In this work, we studied the thermal behavior of mono or multilayer walls of various compositions consisting of traditional and modern building materials, in order to identify those that provide good comfort and better energy conservation in conditioning case in the context of a hot and dry climate for a courtyard house. The study is conducted with the TRNSYS-COMIS software. The thermo physical properties of modern building materials are those adopted by the Algerian regulations and those of adobe were determined in the laboratory LASIE at the University of La Rochelle. The results of this study show the impact of inertia on winter consumption, as well as the effectiveness of roof insulation in reducing cooling requirements. The adobe has good properties to improve comfort and energy savings but its stabilization with cement, to improve its mechanical properties decreases its thermal qualities.


Background Antipsychotics have been linked to prolongation of the QT interval. However, little is known about the risk of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) and/or sudden cardiac death (SCD) associated with individual antipsychotic drug use. This study was designed to investigate the association between specific antipsychotic drugs and the risk of VA and/or SCD. Methods and Results We conducted a case‐crossover study using a nation‐wide population‐based sample obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 17 718 patients with incident VA and/or SCD were enrolled. Conditional logistic regression models were applied to examine the effects of antipsychotic drug use on the risk of VA/SCD during various case and control time windows of 7, 14, and 28 days. The effect of the potency of a human ether‐à‐go‐go‐related gene (hERG) potassium channel blockade was also assessed. Antipsychotic drug use was associated with a 1.53‐fold increased risk of VA and/or SCD. Antipsychotic drugs with increased risk included clothiapine, haloperidol, prochlorperazine, thioridazine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and sulpiride. The association was significantly higher among those with short‐term use. Antipsychotics with a high potency of the hERG potassium channel blockade had the highest risk of VA and/or SCD. Conclusion Use of antipsychotic drugs is associated with an increased risk of VA and/or SCD. Careful evaluations of the risks and benefits of antipsychotic treatment are highly recommended.


A facsimile collection of five volumes with more than 3,100 pages, the set includes three major reference works of Sports and Leisure first published in England during the nineteenth century. (This was an age of modernization in sports, while the idea of sports as leisure and as a method of physical education developed through the growing middle-class society. And new games or sports such as golf, tennis, football, rugby, and cricket emerged.) Those books published in a large folio format contained the most detailed information about the history of sports in England and how they were originally played mostly by aristocrats before the eighteenth century and how they were transformed and played in the nineteenth century. All three books are reproduced in their original format. They include hundreds of illustrations and plates to provide a vital reference source for any researchers of British social life, as well as those interested in the history and development of sports and leisure.


Three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical nanosheet-based MoS2 nanotubes are synthesized via a self-sacrificial template method. The MoO3 nanorods as self-sacrificial templates are directly converted into MoS2 nanotubes through a solvothermal sulfidation reaction. The MoS2 nanotubes which are in a diameter range of 250–400 nm are systematically characterized by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photo electron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, etc. The conversion mechanism of MoS2 nanotubes from MoO3 nanorods is also demonstrated. The as-prepared MoS2 hollow nanostructure anodes exhibit a high reversible capacity of 1035 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 over 130 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance suggests that the 3D hierarchical MoS2 nanotubes can be promising candidate anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.


The challenges of a `greener' future are now a responsibility for everyone and particularly for
the built environment, where sustainable building design is no longer an innovative option but more of a legislative must. Unfortunately significant differences are often found between the design and measured performance of buildings, with many factors contributing towards these discrepancies.

This thesis investigates, using Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) techniques, the credibility gap between design and measured performance of a partially occupied `green' office building selected as the case study. The results found that the measured energy consumption was over three times the design estimates, and the performance compared poorly against good practice benchmarks for similar buildings. The study's POE also revealed inefficient control settings,
high out-of-hours energy consumption and ineffective building management.

This study goes beyond a typical POE as it also includes investigations into how the occupancy variations, and the management strategies applied under these conditions, can impact on building energy performance through the use of simulation modelling techniques. This is an area where very little research has previously been carried out. At the current 50% occupancy levels, potential annual savings of over £30,000 in utility bills and 60% in energy consumption
were estimated if more effective management and control was implemented.

Social-related aspects of building performance are also investigated. Occupant surveys were conducted and the results were compared to previous findings. The perceived comfort and satisfaction with temperature was the most disappointing finding from the survey, however overall the building was comparable to the average benchmarks, but did not perform well when compared to other `green' office buildings.

The study revealed that there is potential for the building to be fine-tuned to perform more efficiently than it currently is, however there must be suitably skilled Facility Management to ensure this is delivered.


This paper examines the interpreter's task as an act of speech in the Saussurrean sense of the term. The simultaneous interpreter is both the receiver of an act of speech, all the components of which he must discern and analyse, and the cospeaker of a parallel (if ever so slightly delayed) act of speech, which must contain everything that was found in the original one. In interpreting the speaker's words, the interpreter relies upon the coherence and redundancy of the various linguistic and semiological cues and indices given by the speaker. The article also discusses the role of written texts in interpretation and considers their semiological dimension.


This document describes a SIP Event Package "kpml" that enables
monitoring of Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals and uses
Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents referred to as Key Press
Markup Language (KPML). The kpml Event Package may be used to support
applications consistent with the principles defined in the document
titled "A Framework for Application Interaction in the Session
Initiation Protocol (SIP)". The event package uses SUBSCRIBE messages
and allows for XML documents that define and describe filter
specifications for capturing key presses (DTMF Tones) entered at a
presentation-free User Interface SIP User Agent (UA). The event
package uses NOTIFY messages and allows for XML documents to report
the captured key presses (DTMF tones), consistent with the filter
specifications, to an Application Server. The scope of this package is
for collecting supplemental key presses or mid-call key presses
(triggers). [STANDARDS-TRACK]


Effects of repeated applications of sewage-sludge compost on soil properties have not been sufficiently evaluated with field trials. Field studies were established on an Evesboro loamy sand soil (mesic, coated Typic Quartzipsamment, 97% sand) to compare the effects of sewage-sludge compost, beef manure, and fertilizer amendments on soil properties. The study site had been fallow for 26 yr and should have provided a positive response to the added organic matter. Compost application rates were based on the assumption that material would be applied either only once or annually. Application rates ranged from those that were too low to supply the total N requirement of a crop (e.g., 33 Mg ha) to excessively high rates that would produce maximum soil benefits from the added organic matter (e.g., 268 Mg ha). Soil properties such as strength (penetrometer resistance), bulk density, water retention, pH, surface area, total N and P contents, and organic matter were evaluated for 5 yr. Addition of sewage-sludge compost significantly reduced penetration resistance when compared with the control and fertilizer-amended soils. Compost significantly reduced bulk density, increased soil water content, and modified pH to greater depths. Specific surface area of the soils increased linearly with the addition of compost and C levels indicated that 24 and 37% of the annually added organic matter decomposed during the 1st yr from the sewage-sludge compost and beef manure, respectively. View complete article To view this complete article, insert Disc 5 then click button8


In sub-Saharan Africa, malaria infection in pregnancy contributes to low birth weight through intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and preterm delivery (PTD). It was hypothesized that malaria-associated PTD and IUGR have differing etiologies due to timing of infection. In a prospective cohort of primigravid women enrolled at the antenatal clinic of Mangochi District Hospital in Malawi, the associations were investigated between antenatal or delivery parasitemias and IUGR or PTD. Among 178 singleton deliveries, 35% of infants were preterm or had IUGR. Cord blood parasitemia (odds ratio [OR]=3.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-8.8], placental parasitemia (OR=2.43; 95% CI, 1.2-5.1), and postdelivery maternal peripheral parasitemia (OR=2.78; 95% CI, 1.3-6.1) were associated with PTD. Parasitemia and/or clinically diagnosed malaria in the antenatal period was associated with IUGR (OR=5.13; 95% CI, 1.4-19.4). Delivery parasitemias had borderline associations with IUGR. The risk patterns observed suggest that the timing and severity of infection influences the occurrence of IUGR or PTD.


Blossman-Myer and Burggren (Comp. Biochem. Phys. A, 155, 2010,259-263) found that the cocoon of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, while creating a tough barrier offering mechanical protection to the pupa, imposes no barrier to the diffusion of oxygen or water vapor. In view of its mechanical properties, silk cocoon is an "emperor's new clothes" for pupa. A theoretical analysis is given to explain the fascinating phenomenon by a fractal hydrodynamic model for discontinuous membrane composed of hierarchical silk cascade. The model reveals that when the fractal dimensions of the microstructure of the cocoon meet a special condition, air and water vapor can flow through the cocoon as if there were no cocoon. However, at extremes of weather, the cocoon is an excellent thermal protection for both high and cool temperatures. A better understanding of the cocoon mechanism could help the further design of bio-mimetic artificial clothes for special applications.


Cypriniformes (minnows, carps, loaches, and suckers) is the largest group of freshwater fishes in the world. Despite much attention, previous attempts to elucidate relationships using molecular and morphological characters have been incongruent. The goal of this dissertation is to provide robust support for relationships at various taxonomic levels within Cypriniformes. For the entire order, an anchored hybrid enrichment approach was used to resolve relationships. This resulted in a phylogeny that is largely congruent with previous multilocus phylogenies, but has much stronger support. For members of Leuciscidae, the relationships established using anchored hybrid enrichment were used to estimate divergence times in an attempt to make inferences about their biogeographic history. The predominant lineage of the leuciscids in North America were determined to have entered North America through Beringia ~37 million years ago while the ancestor of the Golden Shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas) entered ~20–6 million years ago, likely from Europe. Within Leuciscidae, the shiner clade represents genera with much historical taxonomic turbidity. Targeted sequence capture was used to establish relationships in order to inform taxonomic revisions for the clade. Presented is a revised, genus-level taxonomy for the group. Finally, for Notropis longirostris (now Miniellus longirostris), genetic analyses using mtDNA found four distinct, unconnected haplotype networks across its southeastern USA range with high genetic divergence, despite a lack of morphological differentiation.


