A laboratory experiment was carried out in a randomized block design with three replications, in which columns with aggregate classes 2.0-1.0; 1.0-0,5; 0.5-0.25 and 0.25-0.105 mm of a typic Haplortox were used. The treatments corresponded to a 23 x 4 factorial, with soil covering vegetation (savannah and maize); biological activity (with and without soil sterilization with methyl bromide); sources of N with 10 mmol L-1 of N for saturation of the columns (Ca(NO3)2 and NH4CI); and aggregate classes (2.0-1.0; 1.0-0.5; 0.5-0.25 and 0.25-0.105 mm). After seven days of incubation of the columns with aggregates at maximum water retention, percolations were made with water, after two days under saturated condition, totaling six samples (0, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 days after the first percolation). In the first eluition, aggregates of 0.25-0.105 mm presented smaller NO3- content in columns containing microorganisms activity and saturation with Ca(NO3)2. In sterilized system, aggregates of 0.25-0.105 mm presented larger NO3- content in the solution. For the saturated columns with NH4CI, in the first eluition the NH4+ content was larger in the aggregates of 0.25-0.105 mm for the combinations of soil covering and sterilization, while, with microorganisms activity aggregates of 0.5-0.25 mm and 0.25-0.105 mm presented the highest NH4+ content.


During runaway episodes, adolescents engage in various high-risk behaviors and are exposed to various dangers. This situation is even more pronounced among runaway youths from residential care centers, given their personal and familial backgrounds that place them at risk. The current study attempted to disentangle the heterogeneous characteristics of runaway youths while considering the adolescent risk-taking literature. A latent profile analysis was performed among 112 runaway youths from residential care centers based on runaway characteristics (number, duration, context of return). The Parent involvement, Independent and Police involvement runaway youth profiles were compared on various characteristics involved in risk-taking, their high-risk behaviors and mental health problems. The clinical implications for these three runaway profiles are discussed.


While great progress has been made in the United States in the past fifty years in connection with race relations, three critical issues continue to vex our nation. The United States, despite its progress, continues to struggle mightily with (a) the police killing of unarmed black men; (b) racially disproportionate mass incarceration; and (c) violent homicides of black men and boys. Nightly newscasts detail seemingly weekly killings of unarmed African American men by law enforcement officers. Mass incarceration, while plateauing in the last several years, continues to see millions of United States citizens incarcerated at rates unmatched by any other country in the world. Those incarcerated are disproportionately African American and Latino males jailed for non-violent drug and property crimes. Statistics show that African American citizens suffer 55 percent of all homicide deaths in the United States while making up just 13 percent of the population. In nearly every major city in the United States, African American males constitute 65 to 75 percent of those homicide deaths while often making up a small percentage of those cities' populations. These homicide statistics are so dramatic, it appears that an epidemic is occurring in the U.S.
Twenty-five years ago, Ice Cube dubbed African American males an "endangered species," and little has changed since that time to indicate that much is better. Young black men in the United States face an incredible risk of being killed, whether by law enforcement officers or each other, or if not killed, imprisoned. If a young black man is locked up, that prison bid is commonly understood to foreclose many later opportunities that upon release are necessary to lead a happy and healthy life.
Death or prison awaits an alarming number of young black men in today's America. These dire circumstances are simply unacceptable in a developed and wealthy nation like the United States of America.
In examining and detailing the racial challenges that continue to vex the United States, it is never difficult to point to statistics and evidence that extrapolate the problem. What is difficult is proposing solutions and optimistic prognostications for what can be done to ease these racial tensions that cause our persistent racial difficulties in order to preserve and value the lives of young African American men and boys. This Article offers to do just that: propose solutions. The second section will provide evidence that we are indeed plagued by the three racial challenges articulated above. The third section will propose solutions and actions that can be taken to address and work to reverse these distressing racial realities. In proposing solutions, this Article will focus on myriad actions that can be taken, including legislative enactments, training initiatives, advocacy programs, and, in particular, local municipal programs as exemplified by the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana as engaged by the author. While not a panacea, each of the solution proposals carries with it the promise of easing and resolving many of the racial tensions and hostility that continue to plague United States citizens of color.


Background In the context of population ageing, polypharmacy is strongly associated with multimorbidity. Studies have revealed the existence of multimorbidity patterns. No studies have evaluated whether the complexity of the medicines regimen varies with the multimorbidity patterns. Purpose To analyse the extent to which treatment complexity differs between multimorbidity patterns in the older population. Material and methods We conducted a retrospective observational study. We included patients ≥65 years with more than one chronic condition (according to the Quality and outcomes framework database) and with criteria of polypharmacy (>5 medicines/day) who were admitted to an internal medical unit between September/October 2014. Patients who were assigned to more than one multimorbidity pattern were excluded. Variables collected were: demographic, multimorbidity pattern, number of chronic conditions and chronic medicines, and the medicines regimen complexity index (MRCI). Multimorbidity patterns were identified as cardiometabolic, mechanical and psychogeriatric.1 MRCI was calculated using a 65-item tool2 which comprised the dosage forms, the dosing frequencies and additional directions. Student's T test was applied to compare MRCI in the multimorbidity patterns using SPSS-20. Results 51 patients (52.9% male) were included. 15 (29.4%) aged 65–74 years, 29 (56.9%) 75–84 and 7 (13.7%) >85 years. The average number of diseases and medicines were 5.6 ± 2.5 and 10.5 ± 4.0, respectively. The average MRCI was 32.5 ± 15.2. The most decisive factor contributing to the complexity was the dosing frequency (13.7 ± 6.8), followed by the dosage form (12.7 ± 5.5) and the additional directions (6.0 ± 4.3). 31 (60.8%) patients were assigned to a cardiometabolic pattern (5.8 ± 2.8 diseases, 11.2 ± 3.9 medicines, 35.3 ± 15.7 MRCI); 13 (25.5%) patients presented a mechanical pattern (5.4 ± 2.25 diseases, 10.2 ± 4.7 medicines, 30.9 ± 16.4 MRCI) and 7 (13.7%) were assigned a psychogeriatric pattern (5.1 ± 1.6 diseases, 8 ± 1.3 medicines, 23.5 ± 4.8 MRCI). There were no significant differences between the MRCI in the patterns of multimorbidity. Conclusion Treatment complexity does not differ between multimorbidity patterns in the older population. References and/or Acknowledgements Prados-Torres A, Poblador-Plou B, Calderón-Larrañaga A, et al. Correction: multimorbidity patterns in primary care: interactions among chronic diseases using factor analysis. PLoS One 2012;7(2):e32190 George J, Phun YT, Bailey MJ, et al. Development and validation of the medication regimen complexity index. Ann Pharmacother 2004;38:1369–76 No conflict of interest.


In Legal Determinants of External Finance, Rafael La Porta, Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes, Andrei Shleifer, and Robert Vishny ("LLSV") argue that the reason that some countries have bigger capital markets than others can be traced to the legal origin of the country, i.e. whether it is a common law or a civil law jurisdiction. This paper explores the LLSV thesis in the context of Canada, which is a common law jurisdiction that also is home to Quebec which has a civil law tradition.Three issues are examined in this paper: first, how and why Canada fared relatively well in the recent financial crisis; second, why Canada has not yet created a national securities regulator; and third, how Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction, operates within an overarching common law framework, and the implications of this cross-fertilization of systems.These three issues are explored by examining the development of various investor protection laws and structures over time in Canada (as opposed to examining investor protection laws at a point in time, as the LLSV studies do), and also by providing context to explain why certain rules and structures have been adapted and others, while economically efficient, may have been rejected. In Canada, as in many other jurisdictions, securities laws and securities structure have an impact on investor protection, as do banking laws and the banking regulatory framework and business culture. Not all investor protection mechanisms are located in the corporate statutes, as LLSV assumes. LLSV did not explore securities law rules, securities law structures, or banking laws. As well, the Canadian system is both structured in such a way and has evolved in such a way that investor protections are fairly consistent between the common law and civil law provinces, even when the civil law statute does not necessarily mimic the common law statute.


The Catalyst® Virtual Academy (CVA) is a training organization at Computer Sciences Corporation ("CSC"), a global, Fortune-500 Corporation of over 90000 people. It has been a great success over many years with participation steadily increasing. However, certain constraints on time threatened that success. What is causing these constraints on time and what could be done to improve this situation? This paper reports on a System Dynamics approach used to gain insight into this problem and discusses the process followed, the results, and the insights gathered on the journey to the results. This paper may interest anyone who wants to have a clear understanding of the process followed in building and using a system dynamics model to gain insight into a real-world problem. In addition, it may be of interest to anyone managing an enterprise wide training organization.


