Molecular Analysis of a Family With Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia - Genotype/Phenotype Discrepancy Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a common autosomal recessive disease with a variable clinical presentation caused by a spectrum of different mutations. A significant association of genotype with phenotype has been reported. The molecular analysis of a girl with a mild form of CAH presenting with precocious pubarche, confirmed that she was heterozygous for two mutations of the CYP21 gene (exon 1, codon 30/exon 8, codon 318). Her mother was homozygous for the codon 30 mutation and her father was homozygous for the codon 318 mutation. The only anomaly in the parents was a difficulty in conceiving. The molecular analysis of this family confirmed the variability of presentation in carriers of different mutations, which caused difficulties in decisions about the timing of therapy and in genetic counseling.


Numerous investigations on Urban Heat Island (UHI) show that land cover change is the main factor of increasing Land Surface Temperature (LST) in urban areas. Therefore, to achieve a model which is able to simulate UHI growth, urban expansion should be concerned first. Considerable researches on urban expansion modeling have been done based on cellular automata. Accordingly the objective of this paper is to implement CA method for trend detection of Tehran UHI spatiotemporal growth based on urban sprawl parameters (such as Distance to nearest road, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Slope and Aspect ratios). It should be mentioned that UHI growth modeling may have more complexities in comparison with urban expansion, since the amount of each pixel's temperature should be investigated instead of its state (urban and non-urban areas). The most challenging part of CA model is the definition of Transfer Rules. Here, two methods have used to find appropriate transfer Rules which are Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR). The reason of choosing these approaches is that artificial neural networks and support vector regression have significant abilities to handle the complications of such a spatial analysis in comparison with other methods like Genetic or Swarm intelligence. In this paper, UHI change trend has discussed between 1984 and 2007. For this purpose, urban sprawl parameters in 1984 have calculated and added to the retrieved LST of this year. In order to achieve LST, Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) night-time images have exploited. The reason of implementing night-time images is that UHI phenomenon is more obvious during night hours. After that multilayer feed-forward neural networks and support vector regression have used separately to find the relationship between this data and the retrieved LST in 2007. Since the transfer rules might not be the same in different regions, the satellite image of the city has divided to several parts and for each part a specific CA model has defined. In the training step some pixels have randomly selected to calibrate the neural network and the regression. Then, using the trained neural network and support vector regression, LST in year 2007 has retrieved for all pixels. Results have indicated a great relationship between the simulated LST and the real one which has retrieved from thermal band of satellite image in 2007 (r = 0.843 for ANN method and r = 0.856 for SVR method). Although SVR caused to a better result, this method is much more time consuming than ANN method, especially when the number of training pixels increase.


During the year of 2011, 6 045 Swedish firms filed for bankruptcy. Also, in 2009 the Swedish bank, SEB, suffered from credit losses of 11 370 Million SEK or 200 percent of operating profit. In this paper we identified various default prediction models used on the market to study the problems. Nonetheless, comparing the studies have shown that such prediction models like Altman's Z-Score models in Sweden are problematic to use due to the inaccurate results they provide. As a consequence, the study is aimed at adjusting the Z'-Score model.In this paper we will test adjusted models, based on Altman's original variables, in order to obtain a more accurate model. The sample selection consists of financial reports from small Swedish manufacturing firms. The Z'-Score model were adjusted using the multiple discriminant analysis.To sum up, the models, which we have adjusted, had shown improvement in predicting the firms more accurately than for the Z'-Score model applied on our sample. Our Zut-model performed an accuracy of 86,1 percent, which contrasted to the Z'-score model showing an accuracy of 73,6 percent.


The recent spread of mosquito-transmitted viruses and associated disease to the Americas motivates a new, data-driven evaluation of risk in temperate population centers. Temperate regions are generally expected to pose low risk for significant mosquito-borne disease, however, the spread of the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) across densely populated urban areas has established a new landscape of risk. We use a model informed by field data to assess the conditions likely to facilitate local transmission of chikungunya and Zika viruses from an infected traveler to Ae. albopictus and then to other humans in USA cities with variable human densities and seasonality. Mosquito-borne disease occurs when specific combinations of conditions maximize virus-to-mosquito and mosquito-to-human contact rates. We develop a mathematical model that captures the epidemiology and is informed by current data on vector ecology from urban sites. The model predicts that one of every two infectious travelers arriving at peak mosquito season could initiate local transmission and > 10% of the introductions could generate a disease outbreak of at least 100 people. Despite Ae. albopictus propensity for biting non-human vertebrates, we also demonstrate that local virus transmission and human outbreaks may occur when vectors feed from humans even just 40% of the time. This work demonstrates how a conditional series of non-average events can result in local arbovirus transmission and outbreaks of disease in humans, even in temperate cities. Author Summary Zika and chikungunya viruses are transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes, including Ae. albopictus, which is abundant in many temperate cities. While disease risk is lower in temperate regions where viral amplification cannot build across years, there is significant potential for localized disease outbreaks in urban populations. We use a model informed by field data to assess the conditions likely to facilitate local transmission of virus from an infected traveler to Ae. albopictus and then to other humans in USA cities with variable human densities and seasonality. The model predicts that one of every two infectious travelers arriving at peak mosquito season could initiate local transmission and > 10% of the introductions could generate a disease outbreak of >100 people. Classification: Ecology


The authors review mortality data by external causes from the Brazilian Ministry of Health from 1981 to 1989, a period in which national mortality statistics are available. Data from the various States, Metropolitan Areas, and State capitals are examined, particularly on homicide deaths. Comparisons are made with the distribution of poverty and migration rates. No association is found between these factors and homicide death rates. If relationships can be established with crimes against property there is no proof that either poverty or migratory movements may be related to crimes against life. The authors stress the role of organized crime and drugs and arms traffic as fundamental factors in structuring metropolitan criminality. This role is particularly accentuated when the fight against drugs is conducted in an exclusively repressive way and incorrect institutional and political decisions are made for facing urban poverty.


Caveolin-3 is the major structural protein of caveolae in muscle cells. Mutations in the CAV3 gene cause different type of muscle disorders mostly characterized by defects in membrane integrity and repair, deregulation in the expression of various muscle proteins and deregulation of several muscle associated signaling pathways. We show here that myotubes derived from patients bearing the CAV3 P28L and R26Q mutations present a lack of functional caveolae at the plasma membrane which results in an abnormal mechanoresponse. Mutant myotubes can no longer buffer the increase of membrane tension induced by mechanical stress and present an hyperactivation of the IL6/STAT3 signaling pathway at rest and under mechanical stress. The impaired mechanical regulation of the IL6/STAT3 signaling pathway by caveolae leads to chronic activation and a higher expression of muscle specific genes. These defects could be reversed by reassembling a pool of functional caveolae through expression of wild type Cav3. Our findings bring more mechanistic insight into human Cav3 associated muscle disorders and show a general defect in the mechanoresponse of CAV3 P28L and R26Q myotubes.


Abstract The geological controls on methane sorption capacity for the Lower Cretaceous Buckinghorse Formation and equivalent strata in northeastern British Columbia, Canada have been investigated. The methane sorption capacity ranges between 0.04 to 1.89 cm3/g at 6 MPa (3.2 to 60.4 scf/ton at 870 PSIA) and the corresponding total organic carbon (TOC) content is between 0.5 and 17 wt%. Equilibrium moisture content is between 1.5 and 11 wt% and the organic maturity measured by Tmax ranges between 416°C (immature) and 476°C (overmature). TOC content is the most significant control on methane sorption capacity, however, other important factors include the kerogen type, maturity and clay content, in particular the abundance of illite. A positive correlation exists between the TOC content and methane capacity. Samples with higher surface area have higher methane sorption capacities. The micro- and mesoporous surface area increase with TOC and illite content. On a per unit TOC volume basis, type II/III and III kerogens have higher methane sorption capacity compared to types I and II because of their higher micropore volumes. Micropore volume on a per unit TOC volume basis increases with maturity for all kerogen types. Across the study area there is a decrease in TOC concentration with increasing maturity which, in part, is attributed to hydrocarbon generation but also coincidently reflects the different depositional environments. The amount of illite also increases with maturity through the process of illitization. No correlation exists between moisture content and methane capacity. Samples with high moisture content can have high methane capacities which indicate water and methane molecules occupy different sorption sites.


This paper investigates the impact of family CEOs on firm organizational choices and the causes and consequences of these decisions. We focus on second-generation (dynastic) family firms, collect new data on CEO successions for over 900 firms in Latin America and Europe and merge it with unique data on organizational choices, specifically, structured management practices. We use variation in the gender composition of the outgoing CEOs' children for identification. There is clear preference for male heirs: conditional on number of children, having at least one son is correlated with a 30pp higher likelihood of dynastic family succession. As the gender composition of the outgoing CEO's children is unlikely to affect decisions on mid-level managerial practices, we use it as an instrumental variable for family succession. Dynastic CEO successions lead to almost one standard deviation lower adoption of structured management practices, with an implied productivity decrease of about 10%. We rationalize this finding with a new conceptual framework that accounts for the importance of implicit employment commitments to employees of dynastic firms in determining the adoption of monitoring technologies. We find empirical evidence that, controlling for lower levels of knowledge and skills of family CEOs, concerns for reputation and ''family name'' can play a role in constraining investment in structured management practices. Overall, our empirical results shed new light on dynastic firms' persistent performance deficit and apparent lag in the adoption of structured management practices.


