter seasons of 2003 to 2008 using the AIRS data for the clear-sky conditions. The probability density functions (PDFs) of the inversion strength are also presented for every summer and winter month. Our analysis shows that although the inversion frequency along the coastal regions of Arctic decreases from June to August, inversions are still seen in almost each profile retrieved over the inner Arctic region. In winter, inversions are ubiquitous and are also present in every profile analysed over the inner Arctic region. When averaged over the entire study area (70° N–90° N), the inversion frequency in summer ranges from 69 to 86% for the ascending passes and 72–86% for the descending passes. For winter, the frequency values are 88–91% for the ascending passes and 89–92% for the descending passes of AIRS/AQUA. The PDFs of inversion strength for the summer months are narrow and right-skewed (or positively skewed), while in winter, they are much broader. In summer months, the mean values of inversion strength for the entire study area range from 2.5 to 3.9 K, while in winter, they range from 7.8 to 8.9 K. The standard deviation of the inversion strength is double in winter compared to summer. The inversions in the summer months of 2007 were very strong compared to other years. The warming in the troposphere of about 1.5–3.0 K vertically extending up to 400 hPa was observed in the summer months of 2007.


Demand for the Emergency Department (ED) has increased, making the organization of work difficult. This quantitative, descriptive and documental study identifies and analyzes the characteristics of clinical care in the ED of a General Hospital in Ribeirão Preto, SP, in 2007, according to organizational variables. The study population included all clinical care consultations registered in the Hospital Management Information System. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and discussed considering the theoretical framework of the Single Health System (SUS). A total of 5,285 consultations were registered in the period, which were more frequent in patients from the city itself, in January (10%), on Mondays (16%), from 12pm to 12am (67.1%). The main reason for discharge from the unit was hospitalization (63.8%) and the predominant length of stay in the unit was less than six hours (39.8%). The results support the management of human resources, materials and equipment, indicating the desirability of reorganizing emergency care in the hospital.


Acupuncture has been proposed to treat various diseases including functional gastrointestinal disorder, mood disorder, and pain. Although the evidence-based clinical efficacy of acupuncture is uncertain, people are increasingly benefiting from the use of acupuncture to treat their diseases. Sciatica treatments involve nonsurgical and surgical management techniques; acupuncture, for its convenience and cheap cost, could be considered as a premedical or adjunctive therapy. Analysis of 14 studies published to treat sciatica with acupuncture revealed that meridians and acupoints chose is an essential issue to get better pain alleviating results. Sciatica through acupuncture treatments may include the use of the bladder and gall bladder meridians. However, for limited evidence of effectiveness in the relevant studies, a series of larger randomized controlled trials should be conducted on the efficacy of acupuncture in treating sciatica to provide further evidence.


Rabies is a fatal disease transmitted by infected animals by bite, scratch, licking on broken skin or contamination of mucosis by saliva. The regimen of post-exposure prophylaxis for people not previously vaccinated, that is currently recommended by WHO, consists of a combination of wound cleaning, active immunization and passive immunization when the exposure is of category 3. Most of the products available on the market, in particular human rabies immunoglobulins, highly purified equine rabies immunoglobulins and the derived F(ab')(2) fragments, are now characterized by high potency and safety. Although the interest of passive anti-rabies immunization was first demonstrated in the first half of the 20th century, there is still an inadequate supply of these products to the target populations mostly in developing countries. Therefore, it is urgent to set-up training and information actions for healthcare personnel on the need to use passive immunotherapy and the lack of adverse effects of the related products. For the future, we hope that a scale up of production and a lower price will improve the accessibility to these products. The development of new products based on monoclonal antibodies and molecular biology, and which may be cheaper, is promising.


Around the Greenlandic and Antarctic coastlines, sediment plumes associated with glaciers are significant sources of lithogenic material to the ocean. These plumes contain elevated concentrations of a range of trace metals, especially in particle bound phases, but it is not clear how these particles affect dissolved (<0.2 µm) metal distributions in the ocean. Here we show, using transects in 8 glacier fjords, trends in the distribution of dissolved iron, cobalt, nickel and copper (dFe, dCo, dNi, dCu). Following rapid dFe loss close to glacier outflows, dFe concentrations in particular showed strong similarities between different fjords. Similar dFe concentrations were also observed between seasons/years when Nuup Kangerlua (SW Greenland) was revisited in spring, mid- and late-summer. Dissolved Cu, dCo and dNi concentrations were more variable and showed different gradients with salinity depending on the fjord, season and year. The lack of consistent trends for dCu and dNi largely reflects less pronounced differences contrasting the concentration of inflowing shelf waters with fresher glacially-modified waters. Particles also made only small contributions to total dissolvable Cu (dCu constituted 83 ± 28% of total dissolvable Cu) and Ni (dNi constituted 86 ± 28% of total dissolvable Ni) within glacier plumes. For comparison, dFe was a lower fraction of total dissolvable Fe; 3.5 ± 4.8%. High concentrations of total dissolvable Fe in some inner-fjord environments, up to 77 µM in Ameralik (SW Greenland), may drive enhanced removal of scavenged type elements, such as Co. Further variability may have been driven by local bedrock mineralogy, which could explain high concentrations of dNi (25–29 nM) and dCo (6–7 nM) in one coastal region of west Greenland (Kangaatsiaq). Our results suggest that dissolved trace element distributions in glacier fjords are influenced by a range of factors including: freshwater concentrations, local geology, drawdown by scavenging and primary production, saline inflow, and sediment dynamics. Considering the lack of apparent seasonality in dFe concentrations, we suggest that fluxes of some trace elements may scale proportionately to fjord overturning rather than directly to freshwater discharge flux.