Recently bail reform issues have been in the news across the country, as concerns about fair treatment of defendants and possible public safety risks from expanding pretrial release have collided. These issues involve important empirical questions, including whether releasing more defendants before trial leads to additional crimes. An opportunity to investigate this public safety issue has developed in Chicago, our nation's third largest city. There, the Office of the Chief Judge of the Cook County Courts adopted new bail reform measures in September 2017 and reviewed them empirically in May 2019. Cook County's Bail Reform Study concluded that the new procedures had released many more defendants before trial without any concomitant increase in crime. This article disputes the Study's conclusions. This article explains that, contrary to the Study's assertions, the new changes to pretrial release procedures appear to have led to a substantial increase in crimes committed by pretrial releasees in Cook County. Properly measured and estimated, after more generous release procedures were put in place, the number of released defendants charged with committing new crimes increased by 45%. And, more concerning, the number of pretrial releasees charged with committing new violent crimes increased by an estimated 33%. In addition, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, the Study's data appears to undercount the number of releasees charged with new violent crimes; and a substantial number of aggravated domestic violence prosecutions prosecutors dropped after the changes, presumably because batterers were able to more frequently obtain release and intimidate their victims into not pursuing charges. These public safety concerns call into question whether the bail "reform" measures implemented in Cook County were cost-beneficial. And because Cook County's procedures are state-of-the-art and track those being implemented in many parts of the country, Cook County's experience suggests that other jurisdictions may similarly be suffering increases in crime due to bail reform.


1. Endogenous opioid peptides are found in the enteric nervous system in the gastrointestinal tract. The opioid peptide enkephalin, which has anti-secretory action in the small intestine, is also contained in nerves in the gall-bladder wall. 2. In experimental cholecystitis, there is active fluid secretion by the epithelial cells into the gall-bladder lumen, when the intraluminal hydrostatic pressure is low. This fluid secretion to the lumen was abolished by intravenous administration of enkephalin, an effect that was blocked by naloxone pretreatment. The flux of fluid into the lumen was also abolished when the intraluminal hydrostatic pressure was raised to the level initially observed in the inflamed and obstructed gall bladder. Fluid absorption in the normal gall bladder was unaffected by enkephalin. 3. In experimental cholecystitis, naloxone, used as a non-specific antagonist of opiate action, did not affect the gall-bladder mucosal fluid transport observed at a low intraluminal hydrostatic pressure, but it induced fluid secretion when this pressure was high. 4. It is suggested that a raised intraluminal hydrostatic pressure in experimental cholecystitis, which distends the gall bladder, releases endogenous opioids that inhibit active fluid secretion by the gall-bladder epithelial cells. This response may represent a defence mechanism that could be present also in the gastrointestinal tract. In the obstructed and inflamed gall bladder it may prevent progressive distension, ischaemia and perforation of the wall.


Many numerical algorithms involve computations in Lie algebras, like composition and splitting methods, methods involving the Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formula and the recently developed Lie group methods for integration of differential equations on manifolds. This paper is concerned with complexity and optimization of such computations in the general case where the Lie algebra is free, i.e. no specific assumptions are made about its structure. It is shown how transformations applied to the original variables of a problem yield elements of a graded free Lie algebra whose homogeneous subspaces are of much smaller dimension than the original ungraded one. This can lead to substantial reduction of the number of commutator computations. Witt's formula for counting commutators in a free Lie algebra is generalized to the case of a general grading. This provides good bounds on the complexity. The interplay between symbolic and numerical computations is also discussed, exemplified by the new MATLAB toolbox 'DIFFMAN'


[EDITOR'S NOTFE: This menorandum, proposing changes in Israeli policy toward the Arabs in Israel, was written by Israel Koenig, the Northern District (Galilee) Commissioner of the Ministry of the Interior, and reportedly submitted to Prime Minister Rabin as a secret document. Its subsequent publication in Al Hamishmar, September 7, 1976, brought the document wide, critical attention. In the words of Al Hamishmar, the Koenig report "includes dangerous evaluations and statements. Were they accepted as an authorized position, they would cause a conflict between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority." Below, the Journal reprints the report, translated from the original Hebrew.' ]


A fundamental function of the criminal trial is to determine the facts correctly in order to distinguish between guilty and innocent defendants, and between strong and weak prosecutions. This Article seeks to answer a simple question: How good is the criminal trial at reaching accurate factual conclusions?The Article applies a body of experimental psychology to examine the ability of factfinders to assess the evidence and draw correct inferences from it. The psychological research indicates that the mental processes involved in determining facts in criminal trials are more complex and fickle than generally believed. Part I exposes the difficulties in deciphering the human testimony that is frequently encountered in criminal trials, including eyewitness identification, witness memory for the event, confessions, alibis, and witness demeanor. The task is further hindered by two systemic problems with the integrity of the evidence: false corroboration and the paucity of the investigative record. Part II demonstrates that the inference-making process is susceptible to distortion from the context of legal decisionmaking. Intrusive factors include courtroom persuasion, exposure to impermissible information, emotional arousal, racial prejudice, and the decisionmaker's cognitive process itself.In sum, the accuracy of the criminal trial falls short of the system's high epistemic demands and the certitude it exudes. The findings contribute to our understanding of the causes of mistaken verdicts, particularly wrongful convictions. The Article proposes ways to improve the diagnosticity of the process.


BACKGROUND COVID-19 is associated with immune dysregulation and hyperinflammation. Tocilizumab is an anti-interleukin-6 receptor antibody. METHODS Patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 pneumonia receiving standard care were randomized (2:1) to double-blinded intravenous tocilizumab 8 mg/kg or placebo. The primary outcome measure was clinical status on a 7-category ordinal scale at day 28 (1, discharged/ready for discharge; 7, death). RESULTS Overall, 452 patients were randomized; the modified-intention-to-treat population included 294 tocilizumab-treated and 144 placebo-treated patients. Clinical status at day 28 was not statistically significantly improved for tocilizumab versus placebo (P=0.36). Median (95% CI) ordinal scale values at day 28: 1.0 (1.0 to 1.0) for tocilizumab and 2.0 (1.0 to 4.0) for placebo (odds ratio, 1.19 [0.81 to 1.76]). There was no difference in mortality at day 28 between tocilizumab (19.7%) and placebo (19.4%) (difference, 0.3% [95% CI, -7.6 to 8.2]; nominal P=0.94). Median time to hospital discharge was 8 days shorter with tocilizumab than placebo (20.0 and 28.0, respectively; nominal P=0.037; hazard ratio 1.35 [95% CI 1.02 to 1.79]). Median duration of ICU stay was 5.8 days shorter with tocilizumab than placebo (9.8 and 15.5, respectively; nominal P=0.045). In the safety population, serious adverse events occurred in 34.9% of 295 patients in the tocilizumab arm and 38.5% of 143 in the placebo arm. CONCLUSIONS In this randomized placebo-controlled trial in hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patients, tocilizumab did not improve clinical status or mortality. Potential benefits in time to hospital discharge and duration of ICU stay are being investigated in ongoing clinical trials.


To adequately protect an organization, physical security must go beyond the "gates, guns, and guards" mentality that characterizes most security programs. Creating a sound security plan involves understanding not only security requirements but also the dynamics of the marketplace, employee issues, and management goals. The Complete Guide to Physical Security discusses the assets of a facilitypeople, building, and locationand the various means to protect them. It emphasizes the marriage of technology and physical hardware to help those tasked with protecting these assets to operate successfully in the ever-changing world of security. The book covers specific physical security technologies, such as intrusion detection, access control, and video surveillance systemsincluding networked video. It addresses the reasoning behind installations, how to work with contractors, and how to develop a central station for monitoring. It also discusses government regulations for building secured facilities and SCIFs (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities). Case examples demonstrate the alignment of security program management techniques with not only the core physical security elements and technologies but also operational security practices. The authors of this book have nearly 50 years combined experience in the security industryincluding the physical security and security management arenas. Their insights provide the foundation for security professionals to develop a comprehensive approach to achieving physical security requirements while also establishing leadership roles that help further the overall mission of their organization.


Many real-world applications give rise to large heterogeneous networks where nodes and edges can be of any arbitrary type (e.g., user, web page, location). Special cases of such heterogeneous graphs include homogeneous graphs, bipartite, k-partite, signed, labeled graphs, among many others. In this work, we generalize the notion of network motifs to heterogeneous networks. In particular, small induced typed subgraphs called typed graphlets (heterogeneous network motifs) are introduced and shown to be the fundamental building blocks of complex heterogeneous networks. Typed graphlets are a powerful generalization of the notion of graphlet (network motif) to heterogeneous networks as they capture both the induced subgraph of interest and the types associated with the nodes in the induced subgraph. To address this problem, we propose a fast, parallel, and space-efficient framework for counting typed graphlets in large networks. We discover the existence of non-trivial combinatorial relationships between lower-order ($k-1$)-node typed graphlets and leverage them for deriving many of the $k$-node typed graphlets in $o(1)$ constant time. Thus, we avoid explicit enumeration of those typed graphlets. Notably, the time complexity matches the best untyped graphlet counting algorithm. The experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework in terms of runtime, space-efficiency, parallel speedup, and scalability as it is able to handle large-scale networks.


