This paper compares the forecast performance of four strategies for coupling global and limited area data as- similation: three strategies propagate information from the global to the limited area process, while the fourth strategy feeds back information from the limited area to the global process. All four strategies are formulated in the Local En- semble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) framework. Numerical experiments are carried out with the model component of the National Centers for Environmental Pre- diction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) and the NCEP Regional Spectral Model (RSM). The limited area do- main is an extended North-America region that includes part of the north-east Pacific. The GFS is integrated at horizon- tal resolution T62 (about 150 km in the mid-latitudes), while the RSM is integrated at horizontal resolution 48 km. Exper- iments are carried out both under the perfect model hypothe- sis and in a realistic setting. The coupling strategies are eval- uated by comparing their deterministic forecast performance at 12-h and 48-h lead times. The results suggest that the limited area data assimilation system has the potential to enhance the forecasts at 12-h lead time in the limited area domain at the synoptic and sub- synoptic scales (in the global wave number range of about 10 to 40). There is a clear indication that between the forecast performance of the different coupling strategies those that cy- cle the limited area assimilation process produce the most ac- curate forecasts. In the realistic setting, at 12-h forecast time the limited area systems produce more modest improvements compared to the global system than under the perfect model hypothesis, and at 48-h forecast time the global forecasts are more accurate than the limited area forecasts.


Computer vision enables the mobile robots to perform visual learning of the environment and the estimation of their current location. Some methods for visual learning utilise representations that consist of a series of visual impressions, captured during the exploration of the environment. In the localisation phase they compare the momentary visual impression with those stored in the representation. Thus they estimate their current location by matching the appearance. These methods perform efficiently in an arbitrary environment. However, their location estimation is limited to the vicinity of the actual training locations. In this dissertation we propose a novel method for appearance-based localisation that overcomes this limitation.

The solution we propose is a synergy of a mobile robot localisation technique with a computer graphics technique. The mobile robot acquires a set of images we organise into a spatio-temporal image volume. An image-based rendering technique called the X-slits rendering uses this representation as a source for generating novel views from virtual viewpoints. We compress the representation using the principal component analysis in order to reduce the memory requirements for the representation.

The proposed localisation method acquires an image from the robot's current viewpoint. It then selects the most similar image from a set of virtual viewpoints. In this way we replace the selection of pre-stored views with the rendering of the image approximations at the views with known coordinates. In order to do this, the method does not require any complex 3D reconstruction computations. Instead, it performs on a simple geometrical assumption that the scene is planar.

We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method with our experiments in artificial as well as real environments of arbitrary shape. We show that the method estimates the robot's locations well despite the fact that they are arbitrary and not a part of a training set. We thus show that the proposed method is suitable for the mobile robot localisation tasks.


Using a definition that emphasizes homogeneity, hybridization, interdependence and smoother and swifter flows of money, people, images, values and ideas across national borders, the links between globalization and health are examined across four themes: health and the environment, the movement of people, the movement of economic activities and health care as a global economic activity. Under each theme, how globalization affects health is examined at various geographic scales from the global to the local. In the section on health and the environment the impacts of global climate, air and water pollution are the foci for discussion. The section on the movement of people looks at documented immigration as a global phenomenon, refugees at the regional level, rural to urban migration and everyday airline travel, all of which generate health challenges and challenge health care systems. In the section on the movement of economic activities, the movement of industries has created new health challenges for developed and developing countries. Medical tourism is also examined as an activity that is at the intersection of economics and health and expedited through globalization. Under the fourth theme, health and health care are examined as global industries where the international pharmaceutical, food, beverage and tobacco industries are highlighted for the ways that they use the nature of globalization to their advantage even if it disadvantages the health of people regardless of whether they live in the developed or developing world.


Unusual stratospheric ozone levels were observed in the Antarctic stratosphere in 1992. The rate of ozone decrease during formation of the springtime ozone hole and the severity of ozone loss in the lower stratosphere were greater in 1992 as compared to previous years. Total ozone reached an all time low of about 105 Dobson units on October 11 at South Pole Station. On this day, the balloon-borne instrument encountered an apparent ozone void between altitudes of 14 and 18 km. Ozone profiles showed evidence of unusual ozone depletion in autumn, before polar stratospheric cloud existence temperatures were reached. Satellite measurements indicated that the 1992 ozone hole was about 25% larger in geographical extent than in previous years. The possible effects of the eruption of the Pinatubo volcano in the Philippine Islands in 1991 are investigated, and it is concluded that the sulfuric acid droplets, which formed in the stratosphere following the eruption and were trapped in the south polar vortex, are the most likely source of the anomalous Antarctic ozone depletion in 1992.


The article discusses various types of use-wear that can be observed on Mycenaean tableware. It is demonstrated that careful analysis and interpretation of such traces can provide new insights into the vessels' function. Material presented here derives from two sites, Lefkandi and Tsoungiza, and provides evidence for at least three types of abrasion on vessels' surfaces. These surface marks are illustrated throughout with numerous photographs. The most visible type of use-wear, which is attested on a variety of forms, consists of heavy abrasion of exterior rim and protruding part of lower body. This wear pattern is associated with scooping action from coarse containers, like cooking pots, pithoi, or vats


To protect computation, a security architecture must safeguard not only the software that performs it but also the state on which the software operates. This requires more than just preserving state confidentiality and integrity, since, e.g., software may err if its state is rolled back to a correct but stale version. For this reason, we present Memoir, the first system that fully ensures the continuity of a protected software module's state. In other words, it ensures that a module's state remains persistently and completely inviolate. A key contribution of Memoir is a technique to ensure rollback resistance without making the system vulnerable to system crashes. It does this by using a deterministic module, storing a concise summary of the module's request history in protected NVRAM, and allowing only safe request replays after crashes. Since frequent NVRAM writes are impractical on modern hardware, we present a novel way to leverage limited trusted hardware to minimize such writes. To ensure the correctness of our design, we develop formal, machine-verified proofs of safety. To demonstrate Memoir's practicality, we have built it and conducted evaluations demonstrating that it achieves reasonable performance on real hardware. Furthermore, by building three useful Memoir-protected modules that rely critically on state continuity, we demonstrate Memoir's versatility.


Abstract We present a framework for biodiversity metrics that organizes the growing panoply of metrics. Our framework distinguishes metrics based on the type of information–abundance, phylogeny, function–and two common properties–magnitude and variability. Our new metrics of phylogenetic diversity are based on a partition of the total branch lengths of a cladogram into the proportional share of each species, including: a measure of divergence which standardizes the amount of evolutionary divergence by species richness and time depth of the cladogram; a measure of regularity which is maximal when the tree is perfectly symmetrical so that all species have the same proportional branch lengths; a measure that combines information on the magnitude and variability of abundance with phylogenetic variability, and a measure of phylogenetically weighted effective mean abundance; and indicate how those metrics can be decomposed into α and β components. We illustrate the utility of these new metrics using empirical data on the bat fauna of Manu, Peru. Divergence was greatest in lowland rainforest and at the transition between cloud and elfin forests, and least in upper elfin forests and in cloud forests. In contrast, regularity was greatest in lowland rainforest, dipping to its smallest values in mid‐elevation cloud forests, and then increasing in high elevation elfin forests. These patterns indicate that the first species to drop out with increasing elevation are ones that are closely related to other species in the metacommunity. Measures of the effective number of phylogenetically independent or distinct species decreased very rapidly with elevation, and β‐diversity was larger. In contrast, a comparison of feeding guilds shows a different effect of phylogenetic patterning. Along the elevational gradient, each guild generally loses some species from each clade–rather than entire clades–explaining the maintenance of functional diversity as phylogenetic diversity decreases.


ABSTRACT The discrimination between perfect-match and single-base-pair-mismatched nucleic acid duplexes was investigated by using oligonucleotide DNA microarrays and nonequilibrium dissociation rates (melting profiles). DNA and RNA versions of two synthetic targets corresponding to the 16S rRNA sequences of Staphylococcus epidermidis (38 nucleotides) and Nitrosomonas eutropha (39 nucleotides) were hybridized to perfect-match probes (18-mer and 19-mer) and to a set of probes having all possible single-base-pair mismatches. The melting profiles of all probe-target duplexes were determined in parallel by using an imposed temperature step gradient. We derived an optimum wash temperature for each probe and target by using a simple formula to calculate a discrimination index for each temperature of the step gradient. This optimum corresponded to the output of an independent analysis using a customized neural network program. These results together provide an experimental and analytical framework for optimizing mismatch discrimination among all probes on a DNA microarray.


These items are selected and annotated by the ABS staff in a periodic search of new issues of 250 journals and reviews, including about 100 that are published outside the United States, and from announcements and review copies of books and fugitive materials recently published. Some items of special interest are boxed.


Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy. Opium addiction is the most prevalent addiction in Iranian society. During the last two decades "congress 60" a nongovernmental organization, has been performed a taper off treatment of opium associated with a package of psychological treatment group classes. While the effectiveness of taper off method in opium addiction has been confirmed, molecular mechanisms of this treatment in addicts are not clarified. BDNF gene is a brain-derived neurotrophic factor which is related to several molecular mechanisms of the brain including memory. 5-HTTPLR is a transporter of serotonin that is related to the decision-making process. In present study mRNA level of BDNF and 5-HTTPLR genes in peripheral blood of 20 non-psychiatric persons and 79 opium addicted individuals before and after six months period of taper off treatment was examined by using Real-Time PCR and confirmed by protein level analysis using Western blotting. In addition, executive functions including memory and decision making were analyzed in all participants. Results showed significant down expression of BDNF and 5-HTTPLR in addict persons vs. non psychiatric persons. Also significantly increase detected in BDNF (p<0.01) and5-HTTPLR (p<0.01) expression level in addicts after six months of therapy period. Similar results with gene expression results revealed in protein level analysis. Also, significant improvements in memory and decision making were revealed in addicts after therapy and these improvements were correlated with the expression level of BDNF and 5-HTTPLR. Findings revealed the effect of opium abuse and taper off treatment on the expression of BDNF and 5-HTTPLR. In addition, the association of BDNF mRNA level with psychological states of addict's individuals detected. Results of the present study may help to a better understanding of molecular and neuropsychological mechanisms of opium addiction and taper off treatment. Also, present BDNF and 5-HTTPLR as potential markers for screening the effectiveness of different kinds of addiction treatment.