One of the greatest revolutions in mathematics occurred when Georg Cantor (1845-1918) promulgated his theory of transfinite sets. This revolution is the subject of Joseph Dauben's important studythe most thorough yet writtenof the philosopher and mathematician who was once called a "corrupter of youth" for an innovation that is now a vital component of elementary school curricula. Set theory has been widely adopted in mathematics and philosophy, but the controversy surrounding it at the turn of the century remains of great interest. Cantor's own faith in his theory was partly theological. His religious beliefs led him to expect paradoxes in any concept of the infinite, and he always retained his belief in the utter veracity of transfinite set theory. Later in his life, he was troubled by recurring attacks of severe depression. Dauben shows that these played an integral part in his understanding and defense of set theory.


Technologies for collaboration in education are designed to alter the interaction of learners with other learners in order to support or facilitate collaboration. The effect of these technologies is often explained from their structuring influence on the learners' behaviour: the technology provides opportunities for action and exercises constraints so that specific 'desired' behaviour occurs, in accordance with the intentions of the educational designers. This rationale of 'shaping behaviour' carries a risk of oversimplifying the relation between the technology and the learners. In this thesis we argue in favour of a more dynamic view on this relation wherein technology both shapes and is shaped by the learners. We argue that technology for collaboration finds both its use and its effect during a process of technology appropriation. In this thesis we study the appropriation of a shared workspace technology in two types of classroom learning activities: plan construction and argumentative discussion. We conceptualise this appropriation as a progressive development from personal mastery, via personal utilisation, to a collective utilisation of the features of the technology, whereby the effect of the technology is shaped in the interaction between the learners and these features. The three main research questions addressed in the thesis are: 1) how do learners progress from personal mastery to collective utilisation? 2) How does the interaction between learners and the features of the technology shape the effect of the technology? And 3) what is the relation between personal action and group interaction during technology appropriation? The development from personal mastery to collective utilisation involves constant breakdowns that can cause regression, and recovery from these breakdowns. We found three types of breakdown. Type 1 breakdown results from resistance caused by physical constraints. Type 2 breakdown results from resistance caused by semantic constraints. This resistance results from the transposition of conventions of the regular task-artefact situation that causes tension with predefined structures in the technology. Type 3 breakdown results from resistance caused by divergent utilisations of the technology. To overcome breakdown, reflection, negotiation and (mutual) adaptation between learners is required. Rules for utilisation are hereby formulated, and these rules allow coordination and fine-tuning between learners. Breakdowns are an important resource for a productive appropriation of educational technology. They help to counter the 'blindness' inherent to the way things are 'normally done', and they may uncover a space of alternative actions in taken-for-granted activity. Utilisation of technology, however, does not always induce breakdown and reflection. Moreover, when it occurs, breakdown is not always successfully resolved. When technology is too flexible, the transposition of conventions does not cause breakdown, and no improvement occurs. When technology provides too many constraints, there will be no breakdown and no substantial improvement of activity either. When the technology provides a right level of constraints, the transposition of conventions causes breakdown, and an opportunity for improvement of the learning activity arises. Our research indicates that a successful design strategy is to depart from flexible technology and gradually add semantic constraints, following iterative evaluations in the local classroom context.


Globalization and the growing mountain of electronically stored information ("ESI") will inevitably lead to an increase in discovery requests for ESI located abroad. But no consistent methodology exists for United States courts to evaluate whether discovery of ESI abroad is appropriate, and if so, what the consequences are for failure to comply with a discovery order. As international commerce depends on "the ability of merchants to predict the likely consequences of their conduct in overseas markets," 1 United States courts need to apply a consistent standard to decisions involving the discovery of international ESI. This paper reviews existing law related to international discovery and electronic discovery ("e-discovery") and proposes a blended approach to be considered by courts to evaluate discovery of international ESI.


The phenomena of resistance compensation to temperature and heat death in the freshwater crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes has been studied, with particular regard to muscle membranes. The lipid composition of whole muscle was analysed by conventional chromatographic techniques. The principle phospholipids present were choline phosphoglycerides (50%), ethanolamine phosphoglycerides (25%) and serine/inositol phosphoglycerides (10%). Temperature acclimation had no effect on the phospholipid composition. The fatty acid composition of various phospholipid classes were also analysed by GLC and were found to be highly unsaturated. Total phospholipid extracts from animals acclimated to 4 C (18 hr light photoperiod) contained as lightly greater proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, compared to extracts from 25 C acclimated crayfish. The acidic phospholipids showed the greatest changes. Acclimation to 4 C with 8 hr light photoperiod conditions caused incorporation of a still greater proportion of unsaturated fatty acids into membrane phospholipids. This daylength effect, however, was not associated with a change in the thermal resistance of the whole animal. The overall activity of the Ca(^2+) stimulated ATPase of crayfish sarcoplasmic reticulum was unaffected by thermal acclimation, although warm-acclimated crayfish yielded significantly more microsomal protein per gram muscle weight. The kinetics characteristics of enzyme activity were independent of temperature up to 28 C. Incubation at 35 C (a lethal temperature) caused a decline in enzyme-substrate affinity. Thermal acclimation had no effect upon these characteristics. Arrhenius plots of enzyme activity for preparations isolated from both acclimated groups were linear. The activation energy for the enzyme from each acclimation group was similar (approximately 15 Kcals. Mole(^-1) ; 62,8 KJ. Mole(^-1)).The process of inactivation of the Ca(^2+)-stimulated ATPase at lethal temperature was also studied. High KC1 media protected the enzyme from inactivation, although dilution, and addition of BSA and calcium had no effect. Inactivation in low KC1 media, was a first order process. Acclimation had no significant effect upon the rate of inactivation. The proposed role of membranes in the phenomenon of resistance compensation has been discussed in the light of this and other data. An ultrastructural and histological study of a Microsporidian parasite of crayfish muscle is also presented.


Intraductal papillary carcinoma is very uncommon breast disease, constituting 0.5% to 1% of all breast cancers. Intraductal and intracystic papillary carcinomas are the histological classification of papillary carcinomas. Here we report, a 61 year old man presented with a mass in the upper outer quadrant of the left breast, with associated nipple discharge and bleeding since 2 months. Histological examination revealed tumor cells arranged in multi-cell layered papillae mostly in dilated lumen with foci of cribriform, follicular and solid pattern. Occasional psammoma bodies are also noted. Surgical excision is usually recommended after core-needle biopsy if there is atypia, high risk lesion, imaging histological discordance or positivity for malignancy. Often biopsy excision is performed directly when papillary carcinoma is suggested by sonography or mammography. Indeed, the surgical excision allows the pathologist to classify the papillary by classically histological examination of the lesions especially with immunohistochemical study and to research invasion or DCIS in surrounding breast tissue, present in majority of cases. There are no evidence based guidelines for treatment of intraductal papillary carcinoma. Hence, it is recommended to go for conservative surgery without axillary dissection, which shows excellent prognosis.


Intensive use in daily life of devices with an electromagnetic field (EMF), such as radios, televisions, computers and mobile phones, results in constant exposure. The fact that more than 80% of people in many countries use mobile phones has further increased concerns about the effect of EMFs. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exposure to a 900-megahertz (MHz) EMF in the prenatal term on the newborn rat testicles. Six pregnant, female Sprague Dawley rats were equally divided into control (CG) and EMF (EMFG) groups. No procedure was performed on CG. EMFG was exposed to a 900 MHz EMF for 1 h during days 13-21 of pregnancy at the same hour every day. No procedure was performed on newborn female rats after birth, and the study continued with newborn male rats. Newborn CG (NCG, n: 10) male rats were obtained from mothers in the CG, and newborn EMFG (NEMFG, n: 10) male rats from mothers in the EMFG. All animals were sacrificed and the testicles extracted at postnatal day 21. Testicular tissue samples were evaluated histopathologically under light microscope. The TUNEL technique was used to determine apoptosis in testicles. Lipid peroxidation and DNA oxidation levels were evaluated biochemically. Histopathologically, NEMFG male rats exhibited irregularities in the seminiferous tubule basal membrane and epithelium of seminiferous tubules, immature germ cells in the lumen, and a decreased diameter of seminiferous tubules and thickness of epithelium. Apoptotic index, lipid per oxidation and DNA oxidation were higher in NEMFG male rats than in NCG. Our results showed that the newborn rat testicles exposed to 900 MHz EMF in the prenatal period has been adversely affected.


