Ocular immune privilege is the result of several unique features of the eye, including the systemic down-regulation of Th1 immune responses to Ags encountered in the anterior chamber of the eye—a phenomenon termed anterior chamber-associated immune deviation (ACAID). The induction of ACAID requires the participation of three cell populations: the ocular ACAID APC, the splenic B cell, and the splenic T cell. Because B cells have been implicated in tolerogenic Ag presentation in other systems, we hypothesized that B cells were responsible for the induction of regulatory T cells in ACAID. The central hypothesis for this study is that APC from the eye migrate to the spleen where they release antigenic peptides (OVA) that are captured and presented to T cells by splenic B cells. A combination of in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrated that splenic B cells, incubated with ACAID APC in vitro, were capable of inducing ACAID when transferred to naive mice. The induction of ACAID required the normal expression of b 2 -microglobulin on both the B cell and ACAID APC, but not on the T suppressor cells. Moreover, the induction of ACAID regulatory cells required histocompatibility between the B cells and regulatory T cells at the TL/Qa region. The results indicate that: 1) B cells are necessary for the induction of ACAID; 2) ACAID B cells do not directly suppress the expression of delayed-type hypersensitivity; and 3) the induction of Ag-specific regulatory T cells by ACAID B cells requires histocompatibility at the TL/Qa region. The Journal of Immunology, 2001, 166: 26–32.


Processing of highly perishable non-storable crops, such as tomato, is typically promoted for two reasons: as a way of absorbing excess supply, particularly during gluts that result from predominantly rainfed cultivation; and to enhance the value chain through a value-added process. For Ghana, improving domestic tomato processing would also reduce the country's dependence on imported tomato paste and so improve foreign exchange reserves, as well as provide employment opportunities and development opportunities in what are poor rural areas of the country. Many reports simply repeat the mantra that processing offers a way of buying up the glut. Yet the reality is that the "tomato gluts," an annual feature of the local press, occur only for a few weeks of the year, and are almost always a result of large volumes of rainfed local varieties unsuitable for processing entering the fresh market at the same time, not the improved varieties that could be used by the processors. For most of the year, the price of tomatoes suitable for processing is above the breakeven price for tomato processors, given the competition from imports. Improved varieties (such as Pectomech) that are suitable for processing are also preferred by consumers and achieve a premium price over the local varieties.


Future consumption and use of aluminium is expected to continue to increase significantly. However, due to the heavily inter-connected and complex global aluminium system, there is a need to better understand how increases in aluminium consumption and demand will impact the future flows within the global aluminium cycle. This study aims to analyse the historical flows and in-use stock of aluminium within each region to create a stock-driven, trade-linked, multi-regional model that can forecast global aluminium flows to 2050 through various scenarios. The end goal of this research effort is to provide the aluminium industry with a robust tool that provides insights into long-term business strategies given various possibilities for how the global aluminium cycle could evolve in the future.


This paper presents the Model Access Service (MAS) developed in the EU ISTforCE project (IST-1999-11508). It uses the capabilities of product data technology to provide value added services in a human-centred, web-based collaboration environment. Along with standard services for product model access on model and object level, it encompasses also two advanced knowledge-based features: a Reasoning Agent and an Explanation Component. MAS is developed as a self-contained system that can be used in a variety of ways. In the ISTforCE framework, it is integrated with an external Product Data Server (PDS) and a Core Information Server (CIS) which provide the necessary infrastructure enabling the full functionality of MAS. Standard functionality for model level access is provided by using MAS as a central tool that enables generalised data exchange capabilities to all relevant product models in one or more construction projects, even if they are stored on different product data servers. This is done on the basis of user and account information retrieved from the CIS. To enable the use of the product models directly, MAS provides an API for generalised RPC-based model access on object level. One of the two advanced features of MAS is the integrated Reasoning Agent which is responsible for replying to sophisticated queries concerning a specific structural design model, extending the IFC2x core model. It allows clients to use AI planning methods remotely, to generate solution sequences that combine the computed single Solver items. The second advanced feature incorporated in the MAS is the Engineering Ontology layer. It enables the translation of IFC data to the vocabulary and semantics familiar to end users. This unique feature of the MAS, distinguishing it from most proposed product data services to date, is augmented by an Explanation Component which opens many of its functions to standard Web Browsers.


Disposable elastic gloves are ubiquitous in scientific laboratories and are also widely used in many industries during handling of critical surfaces. Disposable gloves are typically made from nitrile or latex rubber and offer their users protection from various aqueous acids and bases, biological and medical fluids, organic solvents, and other potentially harmful substances. A second major use of disposable gloves is to protect manufactured products and analytical samples from contamination caused by the transfer of skin cells, oils, salts, cosmetics, hand lotions, or other residues resulting from contact with bare hands. However, disposable gloves can also be an overlooked potential source of contamination on handled surfaces. In addition to the primary polymer structure, many types of common laboratory gloves also contain a variety of inorganic salt additives in the glove formulation. Silicone-containing mold-release agents that allow powderfree gloves to be easily stripped from the glove formers during fabrication may be present on glove surfaces. Post-forming processes such as chlorination are often used to oxidize the outer glove surface to reduce surface tackiness. Furthermore, the inner surface on disposable gloves may have polymeric surface coatings for improved donning properties. These inner coatings or other bulk glove components may permeate the glove material and segregate to the outer glove surface after exposure to certain solvents. Contact with solvents during a rinsing of items may also transfer glove components to the surfaces of those items. Contamination resulting from surface residues on gloves can adversely affect materials used in industries where surface cleanliness is essential for optimum product performance and can also interfere with the analysis of samples depending on the specificity and sensitivity of the analytical technique. Therefore, it is important to know if the various components within a particular glove material are leached out by certain solvents or if manufacturing residues present on the surfaces of gloves are easily transferred to other materials. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a qualitative and quantitative surface sensitive technique that can be used to evaluate the elemental and chemical surface composition of disposable gloves and to determine if contamination transfer occurs from gloves to other surfaces in a specific application. In this study, a Thermo Scientific K-Alpha XPS instrument was used to characterize the outer and inner surface compositions of a variety of common laboratory gloves. Changes in the surface composition of the gloves following exposure to several common laboratory solvents were also investigated. The transfer of surface components from the gloves to clean aluminum foil surfaces by light touching was also evaluated. Key Words


Robot soccer competition provides an excellent opportunity for integrated robotics research. In particular, robot players in a soccer game must recognize and track objects in real time, navigate in a dynamic field, collaborate with teammates, and strike the ball in the correct direction. All these tasks demand robots that are autonomous (sensing, thinking, and acting as independent creatures), efficient (functioning under time and resource constraints), cooperative (collaborating with each other to accomplish tasks that are beyond an individual's capabilities), and intelligent (reasoning and planning actions and perhaps learning from experience). Furthermore, all these capabilities must be integrated into a single and complete system, which raises a set of challenges that are new to individual research disciplines. This article describes our experience (problems and solutions) in these aspects. Our robots share the same general architecture and basic hardware, but they have integrated abilities to play different roles (goalkeeper, defender, or forward) and use different strategies in their behavior. Our philosophy in building these robots is to use the least sophistication to make them as robust and integrated as possible. At RoboCup-97, held as part of the Fifteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, these integrated robots performed well, and our DREAMTEAM won the world championship in the middle-size robot league.


Humans are increasingly relying on complex systems that heavily adopts Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. Such systems are employed in a growing number of domains, and making them explainable is an impelling priority. Recently, the domain of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) emerged with the aims of fostering transparency and trustworthiness. Several reviews have been conducted. Nevertheless, most of them deal with data-driven XAI to overcome the opaqueness of black-box algorithms. Contributions addressing goal-driven XAI (e.g., explainable agency for robots and agents) are still missing. This paper aims at filling this gap, proposing a Systematic Literature Review. The main findings are (i) a considerable portion of the papers propose conceptual studies, or lack evaluations or tackle relatively simple scenarios; (ii) almost all of the studied papers deal with robots/agents explaining their behaviors to the human users, and very few works addressed inter-robot (inter-agent) explainability. Finally, (iii) while providing explanations to non-expert users has been outlined as a necessity, only a few works addressed the issues of personalization and context-awareness.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the significance of cavernous sinus gas identified on head CT scans.

METHODS
Head CT scans were viewed prospectively for a period of 3 years. The charts of patients who demonstrated cavernous sinus gas were reviewed.

RESULTS
Seventeen patients without head trauma and 10 patients with head trauma demonstrated gas in the cavernous sinus. None of the patients had symptoms or developed symptoms originating in the cavernous sinus. All of the patients without trauma had an intravenous line in place. Sphenoid fractures or basilar skull fractures were not a constant finding in trauma patients with cavernous sinus gas.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients without symptoms referable to the cavernous sinus, gas in the cavernous sinus does not appear to be a significant finding. The gas is most likely the result of venous air emboli from intravenous lines or penetrating trauma.