The present study investigated the microbial growth, acidification properties and changes in key metabolite compounds during fermentation of sterilized reconstituted skim milk. Fermentation was performed by using single and mixed cultures of Lactobacillus acidophilus LA5 (probiotic strain; A), L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LB12 (B), Streptococcus thermophilus TH4 (T) and Kluyveromyces marxianus subsp. marxianus LAF4 (M). Fermentation time, lag time and final titratable acidity ranged from 225 to 721 min, 2 to 31 min and 0.76 to 1.25 % (w/v) lactic acid, respectively. At the end of fermentation, the highest counts of L. acidophilus LA5, L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LB12, S. thermophilus TH4 and K. marxianus subsp. marxianus LAF4 were 8.42, 8.56, 8.91 and 8.69 log10 cfu mL-1, respectively. In all single and mixed cultures containing L. acidophilus LA5, the viable probiotic cell count met the minimum proposed effective level required to observe a positive health effect. In this study, product fermented with traditional yoghurt culture (mixed culture of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LB12 and S. thermophilus TH4) showed the highest titratable acidity and the lowest pH during entire storage period. The most stable product in terms of the changing in titratable acidity during storage period was prepared with single culture of S. thermophilus TH4. However, this strain was found likely the responsible of post-acidification when incorporated into the mixed cultures. Viable counts of all lactic acid bacteria and yeast in single and mixed cultures always remained higher than 7 log10 cfu mL-1, however, fluctuation in their counts was observed during 4 weeks of refrigerated storage.
Changes in lactose and total glucose and galactose were monitored during fermentation and cold storage by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to refractive index (RI) detector. Lactose was utilized by all starter culture combinations during fermentation and storage time. The consumption of lactose during fermentation and storage was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in single culture of K. marxianus subsp. marxianus LAF4. The data obtained in this study showed that the changes in total content of glucose and galactose was not paralleled with the changes in lactose content during fermentation and storage.
Changes in concentration of citric, orotic, pyruvic, succinic, lactic, formic, acetic, uric, propionic, butyric and hippuric acids was carried out using HPLC coupled to ultraviolet (UV) detector. In general, variable amount of each organic acid was formed with different starter culture used in this study during fermentation process and storage. However, lactic acid was found to be the most abundant organic acid in majority of the products at the end of fermentation and throughout the storage time. The final concentration of lactic acid at the end of fermentation was ranged between 1167 and 8895 mg L-1. The most prominent organic acid in products fermented with single culture of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LB12 and mixed culture of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus LB12 and K. marxianus subsp. marxianus was acetic and citric acid, respectively, followed by lactic acid.
Forty volatile compounds were detected using gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC-TOFMS). The representative of the alcohols (i.e. ethanol), ketones (i.e. ethyl acetate and ethyl butyrate), esters (i.e. 2-butanone, acetone, 3-hydroxy-2-butanone or acetoin and 2,3-butanedione or diacetyl) and aldehydes (i.e. acetaldehyde) were considered for further analysis. The release of the corresponding volatile flavor compounds into the headspace was monitored during fermentation and 4 weeks of refrigerate storage, using GC coupled to flame ionization detector (FID). In fermented products devoid of K. marxianus subsp. marxianus LAF4, acetoin was seen to be the most prominent volatile flavor substance at the end of fermentation, ranging from 59.5 to 104.2 mg L-1. While, in those co-inoculated with the yeast strain ethanol was observed to be the most abundant volatile flavor compound ranged between 964 and 6522 mg L-1.


This ambitious book seeks both to revive and revise the idea of 'functional finance'. Followers of this doctrine believe that government budgets should concentrate solely on their macroeconomic impact on the economy, rather than reflecting a concern for sound finance and budgetary discipline. Reinventing Functional Finance examines the origins of this idea and then considers it in a modern context. The authors explore the concept of NAIRU and argue that modern economies can operate at the level of full employment without provoking unmanageable inflation. They also contend that budget deficits do not have the deleterious effects commonly ascribed to them; the belief that they do rests on a misunderstanding of modern money. In this context, they highlight the relevance of Abba Lerner's famous dictum, 'money is a creature of the State'. The authors also debate the merits of various proposals for 'Employer of Last Resort' programs, which combine automatic stabilizers with the buffer stock principle.


Harvard University inaugurated a new research center devoted to international relations in 1958. The Center for International Affairs (CFIA) was founded by State Department Director of Policy Planning Staff, Robert R. Bowie, at the invitation of McGeorge Bundy, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Joined by Henry A. Kissinger, Edward S. Mason, and Thomas C. Schelling, Bowie quickly established the CFIA as a hub for studying international affairs in the United States. CFIA affiliates produced seminal work on arms control theory, development and modernization theory, and transatlantic relations.Digging deep into unpublished material in the Harvard, MIT, and Kennedy Library archives, this book is punctuated with personal interviews with influential CFIA affiliates. Atkinson describes the relationship between foreign policy and scholarship during the Cold War and documents the maturation of a remarkable academic institution. Atkinson's history of the Center's first twenty-five years traces the institutional and intellectual development of a research center that, fifty years later, continues to facilitate innovative scholarship. He explores the connection between knowledge and politics, beginning with the Center's confident first decade and concluding with the second decade, which found the CFIA embroiled in Vietnam-era student protests.


This study evaluated tensile bond strength of a denture soft lining material to a poly (methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) denture base resin subjected to different surface treatment modalities and thermocycling. The materials tested were a silicone-based liner, Molloplast B®, and a heat-cured denture base resin, MeliodentTM. The denture soft lining material was packed against cured PMMA base resin, which was smoothed; sandblasted with 250-μm Al2O3 particles; or lased with a KTP laser; or against uncured PMMA dough (n = 10). In each group, five specimens were thermocycled in a water bath (5–55°C; 3000 cycles) before testing, whereas the other five were directly tested after 24 h. A tensile test was performed using a universal testing machine. Data showed that different treatment modalities of resin surfaces affected adhesion between these two materials and the highest bond values were recorded for cured/smoothed samples under each condition tested. Thermocycling of specimens had no significant reducing effect on measured bond strength values.


With substantial inquiry concerning what individual Enron directors and officers knew, or what they should have known based on what they knew, little attention has been directed to examining the institutional structure at Enron that may have spawned the unethical behavior and to assessing responsibility for that structure. By institutional structure, I refer to Enron's ethical climate which is a manifestation of its culture. Corporate culture is defined as a complex set of common beliefs and expectations held by members of the organization which are based on shared values, assumptions, attitudes and norms. The corporation's ethical climate refers to the ethical meaning attached by employees to organizational policies, practices and procedures. These policies, practices and procedures influence moral awareness, the criteria used in decision making, whether morals will have priority over other values, and moral behavior. Important to ascertaining corporate culture are the employees' perceptions of the corporation's values as reflect by the corporation's mission statement and code of ethics, the criteria for business decisions, the words and actions of leaders, the handling of conflicts of interest, the reward system, the guidance provided to employees concerning dealing with ethical issues, and the monitoring system. This article is a preliminary examination of the factual predicates for placing responsibility on the corporation and its directors and officers for a corporate climate that encourages and supports unethical and illegal behavior. This article explores (1) whether climates contribute to illegal behavior within corporations, (2) whether corporate climates can be ascertained, (3) whether some corporate climates can be identified that have a greater likelihood of fostering illegal conduct than others, and (4) whether climates can either be modified to encourage and support legal behavior or, if not, whether steps can be taken to decrease the likelihood of illegal behavior in such climates. Ultimately, the questions concerning Enron are: What was its corporate climate and did that climate contribute to the unethical behavior of its employees? If so, what was the responsibility of Enron and its officers and directors to ascertain, monitor, and modify that climate? This article will respond to the call by the Advisory Group to the U.S. Sentencing Commission to consider whether the Federal Sentencing Guidelines should encourage organizations to "foster ethical cultures" to ensure compliance with the intent as well as the letter of the law, and if so, to consider how an organization's performance in this regard can be measured or evaluated. This article will also consider the effectiveness of provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 that require the SEC to promulgate rules and regulations requiring corporations to disclose whether or not they have a code of ethics for senior financial officers, and any waivers of such code, and provisions of the NYSE proposed rules promulgated to meet these requirements. Additionally, this article will raise the issues as to whether corporations and their directors and officers who sign the corporation's disclosure statements have an obligation to disclose their corporations' unethical climate and whether they breach their fiduciary duty to the corporation when they fail to take steps to discover, or to act when confronted with, their corporation's unethical climate.


This comprehensive book explores the spectacular art of the first millennium B.C. from the Near East to Western Europe. This was the world of Odysseus, in which trade proliferated with Phoenician merchants; of King Midas, whose tomb was adorned with treasures; and of the Bible, whose stories are illuminated by recent artistic and archeological discoveries. It was also a time of rich cultural exchange across the Mediterranean and Near East as diverse populations interacted through trade, travel, and migration. Assyria to Iberia showcases masterpieces that reflect the cultural encounters of this era. Stunning details convey the beauty and significance of more than 300 objects drawn from collections around the globe. These objects include carved reliefs from the majestic palaces of ancient Assyria, Phoenician fine bronze metalwork and carved ivories, and luxurious jewelry. Texts by over 80 international scholars provide a compelling picture of this fascinating period, one that is essential to understanding the origins of Western culture and art.


When subjected to an AC electric field perpendicular to its layers, the cholesteric planar state may undergo a periodic layer undulation, known as the Helfrich deformation, which generates a color change of the reflected light. The Helfrich deformation of regular cholesteric liquid crystals is, however, unstable and easily taken over by the focal conic state, and thus the color tuning range is narrow. We demonstrated that the Helfrich deformation can be stabilized in a large electric field region by doping a bent dimer with an anomalously small bend elastic constant and dispersing a small amount of polymer network. By varying the dimer concentration, we were able to systematically change the bend elastic constant and thus verify the theoretical prediction of the undulation threshold electric field and periodicity. We also achieved reflectance tuning with electric field less than 2 V μm-1 and color tuning covering the entire visible light region with electric field as low as 4 V μm-1.

publisher-specific, author manuscript: http://rsc.li/journals-terms-of-use


This presentation discusses trade and production in Latin America and the Caribbean. Included is a discussion of export dynamics and patterns of integration as well as productive development policies. This presentation was presented at the 2nd Annual Meeting of the Latin America/Caribbean and Asia/Pacific Economics and Business Association (LAEBA) held in Buenos Aires, Argentina on November 28th-29th, 2005.


This study describes how the U.S. government measures real consumption growth and how it tries to take account of a complicating factor: that the goods and services offered to consumers change over time; new products are introduced and old products are improved. The 1996 Boskin Commission critique of this government methodology is described, along with the changes made in response to that critique. Also described is recent research related to how real consumption growth should be measured in the presence of new and better products.


