In a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, neurons close to the characteristic deposits of amyloid show high activity, in contrast to the overall reduction in brain function. Identifying the underlying cellular mechanisms of cortical dysfunction in amyloid-depositing mammalian brains should hopefully generate leads in the search for effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease. Busche et al. used in vivo two-photon calcium imaging of cortical networks to monitor Ca2+ signaling of individual layer 2/3 cortical neurons in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Fifty percent of cortical neurons in diseased mice exhibited impaired functional properties. A class of "hyperactive" neurons was identified whose existence was not predicted from previous in situ or functional imaging data. The hyperactive neurons were located exclusively in peri-plaque regions, and their presence correlated with impairment of cognitive behavior. This synaptically driven hyperactivity of peri-plaque regions may underlie the increased incidence of epileptic seizures in Alzheimer's disease patients. M. A. Busche, G. Eichhoff, H. Adelsberger, D. Abramowski, K.-H. Wiederhold, C. Haass, M. Staufenbiel, A. Konnerth, O. Garaschuk, Clusters of hyperactive neurons near amyloid plaques in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Science 321 1686-1689 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Nonlinear dimensionality reduction methods are often used to visualize high-dimensional data, although the existing methods have been designed for other related tasks such as manifold learning. It has been difficult to assess the quality of visualizations since the task has not been well-defined. We give a rigorous definition for a specific visualization task, resulting in quantifiable goodness measures and new visualization methods. The task is information retrieval given the visualization: to find similar data based on the similarities shown on the display. The fundamental tradeoff between precision and recall of information retrieval can then be quantified in visualizations as well. The user needs to give the relative cost of missing similar points vs. retrieving dissimilar points, after which the total cost can be measured. We then introduce a new method NeRV (neighbor retrieval visualizer) which produces an optimal visualization by minimizing the cost. We further derive a variant for supervised visualization; class information is taken rigorously into account when computing the similarity relationships. We show empirically that the unsupervised version outperforms existing unsupervised dimensionality reduction methods in the visualization task, and the supervised version outperforms existing supervised methods.


The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is an important species both ecologically and economically (Moriarty & Dekker, 1997). However, the species has experienced a sharp population decline across its range over the last 30 years and is now classified as 'critically endangered' according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (Freyhof & Kottelat, 2008). In recognition of this issue, the European Commission has established legislation (Regulation No.1100/2007), which requires all member states with natural A. anguilla habitats to produce Eel Management Plans (EMPs) with a goal to permit the escapement to sea of at least 40% of the silver eel (adult life-stage) biomass that would have occurred prior to anthropogenic influences. To demonstrate the level of compliance with this target figure and ensure the conservation of this species, it is necessary to collect accurate and reliable datasets of A. anguilla escapement. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of high-frequency multi-beam sonar for collecting such data and to examine the usefulness of this non-intrusive approach for the conservation of elusive aquatic species such as A. anguilla.


The purpose of this study was to examine a school district's responses to charter schools operating within its boundaries. The selected district was the only one in the state with two large academically competitive charter schools for at least two years. Four questions guided the research: In terms of instruction, finance, communication, and leadership, how has the traditional district been impacted due to charter school existence? The exploratory research was timely since charter schools are proliferating as tax-supported public choice schools. While many have speculated about free-market effects of charter school competition on systemic educational reform, the debate has been chiefly along ideological lines; therefore, little empirical research addresses this issue. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used to present a comprehensive case study. Twenty-six school officials and teachers were interviewed; 159 teachers and 1576 parents were surveyed. District, community, and state education department documents were analyzed. Since charter schools have existed in the district, numerous activities have taken place. Instructional initiatives included a high school academy, expanded technology, gifted and talented, tutoring, and dropout prevention. All elementary and middle schools required uniforms. The district's state accountability rating improved from acceptable to recognized. A leadership void was perceived due to students leaving to attend charter schools initially. The district was perceived as making efforts to improve communication with the community. The financial impact of charter schools was neutralized due to the district's student population increase, property wealth, and state charter funding structure. The data supported all of the hypotheses in terms of the impact of charter schools in the district on these activities: free-market effects of charter school competition were not established as the primary reason for internal organizational changes that occurred in the district. Anecdotal evidence suggested that charter schools may have played some role, but primarily they seemed to reinforce trends already occurring in the district.


Gas sensors have been prepared by using single crystalline MoO3 nanorods. Structures 50–150nm and up to 15μm in length were synthesized by template directed hydrothermal synthesis. Gas sensing tests showed responses to NO2 up to 740% and to NH3 up to 570%. Moreover, preliminary electrical characterizations were performed, as a function of temperature in 20–520°C range temperature, by means of current-voltage measurements. I-V dependence studies show a linear increase in current at low voltage and a quadratic increase at higher voltages. A study of the current-temperature dependence shows that at high temperature current is thermally active and successively decreases that can be explained by taking in account a change of material morphology.


The results of chemical, biologic, and clinical studies of the interaction between insulin and zinc were published in 1951 and 1952 by K. Hallas-Møller, P. M. Jersild, K. Petersen, and J. Schlichtkrull. It was reported that insulin is insoluble at blood pH in the presence of zinc ions, since at this pH a slowly soluble and slowly resorbable insulin-zinc compound is formed. The degree of retardation of an insulin-zinc suspension is governed first and foremost by the physical state of the suspended insulin. As seen in figure I, a suspension of the amorphous modification, Semilente, has a somewhat longer action than ordinary insulin, whereas the crystalline modification, Ultralente, may be compared to protamine-zinc insulin.


A company's success is highly dependent on its ability to manufacture quality products. Designing products that can be manufactured to meet customer needs with an acceptable level of variation is challenging because design engineers are often unfamiliar with the company's manufacturing capability or are unable to effectively use the capability data to improve a design. The authors present an approach to forecast the manufacturing quality of a product and optimize its robustness while it is being designed. The system comprises a database that stores process capability data and simulation models to simulate process capability data when actual, appropriate data are nonexistent. These data and tools are used with a new probabilistic approach through the inverse reliability strategy to optimize the robustness of a design by locating values of design parameters that enhance the performance of the design and are insensitive to manufacturing variation. Design engineers can use this approach to set design parameter values that will improve the functionality of the product while ensuring it can be produced with high capability. This approach is demonstrated with a design example of an engine valvetrain.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


The study find-out the level of knowledge, attitude and practices and effects of school environment on the nutritional status of children (7-12 yrs) coming from affluent society in Dhaka city in Bangladesh. Majority (68.31%) of the students have basic Nutritional Knowledge but only 70.20 % students have correct basic Nutritional Knowledge. Each school gives basic nutrition education to their students along with the general courses, so that the students as well as their parents adopt healthy eating practices. All schools have classroom teaching programme related to Food and Nutrition. On average students spend 4.8 hours per day at school. Though all schools have indoor sports facilities but students are mostly involved in sedentary activities. Majority (86.5%) of the students participates in indoor sports & extracurricular activities at school as well as almost half (47.91%) of the students take part in outdoor sports. One fifth (18.75%) of students spend more than one hour in extracurricular activities. From this study it is found that there is a significant negative relationship between duration of physical activity (sports and extracurricular activities) at school and over-nutrition (obesity & overweight). In case of students' parents, most (59.37%) of the fathers are businessman and most (67.7%) of the mothers are housewife. About 59 % of students get their pocket money from their mother. About two-third (65.6%) of students take foods from the shops for their school meal and only one third (34.4%) of the students bring foods from home for their school meals. Students spend on an average 24 taka at school to buy foods. Each school have indoor food facilities. Most foods available in the shops inside the schools are fast foods which are mainly rich in calories. Most (72.9%) students consume fast foods and fried foods in school hours. They mostly prefer fast foods and soft drinks who buy foods at school. Intake of fruits, milk and milk product is low. If he or she get extra pocket money then they prefers to buy firstly ice-cream and then chocolate, soft drinks and fruit juices which are mainly energy rich foods. Most (78.1%) students consume fast foods while they are at school but while they are away from school they preferred to take dairy products (96.7%) as well as fruits and vegetables (93.7%). Most of the students (92.70%) take fast foods 1-3 times per week while three fourth of the students (75%) students drink soft drinks 1-3 times per week. Majority of students prefer to have fast foods (68.75%) and soft drinks (58.33%) at afternoon. There is no significant relationship between fast food intake at school and overweight development. High percentage of overweight among the studied subjects possibly due to total intake both at home and outside. From the study we can say that if both the students and parents are given sufficient nutritional knowledge then there is a fair chance to develop a healthy environment in each school which will lead them to choose and eat healthy foods to make their diet balanced. We need immediate measures to control malnutrition problems of children coming from affluent societies in Dhaka city. If proper steps are taken quickly then we can hope a healthy nation with healthy children. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjnut.v24i0.14035 Bangladesh J. Nutr. Vol. 24-25 Dec 2011-2012 pp.31-48


A generalized bidirectional distribution function (BRDF) that relates the specific intensity of the scattered light from a semi-infinite medium to the specific intensity of the incident light is introduced in the framework of coherence theory. This derivation allows us to obtain from first principles several fundamental properties: First, it is established that the generalized BRDF takes the form of a nonlocal relation between the incident and the scattered specific intensities. This nonlocal structure allows us to account naturally for the lateral shift of a beam. Second, the generalized BRDF is the Fourier transform of the correlation function that describes the memory effect. Third, the Helmholtz principle for specific intensities is derived as a theorem from the reciprocity property of the scattering operator for wave fields. This result allows us to prove Kirchhoff's law.


