In our digital information age, news and ideas come at us constantly and from every direction—newspapers, cable television, podcasts, online media, and more. It can be difficult to keep up with the fleeting and ephemeral news of the day.

Books, on the other hand, provide a source of enduring ideas. Books contain the researched hypotheses, the well-developed theories, and the fully formed arguments that outlast the news and analysis of the moment, preserved for the ages on the written page, to be discussed, admired, criticized, or supplanted by generations to come.

And books about the law, like the ones reviewed in these pages, can spark ideas that lead lawyers and policymakers to consider new issues and think in new ways. Legal books are not merely academic musings, but vehicles of thought that can lead decisionmakers to develop programs and priorities that can shape public policy.

When I served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan during the Obama Administration, books frequently influenced the work of federal law enforcement, the Department of Justice, and its ninety-four U.S. Attorney's Offices around the country. I would hear about these books at conferences or in conversations with others in law enforcement, and the books became must-reads. Some books were more scholarly than others, but they each had great influence on decisionmakers.


Criteria for organ acceptance in brain‐dead organ donors remain inconsistent, especially when concerning pancreatic transplants. We sought to examine donor‐specific predictors of pancreatic graft use and survival to better guide the selection and management of potential donors. A prospective observational study of all donors from ten organ procurement organizations was conducted from March 2012 to January 2015. Critical care endpoints were collected at 4 standardized time points. Data associated with pancreatic transplantation and graft survival rates were first determined using univariate analyses, and then logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of these two outcomes. From 1819 donors, 238 (13.1%) pancreata were transplanted, and at a mean follow‐up of 192 days, 218 (91.6%) grafts had survived. After regression analysis, donor age (OR = 0.89), HgbA1C (OR = 0.07), and achieving the donor management goal (DMG) for ejection fraction at allocation of ≥50% (OR = 3.29) remained as independent predictors of pancreatic utilization. On regression analysis, graft survival was independently predicted by lower donor age (OR = 0.93) and achieving the DMGs for mean arterial pressure (60‐110 mm Hg) and glucose (≤180 mg/dL) at separate time points. These results may help guide the management and selection of potential pancreatic donors after brain death.


Feelings of attachment to the political community are considered a central precondition for the functioning of democracy. As such, they are often explained through socialization and life satisfaction. In cities, which are characterized by small territory and small population; close spatial proximity offers many other plausible explanations why residents would feel attached. Utilizing data from the survey conducted in the course of the Democracy Audit in the German city of Mannheim in 2012 and 2013, this analysis finds that of the many possible considerations it is the satisfactory delivery of common goods by municipal politics as well as life satisfaction, but also formal social and political participation within the city which successfully contribute to citizens' local identity. Other hypotheses based on the socialization argument fail in explaining feelings of attachment to the city. Moreover, contextual factors appear not to have any influence.


Traditionally, teaching in this country has been what is termed "frontal teaching" or "chalk and talk" (Goodlad, 1984). This mode of teaching has not been successful for all of our students as is evidenced by the dropout rate of 50% in our high schools (Carbo, 1991). Also, for those that do graduate, only 5-8% are capable of high-level work as compared to 15-25% for some European countries (Carbo, 1991). In the last 20-25 years, educators have become more aware of the research that has been done by cognitive and educational psychologists in the area of learning styles and multiple intelligences. Using the work of these researchers, an instrument was constructed and used to study the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement of high school students. In addition to studying these relationships, gender differences were investigated. The major results of the study suggest that the majority of our high school students are Tactile/Kinesthetic and Global learners. Introduction The United States has a unique system of public education in that we try to educate all of our students equally from preschool through high school (Webb, Metha, & Jordan, 1995). Most European and Asian countries have extensive tracking systems of education in which they test the students at certain levels and track them to certain schools. In Japan, for instance, there is tremendous pressure on students to score well on the test at the end of elementary school so that they can attend the best lower secondary school. This is repeated as they are tested to go to the upper secondary schools and to the universities. Those that graduate from the best universities are rewarded with the best work positions. The pressure is so intense that parents are often forced to send them to "cram" schools in the evening to prepare the students for the examinations (Cummings, 1980 & Kanaya, 1988). In the United States, we try not to track our students so that all have the opportunities for the same education (Webb, Metha, & Jordan, 1995). This is, however, very difficult because with our diverse population in society at large, we have a diverse population of learners. This diverse population of students is becoming more diverse with the movement of special educators for total inclusion of all special education students in to the regular education classes (Lieberman, 1985). To be successful in educating all of our students, we need to be aware of their individual learning styles and multiple intelligences. To be more effective teachers of this diverse population of learners, teachers need concise and efficient ways to learn more about their students' learning styles and multiple intelligences. Carl Jung (1927) was the father of learning-style theory in that he noted the differences in the way students perceived, made decisions, and interacted. In the past 20-25 years, educators, have become more aware of the research of cognitive and educational psychologists in the area of individual differences, learning styles, and multiple intelligences. The research of these psychologists in the area of learning styles, (Grasha & Reichmann, 1975; Hill, 1976; Briggs & Myers, 1977; Dunn & Dunn, 1978; Dunn & Price, 1979; Klob, 1981; Gregorc, 1982; McCarthy, 1982; Butler, 1984; Silver & Hanson, 1995; & Silver, Strong, & Perini, 1997), have provide educators with additional insights into how to work with our diverse population of learners. Gardner (1983) and Gardner & Hatch (1989), "in their effort to rethink the theory of measurable intelligence embodied in intelligence testing" (Silver, Strong, & Perini, 1997, p. 22) studied the work of cognitive and educational psychologists and developed their theories of multiple intelligences. The basic difference between learning style theories and multiple intelligences theories is that learning styles are concerned with the differences in the process of learning and multiple intelligences center on the content and products of learning. …


This paper, investigates finite-time stability and finite-time boundedness for nonlinear systems with polynomial vector fields. Finite-time stability requires the states of the system to remain a given bounded set in a finite-time interval and finite-time boundedness considers the same problem for the system but with bounded disturbance. Sufficient conditions for finite-time stability and finite-time boundedness of nonlinear systems as well as a computational method based on sum of squares programming to check the conditions are given. The problem of finite-time stability for a system that consists of an interconnection of subsystems is also considered and we show how to decompose the problem into subproblems for each subsystem with coupling constraints. A solution to the problem using sum of squares programming and dual decomposition is presented. The method is demonstrated through some examples.


In past decades, numerous studies have focused on the alluvial sedimentary record of basin fill. Paleo–drainage basin characteristics, such as drainage area or axial river length, have received little attention, mostly because the paleo–drainage system underwent erosion or bypass, and its record is commonly modified and overprinted by subsequent tectonism or erosional processes. In this work, we estimate the drainage areas of early Miocene systems in the Gulf of Mexico basin by using scaling relationships between drainage area and river channel dimensions (e.g., depth) developed in source-to-sink studies. Channel-belt thickness was used to estimate channel depth and was measured from numerous geophysical well logs. Both lower channel-belt thickness and bankfull thickness were measured to estimate the paleo–water depth at low and bankfull stages.

Previous paleogeographic reconstruction using detrital zircon and petrographic provenance analysis and continental geomorphic synthesis constrains independent estimates of drainage basin extent. Comparison of results generated by the two independent approaches indicates that drainage basin areas predicted from channel-belt thickness are reasonable and suggests that bankfull thickness correlates best with drainage basin area. The channel bankfull thickness also correlates with reconstructed submarine fan dimension. This work demonstrates application to the deep-time stratigraphic archive, where records of drainage basin characteristics are commonly modified or lost.


This study explores the life and scientific production of M.A. Polievktov, a Russian historian who lived and worked in post-revolutionary Georgia. His research focused on the historical relations between Russia and the Caucasus, especially those who led to the conquest of the Caucasus in the 19th century, and on the European travellers who visited the Caucasus. Analysis held on his autobiography, his publications, and his manuscripts will lead to trace a neater profile of his personality and his status of Russian historian living in the Georgian RSS.


Mark Twain9s "An Encounter with an Interviewer" (1874) has a rich history of translations, starting in 1885 at the latest. Though nobody can get ahold of, much less read, all of the collections for which this sketch has been translated, they are so varied and numerous as to arouse curiosity about the sketch9s appeal. As a performer Twain quickly made "Encounter" one of his standard pieces, using it almost until his death. Since then it has kept its popularity, especially for oral delivery. Increasingly, biographers have read it as expressing Twain9s impatience with interviewers; however, as of 1874 none had yet importuned him. Rather, Twain meant his sketch to burlesque the interview form itself as empty, celebrity-driven journalism; more generally, it follows Twain9s strategy of mocking an audience disarmingly. Its transnational appeal depends-as usual in Twain9s memorable writings-on several layers of humor. Most fundamentally, "Encounter" brings temporary release not only from the frame of rationality, of the mutual effort toward relevance that spoken exchange requires, but even from the constraints of making sense that coexistence in any society demands.


