Abstract 4059 Background: The combination of cyclophosphamide plus G-CSF has been the standard approach for autologous stem cell mobilization in Multiple Myeloma (MM) patients treated at MSKCC for many years. However with the recent FDA approval of plerixafor and its proven efficacy for stem cell collection in patients who had failed collection with cyclophosphamide and G-CSF, the use of plerixafor as first line agent has been advocated for patients with MM. Although proof of improved efficacy of such an approach over G-CSF/cyclophosphamide mobilization remains paramount, comparison of cost analysis between the 2 approaches is also an important parameter that needs to be considered before endorsing plerixafor as first line mobilization agent. Study Design and Method: We performed a retrospective analysis of all MM patients treated between 11/2008 and 3/2011 who received either cyclophosphamide plus G-CSF or plerixafor plus G-CSF as first line mobilization regimen. During this period of time, the target number of stem cell collection was 10 × 106stem cells/kg and patients collecting less than 4 × 106 stem cells/kg were considered mobilization failures and had a second attempt at stem cell mobilization using an alternative approach. Some patients received plerixafor as salvage regimen after failing cyclophosphamide mobilization, while others were re-challenged with a second cycle of plerixafor with cyclophosphamide and G-CSF after failing first line upfront plerixafor mobilization. Mobilization costs accounted for both groups included the costs associated with upfront mobilization, the second line mobilization in patients failing a first mobilization, as well as complications directly related to the mobilization procedures and consist of the following: Costs of drugs cyclophosphamide 3000 mg/m2, plerixafor 0.24 mg/kg, G-CSF 10 mcg/kg per dose administered prior and during pheresis sessions; hospitalization for cyclophosphamide administration; pheresis sessions; laboratory tests on pheresis days; and re-hospitalization occurring within 15 days of either mobilization approaches and considered directly related to the mobilization procedure. All costs were calculated using the institution9s ratio of cost to charges, and were normalized and adjusted based on institutional charges for 2010. Results: Ninety-eight patients received cyclophosphamide and G-CSF while thirty-five patients received plerixafor as first line mobilization regimens. Eleven (11%) patients were readmitted due to cyclophosphamide complications, with an average hospital stay of 6.9 days, while none in the plerixafor arm was hospitalized. Twenty-one (21%) of the cyclophosphamide group failed mobilization and received plerixafor as salvage regimen of which 3 (3.1%) failed again and are considered ultimate failures. Two (6%) patients failed upfront mobilization with plerixafor and failed salvage mobilization and are considered ultimate failures (6%). The average number of pheresis sessions performed was 3.4 and 2.2 in the cyclophosphamide and plerixafor upfront groups respectively. In total the average cost per patient who received cyclophosphamide was 1.6 times greater than that of the patients who received plerixafor upfront. Conclusion: This cost analysis indicates that the use of plerixafor upfront for stem cell mobilization may be more cost effective than the current widely used approach employing cyclophosphamide. The cost difference between the two approaches could be attributed to several factors: Cyclophosphamide mobilization requires an initial inpatient hospitalization in our institution and often results in re-admissions due to expected toxicity; additionally, the rate of failures, and therefore need for an additional salvage mobilization appears to be much higher with cyclophosphamide; upfront plerixafor was associated with fewer pheresis sessions, and reduced G-CSF use. As many institutions administer cyclophosphamide mobilization on an outpatient basis, it is important to note that the cost benefit of plerixafor upfront remains even if the hospitalization cost of cyclophosphamide mobilization is removed; the cost ratio of cyclophosphamide becomes 1.3 times that of plerixafor. Overall, this single institution study provides, in the context of current clinical practices at MSKCC, the rational for adopting the use of plerixafor as upfront mobilization agent in MM patients. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Benchmarking of DSP kernel algorithms was conducted in the thesis on a DSP processor for teaching in the course TESA26 in the department of Electrical Engineering. It includes benchmarking on cycle count and memory usage. The goal of the thesis is to evaluate the quality of a single MAC DSP instruction set and provide suggestions for further improvement in instruction set architecture accordingly. The scope of the thesis is limited to benchmark the processor only based on assembly coding. The quality check of compiler is not included. The method of the benchmarking was proposed by BDTI, Berkeley Design Technology Incorporations, which is the general methodology used in world wide DSP industry. Proposals on assembly instruction set improvements include the enhancement of FFT and DCT. The cycle cost of the new FFT benchmark based on the proposal was XX% lower, showing that the proposal was right and qualified. Results also show that the proposal promotes the cycle cost score for matrix computing, especially matrix multiplication. The benchmark results were compared with general scores of single MAC DSP processors offered by BDTI.


[1] A model for estimating the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate in the oceanic boundary layer, based on insights from rapid-distortion theory, is presented and tested. This model provides a possible explanation for the very high dissipation levels found by numerous authors near the surface. It is conceived that turbulence, injected into the water by breaking waves, is subsequently amplified due to its distortion by the mean shear of the wind-induced current and straining by the Stokes drift of surface waves. The partition of the turbulent shear stress into a shear-induced part and a wave-induced part is taken into account. In this picture, dissipation enhancement results from the same mechanism responsible for Langmuir circulations. Apart from a dimensionless depth and an eddy turn-over time, the dimensionless dissipation rate depends on the wave slope and wave age, which may be encapsulated in the turbulent Langmuir numberLat. For large Lat, or any Lat but large depth, the dissipation rate tends to the usual surface layer scaling, whereas when Lat is small, it is strongly enhanced near the surface, growing asymptotically as e ∝ Lat−2 when Lat → 0. Results from this model are compared with observations from the WAVES and SWADE data sets, assuming that this is the dominant dissipation mechanism acting in the ocean surface layer and statistical measures of the corresponding fit indicate a substantial improvement over previous theoretical models. Comparisons are also carried out against more recent measurements, showing good order-of-magnitude agreement, even when shallow-water effects are important.


Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a thin film growth technique that utilizes alternating, self-saturation chemical reactions between gaseous precursors to achieve a deposited nanoscale layers. It has recently become a subject of great interest for ultrathin film deposition in many various applications such as microelectronics, photovoltaic, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and microelectromechanic system (MEMS). By using ALD, the conformability and extreme uniformity of layers can be achieved in low temperature process. It facilitates to be deposited onto the surface in many variety substrates that have low melting temperature. Eventually it has advantages on the contribution to the wider nanodevices.


The Visean strata of southern Belgium, between Namur, Aachen, Comblain-au-Pont and Dinant, record the deposition of shallow water carbonates along the southern margin of the Brabant Massif. Three areas of Dinantian outcrop: the Namur, Dinant and Vesdre regions were separated by folding and faulting associated with the Hercynian orogeny, particularly the Midi Thrust. The Visean series comprises three stages of which the Livian has been the basis for this study. The Visean sediments comprise numerous cycles 2-20m thick which are interpreted as being dominated by shallowing upwards sedimentary sequences. Petrographic study of the nine carbonate lithofacies has revealed three microfacies associations which are broadly described as bioclastic (microfacies association 1), microbial-algal (microfacies association 2) and micritic-peloidal (microfacies association 3). These microfacies associations occur in the same order in each cycle, although their component microfacies may not. Although there are signs of subaerial exposure at the top of cycles, well developed subaerial exposure horizons are rare. Calcrete formation is limited to zone or subzone boundaries and is well developed close to the Brabant Massif. The palaeo environment is interpreted as a warm, shallow water, carbonate platform, which dipped gently southward, from tidal flats in the north. Early diagenesis of these sediments was facies specific and commonly occurred under marine phreatic conditions. Early meteoric diagenesis is only patchily developed. Later effects of burial diagenesis are common to all sediments. Although close to areas of Hercynian earth movements, there are no signs of synsedimentary tectonics in the Livian sediments. Later movement was restricted to open folding, faulting and thrusting. Bentonite layers are the only evidence of local volcanism. They increase in thickness and abundance towards the east and this is presumed to be the direction of their source area. Only slight lateral variation in sedimentation suggests that there was minimal separation between the Namur region and Vesdre-North Dinant region at the time of deposition. The sedimentological observations presented here, provide limiting conditions for palaeogeographical reconstruction and tectonic controls. Crustal shortening and decollement by northward thrusting was the main form of earth movement. The effect of movement along the Midi Thrust was to juxtapose predominantly submarine sediments from below fair weather wave base (Dinant region) and nearshore peritidal deposits (Namur-Vesdre region). Since the original width of the platform is unknown, the amount of displacement along the thrust is uncertain. A minimum of about 20 km displacement along the thrust is believed to have affected the Dinantian sediments.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the effects of 2 preoperative anti-inflammatory regimens on intraocular inflammation following phacoemulsification.

DESIGN
Randomized controlled trial

ANIMALS
21 dogs with immature cataracts.

PROCEDURES
All dogs had cataract surgery via phacoemulsification, and most received prosthetic intraocular lenses. Dogs were randomly divided into 2 groups. Group A dogs were treated topically with prednisolone acetate for 7 days prior to surgery, whereas prednisolone acetate treatment commenced the evening prior to surgery in group B dogs. Postoperative care was identical for both groups. Blood-aqueous barrier breakdown was quantified by use of anterior chamber fluorophotometry, with fluorescein entry into the anterior chamber measured 2 and 9 days after surgery compared with baseline scans obtained prior to surgery. Ophthalmic examinations were performed before surgery and 1 day, 9 days, 3 weeks, 7 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery. A subjective inflammation score was established at each examination. Intraocular pressures were measured 4 and 8 hours after surgery and at each follow-up examination.