Do children recognize VP-ellipsis and know its identification restrictions when allowed the necessary conditions to offer a non-adult interpretation? We have applied a Truth Value Judgement Task (TVJT) consisting of three characters sentences: A who did something to B and C who also did something to B. Our null hypothesis sustains that the elided VP is not restricted by its antecedent. If that is true, we expect children's grammar acquiring VP-ellipsis languages to be broader than the target. Thirty 4- to 6-year-old children were tested with one matching condition (the adult-like interpretation) and five mismatch ones, all false under the adult interpretation. Our results show that children perform at ceiling in the matching condition, but display an average of 26% of non-adult responses in the mismatching conditions. Our results also show that there is an age effect. The 4-year-olds accept 42% of the non-adult interpretations while this figure drops to 20.5% for the 5-year-olds and to 8% for the 6-year-olds.


The modern radical resection for the lung cancer consists of the parenchymal lung resection at least by tumor-bearing lobe and hilar/mediastinal lymph node dissection. For minimally invasive intent, the curative resection is being performed under video-thoracoscopy. The relative advantage over the conventional procedure under thoracotomy has yet to be defined in terms of operative indicators, postoperative pain, safety, cost, and so on. No previous study has ever clearly described the significant difference between these 2 procedures. The present thoracotomy-based radical resection has been fully down-sized together with advanced instrumentations, and the perioperative parameters between 2 procedures remained minimal. The evidence-based advantage of video-assisted radical resection needs to be addressed. Since their differences are solely concerned about the route of the approach into the thoracic cavity, the oncological difference reasonably does not seem to exist.


The goal of source separation is to detect and extract the individual signals present in a mixture. Its application to sound signals and, in particular, to music signals, is of interest for content analysis and retrieval applications arising in the context of online music services. Other applications include unmixing and remixing for post-production, restoration of old recordings, object-based audio compression and upmixing to multichannel setups. This work addresses the task of source separation from monaural and stereophonic linear musical mixtures. In both cases, the problem is underdetermined, meaning that there are more sources to separate than channels in the observed mixture. This requires taking strong statistical assumptions and/or learning a priori information about the sources in order for a solution to be feasible. On the other hand, constraining the analysis to instrumental music signals allows exploiting specific cues such as spectral and temporal smoothness, note-based segmentation and timbre similarity for the detection and extraction of sound events. The statistical assumptions and, if present, the a priori information, are both captured by a given source model that can greatly vary in complexity and extent of application. The approach used here is to consider source models of increasing levels of complexity, and to study both their implications on the separation algorithm, and the type of mixtures they are able to handle. The starting point is sparsity-based separation, which makes the general assumption that the sources can be represented in a transformed domain with few highenergy coefficients. It will be shown that sparsity, and consequently separation, can both be improved by using nonuniform-resolution time–frequency representations. To that end, several types of frequency-warped filter banks will be used as signal front-ends in conjunction with an unsupervised separation approach aimed at stereo signals. As a next step, more sophisticated models based on sinusoidal modeling and statistical training will be considered in order to improve separation and to allow the consideration of the maximally underdetermined problem: separation from single-channel signals. An emphasis is given in this work to a detailed but compact approach to train models of the timbre of musical instruments. An important characteristic of the approach is that it aims at a close description of the temporal evolution of the spectral envelope. The proposed method uses a formant-preserving, dimension-reduced representation of the spectral envelope based on spectral interpolation and Principal Component Analysis. It then describes the timbre of a given instrument as a Gaussian Process that can be interpreted either as a prototype curve in a timbral space or as a time–frequency template in the spectral domain. Such templates will be used for the grouping and separation of sinusoidal tracks from the mixture. A monaural separation method based on sinusoidal modeling and on the mentioned timbre modeling approach will be presented. It exploits common-fate and good-continuation cues to extract groups of sinusoidal tracks corresponding to the individual notes. Each group is compared to each one of the timbre templates on the database using a specially-designed measure of timbre similarity, followed by a Maximum Likelihood decision. Subsequently, overlapping and missing parts of the sinusoidal tracks are retrieved by interpolating the selected timbre template. The method is later extended to stereo mixtures by using a preliminary spatial-based blind separation stage, followed by a set of refinements performed by the above sinusoidal modeling and timbre matching methods and aiming at reducing interferences with the undesired sources. A notable characteristic of the proposed separation methods is that they do not assume harmonicity, and are thus not based on a previous multipitch estimation stage, nor on the input of detailed pitch-related information. Instead, grouping and separation relies solely on the dynamic behavior of the amplitudes of the partials. This also allows separating highly inharmonic sounds and extracting chords played by a single instrument as individual entities. The fact that the presented approaches are supervised and based on classification and similarity allows using them (or parts thereof) for other content analysis applications. In particular the use of the timbre models, and the timbre matching stages of the separation systems will be evaluated in the tasks of musical instrument classification and detection of instruments in polyphonic mixtures.


ABSTRACT Snowden's global surveillance revelations inverted the direction of the European Parliament's debate on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Before Snowden's revelations, corporations were shaping Europe's privacy rules. But when Snowden's revelations raised the salience of Internet privacy issues, the power of corporations went down, and privacy advocates incorporated their preferences into the GDPR. Thus, the fact that Snowden was able to increase the salience of privacy issues was instrumental in defeating organised corporate power and enabling privacy advocates to mobilise Europe's culture of privacy protection.


The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of Jin Batu (Strobilanthes
crispus) leaves extract (1% w/w) on diet-induced obese rats and to evaluate its
potential development for the treatment of obesity. S. crispus leaves were
extracted in chloroform-methanol (3:5), and the extracts were given in drinking
water of obese rats. This experiment was divided into 2 phases. In the first phase,
Sprague-Dawley rats (n=42) aged 4 months old (mature age) were given semipurified
high-fat (HF) diet for 14 weeks to induce obesity. In the second phase,
Obese rats were treated for another 14 weeks with 1% (w/w) chloroformmethanol
extract ofS. crispus leaves.
Results obtained in the first phase were as follows. After 14 weeks ofHF diet, 18
diet-induced rats were identified as obese based on the body weight gain. The
obese rats had significantly (p <0.05) higher energy intake, adipose tissue and
liver weights and plasma leptin levels compared to Normal rats. Obese rats also
had higher feed efficiency and lower adipose tissue lipolysis and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) gene expression than Normal rats. A severe case of fatty liver (nonalcoholic
fatty liver disease) with the development of hepatic steatosis was also
noted in Obese rats. No significant difference was found in mean food intake,
HDL, LDL, cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, glycerol and insulin levels between
Normal and Obese rats.
In the second phase, Obese rats from HF diet treatment were divided into two
groups; Obese and Obese + Treatment (OT). The use of Normal rats as positive
control in the first phase was continued in the second phase. Only OT group was
given S. crispus extract (1% w/w) in drinking water. High-Fat diet (during first
phase) was switched to normal rat chow diet for all groups to imitate diet
modification as a method of therapy in human. After 14 weeks of treatment with
S. crispus extract, OT group was found to have lower mean body weight than
control Obese group. The mean body weight gain and feed efficiency was also
lowest in OT group when compared to Normal and Obese groups. However, for
both results the difference was not significant. The anti-obesity effect of OT
group was further confirmed with significantly (p <0.05) lower adipose tissue and
liver weight and leptin level compared to Obese group. Lower glucose level and
hepatic steatosis combined with high lipolysis rate and LPL mRNA expressed in
adipose tissue was also noted in OT group.
In conclusion, this study indicates that 1% (w/w) S. crispus extract has some antiobesity
effect on obese rats especially in decreasing adipose tissue weight,
lowering leptin level and hepatic steatosis.


5G propels mobile technology into the exclusive group of general purpose technologies that have marked the evolution of our history and triggered transformative changes in society. Edge computing is instrumental in helping 5G fulfil its promise and meet its expectations and requirements. This article discusses the value shifts occurred in the telecom value chain and shows how blockchain can aid value extraction in 5G, highlighting a number of services and applications of 5G networks that benefit from distributed ledger technology. Furthermore, the paper details a couple of applications enabled by the marriage of 5G with distributed ledger technology: autonomous unmanned (vehicular or aerial) systems and connected supply chains. The combination of 5G and edge computing permits to unlock new business value in telecom networks; in the same way that edge computing is the nexus of creating new value in 5G, blockchain is the fulcrum of capturing that new value.


It is apparent that the use of accurate pressure measurement techniques is essential for the outcome of urodynamic investigations. The aim of this paper is to estimate the demands on urodynamic pressure measurements and to review the properties of various techniques used. For the infused catheter technique, the dynamic properties are very much dependent on the complicance of the infusion system. With optimal infusion, the bandwidth and the pressure rise rate seem to be sufficient for most applications. Intraluminal microtransducers have a high bandwidth, but a certain fiber optic transducer cannot accurately measure mechanical pressure in the collapsed urethra. The principal differences in measuring hydrostatic pressure between the infused catheter technique and microtransducers should be observed. Flexion artefacts are a problem when measuring urethral pressure profiles. Newly developed transducers may offer a solution to this problem.


Abstract : Qualitative probabilistic networks (QPNs) are abstractions of influence diagrams that encode constraints on the probabilistic relation among variables rather than precise numeric distributions. Qualitative relations express monotonicity constraints on direct probabilistic relations between variables, or on interactions among the direct relations. Like their numeric counterpart, QPNs facilitate graphical inference: methods for deriving qualitative relations of interest via graphical transformations of the network model. However, query processing in QPNs exhibits computational properties quite different from basic influence diagrams. In particular, the potential for information loss due to the incomplete specification of probabilities poses the new challenge of minimizing ambiguity. Analysis of the properties of QPN transformations reveals several characteristics of admissible graphical inference procedures. Keywords: Networks, Interference, Variables.