SUMMARY Very little seismic attenuation occurs in the mid to lower crust of south-west Iceland. The lowest path-averaged quality factor for a wave turning in the mid to lower crust (12-20 km) is QP = 110 for P waves and Q5 = 250 for S waves, with most of the data having higher values, typically QP = 200-300 and Qr = 400-600. Attenuation estimates based on a 1 -D, layered inversion give correspondingly high values, Qp > 800 and Q, = 800-2000. These Q values are inconsistent with thermal models that predict a broad (100 km wide) region of above-solidus temperatures centred on the volcanic zones. The observed attenuation implies an upper limit for mid to lower crustal temperature in the 700-775 "C range (assuming a gabbroic lithology). Much higher attenuation (Qp = 60, Qr = 100) occurs in the uppermost 4 km of crust. This is most likely apparent attenuation caused by strong near-surface seismic heterogeneity, resulting from fissures, faults and extreme changes in porosity (up to 20-30 per cent). The quality factor of the near-surface layer varies regionally, and is lower in volcanic zones than in either the Reykjanes Peninsula or the South Iceland Lowland.


Considerable interest has been developed in using fibres is concrete to increase the load-carrying capacity of structures in service. Fibre reduces brittleness of concrete and improves its engineering properties such as tensile, flexural, impact, fatigue, load bearing capacity after cracking and toughness. Among fibres, steel fibre is one of the most popular and widely used fibres in both research and practice. Steel fibre-reinforced concrete (SFRC) has been used increasingly in recent years and has applied to various structural components. It is also known that using 0.5 – 2.5 % fibre in concrete mix can significantly improve the concrete properties. In recent years, it has been used as a strengthening technique for concrete slabs. Cement-base bonded overlay technique consists of applying a thin layer of SFRC onto the existing slab. Beneficial effect of fibre reinforcement on the durability of cement-base bonded overlay has been amply demonstrated by previous researchers. The objective of this research is investigation on flexural behavior of precast concrete slab with steel fibre concrete topping. The parameter investigated includes steel fibre volume fraction and surface condition between old and new concrete. A series of 108 specimens (cube, cylinder and prism), without and with three different steel fibre volumes were investigated by ratio of 0.7%, 1.0% and 1.5% to determine the optimum percentage volume of steel fibre in application to reinforced concrete topping. To reinforce the concrete overlay, hooked-end steel fibres was used; length of 30 mm and diameter of 0.75 mm. These slabs have three different surface textures between the substrate and concrete topping which include smooth as-cast and roughened in both longitudinal and transverse direction. The results show good reliability on using SRFC as concrete topping replacing the conventional construction method. The highest bond strength was achieved with roughening the top substrate in transverse direction which can sustain 2.5 times more moment compared with the calculated values.


We present a particular approach and the associated results allowing the nanostructuration of a thin photosensitive polymer film. This approach based on a scanning near–field optical microscopy configuration uses the field–enhancement (FE) effect, a so–called lightning–rod effect appearing at the extremity of a metallic tip when illuminated with an incident light polarized along the tip axis. The local enhancement of the electromagnetic field straight below the tip'sapex is observed directly through a photoisomerization reaction, inducing the growth of a topographical nanodot characterized in situ by atomic–force microscopy using the same probe. From a survey of the literature, we first review the different experimental approaches offered to nanostructure materials by near–field optical techniques. We describe more particularly the FE effect approach. An overview of the theoretical approach of this effect is then given before presenting some experimental results so as theoretical results using the finite–element method. These results show the influence on the nanostructuration of the polymer of a few experimental parameters such as the polarization state, the illumination mode and the tip'sgeometry. Finally, the potentiality of this technique for some applications in the field of lithography and high–density data storage is shown via the fabrication of nano–patterns.


Sieve Analysis: Statistical Methods for Assessing Genotype-Specific Vaccine Protection in HIV-1 Efficacy Trials with Multivariate and Missing Genotypes Michal Juraska Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Peter B. Gilbert Department of Biostatistics The extensive diversity of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) poses a major challenge for the design of a successful preventive HIV-1 vaccine. Thus an important component of HIV-1 vaccine development is the assessment of the impact of HIV-1 diversity on vaccine protection against HIV-1 acquisition. Statistical methods to evaluate whether and how vaccine efficacy depends on genetic features of exposing viruses in data collected in randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled Phase IIb/III preventive HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trials are developed. To characterize exposing HIV-1 strains, their genetic distances to the multiple HIV-1 sequences included in the vaccine construct are measured, where the set of genetic distances is considered as the continuous multivariate 'mark' observable in infected subjects only. A mark-specific vaccine efficacy model is described in the framework of competing risks failure time analysis that allows improved efficiency of estimation, relative to current alternative approaches, by using the semiparametric method of maximum profile likelihood estimation in the vaccine-to-placebo mark density ratio model. In addition, the model allows to employ a more efficient estimation method for the overall hazard ratio in the Cox model. Mark data proximal to the time of HIV-1 acquisition, that are of greatest biological relevance, are commonly subject to missingness due to the intra-host HIV-1 evolution. Two inferential approaches accommodating missing marks are proposed: (i) weighting of the complete cases by the inverse probabilities of observing the mark of interest (Horvitz and Thompson, 1952), and (ii) augmentation of the inverse probability weighted estimating functions for improved efficiency and model robustness by leveraging auxiliary information predictive of the mark (using the general theory of Robins, Rotnitzky, and Zhao (1994)). The missing-mark methods provide a general framework for parameter estimation in density ratio/biased sampling models in the presence of missing data. The proposed methodology can serve either to make inference about whether and how vaccine efficacy varies with prespecified genetic distance measures, or as an exploratory tool to identify distance definitions with the greatest decline in vaccine efficacy, characterizing potential correlates of immune protection and indicating pathways for improved HIV-1 vaccine design. The developed methods are applied to HIV-1 sequence data collected in the RV144 Phase III preventive HIV-1 vaccine efficacy trial.


March 2010 saw the introduction of new structural design codes across Europe and from that date existing British Standards were no longer updated and maintained. BS 5628: Part 1:20051, the existing British Standard on unreinforced masonry was replaced by EN 1996-1-1:20052 and its associated National Annex3. In this paper comparisons between these British and European standards have been undertaken to evaluate diferences between strength predictions with respect to vertically loaded walls. Standard size clay and calcium silicate bricks and aggregate concrete and aircrete blocks 215mm high and of thickness: 100, 140, 190 and 215mm are included. Initially comparisons to highlight diferences between the various separate procedures, which feed into the wall strength design procedures in each code, are undertaken. Comparisons of wall strength are made to indicate the overall diferences between the two codes when predicting wall resistance. Results indicate that each of the separate procedures that make up the overall design difer, and in the case of estimating unit characteristic strength diferences of up to 50% exist. More importantly though, the overall design resistance of vertically spanning walls when compared using the two codes difer by up to (and in one case more than) 50%. Whilst it is acceptable that individual components of the design process could difer, when combined to give an overall wall strength, they should be broadly similar. This is not the case. However, it should also be noted that in this paper some unit strengths outside what may be expected in practice are included. Nevertheless, the majority of the comparisons could and do arise in industry. Furthermore, this study only examines wall resistances, the impact of how loads are determined.


This paper analyzes the probabilistic measures of job insecurity that have recently become available through the nationwide Survey of Economic Expectations (SEE). Since 1994, employed SEE respondents have been asked questions eliciting their subjective probabilities of job loss in the coming year and their expectations of a good outcome should they lose their current job and have to engage in job search. The responses of 3600 persons interviewed from 1994 through early 1998 are analyzed here. It is found that workers vary considerably in their perceptions of job insecurity, with most workers perceiving little or no risk but some perceiving moderate to high risk. Expectations of job loss tend to decrease markedly with age, but so do expectations of a good outcome should job search become necessary. The net result is that composite job insecurity tends not to vary at all with age. Subjective probabilities of job loss tend to decrease with schooling and subjective probabilities of good search outcomes tend to increase with schooling; hence composite job insecurity tends to decrease with schooling. Perceptions of job insecurity vary little by sex. Perceptions of job insecurity vary substantially by race, the main differences being that subjective probabilities of job loss among blacks tend to be nearly double those of whites. Self-employed workers see themselves as facing less job insecurity than do those who work for others. Workers tended to perceive less job insecurity in 1996 and 1997 than in 1994 and 1995. Expectations within groups are heterogeneous, the covariates (age, schooling, sex, race, employer, year) collectively explaining only a small part of the sample variation in worker expectations. Moving beyond descriptive analysis, the paper connects the empirical findings to modern theories of the labor market. A competing-risks formalization of job separations by the two routes of job loss and voluntary quits is used to draw conclusions about workers' expectations of exogenous job destruction in the year ahead. The theory of job search is used to interpret the empirical finding that the distribution of search-outcome expectations is symmetric and quite dispersed.


