The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the principal source of carbon offsets in the global market, and is intended to be a key driver of sustainable development and technical transformation in developing countries. The distribution of CDM projects by country has been skewed, with over 75% of registered projects having taken place in just four countries, namely China, India, Brazil and Mexico. A change in this pattern of development may be occurring, however, as smaller developing countries become increasingly active in the carbon market. An example of this is the rapid rise in the number of CDM projects based in Vietnam since early 2009. This paper investigates factors contributing to the growth of CDM projects in Vietnam and describes some of the key features of the projects that have been developed. Hydropower projects are found to dominate new CDM project development in Vietnam. It is suggested that CDM project development in Vietnam may be a tool to support domestic energy security rather than being primarily driven by the intended climate change mitigation and sustainable development objectives of the CDM. It is also possible that Vietnam is emulating the development strategy of China, and may serve as a model for other members of the Least Developed Countries group. A country's domestic policy choices are critical in determining its attractiveness as a host country for offset projects, and Vietnam's policy strategies are successfully harnessing synergies between domestic agendas and regulated foreign markets.


Abstract Genetic programming (GP) is a subset of evolutionary computation where candidate solutions are evaluated through execution or interpreted execution. The candidate solutions generated by GP are in the form of computer programs, which are evolved to achieve a stated objective. Darwinian evolutionary theory inspires the processes that make up GP which include crossover, mutation and selection. During a GP run, crossover, mutation and selection are performed iteratively until a program that satisfies the stated objectives is produced or a certain number of time steps have elapsed. The objectives of this thesis are to empirically analyse three different aspects of these evolved programs. These three aspects are diversity, efficient representation and the changing structure of programs during evolution. In addition to these analyses, novel algorithms are presented in order to test theories, improve the overall performance of GP and reduce program size. This thesis makes three contributions to the field of GP. Firstly, a detailed analysis is performed of the process of initialisation (generating random programs to start evolution) using four novel algorithms to empirically evaluate specific traits of starting populations of programs. It is shown how two factors simultaneously effect how strong the performance of starting population will be after a GP run. Secondly, semantically based operators are applied during evolution to encourage behavioural diversity and reduce the size of programs by removing inefficient segments of code during evolution. It is demonstrated how these specialist operators can be effective individually and when combined in a series of experiments. Finally, the role of the structure of programs is considered during evolution under different evolutionary parameters considering different problem domains. This analysis reveals some interesting effects of evolution on program structure as well as offering evidence to support the success of the specialist operators.


In this paper we describe an efficient software architecture for object-tracking, based on a stereoscopic vision system, that has been applied to a mobile robot controlled by a PC. After analyzing the epipolar rectification required to correct the original stereo-images, it is described a new valid and efficient algorithm for ball recognition (indeed circle detection) which is able to work in different lighting conditions and in a manner faster than some modified versions of Circle Hough Transform. Then, we show that stereo vision, besides giving an optimum estimation of the 3D position of the object, is useful to remove lots of the false identifications of the ball, thanks to the advantages of epipolar constraint. Finally, we describe a new strategy for ball following, by a mobile robot, which is able to" look for" the object whenever it comes out of the cameras view, by taking advantage of a" block matching" method similar to that of MPEG Video.


Enter the world of Geronimo Stilton, where another laugh is always right around the corner. Each book is a fast-paced adventure with lively illustrations and a unique format kids 7-10 will love. Even my sister Thea told me a ghost was haunting New Mouse City's subway tunnels, I knew I had to get the scoop for The Rodents Gzette! So I set off with Thea, Trap and my assistant editor PinkyPick. We soon discovered that Sally Ratmousen, the editor of "The Daily Rat", was also on the trail of the mysterious ghost. But we were all in for the fright of our wee mouse lives...because the ghost turned out to be a cat!


ABSTRACT This study was conducted to examine the relationship between religion and child sexual abuse. A self-report survey questionnaire was administered to 397 freshmen students at a southern university. The students were asked about several social background factors, including involvement with church and religious activities. They were also asked to disclose whether they had been sexually abused as a child. The present study found significant relationships between religiosity and victims of child sexual abuse by both relatives and non-relatives. Persons sexually abused by a relative were much more likely to be affiliated with fundamental Protestant religions. Persons sexually abused by a non-relative were much more likely to rarely or never be involved in church and religious activities and were affiliated with liberal religious denominations or indicated they were atheists or agnostics.


In April 1906, Sigmund Freud wrote a brief note to C. G. Jung, initiating a correspondence that was to record the rise and fall of the close relationship between the founder of psychoanalysis and his chosen heir. This correspondence is now available for the first time, complete except for a few missing letters apparently lost long ago. The letters, some 360 in number, span seven years and range in length from a postcard to a virtual essay of 1,500 words. In accordance with an agreement between the writers' sons, Ernst Freud and Franz Jung, the letters are published as documents, without interpretation, but with a detailed annotation that identifies more than 400 persons, 500 publications, and many literary and topical allusions. Anna Freud comments, "[The annotation] has turned the correspondence truly into a history of the beginnings of psychoanalysis, something that was very much needed and is not given anywhere else with the same attention to detail and inclusion of all the people in public life who cither came to psychoanalysis for a while or turned violently against it from the beginning...Every detail is necessary and enhances the value of the book." There are appendixes, facsimiles, and contemporary photographs. The index, with bibliographical details, is exhaustive. As historical documents, the letters reflect the early struggles of Freud and Jung in gaining acceptance for psychoanalysis. Freud, Jung's senior by twenty years, patiently assesses the opposition, cautioning the fiery Jung to concentrate more on his research than on answering the critics. The two exchange candid opinions on their colleagues, plan strategies for the advancement of their cause, and most important, share their experiences with patients and with the reading that led them to new scientific realizations. The correspondence provides an account of the composition of many papers, lectures, and books of Freud, Jung, and their colleagues, and describes the genesis of the journals, conferences, and international and local societies of the movement. The decline of the correspondence documents Jung's increasing reluctance to accept the entire Freudian code, and the growing bitterness that led to the mutual decision to end the correspondence and the relationship.


A peptide-based cell permeable synthetic transcription factor is reported, which binds to its target site with high affinity and specificity. When linked to a HAT-binding peptide, it causes significant upregulation of gene expression in a mammalian cell. Such molecules may be developed for selectively activating repressed genes in mammalian cells.

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Over the last millennium, the clan and the city have been the locus of cooperation in China and Europe respectively. This paper examines - analytically, historically, and empirically - the cultural, social, and institutional co-evolution that led to this bifurcation. We highlight that groups with which individuals identify are basic units of cooperation. Such groups impact institutional development because intra-group moral commitment reduces enforcement cost implying a comparative advantage in pursuing collective actions. Moral groups perpetuate due to positive feedbacks between morality, institutions, and the implied pattern of cooperation.


There are many viruses that are not cleared from the body after they infect an individual. These include the herpes simplex viruses, hepatitis B, and five other viruses that are discussed in this chapter. The viruses are presented in chronologic fashion based on discovery, focusing on the possible sequelae that chronic infection with these viruses can cause. Adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia (ATLL), an aggressive leukemia/lymphoma, remains a difficult disease to treat. A section reviews the natural course of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the infected individual and follows it with an in-depth review of the major sequelae, listed by organ system. The immune system takes the brunt of the effects of HIV since these cells are the target of the virus. As an individual becomes infected, HIV quickly decimates the immune system. The chapter focuses first on the effect of HIV itself and only briefly mentions the infections that can affect the nervous system. Peripheral neuropathies have become the most common neurologic complication in the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era. They have been classified as inflammatory demyelination polyradiculoneuropathy, mononeuropathy multiplex or radiculopathy, distal symmetric polyneuropathy (DSP), and toxic neuropathy from antiretroviral therapy. Although pulmonary hypertension (PAH) may be associated with human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), HIV has been associated with pulmonary hypertension when no other organisms have been identified.


Ore samples from sulfidic mines in Romania were analyzed quant. for the occurrence of the ferrous-ion-oxidizing bacteria Thiobacillus ferrooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans. Thiobacillus ferrooxidans was detected regularly, whereas L. ferrooxidans occurred only at sites with a temp. above 20 DegC and with sufficient humidity. Accordingly, L. ferrooxidans survived preservation expts. only in nutrient soln. with and without pyrite for 56 days at 17 DegC. Thiobacillus ferrooxidans also survived this period of time in liq. nitrogen, frozen at -70 DegC with and without protective buffer, and after freeze-drying, although the cell nos. and activity were reduced. Thiobacillus thiooxidans survived all techniques. After growth on ferrous sulfate, the ferrous-ion-oxidizing activity of L. ferrooxidans was about 40% of the activity of T. ferrooxidans. After growth on sulfidic ore, both species exhibited a lower but similar activity. Cells of L. ferrooxidans exhibited 35% activity and cells of T. ferrooxidans 15%. Lab. expts. with pure cultures of these lithotrophs and mixed with strains of Acidiphilium sp. demonstrated that chemoorganotrophic microorganisms enhanced only the metabolic activity of L. ferrooxidans. Furthermore, in mixed culture with Acidiphilium sp., cells of L. ferrooxidans formed microcolonies or flocks. Flocks did not appear in pure cultures nor in mixed cultures of T. ferrooxidans and Acidiphilium strains. Considering the porous system of an ore particle in a humid environment, high ferric ion concn., and a low pH value, the results indicate that L. ferrooxidans is as important as T. ferrooxidans for metal solubilization and thus for microbial leaching.