Athletes exercising in temperate and warm conditions have elevated sweat rates, and ad-libitum fluid intake is typically in-sufficient to adequately replace sweat losses, resulting in hypohydration. Hypohydration of >2% body mass impairs aerobic exercise performance in temperate and warm conditions, with the impairment in performance likely due to a combination of physiological and perceptual mechanisms.The methods used in previous research to induce hypohydration (i.e. fluid restriction, heat exposure, diuretic use) have meant subjects were aware of manipulations to their hydration status. More recent studies have aimed to blind subjects to manipulations in hydration status via intravenous infusion or intragastric infusion of fluids. While these studies were successful in blinding subjects to manipulations in hydration status, they could not ascertain whether knowledge of hydration status contributed to the negative effect of hypohydration on exercise performance. Thus, the first aim of this thesis was to determine whether knowledge of hypohydration influenced exercise performance (Chapter 3). Changes typical of hypohydration (i.e. increased heart rate, rating of perceived exertion, gastrointestinal temperature, serum osmolality and thirst, and decreased plasma volume) were apparent with hypohydration at the end of 2 h of steady-state cycling and did not differ between blinded and unblinded groups. Hypohydration of ~3% body mass similarly impaired cycling time trial performance (-10% unblinded vs -11% blinded) in the heat in trained cyclists, regardless of knowledge of hydration status.There is a lack of research assessing exercise-induced hypohydration on running performance in a temperate environment, a common scenario for intermittent games players and endurance athletes that regularly exercise in temperate environments with insufficient fluid intake. Given the weight-bearing nature of running, the negative effects of hypohydration might be offset by the positive effects of body mass loss. Therefore, the purpose of Chapter 4 was to investigate the effect of hypohydration on 3 km running performance in a temperate environment. Despite the body mass loss (~1.7 kg) associated with a negative fluid balance, hypohydration of ~2% body mass impaired 3 km running time trial performance by ~6%.Although the negative consequences of hypohydration on exercise performance are well-known, endurance athletes regularly finish training sessions/events with significant hypohydration, and field studies have shown an inverse relationship between body mass loss and endurance performance (i.e. the greater the exercise-induced body mass loss, the quicker the finishing time). This led to the hypothesis that a familiarisation/adaptation to exercise-induced hypohydration is conceivable. Thus, the third research question of this thesis was proposed, can athletes familiarise to a limited number of repeated exercise-induced dehydration exposures to reduce the negative effect of hypohydration on performance (Chapter 5). Five repeated exposures to exercise-induced dehydration (~2% body mass) did not reduce the negative effects of hypohydration on 3 km running performance in intermittent games players.Research assessing rehydration from exercise-induced dehydration is often poorly controlled. Research typically informs subjects of the purpose of assessing rehydration, or influences behaviour by providing fluids, thus influencing fluid intake behaviours. Therefore, the final aim of this thesis was to determine if athletes rehydrate within 20 h of an intermittent exercise session, with subjects unaware that hydration status was being assessed. Subjects were also permitted to drink ad-libitum water during the exercise session and continue recording dietary intakes in a free-living environment for 20 h post-exercise (Chapter 6). Intermittent games players lost ~2% body mass during an intermittent running session when access to ad-libitum fluid was permitted. A small degree of hypohydration likely remained present 20 h post-exercise, evidenced by decreased body mass and increased urine osmolality (concentration) the morning post-exercise, suggesting specific rehydration strategies may be required for intermittent games players.From this thesis, it can be concluded that hypohydration (~3% body mass) impaired cycling performance in the heat, regardless of knowledge of hydration status (Chapter 3). Despite the body mass loss associated with a negative fluid balance, hypohydration of ~2% body mass impaired 3 km running time trial performance in a temperate environment (Chapter 4). A small number of repeated exposures to exercise-induced dehydration did not attenuate the performance decrement from hypohydration on running time trial performance (Chapter 5). Rehydration from intermittent exercise was likely not achieved within 20 h post-exercise, suggesting rehydration strategies may be required in team sports where training is completed daily (Chapter 6).


The history of the art of stone carving in Russia is closely connected with the country's foreign policy. Works from the Yekaterinburg Lapidary Factory were sometimes distributed around different countries and continents as diplomatic gifts or a demonstration of gratitude from the Russian emperors. It is essential to examine the circumstances in which said objects left the country to be able to reveal the works of Ural stonecutters and assess the scale of production and the level of craftsmanship. As a result of such investigations, researchers not only manage to discover objects and attribute them (even when such information is completely lost) but also find obscure connections and parallels in the role they played in solving diplomatic issues. The author carries out such research by studying two malachite vases designed by I. I. Halberg in 1838 and made by masters of the Yekaterinburg Lapidary Factory between 1864 and 1865. The two vases symbolise the complex situation of British and Russian policies in the Middle East and the internal expansion of Russian rail transport. One of the vases was given to a Persian shah and the other to a British financier. However, only together do they help form an idea of the complex processes of the epoch in question.


Functionalisation of hydrocarbons is a field of continuing activity and a variety of approaches to this field, have been taken. This thesis is concerned with the functionalisation of the carbon-hydrogen bond, in hydrocarbons, using fluorinated alkenes via a free radical chain mechanism. Addition of the nucleophilic alkyl radical to the electrophilic fluorinated alkene, specifically hexafluoropropene, occurs readily to give incorporation of the polyfluoroalkyl group into a number of hydrocarbons, including aliphatic, mono-, bi- and polycyclic systems. Further chemistry of these polyfluoroalkylated systems has been investigated, including dehydrofluorination of the polyfluoralkyl group to give a series of novel mono- di- and poly-enes with polyfluoroalkenyl groups. Perfluorination of the polyfluoroalkylated systems, using high valency metal fluorides, produced a range of new perfluorocarbons of interest and the monocyclic polyfluoroalkylated systems' were further functionalised, by radical chemistry, to give isomeric products.


Achieving high power, continuous wave, room temperature operation of midinfrared (3-5 um) lasers is difficult due to the effects of auger recombination in band-to-band designs. Intersubband laser designs such as quantum cascade lasers reduce the effects of recombination, increasing efficiency and have advantages in large tunability of wavelength ranges. Highly efficient quantum cascade laser designs are typically used in lasers designed for >5 um wavelength operation due to the small offset of conduction band energy in lattice matched materials. Some promising material systems have been used to achieve high-power output in the first atmospheric window (3-5 um) but still suffer from low efficiency. Larger iconduction band offset is attainable through the use of strained materials. However, these material systems have limitations on the traditional (100) crystal orientation due to the large strain and low critical thickness. The necessity for controlled two-dimensional, optical quality layer growth limits the amount of strain incorporation due to defect formation in highly lattice mis-matched layers. The material systems used in this study are GaAs (100) and (111)B, AlGaAs, and (Ga)InAs. In the initial stage of research, I found that pseudomorphic growth of highly strained InAs layers on GaAs (111)B is possible. However, the growth window is very narrow and necessitates precise control over growth temperature and anion overpressure to achieve optical quality layers. As a result, a second stage of research explores the design space made available by this finding by using genetic algorithm based design and simulation of devices with a Schrodinger-Poisson solver.


This Perspective examines a recent surge of information regarding the potential benefits of acid-suppression drugs in the context of COVID-19, with a particular eye on the great variability (and, thus, confusion) that has arisen across the reported findings, at least as regards the popular antacid famotidine. The degree of inconsistency and discordance reflects contradictory conclusions from independent, clinical-based studies that took roughly similar approaches, in terms of both experimental design (retrospective, observational, cohort-based, etc.) and statistical analysis workflows (propensity-score matching and stratification into sub-cohorts, etc.). The contradictions and potential confusion have ramifications for clinicians faced with choosing therapeutically optimal courses of intervention: e.g., do any potential benefits of famotidine suggest its use in a particular COVID-19 case? (If so, what administration route, dosage regimen, duration, etc. are likely optimal?) As succinctly put this March in Freedberg et al. (2021), "…several retrospective studies show relationships between famotidine and outcomes in COVID-19 and several do not." Beyond the pressing issue of possible therapeutic indications, the conflicting data and conclusions related to famotidine must be resolved before its inclusion/integration in ontological and knowledge graph (KG)–based frameworks, which in turn are useful for drug discovery and repurposing. As a broader methodological issue, note that reconciling inconsistencies would bolster the validity of meta-analyses which draw upon the relevant data-sources. And, perhaps most broadly, developing a system for treating inconsistencies would stand to improve the qualities of both 1) real world evidence-based studies (retrospective), on the one hand, and 2) placebo-controlled, randomized multi-center clinical trials (prospective), on the other hand. In other words, a systematic approach to reconciling the two types of studies would inherently improve the quality and utility of each type of study individually.


The Workshop on the Development of Quantitative Assessment Methodologies based on Life-history traits, exploitation characteristics, and other relevant parameters for data-limited stocks (WKLIFE) focuses on the provision of sound advice rules for data-limited stock (DLS) assess-ments that are within the ICES MSY framework. This ninth workshop was convened to further address the challenges to the evidence base for the provision of ICES advice with specific refer-ence to DLS. The reviewers' report of WKLIFE VIII (ICES, 2018) was used as the basis to draft ICES technical guidance on advice rules for stocks in Categories 3 and 4 following the meeting in 2018. The draft document reflected the conclusions of the WKLIFE VIII meeting report but in order to provide a good guidance document to the ICES community, some of the text and steps identified required further elaboration. The intersessional work undertaken ahead of this WKLIFE IX meeting provided a basis to revise the draft and during this WKLIFE IX meeting, the draft technical guidance was revised and updated. The draft report of, and recommendations from, the ICES workshop on data-limited stocks of short-lived species (WKDLSSLS) was re-viewed and additional simulation studies undertaken during WKLIFE IX, and the need for spe-cific advice rules for these stocks examined. Annex 3 to this report contains the revised and agreed text by the participants at WKLIFE IX. Specifically, the draft ICES technical guidance was revised and amended based on the work presented at WKLIFE IX and its previous workshops with respect to short-term forecasts utilising a surplus production model (SPiCT – Stochastic Production model in Continuous Time), and harvest control rules for length-based approaches, for short-lived species, and for bycatch elasmobranch stocks.


