Robust D-stability analyses of uncertain characteristic polynomials are considered. This paper shows that the stability feeler can be applied to robust D-stability analysis of linear time-invariant systems with disconnected stability region in the complex plane. We also show an application of the stability feeler to stability analysis for a lateral dynamics of an aircraft.


The popularity of flipped teaching, where interactive class-time is combined with online material, is increasing in biomedical education. The challenge for lecturers, particularly with the massification of higher education, is to deliver interaction which is highly motivational and engaging. The aim of this case study was to measure the satisfaction of large and diverse bioscience cohorts with lecturing which used kinaesthetic participation in musculoskeletal lectures. The participation included using the bodies of the lecturer and the students, en masse synchronous demonstrations, kinaesthetic mnemonics, student games and anatomical models. Demographic data showed that a high percentage of the students were disadvantaged (e.g., poor-performing, non-English home language, first in family to attend university, low socio-economic status). Students keenly engaged in the activities. The percentages of students who agreed or strongly agreed that communication was effective, that the environment was easy to learn from and that they were satisfied with the teaching were 97.9%, 98.4% and 99.2%, respectively (n=384). Of the 67.2% of students who volunteered comments, 98.1% gave positive responses, with 45.1% of these specifically mentioning the word 'interactive' or its synonyms. These findings offer an example of interactive lecturing that could be used in a flipped classroom, particularly for large and diverse cohorts.


A project-based engineering education unit was implemented in a primary school in Cambodia. An effectiveness study was conducted to investigate students' attitudes and expectations of engineering as a profession and students' self-perceived 21 st century skills. The findings revealed that prior to the curriculum implementation both male and female students had positive attitudes toward engineering, positive beliefs toward the role of engineering in their lives, and highly favorable perceptions about their perceived 21 st century skills. Results indicated no significant increase in overall students' attitudes and expectations of engineering, or self-perceived 21 st century skills. Yet, students who had an average mean score of less positive feelings on the pre-assessment showed significant increases in their attitudes and expectations toward engineering, as well as their self-perceived 21 st century skills. These findings indicate that students at the primary level in Cambodia are either already enthusiastic about engineering or are significantly more so once exposed to an engineering curriculum. The importance of incorporating engineering principles into the Cambodian curriculum are discussed.


The technical staff of the NACA at Langley Field, has made a series of free flight tests with a JN4h airplane in order to find the best place for an instrument for measuring the angle of attack. A "neutral zone" was found where the air remains either at rest relative to the undisturbed air beyond the influence of the airplane, or is set in motion parallel to the motion of the airplane. This zone is about midway between the two wings and slightly in front of, or at the vertical plane through the leading edges of the wings but the exact position as well as the outlines of the zone varies considerably as the conditions of flight change.


Since the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi), substantial efforts have been made to develop RNAi therapeutics for human disease. However, despite ~50 clinical trials involving short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), only a single RNAi therapeutics has been approved for clinical use. This lack of success is largely due to a common problem: namely, ineffective endosomal escape. Achieving safe and effective cytosolic delivery of siRNAs remains the key technological obstacle in the design of RNAi therapeutics and solving this challenge has the potential to improve treatments for a diversity of diseases, including various cancers, infections, and genetic disorders. The ubiquitously expressed endo-lysosomal protein SIDT2 specifically recognizes and transports viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) from endosomes into the cytosol to mediate innate immune recognition. Here, we show that SIDT2 also interacts with siRNA, suggesting that SIDT2 similarly mediates endosomal escape of siRNA. Moreover, we find that this interaction with SIDT2 is disrupted by bulky chemical modifications of the siRNA (e.g. phosphothiorate, 2′-O-methyl) that are commonly used to improve RNA therapeutic stability, immunogenicity, and off-target effects. In this way, such modifications might be inadvertently contributing to ineffective endosomal escape, and we suggest that the success of future RNAi-based treatments would be improved if SIDT2-mediated endosomal escape is optimized.


In a prospective study of unselected, female patients attending a sexually transmitted disease clinic one in eight patients would have been errouneously declared free of infection in the absence of a chlamydial culture service. Chlamydia trachomatis is now accepted as a causative organism of non-specific urethritis and post-gonococcal urethritis in men and non-specific genital infection in women. Thus, facilities for isolation of C. trachomatis should be an essential aid in the management of women attending STD clinics. Male patients would also benefit if such facilities were readily available.


This paper uses the concept of ecosystem disservices to explore and understand how rapid environmental change associated with an invasive plant species is framed and understood by different stakeholders. Through a focus on narratives, the paper explores how socially-differentiated populations understand the causes and consequences of a plant invasion and express preferences for often contrasting management interventions. The research design uses a workshop format to instigate a series of conversations with socially-differentiated groups of people to explore how people perceive and respond to the impact of Prosopis juliflora (a species of mesquite) in the drylands of Ethiopia. The results show that preferences for interventions differs by age, gender, location and livelihood and also by primary and secondary stakeholder. Different sets of values underpin people's views and these contribute to the variation in the preference for different management interventions. To understand complex issues associated with alien invasive species, we find that the dichotomy between ecosystem services and disservices is artificial and call for a more dynamic and graduated view of ecosystem outputs. More practically, our research shows that P. juliflora management options need wider consideration of socially-differentiated implications and trade-offs and this requires greater efforts to engage with primary stakeholders.


Jurassic paleomagnetic data from North America have long been contentious, generating ambiguities in the shape of the global‐composite apparent polar wander path. Here we show from a restudy of two subdivisions of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation at the classic locality at Norwood on the Colorado Plateau that the derived paleopoles reflect variable overprinting probably in the Cretaceous and are of limited value for apparent polar wander determination. We instead assembled an updated set of Jurassic paleopoles from parauthocthonous Adria, the African promontory, using primary paleomagnetic component directions derived from stratigraphically superposed intervals and corrected for sedimentary inclination error. These paleopoles are found to be in superb agreement with independent igneous paleopoles from the literature across the so‐called Jurassic monster polar shift, which in North American coordinates is a jump of ~30° arc distance from the 190‐ to 160‐Ma stillstand pole at 79.5°N 104.8°E to a 148 ± 3.5‐Ma pole at 60.8°N 200.6°E defined by four Adria sedimentary paleopoles and the published Ithaca, Hinlopenstretet, and Swartsruggens‐Bumbeni igneous paleopoles. The implied high rate of polar motion of ~2.5°/Myr across the monster shift is compatible with maximum theoretical estimates for true polar wander. We include a critique of published Jurassic paleomagnetic data that have been variably used in reference APWPs but that as a result of their low quality muted the real magnitude of the Jurassic monster shift. Finally, we provide paleocontinental reconstructions to describe examples of the bold signature that the monster polar shift left in the distribution of climate‐sensitive sedimentary facies worldwide.


Keeping Calm Benzodiazepines are the most prescribed anxiolytics and are used by a broad population. However, benzodiazepines can cause unwanted side effects, including sedation, development of tolerance, and withdrawal symptoms after long-term administration. Rupprecht et al. (p. 490; published online 18 June) now find that a translocator protein (18-kD) ligand, XBD173, is a fast-acting anxiolytic agent, both in animals and humans, which lacks the unwanted side effects of benzodiazepines and provides a promising target for novel clinically effective anxiolytic drugs. Possible drug alternative for rapid treatment of anxiety disorders could replace benzodiazepines. Most antianxiety drugs (anxiolytics) work by modulating neurotransmitters in the brain. Benzodiazepines are fast and effective anxiolytic drugs; however, their long-term use is limited by the development of tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. Ligands of the translocator protein [18 kilodaltons (kD)] may promote the synthesis of endogenous neurosteroids, which also exert anxiolytic effects in animal models. Here, we found that the translocator protein (18 kD) ligand XBD173 enhanced γ-aminobutyric acid–mediated neurotransmission and counteracted induced panic attacks in rodents in the absence of sedation and tolerance development. XBD173 also exerted antipanic activity in humans and, in contrast to benzodiazepines, did not cause sedation or withdrawal symptoms. Thus, translocator protein (18 kD) ligands are promising candidates for fast-acting anxiolytic drugs with less severe side effects than benzodiazepines.


Histoplasmosis caused by Histoplasma capsulatum var. duboisii is a rare disease outside central and western Africa. In Europe, all cases are imported. We report a case of an African histoplasmosis with isolated pulmonary involvement in a non-immunocompromised patient that occurred 40 years after his stay in a disease-endemic area. The patient was given itraconazole. (18)F-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography was used to assess evolution during treatment. The outcome for the patient was favorable.


This paper provides new evidence on the impacts of trade reforms on wages. We first introduce a model of trade that combines a non-competitive wage setting mechanism due to unions with a factor abundance hypothesis. The predictions of the model are then econometrically investigated using Argentine data. Instead of achieving identification by comparing industrial wages before and after one episode of trade liberalization, our strategy exploits the recent historical record of policy changes adopted by Argentina: from significant protection in the early 1970s, to the first episode of liberalization during the late 1970s, then back to a slowdown of reforms during the 1980s, and finally to the second episode of liberalization in the 1990s. These swings in trade policy represent broken trends in trade reforms that we can compare with observed trends in wages and wage inequality. We use unusual historical data sets of trends in tariffs, wages, and wage inequality to examine the structure of wages in Argentina and to explore how it is affected by tariff reforms. We find that i) trade liberalization, ceteris paribus, reduces wages; ii) industry tariffs reduce the industry skill premium; iii) conditional on the structure of tariffs at the industry level, the average tariff in the economy is positively associated with the aggregate skill premium. These findings suggest that the observed trends in wage inequality in Latin America can be reconciled with the Stolper-Samuelson predictions in a model with unions.


