Since the 1950s, scientists have developed interspecies blastocysts in laboratory settings, but not until the 1990s did proposals emerge to engineer interspecies blastocysts that contained human genetic or cellular material. Even if these embryos were not permitted to mature to fetal stages, their ethical and political status became debated within nations attempting to use them for research. To study cell differentiation [4] and embryonic development and causes of human diseases, interspecies-somatic-cellnuclear-transfer -derived (iSCNT) humanesque blastocysts provided opportunities for research and therapy development. Such a technology also involved ethical debates.


As a cultural institution, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is meant to connect Canadian citizens from coast-to-coast in ways that would otherwise be impossible. With regards to the collective memory of Canadians, it is thus imperative to address the media narrative that has undoubtedly assisted in the construction of a 'national psyche' in Canada. Following interpretive logics of inquiry, this intrinsic case study will explore the creation of a national sports culture in Canada, and how it has manifested through the CBC's broadcast television operation. In particular, the primary objective is to analyze the position of the CBC in the cultural production of hockey in Canada. By exploring the CBC's television program Hockey Night in Canada this paper strives to better understand how hockey has emerged as a social phenomenon, and how identity-building organizations such as the national broadcaster· have institutionalized hockey lore and tradition in Canadian culture. Through Canada's obsession with the sport of hockey it may be possible to better understand the dynamics at play in the nation's cultural, socio-political and economic realms.


INTRODUCTION
Genetic and environmental factors play an important role in susceptibility to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Several genes have been implicated in the development of T2DM. Genetic variants of candidate genes are, therefore, prime targets for molecular analysis.

AIM
In this study, we have selected 3 candidate genes, namely, TCF7L2, SLC30A8, and IGF2, for assessing their association with T2DM in an Indian population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Five hundred individuals were enrolled in this case-control study- 250 T2DM patients and 250 healthy control individuals. Clinical characteristics were obtained for all subjects, and genotype analysis was performed by PCR-RFLP analysis.

RESULTS
Allele and genotyping frequencies, odds ratios, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 1 each from TCF7L2 (rs7903146), SLC30A8 (rs13266634), and IGF2 (rs680) in T2DM patients. The rs7903146 and rs680 polymorphisms were found to be significantly associated with T2DM (p < 0.05), whereas the rs13266634 polymorphism was not (p > 0.05). The multifactor dimensionality reduction method identified the particular polymorphisms associated with an increased risk of disease.

CONCLUSION
The present study indicated that the gene-gene interaction model successfully predicted T2DM risk based on TCF7L2 and SLC30A8 polymorphisms. These results provide strong evidence of independent association between T2DM and the 3 SNPs analysed herein.


In South Korea, online gaming is a cultural phenomenon. Games are broadcast on television, professional gamers are celebrities, and youth culture is often identified with online gaming. Uniquely in the online games market, Korea not only dominates the local market but has also made its mark globally. In Korea's Online Gaming Empire, Dal Yong Jin examines the rapid growth of this industry from a political economy perspective, discussing it in social, cultural, and economic terms. Korea has the largest percentage of broadband subscribers of any country in the world, and Koreans spend increasing amounts of time and money on Internet-based games. Online gaming has become a mode of socializing--a channel for human relationships. The Korean online game industry has been a pioneer in software development and eSports (electronic sports and leagues). Jin discusses the policies of the Korean government that encouraged the development of online gaming both as a cutting-edge business and as a cultural touchstone; the impact of economic globalization; the relationship between online games and Korean society; and the future of the industry. He examines the rise of Korean online games in the global marketplace, the emergence of eSport as a youth culture phenomenon, the working conditions of professional gamers, the role of game fans as consumers, how Korea's local online game industry has become global, and whether these emerging firms have challenged the West's dominance in global markets.


Business Process Management (BPM) has become an established management practice. Current literature in this field identifies maintaining a process-aware IT landscape and managing boundary-crossing relations as important functions in BPM. Regarding the former, we understand "BPM range" as the level of process-awareness in the IT landscape. As for the latter, we view "BPM reach" as the potential utilization of boundary-crossing relations. Based on these two dimensions, we propose a framework for exploring development paths in BPM implementations. This framework is then exemplarily applied in two case studies in the telephone and chemical industries. We are able to identify a development towards a higher level of BPM range in both industries while only the telecommunication company is looking to increase its BPM reach. Based on our empirical findings, we derive generalizable propositions for BPM development in both dimensions for future theory building efforts.


"The Sorrows of Yamba", published in 1795 by Hannah More in her Cheap Repository Tracts series, was one of the most popular and frequently reprinted antislavery poems of its time. Recently it has become popular once more, as a classroom text included (usually under More's name) in teaching anthologies, in anthologies of women's poetry, and in a selected edition of More's work. But the poem is not solely by Hannah More, who never signed it with her characteristic "Z." Following a stray reference by Wylie Sypher, I have located several versions of the poem signed by "E.S.J." and "Eaglesfield Smith." These versions are about half the length of the version in Cheap Repository Tracts: the material added (almost certainly by More) entirely change the tone and purpose of the poem, from a "slave suicide" poem to one that instead has the heroine converted by a passing missionary. More also adds a good deal of pseudo-dialect to the poem, making Yamba less tragic and dignified and more helpless and child-like. Recovering Smith's ur-version of the poem allows one to see two distinct strains of British anti-slavery discourse at work, one tragic and sentimental (and vaguely liberal), the other Christianizing and infantilizing (and distinctly reactionary). Far from underwriting a spurious unity as Foucault suggests in his critique of the individual author, concentrating on the authorship question in this instance reveals the ideological and formal discontinuities that critics have missed in this important antislavery poem.


This study examined the social and physical correlates of crime in Makurdi town with a view to predicting their influence on the emerging crime pattern especially in a rapidly developing city in the global south. The study sought to provide insights on the pattern of crime and the key determinants of the distribution of opportunities for crime within the built environment, using Makurdi, Nigeria as the case study. To achieve this, the study utilized the survey research design to obtain data on social and physical attributes of the study area. Makurdi residential areas were divided into fifty-seven spatial units and a total of seven hundred and sixty-eight structured questionnaires were administered on household heads. The aggregated social and physical variables were regressed against the levels of victimization, theft, rape, assault, burglary and armed robbery so as to identify the major correlates of these crimes. The results suggest that age is a predictor of incidences of victimization and burglary while the age of buildings had a significant influence on incidences of victimization. Building density was linked to incidences of victimization and rape. Income and employment status were predictors of theft and assault while fences and houses with open frontages significantly influenced the occurrence of armed robbery and assault. The results of the analysis have given credence to the surveillance principle and the need for capable guardians as advanced by proponents of crime prevention through environmental design and the routine activities theory.


A lithological and biostratigraphical study was carried out on the Djebel Meni section (Dahra Mountain, Algeria) based upon 54 samples. According to the distribution of the main planktonic foraminifera species index we identified two subzones (Orbulina suturalis, O. universa) attributed respectively to the Upper Langhian and Lower Serravallian stages and two biozones (Neogloboquadrina. acostaensis, N. humerosa-N. dutertrei) indicating a Tortonian age. These new data allow to reconsider the previous chronostratigraphic attributions and to point out the absence of the Upper Serravallian and of the base of the Tortonian. The transition features between the Serravallian and Tortonian deposits are better identified by comparisons with northern and southern margins of the Chelif basin. The precise age of the Tortonian transgression is specified.


Contemporary debates about academic freedom and institutional autonomy in South Africa's `liberal' universities began in the 1950s, stimulated by the policies and legislation for racial segregation.1 While the form that these debates had taken has differed from university to university, the University of Cape Town stands as a good case study for the arguments and counterarguments that have been made through the years. In this essay, I trace these arguments from the middle of the last century through to the present, and show that different positions remain unreconciled, suggesting in turn a lack of consensus about the role of the university in contemporary South African society. South African Journal of Higher Education Vol. 20 (3) 2006: 370-378


Despite Kenya's unique combination of tourist attractions spread throughout the country, the tourism activity in the country has always been almost exclusively centred on two geographical regions: the coastal beaches and a handful of game reserves and national parks. The goal of this study was thus to examine the reasons for the country's skewed tourism development and explore strategies of addressing the skew. The study was primarily based on documentary review of existing empirical and official government reports and other related documents. The study revealed key factors as being responsible for the lopsided development of Kenya's tourism. First and foremost, the country's tourism development policy proved to be a leading obstacle to the development of the country's tourist attractions and regions. Further, the centralised focus of Kenya's tourism planning, governance and marketing was also noted as being responsible for the skewed tourism development in the country. In addition, there was an evident lack of consensus on the demarcation of the different tourist regions in the country by the key tourism development agencies and stakeholders. It was also noted that Kenya lacks a tourism master plan, a roadmap to guide the development of the industry. Other factors included lack of awareness of the different attractions in the country and the passive role of tourism marketers in packaging and promoting the different tourist attractions in the country, only concentrating on the traditionally popular ones. The study thus recommends the adoption of a regional tourism development focus in Kenya that would facilitate the development and positioning of the different tourist attractions and regions as destinations on their own right. Unlike the centralised approach, this model would recognise the varied needs, level of maturity and vision of each region and be supported within the context of the existing national and county framework.