We give a new formulation to the multiple-depot vehicle scheduling problem as a set partitioning problem with side constraints, whose continuous relaxation is amenable to be solved by column generation. We show that the continuous relaxation of the set partitioning formulation provides a much tighter lower bound than the additive bound procedure previously applied to this problem. We also establish that the additive bound technique cannot provide tighter bounds than those obtained by Lagrangian decomposition, in the framework in which it has been used so far. Computational results that illustrate the robustness of the combined set partitioning-column generation approach are reported for problems four to five times larger than the largest problems that have been exactly solved in the literature. Finally, we show that the gap associated with the additive bound based on the assignment and shortest path relaxations can be arbitrarily bad in the general case, and as bad as 50% in the symmetric case.


This article describes musicians' lifelong and lifewide learning as it was investigated through biographical research. Key developments in the professional lives of 32 musicians were examined, focusing on critical incidents and educational interventions in their life, educational and career span. The main thread was the question of how these musicians learn. After analysis, three conceptual entities were established in the biographies, the first being musicians' artistic, generic and educational leadership; second, the interconnection between their varied learning styles; and third, their need for an adaptive and responsive learning environment within a reflexive and reflective institutional culture. Two biographical examples of musicians suffering from performance anxiety are described, focusing on their leadership, learning styles and subsequent transformative and transitional learning when developing coping strategies. The article concludes with directions for teaching and learning that can be extrapolated from the findings of biographical research.


Effective health diagnosis provides multifarious benefits such as improved safety, improved reliability and reduced costs for the operation and maintenance of complex engineered systems. This paper presents a novel multi-sensor health diagnosis method using Deep Belief Networks (DBN). The DBN has recently become a popular approach in machine learning for its promised advantages such as fast inference and the ability to encode richer and higher order network structures. The DBN employs a hierarchical structure with multiple stacked Restricted Boltzmann Machines and works through a layer by layer successive learning process. The proposed multi-sensor health diagnosis methodology using the DBN based state classification can be structured in three consecutive stages: first, defining health states and preprocessing the sensory data for DBN training and testing; second, developing DBN based classification models for the diagnosis of predefined health states; third, validating DBN classification models with testing sensory dataset. The performance of health diagnosis using DBN based health state classification is compared with support vector machine technique and demonstrated with aircraft wing structure health diagnostics and aircraft engine health diagnosis using 2008 PHM challenge data.


An attributed graph is a powerful tool for modeling a variety of information networks. It is not only able to represent relationships between objects easily, but it also allows every vertex and edge to have its attributes. Hence, a lot of data, such as the web, sensor networks, biological networks, economic graphs, and social networks, are modeled as attributed graphs. Due to the popularity of attributed graphs, the study of attributed graphs has caught attentions of researchers. For example, there are studies of attributed graph OLAP, query engine, clustering, summary, constrained pattern matching query, and graph visualization, etc. However, to the best of our knowledge, the studies of topological and attribute relationships between vertices on attributed graphs have not drawn much attentions of researchers. Given the high expressive power and popularity of attributed graph, in this thesis, we define and study the processing of three new attributed graph queries, which would help users to understand the topological and attribute relationships between entities in attributed graphs. For example, a reachability query on a social network can tell whether two persons can be connected given certain attribute constraints; a reachability query on a biological network can tell whether a compound can be transformed to another compound under given chemical reaction conditions; a How-to-Reach query can tell why the answers of the above two reachability query are negative; a visualizable path summary query can offer an overall picture of topological and attribute relationship between any two vertices in attributed graphs. Except for the proposed query types in this thesis, we believe that there is still penalty of meaningful attributed graph query types that have not been proposed and studied by the database and data mining community since an attributed graph is a very rich source of information. Through this thesis, we hope to draw people's attentions on attributed graph query processing so that more hidden information contained in attributed graphs can be queried and discovered.


Land is a crucial yet scarce resource in Rwanda, where about 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence farming, and access to land is increasingly becoming a source of conflict. This study examines the effects of land-access and land-tenure policies on local community relations, including ethnicity, and land conflicts in post-conflict rural Rwanda. Social relations have been characterized by (ethnic) tensions, mistrust, grief and frustration since the end of the 1990-1994 civil war and the 1994 genocide. Focusing on southeastern Rwanda, the study describes the negative consequences on social and inter-ethnic relations of a land-sharing agreement that was imposed on Tutsi returnees and the Hutu population in 1996-1997 and the villagization policy that was introduced at the same time. More recent land reforms, such as land registration and crop specialization, appear to have negatively affected land tenure and food security and have aggravated land conflicts. In addition, programmes and policies that the population have to comply with are leading to widespread poverty among peasants and aggravating communal tensions. Violence has historically often been linked to land, and the current growing resentment and fear surrounding these land-related policies and the ever-increasing land conflicts could jeopardize Rwanda's recovery and stability. (Thesis Free University Amsterdam).


Teaching team and the construction of high-level teachers team is a key construction project in the college undergraduate teaching quality engineering, and it is an important guarantee to strengthen the teaching team construction, which will enhance the reform of higher education and improve the quality of undergraduate education. College English teaching team construction is conducive to promote college English teaching reform and improve the quality of teaching. Our college English teaching team is aimed at building up the team construction model "two centers, three teaching sections for support, exquisite course construction as the platform, second classrooms for practice bases" so as to achieve such goals as "first-class teachers team, first-class teaching contents, first-class teaching methods, first-class textbooks, first-class teaching management, first-class autonomous learning experimental base for students". College English teaching team construction will contribute to make the goal of college English as national elaborate course, enhance students' comprehensive English language abilities, and promote school college English teaching reform.


The Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry (ANZSMS)'s highest award is the ANZSMS Medal. It has only been awarded twice before (Jim Morrison, 2009 and John Bowie, 2011) and recognises "outstanding contributions to knowledge in the biological, chemical, engineering, mathematical, medical or physical sciences relating directly to the exploitation, application or development of mass spectrometry". The Medal was presented to Peter at the joint 25th Conference of the ANZSMS and the 6th Conference of the Asia and Oceania Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia between 19 and 22 July 2015. Noel Davies, of the University of Tasmania, gave the introduction to Peter's plenary award lecture; a summary of which he kindly provided and appears below. "The Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry (ANZSMS) is delighted to award the ANZSMS medal to Professor Peter Derrick from the University of Auckland. The background to this medal is that it has only been awarded twice before to two of Australia's most outstanding mass spectrometrists, the late Professor Jim Morrison in 2009 and Professor John Bowie in 2011. The Society's other two medals are named after these leading Australian scientists: the Bowie medal for young scientists and the Morrison medal for more established researchers, the latter of which Peter was also awarded in 2009. Unlike those two medals which are awarded by the Society's Executive Committee, the ANZSMS medal is awarded only after peer review by a committee including distinguished international scientists. (For more information see http://www.anzsms.org/Awards/ ANZSMSMedal.php)" "Peter has been an outstanding international leader in mass spectrometry for around 40 years, with his first publication in mass spectrometry appearing in the late 1960s. In an era when double-focussing magnetic sector instruments were the top research grade instruments, his achievements in the design and construction of his grand scale sector instrument in the late 1970s in Australia were legendary within the Australian and New Zealand MS community, and he followed this by being appointed as the youngest ever full professor at the University of NSW in 1980. He has now spent a very significant proportion of his career (~20 years) in both Australia and New Zealand. His current research interests are very broad and include FT-ICR, proteomics and TOF/TOF." ANZSMS Medal presentation. From left: Andrew McAnoy (ANZSMS president), Richard O'Hair, Peter Derrick.


Atopic disease, including atopic dermatitis (eczema), allergy and asthma, has increased in frequency in recent decades and now affects 20% of the population in the developed world. Twin and family studies have shown that predisposition to atopic disease is highly heritable. Although most genetic studies have focused on immunological mechanisms, a primary epithelial barrier defect has been anticipated. Filaggrin is a key protein that facilitates terminal differentiation of the epidermis and formation of the skin barrier. Here we show that two independent loss-of-function genetic variants (R510X and 2282del4) in the gene encoding filaggrin (FLG) are very strong predisposing factors for atopic dermatitis. These variants are carried by 9% of people of European origin. These variants also show highly significant association with asthma occurring in the context of atopic dermatitis. This work establishes a key role for impaired skin barrier function in the development of atopic disease.


The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate evidence of clinical nurses' research capacity building in practice. A systematic review of studies of nurses' research capacity building in practice was performed. The quality of the articles was evaluated and reflected on in accordance with the Quality Assessment and Validity Tool for Correlation Studies. The literature searches identified a total of 4748 abstracts and titles. Eight quantitative studies were included in the evaluation. Three themes emerged from the analysis: Failure to ensure research quality and standards, Developing a research culture and Collaboration and organization of research utilization. The first theme has one sub-theme: Lack of knowledge about how to increase research utilization. The second theme is based on three sub-themes: Ability to identify clinical problems, changing nurses' attitudes to research and research supervision. Finally, the third theme has one sub-theme: Funding as a success factor. In conclusion, research capacity building requires the development of research competence to generate knowledge that enhances quality and patient safety. Nurse leaders are essential for establishing evidence-based practice and a research culture, thus enhancing nurses' scientific attitudes and capacity.