The purpose of the study was to conduct a secondary analysis of the socio-demographics and physical activity levels of park users in the Sacramento-Central Valley region from the 2012 California Opinions and Attitudes Survey on Outdoor Recreation. The study was delimited to the parameters of gathering information via a telephone survey during 2012. The major conclusions indicate: a. the subjects are mostly White or Hispanic, middle-aged to senior status, married, and are part of the lowest socioeconomic status, b. park visitation differs between groups as Hispanics visit more often and Non-Hispanics stay longer, and c. physical activity levels differ between groups as Hispanics are more vigorously active than Non-Hispanics. Recommendations include: to continue relevant services and update services in need, to promote/market physical activity to the segmented groups, and to collaborate with public health agencies.


Importance
The Affordable Care Act expanded access to Medicaid coverage in 2014 for individuals living in participating states. Whether expanded coverage was associated with increases in the use of outpatient surgical care, particularly among underserved populations, remains unknown.

Objective
To evaluate the association between state participation in the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion reform and the use of outpatient surgical care.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This case-control study used a quasi-experimental difference-in-differences design to compare the use of outpatient surgical care at the facility and state levels by patient demographic characteristics and payer categories (Medicaid, private insurance, and no insurance). Data from 2013 (before Medicaid expansion reform) and 2015 (after Medicaid expansion reform) were obtained from the State Ambulatory Surgery and Services Database of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. The absolute and mean numbers of procedures performed at outpatient surgical centers in 2 states (Michigan and New York) that participated in Medicaid expansion (expansion states) were compared with those performed at outpatient surgical centers in 2 states (Florida and North Carolina) that did not participate in Medicaid expansion (nonexpansion states). The population-based sample included 207 176 patients aged 18 to 64 years who received 4 common outpatient procedures (laparoscopic cholecystectomy, breast lumpectomy, open inguinal hernia repair, and laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair). Data were analyzed from May 19 to August 25, 2019.

Interventions
State variation in the adoption of Medicaid expansion before and after expansion reform was implemented through the Affordable Care Act.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Changes in the mean number of procedures performed at the facility level before and after Medicaid expansion reform in states with and without expanded Medicaid coverage.

Results
A total of 207 176 patients (106 395 women [51.35%] and 100 781 men [48.65%]; mean [SD] age, 45.7 [12.4] years) were included in the sample. Overall, 116 752 procedures were performed in Medicaid expansion states and 90 424 procedures in nonexpansion states. A 9.8% increase (95% CI, 0.4%-20.0%; P = .04) in cholecystectomies, a 26.1% increase (95% CI, 9.8%-44.7%; P = .001) in lumpectomies, and a 16.3% increase (95% CI, 2.9%-31.5%; P = .02) in laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs were observed at the facility level in expansion states compared with nonexpansion states. Among patients with Medicaid coverage, the mean number of procedures performed in all 4 procedure categories increased between 60.5% (95% CI, 24.7%-106.6%; P < .001) and 79.2% (95% CI, 53.5%-109.2%; P < .001) at the facility level. The increases in the number of Medicaid patients who received treatment exceeded the reductions in the number of uninsured patients who received treatment with laparoscopic cholecystectomy, open inguinal hernia repair, and laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs in expansion states compared with nonexpansion states. Black patients received more laparoscopic cholecystectomies, lumpectomies, and open inguinal hernia repairs in expansion states than in nonexpansion states.

Conclusions and Relevance
Study results suggest that Medicaid expansion was associated with increases in the use of outpatient surgical care in states that participated in Medicaid expansion. Most of this increase represented patients who were newly treated rather than patients who converted from no insurance to Medicaid coverage.


. We take an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach to unifying existing proposals for the origin of cosmic acceleration and its connection to cosmological observations. Building on earlier work where EFT methods were used with observations to constrain the background evolution, we extend this program to the level of the EFT of the cosmological perturbations — following the example from the EFT of Inflation. Within this framework, we construct the general theory around an assumed background which will typically be chosen to mimic ΛCDM, and identify the parameters of interest for constraining dark energy and modified gravity models with observations. We discuss the similarities to the EFT of Inflation, but we also identify a number of subtleties including the relationship between the scalar perturbations and the Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken time translations. We present formulae that relate the parameters of the fundamental Lagrangian to the speed of sound, anisotropic shear stress, effective Newtonian constant, and Caldwell's ̟ parameter, empha-sizing the connection to observations. It is anticipated that this framework will be of use in constraining individual models, as well as for placing model-independent constraints on dark energy and modified gravity model building.


Organizations are increasingly aggregating their computing resources to form Internet-based grids specialized in specific application workflows and made available to other organizations. The scheduling of jobs in such grids may clearly have a substantial impact on performance, but finding effective scheduling policies is hard due to the very same nature of this scenario. Performance may greatly depend on a myriad of parameters whose values can hardly be determined in practice. Moreover, the load injected by users is typically unpredictable, performance of Internet links may vary widely during an execution and computing resources at participating organizations could also vary dynamically, perhaps because of additional workloads injected by other competing activities. In this paper we propose mechanisms and policies for controlling the scheduling of jobs in such a highly dynamic environment. We attempt to minimize the resource usage at the participating organizations while maintaining the performance delivered to clients at an acceptable level. Our approach consists of a form of admission control at the entrance point of the application workflow that is simple to deploy in practice and does not need any hook from the participating organizations. We simply vary dynamically the maximum number of jobs that can be injected within the grid, based on performance measures taken on line, and delay excess jobs. We have evaluated our proposal in detail, by simulation, focussing on its ability to adapt automatically to perturbations in the form of substantial and unexpected changes in the amount of computing resources available. We have found that our proposal is indeed capable of finding automatically a suitable trade-off between throughput and resource usage, even in such a dynamic scenario.


Emergency services, and automated vehicle platoons are frequently used examples of the need for real-time ad hoc communication, which demand that communication be time bounded overall. The medium access control protocol regulates access to the medium. Time division protocols give deterministic, time bounded delivery of messages. TDMA, time division multiple access forms the basis of the time bounded medium access control protocol, TBMAC. TBMAC provides every mobile station with predictable access to the medium with known probability and bounded delay. Currently TBMAC has been simulated using the NS2 simulator. This dissertation implements TBMAC using RTAI real-time Linux and IEEE 802.11b as a basis. The implementation supports a non empty cell with a static cell membership. The implementation makes use of the broadcast tightness property to achieve tight clock synchronisation between multiple stations. The TBMAC protocol was implemented in real-time using the TDMA MAC layer during the dissertation. Simulations have been relied upon in the evaluation of new MAC protocols. This dissertation evaluates the TBMAC protocol in the real world and compares its performance to that of the CSMA MAC protocol. Real world experiments give a much better and more realistic view of the performance of the MAC protocol compared to experiments carried out in a simulator.


This study was carried out to predict optimal harvest time of red pitaya (hylocereus polyhizus) fruit using selected fruit physical and eating quality characteristics. Pitaya fruits were harvested at 5-day interval beginning from 25 to 40 days after anthesis (DAA) and the fruit characteristics were measured. The growing degree days (GDD) were calculated from 5 to 40 DAA. Regression analysis was carried out to study the relationship between fruit characteristics and GDD. The correlation between selected peel and pulp,L*,C*,h⁰,firmness, sugar/acid ratio and flavour were determined for fruits at 483 to 765 GDD. Characteristics that were significantly correlated were used in a forward multiple regression analysis to develop a model to predict optimal harvest time.There were significant relationship between GDD and peel L*,C*,h⁰ with R²=0.90,0.95,0.93, respectively. There were also significant relationship between GDD and pulp *,C*,h⁰ with R²=0.95,0.76,0.92 respectively. Significant positive relationship were also obtained between GDD and sugar/acid ratio (R²=0.92) and flavour (R²=0.97), while significant negative relationship (R²=0.98) occured between GDD and firmness. There were significant correlations between peel L*,C*,h⁰, pulp L* and h⁰. There were also significant correlations between firmness and both peel and pulp L*,C*,h⁰. Sugar/acid ratio was negatively correlated with peel L*, peel h⁰, pulp L* and firmness and positively correlated with peel C*, pulp h⁰ and flavour. Flavour was positively analysis showed 50%and 35% of the variability in sugar/acid ratio was accounted for by peel L* and firmness, respectively (Sugar/acid ratio=480.97 - 8.16 (Peel L*) - 39.57 (Firmness)). The peel C* and firmness accounted for 38% and 35% respectively of the variability in flavour of red pitaya (Flavour = 1.58 - 0.01 (Peel C*) - 0.16 (Firmness). The peel C* and h⁰ accounted for 45% and 51% of the variability in firmness (Firmness = 5.83 - 0.10 (Peel C*) + 0.05 (Peel h⁰). These results suggest that peel C* and h⁰ could be used to predict optimal harvest time of red pitaya.


This article begins with an examination of the development of the academic and policy field of men's health and well-being. This includes the form and shape of the field, its ideological positivity, and the different, sometimes contradictory, interests that construct the field. This prompts the question: why study men's health? Diverse possible answers to this question are outlined, in terms of different personal, policy and theoretical political contexts of men's relations to feminism, gender and gender equality. These differing contexts are further elaborated through attention to the importance of transnational political contexts. The article concludes with discussion of the special journal issue to which this article relates, with a coda on ageing and the body.