The most popular and perhaps universal estimator of location and scale in robust estimation, where one accepts that ideally we have a normal population, but wish to guard against possible small departures from such, is Huber's Proposal-2 M-estimator. We outline the first order small sample bias correction for the scale estimator, which has been verified both through theory and simulation. While there may be other ways of reducing small sample bias, say as in jackknifing or bootstrapping, these can be computationally intensive, and would not be routinely used with this iteratively derived estimator. It is suggested that bias reduced estimates of scale are most useful when forming confidence intervals for location and or scale based on the asymptotic distribution. In this paper we expand on the results of an earlier work by the authors to include Hampel's three part re-descending psi function (with a three part re-descender for scale).


Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of viral hepatitis around the world, especially in developing countries. Recently, HEV has also been recognized as important cause of hepatitis in Europe and Japan, however, there is a paucity of clinical data from the United States. The overall seroprevalence of HEV antibodies is around 10% in the United States, but considerable variation is seen based on geographic location, year, and assay used. In this study, 63 adults and 417 children from New York State were tested for anti-HEV IgG antibodies using the commercially available Wantai IgG assay. The overall seroprevalence of HEV antibodies among adult participants was 9.52% (95% CI: 3.58–19.59%). Positive adults tended to be older than HEV negative adults, all positive adults were female. Only 3 (0.7%, 95% CI:: 0.15–2.09%) of the children were positive, all positive children were male. These results are consistent with global and United States trends in HEV seroprevalence.


This Singaporean-French Symposium aims to strengthen existing research collaboration between French and Singapore scientists, and to explore and develop new collaborations in IPAL (Image Perception, Access & Language) - the Singaporean-French international research lab created between the French National Research Center (CNRS), the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2 R-A*STAR) and the Joseph Fourier University (UJF). SinFra'09 welcomes researchers and collaborators under IPAL organizations and those who wish to collaborate with IPAL. The symposium proposes Tutorials and Scientific Sessions in relevant Singaporean - French common interest fields, related to the present and possible future activities in IPAL. We seek submissions of high-quality, original work in the following areas: existing IPAL areas like Medical Image Analysis and Access, Mobile Information Access, and also new areas of collaboration between French and Singaporean scientists, such as interactive digital media, cognitive vision and audio, video surveillance and security, real-time/embedded systems, media and sensors networks, programming languages, language-based security and quantum informatics.


A t th e o ri g in s o f C la ss ic a l o p e ra Venetian playwright and pioneer of modern theatre Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) led a 'double life' as a librettist, authoring nearly as many libretti as comedieslibretti which, born from the same mind and the same hand that brought forth his famous, and famously controversial, overhaul of the practices of comic theatre, could not but push the limits of the standing tradition to open a new chapter in opera history. Goldoni became one of the first to give shape to the dramma giocoso per musica, an innovative, realistic, and enduring new genre with intimate connections to prose comedy that met with overwhelming international success, becoming the foundation for the works of future generations, including W. A. Mozart and his Italian librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Perhaps because of his stature and influence as a comic playwright, Goldoni has rarely been considered as an innovator in the musical sphere. This study aims to shed new light on his primary role in the evolution of Classical opera, and on the legacy of his innovations in the European musical tradition.


To gain insight into the role of the strictly conserved histidine residue, H178, in the reaction mechanism of the methionyl aminopeptidase from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I), the H178A mutant enzyme was prepared. Metal-reconstituted H178A binds only one equivalent of Co(II) or Fe(II) tightly with affinities that are identical to the WT enzyme based on kinetic and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) data. Electronic absorption spectra of Co(II)-loaded H178A EcMetAP-I indicate that the active site divalent metal ion is pentacoordinate, identical to the WT enzyme. These data indicate that the metal binding site has not been affected by altering H178. The effect of altering H178 on activity is, in general, due to a decrease in k(cat). The k(cat) value for Co(II)-loaded H178A decreased 70-fold toward MGMM and 290-fold toward MP-p-NA compared to the WT enzyme, while k(cat) decreased 50-fold toward MGMM for the Fe(II)-loaded H178A enzyme and 140-fold toward MP-p-NA. The K(m) values for MGMM remained unaffected, while those for MP-p-NA increased approximately 2-fold for Co(II)- and Fe(II)-loaded H178A. The k(cat)/K(m) values for both Co(II)- and Fe(II)-loaded H178A toward both substrates ranged from approximately 50- to 580-fold reduction. The pH dependence of log K(m), log k(cat), and log(k(cat)/K(m)) of both WT and H178A EcMetAP-I were also obtained and are identical, within error, for H178A and WT EcMetAP-I. Therefore, H178A is catalytically important but is not required for catalysis. Assignment of one of the observed pK(a) values at 8.1 for WT EcMetAP-I was obtained from plots of molar absorptivity at lambda(max(640)) vs pH for both WT and H178A EcMetAP-I. Apparent pK(a) values of 8.1 and 7.6 were obtained for WT and H178A EcMetAP-I, respectively, and were assigned to the deprotonation of a metal-bound water molecule. The data reported herein provide support for the key elements of the previously proposed mechanism and suggest that a similar mechanism can apply to the enzyme with a single metal in the active site.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder usually presenting as reduced social interaction, lessened verbal communication, and repetitive behavior. Diagnosing ASD is extremely difficult because of its wide variety of symptoms, so it can only be diagnosed through behavioral tests and analysis of developmental history. Resting-state fMRI can help researchers discover a neural substrate for ASD to diagnose it earlier. One prominent fMRI database for ASD research is the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange, a large-scale collection of anonymized functional MRI scans subdivided by age, gender, handedness, and scores on behavioral assessments. This analysis focused on two brain networks: the default mode network (DMN), which is active when minds wander, and the executive network, which is active during the performance of tasks. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and angular gyrus are nodes of the DMN, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is the main node in the executive network. Both networks are affected by ASD. This research used preprocessed resting-state fMRI data to establish neurocognitive phenotypes for ASD. Bivariate correlation was used to compare connectivity in the DMN and DLPFC between ASD and control fMRI scans, and these differences were analyzed for correlations with each patient's assessment scores. After the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure was applied to reduce the false discovery rate, analysis of these metrics revealed that in ASD patients there was underconnectivity between the right PCC and the right mPFC, while in control patients there was overconnectivity between the right angular gyrus and left DLPFC. ASD is extremely heritable, so phenotypic research is absolutely necessary for discovering more about the genetic causes of ASD, which will speed up ASD diagnosis and help researchers develop more targeted treatments for ASD.


Objective: This study assessed the impact of oral rehabilitation with immediate-loading fixed prostheses on the quality of life of patients with mandibular edentulism. Materials and Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted on an outpatient basis. The sample included 14 patients over 18 years of age, treated in the Implantology Specialization programs of the Brazilian Dental Association (in Juiz de Fora, Brazil) and the School of Dentistry, Federal University of Juiz de Fora. Participants were interviewed about identification data, self-perceived general health and oral health, and socioeconomic data. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) was used. After the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, the OHIP-14 central tendency values were compared using the Wilcoxon paired test with a 5% significance level. Results: The overall mean found for the quality of life questionnaire was 30.14 (before) and 48.93 (after). There was a significant reduction of impact in all areas in the post-surgical period, except for functional limitation. No impact was identified for the dimensions of physical pain and disability after installing implants. Conclusion: Prosthetic rehabilitation and self-perception have high impact on oral health, thus emphasizing the need for care, careful observation of all the factors that may have an influence on infirmities, and not only their signs and symptoms.


This volume brings together for the first time the British Conservative Political Party General Election Manifestos, dating back to 1900, and including the most recent General Election manifesto of 1997. The project provides an indispensible source of data about the Conservative Party's political ideologies and policy positions, as well as charting their changes over time. The volume has a new introduction written by Alistair B. Cooke, who was Deputy Director of the Conservative Research Department from 1985 to 1997, and the Director of the Conservative Political Centre from 1988 to 1997. During that time he edited some 300 pamphlets for the Conservative Party, along with 6 volumes of its comprehensive record policy, the Campaign Guide and collections of Margaret Thatcher and John Major's speeches. He is also the editor of The Conservative Party: Seven Historical Studies, 1680 to the 1990s. In addition to the new introduction, the volume will include a comprehensive index, making it easy to use.


Local area-based cross-border cooperation has been ongoing in Irelandsince before the 'Troubles', albeit much of this on an informal basis – a caseof neighbour helping neighbour. Since the mid-1990s much of thiscommunity-led cooperation has been formalised in the context of EUfunding programmes to support the Northern Irish peace process andemerging national and regional spatial strategies. Under such programmesand strategies, its focus has been on economic and social developmentgoals, rather than on social objectives only. Today local cross-bordercooperation on the island of Ireland, and particularly in the border region,finds itself at a crossroads. For projects and partnerships that wish toremain in existence, and continue to receive funding, the emphasis now ison demonstrating their long-term sustainable nature.