Plant disease resistance (R) proteins recognize matching pathogen avirulence proteins. Alleles of the pepper R gene Bs3 mediate recognition of the Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (Xcv) type III effector protein AvrBs3 and its deletion derivative AvrBs3Δrep16. Pepper Bs3 and its allelic variant Bs3-E encode flavin monooxygenases with a previously unknown structure and are transcriptionally activated by the Xcv effector proteins AvrBs3 and AvrBs3Δrep16, respectively. We found that recognition specificity resides in the Bs3 and Bs3-E promoters and is determined by binding of AvrBs3 or AvrBs3Δrep16 to a defined promoter region. Our data suggest a recognition mechanism in which the Avr protein binds and activates the promoter of the cognate R gene.


Climate change poses profound, direct, and well‐documented threats to biodiversity. A significant fraction of Earth's species is at risk of extinction due to changing precipitation and temperature regimes, rising and acidifying oceans, and other factors. There is also growing awareness of the diversity and magnitude of responses, both proactive and reactive, that people will undertake as lives and livelihoods are affected by climate change. Yet to date few studies have examined the relationship between these two powerful forces. The natural systems upon which people depend, already under direct assault from climate change, are further threatened by how we respond to climate change. Human history and recent studies suggest that our actions to cope with climate change (adaptation) or lessen its rate and magnitude (mitigation) could have impacts that match—and even exceed—the direct effects of climate change on ecosystems. If we are to successfully conserve biodiversity and maintain ecosystem services in a warming world, considerable effort is needed to predict and reduce the indirect risks created by climate change.


Philosophically, materialists and idealists understand the world differently. In materialist theory information directly represents the natural world, whereas idealism understands it to be the very structure of thought. Some of the problems arising between information theory and the actual practice of librarianship are due to mixing concepts from incompatible theories. The concept of information favored by materialist theories is not interchangeable with the concepts preferred by idealists and critical theorists. Materialism overemphasizes the empirical features of information, while giving short shrift to the possibility that information can be both factual and evaluative. Consequently, this leads to theories of information which are out of touch with the values, norms and purposes of ordinary people.


Ayahuasca is an Amazonian psychoactive brew of two main components. Its active agents are β-carboline and tryptamine derivatives. As a sacrament, ayahuasca is still a central element of many healing ceremonies in the Amazon Basin and its ritual consumption has become common among the mestizo populations of South America. Ayahuasca use amongst the indigenous people of the Amazon is a form of traditional medicine and cultural psychiatry. During the last two decades, the substance has become increasingly known among both scientists and laymen, and currently its use is spreading all over in the Western world. In the present paper we describe the chief characteristics of ayahuasca, discuss important questions raised about its use, and provide an overview of the scientific research supporting its potential therapeutic benefits. A growing number of studies indicate that the psychotherapeutic potential of ayahuasca is based mostly on the strong serotonergic effects, whereas the sigma-1 receptor (Sig-1R) agonist effect of its active ingredient dimethyltryptamine raises the possibility that the ethnomedical observations on the diversity of treated conditions can be scientifically verified. Moreover, in the right therapeutic or ritual setting with proper preparation and mindset of the user, followed by subsequent integration of the experience, ayahuasca has proven effective in the treatment of substance dependence. This article has two important take-home messages: (1) the therapeutic effects of ayahuasca are best understood from a bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model, and (2) on the biological level ayahuasca may act against chronic low grade inflammation and oxidative stress via the Sig-1R which can explain its widespread therapeutic indications.


Template-dependent replication at the molecular level is the basis of reproduction in nature. A detailed understanding of the peculiarities of the chemical reaction kinetics associated with replication processes is therefore an indispensible prerequisite for any understanding of evolution at the molecular level. Networks of interacting self-replicating species can give rise to a wealth of different dynamical phenomena, from competitive exclusion to permanent coexistence, from global stability to multi-stability and chaotic dynamics. Nevertheless, there are some general principles that govern their overall behavior. We focus on the question to what extent the dynamics of replication can explain the accumulation of genetic information that eventually leads to the emergence of the first cell and hence the origin of life as we know it. A large class of ligation-based replication systems, which includes the experimentally available model systems for template directed self-replication, is of particular interest because its dynamics bridges the gap between the survival of a single fittest species to the global coexistence of everthing. In this intermediate regime the selection is weak enough to allow the coexistence of genetically unrelated replicators and strong enough to limit the accumulation of disfunctional mutants.


Upland rice is characteristically grown in rainfed, naturally well-drained soils with bunded or unhundcd fields and without surface water accumulation. In practice, the ecological and economic diversiy that this definition embraces is enormous, but what upland rice fields have in common is low yields and the severe constraints imposed by drought and diseases, in particular rice blast. This book is the proceedings of the second international conference on upland rice, here sponsored by the Upland Rice Intercenter Research Coordination Committee (URIRCC). The first part is devoted to the problem of classifying upland rice growing environments and the second to rice as part of integrated upland farming. A third section addresses the problems of blast and other disease, pest, and weed problems. The final part deals with adaptive research, preproduction testing, and production programmes. In the last decade there has been considerable research on upland rice, some of it reported here, but so far it has had little impact. One reason, well argued in a paper by Jiggins and Fresco, is that the crucial factors are often social and economic and these continue to be given only cursory attention. When the time comes for conferences such as this to give equal weight to socio-economic issues then perhaps we may expect to see some real progress made. G. R. Conway


Constitutional interpretation usually looks to the past--to an old text, to history, to precedent, to tradition — in an effort to limit political majorities. But recently, the Supreme Court has taken a different approach to the Constitution: It has tried to anticipate trends in public opinion instead of taking lessons from the past; and, at the same time, instead of facing down popular majorities, the Court has been prepared to give way if it learns that it has misgauged public opinion. This approach — which might be called modernization — has characterized the Supreme Court's recent work in several areas, including the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment and the limits on sex discrimination imposed by the Equal Protection Clause. Perhaps most interesting, the substantive due process decisions of the last 40 years are modernizing decisions, unlike the pre-New Deal substantive due process decisions to which they are often, mistakenly, compared. Modernization is an appealing approach in many ways. Among other things, it holds out the hope of more easily reconciling judicial review with democracy. But modernization also raises serious questions--particularly that the courts may distort the political process and may be too willing to accommodate what they perceive as the demands of popular opinion, at the expense of a principled judicial role.


The lack of attention to quality control by house builders in the Australian State of Victoria has been a contentious issue for more than two decades. In an attempt to improve the quality of housing, various mechanisms have been adopted and discarded by industry‐based organisations and government legislation. While builders are encouraged to improve construction quality, little is known and published about the quality of housing produced by owner builders. This paper presents findings from an ongoing research project that compares the defects in houses built by owner builders with those of registered builders. The initial findings suggest that there is no significant difference between the quality of housing procured by owner builders and registered builders. The functional elements within a house where defects are likely to occur are identified and discussed. The paper concludes by suggesting that the use of a registered builder's management expertise does not necessarily guarantee a better quality product.


Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) is a minimally invasive neurosurgical technique. During the past 30 years, radiosurgery has been performed for a number of intracranial disorders with a generally low incidence of side effects. Although radiation-induced neoplasia following radiotherapy is well documented, there are few reports of this complication following radiosurgery. The authors are engaged in an ongoing project in which they are studying the delayed adverse effects of radiosurgical changes in 2500 patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) treated within a 30-year period. The cases of 1333 patients treated by the senior author (L.S.) have been reviewed thus far. A subset of 288 patients in this group underwent neuroimaging and participated in clinical follow up for at least 10 years. The authors report two cases of radiosurgically induced neoplasia. In both cases the patient was treated with GKS for an AVM. Longer than 10 years after GKS, each of the patients was found to have an incidental, uniformly enhancing, dura-based mass lesion near the site of the AVM. These lesions displayed the imaging characteristics of a meningioma. Because in both cases the lesion has displayed no evidence of a mass effect, they continue to be followed using serial neuroimaging. These are the fifth and sixth cases meeting the criteria for radiation-induced neoplasms defined by Cahan, et al., in 1998. Although radiosurgery is generally considered quite safe, the incidence of radiation-induced neoplasms is not known. These cases and the few others detailed in the literature emphasize the need for long-term neurosurgical follow-up review in patients after radiosurgery.


The significant advances of hardware manufacturing technology and the development of efficient software algorithms make technically and economically feasible a network composed of numerous, small, low-cost sensors using wireless communications, that is, a wireless sensor network. WSNs have attracted intensive interest from both academia and industry due to their wide application in civil and military scenarios. In hostile scenarios, it is very important to protect WSNs from malicious attacks. Due to various resource limitations and the salient features of a wireless sensor network, the security design for such networks is significantly challenging. In this article, we present a comprehensive survey of WSN security issues that were investigated by researchers in recent years and that shed light on future directions for WSN security.


The impossibility theorems of Arrow, Sen, Kemp-Ng, and Parks show that interpersonally comparable individual cardinal utilities are needed for making social decisions. But virtually all economists regard cardinal utility and interpersonal comparisons of utility as practically impossible to obtain, if not conceptually meaningless and/or scientifically inadmissible. This paradox (Section 1) can be largely solved by a simple method (Section 2). Almost incredibly, this simple method calls for treating a dollar as a dollar except in the general tax/transfer system. This achieves a tremendous simplification in the formulation of economic policy in general and in cost-benefit analysis in particular. More astonishingly, pursued to its logical conclusion (Section 3), the argument compels us to say that, economists, as a group, should be in favour of the reversed weighting system (counting a dollar to the poor as worth less than a dollar to the rich)! The separation of "polity" (where "one person one vote" instead of "a dollar is a dollar" applies) from "economy" is mainly sustained by the attitudes of non-economists (Section 4).