The study examines the stationary conditions, determine solutions to improve degraded land, assessing the cost of ecological restoration work needed in the area of improving degraded lands at Rapa Copăcel, estimated benefits of the project and its viability. Objectives of the paper: need to introduce in the circuit of productive forest lands within the improvement of the area "La Rapa Copăcel" danger zone where activation of the phenomena of degradation (erosion , landslides ) predominate. Out of 102.33 ha as area for improvement, the effective area of 101.6 ha is forested, representing a difference of 0.73 ha, 1.2 m wide strip that is to be the place for hedges. Viability of the project results from the ratio calculated benefit/cost = 2.3 which justifies the need and opportunity for investment. Opportunity project results in immediate and potential beneficial effects of the a forestation namely stabilization by stopping land erosion and landslides with positive influences on human settlements, infrastructure and communication lines, reducing the intensity of land degradation processes and the gradual improvement their production capacity as the direct effect of forest cultures, the role of forests in improving the main factors of environmental water, air, climate, reducing extreme values of climatic factors (temperature, evapotranspiration, wind speed, humidity) and air purification by the ozoning phyithoncide releasing the destructive effect of microbes; regulating rainfall, ensuring constant and permanent water flow, reducing the effects of drought and floods, improving stationary conditions for the maintenance and development of herbaceous vegetation and forest. It specifies the role and sanogene functions of the forest – ambient of the forest, an constructive and necessary factor for the ecosystems and human health, and its other roles: aesthetic role "attribute of all forests" contemplating a sylvan landscape with positive effects on the psyche (lights, shadows, colors, contrasts, echo), thus improving the appearance of the landscape area surrounding Loamnes; diversifying and increasing social functions, conservation of biodiversity, creating a favorable climate for wildlife, creating database, nectarous economic effects are related to obtaining wood in a wood shortage area.


One of the most controversial aspects of Javanese gamelan music is its musical mode, pathet. From her experience as a performer of sindhenan, or female singing, Walton analyses the melodies and defines the basic laws of mode for sindhenan. She explains more convincingly than previous authors how two systems of mode operate simultaneously in gamelan music to enhance its aesthetic appeal.


In this paper, wireless video transmission over full-duplex channels is studied. In order to provide the desired performance levels to the end-users in real-time video transmissions, quality of service (QoS) requirements such as statistical delay constraints are also considered. Effective capacity (EC) is used as the throughput metric in the presence of such statistical delay constraints since deterministic delay bounds are difficult to guarantee due to the time-varying nature of wireless fading channels. A communication scenario with a pair of users and multiple subchannels in which users can have different delay requirements is addressed. Following characterizations from the rate-distortion (R-D) theory, a logarithmic model of the quality-rate relation is used for predicting the quality of the reconstructed video in terms of the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) at the receiver side. Since the optimization problem is not concave or convex, the optimal power allocation policy that maximizes the weighted sum video quality subject to total transmission power constraint is derived by using monotonic optimization (MO) theory. The optimal scheme is compared with two suboptimal strategies.


This paper presents an energy-efficient power allocation for a multicarrier link over a frequency-selective fading channel with a delay-outage probability constraint. The power adaptation maximizes the system energy efficiency (EE), formulated as the ratio of the achieved effective capacity (EC) to the total expenditure power, including both transmission power and rate-independent circuit power. We prove that this objective function is quasi-concave in the transmission power, and derive the global optimum solution using fractional programming. Based on the obtained solution, we develop a power adaptation algorithm consisting of two steps: (i) establishing the optimum average power level corresponding to the maximum achievable EE with no transmit power constraint, and then (ii) for a given power constraint, jointly distributing the power over time and frequency based on the constraint and the optimum power level found in the first step. Analytical results show that the proposed EE-based power allocation has a structure similar to the allocation that maximizes the EC, but with a different cut-off threshold. Our proposed joint EE-optimal power allocation provides significant EE gains over both the joint spectral-efficient and independent-subcarrier EE-based power allocation schemes, where the rate-energy tradeoff becomes more pronounced with higher frequency selectivity.


We address verification of imprecise datapath circuits with sequential elements. Using the arithmetic transform (AT) and its extensions, we verify the sequential datapath circuits with finite precision. An efficient formulation of precision verification is presented as a polynomial maximization search over Boolean inputs. Using a branch-and-bound search for the precision error and the block-level composition of ATs, we verify the approximated, rounded and truncated pipelined datapaths.


Abstract: Based on 32 interviews the following paper explores the contexts of current popularity of hip-hop culture Poland. I hypothesize that technological development and popularization of the internet is the crucial element in enabling the inclusive development and popularity of the music. By focusing on local, unknown artists, I outline their activities and locate them in a bigger picture of the Polish hip-hop culture and industry. I claim that an increasing availability of personal computers in Poland, home internet and development of on-line streaming video-channels removed barriers and allowed the fans and artists to communicate. Keywords: hip-hop, globalization, Eastern Europe, Poland


This article provides an overview of the current state of repositories of open educational resources (ROER) in higher education at international level. It analyses a series of educational indicators to determine whether ROER can meet the specific needs of the education context, and to clarify understanding of the reuse of open educational resources (OER) provided by ROER. The aim of the study is to assess ROER by combining these two perspectives, and to form a basis for discussion among the universities that are responsible for these repositories. The method was based on content analysis and consisted of two phases: an exploration of international sources, and an analysis of 110 ROER using the proposed set of indicators. The results focus on data from the analysis of ROER websites and some models of good practices. They are presented according to three core dimensions for evaluating ROER: general factors to establish types of ROER, a focus on drivers for OER reuse, and a focus on educational aspects.  It was found that most of the ROER that included one or more of the proposed reuse indicators were created exclusively for educational resources. Educational aspects are not yet firmly embedded into ROER. The few repositories that seem to have successfully included them are those that provide other educational metadata and use educational standards.


Background The continued practice of a sport linked to the unilateral predominance of the dominant side can provoke chronic asymmetric adaptations in the myotendinous structure and mechanical properties. Objectives: The main purpose was to determine whether asymmetry between the preferred and non-preferred lower limb is present in the lower limb tendon structure, muscle architecture and stiffness values of professional badminton players. Methods Sixteen male professional badminton players (age = 24.1 ± 6.7 years; body height = 177.90 ± 7.53 cm) participated in this study. The muscle architecture of the vastus lateralis (VL), medial gastrocnemius (MG) and lateral gastrocnemius (LG) and the structure of patellar and Achilles tendons were measured in the dominant and non-dominant lower limb with ultrasonography. Stiffness was also measured at the same points with a hand-held MyotonPro. Significant differences between the dominant and non-dominant lower limb were determined using Student's t test for related samples. Results Bilateral differences were observed for thickness, width and cross-sectional area (CSA) in both tendons showing higher values for the dominant side: patellar tendon CSA (2.02 ± 0.64 vs. 1.51 ± 0.42 cm2; p < 0.05) and Achilles tendon CSA (1.12 ± 0.18 vs. 0.92 ± 0.28 cm2; p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in muscle architecture and myotonic variables between the dominant and non-dominant lower limb. Conclusions The prolonged practice of badminton caused asymmetries in the CSA, width and thickness of the patellar and Achilles tendon between the dominant and non-dominant lower limbs. No bilateral differences were found in the muscle architecture of VL, MG and LG or in the stiffness of any muscle or tendon analyzed.


Women account for over half of the populations of enrolled students and employed staff and administrators in higher education. In student affairs, women current accounts for over 60% of employees at the entry and mid-levels of administration, but less than half of all senior-level executive positions are filled by women. Furthermore, the majority of the women in senior-level student affairs administrative roles work at two-year institutions; doctoral granting research intensive universities have the lowest numbers of women student affairs professionals in seniorlevel positions. The career pathway to advance from entry-level to senior-level positions is unclear, and as a result, many women are remaining stagnant at the mid-level without a clear understanding of how to advance. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how women professionals entering the field of student affairs in public research universities can chart a career pathway from their entry point to senior-level student affairs administrator positions. Because the numbers of female students and women in student affairs administration is continuing to grow, it is important that women are equally represented at the senior-levels at the top institutions in the U.S. Five current senior-level student affairs administrators, holding jobs at public four-year doctoral granting research universities in two states in the south central region of the U.S. were the participants for this study. Through purposeful sampling, the participants were identified to engage in this qualitative comparative case study inquiry. Various methods of data collection were used including: face-to-face semi-structured interviews (the primary source of data), document collection, and journaling. The research questions for this inquiry encompassed three broad inquiries including: (a) the reason female senior-level student affairs administrators choose to enter and remain in the field of student affairs, while attempting to chart a career pathway to senior-level positions at public four-year doctoral granting research institutions; (b) the experiences of women senior-level student affairs administrators, and how these experiences impacted their successful advancement to their current roles; and (c) advice for aspiring women senior-level student affairs administrators. The findings suggested that women can expect to experience both positive and negative encounters that will affect their career progression. The participants provided insight and advice for women in student affairs who aspire to become senior-level administrators that incorporated the importance of building a strong professional network of colleagues, embracing and leading change, and continuing education and professional development. Women must be intentional in creating a meaningful and rewarding career in student affairs and play a major part in developing their pathway to the top.