A new series of previously reported cytotoxic 1,3,4-thiadiazole analogs as potential anticancer agents were evaluated for induction of apoptosis. Namely, activation of caspases 3, 8 and 9 were assessed in Human Prostate Cancer Cell Line (PC-3) as well as Human Colorectal Adenocarcinoma Cell Line (HT-29). Cytotoxicity of intended compounds was evaluated in PC-3, HT-29 and Human Breast Adenocarcinoma Cell Line (MCF-7) using 3-(4,5-dimethythiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl Tetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay. Furthermore, activity of caspases 3, 8 and 9 were assessed in PC-3 and HT-29 cell lines and obtained results were compared to doxorubicin. Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (MMP) as well as capability of intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) generation was also measured in these cell lines. A new series of recently reported cytotoxic 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives were studied mechanistically. Fortunately, the most of the investigated derivatives showed a significant increase in activity of caspases 3, 8 and 9, in PC-3 and HT-29 cell lines superior than doxorubicin. Only compound A (2-Cl) caused an increase in MMP in HT-29 cell line further than doxorubicin. None of the tested derivative did not tempted generation of reactive oxygen species in examined cell lines. Overall, the investigated derivatives could be introduced as potential anticancer lead compounds.


When most Americans hear "Thou shalt have no other gods before me,"1 they envision Charlton Heston holding two rounded stone tablets, trembling before the powerful voice of an invisible God. Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 epic production of The Ten Commandments portrays the Sinai covenant as a divinely ordered pact between God and the Israelites. As a theocratic society, the Israelites had no purely secular laws. But, as religion and the body politic have evolved into more distinct spheres over the last several thousand years,3 the Ten Commandments have stood the test of time as a secular document. The twin tablets symbolizing the stones on which Moses took the Ten Commandments to the Israelites were so universally recognizable (even without DeMille) that they became a symbol for law itself.4 In fact, the shape of those tablets inscribed with roman numerals I-X appear on the bronze gates and doors of the chambers of the United States Supreme Court.5 Moses himself appears three times: with tablets on a frieze on the East Pediment, flanked by other lawgivers in a frieze on the North Wall of the chambers of the Supreme Court, and in the Great Hall.6 The Ten Commandments contain secular principles. "Thou shalt not kill."7 "Thou shalt not steal."8 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."9 These principles from the Ten Commandments find effect in modern laws against murder, theft, and perjury. But, as one would expect from laws governing a theocratic society, the Ten Commandments also have an undeniable sacred aspect: "Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image";10 "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain";11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."12 When the Ten Commandments appear on government property, their religious aspect does not automatically render their display unconstitutional. Rather, the government may display religious symbols as long as it has a valid secular purpose and an effect that does not show favoritism toward religion.13 The First Amendment reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."14 Even though the plain text of the Constitution does not indicate how an "establishment of religion" might relate to religious displays, the Supreme Court has interpreted the Establishment Clause as allowing government to erect religious symbols on its property so long as the government does not "appear[] to take a position on questions of religious belief."15 Over the last several years, courts around the country have heard numerous cases challenging the propriety of displaying the Ten Commandments on state property.16 Perhaps the most notable of these was former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore's erection of a two-and-a-half-ton granite monument (which the district court and the Eleventh Circuit held unconstitutional) in the Alabama State Courthouse.17 Now, for the first time in over fifteen years, the Supreme Court will address the constitutionality of displaying religious symbols on public property.18 For the first time in twenty-five years, it will consider the constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments itself. The Court's guidance in Van Orden should bring some clarity to the arcane murk that discrepancies among the lower court opinions have created.19 Government can and should acknowledge the impact of the Ten Commandments on our law and culture without endorsing or favoring a particular religious message. The Texas monument strikes precisely that delicate balance. I. OVERVIEW For over four decades, a granite monument depicting the Ten Commandments has stood on the Texas Capitol Grounds. The Grounds qualify as a "museum" and are maintained by a professional curator. They feature seventeen different monuments and twenty-one historical markers to people, events, and ideals that have contributed to the diversity, culture, and history of Texas. The reasonable observer on the Capitol Grounds could no more miss this museum-like context than could a visitor standing on the National Mall in Washington, D. …


Radio signals can be used to detect the presence of a person (target) in an environment by analysing the fluctuations in the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI). The velocity of the target can be estimated by examining the sequence of disturbances in consecutive radio links over a period of time. This requires knowledge of the deployment of the radio transceivers and the time when the target crosses the Line of Sight (LoS) of each radio link. However, it is not trivial to precisely estimate the exact time of the link crossing due to the broad range of RSSI fluctuations generated as the target approaches the link. In this paper, we evaluate and compare 15 techniques for estimating the velocity of the target and propose enhancements to some of the techniques. In our experiments the techniques perform with an average accuracy in the range between 13.02% and 96.18%, which corresponds to an average error of 0.05m/s for a moving target.


Although flash tests under standard test conditions yields lower power due to transmittance of the back sheet, bifacial modules are expected to outperform their monofacial equivalents in terms of yearly energy output in the field. Different transparent rear side materials have been compared. We compare flash tests for these bifacial modules at various incidence angles with and without a light scattering panel behind the modules. The results of an outdoor study comparing modules with transparent back sheet and modules with state-of-the-art AR coating on the front glass will be presented.


This paper revisits the water resource scenario in India and presents the adequacy of the coastal reservoir concept to address water scarcity by impounding excess river flood waters. Although there has been no significant change in India's rainfall pattern in the last 100 years, there is a spatial non-uniformity in the rainfall events that occur which makes it difficult to pre-plan large-scale water storage at different locations. This study highlights the fact that there is enough water available but the deficiency is in storage. A large portion of freshwater from river systems, groundwater and wetlands drains into the sea due to insufficient storage facilities. Coastal reservoirs enable the storage of excess river flood waters near the coast for future use. This paper discusses current water supply solutions available in the country, and the efficacy of coastal reservoirs along with feasibility implications. The associated rewards and challenges are also discussed. The paper presents details of existing coastal reservoirs worldwide and recent feasibility studies envisaging coastal reservoirs in India.


Despite allegations that foreign aid promotes corruption and patronage, little is known about how recipient governments' electoral incentives influence aid spending. This article proposes a distributional politics model of aid spending in which governments use their informational advantages over donors in order to allocate a disproportionate share of aid to electorally strategic supporters, allowing governments to translate aid into votes. To evaluate this argument, the author codes data on the spatial distribution of multilateral donor projects in Kenya from 1992 to 2010 and shows that Kenyan governments have consistently influenced the aid allocation process in favor of copartisan and coethnic voters, a bias that holds for each of Kenya's last three regimes. He confirms that aid distribution increases incumbent vote share. This evidence suggests that electoral motivations play a significant role in aid allocation and that distributional politics may help explain the gap between donor intentions and outcomes.


ABSTRACT The spread of Covid-19 is a global concern, especially in the most developed countries where the rapid spread of the virus has taken governments by surprise. Adopting a spatial approach to this issue, we identify the spatial factors that help explain why some areas are hit harder than others, based on the Italian example (with the Lombardy region as the epicentre in Europe). Our analysis combines an autoregressive spatial model and a bivariate spatial autocorrelation from a pool of data collected from the Italian provinces to propose a real-time analysis of the spread and concentration of the virus. The findings suggest that the most globally connected areas are also the worst hit, and that the implementation of a lockdown at the beginning of March 2020 was a crucial and effective approach to slowing the spread of the virus further.


This is the first collection to bring together new essays exploring James's depiction of gender and his use of sexual imagery -- both now the locus of current debate. The essays, including those by eminent James scholars Leland Person and John Carlos Rowe, examine his fiction, films made from his work, his own literary criticism, letters, and travel writing. These essays represent a range of theoretical perspectives -- cultural studies, feminist and gender studies, queer theory, Lacanian and deconstructive psychoanalytical studies, and historicism.


As mobile communications and other microwave systems continue to evolve designers and system architects are pushing for ever increasing bandwidth as multiple RF systems are increasingly sharing a common front-end amplifier to save space and reduce routing complexity and losses associated with having separate amplifier systems.
The power amplifier in many RF systems typically accounts for the majority of the power consumption of the device or transmitter platform, it is therefore paramount that to improve the efficiency of these systems RFPA designs must be tailored to achieve the highest possible efficiency.
RFPA modes of operation and architectures to achieve higher efficiency have been developed, but often come with compromises to other system aspects such as linearity, control complexity and most commonly bandwidth.
With the next generation 5G communications specification including frequency bands of up to the Ka frequency spectrum and the high capacity multi-octave spectrum bands allocated at L-C band, traditional RFPA efficiency enhancement techniques struggle to be implementable due to either the high frequency requirements of the control systems needed or due to the bandwidth restrictions of such techniques.
II
Conventionally narrow bandwidth X-band radar systems that used to be operated at saturated output power conditions are starting to explore multimode operation that require more power back-off (PBO) and control of the RFPA, so are searching for techniques that are applicable at X-band and can achieve the same level of PBO requirements demanded by modern communication modulation standards while working to the power and cooling restraints that come from a limited application platform such as fighter aircraft.
Similarly, such fighter platforms are demanding increased electronic warfare (EW) capability which are restrained to the same platform limitations but often need to cover multi-octave bandwidths where traditional efficiency enhancement techniques cannot be applied.
This research will focus on wideband efficiency enhancement for both saturated and PBO scenarios that present a frequency agnostic technique of overcoming conventional limitations.
The novel work presented is based around the quintessential, but relatively old, bandwidth extension architecture known as the balanced amplifier. The addition of a secondary control signal has been proposed whereby the operating impedance of the amplifier can be dramatically modulated while maintaining the fundamental advantage the balanced amplifier allow, that is multi-octave bandwidth.
III
The power of this architecture can draw similarities in impedance control afforded by load pull systems, in particular active load-pull. With the correct control signal, any impedance is able to be presented to the transistors to keep them operating at maximum efficiency, where passive matching alone is not able to achieve such efficiency due to fundamental matching theory.
Due to the active element of this novel architecture, named the Load Modulated Balanced Amplifier (LMBA), frequency restrictive and thus band limiting elements present in other efficiency enhancement techniques; such as the quarter wave inverter present in the Doherty Amplifier or the difficulty of realizing the modulator in Envelope Tracking (ET) are not present.
This thesis will present the fundamental theory driving the operation of an LMBA along with multiple implementations, each targeted at differing applications and different frequency bands to demonstrate the versatility and frequency independence of the technique.