One feature of socialism that has been little discussed in the recent revival of interest in Marx is the basic form of economic organization that will characterize such a society. Marx's view, to be documented in what follows, is that socialism would not have a market economy. This prediction should be a matter of some embarrassment or consternation to twentieth-century socialists outside of the Soviet bloc who claim a Marxist heritage. Despite the fact (or perhaps because of the fact) that some socialist regimes in the first half of this century did carry out a program of (largely) abolishing the market, the abolition of markets is no longer on the agenda for developed and developing countries. On the Left, anyway, some form of market socialism seems to be the preferred alternative; Yugoslavia is often pointed to as an imperfect real world exemplar of what market socialism might be like.


In this study, a shunt active power filter (APF), with predictive current control is coupled to the 12-pulse converter in two different configurations where the same performance is achieved. The proposed configuration (the second configuration) utilises a three-winding transformer (star/tapped-star/delta) with an APF connected to the secondary taps. This transformer configuration reduces the filter side voltage avoiding the need of a high bandwidth step-down transformer. This reduces the voltage rating of the APF switches, consequently, increases the switching frequency limit. Moreover, the APF-injected compensation current is minimised, as it utilises the natural mitigation of the current harmonic components generated by each 6-pulse converter, because of the phase shift property of the front-end transformer. The APF is controlled to compensate system reactive power, distortion and the oscillating power at the converter ac side. The compensated sinusoidal input current has acceptable total harmonic distortion (THD) and near unity power factor. The converter operates under a specific power locus that compromises between a symmetrical firing power locus and asymmetrical firing loci. This locus provides minimum input current THD when the reactive power is less than 0.5 pu. The simulation results for compensating a 3.3-kV, medium voltage, MV, 12-pulse converter system are experimentally verified using a scaled prototype 12-pulse converter with a shunt APF.


Early driver intention prediction plays a significant role in intelligent vehicles. Drivers exhibit various driving characteristics impairing the performance of conventional algorithms using all drivers' data indiscriminatingly. This paper develops a personalized driver intention prediction system at unsignalized T intersections by seamlessly integrating clustering and classification. Polynomial regression mixture (PRM) clustering and Akaike's information criterion are applied to individual drivers trajectories for learning in-depth driving behaviors. Then, various classifiers are evaluated to link low-level vehicle states to high-level driving behaviors. CART classifier with Bayesian optimization excels others in accuracy and computation. The proposed system is validated by a real-world driving dataset. Comparative experimental results indicate that PRM clustering can discover more in-depth driving behaviors than manually defined maneuver due to its fine ability in accounting for both spatial and temporal information; the proposed framework integrating PRM clustering and CART classification provides promising intention prediction performance and is adaptive to different drivers.


Recently, a silicon micromachining method to produce tetrahedral silicon particles was discovered. In this report we determine, using band structure calculations, the optical properties of diamond-lattice photonic crystals when assembled from such particles. We show that crystal structures built from silicon tetrahedra are expected to display small stop gaps. Wide photonic band gaps appear when truncated tetrahedral particles are used to build the photonic crystals. With truncated tetrahedral particles, a bandgap with a width of 23.6% can be achieved, which is more than twice as wide compared to band gaps in self-assembled diamond-lattices of hard-spheres. The width of the bandgap is insensitive to small deviations from the optimal amount of truncation. This work paves the way to a novel class of silicon diamond-lattice bandgap crystals that can be obtained through self-assembly. Such a self-assembly approach would allow for easy integration of these highly photonic crystals in existing silicon microfluidic and -electronic systems.


We report the discovery and early observations of the peculiar Type IIn supernova (SN) 2006gy in NGC 1260. With a peak visual magnitude of about -22, it is the most luminous supernova ever recorded. Its very slow rise to maximum took ~70 days, and it stayed brighter than -21 mag for about 100 days. It is not yet clear what powers the enormous luminosity and the total radiated energy of ~1051 erg, but we argue that any known mechanism—thermal emission, circumstellar interaction, or 56Ni decay—requires a very massive progenitor star. The circumstellar interaction hypothesis would require truly exceptional conditions around the star, which, in the decades before its death, must have experienced a luminous blue variable (LBV) eruption like the 19th century eruption of η Carinae. However, this scenario fails to explain the weak and unabsorbed soft X-rays detected by Chandra. Radioactive decay of 56Ni may be a less objectionable hypothesis, but it would imply a large Ni mass of ~22 M☉, requiring SN 2006gy to have been a pair-instability supernova where the star's core was obliterated. While this is still uncertain, SN 2006gy is the first supernova for which we have good reason to suspect a pair-instability explosion. Based on a number of lines of evidence, we eliminate the hypothesis that SN 2006gy was a ``Type IIa'' event, that is, a white dwarf exploding inside a hydrogen envelope. Instead, we propose that the progenitor was a very massive evolved object like η Carinae that, contrary to expectations, failed to shed its hydrogen envelope. SN 2006gy implies that some of the most massive stars can explode prematurely during the LBV phase, never becoming Wolf-Rayet stars. SN 2006gy also suggests that they can create brilliant supernovae instead of experiencing ignominious deaths through direct collapse to a black hole. If such a fate is common among the most massive stars, then observable supernovae from Population III stars in the early universe will be more numerous than previously believed.


OBJECTIVES
The aim was to assess the validity and reliability of a Swedish version of the Oral impacts on Daily Performance (OIDP) index measuring oral health-related quality of life.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
After translation and cultural adaptation, a 3-site sample of 204 adults (20-86 years) was interviewed using the OIDP. Moreover, the study included a self-administered questionnaire and a clinical examination.

RESULTS
A total of 39.7% reported at least one oral impact on daily life. The most common performances affected were eating and cleaning teeth (both 20.6%). Oral effects on psychological performances caused the highest impacts. No gender or age differences were demonstrated with respect to having at least one impact. However, among those affected, women, old and young subjects scored higher than men and other ages, respectively, on the OIDP. The face and content validity were deemed good in pilot interviews with laypersons and dental professionals. The construct validity was confirmed, as the OIDP score was consistently associated with self-perceived oral health OR 2.13 (95% CI 1.10-4.10) and other self-rated variables, e.g. satisfaction with oral health OR 2.43 (CI 1.34-4.41), also when accounting for age, gender and socioeconomic differences. Associations were estimated using logistic regression. Lacking 10 or more teeth was associated with a higher OIDP score, which supports the criterion validity of the instrument. In a test-retest analysis Cohen's kappa was 0.77.

CONCLUSIONS
The Swedish version of the OIDP appears to be a valid and reliable measure for assessing oral impacts on daily performances.


The famous School of Edessa (or School of the Persians) has been understood in various degrees of specificity and concreteness during the course of research on it. In this work, the author's doctoral thesis, Hayes looks at the "school" very broadly in general terms of the Christian intellectual milieu of the city. He goes back to the early personages of Tatian and Bardaisan and discusses early literature such as the Acts of Judas Thomas, Odes of Solomon, and the Clementine literature. Virtually every major Syriac author that had anything to do with Edessa finds mention in the work. When he comes to the School of the Persians proper he naturally spends a lot of time on the Christological controversies and the individuals involved from their respective sides. At the end of the work he traces the history of Edessa into the period of Islamic rule and the Crusades. This broad examination of the intellectual and theological activity of the city that for centuries stood supreme in Syriac Christianity will find a welcome place on the shelves of students and scholars of eastern Christianity.


AIM
to determine factors associated with In-Stent Restenosis (ISR) in patients following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI).

METHODS
a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary information from medical records of post-PCI patients who underwent follow-up of angiography PCI between January 2009 and March 2014 at The Integrated Cardiovascular Service Unit, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta. Angiographic ISR was defined when the diameter of stenosis 50% at follow-up angiography including the diameter inside the stent and diameter with five-mm protrusion out of the proximal and distal ends of the stent.

RESULTS
there were 289 subjects including 133 subjects with and 156 subjects without ISR. The incidence of ISR in patients using of bare-metal stent (BMS) and drug-eluting stent (DES) were 61.3% and 40.7%, respectively. Factors associated with ISR are stent-type (OR=4.83, 95% CI 2.51-9.30), stent length (OR=3.71, 95% CI 1.99-6.90), bifurcation lesions (OR=2.43, 95% CI 1.16-5.10), smoking (OR=2.30, 95% CI 1.33-3.99), vascular diameter (OR=2.18, 95% CI 1.2-3.73), hypertension (OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.16-4.04) and diabetes mellitus (OR=2.14, 95% CI 1.23-3.70).

CONCLUSION
stent type, stent length, bifurcation lesions, smoking, vascular diameter, hypertension and DM are factors associated with ISR in patients following PCI.


The paper offers a single-case analysis of newsmaking discourse, considering the source, the writing process and the news product from the vantage point of argumentation. The case study examines how a journalist of the business-finance desk of a generalist newspaper copes with the argumentative and persuasive nature of the corporate press releases on financial results on which he depends for his reporting. The paper contributes to the understanding of journalistic practices in the economy-finance desk showing that even within the constrained genre of hard news reporting and despite the epistemic and practical limitations of newsmaking practices the journalist does not renounce to a critical stance towards the argumentation in the source. This is done without fully and explicitly assuming the argumentative roles of antagonist and protagonist of alternative standpoints but rather by rhetorically framing the reader in these roles. Methodologically, the paper showcases a two-way cross-fertilization between argumentation theory and the ethnography of newsmaking. The newsmaking process joining the press release and the newspaper article is analyzed in vivo thanks to the ethnographic methodology of Progression Analysis (PA). Progression Analysis provides a new kind of evidence for argumentative reconstruction, while argumentative reconstruction provides an explicit framework for comparing source and product texts and for laying down the reasoning behind the journalist's decision making as elicited by (PA).