The recombinant N-terminal 107-amino acid polypeptide fragment 2-108 of the DnaJ molecular chaperone of Escherichia coli, which contains the J-domain (residues 2 to 76) and the Gly/Phe-rich region (residues 77 to 108), was uniformly labeled with nitrogen-15 and carbon-13. The complete NMR solution structure of the J-domain was determined with the program DIANA on the basis of 682 nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE) upper distance limits and 180 dihedral angle constraints. It contains three well-defined helices comprising residues 6 to 10, 18 to 32 and 41 to 57, and a fourth helix, consisting of residues 61 to 68, which is well defined as a regular secondary structure but for which the location relative to the remainder of the molecule is not precisely determined. The helices II and III form an antiparallel helical coiled-coil. Helix I is approximately parallel to the plane defined by the helices II and III and runs from the carboxy-terminal end of the helix III to the center of helix II. Helix IV is positioned near the carboxy-terminal end of helix III and is on the same side of the coiled coil as helix I, but it is oriented approximately perpendicular to the plane of the helices II and III. This novel alpha-protein topology leads to formation of a hydrophobic core involving side-chains of all four helices. A strong correlation is seen between the extent of sequence-conservation of hydrophobic residues in the family of J-domain homologues, and the structural organization of the hydrophobic core in these proteins. The residues which have key roles for the specificity of the interaction of DnaJ-like proteins with their corresponding Hsp70 counterparts are located on the outer surfaces of the helices II and III, and in the loop connecting these two helices. Measurements of backbone amide proton exchange rates, 15N spin relaxation times and heteronuclear 15N {1H} NOEs provided additional insights into local conformational equilibria and internal rate processes in DnaJ(2-108). In the Gly/Phe-rich region, which is poorly ordered in the NMR solution structure and does not form a globular core, the polypeptide segment 90 to 103 differs from the segments 77 to 89 and 104 to 108 by reduced local flexibility. Considering that this same segment shows sequence conservation with corresponding segments in the Gly/Phe-rich regions of other DnaJ-like proteins, its reduced flexibility may be directly linked to the formation of the ternary DnaJ-DnaK-polypeptide complex.


The blood vessels are responsible for supplying the blood throughout the entire region of the retina. The retinal blood vessels are damaged due to the ageing of the people and other factors such as blood pressure. Exudates lesions are formed in retinal image due to the damage in retinal blood vessels. Ignoring these lesion symptoms leads to the loss of vision, as these symptoms are not exposed easily and requires diagnosis at an earlier stage. In this paper, the hard and soft exudates are detected and segmented using mathematical morphological operations. The proposed algorithm for soft and hard exudates detection is applied over the retinal images of MESSIDOR dataset. The sensitivity of 96.1% and specificity of 94.6% are achieved for soft exudates detection. The sensitivity of 98.71% and specificity of 99.56% are achieved for hard exudates detection.


INTRODUCTION
Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCO) have an important role in the Australian health-care sector. However, there has been a lack of research evaluating ACCOs in the treatment of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. Using a benchmarking approach, the present study examined within treatment changes on measures of wellbeing for people attending a residential AOD ACCO.

METHODS
The study focused on The Glen, an AOD residential treatment service that is managed by the Ngaimpe Aboriginal Corporation (n = 775). The Glen is a male-only service and provides treatment to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous men. The evaluation focused on measures of wellbeing (i.e. symptom distress and quality of life) collected at intake, 30 and 60 days during the person's stay. Comparative benchmarking was conducted with a cohort of men who were attending non-ACCO residential AOD treatment services (n = 4457).

RESULTS
The Glen participants demonstrated statistically significant improvements on measures of wellbeing. The Glen participants were more likely to complete treatment than participants attending non-ACCO services. Likewise, Indigenous people attending The Glen were more likely to complete treatment (compared to Indigenous people attending non-ACCO services). Rates of reliable and clinically significant change suggested that changes in quality of life were largely equivalent between The Glen and non-ACCO services, while participants attending The Glen tended to demonstrate larger reductions in symptom distress compared to the non-ACCO services.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The study provides further support for the important role that ACCOs play in supporting Indigenous people in their recovery.


The main theme of this expository paper is the relation between analysis and probability in the context of diffusion theory. Section 1 discusses in rather heuristic fashion the very satisfying solution to the problem of describing diffusion processes which Kolmogorov achieved via PDE theory (the theory of partial differential equations) and his criterion for path continuity. Section 2 describes how Itô calculus totally transformed the subject by allowing us to construct the sample paths of a diffusion process X by solving an SDE (stochastic differential equation) driven by brownian motion. (Of course, SDEs have great intrinsic importance too as noisy perturbations of nonlinear dynamical systems.) Though §2 begins heuristically, the mathematics is then tightened up. This paper is, after all, a tribute to the man whose greatest contribution to science is his setting probability theory on a rigorous foundation. Once Kolmogorov's precise language is available, §2 then takes a quick sight-seeing trip through some of the great developments by Doob, Itô and their successors. (In an age in which so many do simulations of Itô equations, I have explained precisely in the briefest possible fashion what the exact theory is. It is easy and usable.) You will just have time for a snapshot of how brownian motion on the orthonormal frame bundle is linked to index theorems, and of what the Malliavin calculus is about. You will, however, be advised on guide-books on these and other areas (including physicists' favourites: large deviations, measure-valued diffusions, etc.), so that you can later explore at your leisure. Confession : the paper consists very largely of selected tracks (remixed!) from the album (Rogers & Williams 1987 Diffusions, Markov processes and martingales; Chichester: Wiley). Tributes to Kolmogorov's work in probability and statistics have appeared in (every book ever written on probability and in) Ann. Probability 17 (1989), 815-964, Ann. Statist. 18 (1990), 987-1031, Bull. Lond. math. Soc.. 22 (1990), 31-100, Teor. Veroyatnost Primenen 34 (1989), no. 1, Usp. mat. Nauk 43 (1988), no. 6. The official biography by Shiryaev will be a wonderful volume. For me, this paper is a further expression of my thanks to Kolmogorov and (as he would have wished) to Lévy, Doob and Itô too.


–Hyperspetral Sequence image is compressed using a 3D discrete wavelet transform (3D DWT) to decorrelate the three dimensions of hyperspectral image. Than the sequence is encoded efficiently by the 3D SPIHT algorithm, which operates on the pyramid structure of wavelet coefficients obtained. After decompression, the image evaluated by the PSNR, are faithfully reproduced and the memory space required for storage and transmission has been reduced. The Building of GUI in MATLAB has facilitated the use of algorithms developed and the tests of the compression for different parameters.


As the Ocean continues to be a focus for development in Europe through the European Commission's Blue Growth initiative and through the Blue Economy, the importance of the marine and maritime industries will continue to grow. The knowledge, experience and innovative ideas needed to enable this development will be largely supplied by future marine professionals, or the marine graduates of today. Subsequently, the envisioned growth will require a skilled workforce of highly training and multi-skilled graduates from a wide variety of marine and maritime professional backgrounds. In addition, less established areas such as marine biotechnology and marine renewable energy may require new knowledge, skills, collaboration and innovation.It is therefore timely to examine the current marine graduate education and training system, identifying issues, challenges and opportunities. This Future Science Brief explores this complex landscape, to better understand the current status of education systems, and research and training funding mechanisms. It then looks at options to improve current capabilities across Europe at both Masters and Doctoral levels, and outlines a vision for the future of marine and maritime education and training in Europe. Case studies are presented to illustrate good practice, alongside interviews with recent marine graduates who have themselves benefitted from innovative training opportunities. The Future Science Brief then identifies ways in which to improve and broaden the skills and capabilities of the next generation of graduates. This includes enabling exposure to industry, encouraging interdisciplinary research and promoting the importance of transferable skills to graduates and industry alike. It closes by presenting 6 key recommendations for the future development of marine graduate training in Europe, and calls for collaboration between key actors from the marine education community, the marine and maritime industries, and research funding to come together to jointly develop an education and training system which will benefit all.


In this thesis work we constructed a measurement circuit for measurement of the inductor current in the buck converter BMR450. We theoretically show that the voltage across the capacitor is directly proportional to the inductor current in the BMR450. We designed a test bed to enable the measurement of the inductor current. On the base of the measurement signal we derived the average inductor current for different resistive loads. We draw schematic PCB layout for the measurement circuit. During the project we observed that the measurement electronics has to be chosen for relatively high bandwidth, about 2MHz. We also observed that the measurement signal has a large noise magnitude, induced by the transistor switchings. The noise magnitude directly after the switching is so high that the part of the measurement signal was not used in the further calculations.


The study was designed to assess the external factors affecting the performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Bedele town. A sample of 297 operators or owners of the enterprises engaged in five sectors was taken for the study using stratified random sampling technique. The head of Bedele micro and small enterprises development agency was purposely selected for the interview. From the distributed 297 questionnaires 269 were returned. The data collected through questionnaire is analyzed using both descriptive and inferential analysis (Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient and Multiple Linear Regression Model). Besides, the interview questions were analyzed using descriptive narrations. The empirical finding elucidated that factors affect the performance of MSEs which include; accessibility of external source of finance, accessibility of business development services and marketing factors are significantly affect the performance of micro and small enterprises in Bedele town. While, government policy and bureaucracy and infrastructure are found to be insignificantly explaining the performance of MSEs. The finding further indicate that, the existence of linear and positive significant, ranging from weak to strong relationship was found between independent variables and dependent variable. Based on the findings recommendations to stakeholders, to operators of MSEs and suggestions for further researchers are forwarded.