An understanding of soil nutrient pools and their relationship to soil properties and to soil test values should underpin soil tests, but few studies of this type have been conducted for soil B. Boron was fractionated by sequential extraction in 13 soils collected from north (47°N) to south (20°N) in eastern China. The nonspecifically adsorbed B (NSA-B) and specifically adsorbed B (SPA-B) comprised <1% of total B. By contrast, B occluded in Mn oxyhydroxide (MOH-B), in amorphous Fe and Al oxides (AMO-B) and in crystalline Fe and Al oxides (CRO-B) comprised from 0.01 to 7.6% of total B. The content of the NSA-B fraction significantly decreased with increasing mean annual rainfall of the site and increased with increasing soil pH and exchangeable Ca. The MOH-B fraction was positively correlated with soil pH and cation-exchange capacity (CEC), and negatively with rainfall and temperature. The AMO-B fraction was significantly related to amorphous Fe2O3 and rainfall. The CRO-B fraction was positively correlated with pH and exchangeable Ca, but not with crystalline Fe2O3. The SPA-B fraction was not correlated with any soil properties or climate factors. These results emphasize that the forms of B in Chinese soils were distinctly different from those in soils of southeast USA and Greece.


During the design of ammonia and urea plants many aspects have to be taken into account besides process performances. The plant reliability is a factor as important as process performances in determining the future plant profitability. To design a reliable plant it is necessary to take into account many aspects, such as the process mechanical design of all parts, instrumentation, process control, and the plant layout. It is also essential to have a good quality control in every phase of the project. This paper describes the design choices that are crucial in order to reach the highest standard of reliability in these plants.


American environmental literature has relied heavily on the perspectives of European Americans, often ignoring other groups. In "Black on Earth," Kimberly Ruffin expands the reach of ecocriticism by analyzing the ecological experiences, conceptions, and desires seen in African American writing. Ruffin identifies a theory of "ecological burden and beauty" in which African American authors underscore the ecological burdens of living within human hierarchies in the social order just as they explore the ecological beauty of being a part of the natural order. Blacks were ecological agents before the emergence of American nature writing, argues Ruffin, and their perspectives are critical to understanding the full scope of ecological thought. Ruffin examines African American ecological insights from the antebellum era to the twenty-first century, considering WPA slave narratives, neo-slave poetry, novels, essays, and documentary films, by such artists as Octavia Butler, Alice Walker, Henry Dumas, Percival Everett, Spike Lee, and Jayne Cortez. Identifying themes of work, slavery, religion, mythology, music, and citizenship, "Black on Earth" highlights the ways in which African American writers are visionary ecological artists.

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncp/f/Black on Earth African American Ecoliterary Traditions.pdf


Economist Lance Taylor is an advocate of aggressive government management of developing economies. The models described in this book are are easy to set up and manipulate on microcomputers and should dominate the development debate. Taylor's detailed discussion of structuralist COE models is followed by contributions that take up their application in specific countries.This collection of work reviews the results of using CGE models since the early 1970s, with an emphasis on models that encompass broad structural factors such as distribution of income and wealth, land tenancy relationships, foreign trade, production, markets, and control of the means of production that are fundamental to the behavior of developing economies.Chapters explain the macro constraints on India's economic growth and describe Plan Austral and other heterodox shocks, describe the application of a structuralist model to Nicaragua, to Mexican food consumption policies, and to the food market in Colombia. They discuss a model with portfolio choice for Thailand, resource mobilization through administered prices, and conflicting claims and dynamic inflationary mechanisms in India, short-run energyeconomy interactions in Egypt, policy options for growth and the alleviation of poverty in Sri Lanka, currency devaluation in Mexico, and medium-term growth projections for Kuwait. The book concludes with a manual for a structuralist macro model program.Lance Taylor is Professor of Economics at MIT.


Abstract The article reports on a mixed-methods study evaluating the use of a three-dimensional digital game-based language learning (3D-DGBLL) environment to teach German two-way prepositions and specialized vocabulary within a simulated real-world context of German recycling and waste management systems. The study assumed that goal-directed player activity in this environment would configure digital narratives, which in turn would help study participants in the experimental group to co-configure story maps for ordering and making sense of the problem spaces encountered in the environment. The study further assumed that these participants would subsequently rely on the story maps to help them structure written L2 narratives describing an imagined personal experience closely resembling the gameplay of the 3D-DGBLL environment. The study found that immersion in the 3D-DGBLL environment influenced the manner in which the second language was invoked in these written narratives: Participants in the experimental group produced narratives containing more textual indicators describing the activity associated with the recycling and waste management systems and the spaces in which these systems are located. Increased usage of these indicators suggest that participants in the experimental group did indeed rely on story maps generated during 3D gameplay to structure their narratives, although stylistic and grammatical features of the narratives suggest, however, that changes could be made to the curricular implementation of the 3D-DGBLL environment. The study also puts forward ideas for instructional best practices based on research findings and suggests future areas of development and investigation.


Here we report the identification of a novel human opsin, melanopsin, that is expressed in cells of the mammalian inner retina. The human melanopsin gene consists of 10 exons and is mapped to chromosome 10q22. This chromosomal localization and gene structure differs significantly from that of other human opsins that typically have four to seven exons. A survey of 26 anatomical sites indicates that, in humans, melanopsin is expressed only in the eye. In situ hybridization histochemistry shows that melanopsin expression is restricted to cells within the ganglion and amacrine cell layers of the primate and murine retinas. Notably, expression is not observed in retinal photoreceptor cells, the opsin-containing cells of the outer retina that initiate vision. The unique inner retinal localization of melanopsin suggests that it is not involved in image formation but rather may mediate nonvisual photoreceptive tasks, such as the regulation of circadian rhythms and the acute suppression of pineal melatonin. The anatomical distribution of melanopsin-positive retinal cells is similar to the pattern of cells known to project from the retina to the suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus, a primary circadian pacemaker.


Educating farm labor supervisors about the regulations that govern agricultural operations and employment is critical to reducing unintentional violations of workplace safety and labor laws. Cooperative Extension can provide the training needed to professionalize this vital and diverse workforce. One challenge to providing adult education to a wide-ranging audience of labor contractors, crew leaders, and farm managers is implementing a program that meets varied needs and expectations and adapts to linguistic and cultural differences. This study combined quantitative and qualitative methods to measure learning and satisfaction in a bilingual Extension training program and to evaluate the relationship between educational outcomes and program components. The study found that attendees of both the English and Spanish trainings rated the quality of their experience as either high or very high regarding the intensity of learning, the likelihood of implementing what was learned, and their overall satisfaction with the program. Furthermore, post-test scores were significantly higher than pre-test scores for both groups. Nonetheless, English training attendees had significantly higher post-test scores than Spanish training attendees. The study concluded that successful agricultural educational program implementation is tied to adaptive teaching, staffing, and logistical strategies that respond to multicultural realities yet maintain pedagogical standards.


: Previous studies in fashion design reveal that a new garment in individuals' wardrobes can play various roles, such as causing excitement, keeping up with trends and feelings of belonging. But a new garment also raises other issues, such as the shortened lifecycles of clothes and loose bonds between wearer and the worn. Motivated by these previous findings, this study proposes clothes as agents as a means to sustain deeper engagements between the wearer and the worn. In the project investigated here, 'surprise' is suggested as a provocative method for promoting wearer-worn relationships and raising awareness of the agency of clothes. To gain understanding of these engagements, artefacts were handed out to 23 individuals and were then discussed in a group. How can surprise, embedded in designed objects, contribute to the building of stronger and more reflexive dialogues? In this research-through-design, hints towards how to build more meaningful relationships with clothes are provided together with narrated experiences from users which aim at enlightening the research question. The paper concludes with findings on qualitative aspects of the dialogues developed between wearer-worn. It intends to contribute to methods in design research and addresses both practitioners and researchers in the field.


There has been substantial recent interest in integrating knowledge based reasoning (KBR) and case-based reasoning (CBR) within a single system due to the potential synergisms that could result. Here we describe our recent work investigating the feasibility of a combined KBR-CBR application-independent system for interpreting multi-episode stories/narratives, illustrating it with an application in the domain of interpreting urban warfare stories. A genetic algorithm is used to derive weights for selection of the most relevant past cases. In this setting, we examine the relative value of using input features of a problem for case selection versus using features inferred via KBR, versus both. We find that using both types of features is best (compared to human selection), but that input features are most helpful and inferred features are of marginal value. This finding supports the idea that KBR and CBR provide complimentary rather than redundant information, and hence that their combination in a single system is likely to be useful.


A large portion of the sequences of type II DNA‐(cytosine‐C5)‐methyltransferases (C5‐MTases) represent highly conserved blocks of amino acids. General steps in the methylation reaction performed by C5‐MTases have been found to be mediated by some of these domains. C5‐MTases carry, in addition at the same relative location, a region variable in size and amino acid composition, part of which is associated with the capacity of each C5‐MTase to recognize its characteristic target. Individual target‐recognizing domains (TRDs) for the targets CCGG (M), CC(A/T)GG (E), GGCC (H), GCNGC (F) and G(G/A/T)GC(C/A/T)C (B) could be identified in the C‐terminal part of the variable region of multispecific C5‐MTases. With experiments reported here, we have established the organization of the variable regions of the multispecific MTases M.SPRI, M.phi3TI, M.H2I and M.rho 11SI at the resolution of individual amino acids. These regions comprise 204, 175, 268 and 268 amino acids, respectively. All variable regions are bipartite. They contain at their N‐terminal side a very similar sequence of 71 amino acids. The integrity of this sequence must be assured to provide enzyme activity. Bracketed by 6–10 'linker' amino acids, they have, depending on the enzyme studied, towards their C‐terminal end ensembles of individual TRDs of 38 (M), 39 (E), 40 (H), 44 (F) and 54 (B) amino acids. TRDs of different enzymes with equal specificity have the same size. TRDs do not overlap but are either separated by linker amino acids or abut each other.