Nomograms for assessment of hazard distances from a blast wave, generated by a catastrophic rupture of stand-alone (stationary) and onboard compressed hydrogen cylinder in a fire are presented. The nomograms are easy to use hydrogen safety engineering tools. They were built using the validated and recently published analytical model. Two types of nomograms were developed – one for use by first responders and another for hydrogen safety engineers. The paper underlines the importance of an international effort to unify harm and damage criteria across different countries, as the discrepancies identified by the authors gave the expected results of different hazard distances for different criteria.


This study aimed to shed light on the concept of talent management as one of the new schemes that brought to Human Resources Management and its various activities especially in the new era. Furthermore, it comes not only to explore the reasons behind adopting such concept in organizations and companies and the impact on its culture but also to identify the most important strategies of talent management and how to deal with its considered as a competitive advantage for its direct impact on performance level as well as to identify the best ways to invest in talent management because of its effects on reducing the economic cost in the organization by retaining and motivating those talents to implement organization overall strategies . Human resources especially talented contribute to the achievement of competitive advantage in their organizations because they innovate in their field and they have the ability to make the right decisions to achieve goals In fact, there are some aspects that reflect the weakness of organizational loyalty leading talented people to leave their organizations; this is due to some repellent factors in their organizations, and the absence of the tools which will work on the employees' development in the organizations so as to enhance the affiliation, which led to unload a lot of talents Keywords— Talent, Talent Management Human Resources Management, Talent Management Strategy, High Performance Work Systems. Competitive Advantage.


1. The distribution of DPN and DPNH pyrophosphatases and DPNase in centrifugally prepared fractions of organs of several species of animals is reported. 2. A DPNH pyrophosphatase was found in the soluble fraction of pigeon and of rabbit liver. This enzyme did not split DPN but accounted for over 50 per cent of the DPNH pyrophosphatase activity of the whole homogenates. 3. All the organs tested, including the pigeon liver and rabbit liver, contained a microsomal pyrophosphatase that attacked both DPNH and DPN. This microsomal enzyme split DPNH faster than DPN in all cases. 4. DPN pyrophosphatase and DPNase activity were generally concentrated in the microsomal fraction of liver, of kidney, and of brain. 5. The DPNase of hamster liver was virtually inactive at pH 7.5 but was optimally active at pH 5.5. Considerable difference was found with respect to pH on the activity of DPNase from organs of different animals. 6. The inhibition of mitochondrial and microsomal DPNH oxidation by nicotinamide was noted during the course of these experiments. 7. The significance of some of the distribution patterns is discussed.


The purpose of the study was to investigate the selected walking conditions (self-paced walking, big step walking with guider and big step walking without guider) of young individuals with visual impairment (VI), and how their posture and gait are changed through different walking environments. The intent of the investigation was to help young individuals with VI develop correct posture and gait, to reduce the potential risk of future musculoskeletal injuries, and to increase their opportunities of participating in physical activities and sports. Thirteen middle school students (6 males and 7 females) with VI served as participants for this study. A Fire-I video system with an Acer laptop computer was used to record the gait patterns of the participants. A MaxTRAQ 2-D motion analysis software was used to digitize the walking trials on video and analyze the selected kinematic data. The participants performed a self-paced walking first, then performed the big step walking with guider, at last performed the big step walking without guider. The selected kinematic variables included stride length, frequency, average speed, range of motion and maximum angular velocities of the shoulder, trunk, hip, knee, and ankle joints. A Repeated Measures ANOVA with the Holm's sequential Bonferroni procedure (p<0.05) was employed to determine the differences of the selected kinematic variable of the walking paces among the VI participants. The results demonstrated that the gait pattern of the big step walking with and without guiding conditions instantly changed in terms of the trunk posture, the stride length, walking speed, and heel strike and toe-off, and the confidence in walking. It was concluded that a safe environment and a gait training is important and essential for the youths with VI and that big step walking with guider training in a safe and familiar environment has an immediately positive effect on the gait pattern for the youth with VI.


Background The incidence of "any" and "severe" BPD in our all-referral unit was higher than comparison NICUs, even when controlling for NICU type, gestational age, and age at admission. Therefore, we initiated a QI project to improve adherence to best practices to reduce our iatrogenic contribution to the development of BPD. Objectives In infants born before 30 weeks admitted to main campus before 29 days of life, to decrease the incidence of any BPD in survivors at DOL 28 from 78% to 62%, and of severe BPD in survivors at 36 weeks CGA from 62% to 48%, by 12/31/2015 and sustain indefinitely. Methods Our multidisciplinary team identified a number of practice/system drivers (shown in attached key driver diagram). Upon these we layered a frame addressing the three physiologic drivers of BPD: barotrauma, atelecto-trauma, and oxygen toxicity. We developed protocols to address these three drivers (one shown in attachment). After multiple PDSAs, a marketing blitz ("stand-down"), emphasizing a wingman approach, was necessary before change started to occur. Results Shortly after the stand-down "any" BPD, and a few months later "severe" BPD, each showed statistical improvement. Time to first extubation attempt declined as well. We continue to work on PDSAs to reduce hyperoxia. (all shown in attachment) Conclusions Multiple contextual factors were leading to our high BPD rate, including lack of a burning platform and a sense of "it is someone else's problem". Reducing BPD required addressing the physiologic causes of disease as well as these cultural factors. Figure 1 Key driver diagram. Figure 2 Protocol for ventilation weaning. Figure 3 Days until first extubation attempt. Figure 4 Percent of sat alarms properly set. Figure 5 Rate of "Any BPD" for main campus NICUs. Figure 6 Rate of "Severe BPD" for main campus NICUs.


It is a special moment in the history of STS. With the young discipline transitioning into a not so-young-field-anymore, there is plenty of reason for celebrations: defining groups are celebrating remarkable anniversaries and individual careers are celebrated when founding figures retire. These celebrations are also excellent moments for reflections on pasts, presents and futures of STS and the place of STS in the wider world. In this conversation, Wiebe Bijker, recently subject of his own retirement celebration in Maastricht (Bijker 2017), shares his views on STS. We travel with him from the Netherlands to India, and briefly stop in Edinburgh at SSU where we find the origin of the SCOT abbreviation. On the way, we discuss Dutch activism, teaching, the institutionalization of STS, the emergence of international networks, and different roads STS can take. We end with an optimistic view towards a global future, while emphasizing the importance of the inclusion of history and the classics.


We propose a new prior distribution for classical (nonhierarchical) logistic regression models, constructed by first scaling all nonbinary variables to have mean 0 and standard deviation 0.5, and then placing independent Student-t prior distributions on the coefficients. As a default choice, we recommend the Cauchy distribution with center 0 and scale 2.5, which in the simplest setting is a longer-tailed version of the distribution attained by assuming one-half additional success and one-half additional failure in a logistic regression. Cross-validation on a corpus of datasets shows the Cauchy class of prior distributions to outperform existing implementations of Gaussian and Laplace priors. We recommend this prior distribution as a default choice for routine applied use. It has the advantage of always giving answers, even when there is complete separation in logistic regression (a common problem, even when the sample size is large and the number of predictors is small), and also automatically applying more shrinkage to higher-order interactions. This can be useful in routine data analysis as well as in automated procedures such as chained equations for missing-data imputation. We implement a procedure to fit generalized linear models in R with the Student-t prior distribution by incorporating an approximate EM algorithm into the usual iteratively weighted least squares. We illustrate with several applications, including a series of logistic regressions predicting voting preferences, a small bioassay experiment, and an imputation model for a public health data set.


Insurers: use analytics to drive far more value from your most important asset -- data! Today, many insurers radically underutilize their data, leaving them vulnerable to traditional and non-traditional competitors alike. Now, drawing on 25 years of industry experience, Patricia Saporito shows how to systematically leverage analytics to improve business performance and customer satisfaction throughout any insurance business. Applied Insurance Analytics demonstrates how to use analytics to systematically improve operations ranging from underwriting and risk management to claims. Even more important: it will help you drive more value everywhere by defining a focused enterprise-wide analytics strategy, and overcoming the challenges that stand in your way. Saporito helps you assess your current analytics maturity, choose the new applications that offer the most value, and master best practices from throughout the industry and beyond. Throughout, she helps you gain more value from data assets, technologies and tools you've already invested in. You'll find new case studies, practical tools, and easy templates for improving the "Analytics IQ" of your entire enterprise. For every insurance industry professional and manager concerned with analytics, including users, IT pros, sales/marketing specialists, and data scientists. This book will also be valuable to students in any MBA or other program focused on insurance or risk management, and to many students in IT or analytics-specific programs.