RESULTS
There was no difference in the extent of blood-aqueous barrier disruption between the groups at 2 or 9 days after surgery. Subjective inflammation scores were also similar at most time points. Dogs in group A developed postoperative ocular hypertension at a higher frequency (60%) than did those in group B (18%).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In dogs that underwent cataract surgery via phacoemulsification, a full week of topical prednisolone acetate treatment prior to surgery did not decrease postoperative inflammation, compared with commencement of topical prednisolone acetate treatment the evening prior to surgery, and was associated with a greater incidence of postoperative ocular hypertension.


This paper proposes a combination of methodologies based on a recent development -called Extreme Learning Machine (ELM)- decreasing drastically the training time of nonlinear models. Variable selection is beforehand performed on the original dataset, using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) and a projection based on Nonparametric Noise Estimation (NNE), to ensure proper results by the ELM method. Then, after the network is first created using the original ELM, the selection of the most relevant nodes is performed by using a Least Angle Regression (LARS) ranking of the nodes and a Leave-One-Out estimation of the performances, leading to an Optimally-Pruned ELM (OP-ELM). Finally, the prediction accuracy of the global methodology is demonstrated using the ESTSP 2008 Competition and Poland Electricity Load datasets.


We present a new real-time approach to object detection that exploits the efficiency of cascade classifiers with the accuracy of deep neural networks. Deep networks have been shown to excel at classification tasks, and their ability to operate on raw pixel input without the need to design special features is very appealing. However, deep nets are notoriously slow at inference time. In this paper, we propose an approach that cascades deep nets and fast features, that is both very fast and very accurate. We apply it to the challenging task of pedestrian detection. Our algorithm runs in real-time at 15 frames per second. The resulting approach achieves a 26.2% average miss rate on the Caltech Pedestrian detection benchmark, which is competitive with the very best reported results. It is the first work we are aware of that achieves very high accuracy while running in real-time.


Introduction

Footwear has been identified as a key component in the aetiology of foot pain in the general public. Females appear to suffer more than males with the forefoot being the highest reported location of footwear related pain. Choices of footwear styles in young healthy females are led by comfort and activity, but it is not clear as to what footwear choices are made by women who suffer from foot pain.

Method

Two focus groups were conducted with three women who suffered with foot pain aged 40-59 years, and four women aged 60-80 years, regarding the choices made when buying footwear. Discussions focused around type of shoe purchased and the choices made when purchasing that shoe. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

Themes generated included style, brand, emotions, available choices and restrictions when buying shoes. While the older group chose shoes for comfort and fit, the younger group were more influenced by fashion and matching to dress choice. Colour was important to both groups and a key factor when buying new shoes. Foot pathology was the main restriction in buying desirable shoes in the older group.

Conclusion

As women age, the choices made for fashionable footwear may be overridden by the need to fit a shoe to existing foot pathology. Older women may be willing to alter the style of shoes to accommodate problems and ensure comfort. However, younger females with foot pain may wear fashionable shoes even if they cause discomfort.


We consider in this work triangulations of $\mathbb{Z}^n$ that are periodic along $\mathbb{Z}^n$. They generalize the triangulations obtained from Delaunay tessellations of lattices. In certain cases we impose additional restrictions on such triangulations such as regularity or invariance under central symmetry with respect to the origin; both properties hold for Delaunay tessellations of lattices.
Full enumeration of such periodic triangulations is obtained for dimension at most $4$. In dimension $5$ several new phenomena happen: there are centrally-symmetric triangulations that are not Delaunay, there are non-regular triangulations (it could happen in dimension $4$) and a given simplex has a priori infinitely many possible adjacent simplices. We found $950$ periodic triangulations in dimension $5$ but finiteness of the whole family is unknown.


The bibliographic synthesis of the works devoid to the Mio-Pliocene and the Quaternary of the Atlantic coast of Morocco has been completed by new field investigations in Agadir and Safi areas. This work has allowed to identify three Tortonian echinoid species or sub-species (Cidaroid, Schizaster sp., Scutella striatula), a single one for the Messinian (Cidaroid), eight for the Pliocene (Cidaroid, Psammechinus miliaris, Clypeaster aegyptiacus, Rotuloidea fimbriata, R. fimbriata fonti, Echinocyamus pusillus ?, Echinolampas hoffmanni, Prospatangus sp.), five for the Pleistocene (Paracentrotus lividus, Clypeaster rangianus, Heliophora orbiculus orbiculus, H. orbiculus semisol, E. hoffmanni) and two for the Holocene (Echinus sp., P. lividus). On a biostratigraphical point of view, the Tortonian strata are characterized by S. striatula, the Pliocene ones by R. fimbriata and C. aegyptiacus and the Pleistocene deposits by H. orbiculus and C. rangianus. Messinian and Holocene strata are biostratigraphically badly characterized by echinoid markers. As far as the paleobiogeography is concerned, the spatial distribution ofechinoids reveals a conspicuous provincialism which during the Pliocene opposed a Mediterranean province with Clypeaster altus-aegyptiacus, extending to the Atlantic coast via the sub-province of the south-Rifian strait, and a West-African Atlantic province with Rotuloidea fimbriata, limited to the North at the Casablanca area. The Mediterranean water vein which extends, in the Present-Day, in the Atlantic Ocean through Gibraltar does not show a significative inheritance of the uppermost Neogene South-Rifian water vein. Indeed, the Clypeaster and Echinolampas taxa abundant in these areas during Miocene and Pliocene have today totally disappeared from the northern coast of Morocco.


Marginal areas especially rural communities still lack electrical lighting and telecommunications facilities. To access the electrical and telecommunications networks required huge costs because there is no infrastructure. To overcome this problem the government is targeting the national electrical capacity 57 thousand Megawatts in 2016 by appointing the State Electricity Company. Target national of Java-Bali distribution network throughout 27.779 km. PLN uses electricity transmission line from the plant to the substation through the tower-tower SUTT and SUTET. This study makes OPPC cable used for extra high voltage power conductors and internet network data that has reliable performance and durable. These goals will be achieved when the known characteristics and mechanical properties OPPC cable. Making cables OPPC by varying the amount of reinforcing steel galvanized wire and twisting torsional stress magnitude for analyzing mechanical properties ranging impact strength and tensile. The mechanical properties of artificial OPPC cable when compared with mechanical properties that are owned by the ACSR cable and commercial OPPC should be equal or close to its value before the applied field. The results of material testing OPPC cable diameter of 3 cm for Type-voltage torsional twisting 36/6/24 RBS 50% have the impact strength and tensile highest of 112.27 kN and 61.26 MPa. While the impact strength and tensile cables that OPPC least 3 cm in diameter with a voltage selection of the type of 36/6/24 RBS 25% of 63.24 kN and 36.36 MPa. The tensile strength and impact influenced the amount of galvanized steel wire and twisting torsional stress. The more galvanized steel wire and high torsional twisting voltage, proportional to the impact strength and tensile increased. When compared to ACSR cable and commercial OPPC, impact strength and tensile cables made OPPC nearing kekuatanya value, where the tensile strength and impact ACSR cable with voltage torsional twisting RBS 50% by 117 kNfrom 61.26 MPa, cables for commercial OPPC 116 kN from 63 MPa and un affected by ellectrical induction.


By exploiting the dual reactivity of a Weinreb amide moiety, i.e. nucleophilic addition or N–O reductive cleavage, a series of diversified symmetrical and dissymmetrical pyrrolidine analogues of lobelanine were synthesized from simple and readily available building blocks. Diversity is introduced at a late stage by using a wide variety of readily available organolithium and organomagnesium reagents, and chemoselective orientation can be achieved due to the steric encumbrance of both the reaction partners, the liganding ability of the starting meso pyrrolidine, and the nature of the organometallic species. This work constitutes the first example that takes advantage of the side reaction of Weinreb amide decomposition for the desymmetrization of a meso platform bearing two remote and highly flexible N-methoxy-N-methylamide arms through a probable beneficial metal-templated arrangement.


Self-harm and suicide are most commonly observed in adolescents specially females in Asian countries and in western. The psychosocial predictors, along with hopelessness and non-suicidal injury (NSSI), have not been studied properly before. Therefore, there is a need to address these issues. The objective of the study was to ascertain the psychosocial and clinical features predicting suicide and NSSI in adolescents with major depression. Increased number of suicidality and impaired family function at entry is autonomously connected with a suicidal attempt. NSSI are connected at base line and apply additive effect on likelihood, one keeping on through treatment period. Poor family functions, as well as family problems and social problems, were the causative agents for adolescent's high suicidality and NSSI. A history of NSSI treatment is a clinical marker for suicidality. The previous suicidal attempts should be evaluated in depressed juvenile patients as indicators of future suicidal intent and behavior. Both suicidal and NSSI adolescents during the therapy and after treatment endure to be depressed when they are engaged in study. Major causes of suicide among our study participants were lost friend(s), drug abuse, living alone, disturbed parental marriage, sexual abuse, and other domestic problems.


The health and sustainability of United States forests have been monitored for many years from several different perspectives. The national Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program was established in 1990 by Federal and State agencies to develop a national system for monitoring and reporting on the status and trends of forest ecosystem health. We describe and illustrate the annual national reports which are one aspect of the Analysis and Reporting component of the FHM Program. The evolution of the content and format of reports from 2001 through 2013 has followed from changes in information requirements. Current practices are illustrated by using material drawn from the 2013 report which includes three sections covering forest health status and trends (insect, disease, fire, drought, and tree mortality), new techniques in forest health monitoring (disturbance mapping, invasive plants, and tree crown conditions), and special investigations to evaluate the possible causes or consequences of observed forest health conditions.


