Helping people learn to adopt more pro-social lifestyles usually involves persuading them to take new, beneficial actions. However, certain pro-social goals, such as achieving environmental sustainability, also require people to stop performing harmful actions—people are commonly instructed to drive less, use less electricity, and otherwise reduce the amount of resources they consume and waste they produce. In order to help people adopt this potentially unintuitive form of behavior change, we introduce a theoretical framework for the concept of "negabehaviors." A negabehavior is a manner of conducting oneself that supplants undesirable actions—that is, the behavior of not performing specific, undesirable actions. Negabehaviors are a variation on the idea of "negawatts" (a unit of energy saved through conservation), and offer a way to view and teach environmental sustainability that focuses on subtractive elements rather than additive ones. In this paper we present a framework and theoretical grounding for understanding negabehaviors. We discuss the relationship between negabehaviors and environmental sustainability, describing potential ways that this concept can be used in formal and informal sustainability education. By placing an emphasis on actions people need to stop taking, we can make it easier to encourage people to live more sustainable lives.


We demonstrate that gamma-ray burst afterglow spectra and light curves can be calculated for arbitrary explosion and radiation parameters by scaling the peak flux and the critical frequencies connecting different spectral regimes. Only one baseline calculation needs to be done for each jet opening angle and observer angle. These calculations are done numerically using high-resolution relativistic hydrodynamical afterglow blast wave simulations which include the two-dimensional dynamical features of expanding and decelerating afterglow blast waves. Any light curve can then be generated by applying scaling relations to the baseline calculations. As a result, it is now possible to fully fit for the shape of the jet break, e.g., at early-time X-ray and optical frequencies. In addition, late-time radio calorimetry can be improved since the general shape of the transition into the Sedov–Taylor regime is now known for arbitrary explosion parameters so the exact moment when the Sedov–Taylor asymptote is reached in the light curve is no longer relevant. When calculating the baselines, we find that the synchrotron critical frequency νm and the cooling break frequency νc are strongly affected by the jet break. The νm temporal slope quickly drops to the steep late-time Sedov–Taylor slope, while the cooling break νc first steepens and then rises to meet the level of its shallow late-time asymptote.


This article focuses on the Internal Revenue Service and its expressed desire to become more customer-friendly by simplifying the tax filing process, thereby making compliance with tax laws more likely. It points out how the IRS, historically and presently, tends to shepherd taxpayers through the taxpaying process. The article then suggests what the IRS might do in the future to both enhance its image as helpful and to substantially increase compliance with the law. These suggestions spring from the premises upon which the idea of a customer-friendly IRS is based, but they go well beyond anything suggested by or for the IRS to date. The article proposes several steps the IRS can take towards fully achieving its objectives of better service to taxpayers and concurrent improvement in tax compliance. Through the development and implementation of software, the IRS should make huge progress towards both eliminating opportunities for noncompliance and clarifying public discussion of taxes.


The object of this thesis is to ascertain what was the most significant factor in determining support for Gaullism in unoccupied France. The first aim of this dissertation is to study the ways in which the Mers-el-Kebir incident affected de Gaulle's movement. The second aim is to examine the influence of other aspects on Gaullism, such as the origins and organisation of the Free French movement, the propaganda and policies of the Vichy regime, the opinions of the French Resistance, and other external influences such as American, British and Russian foreign policy. This thesis will try to offer some conclusions as to if, why and when de Gaulle and the Free French movement became popular in France. It will also compare the reasons for his popularity and unpopularity and rate them against the effect of the Mers-el-Kebir incident as well as determining whether the extent of his support was beyond his control or was due to his own actions.


Situated in the far reaches of the Northern Territory, Arnhem Land is one of the few regions of Australia where traditional Aboriginal culture remains intact. Author/Photographer Penny Tweedie's twenty year relationship with the people of Arnhem Land has given her unparalleled access into their lives and culture, and resulted in this rare glimpse into traditional Aboriginal culture. Quotes from the Aboriginal people themselves bring the photographs to life and provide an insight into the spirit of Arnhem Land. Organized into four sections, the book details the efforts of the Aboriginal people to maintain their cultural heritage. The introduction provides the reader with background information on Aboriginal history and traditional art, while the remaining three sections focus on the themes of Land, Water, and Spirit and their meaning to the Aboriginal people. Magnificent Aboriginal artworks, including rock art and bark painting, are featured throughout the book.


In this paper, we present a novel multiscale texture model and a related algorithm for the unsupervised segmentation of color images. Elementary textures are characterized by their spatial interactions with neighboring regions along selected directions. Such interactions are modeled, in turn, by means of a set of Markov chains, one for each direction, whose parameters are collected in a feature vector that synthetically describes the texture. Based on the feature vectors, the texture are then recursively merged, giving rise to larger and more complex textures, which appear at different scales of observation: accordingly, the model is named Hierarchical Multiple Markov Chain (H-MMC). The Texture Fragmentation and Reconstruction (TFR) algorithm, addresses the unsupervised segmentation problem based on the H-MMC model. The ldquofragmentationrdquo step allows one to find the elementary textures of the model, while the ldquoreconstructionrdquo step defines the hierarchical image segmentation based on a probabilistic measure (texture score) which takes into account both region scale and inter-region interactions. The performance of the proposed method was assessed through the Prague segmentation benchmark, based on mosaics of real natural textures, and also tested on real-world natural and remote sensing images.


Origami5 continues in the excellent tradition of its four previous incarnations, documenting work presented at an extraordinary series of meetings that explored the connections between origami, mathematics, science, technology, education, and other academic fields. The fifth such meeting, 5OSME (July 1317, 2010, Singapore Management University) followed the precedent previous meetings to explore the interdisciplinary connections between origami and the real world. This book begins with a section on origami history, art, and design. It is followed by sections on origami in education andorigami science, engineering, and technology, and culminates with a section on origami mathematicsthe pairing that inspired the original meeting. Within this one volume, you will find a broad selection of historical information, artists descriptions of their processes, various perspectives and approaches to the use of origami in education, mathematical tools for origami design, applications of folding in engineering and technology, as well as original and cutting-edge research on the mathematical underpinnings of origami.


The largely unexpected election of Donald Trump as President of the United States has overturned many assumptions and expectations about the future of Australia's regional relationships. Even before Trump's election, however, the history of regional evolution in East Asia presented a number of striking paradoxes and raised important questions about the forces that encourage or obstruct integration and cooperation at the regional level. For a region that has frequently been associated with comparatively limited cross-border political institutionalization and development, East Asia has recently been the centre of a large number of initiatives and proposals that are intended to give expression to particular visions of the region. We argue that the outcome of such regional processes is profoundly influenced by both geo-economic and geopolitical forces. We illustrate this claim by looking at the history of institutional development in the 'Asia-Pacific', before considering the attempt to create a new 'Indo-Pacific region', which, we suggest, has more to do with contemporary geopolitical concerns rather than any underlying 'natural' coherence. The Australian policy-making community needs to think carefully about the implications of the Trump presidency for such initiatives.


Adenomatous colorectal polyps are known to be precursor lesions for colorectal cancer. Colorectal adenomas are usually classified into two categories:tubular and villous. A mixed (tubulovillous) phenotype is also recognized. The aim of the study was to study the prevalence and pathological features of adenomatous polyps. We studied five cases of adenomas. Three were diagnosed as tubular adenomas and two were diagnosed as villous adenomas. Most of the significant polyps were identified in patients aged 50 years or older. In case of villas adenoma, the incidence of dysplasia rose with an increase in size. Conclusion: It is advisable that all polypoidal lesions should be removed for definitive histological examination.


Are you passionate about water and development ? Have you covered these topics in your work but want a chance to learn more and interview major actors in the water community ? Have you looked for an opportunity to report on a global water meeting, where world leaders, policy makers, and academics meet representatives from the private sector and civil society to discuss some of the world's most urgent issues ? Apply for the SIWI Journalist Grant !
SIWI offers five journalists from low or (...)


Embryogenesis depends on self-regulatory interactions between spatially separated signaling centers, but few of these are well understood. Limb development is regulated by epithelial-mesenchymal (e-m) feedback loops between sonic hedgehog (SHH) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling involving the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) antagonist Gremlin1 (GREM1). By combining mouse molecular genetics with mathematical modeling, we showed that BMP4 first initiates and SHH then propagates e-m feedback signaling through differential transcriptional regulation of Grem1 to control digit specification. This switch occurs by linking a fast BMP4/GREM1 module to the slower SHH/GREM1/FGF e-m feedback loop. This self-regulatory signaling network results in robust regulation of distal limb development that is able to compensate for variations by interconnectivity among the three signaling pathways.


Gate of the Sun is the first magnum opus of the Palestinian saga. After their country is torn apart in 1948, two men remain alone in a deserted makeshift hospital in the Shatila camp on the outskirts of Beirut. We enter a vast world of displacement, fear, and tenuous hope. Khalil holds vigil at the bedside of his patient and spiritual father, a storied leader of the Palestinian resistance who has slipped into a coma. As Khalil attempts to revive Yunes, he begins a story, which branches into many. Stories of the people expelled from their villages in Galilee, of the massacres that followed, of the extraordinary inner strength of those who survived, and of love. Khalil—like Elias Khoury—is a truth collector, trying to make sense of the fragments and various versions of stories that have been told to him. His voice is intimate and direct, his memories are vivid, his humanity radiates from every page. Khalil lets his mind wander through time, from village to village, from one astonishing soul to another, and takes us with him. Gate of the Sun is a Palestinian Odyssey. Beautifully weaving together haunting stories of survival and loss, love and devastation, memory and dream, Khoury humanizes the complex Palestinian struggle as he brings to life the story of an entire people.