Present value studies of asset market efficiency are controversial because they compare asset prices to unobserved discounted streams of future rents. As an alternative, if housing markets are efficient, then the price of residential capital or buildings should satisfy the following two conditions: (i) deviations between new building prices and construction costs should disappear faster than construction lags and have no effect on construction, and (ii) temporary building price shocks should dissipate at a similar rate for different vintage buildings. Results from an error-correction model support both hypotheses for single-family housing in Vancouver, British Columbia. This implies that the implicit market for residential buildings is efficient and that any inefficiencies in the housing market must lie in the market for land itself.


Applicants have been shown to fake responses on personality tests when applying for a job to appear as if they have characteristics most similar to ones that management defines as ideal for the given position. The purpose of this study was to propose and test a method to decrease faking on personality tests. Participants took a cognitive ability test, an emotional intelligence measure, and personality scales online. In the second part of the study, participants read an accountant job description and then either played a hand-held game (control condition) or filled out a biographical questionnaire (treatment condition) designed to increase participants' self-awareness. I hypothesized that making participants self-aware would reduce their tendency to fabricate answers on the subsequent personality test. Consistent with past research, the results show significant levels of participant faking in ways that would tend to make a person a better fit for an accountant job however making participants self-aware tended to actually increase participant faking, at least for participants with low cognitive ability or with high emotional intelligence. Possible explanations and implications of the unexpected results are


While we already know a lot about the outcomes and boundary conditions of servant leadership, there is still a need for research on its antecedents. Building on the theory of purposeful work behavior and further theorizing by van Dierendonck and Patterson (2015), we examine if leaders' propensity for compassionate love will evoke servant leadership behavior. At the same time, we contrast compassionate love to leaders' narcissism as psychological counterpart to compassionate love, because narcissism is not associated with leader effectiveness, but with leader emergence instead. We collected data from 170 leader-follower-dyads in a field study in Germany, while measuring leaders' compassionate love and narcissism, and followers' perceptions of servant leadership. We found a positive association between leaders' compassionate love and servant leadership behavior, while narcissism was negatively associated with servant leadership. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as pathways for future research are discussed.


Geant4 is a Monte Carlo simulation Toolkit, describing the interactions of particles with matter. Geant4 is widely used in radiation physics research, from High Energy Physics, to medical physics and space science, thanks to its sophisticated physics component, coupled with advanced functionality in geometry description. Geant4 is widely used at the Centre for Medical Radiation Physics (CMRP), at the University of Wollongong, to characterise and optimise novel detector concepts, radiotherapy treatments, and imaging solutions. This lecture consists of an introduction to Monte Carlo method, and to Geant4. Particular attention will be devoted to the Geant4 physics component, and to the physics models describing electromagnetic and hadronic physics interactions. The second part of the lecture will be focused on the methodology to adopt to develop a Geant4 simulation application.


Objective: To investigate MRI and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) predictors of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in cognitively normal older adults. Methods: Subjects were cognitively normal older adults (n = 1,156) who participated in the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging MRI/MRS study from August 2005 to December 2010 and had at least one annual clinical follow-up. Single-voxel MRS was performed from the posterior cingulate gyri, and hippocampal volumes and white matter hyperintensity volumes were quantified using automated methods. Brain infarcts were assessed on MRI. Cox proportional hazards regression, with age as the time scale, was used to assess the effect of MRI and MRS markers on the risk of progression from cognitively normal to MCI. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess the effect of MRI and MRS markers on cognitive decline. Results: After a median follow-up of 2.8 years, 214 participants had progressed to MCI or dementia (estimated incidence rate = 6.1% per year; 95% confidence interval = 5.3%–7.0%). In univariable modeling, hippocampal volume, white matter hyperintensity volume, and N-acetylaspartate/myo-inositol were significant predictors of MCI in cognitively normal older adults. In multivariable modeling, only decreased hippocampal volume and N-acetylaspartate/myo-inositol were independent predictors of MCI. These MRI/MRS predictors of MCI as well as infarcts were associated with cognitive decline (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Quantitative MRI and MRS markers predict progression to MCI and cognitive decline in cognitively normal older adults. MRS may contribute to the assessment of preclinical dementia pathologies by capturing neurodegenerative changes that are not detected by hippocampal volumetry.


Abstract Background Aberrantly overexpressed lung cancer stem cell associated factor-X (LCSCAFX) has been implicated in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) development. Methods To explore the effect of LCSCAFXon the lung cancer stem-like traitsin vitro and in vivo. Results We reported that enforced expression of LCSCAFX promoted NSCLC cells invasion and metastasis, drug resistance and recurrencein vitro and in vivo, whereas depletion of LCSCAFX suppressed metastasis and relapse in NSCLC. Moreover, we found that LCSCAFX expression was elevated in lung cancer stem cells (LCSCs). Indeed, knockdown of LCSCAFX impaired lung cancer stem-like traits. Conversely, ectopic overexpression of LCSCAFX enhanced the self-renewal ability of lung cancer cells in vitro. In addition, elevated LCSCAFX robustly enhanced tumor initiating frequencies, as well as growth rates of NSCLC cells derived tumor xenografts in immunodeficient mice. Furthermore, mechanistic investigations established that LCSCAFX stabilized c-Myc protein by suppressing its ubiquitylation and proteasomal degradation, which is required for lung cancer stem-like properties maintenance. Consistently, immunohistochemical analysis of clinical lung tumor tissues showed that LCSCAFX was elevated in NSCLC tissues and high LCSCAFX expression serve as an independent prognostic marker in patients with NSCLC. Importantly, genetic depletion of LCSCAFX combined chemotherapy dramatically inhibited NSCLC progression in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model. Conclusions These findings demonstrated a previously unappreciated role of LCSCAFX in the regulation of LCSCs, assigning LCSCAFX as a promising therapeutic target for lung cancer treatments. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Neisseria meningitidis is exclusively a human-adapted bacterium, most frequently found in asymptomatic carriage that promotes natural immunity. However, it is also the causative agent of severe invasive infections, such as septicaemia and/or meningitis that may lead to life-threatening septic shock. Vaccination with capsular polysaccharidic antigens (either plain or conjugated) induces serogroup specific protective antibodies. Meningococcal capsular polysaccharide vaccines are only available against serogroups A, C, Y and W135. There is no available capsular vaccine against serogroup B. Future strategies to develop meningococcal vaccine should be global strategies aimed to design a "universal vaccine" effective against meningococcal disease due to any strain, regardless its phenotype and genotype. However, these global strategies may be hindered by the high diversity of meningococcal isolates and their changing epidemiology. Alternatively, targeted or local vaccine strategies may be developed against specific isolates and can help particularly in controlling outbreaks while preserving benefits from carriage.


The paper discusses a self-organization phenomenon, physical and chemical aspects of friction, and the methods of friction control using advanced polymer composites based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The article also concerns a generic physical and an engineering approach to the development of new wear-resistant polymer composites with modified fibers filler. The influence of the mechanochemical activation of the matrix, fillers and composition on the physical, mechanical and tribotechnical properties of the composite has been investigated by methods of mathematical modeling. The optimum content of fibrous and dispersed fillers in the composition volume and the parameters of the production technology that provide maximum wear resistance of the composite while maintaining a sufficient level of physical and mechanical properties are found. Determine the properties of the composite based on the properties of the matrix and the filler. In this case, determining the distribution of the particles of the filler by size and the particles of different sizes in the volume of the composite.


Two of the world's leading astrophysicists, James Binney and Scott Tremaine, here present a comprehensive review of the theory of galactic dynamics at a level suitable for both graduate students and researchers. Their work in this volume describes our present understanding of the structure and dynamics of stellar systems such as galaxies and star clusters. Nicknamed "the Bible of galactic dynamics," this book has become a classic treatise, well known and widely used by researchers and students of galactic astrophysics and stellar dynamics. Praised for its modern approach, as well as for the rigor and exemplary clarity with which the authors handle the material in this book, Galactic Dynamics includes classic results and data while also reflecting the many recent developments in the field. The authors maintain an effective style of exposition throughout, keeping clear what is present knowledge and what is still speculation, while allowing the reader to grasp an overview of the subject before following through (where needed) with the mathematical detail. Most of the astronomical community since the late s was introduced to galactic dynamics through Galactic Dynamics, and it remains the most widely used graduate textbook in galactic astrophysics today. No other book gathers together and presents our current understanding of the field in such a clear and concise way. Through this approach, Binney and Tremaine succeeded in creating a classic reference of enormous pedagogic value.


Abstract. Relationships between solar activity and climate in the North Atlantic region have long been reported and, more recently, mechanisms have been proposed to explain these. Normally such relationships are tested over decadal time scales. Here, daily sea surface temperature fields bridging the period of exceptionally low solar activity between solar cycles 23 and 24 have been analysed. The day-to-day variability of the fields has been measured and the fields have been classified, using cluster analysis. The main water masses are clearly expressed, together with detail of their interactions. Three features relate to the level of solar activity. First, there is a statistically significant difference in the day-to-day variability of the sea surface temperature field between the period of lowest solar activity and the remaining periods. Second, during the transition from summer to winter, there are systematic, inter-annual changes in the day-to-day variability of the sea surface temperature field. Third, the forms of the late summer temperature fields exhibit symmetry about the years of lowest solar activity. These features are attributable to variability in the passage of weather systems. The influence on North Atlantic surface climate of variations in the solar ultraviolet band acting through the stratosphere has been reported in a number of studies. This provides a credible mechanism for solar activity influencing sea surface temperatures in the Greenland Sea.