Objective: Anaphylaxis is a fulminant hypersensitivity reaction that threatens life. Local anesthetics used by dentists might cause anaphylaxis. In this study, we aimed to assess the knowledge levels of dentists regarding local anesthetic allergy and anaphylaxis and to evaluate if the knowledge levels could be increased by training. Materials and Methods: Ninety-five (49F/46M) dentists volunteered to participate in this survey. Questionnaire forms were filled in by face-to-face interviews with the dentists. Subsequently, a training program on drug allergy and anaphylaxis was conducted and three days later the questionnaire forms were filled in again. Results: The recognition rate of anaphylaxis symptoms was 50%, before the training and it increased to 91.6% after the training (p<0.001). The percentage of dentists who recognized the first medication to be used in case of anaphylaxis was 81.3% before the training and it increased to 100% after the training (p<0.001). The percentage of dentists who knew the administration route and location of adrenaline were 64.6% and 30.2%, respectively before the training and these numbers were 100% and 97.9% after the training (p<0.001). Conclusion: In conclusion, the results showed that dentists had minor information deficiencies regarding local anesthetic allergy and anaphylaxis that could be corrected by training.


Solidarity has always been an important element of European integration law and with the Treaty of Lisbon this principle has received even more prominence. But what does this concept mean and how should it be implemented? Within several areas of European integration law, for example regional policy, asylum, development cooperation and economic and monetary Union, the principle of solidarity is regularly invoked when the existing law has to be interpreted or further developed. In this context it is striking to see how talk about solidarity is suited to stir up emotions, often associated with the fact, that each party understands something different by this expression. In this contribution an effort will be made to unearth the very foundations of solidarity as it applies in the law of the European Union. It will be shown that solidarity within EU law has a strong reciprocal (or mutualistic) nature. This means that contributions are given with the hope to receive some day counter-contributions or with the intent to pursue a common goal. Understood in this sense solidarity can be a useful instrument to further strengthen the European order. On the contrary, if this reciprocal context is left and solidarity is interpreted as an obligation for altruistic redistribution of resources on a regional or a global level (for example by creating a transfer union healing all budgetary sins by single Member States on a central level) the functionability and the basic consensus of European integration could be undermined.


Covering the period of the financial crisis, this Research Handbook discusses the degree of importance of different driving forces on employee turnover. The discussions contribute to policy agendas on productivity, firm performance and economic growth. The contributors provide a selection of theoretical and empirical research papers that deal with aspects of employee turnover, as well as its effects on workers and firms within the current socio-economic environment. It draws on theories and evidence from economics, management, social sciences and other related disciplines.


This essay reviews Yinka Shonibare MBE's exhibition Addio del passato, exploring themes of decay, dissipation, and death as expressed through the historical figure of Lord Nelson. Shonibare's exhibition casts Nelson as a hapless metonym for the colonial urge, suggesting that both the man and his empire contained seeds of their own destruction, the tragic conflation of destiny and desire. Nelson's victory marks the point of no return, the beginning of an era of imperial crime on a new scale. Shonibare retells the myth of Nelson's victory as the West's tragic moral demise, dead by its own hand, crazed by its desire for conquest.


Purpose: Aim of this study was to comprehensively analyze BRCA1-associated protein-1 (BAP1) somatic mutation in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and explore potential therapeutic pathways and molecules. Patients and methods: In this study, we analyzed 445 ccRCC cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Comprehensive analysis including survival, transcriptome and methylation between BAP1 mutated and wild-type cases was performed using bioinformatics tools in silico. Pathways and molecules related to BAP1 mutation were analyzed using Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Results: BAP1 mutated ccRCC patients had a worse overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) than BAP1 wild-type patients. We found 583 up-regulated and 1216 down-regulated different expressed genes (DEGs) in BAP1 mutated tumors. Up-regulated DEGs were enriched in molecular functions and biological processes like protein binding, protein transport and ubiquitin protein ligase binding. Down-regulated DEGs were enriched in pathways like Rap1 signaling pathway, Notch pathway and altered molecular functions like metal ion binding and ubiquitin-protein transferase activity. Furthermore, CAD, TSPO, CTNNB1 and MAPK3 were top hub genes selected using PPI network analysis. Finally, BAP1 mutation had a strong correlation with CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP). Conclusion: Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of BAP1 functional somatic mutation in ccRCC patients. Several hub genes like CAD and TSPO may become potential therapeutic targets.


In America, law is a cultural practice. Americans are dedicated to living as a community under the rule of law. This commitment to a legal way of life cannot be reduced to an equally strong devotion to a moral form of being. That is, the two dimensions of experience are incommensurable (which does not mean that they are wholly insulated or separate from one another). One consequence of this normative condition is that the demands arising from a commitment to law are not always reconcilable with those stemming from moral beliefs. At the same time, neither obligation has priority over the other. For the individual in his or her role as a lawyer, this indicates that he or she may be required to act in a manner that is not defensible on any moral ground, but is still capable of justification. As an analysis of the character of the lawyer's life, these facts reveal a basic truth: the life of the lawyer is an inherently conflicted, and an absolutely meaningful, one.This argument presents a direct challenge to contemporary legal ethics discourse, in its most essential aspects. In this Article, this argument takes the form of a defense of a new orientation toward our thinking about the practice of law, which is the cultural study of the lawyer (cultural study understood as a type of philosophical anthropology). An in-depth introduction to this line of reasoning is presented, an explanation that appeals to a variety of fields of knowledge, including jurisprudence, epistemology, political theory, and moral philosophy. The goal is to convince the reader of the propriety, and the power, of this form of inquiry into a lawyer's professional responsibility. The benefit is an understanding of lawyer ethics that is both realistic and hopeful.


Academic freedom is a security against hazards to the pursuits of truth by those persons whose lives are dedicated to conserving the intellectual heritage of the ages and to extending the realm of knowledge. The rights of the teachers to teach truthfully and employ their reason to the full extent of their intellectual powers. Academic freedom is the freedom of professionally qualified persons to inquire, discover, publish and teach as they see it in their field of competence, without any control or authority of rational methods by which truth is established. Academic freedom is essential to the fulfillment of the purpose of the school. Teachers should be protected from censorship or restraint that unreasonably interferes with their obligation to expose students to controversial issues and to help students express their own views on such issues. The teacher's responsibility should be to show objectivity to see that various sides of controversial issues are given. To carry out this responsibility the teacher should be well informed in the areas being studied. It's recognized that every teacher has the right to a point of view and to express that view, but the teacher has the responsibility to tell the students that the statement is a personal view.


This paper is a response to Joan Canimas's paper «Etica i cultura. Embolics i perills dels conceptes cultura i relativisme cultural en l'ambit de l'accio social, psicoeducativa i sociosanitaria» published in this issue of the Revista de Pedagogia i Treball Social. The paper refutes Canimas's arguments against the concept of culture (which he considers totalizing and reifying and not adjusted to the reality of modern societies) and also argues that anthropology, far from making uncritical use of this concept, has systematically reviewed it and considers it useful to analyze people's life in society. However, the anthropological use and definition of cultural concepts is far removed from the definitions that identify it with a relatively static reality that is internally consistent and uniformly shared by all members of a group. In contrast to these definitions, the paper suggests others that have proven to be most useful for the analysis of social realities. Finally, it explains why today most anthropologists working in the field of educational and social intervention are critical of cultural relativism.


A novel dual-band orthogonally-polarized MEMS reconfigurable slotted-Lozenge patch is introduced here. The dual-band performance of the lozenge patch (12 and 14 GHz) is due to different diagonal length. A cross slot is etched in the middle of patch to control the phase swing in each frequency and polarization. The effective slot length is controlled by MEMS capacitors with capacitance ratio of 1.5 resulting in phase swing of 345°. The reflect-array composed of this cell element would be able to radiate two independent beams at different frequencies and polarizations.


This paper proposes a state-of-the-art methodology for the analysis of stakeholders and their role and performance related to SMEs in the mining industry in the Chilean region of Coquimbo. The relationships between the actors are studied and prioritized according to their support network position. An individual index for each actor based on their influence on solving problems is provided. The social network analysis was used to know the influence of the actors in the sector through the centrality measures. Furthermore, a methodology to measure stakeholders' influence based on the multicriteria method analytic network process approach is proposed. Both methods are used to identify the main stakeholders, study their relationships, and identify the most influential actors involved in executing strategies to boost the sector performance. The results show that the network remains cohesive thanks to certain actors, while the links between private actors must be strengthened; likewise, some public actors should assume a more proactive role in dealing with the problems of the sector.


