This research investigates the potential of glass as a new design tool to highlight and safeguard our historic structures. Current restoration and conservation treatments with traditional materials bear the risk of conjecture between the original and new elements, whereas the high consolidation demands often result in visually invasive and irreversible solutions. Nowadays, aspects of materiality and aesthetics appear as integral parts of the restoration practices, indicating new materials and technologies in the form of ambiguous gestures rather than absolute and permanent manifestations that prevail over the historic structures. The inherent transparent properties render glass a distinct material that enables the simultaneous perception of the monument in both its original and ruinous state. The emerging technologies have set the ground for using glass in a structural way minimizing the need for substructure and maximizing transparency, while protecting the sensitive historic materials. The paper explores the feasibility of this concept addressing aspects of compatibility, reversibility and transparency, through a review of realized examples. Finally, a developed methodology relates the, available in the market today, glass products to the possible consolidation treatments in respect to the degree of intervention and representativeness, stressing the potential of using and considering glass as a promising restorative material.


Collaborative systems are well established solutions for sharing work among people. In computer graphics these workflows are still not well established, compared to what is done for text writing or software development. Usually artists work alone and share their final models by sending files. In this paper we present a system for collaborative 3D digital sculpting. In our prototype, multiple artists concurrently sculpt a polygonal mesh on their local machines by changing its vertex properties, such as positions and material BRDFs. Our system shares the artists' edits automatically and seamlessly merges these edits even when they happen on the same region of the surface. We propose a merge algorithm that is fast-enough for seamless collaboration, respects users' edits as much as possible, can support any sculpting operation, and works for both geometry and appearance modifications. Since in sculpting artists alternatively perform fine adjustments and large scale modifications, our algorithm is based on a multiresolution edit representation that handles concurrent overlapping edits at different scales. We tested our algorithm by modeling meshes collaboratively in different sculpting sessions and found that our algorithm outperforms prior works on collaborative mesh editing in all cases.


The development of surrogate mixtures that represent gasoline combustion behavior is reviewed. Combustion chemistry behavioral targets that a surrogate should accurately reproduce, particularly for emulating homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) operation, are carefully identified. Both short and long term research needs to support development of more robust surrogate fuel compositions are described. Candidate component species are identified and the status of present chemical kinetic models for these components and their interactions are discussed. Recommendations are made for the initial components to be included in gasoline surrogates for near term development. Components that can be added to refine predictions and to include additional behavioral targets are identified as well. Thermodynamic, thermochemical and transport properties that require further investigation are discussed.


In February 2006, Botswana Television (BTV) screened a commissioned television drama
series entitled Thokolosi. This drama series, which deals with witchcraft, is set in a
Botswana village called Bobonong. The contents of the drama series in relation to the
village attracted criticisms from the public, which culminated in a heated controversy.
While a section of the Batswana audience cherished the pioneering indigenous effort of the
filmmakers, a cross-section, particularly indigenes of Bobonong and their sympathizers,
frowned at the production, denouncing it as stereotypical, parochial, and ethnically biased.
The aim of this paper is to contribute to the 'censorship' debate in a positive mode, by
attempting to enlighten the viewing public on how to deal with works of art and to sensitize
artistic producers to expectations from the consuming audience. Keywords : audience; Bobonong; Thokolosi; television drama; producer;
controversy MARANG: Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 17 2007: pp.83-94


The problem of inconsistent planning in decision making, which leads to undesirable effects such as procrastination, has been studied in the behavioral-economics literature, and more recently in the context of computational behavioral models. Individuals, however, do not function in isolation, and successful projects most often rely on team work. Team performance does not depend only on the skills of the individual team members, but also on other collective factors, such as team spirit and cohesion. It is not an uncommon situation (for instance, experienced by the authors while working on this paper) that a hard-working individual has the capacity to give a good example to her team-mates and motivate them to work harder. In this paper we adopt the model of Kleinberg and Oren (EC'14) on time-inconsistent planning, and extend it to account for the influence of procrastination within the members of a team. Our first contribution is to model collaborative work so that the relative progress of the team members, with respect to their respective subtasks, motivates (or discourages) them to work harder. We compare the total cost of completing a team project when the team members communicate with each other about their progress, with the corresponding cost when they work in isolation. Our main result is a tight bound on the ratio of these two costs, under mild assumptions. We also show that communication can either increase or decrease the total cost. We also consider the problem of assigning subtasks to team members, with the objective of minimizing the negative effects of collaborative procrastination. We show that whereas a simple problem of forming teams of two members can be solved in polynomial time, the problem of assigning n tasks to n agents is NP-hard. 2012 ACM Subject Classification Applied computing → Economics; Applied computing → Sociology