INTRODUCTION: Moderate clitoris hypertrophy has been described in 25% of the women. When its shape and volume disturb at the sexual activity, combined or not by psychological problems, initially patients search for help from gynecologists and or by endocrinologists and not rarely are send to plastic surgeons. Our experience is based on 9 patients with ambiguous external genitalia, submitted to these surgeries during the last 15 years. Three cases were selected to demonstrate the obtained results with the technique. Two female patients with Prader type II clitoris aspect were selected; one of them presents the problem at adult age and, in the other, the etiology was possible congenital. The third patients presented hypertrophic clitoris combined with pseudo-hermaphroditism with ovarium, atrophic testicles as described in Prader Type V. METHODS: The all three patients were submitted to clitoris reduction by dissection of the mucous-cutaneous covering and its excess buried by suture. The third patient with pseudo-hermaphroditism had also neo-vagina reconstruction. RESULTS: The surgical procedures preserved esthetic and sensibility, with clitoris dimensions reduction. CONCLUSION: The surgical procedures presented moderate simplicity, but within the surgical criteria to preserve the functions and the external genitalia anatomy.


Australian Aboriginal culture is the oldest culture on Earth. This Children's book uses Aboriginal stories (which are tens of thousands of years old) to learn what we can about how we can get along together.

The Dreamtime was a time when the Aboriginal Ancestors (spirits, and the earliest people and animals) made the Earth the way we find it today.

These Dreamtime stories tell us what the Aboriginal Ancestors did, but they also tell us the way people and the spirits, and sometimes the animals, behaved toward each other.

This book is full of interesting Aboriginal stories. After each story it asks some questions that the reader can think about.

The author has written what he thinks. You may not agree. Have a think about these questions, and what you decide will be treasures you have made for yourself.


In this study, an integrated aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR)-nanofiltration (NF) system has been applied for advanced treatment of Opium processing wastewaters to comply with strict discharge limits. Aerobic MBR treatment was successfully applied to high strength industrial wastewater. In aerobic MBR treatment, a non-fouling unique slot aeration system was designed using computational fluid dynamics techniques. The MBR was used to separate treated effluent from dispersed and non-settleable biomass. Respirometric modeling using MBR sludge indicated that the biomass exhibited similar kinetic parameters to that of municipal activated sludge systems. Aerobic MBR/NF treatment reduced chemical oxygen demand (COD) from 32,000 down to 2,500 and 130 mg/L, respectively. The MBR system provided complete removal of total inorganic nitrogen; however, nearly 50 mgN/L organic nitrogen remained in the permeate. Post NF treatment after MBR permeate reduced nitrogen below 20 mgN/L, providing nearly total color removal. In addition, a 90% removal in the conductivity parameter was reached with an integrated MBR/NF system. Finally, post NF application to MBR permeate was found not to be practical at higher pH due to low flux (3-4 L/m2/hour) with low recovery rates (30-40%). As the permeate pH lowered to 5.5, 75% of NF recovery was achieved at a flux of 15 L/m2/hour.


How did personal wealth and slaveownership affect the likelihood Southerners fought for the Confederate Army in the American Civil War? On the one hand, wealthy Southerners had incentives to free-ride on poorer Southerners and avoid fighting; on the other hand, wealthy Southerners were disproportionately slaveowners, and thus had more at stake in the outcome of the war. We assemble a dataset on roughly 3.9 million free citizens in the Confederacy and show that slaveowners were more likely to fight than non-slaveowners. We then exploit a randomized land lottery held in 1832 in Georgia. Households of lottery winners owned more slaves in 1850 and were more likely to have sons who fought in the Confederate Army. We conclude that slaveownership, in contrast to some other kinds of wealth, compelled Southerners to fight despite free-rider incentives because it raised their stakes in the war's outcome.


Reorganization of skin during wound healing, inflammatory disorders, or cancer growth is the result of expression changes of multiple genes associated with tissue morphogenesis. We wanted to identify proteins involved in skin remodeling and select those that may be targeted for agonistic or antagonist therapeutic approaches in various disease processes. Full-thickness human skin was grafted to severe combined immunodeficient mice and injected intradermally with 38 different adenoviral vectors inserted with 37 different genes coding for growth factors, cytokines, proteolytic enzymes and their inhibitors, adhesion receptors, oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes. Responses were characterized for infiltration of inflammatory cells, vascular density, matrix formation, fibroblast-like cell proliferation, and epidermal hyperplasia. Of the 17 growth factor vectors, 16 induced histological changes in human skin. Members of the VEGF and angiopoietin families induced neovascularization. PDGFs and TGF-betas stimulated connective tissue formation, and the chemokines IL-8 and MCP-1 attracted inflammatory neutrophils and monocytes, respectively. The serine protease uPA induced a vascular response similar to that of VEGF. Vectors with adhesion receptors, oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes had, with few exceptions, little effects on skin architecture. The overall results suggest that adenoviral vectors can effectively remodel the architecture of human skin for studies in morphogenesis, inflammatory skin disorders, wound healing, and cancer development.


The premise of this creative Capstone project was to develop a computer instrument that is capable of tuning itself flexibly in such a way as to not require a tempering of the Western scale, as is necessary for fixedly tuned instruments. The difficulty in creating such a system of tuning arises from the mathematical paradox of the musical harmonic series, which is the sequence of frequencies that sound naturally as overtones over a fundamental pitch. They follow a proportional pattern of 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, etc. These small-integer ratios of frequencies represent the consonant (in-tune) harmonic intervals. When an interval does not have a small-integer ratio between its notes, it is perceived as "out-of-tune," and the two frequencies will compete with each other. The problem becomes apparent when the ratios are used to create the Western scale on a fixed instrument. When tuning such an instrument (i.e. a piano), the intervals inherently cannot all be tuned justly, or according to the appropriate proportions. The nature of the ratios does not allow larger intervals to be explained exactly by the smaller intervals, though they are expected to coexist and be used simultaneously in Western music. For example, an octave in music is the equivalent of three major thirds; however, the justly tuned octave (2:1) is not equal to the sum of three major thirds (5:4); 5:4 3 =125:64, not 2:1. The difference, then, between notes tuned in terms of different intervals is known as a comma, and the attempts to distribute this comma are called temperaments. To overcome the impossibility of perfectly consonant temperaments, we have created a computer program that can function as a self-tuning instrument by mathematically calculating the frequency of each pitch played in relation to the pitch preceding it. Though this allows every interval between sequentially played notes to be in tune, it does mean that pitches are not fixed, and rather are flexible and changing as a piece progresses. The program possesses the capability to play several historical fixed temperaments, namely Pythagorean, Quarter-Comma Meantone, Werckmeister III, and Equal Temperament. However, it also is capable of playing in two non-fixed tuning systems, distinguished as Sequential Tuning and Flexible Tuning. The Sequential Tuning system uses the ratios in the harmonic series to tune each note proportionally to the most recent note pressed. It is ideal for educational purposes, clearly demonstrating the flexibility of the program, but is less practical for tuning purposes, as it disregards held notes and tunes solely based on the notes pressed while the note is held, creating obtrusive dissonances between any held note and the notes tuned sequentially before it is released. The Flexible Tuning system remedies this issue by first tuning notes based on a held note, and if there is no note being held, then on the most recent note pressed. This eliminates the noticeable dissonances of the Sequential Tuning system, while still tuning each note flexibly and in real time based on its interval relationships to other notes played before and at the same time as it. In this way, every interval sounding is the appropriate small integer ratio for that interval in the harmonic series.


The goal of this research is evaluation of some of the effective environmental attractions on Khorasan Razavi sport tourism development. The research statistical population include of all in charge expert and professors in field of sport and tourism as 120 persons. This research is past-event descriptive that had been performed based on field method. Sampling had been performed as Categorized to determine effective environmental attraction effects on Khorasan Razavi tourism development, the questions had been analyzed by researcher that its validity had been confirmed by experts and Cronbach's alpha had been calculated as 0.82. Data had been analyzed using SPSS software and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test had been performed to confirm normal data. Also one sample t test and Friedman test had been used to analyze hypothesis. Findings show that from experts and managers view points, effective factors on sport tourism development with emphasis on sport natural attractions include of tourism and pilgrim attractions, natural treatment and warm water attractions and summer and water sports that are the most important items in Khorasan Razavi. Also there are three important factors in relation to problem and obstacles as Management problems, cultural problems and infrastructure problems. Research results show that pilgrim locations are effective to attract tourism and knowing the effect of tourism industry development effects and present obstacles and limitation in the province, attention to sport tourism development importance and applying various benefits of sport tourist attraction are necessary and programming and sport tourism developments by province planner and policy makers would be required.