This work deals with modeling and control of thermoacoustic combustion instabilities in lean premixed combustion systems. Because of the complex interactions present in thermoacoustic systems, a network modeling approach is used. The model of each network element or subsystem is obtained analytically, numerically, or by making use of experimental techniques. The dynamics of a network system are determined experimentally by making use of a transfer matrix measurement technique. The transfer functions of a premixed flame have been determined experimentally on an atmospheric combustion test facility with a full-scale gas turbine burner, for a wide variety of operating conditions. An analytical model of the dynamic behavior of the reaction zone was made. In this model, the heat release fluctuations are assumed to be caused by fluctuations of the mass fraction of fuel and by fluctuations in the burning velocity. The model proved to be in good agreement with experimental results. Wave propagation in complex three-dimensional geometries is modeled by making use of a modal expansion technique. The modes used for the modal expansion can be obtained analytically for relatively simple geometries, or numerically (finite element method) for geometries of any complexity. By representing the modal expansion in state-space, a very numerically efficient and robust model is obtained. The thermoacoustic network model combines the state-space representations of the sub-systems in one system. The system can be analyzed in the time domain or in the frequency domain. The stability analysis is straightforward and does not require a numerical search. Non linear elements can easily be incorporated in the time domain simulation. This novel method has been validated by comparison with analytic solutions of simple thermoacoustic systems found in literature, by comparison with Finite Element codes, and by comparison with experimental results. An excellent agreement was found for all comparisons. When including non-linear elements in an annular system, a rotating acoustic field is predicted, which corresponds to experimental observations. This result has been verified analytically. Based on network models, a model based controller has been obtained using H∞ optimization. This controller has been tested in simulation and experiment on a single burner rig and proved to suppress acoustic levels by more than 25dB. An adaptive controller, based on a genetic algorithm, has been developed that does not require any knowledge about the system. This controller has been tested and proved to have similar performance as the model-based controllers. An active control system for multi-burner configurations has been developed and proved to perform well in simulations.


From an early age craft played a major role in my development as a person and as an artist. The traditional 1950s-70s crafts such as quilting, knitting, and sewing as performed by my mother began to influence me as a child and are now what I draw upon in my artwork. This thesis exhibition addresses my future role as a nurturer and how it relates to my relationship with my mother. It is my way of forming a connection with the rich history of craft and that of the studio potter. I draw inspiration from historical and contemporary ceramics, the history of American craft, and both the myth and reality of 1950s American home life. My own personal history instilled in me a desire to work in the handmade. Finally, my connection to the fifties is twofold. First, it was the time period when my mother was a child and second, it is often the most idealized version of American home life. This thesis is approved for recommendation to the Graduate Council.


This article, which is based on the author's keynote address at an April 5, 2013 conference at American University Washington College of Law on "Transactional Lawyering: Theory, Practice, & Pedagogy," examines the role of transactional lawyers in a world of shadow banking. By reducing the dominance of banks as financial intermediaries, shadow banking has transformed the financial system, causing transactional lawyers to face an array of novel issues. This article focuses on one of those issues: to what extent should transactional lawyers address the potential systemic consequences of their client's actions? First, the article shows that the legal system itself inadvertently enables or requires firms operating as shadow banks to engage in uniquely risky behavior, without protecting against the resulting systemically risky externalities. That finding, in turn, broadens the legal ethics inquiry to two issues: what duty should transactional lawyers have to try to improve the legal system to protect against those externalities, and what duty should transactional lawyers have to try to prevent those externalities, assuming the legal system is not improved.


Abstract. A thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatograph coupled to a high resolution – time of flight – aerosol mass spectrometer (TAG-AMS) was connected to an atmospheric chamber for the molecular characterization of the evolution of organic aerosol (OA) emitted by woodstove appliances for residential heating. Two log woodstoves (old and modern) and one pellet stove were operated under typical conditions. Emissions were aged during a time equivalent to 5 h of atmospheric aging. The five to seven samples were collected and analyzed with the TAG-AMS during each experiment. We detected and quantified over 70 compounds, including levoglucosan and nitrocatechols. We calculate the emission factor (EF) of these tracers in the primary emissions and highlight the influence of the combustion efficiency on these emissions. Smoldering combustion contributes to a higher EF and a more complex composition. We also demonstrate the effect of atmospheric aging on the chemical fingerprint. The tracers are sorted into three categories according to the evolution of their concentration: primary compounds, non-conventional primary compounds, and secondary compounds. For each, we provide a quantitative overview of their contribution to the OA mass at different times of the photo-oxidative process.


I. INTRODUCTION The process of mediation as a means of dispute resolution has existed for thousands of years.1 From Ancient China to the New Testament, mediation has been chronicled as a mechanism for resolving conflict.2 Furthermore, mediation has historically crossed cultural boundaries, being employed in African, Native American, European, and early American colonial communities.3 The twentieth century evinced many cultures and communities continuing to invoke this alternative dispute resolution method as a substitute for the adversarial process and the courts.4 For example, in both Japan and China, mediation remains the principal method for dispute resolution.5 Though conventional mediation has had a detailed past, the launch of divorce mediation in the United States and elsewhere occurred for the most part through a shift in divorce theory, during the 1970s.6 For the past three decades, society has grown more accepting of divorce, and as a result, many nations have drafted no-fault divorce laws. These laws have fundamentally changed the role of the court in divorce proceedings from its prior role of determining who is at fault for the dissolution of the marriage to its current role of deciding how to split a couple's assets based on considerations of fairness.7 From no-fault divorce laws, a no-fault divorce resolution procedure emerged which allows parties to settle disputed issues such as custody, alimony, and property division, away from the adversarial process.8 The force propelling mediation in the divorce context is the need for creative solutions, solutions which legal codes may be incapable of providing.9 Legal rules are often unable to accommodate a couple's particular situation because they are too rigid, and they therefore fail to incorporate the parties' desires.10 Soon after the no-fault divorce laws appeared, several U.S. states and a number of other nations drafted legislation that required or encouraged the use of mediation for certain types of cases.11 Since devising the first mediation statutes, the ability of states and nations to settle divorce disputes through mediation programs has grown exponentially.12 For example, in the United States, Massachusetts and Connecticut were the first to pass legislation mandating mediation in custody cases in 1980;13 by 1997, 2000 mediation programs were estimated to be operational, many offering divorce mediation.14 Although many nations are now mandating or suggesting mediation in the settlement of divorce cases, the theories that underlie each nation's legislation differ greatly. In analyzing the legislative implementation of mediation programs, this paper will demonstrate that U.S. national and state lawmaking bodies are often motivated by one or more of five theories governing alternative dispute resolution. As lawmakers contemplate a particular goal in drafting the legislation, each theory assists in meeting that goal. The first motivation for mediation legislation is adherence to tradition, where mediation has long been operational and often the sole means for settling disputes. Second, mediation can be a mechanism for lowering the nation's divorce rate. Advocating reconciliation is a common trait found in legislation requiring or suggesting mediation and is often implied in the legislation itself. The third cause for implementing mediation is to advocate for children in the divorce process, as divorces often result in custody and support battles. Mediation-employed to ensure that the needs and interests of the child are considered-permits children a voice in a process in which they are easily overlooked. Fourth, legislatures of nations where women lack equality have employed mediation as a way to empower women. Although women were once not allowed to divorce, mediation has been invoked to ensure greater equality in the familial structure. Finally, the fifth rationale behind mediation legislation is to make the legal process more efficient. …


The recently proposed "Respiration Index" (RI = log P O 2 / P CO 2 ) suggests that aerobic metabolism is limited by the ratio of reactants (oxygen) to products (carbon dioxide) according to the thermodynamics of cellular respiration. Here, we demonstrate further that, because of the large standard free energy change for organic carbon oxidation (Δ G ° = −686 kcal mol −1 ), carbon dioxide can never reach concentrations that would limit the thermodynamics of this reaction. A P CO 2 to P O 2 ratio of 10 503 would be required to reach equilibrium (equilibrium constant, K eq = 10 503 ), where Δ G = 0. Thus, a Respiration Index of −503 would be the real thermodynamic limit to aerobic life. Such a Respiration Index is never reached, either in the cell or in the environment. Moreover, cellular respiration and oxygen provision are kinetically controlled such that, within limits, environmental oxygen and CO 2 concentrations have little to do with intracellular concentrations. The RI is fundamentally different from the aragonite saturation state, a thermodynamic index used to quantify the potential effect of CO 2 on calcification rates, because of its failure to incorporate the equilibrium constant of the reaction. Not only is the RI invalid, but its use leads to incorrect and misleading predictions of the threat of changing oxygen and carbon dioxide to marine life. We provide a physiological framework that identifies oxygen thresholds and allows for synergistic effects of ocean acidification and global warming.


In the past decade dynamic geoeconomic climate modelling has been successful in integrating basic relations in macroeconomic growth and climatology. Now physical scientists and economists at The Penn State University and Cornell University propose to link transient annual climate modelling with the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from a macroeconomic-energy model. In climatological terminology, this is a 3-dimensional General Circulation Model with detailed time and geographic data at the 4.5 degree latitude by 7.5 degree longitude level. The integrated model analysis may proceed up to periods with 10-15 times today's CO2 equivalent concentration level. Feedback effects include space heating and cooling energy demand, and natural ecosystem relationships such as CO2 fertilization and terrestrial CH4 release. In the macroeconomic submodel, an augmented Hotelling analysis incorporates long-term depletion with short-term rising market equilibrium values which reflect growing populations and income. Energy demand is explicitly represented by demand functions, as is the possibility of renewable energy, conservation, or nuclear substitution for fossil fuel, as well as the substitution of coal-based energy services for those now provided by petroleum and natural gas. On a detailed regionally disaggregated level, climate change interactions would be studied for agriculture, morbidity and mortality, sea level rise, and income levels. The Framework Convention on Climate Change charges policy makers to find stable greenhouse gas concentrations "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." The Penn State-Cornell Integrated Assessment Model would assist in defining those concentration levels, and the national and international policy pathways such as marketable permits or taxation.