Practical applications of solid-state nanopores for DNA detection and sequencing require the electrophoretic motion of DNA through the nanopores to be precisely controlled. Controlling the motion of single-stranded DNA presents a particular challenge, in part because of the multitude of conformations that a DNA strand can adopt in a nanopore. Through continuum, coarse-grained and atomistic modeling, we demonstrate that local heating of the nanopore volume can be used to alter the electrophoretic mobility and conformation of single-stranded DNA. In the nanopore systems considered, the temperature near the nanopore is modulated via a nanometer-size heater element that can be radiatively switched on and off. The local enhancement of temperature produces considerable stretching of the DNA fragment confined within the nanopore. Such stretching is reversible, so that the conformation of DNA can be toggled between compact (local heating is off) and extended (local heating is on) states. The effective thermophoretic force acting on single-stranded DNA in the vicinity of the nanopore is found to be sufficiently large (4-8 pN) to affect such changes in the DNA conformation. The local heating of the nanopore volume is observed to promote single-file translocation of DNA strands at transmembrane biases as low as 10 mV, which opens new avenues for using solid-state nanopores for detection and sequencing of DNA.


This research investigates and determine the distribution of commodity rice in South Sumatera. Data are obtained from the primary data in 2016. The analysis method used is Descriptive Statistics, and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to determine the pattern of distribution of commodities of rice. The result in this research are, first, marketing distribution channels of rice in South Sumatera are still passed the long stage, first start from Manufacturers sold to distributor in the village, and then sold to Merchant Districts, then sold to Merchant District, then sold Large Distributor, next sold to retailers, and finally sold to the Consumer. Second, nominal terms, traders rice farmer is higher than distributor. But the ratio of rice trade margin (MPP) showed that MPP farmers was higher than MPP distributor. In general, these findings can be categorized efficiently.


C. capsici was shown to be consistenlly associated with leaf spot of chilli, reducing appreciably the photosynthetic
activity of infected plants leading to losses in yield. Incipient symptoms consisted of small, necrotic lesiom un the
surface of the leaves, which later coalesced giving an irregular and blighted appearance with the production of
abundant cOnidia, The pathogen sporulated abundantly at 20-30' but poorly at 10' C.At 40' C, no sporulation
occurred. Sporulation on lesions was greatest near moisture! ,sporulation on lesions was greatest near moisture saturation but declined with decreasing water potential
to -6 Mpa. The best temperature for germination was in the range of 20-30· C and declined with decreasing water
potential. Pathogenicily tests and studie on the mode of infection of C, capsici on chilli leaves revealed that the
fungus entered through the stomata, indicating that it
was a primary invader,


In the nineteenth century, advice literature (conduct, courtesy or etiquette books) was a popular non-fiction genre in America. In fact, advise literature actively invaded other literary genres, most notably sentimental literature, which used fictional characters and situations to dramatize and illustrate this advice. The popularity of the genre even pervaded the twentieth century phenomenon of the film star. This paper will focus on Mary Pickford's advisory texts and its relationship to nineteenth century advice literature. We will look at examples from Pickford's syndicated column "Daily Talks" published between 1915 and 1917. Pickford's texts contain similar rhetorical strategies to sweeten her didactic intent: metaphors, anecdotes, and aporia are put in the familiar and reassuring voice of the intimate friend mixed with the hortatory or inciting manner of the teacher. In terms of content there and love of the home, self-government, religion, education, courtship etc. Working from this familiar and effective literary tradition allowed Pickford to strengthen her star appeal and its consumption as well as to promote a particular "model of living" exemplified by the star's idealized, almost sanctified, embodiment of American womanhood.


The First Step Act, a seemingly miraculous bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, was signed into law in late 2018. The Act directed the Attorney General to develop a risk and needs assessment tool that would effectively determine who would be eligible for early release based on an algorithmic prediction of recidivism. The resulting tool—PATTERN—was released in the summer of 2019 and quickly updated in January of 2020. It was immediately put to use in an unexpected manner, helping to determine who was eligible for early release during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now the latest in a growing list of algorithmic recidivism prediction tools, tools that first came to mainstream notice with critical reporting about the COMPAS sentencing algorithm.

This Article evaluates PATTERN, both in its development as well as its still-evolving implementation. In some ways, the PATTERN algorithm represents tentative steps in the right direction on issues like transparency, public input, and use of dynamic factors. But PATTERN, like many algorithmic decision-making tools, will have a disproportionate impact on Black inmates; it provides fewer opportunities for inmates to reduce their risk score than it claims and is still shrouded in some secrecy due to the government's decision to dismiss repeated calls to release more information about it. Perhaps most perplexing, it is unclear whether the tool actually advances accuracy with its predictions. This Article concludes that PATTERN is a decent first step, but it still has a long way to go before it is truly reformative.


In this thesis I study the nature of decision making under uncertainty in the case of natural catastrophes and reinsurance underwriting at Lloyd's of London. I begin by describing the broad context of natural catastrophes and society, which forms the basis for a market in catastrophe reinsurance. I then proceed to a review of literatures in risk, uncertainty, philosophy, and probability as a prelude to an analysis of decision making under catastrophic risk. According to the early 20th century philosopher-economist Frank Knight, risk specified those cases in which a frequency probability could be assigned, while situations of uncertainty do not allow a frequency probability since they are unique instances. In the thesis, I make the additional argument that risk and uncertainty are not solely categories of probability, but rather categories of probability and causality. The second main strand of the thesis refers to J.M. Keynes' work on probability which while related to frequency probability, is different in its emphasis on judgment and the assessment of information. I propose a causal framework to Keynes' weight of argument approach in terms of J.L. Mackie's causal field. With these two main ideas on probability and the addition of the causal field, the thesis presents the theoretical basis of its model of decision making. The last component of the model is developed through a review and critique of the economic literature on decision making under uncertainty. As the literature is founded upon frequency probability definitions of risk, the thesis argues through its theoretical investigations that this approach neglects the causal element of decision making, and that uncertainty requires a broader conceptualization than simply lack of probability. This final component, decision making routines, combines both individual and organizational elements. The empirical investigation of catastrophe risk underwriting at Lloyd's is organized into categories of decision making within a situated market context. I investigate the dominant categories and find that capital capacity and relationships drive reinsurance praxis. As an integration of its theoretical and empirical components, the thesis applies its risk decision making model. This model has implications for economic geography studies of the firm, in that it provides an epistemic and organizational basis for the formalization of tacit knowledge. The model also holds consequences for economic decision making theory, in that it integrates causal assessment in the purely probability based economic paradigm.


he impact of interactions between water and N stress on 13 C isotopic discrimination (Δ) is not well understood. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of N on Δ in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown under low, moderate, and high water stress. In a field study located near Havre, Montana, USA (48° 30' N lat. and 109° 22' W long.), wheat grown under three different water stress environments (low, moderate, and high) was fertilized with three different N rates (none, moderate, and high). Each treatment was replicated four times. The grain N fertilizer use efficiency increased as water stress decreased. A differential response of A to N was observed. In general, if plants were grown under high water stress and N increased yield, then adding N to N-deficient plants reduced Δ (-0.01‰ for every kg of N added); and if plants were grown under low water stress and N increased yield, then adding N had little or no impact on Δ. The break point between N impacting or not impacting Δ was ∼17.45‰. Under non-N limiting (moderate and high N) conditions the equation relating Δ to yield was, yield (kg ha -1 ) = -11 000 + 884 Δ, r = 0.92 ** . Wheat grown under N-deficient conditions (0N treatment) did not fit this curve. By accounting for the impact of water and N stress on Δ, this variation could be explained. Results from this study suggest that Δ can be used to characterize N and water stress at different landscape positions in watershed studies.


ABSTRACT War memorials are a common and often controversial part of the commemoration of past wars. In order to better grasp their importance for the way war endures below the surface of peace, this article stages an ethnographic encounter with a Namibian monument: Heroes' Acre. The memorial embodies the official Namibian narrative on past wars by emphasizing a nationalist and quasi-religious symbolism, a framing that has been challenged by a number of writers pointing to the need for going beyond the state discourse. This article complements and complicates the way Heroes' Acre appears in discourse by focusing on the interstices and absences at the site. By drawing upon my own visit to the monument as well as theoretical engagements, most notably Georgio Agamben's discussion of 'the empty throne', I read Heroes' Acre as a place where political power functions through emptiness, as it allows the future of war to endure in the present. Engaging particularly with the empty graveyard at the site, I argue that its emptiness needs to be understood as a guarantee for war – not in case it occurs – but as a ready-made symbol of glory, always virtually there, waiting to be fulfilled.


We have developed a method to localize and quantify interdomain congestion in the Internet. Our Time Sequence Latency Probes (TSLP) method depends on two facts: Internet traffic patterns are typically diurnal, and queues increase packet delay through a router during periods of adjacent link congestion. Repeated round trip delay measurements from a single test point to the two edges of a congested link will show sustained increased latency to the far (but not to the near) side of the link. We are designing and implementing a system for network-wide measurement of congestion using the TSLP method. We plan to support QoE measurements on this system to complement our measurement of QoS metrics such as delay and loss rate.