Grazing vegetative wheat, barley and oats (both dual-purpose and traditional spring varieties) is becoming an important strategic and tactical grazing option on farms where crops and livestock co-exist. The high winter growth rates of the crops offer an opportunity to fill the winter feed gap and the high nutritive value (metabolisable energy and crude protein) makes them well suited to meet the requirements of reproducing ewes. However, metabolic disorders have been reported and many producers avoid grazing these crops with reproducing ewes because of the risk. The present study aimed to establish the mineral status of both forage and of reproducing ewes grazing wheat, oats or barley. On each of 18 farms, a group of 50 pregnant ewes was monitored. The farms were located in Western Australia (6 farms) southern New South Wales (7 farms) and central New South Wales (5 farms). The average start of grazing was 118 days (range 97–133 days) after the start of mating. Crops grazed were wheat (8 farms), barley (4 farms) or oats (6 farms) and the average period of grazing was 20 days (range 14–24 days). Samples of blood and urine were collected pre- and post-grazing from 11 to 17 ewes and samples of crop and soils were also collected for mineral analysis. A high proportion of farms had forage calcium (Ca, 70%), sodium (Na, 70%) and magnesium (Mg, 18%) below published requirements and potassium (K, 70%) above the published maximum tolerable level. Strong negative correlations were found between soil Colwell K and forage Ca, Mg and Na. Analysis of samples collected from the ewes at the end of the grazing period indicated that ewes on 94% of farms had alkaline urine and on 88% of farms Ca concentrations in the urine were in the marginal range. None of the flock-average Ca concentrations in plasma was in the deficient range, but 59% of the flocks contained some individual ewes with plasma Ca in the deficient range. A small proportion of flock-average concentrations of Mg (6%) and Na (18%) in plasma were in the deficient range. In conclusion, the forages had a complex mineral composition meaning that grazing ewes may have an increased risk of direct or induced Ca (hypocalcaemia) or Mg (hypomagnesaemia) deficiency. The low Na and high K concentrations of these crops may also pose a direct risk to livestock production. Preliminary analysis indicated higher risks from grazing wheat and from grazing crops grown on high-K soils.


Building on previous work of the OASIS group at SICS, this paper presents a generic peer-to-peer system for the sView personal service platform. The sView platform provides each user with a personal service briefcase from which services may be reached using a variety of devices and interfaces. With the peer-to-peer system, called Briefcase Connectivity, we leverage the community of all sView users, the ultimate purpose of which is to simplify the propagation of cooperating services, to enable users to become individual service providers, and to bring to the users a greater number of specialized services. We suggest that sView with Briefcase Connectivity and today's electronic services demonstrate a viable model to make a step toward tomorrow's ubiquitous computing.


This thesis is concerned primarily with peptide and protein partitioning in aqueous two-phase systems and the connection between partitioning behavior and protein structure. The surface properties of a protein is often crucial for recognition and interaction with other molecules. Important functional residues can be identified by mutational analysis. There is a need for rapid methods to study protein surfaces and surface changes due to mutations. Partitioning in aqueous two-phase systems has the potential to be used in this respect, since protein partitioning depends on the surface properties of the protein. However, we need to know how different amino acid residues contribute to the partition coefficient of a protein. Two aqueous phases can be formed by two structurally different polymers in aqueous solution. The polymers mainly used in this work have been thermoseparating ethylene oxide-propylene oxide random copolymers and dextran. The results in this thesis have shown the influence both qualitatively and quantitatively of different amino acid residues on the partitioning of proteins. Additionally, peptide partitioning could be used to predict the contribution of surface exposed amino acid residues to the partition coefficient of a protein. The effect on partitioning could be described only taking into account solvent accessibility and type of residue. Thus, aqueous two-phase partitioning can be used as a rapid method for studying the surface exposure of charged, hydrophobic, and especially aromatic amino acid residues. The knowledge gained can also be used to design efficient peptide tags for a target protein to direct it to a desired polymer phase. This technique can be used for large-scale purification of a protein. (Less)


This volume consists of articles contributed by the former students and colleagues of Vincent C. Kelley at the University of New Mexico. The title "Tectonics and Mineral Resources of Southwestern North America" is not intended to imply a comprehensive coverage of these topics, but rather to reflect the interests of Professor Kelley and his students. A glance at the table of contents reveals several articles that clearly do not concern tectonics nor mineral resources; these papers are authored by Kelley's colleagues and indicate the scope of the scientific activities at the institution that he has been associated with for nearly 40 years. His efforts and contributions have been instrumental in the growth and development of the Department of Geology at the University of New Mexico. Those of us who have had the opportunity to work and study with Vincent Kelley have profited immensely from that association. It is fitting that the New Mexico Geological Society should publish these articles honoring Vincent Kelley, as he was one of the founders of the Society and has been deeply involved in many of the field conferences sponsored by the NMGS. Publication of this volume is made possible by grants from Amoco Foundation, Atlantic Richfield Company, Aztec Oil and Gas Company, Cities Service Foundation, and Tenneco Foundation. Their generous contributions partially defrayed the printing costs.


The Health Level 7 Clinic Document Architecture (CDA) is an XML-based document markup standard that specifies the hierarchical structure and semantics of "clinical documents" for the purpose of information exchange. In this research, issues arising with the design and implementation of a DR to support efficient retrieval from CDA documents and data mining for statistical analysis purposes are explored. Both an object-relational approach and a traditional relational approach were explored and compared in terms of design, implementation issues and efficiency. Although the object-relational approach results in a simpler design, implementation is more complicated as object methods must be programmed. In the relational design, queries were more complex to express than in the object-oriented design, but more efficient to execute. It was concluded that the DR design should use standard relational tables while using objects only when required for specialized processing, such as processing of graphs or scans.


Cationic surfactant, cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) modified carbon paste electrode was fabricated and it was applied to determine the electrochemical response of trimethoprim (TMP). The modified electrode shows excellent electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of TMP in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 3.0 by cyclic voltammetric and differential pulse voltammetric techniques. Cyclic voltammetric parameters such as pH, scan rate, concentration and effect of surfactant on TMP were studied. The analyte showed one well-resolved irreversible oxidation peak at around +1.17 V, which served as the analytical response. The scan rate study reveals that the electrode process was controlled by diffusion of the analyte. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of trimethoprim were found to be 0.15 μM and 0.455 μM, respectively. CTAB modified carbon paste electrode showed excellent electrocatalytic effect towards the detection of trimetheoprim.


Effective wildlife management requires an understanding of how animals cope physiologically with stress. When stressors are encountered, the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is activated releasing glucocorticoids, which can alter immune function and infectious disease dynamics. Investigations have suggested that stress associated immunosuppression and exacerbation of infection (particularly by Trypanosoma spp. of haemoparasite) may play a role in the decline of the woylie (syn. brush-tailed bettong, Bettongia penicillata), a critically endangered marsupial. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between stress, immune function and parasite infection dynamics in woylies.

Woylies were trapped from wild populations, reserves and captivity with faecal and blood samples collected from over 300 individuals. Parallel parasitological and non-invasive endocrine analyses were performed to quantify endoparasites and faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM), end-products of HPA axis activation. I also adapted an assay developed in human infants to assess innate immunity in woylies. The novel results suggest that stress physiology and Trypanosoma infection status influence innate immunity.

Collecting longitudinal field data, I identified proximate factors that influenced woylie stress physiology, including season, sex, parasite status and body condition. I also explored woylies' response to translocation and a major bushfire that unexpectedly occurred at a field site. After translocation, FCM was significantly higher than before or at the time of translocation. However, the variation in FCM was not related to short-term changes in parasite infection dynamics. FCM was not significantly higher immediately after the fire, nor were there corresponding changes in parasite load or body condition compared to the months preceding the fire. I suggest that woylies can maintain homeostasis at least in the period immediately after a fire provided they are managed appropriately. Thus this thesis provides new knowledge on woylie stress physiology and highlights the value of innovative tools to advance woylie conservation as they continue to face stressors in the future.


This paper investigates how closely randomly generated binary source sequences can be matched by convolutional code codewords. What distinguishes it from prior work is that a randomly chosen subsequence with density /spl lambda/ is to be matched as closely as possible. The so-called marked bits of the subsequence could indicate overload quantization points for a source sample generated from the tails of a probability distribution. They might also indicate bits where the initial estimate is considered reliable, as might happen in iterated decoding. The capacity of a convolutional code to interpolate the marked subsequence might be viewed as a measure of its ability to handle overload distortion. We analyze this capacity using a Markov chain whose states are sets of subsets of trellis vertices of the convolutional code. We investigate the effect of memory on the probability of perfect interpolation and calculate the residual rate on the unmarked bits of the binary source sequence. We relate our interpolation methodology to sequence-based methods of quantization and use it to analyze the performance of convolutional codes on the pure erasure channel.