The role that area deprivation, family poverty, and austerity policies play in the demand for and supply of children's services has been a contested issue in England in recent years. These relationships have begun to be explored through the concept of inequalities in child welfare, in parallel to the established fields of inequalities in education and health. This article focuses on the relationship between economic inequality and out-of-home care and child protection interventions. The work scales up a pilot study in the West Midlands to an all-England sample, representative of English regions and different levels of deprivation at a local authority (LA) level. The analysis evidences a strong relationship between deprivation and intervention rates and large inequalities between ethnic categories. There is further evidence of the inverse intervention law (Bywaters et al., 2015): For any given level of neighbourhood deprivation, higher rates of child welfare interventions are found in LAs that are less deprived overall. These patterns are taking place in the context of cuts in spending on English children's services between 2010–2011 and 2014–2015 that have been greatest in more deprived LAs. Implications for policy and practice to reduce such inequalities are suggested.


The percutaneous driveline used in contemporary LVADs presents a continuous risk of infection for the duration of support. Minimizing infection in durable mechanical circulatory support systems requires total implantation of all components and energy transfer by means other than percutaneous drivelines. A novel coplanar energy transfer (CET) system, similar to the original transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) design, is unique by incorporating two large rings with coil-within-the-coil topology to ensure strong resonance power. The CET system consists of an internal integrated controller, a battery coupled with an internal thoracic coil ring, and the LVAD pump. External equipment includes a power transmission belt with an external controller, a battery, and wristwatch monitor. The CET system is adaptable to multiple LVAD designs, though the Jarvik 2000 (Jarvik Heart, Inc., New York, NY) with postauricular power cable was used in the initial clinical cases. Two male patients, ages 51 years and 24 years, underwent implantation of the CET/Jarvik 2000 system for the bridge to transplant indication. One patient experienced a stroke and device thrombosis which led to termination of LVAD support while the patient waited for transplantation. The second patient underwent successful transplant after two months of support. The CET functioned as intended in both patients. Larger, multicenter, controlled clinical trials are necessary to determine the long-term safety and efficacy of the CET technology.


People tend to get injured, leading to wounds with losses of multiple tissues including skin, subcutaneous tissue, tendons and bones. There effective management is a complex process, but the outcomes many a time remain unpredictable. The complications involve further tissue loss, infections and non healing ulcers leading to huge morbidity. Throughout the world large resources are spent, consuming billions of dollars, towards manage these wounds and lessen the morbidity. A simple therapy for effective wound management if evolved will transform this health problem and save lot of sufferings. Method: The "Sandeep's Technique's for Assisted Regeneration of Skin" (STARS) is therapy for complete healing of wounds with Autologous self activated Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), imparted as local subcutaneous infiltrate in the wound margin or underneath the necrotic Flap, on every 4th day, till complete regeneration takes place and wound heals. The wounds are dressed daily / alternate day with only moist saline. It is a prospective case series of 36 cases of acute wounds over limbs associated with problems such as compound fracture, amputations, infections, post surgical necrotising flaps treated with STARS, treated at Acharya Vinobha Bhave Rural Hospital, J. N. Medical College, Wardha, INDIA. Finding: The final outcome is complete / near complete healing of all the wounds without requiring any surgical or intense medical intervention. Interpretation: This method of treatment assisted with Platelet rich plasma as regenerative medicine product is safe, easy, effective and efficient mode of wound management. It is simple innovation, which can be adopted universally as an ideal treatment for wounds, minimising the morbidity and preserving the resources across the globe.


From the Publisher:

Java programming language and basic packages
Server-side libraries and enterprise development
Networking, Beans, and collections
GUI components and more

Covers Java 2 platform (JDK 1.4 release) and enterprise/server-side development.

An international bestseller for over 5 years, Just Java 2 is the most comprehensive and accessible tutorial for programmers at all levels. Completely updated and revised, the 5th edition is not only a readable and engaging overview of the Java 2 platform (JDK 1.4 release) and its libraries, it is also a practical introduction to today's best enterprise and server-side programming techniques.

Writing for real programmers, author Peter van der Linden delivers expert advice, clear explanations and challenging examples, along with his popular "light relief" sidebars and wry commentary on the computer industry.

Just Java 2 covers:

The core language: advantages, syntax, object-oriented features, and key techniques-including interfaces, threads, assert statements, and much more
Key Java libraries: Input/output, from the basics to cutting-edge pattern matching, file locking, and mapped I/O techniques-plus a full chapter data structures and collections
Server-side Java technology: Powerful techniques for building Web-based transaction systems and Web services: servlets, Java Server Pages(tm), RMI, object serialization, and more
Client-side Java technology: Up-to-the-minute coverage of JFC(tm)/Swing GUI development, applet techniques, games code, containers, layouts, and graphics programming
Enterprise Java technology:platform-capabilities, benefits, and techniques! Including a database introduction, JDBC(tm) API tutorial, basics of EJB(tm) architecture, Java platform security, and a brand-new chapter on XML

CD-ROM INCLUDES
Browse the CD with your Web browser to run the applets and to get easy access to the contents
Tons of great software, including Perl, GNU C/C++, Python, games, and more
Extensive code examples from top programmers around the world
The complete programmer's FAQ


The Open Scholarship Initiative (OSI) is the world's only global, large-scale, multi-stakeholder effort to improve the flow of information within research and between researchers, policymakers, funders and the public. This effort, which is nearing its third full year of operation, was developed in partnership between the Science Communication Institute (SCI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in early 2016. There is no other initiative like this, focusing on improving the entire landscape of research communication (from peer review to open access to publish or perish pressures in academia) by working together instead of separately through dozens of individual and often conflicting efforts.
 As you will see in this report, OSI participants are beginning to understand how they might be able to work together as a global community on this issue. Most participants see eye to eye on the broad outlines of this challenge, and their reports—considered together and building upon each other—point to specific solutions that can be developed starting this year with minimal funding. Fully pursuing all the recommendations will require much more funding, but our hope is that we can get started now on a tight budget and build from there.
On behalf of SCI and OSI, thank you to our sponsors who have made this work possible, and to OSI participants who have contributed so much of their time and energies to this important effort.


Poverty is commonly cited as a key driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, yet little causal evidence exists linking economic conditions to actual disease outcomes. Using data on more than 200,000 individuals across 19 Sub-Saharan African countries, we present evidence that negative income shocks can lead to substantial increases in HIV prevalence, particularly for women in rural areas. Building on recent work showing that income shortfalls can induce some women to engage in higher-risk sex, we match data on individuals' HIV status from the Demographic and Health Surveys to data on recent variation in local rainfall, a primary (and exogenous) source of variation in income for rural households in Africa. We find that infection rates for women (men) in HIV-endemic rural areas increase significantly by 14 percent (11 percent) for every drought event experienced in the previous 10 years. Further analysis suggests that women most affected by the shocks (that is, those engaged in agriculture) are driving the women's results; these women are partnering with men least affected (those employed outside agriculture). Our findings suggest a role for formal insurance and social safety nets in tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic.


We present the results of a neural network model designed for the forecasting of hourly PM2.5 concentrations in Santiago, Chile. The study focuses on the observed values at two of the monitoring stations, which are located in the south-west zone of the city and are among the stations that register the highest concentrations during the period between April and August. This is the season when air quality is very often in ranges that are harmful to the population and some restrictions on emissions become useful.
The forecasting model is a multilayer neural network. The input variables are observed values of hourly PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations measured at the station of interest and at a neighboring station at 7 PM of the present day and some observed and forecasted meteorological variables. NO2 concentrations during the morning and afternoon hours, which may be associated with secondary particle formation, are also used as input. The implemented models are trained with 2014 and 2015 data and tested with 2016 values. Information is collected until 7 PM of the present day, and the largest forecasting error up to 21 hours in advance is 32%.
The accuracy of this forecasting is better than that obtained with a neural model previously used for the forecasting of hourly PM2.5 concentrations in the north-west zone in Santiago. Our neural models show better results than those obtained with linear models with the same input variables. The developed models provide a tool for anticipating episodes in Santiago and other cities with similarly unfavorable conditions for pollutant dispersion.


eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Abstract: Evidence on the "funding gap" for R&D is surveyed. The focus is on financial market reasons for underinvestment in R&D that persist even in the absence of externality-induced underinvestment. The conclusions are that 1) small and new innovative firms experience high costs of capital that are only partly mitigated by the presence of venture capital; 2) evidence for high costs of R&D capital for large firms is mixed, although these firms do prefer internal funds for financing these investments; 3) there are limits to venture capital as a solution to the funding gap, especially in countries where public equity markets are not highly developed; and 4) further study of governmental seed capital and subsidy programs using quasi-experimental methods is warranted. Abstract Evidence on the "funding gap" for R&D is surveyed. The focus is on financial market reasons for underinvestment in R&D that persist even in the absence of externality-induced underinvestment. The conclusions are that 1) small and new innovative firms experience high costs of capital that are only partly mitigated by the presence of venture capital; 2) evidence for high costs of R&D capital for large firms is mixed, although these firms do prefer internal funds for financing these investments; 3) there are limits to venture capital as a solution to the funding gap, especially in countries where public equity markets are not highly developed; and 4) further study of governmental seed capital and subsidy programs using quasi-experimental methods is warranted.