Background: Groundwater supplies for drinking water are frequently contaminated with low levels of human enteric virus genomes, yet evidence for waterborne disease transmission is lacking. Objectives: We related quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)–measured enteric viruses in the tap water of 14 Wisconsin communities supplied by nondisinfected groundwater to acute gastrointestinal illness (AGI) incidence. Methods: AGI incidence was estimated from health diaries completed weekly by households within each study community during four 12-week periods. Water samples were collected monthly from five to eight households per community. Viruses were measured by qPCR, and infectivity assessed by cell culture. AGI incidence was related to virus measures using Poisson regression with random effects. Results: Communities and time periods with the highest virus measures had correspondingly high AGI incidence. This association was particularly strong for norovirus genogroup I (NoV-GI) and between adult AGI and enteroviruses when echovirus serotypes predominated. At mean concentrations of 1 and 0.8 genomic copies/L of NoV-GI and enteroviruses, respectively, the AGI incidence rate ratios (i.e., relative risk) increased by 30%. Adenoviruses were common, but tap-water concentrations were low and not positively associated with AGI. The estimated fraction of AGI attributable to tap-water–borne viruses was between 6% and 22%, depending on the virus exposure–AGI incidence model selected, and could have been as high as 63% among children < 5 years of age during the period when NoV-GI was abundant in drinking water. Conclusions: The majority of groundwater-source public water systems in the United States produce water without disinfection, and our findings suggest that populations served by such systems may be exposed to waterborne viruses and consequent health risks.


Bullying includes intention of harm, repetitiveness and power imbalance, and is associated with a wide‐range of indices of short‐ and long‐term maladjustment. Both being a victim and being a bully are risk factors. The participant role model broadens the scope of direct involvement in bullying by including the parts played by other peers who may not be classified as either victims or bullies: assistants, reinforcers, outsiders, and defenders. Cyberbullying has emerged in recent decades as an extension of, and addition to, traditional bullying. Bullying prevention programs such as Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and the KiVa anti‐bullying program have been developed and scientifically evaluated to counteract bullying in school. Bullying is a field with clear and immediate relevance to the lives of children and young people. It is a dynamic empirical literature that takes into consideration the complexity of young people's lives, their interactions, and the important ways in which these have changed over time. Far from being purely an academic exercise, this work is directly linked to intervention and prevention efforts. The current Special Issue tries to reflect this diversity of interest and effort across the field, bringing together the work of a wide group of international scholars.


We investigate the derivation of Euler's equation from Hamilton's variational principle for flows decomposed into their mean and fluctuating parts. Our particular concern is with the flow decomposition used in the derivation of the Navier–Stokes–α equation which expresses the fluctuating velocity in terms of the mean flow and a small fluctuating displacement. In the past the derivation has retained terms up to second order in the Lagrangian which is then averaged. The variation is effected by incrementing the mean velocity, while holding the moments of the products of the displacements fixed. The process leads to a mean Euler equation for the mean velocity. The Navier–Stokes–α equation is only obtained after making a further closure approximation, which is not the concern of this paper. Instead attention is restricted here to the exact analysis of Euler's equation. We show that a proper implementation of Hamilton's principle, which concerns the virtual variation of particle paths, can only be achieved when the fluctuating displacement and mean velocity are varied in concert. This leads to an exact form of Euler's equation. If, on the other hand, the displacement is held fixed under the variation, a term in Euler's equation is lost. Averaging that erroneous form provides the basis of the Navier–Stokes–α equation. We explore the implications of the correct mean equation, particularly with regard to Kelvin's circulation theorem, comparing it with the so called GLM and glm-equations.


Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) is a dioecious, wind-pollinated shrub growing in Eurasia including the Karakoram Mountains of Pakistan (Gilgit-Baltistan territory). Contrary to the situation in other countries, in Pakistan this species is heavily underutilized. Moreover, a striking diversity of berry colors and shapes in Pakistan raises the question: which varieties might be more suitable for different national and international markets? Therefore, both morphological and genetic diversity of sea buckthorn were studied to characterize and evaluate the present variability, including hypothetically ongoing domestication processes. Overall, 300 sea buckthorn individuals were sampled from eight different populations and classified as wild and supposedly domesticated stands. Dendrometric, fruit and leaf morphometric traits were recorded. Twelve EST-SSRs (expressed sequence tags-simple sequence repeats) markers were used for genotyping. Significant differences in morphological traits were found across populations and between wild and village stands. A significant correlation was found between leaf area and altitude. Twenty-two color shades of berries and 20 dorsal and 15 ventral color shades of leaves were distinguished. Mean genetic diversity was comparatively high (He = 0.699). In total, three distinct genetic clusters were observed that corresponded to the populations' geographic locations. Considering high allelic richness and genetic diversity, the Gilgit-Baltistan territory seems to be a promising source for selection of improved germplasm in sea buckthorn.


This paper presents Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of 13 double-peaked [O iii] emission-line type-2 active galactic nuclei (AGNs) at redshifts 0.06 < z < 0.41 (with a median redshift of z ∼ 0.15) identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Such double-peaked emission-line objects may result from jets or outflows from the central engine or from a dual AGN. The VLBA provides an angular resolution of ≲10 pc at the distance of many of these galaxies, sufficient to resolve the radio emission from extremely close dual AGNs and to contribute to understanding the origin of double-peaked [O iii] emission lines. Of the 13 galaxies observed at 3.6 cm (8.4 GHz), we detect six at a 1σ sensitivity level of ∼0.15 mJy beam−1, two of which show clear jet structures on scales ranging from a few milliarcseconds to tens of milliarcseconds (corresponding to a few pc to tens of pc at a median redshift of 0.15). We suggest that radio-loud, double-peaked emission-line type-2 AGNs may be indicative of jet produced structures, but a larger sample of double-peaked [O iii] AGNs with high angular resolution radio observations will be required to confirm this suggestion.


— The paper delivers and comments upon expanded (including individual parameters of ferroparticles filtration magnetophoresis in a granular matrix) alternatives of expressions suitable for calculating the resulting parameter of magnetophoresis efficiency ψ as a relative reduction of ferroparticles initial concentration in the medium filtered. For this purpose, we employ a well-reputed model of a matrix as an exponential ferroparticles absorbing screen the application of which in the expression for ψ is justified with the account for real diagnostics of the share λ of magneto-active fraction of particles entering magnetic separation zone. The paper demonstrates that alongside with acknowledged resulting parameter ψ it is reasonable to use another parameter, more convenient for testing the data, the so-called ξ-parameter as a logarithm of ψ-parameter deficit (with the account for value λ). We pay special attention to discussing the character of impact on ξ (and ψ) of such parameters as the filtermatrix granules diameter, magnetized field intensity and average induction in the matrix, matrix (chips) packing density, and initial concentration of ferroparticles.


Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a potent bioactive endogenous lipid that signals a rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton via the regulation of non-muscle myosin light chain kinase isoform (nmMLCK). S1P induces critical nmMLCK Y464 and Y471 phosphorylation resulting in translocation of nmMLCK to the periphery where spatially-directed increases in myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation and tension result in lamellipodia protrusion, increased cell-cell adhesion, and enhanced vascular barrier integrity. MYLK, the gene encoding nmMLCK, is a known candidate gene in lung inflammatory diseases, with coding genetic variants (Pro21His, Ser147Pro, Val261Ala) that confer risk for inflammatory lung injury and influence disease severity. The functional mechanisms by which these MYLK coding single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) affect biologic processes to increase disease risk and severity remain elusive. In the current study, we utilized quantifiable cell immunofluorescence assays to determine the influence of MYLK coding SNPs on S1P-mediated nmMLCK phosphorylation and translocation to the human lung endothelial cell (EC) periphery . These disease-associated MYLK variants result in reduced levels of S1P-induced Y464 phosphorylation, a key site for nmMLCK enzymatic regulation and activation. Reduced Y464 phosphorylation resulted in attenuated nmMLCK protein translocation to the cell periphery. We further conducted EC kymographic assays which confirmed that lamellipodial protrusion in response to S1P challenge was retarded by expression of a MYLK transgene harboring the three MYLK coding SNPs. These data suggest that ARDS/severe asthma-associated MYLK SNPs functionally influence vascular barrier-regulatory cytoskeletal responses via direct alterations in the levels of nmMLCK tyrosine phosphorylation, spatial localization, and lamellipodial protrusions.


: In this paper, a new image processing technique has been proposed to measure the contact angle of symmetric and asymmetric drops. In our proposed method, the contact angle is calculated by analyzing the side view image of the drop without needing any liquid parameters. The procedure of the technique is according to the secant technique coupled with a Gaussian weighted function, as follows: at the beginning the exact location of the contact points is obtained by Harris corner detector function, then a series of points are selected on the drop boundary near the contact points. In the third step, a set of contact angles are estimated by passing secant lines through the contact point and each of the boundary points . In the final step, a gaussian weighted average function is applied to the calculated angles to estimate the main contact angle. The contact angle measurement algorithm is verified by comparing its results with the obtained measurements of a recent standard study. High accuracy, usability for all ranges of contact angles, applicability to both symmetric and asymmetric drops and being fully automatic are other advantages of the presented method.