This paper extends Imbens and Manski's (2004) analysis of confidence intervals for interval identified parameters. For their final result, Imbens and Manski implicitly assume superefficient estimation of a nuisance parameter. This appears to have gone unnoticed before, and it limits the result's applicability. I re-analyze the problem both with assumptions that merely weaken the superefficiency condition and with assumptions that remove it altogether. Imbens and Manski's confidence region is found to be valid under weaker assumptions than theirs, yet superefficiency is required. I also provide a different confidence interval that is valid under superefficiency but can be adapted to the general case, in which case it embeds a specification test for nonemptiness of the identified set. A methodological contribution is to notice that the difficulty of inference comes from a boundary problem regarding a nuisance parameter, clarifying the connection to other work on partial identification.


This paper reports the results of two experiments to investigate the effects of payoff alterations in two-person symmetric games. The initial experiment involved 60 subjects, each of whom could earn from £0 to £15, depending on the interaction of their decisions and the unknown decisions of one other person. All decisions were made without feedback to isolate the impact on subjects' behaviour of the game's parameters. A primary aim was to see if the games had strategically distinct structures, or whether uncertainty over the choice rule of others would influence choice behaviour and lessen this independence. An alternative model of rational choice, making allowance for uncertainty in the decision environment, was proposed to capture subjects' behaviour. The results indicated that the frontiers of most of the games had no impact on choice behaviour other than through the magnitude of the change in payoffs. The model received strong support across an identifiable set of 'frontierless' games. However, the variety of games was not sufficient to provide a comprehensive test. A second experiment was recently held to close these gaps. Fifty subjects took part, each of whom earned from A$0 to A$24, averaging A$17. The findings provided broad additional support for the theory.


The late Paleocene to early Eocene was marked by major changes in Earth surface temperature and carbon cycling. This included at least two, and probably more, geologically brief (<200-k.yr.) intervals of extreme warming, the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM) and the Eocene thermal maximum-2 (ETM-2). The long-term rise in warmth and short-term "hyperthermal" events have been linked to massive injections of 13C-depleted carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system and intense global climate change. However, the causes, environmental impact, and relationships remain uncertain because detailed and coupled proxy records do not extend across the entire interval of interest; we are still recognizing the exact character of the hyperthermals and developing models to explain their occurrence. Here we present lithologic and carbon isotope records for a 200-m-thick sequence of latest Paleocene–earliest Eocene upper slope limestone exposed along Mead Stream, New Zealand. New carbon isotope and lithologic analyses combined with previous work on this expanded section shows that the PETM and ETM-2, the suspected H-2, I-1, I-2, and K/X hyperthermals, and several other horizons are marked by pronounced negative carbon isotope excursions and clay-rich horizons. Generally, the late Paleocene–early Eocene lithologic and δ13C records at Mead Stream are similar to records recovered from deep-sea sites, with an important exception: lows in δ13C and carbonate content consistently span intervals of relatively high sedimentation (terrigenous dilution) rather than intervals of relatively low sedimentation (carbonate dissolution). These findings indicate that, over ∼6 m.yr., there was a series of short-term climate perturbations, each characterized by massive input of carbon and greater continental weathering. The suspected link involves global warming, elevated greenhouse-gas concentrations, and enhanced seasonal precipitation.


Automotive industry is one of the most competitive areas and there are several technical issues like global warming and depletion of crude oil. Also the period for developing new car becomes shorter and shorter. This situation makes car industry desires more efficient innovation and it is why Hyundai-Motors introduced TRIZ into their R&D parts. TRIZ covers several areas of R&D projects. Usually it is used for patent circumvention, system and process improvement, cost reduction, and new development of products. There are several steps for solving problem. All the categories of TRIZ need analytical stage. The most popular tool for analysis is function analysis (FA). If the system is stable and existing, FA is very powerful method for understanding system. But if the project is for New Development of the System or technical forecasting, it is not suitable to use FA directly. In this paper, new modeling method will be discussed for new product development.


This article proposes a new model of privacy: infrastructural surveillance. It departs from Agre's classic distinction between surveillance and capture by examining the sociotechnical claims of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) as requiring totalising surveillance of passengers and environment in order to operate. By doing so, it contributes to the ongoing debate on the commodification and platformisation of life, paying attention to the under-explored infrastructural requirements of certain digital technologies, rather than its business model. The article addresses four distinct characteristics of infrastructural surveillance: the aggregation of data, initialisation of protocols limiting possible actions, the prioritisation of distributed modes of governance and the enclosure of the driver in a personalised bubble of sovereign power. Ultimately, unlike previous modes of computer privacy in which activities are being constructed in real time from a set of institutionally standardised parts specified by a captured ontology, we observe the creation of new ontologies.


1550-nm pulses from a fiber-mode-locked laser are used to drive an ErAs:GaAs photoconductive switch, resulting in easily measured THz radiation with average broadband (~0.1 to 1.0 THz) power of ≈0.1 mW. The new THz switching mechanism is attributed to fast extrinsic photoconductivity that generates photocarriers (probably electrons) from the ErAs nanoparticles embedded in the material with a lifetime of ~0.45 ps (354 GHz bandwidth). This is the first known demonstration of useful THz power generation by extrinsic photoconductivity.


Despite their potential value for learning purposes, e-discussions do not necessarily lead to desirable results, even when moderated. The study of the moderator's role, especially in synchronous, graphical e-discussions, and the development of appropriate tools to assist moderators are the objectives of the ARGUNAUT project. This project aims at unifying awareness and feedback mechanisms in e-discussion environments, presently implemented on two existing platforms. This system is primarily directed to a human moderator and facilitating moderation, but might also help the students monitor their own interactions. At the heart of system are the inter-relations between an off-line AI analysis mechanism and an on-line monitoring module. This is done through a collaboration of technological and pedagogical teams, showing promising preliminary results.


Two methods were described to estimate interference in the measurements of infrared (IR) photoacoustic multi-gas analyzer (PAMGA). One is IR spectroscopic analysis (IRSA) and the other is mathematical simulation. An Innova 1412 analyzer (AirTech Instruments, Ballerup, Denmark) with two different filter configurations was used to provide examples that demonstrate the two methods. The filter configuration in Example #1 consists of methane (CH4), methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and water vapor (H2O), and in Example #2 of ammonia (NH3), MeOH, EtOH, N2O, CO2, and H2O. The interferences of NH3 as a non-target gas in Example #1 were measured to validate the two methods. The interferences of H2O and NH3 as target gases in Example #2 were also measured to evaluate the analyzer's internal cross compensation algorithm. Both simulation and experimental results showed that the interference between the target gases could be eliminated by the internal cross compensation algorithm. But the interferences of non-target gases on target gases could not be addressed by the internal cross compensation, while they could be assessed by the IRSA and mathematical simulation methods. If the IR spectrum of a non-target gas overlaps with that of target gas A at filter A, it could affect not only gas A (primary interference), but also other target gases by secondary interference (because the IR spectrum of gas A overlaps with gas B at filter B and thus affects gas B measurements). The IRSA and mathematical simulation methods can be used to estimate the interference in IR PAMGA measurements prior to purchase or calibration of the unit.


This list acknowledges receipt of recent works bearing on the scientific study of language. Although reviews are solicited regularly, we do not guarantee that all books received will be reviewed. Individuals interested in submitting a review should make prior arrangements to that effect with the book review editor. Copies of reviews are sent to the publishers of the works in question. Receipt of individual books cannot be acknowledged nor can books be returned to the publisher.


The 1850s were a period marred by an intensifying sectional crisis between the North and South. One of the maincauses of this sectional tension was slavery, as northerners and southerners had diametrically opposed views on the subject. In 1856, the United States Supreme Court heard the case of Scott v. Sandford, which was a lawsuit in which a Missouri slave, Dred Scott, sued his master, John Sanford, for his freedom.For many Americans, the outcome of this case was incredibly important because theybelieved that itwould settle the slavery question once and for all, making slavery either legal or illegal throughout the entire nation. In March of 1857, the Supreme Court rendered its so-called "Dred Scott" decision, which sent shockwaves through the nation as it declared Scott still a slave and made even more controversial rulings on the Missouri Compromise, the citizenship of blacks, and the legislative rights of Congress in the territories. This paper focuses on the nation's reaction to the Dred Scott decision, and through the use of newspapers and political speeches, it examines whether the reactions varied by geographical region, as well as by political party affiliation. It also examines whether the Dred Scott decision had any effect or influence on American politics, the intensifying sectional crisis, or the outbreak of the Civil War.


Abstract. Bacterial extracellular enzymes play a significant role in the degradation of labile organic matter and nutrient availability in the open ocean. Although bacterial production and extracellular enzymes may be affected by ocean acidification, few studies to date have considered the methodology used to measure enzyme activity and bacterial processes. This study investigated the potential artefacts in determining the response of bacterial growth and extracellular glucosidase and aminopeptidase activity to ocean acidification as well as the relative effects of three different acidification techniques. Tests confirmed that the observed effect of pH on fluorescence of artificial fluorophores, and the influence of the MCA fluorescent substrate on seawater sample pH, were both overcome by the use of Tris buffer. In experiments testing different acidification methods, bubbling with CO2 gas mixtures resulted in higher β-glucosidase activity and 15–40 % higher bacterial abundance, relative to acidification via gas-permeable silicon tubing and acid addition (HCl). Bubbling may stimulate carbohydrate degradation and bacterial growth, leading to the incorrect interpretation of the impacts of ocean acidification on organic matter cycling.