A case study on the tendering process and cost/time performance of a public building project in Ghana is conducted. Competitive bids submitted by five contractors for the project, in which contractors were required to prepare their own quantities, were analyzed to compare differences in their pricing levels and risk/requirement perceptions. Queries sent to the consultants at the tender stage were also analyzed to identify the significant areas of concern to contractors in relation to the tender documentation. The five bidding prices were significantly different. The queries submitted for clarifications were significantly different, although a few were similar. Using a before-and-after experiment, the expected cost/time estimate at the start of the project was compared to the actual cost/time values, i.e. what happened in the actual construction phase. The analysis showed that the project exceeded its expected cost by 18% and its planned time by 210%. Variations and inadequate design were the major reasons. Following an exploration of these issues, an alternative tendering mechanism is recommended to clients. A shift away from the conventional approach of awarding work based on price, and serious consideration of alternative procurement routes can help clients in Ghana obtain better value for money on their projects.


Background: Previous studies have reported the association of PTPN1 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) incidence. But the results remain inconclusive.
Methods: We performed a meta-analysis on the association between PTPN1 SNPs and T2DM with pooled studies available. PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched up to June 15 2015. Case-control studies on the association between PTPN1 SNPs and T2DM susceptibility were included. The pooled association strength between PTPN1 SNPs and T2DM susceptibility was measured by odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using random-effects model.
Findings: rs2230605(A>G) (A vs G : OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.72-1.78; AG vs AA: 1.17, 0.72- 1.91) and rs1689673(148insG) (G vs O: 1.07, 0.93-1.25) were positively associated with T2DM susceptibility, whereas rs2230604(C>T) (TT vs CC: 0.74, 0.47-1.16; CT+TT vs CC: 0.89, 0.79-1.00; TT vs CT+CC: 0.76, 0.48-1.20), rs6126033(C>T) (T vs C: 0.86, 0.64-1.16; CT vs CC: 0.87, 0.66-1.14; TT vs CC: 0.85, 0.24-3.04; CT+TT vs CC: 0.86, 0.64-1.15; TT vs CT+CC: 0.86, 0.24-3.09); and rs2426159(A>G) (GG vs AA: 0.85, 0.65-1.10; AG+GG vs AA: 0.90, 0.75-1.08; GG vs AG+AA: 0.90, 0.74-1.10) were reversely correlated with T2DM.
Conclusions: Most of the SNPs genotyped were located at non-coding regions of PTPN1, suggesting that intact PTPN1 protein is essential for individual survival and growth. And the frequently observed reverse correlations between T2DM susceptibility and SNPs within non-coding regions of PTPN1 suggest that those SNPs have negative impacts on PTPN1 gene transcription.


One important aspect of performance documentation is the structure and models of data relating to performance. Documenting performance is a rapidly developing and changing field, as attested to by the work of various performance scholars across the world, the Documenting Performance project at City, University of London (Documenting Performance, 2017), among others. However, in a related universe, the bibliographic world has seen great changes in how they model bibliographic data over the last twenty or so years, through the model called Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), which has recently been superseded by the IFLA Library Reference Model (LRM). So, this article is going to put these developments together by considering performance documentation through the lens of the FRBR and LRM models. There are a number of reasons why exploring FRBR and LRM in relation to performance documentation is worthwhile. As libraries hold some materials relating to performance (for example, collections of theatre programmes), understanding how these materials fit into the dominant library models is useful. For those working specifically with performance and its documentation, the FRBR and LRM models provide an alternative way of modelling the performance world, and ask interesting questions about the nature of performance documentation.
This article starts with a brief precis of FRBR and LRM, followed by a summary of existing literature which discusses the treatment of performance within FRBR/LRM. A significant article by Miller and Le Boeuf (2005) is introduced: this paper models performance in FRBR, and forms the starting point for discussion. Then, three specific areas of performance documentation are discussed, describing and questioning the consequences of Miller and Le Boeuf's (2005) realisation: performance ephemera such as programmes, and the interplay between performance document and performance-as-document; the relationships between performance and recordings, in particular how the Miller and Le Boeuf model fits (or not) within current realisations of FRBR; the issue of whether all performance (for example, dance, theatre, music) can be treated as one within a FRBR or LRM universe. The article shows how there is a tension between taking a pure FRBR approach which only places traditional ideas of performance documentation within its structure, and the Miller and Le Boeuf (2005) position of performances being the central unit, which could be seen as a proto-realisation of performance-as-document.


The central feature of HIV disease is opportunistic infection and malignancy resulting from CD4 cell depletion. The remarkable reversal of this morbidity and mortality among the economically privileged results from the advent of potent antiretroviral therapy that allows the restoration of CD4 cell numbers and function. Insights into HIV dynamics and the relationships between of HIV replication and CD4 cell depletion have revolutionized our understanding of HIV pathogenesis and the clinical management of HIV infection (1–5). This revolution has also unveiled the magnitude of our ignorance about the dynamics of T lymphocytes in both HIV disease and normal physiology (6).

The introduction of potent antiretroviral therapy and the use of mathematical modeling enabled calculations for HIV clearance rates, HIV production rates, durations of components of the virus replication cycle, viral and infected lymphocyte survival times, and HIV generation time (1–4). Studies of lymphoid tissue permitted measurements of viral dynamics in solid tissue, characterized infected target cells in solid tissue, and confirmed the correlation of virus replication in lymphoid tissue and blood (7–12). Viral dynamics have been investigated not only in the quasi–steady state of established infection, but during primary infection (13).

Why has the dynamics of T lymphocytes been so difficult to address, relative to HIV viral dynamics, or even to that of erythrocytes and platelets, other blood cells whose turnover and life spans were well defined over a generation ago? The first problem is to measure proliferation rates. Measuring telomerase length is indirect and subject to complicated assumptions (14, 15). The measurement of cell-cycle antigens like Ki67 cannot account for variations in phases in the cell cycle. External labels incorporated into replicating T-cell DNA, such as BrdU and deuterated glucose, are not infused instantaneously, require large numbers of cells for detection, and, in the case of BrdU, are subject to recycling of label via salvage pathways (16, 17). These methods do not account for cell death during labeling or before measurement. A recent review has lucidly summarized these various methods and their limitations (18).

Another problem, not encountered when working with cells such as erythrocytes or platelets, is that CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes are a remarkably complex and heterogeneous mixture of subpopulations, each with the prospect of different turnover rates and tissue distributions, not to mention differential susceptibility to HIV infection. Furthermore, only 2% of T lymphocytes are normally found in the blood, and the distribution of these cells shifts significantly both with HIV infection and its treatment (10, 19, 20). The distribution of these heterogeneous subpopulations in the lymphoid tissue may not be perfectly reflected in the blood. Worse yet, not all lymphoid tissues are the same. For example, the susceptibility of lymphocytes to lentivirus infection may differ remarkably in the gut and lymph nodes (21, 22).

Finally, the modeling and calculations based on these various measurements must make certain assumptions. For example, is cell survival unchanged under different conditions that affect rates of cell proliferation? Is cell survival the same in HIV-infected and uninfected patients even with similar proliferation rates? When examining subpopulations of CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes, what proportion of the changes observed reflect production, death, or shift from one phenotype to another?

Despite these imposing challenges, progress is being made in characterizing T-cell dynamics in HIV infection. Studies to date indicate that CD4 cell depletion is associated with increased T-cell turnover in HIV infection (16, 17, 23); however, the dynamics are not strictly parallel to hemolytic anemia or idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, conditions that induce dramatic rises in both cell production and elimination. After HIV infection, the half-life of CD4 T lymphocytes drops, but the production rate does not respond with a compensatory increase (16, 24). With the suppression of virus replication by antiretroviral therapy, production rates of both CD4 and CD8 cells increase significantly (16, 21). Adding to these changes, HIV infection redistributes lymphocytes from circulation to the solid tissues, and antiretroviral therapy partially reverses this process (10, 20).

The article by McCune et al. in this issue of the JCI (25) confirms many of these observations and significantly extends them. The clinically critical decay of CD4 cell numbers in untreated HIV-infected patients is explained by a shortened cellular half-life without a compensatory increased rate of production. Antiretroviral treatment corrects the CD4 cell count by relieving the inhibition of production but has little effect on the turnover of these cells. After the first year of therapy, however, production rates settle to normal levels and the cellular half-life lengthens. These 2 phases, with a more rapid turnover followed by a slower one, may reflect the different half-lives of lymphocyte subpopulations. Memory/effector cells (CD45RO+) appear to have a half-life of 1–2 months, whereas naive cells (CD45RA+, CD62L+) have half-lives of 4–12 months, as suggested by previous human and murine studies. These populations are each yet more complicated with the memory/effector subpopulation consisting of further fractions of memory and effector components with each of these containing specialized members. Naive cells, as well, may be generated by peripheral proliferation or by emigration from the thymus; recent thymic emigrants can be identified because they retain DNA rearrangement circles derived from the T-cell receptor locus (26). McCune et al. show that some of the interpatient variability in CD4 cell production represents differential production of longer half-life, naive T cells, a property that correlates with age-related restoration of thymic mass. The generation, or lack of it, of each of the many components of the T-cell population undoubtedly has profound effects on the repertoire and function of the immune system.