The settlement rule used to determine payments in electricity market auctions can have a profound impact on the amount paid for a particular service. This paper evaluates two auction settlement rules: the uniform price auction in which the last offer accepted determines the price paid to all participants and the discriminatory price auction in which each participant is paid the amount bid by that party. Using an electricity market simulation tool to model the markets for energy and various ancillary services in a large control area, it is demonstrated that under conditions of market power substantial revenues with commensurately high profits can be commanded under a uniform price auction. By employing a discriminatory price rule, much of the impact of market power can be ameliorated. In addition, a discriminatory price auction, by virtue of requiring each bidder to explicitly state their desired revenue rate, provides greater visibility of attempts to make use of strategic pricing and market power. By discouraging the use of market power through greater price visibility, discriminatory price auctions also have the potential to reduce instances of strategic capacity withholding, which in turn, should enhance overall system reliability.


The δ2 glutamate receptor (GluRδ2) is predominantly expressed in Purkinje cells and plays crucial roles in cerebellar functions: GluRδ2−/− mice display ataxia and impaired motor learning. In addition, long-term depression (LTD) at parallel fiber (PF)–Purkinje cell synapses is abrogated, and synapse formation with PFs and climbing fibers (CFs) is severely disturbed in GluRδ2−/− Purkinje cells. Recently, we demonstrated that abrogated LTD was restored in GluRδ2−/− Purkinje cells by the virus-mediated expression of the wild-type GluRδ2 transgene (Tgwt) but not by that of mutant GluRδ2 lacking the C-terminal seven residues to which several PDZ proteins bind (TgΔCT7). These results indicated that the C terminus of GluRδ2 conveys the signal(s) necessary for LTD. In contrast, other phenotypes of GluRδ2−/− cerebellum, especially morphological abnormalities at PF and CF synapses, could not be rescued by virus-mediated transient expression. Thus, whether these phenotypes are mediated by the same signaling pathway remains unclear. To address these issues and to further delineate the function of GluRδ2 in vivo, we generated transgenic mice that expressed TgΔCT7 on a GluRδ2−/− background. Interestingly, although TgΔCT7 restored abnormal PF and CF synapse formation almost completely, it could not rescue abrogated LTD in GluRδ2−/− Purkinje cells. Furthermore, although the gross motor discoordination of GluRδ2−/− mice was restored, the cerebellar motor learning underlying delayed eyeblink conditioning remained impaired. These results indicate that LTD induction and motor learning are regulated by signaling via the C-terminal end of GluRδ2, whereas other functions may be differentially regulated by other regions of GluRδ2.


Artificial incubation is fundamental in ex situ avian conservation interventions for an increasing range of threatened species, but incubation parameters can differ between species. Both egg-turning angle and frequency are critical for successful embryonic development, but measuring these parameters in wild birds has historically been difficult. Using data-loggers inside artificial eggs that accurately record parental egg attendance behaviours, we quantified turning angles and rates throughout the incubation of 6 nesting wild Asian houbaras Chlamydotis macqueenii, a species bred in captivity in response to human over-exploitation. Wild females turned their eggs 0.6 times h−1 with a mean angle of 40.9° turn−1. Mimicking the patterns of wild birds ('wild' treatment), we applied a mean angular change of 40–50° turn once h−1 to artificially incubated eggs and compared this to eggs treated with an existing protocol ('control') of 120–130° per turn. Mean hatchability for the wild treatment (78.8%, n = 766) was similar to the control (76.6%, n = 1196). The wild treatment (n = 591) produced significantly heavier hatchlings (2.7%) than the control treatment (n = 893). However, chick growth rates (g d−1 and daily % mass change) and survival to Day 10 were not different between groups. The wild treatment demonstrates that turning angles affect embryo development and, perhaps, hatchability. Investigating natural incubation behaviours using egg-loggers and applying these patterns to artificial incubation appears efficacious to achieve optimal incubation protocols and reduce the need for ex situ trial and error refinement in conservation interventions of captive-bred threatened bird species.


Water is an eminently important element for societal development. It must be available in sufficient quantity and quality to meet human requirements of consumption, food production and sanitation. The riverine ecosystems are increasingly deteriorated due to human interventions. This leads to changes in the natural flow patterns. The concept of environmental flow started to emerge. Due to the importance of environmental flow in the integrated river basin management, researchers and scientists worldwide have made great efforts towards assessing the environmental flow requirements in river ecosystems. Various tools and techniques were defined. Governmental authorities and water ministries (all over the world including Egypt) have introduced regulations and policies to assure the vitality of environmental flow in river management and water allocation too.

Although different methods are available for the environmental flow assessment, those techniques are not practically applied. Implementing the environmental flow in real world is a challenge, due to the lack of political will and the stakeholder support, the institutional barriers and conflicts of interest, and finally the insufficient resources and capacity in environmental management institutions. It is a multidisciplinary and intersectoral process.

The present study aims to report the importance of environmental flow regarding the inhabitants' daily life as well as the overall Egyptian socio-economic, political and health status. It demonstrates the methods of applying the Environmental flow concept in Egypt with a focus on social and political aspects, detailing the current situation in Egypt, and clarifying the obstacles that face the implementation process. The data was collected via local people questionnaires, stakeholders' interviews and field visits. The study proposes solutions to evade the environmental flow implementation obstacles and overcome current challenges. Moreover, the study predicts future issues and offers solutions to avoid their occurrence.


This essay examines tensions between American and Canadian legal and journalistic cultures through a discussion of Canada's best known serial murder case. The Internet and the rapid global dissemination of media texts have enabled American news reports to cross the border with increasing ease, challenging more conservative Canadian laws about freedom of expression and a criminal defendant's right to fair trial. The most recent case to test these issues involves the prosecution of Robert William Pickton for the sexual murders of 26 women in British Columbia, details of which have been under a court-sanctioned "publication ban" since 2002. American law, in contrast to Canadian law, allows journalists who cover criminal justice in the United States to operate in an environment of almost total freedom. American news organizations can publish or broadcast virtually any facts about a criminal case, regardless of whether the publicity could bias potential jurors or otherwise influence the administration of justice. (1) Potentially prejudicial facts of the kind that are routinely found in American crime news (e.g., information about defendants' prior criminal records, statements suspects make to police, the nature of evidence discussed at pretrial hearings (2)) are those most likely to run afoul of Canadian laws that limit what may be published or broadcast about pending criminal cases. These opposing approaches to pretrial publicity came into conflict early in the case against Pickton when American journalists at major news organizations, such as the Seattle Times, breached the publication ban, leading the court to issue the first Canadian ban on the reporting of Internet addresses in relation to the trial. This ban exceeds the normal Criminal Code limits, and in effect prevents media from "steering" their audiences to offending websites. (3) The court's attempt to prevent Internet media reports of the preliminary inquiry from coming into Canada is illustrative of concern about transnational media content, particularly in the wake of a 2005 political scandal and judicial inquiry involving a former prime minister in which an American blog published banned information that many Canadians were able to read via the Internet. (4) Most empirical studies on pretrial publicity in North America have focused on the impact of media reportage on juries, and the scholarly consensus is that it does not have strong effects on trial outcomes. (5) There have been no systematic studies of how pretrial publicity from the United States about Canadian cases might affect Canadians, though there has been much speculation about the issue, particularly in the wake of the Paul Bernardo--Karla Homolka prosecutions for the rape and murder of two teenage girls in the mid-1990s. (6) Comparative studies of international crime coverage have generally focused on the nature of the content with respect to the crime or criminal, leaving the cultural or legal context of the journalists largely undeveloped. (7) In addition, relatively few Canadian criminal cases have garnered intense media interest south of the border, with only five homicide prosecutions over the past 50 years generating legal skirmishes between Canadian judges and American journalists over pretrial publicity. Our research adds to the literature by examining the culturally specific legal and journalistic norms surrounding crime and pretrial coverage over a 50-year period, and in particular, how these elements play out in an age of increasingly global media flows. Our study relies on the media coverage and court documents related to five cases, which range from the slaying of a young woman in Ontario in the 1950s that was covered by American true crime magazines, to one of the most heinous homicides in Canadian history, the Bernardo-Homolka killings, ending with the Pickton trial. We argue that despite heightened fears of the possible erosion of the Canadian criminal justice system by the encroachment of American legal norms via the Internet, cross-border crime content appears to be a negotiation between legal and journalistic norms in which American journalists have generally sought accommodation over the long term rather than conflict. …


Eosinophilic fasciitis is an uncommon connective tissue disease that may mimic and overlap with other sclerosing disorders such as morphea and lichen sclerosus. Herein, we report four patients (two men and two women, aged 16-64 yeas) with eosinophilic fasciitis. There was overlap with both morphea and lichen sclerosus in 2 patients and with morphoea alone in 1 patient. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used for diagnosis in three patients and for assessing treatment response in one patient. Eosinophilic fasciitis may co-exist with morhoea and lichen sclerosus. In view of the overlapping clinical and histopathological features of these disorders, MRI may be helful in delineating the conditions by detecting involvement of fascia.