THE ROLE OF OXYTOCIN IN MODULATING NEURAL OSCILLATIONS IN NULLIPAROUS WOMEN. Xiaoyue Mona Guo, Helena J.V. Rutherford, Linda C. Mayes. Child Study Center, Yale University, School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. The hormone oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in social cognition and behavior as well as in modulating important affiliative relationships such as parenting; meanwhile, intranasal OT administration is gaining popularity as a means to modulate neural activity in brain regions during experimental tasks. However, the neural mechanisms underscoring the changes associated with OT administration have yet to be fully elucidated. Using electroencephalography (EEG), this thesis project aims to further our understanding of how OT affects brain activity and response to infant cues. In a doubleblind placebo controlled design, OT's effect on resting-state neural oscillations and event-related potentials (ERPs) to face stimuli were examined in a cohort of nulliparous women of childbearing age. Specifically, we examined the effects of intranasal OT on delta, beta, and delta-beta coupling during the resting state, and the amplitudes of the ERP components N170, P300, and the Late Positive Potential (LPP) to infant and adult faces. Prior work has suggested that cross-frequency coupling may be a useful way to study cognitive processing, whereas the N170, P300 and LPP are all components involved in the processing of facial and emotional stimuli. We found that OT, relative to placebo, decreased delta-beta coupling across multiple brain regions; ERP data showed that OT administration led to an increased amplitude of the P300 component to infant faces compared with adult faces. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that OT administration may lead nulliparous women to allocate greater attentional resources to infant faces than adult faces via a neural mechanism captured by delta-beta coupling.


ABSTRACT

Air pollution is the "world largest single environmental health risk" (WHO, 2016). According to the World Health Organization, every year ambient air pollution leads to more than 3 million premature deaths, and 84% of the global population is exposed to atmospheric aerosol levels higher than the limits set to protect human health (WHO, 2016). One of the most abundant, and still less characterized components of atmospheric aerosol is organic aerosol (OA). In particular, OA sources, formation mechanisms, atmospheric ageing, and effects on climate and human health are still subject of research.
OA is a mixture of thousands of chemical species, characterized by different physical, chemical, and toxicological properties. Such properties define the effects of OA, and particulate matter, on climate, air quality, and human health (Goldstein and Galbally, 2007). Traditional analytical techniques, based on the identification of single molecular species, describe only a limited fraction of OA mass, generally lower than 30% (Hallquist et al., 2009). During the last decade the use of bulk OA spectrometric analysis introduced simplified descriptions of OA. Such approaches depict OA as formed by a few components with different degrees of oxidation (Aerosol mass spectrometry - AMS) (Zhang et al., 2005), or as the sum of different organic functional groups, (Fourier transform infrared spectrometry - FTIR (Maria et al., 2003), or proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry - H-NMR (Decesari et al., 2007)).


Gut microbes make T cells keep the peace Our guts harbor trillions of microbial inhabitants, some of which regulate the types of immune cells that are present in the gut. For instance, Clostridium species of bacteria induce a type of T cell that promotes tolerance between the host and its microbial contents. Ohnmacht et al. and Sefik et al. characterized a population of gut regulatory T cells in mice, which required gut microbiota to survive. Multiple bacterial species of the microbiota could induce transcription factor–expressing regulatory T cells that helped maintain immune homeostasis. Mice engineered to lack these transcription factors exhibited enhanced susceptibility to colonic inflammation and had elevated amounts of proinflammatory molecules associated with allergies (see the Perspective by Hegazy and Powrie). Science, this issue pp. 989 and 993 Microbes resident in the gut induce an immunoregulatory population of T cells that promote immune homeostasis. [Also see Perspective by Hegazy and Powrie] Changes to the symbiotic microbiota early in life, or the absence of it, can lead to exacerbated type 2 immunity and allergic inflammations. Although it is unclear how the microbiota regulates type 2 immunity, it is a strong inducer of proinflammatory T helper 17 (TH17) cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) in the intestine. Here, we report that microbiota-induced Tregs express the nuclear hormone receptor RORγt and differentiate along a pathway that also leads to TH17 cells. In the absence of RORγt+ Tregs, TH2-driven defense against helminths is more efficient, whereas TH2-associated pathology is exacerbated. Thus, the microbiota regulates type 2 responses through the induction of type 3 RORγt+ Tregs and TH17 cells and acts as a key factor in balancing immune responses at mucosal surfaces.


This paper examines the optimal direction of marginal income tax reform in the context of New Zealand, which recently reduced its top marginal income tax rate to one of the lowest in the OECD. A behavioural microsimulation model is used, in which social welfare functions are defined in terms of either money metric utility or net income. The model allows for labour supply responses to tax changes, in which a high degree of population heterogeneity is represented along with all the details of the highly complex income tax and transfer system. The implications of the results for specific combinations of tax rate or threshold changes, that are both revenue neutral and welfare improving, are explored in detail, recognising the role of distributional value judgements in determining an optimal reform.The potential impact of additional income responses is also examined, using the concept of the elasticity of taxable income. Results suggest, under a wide range of parameter values and assumptions, that raising the highest income tax rate and/or threshold, would be part of an optimal reform package.


The aim of this project is to investigate the effects of coastal erosion on coastal boundaries and to determine the rights, obligations and limitations attached to that
land with respect to both the private land owner and the general public.

The effects of coastal erosion along urbanised foreshores has seen the loss of land to private property by title as well as physical loss of land to the ocean, while public
land is disappearing as erosion forces its natural coastal boundaries landward towards private fixed-line boundaries.

As Australia continues to urbanise along its coastline, the value of coastal land near large cities in Australia is continually increasing, further highlighting the importance of resolving issues that surround coastal property boundaries.

These issues have been demonstrated through a literature review. The collection and critical review of current legislation, case law, survey regulations as well as
investigation into examples of coastal remedial works (both successful and unsuccessful) was then applied to a primary research study, located at Collaroy- Narrabeen Beach, within the local government area of Warringah, NSW.

A detail survey was conducted of the foreshore and adjoining properties along the described length of Collaroy-Narrabeen Beach, as well as boundary survey to define
the cadastral boundaries between the beach reserve and private properties that it adjoins. This study revealed significant deficiencies that continue to see the loss of
land along the foreshore, affecting both private land owners and public beach users.

This study has proven that there are serious and concerning issues surrounding coastal erosion, and its effect on coastal property boundaries. As Australia's stunning
and iconic coastline continues to urbanise, the importance of collective and responsibly considered actions which successfully manage the delicate balance between protecting privately owned land and public interests from coastal erosion in New South Wales has never been more significant.


ABSTRACT Modern to Pleistocene Amiantis purpurata shells collected in Bahía San Antonio (Patagonia, Argentina) were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical and electron microscopy, electron microprobe analyses, and microindentation, in order to characterize early diagenetic changes and mechanical resistance. The sole crystalline phase is twinned aragonite showing pseudohexagonal symmetry. The regularity of the crystallographic texture decreases in older samples, but average crystallite size does not increase. The microstructure, which is dominantly crossed lamellar, is progressively replaced by a more randomly oriented grain aggregate. Compositional profiles across the shell show gradients in Sr, Na, S, and Cl, whereas Mg and P are more evenly distributed. Each shell layer has a distinct chemical signature. A marked decrease in the concentration of all of these elements, along with flattening of profiles, is evident as age increases. Vickers microhardness is lowest in modern specimens, showing at the same time the least chipped regions; older shells become harder and more fragile. All of these changes are attributed to postdepositional modifications by dissolution-recrystallization processes mediated by a thin film of water in a vadose environment. Microstructural adjustments are more sluggish than chemical modifications produced by diagenetic processes, whereas microhardness rapidly reaches high values, probably due to the early degradation of organic compounds from the shell. Our study shows that aragonitic shells that retain their primary mineralogical composition have undergone subtle chemical and microstructural changes. A very small amount of calcite was produced during grinding for XRD. Care should therefore be taken when seeking calcite as evidence of diagenetic changes.


Marsupial carnivores of the order Dasyurida are more uniform in molar morphology and jaw geometry than are their placental counterparts. This difference is related to the difference in tooth replacement between marsupials and placentals. In Carnivora, the permanent carnassial can erupt in its (geometrically) permanent position, and the post-carnassial teeth are free to evolve in various ways. In the Dasyurida, each erupting molar in turn functions as carnassial before being pushed forwards (relatively) in the jaw by the next erupting molar, which in turn becomes the carnassial. Thus, in the Dasyurida, all molars come to have carnassiform morphology. One group of Australian fossil carnivores has avoided this constraint: the Thylacoleonidae, 'marsupial lions'. In this group, P3/3 are the teeth functioning as carnassials, having been coopted for this function from the presumed sectorial P3/3 of the herbivorous ancestors of Thylacoleonidae. This has made molar reduction possible in this group, but has brought about some incidental effects. P3/3 lie far forward in the jaw, and the muscle resultant has been shifted forwards to compensate for this, reducing gape, but increasing bite force at I1/1, teeth which function as canines in Thylacoleonidae.