The broad purpose of this study is to compare patron owned with investor owned firms in terms of the arrangements they make to cope with the risk inherent in the exchange of grain between Michigan farmers and the first-handler grain firms that serve them. Focus will be upon possible distinctions between cooperative and proprietary firms within three specific areas of concern. These areas are: (1) the pricing of grain; (2) the methods of exchange firms offer to their farm customers; and (3) the terms and conditions of grain purchase contracts.


... it may be tempting to conclude that technology is neutral and that we either use it appropriately or misuse it. While it is true that each of us has control of, and is responsible for, how we use technology, it is a dangerous misconception to believe that our technologies are completely benign. Every human made tool from a sharpened stick to a microwave oven is biased. Each encourages certain behaviors and habits, while making others more difficult." Posting about technology from In All Things an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world. http://inallthings.org/my-iphone-made-me-do-it/


On March 24, 2006, the Western New England College School of Law and School of Business jointly hosted the First Annual Academic Conference sponsored by the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. The Conference capped a year of exciting developments at the Law and Business Center, which is the College's contribution to the entrepreneurship infrastructure in the greater Springfield, Massachusetts area. Economists have understood for some time that small businesses are an important engine of economic development and vitality. Across the United States, 25 million small businesses employ more than half the country's workers, create approximately 75 percent of the nation's new jobs, and provide more than half of the private sector's economic output. An important subset of the small business universe are businesses known as "microenterprises," that is, those employing fewer than five employees and requiring less than $35,000 in start-up funds. These small firms play an important role in economic development, especially in low- to moderate-income communities. Program results and research provide solid evidence that the benefits of a microenterprise program as part of a "welfare to work" strategy outweigh the risks and costs of such programs. There are approximately two million micro entrepreneurs in this country and many are in western Massachusetts.


Art critics and scholars have acknowledged the breakdown of their explanations and narratives of contemporary art in the face of what they consider the incoherent era of "pluralism" or "postmodernism" that began in the late twentieth century. This failure is in fact a result of their inability to understand the nature of the development of advanced art throughout the entire twentieth century, and particularly the novel behavior of young conceptual innovators in a new market environment. The rise of a competitive market for advanced art in the late nineteenth century freed artists from the constraint of having to satisfy powerful patrons, and gave them unprecedented freedom to innovate. As the rewards for radical and conspicuous innovation increased, conceptual artists could respond to these incentives more quickly and decisively than their experimental counterparts. Early in the twentieth century, the young conceptual genius Pablo Picasso initiated two new practices, by alternating styles at will and inventing a new artistic genre, that became basic elements of the art of a series of later conceptual innovators. By the late twentieth century, extensions of these practices had led to the emergence of important individual artists whose work appeared to have no unified style, and to the balkanization of advanced art, as the dominance of painting gave way before novel uses of old genres and the creation of many new ones. Understanding not only contemporary art, but the art of the past century as a whole, will require art scholars to abandon their outmoded insistence on analyzing art in terms of style, and to recognize the many novel patterns of behavior that have been created over the course of the past century by young conceptual innovators.


JOHAN J. BOLHUIS and LUC-ALAIN GIRALDEAU The Behavior of Animals: Mechanisms, Function and Evolution Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005, 536 pages (ISBN 0-631-23125-0, US$69.95 Paperback) Interest in the behaviour of animals dates at least to the ancient Greeks (and probably long before), for humans have long appreciated the potential insights to be gleaned about their own habits from those of animals. Until relatively recently, however, the scientific study of animal behaviour was comparatively limited in scope. Until Darwin, and for some time after, research on animal behaviour was conducted primarily by amateur naturalists and seldom explicitly and thoughtfully linked to human behaviour and psychology, the exception being the rigorous studies of animal learning that began toward the end of the 19th century and continued throughout the 20th, which was, by and large, where the field of comparative psychology started and finished. All of that changed in the middle 20th-century with the landmark works of ethologists Nikko Tinbergen, Konrad Lorenz, and Karl von Frisch, who shared a Nobel Prize for their innovative formal research programs on, and considerable insights into, the naturalistic behaviour of animals. The scientific study of animal behaviour grew precipitously after that, and today encompasses field and laboratory studies of every major animal group and the truly dizzying array of behavioural phenomena that they manifest, all with a dual focus on better understanding the natural diversity of animal behaviour and on using it to better illuminate our own. The Behavior of Animals: Mechanisms, Function and Evolution is a new textbook by Johan Bolhuis and LucAlain Giraldeau aimed at covering this increasingly dynamic and broad field. Given the vastness of the phenomena now to be covered, a compelling theoretical framework is absolutely essential if a comprehensive understanding of animal behaviour is to emerge. Fortunately, Tinbergen himself provided just such a framework for organizing research on animal behaviour, and Bolhuis and Giraldeau wisely follow it in their organization of the material in this text. Thus, a short preface rehearsing the history of animal behaviour research by Robert Hinde (one of Tinbergen's students who himself became one of the foremost contemporary ethologists) is followed by 16 chapters by 23 authors. The chapters are organized into three major sections, two of which flow directly from Tinbergen's four "whys" of behaviour. The first section is concerned with the first two of Tinbergen's four questions, namely, what are the immediate proximate and longer developmental causes of behaviour? This section includes chapters on perception, motivation, biological rhythms, learning and memory, and cognition. All are well written and comprehensive. David Sherry's chapter provides an especially nice balance of current cognitive theory and basic empirical research by partitioning brain effects on behaviour into three main processes: obtaining information, manipulating that information, and directing movement and behaviour in response. To illustrate these processes, Sherry uses clear and compelling behavioural examples, such as the well-researched auditory processes that barn owls use to detect and capture rodent prey. Similarly, the animal cognition chapter by Nathan Emery and Nicola Clayton offers a concise account of the mechanistic basis of spatial memory and social relationships that are central to challenges in the lives of so many species. The second section concentrates on Tinbergen's second set of questions: What is the ultimate adaptive function of a behaviour, and how did it evolve in the history of the species? These questions are explored in several chapters with different themes, including communication, sociality, mating systems, mate choice, polyandry, sperm competition, and sexual conflict. …


This article uses Ridley Scott's 2001 blockbuster film Black Hawk Down to examine the claim that popular film is the "newest component of sovereignty." While the topic of the film – the 1993 UN/US intervention in Somalia – lends itself to straightforward politicization, this article is equally interested in the film's production history and its reception by global audiences. While initial reactions to the film focused on its ideological commitments (e.g. racism, collusion between Hollywood and the Pentagon, post-September 11th patriotism), these readings continually posed an imagined "America" against "the world." This article argues that Black Hawk Down is not about sovereignty as traditionally conceived, that is about national interest shaping global affairs. Rather, Black Hawk Down articulates, and is articulated by, a new and emerging global order that operates through inclusion, management and flexibility. Drawing on recent theoretical debates over this new logic of rule, this article illustrates how Black Hawk Down invokes much more diffuse, complex and deterritorialized categories than national sovereignty. In effect, Scott's film goes beyond traditional notions of sovereignty altogether: its production, signification and reception deconstruct simple notions of "America" and "the world" in favor of what Hardt and Negri call "Empire," what Zizek calls "post-politics," and what we refer to as "meta-sovereignty."


Summary Honey is an ancient wound remedy that has gained acceptance in modern medicine with the development of modern wound care products. Its therapeutic attributes are thought to be related to its antimicrobial activity as well as its ability to stimulate rapid healing, yet it is not known whether these properties are correlated. Using 139 local Welsh honeys collected by amateur beekeepers and one manuka honey, we determined physical and chemical characteristics to establish authenticity. Antibacterial activity was estimated using an agar well diffusion bioassay and wound healing potential was estimated by quantifying the release of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) from monocytic cells exposed to honey. The manuka honey had total and non-peroxide activity equivalent to 18.5 % (w/v) phenol; 71 of the Welsh samples possessed total activity, with 6.9 % (w/v) the highest phenol equivalent, and none possessed non-peroxide activity. The mean TNF-α response following exposure of a monocytic cell line (Monomac 6) to manuka honey was 320 pg/ml ± 39.9 (SEM) and for the Welsh honeys it was 547.5 pg/ml ± 26.5 (SEM), ranging from 7.6 to 1437 pg/ml. Antibacterial activity and TNF-α response were not associated. Although the antiseptic potential of Welsh honeys was weak, their wound healing potential merits further investigation.


Abstract It has been said that entrepreneurs plan in order to deal with market uncertainty. It has also been argued that entrepreneurs act spontaneously and with insufficient planning, as time is of the essence and as market uncertainty seldom yields to planning. Theoretically, in uncertain market conditions, the concept of effectuation posits that entrepreneurs control their resources enhancing them through likeminded stakeholder buy-ins towards creating an opportunity. Alternatively, the first prospective action steps under uncertainty are argued to be taken regardless of resources position, reflecting enactment before sensemaking. Thus, enactment embodies resource-independent action-embracing ambiguity, whereas effectuation, i.e., controlling resources and enhancing stakeholder buy-ins, represents resource-dependent action that mitigates ambiguity and risk. This paper proposes that prospective enactment action and effectuation control action are analytically distinct, complementary and simultaneous aspects of entrepreneurial action. It further proposes that successful outcomes of entrepreneurial action may be anticipated by a high and matching combination of enactment and effectual action in a generative co-occurrence. The paper illustrates the propositions using cases that exhibit diverse action outcomes. It also potentially reconciles the ambiguity-embracing or risk-taking approach and the ambiguity-reducing or risk-mitigating control approach in understanding entrepreneurial action seeking opportunity in an uncertain and dynamic market.