Objectives Despite long-term clinical experience with epirubicin, unpredictable severe adverse reactions remain an important determinant to limit the drug use. To identify a genetic factor(s) affecting the risk of epirubicin-induced leukopenia/neutropenia, we performed a genome-wide association study. Methods We studied 270 patients consisting of 67 patients with grade 3 or 4 leukopenia/neutropenia, and 203 patients showing no toxicity (patients with grade 1 or 2 were excluded from the study) for genome-wide association study. We further examined the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) showing P values of less than 0.0001 using an additional set of 48 patients with grade 3/4 leukopenia/neutropenia. Results The combined analysis indicated that rs2916733 in microcephalin 1 [combined PFisher min=2.27×10−9, odds ratio (OR)=2.74 with 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.96–3.83; the nonrisk genotype as reference] was significantly associated with epirubicin-induced leukopenia/neutropenia. A subgroup analysis of patients with only breast cancer showed a similar trend of association for the marker SNP rs2916733 (combined PFisher min=6.76×10−7, OR=2.80 with 95% CI=1.86–4.21). We subsequently performed haplotype analysis and found that a haplotype constructed from rs2916733 and rs1031309, which was in linkage disequilibrium with rs2916733 (r2=0.64), showed stronger association (P=2.20×10−10, OR=2.88 with 95% CI=2.05–4.03) than a single landmark SNP (rs2916733; P=2.27×10−9, OR=2.74 with 95% CI=1.96–3.83), suggesting that causative variant(s) that could influence the susceptibility of epirubicin-induced adverse drug reactions (ADRs) might exist in this haplotype. Conclusion Our findings show that genetic variants in the microcephalin 1 locus are suggestively associated with the risk of epirubicin-induced ADRs and might be applicable in development of diagnostic system for predicting the risk of the ADRs, leading to better prognosis and quality of life for patients with cancer. However, these results should be considered preliminary until replicated in adequately larger powered and controlled samples.


How individuals respond to habitat heterogeneity is usually measured as variation in range size and by ranking the relative importance of habitat types (habitat selection). The combined effect of how individuals incorporate different habitat types in their home ranges and allocate their time budget between them is rarely derived. Additionally, when home range size varies between individuals, habitat selection analyses might be flawed if foraging decisions are based on variation in absolute rather than proportional availability. We investigated the suitability of standard analytical approaches by measuring the spatial responses of tawny owls to habitat fragmentation. These owls inhabited woodland of various sizes, representing a fragmentation gradient from open farmland with small, isolated woodland patches, to continuous woodland within their home ranges. In 17 territories within open farmland, the available area covered by woodland increased with the square root of the area of open land embraced in the home range. The owls did not display functional response in habitat selection, but females selected woodland more strongly than males. Females utilised woodland 10 times more intensively in farmland than in continuous woods, whereas males utilised farmland woods 3.2 times more intensively. Moreover, females in farmland exploited woodland 3.2 times as intensively as males, apparently because of higher travel costs in open areas. Since the extensive variation in intensity of use as a function of total availability was not indicated from the analysis of habitat selection, we suggest that information about intensity of use be more widely used as a supplementary measure of habitat use patterns than appears to be the practice at present.


BACKGROUND
Chronic cough (a cough lasting longer than 4 weeks) is a common symptom presenting to primary care in Australia and internationally. Chronic cough costs the community, is distressing to parents, and ignoring cough may lead to delayed diagnosis and illness progression of serious underlying respiratory disease. Clinical guidelines have been shown to provide more efficient and effective patient care and can clarify clinical decision making. Cough guidelines have been designed to facilitate management of chronic cough, however treatment recommendations vary and specific clinical pathways for the treatment of chronic cough in children are important, as the cause and treatments for cough in a child vary significantly adults. Therefore, it would be beneficial to clinical practice to systematically evaluate the use of clinical pathways for the treatment of chronic cough in children.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the effectiveness of using a clinical pathway in the management of children with chronic cough.

SEARCH STRATEGY
The Cochrane Register of controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register, MEDLINE, EMBASE, review articles and reference lists of relevant articles were searched. The search was carried out in May 2007.

SELECTION CRITERIA
All randomised controlled trials with parallel group design comparing use vs non-use of a clinical pathway for treatment of chronic cough in children.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Results of searches were reviewed against the pre-determined criteria for inclusion. Two reviewers independently selected the studies and it was planned that data extraction would have been done in duplicate.

MAIN RESULTS
The search identified 471 potentially relevant titles but no studies met criteria for inclusion in the review.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Without further available evidence, recommendations for the use of clinical pathways for the treatment of chronic cough in children cannot be made. Until further evidence is available, the decision for further investigation and treatment for the child presenting with chronic cough should be made on an individual basis (i.e. dependent on symptoms and signs) with consideration for existing data from other Cochrane reviews on specific treatments for cough. Trials are required to provide evidence on the effectiveness of clinical pathways for the treatment of chronic cough in children.


The Dangerous Weapons Act 15 of 2013 provides for certain prohibitions and restrictions in respect of the possession of a dangerous weapon and it repeals the Dangerous Weapons Act 71 of 1968 as well as the different Dangerous Weapons Acts in operation in the erstwhile TBVC States. The Act also amends the Regulation of Gatherings Act 205 of 1993 to prohibit the possession of any dangerous weapon at a gathering or demonstration. The Dangerous Weapons Act provides for a uniform system of law governing the use of dangerous weapons for the whole of South Africa and it furthermore no longer places the onus on the individual charged with the offence of the possession of a dangerous weapon to show that he or she did not have any intention of using the firearm for an unlawful purpose. The Act also defines the meaning of a dangerous weapon. According to our court's interpretation of the Dangerous Weapons Act 71 of 1968 a dangerous weapon was regarded as an object used or intended to be used as a weapon even if it had not been designed for use as a weapon. The Act, however, requires the object to be capable of causing death or inflicting serious bodily harm if it were used for an unlawful purpose. The possession of a dangerous weapon, in circumstances which may raise a reasonable suspicion that the person intends to use it for an unlawful purpose, attracts criminal liability. The Act also provides a useful set of guidelines to assist courts to determine if a person charged with the offence of the possession of a dangerous weapon had indeed intended to use the weapon for an unlawful purpose. It seems, however, that the Act prohibits the possession of a dangerous weapon at gatherings, even if the person carrying the weapon does not intend to use it for an unlawful purpose. The state will, however, have to prove that the accused had the necessary control over the object and the intention to exercise such control, as well as that the object is capable of causing death and inflicting serious bodily harm if it were used for an unlawful purpose. The Act does not apply to the following activities: (a) possession of dangerous weapons in pursuit of any lawful employment duty or activity; (b) possession of dangerous weapons during the participation in any religious or cultural activities or lawful sport, recreation or entertainment or (c) legitimate collection, display or exhibition of weapons. It is suggested that these exclusions are acceptable if the religious and cultural events referred to are not of a "protesting" or "confrontational" nature. If such events are indeed "protesting" or "confrontational" in nature, they are covered by section 17 of the Constitution (which authorises only peaceful and unarmed assembly, demonstration, picketing and the presentation of petitions). Religious and cultural events of a "protesting" or "confrontational" character, where dangerous weapons are displayed, run the serious risk of turning violent, and may result in a violation of section 12(1)(c) of the Constitution, which embodies the right of everyone to be free from all forms of violence.


This paper aims to discuss issues around the often taboo topic of caste in Sikhism. The Guru Granth Sahibji repeatedly reminds its readers of the egalitarian nature of the Sikh faith. A faith which almost promises to eradicate notions of pollution attached to the lower castes. This paper endeavours to unearth the hermeneutics of the Guru Granth Sahibji in order to assess why lower caste members of the Panth felt that their Mazhabi labelling has prevented their equal assimilation into the Sikh Panth. Two such groups in Britain today are the Valmikis and the Ravidasis. The Valmikis, especially praxis at the Coventry Sabha, pose very interesting dialogue as to who a Sikh is. The Sabha is unique in the fact that it houses a copy of the Guru Granth Sahibji alongside that of Valmiki's Ramayan. This paper attempts to address the root causes of the Valmikis' and Ravidasis' emphasis on a distinct identity from Sikhs. Was this move towards religious autonomy politically or socially motivated?


ABSTRACT Hybridomas secreting specific monoclonal antibodies (MAb) to all members of the genus Leptospira (clone LF9) and those that are specific only to the pathogenic species (clones LD5 and LE1) were produced. MAb LF9, which was immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1), reacted to a 38-kDa component of the sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-separated whole-cell lysates of all Leptospira spp., while MAb LD5 and MAb LE1, which were IgG1 and IgG2a, respectively, reacted to the 35- to 36-kDa components of all serogroups of the pathogenic species of Leptospira. The MAb LD5 was used in a dot blot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (dot-ELISA) for detecting Leptospira antigen in urine samples serially collected from two groups of patients diagnosed with leptospirosis, i.e., 36 clinically diagnosed patients and 25 Leptospira culture confirmed patients. Their serum samples were tested serologically by IgM Dipstick assay, indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and/or microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Urine samples of 26 patients diagnosed with other illnesses and 120 healthy individuals served as controls. For the first group of patients, who had been ill for an average of 3.4 days before hospitalization, the IgM Dipstick test, IFA, and MAT were positive for 69.4, 70.0, and 85.7% of patients, while the Leptospira antigenuria tested by the MAb-based dot-ELISA was positive for 75.0, 88.9, 97.2, 97.2, and 100% of patients on days 1, 2, 3, 7, and 14 of hospitalization, respectively. All but 1 of 11 patients whose serum samples collected on the first day of hospitalization were IgM seronegative, were positive by urine antigen test on day 1. This is strong evidence that detection of antigen in urine can provide diagnostic information that could be useful in directing early therapeutic intervention. The MAT was positive in 10 of 12 patients (83.3%) of the 25 culture-positive Leptospira patients who had been ill for an average of 5.04 days before hospitalization, and the Leptospira antigen was found in 64.0, 84.0, 96.0, 100, 100, 100, and 100% of the patients' urine samples collected on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of hospitalization, respectively. Leptospira antigenuria was found in 3 of the 26 patients diagnosed with other illnesses and 1 of the 120 healthy controls. The reasons for this positivity are discussed. The detection of antigen in urine by the monoclonal antibody-based dot-ELISA has high potential for rapid, sensitive, and specific diagnosis of leptospirosis at a low cost.


