Kurt Reichenberger. Cervantes and the Hermeneutics of Satire. Kassel: Edition Reichenberger, 2005. 129 pp. ISBN: 3-937734-11-2. Kurt Reichenberger. Cervantes ?un gran satirico? Los enigmas peligrosos del Quijote descifrados para el "carisimo lector." Kassel: Edition Reichenberger, 2005. 190 pp. ISBN: 3-937734-12-0. Here we have two new books from an established publisher and scholar. One of them is quite good; the other is something of a mess. This is odd because they purport to be essentially the same work, as suggested by James Parr's remarks that appear in curtailed form on the cover of the Spanish text, and in their entirety as preface to the inferior English volume. The short essays that make up the chapters and appendices of both books read more like notes really (as in MLN or similar publications). Indeed, some of them seem to have originated as entries on the online discussion group that is the Coloquio Cervantes, where they have already stirred healthy debate. Unfortunately, what is generally acceptable and felicitous prose in Spanish can become inarticulate English, and the author has done himself a disservice in allowing this to pass. While each book consists of twelve similar chapters, those in Spanish tend to be more developed--occasionally whole paragraphs have not made it into the English volume (notably in Chapter 11). This text suffers further from a lack of editing for English idioms and conventions of style, as well as simple carelessness. A complete list of errors would be extensive, but alarm bells go off as early as the first sentence ("Human Rights is a term that sounds very good"), and increase when the third one begins "Having discussed the title of the book": no such discussion takes place until Chapter 3. The Spanish title asks a question whose answer is never in doubt--it is abundantly clear that, above and beyond any disingenuous effort to debunk chivalric novels, Reichenberger believes in Cervantes as the novel's true hero: a subtle social and political satirist in the tradition of Horace. The question, then, more properly becomes what exactly is being satirized? In this there lies considerable interest. Reichenberger's key to Cervantes' scheme of "encoded messages" is found in the preface's proverb "Debajo de mi manto al rey mato," which he calls "a first notion of the secret sense the author has in mind" (13). The English title is somewhat misleading, given that the term hermeneutics is never clearly defined for the purposes of the analysis, or even mentioned beyond the title page. Indeed, both titles might lead one to expect more pages dedicated to classical and contemporary literary theory, but this is not the case. What remains, however, is a frequently intriguing interpretation, a strong reading of the 1605 Quijote. There is much repetition of the facts upon which the reading is based: Felipe III's bankrupting of the nation and the resulting monetary scandal; Cervantes' ill-received recitation of a sonnet at the tomb of Felipe II; his frustration as a playwright. The premise is that Cervantes was moved to write Don Quijote when rebuffed for his sonnet on Felipe II's tomb, and to lace the first modern novel with symbolic (yet at the same time highly specific) criticism of his society and its decadent power structures. This is often compelling but not always convincing, as is the idea--found only in the appendix to the Spanish version--that Cervantes' wife Catalina was an inspiration for the novel, as well as a kind of ideal reader, given her converso family ties. One wishes for more sustained argument and less speculative mosaic, dazzling though it may be at times. Again, only in the appendix to the Spanish text do we find a summary of much of what the author is attempting, and even that is oddly placed as an introductory paragraph to an analysis of an allegorical painting called "El banquete de Herodes": Los puntos algidos en el Quijote de 1605 son los capitulos sobre los molinos de viento; el del furioso ataque a los rebanos de ovejas; y el episodio de los cueros de vino, donde la ventera y Maritornes . …


A less-frequently discussed parallel-linguistic issue is the parallel language of
visuals and numerals: the diagrams, tables, models, mathematical signs and
different symbols that students have to deal with in their reading and writing.
Texts are multimodal, that is they are constructed with visual objects and
different sign systems as well as writing. For new students, it can be difficult to
grasp how visuals and numerals can have different meanings in different
contexts, such as academic disciplines. For teachers, the disciplinary use of the
visuals and numerals is often so ingrained that they may have difficulty seeing the
problems that students face. Drawing on the theoretical framework of social
semiotics and the neo-Vygotskian perspective, this article shows how new
students of economics in Sweden encounter a multimodal academic literacy. The
article also discusses some of the difficulties relating to this situation and argues
for a raised awareness among teachers in order to scaffold students into
academic, visual literacies.


Originally conceived as part of a unifying vision for Europe, the euro is now viewed as a millstone around the neck of a continent crippled by vast debts, sluggish economies, and growing populist dissent. In Europe's Orphan, leading economic commentator Martin Sandbu presents a compelling defense of the euro. He argues that rather than blaming the euro for the political and economic failures in Europe since the global financial crisis, the responsibility lies firmly on the authorities of the Eurozone and its member countries. The subsequent self-inflicted financial crisis and economic decline resulted from a toxic cocktail of unforced policy errors by bankers, politicians, and bureaucrats; the unhealthy coziness between finance and governments; and, above all, an extreme unwillingness to restructure debt. Sandbu traces the origins of monetary union back to the desire for greater European unity after the Second World War. But the euro's creation coincided with a credit bubble that governments chose not to rein in. Once the crisis hit, a battle of both ideas and interests led to the failure to aggressively restructure sovereign and bank debt. Ideologically informed choices set in motion dynamics that encouraged more economic mistakes and heightened political tensions within the Eurozone. Sandbu concludes that the prevailing view that monetary union can only work with fiscal and political union is wrong and dangerous—and risks sending the continent into further political paralysis and economic stagnation. Contending that the euro has been wrongfully scapegoated for the Eurozone's troubles, Europe's Orphan charts what actually must be done for the continent to achieve an economic and political recovery.


INTRODUCTION: Liposuction is the standard method for lipodistrophy treatment. Perioperative results evaluation is difficult due to amplitude of areas to be treated. METHODS: This article describes a new method of perioperative results control during liposuction. Cutaneous fold thickness of standard areas are measured using adipometer and scale in the preoperative period. Cutaneous thickness on anterior axilar fold between ninth and tenth ribs is used as reference for superior and inferior abdominal and flanks liposuction. Treated areas asymmetries or hipocorrection are minimized. During medical consulting there is a demonstration of preoperative and postoperative measured values. CONCLUSION: This conduct avoids subjective analysis facilitating doctor patient relation with conflict risk reducing.


Introduction: Cesarean, as a major abdominal surgery, if done without a medical indication, may impose numerous complications on the mothers and the babies and increase frequency of cesarean deliveries in subsequent pregnancies. This study aimed to predict the behavioral tendencies of pregnant women in selecting their delivery approaches, based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 100 pregnant women referred to healthcare centers of Kermanshah city (western Iran). A researcher-made questionnaire was applied, based on TPB constructs including attitudes, perceived behavioral controls, subjective norms, and behavioral tendencies. To analyze the data, Pearson correlation, Spearman, s regression, and ANOVA were used via the SPSS statistical software, version 20. Results: The average age of pregnant woman was 23.7±3.93 years old. The results demonstrated a significant correlation between the subjective norms and behavioral tendencies (r=0.335, P=0.001). A significant relationship was seen between the perceived behavioral controls and tendencies (r=0.277, P=0.004). A significant relationship was found between the perceived behavioral control and the attitude (r=0.293, P=0.002). The results of the regression results demonstrated that the subjective norms and perceived behavioral controls can significantly predict 14.1 percent of changes in the variable of tendencie. Conclusion: The findings indicate the strength of the variable of subjective norms as the most effective factor in predicting the delivery approach; therefore, systematic and planned training seems necessary, not only for the pregnant women, but also the individuals affecting this group. Thus, to reduce caesarean sections, physicians, as an effective factor, need to be urged to boost natural childbirth.


OBJECTIVE
To identify risk factors for HIV infection among young women aged 15-24 years reporting one lifetime partner in South Africa. Design In 2003, we conducted a nationally representative household survey of sexual behaviour and HIV testing among 11 904 young people aged 15-24 years in South Africa. This analysis focuses on the subset of sexually experienced young women with only one reported lifetime sex partner (n = 1708).

METHODS
Using the proximate determinants framework and the published literature we identified factors associated with HIV in young women. The associations between these factors and HIV infection were explored in multivariable logistic regression models.

RESULTS
Of the young women, 15% reporting one lifetime partner were HIV positive. In multivariable analyses, young women who had not completed high school were more likely to be infected with HIV compared with those that had completed high school (AOR 3.75; 95% CI 1.34-10.46).

CONCLUSIONS
Young South African women in this population were at high risk of HIV infection despite reporting only having one lifetime partner. Few individual level factors were associated with HIV infection, emphasizing the importance of developing HIV prevention interventions that address structural and partner level risk factors.


The dual pathway model proposes the existence of separate and neurobiologically distinct cognitive (inhibitory and more general executive dysfunction) and motivational (delay aversion) developmental routes to AD/HD. The study reported in this paper explores the relation between inhibitory deficits and delay aversion and their association with AD/HD in a group of three-year-old children. Children identified as having a pre-school equivalent of AD/HD (N=19) and controls (N=19), matched for gender and IQ, completed a battery of inhibition and delay tasks. Correlational and factor analysis supported a dissociation between inhibitory deficits (go-no-go, set shifting) and delay aversion (choice delay) with delay of gratification cross-loading. Children with AD/HD displayed more inhibitory deficits and were more delay averse than controls. The data support the value of the distinction between motivational and cognitive pathways to AD/HD. Furthermore, the data suggest that such a distinction is apparent relatively early on during development.