Since the mid-1980s, the U.S.-China intellectual property conflict has entered into the public debate. It was frequently debated in Congress and was widely covered by the mass media. Despite the importance of this issue, the debate thus far has been one-sided, focusing primarily on the unfair competition aspect. While there are undeniably some greedy Chinese who are eager to free ride on the creative efforts of Western authors and inventors, greed alone cannot explain the century-old U.S.-China intellectual property conflict. To understand the roots of this conflict, one must focus on the significant political, social, economic and cultural differences between China and the West. Unless the Chinese government introduces reforms that are sensitive to these differences, the piracy problem will continue. Indeed, the problem will exacerbate as the Chinese economy grows. To help skew the debate back to its correct perspective, this Article articulates the various differences between China and the West and explains how these differences have contributed to the failure of the United States's repeated conversion attempts. The Article also highlights the undesirability for and ineffectiveness of forced conversion by juxtaposing the piracy problem with one of Shakespeare's legal masterpieces, The Merchant of Venice. By comparing China's experience in the international intellectual property community to Shylock's predicament in the play, this Article seeks to challenge the readers' cultural presumptions and invites readers to step outside their own world to rethink the U.S.-China intellectual property conflict. The Article concludes that Shakespeare's teachings in the play may provide insights into how policymakers can resolve, or at least minimize, this century-old conflict.


In this paper, we present a game theoretic framework for bandwidth allocation for elastic services in high-speed networks. The framework is based on the idea of the Nash bargaining solution from cooperative game theory, which not only provides the rate settings of users that are Pareto optimal from the point of view of the whole system, but are also consistent with the fairness axioms of game theory. We first consider the centralized problem and then show that this procedure can be decentralized so that greedy optimization by users yields the system optimal bandwidth allocations. We propose a distributed algorithm for implementing the optimal and fair bandwidth allocation and provide conditions for its convergence. The paper concludes with the pricing of elastic connections based on users' bandwidth requirements and users' budget. We show that the above bargaining framework can be used to characterize a rate allocation and a pricing policy which takes into account users' budget in a fair way and such that the total network revenue is maximized.


The Eifel detection algorithm allows a TCP sender to detect a posteriori whether it has entered loss recovery unnecessarily. It requires that the TCP Timestamps option defined in RFC 1323 be enabled for a connection. The Eifel detection algorithm makes use of the fact that the TCP Timestamps option eliminates the retransmission ambiguity in TCP. Based on the timestamp of the first acceptable ACK that arrives during loss recovery, it decides whether loss recovery was entered unnecessarily. The Eifel detection algorithm provides a basis for future TCP enhancements. This includes response algorithms to back out of loss recovery by restoring a TCP sender's congestion control state.


Steering the EU food system towards a sustainability transformation requires a vast and actionable knowledge base available to a range of public and private actors. Few have captured this complexity by assessing food systems from a multi-dimensional and multi-level perspective, which would include (1) nutrition and diet, environmental and economic outcomes together with social equity dimensions and (2) system interactions across country, EU and global scales. This paper addresses this gap in food systems research and science communication by providing an integrated analytical approach and new ways to communicate this complexity outside science. Based on a transdisciplinary science approach with continuous stakeholder input, the EU Horizon2020 project 'Metrics, Models and Foresight for European SUStainable Food And Nutrition Security' (SUSFANS) developed a five-step process: Creating a participatory space; designing a conceptual framework of the EU food system; developing food system performance metrics; designing a modelling toolbox and developing a visualization tool. The Sustainable Food and Nutrition-Visualizer, designed to communicate complex policy change-impacts and trade-off questions, enables an informed debate about trade-offs associated with options for change among food system actors as well as in the policy making arena. The discussion highlights points for further research related to indicator development, reach of assessment models, participatory processes and obstacles in science communication.