Zero-coupon interest rates are the fundamental building block of fixed-income mathematics, and as such have an extensive number of applications in both finance and economics. The risk-free government zero-coupon term structure is, however, not directly observable and needs to be generated from the prices of marketable, coupon-bearing bonds. The authors introduce the first public-domain database of constant-maturity zero-coupon yield curves for the Government of Canada bond market. They first outline the mechanics of the curve-fitting algorithm that underlie the model, and then perform some preliminary statistical analysis on the resulting yield curves. The full sample period extends from January 1986 to May 2003; it is broken down into two subsamples, reflecting the structural and macroeconomic changes that impacted the Canadian fixed-income markets over that time. The authors examine the evolution of a number of key interest rates and yield-curve measures over the period, perform a principal-components analysis of the common factors that have influenced yield changes over time, and compare holding-period returns over the sample for assets of various maturities.


This important book focuses on post-Lisbon Agenda issues of alignment and misalignment on different dimensions of European society and the European economy, including industrial systems, R&D systems, educational systems and job markets. It also looks in particular at the peripheral regions of Europe - the less developed parts of 'old' Europe, the parts of old Europe that are outside or only half-inside the EU, the new member-states of the EU, and Turkey as the most important EU candidate country. It takes as its methodological starting point the theory of network alignment as developed in SPRU, notably by Nick von Tunzelmann, and builds on this to produce an incisive assessment of the institutions, individual actors and markets that drive the knowledge economy. In all of this, it sets the European picture firmly in the context of global developments in investment, labour and intellectual property flows. Key authors include the editor himself, von Tunzelmann, Andrea Salavetz of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Matija Rojec of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.


In situ Sr isotopic compositions of coexisting apatite and carbonate for carbonatites from the Sarfartoq alkaline complex, Greenland, have been determined by laser-ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. This study is the first to examine the extent of Sr isotopic homogeneity among coexisting igneous minerals containing high Sr ( 3000 ppm) and low Rb ( 1 ppm) contents within a single 50m-thick thin-section mount. This technique is capable of producing measured Sr/Sr values with analytical precision ( 0.005%, 2 ) approaching those obtained by thermal ionization mass spectrometry but in a much shorter interval of time (100 s vs. 1 h, respectively). The combined total analyses ( n 107) of apatite and carbonate yield Sr/Sr compositions ranging from 0.7025 to 0.7031. This relatively large variation in Sr isotopic compositions ( 0.0006) is 1 order of magnitude larger than the estimated external reproducibility ( 0.00005, 2 ) of the method. The large range in Sr/Sr values suggests that apatite and carbonate precipitated predominantly under nonequilibrium conditions. The isotopic variations observed within individual hand specimens may therefore reflect larger (regional) scale open-system processes, possibly involving mixing of carbonatitic melts derived from distinct mantle sources or from a common isotopically heterogeneous mantle.Copyright © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The Thrombolytic Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke Study, which started in August of 1991, was designed to assess the efficacy and safety of intravenous rtPA (alteplase) in patients with acute (0 to 6 hours) ischemic stroke. In October 1993 enrollment was halted because of Safety Committee (DMSB) concerns. In December 1993 the time window was changed to 0 to 5 hours, and it was decided to restart enrollment as a separate study (part B). We report here the results of the original study (part A), focusing on evaluating the safety and efficacy of rtPA given between 0 and 6 hours after stroke onset.

METHODS
This investigation was a phase II, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized study utilizing 0.9 mg/kg IV rtPA or placebo over 1 hour, which was conducted at university and community sites in North America. Except for time to treatment, enrollment criteria were very similar to those of the NINDS rtPA stroke study. Primary efficacy end points were the number of patients with a decrease of 4 or more points on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) at 24 hours and day 30, along with infarct volume at day 30. Secondary end points included mortality and functional recoveries on the Barthel Index and Modified Rankin scale at days 30 and 90.

RESULTS
A total of 142 patients were enrolled at 42 sites in North America, including 22 <3 hours (15%) and 46 between 5 and 6 hours (32%). The groups were well matched on baseline characteristics, including NIHSS (mean of 13 for both). For the primary end points, a higher percentage of rtPA patients had a 4-point improvement at 24 hours (placebo 21%, rtPA 40%; P=0.02); however, this early effect was reversed by 30 days, with more placebo patients having a 4-point improvement (75%) than patients treated with rtPA (60%, P=0.05). Treatment with rtPA significantly increased the rate of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage within 10 days (11% versus 0%, P<0.01) and mortality at 90 days (23% versus 7%, P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
This study found no significant rtPA benefit on any of the planned efficacy end points at 30 and 90 days in patients treated between 0 and 6 hours after stroke onset. These negative results apply to patients treated after 3 hours, because only 15% of the patients were enrolled before 3 hours. The risk of symptomatic intracerebral hemorrhage was increased with rtPA treatment, particularly in patients treated between 5 and 6 hours after onset. These results do not support the use of intravenous rtPA for stroke treatment >3 hours after onset.


Statin and angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker therapy improves endothelial dysfunction using distinct mechanisms. We evaluated simultaneous vascular and metabolic responses to pravastatin and valsartan therapy, alone or in combination, in hypercholesterolemic patients. Forty-eight hypercholesterolemic patients (23 had metabolic syndrome) were given pravastatin 40 mg and placebo, pravastatin 40 mg and valsartan 160 mg, or valsartan 160 mg and placebo daily during each 2-month treatment period in a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial with three treatment arms and two washout periods (each 2 months). Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation and C-reactive protein improved to a greater extent with combined therapy compared with either monotherapy. Importantly, we also observed simultaneous improvement in metabolic phenotypes, with all three treatments causing increased plasma adiponectin levels, reduced fasting insulin levels, and increased insulin sensitivity relative to baseline measurements. For the first time in a statin combination trial, pravastatin combined with valsartan therapy increased plasma adiponectin, lowered fasting insulin levels, and improved insulin sensitivity in an additive manner when compared with monotherapy alone. In contrast to other statins, hydrophilic pavastatin may be combined with other drugs to safely reach lipid target levels while simultaneously improving the metabolic and cardiovascular phenotype of patients at high risk.


In recent months, lawsuits challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's ("ACA") requirement that providers of health insurance pay for contraceptives and abortifacient drugs have attracted attention from legal commentators, the news media, and even the Supreme Court. Plaintiffs argue that the contraception mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") by imposing a substantial burden on their religious exercise without meeting strict scrutiny requirements. Early circuit court decisions at the preliminary injunction phase foreshadowed a circuit split on the issue, with some siding with the plaintiffs, and others siding with the government. While this Note was going to print, the Tenth Circuit issued a complicated en banc decision in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, that reversed a lower court ruling in favor of the government. Although that case signaled a victory for the plaintiffs, the fractured nature of the decision only underscores the likelihood that this issue will ultimately land on the Supreme Court's doorstep.Hobby Lobby highlights a novel issue — whether for-profit corporations can seek exemptions from the ACA by invoking RFRA. This Note will consider the arguments put forward by the majority in Hobby Lobby, as well as those put forward by the dissenters. Moreover, this Note will address additional textual and contextual factors that courts have failed to consider, ultimately concluding that RFRA draws no distinction between for- and nonprofits. Policy arguments against allowing for-profits protection under RFRA are then considered. In the end, if courts will stay true to RFRA's text and context, they will be led to two ultimate conclusions. First, for-profits are within RFRA's auspices. And second, the sacrifice of conscience is not the cost of incorporation in America.


Following the 1985 transport act the Department of Transport appointed the rural development commission to administer a rural transport development fund. The fund of up to 1 M per year started in April 1986. The fund was to 'encourage the provision of innovative projects to serve the transport needs of people living in rural areas of England, where these are not already met, or likely to be met, by other public transport services'. As part of that project the commission has supervised the appointment of county based rural transport advisers, partly supported by a grant from the fund. This report evaluates the activities of these advisers in cornwall, devon, shropshire, staffordshire, Suffolk and wiltshire. (TRRL)