Particle filters (PF) have been established as the de facto state of the art in failure prognosis. They combine advantages of the rigors of Bayesian estimation to nonlinear prediction while also providing uncertainty estimates with a given solution. Within the context of particle filters, this paper introduces several novel methods for uncertainty representations and uncertainty management. The prediction uncertainty is modeled via a rescaled Epanechnikov kernel and is assisted with resampling techniques and regularization algorithms. Uncertainty management is accomplished through parametric adjustments in a feedback correction loop of the state model and its noise distributions. The correction loop provides the mechanism to incorporate information that can improve solution accuracy and reduce uncertainty bounds. In addition, this approach results in reduction in computational burden. The scheme is illustrated with real vibration feature data from a fatigue-driven fault in a critical aircraft component.


Polynomial approximations to boolean functions have led to many positive results in computer science. In particular, polynomial approximations to the sign function underly algorithms for agnostically learning halfspaces, as well as pseudorandom generators for halfspaces. In this work, we investigate the limits of these techniques by proving inapproximability results for the sign function.
Firstly, the polynomial regression algorithm of Kalai et al. (SIAM J. Comput. 2008) shows that halfspaces can be learned with respect to log-concave distributions on $\mathbb{R}^n$ in the challenging agnostic learning model. The power of this algorithm relies on the fact that under log-concave distributions, halfspaces can be approximated arbitrarily well by low-degree polynomials. We ask whether this technique can be extended beyond log-concave distributions, and establish a negative result. We show that polynomials of any degree cannot approximate the sign function to within arbitrarily low error for a large class of non-log-concave distributions on the real line, including those with densities proportional to $\exp(-|x|^{0.99})$.
Secondly, we investigate the derandomization of Chernoff-type concentration inequalities. Chernoff-type tail bounds on sums of independent random variables have pervasive applications in theoretical computer science. Schmidt et al. (SIAM J. Discrete Math. 1995) showed that these inequalities can be established for sums of random variables with only $O(\log(1/\delta))$-wise independence, for a tail probability of $\delta$. We show that their results are tight up to constant factors.
These results rely on techniques from weighted approximation theory, which studies how well functions on the real line can be approximated by polynomials under various distributions. We believe that these techniques will have further applications in other areas of computer science.


Judges harm the judicial institution when they engage in inflammatory or overtly political extrajudicial speech. The judiciary can be effective only when it has the trust of the citizenry, and judicial statements of that sort render it impossible for citizens to see judges as neutral and contemplative arbiters. This lack of confidence would seem especially dangerous in times like these, when the citizenry is as polarized as it has ever been.
Ethical codes across the country (based on the Model Code of Judicial Conduct) prohibit judges from making these partisan, prejudicial or otherwise improper remarks. Any discipline can be undone, however, if a court finds the discipline in violation of the First Amendment. Many courts have not even recognized this, and others have been confused about the proper First Amendment analysis to apply.
Because the ethical code restrictions on speech are content-based, they would ordinarily receive strict scrutiny. But the great harm that judges' unethical speech can pose warrants granting the state greater discretion in the disciplinary process. Specifically, the free speech rights of judges facing discipline for unethical extrajudicial speech should be subject not to strict scrutiny, but to the doctrine applied to public employees in Pickering v. Board of Education. Under Pickering, extrajudicial speech that does not involve a matter of public concern — such as racist or sexually harassing remarks — would not be protected at all. Extrajudicial speech that does involve a matter of public concern would have the court balance the judge's interest in speaking against the state's interest in prohibiting the speech. Additionally, a presumption of validity would accompany any ethical code provision that provided notice to judges in advance specifically what they are not to say and why.


Present research was carried out during the year 2014–2015 at the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) to determine the effect of vermicompost and other fertilizers on the growth and productivity of pepper plants (Capsicum chinense). Plants were treated with five different treatments, namely T1 (Promix), T2 (vermicompost), T3 (189), T4 (189 + vermicompost), and lastly, control which had no fertilizers. T1, T3, and T4 were inorganic fertilizers, and T2 was organic. Results obtained showed that T3 (chemical fertilizer) has a significant effect on the growth of pepper plants producing plants with better plant height, number of leaves, number of branches, stem diameter, higher fruit yield, fruit weight and fruit diameter. Plants treated with this treatment also had higher fruit yield, fruit weight, and fruit diameter. Mineral nutrients were highest in plants treated with inorganic fertilizers as compared to the organic fertilizer. Maximum chlorophyll level was present in plants treated with T2. There were relatively high levels of pest and diseases in plants treated with chemical fertilizers, delayed flowering and fruiting period and high levels of leaf and fruit abscission as compared to plants treated with organic fertilizer (T2). Moreover, T3 has proven to have a greater effect on the growth parameters of pepper plants but not the quality of plants produce.


The environment in which nurses and rehabilitation therapists practice is rapidly evolving, resulting in changes in the skill sets and competencies required of new graduates. Evidence-based practice models, for example, require that entry-level nurses, physical therapists, and occupational therapists have the ability to identify, locate, and critically appraise research findings. This paper will describe curriculum-integrated, for-credit information literacy programs developed by the authors in collaboration with faculty members from the Schools of Nursing and Rehabilitation Therapy at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. The short-term goal of these programs is to teach undergraduate and graduate students advanced search strategy skills and critical appraisal techniques that will enable them to explore the implications of their literature findings. The long-term goal is to graduate practitioners who not only will have the skills to practice evidence-based health care but also will participate in scholarly activities and thus contribute to the evidence base in their disciplines.


Researchers of project management over the last 20 years have published multiple significant reviews that have served to map the landscape of project management, revealing its complexity and deepening our understanding. Contributing to this understanding is an ongoing challenge, and one dependent on the timely identification of topics that reveal truths and propel practice. This paper contributes to this understanding through a systematic review of more than 1100 journal articles published in the last 5 years on the theme of the 'human factors' of project management that reveals their multiplicity, distribution and focus. The article will conclude with directions for future research. Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE


The rise of user-generated content (UGC) is often thought to blur further the distinction between (media) producers and (media) consumers. Many media organizations, in particular newspapers, have developed extensive sections of their Web pages based on UGC. But there is still relatively little discussion of the exact relationship between producing and consuming in these sections. What is being produced and what is being consumed? Does the blurring of the producer–consumer represent a real shift in power away from traditional media/news organizations, or is the rise of UGC just a way for newspapers to get content produced "for free"? This article analyses UGC provision in two tabloid newspapers, The Sun (UK) and Aftonbladet (Sweden)—both newspapers generally considered to be very successful in terms of their online presence—by comparing (1) the levels of involvement required by users, (2) the types of content produced, and (3) the modes of production used. The results show that both tabloids are similar in that they provide users with the opportunity to generate mostly popular culture-oriented content and personal/everyday life-oriented content, but little or no opportunity to generate news/information-oriented content.


We propose a method for the generation of trains of alternating bright solitons in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates, using controlled emission of nonlinear matter-waves in the uncoupled regime with spatially-varying intra-species interaction and out-of-phase oscillations of the ground states in the trap. Under this scheme, solitons are sequentially launched from the different components, and interact with each other through phase-independent cross-coupling. We obtain an analytical estimation of the critical condition for soliton emission using a geometric guiding model, in analogy with integrated optical systems. In addition, we show how strong initial perturbations in the system can trigger the spontaneous generation of supersolitons, i.e. localized phonon-like excitations of the soliton trains. Finally, we demonstrate the controllable generation of slow and fast supersolitons by adding external localized potentials in the nonlinear region.


Environmental sustainability is an area of increasing concern for society, governments, corporations, and policy makers worldwide. The adoption of sustainable environmental practices contributes significantly to UK's GDP and employment. However, theoretical and empirical arguments on environmental and financial performance relationships have been inconclusive with existing studies mainly focussing on large listed firms. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between environmental management quality (EMQ) and Financial Performance (FP) of firms listed on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the UK. The study has three main objectives. First, to determine the environmental management quality and financial performance of AIM listed firms in the UK that are dominated by SMEs as most of the existing studies in the UK have only focussed on large companies listed on the main stock market. Second, to determine whether firm growth influences the environmental management and financial performance relationship of AIM listed firms which mostly consist of new and growing firms. Third, to determine if financial resources have impact on environmental management quality and financial performance relationships as much evidence suggest that environmental management practices of SMEs are low due to resources constraint. The thesis is based on a sample of 201 firms listed on Alternative Investment Market (AIM) from 2011 to 2016 with a total of 1206 firm-year observation. The environmental management quality measures were obtained through content analysis of annual and other sustainability reports, with the financial performance measures extracted from Amadeus and Fame Database. The relationship between environmental management quality and financial performance was modelled using OLS panel regression technique, supported by Arrellano Bond (GMM) dynamic panel regression model as a robustness check. The study also discussed the various theoretical (resourced-based view and stakeholder theory) and empirical studies that underpin environmental and financial performance relationships with the aim of understanding how environmental management practices influence financial performance whilst at the same time, identifying the gaps that exist in the prior empirical studies. The findings of the study suggest that strong opportunities exist for AIM listed firms to improve their internal measure of financial performance (ROA) by improving their environmental management quality. This confirmed the theoretical predictions that sustainable environmental management is a unique resource that increases product differentiation in the marketplace, enhances organisational image to customers, and as a result increases profitability. The study also revealed that the relationship between environmental management quality and Financial Performance is inverted U-shaped; suggesting that moderate level environmental management quality may generate the optimum financial benefit based on internal measures of performance (ROA). Although based on the sample from all firms listed on AIM, no significant relationship was discovered between environmental management quality and market values. It was however discovered that medium and larger firms that improve their environmental management quality also improved their market values. Regarding the impact of the firm growth on EMQ and FP relationship, no significant association of growth on EMQ and FP relationship was identified. However, it was discovered that the market punishes organic growth firms that pursue increase environmental management practices, as the moderating impact of firm growth on EMQ and FP relationship was negative. In relation to whether cash resources moderate EMQ and FP relationship, the study revealed that efficient deployment of cash resources for environmental proactive measures impact positively on financial performance. The result of this interaction also indicates that excessive investment of cash resources on environmental management practices would yield negative returns. The study confirms theoretical assertions based on the resourced-based view that resources are essential for environmental and financial performance relationships. In the case of stakeholder theory, the assertion that improved environmental performance is rewarded by stakeholders was only confirmed in medium and larger firms. Finally, the implications and suggestions for future research were discussed. Whilst it is expected that the establishment of business case will improve environmental management quality of AIM listed firms, it is also recommended that flexible innovative regulations that will encourage AIM listed firms to improve and disclose their environmental practices will be a step in the right direction.