Feldspars are one of the archetypical families of framework silicates. They not only comprise around 60% volumetrically of the Earth's crust, but are among some of the most structurally complicated minerals. Investigation into the structural behavior of various intermediate plagioclases at pressure has been undertaken with the intent of categorizing the elastic behavior with pressure across the solid solution series and establishing a conceptual model to characterize feldspar compression. Complex behavior has been observed in the Equation of State for plagioclase feldspars in excess of 3 GPa, including an anomalous softening of ordered albite in excess of 8.4 GPa (Benusa et al 2005: Am Min 90:1115-1120). This softening was not observed in the EoS for the more intermediate plagioclase compositions containing between 20 and 40 mol% of end-member anorthite. The calculated elastic compliance tensor sums at room pressure show a general stiffening with increasing anorthite component, small elastic changes at the C-1 to I-1 transition, and a dominantly first-order response at the P-1 to I-1 transition near end-member anorthite. The crystal structure of An37 plagioclase was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The compression mechanisms in An37 are similar to those in albite at lower pressures. The softening in albite at higher pressures is therefore attributed to the structural shearing in albite that is absent in An37 plagioclase up to 9.5 GPa.


Since a major part of curing the elders' diabetes occurs at home, family and relatives play an important role in keeping these patients. This study aims to review the relation between social support and blood sugar control in the elders of Urmia. This research is a cross-sectional (descriptive-analytical) study, in which 200 elders, diagnosed with diabetes Type 2 from rural health centers have been selected in random with cluster sampling method. Social support has been used by means of Philips Social Support Questionnaire and to measure the blood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin of diabetes patients has been employed. The data has been analyzed by means of descriptive statistics and independent T tests, Pearson and ANOVA correlation coefficient in SPSS 16. Results show that the score of social support of elders with diabetes is 15.40 ±6.94. Social support has a meaningful relation with variants of gender, age, education, marital status, diabetes disease, and economic status. Moreover, the results show there is a meaningful correlation between social support as well as its sub-domains and blood sugar control (p = 0.001, r = -0.45). Due to the influence of social support and its relevant factors on blood sugar control, it is recommended to take care of the elders with diabetes throughout the society more, based on the evidence from this study.


While it is still not widely accepted that exclamatives are a clause type, exclamations are intuitively considered a speech act comparable to assertions and questions. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the notion of exclamation . In particular, I compare the pragmatic properties of wh - exclamatives with the discourse distribution of other so-called exclamations and argue that they do not have a uniform way to update the Common Ground; by using a series of tests, I show that the sole thing they have in common is an emphatic intonation and a non-neutral attitude on the part of the speaker.


Background ARF6 (ADP-ribosylation factor 6) small GTP binding protein plays critical roles in actin cytoskeleton rearrangements and membrane trafficking, including internalisation of G protein coupled receptors (GPCR). ARF6 operates by cycling between GDP-bound (inactive) and GTP-bound (active) forms and is a potential regulator of GPCR-mediated uterine activity during pregnancy and labour. ARF6 contains very low intrinsic GTP binding activity and depends on GEFs (guanine nucleotide exchange factors) such as CYTH3 (cytohesin 3) to bind GTP. ARF6 and CYTH3 were originally cloned from human placenta, but there is no information on their expression in other reproductive tissues. Methods The expression of ARF6, ARF1, and CYTH1-4 was investigated by measuring mRNA (using RT-PCR) and protein levels (using immunoblotting) in samples of myometrium obtained from non-pregnant women, and women with normal pregnancies, before or after the spontaneous onset of labour. We also analysed myometrial samples from women with spontaneous preterm labour and from women with complicated pregnancies requiring emergency preterm delivery. The GST)-effector pull down assay was used to study the presence of active ARF6 and ARF1 in all myometrial extracts. Results ARF6, ARF1 and CYTH3 but not CYTH1, CYTH2 and CYTH4 were expressed in all samples and the levels did not change with pregnancy or labour. However, ARF6 and CYTH3 but not ARF1 levels were significantly reduced in complicated pregnancies. The alterations in the expression of ARF6 and its GEF in human myometrium indicate a potential involvement of this signalling system in modulating the response of myometrial smooth muscle in complicated pregnancies. The levels of ARF6-GTP or ARF1-GTP did not change with pregnancy or labour but ARF6-GTP levels were significantly decreased in women with severe complications of pregnancy. Conclusions We have demonstrated a functional ARF6 system in human myometrium and a correlation between ARF6 level and activity in uterine and abnormal pregnancy.


Propagating two-dimensional plasmon polariton modes guided by elliptical cross section silver nanoridges are investigated in this paper. Mode field profiles, dispersion curves, propagation distances, and figure-of-merits of the plasmon modes are calculated for various elliptical cross section silver nanoridges. It is found that the elliptical cross section metal nanoridge, if designed properly, can support a tightly confined plasmon mode with a longer propagation distance and a higher figure-of-merit than the flat-top nanoridge waveguide of the same width. The optimal nanoridge waveguide is obtained when the elliptical waveguide cross section becomes a semicircular cross section. When the curvature of the elliptical nanoridge is large, the nanoridge plasmon mode approaches the wedge plasmon mode.


Ear, Ear Development of the middle ear has been the subject of competing hypotheses. Thompson and Tucker (p. 1453; see the Perspective by Fekete and Noden) used transgenic mice to follow the cell types that form the middle ear. During development of the middle ear, a balloon of endoderm expands that bursts, allowing entry of mesenchymal neural crest cells. As the mesenchyme withdraws, a cavity is formed, partly lined with remnants of the endodermal balloon. The mature middle ear in mouse is thus lined partly by endoderm, with its rich ciliation typical of mucosal epithelia, and in part by neural crest cells, which lack cilia. When the endoderm fails, the neural crest does its best to pick up the slack. [Also see Perspective by Fekete and Noden] The air-filled cavity and ossicles of the mammalian middle ear conduct sound to the cochlea. Using transgenic mice, we show that the mammalian middle ear develops through cavitation of a neural crest mass. These cells, which previously underwent an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transformation upon leaving the neural tube, undergo a mesenchymal-to-epithelial transformation to form a lining continuous with the endodermally derived auditory tube. The epithelium derived from endodermal cells, which surrounds the auditory tube and eardrum, develops cilia, whereas the neural crest–derived epithelium does not. Thus, the cilia critical to clearing pathogenic infections from the middle ear are distributed according to developmental derivations. A different process of cavitation appears evident in birds and reptiles, indicating that this dual epithelium may be unique to mammals.


This research explores the impact of studying for the Doctorate of Education, (EdD) on the professional and personal lives of people undertaking this level of study. It builds on previous research in this area that identified tensions in the impact of professional doctorates (Burgess et al., 2011, Wellington and Sikes, 2006). A small case study approach was taken, using questionnaires and detailed semi-structured interviews to ascertain the views of the doctoral students. A unique approach to data analysis was taken using a modified version of Guskey's model for teacher development, which provided a lens through which to focus the data. Findings indicate a significant impact on both professional and personal lives of the participants, evidenced in a variety of ways, and that the boundaries between professional and personal impact are often blurred. The findings contribute to a largely under-developed area of research, and indicate that further work is required to better prepare students for study at this level.


REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY
Desmopathies of the suspensory ligament are relatively frequent and vary in prevalence over different anatomical regions. This variation may be because of regional differences in tissue characteristics.

OBJECTIVE
To characterise different regions of healthy forelimb suspensory ligaments (SLs) by means of biochemical, biomechanical and histomorphological techniques.

HYPOTHESIS
There is substantial topographical heterogeneity in the SL with respect to structural, compositional and functional characteristics.

METHODS
SLs were harvested from 38 limbs and used for biochemical (n = 20), biomechanical (n = 14) and histomorphological (n = 4) evaluation. Sulphated glycosaminoglycan (S-GAG), DNA and collagen content, degree of lysyl hydroxylation and numbers of enzymatic and nonenzymatic cross-links were determined in 7 regions of the SL: lateral and medial part of the origin (OM, OL), mid-body (MB), axial and abaxial parts of the lateral and medial branches (ILAX, ILAB, IMAX and IMAB, respectively). Passive resistance to tensile loading was measured in 5 regions of the SL (all except OL and OM).

RESULTS
DNA content was lower in OL and OM than in all other parts. GAG content was also lower in OL and OM and highest in ILAB and IMAB. Collagen content was lower in OL/OM and highest in ILAX/IMAX. Pentosidine levels were highest in OL and significantly lower in the lateral insertion (ILAX/ILAB). There were no differences in hydroxylysylpyridinoline (HP) cross-links or lysyl hydroxylation. Stiffness (P<0.01) and modulus of elasticity (P<0.01) were substantially higher in the MB region than in all other regions except for IMAB. Strain at failure was lower in the MB region (P<0.0001), resulting in a comparable force at rupture as in the other regions.

CONCLUSIONS
Matrix composition differs to a relatively limited extent between different regions of the SL. The mid-body of the ligament is stiffer than the branches, which have similar properties and relevance and mechanical differences between mid-body and branches/origin may explain some use-related differences in the prevalence of lesions.