This extended policy report will consider the economy of care and intimacy within which many female migrants are employed in the global labour market, ensuring the well being of individuals and families worldwide while also pursuing their own goals for economic and social empowerment. The report will feature three parts on migrant women employed in nursing, caregiving in private homes, and intimate labour, primarily sex work. It will demonstrate the different understandings that women have of their labour in each area of work and will examine how labour in this sector continues to be stigmatised, poorly valued and exploited. It also examines positive examples of empowerment and agency. While each type of labour within the care sector has distinct policy challenges, there are also overlaps and ambiguities between them. The report will indicate how policy-makers can better address the needs of female migrant workers within the often-invisible economies of care and intimacy.


Despite the great success of GANs in images translation with different conditioned inputs such as semantic segmentation and edge maps, generating high-fidelity realistic images with reference styles remains a grand challenge in conditional image-to-image translation. This paper presents a general image translation framework that incorporates optimal transport for feature alignment between conditional inputs and style exemplars in image translation. The introduction of optimal transport mitigates the constraint of many-to-one feature matching significantly while building up accurate semantic correspondences between conditional inputs and exemplars. We design a novel unbalanced optimal transport to address the transport between features with deviational distributions which exists widely between conditional inputs and exemplars. In addition, we design a semantic-activation normalization scheme that injects style features of exemplars into the image translation process successfully. Extensive experiments over multiple image translation tasks show that our method achieves superior image translation qualitatively and quantitatively as compared with the state-of-the-art.


INTRODUCTION
Rehabilitation may contribute to the management of Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) dealing with disabilities due to skin and joint involvement.

AIM
to evaluate the efficacy of a district specific and global rehabilitation program tailored for SSc patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
20 SSc patients were enrolled and randomly assigned to 2 groups. Interventional group (10 pts) was treated that included hand and face specific rehabilitation and at least a global rehabilitation technique such as hydrokinesytherapy or land-based program, also comprising respiratory exercises. Hand lymphatic drainage was added when necessary. Observational group (10 patients) was only provided with educational advices and medical information about SSc. Patients were evaluated at baseline (T0) and after the 9 weeks treatment period (T1). Interventional group was also assessed after a 9 weeks follow-up (T2). Patients were evaluated by SF-36, HAQ and a purpose-built-questionnaire for global health condition and with Hamis test, Duruöz scale, range of motion, water volumetric test, mouth opening and a purpose-built-questionnaire for hand and face involvement.

RESULTS
At the end of the treatment, patients of interventional group improved in all the parameters evaluated. At follow-up, mouth mobility and functionality such as global health status was partially lost, only hand mobility and functionality parameters were maintained. No changes were observed in controls.

CONCLUSION
The association and of district-specific and global rehabilitative techniques conceived and tailored for SSc patients improves disability, HRQoL, hand and face disability and functionality, with its effects partially maintained at the follow-up.


The recent availability of large-scale call detail record data has substantially improved our ability of quantifying human travel patterns with broad applications in epidemiology. Notwithstanding a number of successful case studies, previous works have shown that using different mobility data sources, such as mobile phone data or census surveys, to parametrize infectious disease models can generate divergent outcomes. Thus, it remains unclear to what extent epidemic modelling results may vary when using different proxies for human movements. Here, we systematically compare 658 000 simulated outbreaks generated with a spatially structured epidemic model based on two different human mobility networks: a commuting network of France extracted from mobile phone data and another extracted from a census survey. We compare epidemic patterns originating from all the 329 possible outbreak seed locations and identify the structural network properties of the seeding nodes that best predict spatial and temporal epidemic patterns to be alike. We find that similarity of simulated epidemics is significantly correlated to connectivity, traffic and population size of the seeding nodes, suggesting that the adequacy of mobile phone data for infectious disease models becomes higher when epidemics spread between highly connected and heavily populated locations, such as large urban areas.


Abstract Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) was asked to deliver an opinion on 3‐fucosyllactose (3‐FL) as a novel food (NF) pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. The NF is mainly composed of the human‐identical milk oligosaccharide (HiMO) 3‐FL, but it also contains d‐lactose, l‐fucose, 3‐fucosyllactulose and a small fraction of other related saccharides. The NF is produced by fermentation by a genetically modified strain (Escherichia coli K‐12 DH1 MDO MAP1834) of E. coli K‐12 DH1 (DSM 4235). The information provided on the manufacturing process, composition and specifications of the NF does not raise safety concerns. The applicant intends to add the NF to a variety of foods, including infant formula and follow‐on formula, food for special medical purposes and food supplements (FS). The target population is the general population. The anticipated daily intake of 3‐FL from both proposed and combined (authorised and proposed) uses at their respective maximum use levels in all population categories does not exceed the highest intake level of 3‐FL from human milk in infants on a body weight basis. The intake of 3‐FL in breastfed infants on a body weight basis is expected to be safe also for other population groups. The intake of other carbohydrate‐type compounds structurally related to 3‐FL is also considered of no safety concern. FS are not intended to be used if other foods with added 3‐FL or human milk are consumed on the same day. The Panel concludes that the NF is safe under the proposed conditions of use.


No standards exist for reporting the accuracy and completeness of pregnancy histories created by linking the birth and fetal death certificates for all the deliveries occurring to one woman. To link certificates, analysts use deterministic and/or probabilistic approaches. Errors in linkage occur randomly and non-randomly. Any type of error can cause incorrect estimation of the magnitude of relationships. Methods for assessing linkage correctness are proposed. Analysts can detect errors in linkage by comparing the linkage results with the pregnancy history reported by the mother. The analyst interviews a random sample of women, ascertaining the dates and outcomes (stillbirth or live birth) for their births and, if the linkage used certificates from one state, the state where they occurred. For each woman, he/she then assesses the accuracy and completeness of this linkage by comparing it with her reported pregnancy history. An alternative approach is to chronologically sequence each woman's births. The parity for the most recent birth shows the number of babies born to the same woman and should equal the number of births that the analyst linked. In the absence of maternally reported pregnancy histories, an analyst can use data on the certificates to assess linkage correctness. Although this will show whether the correct number of births have been linked, it provides no information concerning the accuracy of linkages. It may be, however, the most universally applicable way of reporting the completeness of the linkage of deliveries.


A quick survey of reality television offerings, news articles, and advertisements are enough to show the ubiquity of meat on the screens and in the diets, homes, and psyches of many Western consumers. However, the animals that are reared, slaughtered, and packaged into meat products, and the industrialized processes that they undergo in order to transform them from animal subjects to consumable objects, are, for the most part, missing from these types of media fodder. In this thesis, I contend that these absent animals, the processes they encounter, and the discourses used in order to perpetuate Western meat production and consumption can be found in three contemporary novels: Meat (Joseph D'Lacey 2008), Cloud Atlas (David Mitchell 2004), and Under the Skin (Michel Faber 2000). As multi-faceted cultural texts, fictional narratives allow for the exploration of the ambivalent and, at times, contradictory relationship between humans and animals, and the many issues that arise as a result of the majority's choice to consume certain animal species. Fictional works provide readers and audiences with a critical distance, or a means by which the usually invisible can be rendered visible and they thereby provide an avenue for reflection on aspects of daily life that have become entrenched and, consequently, remain unseen and rarely challenged. The continuing prominence of meat in Western diets and the discourses harnessed to reinforce the status quo; our relationship to the nonhuman animals from which this meat derives; the issues surrounding its production on the paddock, in the laboratory, and behind closed doors in the factory farm and slaughterhouse; the effect of meat consumption on interpersonal relationships, human and "animal" health and the environment, and the metaphorical Inherit the World, Devour the Earth 3 and symbolic value of meat might be hard to find in mainstream advertisements, prime-time news bulletins, and reality television, but they are not excluded from the fictional narrative arena. Through their various representations of the human-animal divide, biotechnologies, factory farming and slaughterhouse processes, and their portrayals of anthropophagy, the novels I have selected are a provocative means of bringing to light the speciesist ideologies and discourses that perpetuate industrialized Western meat production and consumption. I contend that these fictional representations can be read as subversive challenges to the meat-centric status quo, and are more informative and interrogative than the smorgasbord of "reality" television and advertisements that prompted my research. Inherit the World, Devour the Earth 4 Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1981 [1865], p.28). Inherit the World, Devour the Earth 5


The SenseCam is a wearable camera that passively captures images. Therefore, it requires no conscious effort by a user in taking a photo. A Visual Diary from such a source could prove to be a valuable tool in assisting the elderly, individuals with neurodegenerative diseases, or other traumas. One issue with Visual Lifelogs is the large volume of image data generated. In previous work, we segmented a day's worth of images into more manageable segments, i.e. into distinct events or activities. However, each event could still consist of 80-100 images, thus, in this paper we propose a novel approach to selecting the key images within an event using a combination of MPEG-7 and Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) features.


Traffic policing is about changing driver behaviour through guiding, enforcing and promoting safe road use within the road transport system. Typically, when we think of traffic policing, we think of enforcement alone : the detection, the ticketing, and the penalties. But traffic policing has traditionally been much more than that, partly as a consequence of not having technologies and methods to effectively enforce illegal driver behaviour. Prior to the 1980s and 1990s, interventions with erring drivers were mostly unplanned and arose from observations of an illegal act. Police intervened in person, which allowed for discussion about the illegal behaviour, its causes and consequences, and corrective actions to avoid re-offending. Since then, the availability of enforcement technologies and procedures targeting drink driving, drug driving and speed detection have seen a predominant focus on detection and punishment of drivers on a community-wide basis. As a consequence, traffic policing strategies became less focused on individual guidance and safety promotion. The safe system approach provides perhaps the strongest direction for several decades in highlighting that guiding, enforcing and promoting safe driver behaviour comprise three core taskings for effective traffic policing. Examples from Australian, New Zealand and overseas projects will be presented to illustrate the application of safe system principles to meet traffic policing challenges in guidance and promotion of safer individual behaviour.