Abstract: Recovery and recrystallization phenomena and effects of microalloying elements on these phenomena are ofgreat importance in designing thermomechanical processes of microalloyed steels. Thus, understanding and modelingof microstructure evolution during hot deformation leads to optimize the processing conditions and to improve theproduct properties. In this study, finite element method was utilized to simulate thermomechanical parameters duringhot deformation processes. FEM results then were integrated with physically based state variable models of staticrecovery and recrystallization combined with a realistic microstructural geometry. The thermodynamic softwareThermo-calc was also used to predict present microalloying elements at equilibrium conditions. The modelperformance was validated using stress relaxation tests. Parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effects ofdeformation process parameters on the microstructure development following hot deformation of the API-X70 steel.


Transient cortical blindness (TCB), as a rare complication of coronary catheterization, is an important issue for study, which has been ignored by cardiologists and ophthalmologists. Although the exact mechanism of this complication is still controversial, it seems that breaking the blood brain barrier (BBB) due to the direct effect of neurotoxicity of contrast agent on BBB is the most likely reason for it. Reassuring the patient is extremely important despite is devastating nature.Because surely they returns to normal vision.


Sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (SBPase; EC 188.8.131.52) catalyses the dephosphorylation of sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphate in the regenerative phase of the Calvin cycle. Antisense plants with reduced levels of SBPase have decreased photosynthetic capacity and altered carbohydrate status, leading to modifications in growth and development. The catalytic activity of SBPase is regulated by light via the ferredoxin/thioredoxin system. Recently, the amino acids within the SBPase protein involved in this regulatory mechanism have been identified and a deregulated, permanently active form of the enzyme has been produced using site-directed mutagenesis. This paper explores how transgenic Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun plants, containing the deregulated form of the SBPase enzyme, may lead to a better understanding of the in vivo role of light activation of this important Calvin cycle enzyme.


Background: This study was aimed at determining the prevalence and type of hearing disorders in HIV positive patients and any correlationship with the CD4 counts/stage of HIV/AIDS in patients attending the comprehensive care clinic (CCC). Methods: Case control study of 194 HIV positive patients attending CCC recruited into the study after informed consent. A thorough clinical examination and otoscopy done followed by tuning fork tests, Pure Tone Audiometry and tympanometric tests. This was compared with 124 HIV negative subjects matched for age and sex who were recruited from the voluntary counseling and testing centre. The world health organization staging of the HIV/AIDS disease and the CD4 positive lymphocyte cell count were carried out and correlated with any hearing disorder. Results were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences version 10.0. Results: Hearing loss (HL) was present in 33.5% of HIV positive compared to 8.1% in negative subjects. No gender bias in HL but HL worsened with advancement of age. SNHL was the most common and the higher frequencies were the most affected. Low CD4 cell count and advanced HIV disease were associated with increased chance of having a hearing loss. Conclusion: Hearing loss is more prevalent in HIV positive individuals than negative normal subjects and tends to worsen with the advancement of the HIV disease. This may negatively impact on the overall care and standard of living of HIV positive patients, hence otological care should be part of the comprehensive care.


Mediastinum is a common localization of extra gonadal teratoma. Mediastinal teratoma, which is comprising of 1-5% of all mediastinal tumors is an infrequent germ cell tumor. Immature mediastinal teratoma is a rare malignant neoplasm, which has an abilty to metastasize and recure and histologically resemble embryonal structures. There are few reports in literature, which show post chemotherapeutic retroconversion of immature teratoma; however, retroconversion of mediastinal teratoma into mature teratoma is not common. A 19-year-old boy was diagnosed a case of immature mediastinal teratoma by Computed tomography-guided FNA (Fine Needle Aspiration) and received 6 cycles chemotherapy by bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin regimen. After that, surgically total excision of tumor was done and histopathological report reveals mature teratoma, which is presented in this paper.


These proceedings contain a selection of papers dealing with energy and mineral resources data bases, given at the Fourth IIASA Resources Conference. This conference in fact was organized at the crossing of three different evolutions:

The first line of events was an IIASA series of Resources Conferences, aimed at a better understanding of world energy resources. The first conference, in 1975, was devoted to the Methods and Models for Assessing Energy Resources. The second one, in 1976, jointly organized with UNITAR, dealt with the Future Supply of Nature Made Petroleum and Gas; and the third, in 1977 in Moscow, covered Coal Resources (all of them published in the Pergamon Proceeding Series).

The second evolution was a growing concern at IIASA, and equally at many other institutions as expressed during these earlier Resources Conferences, about resource data collection, handling, processing and utilization. To build models is one thing; to feed them with the appropriate data is another.

Finally, it was clear that energy can be less and less isolated from other resources which are required for its development, such as water, land, human resources and, of course, mineral resources. Some new energy resources, such as solar, will be highly material intensive. This is just one example of the growing systems aspects between energy and minerals and/or materials.

All of these concerns led to the organization of this conference. In fact, it was organized as a two-part conference, the first (more technical) part on energy and mineral resources data bases, documented in this publication; the second part on a related subject -- the systems aspect of energy and mineral resources -- with the objective to provide a forum to discuss the increasing interdependencies and interrelations between energy and mineral resources, but equally to put the papers dealing with data bases in the right perspective: namely, that these data bases should not be considered isolated from each other, but rather from a perspective of integrative (or systems) studies of energy and mineral resources. This aspect and its resulting requirements for data base development is discussed in a number of papers contained in these proceedings.

Regarding these proceedings on Energy and Mineral Resources Data Bases, it is clear that the last years have seen a lot of interesting developments. Maybe the most important was that the first data bases were developed with their own software. It was, of course, suited to the special needs or concepts of the developer (not necessarily to those of the user), but very specific.

Today, many sophisticated Data Base Development Systems are commercially available, which permit us to concentrate more on the data itself than on their handling. Surprisingly, if we consider the enormous amount of studies which have been devoted during the last decade to the energy problem, only a few have dealt with energy resources -- although these will shape any energy future -- and still less to energy resource data bases. This apparent deficiency, as well as the time factor involved in design, development, implementation and continuous updating (i.e., the building and maintenance of such data bases is a long term activity), explains why we considered it useful to make the papers presented at this conference available to a broader public, despite a certain delay in the publication, which we sincerely regret. However, the data bases presented in these proceedings are practically all still actively pursued and accessible, and cover the most relevant developments in the field, so that the Editors hope that this publication constitutes a good contribution for assessing the state of development, and availability, of energy and mineral resources data bases. It should be considered less as an end point, than rather as a starting point.


Over the past decade, evidence from disciplines ranging from biology to economics has suggested that many scientific studies may not be reproducible. This has led to declarations in both the scientific and lay press that science is experiencing a "reproducibility crisis" and that this crisis has consequences for the extent to which students, faculty, and the public at large can trust research. Faculty build on these results with their own research, and students and the public use these results for everything from patient care to public policy. To build a model for how academic libraries can support reproducible research, the authors conducted a review of major guidelines from funders, publishers, and professional societies. Specific recommendations were extracted from guidelines and compared with existing academic library services and librarian expertise. The authors believe this review shows that many of the recommendations for improving reproducibility are core areas of academic librarianship, including data management, scholarly communication, and methodological support for systematic reviews and data-intensive research. By increasing our knowledge of disciplinary, journal, funder, and society perspectives on reproducibility, and reframing existing librarian expertise and services, academic librarians will be well positioned to be leaders in supporting reproducible research. Citation: Sayre F., Riegelman A. Replicable services for reproducible research: a model for academic libraries.


The present study has been conducted to evaluate the characterization of the oil extracted from local cultivated sesame seeds that produced under Syrian conditions, and to explore the effect of gamma irradiation (3, 6 and 9 kGy) and storage period (6 and 12 months) on some quality characteristics of sesame seed oil. The physico-chemical properties of oil extracted from non-irradiated samples of sesame seeds were: acid value (AV) (2.79 mg KOH g-1 oil), peroxide value (PV) (1.69 meq O2 kg-1 oil), Thiobarbituric acid (TBA) (0.022 mg MDA kg-1 oil), iodine value (IV) (98.36 g I2 100 g-1oil), saponification value (SV) (186.27 mg KOH g-1 oil), refractive index (RI) (1.471) and color values (L* = 90.14, a* = 50.76, b* = 30.47 and ∆E = 68.23). The results demonstrated that the AV, PV, TBA, IV, SN, RI and color values were significantly (p<0.05) altered upon irradiation and storage. Gamma irradiation and storage time increased AV, PV, TBA, IV, SN, and RI. However, all tested markers of oil that extracted from irradiated and un-irradiated seeds field within the limited value recommended by Codex Alimentarius Commission.