The phenomenon of tip leakage has been studied in two linear cascades of turbine blades.The investigation includes an examination of the performance of the cascades with a variety of tip geometries. The effects of using plain tips, suction side squealers and pressure side squealers are reported. Traverses of the exit flow field were made in order to determine the overall performance.A method of calculating the tip discharge coefficients for squealer geometries is put forward. In linking the tip discharge coefficient and cascade losses a procedure for predicting the relative performance of tip geometries is developed. The model is used to examine the results obtained using the different tip treatments and to highlight the important aspects of the loss generation process.Copyright © 1991 by ASME


This article questions the usefulness of the notion of an 'urban periphery' for efforts to capture and ameliorate urban marginalisation and exclusion through human rights-based litigation. Focusing on South Africa's Gauteng City Region, the article argues that the notion of an urban periphery fails to capture the nuances of marginal urban life and the interests of poor, marginalised urban residents in accessing the city. In the specific context of the right of access to housing, the article then grapples with South African judicial engagements with the spatial dimensions of urban marginalisation. It finds that, despite the fixation of human rights litigators, activists and commentators on housing location and the 'urban periphery', courts are adopting a more nuanced and balanced approach to urban marginality. It accordingly identifies interests that should be accommodated by such an approach and points to legal concepts which may more constructively respond to these.


Atmospheric aerosol particles resulting from the oxidation of dimethylsulfide (DMS) may have an impact on global climate if they result in an enhancement in the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration and shortwave cloud albedo. To characterize and quantify relationships within the DMS/CCN/climate system, simultaneous measurements were made over the northeastern Pacific Ocean in April and May 1991 of particulate non-sea-salt sulfate, methanesulfonate, and ammonium mass size distributions, number size distributions of particles having diameters between 0.02 and 9.6 μm, CCN concentrations at 0.3% supersaturation, relative humidity, and temperature. Comparisons between particle mass and surface area indicate that non-sea-salt sulfate, methanesulfonate, and ammonium were not involved in new particle production on the 12- to 24-hour time scale of the measurements. Instead, high levels of available particulate surface area resulted in the condensation of the gas phase precursors onto existing aerosol. A doubling of non-sea-salt sulfate, methanesulfonate, and ammonium mass corresponded to a 40 to 50% increase in number in the accumulation mode size range. Likewise, a doubling of the non-sea-salt sulfate mass corresponded to a 40% increase in the CCN number concentration. As methanesulfonate made up a very small fraction of the soluble particulate mass, no correlations were found between methanesulfonate mass and CCN number. In a separate experiment, measurements were made of particulate non-sea-salt sulfate, methanesulfonate, and ammonium mass size distributions over the central Pacific Ocean during February 1991. The percent of methanesulfonate in the supermicrometer particle size fraction was greater in these samples than in those collected over coastal waters of the northeastern Pacific. In both regions the non-sea-salt sulfate mass size distributions were bimodal, while ammonium was found to be concentrated in larger accumulation mode particles.


In this study, the antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts of Hedyotis umbellata was evaluated by various antioxidant assays, including total antioxidant, free radical scavenging, and reducing power method. The various antioxidant activitieswere compared to standard ascorbic acid. From the results, it is suggested that the ethyl acetate andmethonolic extracts of aerial parts of H.umbellata having strong antioxidant activity in all the tested methods. In addition to the anti oxidant activities of these extracts their chemical constituents were also found. Based on the results, it is concluded that the antioxidant activities may be due to the presence of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in the extracts.


Me2NCH:CHCH:CH2 is allowed to react with Me acrylate, acrylonitrile, maleo- and fumaronitrile, di-Me maleate and fumarate, and with di-Me dicyanomaleate and dicyanofumarate. In all cases except the last two mixts. (endo/exo) of cycloadducts are formed. Structures are detd. by a combination of one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. The E/Z isomers maleo- and fumaronitrile add stereospecifically to the diene. Cycloaddn. of di-Me maleate and fumarate leads to the same mixt. of isomers in almost the same ratio. The reaction of di-Me dicyanomaleate and di-Me dicyanofurmarate yields a single cycloadduct which seems to be the thermodynamically most stable one. The results are interpreted in such a manner that a concerted cycloaddn. takes place with maleo- and fumaronitrile, while stepwise reactions, presumably proceeding via zwitterions, are obsd. with di-Me maleate, fumarate, dicyanomaleate and dicyanofumarate. With increasing capability of the dienophile to stabilize a neg. charge the mechanism changes from a concerted to a stepwise reaction.


This study provides a quantitative assessment of the bias, accuracy, and efficiency of the Global Employment Trends (GET) global and regional unemployment rate forecasts made in three recent annual GET reports. After conducting a series of statistical tests, the results suggest that, on average across all countries with data availability, the GET unemployment rate forecasts are slightly biased; we over-predict one and two years ahead and under-predict three and four years ahead. However, this bias is not significant for one to three years ahead. Moreover, our tests for accuracy show that the shorter the prediction period, the more accurate our forecasts indicated by smaller forecast errors for shorter prediction periods and larger forecast errors for longer periods.


This work presents a novel dual-spectrum database containing both iris and periocular images synchronously captured from a distance and within a realistic indoor environment. This database was used in the 1st Cross-Spectrum Iris/Periocular Recognition Competition (Cross-Eyed 2016). This competition aimed at recording recent advances in cross- spectrum iris and periocular recognition. Six submissions were evaluated for cross-spectrum periocular recognition, and three for iris recognition. The submitted algorithms are briefly introduced. Detailed results are reported in this paper, and comparison of the results is discussed.


A code of ethics is a written compilation of standards of conduct that represent values collectively imposed on individuals by organizations, professional associations, or political jurisdictions. Codes of ethics can support the independence of government officials and help administrators resist inappropriate outside influence. With this in mind, the research purpose is three-fold: 1) to describe the types of information that should be included in a municipal government code of ethics; 2) to assess the information contained in U.S. state capitol city codes of ethics; 3) based upon this assessment, make recommendations for improving municipal codes of ethics. The methodology used to achieve the research purpose is content analysis. Content analysis is utilized to study the communication of elements in codes of ethics from 31 of the 50 state capitol cities that responded to requests to provide a copy of their city's code of ethics for research. The communication of 37 individual elements was measured by gauging the codes of ethics against a practical ideal type code of ethics made up of 4 ideal type categories that were developed directly from professional literature. The 4 ideal type categories are personal honesty, poIitics/Iaw, training, and proceduraUtechnica1. Data from gauging the codes of ethics against the practical ideal type were recorded through the use of a manifest content coding sheet developed directly from the conceptual framework. The findings of the research indicate that no analyzed code of ethics contained all 37 elements prescribed by the practical ideal type code of ethics. Only one code of ethics contained between 26 to 30 of the ideal type elements (3.2%). The majority of the 31 codes of ethics contained 11 to 15 of the prescribed elements (38%). The results reveal an enormous variation in the construction and quality of codes of ethics with regard to content.


Many believed that Spotify would revolutionize the music industry, offering a legal alternative to file sharing that compensates musicians for use of their digital music. Why, then, have artists been abandoning the Spotify revolution in droves? Because the revolution has a dark side. Since Spotify is part-owned by the major labels, it has a serious conflict of interest with independent artists. Spotify's lack of transparency about its financial flows gives musicians further reason to suspect whether the service has their interests in mind, particularly in light of the microscopic royalties that Spotify has paid out to artists to date. This climate of suspicion has caused many artists to abandon the service and pursue alternative means of digital distribution and promotion. Even listeners have begun leaving Spotify on account of how it treats artists. Ironically, Spotify has managed to alienate the very audiences that it needs as allies: artists, who supply Spotify's "unlimited" song library, and listeners, who fund the service through subscriptions and advertising. As such, the Spotify revolution is destined to fail—an unfortunate reality, as the streaming music business model has great potential to benefit artists and serve the underlying goals of copyright. I argue that the most effective way to save the Spotify revolution is through a compulsory licensing scheme. This is because the primary impediment to Spotify changing its treatment of artists is its insulation from competitive pressures, which ultimately stems from the major labels' formidable bargaining position in digital sound recordings. The labels have assumed a gatekeeping function in streaming music, demanding corporate equity in exchange for access to their sound recordings, which every streaming service needs in order to build a comprehensive catalog. As a result, the streaming music market has very few participants, all of which are partially controlled by the major labels. Compulsory licensing would make the major labels' sound recordings more readily accessible to would-be streaming services. A more competitive marketplace will lead to greater transparency and


Water supply services in India are currently not regulated and remain essential monopolies under the strict control of government. These services are mostly perceived inefficient, reflecting insufficient municipal revenue generations which result in loss-making municipalities that need to be subsidized by the government. The efficiencies and productivities remain largely unmeasured and undetermined, and therefore the perception of inefficient services is not backed by scientific studies. This paper therefore sets up a framework for measuring the performance and productivity of Indian water supply operations. The study utilizes panel data on 21 municipalities observed over the financial years 2005 and 2010, to analyze the relative efficiencies and productivity growths of utilities. Data envelopment analysis is used to obtain efficiency scores and productivity measures such as the Malmquist index. The results indicate the presence of large relative inefficiencies and decreasing productivity of water supply services over time, alluding to a failure to revise tariffs upwards despite increasing input costs over time, thereby driving the need for sector regulation and tariff revision in accordance with X-factors, which was found to have a mean value of 2.4% for possible price cap regulation in the sector. The paper highlights related policy implications.