Two inductive knowledge transfer approaches - multitask learning (MTL) and Feature Net (FN) - have been used to build predictive neural networks (ASNN) and PLS models for 11 types of tissue-air partition coefficients (TAPC). Unlike conventional single-task learning (STL) modeling focused only on a single target property without any relations to other properties, in the framework of inductive transfer approach, the individual models are viewed as nodes in the network of interrelated models built in parallel (MTL) or sequentially (FN). It has been demonstrated that MTL and FN techniques are extremely useful in structure-property modeling on small and structurally diverse data sets, when conventional STL modeling is unable to produce any predictive model. The predictive STL individual models were obtained for 4 out of 11 TAPC, whereas application of inductive knowledge transfer techniques resulted in models for 9 TAPC. Differences in prediction performances of the models as a function of the machine-learning method, and of the number of properties simultaneously involved in the learning, has been discussed.


Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have evolved rapidly over the past decade driven primarily by military uses, and have begun finding application among civilian users for earth sensing reconnaissance and scientific data collection purposes. Among UAS, promising characteristics are long flight duration, improved mission safety, flight repeatability due to improving autopilots, and reduced operational costs when compared to manned aircraft. The potential advantages of an unmanned platform, however, depend on many factors, such as aircraft, sensor types, mission objectives, and the current UAS regulatory requirements for operations of the particular platform. The regulations concerning UAS operation are still in the early development stages and currently present significant barriers to entry for scientific users. In this article we describe a variety of platforms, as well as sensor capabilities, and identify advantages of each as relevant to the demands of users in the scientific research sector. We also briefly discuss the current state of regulations affecting UAS operations, with the purpose of informing the scientific community about this developing technology whose potential for revolutionizing natural science observations is similar to those transformations that GIS and GPS brought to the community two decades ago.


Abstract: Financial markets occasionally become highly volatile, as a result of a financial crisis or other factors. Previously, index futures trading and program trading have been singled out as direct causes of market destabilization, but more recently it has been suggested that leveraged ETFs (funds aimed at amplifying several-fold the movement of a price index such as the Nikkei Stock Average or underlying assets) rebalancing trades may also be a factor. This study uses a financial market simulation (artificial market) constructed virtually on a computer to assess the impact of leveraged ETF rebalancing trades on the underlying assets market. Analysis results showed that a larger amount of the managed assets of leveraged ETFs corresponds to a higher volatility of the underlying securities market. They also demonstrated that leveraged ETF trading can destroy the underlying assets market, if the leveraged ETF trading impact on the market is greater than that of ordinary volatility of the underlying assets.


Welcome to part four of our Race to the White House podcast series. Each week we'll be talking to Australia's top US experts on the ins and outs of the 2012 US presidential campaign. This week, Binoy Kampmark and Geoff Robinson discuss Syria, drones, and Mitt Romney's flagging campaign.


Scientific publications and different types of collaboration pattern in pre-independent India are mapped using scientometrics and social network analysis tools. Publication data of Indian authors published before 1947 are downloaded from the Scopus database of Elsevier Science. The study traces the literature growth patterns, core journals, productive authors, authorship collaboration patterns, productive institutions and their collaboration patterns. The result shows that maximum literature was published in the year 1936. The growth of publications during the mid-1930s was evident as many scientific institutions were established by that time. The subject-wise maximum activity was observed in chemistry followed by agricultural and biological science. Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences was the most preferred journals. Universities played the prominent role in scientific research. Some private institutions with 'nationalistic' enthusiasm, for example, Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute for Cultivation of Science were very productive institutions and also prominent in institutional collaboration. These institutions started in the colonial period continue to be the pillars of modern science in India.


The Palestine Festival of Literature was established in 2008. Bringing together writers from all corners of the globe, it aims to help Palestinians break the cultural siege imposed by the Israeli military occupation, to strengthen their artistic links with the rest of the world, and to reaffirm, in the words of Edward Said, 'the power of culture over the culture of power'.

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of PalFest, This Is Not a Border is a collection of essays, poems and stories from some of the world's most distinguished artists, responding to their experiences at this unique festival. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, their gathered work is a testament to the power of literature to promote solidarity and courage in the most desperate of situations.

Contributors: Susan Abulhawa, Suad Amiry, Victoria Brittain, Jehan Bseiso, Teju Cole, Molly Crabapple, Selma Dabbagh, Mahmoud Darwish, Najwan Darwish, Geoff Dyer, Yasmin El-Rifae, Adam Foulds, Ru Freeman, Omar Robert Hamilton, Suheir Hammad, Nathalie Handal, Mohammed Hanif, Jeremy Harding, Rachel Holmes, John Horner, Remi Kanazi, Brigid Keenan, Mercedes Kemp, Omar El-Khairy, Nancy Kricorian, Sabrina Mahfouz, Jamal Mahjoub, Henning Mankell, Claire Messud, China Mieville, Pankaj Mishra, Deborah Moggach, Muiz, Maath Musleh, Michael Palin, Ed PavlicAtef Abu Saif, Kamila Shamsie, Raja Shehadeh, Gillian Slovo, Ahdaf Soueif, Linda Spalding, Will Sutcliffe, Alice Walker

With messages from China Achebe, Michael Ondaatje and J. M. Coetzee


Abstract. The iconic hailstorm and flash flood episode of 19 February 2002 over La Paz city is numerically investigated in this article. Large scale atmospheric circulation is dynamically downscaled in order to take into account the complex orography forcing and local features. Satellite observations suggests late morning shallow convection over the Altiplano that becomes deep convection in the early afternoon around complex orography. The control simulation captures well the cloud evolution and suggest a two-stage precipitation mechanism. First, early convection occurred around 1200 LST and originated from thermodynamic instability combined with lake breeze and orographic lifting. Rainfall discharge then generated cold pools. During the second stage, cold pools around complex orography were propagated by lake breeze and encountered the La Paz Valley breeze, triggering the deep convection near La Paz city around 1400 LST. We assess the importance of local features through numerical experiments, which include modification of orography, suppression of surface heat fluxes, changes of surface lake temperature and removal of the lake. We show the importance of orographic configuration as triggering mechanism for convection initiation and for mesoscale circulation, the role of lake temperature for frontal breeze and propagation of cold pools, and of surface heat fluxes for atmospheric instability. This study highlights the complex interaction between lakes, surface heating and orography that favour deep convection and hailstorm formation, which is especially relevant around the Titicaca lake region.


A remarkable yet seldom noted set of parallels exists between modern U.S. bank regulation, on the one hand, and what used to be garden-variety American corporate law, on the other hand. For example, just as bank charters are matters not of right but of conditional privilege even today, so were all corporate charters not long ago. Just as chartered banks are authorized to engage only in limited, enumerated activities even to- day, so were all corporations restricted not long ago. And just as banks are subject to strict capital regulation even today, so were all corporations not long ago.In this Symposium Article, we argue that these parallels are not merely curious accidents but a reflection of certain foundational dynamics embedded in, and constitutive of, the corporate form itself. Tracing the history of the incorporated American firm, we argue that the corporation is an inherently hybrid public–private entity — an institutionalized and conditional outsourcing to private parties of certain essentially public powers and functions. In effect, it is a form of public–private "franchise" arrangement in which the public is the franchisor and private parties collectively serve as the franchisees.We examine the reasons both for the gradual weakening of this original franchise arrangement as a matter of American corporate law and policy, and for its continuing presence as a matter of bank regulation. We suggest that the "special" salience of banks' role as public franchisees helps to account for the resilience of the original corporate settlement in U.S. bank regulation. Finally, we consider the normative and practical implications of reviving the "forgotten" franchise view of the corporation more generally and, in the spirit of intellectual experiment, tentatively outline some possibilities for reintroducing public interest- driven conditions in state grants of corporate privilege.


CONTEXT
Calcium and vitamin D are recommended for bone health, but there are concerns about adverse risks. Some clinical studies suggest that calcium intake may be cardioprotective, whereas others report increased risk associated with calcium supplements. Both low and high serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D have been associated with increased mortality.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to determine the association between total calcium and vitamin D intake and mortality and heterogeneity by source of intake.

DESIGN
The Canadian Multicentre Osteoporosis Study cohort is a population-based longitudinal cohort with a 10-year follow-up (1995-2007).

SETTING
This study included randomly selected community-dwelling men and women.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 9033 participants with nonmissing calcium and vitamin D intake data and follow-up were studied.

EXPOSURE
Total calcium intake (dairy, nondairy food, and supplements) and total vitamin D intake (milk, yogurt, and supplements) were recorded.

OUTCOME
The outcome variable was all-cause mortality.

RESULTS
There were 1160 deaths during the 10-year period. For women only, we found a possible benefit of higher total calcium intake, with a hazard ratio of 0.95 (95% confidence interval, 0.89-1.01) per 500-mg increase in daily calcium intake and no evidence of heterogeneity by source; use of calcium supplements was also associated with reduced mortality, with hazard ratio of 0.78 (95% confidence interval, 0.66-0.92) for users vs nonusers with statistically significant reductions remaining among those with doses up to 1000 mg/d. These associations were not modified by levels of concurrent vitamin D intake. No definitive associations were found among men.

CONCLUSIONS
Calcium supplements, up to 1000 mg/d, and increased dietary intake of calcium may be associated with reduced risk of mortality in women. We found no evidence of mortality benefit or harm associated with vitamin D intake.