The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine the relationship between calcium
intake and physical activity with bone health status among Chinese early adolescents. A selfadministered
questionnaire was used to obtain socio-demographic background, family history of
osteoporosis, lifestyle practices and eating habits; while daily calcium intake was assessed using
one-day dietary recall and two-day dietary record. Physical activity was examined using PAQ-A
(Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents). Height, weight and bone health status was
assessed using stadiometer, weighing scale (TANITA), and ultrasonometry QUS-2, respectively.
Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 15.0. A total of
236 Chinese subjects were recruited into this study. The mean age of subjects was 13.6 ± 0.5 years
old. Mean daily calcium intake was low, that is 573.4 ± 405.1mg. The mean score of PAQ-A was 2.14
± 0.64. Mean weight, height, and BMI were 50.9 ± 11.4kg, 1.62 ± 0.08m and 19.40 ± 3.72kg/m2,
respectively. Based on CDC classification of BMI-for-age (2000), 68.2% of subjects were in the
normal category, 16.1% were underweight, 11.4% were at risk of overweight and 4.2% overweight.
Mean Broadband Ultrasound Attenuation (BUA) was 77.55 ± 11.73dB/MHz. According to diagnostic
criteria for osteoporosis by WHO (1994), 49.2% of subjects had normal bone mass (t-score > -1.0),
more than half of the subjects were either osteopenic (49.6%) or osteopototic (1.3%). This might be
due to subjects being in the early adolescents state and their peak bone mass has yet to be attained.
T-test showed that there was significant difference between mean body weight among male and
female subjects. There was also significant higher mean BUA among female subjects than their
counterparts. Pearson correlation test showed that there was no significant relationship between
BUA with calcium intake (r= -0.05, p= 0.42) or physical activity (r= 0.03, p= 0.69). However, weight
had a significant positive correlation with BUA (r= 0.39, p<0.05). In conclusion, female subjects
have better bone health status as compared to males. Although no significant relationship was
shown between calcium intake and physical activity with bone health, these two factors are
known to reduce future risk of osteoporosis. It is recommended that prevention and management
of low bone mass should be focused on factors recognised as determinants of bone health status
among early adolescents. This is to ensure optimal bone health being attained among the young
population in reducing risk of osteoporosis in future.


Folded Reed-Solomon (RS) codes are an explicit family of codes that achieve the optimal tradeoff between rate and list error-correction capability: specifically, for any ε > 0, Guruswami and Rudra presented an nO(1/ ε) time algorithm to list decode appropriate folded RS codes of rate R from a fraction 1-R-ε of errors. The algorithm is based on multivariate polynomial interpolation and root-finding over extension fields. It was noted by Vadhan that interpolating a linear polynomial suffices for a statement of the above form. Here, we give a simple linear-algebra-based analysis of this variant that eliminates the need for the computationally expensive root-finding step over extension fields (and indeed any mention of extension fields). The entire list-decoding algorithm is linear-algebraic, solving one linear system for the interpolation step, and another linear system to find a small subspace of candidate solutions. Except for the step of pruning this subspace, the algorithm can be implemented to run in quadratic time. We also consider a closely related family of codes, called (order m) derivative codes and defined over fields of large characteristic, which consist of the evaluations of f as well as its first m-1 formal derivatives at N distinct field elements. We show how our linear-algebraic methods for folded RS codes can be used to show that derivative codes can also achieve the above optimal tradeoff. The theoretical drawback of our analysis for folded RS codes and derivative codes is that both the decoding complexity and proven worst-case list-size bound are nΩ(1/ ε). By combining the above idea with a pseudorandom subset of all polynomials as messages, we get a Monte Carlo construction achieving a list-size bound of O(1/ ε2) which is quite close to the existential O(1/ ε) bound (however, the decoding complexity remains nΩ(1/ ε)). Our work highlights that constructing an explicit subspace-evasive subset that has small intersection with low-dimensional subspaces-an interesting problem in pseudorandomness in its own right-could lead to explicit codes with better list-decoding guarantees.


When he died in 1974 after a long period of self-imposed austerity and improvisation on Bribie Island, Queensland, Ian Fairweather was at the apex of his fame. He had been called 'our greatest painter', and his works were keenly sought by galleries, collectors and artists. Born in 1891 in Scotland, Fairweather had lived a peripatetic life, forever seeking the right place to settle. He was a prodigious and idiosyncratic letter writer -wryly documenting for friends and family members his travels, his struggles with his painting and Chinese translations, and the changing conditions on Bribie, as well as commenting on literature and world affairs. Seven hundred of the painter's letters are known to be in existence, and in their selection Claire Roberts and John Thompson have created the definitive volume of Fairweather's correspondence: the closest thing to an autobiography of one of Australia's most important and enduring artists.


This research determined the effects of Citrus sinensis and Lycopersicon esculentum Miller juices on the hematological parameters of Rattus albus. To achieve its objectives, the study utilized quantitative-experimental method. For this purpose, nine, two-weeks-old male albino rat weighing 100-150g were used. Rats were kept under room temperature in a 12-hour alternate light and dark cycle and provided with free access to water and foods. Rats were divided into three equal groups namely the control group and experimental groups administered with 2ml of orange and 2ml of tomato juice respectively for 6 days for three continuous weeks. Blood were collected through saphenous vein sampling technique starting at the end of acclimatization and every 7th day of the week. The obtained blood samples were used for determination of hematocrit, red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin, platelet count, white blood cell (WBC) and differential count including neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocytes, eosinophil and basophil and indices such as the mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). The results revealed that administration of orange juice obtained a significant differences (pvalue <0.05) in the neutrophil and lymphocytes compared to their baseline results. After two weeks of administration, only the neutrophil count showed a significant difference, whereas WBC count, hematocrit concentration, eosinophil, and lymphocytes obtained a significant difference throughout three weeks' time. Furthermore, significant differences (p-value <0.05) were observed on the values of monocyte after one week and two weeks of the administration of tomato extracts, whereas WBC count, monocyte, lymphocytes and eosinophil count after three weeks of administration. Therefore, it is then concluded that bioactive substances present in orange and tomato extract like lycopene and vitamin C induces the proliferation of white blood cells in the blood circulation. Hence, it was proven that orange and tomato have a protective effect which may serve as an alternative treatment options in patients with leukopenia.


In advent of the 'New Economy' towards globalization and liberalization, Malaysia has placed much importance on creating a competitive environment for the economy. In line with the concept that competition creates efficiency and allows for the reflection of true prices in the market, Malaysia has initiated substantial competition building measures since the mid-1980's. Some of the steps taken towards deregulation and liberalization included encouragement of foreign investors, privatization of existing and new sectors such as fixed-lined and cellular telecommunications, public utilities and infrastructure; and in promoting high technology trade, especially e-commerce. In addition, Malaysia has also allowed for the increased in foreign equity participation and the diversification of the types and scope of services offered, for example in transportation and Information Technology (I.T.). The implementation of the said law is exercised in a piece meal as stated above. Merger and takeover also adopt competition policy in its code known as Malaysian Code on takeovers and mergers. However, the code does not address measures of control for merger abuses particularly in corporate merger. This aim of this paper is to discuss whether EC may be use as comparator to Malaysia. This paper will base its discussion on background, history legal system, social, culture and relevant institutions of both countries.


Previous results showed a positive influence of music training on linguistic abilities at both attentive and preattentive levels. Here, we investigate whether six months of active music training is more efficient than painting training to improve the preattentive processing of phonological parameters based on durations that are often impaired in children with developmental dyslexia (DD). Results were also compared to a control group of Typically Developing (TD) children matched on reading age. We used a Test–Training–Retest procedure and analysed the Mismatch Negativity (MMN) and the N1 and N250 components of the Event-Related Potentials to syllables that differed in Voice Onset Time (VOT), vowel duration, and vowel frequency. Results were clear-cut in showing a normalization of the preattentive processing of VOT in children with DD after music training but not after painting training. They also revealed increased N250 amplitude to duration deviant stimuli in children with DD after music but not painting training, and no training effect on the preattentive processing of frequency. These findings are discussed in view of recent theories of dyslexia pointing to deficits in processing the temporal structure of speech. They clearly encourage the use of active music training for the rehabilitation of children with language impairments.