Objectives The severity of joint destruction is highly variable between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The majority of its heritability is still unexplained. Several autoimmune diseases share genetic risk variants that may also influence disease progression. We aimed to identify genetic risk factors for the severity of joint damage in RA by studying genetic susceptibility loci of several autoimmune diseases. Methods In phase 1, 3143 sets of x-rays of 646 Dutch RA patients taken over 7 years (Sharp van der Heijde (SHS) scored) were studied. Genotyping was done by Immunochip. Associations of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with minor allele frequency (MAF) >0.01 and joint destruction were analysed. In phase 2, 686 North American RA patients with 926 SHS-scored x-rays over 15 years of follow-up were evaluated. In both phases multiple testing corrections were done for the number of uncorrelated SNPs; the thresholds for significance were p<1.1×10−6 and p<0.0036. Matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) levels were measured with ELISA in baseline serum samples. Results In phase 1, 109 SNPs associated significantly with joint destruction (p<1.1×10−6). Of these, 76 were located in the HLA region; the 33 non-HLA variants were studied in phase 2. Here two variants were associated with the severity of joint destruction: rs451066 on chromosome 14 (p=0.002, MAF=0.20) and rs11908352 on chromosome 20 (p=0.002, MAF=0.21). Rs11908352 is located near the gene encoding MMP-9. Serum levels of MMP-9 were significantly associated with the rs11908352 genotypes (p=0.007). Conclusions These data indicate that two loci that confer risk to other autoimmune diseases also affect the severity of joint destruction in RA. Rs11908352 may influence joint destruction via MMP-9 production.


The social backdrop, vividly described, to one of the greatest battles in European history, Waterloo 1815 The summer of 1815 saw the final and desperate efforts of European powers to usurp Napoleon's reign over France. The pivotal moment was unfolding in an age where war was a social occasion; the military urgency was matched only by the soldiers and their wives' frantic efforts to keep apace of the lavish balls which were being thrown. The intention to deny war with frivolity persevered until 15 June, when the tension broke, and troops exchanged dance partners for weapons and prepared for battle. Nick Foulkes captures the sense of what it was like to be at the very hub of events when the fate of Europe seemed to hang in the balance.


ABSTRACT Community action has an increasingly prominent role in the debates surrounding transitions to sustainability. Initiatives such as community energy projects, community gardens, local food networks and car sharing clubs provide new spaces for sustainable consumption, and combinations of technological and social innovations. These initiatives, which are often driven by social good rather than by pure monetary motives, have been conceptualised as grassroots innovations. Previous research in grassroots innovations has largely focused on conceptualising such initiatives and analysing their potential for replication and diffusion; there has been less research in the politics involved in these initiatives. We examine grassroots innovations as forms of political engagement that is different from the 1970s' alternative technology movements. Through an analysis of community-run Energy Cafés in the United Kingdom, we argue that while present-day grassroots innovations appear less explicitly political than their predecessors, they can still represent a form of political participation. Through the analytical lens of material politics, we investigate how Energy Cafés engage in diverse – explicit and implicit, more or less conscious – forms of political engagement. In particular, their work to "demystify" clients' energy bills can unravel into various forms of advocacy and engagement with energy technologies and practices in the home. Some Energy Café practices also make space for a needs-driven approach that acknowledges the embeddedness of energy in the household and wider society.


The electroencephalogram (EEG) is a representative signal containing information about the condition of the brain. The shape of the wave may contain useful information about its state. However, the human observer cannot directly monitor these subtle details. Besides, since bio-signals are highly subjective, the symptoms may appear at random in the time scale. Therefore, the EEG signal parameters, extracted and analyzed using computers, are highly useful in diagnosis. The aim of this work is to compare the different classifiers when applied to EEG data from normal and epileptic subjects. For this purpose an adaptive neural fuzzy network (ANFN) to classify normal and epileptic EEG signals is proposed. The results are compared with other classifiers such as SVM (support vector machine), ANFIS and FBNN (feed forward back-propagation neural network). It is shown that a classification accuracy of about 85.9% can be achieved using ANFN.


Abstract. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from mountain birches were measured in Abisko, northern Sweden. Mountain birches make up the majority of the tree biomass in Scandinavian high latitudes, a region subject to significant climate warming. The measurements were carried out in two growing seasons. The emissions of four branches, each from a different individual tree, were measured in June–August 2006 and one of them again in July 2007. The measurements were conducted using a dynamic flow through chamber covered with Teflon film. The studied mountain birches were found to emit substantial amounts of linalool, monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. The monoterpene emission was dominated by sabinene. The magnitude and composition of the sesquiterpene emission changed dramatically between the years. For example, the average α-farnesene emission potential in 2006 was almost 2600 ng gdw−1 h−1 (3.5 pmol gdw−1 s−1) while in 2007 α-farnesene was not detected at all. Also the emissions of other sesquiterpenes decreased in 2007 to a fraction of that in 2006. One possible explanation for the change in emissions is the herbivory damage that occurred in the area in 2004. Herbivory is known to enhance the emissions of sesquiterpenes, especially those of α-farnesene, and the effect may last for several years.


The paradigm shift from the traditional model of public administration to new public management since the mid-1980s in the western countries, coupled with the opportunities and challenges of the globalisation for the governments, puts public servants at the crossroads requiring them to adapt to new principles of public sector management. Public servants particularly in high-profile public offices now need to adjust themselves to a new style of public manager' characteristic. This study seek to examine the extent to which characteristics of public managers in the new form of public management exist in the case of selected district governors and to explore how general source of constraints within the Turkish public administrative system are perceived by district governors as significant obstacles to be effective and efficient public managers. The findings of the research shows that district governors in general are considerably good at managing internal components and external constituencies of the organization for which they are responsible. However, they need to develop their personal capital in certain aspects. Respondent district governors complaint that certain source of constraints in Turkish administrative system exist as significant obstacles to be effective and efficient public managers.


In this paper, we have proposed a principle to design a compact and temperature independent electro-optic switch based on a slotted photonic crystal directional coupler (SPCDC). Infiltration of the slotted silicon photonic crystal with polymer enhances the slow light and decreases the switching length, whereas the different signs of thermo-optic coefficients of the polymer and silicon make the proposed switch stable within 25℃ to 85℃ temperature range. The SPCDC structure is modified to increase poling efficiency of the polymer in the slot and to flatten the dispersion diagram of the even mode to minimize the switching length.


Abstract Twenty-first century teachers of reading should be knowledgeable of critical media literacy. This paper describes efforts to include a mandatory course on critical media literacy within a reading master's program. Using course reflective data, we describe students' reactions, ranging from complete unawareness to frustration over its relationship to reading instruction to discomfort with ideological claims. Finally, we preliminarily discuss the course's impact. Introduction Literacy has moved off the page and beyond the keyboard to encompass the media around us (Turbill, 2002). "The term multiliteracies acknowledges the multiplicity of meaning-making modes (visual, textual, audio, etc.) as well as the wider social contexts of these modes" (Callow, 2003, p. 2). Today's students often spend more time with media texts than with print texts. What does this mean for teachers, especially teachers of reading? Recognizing that teachers studying reading need to be knowledgeable about theories and practices related to multiple literacies, we added a required course in Media Literacy to our reading masters program. Initially, the course was met with resistance from students who questioned its relevance. This study examines student reactions, efforts to adapt the course, and its emerging impact. Theoretical framework Media literacy education is an emerging field in the United States with deeper roots abroad. It is formally defined here as "the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and communicate media in a variety of ways" (Aufderheide, 1997). With the ability to access, students become acquainted with a variety of sources and ideally realize that one media source is too limited for making any particular conclusion (Semali, 2001). Analysis and evaluation together call for readers of media to look beneath the surface of visual multimedia, to become visually literate, and then to make determinations based on complex understandings. Finally, to be fully media literate, it is suggested that students should have a grasp of communicating with media (Pailliotet, et al, 2000). In other words, students should have opportunities to create media, for this will strengthen their reading skills much like writing can improve reading. Media literacy education is thus a natural direction for expanding understandings of literacy. It is in line with notions of critical literacy for its consideration of the four reader roles which include code-breaker, text-participant, text-user, and text-analyst (Freebody and Luke, 1990; Department of Education, Tasmania, n.d.). Specifically, students learn first to acknowledge and decode the complex and multiple layers of media (code-breaker). Next, as text participants students comprehend mediated texts and produce them using typical media conventions. Text-users gain understandings in discourse to detect nuances of mediated points of view. Thus, students studying media literacy understand that the purpose of media changes given the target audience. Finally, being a text-analyst of mediated texts means that students can acknowledge the various ways in which media communicate to pass on ideas and potentially influence audiences. Freebody and Luke point out that the roles are simultaneous and recursive not sequential. Further, critical media literacy recognizes ideologies and values (Pailliotet, et al, 2000), which corresponds with Tyner's (1998) conclusion: "it is fair to say that--at least in theory--all of the technology-related multiliteracies (of which media literacy is one) strive for some version of critical literacy" (p. 65). Literacy for the 21st century must take students beyond decoding and basic comprehension given the multitude of mediated texts that provide us with information (Goodson & Norton-Meier, 2003). Pailliotet, et al (2000) call for "learning and thinking that result in increased literacy, as well as socially just, democratic, humane, and ethical actions in and out of the classroom" (p. …


Computer Programming is a core subject in Computer Science. This course requires the analysis and solving of problem critically. These skills are also required in preparing Computer Science students for the career world. Problem-based Learning is thus regarded as one of the suitable methods for Teaching and Learning programming. Although this method has been proven to hone student skills in other areas such as Medicine, its usage in Computer Programming courses has yet to bring about any impacts. This is because, to date, Problem-based Learning has been employed based on the practitioner's intuition without specifically meeting the principles and concepts of Programming courses from the human, process, and product aspects. The human aspect involves practitioners during the process. The framework for this study is built using a qualitative method that combines theoretical and empirical studies. The theoretical study includes reviews of the implementation of previous Problem-based Learning in Computer Science as well as other fields. The empirical study involves information obtained from both the theoretical and empirical studies were analysed by utilising the Thematic Analysis method to generate the proposed framework for this study. This framework can be utilised as a guide for the management and practitioners in Computer Science education to use Problem-based Learning as an effective Teaching and Learning method for Programming courses.