Background: An Army recruit is required to complete a variety of strenuous physical activities during their training. These activities have the potential to cause a range of injuries. Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine if the length of a recruit-training program influenced injury rates. Materials and Methods: Data were obtained from 267 Australian Regular Army recruits that attended basic recruit training, completing either the 80-day Australian Recruit Course (ARC) or the 100-day Australian Soldier Course (ASC). Injury prevalence and injury incidence were determined following analysis of reported injury data (Incident report form AC 563). Results: Injury prevalence for ASC recruits was 17.8% and for ARC recruits 13.9%. Injury incidence for the ASC and ARC were 17.8 injuries/100 soldiers/100 days and 17.4 injuries/100 soldiers/100 days respectively. The majority of injuries for both courses were sprains and strains. Discussion: ASC had a notably higher prevalence of injuries compared to ARC. However when considered against cohort size and exposure to training, both courses had similar injury incidence rates. This study found much lower prevalence and incidence rates than those reported in previous literature on basic recruit training. Injury types were however consistent with previous literature. Conclusions: While potentially appearing to increase reported injuries, longer tactical recruit training programs may not influence the incidence of injuries when cohort size and length of training are considered. The types of injuries suffered by Australian Army recruits undergoing training are commensurate with those of foreign defence services.


In my role as crystallographic editor for the American Mineralogist and The Canadian Mineralogist , I examine many papers that include crystal structure refinement data and discussions about this data. It is clear to me that understanding and working with the displacement parameters is a challenge to many researchers. The purpose of this chapter is to clearly define the meaning of these parameters and the mathematics needed to interpret them. Throughout this chapter, I will provide illustrative examples from the structure of quartz refined by Kihara (1990) at a variety of temperatures.

 Figure 1.
An image of the displacement ellipsoids for a Si2O7 group in α-quartz, SiO2, at 298 K and 838 K (Kihara 1990). The ellipsoids, as drawn, enclose 99.0 % of the probability density.

It is well established that an atom in a crystal vibrates about its equilibrium position. This vibration can be attributed to thermal and zero-point energy. For example, in Figure 1 the anisotropic displacement parameters are drawn for the Si and O atoms in quartz at 298 K and 838 K. The displacements are significant, with maximum amplitudes for O of 0.138 A, and 0.259 A, at 298 K and 838 K, respectively, in the direction perpendicular to the Si-Si vector. Therefore, in a crystal structure refinement, it is imperative not only to find the mean position of an atom, but also to describe the region in space where there is a high likelihood of finding it. This region of space can be mathematically defined with a probability distribution function (p.d.f.). If we assume harmonic restoring forces between the atoms, or in other words, that the forces between the atoms are quadratic and obey Hooke's Law, then it can be shown that the p.d.f. can be represented by a Gaussian function (Willis …


This dissertation presents techniques for detecting and tolerating faults in distributed systems.
Detecting faults in distributed or parallel systems is often very difficult. We look at the problem of determining if a property or assertion was true in the computation. We formally define a logic called BTL that can be used to define such properties. Our logic takes temporal properties in consideration as these are often necessary for expressing conditions like safety violations and deadlocks.
We introduce the idea of a basis of a computation with respect to a property. A basis is a compact and exact representation of the states of the computation where the property was true. We exploit the lattice structure of the computation and the structure of different types of properties and avoid brute force approaches. We have shown that it is possible to efficiently detect all properties that can be expressed by using nested negations, disjunctions, conjunctions and the temporal operators possibly and always. Our algorithm is polynomial in the number of processes and events in the system, though it is exponential in the size of the property.
After faults are detected, it is necessary to act on them and, whenever possible, continue operation with minimal impact. This dissertation also deals with designing systems that can recover from faults. We look at techniques for tolerating faults in data and the state of the program. Particularly, we look at the problem where multiple servers have different data and program state and all of these need to be backed up to tolerate failures. Most current approaches to this problem involve some sort of replication. Other approaches based on erasure coding have high computational and communication overheads.
We introduce the idea of fusible data structures to back up data. This approach relies on the inherent structure of the data to determine techniques for combining multiple such structures on different servers into a single backup data structure. We show that most commonly used data structures like arrays, lists, stacks, queues, and so on are fusible and present algorithms for this. This approach requires less space than replication without increasing the time complexities for any updates. In case of failures, data from the back up and other non-failed servers is required to recover.
To maintain program state in case of failures, we assume that programs can be represented by deterministic finite state machines. Though this approach may not yet be practical for large programs it is very useful for small concurrent programs like sensor networks or finite state machines in hardware designs. We present the theory of fusion of state machines. Given a set of such machines, we present a polynomial time algorithm to compute another set of machines which can tolerate the required number of faults in the system.


Climate change is making extreme weather much more likely. As the 2012 drought in the USA shows, extreme weather means extreme food prices. Our failure to slash greenhouse gas emissions presents a future of greater food price volatility, with severe consequences for the precarious lives and livelihoods of people living in poverty.
This briefing draws on new research commissioned by Oxfam which models the impact of extreme weather – like droughts, floods and heat waves – on the prices of key international staple crops in 2030. It suggests that existing research, which considers the gradual effects of climate change but does not take account of extreme weather, is significantly underestimating the potential implications of climate change for food prices. This research shows how extreme weather events in a single year could bring about price spikes of comparable magnitude to two decades of long-run price rises. It signals the urgent need for a full stress-testing of the global food system in a warming world.


The aim of this study was to examine the impact of a 33-week program, which included two weekly intensive running sessions, on aerobic capacity, BMI, waist circumference and body composition in overweight and obese, inactive adults. An additional aim was to examine the additional impact of lifestyle modification education. Twenty-four participants in the Training Group (exercise only) and 27 in the Nutritional Guidance and Training Group (exercise + nutritional guidance) completed the study. Anthropometric measurements (BMI, waist circumference, visceral fat, muscle mass and fat percentage) and 3000 m running time were measured at start, after 15 weeks (BMI, waist circumference and 3000 m running time) and after 33 weeks of intervention. Significant reductions in BMI, waist circumference, fat percentage and 3000 m running time were found for both groups. A small, but insignificant, increase was found for muscle mass in both groups and visceral fat in the training group. A significant interaction effect for visceral fat was also found. Both groups improved their running time and anthropometric measurements. No significant differences were found between the groups.


Biographical research methods have become a useful and popular tool for contemporary social scientists. This book combines an exploration of the historical and philosophical origins of this important field of qualitative research with comparative examples of the different ways that biographical methods have been successfully applied internationally. Through these many illustrative examples of socio-biography in process the authors show how formal textual analysis, whilst uncovering hidden emotional defences, can also shed light on wider historical processes of societal transformation.
Topics discussed include:
*individual and linked lives
*generational change
*political influences on memory and identity
*biographical work in reflexive societies
*narrativity and empowerment in professional practice
*ways of theorising and generalising from case-studies.


Abstract Recorded between 1976 and 77, Juan Downey's video experiments with the Yanomami people have been widely celebrated as offering a critique of traditional anthropology through their use of feedback technology. This article argues, however, that close attention to the different feedback situations the artist constructs with the group reveal a more complex relationship between Downey and that discipline. In the enthusiasm he manifests for synchronous, closed-circuit video feedback in many of his statements about his Yanomami project, Downey in fact tacitly affirms some of the most problematic principles of traditional anthropology. In his emphasis on the real-time quality of this particular form of feedback, the artist puts forth a view of Yanomami society as itself synchronous, as a type of homeostatic, changeless system outside of historical time. As such he participates in a synchronic bias that anthropologists of his own time had begun to seriously critique. By focusing on one individual video from the Yanomami project, The Laughing Alligator of 1979, this essay argues that Downey's critical contribution to anthropological debates of his time does not come in the form of synchronous feedback, but rather through a different procedure unique to video technology based on temporal lag, delay, and spacing.


"It has the thoroughness of a history book yet reads with the personalized vision of a novel." "Time"Chester Brown reinvents the comic-book medium to create the critically acclaimed historical biography "Louis Riel," winning the Harvey Awards for best writing and best graphic novel for his compelling, meticulous, and dispassionate retelling of the charismatic, and perhaps insane, nineteenth-century Metis leader. Brown coolly documents with dramatic subtlety the violent rebellion on the Canadian prairie led by Riel, who some regard a martyr who died in the name of freedom, while others consider him a treacherous murderer."


Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are energy efficient, compact, and operate silently. DEAs consist of an elastomer membrane sandwiched between two stretchable electrodes. Optimizing the quality of both the elastomer and the stretchable electrodes is essential to improve the DEAs performance. Herein, novel strategies are reported to achieve fast, reliable, and low‐cost fabrication of DEAs. The strategies utilize a soft brush to directly pattern carbon nanotube (CNT) powder on the elastomer membrane and tune the mechanical and surface‐adhesiveness characteristics of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane by altering the mixing ratio of the curing agent and base polymer. A uniaxial engineering tensile test on PDMS indicates that a softer material is formed when less curing agent is used. The softer PDMS has a sticky surface, which allows the CNT powder to be physically bound to the surface. Field‐emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM) images prove that the strong CNT network is formed on the surface of the elastomer. The electromechanical investigation also indicates that the electrical conductivity is improved for a stickier PDMS surface. The optimal performance of PDMS 30‐1 in static and cyclic DEA tests shows that the brushing of CNT combined with soft and sticky elastomer membranes can increase the DEA performance.