This study argues that of the varieties of inequality, deprivation through poor governance is the most disconcerting because of its pervasive role in perpetuating wealth inequality. Health is wealth. Using standardized UNDP data on education and health—two strategic factors for growth and human development—we benchmark Nigeria's long-term governance record on citizen-care. Africa's largest oil producer, having the largest market potential, the largest GDP and a generous endowment of natural-resource diversity ranks 36 out of 46 countries in the sample, locating at the cusp of the lowest quintile of the quality of governance rank ordering, above Gabon but below Chad, Cameroon and very far below Togo. Why?


Contemporary organizations are increasingly depending on team-based structures to strategically consolidate their dispersed knowledge resources. Team members possess diverse knowledge resources, and these have to be combined with knowledge from external sources to achieve project goals. Teams achieve this objective by integrating knowledge from external sources and blending it with the skills, know-how, and expertise of the team members. Software teams are an appropriate example of the importance of team-level knowledge integration. Multiple project stakeholders, within and outside the team, possess diverse portfolios of requisite know-how, skills, and abilities and teams must integrate them to develop a timely and workable solution. Prior research suggests that software teams carry out two types of knowledge integration - external integration and internal integration.
The aim of this study is to examine the influence of various team, project, and IT-related antecedents on these two categories of knowledge integration in software teams. Team-related issues include teams' knowledge heterogeneity, relational capital, and boundary-buffering processes. Project-related issues include project uncertainty and project interdependence. IT-usage is examined in a moderating capacity. A research model connecting various categories of antecedents to the two types of knowledge integration was tested by collecting data on 300 projects in nine mid- to large-sized CMM Level 5 software firms. The respondents provided information in light of the most successful project and the least successful project they had experienced. PLS latent variable modeling was used to analyze the data. Two separate analyses were conducted: First, the combined sample of 300 projects was examined to test the research hypotheses; and second, separate analyses were conducted on 150 most successful projects and the same number of least successful ones.
The findings of this study support the influence of a number of team-, project-, and IT-related issues on external as well as internal knowledge integration in software teams. Among team-related issues, knowledge heterogeneity, relational capital, and sentry processes significantly improved knowledge integration, while guard processes had a negative impact on external knowledge integration. Among project-related antecedents, project uncertainty had a significantly negative influence on both internal as well as external knowledge integration, while project interdependence significantly improved external knowledge integration. Interestingly, IT-usage did not moderate the influence of either team- or project-related issues on internal knowledge integration, but significantly improved the influence of these issues on external knowledge integration.
These results provide scholars with a foundation for future research in developing a robust knowledge integration framework. Interesting implications are also in offering for practitioners.


This article is a theoretical discussion on the social construction of knowledge in colonial and postcolonial Zimbabwe. It examines effects of hegemonic knowledge constructions and how they may be de-legitimated through incorporating indigenous knowledge in postcolonial school curricular. The article questions the importance attached to Euro-centric school knowledge and the devaluation of indigenous knowledge in postcolonial states. It further argues that indigenous knowledge as informal knowledge plays a major role in society and should be formalized in educational institutions to constitute a transformative and inclusive educational system. The article proposes hybridization of knowledge to give voice to the formerly marginalized in school curricular in Zimbabwe. It also proposes that knowledge as a historical, cultural, social, spiritual and ideological creation should be a product of collaborated efforts from all possible stakeholders to foster social development and self-confidence in individuals.


Abstract The city of Naples can be considered part of the Campi Flegrei volcanic field, and deposits within the urban area record many autochthonous pre- to post-caldera eruptions. Age measurements were carried out using 40Ar–39Ar dating techniques on samples from small monogenetic vents and more widely distributed tephra layers. The 40Ar–39Ar ages on feldspar phenocrysts yielded ages of c. 16 ka and 22 ka for events older than the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera-forming eruption (15 ka), and ages of c. 40 ka, 53 ka and 78 ka for events older than the Campanian Ignimbrite caldera-forming eruption (39 ka). The oldest age obtained is 18 ka older than previous dates for pyroclastic deposits cropping out along the northern rim of Campi Flegrei. The results of this study allow us to divide the Campi Flegrei volcanic history into four main, geochronologically distinct eruptive cycles. A new period, the Paleoflegrei, occurred before 74–78 ka and has been proposed to better discriminate the ancient volcanism in the volcanic field. The eruptive history of Campi Flegrei extends possibly further back than this, but the products of previous eruptions are difficult to date owing to the lack of fresh juvenile clasts. These new geochronological data, together with recently published ages related to young volcanic edifices located in the city of Naples (Nisida volcano, 3.9 ka) testify to persistent activity over a period of at least 80 ka, with an average eruption recurrence interval of ~555 years within and adjacent to this densely populated city.


An optical method is presented for in the situ monitoring of biomolecular films via reflection microscopy on patterned substrates. The method is based on measuring the reflection coefficient of a composite consisting of a substrate, a patterned optical layer, the thin film to be monitored and the cover medium. The optical layer is patterned so that an array of squares is surrounded by the bare substrate. The reflectance difference between the optical layer squares and the bare substrate is the observable, whose fractional changes reveal the thickness of the film through a simple analytical expression. The periodic image is recorded by a digital microscope, and through Fourier transform techniques, the normalized differential reflectance of the patterned optical composite is calculated as the contrast factor of two dimensional bit map. The method is demonstrated by measuring a protein binding assay inside a microfluidic module placed under a microscope.


Indigenous peoples now engage with many decentralized approaches to environmental management that offer opportunities for integration of Indigenous Ecological Knowledge (IEK) and western science to promote cultural diversity in the management of social-ecological system sustainability. Nevertheless, processes of combining IEK with western science are diverse and affected by numerous factors, including the adaptive co-management context, the intrinsic characteristics of the natural resources, and the governance systems. We present a typology of Indigenous engagement in environmental management, derived through comparative analysis of 21 Australian case studies, and consider its implications for the integration of IEK with western science. Sociological and rational choice institutionalism underpin our analytical framework, which differentiates on three axes: (1) power sharing, incorporating decision making, rules definition, resource values and property rights; (2) participation, incorporating participatory processes, organizations engaged, and coordination approaches; (3) intercultural purpose, incorporating purposes of environmental management, Indigenous engagement, Indigenous development and capacity building. Our typology groups engagement into four types: Indigenous governed collaborations; Indigenous-driven co-governance; agency-driven co-governance; and agency governance. From our analysis of manifestations of knowledge integration across the types, we argue that Indigenous governance and Indigenous-driven co-governance provides better prospects for integration of IEK and western science for sustainability of social-ecological systems. Supporting Indigenous governance without, or with only a limited requirement for power sharing with other agencies sustains the distinct Indigenous cultural purposes underpinning IEK, and benefits knowledge integration. We conclude by advocating that the typology be applied to test its general effectiveness in guiding practitioners and researchers to develop robust governance for Indigenous knowledge integration in environmental management.


We present two classes of convergent algorithms for learning continuous functions and regressions that are approximated by feedforward networks. The first class of algorithms, applicable to networks with unknown weights located only in the output layer, is obtained by utilizing the potential function methods of Aizerman et al. (1970). The second class, applicable to general feedforward networks, is obtained by utilizing the classical Robbins-Monro style stochastic approximation methods (1951). Conditions relating the sample sizes to the error bounds are derived for both classes of algorithms using martingale-type inequalities. For concreteness, the discussion is presented in terms of neural networks, but the results are applicable to general feedforward networks, in particular to wavelet networks. The algorithms can be directly adapted to concept learning problems.


The multicentre Central European Study of Air Pollution and Respiratory Health (CESAR) aimed to measure the respiratory health of schoolchildren using a standardised questionnaire in six countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), allowing comparisons within this region and with other European countries. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 25 urban areas of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia in 1996. Parents of 21,743 schoolchildren of age 7–11 yrs completed a questionnaire based on items from the World Health Organization and International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questions on cough and wheeze symptoms, as well as on diagnoses by doctors. Life-time prevalence of bronchitis was 55.9%, asthma 3.9%, and asthmatic, spastic or obstructive bronchitis 12.3%. In CEE countries the prevalence of bronchitis is higher and prevalence of asthma appears lower than in Western Europe. However, if asthma is defined as a diagnosis of either asthma or asthmatic, spastic or obstructive bronchitis, then its prevalence is comparable to Western Europe, or higher. In this region, within-country variation for most respiratory parameters is less than between-country variation. Between-country comparisons in doctors' diagnoses appear dependent on the choice of definition of asthma. Europe-wide comparisons in prevalence of respiratory symptoms and diagnosis are reported in this study. Some of the East-West difference in asthma prevalence may be attributable to differences in diagnostic practice.