Atmospheric aerosols play a very important role in Earth's climate system. Aerosols provide one of the most significant uncertainties in the climate system, mainly due to aerosols differing greatly in different regions. Measuring these aerosols accurately and effectively is very important. Inversions of solar irradiance and sky radiance measured by solar radiometers, for example those within the AErosolROboticNETwork (AERONET), provide aerosol properties within different regions across the world. Aerosol properties retrieved by AERONET are generally found to be very accurate and have been a very reliable source for aerosol measurements, but there are concerns about the inversion accuracy in very clean environments with low aerosol concentration. In this thesis, accuracy assessments are done on some of the aerosol properties retrieved by the AERONET inversion using in situ instruments making aerosol measurements at the ground. First, Bozeman, Montana and the surrounding Gallatin Valley's aerosol characteristics are assessed to show why this area is a good place to do these studies. Then, the real part of the refractive index retrieved from AERONET is assessed and shown to be potentially about 3.5% too high during the study period for all aerosol concentration conditions. Lastly, the aerosol size distribution that is retrieved by AERONET is assessed and found to be very accurate under well-mixed conditions in the boundary layer. Overall, the AERONET inversions are very accurate during these very clean conditions, with evidence of small (~3.5%) linear biases in the real part of the refractive index.


This article examines the ways in which someone's characteristics and circumstances in one year affect their probability of being in a particular labour market state in the next year. People are more likely to be employed next year if they are currently employed and have tertiary qualifications. In contrast, they are more likely to be unemployed or outside the labour force if they have a long-term health condition, have not completed high school or are a migrant from a non-English-speaking background. Additionally, the article considers the changing importance of determinants over time, noting the role that changes in individual and household preferences as well as broader macroeconomic conditions are likely to have played.


We present a lexicon of Dutch Discourse Connectives (DisCoDict). Its content was obtained using a two-step process, in which we first exploited a parallel corpus and a German seed lexicon, and then manually evaluated the candidate entries against existing connective resources for Dutch, using these resources to complete our lexicon. We compared connective definitions in the research traditions of the two languages and accommodated the differences in our final lexicon. The DisCoDict lexicon is made publicly available, both human- and machine-readable, and targeted at practical use cases in the domain of automatic discourse parsing. It also supports manual investigations of discourse structure and its lexical signals.


Brighton – a city on the south coast of the UK with a vibrant food scene but also home to some entrenched inequalities – presents an excellent local case from which to explore some of the wider issues considered in this IDS Bulletin on the political economy of food. This article explores some of the issues facing the city and local food systems from the perspective of Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, a leading organisation behind the city's food strategy, one of the first in the UK. Brighton's experience shows how local organisations can put food at the centre of wider social issues and forge action plans that work across sectors to address the underlying inequities in food systems together. This should be of relevance not only to other cities in the UK, but others wanting to work at the heart of the food system in local contexts elsewhere.


This paper examines the potential of algae biofuel production in conjunction with wastewater treatment. Current technology for algal wastewater treatment uses facultative ponds, however, these ponds have low productivity (∼10 tonnes/ha.y), are not amenable to cultivating single algal species, require chemical flocculation or other expensive processes for algal harvest, and do not provide consistent nutrient removal. Shallow, paddlewheel-mixed high rate algal ponds (HRAPs) have much higher productivities (∼30 tonnes/ha.y) and promote bioflocculation settling which may provide low-cost algal harvest. Moreover, HRAP algae are carbon-limited and daytime addition of CO(2) has, under suitable climatic conditions, the potential to double production (to ∼60 tonnes/ha.y), improve bioflocculation algal harvest, and enhance wastewater nutrient removal. Algae biofuels (e.g. biogas, ethanol, biodiesel and crude bio-oil), could be produced from the algae harvested from wastewater HRAPs, The wastewater treatment function would cover the capital and operation costs of algal production, with biofuel and recovered nutrient fertilizer being by-products. Greenhouse gas abatement results from both the production of the biofuels and the savings in energy consumption compared to electromechanical treatment processes. However, to achieve these benefits, further research is required, particularly the large-scale demonstration of wastewater treatment HRAP algal production and harvest.


Provider competition is a currently popular healthcare reform model. A necessary condition for greater competition to improve quality is that providers will face higher demand if they improve their quality. We test this crucial assumption in an important part of the health care market using data on the choices made by 3.4 million English patients from amongst nearly 1000 family doctor practices. We find that patients do respond to quality: a one standard deviation increase in a publicly available measure of clinical quality would increase the number of patients a practice would attract by around 15%.


The translocation of captured monkeys from lowlands to rural hill areas in the Central Himalayan state of Uttarakhand has become an incendiary social and political issue over the last five years. This essay asks what the recent outpouring of intense emotions and arguments around the issue of monkey translocation reveals about notions of belonging in this region. It contends that the reason there is such anxious public discourse around what is called the "monkey menace" is that it has dovetailed with a regional politics of identity and cultural meaning. What is at stake is the question of who belongs and what it means to belong in terms of moral and material access to resources. This essay further suggests that monkeys—the nonhuman actors in this story—play an important part in shaping the nature of these conversations about cultural meaning and belonging. Recognizing their vibrant semiotic-material presence in this landscape, this essay argues that the outsider monkey discourse has such resonance in this region precisely because the situated bodies of monkeys themselves play an important part in determining the nature of ongoing struggles over belonging and identity.


Ectotherm body temperature (Tb) is influenced by the thermal environment, thus maintaining stable Tb requires adjustments to physiological and behavioural thermoregulation. There is an abundance of literature on thermoregulation in reptiles, however, little is known about the thermoregulatory behaviour of the recently taxonomically resurrected semi-aquatic, African side-necked terrapin, Pelomedusa galeata. Adult (n = 17) and hatchling (n = 16) P. galeata were evaluated for preferred body temperature (Tpref), set point range temperature (Tset) and associated thermoregulatory behaviours. Wild adult terrapins were captured and implanted with temperature data loggers (Thermochron iButton®, Dallas Semiconductor, Texas, USA), and observed for basking behaviour in a semi-natural environment. Captive bred hatchlings (neonates and yearlings) were evaluated for Tpref, Tset and thermophilic responses to an aquatic thermal gradient. All experiments were carried out in the Animal House, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Adult Tb was weakly correlated with mass and ambient air temperature (Ta) in winter and only Ta in summer. Adults basked most frequently in summer and basking behaviours differed between seasons. Basking at the water surface in full sun was observed most often during summer and out the water in full sun during winter. Hatchling Tb was highly correlated with aquatic thermal gradient temperature (Tag), and was higher than acclimation temperature. Neonate and yearling Tpref were not significantly different and mass affected relocation between Tag sites. Adult P. galeata displayed 'cooling' behaviours during hot periods in summer and 'warming' behaviours during cold periods in winter, and Ta and Tb were good predictors for P. galeata thermoregulatory behaviour. Hatchling P. galeata are highly sensitive to the thermal environment. They selected for high Tb although this may not be possible in natural environments, owing to increased predation risk while basking at exposed sites. In light of increasing global temperature, P. galeata will be relatively unaffected by higher temperatures by making adjustments to basking behaviour to maintain Tpref. General climate change, however, may change the landscape and water bodies P. galeata depend on, thus affecting distribution and survival. Empirical data from species-specific studies contribute to the knowledge required for implementing conservation measures.


Dental Health Care has been provided by the Grenfell Association for the people of Northern Newfoundland and Labrador since the late 1800's. The capability to provide dental care has been influenced by many factors including a small population living in isolated communities over an enormous geographical area with adverse climatic conditions and long lines of communication. Transportation alone presented a formidable challenge.

Based on his early experience with the Association between 1964-69, the author realised, on his return to Canada in 1976 that there was need to identify major problems, adapt existing facilities and change established philosophies, as well as to introduce new systems and methods to improve dental health-care delivery. The main areas of concern were the high prevalence of dental disease, the lack of adequate manpower, appalling working conditions and lack of overall policies.

Initially, one of the major tasks was to establish basic equipment at each clinic. Small portable light-weight dental units were designed and constructed by the author, for each dentist with a travelling commitment, these units being readily connected to on-site compressors. Thereafter, a longterm policy of equipment upgrading and replacement was pursued to enable dental staff to undertake a complete range of clinical duties. Later, when new Health Centres and Nursing Stations were established, the author had the opportunity to become involved in their design and layout.

The method of dental service financing also contributed to many of the problems. Thus the existing monetary arrangements had to be studied which, in turn, required an understanding of the sources of funding. Hence, following analysis of financial data collected after only the first few months of 1976, it became clear that several issues required urgent action and, as monetary considerations appeared to be the crux or the problem, the author decided to introduce a standard billing system which was applied throughout the region. This was primarily operated by dental assistants to provide continuity between dental staff changes. To reduce financial hardship, fee increases to conform with general dental fees charged elsewhere in Newfoundland were introduced gradually over a five year period.

When sufficient data on the work being undertaken via the Provincial Dental Programme became available, Department of Health funding was evaluated. This led to a report and submission to the Department of Health in 1977, which was intended to exert pressure for fairer remuneration of the Grenfell Dental Service.

The effect of the measures taken by the author to increase manpower, improve facilities, reduce caries prevalence, introduce preventive measures and modify unfavourable treatment patterns has been evaluated continuously throughout his tenure as Co-ordinator and subsequently as Chief of Dental Services. The establishment of administrative pathways and centralised procedures has also provided evidence of change.