Summary
Combining nutrient dynamics (plant nutrient uptake and soil fertility) can help uncover mechanisms of shrub-grass interactions and assess the validity of the stress-gradient hypothesis, which predicts that facilitation between plants increases in stressful environments. However, how facilitation via shrub-mediated nutrient increases varies with precipitation is poorly resolved.
We first synthesized a global dataset from 66 studies and evaluated how shrubs affected soil organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) in grasslands along a precipitation gradient. We then made new measurements in a single grassland type encroached by leguminous shrubs from the same genus (Caragana) to constrain the variations caused by combining different grassland types and shrubs traits in the meta-analysis. Specifically, we investigated how shrubs mediated N dynamics and how shrub-grass interactions varied along a precipitation gradient (147-342 mm) in a temperate steppe of China.
At the global scale, leguminous shrub-mediated effects on soil nutrients increased with precipitation, while no relationship was found for non-leguminous shrub. For the field experiment, greater N and lower δ15N in Caragana compared to non-leguminous shrub (reference shrub, Salsola collina) suggested active N-fixation in Caragana. We found that Caragana enhanced N concentration and leaf quality (low C:N ratio) in neighbouring plants more on mesic sites than on xeric sites. Thus, facilitation increased via higher soil N and with decreasing environmental stress, at least along this relatively arid precipitation gradient.
Our results highlight the importance of precipitation in determining the nutritional facilitation to neighbouring grasses from encroaching leguminous shrubs. Conceptual frameworks for plant facilitation may therefore need to include shrub characteristics (N-fixers vs. non-fixers) and positive effects of higher precipitation on this type of facilitation to characterize plant interactions along stress gradients.

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


This paper presents an algebraic approach to construct Mband orthogonal wavelet bases. A system of constraint equations is obtained for M-band orthonormal filters, and then a solution based on SVD (Singular Value Decomposition) is developed to enable us to produce innumerable wavelet bases of given length. Also the property of 2 vanishing moments is integrated into our wavelet construction process, which provides another way to compute 2-regular M-band filter banks.


The toppling of Saddam in 2003 brought with it the re-emergence of the free press in Iraq. This has seen Iraq shift from only a handful of state media outlets that served as propaganda machines, to a vast array of Iraqi-owned newspapers, radio stations and television channels which are being fervently produced and avidly consumed across the nation. This paper therefore reviews the developments in Iraq's post-Saddam media sector and finds that it has been central to the return of an Iraqi public sphere which has openly debated and discussed the issues surrounding the nation's shift from despotism to democracy. This is perhaps best evidenced by the role that the Iraqi media played in hosting a rich tapestry of debate, discourse and deliberation from panoply of political, religious and ethno-sectarian factions throughout the elections and referendums held across the nation in 2005. Despite their respective biases and particular persuasions, the net effect of such a rich media sector has been an Iraqi populace who are both concerned and informed about the nuances of democratic governance.


Over the past five years, the Supreme Court has embarked upon a drastic and far-reaching experiment in patent eligibility standards. Since the founding era, the nation's patent statutes have afforded patent protection to technological innovations and practical applications of scientific discoveries. However, the Supreme Court's 2012 decision in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories imposed a new limitation on the scope of the patent system: that a useful application of a scientific discovery is ineligible for patent protection unless the inventor also claims an "inventive" application of the discovery. The following year, the Court ruled that discoveries of the location and sequence of DNA compositions that are useful in diagnosing diseases are ineligible for patent protection. And in its 2014 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International decision, the Court ruled that software-related claims are ineligible for patent protection unless the abstract ideas or mathematical formulas disclosed are inventively applied.
These decisions sent shock waves through the research, technology, business, and patent communities. Medical diagnostics companies experienced a dramatic narrowing of eligibility for core scientific discoveries. Reactions within the information technology community have been mixed, with some applauding the tightening of patent eligibility standards on software claims and the opportunity to seek early dismissal of lawsuits, particularly those filed by non-practicing entities, and others criticizing the shift in patent eligibility. Several members of the Federal Circuit bluntly criticized the Supreme Court's shift in patent eligibility standards on jurisprudential and policy grounds. Additionally, the Patent Office has struggled to apply the Supreme Court's new and rapidly evolving standards.
As this sea change unfolded, many patent practitioners, scholars, PTO officials, and jurists hoped that the Supreme Court would provide fuller and clearer guidance on patent eligibility standards. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's rejection of the invitation to reexamine its Mayo decision, many stakeholders have shifted their attention toward legislative reforms. This Report summarizes the presentations and discussion of a workshop of leading industry representatives, practitioners, scholars, policymakers, and a retired jurist exploring the legal background and effects bearing on legislative action.
Part I contains a lightly edited version of the background document circulated to participants prior to the workshop. Part II summarizes the four workshop sessions leading up to the discussion of legislative proposals: (A) legal background; (B) effects on research and development (RD (C) effects on patent prosecution; and (D) effects on patent assertion, litigation, and case management. Part III summarizes the discussion of legislative proposals and sets forth a framework for seeking compromise on reform legislation.


OBJECTIVE
This study examined differences between the dominant and nondominant hands of children during an object release task under various accuracy and speed constraints.

METHOD
Fifteen children 7 to 14 years of age who were typically developing released an instrumented object held with a precision grip onto a stable or unstable surface at a self-paced or quick speed while temporal and force measures were recorded.

RESULTS
Few differences were found between the two hands under stable, self-paced conditions. However, given accuracy constraints, object replacement with the nondominant hand took longer than the dominant hand. The nondominant hand exhibited different force coordination patterns than the dominant hand when both accuracy and speed constraints were imposed.

CONCLUSION
Task constraints differentially affected the performance of the dominant and nondominant hands during this object release task. The results suggest that clinicians should incorporate various task constraints into hand preference evaluations and during "dominance retraining".


Background: Reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) may play a role in tumor angiogenesis. Glioblastomas, the most malignant type of primary brain tumor, are highly vascularized. Little is known about the role of RECK in angiogenesis of glioblastomas. The aims of this study were to characterize RECK expression and investigate the role of RECK in glioblastomas.
Methods and Findings: Tumor samples from 50 patients with glioblastoma and brain tissue samples from neurologically normal controls were immunohistochemically stained for RECK, CD34, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). RECK was expressed in endothelial cells but not tumor cells. A significant correlation between microvessel density (MVD) according to RECK and CD34 was revealed. However, RECK expression was remarkably weak in glomeruloid vessels. MVD according to RECK staining was significantly lower than MVDto CD34 staining in the group with glomeruloid vascular proliferation, which was related with high expression of VEGF.
Conclusions: RECK expression was observed in endothelial cells of microvessels in normal brain and the patients with glioblastoma. However, RECK expression was remarkably downregulated in endothelial cells of glomeruloid vessels. Thus, RECK may act during angiogenesis in glioblastomas, especially in forming simple vessels as microvessels rather than glomeruloid vessels.


We report an autosomal recessive form of ataxia that is not allelic to Friedreich's disease in six individuals from a large kindred with family origins traced to a common founder of German-Swiss descent. The disorder begins during early childhood with a concentric contraction of the visual fields and proprioceptive loss. Eventually blindness, a severe sensory ataxia, achalasia, scoliosis, and inanition develop by the third decade. Inversion recovery MRIs of the spinal cord in affected individuals demonstrate a hyperintense signal in the posterior columns. Finding the gene responsible for this disorder may aid in our understanding of the mechanisms that cause sensory neuronal degeneration.


Empirical applications of structural equation modeling (SEM) typically rest on the assumption that the analysed sample is homogenous with respect to the underlying structural model or that homogenous subsamples have been formed based on a priori knowledge. However, researchers often are ignorant about the true causes of heterogeneity and thus risk to produce misleading results. Using a sequential procedure of cluster analysis in combination with multi-group SEM has been shown to be inappropriate to solve the problem of unobserved heterogeneity. Recently, two encouraging approaches have been developed in this regard: (1) Finite mixtures of structural equation models and (2) hierarchical Bayesian estimation. In this paper, we focus exclusively on the MECOSA approach to nite normal mixtures subject to conditional mean and covariance structures. Since not much is known about the performance of MECOSA, which is both a specic model and a software, we present the results of an extensive Monte Carlo simulation. It was found that MECOSA performed best where homogenous groups were present in the data in equal proportions and in conjunction with rather large differences in parameters across the groups. MECOSA performed worse when the proportions were unequal and parameters were relatively close together across groups. Of the three estimation methods available in MECOSA the two-stage minimum distance estimation (MDE) in general performed worse than the alternative EM algorithms (EM and EMG). This effect was especially pronounced under conditions of close parameters and unequal group proportions. Above that, for these conditions the modied likelihood ratio test turned out to be inappropriate in the three groups case.