Air Pollution and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes in Vancouver In the November 2003 issue of EHP, Liu et al. (2003) concluded that "relatively low concentrations of gaseous air pollutants are associated with adverse effects on birth outcomes." Although this may be true from a purely statistical sense, there appear to be limitations of this research that suggest cautious interpretation of the findings. Liu et al. (2003) evaluated individuallevel birth certificate data, which is an improvement over the ecologic designs of past time-series studies on pollution. However, birth records do not contain most of the variables that are important predictors of low weight and preterm births. These include smoking, alcohol and/or drug abuse, low socioeconomic status (SES), small maternal weight or height, complications of the current or previous pregnancy [e.g., pregnancy-induced hypertension, previous low birth weight (LBW), spontaneous abortion], insufficient weight gain during pregnancy, maternal illness (e.g., fever), and job-related exertion (Berkowitz and Papiernik 1993; Holmes and Soothill 1996; Kramer 1987, 2003; Lang et al. 1996; Moore 2003). Many of these are major factors that substantially affect risk. For example, maternal smoking during pregnancy, which has a prevalence of 10–20% in the United States (Ebrahim et al. 2000; O'Campo et al. 1995), is associated with a 2to 4-fold increase in risk of LBW or growth restriction (Kramer 1987; Lang et al. 1996; Nordentoft et al. 1996). Therefore, there is considerable room for uncontrolled confounding that might account for the small odds ratio of 1.05–1.10 observed by Liu et al. (2003). Liu et al. (2003) argued that uncontrolled or residual confounding is an unlikely explanation for their results because a) there is no evidence that these factors are associated with air pollution; b) ecologic measures of SES did not modify the associations; and c) "there were only slight differences between crude and adjusted estimates," and "individual characteristics ... did not attenuate the risk estimates." However, these arguments have limitations. First, there may not be evidence that important risk factors co-vary with pollution, but it seems reasonable that many might correlate with residential location. Liu et al. (2003) linked pollution measurements in 13 census subdivisions to births within those subdivisions. If gaseous pollutant measurements and other factors (e.g., SES, smoking prevalence) co-vary by census subdivision, then confounding could occur. Second, ecologic measures are poor surrogates for individual-level ones, which can result in confounder misspecification and residual confounding (Greenland 1980; Liu 1988; Marshall and Hastrup 1996; Morgenstern 1998). Third, the individuallevel covariates included in some of the models did appear to have substantive impacts. For example, the odds ratio for the association between LBW and first-month sulfur dioxide exposure changed from a crude value of 0.95 to a significant 1.11 after adjustment for confounding. This is a 17% absolute increase in risk and a change in coefficient from –0.05 to +0.10 per 5 ppb. In other instances the adjustment caused a significant elevation to become a deficit (e.g., association between preterm birth and first-month exposure to ozone) or a null value to become a significant protective effect (preterm birth and last-month ozone exposure). This apparent impact of confounding was caused by variables (e.g., maternal age and season of birth) that are weaker risk factors than many missing variables, such as smoking, SES, and weight gain (Berkowitz and Papiernik 1993; Kramer 1987; Lang et al. 1996). This suggests considerable potential for residual confounding. The findings of Liu et al. (2003) also lack biological coherence with the literature. The authors invoked a biological mechanism for air pollution similar to cigarette smoking. For smoking, the risk is predominantly during the third trimester, primarily from decreased fetal growth, which has been attributed to decreased maternal and fetal nutrition among smokers and hypoxia from inhaled carbon monoxide (Holmes and Soothill 1996; Kramer 1987; Petridou et al. 1990). However, most of the significant increases reported by Liu et al. (2003) were associated with exposures during the first month or trimester, with no effects seen during the third trimester. It is unclear how these early, low-level pollution exposures, which lack the substantive impact of smoking, would alter fetal growth. Liu et al. (2003) also do not discuss the potential for spurious results due to multiple comparisons. The authors reported 36 associations within the tables, and many more were likely performed, including multipollutant models. Therefore, at least some of the significant results may be due to chance. In conclusion, the above limitations could easily account for the findings reported by Liu et al. (2003), without invoking novel effects from air pollution. The author is employed by ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc. John A. Bukowski ExxonMobil Biomedical Sciences, Inc. Annandale, New Jersey E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Travel time is an important variable that influences the hydrologic response of watersheds. Hydrologic models often do not take the variation of slope along the flow paths, i.e. profile curvature, directly into account. In this study, using a kinematic wave-based model, the effect of profile curvature on the travel time in parallel hillslopes is investigated. Also, the profiles associated with minima travel times are derived. Moreover, the range of profile curvature for which this error becomes negligible is determined. Finally, a kinematic wave-based geomorphic index is derived which considers profile curvature and plan curvature. Given that a rather similar index has been previously developed, the two indices are compared. It is concluded that there is no universal rule about which type of profile (curvature, concave or convex) has the longer travel time. In fact, this strongly depends on the degree of curvature. However, travel times for convex hillslopes are generally more than those of the straight hillslopes. In contrast, there is no consistent trend regarding the variation of travel time with the degree of curvature in concave hillslopes. Furthermore, ignoring slope variation in travel time determination may potentially cause an underestimation by up to 12% in convex hillslopes.


Electricity generation technologies are examined in a global context with a multi-regional version of the ERIS model prototype with endogenous technological learning curves, developed within the EU/TEEM project. Impacts of Kyoto-like CO2 constraints are analysed considering the effects of allowing or not trade of emission permits. Complementary stochastic analyses addressing the uncertainty of emission constraints, demand and learning rates and a preliminary assessment of the effects of the geographical scale of learning are also presented. When technology dynamics are endogenous, mitigation policies stimulate technological learning of emerging marginal low carbon technologies driving the model to their early deployment. Trade of emission permits allows some of the constrained regions to take more moderate actions, but provides opportunities for penetration of learning technologies in different regions, contributing to their long term cost competitiveness. Early action appears to be effective in terms of long term costs and emission profiles. Uncertainties in emission targets and demands may stimulate technological learning as a preparation for future contingencies.


Measurements of charm mixing and CP violation parameters from the decay-time-dependent ratio of D0→K+π− to D0→K−π+ decay rates and the charge-conjugate ratio are reported. The analysis uses B¯¯¯¯→D∗+μ−X, and charge-conjugate decays, where D∗+→D0π+, and D0→K∓π±. The pp collision data are recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies s√ = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb−1. The data are analyzed under three hypotheses: (i) mixing assuming CP symmetry, (ii) mixing assuming no direct CP violation in the Cabibbo-favored or doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decay amplitudes, and (iii) mixing allowing either direct CP violation and/or CP violation in the superpositions of flavor eigenstates defining the mass eigenstates. The data are also combined with those from a previous LHCb study of D0→Kπ decays from a disjoint set of D∗+ candidates produced directly in pp collisions. In all cases, the data are consistent with the hypothesis of CP symmetry.


Mine leachates from gold tailings impoundments usually contain elevated concentrations of metals and sulphates that impact negatively on water quality. This study was aimed at assessing the leachability of such metals from tailings by rainwater. Oxidised and unoxidised tailings were leached experimentally and through simulations using the PHREEQC geochemical modelling code. The results revealed that the majority of readily leachable metals were held in secondary mineral phases, mainly sulphates. A good agreement between experimental and modelling techniques was obtained, indicating the potential use of geochemical modelling in future metal release studies for the site. A list of reactive minerals for the tailings material was compiled. These minerals may or may not be present in the tailings; however, the list provides a means of estimating future reactivity or bulk metal release from the tailings.


Abstract. Strong positive relationships between cloud fraction (fc) and aerosol optical depth (τ) have been reported. Data retrieved from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument show positive fc–τ relationships across most of the globe. A global mean fc increase of approximately 0.2 between low and high τ conditions is found for both ocean and land. However, these relationships are not necessarily due to cloud–aerosol interactions. Using state-of-the-art Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) reanalysis-forecast τ data, which should be less affected by retrieval artefacts, it is demonstrated that a large part of the observed fc–τ signal may be due to cloud contamination of satellite-retrieved τ. For longer MACC forecast time steps of 24 h, which likely contain less cloud contamination, some negative fc–τ relationships are found. The global mean fc increase between low and high τ conditions is reduced to 0.1, suggesting that cloud contamination may account for approximately one half of the satellite-retrieved increase in fc. ECHAM5-HAM general circulation model (GCM) simulations further demonstrate that positive fc–τ relationships may arise due to covariation with relative humidity. Widespread negative simulated fc–τ relationships in the tropics are shown to arise due to scavenging of aerosol by convective precipitation. Wet scavenging events are likely poorly sampled in satellite-retrieved data, because the properties of aerosol below clouds cannot be retrieved. Quantifying the role of wet scavenging, and assessing GCM representations of this important process, remains a challenge for future observational studies of aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions.


Pulmonary surfactant (PS) a lipid-protein complex secreted by type-II pneumocytes is responsible for alveolar stability and prevents lung collapse at low volumes. PS lines the air-alveolar fluid interface with a putative ultra-thin monomolecular film, which by reducing the surface tension of that interface counteracts the contractile forces of lung collapse at low volumes. Monomolecular films (monolayers) are appropriate models for studying biological membranes, in which the lipids and proteins are organized in bilayers, and for pulmonary surfactant films. -- Interactions of the main phospholipid component of PS, dipalmitoylphosph-atidylcholine (DPPC) were studied with the other component lipids and proteins of PS at the air-water interface in monolayers. Over the last decade, epifluorescence microscopy has become a novel and powerful tool to study the organization of molecules in films. Epifluorescence microscopy of films formed in a surface balance of DPPC in combination with unsaturated phosphatidylcholine (dioleyl-PC or DOPC); dipalmitoylphosphatidylglycerol (DPPG); cholesterol; and fluorescently labelled surfactant proteins SP-A, SP-B and SP-C were performed. Visual observation of such lipid-lipid and lipid-protein films using epifluorescence microscopy allowed for the semi-quantitative understanding of the surface chemistry, phase transition, association and interactions of such components of PS with each other, at the air-water interface. -- The unsaturated phosphatidylcholine, DOPC, fluidized films of DPPC and were squeezed out of such films upon dynamic cycling (Chapter 3). Phosphatidylglycerol (DPPG) condensed films of DPPC under the influence of calcium (Chapter 4). Cholesterol drastically altered the DPPC condensed phase structures and fluidized such films (Chapter 5). Hydrophobic surfactant protein - C (SP-C) perturbed the packing of DPPC and DPPC:DPPG films, occupied the fluid phase and was present in the films up to high packing states (Chapter 6). Films adsorbed from liposomes and solvent-spread ones of some PS components were found to display similar micro-architecture and phase properties in equivalent packing states, and SP-C enhanced the adsorption of DPPC vesicles (Chapter 7). Hydrophobic surfactant protein - B (SP-B) also perturbed the packing and associated with the fluid phase of DPPC, albeit differently than did SP-C (Chapter 8 and 9). Hydrophilic surfactant protein - A (SP-A) adsorbed to DPPC films, and was associated with the condensed-fluid phase boundaries of the lipid, and perturbed the packing of such films (Chapter 10). Porcine lipid surfactant extract (LSE) films showed fluid to condensed phase transition upon compression, and probably other complex transitions which was indicated by a decrease in the amount of condensed domains with increasing packing states (Chapter 11). The condensed phase of LSE films were increased under the influence of millimolar calcium dissolved in the subphase compared to the ones without the cation. Dissolved SP-A in the subphase, adsorbed on to solvent-spread LSE films and altered the distribution of condensed domains (Chapter 11). Some of the properties of LSE films (Chapter 11) were correlated to those exhibited by its component combinations in films (Chapters 3-10). -- These studies, using a novel technique, elucidate some of the possible modes of association and interactions between the major pulmonary surfactant components at the air-water interface. This study may also indicate feasible lipid-lipid and lipid-protein associations and micro-organisation in model of biological membranes.