In Denmark several factors like the national pesticide action plan, ethical questions, national research strategy, increasing share of organic farming and fees are affecting the policy regarding regulatory agencies approach for products supporting sustainable pest management. The use of microbial pesticides in Denmark are limited, with the relatively largest share used in the greenhouse sector. Approval of a product not sold in Denmark before July 26, 1993 consists of two parts: An EU approval of the active micro-organism, and a national approval of the product containing the active micro-organism. An EU approval of an active micro-organism is only granted if the active micro-organism is included in Annex I of the directive of authorized active organisms. As a main principle, an active micro-organism shall be entered on the list of authorized active organisms before the Danish EPA may grant an approval for sale or import of products containing active micro-organisms. Until now five new organisms have been recommended for EU approval and inclusion in Annex I of the Directive, but so far none have been included. For products sold in Denmark before July 26, 1993 a transitional scheme specified in the Order is applied. Under this procedure application for approval of such products should be submitted to the Danish EPA before July 26, 1994 if the products were intended for sale in Denmark after this date. The application is considered at a national level only by the Danish EPA. The Danish EPA has received applications concerning nine different active micro-organisms. Both GMO's and biocides are covered by specifie legislation. If the GMO's are also pesticides, they must also comply with the Danish pesticides legislation. As no transgenic microbial pesticides or microbial biocides have yet been registered in Denmark, there is no legal practice on this issue.


Malaria is a serious cause of mortality globally. The disease is of regional concern in Africa and of national interest in Kenya due to its high morbidity and mortality as a result of development of resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum to many existing drugs such as chloroquine. Alternative medicine using herbal remedies are commonly used to treat malaria in Kenya. However, plants used in some rural areas in Kenya are not documented. Many antimalarial drugs have been derived from plants. This study was conducted to document medicinal plants that are traditionally used by the Msambweni community of Kenyan South Coast to treat malaria, where the disease is endemic. Herbalists were interviewed by administration of semistructured questionnaires in order to obtain information on medicinal plants traditionally used for the treatment of malaria. Focused group discussions held with the herbalists supplemented the interview and questionnaire survey. Twenty-seven species of plants in 24 genera distributed in 20 families were reported to be used in this region for the treatment of malaria. Labiatae, Rutaceae and Liliaceae families had each eleven percent of the plant species reported and represented the species that are most commonly used. Thirteen plant species, namely; Aloe deserti Berger (Liliaceae), Launea cornuta (Oliv and Hiern) C. Jeffrey (Compositae), Ocimum bacilicum L. (Labiatae), Teclea simplicifolia (Eng) Verdoon (Rutaceae), Gerranthus lobatus (Cogn.) Jeffrey (Cucurbitaceae), Grewia hexaminta Burret. (Tiliaceae), Canthium glaucum Hiern. (Rubiaceae), Amaranthus hybridus L. (Amaranthaceae), Combretum padoides Engl and Diels. (Combretaceae), Senecio syringitolius O. Hoffman. (Compositae), Ocimum suave Willd (Labiatae), Aloe macrosiphon Bak. (Liliaceae) and Laudolphia buchananii (Hall.f) Stapf. (Apocynaceae) are documented from this region for the first time for the treatment of malaria. These results become a basis for selection of plants for further pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies in developing new plant based antimalarial drugs.


Pesticides are widely used in agricultural production and have on human existence. They have been credited with increasing crop yields, protecting land and property, and even saving human lives. At the same time, pesticides are associated with some of the problems in agricultural production particularly those pertaining to pollution of the environment. The new paradigm in socio-environmental consciousness imposes on agricultural production to not only generate income but to be socially-responsible,
sustainable and have minimum impact on the environment. In principle, sustainable agriculture espouses minimum use of pesticides, and only a last resort. However in practice, this seldom happens and pesticide usage is deemed a necessary evil especially in areas of heavy pest infestation. There is therefore a cogent need to reconcile the necessity of pesticide application with the damage visited on the ecosystem. Towards this end, this lecture will present the options of effective pesticide application with respect to choice, formulation and delivery technology for maximum impact with minimum collateral damage. Optimal dosage delivery that maximizes the biological effect on the target through the concept of controlled-release is one of the options to minimize the environmental impact of pesticides. Controlled-release of pesticides utilizes a depot system that continuously releases the active ingredient into the environment over a specified period of time. This would reduce the frequency of pesticide applications. Another novel approach to pest control is the use of biological pesticides or biopesticides. These are biorational (biologically rational) or ecorational substances that, when used for specific pests, have very limited or no effect on non-target organisms or the environment. The US Environmental Protection Agency defines them as any substances of natural origin that have a detrimental effect on specific target pests, possess a unique mode of action, and are non-toxic to man and the environment. They can either be living microbes and invertebrates, biochemical derived from living organisms The Future of Pesticides Technology in Agriculture or plant-incorporated protectants (eg transgenic Bt corn). The botanical insecticide, rotenone, extracted from the root of the tuba plant, Derris ellipfica has been shown to perform similarly to the standard synthetic compound. Similarly, entomopathogenic fungi from the Hyphomycetes, which are naturally responsible for epizootics (disease epidemics) in insect pest populations, Have good myco-insecticidal properties. Formulating the natural compound of entomopathogenic fung efficacy and ease of application in the field, minimizing handling hazards and accommodating the operational practices of Malaysian represents monumental allenges. The microemulsion of rotenone and water sible mefarhizium spores have been successfully formulated. A major problem in the application of pesticides is that a large proportion of the pesticide does not reach the target, with spray efficiency, particularly with insecticides, estimated to be less than 1%. Research in finding a solution that would have far reaching commercial and environmental implications has been directed to the spray volume application rate, selection of an appropriate atomizer and equipment calibration. The final product would be a precision equipment, calibrated to deliver the recommended dosage Of pesticide with an optimum spray droplet size and exact number dropletsper given
area. This technology would vastly improve the efficiency of utilization of the active ingredients of the pesticide. The above development and research findings pave the
way for the future not only in ensuring the most effective application of pesticides for crop protection, but also in enhancing food safety and protecting the ecosystem.


This chapter will propose a model for the analysis of argumentative connectives ( thus, therefore, but etc.) in political discourse. While argumentative connectives have traditionally been analysed as text cohesion devices (Halliday) or pragmatic markers (Schiffrin, Blakemore) in an Anglo context, we propose to analyse them as a closed set of expressions that code logical and argumentative relations between clauses, performing the double function of text cohesion and argument coding, inspired by linguistic polyphony (Ducrot, etc.). In this chapter we demonstrate the relevance of linguistic polyphony for the analysis of political discourse through a case study of the use of argumentative connectives in Nicolas Sarkozy's speeches to the European Parliament. The study shows that argumentative connectives contribute to rhetorical effects such as naturalisation of discourse, the representation of shared European values as well as the involvement of the audience in a co-construction of argumentation.


An apparatus is being developed at NPL to measure the emissivity of solids over the temperature range 150 to 1800 °C, wavelengths 0.6 to 9.6 μm, and angles to the normal of up to 70°, by a transient technique to ensure accurate measurement of the sample surface temperature. The main features of the apparatus are described. A Fourier-transform spectrometer is used, allowing emissivity measurements with high spectral resolution, from which total angular emissivity values can be calculated. Results of emissivity measurement are presented for polished tantalum, Fecralloy steel, boron nitride, and graphite specimens at temperatures up to 1300 °C.


Chronic wounds plague approximately 1.3-3 million Americans. The treatment of these wounds requires knowledge of the complex healing process of typical wounds. With a system of partial differential equations, this project attempts to model the intricate biological process and to describe oxygen levels, neutrophil and bacteria concentrations, and other biological parameters with respect to time and space. Analytical solutions for the model will be derived for various frames of time in the wound-healing process. The system of equations will be numerically solved using Matlab. Numerical simulations are performed to determine optimal treatment strategies for a chronic wound.


ABSTRACT The entry process of the avian sarcoma and leukosis virus (ASLV) family of retroviruses requires first a specific interaction between the viral surface (SU) glycoproteins and a receptor on the cell surface at a neutral pH, triggering conformational changes in the viral SU and transmembrane (TM) glycoproteins, followed by exposure to low pH to complete fusion. The ASLV TM glycoprotein has been proposed to adopt a structure similar to that of the Ebola virus GP2 protein: each contains an internal fusion peptide flanked by cysteine residues predicted to be in a disulfide bond. In a previous study, we concluded that the cysteines flanking the internal fusion peptide in ASLV TM are critical for efficient function of the ASLV viral glycoproteins in mediating entry. In this study, replication-competent ASLV mutant subgroup A [ASLV(A)] variants with these cysteine residues mutated were constructed and genetically selected for improved replication capacity in chicken fibroblasts. Viruses with single cysteine-to-serine mutations reverted to the wild-type sequence. However, viruses with both C9S and C45S (C9,45S) mutations retained both mutations and acquired a second-site mutation that significantly improved the infectivity of the genetically selected virus population. A charged-amino-acid second-site substitution in the TM internal fusion peptide at position 30 is preferred to rescue the C9,45S mutant ASLV(A). ASLV(A) envelope glycoproteins that contain the C9,45S and G30R mutations bind the Tva receptor at wild-type levels and have improved abilities to trigger conformational changes and to form stable TM oligomers compared to those of the C9,45S mutant glycoprotein.


Prestack migration in the time and depth domains is the premier tool for seismic imaging of complex structures. Unfortunately, an undersampled acquisition geometry, a limited recording aperture, and strong velocity contrasts lead to uneven illumination of the subsurface. This results in blurring the migrated image, sometimes referred to as acquisition footprint noise in the migrated image. To remedy this blurring partially, we introduce prestack migration deconvolution (MD). The MD filter is a layered-medium approximation to the inverse Hessian matrix that is applied locally to the migrated section. Both synthetic- and field-data results show noticeable improvements in reducing migration artifacts and increasing lateral spatial resolution by more than 10%. The computational expense for constructing the MD filter is related to the MD operator length. Its cost is about the same as that for migration, but opportunities exist for significantly reducing this cost. Results suggest that MD should be applied to migrated sections to optimize image quality.