India's services trade benefited immensely from the change in policy stance from import substitution to export promotion post-1991, and received a further boost when India became a member of the WTO in 1995. India exhibits a strong revealed comparative advantage in services compared to goods. This paper aims to estimate the key economic determinants of India's international trade in services during the post-reform period from 1996-97 to 2011-12. It involves the estimation of income and price elasticities of India's services trade using the ARDL approach to co-integration. This study finds that the income elasticity of India's services exports is quite high and statistically significant in the long run, when the GDP of OECD countries is taken as proxy for GDP of importing countries. Price elasticity of services exports is found to be negative but statistically insignificant. In case of India's services imports, both the income and price elasticities of demand are found to be positive and statistically significant. Services imports are found to be more responsive to changes in income than relative prices. The implications of the empirical findings for India's Current Account Deficit are also explored.


For clinicians arriving first at mass casualty incidents, one of the greatest challenges is not focusing attention on one individual patient, but to assess the needs of the many in order to establish prescribed procedures and the resources required. However, for the victims of potentially lethal stab wounds, there is often little that prehospital clinicians can offer over very rapid transport to in-hospital surgical intervention. In this article, the authors explore the conflict between the established and often protracted major incident approach against the immediate needs of someone who has just been stabbed, in contrast to the different management challenges of victims of blunt trauma. A view of the London Bridge attacks is presented from the perspective of a London Ambulance Service advanced paramedic practitioner in critical care. The advantages of having an experienced advanced clinician able to offer early clinical and on-scene leadership manifested in several ways, and these will be highlighted here.


The tumour environment is more acidic than normal (pH 6.8 vs 7.3)(1), and this may aid tumour progression or affect the uptake of drugs.
The extracellular pH may be partly-regulated by cellular sodium/hydrogen exchangers (NHEs), and NHE activation may in turn be
regulated by hormones such as oestradiol(2). Some breast cancers possess receptors for oestradiol, and stimulation or blockade of these
receptors may modulate the cell's ability to regulate pH. We studied this by investigating the effect of oestradiol on the ability of breast
cancer cell lines to regulate pH by NHE. We used MCF-7 (expresses oestrogen receptors a and b) and MDA-MB-231 (expresses only
oestrogen receptor b) cell lines. Given the interaction of phytoestrogens with the oestrogen receptor(3), we also looked at the effect of
resveratrol (RSV) or genistein (Gen).
MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were used either as suspensions, or on coverslips, in the absence of added oestradiol. Cells were loaded
with H+ -sensitive fluorescent probe BCECF, then washed to remove excess dye. Suspended cells were allowed to adhere to the glass
bottom of the 35mm perfusion chamber, coverslips with cells were added to the chamber directly. Cells were perfused (1 ml/min) at 37C
with HEPES-buffed Tyrode (pH 7.4) to which drugs were added as required. Acidification was induced by the NH4Cl pre-pulse technique,
recovery was achieved by returning to normal Tyrode. Cells were illuminated by alternating wavelengths of 440 and 503 nm light (2 Hz
sample rate), and fluorescent light (>535 nm) was captured by a CCD camera. The fluorescence ratios are directly proportional to the H+
concentration. Drugs were added directly to the Tyrode, and since RSV and Gen were dissolved in DMSO, DMSO (0.01% final) was
added to the pre-perfusing Tyrode in those experiments, and used as a control in the absence of drugs.
Results are mean ratio valuesSEM or slopes of rate of change of ratio/minSEM for three separate experimental days, except for the
DMSO controls where n = 6. Differences were assessed by Student's paired or unpaired t tests. A brief (4 min) exposure of breast cancer
cells to NH4Cl (20mM) caused a transient alkalisation (decrease in 440/503 ratio, i.e. decrease in [H + ]i) followed by an acidification and
recovery after ammonium removal. In MDA cells, addition of 17b-oestradiol (E2; 1 pM final concentration) had no effect on the rate of
recovery from acidification (Control: - 3.44E-041.34E-04; MDA: - 2.26E-040.69E-04). In MCF-7 cells, perfusing with Tyrode
containing 1 pM E2 significantly increased the rate of recovery from acidification (Control: - 1.61E-040.22E-04; MCF-7: - 3.66E-
040.18E-04; p<0.05). Inclusion of DMSO alone in the medium perfusing MCF-7 cells significantly increased the basal ratio compared
with cells in Tyrode alone (Control: 1.240.18; DMSO: 1.710.09; p<0.05), and also increased the rate of recovery (Control: - 1.61E-
040.22E-04; DMSO: - 3.97E-040.52E-04; p<0.02). Inclusion of RSV (1 mM) in the perfusate with MCF-7 cells also caused an
increase in the rate of recovery relative to the DMSO-only control (DMSO: - 3.97E-040.52E-04; RSV: - 6.84E-040.56E-04;
p<0.02). Gen (1 mM) had no significant effects in MCF-7 cells, though all three recovery rates were numerically higher than the DMSO
control.
In summary, we have shown that E2 and RSV at physiological levels can increase the rate of recovery from acidification in a breast
cancer cell line expressing oestrogen receptors a and b. Given the potential importance of cytosolic and extracellular pH regulation in
both the ability of cytotoxic drugs to cross the membrane or the cell to proliferate, the physiological effects of foodborne phytohormones
on pathways regulating cell pH clearly requires further investigation.
1. Raghunand N, He X, van Sluis R, Mahoney B, Baggett B, Taylor CW, Paine-Murrieta G, Roe D, Bhujwalla ZM, Gillies RJ (1999) Br J Cancer 80:
1005–1011.
2. Kilic A, Jaradov S, and Karmazyn M (2009) J Mol Cell Cardiol 46:360–36.
3. Hwang CS, Kwak HS, Lim HJ, Lee SH, Kang YS, Choe TB, Hur HG & Han KO (2006) J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 101: 246–253.


The essential oil (EO) from basil—Ocimum basilicum—was characterized, microencapsulated by vibration technology, and used to prepare a new type of packaging system designed to extend the food shelf life. The basil essential oil (BEO) chemical composition and antimicrobial activity were analyzed, as well as the morphological and biological properties of the derived BEO microcapsules (BEOMC). Analysis of BEO by gas chromatography demonstrated that the main component was linalool, whereas the study of its antimicrobial activity showed a significant inhibitory effect against all the microorganisms tested, mostly Gram-positive bacteria. Moreover, the prepared BEOMC showed a spheroidal shape and retained the EO antimicrobial activity. Finally, chitosan-based edible films were produced, grafted with BEOMC, and characterized for their physicochemical and biological properties. Since their effective antimicrobial activity was demonstrated, these films were tested as packaging system by wrapping cooked ham samples during 10 days of storage, with the aim of their possible use to extend the shelf life of the product. It was demonstrated that the obtained active film can both control the bacterial growth of the cooked ham and markedly inhibit the pH increase of the packaged food.


This authoritative volume includes a selection of seminal articles published in the emerging field of technological progress and innovation. The first part of the book is dedicated to the economics of innovation, while the following parts include important papers in various legal areas that focus on innovation. The legal fields covered by the collection include intellectual property, torts, competition law and regulation. Along with an original introduction by Professor Salzberger, this comprehensive book will be useful to researchers, students and legal practitioners who are interested in innovation and is a must in any research library.


[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of dry needling on tendon-pulley architecture, pain and hand function in patients with trigger finger. [Participants and Methods] A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Fifty eight patients having trigger finger were randomly assigned as either an experimental group that received a single session of dry needling over pulleyA1 and flexor tendon or a control group that received no intervention. Thickness of tendon-pulley, and pain-hand function (by disability arm-shoulder questionnaire score and pinch grip strength) were measured by a blinded assessor before and one week after intervention. [Results] The two way mixed ANOVA in the experimental group showed that the thickness of pulley-tendon decreased, pinch grip power increased and DASH questionnaire score was decreased in comparison to the control group. [Conclusion] This study results suggest that a single session of Dry Needling (DN) was effective in decreasing pain, DASH score, pulley-tendon thickness and improving pinch grip power in patients with trigger finger.


In June 1972, Sir Keith Joseph, then Secretary of State for Social Services, referred in a speech to a 'cycle of deprivation', and a large-scale Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS)–Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Research Programme on Transmitted Deprivation was established. Earlier work has explored the cycle speech and Research Programme with regard to the history of the concept of the 'underclass', the career of Keith Joseph himself and his subsequent attitude to the SSRC, and in terms of the links with New Labour's focus on 'cycles of disadvantage'. Nevertheless, in general, both have been neglected by historians. This article explores the origins of the 1972 speech, noting continuities between the cycle and Sir Keith's earlier concern with 'problem families', and placing it in the context of wider thinking on family planning and poverty. It traces the establishment of the DHSS–SSRC Research Programme, and examines tensions between civil servants and social science researchers, and within the SSRC itself. The article argues that the cycle speech and Research Programme are important and neglected aspects of contemporary history, illustrating significant continuities in late nineteenth and twentieth-century thought on poverty, and offering intriguing insights into the outlook of a generation of social scientists.


Affixed to the centre of a wall in my office is a tennis ball. Nothing else surrounds it. Being an avid tennis player, I am fond of one particular indelible coaching rule : "Keep your eyes on the ball." The ball remains on my office wall as a reminder to my clients that, in the area of estate and gift tax planning, it pays to be highly focused when it comes to helping them enunciate their wealth transfer goals and, equally important, understanding and complying with the wealth transfer system in the United States. The system is complex and the taxes for non-compliance (or mistakes) are high.