Semantic heterogeneity caused by the use of different ontologies to describe the same topics represents an obstacle for many data integration tasks on the Web of Data, in particular, discovering relevant repositories for interlinking and comparing repositories with respect to the coverage of specific domains. To facilitate these tasks, mappings between schema terms are needed alongside the links between instances. Currently, explicitly specified schema-level mappings are scarce in comparison with instance-level links. However, by analysing existing instance-level links it is possible to capture correspondences between classes to which these instances belong. In our experiments, we applied this approach on a large scale to generate schema-level mappings between several Linked Data repositories. The results of these experiments provide some interesting insights about the use of ontologies on the Web of Data and schema-level relations which emerge from existing data-level interlinks.


The thermally activated internal conversion (IC) taking place in 4-substituted 1-(dimethylamino)naphthalenes (14DMX) and 1-aminonaphthalenes (14ANX) with X=CN, Cl, H, CH3 and OCH3 was investigated in three solvents
 spanning the polarity scale, hexane, diethyl ether and acetonitrile. In both series 14DMX and 14ANX, the
 efficiency of the IC reaction decreases substantially when X changes from CN to OCH3, the order in which the electron donor character of the 4-substituent increases. Considerably larger IC reaction rate constants are obtained
 for the first group of compounds. This difference is connected with the ground state structure of the amino group, which is more strongly twisted for 14DMX (ca. 60°) than for 14ANX (ca. 20°), whereas both sets of 1-naphthylamines are planarised in the S1
 excited state. The IC process slows down with increasing solvent polarity for each of the 14DMX and 14ANX molecules. The substituent X and the solvent polarity mainly affect the IC activation energy EIC. With 14DMX in hexane, EIC
 increases from 10 kJ mol−1 for X=CN to 34 kJ mol−1
 for X=OCH3, whereas with, e.g., 14DMCL a solvent polarity dependent increase of EIC from 16 kJ mol−1
 in hexane
 to 28 kJ mol−1 in acetonitrile is observed. The height of the barrier EIC is governed by the energy gap ΔE(S1,S2) between the two lowest excited singlet states. The influence of ΔE(S1,S2) on EIC is attributed to vibronic coupling caused by the proximity of the S1 and S2 states, which flattens the S1 potential energy surface
 and thereby lowers the IC barrier when ΔE(S1,S2) becomes smaller. It is assumed that the IC reaction of the 1-naphthylamines
 passes through a conical intersection, which exists as a consequence of the relative displacement of the S1 and S0
 surfaces caused by the different amino twist angles in the two states.


Abstract Changes to animal movement in response to human‐induced changes to the environment are of growing concern in conservation. Most research on this problem has focused on terrestrial endotherms, but changes to herpetofaunal movement are also of concern given their limited dispersal abilities and specialized thermophysiological requirements. Animals in the desert region of the southwestern United States are faced with environmental alterations driven by development (e.g., solar energy facilities) and climate change. Here, we study the movement ecology of a desert species of conservation concern, the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). We collected weekly encounter locations of marked desert tortoises during the active (nonhibernation) seasons in 2013–2015, and used those data to discriminate movements among activity centers from those within them. We then modeled the probability of movement among activity centers using a suite of covariates describing characteristics of tortoises, natural and anthropogenic landscape features, vegetation, and weather. Multimodel inference indicated greatest support for a model that included individual tortoise characteristics, landscape features, and weather. After controlling for season, date, age, and sex, we found that desert tortoises were more likely to move among activity centers when they were further from minor roads and in the vicinity of barrier fencing; we also found that movement between activity centers was more common during periods of greater rainfall and during periods where cooler temperatures coincided with lower rainfall. Our findings indicate that landscape alterations and climate change both have the potential to impact movements by desert tortoises during the active season. This study provides an important baseline against which we can detect future changes in tortoise movement behavior.


The market structure of the Pharmaceutical Industry, which has an extremely important both socially and economically position, is carefully monitored by regulatory authorities. The consantration of pharmaceutical companies tends to adversely affect consumer welfare as well as resource distribution in the economy. The competitive structure of the markets is determined by the concentration indices. For these reasons, in this study the market concentration ratios of the pharmaceutical sector in Turkey are calculated by using concentration measures such as Concentration Ratio; Herfindahl-Hirschman; Hall-Tideman; Rosenbluth; Comprehensive Industrial Concentration; Hannah-Kay; Hause and the Entropy measure with the annual sales revenue data of the companies in the sector for the 2009-2016 period.According to the results, pharmaceutical sector in Turkey has a low concentrated market structure. In addition, the Rosenbluth index presents the most consistent results for the Turkish pharmaceutical sector, which consists of hundreds of small companies having markets shares of 7% at the highest.