UN Coordination Uranium is best known for its radioactivity. From the standpoint of lower-energy chemistry, uranium is also intriguing for its bonding motifs, which involve trinodal f orbitals. King et al. (p. 717, published online 28 June; see the Perspective by Sattelberger and Johnson) synthesized and isolated a molecule bearing a uranium-nitrogen triple bond. Theoretical calculations allowed the mapping of the orbital interactions, distinguishing it from similar motifs in compounds of lighter metals. The preparation required use of a rigid, bulky ligand framework to keep the reactive uranium nitride group from binding to another molecule nearby, a pathway that has plagued prior attempts to prepare this class of compounds. A uranium triple bond to nitrogen makes use of the heavy element's f orbitals. The terminal uranium nitride linkage is a fundamental target in the study of f-orbital participation in metal-ligand multiple bonding but has previously eluded characterization in an isolable molecule. Here, we report the preparation of the terminal uranium(V) nitride complex [UN(TrenTIPS)][Na(12-crown-4)2] {in which TrenTIPS = [N(CH2CH2NSiPri3)3]3– and Pri = CH(CH3)2} by reaction of the uranium(III) complex [U(TrenTIPS)] with sodium azide followed by abstraction and encapsulation of the sodium cation by the polydentate crown ether 12-crown-4. Single-crystal x-ray diffraction reveals a uranium-terminal nitride bond length of 1.825(15) angstroms (where 15 is the standard uncertainty). The structural assignment is supported by means of 15N-isotopic labeling, electronic absorption spectroscopy, magnetometry, electronic structure calculations, elemental analyses, and liberation of ammonia after treatment with water.


CLOUD enables access to a shared pool of virtual resources through Internet and its adoption rate is increasing because of its high availability, scalability and cost effectiveness. However, cloud data centers are one of the fastest-growing energy consumers and half of their energy consumption is wasted mostly because of inefficient allocation of the servers resources. Therefore, this thesis focuses on software level energy management techniques that are applicable to containerized cloud environments. Containerized clouds are studied as containers are increasingly gaining popularity. And containers are going to be major deployment model in cloud environments. The main objective of this thesis is to propose an architecture and algorithms to minimize the data center energy consumption while maintaining the required Quality of Service (QoS). The objective is addressed through improvements in the resource utilization both on server and virtual machine level. We investigated the two possibilities of minimizing energy consumption in a containerized cloud environment, namely the VM sizing and container consolidation. The key contributions of this thesis are as follows: 1. A taxonomy and survey of energy-efficient resource management techniques in PaaS and CaaS environments. 2. A novel architecture for virtual machine customization and task mapping in a containerized cloud environment. 3. An efficient VM sizing technique for hosting containers and investigation of the impact of workload characterization on the efficiency of the determined VM sizes. 4. A design and implementation of a simulation toolkit that enables modeling for containerized cloud environments. 5. A framework for dynamic consolidation of containers and a novel correlation-aware container consolidation algorithm. 6. A detailed comparison of energy efficiency of container consolidation algorithms with traditional virtual machine consolidation for containerized cloud environments.


The contribution of HEI to regional development is a theme that has attracted growing attention, as these institutions are increasingly expected not only to conduct education and research, but also to play an active role in the economic, social and cultural development of their regions. Regional HEIs are higher education institutions of an especial mission with the basic objective to implement scientific and research programmes necessary for regional development. The research aims at the study of regularities existing between the qualities of human resources and financial resources allocated for the development of HE system in Latvia. The research implies the use of following methods: monographic descriptive, analysis and synthesis, logical and constructive. Presently the science is not capable to ensure training of highly skilled specialists for the needs of society, as the age structure and number of academic staff continue to deteriorate. Within the recent five years education in Latvia has been one of the state determined priorities, as the total amount of higher education funding increases annually. The comparison of the share of financing for education of GDP with the respective average indicator in the EU shows that generally in Latvia this indicator complies with the EU average figure.


The attempt to drain the Kopais Lake was one of the most impressive and ambitious technical works of prehistoric times in Greece, inspiring myths and traditions referring to its construction and operation. The impressive remnants of the Mycenaean hydraulic works represent the most important land reclamation effort during prehistoric Greek antiquity, thus attracting the attention of the international scientific community. Nevertheless, in spite of the minor or extended contemporary surveys, the picture of the prehistoric drainage works in Kopais has remained ambiguous. Concerning the function of these works and their precise date within the Bronze Age, the proposed theories were based solely on indications from surface survey; data stemming from archaeological or geophysical research methods have been largely neglected. A new interdisciplinary project focusing on the interpretation of the Mycenaean drainage works of Kopais has been established and paper presents the results of the first study season.


In shared-memory multiprocessors, caches are attached to the processors in order to reduce the memory access latency. To keep the memory consistent, a cache coherence protocol is needed. A well known approach is to record which caches have copies of a memory block in a directory and only notify the caches having a copy when a processor modifies the block. Such a protocol is called a directory-based cache coherence protocol. This thesis, which is a summary of seven papers, identifies three problems in a directory-based protocol, and evaluates implementation and performance aspects of some design alternatives. The evaluation methodology is based on program-driven simulation. The write-invalidate policy, which is used in the baseline protocol, forces all other copies of a block to be invalidated when a processor modifies the block. This leads to a cache miss each time a processor accesses an invalidated block. To reduce the number of cache misses, a competitive-update policy is proposed in this thesis. The competitive-update policy is shown to reduce both the read stall and execution times as compared to write-invalidate under a relaxed memory consistency model. However, update-based policies need more buffering and hardware support in the caches. In the baseline protocol, the implementation cost of the directory is proportional to the number of caches. To reduce this cost, an alternative directory organization is proposed which distributes the directory information among the caches sharing the same memory block. To achieve a low write latency, the caches sharing a block are organized in a tree. The caches are linked into the tree in parallel with application execution to achieve a low read latency. The hardware-implemented directory controller in the baseline protocol may lead to high design complexity and implementation cost. This thesis evaluates a design alternative where the controller is implemented using software handlers executed on the compute processor. By using efficient strategies and proper architectural support, this design alternative is shown to be competitive with the baseline protocol. However, the performance of this alternative is more sensitive to other design choices, e.g., block size and latency tolerating techniques, than the baseline protocol.


From the 4–8th of September 2011, the Eucarpia Fodder Crops and Amenity Grasses Section held its 29th Meeting in the impressive surroundings of Dublin Castle in Ireland. Over one hundred and twenty scientists from 21 countries, all working in the area of the genetics and breeding of forage species, attended the meeting, which was themed 'Breeding strategies for sustainable forage and turf grass improvement'. Why did we choose this theme? Grasslands cover a significant proportion of the land mass of the world, and play a pivotal role in global food production. At the same time we are faced with several challenges that affect the way in which we think about this valuable set of resources. The population of the world is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, and increase of about one third relative to today's levels. This population increase will be focused in urban areas, and in what are currently viewed as "developing" countries, meaning that the buying power of this increased population will be greater—shifting the balance of demand from staple crops to high value items such as meat and dairy products. Overall this means that the world will have to approximately double agricultural output across all categories of food to meet the demands of this larger, urbanised population. This is occurring against a backdrop of equally large challenges in terms of global climate change. Agriculture is already a significant contributor to things such as greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and soil erosion. The situation is made more complex by an increased emphasis on biofuels as a solution for our imminent oil shortage, resulting in increased competition between land utilised for food and fuel. In short, agriculture must continue to feed the world, whilst not contributing to damaging it further. It must be sustainable. Plant breeding plays a significant but frequently understated role in meeting the challenges presented by this complex and changing scenario. However, plant breeding and improvement is itself undergoing radical change, driven by technologies that, quite frankly, seem to have sprung from the pages of science fiction novels written decades ago. Thus, it seemed to us, when given the opportunity to organise this meeting, that it was timely to explore how forage and turf breeding is changing and adapting to meet these challenges using the technological advances being experienced in plant breeding as a whole. Consequently, the meeting focused heavily on how next generation sequencing technologies are interacting with advanced phenotyping strategies for a variety of increasingly well defined traits. This type of analysis is powerful,


We examine the role of the ICT revolution in driving productivity growth behavior for the United States and an aggregate of ten Western European nations (the EU-10) from 1977 to 2015. We find that the standard growth accounting approach is deficient when it separates sources of growth between ICT capital deepening and TFP growth, because much of the effect of the ICT revolution was channeled through spillovers to TFP growth rather than being limited to the capital deepening pathway. Using industry-level data from EU KLEMS, we find that most of the 1995-2005 U.S. productivity growth revival was driven by ICT-intensive industries producing market services and computer hardware. In contrast the EU-10 experienced a 1995-2005 growth slowdown due to a paucity of ICT investment, a failure to capture the efficiency benefits of ICT, and performance shortfalls in specific industries including ICT production, finance-insurance, retail-wholesale, and agriculture. After 2005 both the U.S. and the EU-10 suffered a growth slowdown, indicating that the benefits of the ICT revolution were temporary rather than providing a new permanent era of faster productivity growth. This joint transatlantic post-2005 slowdown is consistent with the broader view that ongoing innovation has been less potent in boosting productivity growth compared to earlier decades of the postwar era.