The first fossil cyphophthalmid harvestman (Opiliones: Cyphophthalmi) from Palaeogene (Eocene) Baltic amber is described. This is only the third fossil example of this basal harvestman lineage; the others being from the probably slightly younger Bitterfeld amber and the much older, early Cretaceous, Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Although incomplete and lacking most of the appendages, the new Baltic amber fossil can be identified as a fe- male. The somatic characters preserved, especially spiracle morphology and the coxo-genital region, allow it to be assigned with some confidence to the extant genus Siro Latreille, 1796 (Sironidae). This fossil is formally described here as Siro balticus sp. nov. It resembles modern North American Siro species more than modern European ones, and can be distinguished principally on its relatively large size and the outline form of the body.


This report describes a case of tuberculosis with an atypical presentation characterized by epididymitis and Addison's disease in the absence of lung involvement. A 54-year-old male who presented with acute right scrotal pain and a whitish discharge, had been diagnosed four months earlier with acute epididymitis and prescribed ciprofloxacin. The clinical diagnosis was epididymitis and Addison's disease. Hydrocortisone therapy was initiated, and bilateral epididymectomy was undertaken. Biopsy specimen showed the presence of acid-fast bacilli and antituberculous treatment was initiated. On follow-up, the patient was in good clinical condition and free of symptoms. We conclude that tuberculous epididymitis can cause serious complications and should be included in the differential diagnosis for chronic epididymitis of unknown cause that does not respond to routine treatment. A high index of suspicion is required for diagnosis.


Cree and most of the other Algonquian languages show a number of typological unusual and inconsistent features. In this paper it is attempted to make sense of those, by applying internal reconstruction. The features discussed include the structural parallels between NP structure and VP structure, the position of morphological elements with regard to the verbal stem, and the fact that nominal modifiers such as adpositions and demonstratives can appear both before and after the noun. Some of these features are compared to the two Algic languages of California, distantly related to Algonquian, and processes of change in Algonquian are reconstructed, among those a shift from suffixing to prefixing. It is concluded that some of the structural features in Algonquian show similarities with Kutenai and Salish, unrelated languages of the Pacific west coast, and a possible common origin is discussed. Archaeological data also suggest a connection between these groups, and an origin of Algic and Algonquian in the west. Speculations are formulated with regards to the reasons for the reconstructed changes, including possible contacts with Athabaskans migration from the north to the south.


This monograph explores productivity, innovation, and firm performance, important issues that affect private sector development in the Caribbean region. Using unique and recently available datasets consisting of more than 4,000 surveys at the firm level, and covering 13 Caribbean countries, it examines a set of variables that affect productivity and innovation in the region. The chapters provide a unique perspective on the barriers to innovation, and on how access to finance, competition, foreign direct investment, gender, access to electricity, and public programs affect productivity and innovation at the firm level. The publication culminates with a review of the policy interventions that could have the most impact in increasing firm performance within the region.


NOTE: This title is also available as a free eBook on the Microsoft Download Center. It is offered for sale in print format as a convenience. Get a head start evaluating SQL Server 2014 - guided by two experts who have worked with the technology from the earliest beta. Based on Community Technology Preview 2 (CTP2) software, this guide introduces new features and capabilities, with practical insights on how SQL Server 2014 can meet the needs of your business. Get the early, high-level overview you need to begin preparing your deployment now. Coverage includes: SQL Server 2014 Editions and engine enhancements Mission-critical performance enhancements Hybrid cloud enhancements Self-service Business Intelligence enhancements in Microsoft Excel Enterprise information management enhancements Big Data solutions


Web 3.0 is an evolving extension of the current web environme bnt. Information in web 3.0 can be collaborated and communicated when queried. Web 3.0 architecture provides an excellent learning experience to the students. Web 3.0 is 3D, media centric and semantic. Web based learning has been on high in recent days. Web 3.0 has intelligent agents as tutors to collect and disseminate the answers to the queries by the students. Completely Interactive learner's query determine the customization of the intelligent tutor. This paper analyses the Web 3.0 learning environment attributes. A Maximum spanning tree model for the personalized web based collaborative learning is designed.


Abstract To date, a lack of reliable morphological and geophysical data has been a major limitation to understanding the tectonic and magmatic processes that shape the Azores Triple Junction and the Terceira Rift. This situation has changed recently: for the first time both areas are covered by high-quality swath bathymetry surveys and marine magnetic data with GPS quality positioning. This provides a good description of the surface morphology, and also of magnetic chrons that give fundamental information for the timing of spreading processes in a geological time frame. There is also a large amount of data from GPS stations that provide accurate estimations of present-day velocities for most of the islands. It is shown that only two main rift systems can be found on the plateau, the older one matching the Princess Alice Basin, and the newer one matching Terceira Rift; the shift between the two probably occurs close to c. 3 Ma. It is shown that extension is currently concentrated on the Terceira Rift, progressively attaching Graciosa and Terceira islands to Eurasia, while São Miguel is being strained by rifting. It is also shown that no right lateral strike-slip fault connects the Terceira Rift to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.


The performance of long-haul coherent optical fiber transmission system is significantly affected by the equalization enhanced phase noise (EEPN), due to the interaction between the electronic dispersion compensation (EDC) and the laser phase noise. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study on different chromatic dispersion (CD) compensation and carrier phase recovery (CPR) approaches, in the n-level phase shift keying (n-PSK) and the n-level quadrature amplitude modulation (n-QAM) coherent optical transmission systems, considering the impacts of EEPN. Four CD compensation methods are considered: the time-domain equalization (TDE), the frequency-domain equalization (FDE), the least mean square (LMS) adaptive equalization are applied for EDC, and the dispersion compensating fiber (DCF) is employed for optical dispersion compensation (ODC). Meanwhile, three carrier phase recovery methods are also involved: a one-tap normalized least mean square (NLMS) algorithm, a block-wise average (BWA) algorithm, and a Viterbi-Viterbi (VV) algorithm. Numerical simulations have been carried out in a 28-Gbaud dual-polarization quadrature phase shift keying (DP-QPSK) coherent transmission system, and the results indicate that the origin of EEPN depends on the choice of chromatic dispersion compensation methods, and the effects of EEPN also behave moderately different in accordance to different carrier phase recovery scenarios.


It is recognized that because most lumbar disc herniations occur posterior to the vertebrae, inflammation arises primarily in the anterior epidural space at the site of the disc herniation [1]. Therefore, deposition of steroids in the anterior epidural space directly at the site of inflammation has been the preferred treatment [2]. Until recently, the transforaminal approach has been considered to be the most target-specific, with the least volume necessary to reach the primary site of pathology (the anterior epidural spaces), compared to interlaminar approaches [3,4]. However, the transforaminal approach presents a higher risk of severe adverse events for patients. We have clearly confirmed through an imaging study, whether or not lumbar interlaminar epidural injectates are able to reach the anterior epidural space.

After informed, written consent was obtained, 43 patients who suffered from lower back pain without radiculopathy due to degenerative disc disease or internal disc disruption were enrolled in an Institutional Review Board-approved, prospective, controlled, single-blinded study. The male to female ratio was 1 : 2, and the mean age was 61.9 years. Lower back pain in all study patients was treated with lumbar interlaminar epidural steroid injections (LIESIs). Patients with extruded disc rupture, severe spinal stenosis with neurogenic claudication, severe spondylolisthesis and history of spinal surgery or intervention, such as percutaneous vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty, were excluded in order to minimize the influence of anatomical deformities that could affect the dispersion pattern of lumbar interlaminar epidural injectates. The study patients were randomly divided into four groups (A, B, C and D) according to the total volume of injectate administered. Injectates were composed of 0.5% lidocaine, 20 mg of triamcinolone, and radiocontrast dye (Isovist-240, Schering) and were administered as follows: Group A received 5 ml (3 ml of 0.5% lidocaine, 20 mg of triamcinolone [0.5 ml], and 1.5 ml of radiocontrast dye), Group B received 7.5 ml (5 ml of 0.5% lidocaine, 20 mg of triamcinolone, and 2 ml of radiocontrast dye), and Group C received 10 ml (7 ml of 0.5% lidocaine, 20 mg of triamcinolone, and 2.5 ml of radiocontrast dye). To clarify the effect of position change on the dispersion of the injectates, Group D received 7.5 ml (5 ml of 0.5% lidocaine, 20 mg of triamcinolone, and 2 ml of radiocontrast dye) and assumed a supine position soon after the procedure until the computed tomography (CT) scan was taken. After 20 minutes, all patients were re-scanned from the upper endplate level of the L1 body to the S2 body level, using CT to a thickness of three millimeters. The physicians divided each vertebra into two compartments; an upper and a lower. One intervertebral disc was regarded as one compartment. Therefore, the total number of compartments was 16; from the L1 upper endplate level to the S1 upper body level (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

Rescanned CT image taken 20 minutes after completion of the LIESI. Regions from the upper endplate of L1 to the midportion of S1 are divided into 16 compartments (A: anterior epidural space, B: posterior epidural space).

The results show that there were no statistical differences between Groups A, B, and C in the degree of dispersion of the injectates anteriorly and posteriorly in the epidural space (P > 0.05) and that there were no statistical differences between Groups B and D (P > 0.05). However, in all of the groups, the degree of dispersion of the injectates within the posterior epidural space was greater than that within the anterior epidural space. No patient in this study experienced any infection, headache, intravascular injection, reaction to the contrast material and steroid, or subarachnoid injection.