The original PageRank algorithm for improving the ranking of search-query results computes a single vector, using the link structure of the Web, to capture the relative "importance" of Web pages, independent of any particular search query. To yield more accurate search results, we propose computing a set of PageRank vectors, biased using a set of representative topics, to capture more accurately the notion of importance with respect to a particular topic. For ordinary keyword search queries, we compute the topicsensitive PageRank scores for pages satisfying the query using the topic of the query keywords. For searches done in context (e.g., when the search query is performed by highlighting words in a Web page), we compute the topic-sensitive PageRank scores using the topic of the context in which the query appeared. By using linear combinations of these (precomputed) biased PageRank vectors to generate context-specific importance scores for pages at query time, we show that we can generate more accurate rankings than with a single, generic PageRank vector. We describe techniques for efficiently implementing a large-scale search system based on the topic-sensitive PageRank scheme.


In this paper, closed-loop controller design involving brake, tire, road and actuator modeling complexities is considered. The closed-loop is separated in two parts; the inner loop is based on optimum braking algorithm by acting on individually actuated Antilock Brake Systems and the outer loop constitutes an optimal state feedback active steering design as an additional feedback loop to guarantee stability of the vehicle dynamics in the lateral direction. The main goal is to guarantee headway stability and steering ability of the vehicle model during short-term emergency situations by improving utilization of the friction potential between the tire patches and the road using the advantages of the additional steering closed- loop design. Simulation results are used to illustrate the effectiveness of the considered approach.


BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical success of implants placed immediately after the explantation of failed implants due to fracture at 12 months.

METHODS
Nine immediate implants were placed in nine patients following explantation of nine fractured implants. Five experimental implants did not require any regenerative procedures; the remaining four immediate implants were grafted with deproteinized porcine bone particles and covered with bioabsorbable membranes. All implants were restored with fixed prostheses. The follow-up period was 12 months.

RESULTS
No residual bone defects were observed or probed around any implant at the second-stage surgery, and all implants were asymptomatic and stable. All the implants were successful after prosthetic rehabilitation showing no mobility, pain, suppuration, or absence of peri-implant radiolucency. The radiographic measurements showed no significant bone loss pattern at the 12-month follow-up visit.

CONCLUSION
The findings of this study suggested that implants placed immediately after implant explantation due to biomechanical fracture could be performed with results that are similar to results obtained with implants placed immediately after tooth extraction.


In the UK concern has been expressed over the degree of gender occupational segregation. Though there are no general provisions for affirmative action, it does apply in limited areas and pro-active measures have been suggested. In this paper we focus on gender differences in work preferences in relation to job satisfaction, risk aversion and self employment, and question the rationale for affirmative action.


Africa hosts several economically significant lepidopteran cereal stemborer species belonging to the Crambidae, Noctuidae and Pyralidae families. The invasive spotted stemborer (Chilo partellus Swinhoe), which is native to Asia, is one of the most damaging cereal stemborers in Africa. The impact of C. partellus on indigenous stemborer species remains unclear, although recent work demonstrates its increasing ecological influence and numerical advantage over Sesamia calamistis and Busseola fusca in African landscapes. In the present study, we discuss C. partellus dominance under Africa's changing climates and highlight the ecological and thermal physiological factors that may contribute to its dominance over indigenous stemborer species. Chilo partellus is an efficient colonizer and competitor and may have an advantage under limited resources typical under climate change. Its invasion potential may also probably stem from its short generation time, overwintering physiology, temperature and relative humidity resilience, wide host preferences, and asynchrony with its biocontrol agents. Using laboratory experiments, we show that C. partellus has a high basal temperature tolerance and related plasticity compared with S. calamistis and B. fusca. These results indicate that ecophysiology may determine invasion success and thus may explain the relative invasion advantage of C. partellus in African landscapes. We recommend that future climate change work be directed towards more comprehensive stemborer total ecology research, stemborer thermal biology and implications on the efficacy of biocontrol. Specifically, knowledge of stemborer‐natural enemy evolutionary potential is vital for understanding how climate change and variability may shape host‐natural enemy interactions, with implications for pest forecasts, prediction models and pest management.


Sustainability is a fast evolving movement in higher education demonstrated by a proliferation of academic programs, co-curricular initiatives, and campus projects. Sustainability is now viewed as vital to the mission of many institutions of higher education, creating a paradigm shift that librarians can help advance with their collective interdisciplinary expertise. A review of LibGuides (online resource guides) showed that academic librarians are involved with sustainability efforts on many campuses and have a role in shaping curriculum-related activities. The author administered a survey to creators of sustainability LibGuides during the spring of 2011, posting the survey on library listservs as well. Librarians returned 112 survey responses that illustrated their engagement in sustainability activities through the forging of campus partnerships with administrators, faculty, staff from the Office of Sustainability, and library colleagues. Telephone interviews conducted with 24 of the respondents showed librarians' wide-ranging professional interest in sustainability, and their initiatives to promote its cause, including creating resources, collections, exhibits, and events; library instruction; co-teaching with faculty; serving on sustainability committees; and collaborating with sustainability faculty and staff. However, both the survey and the interviews suggest that librarians would benefit from increased collaboration and knowledge of work undertaken elsewhere. Moreover, as the needs of students and faculty studying sustainability increase, libraries need to appoint librarians with special responsibilities in this field. Included is the author's experience as the Sustainability Studies Librarian at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her engagement in professional development activities related to sustainability. Best practices for librarians to advance sustainability efforts are offered.


We study numerical methods for time-dependent partial differential equations describing wave propagation, primarily applied to problems in quantum dynamics governed by the time-dependent Schrodinger equation (TDSE). We consider both methods for spatial approximation and for time stepping. In most settings, numerical solution of the TDSE is more challenging than solving a hyperbolic wave equation. This is mainly because the dispersion relation of the TDSE makes it very sensitive to dispersion error, and infers a stringent time step restriction for standard explicit time stepping schemes. The TDSE is also often posed in high dimensions, where standard methods are intractable.The sensitivity to dispersion error makes spectral methods advantageous for the TDSE. We use spectral or pseudospectral methods in all except one of the included papers. In Paper III we improve and analyse the accuracy of the Fourier pseudospectral method applied to a problem with limited regularity, and in Paper V we construct a matrix-free spectral method for problems with non-trivial boundary conditions. Due to its stiffness, the TDSE is most often solved using exponential time integration. In this thesis we use exponential operator splitting and Krylov subspace methods. We rigorously prove convergence for force-gradient operator splitting methods in Paper IV. One way of making high-dimensional problems computationally tractable is low-rank approximation. In Paper VI we prove that a splitting method for dynamical low-rank approximation is robust to singular values in the approximation approaching zero, a situation which is difficult to handle since it implies strong curvature of the approximation space.


Significant natural and aquaculture fish deaths in Kuwait Bay occurred from September to October of 1999 and were attributed to a bloom of the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium sp. A chronology of the bloom event suggests that a period of low winds and stable water-column structure preceded the bloom. Maximum cell concentrations of Gymnodinium sp. (>6 × 10 6 cells l -1 ) were also immediately preceded by a more than 20-fold increase in mean inorganic nitrogen concentrations (up to 60 µM) and elevated inorganic phosphate concentrations. This, combined with elevated inorganic and or- ganic nutrient concentrations within the bloom, suggests that coastal nutrient eutrophication was likely to have contributed significantly to bloom development and support. Termination of the Gymno- dinium sp. bloom coincided with a bloom of the non-toxic ciliate Mesodinium rubrum, which appeared as large red patches in Kuwait Bay. While no adverse human health effects were associated with the bloom, closure of shellfish and selected finfish (largely mullet Liza macrolepis) markets resulted in sig- nificant economic losses to the region. The occurrence of this toxic algal bloom event, the first within the Arabian Sea, highlights the need for monitoring and research programs in the Arabian Sea and Kuwait Bay that focus on nutrients and eutrophication, in addition to oil related pollution issues.