The construction industry is progressively moving from designing and building new towards redesigning, upgrading and maintaining existing buildings. Concurrently, the increasing demand for urban renewal calls for architectural interventions. Success and the meeting of set goals is typically assessed using an established framework.
Architectural tradition offers methodologies to evaluate built structures based on characteristics like build quality, engineering performance, functionality, spatial design, and effects on the living environment.However, in addition to these qualities, building refurbishments target energetic, economic, environmental and social improvements. They respond to complex requirements set by an extensive network of stakeholders. A qualitative building assessment based on architecture alone does not sufficiently reflect the aims of such processes, and a holistic means to analyze refurbishment designs is lacking.
This paper presents a review of existing building assessment methodologies, and suggests a new, simple set of evaluation criteria for interventions on the building envelope. The proposal is demonstrated by assessing three cases illustrating different approaches to such processes. Evaluation results prove the usability of the method to assess the variation in extent and aims of implemented measures. Coupled with quantitative estimations, it could aid the decision making process in residential housing cooperatives. Future development should include further cases and more extensive building refurbishments.


This article introduces the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and the European Union's policies and legislation that exemplify these rules. This forms the basis for examining primary Russian SPS legislation governing border controls and its relationship with legislative provisions on human, animal, and plant health and food safety. Specific Russsian primary federal laws (federal'nye zakony) covering veterinary medicine, plant health, food quality/safety, pesticides and agrochemicals, and technical regulations are compared with corresponding international conventions, norms, and standards and relevant legislation in the EU. Finally, general remarks are made about the Russian Federation's secondary legislation in the SPS area. Instances of non-compliance with international norms, found by the authors, may contribute to trade difficulties with other countries and likely will need to be addressed as part of Russia's negotiations to join the WTO and, also, to remove some of the difficulties in trade with the EU.


Objective: Specific immunotherapy (SIT) is a well-established treatment method that is suggested to alter the natural course of the disease. Although the mechanisms remain unclear, recent studies have shown that allergen-specific immunotherapy may reduce the risk of new sensitizations. The aim of this study was to evaluate new sensitizations in children who underwent SIT for allergic airway diseases: allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma or both. Materials and Methods: This retrospective observational study was conducted at Behcet Uz Children's Hospital, among children with an allergic airway disorder due to monosensitization. The SIT group consisted 67 patients who had been offered, and accepted, and thus underwent SIT regularly during four years while the control group consisted of 57 patients who had been offered but refused SIT, and thus had not undergone SIT and were treated with medications only. The allergens that were negative at the first skin prick test but positive at the second prick test were accepted as 'new sensitization'. Results: The SIT group consisted of 67 (mean age ±SD: 15.27±3.15; Male /Female: 42/25) while the control group included 57 (mean age ± SD: 12.61 ± 2.69; Male /Female: 35/22) monosensitized patients with allergic airway disorder. There was no significant difference between SIT group and controls considering age and gender, current airway disease and current responsible allergen (p>0.05). The rate of new allergen sensitization in the immunotherapy group was 26/67 (38.8%) and slightly higher than control group (14/57; 24.6%) but the difference was not significant, statistically (p=0.12). The most common allergens causing new sensitization were pollens of grass (12/40), animal dander (7/40) and olive tree (6/40). When newly sensitized patients were evaluated, the atopy incidence was significantly higher than patients with no new sensitizations (32/40 vs 8/40). Conclusion: We suggest that SIT may not prevent new sensitizations in childhood allergic airway diseases in monosensitized patients. The most important risk factor in developing new sensitization is presence of atopic disease in the parents.


XIRQL ("circle") is an XML query language that incorporates imprecision and vagueness for both structural and content-oriented query conditions. The corresponding uncertainty is handled by a consistent probabilistic model. The core features of XIRQL are (1) document ranking based on index term weighting, (2) specificity-oriented search for retrieving the most relevant parts of documents, (3) datatypes with vague predicates for dealing with specific types of content and (4) structural vagueness for vague interpretation of structural query conditions. A XIRQL database may contain several classes of documents, where all documents in a class conform to the same DTD; links between documents also are supported. XIRQL queries are translated into a path algebra, which can be processed by our HyREX retrieval engine.


Introduction Among the many anomalies of the biliary tree is interposition of the gallbladder between the common hepatic and common bile ducts. The existence of this anomaly has not been emphasized, since only 14 cases have appeared in the English medical literature, yet the failure to recognize this condition may have disastrous results. Report of Case This 67-year-old Creek Indian woman was admitted to Public Health Service Indian Hospital, Talihina, Okla, on Aug 27, 1963, with a perforated appendix. An appendectomy was performed during the course of which cholelithiasis was noted to be present. Postoperative course was uneventful until Sept 13, when she developed an attack of acute cholecystitis which subsided on conservative management. Because of intermittent right upper quadrant distress, patient was taken to surgery on Sept 23, for cholecystectomy. Exploration revealed the gallbladder to be solidly packed with stones and adherent to surrounding viscera. After lysis of adhesions,


Newspapers and journalism began in the Middle East in the nineteenth century and evolved during a period of accelerated change which shaped their unique political, social and cultural role. Drawing on a wealth of sources, this study for the first time explores the press as a Middle Eastern institution. It focuses on the circumstances that influences the growth of the Arab press, its own impact on local historical developments, and the long-term effects that early patterns of its emergence have had on later evolution.


Abstract. Mineral dust deposition is suggested to be a significant atmospheric supply pathway of bioavailable iron (Fe) to Fe-depleted surface oceans. In this study, mineral dust and dissolved Fe (Fed) deposition rates are predicted for March 2009 to February 2010 using the 3-D chemical transport model GEOS-Chem implemented with a comprehensive dust-Fe dissolution scheme. The model simulates Fed production during the atmospheric transport of mineral dust, taking into account inorganic and organic (oxalate)-promoted Fe dissolution processes, photochemical redox cycling between ferric (Fe(III)) and ferrous (Fe(II)) forms of Fe, dissolution of three different Fe-containing minerals (hematite, goethite, and aluminosilicates), and detailed mineralogy of wind-blown dust from the major desert regions. Our calculations suggest that during the year-long simulation ~0.26 Tg (1 Tg = 1012 g) of Fed was deposited to global oceanic regions. Compared to simulations only taking into account proton-promoted Fe dissolution, the addition of oxalate and Fe(II)/Fe(III) redox cycling to the dust-Fe mobilization scheme increased total annual model-predicted Fed deposition to global oceanic regions by ~75%. The implementation of Fe(II)/Fe(III) photochemical redox cycling in the model also allows for the distinction between different oxidation states of deposited Fed. Our calculations suggest that during the daytime, large fractions of Fed deposited to the global oceans is likely to be in Fe(II) form, while nocturnal fluxes of Fed are largely in Fe(III) form. Model sensitivity simulations suggest Fed fluxes to the oceans can range from ~50% reduction to ~150% increase associated with the uncertainty in Fe-containing minerals commonly found in dust particles. This study indicates that Fed deposition to the oceans is controlled by total dust-Fe mass concentrations, mineralogy, the surface area of dust particles, atmospheric chemical composition, cloud processing, and meteorological parameters and exhibits complex and spatiotemporally variable patterns. Our study suggests that the explicit model representation of individual processes leading to Fed production within mineral dust are needed to improve the understanding of the atmospheric Fe cycle, and quantify the effect of dust-Fe on ocean biological productivity, carbon cycle, and climate.


This paper considers the problem of signal detection in distributed networks in the presence of data falsification (Byzantine) attacks. Detection approaches considered in the paper are based on fully distributed consensus algorithms, where all of the nodes exchange information only with their neighbors in the absence of a fusion center. For such networks, we first characterize the negative effect of Byzantines on the steady state and transient detection performance of conventional consensus-based detection algorithms. To avoid performance deterioration, we propose a distributed weighted average consensus algorithm that is robust to Byzantine attacks. We show that, under reasonable assumptions, the global test statistic for detection can be computed locally at each node using our proposed consensus algorithm. We exploit the statistical distribution of the nodes' data to devise techniques for mitigating the influence of data falsifying Byzantines on the distributed detection system. Since some parameters of the statistical distribution of the nodes' data might not be known a priori, we propose learning based techniques to enable an adaptive design of the local fusion or update rules. Numerical results are presented for illustration.


A self-contained guide to coordinated multi-point (CoMP), this comprehensive book covers everything from theoretical basics to practical implementation. Addressing a wide range of topics, it highlights the potential gains of CoMP, the fundamental degrees of freedom involved and the key challenges of using CoMP in practice. The editors and contributors bring unique real-world experience from running the world's first and largest test beds for LTE-Advanced, and recent field trial results from these tests are presented. With detailed insight into the realistic potential of CoMP as a key technology for LTE-Advanced and beyond, this is a must-read resource for professionals and students who want the big picture on CoMP or require in-depth knowledge of how to build cellular communication systems for the future.