Electrical interconnections are one of the main challenges in the printed electronics, to connect different functional units of an electronic device. With the progressive advancement of large area and low cost printed electronic devices on polymeric and paper substrates, the requirement for reliable interconnections with lower power consumption fabricated at low temperature is necessary. The conventional copper-based interconnections suffer severe problems in terms of cost efficiency when they are processed with photolithography technique. To replace the conventional metallic interconnections we have proposed printed interconnects with graphene inks. This is mainly motivated by two reasons. First, printing is a low-cost patterning approach which is performed at ordinary ambient condition. Printing of graphene proved to be a promising since it combines the attractive features of graphene and the cost effective printing methods (ink-jet printing, nozzle printing, spray printing) which enable additive patterning, direct writing, scalability to large area manufacturing. In order to facilitate the inkjet printing process, the graphene solution needs to be highly stable, uniform and should contain smaller sheet sizes (~ 1 micro meter) because of the limitation of the nozzle size of inkjet printing machine. In this work we have proposed a cost-effective approach for large-scale production of printable stable graphene suspension by liquid-phase shear exfoliation of graphite for printed electronics application. The process is scalable and requires shorter processing time compared to the other existing exfoliation methods. Graphene sheets have been exfoliated from graphite flakes in a solvent, cyclohexanone with ethyl cellulose as stabilizer. The graphene based solution prepared after several optimizations leads to a stable ink for more than six months without any sedimentation. The initial studies confirmed the production of graphene films with average sheet thickness of 10 to 20 nm and without any agglomeration with sheet sizes less than 1 micro meter. The rheological properties, such as, viscosity, of the produced graphene ink has been carefully tuned in order for successful inkjet printing process. Highly conductive and transparent (~70 % in the visible region) interconnections have been developed after several inkjet printing steps.


Monetary policy is the process by which the central bank of a country controls the supply of money, the availability of money, and the cost of money or rate of interest, in order to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy. Fiscal policy induced "demand management†approach as propagated by Keynes, which was popular in the post-Great Depression period, later made way to monetary policy led "stabilisation†approach in the period of high inflation of 1970s. While traditional fiscal policy solutions were useful in confronting unemployment by increasing spending and cutting taxes, counter-acting inflation entailed reducing spending or raising taxes. The growing importance of monetary policy and the diminishing role played by fiscal policy in economic stabilisation efforts may reflect both political and economic realities. Monetary and fiscal policies differ in the speed with which each takes effect as the time lags are variable. Monetary policy is flexible (rates can be changed each month) and emergency rate changes can be made, whereas changes in taxation take longer to organize and implement. Also, considerable time may pass between the decision to adopt a government spending programme and its implementation.


This article addresses the theoretical justifications for limited liability and the exceptions to limited liability under the various veil piercing doctrines. In particular, the article considers whether veil piercing is appropriate in regulated industries such as insurance and banking, which have comprehensive regulatory structures that are designed to prevent much of the conduct that veil piercing is designed to remedy. The article concludes that veil piercing is not justified under such circumstances because the economic costs outweigh any benefits.


In this paper, we study self-employment in a theoretical setting derived from wage-efficiency spatial models, where leisure and effort at work are complementary. We develop a spatial model of self-employment in which effort at work and commuting are negatively related, and thus the probability of self-employment decreases with "expected" commuting time. We use time-use data from the American Time Use Survey 2003-2014 to analyze the spatial distribution of self-employment across metropolitan areas in the US, focusing on the relationship between commuting time and the probability of self-employment. Our empirical results show that the probability of self-employment is negatively related to the "expected" commuting time, giving empirical support to our theoretical model. Furthermore, we propose a GIS model to show that commuting and self-employment rates are, in relation to unemployment rates, negatively related.


Background Four cluster randomized controlled trials (cRCTs) conducted in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) have reported reductions in patient risk through increased healthcare worker (HCW) influenza vaccination. This evidence has led to expansive policies of enforcement that include all staff of acute care hospitals and other healthcare settings beyond LTCFs. We critique and quantify the cRCT evidence for indirect patient benefit underpinning policies of mandatory HCW influenza vaccination. Methods Plausibility of the four cRCT findings attributing indirect patient benefits to HCW influenza vaccination was assessed by comparing percentage reductions in patient risk reported by the cRCTs to predicted values. Plausibly predicted values were derived according to the basic mathematical principle of dilution, taking into account HCW influenza vaccine coverage and the specificity of patient outcomes for influenza. Accordingly, predicted values were calculated as a function of relevant compound probabilities including vaccine efficacy (ranging 40–60% in HCWs and favourably assuming the same indirect protection conferred through them to patients) × change in proportionate HCW influenza vaccine coverage (as reported by each cRCT) × percentage of a given patient outcome (e.g. influenza-like illness (ILI) or all-cause mortality) plausibly due to influenza virus. The number needed to vaccinate (NNV) for HCWs to indirectly prevent patient death was recalibrated based on real patient data of hospital-acquired influenza, with adjustment for potential under-detection (5.2-fold), and using favourable assumptions of HCW-attributable risk (ranging 60–80%). Results In attributing patient benefit to increased HCW influenza vaccine coverage, each cRCT was found to violate the basic mathematical principle of dilution by reporting greater percentage reductions with less influenza-specific patient outcomes (i.e., all-cause mortality > ILI > laboratory-confirmed influenza) and/or patient mortality reductions exceeding even favourably-derived predicted values by at least 6- to 15-fold. If extrapolated to all LTCF and hospital staff in the United States, the prior cRCT-claimed NNV of 8 would implausibly mean >200,000 and >675,000 patient deaths, respectively, could be prevented annually by HCW influenza vaccination, inconceivably exceeding total US population mortality estimates due to seasonal influenza each year, or during the 1918 pandemic, respectively. More realistic recalibration based on actual patient data instead shows that at least 6000 to 32,000 hospital workers would need to be vaccinated before a single patient death could potentially be averted. Conclusions The four cRCTs underpinning policies of enforced HCW influenza vaccination attribute implausibly large reductions in patient risk to HCW vaccination, casting serious doubts on their validity. The impression that unvaccinated HCWs place their patients at great influenza peril is exaggerated. Instead, the HCW-attributable risk and vaccine-preventable fraction both remain unknown and the NNV to achieve patient benefit still requires better understanding. Although current scientific data are inadequate to support the ethical implementation of enforced HCW influenza vaccination, they do not refute approaches to support voluntary vaccination or other more broadly protective practices, such as staying home or masking when acutely ill.


A basic operation of the very simple optical sensing system of fuel leakage
in uniform sandy and clayey soils, which is consisting of a plastic optical fibre (POF)
transmission line, the POF-type sensor heads, and a single LED photodiode pair, has
been studied theoretically and experimentally. Its sensing principle is based on the
POF structure change in the sensor head caused by fuels such as petrol. A scale-downed
model prepared in the experimental room showed a possibility of optical detection of
fuel leakage points in uniform soil. As this system operates without receiving the
influence of water containing in fuels and soils, its application to fuel leak monitor
around a filling station and oil tank can be expected.


Abstract The Paleocene flood basalts of the Faroe Islands form a central part of the North Atlantic Igneous Province, but have proven difficult to date because of very low-grade burial metamorphism in the chabazite-thomsonite to the laumontite zeolite zone. We present 17 replicated K/Ar and 8 Ar/Ar whole-rock analyses of basalts from the >3 km thick lower basalt formation, the age of which has been debated for years. Samples are from the massive core of thick, exposed flows, and two boreholes (Vestmanna-1 and Lopra-1). Six samples are drill cuttings. Extensive microprobe work and mass balance calculations show that roughly 60% of the potassium of the dated basalts resides in plagioclase, interstitial cryptocrystalline rhyolite and smectitic clay, the rest mainly forming thin rims of alkali feldspar on plagioclase. Six basalts fulfil the following criteria: (1) they are almost homogeneous in K and Ar (ages on different splits vary by <4 Ma); (2) the only low-temperature phase present is smectite (saponite±minor interstratified chlorite-smectite); and (3) max. c. 6% of total K occurs in smectite. This smectite replaced metastable interstitial glass during early burial and has a trivial effect on measured ages. The six basalts give mean K/Ar whole-rock ages of 56.5 ± 1.3 to 58.9 ± 1.3 Ma (1σ), which are interpreted as igneous ages consistent with mapped palaeomagnetic reversals and unpublished Ar/Ar dates. They suggest that the oldest drilled lavas erupted at 58.8 ± 0.5 Ma (1σ) in the later part of magnetochron C26r accumulating at >2 km Ma−1, and that the volcanism came to a slow end at 56.4 ± 0.5 Ma in the beginning of chron C24r. The Lower Basalt Formation is overlain by 10m of coal-bearing sediments and 2 km syn-breakup lavas, deposited in early C24r (>55 Ma). The remaining 11 basalts are either inhomogeneous, carry > 10% of the total K in clay, have C/S > saponite or contain traces of zeolites, secondary quartz, dioctahedral smectite or celadonite as probable indicators of prolonged alteration, and they give low or variable K/Ar ages. The Ar/Ar analyses include five of these poor samples plus three of the first group. They give a plateau age of 55.7 ± 0.9 Ma (1σ) for two exposed flows assigned to chron C25n, but of 60–63 Ma for six drilled lavas assigned to C26r. We argue that the later Ar/Ar ages are too high due to 39Ar recoil loss out of the sample (0–25%) or relocation during irradiation and should be ignored.