The differentiation of text segments to fulfil specific discourse functions (e.g. to introduce a topic, or to state the time and place of a story), along with the definition of clear textual boundaries that set the text apart from the situational context, are two aspects of the configuration of a text as an autonomous semantic unit. This paper analyzes the opening and closing elements of narrative and expository texts to determine whether they function as well defined boundaries, and fulfil a specific discourse function with respect to the text as a whole. The population for this study consisted of 120 participants, 10 at each of the Age levels of grade school, junior high, high school, and university, yielding 40 participants in each of three target Languages: English, Spanish, and Swedish. The database included 480 texts divided by Modality (written vs. spoken) and Genre (narrative vs. expository). All text openings and closing were coded for positioning, i.e. the framework used by speaker/writers to introduce or conclude the topic developed in their texts, and for functioning, i.e. the role these elements play in the text. Results showed that, as texts become more "detached" from the situation in which they are produced, their component parts become more functionally differentiated. This process is described first in the openings of narrative and expository texts, and later in the closings of expository texts; narrative closings remain a problematic area of text construction for most speaker/writers in this study, in every Age group. These processes of detachment and internal functional specification of text components occurred earlier in writing than in speech. The cross-linguistic differences found in the study are related to different teaching practices, rather than to language specific features.


Design Performance Standards for Large Scale Wind Farms This document presents, discusses and provides a general guide on electrical performance standard requirements for connection of large scale onshore wind farms into HV transmission networks. Experiences presented here refer mainly to technical requirements and issues encountered during the process of connection into the Eastern Australian power system under the Rules and guidelines set out by AEMC and NEMMCO (AEMO). Where applicable some international practices are also mentioned. Standards are designed to serve as a technical envelope under which wind farm proponents design the plant and maintain ongoing technical compliance of the plant during its operational lifetime. This report is designed to provide general technical information for the wind farm connection engineer to be aware of during the process of connection, registration and operation of wind power plants interconnected into the HV TSO's network. No special NER Rule has been used in this document, however V30 (year 2009) has been used as the latest reference on some of the topics discussed. Care has been taken to emphasise certain wind farm design and connection issues that could be considered throughout different stages of the wind farm development and operation. However, it is the responsibility of the wind farm design engineer and the wind farm operator to apply correct and effective analysis and assessment tools, standards, design specifications etc. according to the needs of grid utility interface specifications as per NER (National Electricity Rules) under consideration at time of project development, connection, commissioning and operation of the generating plant and its associated equipment. CONTENTS: 1. Reactive Power Capability 2. Quality of Voltage Supply and Continuous Uninterrupted Operation 3. Generating Unit response to Frequency Disturbances 4. Generating Unit Response to Voltage Disturbances 5. Generating system response to disturbances following contingency events 6. Partial Load Rejection 7. Protection of Generating Systems from Power System Disturbances & Protection and Design of Wind Farm Networks 8. Protection Systems that Impact on Power System Security 9. Protection to Trip Plant for Unstable Operation 10. Frequency Control 11. Impact on Network Capability 12. Voltage and Reactive Power Control 13. Active Power Control 14. Remote Monitoring, Communications Equipment and Control Requirements 15. Power Station Auxiliary Supplies 16. Fault Current Infeed 17. On Provision of Models and Accuracy Requirements 18. Summary of Electrical Design Schedules 19. References and Standards 20. Document Revision History 21. Author Contact Information


The standard ensemble filtering schemes such as Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) and Sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) do not properly represent states of low priori probability when the number of samples is too small and the dynamical system is high dimensional system with highly non-Gaussian statistics. For example, when the standard ensemble methods are applied to two well-known simple, but highly nonlinear systems such as a one-dimensional stochastic diffusion process in a doublewell potential and the well-known three-dimensional chaotic dynamical system of Lorenz, they produce erroneous results to track transitions of the systems from one state to the other. In this dissertation, a set of new parametric resampling methods are introduced to overcome this problem. The new filtering methods are motivated by a general Htheorem for the relative entropy of Markov stochastic processes. The entropy-based filters first approximate a prior distribution of a given system by a mixture of Gaussians and the Gaussian components represent different regions of the system. Then the parameters in each Gaussian, i.e., weight, mean and covariance are determined sequentially as new measurements are available. These alternative filters yield a natural generalization of the EnKF method to systems with highly non-Gaussian statistics when the mixture model consists of one single Gaussian and measurements are taken on full states. In addition, the new filtering methods give the quantities of the relative entropy and log-likelihood as by-products with no extra cost. We examine the potential usage and qualitative behaviors of the relative entropy and log-likelihood for the new filters. Those results of EnKF and SMC are also included. We present results of the new methods on the applications to the above two ordinary differential equations and one partial differential equation with comparisons to the standard filters, EnKF and


In this paper, the Internet message board forum is proposed as an example of a community of practice (Eckert and McConnell-Ginet, 1992) in which contributors exhibit common linguistic conventions and forms of participation. The emergence of individual identities in interaction is examined in the genre-specific context of hip-hop Internet message boards. A corpus analysis of message board postings clearly shows that contributors systematically exploit the spoken and written qualities of the language of message boards, the " third medium" (Crystal, 2001) to identify themselves linguistically. Linguistic conventions or practices reveal a tendency among contributors to discursively construction their identities via a "social positioning of self and other" (Bucholtz and Hall, 2005) as experts or non-experts in the hip-hop community. Contributors' identities as experts or simply in-group members are further corraborated or established by the codification not only of non-standard pronunciations and grammar characteristic of speech, but also of non-standard orthography, which demands a written forum to be appreciated, as it is neutralized and unremarkable in speech. Because of the written and spoken qualities of message board discourse, both the content and the form of postings can be manipulated to showcase familiarity with hip-hop discursive practices. Internet message boards therefore represent the ideal forum for discursively constructing a hip-hop identity.


Increasing im portance is being placed on the views of health care consumers. A survey of patient satisfaction in a small forensic unit was undertaken using a combination of data collection techniques and the results of that survey are reported here. It was found that there was a high level of general satisfaction with the services being offered. However, the deficits identified by patients in the unit included: the relative lack of privacy; noise in the unit; the problem of boredom and the difficulty in negotiating 'passes' to leave the unit. Some patients suggested that the latter difficulty was linked to staffing levels. Some future research implications are identified.


Standard admission order sets have become ubiquitous across hospitals to promote adherence to practice guidelines and increase ordering efficiency.1 2 This standardisation arose in part out of a need to minimise waste in healthcare, a phenomenon identified as a major barrier to reducing future healthcare costs.3 However, few studies have systematically evaluated whether these standardised orders can actually promote overordering of investigations. At our academic hospital's coronary care unit (CCU), a single mandatory generic order set is used regardless of admitting diagnosis and includes optional check boxes for serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and brain natriuretic peptide (BNP). We postulated that physicians order investigations differently on admission based on which investigations are included in the admission order set.

We quasi-randomised a convenience sample of participants in a double-blind fashion to receive either our standard CCU admission order set or a slightly modified version (see online supplementary file). The participants included internal medicine staff physicians, residents and clinical clerks (medical students, year 3 or 4) at our academic centre who were attending grand rounds. After their respective grand rounds, seated participants were provided with a case of a previously healthy 50-year-old man presenting with uncomplicated ST elevation myocardial infarction, now stable postpercutaneous revascularisation. Based on the clinical information provided, ordering TSH and BNP was not clinically indicated. Unaware of the differing versions, volunteer participants received a paper copy of one of the two versions of the admission order set. Researchers distributing the order sets were also not aware of which version of …


BACKGROUND
African American women have higher incidences of breast and cervical cancers and African American men present with more advanced stages of colon and prostate cancers than do their non-African American counterparts. Since the church is central to the organization of the African American community, the authors set out to determine whether a church-directed educational project could influence parishioners to obtain cancer screening.

METHODS
Three African American churches having memberships of 250, 500, and 1,500, respectively, were selected for their different socioeconomic strata: one congregation was composed mostly of working poor, the second was more affluent, and the third consisted primarily of retirees. During a five-week summer period, appropriate literature, health fairs, testimonials by cancer survivors, and visits by representatives of the medical community were used to increase awareness of cancer screening. Surveys regarding cancer-screening behaviors were distributed at the end of church services. Using the guidelines established by the American Cancer Society, individual recommendations for screening examinations were developed and sent to parishioners based on their survey responses.