In addition, further recommendations regarding future priorities have been formulated to ensure continuous staff recruitment and supporting facilities required to achieve the W.H.O. dental goals set for the year 2000. Happily, with 10 years of the Century remaining, a further mean DMFT reduction of only 0.82 per child is now required to meet the target of 3.0 for 12-yr-olds.


BACKGROUND
This study investigated the effect of comorbidity, age, health insurance payer status, and race on the risk of patient nonadherence to NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Colon and Rectal Cancers. In addition, the prognostic impact of NCCN treatment nonadherence on overall survival was assessed.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with CRC who received primary treatment at Memorial University Medical Center from 2003 to 2010 were eligible for this study. Modified Poisson regression was used to obtain risk ratios for the outcome of nonadherence with NCCN Guidelines. Hazard ratios (HRs) for the relative risk of death from all causes were obtained through Cox regression.

RESULTS
Guideline-adherent treatment was received by 82.7% of patients. Moderate/severe comorbidity, being uninsured, having rectal cancer, older age, and increasing tumor stage were associated with increased risks of receiving nonadherent treatment. Treatment nonadherence was associated with 3.6 times the risk of death (HR, 3.55; 95% CI, 2.16-5.85) in the first year after diagnosis and an 80% increased risk of death (HR, 1.80; 95% CI, 1.14-2.83) in years 2 to 5. The detrimental effect of nonadherence declined with increasing comorbidity and varied according to age.

CONCLUSIONS
Although medically justifiable reasons exist for deviating from NCCN Guidelines when treating patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), those who received nonadherent treatment had much higher risks of death, especially in the first year after diagnosis. This study's results highlight the importance of cancer health services research to drive quality improvement efforts in cancer care for patients with CRC.


Information on forest trafficability (i.e. carrying capacity of the forest floor) is required before harvesting operations in Southern Boreal forest conditions. It describes the seasons when harvesting operations may take place without causing substantial damage to the forest soil using standard logging machinery. The available trafficability information have been based on subjective observations made during the wood procurement planning. For supporting forest operations, an open access map product has been developed to provide information on trafficability of forests. The forest stands are distributed into classes that characterize different harvesting seasons based on topographic wetness index, amount of vegetation, ground water height and ditch depth. The main goal of this case study was to evaluate the information of the static forest trafficability map in relation to the detected rutting within logging tracks measured in the field. The analysis concentrated on thinning stands since the effect of rutting is significant on the growth of the remaining trees. The results showed that the static trafficability map provided reliable and slightly conservative estimation of the forest trafficability. The majority (91.7%) of the evaluated stands were harvested without causing significant damage if harvesting was timed correctly compared to the trafficability information. However, it should be pointed out that the weather history at small scale, the skills of a driver, and effects of used machinery are not considered in the map product although they can have a considerable impact on the rutting.


One of the most important issues in optical network design is ensuring its resilience. In this paper, we propose using nature-inspired heuristics to find a resilient mapping of a given virtual topology with minimum resource usage. Evolutionary algorithms and ant colony optimization algorithms are applied to the problem after a set of parameter tuning tests. To assess the performance of the proposed algorithms, we compare the experimental results with those obtained through integer linear programming. The results show that both of our algorithms can solve the problem even for large-scale network topologies for which a feasible solution cannot be found using integer linear programming. Moreover, the CPU time and the memory used by the nature-inspired heuristics is much lower. The solution quality and the CPU time usage results prove that both of our nature-inspired heuristics can easily be applied to real-world applications.


During the last decades Radar altimetry became an important tool to observe the sea surface with respect to sea level and sea state. Since the launch of CryoSat-2 a new technique called SAR altimetry improves the signal to noise ration of retrieved geophysical parameters and due to the smaller along track footprint a better performance in coastal zones is reached. In the last years several new processing modes were developed and tested to improve the understanding of this new technique such as reduced SAR (RDSAR), low resolution mode including range cell migration correction (LRMC) and fully focused SAR processing. The scope of this work is to improve the retrieval of geophysical parameters by developing a new stack and waveform model capable of including more general sea surface representations such as the geoid and introducing vertical wave particle motions. This new model will be included in different retracking schemes to investigate how the retrieved geophysical parameters change with respect to accuracy and precision.

It is shown that 20 Hz SAR processing, which is used in the official level two data products, results in an aliasing of the sea surface and that a surface sampling rate of 40 Hz will yield a lower pink noise floor and more precise retrieved parameters whereas the other two considered processing modes RDSAR and LRMC do not benefit from a higher sampling rate.

Another contribution of this work is the investigation of possible effects of sea surface slopes and curvatures on RDSAR, LRMC and unfocused SAR processing. It can be concluded that the impact of these quantities is small in RDSAR and SAR processing whereas in LRMC processing significant wave height biases up to three metre and sea level biases between minus twenty and plus twenty centimetres can occur if the surface slopes and curvatures are not considered correctly in the signal processing and parameter retrieval process. On the other hand LRMC is capable of estimating geophysical parameters consistent to the other two considered processing modes with a better precision as unfocused SAR.

In the last part it will be shown that the standard deviation of vertical wave particle velocities is an estimable parameter with a high correlation with respect to model and in-situ data. Additionally considering this geophysical parameter in the retracking can lead to consistent wave height estimations with RDSAR at high sea states which was an open issue as mean differences up to twenty centimetres occurred between these two processing modes. However, at small sea states the accuracy is not good due to differences in significant wave height up to one metre and sea level differences up to seven centimetres. This means that there is still a need for further improvements within zero to two metres significant wave heights which needs to be addressed in further studies.


The continuous advancement of Natural User Interfaces is allowing the development of novel and creative ways to support collocated collaborative work in a wide range of areas, including teaching and learning. In terms of Learning Analytics (LA), the use of interactive surfaces and Tangible User Interfaces can offer unique opportunities for automatically capturing digital traces of students' multimodal interactions and can also can facilitate multi-user exploration of students' data. This paper analyses current research and development exploring learning analytics associated with the use of interactive surface and tangible devices. We propose a framework to analyse our first-hand experiences, and the small number of related deployments according to five dimensions: the orchestration activities involved; the phases of the pedagogical practice that are supported; the target actors; the iteration of the LA process and the levels of impact of the LA deployment. The contributions of the paper are: a framework that can be used for characterising the design space of similar sub-areas of learning analytics; and 2) a synthesis of conclusions derived from our analysis that identify the degree of maturity, the current challenges and the pedagogical opportunities offered by the existing applications of learning analytics and interactive surfaces and tangibles.


Animated text is an appealing field of creative graphical design. Manually designed text animation is largely employed in advertising, movie titles and web pages. In this paper we propose to link, through state of the art NLP techniques, the affective content detection of a piece of text to the animation of the words in the text itself. This methodology allows us to automatically generate affective text animation and opens some new perspectives for advertising, internet applications and intelligent interfaces.


Diversity is touted as a preeminent concern and important goal of the legal profession generally and of the UC Davis School of Law specifically. Known as King Hall (after Martin Luther King, Jr.), the UC Davis School of Law is relatively diverse compared to other law schools and enjoys a reputation as a kinder, gentler place to study law. This article and the study on which it is based investigate whether King Hall truly is, for students of various demographic backgrounds, the uniquely supportive community it purports to be. The article thus contributes to the burgeoning literature on the influence of a student's race, ethnicity and gender on her law school experience. Based largely on extensive statistical analysis of a student survey conducted at King Hall in February 2004, we conclude that, as at other law schools, statistically significant differences exist between the self-reported experiences and perceptions of women and minority students, on the one hand, and their male and white peers, on the other. We also find that students' perceptions and experiences often evolve over the course of their time in law school, with students becoming more negative as their law school careers progress. The data and analysis reveal that race, ethnicity, gender and often class year are significant predictors of student comfort, satisfaction, and success. Our study indicates that King Hall is, effectively, two different law schools. It is a comfortable and supportive place for those who might be considered mainstream or insiders, those who embody what we label the mean voice of King Hall. But it is an often uncomfortable and alienating place for many minority and women students, relative outsiders whose perspectives differ significantly from that mean, or average. This discomfort operates to their distinct detriment academically and emotionally. We conclude that a disproportionate number of students of color and women do not experience King Hall as a kind, gentle, and supportive environment for the study of law. To address this inequality, we recommend that the leaders of King Hall renew their commitment to achieve even greater diversity among students, faculty and staff. We also argue, based on widespread and vehement criticism of the Socratic method by students of color and women, that the time has come to re-think and modify its use. Finally, we suggest that law schools frequently provide opportunities for all students to express their perceptions about their legal educations. Responses should then be evaluated by students' demographic features to ensure that the experiences of some groups are not obscured by the average. The suggestions offered based on the study of King Hall may be appropriately implemented at other law schools, for if an institution as well intentioned and diverse as King Hall is alienating many students of color and women, it is reasonable to assume that other law schools may be even more hostile to these student populations. If law schools, as the gatekeepers of the legal profession, truly wish to diversify the profession and make it a more welcome and tolerable one for persons of diverse backgrounds, simply doing better than in the past, or doing better than other law schools, is not sufficient.