However, the present study has some limitations. In particular, the lack of control group to allow for comparison and assessment of the clinical effectiveness of the experimental groups is something that should be rectified in future studies. If a control group, such as an lumbar transforaminal epidural injectates (LTESIs) group, had been included in the study and the clinical effectiveness of the intervention groups had been compared with the control group, the authors would be able to determine more precisely the clinical usefulness of LIESI, although the amount of injectate that can reach the anterior epidural space would remain unknown. Second, it is possible that the small sample size may have increased the probability of type II errors (i.e. failing to detect a difference when there is one). Third, all procedures were performed by a single physician, therefore the results of the present study reflect the experience of one practitioner and may not be generalized. Although this study does have some limitations and flaws, to our knowledge, this is the first report verifying clearly through an imaging study, the dispersion patterns of lumbar interlaminar epidural injectates, while simultaneously considering the impact of time.

In conclusion, although the authors cannot state precisely the amount of lumbar interlaminar epidural injectate that can reach the anterior epidural space, we know that more than 5 ml of injectate for the LIESIs can reach the anterior epidural space well. The effect of the patient's posture bears little relation to the degree of dispersion of the injectates.


The copepod Calanus finmarchicus is widely distributed over the sub-polar Atlantic and
dominates the mesozooplanktonic biomass in that region. Despite this, all previous C. finmarchicus
population modelling studies have been spatially and temporally limited. In this paper we present
results from a fully stage-resolved model in a domain spanning the entire geographic range of the
species (30 to 80°N and 80°W to 90° E. The model was driven by temperature and transport from the
Ocean Circulation and Climate Advanced Modelling project (OCCAM) and phytoplankton food
derived from satellite (SeaWiFS) sea-surface colour observations. The resulting quasi-stationary
yearly cycle was assessed against seasonally resolved maps of continuous plankton recorder observations,
winter cruise data on the distribution of diapausers, and time series from locations distributed
over the North Atlantic. The model's high computational efficiency permitted its free parameters to
be selected to yield a good correspondence with the field data. We were also able to explore the
effects of changing the assumptions regarding diapause and mortality. By falsifying alternative models
we conclude that (1) a fixed fraction of each surface generation enters diapause, (2) overwintering
individuals enter diapause at the end of the fifth copepodite stage, and (3) mortality is an increasing
function of temperature. Finally, we demonstrate that the demographic impact of transport is limited,
except in shelf seas and at the edges of the distribution; nevertheless, there is a very high level of
population connectivity over the whole domain.


This paper presents an investigation of the sediment used by the Bank Swallow (Sand Martin) Riparia riparia for the construction of breeding tunnels. Grain-size distribution, bulk density and hydraulic conductivity of breeding-tunnel sediment were investigated at four localities in western Sweden. The investigation shows that the Bank Swallow was consistent in using layers composed of a narrow range of fine and medium sand. Ninety percent of the investigated breeding burrows were located in fine to medium sand (0.125–0.5 mm) and 10% in coarse sand (0.5–1.0 mm). No breeding tunnels were found in sediment finer than fine sand or coarser than coarse sand. The fine to medium sand fraction has the properties to hold stable walls and keep dry tunnels even during rainy periods with heavy infiltration. The hydraulic conductivity of the sediment was in the range of 10–4 to 10–3 m/s and the bulk density 1,510–1,575 kg/m3. In Sweden, artificially excavated slopes in gravel and sand pits have long been the dominating breeding locality for the Bank Swallow. However, during the last two decades, four major factors have led to the decrease of breeding localities: (1) a decreasing demand of aggregate resources, (2) landscaping of gravel and sand pits and stabilization of eroding slopes, including river banks and shorelines, (3) a change to quarries as a source for aggregate production, and (4) concentrating gravel and sand exploitation to fewer and larger pits. It is concluded that these factors are important for the decline of the Bank Swallow population in Sweden and possibly elsewhere in Europe and North America.


Abstract. Due to the relative lack of empirical field data, the response of very small glaciers (here defined as being smaller than 0.5 km2) to current atmospheric warming is not fully understood yet. Investigating their mass balance, e.g. using the direct glaciological method, is a prerequisite to fill this knowledge gap. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) techniques operating in the near infrared range can be applied for the creation of repeated high-resolution digital elevation models and consecutive derivation of annual geodetic mass balances of very small glaciers. This method is promising, as laborious and potentially dangerous field measurements as well as the inter- and extrapolation of point measurements can be circumvented. However, it still needs to be validated. Here, we present TLS-derived annual surface elevation and geodetic mass changes for five very small glaciers in Switzerland (Glacier de Prapio, Glacier du Sex Rouge, St. Annafirn, Schwarzbachfirn, and Pizolgletscher) and two consecutive years (2013/14–2014/15). The scans were acquired with a long-range Riegl VZ ® -6000 especially designed for surveying snow- and ice-covered terrain. Zonally variable conversion factors for firn and bare ice surfaces were applied to convert geodetic volume to mass changes. We compare the geodetic results to direct glaciological mass balance measurements coinciding with the TLS surveys and assess the uncertainties and errors included in both methods. Average glacier-wide mass balances were negative in both years, showing stronger mass losses in 2014/15 (−1.65 m w.e.) compared to 2013/14 (−0.59 m w.e.). Geodetic mass balances were slightly less negative but in close agreement with the direct glaciological ones (R2 = 0.91). Due to the dense in situ measurements, the uncertainties in the direct glaciological mass balances were small compared to the majority of measured glaciers worldwide (±0.09 m w.e. yr−1 on average), and similar to uncertainties in the TLS-derived geodetic mass balances (±0.13 m w.e. yr−1).


The British House of Lords recently considered whether Augusto Pinochet was entitled to immunity from arrest and possible extradition to Spain for human rights abuses allegedly committed during his reign as Chile?s head of state. In its second decision in the case (after the first one was vacated due to a conflict of interest), the House of Lords concluded that Pinochet was not entitled to immunity for acts of torture and related conduct committed after Britain?s 1988 ratification of an international convention against torture. In addressing this immunity issue, the parties and judges in the Pinochet case looked closely at the large and growing body of U.S. case law involving civil suits against foreign officials for alleged human rights abuses committed in foreign countries. In this article, we in effect do the opposite: we assess how the Pinochet decision might be relevant to international human rights litigation in U.S. courts. The article focuses on three issues in particular. It first considers whether developments in international human rights law limit the scope of the domestic immunity available to foreign governments and officials. The House of Lords held that these developments did limit the scope of Pinochet?s immunity from criminal process in Great Britain. In the United States, however, the political branches and the federal courts have, with narrow and specific exceptions, declined to permit developments in international human rights law to limit the scope of foreign sovereign immunity from civil process. As we explain, the adverse political consequences that might flow from otherwise-unfettered private lawsuits against foreign officials for human rights abuses justify the broader immunities available in U.S. domestic courts. The second issue is the legitimacy of a U.S. counterpart to the British rule, invoked by some of the Law Lords in Pinochet, that customary international law ("CIL") is part of the British common law. In the United States, plaintiffs and scholars have argued for a similar rule of incorporation to justify the domestic application of substantive international human rights law. As we explain, however, the constitutional implications of an automatically-incorporated CIL are substantially different for the United States than they are for Great Britain. And, when faced with claims of international immunity, such as the claim of head-of-state immunity that was at issue in Pinochet, U.S. courts do not apply the CIL governing this immunity directly. Instead, they seek and follow political branch authorization. The failure by courts to apply CIL as automatically-incorporated common law in this context, involving traditional rules of CIL that are a central component of international relations, casts substantial doubt on the conventional wisdom that international human rights law should be applied as self-executing federal common law. Finally, the article defends the United States? general resistance to the domestic application of international human rights law. This resistance has two dimensions. First, the United States does not apply international human rights law to domestic officials. This approach is justified by the profound uncertainty regarding the source and content of international law, and the general adequacy of U.S. domestic human rights protections. Second, the United States permits the domestic application of international human rights law against foreign governmental officials, but only in very narrow contexts. This limited embrace of international human rights law reflects a legitimate concern with giving private citizens, and unelected judges, too much influence over U.S. foreign relations. As we explain, both of these justifications for resistance to the domestic application of international human rights law ? the vagueness of international norms and the danger that private lawsuits will interfere with foreign relations ? find support in the House of Lords? decision in Pinochet.


The Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE) is a global community of teacher-scholar-practitioners that passionately educates for solidarity, service, and justice. Drawing on its Jesuit and Catholic traditions, GRE prepares students of diverse religions and spiritualities to put their faith into action. On-campus and online programs include master's degrees in pastoral mental health counseling, Christian spirituality, pastoral studies, religious education, and pastoral care; a Ph.D. in religious education; and a Doctor of Ministry degree. Advanced certificate programs include Christian spirituality, faith formation, and spiritual direction.


Objectives
Non-nutritive sweeteners (NNS) are zero- or low-calorie alternatives to caloric sugars and substituting caloric sweeteners with NNS is expected to reduce energy intake. The aim of this study was to examine appetite and food intake following the consumption of a beverage preload containing a natural zero calorie sweetener or caloric sweeteners (sugars).

Methods
This was a randomised controlled double-blind crossover study. Healthy participants (n = 20, 9 males, mean body mass index 21.8 kg/m2) completed five separate visits, corresponding to five study beverages: 330 mL of water (control-no calories and no taste) and either 330 mL of water containing 40 g glucose or sucrose (sweet taste and calories), maltodextrin (calories and no sweet taste), or 240 ppm all natural sweetener, stevia (Truvia RA-95-sweet taste and no calories). Subjective appetite ratings and blood glucose was measured at baseline and then study beverages were administered, with appetite ratings and blood glucose again measured at 15, 30 and 60 minutes. At 30 minutes participants were offered an ad libitum lunch and food intake was measured.