Oral L-thyroxine (L-T4) supplementation is used to replace thyroid hormone concentrations in dogs with hypothyroidism. The pharmacokinetics of L-T4 following administration of a solution (Leventa) was investigated in healthy dogs. L-T4 was absorbed fairly rapidly (t(max) 3 h). A mean bioavailability of 22% was calculated following a single oral administration of 40 microg L-T4/kg body weight. Repeated oral administration at the same dose for 14 consecutive days did not lead to any accumulation of T4 in serum. After intravenous administration of L-T4, a serum half-life of 11.6 h was calculated. Food intake concomitant with L-T4 oral administration delayed L-T4 absorption and decreased its rate and extent by about 45%. The relative bioavailability of L-T4 following administration of a tablet formulation was about 50% of that of the L-T4 solution. The pharmacokinetic properties of liquid L-T4 after oral administration support the use of a dose rate of 20 microg/kg once daily, as a starting dose for replacement therapy in dogs with hypothyroidism.


Abstract Central Alaska is a broad zone of crustal deformation that is produced by collision and flat slab subduction. Within central Alaska, there are large‐scale right‐lateral strike‐slip faults, such as the Denali fault (2002 M w  7.9), as well as smaller‐scale fold‐and‐thrust belts and a set of left‐lateral strike‐slip fault zones, one of which is the Minto Flats fault zone (MFFZ). We use seismological evidence to document a pair of overlapping left‐lateral faults that define the MFFZ. Microseismicity delineates this 180‐km‐long fault zone. Using body waves and surface waves, we perform moment tensor inversions for the 11 best‐recorded earthquakes in the fault zone. Moment tensors reveal consistent left‐lateral faulting throughout the fault zone. A finite‐source model for the 1995 M w  6.0 earthquake is consistent with left‐lateral faulting and provides rupture details for the largest known event in the fault zone. The two main faults are separated by 10 km and overlap by 67 km, forming a releasing stepover geometry within a local transtensional setting. Between the faults is a 90‐km‐long, 12‐km‐wide, and 8‐km‐deep sedimentary basin (the Nenana basin). We interpret the transtensional faulting to be responsible for the development of the basin over the past 6 Ma. The distances of fault overlap and fault separation are key parameters for determining (1) the 3D morphology of the sedimentary basin and (2) the likelihood of earthquake ruptures jumping from one fault to the next. The structure of the Nenana basin is consistent with shear motion accommodated by the identified faults. The 10 km fault separation suggests that ruptures are not likely to span the entire fault zone. Earthquakes as large as M w  7.0–7.5 could occur on the faults. The transtensional fault zone provides an important constraint for understanding the larger‐scale intraplate tectonic setting of central Alaska. Online Material: Figures of waveform fits, depth estimation for moment tensors, variation in seismicity, and fault‐plane identification.


Cyanobacteria which is also known as blue-green algae have gained considerable attention as they offer high value bioactive compounds with feasible application for pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. In this study, a filamentous cyanobacteria has been isolated from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) of local industry. Morphological observation and biomolecular analysis were performed to identify the isolated species. The molecular phylogenetic analysis was based on the sequences of 16S rRNA gene. β-carotene content and dry biomass main components (carbohydrate, protein and lipid) were also investigated. The result of biomolecular analysis, supported by morphological identification confirmed that the strain was Uncultured oscillatoria sp. Carbohydrate, protein and lipid contents of the strain were 15.301%, 54.384% and 11.75% respectively. Under two different culture conditions ( culture incubated in normal BBM medium and in nitrogen depletion medium ), β-carotene content for both cultures were 0.697 % and 0.842 % respectively. The increase of β-carotene content in nitrogen depletion medium indicated that the stress applied is effective enough to enhance β-carotene production.


Title of Document: CHARACTERIZATION OF LUMINOUS BACTERIA AS A BIOSENSING ELEMENT FOR DETECTION OF ACRYLAMIDE IN FOOD Maryam Ganjavi, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Directed By: Dr. Y. Martin Lo, Department of Nutrition and Food Science World Health Organization (WHO) has called for further research into acrylamide, a known carcinogen and neurotoxin in animals, following emergency consultations to review data from studies that revealed the presence of acrylamide in starch-based foods fried and baked at high temperatures. The presence of acrylamide in food is recognized as a major concern in humans based on the ability to induce cancer and heritable mutations in laboratory animals. The objective of this study was to characterize the cellular-level damage of acrylamide by bioluminescence stress fingerprinting. Five genetically engineered strains containing selected stressresponsive E. coli promoters fused to the luxCDABE reporter were employed. One of the strains containing DNA damage responsive promoter, DPD2222, was also employed in conjunction with alkaline and neutral comet assay to assess respective singleand double-stranded DNA damages. Results showed that Luminous E. coli DPD2222 containing DNA damage responsive promoter, recA, yielded the highest response followed by luminous E. coli DPD2234 which contained protein damage responsive promoter, grpE. Moreover, acrylamide stress response of the cells up to 14 days old was the same as that of the overnight culture. Furthermore, it was revealed that the E. coli DPD2222 and DPD2234 were capable of detecting acrylamide between 1 and 10,000 μg/L upon contact, with the response signals proportional to acrylamide concentration. The most severe cellular damage of these two strains was achieved after 100 min of contact, as indicated by the highest signals. In addition, temperature-wise, 37 °C resulted in the most significant light emission of E. coli DPD2222. No single strand break was observed at acrylamide concentrations <1000 μg/L by using alkaline comet assay. However, neutral comet assay performed at acrylamide concentrations >10,000 μg/L (ambient temperature) showed a more severe DNA double strand breaks in the cells, so did 1000 μg/L acrylamide at 37 °C. Therefore, it is evident that exposure of bioluminescence sensing cells to acrylamide causes severe DNA damage at either high concentration at room temperature or reduced concentration at body temperature. Quantitative and fingerprint assessment of acrylamide damage could be achieved by optimizing bioluminescence cells constructed with different stress-responsive reporter plasmids. CHARACTERIZATION OF LUMINOUS BACTERIA AS A BIOSENSING ELEMENT FOR DETECTION OF ACRYLAMIDE IN FOOD By


We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the first five moments of six event shape variables related to three-particle final states in electron-positron annihilation; the thrust, the heavy jet mass, the C-parameter, the wide and total jet broadenings and the three-to-two-jet transition parameter in the Durham algorithm Y3. The NNLO corrections to the first moment are moderate for all event shapes, while the renormalisation scale dependence of the theoretical prediction is substantially reduced compared to the previously existing NLO results. From a comparison with data from JADE and OPAL, we observe that the energy dependence of the moments of the wide jet broadening and Y3 can be largely explained without any non-perturbative power corrections, while the other observables exhibit a clear need for power-like contributions at low centre-of-mass energy.


In this paper a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller to efficiently allocate bandwidth in high coverage passive optical networks (PONs) is presented. The novelty of this proposal relies on the fact that this is the first proposal to use a PID to control a network parameter in PONs. As the PID takes into account present, past and possible future errors in the bandwidth adjustment, this self-adapting technique results in a very robust process. Simulation results exhibit that not only is it faster and more stable than other algorithms, but also it auto-adapts the resources very efficiently when facing real time changes in the network parameters or in the bandwidth conditions. In fact, the standard deviation of the difference between the allocated and the guaranteed bandwidth is reduced by up to 50% and the convergence speed is up to four times quicker than other proposals.


This work is intended to contribute to the search for an explanation of the way a really good finite element should behave during analysis of a general shell problem. The finite element analysis of thin shells is currently receiving much attention in the international literature. Indeed it seems that in almost every new issue of the engineering journals there is a proposal for a new and more efficient shell element. The reason for this is of course the underlying complexity of the shell problem and, more specificallyt the difficulty of taking bending into correct account. In order to elicit an understanding of the use of the finite element method in shell problems an in-depth study is presented of the behaviour of a vehicle shell finite element. This element is the very simple combined constant membrane stress and constant bending moment flat triangle. The examination of its behaviour reveals that the characteristics of an assembly of these elements are such as to enable recovery, in a remarkable way, of each of the types of deformation identified by the classical first approximation theory. Recovery of rigid body movement, inextensional. bending, membrane action and edge effectis achieved to an accuracy consistent with the order of magnitude of inherent errors of the classical theory. Thus, the element is seen to hold a position of fundamental importance with regard to the numerical analysis of thin shells. Special attention is given to the sensitive low energy bending response. This reveals that there are two quite different roles for the element bending freedoms. One role concerns inextensional bending movements which extend over the whole model. The other role concerns local rotational movements which accompany the curvature changes of inextensional bending and edge effect. Extensive numerical comparisons are made against solutions obtained from the classical theory for shells which are very deep with strongly negative Gaussian curvature and which are considered to provide very severe tests. Investigation of edge effect concerns a cantilevered circular cylinder under edge moment. To complete this examination of bending details are given of a matrix procedure which is intended to assess thin shell finite element models in their response to inextensional bending. To conclude this work the results of a preliminary study of the mathematical details of convergence of the vehicle element are presented. This investigation is specific to the geometry of a circular cylinder and clamped boundary conditions. It is shown that, despite the highly nonconforming nature of the element, O(h) asymptotic convergence in the energy norm is achieved and in this respect is similar in behaviour to the Clough-Johnson flat plate shell finite element.