A Study of the dielectric properties of pure magnesium oxide and MgO doped with iron or chromium is presented. Measurements were carried out in the frequency range between 5 x 10(^2) Hz and 9.3 x 10(^9) Hz room temperature using a.c. bridge, Q-meter, slotted-line and cavity methods. The basic ideas and principles of each technique have been discussed individually in relation to their suitability for dielectric measurements on materials having particular characteristics. A major attempt has been made to develop the slotted-line technique (500 MHz - 7.5 GH) and the cavity resonator (9,3 GHz) method. Sources of possible error in these techniques have been investigated in detail and some suggestions made to minimize them. A new method for measuring the dielectric properties of low loss solids has been examined theoretically and some suggestions for its practical development pointed out. The dielectric data obtained at room temperature has been analysed and interpreted in terms of the hopping theory involved in the "Universal Law" of dielectric response. The frequency variation of conductivity, followed σ(_ac) (w) (_ɑ) w(^n) law with n = 0.98 ± 0.02 for pure MgO. The dielectric constant, ɛ', loss factor, ɛ'' and loss tangent, Tanδ, decrease slightly over the frequency range. Similar behaviour was also observed for Fe doped MgO and Cr doped MgO samples. The variation of ɛ' and ɛ'' both agree with the "Universal Law" showing that ɛ'(w) (_ɑ) w(^n-1) and ɛ''(w)(^x) w(^n-1); the magnitude of n obtained was also 0.98. The data of ɛ' and ɛ'' approximately fit the Kramers-Kronig relation i.e constant when 0.5 <n < 1. Measurements were extended to higher temperatures (up to 700o C)/using special apparatus which was designed for this purpose. The data obtained fit the Jonscher theory very well ; the exponent n decreases with increasing temperature and falls to a value of n = 0.5 at 700oC. In the high temperature range the Having a proposal for the temperature dependence of dielectric constant was tested and the change of dielectric constant with temperature was found to agree well with the relation for MgO single crystal. A detailed comparison is made of the effect of doping MgO with the trivalent ions Fe(^3+) and Cr(^3+). The addition of either significantly increases the conductivity by an amount proportional to the concentration and this effect is explained in terms of an increase in the number of hopping sites available.


A noncalorimetric method for measuring the heat-transfer coefficient (UA) of building thermal envelopes is proposed and applied in an indoor test cell. The UA value measured by this method agrees closely with that measured by a calorimetric method. This method creates a Single input and a Single output data Pair (SSP) from the measured data sets by using digital filters. The filter output and physical criteria are used to determine the correct transfer function, which yields the measured UA value. This method seems to have the following advantages over calorimetric methods : it uses shorter measurement times, uses simpler test equipment, and has minimum thermal intrusion on normal operating conditions.


In Rock My Soul, world-renowned scholar and visionary bell hooks takes an in-depth look at one of the most critical issues facing African Americans: a collective wounded self-esteem that has prevailed from slavery to the present day. Why do so many African Americans -- whether privileged or poor, urban or suburban, young or old -- live in a state of chronic anxiety, fear, and shame? In Rock My Soul, hooks gets to the heart and soul of the African-American identity crisis, offering critical insight and hard-won wisdom about what it takes to heal the scars of the past, promote and maintain self-esteem, and lay down the roots for a grounded community with a prosperous future.


Bridge management practices of departments of transportation (DOTs) in Idaho, Michigan and Virginia, are reported. These DOTs are examples of the success that is possible for asset management practices applied to bridges and culverts. Idaho, Michigan and Virginia manage their structures by: Identifying structures to be preserved; Measuring performance of structures; Setting goals for performance; Applying work programs that respond to performance measurements; Reporting performance to stakeholders, and; Leveraging State-wide commitment to preservation of assets.


This paper presents a method to derive the theoretical requirements for the development of a 400 mm optical window that transmits dual-band wavelengths and had a stable structure. We also present design and fabrication results. Among the required specifications, the surface figure error was defined by the transmitted wavefront deformation (TWD), λ/15 rms at 632.8 nm. This value was derived by estimating the predicted performances with respect to five independent items that could cause system performance degradation and then calculating the required wavefront error (WFE) to satisfy the performance goals. We measured the image resolution at each performance level to trace and verify the requirements. The article also describes a design optimization process that could minimize the weight and volume of the optical window attached to the payload securing the FOV of the camera. In addition, we accurately measured the deformation that occurred in the series of fabrication steps including processing, coating, assembly, bonding and bolting, and investigated the effects by comparing them to the results of a simulation performed in advance to derive the predicted performance.


This paper starts by setting the ground for a lambda calculus notation that strongly mirrors the two fundamental operations of term construction, namely abstraction and application. In particular, we single out those parts of a term, called items in the paper, that are added during abstraction and application. This item notation proves to be a powerful device for the representation of basic substitution steps, giving rise to different versions of β-reduction including local and global β-reduction. In other words substitution, thanks to the new notation, can be easily formalised as an object language notion rather than remaining a meta language one. Such formalisation will have advantages with respect to various areas including functional application and the partial unfolding of definitions. Moreover our substitution is, we believe, the most general to date. This is shown by the fact that our framework can accommodate most of the known reduction strategies, which range from local to global. Finally, we show how the calculus of substitution of Abadi et al., can be embedded into our calculus. We show moreover that many of the rules of Abadi et al. are easily derivable in our calculus.


RATIONALE
In acute inflammatory lung disease in newborn infants, exogenous surfactant only transiently improves lung function. We hypothesized that the transient nature of this protection is in part explained by elevated acid sphingomyelinase (a-SMase) activity that may inactivate surfactant and promote proinflammatory responses.

OBJECTIVES
We investigated the intermediate-term effects (>12 h) of a-SMase inhibition in a neonatal piglet model of repeated airway lavage by the intratracheal use of the a-SMase inhibitor imipramine, together with exogenous surfactant as a carrier substance.

METHODS
After surfactant washout and induction of pulmonary inflammation, lung function was monitored over 24 hours of mechanical ventilation and followed by ex vivo analyses. In addition, we studied the effect of lipopolysaccharide inhalation in a-SMase-deficient mice at 48 hours.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Surfactant washout increased both pulmonary a-SMase activity and ceramide content; this was attenuated by surfactant and prevented in the surfactant plus imipramine group. Compared with surfactant alone, Pa(O(2)), dynamic compliance, and extravascular lung water were improved in the final 12 hours in the surfactant plus imipramine group. At 24 hours, lavage fluid leukocyte counts and IL-8 concentrations decreased, and physical surfactant film properties improved. In the mouse model at 48 hours, a-SMase-deficient mice showed reduced pulmonary ceramide levels and attenuated leukocyte influx into the alveolar space.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that stabilization of exogenous surfactant by adding imipramine to create a "fortified surfactant preparation" improves lung function in a clinically relevant piglet model, and that this effect can be attributed to the inhibition of a-SMase as evidenced in the mouse model.


Introduction: This research paper details the experiences of 29 asylum seekers who were released from immigration detention in Australia into community-based arrangements with no right to work and limited entitlements. All of the men and women interviewed for this research arrived to Australia by boat after 13 August 2012, the date when the former Labor Government commenced this policy. The term "asylum seeker" refers here to an individual who arrived to Australia wishing to claim asylum but whose refugee status is yet to be determined. An individual is found to be a refugee if it is considered likely they would face persecution in their home country due to their race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) report that 88 per cent of the refugee claims that were processed in 2012-13 for asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat resulted in protection visas being granted. During the previous three years, over 90 per cent of these claims resulted in protection visas being granted. It is likely, therefore, that a significant proportion of asylum seekers currently in Australia who arrived by boat will also be recognised as refugees. This paper aims to elevate the experiences of asylum seekers living in the community without the right to work. It is important that the voices of those most affected by government policies are heard. While some argue that democratically elected governments have a mandate to implement the asylum policies they outlined prior to an election,8 decision makers must also consider the impacts of these policies on asylum seekers themselves. Governments retain vast powers to decide the fate of asylum seekers who arrive at the borders. This 'asymmetry of power' has too often meant that policies have been adopted in Australia that ignore the right of people fleeing persecution to seek asylum. These policies have also been adopted despite the existence of research that documents the harm created by earlier such policies. As the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection acknowledges, some 27,000 asylum seekers that continue to live in the community without the right to work have been left 'effectively sitting around'. Our research findings reinforce that policy shifts are needed to address this. However, the experiences of asylum seekers themselves must guide future policy making. To this end, the words of the interviewees are included here as much as possible to illustrate the findings of this research. Many of our findings are consistent with those of other studies on asylum seekers and the right to work. We discuss this relevant research and make recommendations accordingly at the end of each section. Before discussing the research findings, we provide an overview of current policy and outline the research design and methodology.


Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books' most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well - the authorized celebration of the one and only 'King of Comics' and his groundbreaking work.


This paper examines the competences of the UN Security Council under the "constitution" of the United Nations, focusing in particular on its recent innovations in legislation. Certain critics decry Council legislation as unconstitutional, null and void. Apologists retort that the Charter delegates broad power to the Council, and the impugned legislative Resolutions fall well within the broad textual limitations on its competence. I propose an approach to constitutional analysis to help cut through this debate, based on distinguishing between two perspectives on the "constitution" of an international organization: the juridical perspective emphasizing the transmission of validity in the creation, interpretation, and application of legal norms (constitutionality/unconstitutionality); and the political perspective from which the ordering of power among the constituted bodies may be assessed in terms of legitimacy and justice (e.g. the political-theoretical language of constitutionalism). Distinguishing between the perspectives illuminates the merits of the arguments on both sides of the debate on the Council's competences. Juridically speaking, it is difficult to argue that the Council's innovations are unconstitutional and void. Yet the political perspective helps explain the critics' discomfort with the Council's expansive innovations; from the latter angle it appears that the Charter's broad, unreviewable, and effectively unamendable delegation of power to the Council yields a deeply flawed constitutional arrangement, entailing systemic risks of hegemonic international law-making and the demise of constitutionalism.