Background: The prevalence of obesity among children is alarmingly rising. Obesity in a chronical inflammatory condition accompanies with inflammatory markers such as Chemerin and CRP; therefore, the aim of this following study is to compare the affection of Endurance & High Intensity Interval Trainings on levels of Chemerin & Protein of C-reactive plasma in obese children. Materials and Methods: This experimentation included 21 obese children (average weight 61.46±2.5 kg and BMI 7.1±4.31) aging 9-12 years old who were randomly divided into three groups of endurance, HIIT and control (n=7). The training groups performed regular exercises for 8 weeks long (3 sessions in every week). The differences between groups were evaluated using covariance analysis. (p<0.05). Results: In both training groups, there was a more significant decrease in weight, BMI and body fat percentage than there was before workouts. In HIIT group, we witnessed a significant reduction in level of Chemerin (p=0.016) than before. CRP level was also decreased in both groups, but the changes were not significant. Conclusion: In summary, 8 weeks of HIIT exercises compared to endurance trainings have greater effect on Chemerin and CRP levels in obese children.


Worldwide, mistletoe plants are important forest pests, found in all continents aside from Antarctica. In North America, control of conifer parasitism by dwarf mistletoes, specifically Arceuthobium americanum, is challenging. Dwarf mistletoes are dioecious parasitic flowering plants with a unique and effective explosive seed dispersal mechanism. Due to the large accumulation of water within the fruit, which increases both the fruit size and its internal hydrostatic pressure, the transport of water into the fruit and the possible involvement of plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), particularly aquaporins (AQPs), were the focus of the investigation. Notably, previous research also demonstrated that cuticle thickening, declining stomata number, and thermogenesis are potential "players" in forcible discharge. As such, molecular work was performed here to reveal genes involved in physiological processes potentially associated with explosive seed dispersal and to examine the expression of these genes. Therefore, the overarching goal of this project was to obtain gene sequencing and expression data for Arceuthobium spp. to gain insights into the involvement of AQPs and other proteins likely responsible for generating high hydrostatic pressure and discharge. Many methods were employed to extract the RNA from the fruit, including both traditional and commercially available methods, and following successful extraction, a cDNA library was constructed. A non-standard heterologous microarray hybridization, unconventionally used for transcription analysis of non-model species, employing both the MicroCASTer handheld system and an Affymetrix Arabidopsis Gene
1.0 ST microarray was used to determine gene sequence and expression. Five genes sequences were obtained from the handheld system: AQP2, ABC transporter, Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase-Oxygenase, Alkaline/neutral invertase, and Sterol-14 demethylase. To confirm that AQP2 codes for plasma membrane intrinsic protein 2 (PIP2), gateway cloning followed by a physiological study with stopped-flow spectroscopy was undertaken. Despite sequence divergence between the two species, 24.2% of Arabidopsis Gene 1.0 ST array was hybridized to dwarf mistletoe RNA; this hybridization identified approximately 1,000 genes that are highly differentially expressed in dwarf mistletoe during fruit development. Further investigation of the Affymetrix results revealed several additional mistletoe genes, Stomatal cytokinesis defective2, Movement protein binding protein, Eceriferum1, and SHINE2, that are seasonally up and down regulated (May vs. September) and are likely involved in the explosive seed dispersal process. With these results in hand, research can advance towards molecular insights into not only explosive seed dispersal in dwarf mistletoe, but also into other processes such as development, reproduction, photosynthesis light response, and parasitism-associated gene expression within dwarf mistletoe and
related plants. Ideally, this work will provide new opportunities for investigating novel avenues of plant-plant pest control.


We report the magnetic behaviors of Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ thin films grown by zero field growth (ZFG) and field growth (FG) techniques during the sputtering process. In FG conditions, an in situ 300 Oe field during growth is applied to a substrate, inducing an easy axis of magnetization. Structural observations obtained by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements clearly depicted a significant reduction of the grain boundaries and voids in the Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films grown under FG conditions, thus explaining the saturated magnetization of the Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films at about 0.01 T. This behavior was expected due to a remarkable reduction of the antiferromagnetic exchange couplings between grains for FG conditions. In addition, the zero-field-cooled magnetization of the ZFG samples showed an abrupt change at about 285 K, confirming the existence of defects or other phases in the ZFG films.


Various machine learning tasks, from generative modeling to domain adaptation, revolve around the concept of dataset transformation and manipulation. While various methods exist for transforming unlabeled datasets, principled methods to do so for labeled (e.g., classification) datasets are missing. In this work, we propose a novel framework for dataset transformation, which we cast as optimization over data-generating joint probability distributions. We approach this class of problems through Wasserstein gradient flows in probability space, and derive practical and efficient particle-based methods for a flexible but well-behaved class of objective functions. Through various experiments, we show that this framework can be used to impose constraints on classification datasets, adapt them for transfer learning, or to re-purpose fixed or black-box models to classify ---with high accuracy--- previously unseen datasets.


This article examines online behaviors that increase or reduce risk of online identity theft. The authors report results from three consumer surveys that indicate the propensity to protect oneself from online identity theft varies by population. The authors then examine attitudinal, behavioral, and demographic antecedents that predict the tendency to protect one's privacy and identity online. Implications and suggestions for managers, public policy makers, and consumers related to protecting online privacy and identity theft are provided. ********** Identity theft, defined as the appropriation of someone else's personal or financial identity to commit fraud or theft, is one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States (Federal Trade Commission 2001) and is increasingly affecting consumers' online transactions. In the discussion of identity theft, the Internet represents an important research context. Because of its ability to accumulate and disseminate vast amounts of information electronically, the Internet may make theft of personal or financial identity easier. Indeed, online transactions pose several new threats that consumers need to be vigilant of, such as the placement of cookies, hacking into hard drives, intercepting transactions, and observing online behavior via spyware (Cohen 2001). Online identity theft through the use of computers does not necessarily have real space analogs as exemplifed by techniques of IP spoofing and page jacking (Katyal 2001). Recent instances of online identity theft appearing in the popular press include a teenager who used e-mail and a bogus Web page to gain access to individuals' credit card data and steal thousands of dollars from consumers (New York Times 2003), and cyber-thieves who were able to access tens of thousands of personal credit reports online (Salkever 2002). The purpose of this article, as depicted in Figure 1, is to explore the extent to which consumers are controlling their information online and whether privacy attitudes, offline data behaviors, online experience and consumer background predict the level of online protection practiced. There is an explicit link being made by privacy advocates that suggests controlling one's information is a step toward protecting oneself from identity theft (Cohen 2001; Federal Trade Commission 2001). To evaluate the level of customer protection, we analyze survey results of consumer online behaviors, many of which are depicted in Figure 1, and investigate their relationship to antecedent conditions suggested in the literature. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] In particular, we address the following research questions: What is the relationship between offline data protection practices and online protection behavior? What is the relationship between online shopping behaviors and online protection behavior? What is the relationship between privacy attitudes and online protection behavior? What is the relationship between demographics and online protection behavior? The remainder of this article is organized in four sections. We begin in the first section by reviewing the risks consumers face online and the steps they can take to minimize their risk of privacy invasion and identity theft. In the second section, we describe three surveys of consumers' online behaviors related to online privacy and identity theft. We discuss the results in the third section and implications for managers, public policy makers, and consumers in the fourth and final section. ONLINE PRIVACY AND IDENTITY THEFT While identity theft has caught the government's, businesses', and the public's attention (Hemphill 2001; Milne 2003), the empirical scholarly literature in this area is limited to the closely related issue of online privacy. Research has measured consumers' concern for online privacy (Sheehan and Hoy 2000), their ability to opt out of online relationships (Milne and Rohm 2000), and the extent to which businesses have implemented fair information practices through the posting of their online privacy notices (Culnan 2000; Miyazaki and Fernandez 2001; Milne and Culnan 2002). …


Today, individuals can relatively easily meet and communicate with each other over great distances due to increased mobility and advances in communication technology. This also allows intimate relationships to be maintained over large geographical distances. Despite these developments, long-distance relationships (LDRs), i.e. intimate relationships maintained over geographical distance, remain understudied. The present thesis aims to fill this knowledge gap and investigates how intimate partners who live so far away from each other that they cannot meet every day make their relationship ongoing beyond face-to-face interaction.Theoretically, this study departs from a symbolic interactionist viewpoint that invites us to study phenomena from the actor's perspective. Conceptually, the thesis builds on the recent development in sociology of intimate lives that sees intimacy as a relational quality that has to be worked on to be sustained, and that focuses on the practices that make a relationship a relationship. Empirically, the thesis is based upon 19 in-depth interviews with individuals from Latvia with long-distance relationship experience.The thesis consists of four articles. Article I studies the context in which LDRs in Latvia are maintained, focusing on the normative constraints that complicate LDR maintenance. Article II analyses how intimacy is practiced over geographical distance. Article III examines how long-distance partners manage the experience of the time they are together and the time they are geographically apart. Article IV explores the aspect of idealization in LDRs. Overall, the thesis argues for the critical role of imagination in relationship maintenance. The relationship maintenance strategies identified within the articles are imagination-based mediated communication (creating sensual/embodied intimacy, emotional intimacy, daily intimacy and imagined individual intimacy); time-work strategies that enable long-distance partners to deal with the spatiotemporal borders of the time together and the time apart; and creating bi-directional idealization. The thesis is also one of the few works in the field of intimate lives in Eastern Europe and analyses the normative complications that long-distance partners face in their relationship maintenance in Latvia.