Diel migration patterns of fishes in nearshore (15–80 m depth) and offshore (>80 m) waters of Lake Superior were examined to assess the potential for diel migration to link benthic and pelagic, and nearshore and offshore habitats. In our companion article, we described three types of diel migration: diel vertical migration (DVM), diel bank migration (DBM), and no diel migration. DVM was expressed by fishes migrating from benthopelagic to pelagic positions and DBM was expressed by fishes migrating horizontally from deep to shallow waters at night. Fishes not exhibiting diel migration typically showed increased activity by moving from benthic to benthopelagic positions within demersal habitat. The distribution and biomass of fishes in Lake Superior was characterized by examining 704 bottom trawl samples collected between 2001 and 2008 from four depth zones: ≤40, 41–80, 81–160, and >160 m. Diel migration behaviors of fishes described in our companion article were applied to estimates of areal biomass (kg ha−1) for each species by depth zone. The relative strength of diel migrations were assessed by applying lake area to areal biomass estimates for each species by depth zone to yield estimates of lake-wide biomass (metric tonnes). Overall, species expressing DVM accounted for 83%, DBM 6%, and non-migration 11% of the total lake-wide community biomass. In nearshore waters, species expressing DVM represented 74% of the biomass, DBM 25%, and non-migration 1%. In offshore waters, species expressing DVM represented 85%, DBM 1%, and non-migration 14% of the biomass. Of species expressing DVM, 83% of total biomass occurred in offshore waters. Similarly, 97% of biomass of non-migrators occurred in offshore waters while 83% of biomass of species expressing DBM occurred in nearshore waters. A high correlation (R2 = 0.996) between lake area and community biomass by depth zone resulted in 81% of the lake-wide biomass occurring in offshore waters. Accentuating this nearshore-offshore trend was one of increasing estimated total areal biomass of the fish community with depth zone, which ranged from 13.71 kg ha−1 at depths ≤40 m to 18.81 kg ha−1 at depths >160 m, emphasizing the importance of the offshore fish community to the lake ecosystem. The prevalence of diel migration expressed by Lake Superior fishes increases the potential of fish to link benthic and pelagic and shallow and deepwater habitats. These linkages enhance the potential for habitat coupling, a condition where habitats become interconnected and interdependent through transfers of energy and nutrients. Habitat coupling facilitates energy and nutrient flow through a lake ecosystem, thereby increasing productivity, especially in large lakes where benthic and pelagic, and nearshore and offshore habitats are often well separated. We propose that the application of biomass estimates to patterns of diel migration in fishes can serve as a useful metric for assessing the potential for habitat linkages and habitat coupling in lake ecosystems, and provide an important indicator of ecosystem health and function. The decline of native Lake Trout and ciscoes and recent declines in exotic Alewife and Rainbow Smelt populations in other Great Lakes have likely reduced the capacity for benthic-pelagic coupling in these systems compared to Lake Superior. We recommend comparing the levels and temporal changes in diel migration in other Great Lakes as a means to assess changes in the relative health and function of these ecosystems.


The Immigration and Nationality Act ("INA") , as it must, excludes a terrorist from receiving asylum. The substantive criteria, and the adjudicative procedures set forth under the INA for the identification of the undeserving terrorist inevitably exlude those who are neither terrorists nor otherwise undeserving. Such unintended consequences are perhaps unavoidable in any well-conceived statutory scheme. What is disconcerting is, however, the margin of the possible eroor in the application of this statutory scheme. Those who may be excluded by the application of these provisions are often not those who are supposed to be excluded as terrorists. Moreover, the existing scheme provides little help in screening out the real terrorists. The Article demonstrates these flaws and proposes some substantive and procedural modifications.


Monoclonal antibodies were produced against a human cytotoxic T cell clone, CT8III (specificity: HLA-A3), with the view of defining clonally restricted (clonotypic) surface molecules involved in its antigen recognition function. Two individual antibodies, termed anti-Ti1A and anti-Ti1B, reacted exclusively with the CT8III clone when tested on a panel of 80 additional clones from the same donor, resting or activated T cells, B cells, macrophages, thymocytes, or other hematopoietic cells. More importantly, the two antibodies inhibited cell-mediated killing and antigen-specific proliferation of the CT8III clone but did not affect the functions of any other clone tested. This inhibition was not secondary to generalized abrogation of the CT8III clone's function, because interleukin 2 responsiveness was enhanced. To examine the relationship of the structures defined by anti-clonotypic antibodies with known T cell surface molecules, antibody-induced modulation studies and competitive binding assays were performed. The results indicated that the clonotypic structures were associated with, but distinct from, the 20,000-mol wt T3 molecule expressed on all mature T lymphocytes. Moreover, in contrast to anti-T3, anti-Ti1A and anti-Ti1B each immunoprecipitated two molecules of 49,000 and 43,000-mol wt from 131I-labeled CT8III cells under reducing conditions. The development of monoclonal antibodies to such polymorphic T cell surface structures should provide important probes to further define the surface receptor for antigen.


The Riverine Plain of south eastern Australia is an extensive, predominantly clay soil area with large surface irrigation schemes. Early lysimeter installations were used to estimate evaporative losses from grass canopies. The most recent installations have been used in studies of plant canopy and root responses to waterlogging and in measuring the crop water balance components in the presence of shallow water tables. Capillary rise from fresh water tables 1 m from the ground surface can account for 8% to 36% of total evaporation of a well watered crop. Marked differences occur between clay soil types in the capillary rise component. Soil type differences also cause subtle changes in plant growth within undisturbed lysimeter cores resulting in small canopy height discontinuities which in turn, affect crop evaporation rates.


An Arlequin poromechanics model is introduced to simulate the hydro‐mechanical coupling effects of fluid‐infiltrated porous media across different spatial scales within a concurrent computational framework. A two‐field poromechanics problem is first recast as the twofold saddle point of an incremental energy functional. We then introduce Lagrange multipliers and compatibility energy functionals to enforce the weak compatibility of hydro‐mechanical responses in the overlapped domain. To examine the numerical stability of this hydro‐mechanical Arlequin model, we derive a necessary condition for stability, the twofold inf–sup condition for multi‐field problems, and establish a modified inf–sup test formulated in the product space of the solution field. We verify the implementation of the Arlequin poromechanics model through benchmark problems covering the entire range of drainage conditions. Through these numerical examples, we demonstrate the performance, robustness, and numerical stability of the Arlequin poromechanics model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The transition from experimentally induced poor nutritional conditions to feeding was studied with 69 eight-month-old female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus). During a pre-experimental period, all reindeer were fed a simulated winter diet with 80% lichens Cladina spp. and 20% Vaccinum myrtillus shrubs and Salix spp. leaves (lichen diet) ad lib. The reindeer were divided into five groups. A control group (group C) was fed the lichen diet ad lib. throughout the experiment. Four groups were fed half of that ration for eight days and were then totally deprived of feed for one day (restriction period). During the following 34 days (feeding period) the groups were re-fed the lichen diet (group L), fed pelleted reindeer feed combined with either lichen (group PL) or grass silage (group PS), or fed silage with a gradually increasing addition of pellets (group SP). Weekly measurements of blood samples and body weighr showed that the control group remained clinically healthy and had stable blood plasma concentrations of protein, urea, glucose and insulin throughout the experiment, but they lost weight. At slaughter, before and after the restriction period, all animals had lost rumen-free body weight, but the reindeer fed a restricted amount of feed lost more than the control group. Also the plasma metabolites were affected by the restricted feeding, with increased concentrations of urea and decreased concentrations of glucose. Group L responded immediately to the ad lib. feeding with blood metabolite levels rapidly approaching those of group C. The body weight developments were similar in groups L and C. Although the feed rations were increased gradually, diarrhoea occurred in some animals belonging to groups PL and PS within the first week of the feeding period. All reindeer recovered, after antibiotic treatment of the worst affected animals. The PL and PS groups, which had high contents of metabolisable energy and crude protein in their diets, showed increased con-centtations of plasma protein, urea and insulin. At the end of the feeding period, these groups had increased their body and carcass weights and gained fat, whereas reindeer fed the lichen diet had lost weight. Severe health problems (malnutrition and so-called wet belly) occurred in group SP during the first weeks of feeding and led to loss of animals, and consequently the SP group was excluded from the remainder of rhe experiment. The general conclusion is that the lichen diet did not cause any digestive problems, but resulted in a continuous decline in body weight and small or deficient fat reserves. After the initial diarrhoea, feeding with diets comprising pellets from the start resulted in improved condition, expressed as increased body weight, fat gain and higher concentrations of plasma protein, urea and insulin in relation to the control group. The diet initially based on grass in the form of silage of the given quality seemed insufficient as feed to reindeer calves in a poor nutritional state.


We investigated what happens when the spontaneous encoding of a problem is incongruent with its solving strategy. We created word problems from which two distinct semantic representations could be abstracted. Only one of these representations was consistent with the solving strategy. We tested whether participants could recode a semantically incongruent representation in order to access another, less salient, solving strategy. In experiment 1, participants had to solve arithmetic problems and to indicate which problems were unsolvable. In experiment 2, participants received solved problems and had to decide whether the solution was appropriate or not. In both experiments, participants had more difficulties acknowledging that problems inducing an incongruent representation could be solved than they had for problems inducing a congruent representation. This was confirmed by response times. These results highlight how semantic aspects can lead even adults to fail or succeed in the solving of arithmetic problems requiring basic mathematical knowledge.


Wave Field Synthesis allows the reconstruction of an arbitrary target sound field within a listening area by using a secondary source contour of spherical monopoles. While phase correct synthesis is ensured over the whole listening area, amplitude deviations are present besides a predefined reference curve. So far, the existence and potential shapes of this reference curve was not extensively discussed in the Wave Field Synthesis literature. This paper introduces improved driving functions for 2.5D Wave Field Synthesis. The novel driving functions allow for the control of the locations of amplitude correct synthesis for arbitrarily shaped—possibly curved—secondary source distributions. This is achieved by deriving an expressive physical interpretation of the stationary phase approximation leading to the presented unified Wave Field Synthesis framework. The improved solutions are better suited for practical applications. Additionally, a consistent classification of existing implicit and explicit 2.5D sound field synthesis solutions as special cases of the unified framework is given.


Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are the cleanest and most efficient energy technology for direct conversion to electricity of a wide variety of fuels. In addition to the efforts to reduce the operating temperature of SOFCs from 1000°C to below 800°C, research studies on the underlying degradation mechanisms are envisioned to improve the long-term stability and durability of the components of SOFCs. In general, the SOFC is comprised of a porous cathode, dense electrolyte, porous anode, interconnects and current collectors. The cathode is a critical component in SOFCs since it displays cell polarization resistance which reduction makes an important challenged to be addressed. The deactivation of the cathode often caused by the: 1) formation of interfacial products in the vicinity of the electrolyte and the 2) surface precipitation from the reaction of the components of the cathode with the air/fuel or interconnects impurities such as sulfur and chrome. In this presentation, an attempt is made to highlight the influence of interfacial reaction products at the cathode-electrolyte interface on the long-term stability of cathodes and effect of the cathode composition on its reactivity with the sulfur contamination in the air.