Starting from a passage in the treatise De universali reali by Jean de Maisonneuve (Johannes de Nova Domo), where Jean de Maisonneuve denounces John Buridan as a materialist, the article looks for textual evidence that would support or otherwise refute this claim in Buridan's works on natural philosophy. In particular, the article analyzes Buridan's discussion of universal knowledge in the final redactions of his commentaries on Aristotle's Physica and De anima, which turn out to complement each other. Here, Buridan asks if something extended and material can have universal knowledge. Against the opinion commonly held, according to Buridan, not only by many of his contemporaries, but also by almost all of the ancient commentators (multi et quasi omnes expositores antiqui), Buridan argues that traditional arguments against a materialistic theory of the human mind are not conclusive. After having removed the main stumbling blocks, he goes on to sketch a theory of universal knowledge that is compatible with the assumption that the human intellect is a material form. As an appendix, the paper contains an edition of the key question on universal knowledge in the penultimate redaction of John Buridan's Physics commentary, which is made available in print for the first time here.


Extensive researches around the world validate cooperative learning effectiveness as an instructional method in teaching. Not only it is able to improve academic achievement but it also provides a conducive environment which promotes active learning and interaction among students and this serves as a platform to
develop good social skills. Cooperative learning should become a common instructional method in Malaysian classfboms, since the current Malaysian teaching philosophy advocates a more student-centred teaching practices compared to the previous curriculum which rely heavily on traditional teacher-centred teaching
approach. These factors and the limited number of studies which focus on the teachers as practitioners of cooperative learning in second language learning environment in Malaysia have prompted this study to be carried out. Subsequently, the objectives of this study were to examine English teachers' and their current cooperative learning in the teaching of English, their perceptions in using the method in class and the motivational variables that affect the application of cooperative learning. Samples were taken from five selected secondary schools in the district of Kuala Selangor, Selangor. The data were elicited through questionnaires which were distributed to 55 English teachers in the schools and interviews with five teachers
who were selected at random. The findings showed that eighty percent of the respondents were practitioners of cooperative learning and they were generally positive in integrating cooperative learning in teaching and have an adequate grasp of
the approach. However, the other twenty percent of the teachers were not keen in applying the method in their teaching by citing reasons such as lack of support from the school management and lack of confidence. The study also discovered that in relation to motivational variables, the teachers perceived value of cooperative learning play a role in their decision in becoming a practitioner or a non-practitioner of the method. It is recommended that in-service and trainee teachers are given a
more intensive course on cooperative learning so that they would have a good understanding of its principles and benefits to increase both their confidence level in using the method as well as their perceived value on the method in the effort to encourage them to adopt it in the teaching and learning of English.


Lubricant-impregnated surfaces comprising a porous or textured solid and a liquid lubricant give rise to many novel properties. In this chapter, we review how to achieve a stable lubricant-impregnated surface and discuss its basic features including the wetting ridge and lubricant cloak that are relevant to most implementations. Next, applications of lubricant-impregnated surfaces are detailed including condensation, anti-icing, anti-fouling, fluid mobility, optics, and active surfaces. In each application, the design of a lubricant-impregnated surface has particularly relevant criteria, and both the achievements and current shortcomings of this technology are discussed.


Numerous studies have foregrounded how play is only partially shaped by the artifacts that their designers design. The play activity can change the structures framing it, turning players into co-designers through the mere act of playing. This article contributes to our understanding of how we can design for play taking into account that play has this transformative power. We describe four ways that players can engage with framing structures, which we classify in terms of whether players conform to explore, transgress, or (re)create them. Through the examples of three case studies, we illustrate how this model has been useful in design: as an analytical tool for deconstructing player behavior, to articulate design goals and support specific design choices, and for shaping the design process.


In this paper, a novel parasitic element structure is proposed to reduce the mutual coupling produced in a compact (2×1)multi-input multi-output (MIMO) antenna system working at 2.4 GHz for wireless local area network (WLAN) applications. The proposed structure has a rectangular shape with (10) square slots built using FR-4 substrate with relative permittivity of 4.4 and loss tangent 0.025.The resulted MIMO antenna is found to have a low mutual coupling of about 25dB and an envelope correlation coefficient less than 0.1 in the band of interest. The antenna also has a wide relative bandwidth of 18.75%, high total efficiency of 89.5% and acceptable realized gain of about 2.25dBi.


Some secreted growth factors originate as membrane-bound precursor proteins, and upon cleavage, they are released to act on their cognate receptors at the cell surface. Ligands for the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptors are synthesized as such, but the mechanism and regulation of their cleavage have not been fully elucidated. Genetic evidence in Drosophila indicates that the fly EGF receptor is activated by a ligand called Spitz, which is synthesized as a membrane-bound precursor. Spitz action is somehow supported by the actions of two other membrane proteins, Star and Rhomboid, a type-2 transmembrane and seven-transmembrane domain protein, respectively. Lee et al. report that in Drosophila embryos and in transfected mammalian cells, Star chaperones Spitz from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi, where Rhomboid then cleaves Spitz to the mature form. Hence, the EGF receptor ligand is proteolytically processed intracellularly, before secretion. Furthermore, Urban et al. deduced that Rhomboid is a serine protease whose active site lies within its transmembrane domains. Both studies demonstrate that Rhomboid cleaves Spitz within its transmembrane domain as well. Rhomboids are conserved across numerous species and may represent a widespread mechanism of signal regulation. J. R. Lee, S. Urban, C. F. Garvey, M. Freeman, Regulated intracellular ligand transport and proteolysis control EGF signal activation in Drosophila. Cell 107, 161-171 (2001). [Online Journal] S. Urban, J. R. Lee, M. Freeman, Drosophila Rhomboid-1 defines a family of putative intramembrane serine proteases, Cell 107, 173-182 (2001). [Online Journal]


In 1984, the International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that working in the primary aluminium production process was associated with exposure to certain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are probably carcinogenic to humans. Key sources of PAH exposure within the occupational environment of a prebake aluminium smelter are processes associated with use of coal-tar pitch. Despite the potential for exposure via inhalation, ingestion and dermal adsorption, to date occupational exposure limits exist only for airborne contaminants.

This study, based at a prebake aluminium smelter in Queensland, Australia, compares exposures of workers who came in contact with PAHs from coal-tar pitch in the smelter's anode plant (n = 69) and cell-reconstruction area (n = 28), and a non-production control group (n = 17). Literature relevant to PAH exposures in industry and methods of monitoring and assessing occupational hazards associated with these compounds are reviewed, and methods relevant to PAH exposure are discussed in the context of the study site.

The study utilises air monitoring of PAHs to quantify exposure via the inhalation route and biological monitoring of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) in urine of workers to assess total body burden from all routes of entry. Exposures determined for similar exposure groups, sampled over three years, are compared with published occupational PAH exposure limits and/or guidelines.

Results of paired personal air monitoring samples and samples collected for 1-OHP in urine monitoring do not correlate. Predictive ability of the benzene-soluble fraction (BSF) in personal air monitoring in relation to the 1-OHP levels in urine is poor (adjusted R2 < 1%) even after adjustment for potential confounders of smoking status and use of personal protective equipment.

For static air BSF levels in the anode plant, the median was 0.023 mg/m3 (range 0.002–0.250), almost twice as high as in the cell-reconstruction area (median = 0.013 mg/m3, range 0.003–0.154). In contrast, median BSF personal exposure in the anode plant was 0.036 mg/m3 (range 0.003–0.563), significantly lower than the median measured in the reconstruction area (0.054 mg/m3, range 0.003–0.371) (p = 0.041). The observation that median 1-OHP levels in urine were significantly higher in the anode plant than in the reconstruction area (6.62 µmol/mol creatinine, range 0.09–33.44 and 0.17 µmol/mol creatinine, range 0.001–2.47, respectively) parallels the static air measurements of BSF rather than the personal air monitoring results (p < 0.001). Results of air measurements and biological monitoring show that tasks associated with paste mixing and anode forming in the forming area of the anode plant resulted in higher PAH exposure than tasks in the non-forming areas; median 1-OHP levels in urine from workers in the forming area (14.20 µmol/mol creatinine, range 2.02–33.44) were almost four times higher than those obtained from workers in the non-forming area (4.11 µmol/mol creatinine, range 0.09–26.99; p < 0.001). Results justify use of biological monitoring as an important adjunct to existing measures of PAH exposure in the aluminium industry. Although monitoring of 1-OHP in urine may not be an accurate measure of biological effect on an individual, it is a better indicator of total PAH exposure than BSF in air.

In January 2005, interim study results prompted a plant management decision to modify control measures to reduce skin exposure. Comparison of 1-OHP in urine from workers pre- and post-modifications showed substantial downward trends. Exposure via the dermal route was identified as a contributor to overall dose. Reduction in 1-OHP urine concentrations achieved by reducing skin exposure demonstrate the importance of exposure via this alternative pathway.

Finally, control measures are recommended to ameliorate risk associated with PAH exposure in the primary aluminium production process, and suggestions for future research include development of methods capable of more specifically monitoring carcinogenic constituents of PAH mixtures, such as benzo[a]pyrene.