The plant holobiont is a relatively recent term in biology, introduced to address the assembly composed by the plant itself and its associated microbes. In order to address evolutionary selection within this frame, it becomes necessary to study plant-associated microbes, or microbiome, as a whole.
A number of studies underpin the hypothesis that the picture of the plant microbiome is not yet complete in a number of aspects: from the role of abiotic factors in shaping microbial communities, to the whole microbial composition itself. The full comprehension of the microbiome scenario is, however, crucial to address the plant holobiont and therefore plant health.
A still overlooked component of the plant microbiome, which I called overlooked microbial eukaryotes, includes a vast range of microbes, spanning from photoautotrophs to parasites, and has been proven to have prominent roles in other contexts such as soil or freshwaters. I applied ecological approaches as well as field experiments in order to address this overlooked component as a key of the still incomplete picture of the plant holobiont. Amplicon sequencing on natural A.thaliana populations from 15 sites in Germany, France, Spain, and Sweden, revealed that overlooked microbial eukaryotes are not occasional partners of the plant holobiont, both epiphytical and endophytical. On the contrary, they are able to widely interact with key hubs of the plant leaf microbiome such as Sphingomonas sp and the family of Caulobacteraceae, independently of the surrounding abiotic factors.
Among others, microalgae have proven to be major shapers of microbial diversity for bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes. A newly established network analysis tool revealed that the presence of selected microalgae like Bracteacoccus sp. are linked to fluctuations of the pathogen Pseudomonas viridiflava, opening potential new fields in plant immunity research.
The role of microalgae within the plant holobiont is also likely expressed by the symbiosis with lichenising fungi. A tight association between lichenising fungi and potential algal partners was found in shaping the leaf microbial diversity, prominently the epiphytic compartment.
Amplicon sequencing on a time course-common garden experiment revealed that, beside microalgae, consumers like amoeboid organisms of the groups Lobosa, Conosa, Ciliophora also shape microbial diversity and follow specific succession patterns over time.
XI
Furthermore, the key role of overlooked microbial eukaryotes in the plant holobiont seems to be stable even at low concentrations. In fact, pools of low abundant overlooked microbial eukaryotes shape microbial diversity, to an extent never assessed before.
In all these experiments, a key finding was the marginal effect of plant ecotype, as well as the marginal effect of latitudinal-climatic factors (with the exception of oomycetes), compared to the impact of overlooked microbial eukaryotes.
My work gives novel insights into the ecology and the successions of overlooked microbial eukaryotes, revealing scenarios in which primary producers shape microbial diversity through the presence of single taxon such as Bracteacoccus sp, or together with lichenising fungi. They also influence microbial population through consumers and predators like Ciliophora and Lobosa, which undergo successions over time. My work further supports the autonomy of the assembly of microbial community from the plant host genetic background and from province related features, underpinning a core and multilevel role of overlooked microbial eukaryotes in the plant holobiont.


Cloud-point data are reported at 25−150 °C and 100−560 bar for poly(perfluoromonoitaconates) (PFMITn) and poly(perfluorodiitaconates) (PFDITn, where n, the number CF2 groups in the alkyl side chain, is equal to 3, 5, 7, and 9 for both types of itaconates) in supercritical CO2. Cloud-point curves for the PFMITn−CO2 system shift to lower pressures as the fluorinated alkyl tail length increases; however, this trend reverses going from PFMIT7 to PFMIT9. Hence, there is an optimum fluorocarbon side-chain length that balances energetic polymer−polymer, CO2−CO2, and polymer−CO2 interactions with a favorable entropic effect associated with the increased free volume of the longer side chains. The PFDITn polymers readily dissolve in CO2 at pressures as low as 140 bar at 25 °C, although, in this case, the cloud-point curves all superpose. The cloud-point data suggest that supercritical CO2 is a suitable solvent for processing these fluoropolymers.


Urban flooding and wet weather pollution are recognised as significant problems across the world, and changes in rainfall patterns arising as a consequence of climate change are likely to exacerbate these problems. This paper shares learning from a ground-breaking project led by CH2M for UK Water Industry Research and approaches used in other CH2Mprojects around theworld. TheUK project has explored the use of very high resolution (1.5 km) climate model output and climate analogues; other projects have used other methods to derive new design rainfall statistics commonly used in modelling wet weather collection systems for flooding and pollution investigations. Estimates of rainfall change have been used within collection system models to estimate the flooding and pollution impact of these changes. The methods applied in these projects can be replicated globally.


The arsenical resistance (ars) operon of the conjugative plasmid R773 encodes an ATP-driven anion extrusion pump, conferring bacterial resistance to arsenicals. The operon contains a regulatory gene, arsR, and three structural genes, arsA, arsB, and arsC. The hydrophilic ArsA and ArsC proteins are produced in large amounts, but the hydrophobic ArsB protein, an integral membrane polypeptide, is synthesized in limited quantities. Northern (RNA-DNA) hybridizations provide evidence that the inducible operon is regulated at the level of transcription. The genes were transcribed in the presence of an inducer (arsenite) as a single polycistronic mRNA with an approximate size of 4.4 kilobases (kb). This transcript was processed to generate relatively stable mRNA species: one of 2.7 kb, encoding the ArsR and ArsA proteins, and a second of 0.5 kb, encoding the ArsC protein. Segmental differences in stability within the polycistronic transcript are proposed to account for the differential expression of the ars genes. In addition, analysis of the mRNA structure at the 5' end of arsB suggests a potential translational block to the synthesis of this membrane protein.


Intensive care medicine today is as close to the miraculous as most of us are likely to see in our lifetime. Nowhere is this magic more effectively practiced than in neonatal nurseries. Infants who are born prematurely at twenty-four weeks gestation and who weigh less than a pound can now be treated successfully. No other type of medicine has a more dramatic payoff, for the infants who survive can look forward to seventy or more years of life. But there is a dark underside to the exercise of these skills. A growing number of babies live only to be tethered to life-support systems, unconscious or suffering incessant pain for years and sometimes for the duration of their lives. The ethical issues raised by these children are among the most difficult in our society. Should life be maintained no matter what its quality? Or is there a point at which treatment should be stopped on humane grounds? Who is to make decisions on continuing or ending therapy for damaged children? Is the law a suitable instrument for regulating medical decisions in intensive care nurseries? Should the growing cost of intensive care influence therapy decisions? "Special Care" explores the moral and legal issues in neonatal intensive care. Fred M. Frohock spent four months in a special care nursery, observing the daily actions of doctors and nurses and interviewing staff and parents of patients. This engaging, human drama is told through the author's own journal entries interspersed with generous excerpts from taped interviews that display the practical reasoning of staff and parents as they address the moral problems raised by intensive care medicine. Several case studies of infants highlight the often contradictory directions in which medical staffs are pulled and the painful decisions that doctors and parents together are often called upon to make. The result is a book that reconstructs the ordinary life of a neonatal nursery and presents the moral views of those who are most intimately involved in therapy decisions. This book is an urgently needed entry in the current discussions of treatment for badly damaged babies. Frohock argues that our tradition of "rights "language, which rests on the premise that we know what a human being is, is inappropriate when dealing with the paradoxes of decision making in neonatal nurseries. Calling for a new moral vocabulary better adapted to the world of medicine, he introduces the notion of "harm" in place of rights, a concept drawn from medicine's Hippocratic oath that pledges to "do no harm," as a way to begin framing questions and making decisions. "Special Care" will interest anyone who wants to understand medical decisions at the margins of human life.


Introduction: This study aimed to assess neonatal and teen mother's prognosis when giving birth in our structure and to determine the frequency of teen mothers.
Method: This case-control study involved mothers and their newborn children in the neonatology and neonatal intensive care unit at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Libreville, Gabon, from January 1st 2010, to December 31st 2012. Teen mothers of less than 18 years old were compared to adult mothers of 18 years old and more. Maternal and sociodemographic factors, pregnancy monitoring, gyneco-obstetrical antecedents, morbidity and intercurrent pathologies during pregnancy, the pregnancy type, the presentation, the mode and practices of delivery were analyzed. The newborn characteristics involved gender, birth weight, gestational age, APGAR score at first and fifth minute, morbidity and mortality aspects, resuscitation procedures and related pathologies and hospitalization delay.
Results: The frequency of teen mothers giving birth was 13.5%. Compare to adult mothers, most of teen mothers were students (79.5%, p<0,001), primigests (82.1%, p<0,001), the pregnancy follow-up was insufficient (82.1%, p<0,001) and delivery was vaginal (88.5%, p=0.04). Morbidity and mortality rates of teen mothers' newborns did not differ from adult mothers babies.
Conclusion: Our study did not reveal any statistical association between the teen mother's delivery and poor maternal or ante-natal prognosis. It raised the issue of preventing early pregnancy through education for young girls and contraception, of increasing awareness of teen mothers to attend Maternal and Child Health Centres and being taken care of by skilled childbirth staff and adapted support.


Abstract Since its inception, Problem-based learning (PBL) as a process for learning and teaching has been used to enhance many skills based courses, including education programs at Bachelor College and the Aboriginal Technical Health Worker training program at the Centre for Appropriate Technology in Alice Springs. While PBL is an approach to learning and teaching which has been designed to provide a more holistic educational process for all students, Foster and Meehane (2007) suggest that many aspects of the courses are ideally suited for Indigenous students. In particular, this approach is useful when introducing students to a subject matter which is new both in being derived from another culture and not being accessible to Indigenous parents in the past. PBL provides a flexible approach to enable motivation and involvement of the students and their community. This paper considers the benefits of PBL for learning Information Technology and presents some course templates developed to support teaching Indigenous students at school.


A key challenge for a future climate change agreement is allocating emissions targets for individual developed countries that are perceived as equitable given differing national circumstances. Many economics-based frameworks for evaluating future targets use as a key criterion for individual country targets the notion that mitigation measures should result in similar costs (specifically, that the required mitigation actions relative to baseline emissions result in a similar percentage reduction of individual countries' GDP in the target year or period). Such an economic criterion provides a transparent and objective basis for comparison, but it does not necessarily mean that comparable targets for individual countries are also equitable. A set of thought experiments demonstrates that such an approach indeed does not reflect equity between countries. This is because future business-as-usual emissions, against which the costs of mitigation are assessed, depend on past policy choices and mitigation pathways. An approach that sets future emissions targets at a specific date based on comparable costs, without regard to past policy choices and commitments, would penalise countries that have taken early action and provides a disincentive for taking strong domestic mitigation actions in future. This analysis suggests that the choice of 'business-as-usual' emissions against which the future costs of mitigation are assessed needs to receive more attention if economic comparability is intended to also reflect equity of emissions targets over time.