Abstract There is growing awareness in Australia of the issues faced by lesbian and gay people as they grow older. The present paper examines concerns regarding their health-related ageing; growing older in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community; and accessing carers' and aged care services in later life. It is based on a secondary data analysis of a subsample of 371 lesbians and gays, drawn from a survey of LGBT ageing conducted by the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities. The original survey was primarily quantitative and was delivered online between January 2007 and January 2008. The findings of the present study, based on univariate and bivariate analyses of the subsample, highlight that a majority of lesbians and gays were concerned that their sexuality or gender identity may affect the quality of services received. Many also expected to be discriminated against and were concerned that same-sex relationships would not be recognised and that staff would not be aware of LGBT issues. Among other findings, gay men were more likely than lesbians to be concerned about being alone in later life, whereas lesbians were more likely to be concerned about a lack of LGBT-specific accommodation and lack of recognition of same-sex partners.


This article proposes a rethinking of the U.S. position on the reach of constitutional rights into the private sphere, both in domestic and comparative terms. This issue is standardly deemed resolved by the state action doctrine: with one exception, constitutional rights bind only governmental and not private actors. This, however, provides only a partial answer to the general issue for the fact that private actors are not bound by constitutional rights is consistent with various different positions on the extent to which such rights govern their legal relations with one another, and thereby impact what they can lawfully be permitted or required to do. The U.S. answer to this important, second dimension of the scope of individual rights is to be found not in the interpretive labyrinths of the Fourteenth Amendment's state action requirement but more simply and straightforwardly in the Supremacy Clause, which mandates that all law, including private law, common law, and the law relied on in litigation between private actors, is directly, fully, and equally subject to the Constitution. Accordingly, there should be no separate threshold issue of state action when the constitutionality of any law - private or public - is challenged, the only genuine issue is the substantive one of whether that law violates the Constitution. This full answer does not render private actors bound by the Constitution but it does mean that in governing their legal relations with one another, constitutional rights have significant impact upon them - limiting which of their interests, preferences, and choices may be protected by law. Comparatively, this position is in fact quite radical and belies the conventional understanding of the United States as creating a rigid public-private distinction in constitutional law. Indeed, in this important structural respect, the scope of constitutional rights provisions is greater than, for example, in Canada and no less than in Germany, two countries standardly viewed as taking a more horizontal approach than the purely vertical United States. This insight provides the basis for a revised and clarified spectrum of possible positions on vertical and horizontal effect in comparative constitutional law. The article concludes by analyzing the substantive issue on a comparative basis to assess the constitutionality of various actual and hypothetical laws touching on private race and sex discrimination, and regulating speech between such private actors as employers and employees. The upshot is that the actual impact of constitutional rights on private actors in the United States is not fixed, as the state action axiom suggests, but will vary with changes in their substantive interpretation. For example, a change in the disparate impact rule under the Equal Protection Clause would not merely have significant effects on tax, regulatory and other public laws but would also substantially increase the Clause's impact on private actors. This, finally, suggests the deep interconnection between the structural issue of scope and the substantive issue of the content of constitutional rights.


This thesis describes investigations centred on the mechanistic pathway of the Lewis acid-promoted conversion of epoxides into aldehydes. Such studies were directed to gain new information about this important, fundamental rearrangement which contributes to our knowledge and understanding of how and why chemical reactions occur. The research undertaken involved the use of deuterium labelling studies working with enantio-enrlched epoxides. Chapter One reviews previous literature and the results of previous mechanistic studies into the Lewis acid catalysed rearrangements of epoxides. Chapter Two describes the development of new methodology for the measurement of the relative amounts of hydrogen and deuterium in each position of the aldehyde produced by hydride or deuteride migration in the rearrangement of styrene oxide. The method consisted of reduction of the aldehyde to an alcohol and subsequent reaction of the alcohol with a chiral acid chloride in the presence of a chiral shift reagent [Yb(hfc)3 or Eu(hfch] to measure the diastereomericlenantiomeric excess in the aldehyde product mixture. The diastereomeric/enantiomeric excess thus determined, can be correlated back to determine the full stereochemical course of the initial epoxide rearrangement. De-convolution of overlapping peaks by mathematical modelling was sometimes necessary. Chapter Three describes the enantiose1ective synthesis of several undeuterated and deuterated styrene oxides that were then used as substrates to study their BF3.0Etz and LiCI04 rearrangement to give aldehydes. In Chapter Four the BF3.OEt2 catalysed rearrangement of enantioenriched deuterated analogues of styrene oxide are investigated. Chapter Five describes the difficulties encountered when attempting to rearrange both racemic and optically active styrene oxides with LiCI04 in refluxing benzene. Dr D.Q. McDonald's reactions are reproduced to substantiate the claim that his previously v reported results were compromised by traces of acid present in the samples of epoxide starting material. The LiCIOJether catalysed rearrangement of enantio-enriched deuterated analogues of styrene oxide are investigated in Chapter Six with evidence of some racemisation occurring during the rearrangement process. An overall discussion is presented in Chapter Seven with results of the rearrangements of styrene oxide. The results are interpreted using both the Blackett and Fujimoto models and comparisons are made with previous mechanistic studies. Explanations and final conclusions are drawn with future studies outlined. The experimental details that substantiate the claims made in the previous chapters are included in Chapter Eight.


Czech writer Vitezslav Nezval (1900-58) was one of the leading Surrealist poets of the 20th century. "Prague with Fingers of Rain" is his classic 1936 collection in which Prague's many-sided life - its glamorous history, various weathers, different kinds of people - becomes symbolic of what is contradictory and paradoxical in life itself. Mixing real and surreal, Nezval evokes life's contradictoriness in a series of psalm-like poems of puzzled love and generous humanity. Nezval was perhaps the most prolific writer in Prague during the 1920s and 30s. An original member of the avant-garde group of artists Devetsil ("Butterbur", literally: "Nine Forces"), he was a founding figure of the Poetist movement. His numerous books included poetry collections, experimental plays and novels, memoirs, essays and translations. His best work is from the interwar period. Along with Karel Teige, Jindrich Aetyrsku, and Toyen, Nezval frequently travelled to Paris, engaging with the French surrealists. Forging a friendship with Andre Breton and Paul Aeluard, he was instrumental in founding The Surrealist Group of Czechoslovakia in 1934 (the first such group outside of France), serving as editor of the group's journal Surrealismus. His mastery of language and prosody was unparalleled - contemporaries referred to it as wizardry. Alongside with surrealist poetry, he wrote poems that sounded like genuine folksongs and for some time he teased the Czech literary public by the anonymous publication of three books attributed to a fictitious Robert David - one of 52 Villonesque ballades, another of 100 sonnets, all in strict classical form. His identity was guessed by the critics only because 'no one else would be able to do that'. This selection from his seminal collection has a specially commissioned foreword by Ivan Klima.


Debates about post-truth need to take into account how news re-disseminates in a hybrid media system in which social networks and audience participation play a central role. Hence, there is a certain risk of reducing citizens' exposure to politically adverse news content, creating 'echo chambers' of political affinity. This article presents the results of research conducted in agreement with 18 leading Spanish online news media, based on a survey (N = 6625) of their registered users. The results highlight that high levels of selective exposure that are a characteristic of offline media consumption are being moderated in the online realm. Although most of the respondents get news online from like-minded media, the figures related to those who also get news from media with a different media ideology should not be underestimated. As news consumption is becoming more 'social,' our research points out that Spanish citizens who are more active on social media sites are more likely to be exposed to news content from different ideological positions than those who are less active users. There is a weak association between the use of a particular social network site and gaining access to like- and non-like-minded news.


American scholars often argue that the Magna Carta embodies a "proportionality principle" mandating that the punishment fit the crime. This principle, according to a familiar narrative, found expression centuries later in the English Bill of Rights, which was reproduced another century later in the American Bill of Rights. Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have claimed the authority of the Magna Carta when infusing the Eighth Amendment with a proportionality principle not immediately evident from its text. This Essay explores and questions the narrative. The argument that the Magna Carta embodies a proportionality principle seizes upon three Chapters (20 to 22) that provide that a penalty not exceed "the degree of the offense." Yet these sections exclusively concern the Norman practice of amercements — a penalty imposed for a litany of administrative offenses that were almost never of a criminal nature. Furthermore, given the prevalence of violent crime and the widespread acceptance of cruel punishment, it is implausible to project humanitarian motives onto the authors of Chapters 20 to 22. The Essay concludes with broader reflections on the uses made of the Magna Carta in this year, the 800th anniversary of its sealing. Like virtually every legal document in recorded history, the Magna Carta embodies at some level a proportionality principle. But as jurists purport to extract more meaningful and specific lessons from the Magna Carta on this and other points, their arguments lapse into poor scholarship and hopeless anachronism.