'Lip-pointing' is a widespread but little-documented form of deictic gesture, which may involve not just protruding one or both lips, but also raising the head, sticking out the chin, lifting the eyebrows, among other things. This paper discusses form and function of lip-pointing with reference to a set of examples collected on video in Laos. There are various parameters with respect to which the conventional form of a lip-pointing gesture may vary. There is also a range of ways in which lip-pointing gestures can be coordinated with other kinds of deictic gesture such as various forms of hand pointing. The attested coordinating/sequencing possibilities can be related to specific functional properties of lip-pointing among Lao speakers, particularly in the context of other forms of deictic gesture, which have different functional properties. It is argued that the 'vector' of lip-pointing is in fact defined by gaze, and that the lip-pointing action itself (like other kinds of 'pointing' involving the head area) is a 'gaze-switch', i.e. it indicates that the speaker is now pointing out something with his or her gaze. Finally, I consider the position of lip-pointing in the broader deictic gesture system of Lao speakers, firstly as a 'lower register' form, and secondly as a form of deictic gesture which may contrast with forms of hand pointing.


Abstract Declines in American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) populations are widely reported, and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) data suggest that the North American population declined significantly from 1984 to 2007. Potential causes include the spread of West Nile virus (WNV), increases in populations of Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), and loss of suitable habitat. We examined trends in the numbers of both migratory and resident kestrel populations that use nest boxes in eight study areas in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon Territory, 1984–2007. All eight populations underwent significant declines; the mean annual decline in nest-box occupancy rate was 3.0% and ranged from 0.6% in Pennsylvania to 4.7% in New Jersey. Except for the most recent nest-box program, established in 1995 and declining since 2002, all nest-box populations began to experience declines before WNV arrived in North America in 1999. To test whether changes in kestrel population densities generally are associated with the opposite trend in Cooper's Hawks, we examined the 42 BBS physiographic regions for which trends for both species were available. No significant correlations were detected for the period 1966–2007, or for 1980–2007, more closely concurrent with our nest-box data. Christmas Bird Count data from 1959 through 1988 also failed to demonstrate a significant correlation. Finally, the habitat within our study areas still appears suitable, and the remaining kestrels appear healthy and have high reproductive success. Thus, the principal cause of the decline probably lies elsewhere, perhaps on the wintering grounds or along migration routes. Further, for both migratory and resident populations, the decline in nest-box occupancy may reflect regional declines, which would reduce the number of individuals available for replacing breeding birds that have died or dispersed.


Although the use of climate scenarios for impact assessment has grown steadily since the 1990s, uptake of such information for adaptation is lagging by nearly a decade in terms of scientific output. Nonetheless, integration of climate risk information in development planning is now a priority for donor agencies because of the need to prepare for climate change impacts across different sectors and countries. This urgency stems from concerns that progress made against Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could be threatened by anthropogenic climate change beyond 2015. Up to this time the human signal, though detectable and growing, will be a relatively small component of climate variability and change. This implies the need for a twin‐track approach: on the one hand, vulnerability assessments of social and economic strategies for coping with present climate extremes and variability, and, on the other hand, development of climate forecast tools and scenarios to evaluate sector‐specific, incremental changes in risk over the next few decades. This review starts by describing the climate outlook for the next couple of decades and the implications for adaptation assessments. We then review ways in which climate risk information is already being used in adaptation assessments and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of three groups of techniques. Next we identify knowledge gaps and opportunities for improving the production and uptake of climate risk information for the 2020s. We assert that climate change scenarios can meet some, but not all, of the needs of adaptation planning. Even then, the choice of scenario technique must be matched to the intended application, taking into account local constraints of time, resources, human capacity and supporting infrastructure. We also show that much greater attention should be given to improving and critiquing models used for climate impact assessment, as standard practice. Finally, we highlight the over‐arching need for the scientific community to provide more information and guidance on adapting to the risks of climate variability and change over nearer time horizons (i.e. the 2020s). Although the focus of the review is on information provision and uptake in developing regions, it is clear that many developed countries are facing the same challenges. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society


1. The author states the problem as having to determine a simple instrument capable of being introduced without difficulty and at little cost at any point in the pipes constituting the Paris Prefecture's water distribution loop system. His choice fell on a cylindrical tube derived from the Pitot tube, featuring two dynamic pressure tappings and no static pressure hole in order to increase the differential pressure. 2. On calibrating this probe in an infinite medium in the French Navy's hull testing tank, it was found that the conventional formula Q = K D2 Ha relating discharge to average velocity Vm gave two values of the exponent a, both of which were dose to 1/2, and that the discontinuity invariably occurred at a velocity in the neighbourhood of 1 m/sec. 3. The author decided to always measure the velocity in the centre Vo in order to reduce the margin of uncertainty to a minimum. He made measurements on a large number of pipes with widely varying velocity distribution curves in order to determine the maximum probable variation range of coefficient v = mean velocity/central velocity 4. The author was then able to plot a graph consisting of a family of straight lines on a double logarithmic scale, the spacing of which was related to pipe diameter by a parabolic law. 5. The author then goes on to show successive applications of the probe in the Paris Prefecture's water distribution system, including one probe permanently installed in a 1.5 m diameter pipe. 6. Finally, the author argues in favour of the use of these probes for investigation and supervisory purposes and not as precision instruments-as a means of establishing basic requirements for operation ensuring optimum running economy, combined with satisfactory service to the consumer.


Chalk groundwater levels typically decline markedly in response to drought, and rebound strongly when the drought breaks. Chalk streams, largely groundwater-fed, are of ecological importance but little research has been conducted on possible water-quality effects accompanying fluctuations in groundwater level. This study monitored springs, boreholes and surface water in the Pang and Lambourn catchments in southern England during a major recovery in 2006–2008. Hydrochemistry, stable isotopes and age indicators were used to characterize the waters. Perennial springs showed little change in water quality over the monitoring period, and even seasonal springs soon became consistent in their hydrochemistry. A similar lack of change was observed in borehole waters and in the River Lambourn. Stable isotopes demonstrated the high degree of damping relative to rainfall inputs, and residence time indicators showed that Chalk groundwater is basically a mixture with an 'old' (pre-1950s) component of ≥50%. This being the case, any water quality changes owing to water level fluctuations would inevitably become diluted. Therefore, although future climate predictions for southern Britain include greater extremes in rainfall and temperature, and consequently water level changes of greater amplitude, the buffering effect of the Chalk aquifer should protect the quality of Chalk springs and streams.


This is my final issue for Theatre Research International. Handing over to Charlotte Canning as Senior Editor and Paul Rae as Assistant Editor, I want to wish them every future success with the journal. At the same time, I would like to thank everyone involved in the journal over the last three years, from those who submitted articles to those who contributed invaluable, behind-the-scenes labour – the editorial board, books-reviewing team and peer reviewers. A special thanks to Cambridge University Press for the assistance they provided with all aspects of the production process – especially to James Carr who has overseen each and every issue during my term of office. Leaving the editorship of the journal, I am pleased to note its buoyant subscription and submission rates – its revenue, despite the global, economic recession, continues to rise, while the number of articles offered for review has doubled over the course of the last three years.


The building industry demands ever more effective structural elements with a multitude of requirements at the same time. There is increasing interest for load-bearing glass elements which can be deployed in timber structures, e.g. in the outer facade or as column or beam elements within the building. In an on-going research project, the materials glass, timber and the adhesive combining the former have to be selected to fit each other but also suit the application. The mechanical properties are studied individually as well as in combined small-scale specimens experimentally. Furthermore,large-scale tests on beams and shear walls are performed. This is accompanied by numerical analysis to study a wide range of dimensions and variations as well as specific design situations. The final output of the project will be prototypes to beused in showcase projects.


This Article seeks to go beyond cute rhetorical labels to consider what, if anything, postmodernism might mean, and why legal scholars should care. I cover an eclectic mix of characters, from postmodernism's principal theorists to some of its most flamboyant practitioners. I discuss Lyotard and Warhol, Baudrillard and Madonna, Foucault and Venturi, Derrida and Snoop Doggy Dog, Rorty and Gehry, to name just a few. At times, the journey might seem amusing, perhaps even strange. But it is important to remember throughout that one simple question drives the Article: does any of this matter to law, and if so, how should it be applied? My thesis is that once one clears the underbrush of jargon and pessimism, postmodernism can most usefully be understood as a movement that struggles with how to represent a messy, chaotic world where simple reassuring stories will not do. After discussing postmodernism's attention to the context in which signs and symbols appear and how they are mediated, I develop two main points. First, scattered strands of postmodern legal scholarship might regroup to question how law decontextualizes and mediates power relations. Doing so would enable a more constructive agenda for reform. Second, and more fundamentally, postmodernism offers a chance at mapping new topologies within which to represent reality more accurately and more fully engage in the world in which we live. I emphasize network theory and participatory democracy.


—In this paper, we present an approach to estimate the location of mobile unit in an indoor WiFi network environment. The estimated location information is then used to perform seamless session mobility across devices (i.e. device switching) in an IPv6 network. Prototype implementation of such location-assisted device switching has been developed and experimented. The proposed location estimation approach is based on the received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), to calculate an accurate Path Loss Exponent for a triangulation-based location estimation function. Results showed that our approach achieved an average error of 1.07m in an area of 10x10m. We have also monitored the detailed SIP and RTP messages exchanges for the device switching process to verify our prototype execution.