Abstract Porous photoanodes of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can adsorb specific type of natural or organic dyes. Adsorption of the dye results in a change of the structural, morphological and optical characteristics of the photoanode. In this work, we present a comparative study on the adsorption effect of natural dye (Curcuma Longa sp.) on the structural, morphological and optical properties of mesoporous titanium dioxide (TiO2) photoanode on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass. A number of investigations including XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy, EDS, and SEM were carried out to observe the variations due to adsorbed dye on TiO2 surface. XRD characterization revealed the effect of dye adsorption on specific surface area (SSA), crystallite size, and morphological index (MI). In this case, increasing SSA with decreasing particle size was found for both dye adsorbed and dye free DSSC photoanode samples. Also, the MI and SSA were found to be directly and inversely proportional to the crystallite size respectively. UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy showed that dye adsorption changes the light absorption, transmittance, and optical bandgap of the photoanode. Average atomic mass percentage of titanium (Ti) and oxygen (O) obtained from EDS analysis proved the presence of TiO2 in the mesoporous photoanode. In SEM images, significant morphological changes of mesoporous TiO2 surface appeared because of dye adsorption.


This study, using original survey data, presents empirical evidence on the relationship between commuting time and telecommuting on the one hand, and wages and subjective well-being on the other hand in Japan, where long commuting time is prevalent. According to the analysis, first, individuals, particularly female and non-standard employees, have a strong preference for avoiding long commuting hours compared to long working hours. Second, there is a wage premium for long commuters, and this is greater for female employees. Third, although the number of telecommuters is currently very small, they enjoy wage premiums and higher job satisfaction. These findings suggest that diffusion of telecommuting and satellite offices may contribute to increasing the labor market participation of female and elderly people in metropolitan areas.


Abstract This report investigates mentoring from the perspectives of 7 experienced secondary public school teachers from four different school districts in Oklahoma. The participants' teaching experience ranged from 10 to 30years. The author reviewed the research process and data provided through the teachers' interviews and protocol writings to further explain the nature of mentoring and the benefits of mentoring experienced teachers. The experienced teachers benefited from the mentoring process and their mentoring experiences in two important areas. At the professional level, the teachers gained a sense of self as professional educators. At the personal level, these teachers identified mentoring as a process that worked in almost any situation; in addition, they recognized that conversing about concerns with a knowledgeable colleague was a workable solution for solving issues.


The synthesis of chiral amines in enantioenriched form is a keystone reaction in applied chemical
synthesis. There is a strong push to develop greener and more sustainable alternatives to the
metal-catalysed methods currently used in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and fine chemical
industries. A biocatalytic approach using transaminase (TA or ATA) enzymes to convert
prochiral ketones to chiral amines with unparalleled levels of enantioselectivity is highly
appealing. However, the use of TA enzymes in synthesis is severely hampered by the unfavourable
thermodynamics associated with the amine donor/acceptor equilibrium. Several 'smart' amine
donors have been developed that leverage chemical and physical driving forces to overcome this
challenging equilibrium. Alongside this strategy, enzyme engineering is typically required to
develop TAs compatible with these non-physiological amine donors and the unnatural reaction
conditions they require. We herein disclose N-phenylputrescine (NPP) as a readily accessible
amine donor, inspired by the biosynthesis of the dipyrroloquinoline alkaloids. NPP is compatible
with a broad range of synthetically useful TA biocatalysts and performs across an unparalleled
variety of reaction conditions (pH and temperature). Synthetic applicability has been
demonstrated through the synthesis of the anti-diabetic drug sitagliptin, delivering the product
in excellent enantiopurity using just two equivalents of NPP


The rapid globalization of Wikipedia is generating a parallel, multi-lingual corpus of unprecedented scale. Pages for the same topic in many different languages emerge both as a result of manual translation and independent development. Unfortunately, these pages may appear at different times, vary in size, scope, and quality. Furthermore, differential growth rates cause the conceptual mapping between articles in different languages to be both complex and dynamic. These disparities provide the opportunity for a powerful form of information arbitrage--leveraging articles in one or more languages to improve the content in another. Analyzing four large language domains (English, Spanish, French, and German), we present Ziggurat, an automated system for aligning Wikipedia infoboxes, creating new infoboxes as necessary, filling in missing information, and detecting discrepancies between parallel pages. Our method uses self-supervised learning and our experiments demonstrate the method's feasibility, even in the absence of dictionaries.


Image to image translation aims to learn a mapping that transforms an image from one visual domain to another. Recent works assume that images descriptors can be disentangled into a domain-invariant content representation and a domain-specific style representation. Thus, translation models seek to preserve the content of source images while changing the style to a target visual domain. However, synthesizing new images is extremely challenging especially in multi-domain translations, as the network has to compose content and style to generate reliable and diverse images in multiple domains. In this paper we propose the use of an image retrieval system to assist the image-to-image translation task. First, we train an image-to-image translation model to map images to multiple domains. Then, we train an image retrieval model using real and generated images to find images similar to a query one in content but in a different domain. Finally, we exploit the image retrieval system to fine-tune the image-to-image translation model and generate higher quality images. Our experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed solution and highlight the contribution of the retrieval network, which can benefit from additional unlabeled data and help image-to-image translation models in the presence of scarce data.


The weight contract in hospital treatment of mental anorexia, first inscribes in the heads of the patient and her family the disavowal of concern for somatic reality and its outcome, at risk of grave complications. Then it quickly becomes clear that the question is not the fantasized one of « force feeding » through a medical technique that will make her fat, but that of the process of becoming a woman, hampered by the girl who actively and willingly aborts her adolescent process. This symbolic effect of the contract has effects on the body and thought processes of the patient, allowing for revision of identifications. The constraint experienced in the therapeutic act is always much less than the violence of primitive relations of the subject of the ego with its archaic superego and aims to ease the interior constraints at the origin of food restriction and weight loss. « External » persecution opposes an internal dictator ... the conflict is displaced onto the relation with the treatment (which figures the conflicts with the parents) and allows for the emergence of new possibilities of representation. The conflict is human again and for a while disavowal, splitting and projection will occur, as defenses, before the encounter within the conflict becomes possible, an encounter which protects the patient's narcissism (she is not humiliated by asking for help, the bond having been imposed upon her). This encounter allows for an exploration of the patient's deep desires, and her degree of resistance in disavowal or the veneer of conformism. It is this dialectic of desire and resistance which allows a diagnosis to be made in economic terms since, fundamentally, it is desire that builds alienation. The contract is a technical artifice, which provokes a separation situation deeply feared by both the patient and her family, and which reveals the complexity (nature, intensity, ambivalence) of parent-child bonds and the fantasies they have generated. It allows us to study the central issue of separation: procrastination about the weight at the moment of separation and the weight at the moment of leaving the hospital, fetishism of a certain weight, reactivation of separation issues when the patient is discharged from the institution. Adopting the language of the symptom and placing it within the framework of the weight contract, the psychiatrist can then deploy his offer of living treatment within the psychotherapeutic space.


This study compares the only residential Passivhaus in Mexico (located in Mexico City) to a conventional building-practice home in terms of indoor environmental quality during summer, specifically indoor air quality (IAQ) and the occupants' perceptions towards it. Temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, and PM2.5 were monitored during May, June and July 2016 in the living room, bedroom and kitchen of each home. Simultaneous outdoor air measurements were collected from the local pollution monitoring network. Online surveys were used to obtain data on building-related illnesses; while occupant perception of IAQ and thermal comfort and occupant diaries helped to provide insights into occupant behavior. Results from this case study suggest that Passivhaus design strategies could help to protect building occupants from outdoor air pollution, based on the lower concentrations of PM2.5 that were found in the Passivhaus apartment compared to the external environment. This contrasted with the results of the control home where PM2.5 levels were higher than ambient levels. Whilst the results cannot be generalized, they do provide much needed evidence on the indoor environmental performance of a Passivhaus-certified dwelling in Latin America, highlighting areas for improvement and providing recommendations to help inform future developments adopting these principles in a subtropical highland climate.


Long-distance movements of sharks within and between islands pose substantial challenges for resource managers working with highly migratory species. When no-take zones do not cover the critical areas that sharks use as part of their lifecycle, exposure to fishing activities can be significant. Shark movements between the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) have been studied for several years, however little is known about the strength of connectivity between these islands. We analyzed the extensive MigraMar ultrasonic telemetry dataset to assess how Galapagos sharks (Carcharhinus galapagensis) and silky sharks (Carcharhinus falciformis) use different islands as stepping-stones during their migrations within the Revillagigedo National Park and other ETP islands. Of the 66 sharks monitored, 63.5% moved within the same island, 25.4% between two islands or more and only 10.1% across different MPAs. A C. falciformis tagged in Roca Partida Island, Revillagigedo, travelled to Clipperton Atoll and another one tagged in Darwin Island travelled to the atoll on two different years. The largest movement of C. galapagensis was accomplished by a shark tagged at Socorro Island, Revillagigedo, later detected at Clipperton and finally recorded in Darwin Island, Galapagos. This last path was in fact, one of the longest movements ever recorded for the species. Although long-distance dispersion was not common, our results highlight the need for co-operation between different countries to ensure adequate protection for sharks in the form of swimways and other conservation tools in the ETP.


We describe the interference between two caustics of diffraction fields that are generated in a double-curve-shaped-slit interferometer. One of the slits is obtained from the other through a projective mapping in the normal direction. In this way the diffraction fields present the same caustic region because the slit functions have a common evolute. Catastrophe functions are used for describing the optical path length of the rays involved. We show that the phase difference between the diffracted rays can also be considered a catastrophe function, which permits us to describe the geometry of the interference pattern because its singular points correspond to organized regions of the interference pattern. Experimental results are shown.