In this thesis our objective is to expand current knowledge on determinants of Chapter 11 outcomes. We do this by investigating preand post-reorganization leverage from a sample of 103 large public U.S. firms filing for bankruptcy in the period 1990-2013, that emerge as public firms. Specifically, we examine leverage for firms recontracting under Chapter 11 and analyze outcomes based on how, when and where the firms reorganize. We estimate the probability that firms emerge with leverage above their industry median, and arrive at the conclusion that firms twice as leveraged as the industry when filing for Chapter 11 are up to ∼32 times more likely to be over-leveraged when emerging. Our analysis suggests that high leverage appears to be chronic. Significant factors impacting post-bankruptcy leverage are identified and include; pre-filing capital structure, venue choice and asset liquidations. Further, we find that the amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act do not seem to affect the reorganization outcome for firms in our sample. To the best of our knowledge, the results in this thesis are unique. As our review of related literature uncovers, post-reorganization leverage remains unexplored territory. In particular, we are the first to explain leverage for firms that emerge, based on how, when and where these firms reorganize.


AIM
Sevoflurane, a volatile anesthetic agent, has been recognized for its potential neuroprotective properties. We aimed to examine whether post-treatment sevoflurane is protective against early brain injury (EBI) after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and how this neuroprotective effect occurs at different concentrations and durations of administration in mice. Furthermore, we tested whether the neuroprotective effect of post-treatment sevoflurane is associated with inhibition of apoptosis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
SAH was induced in mice by endovascular perforation. Animals were randomly assigned to five groups in each study. Study 1, sham-operated; SAH+vehicle-air; and SAH+1.5% sevoflurane for 30, 60, and 90 min. Study 2, SAH+3% sevoflurane for 30, 60, and 90 min. Study 3, SAH+4.5% sevoflurane for 30, 60, and 90 min. Neurobehavioral function and brain edema (brain water content) were evaluated 24 h after SAH. Neuroglial cell death was examined by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated uridine 5'-triphosphate-biotin nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining.

RESULTS
Administration of 1.5% sevoflurane for 60 min and 3% sevoflurane for 30 and 60 min significantly improved neurobehavioral function, brain edema, and attenuated neuronal cell death in the basal cortex at 24 h after SAH.

CONCLUSION
Administration of 1.5% sevoflurane for 60 min and 3% for 30 and 60 min sevoflurane application attenuated the development of EBI after SAH, implying its use for anesthesia during acute aneurysm surgery or intervention.


Just as Jews have been drawn disproportionately to progressive political and cultural movements, Jewish American filmmakers have played a seminal role in movies that deal with social issues. Among these directors, none has been more closely aligned than Sidney Lumet with a cinema dominated by "a deep and abiding commitment to social justice." The Jewish aspect is magnified by Lumet's unsurpassed number of Jewish-themed films—The Pawnbroker (1965), Bye Bye Braverman (1968), Just Tell Me What You Want (1979), Daniel (1983), Garbo Talks (1984), Running on Empty (1988), and A Stranger Among Us (1992). This essay examines the explicit and implicit Jewishness in Lumet's political films, drawing a crucial distinction between his socially conscious oeuvre and the more personal, philosophical work of another major Jewish-oriented director, Woody Allen—a distinction that underscores Lumet's historical position as America's political Jewish filmmaker par excellence.


Abstract. The south-eastern parts of the Adriatic Sea coastline were severely polluted by large amounts of accumulated waste material in the second half of November 2010. The waste, reported by major news agencies, accumulated dominantly during 21 November 2010 by favourable wind – ocean current transport system. In the study we analysed meteorological and oceanographic conditions that lead to the waste deposition using available in situ measurements, remote sensing data as well numerical models of the ocean and the atmosphere. The measured data reveal that an intensive rainfall event from 7 till 10 November 2010, over the parts of Montenegro and Albania, was followed by a substantial increase of the river water levels indicating flash floods that possibly splashed the waste material into a river and after to the Adriatic Sea. In order to test our hypothesis we set a number of numerical drifter experiments with trajectories initiated off the coast of Albania during the intensive rainfall events following their faith in space and time. One of the numerical drifter trajectory experiment resulted with drifters reached right position (south-eastern Adriatic coast) and time (exactly by the time the waste was observed) when initiated on 00:00 and 12:00 UTC of 10 November 2010 during the mentioned flash flood event.


To study the impact of active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback on their galactic ISM, we present Magellan long-slit spectroscopy of 12 luminous nearby obscured AGN ( , z ∼ 0.1). These objects are selected from a parent sample of spectroscopically identified AGN to have high [O iii]λ5007 and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mid-IR luminosities and extended emission in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey r-band images, suggesting the presence of extended [O iii]λ5007 emission. We find spatially resolved [O iii] emission (2–35 kpc) in 8 out of 12 of these objects. Combined with samples of higher luminosity obscured AGN, we confirm that the size of the narrow-line region (RNLR) scales with the mid-IR luminosity until the relation flattens at RNLR ∼ 10 kpc. Nine out of 12 objects in our sample have regions with broad [O iii] line widths (w80 > 600 km s−1), indicating outflows. We define these regions as the kinematically disturbed region (KDR). The size of the KDR ( ) is typically smaller than RNLR by few kiloparsecs but also correlates strongly with the AGN mid-IR luminosity. Given the uncertain outflow mass, we derive a loose constraint on the outflow energy efficiency . We find no evidence for an AGN luminosity threshold below which outflows are not launched. To explain the sizes, velocity profiles, and high occurrence rates of the outflows in the most luminous AGN, we propose a scenario in which energy-conserving outflows are driven by AGN episodes with ∼108 year durations. Within each episode, the AGN is unlikely to be constantly luminous but could flicker on shorter timescales (≲107 yr) with a moderate duty cycle (∼10%).


The acknowledgement that nutrition is one of the major significant determinants of health has been accepted and acknowledged, and is the focus of many nutritional programmes is to ensure food safety. However, the nutritional component of health is not limited to the availability of food, but also to nutritional information about food. The South African government has implemented a number of measures to provide information to South African food consumers. Among such measures is legislation to enable consumers to make informed choices on what they buy and use, as reflected in the Government Gazette of March 2010 and in the salt-limiting legislation of 2013. According to the World Health Organization, health promotion is defined as the process of enabling people to take control of their lives. Complex health literacy skills are needed to enable that ability.


Hot spotting is a reliability problem in photovoltaic (PV) panels where a mismatched cell heats up significantly and degrades PV panel output-power performance. High PV cell temperature due to hot spotting can damage the cell encapsulate and lead to second breakdown, where both cause permanent damage to the PV panel. Therefore, the development of two hot-spot mitigation techniques is proposed using a simple and reliable method. PV hot spots in the examined PV system were inspected using the FLIR i5 thermal imaging camera. Multiple experiments have been tested during various environmental conditions, where the PV module  $I - V$  curve was evaluated in each observed test to analyze the output-power performance before and after the activation of the proposed hot-spot mitigation techniques. One PV module affected by the hot spot was tested. The output power during high irradiance levels is increased to approximately 1.26 W after the activation of the first hot-spot mitigation technique. However, the second mitigation technique guarantees an increase in the power up to 3.97 W. An additional test has been examined during the partial shading condition. Both proposed techniques ensure a decrease in the shaded PV cell temperature; thus, there is an increase in PV output power.


Porous SiO2 antireflective (AR) coatings are prepared from the colloidal silica solution modified with methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) based on the sol-gel route. The viscosity of modified silica suspensions changes but their stability keeps when MTES is introduced. The refractive indices of modified coatings vary little after bake treatment from 100 to 150 Celsius. The modified silica coatings on Ti:sapphire crystal, owning good homogeneity, display prominent antireflective effect within the laser output waveband (750-850 nm) of Ti:sapphire lasers, with average transmission above 98.6%, and own laser induced damage thresholds (LIDTs) of more than 2.2 J/cm2 at 800 nm with the pulse duration of 300 ps.


This study was conducted to examine the relationship between servant leadership and spirituality in the workplace and perceived organizational support among nurses. The present study is descriptive-analytical in terms of method of study and developmentalapplied in terms of objective of study. It was conducted by using cross-sectional method. The population of study consisted of all nurses in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences that 306 of them were selected using random stratified selected. The data were collected by using questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part of questionnaire related to demographic information of subjects and the second part contained 43 items related to three components of spirituality in the workplace (11 items), perceived organizational support (9 items) and servant leadership (23 items). The validity of questionnaire was confirmed using content validity and according to valid books and resources, and other confirmed questionnaires and its reliability was examined and confirmed by determining the internal stability of tool through calculating the Cronbach's alpha. To analyze the data using SPSS-21 software, descriptive statistics was used in order to determine and compare the mean total score and the scores of the three components of the study. In the analytical statistical part, statistical methods of Pearson correlation coefficient, multivariate simple regression regressions were used at the significant level of 0.05. In addition, one-dimensional Kolmogorov– Smirnov test was used to examine normal distribution of the data used in the study and correlation test was used to test the hypotheses of the study. The results of this study indicated the significant and positive relationship between servant leadership and spirituality in the workplace (p= 861) and between servant leadership and perceived organizational support (p=0.352). Additionally, significant and positive relationship was found between components and the areas examined in this study and all hypotheses were confirmed. The results of this study showed that servant leadership style significantly increases workplace spirituality and organizational support of nurses. To institutionalize the importance of servant leader in the organization of hospitals, development of educational programs through workshops in order to develop servant leadership skills in different levels of managers, it has been proposed that servant leader is effective leading to increased satisfaction of patients as the most important factor in assessing the service quality in hospital by enhancing the job satisfaction level of employees.