Abstract Urea was observed to have extraordinary ice nucleating properties in laboratory and natural clouds. Ice nucleation was induced in laboratory clouds at temperatures as warm as +6C. The nucleation mechanism involves the high endothermic heat of solution and high solubility of urea. Three field releases of urea in supercooled stratus resulted in marked visual transformation of the cloud and substantial snow showers. It is concluded that urea is an effective seeding reagent for supercooled clouds. In these experiments urea appeared to be equally effective as dry ice in causing shower formation.


This Article crystallizes and then critiques a prominent view about the role of international law in the global order. The view — what I call the "cooperation thesis" — is that international law serves to help global actors cooperate, specifically by: (1) curbing their disputes, and (2) promoting their shared goals. The cooperation thesis often appears as a positive account of international law; it purports to explain or describe what international law does. But it also has normative force; international law is widely depicted as dysfunctional when it does not satisfy the thesis. In particular, heated or intractable conflict is thought to betray the limits of international law — to show that, on some issues, international law is not serving its functions. That view of international law is conceptually flawed. It incorrectly assumes that conflict is an impediment to international law or a problem for international law to mitigate. As scholars from other disciplines have shown, however, conflict is symbiotic with the very functions that the thesis prizes. Even as international law enables global actors to curb their disputes and work toward their shared aims, it also enables them to do the opposite: to hone in on their differences and disagree — at times fiercely and without resolution. It does so because the two kinds of interactions are interdependent, and the legal mechanisms for both are the same. To put the point more starkly, conflict does not necessarily reveal deficiencies in international law because enabling it is inherent in the project of international law.


The absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of 14C-labeled 4,4'-thiobis(6-t-butyl-m-cresol) (TBBC) was studied in male rats. Oral treatment showed a dose-related decrease in the rate of absorption due to a dose-related increase in retention time in the stomach. TBBC was incompletely absorbed after oral treatment, although the rate of absorption was proportional to the dose once the compound reached the small intestine. TBBC was rapidly distributed throughout the body with the liver being the major tissue depot. Significant amounts of the compound were also present in blood, muscle, skin, and adipose tissue. TBBC was initially rapidly cleared from all tissues except adipose, although a small percentage of the total dose tended to persist in liver and skin. Over half of the compound was excreted the first day, primarily via the bile into the feces. Little TBBC-derived radioactivity appeared in the urine. Metabolites of TBBC were present in the tissues at early times after administration, but were rapidly excreted. The major metabolite(s) appeared to be glucuronide conjugates of the parent compound. Thus, TBBC, an important antioxidant in the rubber and plastic industries, would tend to accumulate in liver and lipid-rich tissues upon chronic exposure, which if by the oral route, could also result in direct damage to the gastrointestinal tract.


ABSTRACT Participation in activities provides the means for young children to learn, play, develop skills, and develop a sense of personal identity. The Assessment of Preschool Children's Participation (APCP) is a newly developed measure to capture the participation of children aged 2 to 5 years and 11 months in the areas of play, skill development, active physical recreation, and social activities. Data from a clinical trial involving 120 children with cerebral palsy indicated that the APCP has moderate to very good internal consistency. The measure distinguishes between children below or above 4 years of age across levels of the Gross Motor Classification System, and between income levels below or above the median regional income range. The APCP, with a focus on preschool children, has potential use for assessment and identification of activity areas in which the child is participating and areas in which participation may be restricted.


After the eruption of Mt Pinatubo (Philippines) in 1991, most Aytas living at the foot of the volcano were resettled in lowland areas. Breaking with the past entailed a painful struggle particularly among these indigenous people who were uprooted from their source of life. As they tried to adapt to their new environment, they had no choice but to conform in re-establishing their habitat and in attempting to find ways of achieving a better future. Since formal education was a most promising venture, there were Ayta parents who welcomed the scholarships offered by the government or the private sector to their children. This study features interviews with Pinatubo Aytas—who were given the opportunity to finish college—and highlights their struggle as they aspire for socio-economic mobility. The new generation of Aytas has become an emerging breed of acculturation that puts their identity fundamentally at stake: their case demonstrates a "struggle of identification," to use Bhabha's term. Their experience of self-consciousness in their psychic identification with the dominant culture or their alacritous acceptance of their assimilated condition remains a critical issue calling for further inquiry.


Climate change has been a challenge to international diplomacy and to global climate governance (GCG) involving governments, companies and civil society. This paper discusses the limitations and challenges of the global carbon market as a mechanism of GCG and its role in the post-Kyoto period. This study is part of an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional research about GCG and carbon market and it is based on a deep literature review of national and international academic publications, as well as institutional documents from the United Nations international panel on climate changes (IPCC) and UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC). The findings reveal the limitations and challenges of the carbon market as a GCG mechanism to face the climate change. It defends the necessity of developing countries to strengthen their national and sub-national regulations in direction to a low carbon economy.


Fire is a major ecological process in ecosystems globally. Its impacts on fauna can be both direct (e.g., mortality) and indirect (e.g., altered habitat), resulting in population recovery being driven by several possible mechanisms. Separating direct from indirect impacts of fire on faunal population recovery can be valuable in guiding management of biodiversity in fire-prone environments. However, resolving the influence of direct and indirect processes remains a key challenge because many processes affecting fauna can change concomitantly with time since fire. We explore the mechanisms influencing bird response to fire by posing the question, can temporal changes in vegetation structure predict changes in bird occurrence on sites, and can these be separated from other temporal changes using the surrogate of time since fire? We conducted a 12-yr study of bird and vegetation responses to fire at 124 sites across six vegetation classes in Booderee National Park, Australia. Approximately half of these sites, established in 2002, were burned by a large (>3000 ha) wildfire in 2003. To disentangle collinear effects of temporal changes in vegetation and direct demographic effects on population recovery that are subsumed by time since fire, we incorporated both longitudinal and cross-sectional vegetation effects in addition to time since fire within logistic structural equation models. We identified temporal changes in vegetation structure and richness of plant and bird species that characterized burned and unburned sites in all vegetation classes. For nine bird species, a significant component of the year trend was driven by temporal trends in one of three vegetation variables (number of understory or midstory plant species, or midstory cover). By contrast, we could not separate temporal effects between time since fire and vegetation attributes for bird species richness, reporting rate, and the occurrence of 11 other bird species. Our findings help identify species for which indirect effects of vegetation dominate recovery and thus may benefit from vegetation management where conservation actions are required and, conversely, those species for which direct effects of time since fire drive recovery, where simply leaving a system to recover following the last disturbance will be sufficient.


The goal of this research is to investigate, develop and validate analytical and numerical tools that can accurately predict failure in sheet metal forming operations. The strain-based forming limit curve (FLC) is one of the tools to predict the maximum permissible strains of thin metallic sheets which are loaded in the plane of the sheet to different states of stress. It may be used to assess forming operations in the press shops as well as unintentional deformations, such as vehicle, aircraft, or train crashes. The accurate prediction of failure in sheet metal stamping can shorten product lead times, decrease tooling costs, and allow for overall more rigorous and robust designs. In the present work, three main analytical models are discussed: the modified Marciniak and Kuczynski (M-K) model which included a varying defect orientation with respect to the principal stress directions, the effective stress ratio model and the major strain ratio model. The M-K predictions of the FLC are demonstrated with several yield criteria for eight different materials. Furthermore, the stress-based FLC theory of the effective stress ratio model is described, and its extension to include varying defect orientation is presented. Also the original non-incremental FLC theory of the major strain ratio model is presented, and its extension to include varying defect orientation is described. In addition, numerical and experimental data are used to investigate the key assumption of the three analytical models and the results show that the parameters investigated to predict failure (i.e., the incremental strain ratio, critical stress concentration factor and critical strain concentration factor) were not constant for the various strain paths for three analytical models considered. Finally, finite element analysis (FEA) is used to predict the FLC with a stress-based failure criterion and a comparison between three different element types (shell, solid and solidshell) is investigated in detail. The numerical results show that despite the differences in stress distribution assumptions, shell, solid and solid-shell elements would not provide differences in failure prediction for the uniform, in-plane stretching states examined when a stress-based failure criterion is used.