To investigate the level of genetic differentiation and diversity among Pyrenophora teres isolate populations originating from different agro‐ecological areas of Syria and Tunisia and to determine the potential of AFLP profiling in genotyping Pyrenophora teres f. teres. In this study, AFLP markers have been employed to identify patterns of population structure in 20 Pyrenophora teres f. teres populations from Syria and Tunisia. Ninety‐four isolates were studied by the use of a protocol that involved stringent PCR amplification of fragments derived from digestion of genomic DNA with restriction enzymes EcoRI and MesI. Based on 401 amplified polymorphic DNA markers (AFLP), variance analyses indicated that most of the variation was partitioned within rather than between populations. Genotypic diversity (GD) was high for populations from Rihane, local landraces and different agro‐ecological zones (GD = 0·75–0·86). There was high genetic differentiation among pathogen populations from different host populations in Syria (Gst = 0·31, ht = 0·190) and Tunisia (Gst = 0·39, ht = 0·263), which may be partly explained by the low gene flow around the areas sampled. A phenetic tree revealed three groups with high bootstrap values (55, 68, 76) and reflected the grouping of isolates based on host, or agro‐ecological areas. AFLP profiling is an effective method for typing the genetically diverse pathogen Pyrenophora teres f. teres.


This Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1985 corrected text and is accompanied by detailed explanatory annotations. "Backgrounds and Contexts" is divided into three sections, each of which includes a concise introduction by Michael Gorra that carefully frames the issues presented, with particular attention to As I Lay Dying's place in Faulkner's literary life. "Contemporary Reception" reprints American, English, and French reviews by Clifton Fadiman, Henry Nash Smith, Edwin Muir, and Maurice Coindreau, among others, along with Valery Larbaud's never-before-translated preface to the first French edition of the novel. "The Writer and His Work" examines Faulkner's claim to have written the novel in six weeks without changing a word. It includes his comments on the book's composition along with his later thoughts on and changing opinions of it, sample pages from the manuscript, his Nobel Prize address, and the little-known short story in which he first used the title. "Cultural Context" reprints an essay by Carson McCullers and an excerpt from James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men along with other materials that address questions of Southern Agrarianism and the Southern grotesque. "Criticism" begins with the editor's introduction to As I Lay Dying's critical history and scholarly reception. Eleven major essays are provided by Olga W. Vickery, Cleanth Brooks, Calvin Bedient, Andre Bleikasten, Eric Sundquist, Stephen M. Ross, Doreen Fowler, Patrick O'Donnell, Richard Gray, John Limon, and Donald M. Kartiganer. A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are also included.


This paper analyzes differences in the likelihood that black and white families become homeowners. By following a sample of black and white renters over time, we are able to separately study racial differences in the likelihood of applying for a mortgage and in the likelihood that a mortgage application is accepted. Although its effect on the race gap in housing transitions is small, we find strong evidence that black applicants are almost twice as likely as comparable white households to be rejected, even when credit history proxies and measures of household wealth are accounted for. We show that the housing transition gap exists primarily because blacks are less likely to apply for mortgages in the first place. The analysis suggests that differences in income, family structure, and in the ability and willingness of parents to provide down-payment assistance are the primary reasons for this applications gap. We speculate that the portion of the gap that remains unexplained after controlling for income, demographics, and wealth may be the result of blacks anticipating a greater chance of rejection when they apply for mortgages.


Stress: Concepts, Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior: Handbook in Stress Series, Volume 1, examines stress and its management in the workplace and is targeted at scientific and clinical researchers in biomedicine, psychology, and some aspects of the social sciences. The audience is appropriate faculty and graduate and undergraduate students interested in stress and its consequences. The format allows access to specific self-contained stress subsections without the need to purchase the whole nine volume Stress handbook series. This makes the publication much more affordable than the previously published four volume Encyclopedia of Stress (Elsevier 2007) in which stress subsections were arranged alphabetically and therefore required purchase of the whole work. This feature will be of special significance for individual scientists and clinicians, as well as laboratories. In this first volume of the series, the primary focus will be on general stress concepts as well as the areas of cognition, emotion, and behavior.Offers chapters with impressive scope, covering topics including the interactions between stress, cognition, emotion and behaviourFeatures articles carefully selected by eminent stress researchers and prepared by contributors representing outstanding scholarship in the fieldIncludes rich illustrations with explanatory figures and tablesIncludes boxed call out sections that serve to explain key concepts and methodsAllows access to specific self-contained stress subsections without the need to purchase the whole nine volume Stress handbook series


Two decades of near-continuous measurements of earth radiation budget data from satellites have made significant contributions to our understanding of the global mean climate, the greenhouse effect, the meridional radiative heating that drives the general circulation, the influence of radiative heating on regional climate, and climate feedback processes. The remaining outstanding problems largely concern the role of clouds in governing climate, in influencing the general circulation, and in determining the sensitivity of climate to external perturbations, i.e., the so-called cloud feedback problem. In this paper a remarkably simple and effective approach is proposed to address these problems, with the aid of the comprehensive radiation budget data collected by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). ERBE is a multisatellite experiment which began collecting data in November 1984. The simple approach calls for the estimation of clear-sky fluxes from the high spatial resolution scanner measurements. A cloud-radiative forcing (or simply cloud forcing) is defined which is the difference between clear-sky and cloudy-sky (clear plus overcast skies) fluxes. The global average of the sum of the solar and long-wave cloud forcing yields directly the net radiative effect (i.e., cooling or warming) of clouds on climate. Furthermore, analyses of variations in clear-sky fluxes and the cloud forcing in terms of temperature variations would yield the radiation-temperature feedbacks, including the mysterious cloud feedback, that are needed to verify present theories of climate. Finally, general circulation model results are used to discuss the nature of the cloud radiative forcing. It is shown that the long-wave effect of clouds is to enhance the meridional heating gradient in the troposphere, while the albedo or solar effect of clouds is largely to reduce the available solar energy at the surface. The long-wave cloud-induced drive for the circulation is particularly large in the monsoon regions. Thus it is concluded that analyses of ERBE data in terms of cloud forcing would add much needed insights into the role of clouds in the general circulation. With respect to the future, the scientific need is discussed for continuing broadband measurements of earth radiation budget data into the next century in order to understand the processes that govern interannual and decadal climate trends. Finally, the spectral variations in clear-sky fluxes and cloud forcing and the need for broadband data to obtain the desired accuracies are described.


This study of radio news stations adds to the field of Twitter research into broadcasters' use of this social media microblogging platform; previous research has predominantly focused on television. This case study, based on a survey with numerous open-ended questions completed in face-to-face interviews, begins to fill in data on how Twitter is being used in major market radio station newsrooms. Limited in scope, this exploratory study used answers from seven members of two radio newsrooms in trying to find out if there were stated goals for tweets; if separate, unique content was being tweeted or was content tied to the stations' on-air product; how tweets seek to increase station listenership and/or increase station website traffic; what were the most frequently tweeted topics; what hyperlinks were included in tweets for internal or external web content; and were tweets personal and/or opinionated, or kept more professional with just factual material. From a strategic management theory standpoint, there is neither a stated plan nor goals sought with these newsrooms' use of Twitter. Unique tweet content includes sending out photos which add visuals to the pictureless world of radio news and live-tweeting of ongoing news events, while complementary content is promotional to push audience members to on-air or website products. There are no analytics in place to try to determine whether the stations' listenership or web traffic increases based on tweets. Promotional teases of upcoming on-air guest interviews or news content and/or web content are the most frequently tweeted topics. Hashtags rather than hyperlinks are more often included in the stations' tweets. News personnel stay away from expressing opinions, or being too personal in tweets, but remain more objective and professional by sticking to facts which is in step with the traditional role of journalists.


We present high-resolution (R ∼ 60,000) optical spectra of a carefully selected sample of heavily obscured and presumably massive O-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the Magellanic Clouds. We report the discovery of strong Rb i lines at 7800 Å in four Rb-rich LMC stars at luminosities equal to or greater than the standard adopted luminosity limit for AGB stars (Mbol ∼ −7.1), confirming that "hot bottom burning" may produce a flux excess in the more massive AGB stars. In the SMC sample, just one of the five stars with Mbol < −7.1 was detected in Rb; the other stars may be massive red supergiants. The Rb-rich LMC AGB stars might have stellar masses of at least ∼6–7 M☉. Our abundance analyses show that these Rb-rich stars are extremely enriched in Rb by up to 103–105 times solar but seem to have only mild Zr enhancements. The high Rb/Zr ratios, if real, represent a severe problem for the s-process, even if the 22Ne source is operational as expected for massive AGB stars; it is not possible to synthesize copious amounts of Rb without also overproducing Zr. The solution to the problem may lie with an incomplete present understanding of the atmospheres of luminous AGB stars.