The 2015 Fillmore swarm occurred about 6 km west of the city of Fillmore in Ventura, California, and was located beneath the eastern part of the actively subsiding Ventura basin at depths from 11.8 to 13.8 km, similar to two previous swarms in the area. Template‐matching event detection showed that it started on 5 July 2015 at 2:21 UTC with an M ∼1.0 earthquake. The swarm exhibited unusual episodic spatial and temporal migrations and unusual diversity in the nodal planes of the focal mechanisms as compared to the simple hypocenter‐defined plane. It was also noteworthy because it consisted of >1400 events of M ≥ 0.0, with M 2.8 being the largest event. We suggest that fluids released by metamorphic dehydration processes, migration of fluids along a detachment zone, and cascading asperity failures caused this prolific earthquake swarm, but other mechanisms (such as simple mainshock–aftershock stress triggering or a regional aseismic creep event) are less likely. Dilatant strengthening may be a mechanism that causes the temporal decay of the swarm as pore‐pressure drop increased the effective normal stress, and counteracted the instability driving the swarm.


Free 'Entry' and free 'Exit' are fundamental mechanisms of the competitive market economy operation. Free entry ensures that potential entrepreneurs will take advantage of profitable opportunities and enter profitable segments of the market, increasing competitive pressure on the incumbent firms, lowering output prices and improving the overall allocation of resources. Both free entry and free exit guarantee that more efficient firms and those producing in accordance with the market demand, survive and prosper while inefficient units and those whose production is not geared to the market will contract and eventually embark on exit. Barriers to entry and exit influence the development of competitive conditions in established market economies, however, for economies in transition the freedom of entry and exit has an even more significant dimension. The reason for that are particular 'initial conditions' which the economies inherited from their communist past: massive distortions of the economic structure, highly monopolistic and oligopolistic markets, and a large average firm size. With a collapse of the old regime, transformation of the old economic structure had to take place through the entry of new, market-oriented firms particularly in the undeveloped sectors of the economy and the exit of inefficient and uncompetitive enterprises especially from the over-grown industrial sector. This report presents some outputs of the research project 'The Impact of Barriers to Entry on the Speed of Transition: A Comparative Study of Countries in Different Stages of Transition' (PHARE ACE project No. P95-2047-R), coordinated by Leszek Balcerowicz and done by an international team which included: Ewa Balcerowicz (Poland), Andrzej Bratkowski, (Poland); Irena Grosfeld (France); Iraj Hashi (U.K); Jan Mladek (the Czech Republic); Gediminas Rainys (Lithuania); Jacek Rostowski (Hungary); Miklos Szanyi (Hungary); and Lindita Xhillari (Albania). The main aim of the project was to investigate nature and impact of barriers to entry in five countries at different stages of transition with various development backgrounds and traditions. The study has been based on the experience of new firms in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Albania - the first three having reached an advanced stage of transition and the latter two having embarked on the transition process later, thus lagging behind the front-runners. The study has focussed on the legal, fiscal and institutional factors which impede new entries and slow down the expansion of new firms in each country. The report consists of two parts. In Part I, Chapter 2 we discuss the interaction between the government's regulatory activity and the entry of new firms into the formal or informal sectors of the economy. Here we highlight the necessity of this important function of the government as well as its undesirable implications such as rent seeking and corruption. In Chapter 3 we consider a framework for the analysis of barriers to entry and growth of new firms, highlighting the main constraints to entry and growth considered by this report. Chapter 4 is devoted to the review of an actual pattern of new firms' entry in the early transition period in the five countries under consideration. Part II reports on the results of our enterprise survey; it is a detailed study of 400 firms in five transition economies. Here we first discuss (Chapter 5) the composition of the sample on which the study is based and then (Chapters 6,7,8,9 and 10) summarize main findings of the study in terms of the relative importance of different barriers facing new firms in each country. Chapter 11 discusses the main policy recommendations of this study.