Socket head cap screws used in a naval application were failing in service due to delayed fracture. The standard ASTM A 574 screws were zinc plated and dichromate coated. Investigation (visual inspection, 1187 SEM images, chemical analysis, and tension testing) of both the failed screws and two unused, exemplar fasteners from the same lot supported the conclusion that the cap screws appear to have failed due to hydrogen embrittlement, as revealed by delayed cracking and intergranular fracture morphology. Static brittle overload fracture occurred due to the tension preload, and prior hydrogen charging that occurred during manufacturing. The probable source of charging was the electroplating, although postplating baking was reportedly performed as well. Recommendations included examining the manufacturing process in detail.


The accurate determination of critical dimensions and roughness is necessary to ensure the quality of photoresist masks that are crucial for the operational reliability of electronic components. Scatterometry provides a fast indirect optical nondestructive method for the determination of profile parameters that are obtained from scattered light intensities using inverse methods. We illustrate the effect of line roughness on the reconstruction of grating parameters employing a maximum likelihood scheme. Neglecting line roughness introduces a strong bias in the parameter estimations. Therefore, such roughness has to be included in the mathematical model of the measurement in order to obtain accurate reconstruction results. In addition, the method allows to determine line roughness from scatterometry. The approach is demonstrated for simulated scattering intensities as well as for experimental data of extreme ultraviolet light scatterometry measurements. The results obtained from the experimental data are in agreement with independent atomic force microscopy measurements.


Increased production of biomass crops in North America will require new agricultural land, intensify the cultivation of land already under production and introduce new types of biomass crops. Assessing the potential biodiversity impacts of novel agricultural systems is fundamental to the maintenance of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, yet the consequences of expanded biomass production remain unclear. We evaluate the ability of two candidate second generation biomass feedstocks (switchgrass, Panicum virgatum, and mixed-grass prairie) not currently managed as crops to act as post-breeding and fall migratory stopover habitat for birds. In total, we detected 41 bird species, including grassland specialists and species of state and national conservation concern (e.g. Henslow's Sparrow, Ammodramus henslowii). Avian species richness was generally comparable in switchgrass and prairie and increased with patch size in both patch types. Grassland specialists were less abundant and less likely to occur in patches within highly forested landscapes and were more common and likely to occur in larger patches, indicating that this group is also area-sensitive outside of the breeding season. Variation in the biomass and richness of arthropod food within patches was generally unrelated to richness and abundance metrics. Total bird abundance and that of grassland specialists was higher in patches with greater vegetation structural heterogeneity. Collectively, we find that perennial biomass feedstocks have potential to provide post-breeding and migratory stopover habitat for birds, but that the placement and management of crops will be critical factors in determining their suitability for species of conservation concern. Industrialization of cellulosic bioenergy production that results in reduced crop structural heterogeneity is likely to dramatically reduce the suitability of perennial biomass crops for birds.


A number-conserving cellular automaton is a simplified model for a system of interacting particles. This paper contains two related constructions by which one can find all one-dimensional number-conserving cellular automata with one kind of particle. The output of both methods is a "flow function", which describes the movement of the particles. In the first method, one puts increasingly stronger restrictions on the particle flow until a single flow function is specified. There are no dead ends, every choice of restriction steps ends with a flow. The second method uses the fact that the flow functions can be ordered and then form a lattice. This method consists of a recipe for the slowest flow that enforces a given minimal particle speed in one given neighbourhood. All other flow functions are then maxima of sets of these flows. Other questions, like that about the nature of non-deterministic number-conserving rules, are treated briefly at the end.


Low anterior resection (LAR) with total mesorectal excision (TME) can present a technical challenge in patients with middle or lower third rectal tumors. The challenge increases in obese male patients, those with a narrow pelvis, and following neo-adjuvant chemo-radiation. These factors may hamper the quality of the TME specimen, increase laparoscopic to open conversion rates, consequently influence oncological outcomes, and decrease the rate of reconstructive surgery. Transanal TME (taTME) was developed to overcome the above-mentioned technical difficulties through enhanced visualization of the dissection planes in the distal most difficult portion of the TME procedure. The transanal approach may fa-cilitate a clearer distal and circumferential resection margin (CRM), offer more patients sphincter-preserving surgery, and serve as a natural orifice extraction site of the specimen. Recent publications report an acceptable perioperative and short-term oncologic outcomes when comparing taTME to open or laparoscopic LAR. The aim of this review is to sum-marize the available current literature on taTME and to propose future perspective of training, quality control, and clinical research.


In recent years there has been significant ongoing academic debate over the expansion of public shareholders' participation rights in corporate governance. The debate has accompanied a dramatic increase in institutional shareholder and hedge fund activism attempting to influence the conduct of corporate affairs. The legitimacy of shareholder participation rights depends upon the actual role public shareholders play in contributing to the corporation's function of providing goods and services and, ultimately, to economic growth and social welfare. Nobody in the debate has stopped to examine this question. This paper presents original empirical evidence that demonstrates that public shareholders do not, on net, contribute capital to finance industrial production, and in fact are net consumers of corporate equity. Moreover, their investment incentives significantly distort the behavior of corporate managers who place strong emphasis on stock price at the expense of long-term business health, a fact that has played some role in the current global financial debacle. The logical conclusion is that public shareholders' rights should, ideally, be eliminated, and certainly not expanded or enhanced.


Natural clays occur as mixtures of many clay minerals and remains of the rocks that underwent diagenesis to yield the clays. As weathering of clay soils never ceases it may not be possible to mine single clay minerals. The purity of the mineral may increase through hydrocycloning and sedimentation as different clay minerals have different densities, wetting behavior and solubility in water. In this study, information has been accumulated on clays mined from Budadiri, Chelel, Mutufu and Sirron in eastern Uganda which were sedimented to upgrade the content of smectites. The raw clays and fraction the settled from sedimentation mixture after six days were subjected to chemical analysis, differential thermal analysis, Infra-red radiation and X-ray diffraction studies. The data acquired from the various experiments revealed presence of Femontmorillonite, illite, kaolinite, K-feldspars, plagioclase and quartz in raw clays. Although smectites and kaolinites may appear similar in color, the alkalinity of aqueous slurries of clay sediments from Budadiri, Chelel and Mutufu showed they were smectites containing nontronite. The clays and clay fractions were made of 40-50% smectite, 20-30% K-feldspars and plagioclase showing they formed from alkaline intrusive granitoids in basic medium. The presence of iron, aluminium, and silicon in approximate percentages of 11, 18 and 60% respectively indicated that sedimentation yielded nontronite and montmorillonite fractions. The IR spectrum absorption peaks at 3600, 3454, 526 and 466cm -1 among others were due to Al-Al-OH, Mg-OH-Al, Si-O-Al and Si-O-Si bond deformations respectively indicated presence of smectites in the clay fractions obtained. DTA showed peaks at temperatures of 100, 250 and 650 o C due to presence of smectites.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the gap between recovery-oriented processes and clinical outcomes in peer support, an exemplar of recovery-oriented services, and offer suggestions for bridging this gap.

Design/methodology/approach
This viewpoint is a brief review of literature on peer support services and gaps in outcome measurement towards building an evidence base for recovery-oriented services.

Findings
Clinical outcomes like hospitalizations or symptoms remain a focus of research, practice and policy in recovery-oriented services and contribute to a mixed evidence base for peer support services, in which recovery-oriented outcomes like empowerment, self-efficacy and hopefulness have more evidentiary support. One approach is to identify the theoretical underpinnings of peer support services and the corresponding change mechanisms in models that would make these recovery-oriented outcomes mediators or process outcomes. A better starting point is to consider which outcomes are valued by the people who use services and develop an evaluation approach according to those stated goals. User driven measurement approaches and more participatory types of research can improve both the quality and impact of health and mental health services.

Originality/value
This viewpoint provides a brief review of peer support services and the challenges of outcome measurement in establishing an evidence base and recommends user driven measurement as a starting point in evaluation of recovery-oriented services.


This thesis researches two main aspects: the characteristics of (national) spatial strategies and how they can be transferred, to learn lessons for the next Dutch spatial planning strategy of 2018 (NOVI). Taking the objectives that have been formulated by NOVI in content, process and product as a starting point, a comparative study is made between the spatial strategies of California, Denmark, England, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Oregon. The comparative study leads to two main analyses: six key variables which show the key variations that exist in national spatial strategies in content, process and product; and a matrix which shows location specific innovations. Everything learned in the comparative study is tested in a demonstration in which the characteristics are replicated and applied onto the Dutch context to understand the level of transferability and the dependence on the context. The lessons learned for the research are formulated into a road map for NOVI, offering four recommendations to consider when creating NOVI, alongside a personal design proposal for what NOVI should look like based on the research conducted.


Modeling peculiarities of evolution of the tree's branches system on allometric (fractal) parameter µ which connects a green biomass of a tree with its height, are considered, basing on the sectional model of a branches system presented earlier. It is shown that the initial stage of the (endo)symbiotic growth of the first dot "plants" (µ<1) must be characterized by a group placement of photosynthesizing points and growth of µ with the increasing the number of points in group, i.e. with increasing the efficiency of the use of light. Value µ not depends on type of a groups' allocation, but depends on a kind of the points' distribution in group. Thus, in an early ontogenesis of such "protoplants" there should be a stage of gradual growth μ from 0 which may be manifested in the form (usually observable) initial slowdown of growth and in the recapitulation phenomenon. Key words: sectional model of system of tree's branches; green biomass vs. height; fractal parameter; group dot pattern at line segment; endosymbiose of cyanobacteria and protists; origin of "protoplant"; initial slowdown of growth; recapitulation;


Retinal degeneration causes permanent visual loss and affects millions of people worldwide. Cell transplantation may have the potential for retinal regeneration. However, several problems hinder the successful repair of the retina including cell delivery, integration, and survival. Recent studies have shown that the use of scaffolds can address these obstacles. Synthetic scaffolds are being explored to mimic the functions of Bruch's membrane, an extracellular matrix that acts as a molecular sieve, to maintain the metabolic exchange between the vasculature and outer retina. This work aims at fabricating an ultrathin and porous membrane, which mimics Bruch's membrane, using a novel method. We have developed a fast, easy and single-step method to create a free-standing, porous and ultrathin PCL membrane, through dropcasting of a polymer blend on a liquid interface. The free-standing scaffold with nanometer pores is investigated for human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cell response. The results demonstrate that the synthesised membrane can act as a potential prosthetic Bruch's membrane for RPE transplantation.