New insights and information beget yet more unanswered questions. Are the assumptions underlying the mathematical models that generated these determinants all valid? For example, cells eliminated between the times of labeling and assay cannot be accounted for in these models. What are the dynamics, the trafficking, and the distribution of the various subpopulations in different tissue compartments? What mechanisms underlie the modulation of production, survival, phenotypic shifting, trafficking, and redistribution in HIV disease. Finally, what regulates these processes in normal physiology? The study of HIV pathophysiology prodded investigators to address the normal physiology of cell dynamics, but this work has only begun.


The objective of this trial was to determine the benefits of supplementing active dried yeast (ADY; 3 × 1010 CFU/d of Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in diets of growing and finishing steers on ruminal pH and liver health, and evaluate the relationship of these variables with performance traits. Growing beef steers (n = 120) were blocked by weight (i.e., heavy and light) and allocated to 1 of 4 pens in an automated feed intake monitoring system. Steers were fed either control (CON; no ADY) or ADY supplemented in 4 sequential diets: grower diet from days 0 to 70, 2 step up diets (STEP1 and STEP2) for 7 d each, and finishing diet from days 85 to 164. Indwelling rumen boli were administered to monitor rumen pH during days 56 to 106 during the dietary transition. An exchange of pen assignment, within block, occurred on day 70 resulting in 4 final treatment (TRT) assignments: steers fed CON before and after the exchange (CC; n = 30), steers fed CON before and ADY after the exchange (CY; n = 30), steers fed ADY before and CON after the exchange (YC; n = 30), and steers fed ADY (YY; n = 30). Ruminal parameters were analyzed as a randomized complete block design with repeated measures of day, diet and TRT as fixed effects, and block as random effects, using 2 approaches: preliminary analysis of the means or drift analysis (DA; units change from basal values over time). Ruminal pH duration (DUR) below 6.0 (P = 0.05) and 5.8 (P = 0.05) was greater for CY steers than CC steers. Acidosis bout prevalence (pH < 5.6 for 180 consecutive minutes; P < 0.01) and bout DUR (P = 0.05) were greater for CY than other TRT groups. The DA indicated that the ruminal pH variables range, variance, and amplitude of steers in the YC group drifted further from basal pH values than CY and YY steers during the dietary transition (P ≤ 0.02), indicating that removing ADY during the dietary transition was not favorable, but including ADY may reduce ruminal fluctuation. Steers with fewer days experiencing bouts (DEB) had numerically greater ADG (P = 0.11) and tended to have greater G:F (P = 0.06). Liver abscess severity negatively affected ADG (P = 0.04). However, liver abscess severity was not affected by DEB (P = 0.90). There is evidence to suggest that the addition of the specific ADY strain in the diets of beef cattle during the dietary transition may aid in ruminal stabilization, but our study did not find evidence that acidosis bouts were related to abscess prevalence or severity.


The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War incited the beginning of a new World order of international relations and the creation of new actor roles in this new stage. In the last 25 years Russia's role as a great power had a different context, from an empire in free fall to the revitalization of its international role. The main question this work asks is: Which is Russia's position in the international arena after the disintegration of the Soviet Union? The answer to this question is given by researching under the prism of the creation of a new vision, around what Russia represents in two and a half decades and how its role is represented in a different context of international relations. It will be also researched on the perspective of Europe as an instrument to balance and obstruct the Russian expansion. The work will be based on the analysis of the archival information of the period of time. The methods of historical, logical and comparative analysis have been used, together with various literatures from different researchers and politician. This study aims to explain the forms and weaknesses of the regime and the causes which brought to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, in other words the causes of the fall of the communist bloc: Yeltsin's presidency (1991-1999); Russia's new context in the international arena and the role of the new actors will be explained: Putin's presidency (1999-2008); and the explanation of the revival of Russia's international role as a great power (2009-2014). This work also highlights the foreign policy, the alterations and the contradictory character of the leadership, the change of presidency between Putin and Medvedev and the problems with Ukraine and Crimea. With the fall of the communism, which incited the divide of the balances from the bipolarity of the Cold War, the changing economic world, in the midst of other alterations, presented a new equilibrium of power. As a descendent of the communist empire, Russia is fully convinced that it has the right of rebuilding of the empire through expansion. It also knows that the main part is not the will, but the ability. If it can, Russia will rebuild the destroyed empire through a constant expansionist policy. And if they can, the USA and the west will hinder the building of this empire.


Over the past 20 years brain Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) imaging has developed a substantial, evidence-based foundation and is now recommended by professional societies for numerous indications relevant to psychiatric practice. Unfortunately, SPECT in clinical practice is utilized by only a handful of clinicians. This article presents a rationale for a more widespread use of SPECT in clinical practice for complex cases, and includes seven clinical applications where it may help optimize patient care.


a field experiment was conducted at the soil research department station (Agricultural Research Office), located in Abu Ghraibdistrict (20 kilometers west of Baghdad) during the spring season for year (2016) to study the effect of irrigation water quality of furrow irrigation system on chemical and physical properties of the Soil.The field study carried out by using three types of saline irrigation water: (tap water) with (0.6 ds/m), two wells water with (3.0 ds/m) and (5.1 ds/m), and the alternating irrigation method through the continuation of irrigation to the end of the agricultural season using one irrigate of tap water followed by one irrigate of water well with (5.1 ds/m). The results showedincreasing of ECS and SAR values if salinitywater used as (S2 > S3 > S1), respectivelyfor the depths (20-30, and 30-45cm) more than the depths (0-10, and 10-20 cm) and decreasing of ECS and SAR values at the depths (0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm) when the tap water ( S0) is used. Also, increasing of the physical properties of the soil when theirrigation used by tap water (S0), and, decreasing of the physical properties of the soil when the irrigation used by water salinity(S2 > S3 > S1), respectively, at the depth (15-30) more than the depth (0-15 cm).


Objectives Over 1 billion individuals worldwide experience some form of sleep apnoea, and this number is steadily rising. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) can negatively influence one's quality of life and potentially increase mortality risk. However, the association between OSA and mortality has not been reliably estimated. This meta-analysis estimates the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in individuals with OSA. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Scopus and Joanna Briggs Institute Evidence-Based Practice databases were searched from inception through 1 January 2020. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies We included observational studies assessing the association of sudden deaths in individuals with and without OSA. Data extraction and synthesis Two independent reviewers (AES and ESH) extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale quality assessment tool. Data were pooled using the random-effects models and reported as risk ratios (RRs) with 95% CIs. Heterogeneity was quantified with I2 statistic. Results We identified 22 observational studies (n=42 099 participants). The mean age was 62 years and 64% were men. OSA was associated with all-cause sudden death (RR=1.74, 95% CI: 1.44 to 2.10, I2=72%) and cardiovascular mortality (RR=1.94, 95% CI: 1.39 to 2.70, I2=32%). A marginally significant dose–response relationship between severity of OSA and the risk of death was observed (p for interaction=0.05): mild OSA (RR=1.16, 95% CI: 0.70 to 1.93), moderate OSA (RR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.67) and severe OSA (RR=2.87, 95% CI: 1.70 to 4.85). Meta-regression analysis showed that older age was a significant contributing factor in the relationship between OSA and mortality. The median study methodological quality was considered high. Conclusions OSA is a significant risk factor for all-cause mortality and cardiac mortality. Prevention and treatment strategies to optimise survival and quality of life in individuals with OSA are urgently needed. PROSPERO registration number CRD42020164941.


We present a method which estimates the normalized point-source sensitivity (PSSN) of a segmented telescope when only information from a single segment surface is known. The estimation principle is based on a statistical approach with an assumption that all segment surfaces have the same power spectral density (PSD) as the given segment surface. As presented in this paper, the PSSN based on this statistical approach represents a worst-case scenario among statistical random realizations of telescopes when all segment surfaces have the same PSD. Therefore, this method, which we call the vendor table, is expected to be useful for individual segment specification such as the segment polishing specification. The specification based on the vendor table can be directly related to a science metric such as PSSN and provides the mirror vendors significant flexibility by specifying a single overall PSSN value for them to meet. We build a vendor table for the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and test it using multiple mirror samples from various mirror vendors to prove its practical utility. Accordingly, TMT has a plan to adopt this vendor table for its M1 segment final mirror polishing requirement.


Colonisation by macrobenthos after defaunation due to anoxia and sulphide accumulation was studied in 2 field experiments, performed at shallow sites in the southwestern Baltic Sea. In the first experiment (Wismar Bight) an area was initially covered with dark foil which caused azoic anoxic sediments with high sulphide concentrations (up to 3.4 mm01 I-' a t 2 cm depth). After foil removal sulphide concentrations in the upper sediment layer decreased, but a t 10 cm depth high concentrations of 1.65 mm01 I-' sulphide remained even after 69 d . Within 3 d , adults of species living in the upper sediment layer, e .g . the ostracod Cyprideis torosa, appeared as first immigrants. After 1 mo the density, species composition, diversity and evenness of the macrobenthlc community in the experunental area were not significantly different from the reference area. In the second experiment (Hiddensee Island) the colonisation of an area defaunated by a thick cover of decaying algae Fucus vesiculosus was investigated. After removal of the algal mat, recovery of the experimental area (decrease of sulphlde concentrations, colonisation pattern of macrofauna, development of community parameters, recovery tune) was similar to that described for the first colonisation expenment. Laboratory tolerance expennlents revealed that species such a s C. torosa that returned first to the experimental areas also showed highest survival rates under hypoxia and sulphide. In contrast, the amphipod Corophium volutator, the most sensitive species to hypoxia and sulphide, was one of the last animals to reach both experimental areas. The macrobenthic community consists mainly of deposit feeding species with a high tolerance for temporary hypoxic conditions and frequent exposure to sulphide. The few less tolerant species have the capacity to produce large populations within short time periods (e.g. the oligochaete Paranais litoralis) andlor have a high mobility (e.g C. volutator). At these shallow sites in the Baltic Sea a combined set of abiotic and biotic factors seems to favour rapid recovery of a stress-preconditioned macrobenthos from recurring small-scale hypoxic and sulphidic periods which dominate the ecosystem as structuring factors.