Physical traits are thought to be used as indicators of mate quality, allowing individuals to select mates most likely to help them bear the fittest offspring. As the capacity for human sexual behaviour emerges at puberty, we investigated whether adult-like judgments of the relative attractiveness of opposite-sex individuals also arise at puberty. Following previous research, we focussed on facial and vocal attractiveness, which are known to be used in human mate choice and to carry concordant information regarding mate quality. Here we show that males with more attractive faces have more attractive voices as judged by female adults and adolescents, but not by female children. This suggests that cues of facial and vocal attractiveness provide similar information, but that awareness of these cues does not develop fully until reproductive capability, when mate choice judgments become relevant. Adolescents' judgments also mirrored those of adults in that, like adults, they preferred lower-pitched male voices, and as a group made concordant judgments about facial attractiveness. However, they did not make similarly concordant judgments about vocal attractiveness, suggesting that a further period of maturation and learning is required to fully develop optimal judgments for mate choice.


Wind energy is increasingly becoming a major discussion amongst renewable energy sources due to its sustainability, reduced impact on the environment, and being significantly cheaper than conventional fossil fuels. Researchers have been particularly concerned with studying improved design and optimization using computational technique and experimentation. This research aims at designing blades for a small horizontal axis wind turbine for low Reynolds number using blade element momentum theory and using computational fluid dynamics (cfd) and experiment to analyze its performance. Two airfoils (SG6050 and SG6043) were selected for different regions of the blade span. Four turbulent models were used in predicting its performance. The performance was analyzed for wind speeds between 2 m/s and 7 m/s. Studies showed that the blade is capable of generating power up to 241 W with a power coefficient of 34.3% at a speed of 6 m/s. The computed power coefficient is in good agreement with experimental results of 33.7%.


"A Treatise of the Laws of Nature", originally titled "De Legibus Naturae", first appeared in 1672 as a theoretical response to a range of issues that came together during the late 1660s. It conveyed a conviction that science might offer an effective means of demonstrating both the contents and the obligatory force of the law of nature. At a time when Hobbess work appeared to suggest that the application of science undermined rather than supported the idea of obligatory natural law, Cumberlands "De Legibus Naturae" provided a scientific explanation of the natural necessity of altruism. Through his argument for a moral obligation to natural law, Cumberland made a critical intervention in the early debate over the role of natural jurisprudence at a moment when the natural law project was widely suspected of heterodoxy and incoherence. This is the first modern edition of "A Treatise of the Laws of Nature", based on John Maxwells English translation of 1727. The edition includes Maxwells extensive notes and appendixes. It also provides, for the first time in English, manuscript additions by Cumberland and material from Barbeyracs 1744 French edition and John Towerss edition of 1750.


Ocean acidification is considered as one of the major threats for coral reefs at a global scale. Marine calcifying organisms, including stony corals, are expected to be the most affected by the predicted decrease of the surface water pH at the end of the century. The severity of the impacts on coral reefs remains as a matter of controversy. Although previous studies have explored the physiological response of stony corals to changes in pH, the response of the holobiont (i.e., the coral itself plus its symbionts) remains largely unexplored. In the present study, we assessed the changes in overall gene expression of the coral Montipora digitata and its microalgal symbionts after a short (3 days) and a longer (42 days) exposure to low pH (7.6). The short-term exposure to low pH caused small differences in the expression level of the host, impacting mostly genes associated with stress response in other scleractinians. Longer exposure to low pH resulted in no significant changes in gene expression of treated vs. control coral hosts. Gene expression in the eukaryotic symbionts remained unaltered at both exposure times. Our findings suggest resilience, in terms of gene expression, of the M. digitata holobiont to pH decrease, as well as capability to acclimatize to extended periods of exposure to low pH.


In recent years, the active noise control methods are more attractive in reducing unwanted noise. Salient features of active control methods over passive control methods drive more attention to active noise control systems for reduction of low frequency noise. The main work in this thesis is active noise reduction of sound in the ventilation systems. Two different kinds of active noise control methods were introduced to reduce the unwanted noise and the implementations were successful. In conclusion, choose the best method based on the best attenuation achievement using different setups of the duc


Little has been done in terms of teaching or writing about research
integrity or research ethics in the counseling field. Because of the
continual push for research in counseling to maintain evidence-based
practices, there is a need for education in the area of research integrity
in order for professionals in the counseling field to conduct
responsible research. The Office of Research Integrity's 9 areas
of responsible conduct of research and the American Counseling
Association's code of ethics on research are presented, along with a
discussion of ways to teach ethics and provide resources for research
integrity in counselor education.


Scene parsing is challenging for unrestricted open vocabulary and diverse scenes. In this paper, we exploit the capability of global context information by different-region-based context aggregation through our pyramid pooling module together with the proposed pyramid scene parsing network (PSPNet). Our global prior representation is effective to produce good quality results on the scene parsing task, while PSPNet provides a superior framework for pixel-level prediction. The proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on various datasets. It came first in ImageNet scene parsing challenge 2016, PASCAL VOC 2012 benchmark and Cityscapes benchmark. A single PSPNet yields the new record of mIoU accuracy 85.4% on PASCAL VOC 2012 and accuracy 80.2% on Cityscapes.


This study compared the attitudes of over 160 undergraduate students toward participating in educational skits when highly structured and less structured skits were used as an interest approach. When students were given fewer instructions and greater creative flexibility, more positive attitudes toward the assignment and technical writing in general resulted. Regardless of class size, beginning a class period reviewing material covered in a previous session is a teaching technique supported by educators across many disciplines (Bean, 1996; Nilson, 2003). The use of an interest approach is one way to review previously covered course content and increase student interest in studying a particular topic (Myers, 2004). For large (> 75 students) university required courses of limited student appeal, increasing student attendance, gaining student attention at the start of each class, and generating student enthusiasm can be accomplished using various interest approaches. Harcum (1991) used rap singing in large (> 300 students), introductory psychology courses as an icebreaker during the first class period and found the instructor composed and performed rap songs helpful in reducing student anxiety and establishing rapport between the instructor and students. Popular, competitive games such as Jeopardy and Pictionary were used as an interest approach in an introductory soil science course and enhanced student enthusiasm for course subject matter and helped students apply soils knowledge in an atypical fashion (Sulzman, 2004). More recently, Donnermeyer et al. (2005) found that distributing candy at the start of large (> 100 students) introductory rural sociology classes and using candy as an interest approach helped encourage student participation and discourage tardiness. Many educational and communication theorists advocate that an interest approach should be relevant to both the topic of presentation and authence (Cheek, Arlington, Rudd, & McGhee, 2000; Osborn & Osborn, 1994). Others suggest that an interest approach should stimulate creativity, arouse curiosity, and connect to other student interests (Myers, 2004). For large, university required technical writing courses, short educational skits on technical writing topics performed by students at the start of each class are the ideal interest approach. Educational skits can make technical writing more relevant to student lives and academic majors, stimulate creativity in those performing the skits, arouse curiosity in those watching the skits, and can help connect class topics to other disciplines. Because students become the teachers, the use of educational skits as an interest approach allows students performing the skits to take personal ownership of course content and helps students watching the skits to review material discussed in a previous class. Educational skits on previously covered course material can be used as a mini-review session and a way to get everyone thinking about course content at the start of class. Particularly for large class settings, witnessing and participating in educational skits performed at the beginning of a class period gives students an incentive for arriving early to class and a reason not to arrive late, thereby interrupting a group performance already in progress. While educational skits allow students to practice course content, instructors also benefit as they are provided opportunities to assess learning and offer feedback. Following the work of Piaget, many students learn best from other students who are able to convey information using language that is less academic and more understandable (Cooper & Robinson, 2000). Educational skits allow students to revisit as a group the information discussed in a previous class and devise a way to creatively review such information so that it is understandable and relevant to their classmates. Although sometimes logistically challenging for students, meeting outside of the classroom to prepare a skit can build new and strengthen existing student relationships. …


The budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been a remarkably useful model system for the study of eukaryotic cell cycle regulation. Flow cytometric analysis of DNA content in budding yeast has become a standard tool for the analysis of cell cycle progression. However, popular protocols utilizing the DNA binding dye, propidium iodide, suffer from a number of drawbacks that confound accurate analysis by flow cytometry. Here we show the utility of the DNA binding dye, SYTOX Green, in the cell cycle analysis of yeast. Samples analyzed using SYTOX Green exhibited better coefficients of variation, improved linearity between DNA content and fluorescence, and decreased peak drift associated with changes in dye concentration, growth conditions or cell size. Key Words: Flow cytometry, Cell cycle, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, SYTOX Green, Propidium iodide


Leadership is struggle The question of how to lead successfully and responsibly is crucially important in our uncertain, high-pressure, turbulent world. In this book, Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Badaracco answers this question in practical and, at times, provocative ways. Leaders today are surrounded by what Badaracco calls "the new invisible hand"--powerful, pervasive markets that touch and shape almost everything. As a result, understanding the inevitability and importance of struggle is critical. And leaders must go a step further to create what Badaracco calls "the good struggle" in order to meet their goals at work, as well as their goals in life. The Good Struggle helps you meet the relentless challenges of being a leader today by identifying the most important questions you should be asking yourself. New answers to these questions can be found by watching leaders in dynamic settings, especially entrepreneurs. The conditions entrepreneurs have always faced--intense competition, scarce resources, and unforgiving markets--are true now for the rest of us, and they offer valuable, practical lessons about struggling and succeeding in volatile and uncertain environments. If "the joy of life is in the struggle," as one thoughtful entrepreneur put it, The Good Struggle can help you find meaning in your work, stay focused on what matters despite the turbulence around you, and keep you on the path to leading successfully and responsibly.