This article provides a framework by which rival firms' incentives for interconnection in unregulated telecommunications markets may be analyzed and argues that the widespread voluntary interconnection observed among Internet service providers (ISPs) is anomalous when compared with examples of other similar markets from U.S. industrial history. However, the fact that it is anomalous provides an opportunity to test common explanations and to explore new explanations for the remarkable connectivity observed among ISPs through a comparative analysis. The comparative analysis reveals that (1) network effects and competitive forces in telecommunications markets will not necessarily drive firms to interconnect their networks voluntarily as there are other options to them, and (2) government actions played an important role in shaping the interconnection behavior competing firms in telecommunications markets. The article then explores some of the implications of these findings for telecommunications policy, and interconnection regulation in particular.


ABSTRACT Prior research indicates that providing participants with positive augmented feedback tends to enhance motor learning and performance, whereas the opposite occurs with negative feedback. However, the majority of studies were conducted with untrained participants performing unfamiliar motor tasks and so it remains unclear if elite athletes completing familiar tasks respond in a similar fashion. Thus, this study investigated the effects of three different versions of false-performance feedback on punching force (N), pacing (force over time) and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) in 15 elite amateur male boxers. Athletes completed a simulated boxing bout consisting of three rounds with 84 maximal effort punches delivered to a punching integrator on four separate days. Day one was a familiarisation session in which no feedback was provided. In the following three days athletes randomly received false-positive, false-negative and false-neutral feedback on their punching performance between each round. No statistical or meaningful differences were observed in punching forces, pacing or RPE between conditions (P > 0.05; ≤ 2%). These null results could stem from the elite status of the athletes involved, the focus on performance rather than learning, or they may indicate that false feedback has a less potent effect on performance than previously thought.


While there are numerous strategies to be deployed to move Canada to a financially sustainable future, this study addresses two critically important issues: fiduciary obligation of corporate- and pension-fiduciaries, and national action on environmental, social and governance ("ESG") financial disclosure, including climate-related financial risk disclosure. The Canadian economy is facing significant challenges and disruptions in the transition to a lower carbon world. Absent clear and innovative steps to ensure our corporations and financial institutions act to address carbon emissions and other environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities, we will be seriously prejudiced in a world that is rapidly moving towards greener and more sustainable economic activity. The study offers a comprehensive set of recommendations on these fiduciary obligations and disclosure, specifically, amending corporate, banking and insurance law to embed ESG factors, including climate-related risks and opportunities, in the fiduciary obligation of directors and officers. Institutional investors and asset managers, including pension funds and mutual funds, should be required to disclose how their portfolio management, voting and engagement activities are contributing to a lower carbon economy. The study endorses the TCFD disclosure framework, suggesting ow government could work with accounting standards setters and securities authorities to align climate-related financial disclosure. Imprecision in respect of information available on long-term climate-related financial risk or other ESG risks is not a bar to directors and officers acting now with a view to the best interests of the corporation. The Supreme Court of Canada has held that the defences of good faith and acting on a prudent and reasonable basis are very strong, even in the face of less than full information. Material ESG risks, costs and assets should be included in the company's financial statements and notes thereto.


This study presents the description of two Callyspongia species new to science, and the distribution of all Callyspongia species recorded during the first joint Cuba-U.S. expedition to characterize Cuban mesophotic coral ecosystems (May-June 2017). Additionally, we propose a key to identify thin branching species of the genus in the Greater Caribbean. The observations here presented are the result of underwater explorations with the Mohawk Remotely Operated Vehicle dives at 35 sites around the island, at depths of 25-188 m, recording images and videos, and collecting specimens. The depth range of five species of Callyspongia, reported before in Cuba, has been extended to deeper waters. Two specimens of branching Callyspongia were collected and described: Callyspongia (Callyspongia) pedroi sp. nov. and Callyspongia (Cladochalina) alcoladoi sp. nov. Morphometric comparisons of external and skeletal traits show clear differences with the other Callyspongia species from the Central West Atlantic with a similar thin branching habit. Callyspongia (C.) pedroi sp. nov. consists of pinkish delicate cylindrical microconulose branches (3-6 mm in diameter, 10-14 cm long) that rarely anastomose, with relatively large oval oscules (1-3 mm in diameter), and a skeleton dominated by primary and secondary fiber reticulations, discretely cored by fusiform oxeas. Callyspongia (C.) alcoladoi sp. nov. consists of grayish, smooth thin branches (3-8 mm in diameter, 20-30 cm long), profusely dividing and occasionally anastomosing, with few spiny projections (2-4 mm wide, 2-4 cm long). Its skeleton includes a highly developed ectosomal tertiary reticulation within the secondary and primary reticulation, and fibers discretely cored by predominant mucronate oxeas. Clear morphometric differences of spicules and their skeletal reticulation distinguish these species from the other six thinly branching Callyspongia species known from the Caribbean.


Objective To explore the effect of simulated ship motion on the anesthetic sensitivity of propofol in rats,so as to provide evidence for rational application of propofol during deployment at sea.Methods The motion sickness model was developed by using the rotating-chair test.The study consisted of 2parts.( 1 ) One hundred and fifty SD rats were randomly divided into the control and the rotation groups,which were further divided into 5 sub-groups,each consisting of 15 animals,in accordance with the dosage of propofol used.The activity and behavior,rate of sleep,sleep latency and sleep duration of rats were closely observed.(2) Thirty-two SD rats were randomly divided into the control group (group 1 ),the rotation group (group 2),the anesthesia group (group 3 ) and the rotation plus anesthesia group ( group 4),each consisting of 8 animals.The acetylcholine (Ach),norepinephrine (NE),γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA),glutamic acid (Glu) in the brain cortex,thalamus and hippocampus were determined respectively in the four animal groups.Results Within the dosage levels of 150 mg/kg-250 mg/kg,the sedative effect of propofol increased progressively with the increase of dosage ( P < 0.01 ).When propofol levels reached 150 mg/kg,200 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg,the sleep time for the rotation group was (21.33 ± 8.08),(67.67 ±21.07) and (97.38 ±23.79)/min,and the sleep time for the control group was ( 13.15 ± 7.64),(42.60 ± 20.79) and (73.40 ± 21.28)/ min respectively (P < 0.01 ).And there was statistical significance,when comparisons were made between the groups (P <0.01 ).The following predominant tendency could be seen in the change of neurotransmitters:in the brain cortex and thalamus,the neurotransmitter level was elevated for the animals in group 2,the neurotransmitter level was decreased for the animals of group 3 and it was further decreased for the animals of group 4; In hippocampus,the neurotransmitter levels in all other groups were also decreased,when comparisons were made with that of group 1,with an average value of group 1 > group 2 > group 3 > group 4.Conclusions In clinical application of general dosage of 150 mg/kg-250 mg/kg,simulated ship motion could obviously increase the anesthetic sensitivity of propofol in rats,however the mechanism involved should be further studied.

Key words:
Simulated ship motion; Motion sickness; Propofol; Neurotransmitter; Rats


This paper interprets the capability approach as a new normative language for policy. It argues that it is characterised by some fundamental words – wellbeing, functionings, capabilities, agency, freedom– but speakers/ social actors are left free to combine these words in multiple ways, interpret them according to different policy settings, and construct context-dependent policy narratives. The paper highlights two areas of interpretative differences: namely the purpose of the normative language and its conception of the person. It illustrates how the capability approach language is interpreted differently according to various policy settings and used to construct different normative policy narratives. The paper argues that this plurality of interpretations is one of the capability approach's greatest strengths, and the main reason for which it is, to date, the most encompassing and compelling normative language with which to frame social action for improving people's lives. This openness to interpretative differences may however sometimes be a liability.


A new nondestructive method for determination of the outer diameter of optical fibers is described. The principle of this technique is based on observing interference maxima in the scattered light from a fiber that is side illuminated by a laser beam at oblique incidence. This technique is easy to implement and can be applied to a fiber with an inhomogeneous and large core.