RESULTS
Of 437 parishioners surveyed (73% female, 27% male), 75% were 40 years old or older. Many reported up-to-date screening for breast (84%), cervical (78%), colon (62%), and prostate (89%) cancers. The results were remarkably similar in all three churches. Telephone follow-up seven months after the survey directed at the 120 parishioners identified as noncompliant for at least one cancer screening revealed that 49% had obtained the appropriate screenings.

CONCLUSIONS
These African American churchgoers were well screened compared with estimated national averages, possibly due to previous efforts of the activist ministers in the churches selected. The message for cancer screening is heeded when delivered through the African American church.


Title of Dissertation: CURRICULUM REFORM AS A REFLECTION OF TRADITION AND CHANGE: JAPANESE TEACHERS APPROACHES TO DIMENSIONS OF DIFFERENCE VIA THE INTEGRATED CURRICULUM Laurence MacDonald, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Barbara Finkelstein Department of Education Policy and Leadership In the midst of significant social and global change, Japan has embarked upon its most significant education reform since the immediate post-WWll period. In 2002, MEXT enacted the integrated curriculum (sogoteki na gakushu), a decentralization effort intended to empower teachers and schools with the autonomy to create and implement curriculum of their own choosing. The purpose of multi-site case study is to discover if and how Japanese teachers are utilizing the autonomy provided by the integrated curriculum to provide students opportunities to interact with dimensions of difference based on Japan's changing cultural landscape and global role. This multi-site case study is based on seventeen months of field work in Japan, at which time I analyzed government and school documents; interviewed teachers, administrators, scholars, and leaders of NPO/NGOs; and observed integrated curriculum activities in 60 public schools. Based on this data, I uncovered three approaches to the integrated curriculum that confront students with dimensions of difference: 1) the human rights education approach; 2) the cultural co-existence approach; and 3) the international understanding education approach. In the context of the human rights approach, teachers implemented curriculum to help students: 1) develop self-esteem; 2) contend with issues of bullying and social exclusion; 3) and learn about the rights of minorities, the disabled, and the homeless. Schools in ethnically diverse communities implement a cultural coexistence approach to the integrated curriculum, engaging students in the exploration of human migration and the growing ethnic diversity of their communities. In the international understanding approach, teachers help students explore foreign cultural influences on Japanese culture; the nation's relationship with its Asian neighbors; and the role of the Japanese Government and NPO/NGOs in overseas development and volunteerism. While these approaches to the integrated curriculum were by no means universal, the findings of this study confirmed that many schools in diverse urban areas did implement at least one of these three approaches. Curriculum Reform as a Reflection of Tradition and Change: Japanese Teachers Approaches to Dimensions of Difference via the Integrated Curriculum


On behalf of the Editorial Board, it is with great pride and sincere privilege that I am writing this message to present the volume 14 (2019) of the JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH. The issue comes from a long process, and we took all the necessary steps to make it a high-caliber scientific publication. We are relying on the collaboration of all our Editors, reviewers, and contributors to make it a contemporary, lively, and relevant publication.


The bell of the hydromedusan jellyfish Polyorchis penicillatus (Eschscholtz, 1829) was modelled as a harmonically forced, damped oscillator. The robustness of the model was tested and verified by comparing estimates of the work done during the contraction phase predicted by the model with analogous values measured in completely independent experiments. Data suggest that the animals swim at a frequency that is at or near the resonant frequency of the locomotor apparatus. The implications of this phenomenon for the mechanics and physiology of the system are discussed. If the swimming muscles force the bell at its resonant frequency, as opposed to a single contraction at the same rate of deformation, the amplitude of the oscillation will be increased by about 40%, and the energetic requirement for the cycle will be reduced by about 24–37 % of the total cost of the cycle. The advantages of forcing the structure at its resonant frequency seem quite remarkable.


Objective: Development of the central nervous system (CNS) is dependent on interactions between genetic and epigenetic factors, some of which could affect the susceptibility of the developing brain to damaging insults. Gestational stress has been shown as a potential factor associated with higher risk of developing certain neurological and psychiatric disorders. This study tested the hypothesis that maternal stress influences the risk of epilepsy in offsprings. Materials and Methods: Pregnant mice were exposed to restraint stress twice a day for three days at the start of the last week of gestation. Ten days after birth, the intact hippocampi of the newborn mice were excised and prepared for investigation. The hippocampi were bathed in low magnesium artificial cerebrospinal fluid to induce field potential, and the subsequent spontaneous seizure-like events of the CA1 neurons were recorded. Plasma corticosterone was measured using a commercial radioimmunoassay (RIA) kit and the values were expressed as μg/100 ml. Results: Both the number of recurrent seizures and the duration of seizure activity were reduced in the stressed group compared to the controls (p<0.001). Stress induced a significant rise in serum corticosterone levels in both pregnant mice and in their newborn pups (p<0.001). Conclusion: These findings suggest that acute prenatal stress, which may mimic acute stress in human pregnancy, is a likely factor affecting seizure control in childhood temporal lobe epilepsy. The underlying inhibitory mechanism may be an increase in the level of neurosteroids both in the blood and the brain.


Can virtual reality tools be used to train engineers that inspect work zones? In this paper, we share the findings of a research project that developed an interactive and immersive training platform using virtual reality to train state department of transportation (DOT) staff that inspect work zones for compliance. Virtual reality offers an immersive platform that closely replicates the actual experience of an inspector driving through a work zone, but in a safer, cheaper, and quicker way than field visits. The current training practice involves reviewing temporary traffic control procedures, and reports and pictures from previous inspections. The developed platform consists of a learning module and an immersive module. The learning module is founded on the historical knowledge gained by DOT staff from inspections dating back at least 5 years. This knowledge incorporated representative inspection reports from previous years from all DOT districts including photographs of deficiencies. The synthesized knowledge was converted into a concise easy-to-consume format for training. The immersive module places the trainee in a vehicle moving through a work zone, thus providing a realistic experience to the engineer before inspecting a real work zone. The research team developed and tested two immersive scenarios of a freeway work zone. The training platform was tested by 34 individuals that worked for the Missouri Department of Transportation. An overwhelming majority (97%) agreed that virtual reality offered a realistic and effective way to train inspectors.


Complex anodic alumina films were preapered by the reanodization of porous anodic oxide films on aluminium alloy (AA) 5052. The AA 5052 samples were anodized first in H2SO4 for 30 min at 15 V. The reanodization was performed in 0.1 M ammonium pentaborate solution at 15 V for 5 and 10 min. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was employed to characterize these complex films. Polarization studies show that the corrosion rate decreases significantly by reanodization and it is further decreases with an increase in reanodization time. Reanodization is found a good method to increase corrosion resistance properties of porous anodic oxide film. Morphologically, no significant difference was observed between simple and complex film as shown in Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) images. The electrochemical impedance data was fitted with equivalent circuit containing a Constant Phase Element (CPE) and fitted parameters were calculated.


We analyze trends in regional economic growth, employment and internal migration during one of the best periods of economic boom in Peru´s modern history. Migration among departamentos from 2002 to 2007, captured in the last population census, has been consistent with regional labour prospects, such as initial stocks and recent increases in the volumes of adequate employment. The relative size of internal migration has declined compared to the period 1988-1993 due to the virtual elimination of terrorism-led migration, retaking a long run declining trend observed for the South America region. However, migration corridors opened up in the 1980s and 1990s have persisted during this decade. Empirical models show that the migration decision also takes into account potential gains in living standards, through the improved access to economic and social infrastructure. Likewise, the report finds evidence that internal migration flows support the process of conditional convergence across regional per capita GDPs. However, these same flows do not seem to influence significantly the speed of earnings convergence across regions.


In this work, an inverse FE modelling indentation method to predict the plastic ies of materials has been systematically studied and used to characterise detailed properties of spot welded joints in steel. An inverse program based on a dual indenter approach and continuous indentation curves has been established and validated, which provided the framework for an improved method based on static indentation. The method was successfully used to study two typical auto steels and simulate the tensile shear deformation of the spot welded joints and to investigate the effect of dimensional parameters on the strength of welded joints. Systematic studies of inverse FE modelling approaches with different indenter types showed that there are a variety of materials with different stress-strain relationships but identical indentation curves for Vickers, Knoop or spherical indenters and dual sharp indenters. This suggests that these methods can not be used to predict material plastic properties unless the range of material properties is pre-known. Dual spherical indenters showed significant improvement of the prediction accuracy, but showed strong sensitivity to experimental error. The combination of sharp (Vickers or Knoop) and spherical indenters is proven to be the best approach over a wide range of material properties and showed a clear improvement over other methods. Based on the framework established, a new method using static indentation data rather than continuous indentation data has been developed. Experimental work on two steels show the stress-strain curves inversely predicted are comparable to standard tensile tests and notched specimen. The method was applied to extract the detailed material properties in spot welded joints and the results were applied to extract the detailed material properties in spot welded joints and the results were applied to simulate the tensile shear deformation.