Abstract Rajaji National Park, which forms the north-western limit of the range of the tiger Panthera tigris in India, is bisected into western and eastern sectors by development activities along the banks of the river Ganga. Following a voluntary pastoral Gujjar resettlement programme initiated in the Park by the Uttarakhand Forest Department, we assessed the status of the tiger and its prey. We used sign surveys for tigers, leopards Panthera pardus and their prey, estimated prey densities using line transects and distance sampling, and estimated the density of tigers using photographic capture-recapture analysis. Our results indicate that the use of the area by tigers differed significantly between the two sectors of the Park, with pug mark encounter rates per 250 m segment from sign surveys of 0.07 ± SE 0.04 in the west and 1.6 ± SE 0.3 in the east. Although the high estimated prey densities (> 80 km-2) in the Park have the potential to support high densities of tigers, we photo-captured only one tigress in the western sector and five adult tigers and two cubs in the east (the latter with a mean density of 5.12 ± SE 0.7 per 100 km2). Whereas recovery of the tiger population in the eastern sector following the resettlement of Gujjars is evident, the lack of connectivity to source populations (Corbett Tiger Reserve and eastern Rajaji National Park) and increased anthropogenic pressures appear to have inhibited the recovery of tiger populations in the western sector. Restoration, therefore, of the Chilla-Motichur corridor to facilitate the dispersal of tigers from the eastern to the western sector of the Park is of critical importance.


In this paper, we propose three relay selection schemes for full-duplex heterogeneous networks in the presence of multiple cognitive radio eavesdroppers. In this setup, the cognitive small-cell nodes (secondary network) can share the spectrum licensed to the macro-cell system (primary network) on the condition that the quality-of-service of the primary network is always satisfied subjected to its outage probability constraint. The messages are delivered from one small-cell base station to the destination with the help of full-duplex small-cell base stations, which act as relay nodes. Based on the availability of the network's channel state information at the secondary information source, three different selection criteria for full-duplex relays, namely: 1) partial relay selection; 2) optimal relay selection; and 3) minimal self-interference relay selection, are proposed. We derive the exact closed-form and asymptotic expressions of the secrecy outage probability for the three criteria under the attack of non-colluding/colluding eavesdroppers. We demonstrate that the optimal relay selection scheme outperforms the partial relay selection and minimal self-interference relay selection schemes at the expense of acquiring full channel state information knowledge. In addition, increasing the number of the full-duplex small-cell base stations can improve the security performance. At the illegitimate side, deploying colluding eavesdroppers and increasing the number of eavesdroppers put the confidential information at a greater risk. Besides, the transmit power and the desire outage probability of the primary network have great influences on the secrecy outage probability of the secondary network.


Image and geometry registration algorithms are an essential component of many computer graphics and computer vision systems. With recent technological advances in RGB-D sensors, such as the Microsoft Kinect or Asus Xtion Live, robust algorithms that combine 2D image and 3D geometry registration have become an active area of research. The goal of this course is to introduce the basics of 2D/3D registration algorithms and to provide theoretical explanations and practical tools to design computer vision and computer graphics systems based on RGB-D devices. To illustrate the theory and demonstrate practical relevance, we briefly discuss three applications: rigid scanning, non-rigid modeling, and realtime face tracking. Our course targets researchers and computer graphics practitioners with a background in computer graphics and/or computer vision.


We use the bipartite graph representation of longitudinally linked em-ployer-employee data, and the associated projections onto the employer and em-ployee nodes, respectively, to characterize the set of potential statistical summar-ies that the trusted custodian might produce. We consider noise infusion as the primary confidentiality protection method. We show that a relatively straightfor-ward extension of the dynamic noise-infusion method used in the U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators can be adapted to provide the same confidentiality guarantees for the graph-based statistics: all inputs have been modified by a minimum percentage deviation (i.e., no actual respondent data are used) and, as the number of entities contributing to a particular statistic increases, the accuracy of that statistic approaches the unprotected value. Our method also ensures that the protected statistics will be identical in all releases based on the same inputs.


In 1984, the U.S. Armed Forces amended its capital punishment system for death eligible murder to bring it into compliance with Furman v. Georgia. Those amendments were modeled after death penalty legislation prevailing in over thirty states. After a brief period between 1986 and 1990, the charging decisions of commanders and the conviction and sentencing decisions of court martial members (jurors) transformed the military death penalty system into a dual system that treats two classes of death eligible murder quite differently. Since 1990, a member of the armed forces accused of a killing a commissioned officer or murder with a direct impact on the ability of military commanders to run an effective and disciplined military is significantly more likely to face a capital court martial and be sentenced to death than a similarly situated member accused of a murder connected to the military only fry the identity of the accused.

This empirical study of charging and sentencing decisions in 104 death eligible military murders from 1984-2005 documents contemporary resistance to the civilianization of the military death penalty as manifest in charging and sentencing decisions. We conclude that a limitation of death eligible murder to those directly impacting military command and control could reduce the risk of arbitrariness in the administration of the military death penalty.


The U.S. Geological Survey has produced the Landsat Burned Area Essential Climate Variable (BAECV) product for the conterminous United States (CONUS), which provides wall-to-wall annual maps of burned area at 30 m resolution (1984–2015). Validation is a critical component in the generation of such remotely sensed products. Previous efforts to validate the BAECV relied on a reference dataset derived from Landsat, which was effective in evaluating the product across its timespan but did not allow for consideration of inaccuracies imposed by the Landsat sensor itself. In this effort, the BAECV was validated using 286 high-resolution images, collected from GeoEye-1, QuickBird-2, Worldview-2 and RapidEye satellites. A disproportionate sampling strategy was utilized to ensure enough burned area pixels were collected. Errors of omission and commission for burned area averaged 22 ± 4% and 48 ± 3%, respectively, across CONUS. Errors were lowest across the western U.S. The elevated error of commission relative to omission was largely driven by patterns in the Great Plains which saw low errors of omission (13 ± 13%) but high errors of commission (70 ± 5%) and potentially a region-growing function included in the BAECV algorithm. While the BAECV reliably detected agricultural fires in the Great Plains, it frequently mapped tilled areas or areas with low vegetation as burned. Landscape metrics were calculated for individual fire events to assess the influence of image resolution (2 m, 30 m and 500 m) on mapping fire heterogeneity. As the spatial detail of imagery increased, fire events were mapped in a patchier manner with greater patch and edge densities, and shape complexity, which can influence estimates of total greenhouse gas emissions and rates of vegetation recovery. The increasing number of satellites collecting high-resolution imagery and rapid improvements in the frequency with which imagery is being collected means greater opportunities to utilize these sources of imagery for Landsat product validation.


Theories that require the co-genetic formation of the Sun and planets have difficulty in explaining the slow rotation of the Sun. An analysis is made of various mechanisms for slowing down the core of an evolving nebula. Two of these involve a high magnetic dipole moment for the early Sun. The first envisages magnetic linkage to an external plasma but requires a dipole moment 106 times that of the present Sun. The other is based on the co-rotation of m atter leaving the Sun during a T Tauri stage, and requires a dipole moment 104 times the present value. A mechanical process for transferring angular momentum outward involving dissipation in a solar-nebula disc is incapable of giving what is required. Two processes of star formation in a turbulent cloud are discussed. Both are capable of giving a slowly rotating Sun. Various models for producing planets are examined in relation to the spin they would produce. Planets formed from floccules would be spinning quickly but could evolve in such a way as to give observed spins for giant planets and also satellite families. Accretion models are very sensitive to assumptions, and parameters and can be adjusted to explain almost any observation. Protoplanets formed in elliptical orbits would acquire spin angular momentum through solar tidal action and would evolve to give reasonable spin rates and regular satellite families. The various tilts of their spin axes could be explained by interactions between protoplanets in the early Solar System.


The stereotype of the "starving artist" is pervasive in modern Western culture, but previous research on artists and income is mixed. The goal of this study is to explore how several demographic variables, along with self-reported behaviors and artistic activities associated with non-monetary and monetary motivators, predict income and income satisfaction for artists. Using unique survey data on current working artists in the United States, we provide empirical evidence on substantial reputational rewards and rewards from altruistic behaviors as important sources of artists' utility and, arguably, sources of their motivation to create new works. Moreover, we find that the evidence on "procedural" utility from working in the arts is less straightforward, and we find that many artists are pooling and diversifying financial risks on household levels. Overall, quantitative findings indicate that artists may have different criteria and conceptualizations when it comes to income, and they may derive value from their work in a variety of ways aside from income.


Social power is not always troubling. One form of social power progressives are especially troubled by, however, is domination—meaning, roughly speaking, the arbitrary power that some persons or groups wield over other, dependent, persons or groups. This paper elaborates on this conception of domination and discusses why progressives should aim to minimize it. It then goes on to argue that minimizing domination entails a commitment to a particular sort of distributive justice—namely, some form of unconditional basic income. This argument for distributive justice is shown to be more compelling in various respects than the arguments offered by traditional liberal-contractualist theories of justice. Partly building on existing work in the area of nondomination, this paper aims to develop the largely ignored socioeconomic distributive justice implications of civic republicanism.