Delegated, but still intensive: Quality time and parenting in upper-middle class families in Sweden During the last decade, Swedish families have started to employ nannies and au pairs to an extent previously never experienced. Political initiatives such as tax deductions for household services, together with global trends of 'care chains', have created a private market for care services, which have made possible for families, who can afford it, to hire cheap female, and often migrant, care labour. This indicates a new trend in politics of care and family in Sweden; a move away from a social democratic welfare regime, stressing social equality and public provision of good care institutions for all, towards privatized and marketized care/family solutions available for some, that is, well-off upper-middle class families. In our research project we have studied families hiring nannies and au pairs in Sweden. Our focus has been on family practices, and how the 'doing of family' is affected by the possibility of hiring nannies and au pairs. We have interviewed the three key actors involved in this practice – nannies/au pairs, parents and children – and we present all of their narratives in our up-coming book Nanny families (will be published Spring 2019). In this presentation, we have chosen to focus on one of the aspects of our data, and that is how practices and discourses on parenting and parent care has changed with the hiring of nannies and au pairs. Given this, it is primarily the parent data that is in focus, and we will show you how, in the parent narratives, the presence of domestic care workers is narrated in relation to both ideas of delegation of care, but also, somewhat paradoxically, as a possibility of intensive presence in the lives of their children. Central to both these ideas is the overarching ideal of quality time: that one's actions should maximize the possibilities of 'happy and stress-free' times for one's children. This, in turn, relies on assumptions of care as an activity that can be divided up, into 'menial' and 'spiritual' parts. At the same time, the parent's perspectives and ideals of 'quality time' and care can be questioned when looking at the narratives told to us by children being cared for by nannies and au pairs, wherein which 'quality' gets a slightly different meaning, not always detrimental to mundane, everyday activities. (Less)


According to conventional wisdom, government may intervene when private markets fail to provide goods and services that society values. This view has led to the passage of much legislation and the creation of a host of agencies that have attempted, by exquisitely detailed regulations, to compel legislatively defined behavior in a broad range of activities affecting society as a whole--health care, housing, pollution abatement, transportation, to name only a few. Far from achieving the goals of the legislators and regulators, these efforts have been largely ineffective; worse, they have spawned endless litigation and countless administrative proceedings as the individuals and firms on who the regulations fall seek to avoid, or at least soften, their impact. The result has been long delays in determining whether government programs work at all, thwarting of agreed-upon societal aims, and deep skepticism about the power of government to make any difference. Strangely enough in a nation that since its inception has valued both the means and the ends of the private market system, the United States has rarely tried to harness private interests to public goals. Whenever private markets fail to produce some desired good or service (or fail to deter undesirable activity), the remedies proposed have hardly ever involved creating a system of incentives similar to those of the market place so as to make private choice consonant with public virtue. In this revision of the Godkin Lectures presented at Harvard University in November and December 1976, Charles L. Schultze examines the sources of this paradox. He outlines a plan for government intervention that would turn away from the direct" command and control" regulating techniques of the past and rely instead on market-like incentives to encourage people indirectly to take publicly desired actions.


Different ecosystem values of the Amazon rainforest are surveyed in economic terms. Spatial rainforest valuation is crucial for good forest management, such as where to put the most effort to stop illegal logging and forest fires, and which areas to designate as new nationally protected areas. Three classes of economic value are identified, according to who does the valuation: values accruing to the local and regional populations (of South America); carbon values (which are global); and other global (noncarbon) values. Only the first two classes are discussed. Three types of value are separated according to ecosystem service delivered from the rainforest: provisioning services; supporting and regulating services; and cultural and other human services. Net values of provisioning services, including reduced impact logging and various non-timber forest products, are well documented for the entire Brazilian Amazon at a spatially detailed scale and amount to at least $20–50/ha/year. Less-detailed information exists about values of fish, game, and bioprospecting from the Amazon, although their total values can be shown to be sizable. Many supporting and regulating services are harder to value economically, in particular climate regulation and watershed and erosion protection. Impacts of changed rainfall when Amazon rainforest is lost have been valued at detailed scale, but with relative model values of $10–20/ha/year. Carbon values are much larger, at a carbon price of $30/ton CO2, around $14,000/ha as capitalized value. The average per-hectare value of tourism and the health benefits from having the Amazon forest are low, and such values cannot easily be pinned down to individual areas of the Amazon. Finally, the biodiversity values of the Amazon, as accruing to the local and regional population, seem to be small based on recent stated-preference work in Brazil. Most of the values related to biodiversity are likely to be global and may. in principle, be very large, but the global components are not valued here. The concept of value is discussed, and a marginal valuation concept (practically useful for policy) is favored as opposed to an average or total valuation. Marginal value can be below average value (as is likely for biodiversity and tourism), but can also in some contexts be higher. This can occur where losing forest at a local scale increases the prevalence of forest fires and where it increases forest dryness, leading to a multiplier process whereby more forest is lost. While strides have recently been made to improve rainforest valuation at both micro- and macroscales, much work still remains.


The target type flowmeter based on fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is experimentally studied. The relationship between the central wavelength shift of FBG and the flux is derived and the analytic expression is also given. Simulation and preliminary experiments have been carried out, and experimental validation of the water further proves the feasibility of the sensor. The experimental results verify the proposed sensor which can measure flux range from 200 to 1200 cm3/s. And on this basis, the improvement program is raised.


Background Percussive therapy is hypothesized to speed recovery by delivering gentle, rhythmic pulses to soft tissue. However, patients often present with a differential soreness response after percussive therapy, which may lead to altered clinical outcomes. Purpose To compare the acute effects of percussion therapy on passive range of motion (ROM) and tissue-specific ultrasound measures (pennation angle [PA] and muscle thickness [MT]) between healthy individuals responding positively vs. negatively to percussive therapy performed on the dominant arm posterior rotator cuff. Study Design Cross-sectional laboratory study Methods Fifty-five healthy individuals were assessed on a subjective soreness scale before and after a five-minute percussive therapy session on the dominant arm posterior rotator cuff muscles. Participants with no change or a decrease in muscle soreness were assigned to the positive response group and participants who reported an increase in muscle soreness were assigned to the negative response group. Passive internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) ROM and strength, and muscle architecture of the infraspinatus and teres minor were measured via ultrasound on the dominant shoulder. All dependent variables were collected before percussive therapy, and 20 minutes following percussive therapy. Results The positive response group had greater improvements than the negative response group in dominant arm IR ROM (2.3° positive vs. -1.3° negative, p=0.021) and IR strength (1.1 lbs vs. -1.2 lbs, p=0.011) after percussive therapy. No differences in ER strength or ROM were observed between groups. Regarding muscle architecture, the positive group had a lesser change in teres minor MT (0.00 mm vs. 0.11 mm, p=0.019) after percussive therapy. All other muscle architecture changes were not statistically different between groups. Conclusion Participants with a positive response to percussive therapy had increased dominant arm IR ROM and IR strength, and decreased teres minor MT, after percussive therapy compared to the negative response participants. Level of Evidence III


Security is an essential service for wired and wireless network communications. The success of mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) mainly depends on people's confidence in its security. In a MANET, a collection of mobile hosts with wireless network interfaces form a network without the aid of any fixed infrastructure or centralized administration. The characteristics of MANET pose challenges and opportunities in achieving security goals, such as confidentiality, authentication, integrity, availability, access control, and non-repudiation. There are a wide variety of attacks that target the weakness of MANET, and Black-hole attack and Denial of Service attack (DOS) are the most prominent among this. Most of the research is focused on detect and how avoid these attacks by compromising on the performance of the network. This paper considers network Quality of Service (QoS) has one of the prime important factor and with the Overhead and packet-Delivery are the two important criteria evaluate the performance of the network in the presence of the security attacks. .


ABSTRACT Sweet sorghum [SS; Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is a potential biofuel crop for the Great Plains. Sweet sorghum was compared with corn [ Zea mays (L.)] and grain sorghum for potential ethanol yield, energy use effi ciency, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-sions at seven dryland site-years in Nebraska. Seasonal rainfall ranged from approximately 340 to 660 mm. Soils were deep with medium texture at all site-years. Th e eff ects of seeding rate, N rate, and cultivar on SS performance were evaluated. Sweet sorghum sugar yield was not aff ected by seeding rate and N application at six of seven site-years, but yield was increased by 19% at one site-year. Calculated ethanol yield and net energy yield were 33 and 21% more, respectively, with the grain crops compar ed with SS, but mean net energy yield of an earlier-maturing SS cultivar was comparable with the grain crops. Th e mean ratio of energy produced in ethanol per total energy invested was 23% less for grain crops compared with SS. Mean life cycle GHG emis-sions were 53% and 66 to 69% less compared with gasoline for SS and grain crops, respectively. Very effi cient use of the ethanol coproducts was assumed for the grain crops while SS bagasse was assumed to be returned to the fi eld. At least one SS cultivar is competitive with grain crops for some biofuel criteria, but SS is not competitive with grain crops for total or net liquid transpor-tation fuel produced per hectare.