AbstractThe objective was to determine the daily live-weight gain, behaviour, adrenal and immune responses of finishing beef heifers housed at two different space allowances. Heifers (no. = 32) with a mean live weight of466 (s.e. 3·6) kg were assigned to either 1·5 or 3·0 m2 average individual space allowance in four slatted-floor pens (two per treatment) for a period of 104 days. On days 5, 40, 68 and 96, heifers (no. = eight per treatment, four per pen) were challenged with 1·98 i.u. ACTH per kg M0·75, and serial blood samples were analysed for plasma cortisol concentrations. The other 16 heifers were immunized against keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) on day 28, and blood samples collected on days 28, 42, 56, 70, 84 and 98 were analysed for anti-KLH immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations. All heifers were blood sampled on days 0, 14, 56 and 98, and red and white blood cell numbers, packed cell volume (PCV) and plasma concentrations of creatine kinase (CK), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and urea were determined. Behavioural observations were conducted on days 8, 43, 71 and 99 by scan sampling for 24 h (10-min intervals), and continuous 4-h observations were conducted on days 100 and 101.Heifers at 1·5 m2 space allowance had a lower daily live-weight gain compared with those at 3·0 m2 (0·60 v. 0·87 (s.e. 0·04) kg; P 0·05). Heifers at 1·5 m2 had lower plasma NEFA concentrations (P 0·05). The time spent lying down was lower for heifers at 1·5 m2 (10·0 v. 21·1 h/day; P < 0·05). Social interactions were fewer (P < 0·05), and incidence of head-resting behaviour was higher (P < 0·05) among heifers at 1·5 m2 compared with 3·0 m2 space allowance. In conclusion, the restricted space allowance resulted in a substantial decrease in daily live-weight gain, and changes in adrenal response and behaviour.


: The present study was conducted to determine the crucial characters for sexing individuals of female and male pupae of the tomato leafminer Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae). The experiments were performed on 50 live pupae, which were examined under a stereozoom microscope and photographed. Two small tubercles present on the eighth abdominal segment of female pupae are helpful to distinguish the tomato leafminer from male pupae. The genital opening in females is found between the tubercles and is indicated by a longitudinal suture in the middle of the eighth abdominal segment. The male genital opening is also found on the ninth abdominal segment. Typically, female pupae and adults are heavier and bigger than males. This key information and pictures will be useful for laboratory studies that perform single pair matings, sex ratios, and other biological experiments.


Extracted from text ... IMIESA FEBRUARY 2006 - 45
Standards, specifications
and technical regulations
by Don Dunkley and Alan Cohen
LEGISLATION
The simplest and most effective way to make conformity with
the technical characteristics of a product or service mandatory,
is to refer to a standard or specification in a law or
regulation.
South Africa, however, like many other first and third world
countries, has inherited a complex, convoluted and often obscure
technical regulatory regime. Technical regulations are found in a
plethora of laws and regulations that are often dated, certainly
not optimal or efficient and frequently confusing because of
duplication.
For example, ..


This paper discusses different aspects related to the ex-post assessment of the effect of R&D and innovation (RDI) policies. To this end, the paper puts forward a comprehensive 'conceptual framework' where agents' behaviours, factors affecting their decisions, and quantitative (econometric) methods for impact evaluation are linked together and analysed. In particular, this work puts forward the following issues: 1 a generalised RDI investment model for explaining the potential occurrence of subsidy success (i.e., additionality) 2 a logical framework for the functioning of a project-funding RDI policy, rooted in the policy-cycle approach 3 the identification of the main factors driving the actors' behaviour, expressed through interconnected behavioural relations 4 a list of critical aspects regarding the design of public support to RDI, which need to be better addressed in future work to reach more reliable conclusions on the actual impact of an RDI policy.


Summary 1. Management of rangelands has long operated under the paradigm of minimizing spatially discrete disturbances, often under the objective of reducing inherent heterogeneity within managed ecosystems. Management of grazing animals has focused on uniform distribution of disturbance, so that no areas are heavily disturbed or undisturbed (i.e. management to the 'middle'). 2. A model of the fire‐grazing interaction argues that grazing and fire interact through a series of positive and negative feedbacks to cause a shifting mosaic of vegetation pattern across the landscape. This interaction was important in the evolution of species in the North American Great Plains grasslands. This approach has the potential to serve as an ecological-based model for management of grasslands with a long evolutionary history of grazing. 3. We compared a heterogeneity-based approach, in which fire is applied to discrete patches, with typical homogeneity-based land management in the North American Great Plains, to determine if patch burning followed by focal grazing creates a shifting mosaic pattern of vegetation structure and composition. 4. Our data suggest that spatially discrete fires promote focal grazing, where grazing animals devote 75% of grazing time within the one-third of the area that has been burned within the past year. These focal disturbances cause local changes in the plant community and increase patch-level heterogeneity across landscapes. As the focal disturbance is shifted to other patches over time, successional processes lead to changes in local plant communities and the patchwork landscape can be described as a shifting mosaic. 5. A patch-dynamic approach can be accomplished in the tallgrass prairie through applying spatially discrete fires and allowing animals free access to a diversity of landscape elements that vary in time since focal disturbance. This increases heterogeneity across the landscape, a variable that has been shown to be critical to some wildlife species as well as the structure and function of grassland ecosystems. 6. Synthesis and applications. Our study demonstrates that the fire-grazing model may be useful for generating heterogeneity in grassland management. Discrete fires are applied to patches, and patchy grazing by herbivores promotes a shifting vegetation mosaic across the landscape. Furthermore, application of the model has the potential of increasing the area of rangelands under management for conservation purposes, because livestock production is maintained at a level similar to traditional management. So, by managing transient focal patches that move through the landscape, heterogeneity has the potential to be a central paradigm for managing landscapes for multiple objectives, such as biodiversity and agricultural productivity.


MICHAEL HOFFMAN is Officer for International Humanitarian Law for the American Red Cross. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of the American Red Cross. International humanitarian law is the body of rules and principles used to save lives and alleviate suffering during armed conflict. Over the past 50 years we have built a sizable volume of treaty law to define and regulate battlefield conditions. Though to some the steady flow of shocker headlines may suggest failure, these treaties actually have reached a high level of development, perhaps the highest that we can hope to attain for at least another generation. Indeed, with the advent of new kinds of weapons and new tactics of warfare, international humanitarian law (IHL) must adapt. For it to adapt properly though, it must return to its origins, to a time before "treaty-based" solutions, when nations recognized and followed various universal "customs." It is now time to revive a forgotten yet potent legal strategy to blunt the effects of war. Treaty-based Law Before revisiting the legal methodology of an earlier time, it is best to summarize the present state of international humanitarian law. The four Geneva Conventions of 1949--the most recent revisions of a series of treaties dating back to 1864--are the principle foundations of modern IHL. These treaties establish detailed terms for the protection of wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces, prisoners of war, and civilians caught up in war zones or living under enemy occupation. Military medical personnel and field staff of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are accorded special authority to render assistance to victims. With some limitations for national society staff, these personnel are authorized to rely upon the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems for protection from attack in carrying out their work. Other relief organizations and civilians spontaneously coming to the aid of the wounded also are entitled to a measure of protection under the Geneva Conventions. The primary focus of the Geneva Conventions was to establish rules for protection, sometimes known as Geneva law. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were the first methodical attempts to regulate the weapons and tactics of war, and these rules, applying to the "means and methods of war," are sometimes known as Hague law. Hague and Geneva law were brought together in 1977 as part of two protocols which were meant to update the Geneva Conventions. These two protocols added detailed regulations for military operations and expanded legal provisions for the protection of war victims. Other important Hague law treaties followed, such as the 1980 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons and, most recently, the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction. This important matrix of Hague and Geneva law is unlikely to see major improvement for a long time to come. Except for the occasional evolution of treaty law to account for weapons technology, emerging challenges will demand creative efforts to enforce existing rules, not inventive efforts to devise new ones. But if we adhere only to the modern treaty-based blueprint, we cannot readily apply Hague and Geneva rules to some situations that intuitively look like war. Most provisions of the Geneva Conventions and Hague rules have express application only during armed conflict between states--not, for example, during civil war within a state. (The term "armed conflict" covers armed hostilities and military occupation, as opposed to the narrower term "war," which requires a formal declaration of hostilities.) Though a small but important section of the Geneva Conventions sets out humanitarian rules for non-international armed conflict, as do the provisions of Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions, the present treaty-based law still is lacking in that respect. …


The present thesis designs, implements and evaluates a channel for interaction between office and field users through a collaborative mixed reality system. This channel is aimed to be used for civil engineering purposes and is thus oriented toward the design and construction phases. Its application should contribute to the reduction of the challenges faced by those involved in a civil engineering project dealing with communication, collaboration and mutual understanding. Such challenges can become real problems for multidisciplinary teams of architects, engineers and constructors when working on the same project. In the context of this thesis, outdoor users are equipped with a real-time kinematic global positioning system receiver, a notebook, a head-mounted display, a tilt sensor and a compass. A virtual environment representing components of a civil engineering project is displayed before their eyes. Outdoor users share this collaborative virtual environment with indoor ones. They can talk to and see each other through an avatar. Indoor users can take part from any location where Internet is available. The goal of this thesis is to show that a networked solution of at least two users (In this case, indoor and outdoor users) is an opportunity for outdoor users to perform complex tasks whilst experiencing an immersive augmented reality application. Indoor users interact with outdoor ones when handling and navigating the virtual environment, guiding their counterpart through the scene and making clear common points of understanding. The thesis evaluates how users interact within a prototype system using a formative approach. Users are introduced to the system and motivated to "talk loudly", thus verbalising what they are experiencing during the tests. All users are video-recorded while performing the exercises and interviewed immediately after. The evaluation reveals that users end up experiencing a system that is too immersive, which ends up narrowing their "attentional spotlight" to the virtual environment and not, as desired, experiencing an augmented reality system. The evaluation also makes clear that the design of the virtual environment is eventually more important for users than the system itself, and it is completely the kind of application that it is being used to and who the users are.