Summary.  An important open question in sociology with obvious policy implications is how to assess the magnitude of the effect of educational attainment on intergenerational social mobility. To examine this, we propose a general method of path analysis, which can be used to estimate direct and indirect effects even in systems where some of the variables are categorical. It provides an additive decomposition of total effects which is exact when the effects are expressed as mean differences, and approximate but typically quite accurate for other measures of association such as log‐odds‐ratios. Estimates of the effects and their standard errors can be calculated by using standard output for fitted models. The method is illustrated by an analysis of British survey data on social mobility.


The recent finding that corporate litigation involving Delaware companies very often takes place outside of Delaware has disturbed the long-settled understanding of how merger litigation works. With many, even most, cases being filed and ultimately resolved outside of Delaware, commentators warn that the trend is a threat to shareholders, to Delaware, and to the integrity of corporate law generally. Although the out-of-Delaware trend suggests that litigants are seeking to use the procedural rules of other jurisdictions to their advantage, we argue that the result need not threaten the interests of any of the stakeholders in deal litigation.We reframe the process of resolving merger litigation as a market for preclusion, in which plaintiffs seek to sell and defendants seek to buy an important element of transactional certainty. Moreover, this market has the potential to efficiently process and price shareholder complaints while also providing benefits to Delaware and to corporate law more generally. We are not blind to reality, however, and also address how a well-functioning market for preclusion can be distorted by the opportunistic conduct of plaintiffs' and defense attorneys alike.Greater judicial oversight is necessary to preserve the benefits of this market while preventing the distortions brought on through opportunistic conduct. In order to make this a reality, however, judges in different courts must have a means of communicating and coordinating across state lines. We therefore offer a theory of horizontal comity in which judges build trust and cooperation through communication across jurisdictional boundaries. We use this theory to suggest a set of concrete policy proposals designed to provide for a more efficient market for preclusion.


We describe how the frames of document windows can be used as areas for visualizing information about a document. A number of design examples are presented as illustrations of how users can be supported with contextual information about a document in a way that does not interfere with the visual presentation of the document itself. A ChangeIndicator is used as an example of how information can be mapped to basic design variables of a frame, such as its color. More complex visualizations can be achieved by mapping information about parts of documents to parts or details of the frame. This is illustrated with a Readability-Viewer. Finally, the ScrollSearcher is presented as an example of how the results of processes and functions can be visualized in the frames of a document.


The medial superior olive (MSO) is an auditory brainstem nucleus within the superior olivary complex. Its functional role for sound source localization has been thoroughly investigated (for review see Grothe et al., 2010). However, few quantita tive data about the morphology of these neuronal coincidence detectors are available and computational models incorporating detailed reconstructions do not exist. This leaves open questions about metric characteristics of the morphology of MSO neurons as well as about electrophysiological properties that can be discovered using detailed multicompartmental models: what are the passive parameters of the membrane? What is the axial resistivity? How do dendrites integrate synaptic events? Is the medial dendrite symmetric to the lateral dendrite with respect to integration of synaptic events?

This thesis has two main aspects: on the one hand, I examined the shape of a MSO neuron by developing and applying various morphological quantifications. On the other hand, I looked at the impact of morphology on basic electrophysiological properties and on characteristics of coincidence detection. As animal model I used Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) during the late phase of development between postnatal day 9 (P9) and 37 (P37). This period of time is of special interest, as it spans from just before hearing onset at P12 – P13 (Finck et al., 1972; Ryan et al., 1982; Smith and Kraus, 1987) to adulthood. I used single cell electroporation, microscopic reconstruction, and compartmentalization to extract anatomical parameters of MSO neurons, to quantitatively describe their morphology and development, and to establish multi-compartmental models.

I found that maturation of the morphology is completed around P27, when the MSO neurons are morphologically compact and cylinder-like. Dendritic arbors become less complex between P9 and P21 as the number of branch points, the total cell length, and the amount of cell membrane decrease. Dendritic radius increases until P27 and is likely to be the main source of the increase in cell volume. In addition, I showed that in more than 85% of all MSO neurons, the axonal origin is located at the soma.

I estimated the axial resistivity (80 Ω·cm) and the development of the resting conductance (total conductance during the state of resting potential) which reaches 3 mS/cm2 in adult gerbils. Applying these parameters, multi-compartmental models showed that medial versus lateral dendritic trees do not equally integrate comparable synaptic inputs. On average, latencies to peak and rise times of lateral stimulation are longer (12 μs and 5 μs, respectively) compared to medial stimulation. This is reflected in the fact that volume, surface area, and total cell length of the lateral dendritic trees are significantly more larger in comparison to the medial ones.