Abstract The aim of this research is to answer the question how the American think tank experts on the Middle East and US foreign policy towards the Middle East perceive the region and its construction, with a particular focus on the process of Othering. In order to achieve this aim, the article presents the theoretical explanations of the Othering. In the empirical part, the results of semi-structured interviews with the experts are analyzed and presented. The interviews revealed three angles of how the Middle East is perceived. These angles are the geographical location of the Middle East, the securitization of the Middle East and the universal superiority of the United States. The main finding of the research is that the perception of the Middle East is connected with the self perception or the question of "What is the United States of America?"


Romantic relationship quality in adolescence and early adulthood has often been linked to earlier parent–child relationship quality but it is possible that these links are nonlinear. Moreover, the role of social skills as mediator of associations between parent–child and romantic relations has been discussed but not rigorously tested. Using data from 2,230 participants of the longitudinal TRAILS (TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey) sample, this study examined whether parent–child positivity assessed at age 11 predicted romantic involvement, commitment and satisfaction in emerging adulthood. Moreover, indirect effects via cooperation, assertion and self-control were tested. Parent–child positivity did not predict romantic involvement as such. However, in those who were romantically involved, linear and, by trend, nonlinear associations between parent–child positivity and commitment were found, suggesting higher levels of commitment in those who had reported positive parent–child relationships but also in individuals with particularly low levels of parent–child positivity. Satisfaction was linearly linked to parent–child positivity. Little support was found for the assumption that the association between parent–child positivity and romantic relationship quality in emerging adulthood are partly explained by social skills. These results show that neither congruence nor compensation alone are sufficient to explain the associations between parent–child and romantic relationship quality.


The purpose of the present study is to empirically investigate what drives the establishment of security knowledge sharing in organisations. Based on a theoretical understanding a research model was developed and tested by collecting and analysing data from 62 security executives from a diverse set of organisations located in different geographic regions in the world. The empirical tests of a structural model revealed that all proposed hypotheses are accepted, except the hypotheses proposing a positive link between business-based information security and the establishment of security knowledge sharing. Organisational structure has a major direct influence on the establishment of security knowledge sharing in organisations, while the effect of coordinating information security process is moderate. A mediation analysis revealed that the reason for the nonsignificant direct relation between business-based information security and security knowledge sharing is the fully mediating effect of coordinating information security process. Thus, coordinating information security process has an important role on security knowledge sharing by either partially or fully mediating the effects of both organisational structure and business-based information security on security knowledge sharing. Implications and recommendation for future research are further discussed.


Point‐based global illumination (PBGI) uses a dense point sampling of the scene's surfaces to approximate indirect light transport and is intensively used in 3D motion pictures and special effects. Each point caches the reflected light using a spherical function and is typically used in a subsequent rasterization process to compute color bleeding and ambient occlusion in an economic, noise‐free fashion. The entire point set is organized in a spatial tree structure which models the light transport hierarchically, enabling fast adaptive shading on receivers (e.g., unprojected pixels). One of the major limitations of PBGI is related to the size of this tree, which can quickly become too large to fit in memory for complex scenes. However, we observe that, just as with natural images, this point data set is extremely redundant. In this paper, we present a new method exploiting this redundancy by factorizing PBGI data over the tree nodes. In particular, we show that a k‐means clustering in the parameter space of the spherical functions allows to define a small number of representative nodes against which any new one can be classified. These representative functions, gathered in a pre‐process over a subset of the actual points, form a look‐up table which allows to substitute node's data by quantized integers in a streaming process, avoiding building the full tree before compressing it. Depending on the nodes' spherical function variance in the scene and the desired accuracy, our indexed PBGI representation achieves between one and two orders of magnitude compression of the nodes spherical functions, with negligible numerical and perceptual error in the final image. In the case of a binary tree with one surfel per leaf and no spherical functions in the leaves, this leads to compression rates ranging from 3× to 5× for the whole tree.


Nitrogen–vacancy centers in diamond have outstanding quantum optical properties that enable applications in information processing and sensing. As with most solid-state systems for quantum photonic applications, the great promise lies in the capability to embed them in an on-chip optical network. Here we present basic integrated devices composed of diamond micro-ring resonators coupled to waveguides that are terminated with grating out-couplers. Strong enhancement is observed for the zero-phonon line of nitrogen–vacancy centers coupled to the ring resonance. The zero-phonon line is efficiently coupled from the ring into the waveguide and then scattered out of plane by the grating out-couplers.


Lesbians are said to feel excluded by sexual health messages that presume heterosexuality, a finding linked to lower levels of Papanicolaou (Pap) testing. This paper discusses a small, focused qualitative study based in Calgary, Canada that illuminated mid-life lesbians' experiences and perceptions of Pap testing and health. Participants indicated that they felt compelled and invited to access Pap testing by an inclusive discourse – that of 'mid-life', a period associated with an increased need for body surveillance. They also reflected upon aging as an experience of liberation, increased confidence and a time when they could 'catch up' on health and sexuality issues denied them in their younger days. On the other hand, there was significant uncertainty about Pap testing, human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical cancer and what kind of sexual healthcare is necessary for lesbians, which was reinforced by physician messages suggesting a reduced need for Pap testing when lesbian sexual identity was disclosed. In approaching mid-life lesbian healthcare, we suggest that greater analytical attention should be paid to the ways in which lesbian women are included, as much as excluded, in dominant sexual health scripts particularly by health providers who need to attend to women's diverse experiences and needs.


We investigate the impact of student origin on the academic performance of final year undergraduate accounting students at one of the largest universities in Australia. In particular, the effect of student origin is examined by comparing the performance of local Australian and international Chinese students. We develop a number of propositions to test whether there is any difference in the academic performance (where academic performance is measured by performance in the final exam) of local Australian and international Chinese students. An association was observed between student origin and accounting performance and results indicate that Australian students significantly outperform Chinese students. Moreover, the results indicate that a disparity exists between the academic performance of Australian students and international Chinese students, particularly when assessments are designed to test analytical and interpretation skills. The findings suggest that


We use data from Chile's targeted voucher program to test the effects of vouchers on school results. Targeted vouchers have delivered extra resources to low-income, vulnerable students since 2008. Moreover, under this scheme, additional resources are contingent on the completion of specific education reforms. Using a difference-in-differences approach and a market-level empirical analysis, we find a positive and significant effect of vouchers on standardized test scores. Additionally, our results highlight the importance of conditioning the delivery of resources to some specific academic goals in markets with institutional characteristics that prevent public schools from behaving as profit-maximizing firms.


In recent years, we have seen several approaches to implement hardware-accelerated multi-view stereo (MVS) algorithms employing the graphics processing unit (GPU) for fast and parallel computation. To our knowledge, all of them resort to various rendering passes to perform their computations. In contrast, modern GPU compute frameworks give access to the massively parallel compute capability of a GPU without forcing users to express their computations as rendering passes. This allows for a broader class of algorithms to be executed on a GPU and improves flexibility and portability. We implemented a region-growing MVS approach for NVIDIA's CUDA framework, tested it on several data sets, and compared its computation time and reconstruction quality to an existing CPU version. For comparable reconstruction quality we often achieve a moderate speedup which is mainly limited by scarce register and memory resources of the current GPU generation.


Pregnant women in low-income communities often lack access to the necessary healthcare for successful births. This is frequently due to the high costs of medical care, the remote location of patients, and the infrequency of primary care medical visits. To address this inequity, we have created a mobile application and imaging unit that allows for the low-cost implementation of urinalysis testing, which will aid in the detection of warning signs for prenatal health risks. From a single photo taken with a tablet camera, our application digitizes the results of a standard urinalysis test strip, displays the test results, and tracks the patient test histories. Using early, affordable urinalysis, we can increase the rates early detection, intervention, and successful pregnancies. Our results have shown that our solution can accurately estimate the concentrations of biological compounds found in urine when compared to visual approximations of color comparison charts. Our device is not only more efficient than the alternative, but also more efficient at screening for and detecting potentially fatal health conditions in pregnant women. Ultimately, our solution is a frugal and mobile urinalysis alternative that can feasibly be implemented in rural communities in order to increase early detection of pregnancy complications, allow for early intervention, and improve the probability of successful pregnancies.


Objective To compare perinatal and maternal outcomes for Australian women with uncomplicated pregnancies according to planned place of birth, that is, in hospital labour wards, birth centres or at home. Design A population-based retrospective design, linking and analysing routinely collected electronic data. Analysis comprised χ2 tests and binary logistic regression for categorical data, yielding adjusted ORs. Continuous data were analysed using analysis of variance. Setting All eight Australian states and territories. Participants Women with uncomplicated pregnancies who gave birth between 2000 and 2012 to a singleton baby in cephalic presentation at between 37 and 41 completed weeks' gestation. Of the 1 251 420 births, 1 171 703 (93.6%) were planned in hospital labour wards, 71 505 (5.7%) in birth centres and 8212 (0.7%) at home. Main outcome measures Mode of birth, normal labour and birth, interventions and procedures during labour and birth, maternal complications, admission to special care/high dependency or intensive care units (mother or infant) and perinatal mortality (intrapartum stillbirth and neonatal death). Results Compared with planned hospital births, the odds of normal labour and birth were over twice as high in planned birth centre births (adjusted OR (AOR) 2.72; 99% CI 2.63 to 2.81) and nearly six times as high in planned home births (AOR 5.91; 99% CI 5.15 to 6.78). There were no statistically significant differences in the proportion of intrapartum stillbirths, early or late neonatal deaths between the three planned places of birth. Conclusions This is the first Australia-wide study to examine outcomes by planned place of birth. For healthy women in Australia having an uncomplicated pregnancy, planned births in birth centres or at home are associated with positive maternal outcomes although the number of homebirths was small overall. There were no significant differences in the perinatal mortality rate, although the absolute numbers of deaths were very small and therefore firm conclusions cannot be drawn about perinatal mortality outcomes.