This thesis addresses the topics of spot price modelling, risk management, and investment applications in the energy markets. Eight of the most important energy markets that trade futures contracts on NYMEX, and one Spot Energy Index (SEI) proposed for the first time in this thesis, are investigated. A new modelling approach is proposed for optimally capturing the behaviour of the energy spot prices, combining a mean-reverting and a spike model that incorporate two different speeds of mean reversion, and time-varying volatility modelled as a GARCH and an EGARCH process. The aforementioned modelling approach is also evaluated in terms of its ability to quantify energy spot price risk by accurately calculating Value-at-Risk (VaR) and Expected Shortfall (ES) measures. A number of commonly used VaR methodologies are evaluated along with various Monte Carlo (MC) simulations based models and a Hybrid Monte Carlo with Historical Simulation (MC-HS) approach, introduced in this thesis for the first time. This thesis also delves into index investment applications for the energy markets that have recently attracted a lot of attention. To that end, the index tracking problem is addressed by applying equity algorithmic trading using two innovative Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), aiming to replicate the performance of a direct energy commodity investment which is proxied by the constructed spot energy index. The empirical evidence in this thesis shows that the proposed modelling approach can effectively capture the behaviour of the energy spot prices examined, and that it is the most reasonable, efficient, and consistent approach for calculating the VaR of spot energy prices and the SEI, for both long and short positions. Hence, it can be successfully applied for forecasting, risk management, derivatives pricing, and policy development and monitoring purposes. Finally, it is shown that energy commodities, proxied by the SEI, can have equity-like returns as they can be effectively tracked with stock portfolios selected by the investment methodology proposed in this thesis. The latter investment approach can be used by fund managers to set-up energy Exchange Traded Funds that would track the performance of the SEI, giving them the full flexibility of any investment style, long or short, that equities can provide.


The factors controlling the extent of fire in Africa south of the equator were investigated using moderate resolution (500 m) satellite‐derived burned area maps and spatial data on the environmental factors thought to affect burnt area. A random forest regression tree procedure was used to determine the relative importance of each factor in explaining the burned area fraction and to address hypotheses concerned with human and climatic influences on the drivers of burnt area. The model explained 68% of the variance in burnt area. Tree cover, rainfall in the previous 2 years, and rainfall seasonality were the most important predictors. Human activities – represented by grazing, roads per unit area, population density, and cultivation fraction – were also shown to affect burnt area, but only in parts of the continent with specific climatic conditions, and often in ways counter to the prevailing wisdom that more human activity leads to more fire. The analysis found no indication that ignitions were limiting total burnt area on the continent, and most of the spatial variation was due to variation in fuel load and moisture. Split conditions from the regression tree identified (i) low rainfall regions, where fire is rare; (ii) regions where fire is under human control; and (iii) higher rainfall regions where burnt area is determined by rainfall seasonality. This study provides insights into the physical, climatic, and human drivers of fire and their relative importance across southern Africa, and represents the beginnings of a predictive framework for burnt area.


Congress delegates extensive and growing lawmaking authority to federal administrative agencies in areas other than taxation, but tightly limits the scope of IRS and Treasury regulatory discretion in the tax area, specifically not permitting these agencies to select or adjust tax rates. This Article questions why tax policy does and should differ from other policy areas in this respect, noting some of the potential policy benefits of delegation. Greater delegation of tax lawmaking authority would permit policies to benefit from the expertise of administrative agencies, and afford timely adjustment to changing economic circumstances. Furthermore, delegation of the tax reform process to an independent commission or agency offers the prospect of Congress committing itself to rational reform and long-run budget sustainability in a way that is more apt to succeed than are piecemeal legislative efforts. The Article concludes with an analysis of the constitutionality of tax delegation, noting the applicability of recent Supreme Court interpretations that Congress has broad discretion to delegate rulemaking authority to federal agencies, and that tax policy is of a kind with other federal policies.


We tested the relative importance of regional and local factors in determining zooplankton community composition in an enclosure experiment. In this experiment, we assessed establishment success of immigrant cladoceran zooplankton species in young communities in the first and second year of existence in five newly created pools. In both years, we created four treatments, representing a gradient of strength in biotic interactions with the resident communities, to explore differences in establishment success of immigrant species. In general, species diversity increased when immigrant species were added, suggesting dispersal limitation. However, this increase was lower in the second than in the first year, indicating a declining effect of regional factors during the course of community assembly. No significant difference in establishment success between the experimental treatments could be detected in the first year. In the second year, immigrant species were more often present in the treatment without resident species than in the treatments with resident species, at least during the first weeks. Our results demonstrate that species sorting and biotic interactions, mainly competition among zooplankton species and predation by Chaoborus, become important in determining the zooplankton community composition early in community assembly.


Zamenis scalaris is a generalist active forager Mediterranean snake for which knowledge on spatial ecology is very limited. We report insights into the spatial and temporal patterns, and habitat use of four snakes, obtained through one-year radio-tracking monitoring in a citrus orchard landscape, in Eastern Iberia. Snakes showed a highly secretive behaviour, remaining hidden most of the annual cycle (>96% of records). Annual home ranges and movements were reduced in contrast to the expected energetic requirements of the species. Despite a similar pattern of non-activity during winter and a subsequent increase of movement rate and home range size in spring, each snake adopted a distinct spatial behaviour in summer and autumn. Abandoned citrus orchards and accessory constructions were the most frequent habitats selected by snakes, offering abundant prey and shelter. These resources are likely playing a crucial role in the spatial ecology of Z. scalaris.


Knowledge of the quality of fruits and the genetic variability among genotypes of acerola is important to optimize the use of genetic resources in improvement programs. The objective of the present study was to assess physico-chemical characteristics to determine genetic divergence among 24 genotypes of acerola. Sixty ripe fruits were collected per plant in a commercial orchard in the municipality of Jequitibá-MG. They were assessed in two production seasons with regard to their physical, chemical, and physico-chemical characteristics. Multivariate analysis of the genetic divergence among the genotypes was performed using principal component analysis, Tocher's clustering method, and the nearest-neighbor hierarchical method, using the standardized mean Euclidean distance as the measure of dissimilarity. Genotypes 13, 20, and 23 exhibited means that were higher than the overall mean values for the main characteristics (fruit mass, ratio, and vitamin C content). Genotypes 3, 6, 8, 21, and 24 stood out with regard to fruit mass and ratio, i.e., they were larger and sweeter. Genotype 16 stood out with regard to fruit mass and vitamin C content. Results obtained using the methods were comparable, and the methods were effective in discriminating between the genotypes. This indicated variability, with potential for use in improvement programs. Based on the mean values for the chemical and physical characteristics of fruits and considering the genetic divergence among the genotypes, it was possible to suggested nine crosses to generate a future improved population, namely between genotype 11 and genotypes 3, 6, 8, 13, 16, 20, 21, 23, and 24.


One of the most frequently applied bioelectromagnetic effects is the deep heating of the living species with EMF energy. Despite its long history, hyperthermia is a rarely applied oncotherapy. The reason is its controversial results and complicated control. One of the solutions is concentrating the electromagnetic energy nanoscopically on the parts of the malignant cells instead of heating up the complete tumor-mass. This approach is a kind of non-uniform energy absorption, providing energy liberation only in the selected regions. The energy-absorption of the malignant cells targets the membranes and creates a situation far from thermal equilibrium. The selection of the malignant cells is based on their decided differences from their healthy counterparts. The distinguishing parameters are the electromagnetic properties of the components of the malignant tissue which are the physiologic differences between the malignant cells and their healthy counterparts. The targets realize nano-range heating, using natural nanoclusters on the cell-membrane without artificially implementing them. This energy absorption generates consequent reactions, like programmed cell-death (apoptosis) continued by immunogenic cell-death involving extended immune reactions.  The applied radiofrequency current is amplitude modulated by time-fractal modulation pattern. The accurately matched impedance realizes the self-selective mechanisms which are promoted by stochastic resonances. This complex method is a new kind of hyperthermia, named mEHT. Our objective is to analyze the problems of the selective, non-equilibrium energy absorption, and present a solution by the electromagnetic mechanisms for an effective and controllable hyperthermia in oncology.


Software conflicts arising because of conflicting changes are a regular occurrence and delay projects. The main precept of workspace awareness tools has been to identify potential conflicts early, while changes are still small and easier to resolve. However, in this approach conflicts still occur and require developer time and effort to resolve. We present a novel conflict minimization technique that proactively identifies potential conflicts, encodes them as constraints, and solves the constraint space to recommend a set of conflict-minimal development paths for the team. Here we present a study of four open source projects to characterize the distribution of conflicts and their resolution efforts. We then explain our conflict minimization technique and the design and implementation of this technique in our prototype, Cassandra. We show that Cassandra would have successfully avoided a majority of conflicts in the four open source test subjects. We demonstrate the efficiency of our approach by applying the technique to a simulated set of scenarios with higher than normal incidence of conflicts.


International criminal justice as a discipline throws up numerous conceptual issues, engaging disciplines such as law, politics, history, sociology and psychology, to name but a few. This book addresses themes around international criminal justice from a mixture of traditional and more radical perspectives.