Simplified models of MSO neurons showed that dendrites improve coincidence detection (Agmon-Snir et al., 1998; Grau-Serrat et al., 2003; Dasika et al., 2007). Here, I confirmed these findings also for multi-compartmental models with biological realistic morphologies. However, the improvement of coincidence detection by dendrites decreases during early postnatal development.


The function of the 'third compartment' of the ruminant forestomach, the omasum, has been debated for a long time. To date, it is assumed that its major function is fluid reabsorption. In order to investigate differences in this organ between ruminant feeding types, we first compared macroscopic measurements of the omasa of free-ranging muskoxen Ovibos moschatus [n=6, mean body mass (BM) 207 kg, range 180-221], a grazer, and free-ranging moose Alces alces (n=11, mean BM 291 kg, range 144-418), a strict browser. Despite the similar BM range, omasa of muskoxen contained more ingesta, had a higher empty organ weight, had more third- and fourth-order laminae, and represented a higher proportion of the total forestomach weight. In particular, the surface area of the omasal leaves - the area available for fluid absorption - was significantly larger in muskoxen (10 933 +/- 940 cm(2)) than in moose (2228 +/- 885 cm(2)). In order to test whether the difference in available surface area is a true functional correlate of feeding type, additional data on the omasal laminar surface area were generated for 83 individuals of 19 species. These data were supplemented with data on 13 additional species from the literature. The percentage of grass (%grass) in the natural diet was used to characterize the feeding type; the phylogenetic tree used for a controlled statistical evaluation was entirely based on mitochondrial DNA information. Regardless of phylogenetic control in the statistical treatment, there was a significant positive correlation of both BM and %grass in the natural diet with omasal laminar surface area. The data suggest that certain ruminant species that ingest more grass have larger omasal leaf surface areas, possibly indicating a higher need for water reabsorption distal to the ruminoreticulum, which could be explained as a consequence of the more distinct rumen contents stratification in these species.


Human footprint on ecosystems is growing, and ecosystems cope with these changes in different ways. Arid ecosystems are likely to shift abruptly to desert in a sudden and often irreversible manner because of climatic changes or human activities. Such ecosystem shifts can even happen when external changes are gradual, and the conditions under which they occur are still not well understood. For about a third of the world's population who live in arid regions, these shifts are of great importance because they result in a substantial reduction in the biological and economic productivity of these drylands. Models have shown that positive feedbacks between vegetation and its abiotic environment are important mechanisms explaining ecosystem shifts. In harsh habitats, such as arid ecosystems, organisms can indeed alter the physical conditions, making a stressful habitat more hospitable, e.g. by creating shelter or increasing resource availability. For plants, such effects occur locally, below or close to their canopy. Consequently, vegetation tends to grow in clumps which are scattered in an otherwise barren landscape, forming spatial vegetation patterns. This thesis addresses these spatial vegetation patterns: the ecological mechanisms underlying their formation and their potential role as indicators of impending desertification. How do vegetation patterns respond to increasing stress (e.g., increasing aridity), and in particular, do ecosystems have a unique appearance just before a shift? Can specific vegetation patterns help predict when and how ecosystem shifts might occur? We developed mathematical models of arid ecosystems' dynamics including vegetation's ability to improve the local environment, and we used these models to learn how to interpret spatial vegetation patterns. We studied how different positive feedback mechanisms and dispersal strategies affect the type of vegetation patterns that emerges. We analyzed how these patterns respond to changes in the climate and human pressures, such as grazing, at ecological and evolutionary timescales. We found that looking at spatial vegetation patterns gives insight into the ecological mechanism responsible for their formation, the history of the ecosystem, and the ecosystem's "health" (i.e., likelihood to switch to a desert). In particular, we discovered spatial patterns that only occur when an arid ecosystem is about to become a desert, and that the characteristics of these patterns depend on the underlying ecological mechanisms. Further empirical tests are now needed to confirm that spatial vegetation patterns can indeed be used as indicators of imminent desertification. Our findings are appealing because they could represent a significant step toward the development of a widely applicable desertification monitoring system. Since it is fairly straight forward to analyze satellite images, such a monitoring system could help land managers in the near future to map vulnerable regions, and adapt the management of these regions before a potentially disastrous shift occurs.