New applications like highly automated driving, Car-2-X, software updates over the air, or vehicles as part of the internet of things raise completely new requirements to a software platform for the next generation of ECUs. AUTOSAR as the worldwide leading standardization organization for in-vehicle software bears this challenge and paves the way making vehicles intelligent and adaptive. Based on a set of selected use-cases, identified by the AUTOSAR partners, the challenges and the approach to master requirements for next generation cars are described. The new platform aims to support dynamic deployment of customer applications, to provide an environment for applications that require high-end computing power and to connect deeply embedded and nonAUTOSAR systems in a smooth way while preserving typical features originated in deeply embedded systems like safety, determinism and real-time capabilities. Built around existing standards such as POSIX, the AUTOSAR Adaptive Platform will complement automotive specific functionalities enabling the platform to run in an automotive network.


Reformed Protestantism has undergone drastic changes throughout its history in America. Although it has become less prominent in American society, Douglas Ottati reminds us that this Christian movement is still a dynamic and important witness to our world. This book is an important contribution to promoting, deepening, and extending the distinctive spirit and witness of Reformed Protestantism.


Non-blind deblurring is an integral component of blind approaches for removing image blur due to camera shake. Even though learning-based deblurring methods exist, they have been limited to the generative case and are computationally expensive. To this date, manually-defined models are thus most widely used, though limiting the attained restoration quality. We address this gap by proposing a discriminative approach for non-blind deblurring. One key challenge is that the blur kernel in use at test time is not known in advance. To address this, we analyze existing approaches that use half-quadratic regularization. From this analysis, we derive a discriminative model cascade for image deblurring. Our cascade model consists of a Gaussian CRF at each stage, based on the recently introduced regression tree fields. We train our model by loss minimization and use synthetically generated blur kernels to generate training data. Our experiments show that the proposed approach is efficient and yields state-of-the-art restoration quality on images corrupted with synthetic and real blur.


The spatial distribution, depths and diameters of roots in soil are difficult to quantify but important to know when reinforcement of a rooted slope or the stability of a plant is to be assessed. Previous work has shown that roots can be detected from the depth–resistance trace measured using a penetrometer with an adapted blade-shaped tip. Theoretical models exist to predict both forces and root displacements associated with root failure in either bending or tension. However, these studies were performed in dry sand under laboratory conditions, using acrylonitrile butadiene styrene root analogues rather than real roots. In this paper blade penetrometer field testing on two forested field sites, with Sitka spruce and pedunculate oak in sandy silt and clayey silt respectively, is used to evaluate models under field conditions. Root breakages could be detected from blade penetrometer depth–resistance traces and using complementary acoustic measurements. Predictions of additional penetrometer resistance at root failure were more accurate than the displacement predictions. An analytical cable model, assuming roots are flexible and fail in tension, provided the best predictions for Sitka roots, while thick oak roots were better predicted assuming bending failure. These matched the modes of failure observed in 3-point bending tests of the root material in each case. The presence of significant amounts of gravel made it sometimes difficult to distinguish between hitting a root or a stone. The root diameter could be predicted when root strength and stiffness, and soil penetrometer resistance were known and the right interpretative model selected. Estimates based on peak force were more accurate than those based on root displacement. This measurement procedure is therefore a potentially valuable tool to quantify the spatial distribution of roots and their reinforcement potential in the field.


A general algorithm for the decomposition of differences between two values of an aggregate demographic measure in respect to age and other dimensions is proposed. It assumes that the aggregate measure is computed from similar matrices of discrete demographic data for two populations under comparison. The algorithm estimates the effects of replacement for each elementary cell of one matrix by respective cell of another matrix. Application of the algorithm easily leads to the known formula for the age-decomposition of differences between two life expectancies. It also allows to develop new formulae for differences between Gini coefficients (measures of inter-individual variability in age at death) and differences between health expectancies. In the latter case, each age-component is split further into effects of mortality and effects of health. The application of the algorithm enables a numerical decomposition of the differences between total fertility rates and between parity progression ratios by age of the mother and parity. Empirical examples are based on mortality data from the USA, the UK, West Germany, and Poland and on fertility data from Russia.


The Vulcanello peninsula is situated north of Vulcano, the southernmost island of the Aeolian Arc. It was built at the rim of La Fossa Caldera between 1000 and 1650 A.D. Erupted products are mafic to intermediate in composition, while the coeval products erupted inside the caldera are mainly rhyolitic. Therefore, Vulcanello's activity represents an anomalous mafic post-caldera volcanism in a convergent setting.

A petrographic and geochemical study was carried out on lavas and pyroclastic rocks representing the entire eruptive history of the volcanic centre. New data (major and trace elements and Sr isotope ratios on whole rocks, and major element compositions on mineral phases) and geochemical models were used to investigate shallow level differentiation processes ( i.e. , fractional crystallisation, fractional crystallisation plus crustal assimilation, degassing, magma mixing/recharge).

The study suggests that the entire Vulcanello activity can be considered as the uninterrupted expulsion of a single deep magma batch of shoshonitic composition emitted from a NE–SW ring fault of La Fossa Caldera. The magma is genetically related to the shoshonitic basalts found as melt inclusions in the olivine crystals erupted in the products of the 1888–1890 " La Fossa" activity. This points to a possible single deep plumbing system for both La Fossa Cone and Vulcanello centres, strongly controlled by NW–SE to N– S regional structures.

The shoshonitic magma, undergoing fractional crystallisation, partly rose directly to the surface where two strombolian cones were constructed, while residual magma remained at depth, and, partially degassed and crystallised, it subsequently erupted both effusively to form a lava platform and explosively to form a third pyroclastic cone. The remaining magma evolved to latite by AFC process and was erupted both as a lava flow (Punta del Roveto) and in the form of pyroclastic products ( i.e. , the upper part of the third cone), controlled by shallow ring faults of La Fossa Caldera.

Therefore the Vulcanello plumbing system is controlled by tectonic structures at depth and by shallower volcano-tectonic (caldera) fractures.


In this demonstration we will show a variety of computer-based musical instruments designed for live performance. Our design criteria include initial ease of use coupled with a long term potential for virtuosity, minimal and low variance latency, and clear and simple strategies for programming the relationship between gesture and musical result. We present custom controllers and unique adaptations of standard gestural interfaces, a programmable connectivity processor, a communications protocol called Open Sound Control (OSC), and a variety of metaphors for musical control.


Rodents are key to generating translational data for healthcare research. Behavioural analyses, in particular, are integral to the non-invasive monitoring of rodent health and welfare. Finding quantitative behavioural measures mitigates stress, allowing for the animal behave freely while also enabling the same animal to be studied over the time-course of its life. Locomotion and whisking are both such quantitative behavioural measures, and have been found to be significantly impacted in rodent models of neurodegenerative disease. While automatic trackers of whiskers and locomotion exist, a manual tracker is required to validate these approaches, and also to annotate complex videos where these automatic versions fail. Manually annotating whiskers for research purposes is a long and tedious task and current software does little to provide an intuitive and simple interface to carry out this task. This led to the creation of the Manual Whisker Annotator (MWA). MWA is an open source, portable whisker annotation tool developed for the Windows platform. Not only does MWA make the process much quicker, it also provides added statistical tools to analyse the data. MWA was developed in C# and WPF using the .NET framework, and could be used in any situation where annotating or tracking multiple targets is desired.


This work shows how the best scenario, which applies two chemometric classifiers on different analytical datasets from the same sample set, could be chosen according to the classification results. To this end, several classification quality features such as sensitivity (or recall), specificity, positive (or precision) and negative predictive values, Youden index, positive and negative likelihood ratios, F-measure (or F-score), discriminant power, efficiency (or accuracy), AUC (area under the receiver operating curve), Matthews correlation coefficient, Kappa coefficient, overall agreement probability, overall agreement probability from chance and overall Kappa coefficient are described and discussed. As an application example, two sterolic chromatographic fingerprints obtained from two different normal-phase HPLC systems are used to discern the geographical origin (South-East Asia, West Africa and South America) of edible palm oil. In each case, two conventional and well-known chemometric classification methods are applied: soft independent modelling by class analogy (SIMCA) and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA).


The simultaneous occurrence of devaluation and recession in Mexico in 1995, as well as in the East Asian economies more recently, appears to contradict the conventional view that devaluations are expansionary. Moreover, a sizeable theoretical and empirical literature also argues that, contrary to the predictions of textbook analysis, exchange rate devaluations may be contractionary rather than expansionary. However, prior statistical analyses of the effects of exchange rate devaluation on output have been subject to several limitations: (i) they have failed to distinguish adequately between short and long-run effects; (ii) they have not controlled for the full range of external shocks; and (iii) they have not considered whether the effects of devaluation might differ between different regions of the world. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of devaluation on output for 27 countries while attempting to address these limitations in previous empirical analyses. We find no evidence that devaluations are contractionary in the long run. Additionally, controlling for sources of spurious correlation and reverse causality appears to mute the measured contractionary effect of devaluation in the short run, although this effect remains even after these controls are introduced. Finally, while the literature on contractionary devaluation has focused primarily on developing countries, we found no evidence that this effect is stronger in developing countries than in industrialised countries.