The widespread of drug resistant Plasmodium falciparum has led to a rise in malaria associated mortality most especially in sub-Saharan Africa. In-vitro and molecular studies were carried out in order to determine the resistant pattern of P. falciparum to antimalarial
drugs and some local antimalarial herbs in Ogun State, Southwestern Nigeria. Prevalence of falciparum malaria was determined by microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained blood samples of patients who presented with fever in selected State Hospitals in Ogun State.
Antimalarial drug sensitivity of one hundred (100) P. falciparum isolates to chloroquine, amodiaquine, mefloquine, quinine, sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine, artesunate and three local antimalarial herbs: Momordica charantia (Ejirin,) Diospyros monbuttensis (Eegun eja) and
Morinda lucida (Oruwo) was determined using the in-vitro microtest (Mark III) technique.
For molecular studies and genotyping, DNA was extracted from patient blood using the QiaAmp DNA Blood Minikit extraction method. Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction followed
by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (PCR/RFLP) were used for the detection of P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (Pfcrt), P. falciparum multidrug resistance 1 (pfmdr1), P. falciparum dihydrofolate reductase (Pfdhfr), P. falciparum dihydropteroate
synthase (Pfdhps) and P. falciparum sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium-dependent ATPase (SERCA) PfATPase6 genes. Genetic diversity of the isolates was determined using merozoite surface proteins 1 and 2 (msp1 and msp2) and Glutamate rich Protein (Glurp). Structured Questionnaires were administered to patients or/and parents of infants to determine the factors that could lead to the development of drug resistance by the parasite in the study population.
Out of 4066 subjects screened during the period of study, 2550 (61.1%) were positive. Highest prevalence (72%) was recorded in children 1-5 years while the same group also had the highest parasitaemia of 1080. All the isolates tested were sensitive to Quinine, Mefloquine and
Artesunate. Only 51% of the isolates were resistant to chloroquine, 13% to amodiaquine and 5% to sulphadoxine pyrimethamine respectively. Highest resistance to chloroquine (68.9%) was recorded among isolates from Yewa zone while highest resistance to amodiaquine (30%)
was observed in Ijebu zone. Highest resistance to sulphadoxine and pyrimethamine was recorded in Yewa and Egba zones respectively. A significant positive correlation was observed between the responses to artemisinin and mefloquine (P=0.001), artemisinin and quinine
(P=0.05), Quinine and mefloquine (P= 0.01). A significant negative correlation was observed between the responses to chloroquine and mefloquine (P=0.05). For the local herbs highest antiplasmodial activity was obtained with the ethanolic extract of Diospyros monbuttensis (IC50
= 32 μg/ml). P. falciparum isolates analyzed during this study have demonstrated highly diverse nature of field isolates in respect of msp-1 (block 2) and msp-2 (central repeat region, block3). All the three reported
families of msp-1(K1, MAD20 and RO33) and two of msp-2 (FC27 and 3D7) were observed among the isolates. Proportion of isolates with K1 family was 68% with 4 alleles in the range of 100 to 300 basepairs (bp).
Proportion of isolates with MAD20 family was 40% and a total of 3 alleles were observed within 100 to 300 bp. RO33 proportion was 20% and the family was observed to be monomorphic with an allele size of 200 bp. In
msp-2 the proportion of FC27 family was 76% and that of 3D7 was 56%.
Proportional Prevalence of FC27 and 3D7 families was significantly different (χ2 = 16.5, P = 0.002). Eighty percent of the isolates harbor the genes that code for
Glutamate rich protein with size ranging between 700 and 900bp. Pfcrt (K76T ) Pfmdr1 (mdr 1 ) Pfdhfr (S108N), and Pfdhps (K540E ) resistant genes were detected among the isolates while resistant SERCAPfATPase6 gene which codes for artemisinin resistance was not detected in the population. The questionnaire study showed that 24.6% of the patient visit hospitals for treatment, 12.0% use local healers while 25.0% buy antimalarial drugs without
prescription. It was also observed that some use more than one method in their management of malaria. Those who combined antimalarial drugs with traditional medicine from local healers were found to be 17.4%. Only 18% of the sample population used Insecticide treated mosquito
nets, 42.3% use window and door nets while 13% do not employ any mosquito preventive method. Continuous use of the current antimalarial drugs increases the chance of resistance developing to those drugs. Control of drug use and reducing exposure of parasites to the drugs
are most effective where the parasite is still sensitive to the drug. Molecular methods are most effective for monitoring the spread of resistant strains of P. falciparum.


This in vitro study compares, by scanning electron microscope (SEM) examination, the surface effects of various topical applications of tetracycline on the instrumented dentin root surface of human teeth. Eighty-two (82) dentin samples were prepared from periodontally-compromised teeth planned for extraction. Solutions of tetracycline HCl, doxycycline, minocycline, sumycin, and a saline control were prepared and applied to the dentin samples for 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 10 minutes. Each solution pH was measured: tetracycline HCI (pH 1.6), doxycycline (pH 2.2), minocycline (pH 3.8), sumycin (pH 4.4), and saline (pH 5.1). A tetracycline periodontal fiber was also evaluated at 1, 4, 7, and 10 days of exposure for dentin surface effects. Tetracycline HCI removed the dentin smear layer leaving clean and open tubules significantly better than other solutions tested in as little as 30 seconds. Doxycycline and minocycline produced similar results to each other, which were significantly better than sumycin and saline, but not as effective as tetracycline HCl. Smear layer removal was attained by doxycycline and minocycline in five to ten minutes; however, sumycin and the saline control ineffectively removed the surface smear layer and dentinal tubules remained partially to totally occluded by debris. The periodontal fiber did not significantly alter the surface smear layer. Results of this study suggest that tetracycline HCl is the best current tetracycline form for root surface conditioning as measured by its ability to affect both dentin smear layer removal and dentin tubule exposure.


We consider the problem of neighbor discovery in ad hoc network which is full duplex and uses directional antennas. Directional transmission is prerequisite for some ad hoc networking applications and makes the neighbor discovery less efficient than omni-directional broadcast. Full duplex enables simultaneous transmission and reception and facilitates the directional neighbor discovery. We present a simple one way handshaking algorithm and feasible decision rules for terminating the neighbor discovery procedure. The effect of transmission error and the collision on the algorithm is also considered. At the same time, the performance of the algorithm is analyzed. Lastly, simulations are given to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the algorithm.


The Interconnection network connects the communication networks themselves to each other enabling features such as roaming and data services between those said networks. It has been known since 2014 that using the legacy SS7 (Signaling System No. 7) protocol SMS based traffic can be intercepted. Network providers are now moving towards diameter based LTE networks with the hope that the additional security provided in that protocol also improves overall interconnection security. In this article we will show how SMS can be intercepted using diameter based networks independently of device or OS type. We will show the practical impact upon services such as those provided by Google, Microsoft, Twitter, etc. We will summarize the reaction of twitter to the responsible disclosure, potential countermeasures and future research outlook.


In 2004, on behalf of the Department of Civil Protection (DPC—Dipartimento della Protezione Civile), the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) released a new Italian seismic hazard map. The entire scientific process was public and transparent: an international panel of experts conducted a peer review while the work was in progress, and all the input data, the final output, and the technical documentation was published. The details of the entire process are available on a dedicated Web site (http://zonesismiche.mi.ingv.it).

The new hazard map provides the expected value of horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) with an exceedance probability of 10% in 50 years. This elaboration was recently adopted (ordinance 3519/2006 signed by the Prime Minister) as the "reference map" for assigning municipalities to one of four seismic zones according to building-code criteria. In the building code released in 2005 (ministerial decree 14/09/2005), the seismic zone assignment criteria is the expected PGA value; for each seismic zone the code also defines a standard design spectrum anchored to a fixed PGA value allowing designers to change the anchor value of the response spectra within a 20% discretionary margin when more detailed information on the expected shaking parameters of the site of interest are available.

In addition to the scientific community, local administrators and professionals, typically civil engineers and architects, use seismic hazard values. Administrators use them to define the appropriate level of protection for the regions they oversee, while professionals refer to them to provide the best compromise between building costs and safety.