Ten years after Elisabeth Kubler-Ross s death: An inspiring guide to life, distilled from the experiences of people who face death ("Kirkus Reviews") the beloved classic now with a new introduction and updated resources section. Is this really how I want to live my life? Each one of us at some point asks this question. The tragedy is not that life is short but that we often see only in hindsight what really matters. In this, her first book on life and living, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross joins with David Kessler to guide us through the practical and spiritual lessons we need to learn so that we can live life to its fullest in every moment. Many years of working with the dying have shown the authors that certain lessons come up over and over again. Some of these lessons are enormously difficult to master, but even the attempts to understand them can be deeply rewarding. Here, in fourteen accessible chapters, from the Lesson of Love to the Lesson of Happiness, the authors reveal the truth about our fears, our hopes, our relationships, and, above all, about the grandness of who we really are."


A global picture of gene expression in the common immune-mediated skin disease, psoriasis, was obtained by interrogating the full set of Affymetrix GeneChips with psoriatic and control skin samples. We identified 1,338 genes with potential roles in psoriasis pathogenesis/maintenance and revealed many perturbed biological processes. A novel method for identifying transcription factor binding sites was also developed and applied to this dataset. Many of the identified sites are known to be involved in immune response and proliferation. An in-depth study of immune system genes revealed the presence of many regulating cytokines and chemokines within involved skin, and markers of dendritic cell (DC) activation in uninvolved skin. The combination of many CCR7+ T cells, DCs, and regulating chemokines in psoriatic lesions, together with the detection of DC activation markers in nonlesional skin, strongly suggests that the spatial organization of T cells and DCs could sustain chronic T-cell activation and persistence within focal skin regions.


OBJECTIVE:Measles vaccination has been suggested as a risk for inflammatory bowel disease. Atypical age of measles infection has also been associated with Crohn's disease. This study was designed to examine the relationship of measles vaccination and age of measles vaccination with later inflammatory bowel disease.METHODS:A prospective population-based national birth cohort was used, of those born in 1 wk in April 1970 in Great Britain. The data are from 7616 responding members of the 1970 British Cohort Study with complete vaccination data, who were traced at age 26 yr. A diagnosis of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and diabetes mellitus (a control disease) was obtained by survey at age 26 yr, and confirmed by physicians. Vaccination data were from survey at age 5 yr. Measles and mumps infection data were obtained from the survey at age 10 yr. Adjustment was made for sex, household crowding in childhood, and father's social class at birth.RESULTS:No statistically significant association was found between measles vaccination status at 5 yr and Crohn's disease (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.27–1.63), ulcerative colitis (adjusted OR 0.57, 95% CI 0.20–1.61), or diabetes (adjusted OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.33–1.74). There was a statistically significant trend (p= 0.040) with increasing age of measles vaccination for risk of Crohn's disease, although this was based on very few cases vaccinated after age 2 yr.CONCLUSIONS:In this cohort, monovalent measles vaccination status is not associated with inflammatory bowel disease by age 26 yr. Older age at measles vaccination needs to be examined in other studies to confirm whether it is a genuine risk for Crohn's disease.


In this study, a simple, rapid, precise and sensitive high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method using an UV detector was developed for the determination of nitrate and nitrite amounts in vegetables. The optimal conditions were found and applied using 0.01 M octylammonium orthophosphate of aqueous 30% (v/v) methanol of pH 7.0 for the mobile phase at flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The total time for one sample analysis was within 10 min. Recoveries of nitrate and nitrite were between 96.6% to 105.7%. The calibration curves of nitrate and nitrite were extremely linear, where both correlation coefficients were greater than 0.9990 in the range of 0.1~100.0 μg/mL. Therefore, this HPLC method is applicable for simultaneously determining the nitrate and nitrite levels in vegetables. For application, nitrate and nitrite amounts in 12 marketed vegetables were determined by this HPLC method. The results showed nitrate and nitrite contents varied in a range of 225~4,410 mg/kg and <5~200 mg/kg, respectively.


Private libraries and archives constitute an interesting case study for the enhancement of books and documents that are a direct testimony and mirror of the personality that collected, used and produced them. The general public involvement in the narration of the human and intellectual story of an author – starting from good management practices, conservation and cataloging and descriptive treatment, to make the collections openly accessible to the widest possible audience – can be the key to effectively communicate the value of materials that have taken on a special patrimonial vocation. The aim of this paper is also to show how the special collection exhibitions can play a key role in fulfilling obligations to the general public.


Socio-economic survey tools provide a means of improving understanding of local resource management systems, resource use and the relative importance of resources for households and villages. They can also be used to elicit insights on interaction with government decision-making systems, community perceptions of trends and priority issues, and community-based institutions and their role in the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources. Use of such tools is an important first step in engaging local communities and ensuring that local voices are heard and that the community relationship with resources, land rights and access are incorporated into collaborative land use planning processes. Collaborative land use planning involves working with all stakeholders - government, communities, the private sector and others - to ensure that land is used sustainably and that environmental degradation and forest loss are avoided, while accounting for the social and economic implications for all users. With respect to communities, collaborative land use planning aims: To ensure that land use planning decisions are made with consideration of local communities' opinions, land use needs and socio-economic conditions, including rights of access to and use of land. The aim of this guide (and the Supporting Notes) is to provide practical steps (survey design, sampling and data requirements; planning and training, conducting the survey) for field-based practitioners to conduct socio-economic surveys of households and villages, including focus groups and key informant interviews. The information obtained can be used directly in the collaborative land use planning process, helping to facilitate or reinforce a consensus on land tenure and rights, now and in the future.


Data from 139 research sites throughout the Inland Northwest were analyzed for effects of ash cap on site productivity, nutrient availability and fertilization response. Stand productivity and nitrogen (N) fertilizer response were greater on sites with ash cap than on sites without. Where ash was present, depth of ash had no effect on site productivity or N fertilizer response. Site productivity increased with increasing potentially available soil water. Potentially available soil water, in turn, increased with increasing ash depth. Decreasing availability of magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) in the upper 12 inches of soil may have constrained site productivity with increasing ash depth. Soil mineralizable N and ammonium N were unaffected by ash presence or depth but did vary by underlying parent material. Site productivity and N fertilizer response varied by underlying parent material even after accounting for ash presence. Stand volume response to sulfur (S) fertilization decreased with increasing ash depth, suggesting possible S adsorption by ash cap. No growth response or change in foliar K status was discerned following K fertilization. Management recommendations by parent material are provided.


Type 1 IFNs (IFN-I) generally protect mammalian hosts from virus infections, but in some cases, IFN-I is pathogenic. Because IFN-I is protective, it is commonly used to treat virus infections for which no specific approved drug or vaccine is available. The Middle East respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is such an infection, yet little is known about the role of IFN-I in this setting. Here, we show that IFN-I signaling is protective during MERS-CoV infection. Blocking IFN-I signaling resulted in delayed virus clearance, enhanced neutrophil infiltration, and impaired MERS-CoV-specific T cell responses. Notably, IFN-I administration within 1 day after infection (before virus titers peak) protected mice from lethal infection, despite a decrease in IFN-stimulated gene (ISG) and inflammatory cytokine gene expression. In contrast, delayed IFN-β treatment failed to effectively inhibit virus replication, increased infiltration and activation of monocytes, macrophages, and neutrophils in the lungs, and enhanced proinflammatory cytokine expression, resulting in fatal pneumonia in an otherwise sublethal infection. Together, these results suggest that the relative timing of the IFN-I response and maximal virus replication is key in determining outcomes, at least in infected mice. By extension, IFN-αβ or combination therapy may need to be used cautiously to treat viral infections in clinical settings.


This paper presents an extension of Baxter & Manaster-Ramer's (2000) approach to the problem of false cognates in the determination of relationships between languages. Their approach uses a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate how many lexical similarities we can expect to be due to chance between two lexical lists from different languages, and consequently how many are too many to be all false cognates. Although very efficient, their model has the shortcoming of being applicable only to simple lexical lists such as the Swadesh list, with one-to-one semantic correspondences between the individual terms. Here I present a new model that can be applied to any kind of word list, and can include comparisons between multiple terms sharing the same semantic field. After a theoretical description, a controlled test and a contra-test, I finally apply the method to a real test case, investigating the probability of relation between Pre-Greek, the nonIndo-European substrate of classical Greek, and Proto-Basque, Proto-Uralic and 'Proto-Altaic'.