Results
Stevia and glucose preloads were rated to have equal sweetness levels, while water and maltodextrin the lowest levels of sweetness. Only glucose, sucrose and maltodextrin elevated blood glucose. Both calories and sweet taste affected appetite as there was a significant effect on suppressed subjective appetite ratings following the stevia and caloric preloads compared to water at 15 and 30 minutes postprandially. Compared to water preload, food intake was significantly lower after the consumption of each of the sweet or caloric preloads. Analysis of cumulative energy intake (preload and lunch) showed that total energy intake was lower after the stevia preload compared to the water preload with no differences between the water and caloric preloads (Figure 1).

Conclusions
This study, found a beneficial effect of a stevia beverage consumed prior to a meal on appetite and subsequent energy intake compared to water. This study was registered in clinicaltrial.gov as NCT03711084.

Funding Sources
This research was supported by a BBSRC Case Studentship.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Every business dreams of having committed, loyal and enthusiastic customers. However, many challenges stand in the way. This is especially true of electronic vendors who must not only grapple with the traditional product issues but also technology issues related to competition in the digital economy. Prior studies in information systems have emphasized technology and relational factors such as trust and stickiness in their modeling. This study proposes website identification as a concept that can help turn customers into "super customers" and provide lasting and deep relationships between the electronic vendor and the customer leading to creation of economic value. A structural equation model with website identification as a mediating variable was tested using a sample of 406 individuals. The results support the model hypotheses.


This paper shows that unit labor costs (ulcs), the most widely used measure of competitiveness, can be interpreted as the labor share in output multiplied by a price-adjustment factor. This has three main implications. First, ulcs are not just a technical concept since they embody the social relations that affect the distribution of income between the social classes. Secondly, lower ulcs should not necessarily be interpreted as implying that an economy is more competitive, i.e., that it will grow faster, and vice-versa. In wage-led growth economies, an increase in the wage share leads to an increase in the equilibrium capacity utilization rate, which leads to an increase in the growth rate of the capital stock. Hence it is possible to find that the countries with fast-growing ulcs are the ones registering faster growth in exports or in GDP. Once one analyzes ulcs taking into account their functional distribution dimension, "Kaldor's paradox" ceases to be an anomalous result. Finally, one can define the concept of unit capital cost as a measure of competitiveness and shift the burden of lack of growth or loss of market share to capital.


Winter conditions of low air temperature cause development of ice phenomena at rivers and reservoirs, creating often problems in their exploitation. There is a need to continuously monitor the spatial extension of ice phenomena and their different forms. Local water authority (RZGW Warszawa) prepares for rivers under their administration a daily reports on ice conditions in winter. Ice reports are prepared from visual inspection of the RZGW personnel visiting selected sections of the river course. This is specially problematic in holidays and weekends when usually data from observations are missing. In this study it is tested application of microwave remote sensing data from Sentinel-1 platform to observe the development and recession of the ice cover at the Dębe reservoir in winter 2017. Satellite Sentinel-1 radar images are distributed by the European Space Agency (ESA) on the open access policy. These are two satellites A and B which every 2 days collect images in SAR active remote sensing technique. Dębe reservoir was created in 1963 by closing by the barrage Narew river below its confluence with Bug river. Maximum water head is 7.10 m, and average 6.8 m. Area of the reservoir is 30.3 km2 average discharge of Bug river at Wyszków gauge is 162 m3 · s–1, and Narew river at Zambski Kościelne gauge 139 m3 · s–1. Retention time of water in the reservoir is 3–4 days. Comparison of the average water temperature at gauge Zambski Kościelne and Wyszków from the winter half-year of the period 1963–1981 shows the increase of water temperature by 0.5–1 C after the year 1972 when Ostrołęka power station was put in to operation.. This difference in the temperature between Narew and Bug rivers is reflected by the ice conditions at the end of winter season. Sentinel-1 SAR instrument emits electromagnetic wavelength of 6 cm (C band), and are use two polarizations VH and VV. Using SNAP program geometric correction and color composite was created for selected images at the beginning and end of ice cover at Dębe reservoir on Narew river, covering period January 5-March 6, 2017. It has been found that interpretation of the Sentinel-1 images is most problematic if we want to detect boundary between open calm water and new fast ice. The flow of pancake ice on January 5, 2017 had been recorded and the pattern of ice distribution compared to flow lines calculated by the hydrodynamic CCHE2D model. Result of the hydrodynamic modeling shows circulation pattern in the widest part of the reservoir where are also the most favorable conditions for lake type of ice cover formation. End of ice cover is represented by the image of February 26, 2017 which shows the Narew river free from ice due to higher temperature of the water. Relatively simple visual interpretation of the Sentinel-1 VH and VV images can by used in the study of ice phenomena on major rivers and lakes.


Background Though internationally recommended, provider initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) of persons suspected of tuberculosis (TB) is not a policy in India; HIV seroprevalence among TB suspects has never been reported. The current policy of PITC for diagnosed TB cases may limit opportunities of early HIV diagnosis and treatment. We determined HIV seroprevalence among persons suspected of TB and assessed feasibility and effectiveness of PITC implementation at this earlier stage in the TB diagnostic pathway. Methods All adults examined for diagnostic sputum microscopy (TB suspects) in Vizianagaram district (population 2.5 million), in November-December 2010, were offered voluntary HIV counseling and testing (VCT) and assessed for TB diagnosis. Results Of 2918 eligible TB suspects, 2465(85%) consented to VCT. Among these, 246(10%) were HIV-positive. Of the 246, 84(34%) were newly diagnosed as HIV (HIV status not known previously). To detect a new case of HIV infection, the number needed to screen (NNS) was 26 among 'TB suspects', comparable to that among 'TB patients'. Among suspects aged 25–54 years, not diagnosed as TB, the NNS was 17. Conclusion The seroprevalence of HIV among 'TB suspects' was as high as that among 'TB patients'. Implementation of PITC among TB suspects was feasible and effective, detecting a large number of new HIV cases with minimal additional workload on staff of HIV testing centre. HIV testing of TB suspects aged 25–54 years demonstrated higher yield for a given effort, and should be considered by policy makers at least in settings with high HIV prevalence.


Nothofagus subgenus Brassospora now occurs only in New Guinea and New Caledonia, but is well known from fossil deposits of South America, New Zealand, Antarctica and Australia. It is commonly used for palaeoclimatic interpretation, but the climate characteristics of the extant species have not been described. In this paper we used the climatic estimation software, BIOCLIM, to derive a climate profile of 24 variables for each of the 14 species of Nothofagus native to New Guinea, and lapse rates and isohyet maps to describe the annual mean temperature and rainfall range of the five species native to New Caledonia. The New Guinea species occur at annual mean temperatures ranging from 10.6 to 23.5°C, with annual precipitation of 1762–7733 mm. The first three axes of a principal components analysis explained 85% of the total variation, the first axis comprising temperature variables, the second comprising precipitation range and precipitation of the wet season, and the third axis comprising dry-season precipitation and annual and diurnal temperature range. Some species had distinct combinations of positions along these component axes, indicating clear niche differentiation with respect to climate. The New Caledonian species occur at annual mean temperatures of 14.5–23.5°C, and annual precipitation of c. 1500–3500 mm. Although there was no significant difference in annual mean temperature and precipitation between the New Guinea and New Caledonian species, comparison of median values across species suggests specialisation of most New Caledonian species towards slightly drier conditions than the New Guinea species that occur at similarly high annual mean temperatures. Use of subgenus Brassospora to interpret palaeoclimates should take into account the variation in climate experienced across the range of extant species.


Objective: to analyze the differences between quality of life and functional capacity in elderly participants and non-participants of groups with social activities. Methods: cross-sectional and analytical study that evaluated 31 participants of the social group (Group 1) and 31 non-participants (Group 2). The quality of life was evaluate for WHOQOL-Bref and WHOQOL-Old questionnaires and the functional capacity for Katz and Lawton scales. Results: elderly from Groups 1 and 2 showed quality of life scores in WHOQOL-Bref corresponding to 73.20 and 71.40 points. Regarding the WHOQOL-Old, both groups reached equal results (84 points). Regarding functional capacity, most elderly (77.4%) of the Group 2 had partial or total dependence on others to accomplish instrumental activities of daily life. Conclusion: the results indicated that elderly who participate in the social group have better quality of life scores in social and intimate domains.


Feed costs are approximately 70% of total production cost for poultry producers. Poultry diets in the United States generally consist of 2 grains: corn and soybean meal. In recent years, the cost of these grains has dramatically increased. Due to these price increases, producers seek alternative feeds that provide adequate nutrition, and are also more affordable than "traditional" grains. Cottonseed meal is one alternative that is both affordable and an excellent source of crude protein. However, cottonseed meal contains gossypol, a pigment toxic to chickens. This study had two main objectives. The first objective was to determine if silymarin, an extract from milk thistle, could offset or prevent gossypol toxicosis. The second objective was to determine if divergent selection for humoral immune response would have an impact on the ability of the chicken to cope with gossypol toxicosis. Two preliminary studies were conducted. One determined basal activities of liver detoxification enzymes at various ages. The other determined concentrations of gossypol and silymarin that should be added to the diet to elicit a response. The information gathered from the second preliminary study was used to conduct the final experiment. In the final experiment, chickens from each of 2 lines selected for humoral immunity were exposed to diets containing gossypol, silymarin, gossypol and silymarin, and a control. Humoral immunity had no impact on the ability of the chicken to cope with gossypol toxicosis. Silymarin did not alleviate gossypol toxicosis. Future studies will focus on using a lower gossypol concentration in the diet.