Following the publication of the reference map, the DPC financed the S1 project to produce a set of additional elaborations that would better describe the Italian seismic hazard. This resulted in a set of maps expressed in terms of PGA and Sa (spectral accelerations), both evaluated for different …


The development of Web applications is an important focus of the modern information enabled organization-whether the Web application development is in-house, outsourced, or purchased as 'commercialoff-the-shelf'(COTS) software. Traditionally Web application development has been delivered via the dominant waterfall system. The waterfall system relies upon well-defined governance structures, linear phases, gating, and extensive reporting and sign-off documentation. An increasing number of development stakeholders criticise the waterfall system for web application development. The criticisms include a disproportionate focus on governance and process at the direct expense of flexibility and, most importantly, reduced productivity. One consequence of these criticisms is the increasing adoption of Web application development via agile-system methods. This agilesystem approach centres upon smaller design teams, fewer development phases, and shorter development time tables. This case study examines the implementation of the agile-system approach as used by a Small-to-Medium Enterprise (SME) software developer. The case study data collection involves interviews and observations across three different SME sources: project managers, Web application programmers, and customers. The case study analysis synthesises the experiences of these managers, programmers and customers to produce an overall assessment of the usefulness of Web application delivery via agile-system methods. The major conclusions from the case study are that a 'default'agile-system approach may be tailored or fine-tuned to fit an individual developer's software process. This tailoring is based upon the developer's assessment of best practice from the overall agile-system methodology. This tailoring, however, delivers a software development process that exhibits efficiencies and risks. The efficiencies include a more fulfilling role for each development team member, greater richness and continuity in design, a simple management system that delivers key information on a timely basis to all stake-holders, and increased business and technical quality within the delivered application. The risks pivot upon experience levels, skills levels, and the quality of interaction within-and between-both the development team and customer organization.


Abstract This article offers a socio-legal analysis of the role played by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) in the development, diffusion, and implementation of jurisdictional REDD+ activities throughout the developing world. It employs a qualitative research method known as process tracing to uncover whether and, if so, to what extent and how actors have used CBDR to support the emergence and effectiveness of the transnational legal process for REDD+. The article argues that the transnational legal process for REDD+ reflects a conception of CBDR in which developing country governments may take on voluntary commitments to reduce their carbon emissions, with the multilateral, bilateral, and private sources of financial support and technical assistance provided by developed countries, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and corporations. This creative conception and application of CBDR has fostered the construction and diffusion of legal norms for REDD+ because it has influenced the interests, ideas, and identities of public and private actors in the North and South. However, the early challenges associated with the implementation of REDD+ reveal a worrying gap between the financial pledges made by developed countries and the costs associated with the full implementation of REDD+, as well as contradictions in the very way in which the responsibilities of various countries have been defined in the context of REDD+. The analysis has important implications for the transnational governance of REDD+, as well as for scholarship on the role of differentiation in the pursuit of effective and equitable climate change solutions.


Objectives To evaluate the effect of storing commonly used rapid diagnostic tests above manufacturer-recommended temperature (at 37°C), and the accuracy of delayed reading of oral fluid kits with relevance to HIV self-testing programmes. Design A quality assurance study of OraQuick (OraSure), Determine HIV 1/2™ (Alere) and Uni-Gold™ (Recombigen®). Methods Consecutive adults (≥18y) attending Ndirande Health Centre in urban Blantyre, Malawi in January to April 2012 underwent HIV testing with two of each of the three rapid diagnostic test kits stored for 28 days at either 18°C (optimally-stored) or at 37°C (pre-incubated). Used OraQuick test kits were stored in a laboratory for delayed day 1 and subsequent monthly re-reading was undertaken for one year. Results Of 378 individuals who underwent parallel testing, 5 (1.3%) were dropped from the final analysis due to discordant or missing reference standard results (optimally-stored Determine and Uni-Gold). Compared to the diagnostic reference standard, OraQuick had a sensitivity of 97.2% (95% CI: 93.6–99.6). There were 7 false negative results among all test kits stored at 37°C and three false negatives among optimally stored kits. Excellent agreement between pre-incubated tests and optimally-stored tests with Kappa values of 1.00 for Determine and Uni-Gold; and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.95; 1.00) for OraQuick were observed. There was high visual stability on re-reading of OraQuick, with only 1/375 pre-incubated and 1/371 optimally-stored OraQuick kits changing from the initial result over 12 months. Conclusion Erroneous results observed during HIV testing in low income settings are likely to be due to factors other than suboptimal storage conditions. Re-reading returned OraQuick kits may offer a convenient and accurate quality assurance approach, including in HIV self-testing programmes.


The limitations on a punitive damage award depend on the conception of punitive damages. Is it a private law remedy, limited to resolving the dispute between the parties? Or is it a public law remedy, capable of addressing public harm and achieving public good? The Supreme Court has not wavered from public law ideas of punitive damages - that the damages serve the state's interests and are similar to criminal punishments. At the same time, the Court has focused on the actual injury to the plaintiff in its holdings and prohibited punitive damages from punishing harm to nonparties, indicating that punitive damages serve only the private law purpose of resolving the parties' dispute. This Article examines tort law's influence on the constitutional limitations of punitive damage awards, an influence that mandates a private law conception of punitive damages. Tort law lacks the ability to punish unless a finding of liability for an underlying injury exists. Punitive damages should thus be based only on the underlying injury for which the defendant is liable. Consistent with tort law's influence, punitive damages that punish the public harm that the defendant's conduct created would be unconstitutional, meaning that punitive damages will be minimal if supported only by an award of nominal damages. Also consistent with tort law's influence, punitive damage awards must be personalized to the individual dispute despite the Court's recent concerns about unpredictability.


Summary 1. Understanding the population dynamics of exotic pests and associated natural enemies is important in developing sound management strategies in invaded forest ecosystems. The emerald ash borer (EAB) Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire is an invasive phloem-feeding beetle that has killed tens of millions of ash Fraxinus trees in North America since first detected in 2002. 2. We evaluated populations of immature EAB life stages and associated natural enemies over a 7-year period (2008–2014) in six stands of eastern deciduous forest in southern Michigan, where Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang and two other Asian-origin EAB parasitoids were released for biological control between 2007 and 2010. 3. We observed 90% decline in densities of live EAB larvae in infested ash trees at both parasitoid-release and control plots from 2009 to 2014 and found no significant differences in EAB density or mortality rates by parasitoids, avian predators or other undetermined factors between parasitoid-release and control plots. The decline in EAB larval density in our study sites was correlated with significant increases in EAB larval parasitism, first by native parasitoids, then by T. planipennisi. 4. Life table analyses further indicated that parasitism by the introduced biocontrol agent and the North American native parasitoids contributed significantly to the reduction of net EAB population growth rates in our study sites from 2010 to 2014. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our findings indicate that successful biocontrol of emerald ash borer (EAB) may involve suppression of EAB abundance both by local, generalist natural enemies (such as Atanycolus spp.) and by introduced specialist parasitoids (such as T. planipennisi). Biological control programmes against EAB in the aftermath of invasion should focus on establishing stable populations of T. planipennisi and other introduced specialist parasitoids for sustained suppression of low-density EAB populations. Moreover, we recommend releasing the introduced specialist biocontrol agents as soon as possible to prevent the outbreak of EAB populations in both newly infested and aftermath forests when EAB densities are still low.


Kaunda Square has been experiencing the problem of indiscriminate dumping of waste for a long time. The most affected areas include the markets, shopping centres, roads and streets, open spaces and school grounds. Lack of adequate and efficient solid waste service delivery system has contributed to unsightly conditions, offensive smells and poses a threat to diarrhoeal diseases transmitted by flies, rats and other vermin. It is against this background that the study was aimed at investigating factors influencing indiscriminate disposal of solid waste in Kaunda Square. The objective of the study included examining the current storage systems at household and community levels; assessing the community's knowledge and attitude towards the dumping of solid waste; examining the impact of the community based business enterprise on solid waste management; exploring the community's potential to participate in solid waste management; and assessing the community's strategies currently being used for management of waste.The research design comprised a sample of 40 respondents. Random sampling was used to select the respondents who participated in the study. A questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of 40 respondents. The findings of the study reveal that Lusaka City Council has no capacity including equipment, funding and resources to manage solid waste. Consequently, LCC does not collect any waste from individual residences in Kaunda Square. This scenario has opened up prospects for private sector participation in solid waste management. In Kaunda Square, G.L Carriers (Z) Ltd. is the sole collector of waste. Limited community involvement limits residents' participation and therefore they are not able to take up key roles in the management of waste. The study concluded that focus group discussions, surveys and public meetings are some of the necessary tools that can

be used in determining the concerns and opinions of various stakeholders. Nevertheless, results indicate that awareness amongst the population has built up naturally to a point where waste is regarded as an important issue. Lack of appropriate storage receptacles at household level is also an added problem. Residents utilise refuse pits and their own dust bins to dispose of waste. Alternatively, the waste is simply dumped in an open, communal area. The waste dumped in this manner has a negative effect on the environment especially with respect to ground water contamination and public health in general. .At community level, the communal containers provided are not adequate to provide quality and reliable service to meet the needs and aspirations of the community. One important opportunity that should be exploited is the willingness of the community to pay for the collection of waste. However, residents have different affordability levels and therefore, there is need to accommodate a wider range of income groups that have varying needs. The current situation is that not everyone is paying for refuse collection because there is no appropriate collection mechanism put in place. This in turn limits the ability of the service provider to provide quality service to meet community's needs. Bearing in mind the above findings, it is therefore imperative for policy makers and programme managers to devise solid waste management strategies appropriate to local circumstances that will deliver a sustainable community impact.


textabstractThe domain of urban freight logistics is becoming increasingly complex. Many urban supply chains are composed of small and independent actors; for such actors it is particularly difficult to efficiently organize the highly fragmented supply chains that they must deal with. As a consequence, a high number of transport movements is required to satisfy the high service level demands of receivers, which has negative effects on the environment as well as on the quality of life in urban areas. Both companies and local administrators try to improve transport efficiency and reduce external costs, but the effects of such interventions are difficult to predict, especially when applied in combination with each other (an urban logistics scheme). This paper proposes an agent-based simulation framework that quantifies the effects of urban logistics schemes on multiple actors. We provide a detailed mathematical representation of the framework. The working of the framework is demonstrated with numerical experiments that evaluate a variety of urban logistics schemes. We show that most schemes yield significant environmental improvements; achieving financial sustainability, however, is challenging. Also, interventions such as subsidies and access restrictions do not always have the intended effect. Our experiments underline the applicability of the framework to quantify the effects of urban logistics schemes.