Although vast quantities of energy arrive daily from the sun, capturing it is always going to be limited by technical, ecological and land-use constraints. The most serious barrier to capturing it at present, however, is that other energy sources are artificially cheap.

Can renewable energy save the world from climate change by replacing fossil fuels? It is relatively easy to outline a series of 'technical fixes' for the climate change problem which would allow most of us to continue to live much as at present, at least for a while. Shell's 1995 scenario1 suggested that, in theory, renewables could be supplying possibly 50% of world energy by 2050 and, in 1993, the Stockholm Institute's scenario for Greenpeace suggested that, if we wanted to, we could have a world system based almost entirely on renewables by 2100, even assuming continued growth at 2% a year in energy use.2

Since these studies emerged, renewables have developed rapidly - for example, there is now 24,000MW of wind power in use around the world - and it has been argued by Amory Lovins that demand for energy can be dramatically reduced by clever 'Factor 4' and even 'Factor 10' energy efficiency measures3. So the prospects for a shift to a sustainable future are looking promising.

Indeed, there is something of an emerging consensus that, as the UN/World Energy Council 'World Energy Assessment' report, published in 2000, put it "there are no fundamental technological, economic or resource limits constraining the world from enjoying the benefits of both high levels of energy services and a better environment". A little more cautiously, the report adds "A prosperous, equitable and environmentally sustainable world is within our reach, but only if governments adopt new policies to encourage the delivery of energy services in cleaner and more efficient ways"4

However, the consensus is not complete. Although renewables are seen as playing a rapidly increasing role in this optimistic future, the strategy that is seen as being required also relies on continued use of fossil fuels, albeit more efficiently, and possibly also on the expanded use of nuclear power. Most environmentalists cannot countenance the latter option: they argue that, quite apart from the uncertain economics, why try to solve one problem (climate change) by creating another (radioactive pollution)? In addition, there is the possibility, argued forcefully by Colin Campbell and others, that the economically extractable reserves of oil and gas, may not be sufficient for their continued use on a large scale for very long. If that is so, we will have to move even faster to renewables.

Certainly, the WEA's fairly leisurely approach to replacing fossil fuels with renewables may not be adequate in the face of the climate change threat. We may not simply be able to wait for fossil fuels to run out (or rather to become prohibitively expensive). Sheikh Yamani is alleged to be the original source of the now familiar view that 'just as the Stone Age didn't end because people ran out of stones, the Oil Age won't end because we run out of oil.'

So there are plenty of reasons why we should consider moving rapidly to a more sustainable approach, based on the use of renewable resources and the adoption of more efficient ways of using energy. That will not be easy. The development of the new green energy systems involves many technical challenges, and many believe that it will in practice be difficult to actually achieve major energy efficiency gains. In addition, there are many strategic and political battles to be won - for example, that to obtain the necessary funding. However, in this paper I will try to explore the basic resource problems that face this approach. For not everyone believes that there will be sufficient renewables energy resources to meet growing demand, especially as the developing countries industrialise.


We have measured the translational energy distribution, P(E′T), for atomic H coming from 248 nm and 193 nm photolysis of HI adsorbed on LiF(001) at a coverage of 0.7 ML (monolayers). At both wavelengths P(E′T) showed evidence of three contributions as follows: (a) The most energetic H was designated H(I); the energetics indicated that in this channel HI(ad) photodissociated to give ground-state I(2P3/2). (b) Fast H with approximately 1 eV lower peak energy was designated H(I*); in this case the energy corresponded to HI(ad), giving H + I*(2P1/2). (c) The third component was slow H observed down to <0.5 eV; it was interpreted as being inelastically scattered and was designated H(Inel). For photolysis at 248 nm the highest energy component, H(I), had a peak translational energy (E′T)p= 2.0 eV, and the second component H(I*) had (E′T)p= 1.1 eV. For photolysis at 193 nm H(I) had (E′T)p= 3.4 eV and H(I*) had (E′T)p= 2.5 eV. These energies for the scattered H at each wavelength are the same as those reported for H recoiling from photolysed gaseous HI; it appears therefore that HI(ad) gives the contributions H(I) and H(I*) by elastic scattering. The yield ratio H(I)/H(I*) from HI/LiF(001) was comparable with that for the gas phase for 248 nm photolysis of HI/LiF(001), but was greatly reduced from its gas-phase value at 193 nm. Taken together with the enhanced H(Inel) at 193 nm, this suggested markedly increased inelastic energy loss in collisions of the 3.4 eV H-atoms with the substrate and/or co-adsorbate. Theory, also reported here for the first time, predicted at 0.7 ML that HI(ad) would be tilted with the H-end down ca. 15° more steeply than for HBr(ad), but pointing at F– on LiF(001) as reported previously for HBr/LiF(001)[E. B. D. Bourdon et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1991, 95, 1361]. This resulted in localised atomic scattering (LAS) off F–. Energy loss from the 3.4 eV H photorecoiling from HI(ad) and then colliding with F– in the substrate can be due (i) to the more complex trajectories that theory predicts for the case that HX is tilted downwards more steeply, (ii) to increased 'chattering' due to the high impact energy, and (iii) to inelasticity due to strong encounters between the photorecoiling H and adjacent HI(ad).


When the special customary civil courts were established for the first time in South Africa in 1927, they were received with a great deal of enthusiasm from certain quarters. The Black Administration Act 38 of 1927 under which these courts were created, was descriptionbed by the then Department of Native Affairs (which has since undergone a number of changes of nomenclature) as ""the flexible adjustment of Native law and tribal regulation together with appropriate machinery for its application"".'


This work is the first step of an extensive project aimed at chemical and mineralogical characterization of pigments of Roman Empire age throughout the provinces. Wall painting materials from two Roman archaeological sites in Israel (the ancient province of Iudaea , later known as Syria Palestina ) were studied: the Roman villa of Lod, dated to the fourth century CE and the synagogue of Migdal, dated between the first century BCE and the second century CE. A total of 165 samples were investigated, producing multi-analytical information from optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy supported by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy, X ray diffraction, infra-red spectroscopy, and portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. This study shows that materials and techniques in the Roman province of Syria Palestina follow Empire tendencies, although advantage was taken also of the local availability of raw materials. Seven different pigments were identified, including Egyptian blue and cinnabar, and the predominant wall painting technique used was fresco occasionally supported by secco retouching.


Classic facsimile document exchange represents both a set of technical
specifications and a class of service. Previous work has replicated
some of that service class as a profile within Internet mail. The
current specification defines "full mode" carriage of facsimile data
over the Internet, building upon that previous work and adding the
remaining functionality necessary for achieving reliability and
capability negotiation for Internet mail, on a par with classic T.30
facsimile. These additional features are designed to provide the
highest level of interoperability with the standards-compliant email
infrastructure and mail user agents, while providing a level of
service that approximates what is currently enjoyed by fax users.


Livestock production in Ethiopia has, for long, remained subsistence with limited marketorientation and poor institutional support. Farmers and pastoralists produce and keep animals for various valid reasons, with little market-orientation. However, producing for the market requires re-orientation of the production system and development of a knowledge based and responsive institutional support services. Institutional support services of extension, research, input supply, rural finance and marketing are key areas of intervention that can play a central role in the transformation of subsistence mode of production in to market orientation. Livestock production systems in Ethiopia can be broadly categorized into crop-livestock mixed systems, pastoral and agro-pastoral system, urban and peri-urban production systems. The demand for institutional support services for livestock development in these production systems vary significantly. The way extension system is structured in Ethiopia may not be in the best interest of farmers and pastoralists and lacks the responsive capacity to the demands for livestock services. In fact, most often livestock development issues are left to development projects and NGOs that have limited scope, coverage and duration. The major inputs for livestock development include animal genetic resources, feeds and forages, veterinary drugs, vaccines, machinery equipment and utensils as well as knowledge. The experience so far has been the supply of improved (exotic?) animal genetic resources for dairy development, sheep production (meat and wool), improved poultry (broiler and egg production), supply of bee colonies, provision of forage seeds and planting material, dairy goats, provision of processing equipment and utensil (dairy, apiculture), drug supply and vaccination services. Most of these activities have been mainly supplied by the government or government sponsored projects. Limited credit facilities to support livestock asset accumulation and development have been provided by microfinance institutions, food security projects, small-scale micro enterprises and NGOs. The contribution of the private sector in livestock input has been limited to supplies of veterinary drugs and services, roughage and concentrate feeds, and processing equipment and utensils. Recent trends show that there is an encouraging move to involve the private sector in input supplies such as production of beehives. Due to the recent increase demand for live animals and animal products in the domestic and export markets, there has been a renewed interest to promote market-oriented livestock production. As a result, a lot of interventions are happening to engage farmers and pastoralists in a more market-oriented livestock production in areas where the resources offer the opportunities. For example, a lot of activities are happening in apiculture production, small ruminants breeding and fattening, cattle fattening, poultry production and dairy production. Institutions such as microfinance, small-scale and micro enterprises, NGOs, women's affairs office are involved in these activities with limited engagement of the Office of Agriculture and Rural Development at Woreda levels. The demand for input supply, particularly for improved animal genetic resources has increased substantially with poor response of the supply side. There is a gap in coordination of efforts and in basing livestock development interventions on scientific knowledge with the value chain in mind. The extension system has to be re-oriented to be able to respond to the increasing demand for improved and market-oriented livestock development if farmers, pastoralists and the private commercial producers are to benefit themselves and contribute to the development of the national economy.