Pseudogout is a type of joint inflammations caused by deposition of calcium pyrophosphate (CaPPi) crystals in the affected joint. As Ca2+ is abundant in the synovial fluid (SF), high levels of soluble PPi in the SF could be one of the key factors that contribute to CaPPi formation in the joint and may serve as a biomarker for pseudogout. Here, we developed and applied an artificial molecular sensor to selective fluorescent detection of soluble PPi in SF of the arthritis patients. The sensor employed xanthene as a fluorophore and the Dpa/Zn(II) as two specific binding sites for PPi. When titrated with serially diluted aqueous PPi solutions, the sensor displayed high sensitivity and exhibited the detection limit of 0.01 μM. The effect of salt concentration was normalized via the concept of Middle Point of Quantification (MPOQ) firstly proposed in this study. The performance of this sensor was also further validated by testing with SF samples extracted from eight clinical patients. The results revealed that six patients had the PPi levels in the range of 60 and 200 μM, indicating moderate likelihood of having pseudogout. Hence, our new method for determining the soluble PPi levels in SF shows promise as a robust, sensitive, and accurate diagnostic tool for the pseudogout.


We present the results of the first joint search for gravitational-wave bursts by the LIGO and GEO600 detectors. We search for bursts with characteristic central frequencies in the band 768 to 2048 Hz in the data acquired between the 22nd of February and the 23rd of March, 2005 (fourth LSC Science Run - S4). We discuss the inclusion of the GEO600 data in the Waveburst-CorrPower pipeline that first searches for coincident excess power events without taking into account differences in the antenna responses or strain sensitivities of the various detectors. We compare the performance of this pipeline to that of the coherent Waveburst pipeline based on the maximum likelihood statistic. This likelihood statistic is derived from a coherent sum of the detector data streams that takes into account the antenna patterns and sensitivities of the different detectors in the network. We find that the coherentWaveburst pipeline is sensitive to signals of amplitude 30 - 50% smaller than the Waveburst-CorrPower pipeline. We perform a search for gravitational-wave bursts using both pipelines and find no detection candidates in the S4 data set when all four instruments were operating stably.


Music Makes Me: Fred Astaire and Jazz Todd Decker University of California Press, 2011. 375 pages. Paperback. $29.95 At a narrative crossroads in Irving Berlin's film Holiday Inn (1942), two male leads - one a well-known crooner, the other a hoofer by trade - discuss their futures, both personal and professional. To keep the girl he loves away from his rival, the singer (Bing Crosby) suggests that the dancer (Fred Astaire) might try going it alone for once: "I think you're better off doing a single; you're a born soloist, you know!" In spite of his recent jilting by the third member of their former act, Astaire quickly rejects that advice: "I've got to have a partner!" In an inherently collaborative medium like the film musical, Astaire achieved great success throughout his career with a string of talented partners. However, at the end of his autobiography, Astaire writes of how ill suited he would have been to a career in ballet: "I wanted to do all my dancing my own way, in a sort of outlaw style."1 As Todd Decker points out frequently over the course of his book, the connections between Astaire and the wealth of popular music styles that formed his lifelong soundtrack make it impossible to deny his awareness of and reverence for the potential infused in every note and beat of this career "partnership." As Decker's title states, music "made" him in terms of giving him material with which to work, but that influence was most definitely a two-way street; this "outlaw" gave back to American music via the power of his inventive dance and his passion for promoting the styles and players he cherished. Decker's book complements previous Astaire scholarship, which has dealt primarily with the dance component of his musicals. Surveys by Arlene Croce (1977) and John Mueller (1985)2 focus almost entirely on the visual aspect of Astaire films, with Mueller's considerable study delving into frame-by-frame discussions of many signature numbers. Decker builds on these landmarks in two ways: first, by dissecting a few of Astaire's numbers using the tools of musicai (rather than choreographic) analysis; and second, by enlarging the view of Astaire's oeuvre beyond his best-known films. Indeed, in the discussion of Astaire on television and on record Decker offers some of his most fascinating observations to underscore the idea of Astaire as ardent listener and lover of all things "jazz." The opening section, "Astaire Among Others/' provides a comparative survey of other contemporaries who thrived in fields related to Astaire. Decker recognizes Astaire as an impressive figure even in the company of luminaries, because although each performer showed tremendous talent in one of these areas, Astaire managed to be accomplished across the board. Some were wonderful technicians who lacked creative inspiration, others took direction well as desired by the studio, but none took the lead in reshaping a style or a genre. Astaire's filmic accomplishments resulted in an unparalleled level of control over his musical numbers - and, as Decker later notes, sequences that fell short were almost always the ones where Astaire's input was less valued. His exclusive identification with the musical affirmed his role as a specialist whose expertise was trusted by the studio; he knew how to work within the microcosm of "the musical number" in such a way that it could be made new on a regular basis (within budget and on time, no less). Here Decker introduces the idea of Astaire as a dancer driven by sound, whose tap line formed a pivotal component of the rhythmic texture of a given musical work; having been a vaudeville pianist and a drumming enthusiast who jammed along with records at home, here was one more "instrument" he learned in order to be a part of the process of making jazz happen. Here Decker introduces the metaphor of Astaire as a musical "tailor," a "maker of moments," shaping the components of now-classic songs into suitable scores for his dance routines. …


First paragraphs: Are small farms economically sustainable? Not according to a recent opinion piece in the  New York Times  written by Bren Smith, a small-scale farmer: "The dirty secret of the food movement is that the much-celebrated small-scale farmer isn't making a living. After the tools are put away, we head out to second and third jobs to keep our farms afloat...Health care, paying for our kids' college, preparing for retirement? Not happening" (Smith, 2014, para. 2). Another widely shared opinion piece by a small-scale farmer, Jaclyn Moyer, began: "People say we're 'rich in other ways,' but that doesn't fix the ugly fact that most farms are unsustainable" (Moyer, 2015, para. 1). Jaclyn was asked by a student if her farm was sustainable. She replied that her farm was certified organic and conserved water, but later reflected: "I didn't think my farm was sustainable. Like all the other farms I knew, my farm relied on uncompensated labor and self-exploitation...I knew the years my partner and I could continue to work without a viable income were numbered" (Moyer, 2015, para. 22). Both Smith and Moyer were distressed by how much work was required for the small amount of money they were able to earn on their small-scale farms. They both claim that few farmers they know are able to make what they consider an acceptable income farming. However, many non-farm couples both work long hours at good-paying jobs and are barely able to make ends meet. It takes all of their time and energy to earn enough money to support their chosen lifestyle—much like many farm couples. What matters is whether such couples are able to pursue their chosen way of life, not how much money they earn and spend in the process....


We explain how to use elicited priors in Bayesian political science research. These are a form of prior information produced by previous knowledge from structured interviews with subjective area experts who have little or no concern for the statistical aspects of the project. The purpose is to introduce qualitative and area-specific information into an empirical model in a systematic and organized manner in order to produce parsimonious yet realistic implications. Currently, there is no work in political science that articulates elicited priors in a Bayesian specification. We demonstrate the value of the approach by applying elicited priors to a problem in judicial comparative politics using data and elicitations we collected in Nicaragua.


Fusion creates more neutrons per energy released than fission or spallation, therefore DT fusion facilities have the potential to become the most intense sources of neutrons for material testing. An Ignitor-like device, that is a compact, high field, high density machine could be envisaged for this purpose making full use of the intense neutron flux that it can generate, without reaching ignition. The main features of this High Field Neutron Source Facility, which would have about 50% more volume than Ignitor, are illustrated and the R&D required in order to achieve relevant dpa quantities in the tested materials are discussed, in particular the adoption of superconducting magnet coils. Radiation damage evaluations have been performed by means of the ACAB code, showing the potential of high field, neutron-rich devices for fusion material testing. Few full-power months of operation are sufficient to obtain significant radiation damage values (in terms of dpa) of large size samples (~m3). The setup of a duty cycle for the device in order to obtain such operation times is discussed. The problem of radiation damage to the insulator of the Toroidal Field Coils has been explored. Two strategies for mitigating damage to the TF coil insulators have been demonstrated, and it is likely that both will need to be implemented to ensure the survival of the insulating material for the lifetime of the tokamak.