While the role of family members and spouses as informal care-givers of older people is increasingly valued in Australia, few studies have investigated the impact of pre-care-giving abuse or violence on these relationships. This paper presents results of semi-structured interviews conducted with 43 primary care-givers in 47 care-giving relationships. Two risk factors for abuse and violence in older people's care-giving relationships were examined: the mental health status of the care-receiver and the pre-care-giving history of abuse or violence. Care-receivers with mental health problems (including dementia) appeared no more likely than others to have initiated abuse or violence, although their care-givers were more likely to have directed violence towards them. A series of associations indicated that pre-care-giving experiences of abuse and violence were key risk factors for similar experiences during care-giving. This was even the case in those relationships involving a care-receiver with mental health problems. Implications for research, social policy and service delivery are considered.


Carlos A. Berenstein has had a profound influence on scholars and practitioners alike amid a distinguished mathematical career spanning nearly four decades. His uncommon capability of adroitly moving between these parallel worlds is demonstrated by the breadth of his research interests, from his early theoretical work on interpolation in spaces of entire functions with growth conditions and residue theory to his later work on deconvolution and its applications to issues ranging from optics to the study of blood flow. This volume, which celebrates his sixtieth birthday, reflects the state-of-the-art in these areas. Original articles and survey articles, all refereed, cover topics in harmonic and complex analysis, as well as more applied work in signal processing.


In this study, the linear approximate version of the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) model is estimated using data from the Lithuanian household budget survey covering the period from July 1992 to December 1994. Based on the estimated coefficients of the model, Hossain and Jensen estimated price and real expenditure elasticities for 12 food groups. Estimated expenditure elasticities were positive and statistically significant for all food groups while all own-price elasticities were negative and statistically significant, except for that of eggs which was insignificant. Results suggest that Lithuanian household consumption responded to price and real income changes during the transition to a market-oriented economy.


Abstract On occasion, rather than having a successful relationship, an audit client relationship is "at risk" -the client is giving consideration to changing auditors in the next few years. Can client relationships "at risk" be predicted or at least identified early enough to minimize the damage? This exploratory study provides insight into this important question. Based on a large sample of Fortune 1000 companies, the results indicate that client satisfaction, corporate controller work experience, and audit firm executive involvement in the engagement all are important determinants of the success of the relationship.


Beginning VB 2008 Databases teaches you everything you need to know about relational databases, SQL, and ADO.NET 2.0, giving you a sound start in developing console and Windows database applications. The book also includes chapters on the new SQL Server XML data type and the forthcoming LINQ enhancements to the next version of Visual Basic. In addition to teaching you database basics like using SQL to communicate with databases, this book provides you with detailed, code-practical techniques to access data in Visual Basic 2008 across a range of coding situations. Code-heavy and full of practical detail, this book has been fully revised and upgraded for .NET 3.5 and offers you the best contemporary practice in this core programming area, so that youll find yourself using it in nearly all your .NET projects. Provides step-by-step instructions on how to install and configure necessary tools Presents all essential SQL query and update concepts and syntax, so you dont need prior familiarity with relational databases or SQL Describes how to use ADO.NET transactions, exceptions, and events Covers ADO.NET features for handling XML, text, and binary data within a Visual Basic 2008 context Explains all concepts through straightforward code examples What youll learn How relational databases work and how to use them How Visual Basic uses ADO.NET to access databases How to write stored procedures in T-SQL and call them from Visual Basic programs How to use XML in database applications How to use LINQ to simplify VB database programming How to install SQL Server 2005 Express and use it to teach yourself databases by doing databases Who is this book for? Beginning VB 2008 Databases is for every VB programmer. Database programming requires relatively little knowledge of VB but a lot of knowledge about relational database concepts and the database language SQL. This book assumes no prior database experience and teaches you, always through hands-on examples, how to create and use relational databases with SQL and how to access them with VB. Almost every application needs to access a database, and this book teaches all the fundamentals you may ever need to develop professional database applications. About the Apress Beginning Series The Beginning series from Apress is the right choice to get the information you need to land that crucial entry-level job. These books will teach you a standard and important technology from the ground up because they are explicitly designed to take you from novice to professional. Youll start your journey by seeing what you need to knowbut without needless theory and filler. Youll build your skill set by learning how to put together real-world projects step by step. So whether your goal is your next career challenge or a new learning opportunity, the Beginning series from Apress will take you thereit is your trusted guide through unfamiliar territory! Related Titles Pro T-SQL 2005 Programmers Guide Foundations of LINQ in C#


Numerous studies have been done on child sexual violence/abuse (CSV/A). Sexual victimization of minors remains a constant problem globally. Section 28(1) (d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996 (South Africa, 1996) provides that every child has the right to be safeguard from ill-treatment, desertion, exploitation and degradation. November 2014 marked the 25th anniversary of the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). On this occasion, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) called on the
South African government to once again prioritise children's rights as a key government agenda, to commit to its obligations under the CRC, to uphold the promise made to South Africa's children by the late Nelson Mandela, and to heed his powerful words: "History will judge us by the differences we make in the everyday lives of children".
In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 community members of Ngangelizwe Township in Mthatha, Eastern Cape province. The interviews were held in the period August 2016 - September 2016. The aim of the investigation was to determine the social, biological, and psychological effects of child sexual offences on children and as well as their parents, families, and the community at large. The study explored the authentic views of Township people, as there is limited scholarly literature on child sexual abuse and particularly on the experiences of Township residents of this atrocious act. Community members shared their views on the effects of child sexual assault, and there was common agreement that the sexual abuse of a child destroys the psychological and physical well-being not only of the child, but also of the parents. Sexually abused children show signs of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, mental disturbance, and post-traumatic stress disorder. They also lose focus at school and they often isolate themselves from other children. These children lose trust not only in the person who sexually abused them, but in all older people, as it is usually adults who perpetrate this crime. Sexually abused children experience memory loss, always live in fear, and experience anxiety disorders long after the event.


Moving from the complementary relationship between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, this article analyses the issue of private property in occupied territory from the civilians perspective. In the attempt to verify if contemporaneous practice has modified customary international law obligations of Occupying Powers, the Author highlights the complex and heterogeneous evolution of the protection of the right to private property. On the one hand, practice confirms the strengthening of its safeguard by the extensive interpretation of the absolute prohibition on confiscation, forbidding an occupying power to take "permanent" measures of dispossession and de facto transfer of title. The same result is achieved by the enlargement of the material scope of application of the crime of pillage, and by the narrow interpretation of the derogation clause of the "absolute necessity of military operations", contained in the rule prohibiting the destruction of private property. Moreover, practice's development proves the existence of a privileged class of assets (such as foodstuffs, houses, or medical supplies), whose essential nature to the well-being of the civilian population makes them object of a stronger guarantee. On the other hand, recent trends show a weakening in the protection of the right to private property, above all within the context of prolonged occupation as well as trans- formative one. The occupant's widest powers of requisition of private property in these particular cases interfere in a deeper manner with the enjoyment of the right in hand, partly justified by the more and more flexible interpretation given to the general conservationist principle of military occupation law. Actually, this weakening is only apparent. From a broader point of view, the less protection of the right to private property is counterbalanced by the use of the proportionality test, to assess if occupying power action respects the other human rights of the civilian population.


Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is characterized by steatosis and upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β. IL-1β, type I IL-1 receptor (IL-1R1), and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) are all important regulators of the IL-1 signaling complex, which plays a role in inflammation. Furthermore, IL-1β maturation is dependent on caspase-1 (Casp-1). Using IL-1Ra-treated mice as well as 3 mouse models deficient in regulators of IL-1β activation (Casp-1 and ASC) or signaling (IL-1R1), we found that IL-1β signaling is required for the development of alcohol-induced liver steatosis, inflammation, and injury. Increased IL-1β was due to upregulation of Casp-1 activity and inflammasome activation. The pathogenic role of IL-1 signaling in ALD was attributable to the activation of the inflammasome in BM-derived Kupffer cells. Importantly, in vivo intervention with a recombinant IL-1Ra blocked IL-1 signaling and markedly attenuated alcohol-induced liver inflammation, steatosis, and damage. Furthermore, physiological doses of IL-1β induced steatosis, increased the inflammatory and prosteatotic chemokine MCP-1 in hepatocytes, and augmented TLR4-dependent upregulation of inflammatory signaling in macrophages. In conclusion, we demonstrated that Casp-1-dependent upregulation of IL-1β and signaling mediated by IL-1R1 are crucial in ALD pathogenesis. Our findings suggest a potential role of IL-1R1 inhibition in the treatment of ALD.


This chapter uses laws on parenthood to study the contradiction between the trend towards formal equality and ongoing gendered patterns of care, as well as the growing phenomenon of parenting by lesbians and by gay men and by single mothers by choice, by which a woman plans to be a child's sole parent. Specifically, it assesses the innovative potential of the new Family Law Act (FLA) in the Canadian province of British Columbia, which redefines legal parenthood and alters the regulation of post-separation parenting. The new definitions of legal parenthood respond to calls for the recognition of same-sex parenting and reproductive technologies. The new norms on post-separation parenting respond to calls for equal treatment of fathers, but they also take account of research on the troubling impact of shared parenting law reforms regulating post-separation disputes over children. As such, the FLA arguably eschews strict formal equality.