Prediction of fertile tiller number (FTN) is important for predicting crop leaf area development and provides an avenue to identify genotypes with specific adaptation to variable environments. However, previous tillering prediction models in sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] were limited to only a few genotypes. This study aimed to develop an approach to predict FTN for a large number of genotypes grown in multiple environments. A set of 756 genotypes from 17 diverse families of a backcross-derived, sorghum nested association mapping population were evaluated in test cross combinations with a single female tester. Plants were grown in five environments, but not all genotypes were included in all environments. One of the environments was space planted for expression of tillering propensity. Three predictors of tillering were considered: tillering propensity, incident radiation per unit thermal time during the tillering stage, and plant density. These represent the genotypic, environmental, and management effects on FTN, respectively. Based on these predictors, a robust model was developed for 125 genotypes grown in the spaced planting and all four test environments (R-2 = 0.85, n = 500). For the independent set of remaining genotypes, the model predicted FTN in each of the four test environments with an accuracy and precision close to that for the training set (R-2 = 0.69-0.74). The implications for crop improvement of this predictive capability of FTN are discussed in relation to the opportunities for assessing genetic and management options for specific adaptation, and for removing confounding effects in the analysis of breeding trials.


[Abstract]: Academics and practitioners have recently intensified the debate on the relevance or otherwise of organisational and management theory to actual practice in today's environment. A multidisciplinary team of five academics from three departments at the University of Southern Queensland has embarked upon a study to identify the major issues, perspectives and strategies espoused by leading practising management consultants in assisting their clients to become more effective in managing change within their respective organisations. The initial phase of the study involved in-depth semi-structured interviews of 24 consultants based in Brisbane, Queensland. The consultants were selected on the basis of depth and diversity of experience, size of operation and types of specialisations. This paper reports a number of themes that have emerged from the data analysis to date. In particular, the themes relate to the status of management consulting in Queensland, the quality of Australian management, differences between public and public sector clients, and the role of marketing.


In a rapidly changing transnational eduscape, it is timely to consider how best to conceptualize international education. Here we argue for a conceptual relocation from international student to international study as a means to bridge the diverse literatures on international education. International study also enables recognition of the multiple contributions (and resistances) of international students as agents of knowledge formation; it facilitates consideration of the mobility of students in terms of circulations of knowledge; and it is a means to acknowledge the complex spatialities of international education, in which students and educators are emotionally and politically networked together through knowledge contributions.


There is a number of religious pages preserved from the 17th century from New Spain, dedicated to the devotions of Our Lady of Los Remedios, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Rosary, St. Cayetano, St. Gertrudis and the Passion of Christ. The texts of the Virgin of Los Remedios and the Virgin of Guadalupe are constructed around specific shrines with appropriate language used in New Spain. However, the devotions of the Rosary, St. Cayetano, St. Gertrudis and the Passion of Christ seek to develop outreach strategies based on the reading and rewriting of printed books on these subjects as summary compilations. The circulation of texts, fragments and quotes from books, pages and manuscripts turns out to be the procedure of choice for constructing networks to disseminate information on religious subjects


Online support communities for people with various health problems and related online activist groups have been the focus of scholarly attention for three decades. The arrival of social media increased the popularity and breadth of both phenomena. Breastfeeding online activism represents an interesting case in how it connects the (health) support and activist online presences of breastfeeding women. Furthermore, breastfeeding activism - or lactivism - is a form of embodied activism, often performed through breastfeeding. Stemming from over six years of observant participation in breastfeeding spaces online, this article traces the ways in which lactivists use Facebook to further their cause. From the creation of support groups, through the use of Facebook capabilities to organise action and create structures, to Facebook specific forms of mass action, including image flooding and negrating, I argue that the emergence of lactivism as we know it is intimately connected with, and through, the medium.


In this paper, I outline recent policy reforms to the General Medical Council (GMC) and how these are designed to promote greater public confidence in its management of the patient complaint and fitness to practise tribunal process. I explore how in spite of a decade of reform, potential for bias remains in relation to how issues of race and ethnicity, disability, age, class, gender and English language proficiency intersect with complaint making and case progression. I draw on reviews of and data from the GMC to examine the key issues surrounding the representativeness of the medical tribunal process, in terms of members' age, gender and race and ethnicity. I note that, as in other high-income countries, there is a tendency within the United Kingdom (UK) for the risk-focused regulatory system to focus its reforming agenda on the more effective performance management of cost and risk, rather than on inculcating a more diverse patient presence and biographical profile within the day-to-day operation of regulatory regimes. I argue that this might unintentionally lead to the promotion of an optimism bias within risk-focused regulatory systems, potentially leading to a failure to communicate realistic perceptions of medical risk to patients and their families, and in doing so perhaps serving to further exacerbate the situation when instances of medical error and negligence occur. I conclude that current regulatory reforms in the UK are unlikely as a result to as fully promote the public interest and patient safety as they intend.


This article responds to Akhil Gupta's 1997 call for the exploration of spatialized commitment operating at scales be- sides that of the nation. It analyzes the attempts of the administra- tion of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to mobilize "urban patriotism" in support of development proposals for Manhattan's west side by portraying its opponents as insufficiently commit- ted to the city's future. Not just urban development policy was at stake in this debate, but the meaning of being a New Yorker. The urban identity that the administration and its allies espoused portrayed the city as a home for the ambitious, the innovative, the cosmopolitan, and above all the competitive, and was related to the local emergence of a new, globalized corporate elite. Other New Yorkers had different understandings of the city and their place in it, which ultimately doomed efforts to mobilize urban patriotism. The intersection of class-related identity and the fact of increased interurban competition created the conditions for urban identity to emerge as an issue. Finally, it is argued that urban identity must be distinguished from "boosterism," and the likelihood of urban patriotism being mobilized in other global cities operating in a competitive environment is appraised.


In the Snowmelt-Runoff Model (SRM), the estimate of discharge volume is based on temperature condition in the form of degree days which are used to melt the snowpack in the area of the basin covered by snow as observed from satellites. Precipitation input is used to add any rainfall runoff to the snowmelt component. When SRM was applied to the large, international Kabul River basin, initial simulations were much above the observed stream flow values. Close inspection revealed several problems in the application of SRM to the Kabul Basin that were easily corrected. Foremost among the corrections were determination of an appropriate lapse rate, substitution of a more representative mean elevation for extrapolation of temperature data, and use of an automatic streamflow updating procedure. These improvements led to a simulation for 1976 that was comparable to other simulations on large, inaccessible basins. As SRM is applied to more basins similar to the Kabul River, the determination of suitable parameters for new basin will be enhanced. Additional improvements in simulations would result from installation of climate stations at the mean elevation of basins and work to assure delivery of timely and reliable satellite snow cover data.


Unlike mammals, fish and amphibians exhibit remarkable regenerative properties of the central nervous system. This study focused on the changes in c-jun expression consequent to optic nerve injury in Danio rerio (zebrafish). Known for its function in regulating transcription, c-jun binds with other transcriptional regulators to affect nerve regeneration and cell death in ways that seem paradoxical. I sought to determine if c-jun was differentially expressed in the retina following optic nerve injury as compared to fish which had undergone a similar operation but whose optic nerve had not been injured (sham-operated). Based on previous studies, I hypothesized that expression of c-jun in the retina would significantly increase in fish that suffered injury to the optic nerve compared to those that only underwent collateral tissue damage. Following RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), quantification of c-jun expression was determined by quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR). Expression levels were normalized to expression of a reference gene (ß-actin), yielding relative expression levels. A two way analysis of variance was carried out in order to determine whether there were significant differences in gene expression 3 hours, 24 hours and 168 hours after injury between sham-operated and optic nerve injured fish. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between sham-operated and optic nerve injured retinas were observed at 24 hours and at 168 hours. The significant differences in expression of c-jun corroborated and extended past studies (Veldman et al., 2007, Herdegen et al., 1993). Furthermore, my findings raised the possibility that c-jun expression may be important for optic nerve regeneration. If the ability of fish to regenerate optic nerve has a genetic basis, then one may be able conduct gene therapy treatment in glaucoma patients by identifying the genes that are differentially expressed following optic nerve injury.


A common pyroclastic facies in subaqueous volcanic successions comprises massive to graded, very thick (several to tens of meters), laterally extensive (several kilometers) beds of nonwelded pumice lapilli with volumes ranging to tens of cubic kilometers. This facies may be overlain by laminated ash or bimodal ash and giant (>1 m) pumice clasts, and underlain by coarse lithic breccia. The association is inferred to be the typical product of sustained magmatic volatile–driven explosive eruptions from vents at water depths of ~1300–200 m. We propose the term "neptunian" for such eruptions and their products. The eruption column rapidly mixes with the surrounding water, cools, increases in density, and collapses, while remaining under water. Lithic clasts that are too heavy to be entrained in the column are deposited close to the source, forming a neptunian lithic breccia. Pumice lapilli are rapidly waterlogged and form the dominant component in the collapsing column and in eruption-fed, water-supported density currents (neptunian density currents). Hot, buoyant, giant pumice clasts continue to rise and may reach the water surface before being waterlogged and settling, along with temporarily suspended ash, forming neptunian suspension deposits. Eruption magnitude, fragmentation mechanisms, and juvenile pyroclast characteristics, especially vesicularity, are very similar in neptunian and Plinian-style eruptions, but column behavior differs primarily because of the contrasting physical properties of the ambient fluid (water versus air).