Saskatchewan Health has provided funding to Saskatoon and North Battleford District Health Boards to establish a school and home-based program for very aggressive kindergarten and grade one children. The purpose of the Early Skills Development Program is to assist young children who present with aggressive behaviours develop more socially acceptable interaction styles so they are less at risk for social rejection and/or neglect (Child and Youth Services, 2002). Preand post-intervention data was collected on each child that participated in the 10-week Early Skills Development Program using the Child Behavior ChecklistTeacher Report Form, which includes eight clinical scales: Withdrawn, Somatic Complaints, Anxious/Depressed, Social Problems, Thought Problems, Attention Problems, Aggressive Behavior, and Delinquent Behavior. In addition, demographic data was collected on each child, including age, grade, gender, diagnosis of a behaviour/mood disorder, medication status, number of siblings, family status, and whether the family is on social assistance. Evaluations of the efficacy of the Early Skills Development Program have been conducted at year one (Mykota, 1999), year two (Headley, 2000), and year three (Leibel, 2002) since the program's commencement. Each study found statistically significant deceases in aggression overall. However, closer examination of individual children who participated revealed that several participants either had more significant decreases in aggressive behaviour or were not successful at all. The finding of some children showing greater improvement over others, or no improvement at all, suggests the need for examination of the predictive variables that affect treatment outcomes in the Early Skills Development Program. The objective of the following research studies was to determine, in three parts, what variables will predict treatment outcome in the Early Skills Development Program. Based on previous research (e.g., Dumas & Wahler, 1983; Kazdin & Crowley, 1997; Lochman et al, 1985) and the extant data available, three studies were conducted. Study one examined child demographic variables as they relate to the prediction of treatment outcome in aggressive behaviour. Results from study one indicated that the demographic variables available in the extant data base were not predictive of treatment outcome in the Early Skills Development Program. Study two investigated psychological variables, based on ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form, in the prediction of treatment outcome. Results from study two indicated that children who showed symptoms of being withdrawn, having social problems, and the presence of anxiety and depression showed increased benefit from the Early Skills Development Program. Study three examined contextual variables that related to the child's family in predicting the behaviour change of participants immediately following treatment in the Early Skills Development Program. Results indicated that participants who did not have any siblings at the time of treatment showed a significantly higher decrease in aggression than those who did have siblings.


OBJECTIVE To compare the different therapeutic principles of α-glucosidase inhibitors and sulphonylureas as first-line treatment in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients with dietary failure. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Ninety-six NIDDM patients (35–70 years of age, body mass index [BMI] ≤ 35), insufficiently treated with diet alone (HbA1c 7–9%) were randomized into three groups and treated for 24 weeks with acarbose, glibenclamide, or placebo. Efficacy, based on fasting blood glucose (BG), BG 1 h after ingestion of standard breakfast (postprandial), serum insulin, postprandial insulin increase, and HbA1c; and tolerability, based on subjective symptoms and laboratory values, were investigated every 6 weeks. Efficacy evaluation was valid for 85 patients. RESULTS The test drugs were dosed as follows: 100 mg acarbose (A) three times a day, 1 placebo tablet three times a day, 3.5 mg glibenclamide tablets dosed 1–0-0 or 1–0-1, mean dose 4.3 mg/day. Compared with the placebo, both drugs showed the same mean efficacy on fasting BG (–1.4 raM with acarbose, –1.6 mM with glibenclamide), 1-h postprandial BG (–2.2 mM with acarbose, –1.9 mM with glibenclamide), and HbA1c (–1.1% with acarbose, –0.9% with glibenclamide); but they showed a marked difference in 1-h postprandial insulin values (–80.7 pM with acarbose, 96.7 pM with glibenclamide). The mean relative insulin increase (1-h postprandial) was 1.5 in the placebo group, 1.1 in the acarbose group, and 2.5 in the glibenclamide group. No changes in body weight could be observed. No adverse events were seen under placebo. Acarbose led to mild or moderate intestinal symptoms in 38% of patients. Glibenclamide led to hypoglycemia, which could be solved by dose reduction, in 6% of patients. No dropouts occurred in any of the treatment groups. CONCLUSIONS Acarbose and glibenclamide are effective drugs for the monotherapy of NIDDM patients when diet alone fails. Because postprandial insulin increase has been shown to be associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease, acarbose, which lowers pp increase, may be superior to glibenclamide, which elevates postprandial insulin increase.


The Reactive Keyboard, a device that accelerates typewritten communication with a computer system by predicting what the user is going to type next is described. The version described is designed for entering free text and runs on any Apple Macintosh computer with at least 1 MB of memory (though 2 MB is preferred). It makes full use of the Macintosh mouse-and-window environment to give users convenient control over display and acceptance of predictions, and it requires no physical keyboard. The interface increases the speed and ease of communicating with a computer, especially for physically disabled people. >


The increasing adoption of Software Defined Networking, and OpenFlow in particular, brings great hope for increasing extensibility and lowering costs of deploying new network functionality. A key component in these networks is the OpenFlow agent, a piece of software that a switch runs to enable remote programmatic access to its forwarding tables. While testing high-level network functionality, the correct behavior and interoperability of any OpenFlow agent are taken for granted. However, existing tools for testing agents are not exhaustive nor systematic, and only check that the agent's basic functionality works. In addition, the rapidly changing and sometimes vague OpenFlow specifications can result in multiple implementations that behave differently.
 This paper presents SOFT, an approach for testing the interoperability of OpenFlow switches. Our key insight is in automatically identifying the testing inputs that cause different OpenFlow agent implementations to behave inconsistently. To this end, we first symbolically execute each agent under test in isolation to derive which set of inputs causes which behavior. We then crosscheck all distinct behaviors across different agent implementations and evaluate whether a common input subset causes inconsistent behaviors. Our evaluation shows that our tool identified several inconsistencies between the publicly available Reference OpenFlow switch and Open vSwitch implementations.


Mudbanks have been observed to have an extraordinary calming effect on the sea surface. In certain cases this effect is due primarily to the transfer of energy through the sea/mud interface and its frictional dissipation within the bottom sediments. This paper describes an experiment that measured wave characteristics and the resulting sea floor oscillations in an area where the bottom is composed of fine-grained sediments. The energy lost by the waves at the position of the experimental setup is calculated and compared with a direct measurement of the net energy lost by the waves in going from the point of the experiment to a station 3.35 km inshore. Results show that bottom motions in the range of wave-induced bottom pressures from near zero to 2.39 x 10-3 Pascal have the appearance of forced waves on an elastic half space. The apparent effect of internal viscosity is seen in a phase shift between the crest of the pressure wave and the trough of the mud wave. Measurements show this angle to be 22° (ill") for the peak spectral component (T = 7.75 seconds). The energy lost to the bottom by the waves at the field site was found to be at least an order of magnitude greater than that resulting from the processes of percolation or that caused by normal frictional effects. This newly observed mechanism for the dissipation of wave energy is particularly important for waves in intermediate-depth water and could be a prime factor in determining design wave heights in muddy coastal areas.


Combining X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and ab initio simulations we characterize an extremely hydrogen-rich phase with the chemical formula (NH3BH3)(H2)x (x = 1.5). This phase was formed by compressing ammonia borane (AB, NH3BH3) in an environment with an excess of molecular hydrogen (H2). This compound can store a total of 26.8 wt% hydrogen, both as molecular hydrogen and chemically bonded hydrogen in AB, making it one of the most hydrogen-rich solids currently known. The new compound possesses a layered AB structure where additional H2 molecules reside in channels created through the weaving of AB layers. The unconventional dihydrogen bonding network of the new compound is significantly modified from its parent AB phase and contains H⋯H contacts between adjacent AB molecules and between AB and H2 molecules. H–H can be either a proton donor or a proton acceptor that forms new types of dihydrogen bonding with the host AB molecules, which are depicted as H–H⋯H–B or H–H⋯H–N, respectively. This study not only demonstrates the strategy and the promise of using pressure for new material synthesis, but also unleashes the power of combining experiments and ab initio calculations for elucidating novel structures and unusual bonding configurations in dense low-Z materials.


The composition and film thickness of organic layered photoconductors containing the charge generation dyes hydroxysquarilium and chlorodiane blue are analyzed by specular reflectance infrared spectroscopy. The analysis involves recording the infrared spectrum of the photoconductor after the dye layer is coated onto an appropriate substrate. Since the IR spectra are recorded in a specular reflection mode, modeling is required in order to understand the relationship between reflectance and film thickness for the dye layers. Thus a dispersion analysis is used to determine the complex refractive indices over the infrared for the charge generation dyes hydroxysquarilium and chlorodiane blue.


Up-frameshift protein 1 (Upf1) is required for nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD) across eukaryotes. It has been reported that Upf1 has also nuclear functions, which are independent of its role in NMD. However, it is unclear whether the nuclear role of Upf1 in mammalian cells is conserved in \(Schizosaccharomyces\) \(pombe\) (\(S\). \(pombe\)). In this study, I investigated whether Upf1 functions in the nucleus and its other possible roles in \(S\). \(pombe\). Similar to the previous findings in mammalian cells, I found that \(upf1\) deletion mutant of \(S\). \(pombe\) was hypersensitive to the DNA replication inhibitors hydroxyurea and methyl methanesulfonate, suggesting increased DNA damage in this mutant. Additionally, each of \(upf1\), \(upf2\) and \(upf3\) shows synthetic sick with \(rad52\), which plays a central role in DNA double-strand break repair in \(S\). \(pombe\). Moreover, the S-phase progression is slower in NMD mutants. I also found an RNA dependent association of Upf1 with highly transcribed genes by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments, implying its association with nascent RNA. Furthermore, deletion of Upf1 leads to increased RNA levels of \(tf2\) and rDNA, which are bound by Upf1, suggesting it has a direct role in regulating transcription. This hypothesis will be assessed for investigating whether the loading pattern of RNA polymerase II on chromatin changes without Upf1 using ChIP-Seq. Additionally, I identified that Upf1 interacts with genes involved in nuclear activities including nucleosome remodelling, transcription and cell cycle regulation.