The first collaborative workshop on crystal structure prediction (CSP1999) has been followed by a second workshop (CSP2001) held at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. The 17 participants were given only the chemical diagram for three organic molecules and were invited to test their prediction programs within a range of named common space groups. Several different computer programs were used, using the methodology wherein a molecular model is used to construct theoretical crystal structures in given space groups, and prediction is usually based on the minimum calculated lattice energy. A maximum of three predictions were allowed per molecule. The results showed two correct predictions for the first molecule, four for the second molecule and none for the third molecule (which had torsional flexibility). The correct structure was often present in the sorted low-energy lists from the participants but at a ranking position greater than three. The use of non-indexed powder diffraction data was investigated in a secondary test, after completion of the ab initio submissions. Although no one method can be said to be completely reliable, this workshop gives an objective measure of the success and failure of current methodologies.


For more than a thousand years, just war theorists accepted that wars could be launched to punish or avenge wrongdoing, the war itself being an instrument of retribution. Today, this punishment theory of just cause has completely disappeared from international law, which recognizes only individual and collective self-defense as legitimate cause for war. But retributive emotions are as strong today as ever, and the punishment theory is still alive and well in the moral imaginations of modern societies, even if the diplomats and lawyers scrub it from their official pronouncements about the wars their nations fight. Furthermore, intuitions about enemy collective guilt underlie current debates over who counts as a direct participant in hostilities, how voluntary human shields should be treated, and how much risk soldiers must take to minimize casualties among enemy civilians. This paper addresses two principal questions: how we got from there to here - that is, from just war theories that embraced the punishment theory to its current erasure - and whether the punishment theory may nevertheless be right. In answer to the first question, the paper traces the punishment theory from its initial formulation in writings of St. Augustine (whose views it examines in detail) through its medieval and early modern defenses, to its rejection by Kant and Vattel. Defenders of the theory, notably Cajetan, viewed punitive war through the lens of criminal justice by which states punish miscreants; they argued that natural reason cannot accept notorious unpunished wrongdoing. Those who rejected the theory did so because it requires one state to judge the conduct of another. This objection raises two distinct issues: violation of sovereign equality, and biased judgment. The paper rejects the sovereignty objection, but elaborates the biased judgment objection by examining the distinction between retribution and revenge. These arguments lead to five objections to the punishment theory: (1) It places punishment in the hands of a biased judge, namely the aggrieved party, which (2) makes it more likely to be vengeance than retributive justice. (3) Vengeance does not follow the fundamental condition of just retribution, namely proportionality between punishment and offense. (4) Furthermore, punishment through warmaking is collective punishment that punishes the wrong people, and (5) it employs the wrong methods. Ultimately, Cajetan's concerns about unpunished wrongdoing argue for international criminal law, not punitive warfare.


About the book:
Care, welfare and community are three key concepts in contemporary social policy. This reader covers a wide range of topics associated with them and relevant to the delivery of care and support to adults. It includes a wide-ranging collection of articles by leading writers and researchers, some previously published, some newly commissioned. It also has first-hand accounts by users and providers of care and welfare in the community. Groups covered include people with mental health problems, homeless people, older people, people with learning difficulties and people with impairments. The focus throughout is on how policies and practice can be developed appropriately and sensitively through an understanding of current issues.
The 40 chapters are grouped into four sections, each with an introduction. Five of the chapters are made up of extracts from a wide range of documents and testimonies: Power and inequality; Difference and identity; Rights and risk; Territories and boundaries. Most of the material relates to a diverse turn-of-the-century Britain, but this is set in a wider context enabling the student to explore the alternative realities of other countries and other times.
Understanding Care, Welfare and Community provides an integrated, multidisciplinary overview of the many different aspects of community care. It is appropriate for students and professionals following a wide range of courses in social work, nursing, care, health, social policy, medicine, voluntary work and welfare services. It will also be a valuable resource for carers and practitioners, teachers and policy makers.


A further six Treetops titles in Oxford Reading Tree's series of fiction with built-in progression for pupils aged 7-11. Specially written for children who need the support of carefully-monitored language levels, the stories are accessible, motivating and humorous. The series is organised into Oxford Reading Tree Stages (from Stage 10 to Stage 16), with each stage introducing more complex narrative forms, including flashbacks and changes in viewpoint; descriptive writing; extended reading vocabulary; and more pages, more text, and fewer illustrations. Ideal for both guided reading group work and independent reading. Phase F features: Six new stories including the latest adventures of established favourites Cool Clive, Scrapman and Kid Wonder. Stage 12+ has the same reading level as Stage 12 but the stories are longer, to develop children's reading stamina.


In his dissenting opinion in Ricketts v. Adamson, Justice Brennan proposed the idea of plea agreements as constitutional contracts and lamented the fact that the Supreme Court had yet to set up rules of construction for resolving plea deal disputes. Since Adamson, courts have given lip service to Justice Brennan's dissent and applied his reasoning in piecemeal fashion. No court or scholar, however, has attempted to define the extent to which a plea agreement is a constitutional contract or develop rules of construction to apply in plea deal disputes. This gap is concerning given that ninety-five percent of criminal cases are resolved by plea agreements.

This Article is the first attempt to defend the concept of plea agreements as constitutional contracts and establish a core rule of construction to guide judges in interpreting plea bargains. It advances two theses. First, plea agreements are constitutional contracts whose constitutional protections extend to all matters relating to plea agreements. Second, due process requires that courts treat pleading defendants at least as well as parties to other contracts, meaning all of the protections associated with contract law should be incorporated into plea bargaining law through the Due Process Clause.

This Article then argues that incorporation of one of these protections—the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing—would lead to legal reform in three plea bargaining scenarios where pleading defendants are treated worse than parties to other contracts:

(1) substantial assistance motions;

(2) Brady disclosures; and

(3) prosecutorial presentation of sentencing recommendations.


Global Leadership in Transition calls for innovations that would "institutionalize" or consolidate the G20, helping to make it the global economy's steering committee. The emergence of the G20 as the world's premier forum for international economic cooperation presents an opportunity to improve economic summitry and make global leadership more responsive and effective, a major improvement over the G8 era. "Key contributors to this volume were well ahead of their time in advocating summit meetings of G20 leaders. In this book, they now offer a rich smorgasbord of creative ideas for transforming the G20 from a crisis-management committee to a steering group for the international system that deserves the attention of those who wish to shape the future of global governance." --C. Randall Henning, American University and the Peterson Institute Contributors: Alan Beattie, Financial Times ; Thomas Bernes, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI); Sergio Bitar, former Chilean minister of public works; Paul Blustein, Brookings Institution and CIGI; Barry Carin, CIGI and University of Victoria; Andrew F. Cooper, CIGI and University of Waterloo; Kemal Dervis, Brookings; Paul Heinbecker, CIGI and Laurier University Centre for Global Relations; Oh-Seok Hyun, Korea Development Institute (KDI); Jomo Kwame Sundaram, United Nations; Homi Kharas, Brookings; Hyeon Wook Kim, KDI; Sungmin Kim, Bank of Korea; John Kirton, University of Toronto; Johannes Linn, Brookings and Emerging Markets Forum; Pedro Malan, Itau Unibanco; Thomas Mann, Brookings; Paul Martin, former prime minister of Canada; Simon Maxwell, Overseas Development Institute and Climate and Development Knowledge Network; Jacques Mistral, Institut Francais des Relations Internationales; Victor Murinde, University of Birmingham (UK); Pier Carlo Padoan, OECD Paris; Yung Chul Park, Korea University; Stewart Patrick, Council on Foreign Relations; Il SaKong, Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit; Wendy R. Sherman, Albright Stonebridge Group; Gordon Smith, Centre for Global Studies and CIGI; Bruce Stokes, German Marshall Fund; Ngaire Woods, Oxford Blavatnik School of Government; Lan Xue, Tsinghua University (Beijing); Yanbing Zhang, Tsinghua University.


Background Influenza vaccination strategies aim at protecting high-risk population from severe outcomes. Estimating the effectiveness of seasonal vaccines against influenza related hospitalisation is important to guide these strategies. Large sample size is needed to have precise estimate of influenza vaccine effectiveness (IVE) against severe outcomes. We assessed the feasibility of measuring seasonal IVE against hospitalisation with laboratory confirmed influenza through a network of 21 hospitals in the European Union. Methods We conducted a multicentre study in France (seven hospitals), Italy (one hospital), and Navarra (four hospitals) and Valencia (nine hospitals) regions in Spain. All ≥18 years hospitalised patients presenting an influenza-like illness within seven days were swabbed. Cases were patients RT-PCR positive for influenza A (H3N2); controls were patients negative for any influenza virus. Using logistic regression with study site as a fixed effect we calculated IVE adjusted for potential confounders. We restricted the analyses to those swabbed within four days. Results We included, 375 A(H3N2) cases and 770 controls. The overall adjusted IVE was 24.9% (95%CI–1.8;44.6). Among the target group for vaccination (N = 1058) the adjusted IVE was 28.8% (95%CI:2.8;47.9); it was respectively 36.8% (95%CI:−48.8; 73.1), 42.6% (95%CI:−16.5;71.7), 17.8%(95%CI:−40.8; 52.1) and 37.5% (95%CI:−22.8;68.2) in the age groups 18–64, 65–74, 75–84 and more than 84 years. Discussion Estimation of IVE based on the pooling of data obtained through a European network of hospitals was feasible. Our results suggest a low IVE against hospitalised confirmed influenza in 2011–12. The low IVE may be explained by a poor immune response in the high-risk population, imperfect match between vaccine and circulating strain or waning immunity due to a late season. Increased sample size within this network would allow more precise estimates and stratification of the IVE by time since vaccination and vaccine types or brands.