Hope you're feeling rested and ready to face the challenges that the New Year will undoubtedly bring. I'm particularly delighted to introduce you to our new managing editor, Jon Tullett. Jon, formerly editor of our B2B online technology site, TechTarget, has assumed the role primarily to facilitate IHS's move to digital publishing from an editorial perspective. However, lucky for us, he's had loads of experience in print journalism too and we'll be able to draw on his skills to increase the quality of our offering across all of our mags. We're looking forward to the added-value that a fully-functional online service will offer both readers and advertisers and it's reassuring to know that we've got someone competent to devise a strategy across the board. There are also some exciting things in the pipeline this year that we believe will cement Graphix as your number one graphic arts publication.


The overall circuitry of the cerebellar cortex has been known for over a century, but the function of many synaptic connections remains poorly characterized in vivo. We used a one-dimensional multielectrode probe to estimate the current source density (CSD) of Crus IIa in response to perioral tactile stimuli in anesthetized rats and to correlate current sinks and sources to changes in the spike rate of corecorded Golgi and Purkinje cells. The punctate stimuli evoked two distinct early waves of excitation (at <10 and ∼ 20 ms) associated with current sinks in the granular layer. The second wave was putatively of corticopontine origin, and its associated sink was located higher in the granular layer than the first trigeminal sink. The distinctive patterns of granular-layer sinks correlated with the spike responses of corecorded Golgi cells. In general, Golgi cell spike responses could be linearly reconstructed from the CSD profile. A dip in simple-spike activity of coregistered Purkinje cells correlated with a current source deep in the molecular layer, probably generated by basket cell synapses, interspersed between sparse early sinks presumably generated by synapses from granule cells. The late (>30 ms) enhancement of simple-spike activity in Purkinje cells was characterized by the absence of simultaneous sinks in the granular layer and by the suppression of corecorded Golgi cell activity, pointing at inhibition of Golgi cells by Purkinje axon collaterals as a likely mechanism of late Purkinje cell excitation.


The side-chain structures of conjugated molecules are well recognized to sensitively influence the crystallinity, morphology and thus carrier transport properties of organic semiconductors. Here, by varying the alkyl side-chain length in the polymer acceptors, the effect of side-chain engineering on the photovoltaic performance is systematically studied in all-polymer solar cells. Clear trends of first an increase and then a decrease in the Jsc and FF values are observed as the branched alkyl groups are extended from 4 to 8 carbons. Correspondingly, the maximum average PCE (ca. 7.40%) is attained with an acceptor bearing a branched side-chain length of seven carbon atoms.


This paper has two contributions: a) it proposes a web services-based infrastructure to support Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSSs) for processing multi-domain medical data from the obstetrical, perinatal and neonatal care domains, and b) applies Software Performance Engineering (SPE) to the proposed infrastructure. This extends a XML-based framework for medical data interoperability and integration of CDSSs into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, developed previously by the authors. The framework integrates CDSSs, such as Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) tools, and alert detection systems. The goal is to reduce medical errors, to support the physician's decision-making process and to improve ultimately patient care. We applied SPE from the early design stages in order to ensure that the system will meet its performance requirements, and to identify possible solutions for relieving the performance limitations of this prototype system. The performance evaluation is based on a layered queuing network model of the proposed web services-based infrastructure.


Flash Designers: push Flash to the next level with After Effects' robust toolset.* Add motion graphics and visual effects to your Flash projects* Fuse 3D depth into 2D animations* Prepare Flash animations for broadcast* Save development time in executing animationsCombine these two powerhouse applications to expand your multimedia horizons. Flash + After Effects gives the experienced Flash designer a working understanding of the After Effects toolset with professional techniques that raise the design bar for Web, broadcast, or CD/DVD delivery. The companion DVD contains project media that permit you to practice essential After Effects skills that include: * Working with video and the AE timeline* Using alpha channels for keying and enhancing interactivity* Putting vector animation to work with Text and Shape Layers, and animation presets* Creating 3D backgrounds with cameras and lights* Animating with Behaviors, Parenting, Expressions and the Puppet ToolYou also get a video primer, render and file optimization techniques, and publishing and streaming guidelines. Combine two powerhouse applications to:* Add motion graphics and visual effects* Fuse 3D depth into 2D animations* Prepare Flash animations for broadcast* Save development time


PURPOSE
To describe the home-based injury prevention practices used by low-income mothers of Mexican descent with their preschool children.

DESIGN AND SAMPLE
A descriptive qualitative study with convenience sampling of mothers (n=9) who are of Mexican descent and have preschool children.

METHOD
Data collection consisted of ethnographic interviews supplemented by focused home observations.

RESULTS
2 themes emerged from the data: the spectrum of physical proximity and the use of injury prevention technology. The spectrum of physical proximity reflected the degree of physical closeness (i.e., supervising children, watching children closely, and being after children) that the mothers used to manage injury risk in their children. Children who were perceived as curious or restless, or too young were judged by the mothers as being prone to injury and requiring more maternal physical closeness. The participants used the injury prevention technology recommended by the experts despite their limited economic resources. However, this group of mothers used the spectrum of physical proximity as the main tool to prevent child injuries in their home.

CONCLUSION
These findings provide an insight into the attitudes and behaviors of low-income, Mexican mothers toward injury prevention in the home. Awareness of these attitudes and behaviors will allow for the creation of interventions that take into account this maternal perspective.


Home area networks (HANs) consisting of wireless sensors have emerged as the enabling technology for important applications such as smart energy. These applications impose unique network management constraints, requiring low data rates but high network reliability in the face of unpredictable wireless environments. This paper presents two in-depth empirical studies on wireless channels in real homes, providing key design guidelines for meeting the network management constraints of HAN applications. The spectrum study analyzes spectrum usage in the 2.4 GHz band where HANs based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard must coexist with existing wireless devices. We characterize the ambient wireless environment in six apartments through passive spectrum analysis across the entire 2.4 GHz band over seven days in each apartment. We find that the wireless conditions in these residential environments are much more complex and varied than in a typical office environment. Moreover, while 802.11 signals play a significant role in spectrum usage, there also exists non-negligible noise from non-802.11 devices. The multi-channel link study measures the reliability of different 802.15.4 channels through active probing with motes in ten apartments. We find that there is not always a persistently reliable channel over 24 hours, and that link reliability does not exhibit cyclic behavior at daily or weekly timescales. Nevertheless, reliability can be maintained through infrequent channel hopping, suggesting dynamic channel hopping as a key tool for meeting the network management requirements of HAN applications. Our empirical studies provide important guidelines and insights in designing HANs for residential environments.


"The New 100 Houses" is the fourth book in "Images'" popular "100 Best Houses" series. "Images" has again selected houses that represent the very best in international residential architecture. The houses featured represent everything from the modern to the classical. This is a book that can be browsed through time and again, with each viewing guaranteed to inspire, delight and surprise. Outstanding colour photography captures interior design, layout and furnishings, while exterior photographs meld the house design with its environment. As well as the usual design locations, the book's scope is far more international than earlier titles in the series, with a broader listing of architects from exotic locations such as the Aegean Coast of Turkey, Slovenia, Peru's arid coastline, Bulgaria, as well as from the traditional locations in North America, the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.


Introduction Compared to the general population, older adults living in long-term care facilities have poorer oral health. Also, they seldom have access to dental care services. Given that, a dental health program was initiated by Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore (MCODSM), to deliver dental care to the residents of St. Antony Home (SAH), a long-term care facility in Mangalore, India. This study aimed to evaluate the dental program by investigating the views and recommendations toward the program through its stakeholders. Methodology The stakeholders were divided into three groups: Group 1, transport personnel; Group 2, coordinator and administrators of the program from both the sites; and Group 3, the residents of SAH who received dental care at the MCODSM. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire to measure satisfaction levels of the participants. Data analyses included calculating the frequencies required to describe the evaluation outcomes narrative. Results A total of 19 stakeholders participated in the study, of them 12 were SAH residents (Group 3). These Group 3 participants received various kinds of dental care. Almost all stakeholders were satisfied with the program and reported that the program was beneficial to the SAH residents. The stakeholders of the program were satisfied with transportation, the time allotted for the treatment, and the attitude of the dentists who delivered the program. Conclusion The dental program was successful in delivering the most needed dental care to SAH residents. It provided an opportunity to provide treatment to SAH residents, and the stakeholders were highly satisfied with the program. That said, there are opportunities to improve the program, especially in relation to transporting the SAH residents to the program site, having a single window to deliver the dental treatment, and acquiring more supporting staff. Future evaluations are warranted using well-designed evaluation procedures and larger samples.