While law, and in particular international law, is at the heart of much of the discussion around this topic, history, sociology and politics are invariably infused and, in some aspects of international criminal justice, are predominant elements. Fundamentally the exploration concerns questions of coherence and legitimacy, which are foundational to both the content and application of the discipline, and the book charts an illuminating path through these diverse perspectives. The contributions in this book come from some of the eminent scholars and practitioners in the area, and will provide some profound insight into and an enriched understanding of international criminal justice, helping to advance the field of study.

This ambitious and necessary book will appeal to academics and students of international criminal law, international criminal justice, international law, transitional justice and comparative criminal law, as well as practitioners of international criminal law.


Capacity addition and withdrawal decisions are among the most important strategic decisions made by firms in oligopolistic industries. In this paper, we develop and analyze a fully dynamic model of an oligopolistic industry with lumpy capacity and lumpy investment/disinvestment. We use our model to answer two questions. First, what economic factors facilitate preemption races? Second, what economic factors facilitate capacity coordination? We show that low product differentiation, low investment sunkness, and high depreciation promote preemption races. We also show that low product differentiation and low investment sunkness promote capacity coordination. Although depreciation removes capacity, it may impede capacity coordination. Finally, we show that, at least over some range of parameter values, firms' expectation plays a key role in determining whether or not industry dynamics are characterized by preemption races and capacity coordination. Taken together, our results suggest that preemption races and excess capacity in the short run often go hand-in-hand with capacity coordination in the long run.


The "hub and spoke model" of semantic representation suggests that the multimodal features of objects are drawn together by an anterior temporal lobe (ATL) "hub", while modality-specific "spokes" capture perceptual/action features. However, relatively little is known about how these components are recruited through time to support object identification. We used magnetoencephalography to measure neural oscillations within left ATL, lateral fusiform cortex (FC) and central sulcus (CS) during word-picture matching at different levels of specificity (employing superordinate vs. specific labels) for different categories (manmade vs. animal). This allowed us to determine (i) when each site was sensitive to semantic category and (ii) whether this was modulated by task demands. In ATL, there were two phases of response: from around 100 ms post-stimulus there were phasic bursts of low gamma activity resulting in reductions in oscillatory power, relative to a baseline period, that were modulated by both category and specificity; this was followed by more sustained power decreases across frequency bands from 250 ms onwards. In the spokes, initial power increases were not stronger for specific identification, while later power decreases were stronger for specific-level identification in FC for animals and in CS for manmade objects (from around 150 ms and 200 ms, respectively). These data are inconsistent with a temporal sequence in which early sensory-motor activity is followed by later retrieval in ATL. Instead, knowledge emerges from the rapid recruitment of both hub and spokes, with early specificity and category effects in the ATL hub. The balance between these components depends on semantic category and task, with visual cortex playing a greater role in the fine-grained identification of animals and motor cortex contributing to the identification of tools.


Aspect-oriented programming (AOP) emerged as a paradigm to modularize the concerns that lead to interwoven code if implemented using traditional programming techniques. Unfortunately, the new constructs introduced by aspect-oriented (AO) languages result in both: (1) obstacles in modular reasoning, and (2) high coupling between aspects and the augmented modules. There have been numerous attempts to tackle these issues, but none have succeeded without sacrificing obliviousness or losing the power of AOP. In this paper, we propose a new approach to AOP inspired by the classification of aspects by Clifton & Leavens. Our approach reduces coupling in AO programs and restores modular reasoning in case when the aspects are spectators.


We report on the fabrication of in-fiber moiré filters by dual exposure of a nondedicated chirped phase mask. This simple technique produces broadband filters whose structure depends only on an intermediate stretch between two identical UV exposures. We demonstrate moiré filters with as many as four narrow passbands within a 2-nm stopband.


The impact of the cadherins in human cancers is becoming better understood. However, few studies have directly tested the hypothesis that H-cadherin, a tailless cadherin, is actually a tumor suppressor, and no published studies have addressed the question of how H-cadherin suppresses cellular transformation. We report here the influence that exogenous expression of H-cadherin imposes on growth, morphology, clonogenicity and tumorigenicity of Chinese hamster ovarian (CHO) cells. H-cadherin expression in CHO cells resulted in tighter adhesion of multicellular aggregates and reduced cell proliferation. In addition to enhancement of cell-cell adhesion, exogenous H-cadherin expression also inhibited cell proliferation and the ability to form colonies in soft agar. Furthermore, expression of H-cadherin in CHO cells led to complete suppression of subcutaneous tumor growth in nude mice. Seeding the H-cadherin expressing CHO cells on culture plates coated with recombinant H-cadherin amino-terminal fragments resulted in inhibition of cell proliferation that was accompanied by increased expression of the cdk inhibitor p21. These results support the role of H-cadherin as a tumor suppressor participating in contact inhibition of cell growth, possibly by inducing p21 expression.


Background: Treatment of hypertension has been shown to prevent CVD and to extend and enhance life; but hypertension still remains inadequately managed. So there lies the importance of primary prevention but to who it be cost effectively applied is not clear. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a Junior college where a group of 150 students having parental History of Hypertension constituted the study group while age and sex matched group of 150 students with no parental history of Hypertension constituted the control group. Methods: Participants were evaluated according to pre-designed protocol with anthropometric parameters like height in cm, weight in kg, body mass index, waist hip ratio, skin fold thickness. Results: Of the 300 persons studied 63% were male and 37% female. 49%, 51% of males and females respectively had history of hypertensive parents. The proportion of male and female with BMI 25 or more was significantly higher in those with parental history of hypertension than those without it. A significantly higher proportion (58.06%) of males and females (52.63) with history of hypertensive parents had WHR more than cut off value. Triceps skin fold thickness was 1.0 mm greater in both sexes with a positive parental history of hypertension. Conclusion: All the above anthropometric parameter were associated with the parental history of hypertension


Latin epics such as Virgil's "Aeneid", Lucan's "Civil War", and Statius' "Thebaid" addressed Roman aristocrats whose dealings in gifts, favors, and payments defined their conceptions of social order. In "The Commerce of War", Neil Coffee argues that these exchanges play a central yet overlooked role in epic depictions of Roman society. Tracing the collapse of an aristocratic worldview across all three poems, Coffee highlights the distinction they draw between reciprocal gift giving among elites and the more problematic behaviors of buying and selling. In the "Aeneid", customary gift and favor exchanges are undermined by characters who view human interaction as short-term and commodity-driven. "Civil War" takes the next logical step, illuminating how Romans cope once commercial greed has supplanted traditional values. Concluding with the "Thebaid", which focuses on the problems of excessive consumption rather than exchange, Coffee closes his powerful case that these poems constitute far-reaching critiques of Roman society during its transition from republic to empire.


Convergence rate results are derived for a stochastic optimization problem where a performance measure is minimized with respect to a vector parameter t. Assuming that a gradient estimator is available and that both the bias and the variance of the estimator are (known) functions of the budget devoted to its computation, the gradient estimator is employed in conjunction with a stochastic approximation (SA) algorithm. Our interest is to figure out how to allocate the total available computational budget to the successive SA iterations. The effort is devoted to solving the asymptotic version of this problem by finding the convergence rate of SA toward the optimizer, first as a function of the number of iterations and then as a function of the total computational effort. As a result the optimal rate of increase of the computational budget per iteration can be found. Explicit expressions for the case where the computational budget devoted to an iteration is a polynomial in the iteration number, and where the bias and variance of the gradient estimator are polynomials of the computational budget, are derived. Applications include the optimization of steady-state simulation models with likelihood ratio, perturbation analysis, or finite-difference gradient estimators; optimization of infinite-horizon models with discounting; optimization of functions of several expectations; and so on. Several examples are discussed. Our results readily generalize to general root-finding problems.


Studies of software comprehension often use short-term recall as a way to study comprehension. Experiments range from broad descriptions of program purpose to tests that require subject to 'fill in the gaps'. There is little doubt that human memory is a very important issue when it comes to understanding how software systems work. This paper addresses the topic of 'long term' comprehension, namely, the retention of programming knowledge over a period of months, years or even decades. Long-term retention of programming knowledge is thought to be an area within the psychology of programming literature that has received surprisingly little attention. To stimulate debate, methodological issues that may affect the study of long-term comprehension are detailed. Finally, a planned experiment based upon related psychology of programming studies is outlined.


On April 23, 2019, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report entitled Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connection to School to Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities. This Statement is part of that report.

In the report, the Commission finds "Students of color as a whole, as well as by individual racial group, do not commit more disciplinable offenses than their white peers …." That would be a good thing if it were true, but there is no evidence to support it and abundant evidence to the contrary. "This Statement discusses that evidence. Denying facts is not helpful to students, no matter what their race or ethnicity."

The report also asserts that students with disabilities are disciplined more often than students without disabilities. But it leaves the impression that this means students with physical disabilities are being disproportionately disciplined. That isn't true. It is students with behavioral disorder who misbehave more often (and hence are disciplined more often). But behavioral disorders are defined by a pattern of misbehavior. All the Commission has found is that student who misbehave a lot get disciplined more often than students who don't. No surprise there.