OBJECTIVES
The goals of this review are to evaluate the quality of the evidence on the incidence of sudden cardiac arrest and death (SCA/D) in athletes and military members; and to estimate annual incidence of SCA/D.

DATA SOURCES
MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science, BIOSIS, Scopus, SPORT discus, PEDro, and clinicaltrials.gov were searched from inception to dates between 2/21/19-7/29/19.

STUDY SELECTION
Studies which reported incidence of SCA/D or both in athletes, or military members under age 40 were eligible for inclusion. 40 studies were identified for inclusion Data Extraction: Risk of bias was assessed using a validated, customized tool for prevalence studies in all included studies. 12 were found to be low ROB, with the remaining 28 moderate or high ROB. Data was extracted for narrative review, and meta-analysis.

DATA SYNTHESIS
Random-effects meta-analysis was performed in studies judged to be low risk of bias in two separate categories: 5 studies on regional or national level data including athletes at all levels, and both sexes included 130 events of SCD, with a total of 11,272,560 athlete years showing a cumulative incidence rate of 0.98 [95%CI: 0.62, 1.53] per 100,000 athlete years, with high heterogeneity with I2 of 78%; 3 Studies on competitive athletes aged 14 to 25 were combined, and included 183 events, and 17,798758 athlete years showing an incidence rate of 1.91[95%CI: 0.71; 5.14] per 100,000 athlete years with high heterogeneity with I2 of 97%. The remaining low risk of bias studies were in military members, and were not synthesized.

CONCLUSION
The worldwide incidence of SCD is a rare event. Low risk of bias studies indicate incidence to be below 2 per 100,000 athlete years. Overall, the quality of the evidence available is low, but there are high quality individual studies to inform the question of incidence levels. PROSPERO Registration: CRD42019125560.


Although straight point to point movements have been successfully modeled until now, many reaching movements are not straight neither in hand Cartesian nor in joint angles space, such as for example movements directed towards oneself. Addressing the generation of such free movements is fundamental to movement science, these include for example feeding movements and spontaneous gesticulation that are commonly used in everyday life and are undoubtedly an essential part of our mouvement repertoire. These reaching movements exhibit a similar bell-shaped velocity profile, but have highly curved trajectories. We argue that the curvature of path trajectories is not an undesirable side-effect of perfectly straight planned reaching movements, but is necessary and generated already at the level of the control mechanism. For example, the curvature of self-oriented movements can be attributed to fulfilling one of these two goals: (1) to avoid impossible trajectories that go through the body and (2) to avoid uncomfortable arm postures due to extreme joint angles values. One possibility is that the brain has completely separate controllers for straight and curved reaching movements and switches from one controller to the other according to the type of movement that needs to be executed. The other hypothesis is that the movement is generated by the same control mechanism, but this mechanism is adaptive in the sense that it integrates several environmental internal models such as representations of the volume and geometry of the body. By following the latter approach we have successfully modeled self-oriented reaching movements by extending a dynamical controller for generating straight point to point movements, the vector integration to endpoint (VITE) model (Bullock98,Bullock88). By introducing a body repulsive force into the model, we could reproduce the qualitative and also quantitative kinematic aspects of 3D curved movements. As our model indirectly relies on the bio-mechanical and geometrical features of the human body, it could possibly give some insights into their representation in the central nervous system for the task of reaching movements: a simple and general approximation rather than a precise and local description might be used. The VITE model is biologically plausible and brain area candidates for all the neural computations needed have been proposed. In addition the model is dynamical and thus robust to end-point and trajectory perturbations. Most importantly, some of the predictions of our model for the hand paths and their speed profiles have been validated against motion data of real human selforiented movements.


Although fuel taxes are a practical means of curbing vehicular air pollution, congestion, and accidents in developing countries--all of which are typically major problems--they are often opposed on distributional grounds. Yet few studies have investigated fuel tax incidence in a developing country context. We use household survey data and income-outcome coefficients to analyze fuel tax incidence in Costa Rica. We find that the effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through direct spending on gasoline would be progressive, its effect through spending on diesel--both directly and via bus transportation--would be regressive (mainly because poorer households rely heavily on buses), and its effect through spending on goods other than fuel and bus transportation would be relatively small, albeit regressive. Finally, we find that although the overall effect of a 10 percent fuel price hike through all types of direct and indirect spending would be slightly regressive, the magnitude of this combined effect would be modest. We conclude that distributional concerns need not rule out using fuel taxes to address pressing public health and safety problems, particularly if gasoline and diesel taxes can be differentiated.


Abstract In the future International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the interaction between the plasma and the tungsten chosen as the plasma-facing wall material imposes that the hot central plasma loses energy by X-ray emission from tungsten ions. On the other hand, the registered X-ray spectra provide alternative diagnostics of the plasma itself. Highly ionized tungsten emits extremely complex X-ray spectra that can be understood only after exhaustive theoretical studies. The detailed analyses will be useful for proper interpretation of soft X-ray plasma radiation expected to be registered on ITER-like machines, that is, Tungsten (W) Environment in Steady-state Tokamak (WEST). The simulations of the soft X-ray spectra structures for tungsten ions have been performed using the flexible atomic code (FAC) package within the framework of collisional-radiative (CR) model approach for electron temperatures and densities relevant to WEST tokamak.


Proper control of biodiesel reactors poses a number of challenges. These arise from the presence of multiple chemical reactions, the complex heat and mass transfer characteristics, and the highly nonlinear dynamics. In this work, a new adaptive control scheme was implemented to automatically tune the controller based on the most recent updated process dynamics. This scheme demonstrates the powerful integration of an online process modeling tool (Recursive Least Squares, RLS) into a renowned and yet simple model-based controller design method (Internal Model Control, IMC). Two adaptive control loops were designed, in which the sampling time of the RLS algorithm and the IMC closed loop time constant were determined by constrained optimization with the genetic algorithm. Comparison with conventional PID controllers revealed the superiority of the new adaptive control scheme in set point tracking. Good disturbance rejection properties were also demonstrated by the new adaptive control scheme. The results attained in this work demonstrate that a good adaptive control scheme can be implemented for the biodiesel transesterification reactors with minimal knowledge about the process model.


Cardiac MRI Volumetric Assessment by Short-Axis has Better Reproducibility than the Axial Orientation in Functionally Single Right Ventricle Hearts Prior to Bidirectional Cavopulmonary Anastomosis
Background: Cardiovascular Magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is the standard for assessment of ventricular volumes and function. However, few reports exist regarding methodology for measurements of functionally single right ventricular (RV) volumes in congenital heart disease. This study aims to determine which imaging plane, the short axis oblique (SAO) or the axial orientation (AX), provides greater reproducibility in evaluation of RV volumes and function in patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) prior to bidirectional cavopulmonary anastomosis (BCPA).
Methods: CMR was performed under general anesthesia in 23 patients (5 ± 3.4 months) with single RV prior to BCPA to obtain ventricular volumes from the axial and/or short-axis cine orientations. Postprocessing (cmr42 - Circle Imaging, Calgary, Alberta) was performed by two independent observers to obtain end-diastolic (EDV), end-systolic (ESV) volumes and ejection fraction (EF) in both SAO (n=23) and AX (n=16) planes. Absolute differences (mean ± SD), repeatability values, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), coefficient of variation, and Bland Altman plots were used to assess the reproducibility between methods, and interobserver and intraobserver variability.
Results: Comparisons of SAO versus AX volumes revealed small absolute differences, with better repeatability for ESV (4.6 ml) compared to EDV (8.5 ml), and high agreement between the 2 methods. Interobserver variability showed high correlations and narrow limits of agreements for SAO and AX measured ESV. However, AX EDV had poorer repeatability (11 ml) and wider limits of agreement than SAO EDV (6.4 ml). Intraobserver testing showed higher correlations for all measurements, but SAO EDV (2.7 ml) showed better repeatability than AX EDV (5.7 ml).
Conclusion: CMR assessment of single RV volumes showed better inter and intra-observer reproducibility for the SAO than the AX methods suggesting that the addition of an axial stack does not provide any benefit over the short axis orientation in the assessment of single RV volumes and function.


PURPOSE
Definitive chemoradiation (CR) has replaced radical surgery as the preferred treatment of epidermoid carcinoma of the anal canal. To determine the importance of mitomycin (MMC) in the standard CR regimen and to assess the role of salvage CR in patients who have residual tumor following CR, a phase III randomized trial was undertaken by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG)/Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG).

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Between August 1988 and December 1991, 310 patients were randomized to receive either radiotherapy (RT) and fluorouracil (5-FU) or radiotherapy, 5-FU, and MMC. Of 291 assessable patients, 145 received 45 to 50.4 Gy of pelvic RT plus 5-FU at 1,000 mg/m2/d for 4 days, and 146 received RT, 5-FU, and MMC (10 mg/m2 per dose for two doses). Patients with residual tumor on posttreatment biopsy were treated with a salvage regimen that consisted of additional pelvic RT (9 Gy), 5-FU, and cisplatin (100 mg/m2).