This submission relates to only selected federal Criminal Code counter-terrorism (CT) laws, although recognising that national CT criminal laws form merely part a small part of the national effort required to combat extremist political violence. It suggests several of the CT provisions in which clarity could be improved. Assessment of the federal CT laws against the criterion of necessity indicates that, although the CT criminal offences update or extend prior legislation, most prior legislation remains on the books, and overlap occurs. Yet, in another respect, they do not overlap with other extant crimes of violence. The intention of terrorism perpetrators, to coerce governments and intimidate the public, was considered by federal Parliament to pose sufficient threat to the fabric of the social and democratic system for related acts of violence to be labelled as crimes more immoral than other more common random societal tendencies to violence. This consideration reflects a wider trend in Commonwealth legislation to relabel some violent crimes as particularly odious. The offences of genocide and crimes against humanity introduced into the Criminal Code by the International Criminal Court Act 2002 (Cth) are examples. The offences relabel violent acts otherwise criminalised, inter alia as murder, instead as genocide or crimes against humanity if committed, respectively, with the intention to destroy a particular national, ethnical, racial or religious group, or with the intention or knowledge that the murder is part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population.2 These most heinous crimes share a similar mens rea, that is, the motivation includes intention to violently change a social order and, for this reason, they are distinctive offences. This review is welcome as part of our safeguards for democratic process. The introduction of CT criminal law, initially accused by some social commentators of being a draconian ploy to establish a police state, in fact continues to contribute to the safeguarding of Australian constitutional democratic process.


BACKGROUND
Patients are often discharged from the hospital before test results are finalized. Awareness of these results is poor and therefore an important patient safety concern. Few computerized systems have been deployed at care transitions to address this problem. We describe an attempt to implement a computerized application to help inpatient physicians manage these test results.

METHODS
We modified an ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR)-based results management application to track pending tests at hospital discharge (Hospitalist Results Manager, HRM). We trained inpatient physicians at 2 academic medical centers to track these tests using this application. We surveyed inpatient physicians regarding usage of and satisfaction with the application, barriers to use, and the characteristics of an ideal system to track pending tests at discharge.

RESULTS
Of 29 survey respondents, 14 (48%) reported never using HRM, and 13 (45%) used it 1 to 2 times per week. A total of 23 (79%) reported barriers prohibiting use, including being inundated with clinically "irrelevant" results, not having sufficient time, and a lack of integration of post-discharge test result management into usual workflow. Twenty-one (72%) wanted to receive notification of abnormal and clinician-designated pending test results. Twenty-seven physicians (93%) agreed that an ideally designed computerized application would be valuable for managing pending tests at discharge.

CONCLUSIONS
Although inpatient physicians would highly value a computerized application to manage pending tests at discharge, the characteristics of an ideal system are unclear and there are important barriers prohibiting adoption and optimal usage of such systems. We outline suggestions for future electronic systems to manage pending tests at discharge.


The financial markets have successfully established hedging instruments to protect against market risk, interest rate risk, currency risk, commodity risk and credit risk. The classic work in option-pricing by Black & Scholes [1973], and Merton [1973] helped mitigate equity risk through the prudent use of equity options. In the past three decades, derivatives in interest rates, foreign exchange, weather, and real estate have all grown in popularity. Each of these instruments allows for the isolation of an element of risk, and the transfer of this risk to a willing market participant. Recently introduced derivatives protect against adverse weather and real estate movement. Liquidity risk however, although well known, is not directly hedged, since liquidity derivatives do not yet exist. This article introduces several liquidity derivatives, which can protect against liquidity and/or return risk. Applications and elementary pricing algorithms are provided. Proposals of areas of further research are also suggested.


The level of insolvencies in the construction industry is high, when compared to other industry sectors. Given the management expertise and experience that is available to the construction industry, it seems strange that, according to the literature, the major causes of failure are lack of financial control and poor management. This indicates that with a good cash flow management, companies could be kept operating and financially healthy. It is possible to prevent failure. Although there are financial models that can be used to predict failure, they are based on company accounts, which have been shown to be an unreliable source of data. There are models available for cash flow management and forecasting and these could be used as a starting point for managers in rethinking their cash flow management practices. The research reported here has reached the stage of formulating researchable questions for an in-depth study including issues such as how contractors manage their cash flow, how payment practices can be managed without damaging others in the supply chain and the relationships between companies" financial structures and the payment regimes to which they are subjected.


Residential buildings contribute significantly to the overall energy usage across the world. Real deployments, and collected data thereof, play a critical role in providing insights into home energy consumption and occupant behavior. Existing datasets from real residential deployments are all from the developed countries. Developing countries, such as India, present unique opportunities to evaluate the scalability of existing research in diverse settings. Building upon more than a year of experience in sensor network deployments, we undertake an extensive deployment in a three storey home in Delhi, spanning 73 days from May-August 2013, measuring electrical, water and ambient parameters. We used 33 sensors across the home, measuring these parameters, collecting a total of approx. 400 MB of data daily. We discuss the architectural implications on the deployment systems that can be used for monitoring and control in the context of developing countries. Addressing the unreliability of electrical grid and internet in such settings, we present Sense Local-store Upload architecture for robust data collection. While providing several unique aspects, our deployment further validates the common considerations from similar residential deployments, discussed previously in the literature. We also release our collected data- Indian data for Ambient Water and Electricity Sensing (iAWE), for public use.


Aim: High sugar concentrations in musts cause a hyperosmotic stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae increasing the risk of sluggish and stuck alcoholic fermentations and/or causing high acetic acid levels. Applying a fed-batch technique where sugar levels are kept at a constant, low rate throughout fermentations reduces this stress but requires in-situ quantification of sugars and process automation for practicability. The aim of this work was to develop and validate a near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy method allowing for the continuous in-situ quantification of total fermentable sugars in fully turbid alcoholic fermentations of grape musts. Calibration models for glucose, fructose and the fermentation product ethanol were also established.Methods and results: A research Fourier-transform NIR spectrophotometer equipped with a transflectance probe was used to acquire spectra from 240 natural and semisynthetic standards from fermentations conducted using varying concentrations of yeast and yeast nutrients. Using chemometric software, calibration models for total sugars, glucose, fructose and ethanol demonstrated R2 values >0.93 and prediction error (RMSEP) values of 11.6 g l-1, 12.3 g l-1, 10.2 g l-1, and 0.328 % v/v, respectively. The method was integrated with modern process automation technology and was able to maintain sugar concentrations within 5 g l-1 of the 45 g l-1 setpoint adjusted during alcoholic fermentations.Conclusions: The NIR calibration models generated allow prediction of total sugar levels accurately enough to conduct fully automated fed-batch grape must fermentations at constant substrate concentrations. Application of a transflectance probe measuring a high proportion of back-scattered radiation proved useful and necessary considering the high degree of turbidity during fermentations. Placement of the measurement probe in a recirculation loop decreased interference from biomass sedimentation and adherence of CO2 bubbles.Significance and impact of the study: This study presents a fully automated system to carry out fed-batch fermentations which allow circumventing the hyperosmotic stress response of S. cerevisiae during alcoholic fermentations. Calibrated for other substrates, the system may be used in other food and non-food fermentations, too.


Interview with Air America fixed-wing and rotary-wing pilot Steve Stevens for the Air America Oral History Project. The interview includes Stevens' personal experiences while serving with the Marine Corps in the Korean War, flight training with the Marine Corps, getting hired with Air America, as well as flying the Sikorsky H-34 helicopter in Laos, photo reconnaissance missions throughout Laos including the Ho Chi Minh Trail in the Beechcraft Volpar, flying other helicopters and airplanes in Laos, South Vietnam, and Japan for Air America, and flying work in other parts of the world after Air America. Stevens talks about a Search and Rescue mission in Laos, his early interest in aviation and the military, early connections to Air America via other Marines, and the excellent maintenance at Air America.


Following representations from the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and other interested stakeholders, the management board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) determined to improve its forthcoming policy on transparent reporting of clinical trial results.

At its 12 June 2014 board meeting, the EMA agreed its policy on publication of clinical trial data, together with more user-friendly amendments proposed by EMA Executive Director, Guido Rasi, which will not only allow the Agency to proactively publish clinical trial data that are submitted as part of marketing authorisation applications, but also give the possibility to download, save and print the trial data for academic and non-commercial research purposes. The new policy will come into effect from 1 October 2014.

EAHP had been particularly concerned about the previously shared proposals that would have barred the possibility of printing and sharing the data, as this would make secondary analysis highly problematic.

However, Sense About Sense, members of the academic research community, Glenis Willmott MEP and others remain concerned about the complexity of the proposed terms of use within the EMA policy and the operation of redaction.

The most recent meeting of the EU's health ministers (the EPSCO Council) resulted in the signature of an historic 'Joint Procurement Agreement' to procure medical countermeasures. The agreement will enable governments to jointly purchase medicines in case of cross-border threats to health such as pandemics.

Coming after over 3 years of negotiation, the signing ceremony was held on Friday 20 June 2014 at the end of the EPSCO Council in Luxemburg. The need for such agreement came about after the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, which highlighted the need to strengthen the mechanism through which EU member states procure vaccines and …