Wireless LAN for industrial control (IC-WLAN) provides many benefits, such as mobility, low deployment cost, and ease of reconfiguration. However, the top concern is robustness of wireless communications. Wireless control loops must be maintained under persistent adverse channel conditions, such as noise, large-scale path loss, fading, and many electromagnetic interference sources in industrial environments. The conventional IEEE 802.11 WLANs, originally designed for high bandwidth instead of high robustness, are therefore inappropriate for IC-WLAN. A solution lies in the direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technology: by deploying the largest possible processing gain (slowest bit rate) that fully exploits the low data rate feature of industrial control, much higher robustness can be achieved. We hereby propose using DSSS-CDMA to build IC-WLAN. We carry out fine-grained physical layer simulations and Monte Carlo comparisons. The results show that DSSS-CDMA IC-WLAN provides much higher robustness than IEEE 802.11/802.15.4 WLAN, so that reliable wireless industrial control loops become feasible. We also show that deploying larger processing gain is preferable, to deploying more intensive convolutional coding. The DSSS-CDMA IC-WLAN scheme also opens up a new problem space for interdisciplinary study, involving real-time scheduling, resource management, communication, networking, and control


. In human communication process, we often face situations where decisions have to be made, regardless of silence of one of the interlocutors. That is, we have to decide from incomplete information, guessing the knowledge or intentions of the silent person. This behaviour has been studied by several disciplines but barely touched in logic or artificial intelligence. After reviewing some previous studies of silence and conversational implicature of Grice, we focus on a puzzle formerly expressed and solved in Answer Set Programming, to analyze the implications of two different interpretations of silence (Defensive and Acquiescent Silence), in terms of the Says() predicate. Several conclusions are derived from the different possibilities that opened for analysis. In addition, a general strategy for analysis of problems involving testimonies and silence is proposed.


High recovery magnetic tracing techniques have been utilised to record the 3dimensional downstream transport of individual clasts within two Scottish Highland gravel-bed streams over a period of 16 months. The results provide the basis for a conceptual model of bedload transport and storage involving the interaction of multiple variables. Above a threshold level of discharge, determined by local morphology and sedimentology, flow (in terms of magnitude and duration) remains the principal control of transport parameters (occurrence, vertical exchange, depth of scour, and transport distance). Three phases of transport based on increasing discharge are identified; discrete surficial transport, shallow exchange transport and deep exchange transport. Variations in apparent flow and transport relationships are explored in relation to individual clast characteristics and contrasts in bed sedimentology between streams. The results suggest a large degree of equal mobility in terms of clast size. However, a tendency exists for material approximating the median bed surface grain size to show maximum mobility, indicating the importance of hiding effects on gravel entrainment. In terms of clast form, flattened shapes are the least mobile. This reflects a greater stability at entrainment, and increased occurrence of capping, for clasts with small c/b axial ratios. A high percentage of angular material leads to bed strengthening through interlock. Two clast location variables, morphological position (bar, riffle, pool or undifferentiated channel), and burial state (top, within or buried), are considered in relation to the occurrence and distance of transport. The importance of temporary bar and subsurface storage is highlighted. Residence periods for bed material in both such locations are determined principally by flow conditions, particularly peak discharge. Powerful floods are associated with increased submergence of high bars, and erosion to great depth. Material deposited in high bar positions, or at the base of deep scour zones, is effectively locked in storage until the next flow of equal or greater discharge. Although the model presented is based on work at just two sites, it is suggested that the range of morphological and sedimentological conditions encountered make the general principles applicable across a broad range of similar environments. Given consideration of the variables discussed, a specific variation of the model should apply in most river reaches.


Current P2P (Peer-to-Peer) applications have the limited functions such as file search and transfer between peers and have the limitations such as trust problem on search results, copyright problem, and profitable business model problem. For a P2P application to be used as a business platform for the distribution of various multimedia contents, this paper proposes an extended P2P application architecture and its prototype system including distributed collaborative filtering, automated price negotiation system, and payment mechanism.


World powers and Iran are on the cusp of reaching a final nuclear deal after more than a decade of negotiations. The extent of details divulged in Lausanne regarding the parameters for a comprehensive nuclear deal suggests that negotiators have overcome an impasse in the talks. But technical and political challenges remain before the deal can be sealed and delivered. In particular, an obstructionist stance from the US Congress could severely undermine the ability of the West to fulfill its obligation under a final deal. Europeans have a strategic interest in reaching a deal which addresses their non-proliferation concerns on Iran. Given its proximity to the Middle East, Europe also has a necessity to move the current détente with Iran forward beyond a nuclear-centric discourse to focus on de-escalation in the region. Europe should utilise its political space to keep up the momentum behind the nuclear talks, push all sides to the finishing line and safeguard the détente process with Iran thereafter.


The objective of this study is to develop mathematical relations for stress and strain distributions of adhesive-bonded single-lap joints under cylindrical bending and tension. Based on the Theory of Mechanics of Composite Materials and Anisotropic Laminated Plate Theory, elastic models are proposed to predict the stress-strain distributions of the laminates and the adhesive under cylindrical bending and tension. A simplified elasticplastic model is also recommended for the case of tension loading. For each case, the Laminated Anisotropic Plate Theory is first used in the derivation of the governing equations of the two bonded laminates. The entire coupled system is then obtained through assuming the peel stress between the two laminates. With the Fourier series and appropriate boundary conditions, the solutions of the system are obtained. In this analytical study, the effects due to the transverse shear deformation as well as the coupling effects of external tension and bending of an asymmetric laminate are included. These developed elastic models are compared to the finite element models. An existing finite element analysis code, "ALGOR," is used as a comparison with these developed elastic models. Results from the developed model for tension are also compared with Goland and Reissner and HartSmith's theories. Based on the developed models, the effects of the overlay length and laminate properties on the maximum adherend and adhesive stresses under both cylindrical bending and tension are evaluated. CHAPTER


This important and much-disputed essay edited by Ezra Pound from the manuscript of Ernest Fenollosa (and published in Instigations, London, 1920) has since gone through several editions, despite the ridicule of such sinologists as Professor George Kennedy of Yale, who called it "a small mass of confusion. The old theory as to the nature of the Chinese written character (which Pound and Fenollosa followed) is that the written character is ideogrammic-a stylized picture of the thing or concept it represents. The opposing theory (which prevails today among scholars) is that the character may have had pictorial origins in prehistoric times but that these origins have been obscured in all but a few very simple cases, and that in any case native writers don't have the original pictorial meaning in mind as they write. Whether Pound proceeded on false premises remains an academic question. Let the pedants rave. An important extension of imagist technique in poetry was gained by Pound's perception of the essentially poetic nature of the Chinese character as it is still written.


"Ethics†was once considered irrelevant by corporate loyalists, but now discussion of it is increasingly seen as not only important but also as critical to a company's success. The paper is a theoretical review. The purpose and objective of the paper is to explore and understand the meaning of business ethics in the context of Indian philosophical thought. The study focuses mainly on the contribution of Hindu philosophical thought though makes reference to other philosophical thoughts namely Buddhism, Jainism and Arthashastra. The discussion is divided into four sub-sections. In the first section an attempt has been made to understand the broad characteristics of Indian philosophy and ethics. In the second section a brief outline of management ethos in Indian philosophy has been given. In the third part an attempt has been made to find the relevance of Philosophical ethics to modern corporate governance. And finally the last section deals with individual ethics in Indian philosophy. The entire discussion revolves around the axis of establishing link and relevance between Indian ethics, as found in Indian philosophy and modern business ethics.


The widespread concern that research into and potential implementation of climate engineering would reduce mitigation and adaptation is critically examined. First, empirical evidence of such moral hazard or risk compensation in general is inconclusive, and the empirical evidence to date in the case of climate engineering indicates that the reverse may occur. Second, basic economics of substitutes shows that reducing mitigation in response to climate engineering implementation could provide net benefits to humans and the environment, and that climate engineering might theoretically increase mitigation through strong income effects. Third, existing policies strive to promote other technologies and measures, including climate adaptation, which induce analogous risk-compensating behaviours. If the goal of climate policy is to minimize climate risks, this concern should not be grounds for restricting or prohibiting climate engineering research. Three potential means for this concern to manifest in genuinely deleterious ways, as well as policy options to reduce these effects, are identified.


As our understanding of cancer has gone from simplistic to complex, so too has research on treatment and detection. In a field once dominated by scientists with biomedical backgrounds, cancer research today includes engineers, chemists, and physicists. To land a job in any emerging area of cancer research, interdisciplinary training is becoming increasingly important. Luckily for job seekers, educational institutions are rising to meet the need. Read the Feature (Full-Text HTML) Read the Feature (PDF)


Freshwater availability is declining in most of semi-arid and arid regions across the world, including the southwestern United States. The use of marginal quality groundwater has been increasing for sustaining agriculture in these arid regions. Reverse Osmosis (RO) can treat brackish groundwater, but the possibility of using an RO concentrate for irrigation needs further exploration. This greenhouse study evaluates the water use and yield responses of five selected chile pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) cultivars irrigated with natural brackish groundwater and RO concentrate. The four saline water treatments used for irrigation were tap water with an electrical conductivity (EC) of 0.6 dS m−1 (control), groundwater with EC 3 and 5 dS m−1, and an RO concentrate with EC 8 dS m−1. The evapotranspiration (ET) of all chile pepper cultivars decreased and the leaching fraction (LF) increased, particularly in the 5 dS m−1 and 8 dS m−1 irrigation treatments. Based on the water use efficiency (WUE) of the selected chile pepper cultivars, brackish water with an EC ≤ 3 dS/m could be used for irrigation in scarce freshwater areas while maintaining the appropriate LFs. A piecewise linear function resulted in a threshold soil electrical conductivity (ECe) ranging between 1.0–1.3 dS m−1 for the tested chile pepper cultivars. Both piecewise linear and sigmoid non-linear functions suggested that the yield reductions in chile peppers irrigated with Ca2+ rich brackish groundwater were less than those reported in studies using an NaCl-dominant saline solution. Further research is needed to understand the role of supplementary calcium in improving the salt tolerance of chile peppers.