Over the past few years, much experience has been gained in semi-automatic protocol implementation using an existing Estelle-C compiler developed at the University of British Columbia. However, with the continual evolution of the Estelle language, that compiler is now obsolete. The present study found substantial syntactic and semantic differences between the Estelle language as implemented by the existing compiler and that specified in the latest ISO document to warrant the construction of a new Estelle-C compiler. The result is a new compiler which translates Estelle as defined in the second version of the ISO Draft Proposal 9074 into the programming language C. The new Estelle-C compiler addresses issues such as dynamic reconfiguration of modules snd maintenance of priority relationships among nested modules. A run-time environment capable of supporting the new Estelle features is also presented. The implementation strategy used in the new Estelle-C compiler is illustrated by using the alternating bit protocol found in the ISO Draft Proposal 9074 document.


In this paper we present research work towards a 2D tactile vocabulary for training visually impaired for their independent mobility. The vocabulary is associated to a 2D tactile array (vibration array), which is a part of a wearable navigation prototype (Electronic Travel Aid) called Tyflos. The vibration array is currently consisting of 16 vibrating elements arranged in a 4×4 manner. Each motor can be independently driven with square pulses of varying frequencies. The vibration array can represent dynamically the 3D space of the user's field of view: the 2D arrangement represent the x-y coordinates while the frequencies represent the z coordinate (which is the distance of an obstacle from the user). Different navigation and human factor criteria have been used to create the 2D tactile vocabulary. Finally, using the continuous feedback from the users, the goal is to balance between a minimal vocabulary for easy learning and a rich vocabulary that will still be able to represent efficiently the 3D navigation space.


Abstract Factors predisposing to clinically significant nosocomial infection with Xanthomonas maltophilia were examined in a matched case-control study using multivariate techniques. Sixteen cases occurred among cancer patients in a six-month period, including an apparent cluster of three cases in an intensive care unit. These infections were unusually serious; eight patients had disseminated infection caused by X maltophilia and six died as a result of their infections. Among the 64 factors that were examined, therapy with broad-spectrum antibiotics and central venous catheterization were found to significantly increase susceptibility to infection. Therapy with imipenem was more than ten times more frequent among cases than among controls (p < .001). All fatal infections occurred in patients who had received imipenem, including two patients who died before the organism could be identified and appropriate therapy instituted. Infection with X maltophilia should be suspected in patients who develop superinfection while receiving imipenem, and prompt therapy should be instituted to improve chances of survival. Because a common environmental source of X maltophilia was not identified, further study is necessary to determine specific preventive measures.


Jasna Dragovic-Soso. 'Saviours of the Nation:' Serbia's Intellectual Opposition and the Revival of Nationalism. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. vii, 293 pp. Bibliography. Index. $70.00, cloth. $27.95, paper.This book is, intriguingly enough, dedicated to the late Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. According to the author, it represents an attempt to move beyond one-sided explanations about the Serbian intellectual opposition's shift towards nationalism. Jasna Dragovic-Soso rejects simplistic explanations, arguing that opposition intellectuals joined Milosevic's regime mainly for personal gains, and also critically reviews the ideological continuity thesis which asserts Serbia's continuous desire for hegemony, centralism, and assimilation of other nations.The author opts for a "structural-contextual" interpretation that focuses on tensions between the democratic and nationalistic orientations within Serbia. It is implied that a complex socio-economic and historical-political context has to be taken into consideration to properly interpret the emergence and embracement of nationalism in Serbia and answer the question of how it was possible that essentially non-nationalistic intellectuals embraced the extreme nationalism installed and sustained by Milosevic's regime in the period after the 1989.The book requires a somewhat informed reader, as it is not always easy to keep track of all the actors in this multi-levelled historical analysis. The author takes a chronological approach that starts with the 1950s and communist dissident intellectuals emerging after Tito's departure from the Soviet model of communism; it continues into the 1960s critique of the Titoist regime and the emergence of both nationalists and liberals in the period 1967-1971. This is followed by the period 1975-86, characterized by the emergence of civil rights debates. Finally, by 1987, the political figure emerged in Serbian political scene that gave articulation to divergent intellectual aspirations: the one for democratization and building of a civil society, and the other one that craved a renaissance of the Serbian nation. Slobodan Milosevic, a communist-nationalist, harvested the nationalist ideas, realizing that, while the hope of preserving a united Yugoslavia faded, nationalism was becoming the "social glue" that could bridge Serbian political differences. While in the 1980s the intellectual opposition's solution to the national question mostly remained moderate, it was radicalized during the 1990s. Even though the book was published in 2002, Dragovic-Soso leaves outside of her analysis the whole period after 1991. In an epilogue-style conclusion, she provides a snap-shot of where Serbia was in the year 2000.The book focuses on Serbia's "Official Opposition"-the one that, despite its unfavourable status during the Titoist Yugoslavia, continued to publish books, produce films, and have a media presence. The author cautions that it is also important to remember that, despite its apparent "liberal outlook," the Titoist regime was breaching all kinds of human rights. After presenting a brief overview of the decades of the 1950-1980s, she argues that both, nationalist and democratic options were equally present in Serbia's intellectual thought. …


Abstract FADS genes encode fatty acid desaturases that are important for the conversion of short chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to long chain fatty acids. Prior studies indicate that the FADS genes have been subjected to strong positive selection in Africa, South Asia, Greenland, and Europe. By comparing FADS sequencing data from present-day and Bronze Age (5–3k years ago) Europeans, we identify possible targets of selection in the European population, which suggest that selection has targeted different alleles in the FADS genes in Europe than it has in South Asia or Greenland. The alleles showing the strongest changes in allele frequency since the Bronze Age show associations with expression changes and multiple lipid-related phenotypes. Furthermore, the selected alleles are associated with a decrease in linoleic acid and an increase in arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acids among Europeans; this is an opposite effect of that observed for selected alleles in Inuit from Greenland. We show that multiple SNPs in the region affect expression levels and PUFA synthesis. Additionally, we find evidence for a gene–environment interaction influencing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels between alleles affecting PUFA synthesis and PUFA dietary intake: carriers of the derived allele display lower LDL cholesterol levels with a higher intake of PUFAs. We hypothesize that the selective patterns observed in Europeans were driven by a change in dietary composition of fatty acids following the transition to agriculture, resulting in a lower intake of arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, but a higher intake of linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid.


Android allows developers to build apps with app installation functionality themselves with minimal restriction and support like any other functionalities. Given the critical importance of app installation, the security implications of the approach can be significant. This paper reports the first systematic study on this issue, focusing on the security guarantees of different steps of the App Installation Transaction (AIT). We demonstrate the serious consequences of leaving AIT development to individual developers: most installers (e.g., Amazon AppStore, DTIgnite, Baidu) are riddled with various security-critical loopholes, which can be exploited by attackers to silently install any apps, acquiring dangerous-level permissions or even unauthorized access to system resources. Surprisingly, vulnerabilities were found in all steps of AIT. The attacks we present, dubbed Ghost Installer Attack (GIA), are found to pose a realistic threat to Android ecosystem. Further, we developed both a user-app-level and a system-level defense that are innovative and practical.


Mutual funds hold large blocks of shares in many major corporations. Practitioners and regulators alike have been concerned that mutual funds use their proxy votes in a promanagement manner in order to garner lucrative pensions administration contracts, thus hindering shareholder value. Such concerns led the SEC to mandate the disclosure of mutual fund proxy votes starting in 2003. We present a simple model of mutual fund proxy voting in the presence of potential business ties. Our model generates clean predictions on how funds would vote both prior and subsequent to mandatory disclosure. We provide theoretical foundation for the limited activism of mutual funds and demonstrate that mandatory disclosure is not a panacea. We also show that the strategic interaction between multiple mutual fund blockholders of comparable size can generate counterintuitive non-monotone relationships with relevant empirical implications.


Experiments were conducted to determine if vacuum cooling has an effect on the physical and chemical quality characteristics of mushroom after cooling and storage. Pressure, temperature and mass variations of mushroom were obtained during vacuum cooling. The pressure was decreased from 10000 Pa to 600 Pa within 4 min and then maintained it until the end of vacuum cooling process. Accordingly the temperature of mushroom dropped from initial 25.1 °C to 2.4 °C within 25 min, and the mass loss was 5.3%. Subsequently, vacuum cooled mushroom were stored at 1±0.5°C. and 85-95% of relative humidity for 2 weeks. The effects of vacuum cooling on the color, firmness, polyphenol oxidase and membrane permeability of mushroom after cooling and storage were determined. The results showed that vacuum cooling significantly reduced the polyphenol oxidase and membrane permeability.