"The Goal Is to Teach All Traders to Think with the Mindset of a Successful Trader..." While successful trading requires tremendous skill and knowledge, it begins and ends with mindset. What do exceptional traders think when they purchase a quality stock and the price immediately plummets? How do they keep one bad trade from destroying their confidence - and bankroll? What do they know that the rest of us don't? "Some trades are not worth the risk and should never be done."High Probability Trading" shows you how to trade only when the odds are in your favor. From descriptions of the software and equipment an exceptional trader needs high probability signals that either a top or bottom has been reached, it is today's most complete guidebook to thinking like an exceptional trader - every day, on every trade. "It's not how good you are at one individual thing, but it's the culmination of every aspect of trading that makes one successful."Before he became a successful trader, Marcel Link spent years wading from one system to the next, using trial and error to figure out what worked, what didn't, and why. In "High Probability Trading", Link reveals the steps he took to become a consistent, patient, and winning trader - by learning what to watch for, what to watch out for, and what to do to make each trade a high probability trade. "Why do a select few traders repeatedly make money while the masses lose? What do bad traders do that good traders avoid, and what do winning traders do that is different? Throughout this book I will detail how successful traders behave differently and consistently make money by making high probability trades and avoiding common pitfalls..." - From the preface.Within 6 months of beginning their careers full of promise and hope, most traders are literally out of money and out of trading. "High Probability Trading" reduces the likelihood that you will have to pay this "traders' tuition," by detailing a market-proven program for weathering those first few months and becoming a profitable trader from the beginning.Combining a uniquely blunt look at the realities of trading with examples, charts, and case studies detailing actual hits and misses of both short- and long-term traders, this straightforward guidebook discusses: the 10 consistent attributes of a successful trader, and how to make them work for you; strategies for controlling emotions in the heat of trading battle; technical analysis methods for identifying trends, breakouts, reversals, and more; market-tested signals for consistently improving the timing of entry and exit points; how to "trade the news" - and understand when the market has already discounted it; and learning how to get out of a bad trade before it can hurt you. The best traders enter the markets only when the odds are in their favor. "High Probability Trading" shows you how to know the difference between low and high probability situations, and only trade the latter. It goes far beyond simply pointing out the weaknesses and blind spots that hinder most traders to explaining how those defects can be understood, overcome, and turned to each trader's advantage. While it is a cliche, it is also true that there are no bad traders, only bad trades. Let "High Probability Trading" show you how to weed the bad trades from your trading day by helping you see them before they occur.Packed with charts, trading tips, and questions traders should be asking themselves, plus real examples of traders in every market situation, this powerful book will first give you the knowledge and tools you need to tame the markets and then show you how to meld them seamlessly into a customized trading program - one that will help you join the ranks of elite traders and increase your probability of success on every trade.


IN BRIEF "Quality Improvement Success Stories" are published by the American Diabetes Association in collaboration with the American College of Physicians, Inc. (ACP), and the National Diabetes Education Program. This series is intended to highlight best practices and strategies from programs and clinics that have successfully improved the quality of care for people with diabetes or related conditions. Each article in the series is reviewed and follows a standard format developed by the editors of Clinical Diabetes. The following article describes an initiative aimed at reducing the percentage of patients with an A1C >9% in outpatient settings within a large Pennsylvania health care system.


Ethiopia's national development strategy, A Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty for 2005/06 to 2009/10 (PASDEP) places a major emphasis on achieving high rates of agricultural and overall economic growth. Consistent with the PASDEP, Ethiopia is also in the process of implementing the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) together with other African governments. As part of CAADP, the country has committed itself to meeting targets of devoting at least 10 percent of public expenditures to agriculture and to achieving a 6 percent growth rate in agricultural GDP. Ethiopia has already met these targets in recent years. The challenge remains, however, to continue to devote these public resources and to achieve high growth rates through 2015. This paper analyzes agricultural growth options that can support high levels of agricultural development using a new computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Ethiopia based on data from the EDRI 2005/06 Ethiopia SAM (Ahmed et al. 2009). The CGE model results indicated that if Ethiopia can meet its targets for crop yields and livestock productivity, then it should be possible to reach and sustain the six percent agricultural growth target during 2006-2015. Even though these yield targets are below the maximum potential yields identified by agricultural field trials, they are still ambitious given the short timeframe of the CAADP initiative (i.e., seven years). Achieving agricultural growth of six percent per year would reduce national poverty to 18.4 percent by 2015, lifting an additional 3.7 million people out of poverty compared to a base simulation using medium term growth rates. Most households are expected to benefit from faster agricultural growth. However, some agro-ecological zones that grow higher value cereals and export-oriented crops and which are better situated to larger urban markets (e.g., the rainfall sufficient highlands) stand to gain more than other parts of the country. Both rural and urban households benefit from faster agricultural growth (and thereby overall economic growth), as rural producers benefit from increased agricultural productivity and incomes, while net purchasers of food in both rural and urban areas benefit from moderate declines in real food prices. Composition of agricultural growth matters, though. Additional growth driven by cereals has larger impacts on poverty reduction, because these crops already constitute a large share of rural incomes and so can contribute substantially to achieving broad-based agricultural growth. Yield improvements in these crops not only benefit farm households directly, by increasing incomes from agricultural production, but also by allowing farmers to diversify their land allocation towards other higher-value crops. Increased productivity of cereals that reduces real cereal prices is also effective at raising rural real incomes and reducing poverty, especially amongst the poorest households. Thus, high priority should be afforded to improving cereals yields and opening market opportunities for upstream processing to reduce demand constraints.


Dental fluorosis is characterized by hypomineralization of tooth enamel caused by ingestion of excessive fluoride during enamel formation. Excess fluoride could have effects on the ERK signaling, which is essential for the ameloblasts differentiation and tooth development. MAP kinase phosphatase-1 (MKP-1) plays a critical role in regulating ERK related kinases. However, the role of MKP-1 in ameloblast and the mechanisms of MKP-1/ERK signaling in the pathogenesis of dental fluorosis are incompletely understood. Here, we adopted an in vitro fluorosis cell model using murine ameloblasts-like LS8 cells by employing sodium fluoride (NaF) as inducer. Using this system, we demonstrated that fluoride exposure led to an inhibition of p-MEK and p-ERK1/2 with a subsequent increase in MKP-1 expression in a dose-dependent manner. We further identified, under high dose fluoride, MKP-1 acted as a negative regulator of the fluoride-induced p-ERK1/2 signaling, leading to downregulation of CREB, c-myc, and Elk-1. Our results identify a novel MKP-1/ERK signaling mechanism that regulates dental fluorosis and provide a framework for studying the molecular mechanisms of intervention and fluorosis remodeling under normal and pathological conditions. MKP-1 inhibitors may prove to be a benefit therapeutic strategy for dental fluorosis treatment.


In this paper a new bifurcation synthesis procedure is described. Its foundations are built on an extension of the Conversion Matrix concept, applied to the nonlinear sub network of the circuit simulated through Harmonic Balance. The Cross-frequency Stability Curves (CSC) are defined, which are the nonlinear equivalent of the Stability Circles valid for linear networks. The CSC gives us regions of reflection coefficient values for the loads that yield potential eriod doubling in the circuit. The proposed synthesis method can be used within any simulation program based on the Harmonic Balance algorithm, allowing the designer the possibility to check the nonlinear stability of any simulated circuit, or to design intentionally unstable circuits. Results of the CSC method are given for a GaAs FET circuit synthesized to operate as a divider-by-two.


Recently, many organizations are investing a great amount to revamp their business policies in order to comply with the new regulations related to Sarbanes-Oxley. For organizations with large-scale business processes, maintaining those processes to meet the changing policies is a non-trivial problem. In this paper, we present an innovative process mapping methodology named Policy-Driven Process Mapping (PDPM) that takes advantage of detailed organizational policies. In particular, we show how narrative process-related policies can be formalized and how process maps can be systematically created via a set of rules and algorithms. Our research contributes to business process management by providing a theoretical foundation for the development of advanced process mapping tools, thereby taking the first step toward automatable process design procedures.


Three phytoplasma-related diseases of papaya (Carica papaya), dieback, yellow crinkle, and mosaic, are recognized within Australia. Immature leaf material was sampled every week for 8 months from a cohort of 60 female plants, located within a commercial papaya plantation, to determine the minimum time between infection and symptom expression. Phytoplasma DNA was detected using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers specific for phytoplasmas in general, and for the stolbur group of phytoplasmas. The dieback-associated phytoplasma was detected 1 week prior to (four cases) or the same week (nine cases) as symptom expression, while phytoplasma DNA was detected between 3 and 11 weeks prior to expression of mosaic symptom (six cases). Lateral shoot regrowth on the lower stem of plants which had suffered dieback disease failed to generate stolbur-specific PCR products in 15 cases. A dual infection with dieback and yellow crinkle or mosaic was diagnosed in a further two cases, using restriction fragment length polymorphism digests, and both cases were interpreted as secondary infections by the dieback-associated phytoplasma. Regrowth in three of seven cases of yellow crinkle- and three of nine cases of mosaic-affected plants tested positive for phytoplasma-specific DNA. Ratooning of dieback-affected plants and removal of yellow crinkle- or mosaic-affected plants is suggested for the management of these diseases.


Synthetic biology is the engineering discipline for constructing novel organisms with functions that do not exist in nature. We recently engineered a prototype CMY genetic circuit that visually produces cyan, magenta, and yellow colors independently and in combination using different inducer molecules. Since the production of each color can be independently controlled, this allows for the production of a spectrum of colors that can be visualized in normal light conditions, and each color can be quantified using fluorescence measurements. We performed an evolution experiment to measure the evolutionary stability dynamics of this prototype CMY genetic circuit in 88 replicate populations of Escherichia coli, propagated with all colors turned on. Our results using particular inducer concentrations show that all 88 replicate populations change from a dark, green-brown color to a cyanish color after only 40 generations. In order to visualize the results of this experiment, we washed and concentrated the cells from each population into a different well of a 384-well plate at different evolutionary timepoints. The color change seen visually is confirmed with quantitative data that demonstrates the loss-of-function of both magenta and yellow colors with variation between replicate populations. We sequenced a single clone from four independently evolved populations and all clones have the same loss-of-function deletion mutation between homologous transcriptional terminators that removes the magenta and yellow expression cassettes. This parallel evolution was somewhat expected from results of previous work, but we expect that randomized and re-engineered versions of this circuit without repeats will produce more divergent results due to more stochastic loss-of-function mutations. This prototype CMY circuit serves as a mutational readout device and allows for a colorimetric and quantitative demonstration of evolution in action using synthetic biology.