ABSTRACT: This study aimed to determine the densities of fiber follicles in the skin of the Karaka§, Norduz, and Zom sheep breeds and to carry out a comparative analysis between them. The study included a total of 36 animals aged 1-2 years and 3-4 years. Skin samples were obtained through biopsies taken from the right sides of the animals to determine the densities and ratios of the fleece follicles. Examination of these samples revealed that the primary follicle densities of the three sheep breeds (Karaka§, Norduz and Zom) were 3.11 ± 0.42, 3.14 ± 0.49 and 3.34 ± 0.59, while the secondary follicle densities were 8.42 ± 1.48, 8.51 ± 1.54 and 6.36 ± 1.44. The secondary to primary (S/P) follicle ratios of the sheep were 2.71 ± 0.70, 2.79 ± 0.69 and 1.85 ± 0.36, respectively. The primary follicle densities of the Karaka§, Norduz and Zom sheep were statistically similar for both age groups. The density of secondary follicles and S/P ratio decreased with age in both age groups. The similarity of the S/P ratios to those from other local sheep breeds suggest that Karaka§, Norduz, Zom sheep can be included in the sheep group that has coarse fleece.


In this paper, we propose a new approach for nonlinear equalization based on Gaussian processes for classification (GPC). We also measure the performance of the equalizer after a low-density parity-check channel decoder has detected the received sequence. Typically, most channel equalizers concentrate on reducing the bit error rate, instead of providing accurate posterior probability estimates. GPC is a Bayesian nonlinear classification tool that provides accurate posterior probability estimates with short training sequences. We show that the accuracy of these estimates is essential for optimal performance of the channel decoder and that the error rate outputted by the equalizer might be irrelevant to understand the performance of the overall communication receiver. We compare the proposed equalizers with state-of-the-art solutions.


In photo-sharing websites and in social networks, photographs are most often browsed as a sequence: users who view a photo are likely to click on those that follow. The sequences of photos (which we call photostreams), as opposed to individual images, can therefore be considered to be very important content units in their own right. In spite of their importance, those sequences have received little attention even though they are at the core of how people consume image content. In this paper, we focus on photostreams. First, we perform an analysis of a large dataset of user logs containing over 100 million pageviews, examining navigation patterns between photostreams. Based on observations from the analysis, we build a stream transition graph to analyze common stream topic transitions (e.g., users often view "train" photostreams followed by "firetruck" photostreams). We then implement two stream recommendation algorithms, based on collaborative filtering and on photo tags, and report the results of a user study involving 40 participants. Our analysis yields interesting insights into how people navigate between photostreams, while the results of the user study provide useful feedback for evaluating the performance and characteristics of the recommendation algorithms.


The development of microalgae sustainable applications needs better understanding of microalgae biology. Moreover, how cells coordinate their metabolism toward biomass accumulation is not fully understood. In this present study, flux balance analysis (FBA) was performed to identify sensitive metabolic pathways of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under varied CO2 inputs. The metabolic network model of Chlamydomonas was updated based on the genome annotation data and sensitivity analysis revealed CO2 sensitive reactions. Biological experiments were performed with cells cultivated at 0.04% (air), 2.5, 5, 8, and 10% CO2 concentration under controlled conditions and cell growth profiles and biomass content were measured. Pigments, lipids, proteins, and starch were further quantified for the reference low (0.04%) and high (10%) CO2 conditions. The expression level of candidate genes of sensitive reactions was measured and validated by quantitative real time PCR. The sensitive analysis revealed mitochondrial compartment as the major affected by changes on the CO2 concentrations and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, glyoxylate, and dicarboxylate metabolism among the affected metabolic pathways. Genes coding for glycerate kinase (GLYK), glycine cleavage system, H-protein (GCSH), NAD-dependent malate dehydrogenase (MDH3), low-CO2 inducible protein A (LCIA), carbonic anhydrase 5 (CAH5), E1 component, alpha subunit (PDC3), dual function alcohol dehydrogenase/acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ADH1), and phosphoglucomutase (GPM2), were defined, among other genes, as sensitive nodes in the metabolic network simulations. These genes were experimentally responsive to the changes in the carbon fluxes in the system. We performed metabolomics analysis using mass spectrometry validating the modulation of carbon dioxide responsive pathways and metabolites. The changes on CO2 levels mostly affected the metabolism of amino acids found in the photorespiration pathway. Our updated metabolic network was compared to previous model and it showed more consistent results once considering the experimental data. Possible roles of the sensitive pathways in the biomass metabolism are discussed.


Poncelet's theorem about polygons that are inscribed in a conic and at the same time circumscribe another one has a greater companion, in which the second conic is substituted by possibly different conics for different sides of the polygon, while all conics belong to a fixed pencil. Here, a construction is presented that gives a visual group theoretic interpretation of both theorems and, eventually, leads to a generalization exposing the role of commutativity in Poncelet's theorem. There is no new thing about the ingredients but we hope that a dynamical view sheds new light on them. Finally, the occurrence of conics in a Poncelet grid [14] of lines constructed on a pencil of circles is explained with a simple proof.


This paper proposes a revised version of the original Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DOSPERT) scale developed by Weber, Blais, and Betz (2002) that is shorter and applicable to a broader range of ages, cultures, and educational levels. It also provides a French translation of the revised scale. Using multilevel modeling, we investigated the risk-return relationship between apparent risk taking and risk perception in 5 risk domains. The results replicate previously noted differences in reported degree of risk taking and risk perception at the mean level of analysis. The multilevel modeling shows, more interestingly, that within-participants variation in risk taking across the 5 content domains of the scale was about 7 times as large as between-participants variation. We discuss the implications of our findings in terms of the person-situation debate related to risk attitude as a stable trait.


The research team has undertaken sustained "involved" observation in six contrasting English primary schools located in contrasting Local Education Authorities. A main focus was how the headteachers and teachers implement performativity policies in the schools and the impact of this on their professional and personal "selves" as they also attempt to implement creativity policies. In this paper, we focus on the experience and perspectives of teachers working in professional cultures of creativity and care in very contrasting economic and social situations. English primary schools were noted for their creative pedagogic approaches and professional cultures of care (Nias, 1989). However, owing to reform agendas introduced for social justice reasons but also aimed at improving educational standards for increasing international competitiveness, both creativity and cultures of care have come under attack in performative primary schools (Troman et al., 2007). At the same time as performative policies are being introduced there is increasing advocacy for the adoption of creativity policies within English primary education. The research reported in this paper has been conducted over two school years in order to analyse the effects of new initiatives in terms of their impact on teacher identity and changing experience of their roles in these work cultures. The paper concludes by arguing that teachers are managing the conflicts involved in implementing these forms of policy but professional cultures of care and creativity, while creating spaces for resistance to performative pressures, also serve performative ends.


Medicinal plants have been shown to play a major role in treating hyperlipidemia and obesity and considering this, the present study was designed to develop a herbal capsule formulation on heartwood of Caesalpinia sappan for hypolipidemic and anti-obesity activity. The hydro alcoholic extract (1:1) on heartwood of Caesalpinia sappan was prepared by cold maceration method and formulated into a hard gelatin herbal capsule. The quantitative analysis of phytoconstituents especially of flavonoids and phenolic content present both in extract and formulated herbal capsule was estimated by HPLC method showed the presence of rutin, quercetin, gallic acid, ascorbic acid and tannic acid. Hydroalcoholic extract of Caesalpinia sappan (HECS) herbal capsule was evaluated for acute toxicity studies in albino wistar rats and showed no toxicity upto 2000mg/kg. In-vivo evaluation of high fat diet (HFD) induced obesity in rats was carried out for HECS herbal capsule .The studies showed HECS herbal capsule(200mg/kg and 400mg/kg) significantly reduced the elevated levels of body weight, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol, SGPT and SGOT and elevated the decrease level of HDL-cholesterol. These results suggest that, HECS capsule possess good hypolipidemic and anti-obesity activity, which may be due to its flavonoid, saponin and phenolic content.


We assessed whether long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with all-cause and cause-specific mortality during a period of declining particulate matter concentrations. Approximately 4800 women aged 55 years from North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, were followed for up to 18 years. Exposure to air pollution was assessed in two ways: (1) using the distance between the residential address and the nearest major road, as calculated from Geographic Information System data and (2) calculating 1-year average particulate matter concentrations below 10 µm (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels using data from the nearest air-monitoring station data to the subjects' residences. Ninety-two per cent of all subjects lived in the same community during the entire follow-up period. Associations between mortality and exposure were assessed using Cox's proportional hazards models, including confounder adjustment. Sixteen per cent of women passed away during the follow-up period. An increase of 7 μg/m3 PM10 (IQR) was associated with an increased HR for all-cause (HR 1.15, 95% CI (1.04 to 1.27)), cardiopulmonary (HR 1.39, 95% CI (1.17 to 1.64)), and lung cancer mortality (HR 1.84, 95% CI (1.23 to 2.74)). An increase of 16 μg/m3 (IQR) NO2 exposure was associated with all-cause (HR 1.18, 95% CI (1.07 to 1.30)) and cardiopulmonary mortality (HR 1.55, 95% CI (1.30 to 1.84)). The association between cardiopulmonary mortality and PM10 was reduced for the extended follow-up period, during which PM10 concentrations (but not NO2 concentrations) were lower. Living close to a major road was associated with an increased relative risk for all-cause, cardiopulmonary and respiratory mortality. These associations were temporally stable. Long-term exposure to ambient PM10 and NO2 was associated with increased mortality rates.