We consider median regression and, more generally, a possibly infinite collection of quantile regressions in high-dimensional sparse models. In these models, the number of regressors p is very large, possibly larger than the sample size n, but only at most s regressors have a nonzero impact on each conditional quantile of the response variable, where s grows more slowly than n. Since ordinary quantile regression is not consistent in this case, we consider 1-penalized quantile regression ( 1-QR), which penalizes the 1-norm of regression coefficients, as well as the post-penalized QR estimator (post1QR), which applies ordinary QR to the model selected by 1-QR. First, we show that under general conditions 1-QR is consistent at the near-oracle rate √ s/n √ log(p ∨ n), uniformly in the compact set U ⊂ (0,1) of quantile indices. In deriving this result, we propose a partly pivotal, data-driven choice of the penalty level and show that it satisfies the requirements for achieving this rate. Second, we show that under similar conditions post1-QR is consistent at the near-oracle rate √ s/n √ log(p ∨ n), uniformly over U , even if the 1-QR-selected models miss some components of the true models, and the rate could be even closer to the oracle rate otherwise. Third, we characterize conditions under which 1-QR contains the true model as a submodel, and derive bounds on the dimension of the selected model, uniformly over U ; we also provide conditions under which hard-thresholding selects the minimal true model, uniformly over U .


Abstract Objective: To investigate the impact of a weekly email based board review course on individual resident performance on the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) General Pediatrics Certifying Examination for pediatric residents and, specifically, residents with low ABP Intraining Examination (ITE) scores. Methods: Weekly board-type questions were emailed to all pediatric residents from 2004-2007. Responses to board-type questions were tracked, recorded, and correlated with ITE scores and ABP General Pediatrics Certifying Examination Scores. Results: With regard to total number of questions answered, only total number of questions answered correctly had a significant positive correlation with standard board scores (n =71, r = 0.24, p =0.047). For "at risk'" residents with ITE scores <200 (n =21), number of questions answered in PL 3 year (r =0.51, p =0.018) and number of questions answered correctly for all PL years (r =0.59, p =0.005) had significant positive correlations with standard board scores. Conclusions: Participating regularly in the email-based board review course, answering board style questions, and answering correctly to board style questions were associated with higher standard board scores. This benefit existed for all but was especially prominent among those with poor in-training examination scores.


Since much of the work I do involves overhauling grandfather clocks, problems relating to their designs and performance have been part of the challenge. The plot thickens with modern mechanisms because they are mass-produced in prodigious quantities, made possible by newer methods of production and choice of raw materials that facilitate time-saving and cost-cutting techniques essential to mass production and the long-term reduction in costs to the consumers. While these techniques are truly effective in cutting costs, they frequently compromise the overall quality and durability of the products.


Drawings as mediators of communication are utilised in multiple contexts across national and cultural divides. The value of drawings in eliciting meaning that transcends the boundaries of words has been documented for centuries. In educational practice, drawings are utilised in a wide range of settings, ranging from therapeutic to psycho-educational assessment, disclosure in forensic and sexual abuse cases, and for artistic expression. Furthermore, research confirms the usefulness of drawings in empowering marginalised populations from a participatory action-research stance. Using drawing in research to mediate communication in a group context when studying adolescent perceptions of a traumatic event has not been explored extensively in South Africa. This study therefore sought to explore adolescents' experiences of a shared traumatic incident as facilitated through their drawings. The research process set out to answer the following research question: What insights regarding adolescents' experiences of a shared traumatic incident can be gained from using drawing in a group context? This investigation is underpinned by an eco-systemic theoretical perspective which recognises the influence of the community in the experiences of its individual members. The African concept of ubuntu, meaning "whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual", thus informs the research. Within the context of psychoanalytical theory in trauma research, international literature acknowledges that families and communities are important resources to help bring about healing. The findings of this study confirm that the dynamic interaction between personal factors and interpersonal factors relating to one's peers, family and community influence how individual and collective experiences are shaped and assimilated. The findings of the study led me to conclude that drawing became a non-confrontational facilitator for traumatised participants to express difficult feelings that may otherwise have been silenced. Furthermore, in addition to self-expression, the co-analysing of drawings in a group context created opportunities for collective remembrance. Its potential to empower marginalised populations such as the adolescent participants in this study to express their views on social injustice also emerged. The study's findings could serve as a motivator for further investigation of drawings as mediators of communication in a variety of traumarelated educational settings.


Luciferase-based reporter assays are powerful tools for monitoring gene expression in cells because of their ultrasensitive detection capacity and wide dynamic range. Here we describe the characterization and use of a luciferase reporter enzyme derived from the marine copepod Metridia luciferase family, referred to as TurboLuc luciferase (TurboLuc). To develop TurboLuc, the wild-type luciferase was modified to decrease its size, increase brightness, slow luminescent signal decay, and provide for efficient intracellular expression. To determine the enzyme susceptibility to compound inhibition and judge the suitability of using of TurboLuc as a reporter in screening assays, purified TurboLuc enzyme was screened for inhibitors using two different compound libraries. No inhibitors of this enzyme were identified in a library representative of typical diverse low molecular weight (LMW) compounds using a purified TurboLuc enzyme assay supporting that such libraries will show very low interference with this enzyme. We were able to identify a few inhibitors from a purified natural product library which can serve as useful tools to validate assays using TurboLuc. In addition to the inhibitor profile for TurboLuc we describe the use of this reporter in cells employing miniaturized assay volumes within 1536-well plates. TurboLuc luciferase is the smallest luciferase reporter enzyme described to date (16 kDa), shows bright luminescence and low interference by LMW compounds, and therefore should provide an ideal reporter in assays applied to high-throughput screening.


Most trust management systems that specify authorization in a high-level policy language and support credential-based authorization are vulnerable to a little known class of attacks, so-called probing attacks. A probing attack is conducted by running probes against the system, i.e., by submitting access requests together with credentials, and observing the system's reactions. This may enable an external adversary to gain knowledge about confidential facts in the policy. We present the first complete decision procedure for checking if an adversary, characterized by a set of probes available in an attack, is unable to gain knowledge about confidential information about a policy specified in Datalog (in which case the information is said to be opaque). This also positively answers the hitherto open question of whether the opacity problem in this setting is decidable. We describe a prototype implementation that is equipped with a number of optimizations to prune the search space, and empirical results from experiments, based on a realistic delegation policy, to test the scalability of the algorithm and the effectiveness of our optimization methods.


Abstract Neutron activation of materials produces an energy release during the subsequent radioactive decay. In a fusion power plant this energy release is of the order of MWs. Accurate prediction of this decay heat is fundamental for the design of a fusion power plant, especially for the safety analysis. A very efficient detector system able to measure both electron and photon heats simultaneously and separately has been developed at ENEA Frascati and has been already used to validate the predictions of computer codes developed to calculate neutron activation energy release. In this paper we report measurements on some elements (tin, tantalum and lead) that have been irradiated with the D-T fusion neutrons produced by the Frascati Neutron Generator FNG. These elements could be present in ITER materials and give a significant contribution to the total radioactive inventory, especially if they produce long-live radionuclides. The scope of this study is to validate the general purpose code European Activation code System EASY-2007 comparing the results of the measurements with code predictions. The results are presented in terms of C/E (Calculation vs. Experiment) together with the associated uncertainties.


Over the course of the twentieth century, American wages increased by a factor of about 100, while the wages of professional baseball players increased by a factor of 450, but that increase was neither smooth nor consistent. We use a unique and expansive dataset of salaries and performance variables of Major League Baseball pitchers that spans over 400 players and 60 years during the reserve clause era to identify factors that determine salaries and examine how the importance of various factors have changed over time. We employ a Markov regime-switching regression model borrowed from the macroeconomics literature, which allows regression coefficients to switch exogenously between two or more values as time progresses. This method lets us identify changes in wage determination that may have occurred because of a change in the league's competitiveness, a change in the relative bargaining power between players and teams, or other factors that may be unknown or unobservable. We find that even though Major League Baseball was a tightly controlled monopsony with the reserve clause, there was a significant shift in salary determination that lasted from the Great Depression until after World War II where players' salaries were more highly linked to their recent performance.