Human experience is based on learning that our actions affect subsequent positive or negative outcomes. Rewards strengthen associations between contextual stimuli and actions, thereby reinforcing and maintaining successful behavior, whereas punishments induce avoidance of erroneous actions. While we usually learn from both positive and negative reinforcement, the relative amount of learning from success or errors varies between individuals. Klein et al. investigated a human genetic polymorphism associated with the density of brain dopamine D2 receptor. Reduced D2 receptor density was associated with less-efficient learning from errors. In people with lower D2 receptor density, the reduced capacity to learn from errors was accompanied by reduced feedback-related activity in the posterior medial frontal cortex, an area known to monitor for negative action outcomes. T. A. Klein, J. Neumann, M. Reuter, J. Hennig, D. Y. von Cramon, M. Ullsperger, Genetically determined differences in learning from errors. Science 318, 1642-1645 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This volume makes available for the first time in English the work of a significant Indian nationalist author, Pandey Bechan Sharma, better known in India as 'Ugra' ('Extreme'). His book "Chocolate", a 1927 collection of eight stories, was the first work of Hindi fiction to focus on male same-sex relations, and its publication sparked India's first public debates about homosexuality. Many prominent figures, including Gandhi, weighed in on the debates, which lasted into the 1950s. This edition, translated and introduced by Ruth Vanita, includes the full text of "Chocolate" along with an excerpt from Ugra's novel "Letters of Some Beautiful Ones" (also published in 1927). In her introduction, Vanita situates Ugra and his writings in relation to Indian nationalist struggles and Hindi literary movements and feuds, and she analyzes the controversies that surrounded "Chocolate". Those outraged by the titillating portrayal of homosexuality labelled the collection obscene. On the other side, although no one explicitly defended homosexuality in public, some justified Ugra's work by arguing that it was the artist's job to educate through provocation. The stories depict male homoeroticism in quotidian situations: a man brings a lover to his disapproving friend's house; a good-looking young man becomes the object of desire at his school. The love never ends well, but the depictions are not always unsympathetic. Although Ugra claimed that the stories were aimed at suppressing homosexuality by exposing it, Vanita highlights the ambivalence of his characterizations. Cosmopolitan, educated, and hedonistic, the Hindu and Muslim men he portrayed quote Hindi and Urdu poetry to express their love, and they justify same-sex desire by drawing on literature, philosophy, and world history. Vanita's introduction includes anecdotal evidence that "Chocolate" was enthusiastically received by India's homosexual communities.


Enhanced backscattering of polarized light by disordered media composed of independently scattering particles of arbitrary size and shape is studied theoretically. Rigorous relations between the cyclical and the ladder parts of the backscattering matrix in exactly the backscattering direction are derived for three commonly used representations of polarization, and the corresponding polarization backscattering enhancement factors are introduced. The ladder part of the Stokes-backscattering matrix is calculated by solving Chandrasekhar's vector radiative transfer equation [ Radiative Transfer ( Clarendon, London, 1950)]. The general properties of the enhancement factors are studied, and the results of numerical computations are reported for finite and semi-infinite homogeneous slabs composed of spherical and randomly oriented nonspherical particles. It is shown that the enhancement factors depend strongly on the direction of light incidence, the optical thickness of the medium, the true absorption, and the particle size and shape.


This paper develops measures of long-run equilibrium price levels (P*) for Japan and Germany following the approach used for the United States by Hallman, Porter, and Small [1991]. Under this approach, P* is detemined by potential output, equilibrium velocity, and the amount of money in the economy. Constructing P* for these foreign countries is more complicated than in the U.S. case because the velocities of the broad monetary aggregates (M2+CDs in Japan and M3 in Germany) exhibit clear downward trends in contrast to the relatively flat trend of U.S. M2 velocity. We utilize dynamic specifications of money demand to construct measures of equilibrium velocity and P for Japan and Germany. We then assess the explanatory power of deviations of actual prices from P* in predicting the amount of inflationary potential in the Japanese and German economies. In general, we find that the P* approach is useful in the analysis of German inflation, but that it is less promising for Japan than it has been for the United States.


Various parts of Malva sylvestris have different medicinal benefits including antimicrobial activity.. Sixty female mice were divided randomly in six groups (three experimental groups, Candida, placebo, and control groups) by free access to food and water. Experimental groups received aquatic extract of Malva sylvestris L. (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) for 20 days every other day via injection in peritoneum. Candida group received 1×106 cfu/ml of Candida albicans suspension (once) and placebo group received sodium chloride 9%. Control group didn't receive any injection. Main blood parameters including WBC, RBC, Hg, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, PLT, lymphocyte, Neutrophil, eosinophil and Monocyte, were evaluated. Red blood cells, all blood parameters and WBC numbers were increased significantly in proportion to control group, in candida group but it was not different in doses groups lymphocytes and neutrophil percentage were increase and decreased in candida and 200 mg/kg significantly respectively. In general, M. sylvestris L. aquatic extract by controlling red blood cells, all blood parameters, and WBC in candida infected groups was effective in strengthening immune system in proportion to control.


The effects of mechanical stress in the Venus clam Chamelea gallina during hydraulic dredging were assessed in both laboratory and field studies in order to measure physiological biomarkers at organism level (clearance rate, respiration rate, scope for growth, and survival in air test). In the laboratory, mechanical stress was simulated by shaking clams in a vortex mixer. In the field, clams were collected seasonally at two sites along the northern Adriatic coast (Lido and Jesolo) and four levels of stress were applied: the highest was that used in commercial fishing (i.e. high water pressure and mechanised sorting) and the lowest manual sampling by SCUBA divers. Survival in air was the most sensitive biomarker in evaluating mechanical stress in the laboratory. Clearance rate also decreased significantly when shaking was applied. Field results indicated that high water pressure and mechanised sorting affected clearance, scope for growth and survival in air, all showing decreasing trends as mechanical stress increased at both sampling sites. The detrimental effects of mechanical disturbance may be emphasised depending on season, when exogenous and endogenous stress increases. A potential risk is highlighted mostly for undersized clams that are fished and then discarded.


We argue that municipal adult education (MAE) can be seen as a place for displaced and abnormal citizens to gain temporary stability, enabling their shaping into desirable subjects. Drawing on a poststructural discursive analysis, we analyze policy texts and interviews with teachers and students. Our analysis illustrates how two distinct but interrelated student subjectivities are shaped: the rootless, unmotivated, and irresponsible student; and the responsible, motivated, and goal-oriented student. The difference is that the latter of these subjectivities is positioned as desirable. MAE provides a temporary place in time, a heterotopia of deviation, allowing students to escape precarious employment. The heterotopia places the students in a positive utopian dream of the future. A utopia is not a real place, and what is to become of the students after finishing MAE is not determined; the students themselves should shape it. If they fail, in line with a neoliberal governmentality, it is their own fault.


Background
Echinocandins are recommended as first-line therapy against Candida glabrata infections, although increased resistance to this class has been reported worldwide and they are currently only available for parenteral administration. SCY-078 is an investigational glucan synthase inhibitor that is orally available.

Objectives
To evaluate the in vivo efficacy of SCY-078 in an experimental model of invasive candidiasis due to WT and echinocandin-resistant C. glabrata isolates.

Methods
Neutropenic ICR mice were inoculated intravenously with a WT isolate (SCY-078 and caspofungin MICs 0.25 and 0.125 mg/L, respectively) or an echinocandin-resistant isolate (SCY-078 and caspofungin MICs 1 and 0.5 mg/L, respectively). Treatment with placebo, SCY-078 (8, 30 or 40 mg/kg orally every 12 h) or caspofungin (1 mg/kg by intraperitoneal injection once daily) began 24 h later. Kidney fungal burden was measured on day 8 post-inoculation.

Results
Significant reductions in kidney fungal burden were observed with 30 mg/kg SCY-078 against both isolates and with the 40 mg/kg dose against the echinocandin-resistant isolate. These results were supported by SCY-078 plasma concentration data at the higher doses, where levels above the MICs for both isolates were observed 12 h after the last oral dose. Reductions in fungal burden were also observed with caspofungin against the WT isolate, but not against the resistant isolate.

Conclusions
SCY-078 demonstrated in vivo efficacy against infections caused by both WT and echinocandin-resistant C. glabrata isolates in this experimental model. This orally available glucan synthase inhibitor has potential as a therapy against echinocandin-resistant C. glabrata infections.


Infectious disease outbreaks are a hazard of communal living in places such as military barracks, boarding schools, prisons and residential care homes. The risks are exacerbated when residents are vulnerable because of advanced age, comorbidities and frailty, or there are too few or inadequately trained staff. The homelike setting of modern residential aged care facilities (RACFs), and the overcrowding and limited staffing that are features of many, are not conducive to prevention or control of infectious diseases.1–3


Accelerator programs have become one of the most powerful and valuable resources for entrepreneurs seeking to learn rapidly, build powerful networks, raise capital, build their startups and do this at speed and scale. In recent years, the number of accelerator programs around the world has grown at an incredible rate, propelling startups such as AirBnB, Uber, DropBox, Reddit, and others — many to billion-dollar valuations. The number of accelerators, the differences in accelerator program offerings and the unique benefits and costs of different accelerator locations makes choosing the right accelerator a challenge. Selecting the wrong accelerator, failing to be accepted in the right one, or not fully taking advantage of all the accelerator has to offer can be costly, sometimes fatal. With the stakes so high, entrepreneurs need to understand all their options, choose carefully and do the right things to maximize their chances of success.
Startup Accelerators is the go to guide for any entrepreneur, providing a firsthand look into the acceptance criteria and inner workings of different accelerator programs. Written by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, this indispensable resource explains what different accelerator programs offer, how to get accepted, what to do during the program, how to raise money during accelerators, what to do after the program ends, and much more. Packed with real-world case studies and advice from leading experts on startup accelerator programs, this one-stop resource provides step-by-step guidance on the entire accelerator process.
> Reveals how accelerators help founders navigate different challenges in the startup journey
> Describes the differences in the benefits and costs of different accelerator programs
> Explains how to prepare accelerator applications
> Discloses what actions to take during an accelerator to make the most of it
Depicts case studies of entrepreneurs' accelerator applications, experiences and outcomes across different accelerators
> Features interviews with accelerator program managers, founders who went through accelerators, and investors in companies going through or having gone through accelerators
> Includes insightful data and reflections from entrepreneurship education researchers and academics
Startup Accelerators: A Field Guide will prove to be invaluable for startup founders considering or going through accelerators, as well as aspiring entrepreneurs, educators, and other startup accelerator stakeholders.