RESULTS
Posttreatment biopsies were positive in 15% of patients in the 5-FU arm versus 7.7% in the MMC arm (P = .135). At 4 years, colostomy rates were lower (9% v 22%; P = .002), colostomy-free survival higher (71% v 59%; P = .014), and disease-free survival higher (73% v 51%; P = .0003) in the MMC arm. A significant difference in overall survival has not been observed at 4 years. Toxicity was greater in the MMC arm (23% v 7% grade 4 and 5 toxicity; P < or = .001). Of 24 assessable patients who underwent salvage CR, 12 (50%) were rendered disease-free.

CONCLUSION
Despite greater toxicity, the use of MMC in a definitive CR regimen for anal cancer is justified, particularly in patients with large primary tumors. Salvage CR should be attempted in patients with residual disease following definitive CR before resorting to radical surgery.


For typhoon warning centers, effective forecasting of tropical cyclone intensity is always required. The major difficulties and challenges in forecasting tropical cyclone intensity are the complex physical mechanism and the structure of tropical cyclones. The interaction between the tropical cyclone and its environment is also a complex process. In this paper, a model based on support vector machines is developed to yield the 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 h forecasts of tropical cyclone intensity. Furthermore, the forecasts resulting from the proposed model are compared with those from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Cross-validation tests are also applied to evaluate the accuracy and the robustness of the proposed model. The results confirm that the proposed model can provide accurate forecasts of tropical cyclone intensity, especially for a long lead-time. When the sample events are classified into five categories according to the Saffir-Simpson scale, the forecasts resulting from the proposed model have the best performance for events in categories 4 and 5. In addition, when a typhoon turns northward, although the water temperature drops rapidly, the proposed model still performs well. In conclusion, the proposed model is useful to improve the forecasts of tropical cyclones intensity.


The failure of the Copenhagen climate conference in December 2009 revealed major flaws in the way the world's policymakers have attempted to prevent dangerous levels of increases in global temperatures. The expert authors in this specially commissioned collection focus on the likely costs and benefits of a very wide range of policy options, including geo-engineering, mitigation of CO2, methane and 'black carbon', expanding forest, research and development of low-carbon energy and encouraging green technology transfer. For each policy, authors outline all of the costs, benefits and likely outcomes, in fully referenced, clearly presented chapters accompanied by shorter, critical alternative perspectives. To further stimulate debate, a panel of economists, including three Nobel laureates, evaluate and rank the attractiveness of the policies. This authoritative and thought-provoking book will challenge readers to form their own conclusions about the best ways to respond to global warming.


This study investigates how to derive water fraction and flood mapping from the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites using the linear mixture model and decision-tree approach. The recent floods in the Midwestern United States in June 2008 and in the New Orleans area in August 2005 were selected for this study. MODIS surface reflectance with the matched land cover data in the Midwest prior to the flooding events were used for the training dataset, with the split test mode of 50% for training and the remaining 50% for testing. The precision, or accuracy rate, of the water classification reaches over 90% from the test. Our results demonstrate that the reflectance difference (CH2-CH1) between the MODIS channel 2 (CH2) and channel 1 (CH1) is the most useful parameter to derive water fraction from the linear mixture model. Rules and threshold values from the decision tree training were applied to real applications on different dates (June 1, 17, and 19, 2008 for the Midwestern region of the U.S.) and at different locations (New Orleans in 2005) to identify standing water and to calculate water fraction. The derived water fraction maps were evaluated using higher resolution Thematic Mapper (TM) data from Landsat observations. It shows that the correlation between water fractions derived from the MODIS and TM data is 0.97, with difference or "bias" of 4.47%, standard deviation of 4.40%, and root mean square error (rmse) of 6.28%. Flood distributions in both space and time domains were generated using the differences in water fraction values before and after the flooding.


Background: Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) frequently ask their doctors about which diets to follow, and even in the absence of advice from their physicians, many patients are undertaking various dietary interventions. Discussion: However, the role of dietary modifications in RA is not well understood. Several studies have tried to address these gaps in our understanding. Intestinal microbial modifications are being studied for the prevention and management of RA. Some benefits of vegan diet may be explained by antioxidant constituents, lactobacilli and fibre, and by potential changes in intestinal flora. Similarly, Mediterranean diet shows anti-inflammatory effects due to protective properties of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and vitamins, but also by influencing the gut microbiome. Gluten-free and elemental diets have been associated with some benefits in RA though the existing evidence is limited. Long-term intake of fish and other sources of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are protective for development of RA. The benefits of fasting, anti-oxidant supplementation, flavanoids, and probiotics in RA are not clear. Vitamin D has been shown to influence autoimmunity and specifically decrease RA disease activity. The role of supplements such as fish oils and vitamin D should be explored in future trials to gain new insights in disease pathogenesis and develop RA-specific dietary recommendations. Conclusion: Specifically more research is needed to explore the association of diet and the gut microbiome and how this can influence RA disease activity.


Book description: A product of the Framework V research project, this book addresses one of the key problems facing the EU today: Why is the 'new' EU so much poorer than the 'old', and how will EU enlargement help to solve the problem? Focusing on the productivity problems underlying the East-West gap, it looks in particular at the role that foreign investment and R&D can play in closing it. Against that background, the book assesses what role proactive development policy might play in attacking the roots of low social productivity. Concluding that there will be a clear-cut process of convergence between East and West, albeit an incomplete one, it finishes with an assessment of the patterns of competitiveness, East and West, that are likely to emerge from this process of incomplete convergence.

The material is based on a rich archive of empirical material which no competing title can match, and combines in-depth interviews with standard quantitative approaches and critical policy analysis.


The sequencing of the Human Genome has opened a new era of opportunities in the field of Bioinformatics. Now more than ever, the biological knowledge about the human being continues to widen thanks to immersion and research dedication in multiple interdisciplinary fields at different scales: Transcriptomics, Genomics, Metabolomics, Proteomics, etc. Both governmental organizations and different international institutions have made strong economic investments in search of providing their research centers and laboratories with the best possible equipment. The explosion of the number of experiments carried that have been carried out in these last 2 decades on the different technologies of sequencing at transcriptomical level (mainly microarrays and RNA-seq) has meant the collection of an enormous amount of information that does not stop growing. Over time, many of these isolated experiments have been shared with the scientific community both publicly and under controlled access. In this sense, the potential of the information stored in such repositories is extremely high and the biological knowledge to be derived may still be an unknown to be revealed. This is due in large part to the fact that the experiments carried out usually have a very reduced number of samples, which implies the extraction of specific conclusions dependent on the characteristics of the cohort of samples analyzed. Bringing together all the multilevel biological information on the same disease, one could collect a much broader and more robust set of data from which to extract more significant results at the biological level and widely supported at the statistical level. In addition to glimpsing general conclusions about the most prominent biomarkers of a disease, there is the possibility of immersing oneself in the search for more specific biomarkers, taking into account clinical data that offer a much closer approach to the patient and to that what is increasingly demanded in healthcare: the pursued dream of personalized medicine. In this sense, advanced strategies for the efficient integration of information and the selection of reliable biomarkers are increasingly valued and necessary in order to advance the understanding, knowledge and treatment of diseases. Although the methodological approaches proposed in this thesis can be extrapolated and applied to any type of disease for which there is a relevant number of samples, the research carried out has focused on improving the diagnosis of skin cancer. This cancerous disease is biologically very heterogeneous and its incidence is increasing worldwide, so there is great alarm and social concern. Since cancer is essentially considered a disease on genetic level, all efforts have been made to extract knowledge from two main sources of information at the transcriptomic and genomic levels: gene expression levels and copy number variations. Besides providing some insights into the most informative biomarkers for knowing skin cancer predisposition, this dissertation opens new opportunities to develop innovative methodological approaches that consider highly heterogeneous data, quantified in multiple omic viewpoints and leading to the establishment of greater awareness and knowledge about the analyzed diseases.


We examined sources of morphological variability in second language (L2) learners of Spanish whose native language (L1) is English, with a focus on L1-L2 similarity, morphological markedness, and knowledge type (receptive vs. expressive). Experiment 1 uses event-related potentials to examine noun-adjective number (present in L1) and gender agreement (absent in L1) in online sentence comprehension (receptive knowledge). For each feature, markedness was manipulated, such that half of the critical noun-adjective combinations were feminine (marked) and the other half were masculine; half were used in the plural (marked) and the other half were used in the singular. With this setup, we examined learners' potential overreliance on unmarked forms or "defaults" (singular/masculine). Experiment 2 examines similar dependencies in spoken sentence production (expressive knowledge). Learners (n = 22) performed better with number than gender overall, but their brain responses to both features were qualitatively native-like (i.e., P600), even though gender was probed with nouns that do not provide strong distributional cues to gender. In addition, variability with gender agreement was better accounted for by lexical (as opposed to syntactic) aspects. Learners showed no advantage for comprehension over production, and no systematic evidence of reliance on morphological defaults, although their online processing was sensitive to markedness in a native-like manner. Overall, these results suggest that there is facilitation for L2 properties that exist in the L1 and that markedness impacts L2 processing, but in a native-like manner. These results also speak against proposals arguing that adult L2ers have deficits at the level of the morphology or the syntax.