FTO contributes to the ability of mTORC1 to respond to amino acid availability. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the first intron of the gene encoding FTO (fat mass and obesity associated), which can demethylate various nucleic acids in vitro, are associated with increased body mass index in humans. Mice deficient in FTO show severe growth retardation, leading Gulati et al. to investigate the molecular basis for this phenotype. The rates of proliferation and mRNA translation were lower in Fto–/– mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) than in wild-type MEFs. mRNA translation requires the multitransfer RNA (tRNA) synthetase complex (MSC), and the abundance of protein and mRNA components in the MSC was lower in Fto–/– MEFs than in wild-type MEFs. The mammalian target of rapamycin complex (mTORC1) promotes cellular growth and proliferation when nutrients such as amino acids are available, and leucyl tRNA synthase acts as an amino acid sensor for mTORC1. Fto–/– MEFs showed decreased viability in response to amino acid depletion, reduced basal mTORC1 signaling, and decreased abundance of leucyl tRNA synthetase. Amino acid deprivation failed to reduce mTORC1 signaling in HEK 293 cells overexpressing FTO but not in cells overexpressing a catalytically inactive form of FTO. Proteomic analysis revealed that tagged FTO interacted with methionyl, tyrosyl, arginyl, and phenylalanyl tRNA synthetases, and coimmunoprecipitation experiments suggested that FTO interacted with methionyl tRNA synthetase that was not part of the MSC. Thus, FTO appears to contribute to the ability of mTORC1 to respond to amino acid availability and may help to explain the stunted growth of individuals who are homozygous for a catalytically inactive form of FTO. However, it is unclear how the demethylation activity of FTO is involved in amino acid sensing by mTORC1. P. Gulati, M. K. Cheung, R. Antrobus, C. D. Church, H. P. Harding, Y.-C. L. Tung, D. Rimmington, M. Ma, D. Ron, P. J. Lehner, F. M. Ashcroft, R. D. Cox, A. P. Coll, S. O'Rahilly, G. S. H. Yeo, Role for the obesity-related FTO gene in the cellular sensing of amino acids. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110, 2557–2562 (2013). [Abstract] [Full Text]


BACKGROUND
Assessment of the health of men aged 60 and over in English and Welsh prisons.

METHODS
203 men were interviewed from 15 prisons, comprising one-fifth of all sentenced men in this age group in England and Wales. Assessment included semi-structured interviews covering chronic and acute health problems, and recording of major illnesses from the medical notes and prison reception health screen.

RESULTS
85% of the elderly prisoners had one or more major illnesses reported in their medical records, and 83% reported at least one chronic illness on interview. The most common illnesses were psychiatric, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and respiratory.

CONCLUSION
The rates of illness in elderly prisoners are higher than those reported in other studies of younger prisoners and surveys of the general population of a similar age. The increasing number of elderly people in prison poses specific health challenges for prison health-care services.


We present a technique for modeling and recognising human activity from moving light displays using hidden Markov models. We extract a small number of joint angles at each frame to form a feature vector. Continuous hidden Markov models are then trained with the resulting time series, one for each of a variety of human activity, using the Baum-Welch algorithm. Motion classification is then attempted by evaluation of the forward variable for each model using previously unseen test data. Experimental results based on real-world human motion capture data demonstrate the performance of the algorithm and some degree of robustness to data noise and human motion irregularity. This technique has potential applications in activity classification for gesture-based game interfaces and character animation.


This paper examines the association between discretionary capital buffers, capital requirements, and risk for European banks. The discretionary buffers are banks' own buffers, or headroom: the difference between reported and required capital. I exploit capital requirements data that banks started to disclose since the release of a 2015 European Banking Authority opinion. Results using detailed SREP and Pillar 2 data of the largest 99 European banks over 2013-2019 show that less headroom is associated with increased bank risk. An additional examination reveals a positive association between headroom and stress test results for banks subjected to the Single Supervisory Mechanism, a result that runs against supervisory requirements.


The proceedings of the Los Angeles Caltech-UCLA 'Cabal Seminar' were originally published in the 1970s and 1980s. Wadge Degrees and Projective Ordinals is the second of a series of four books collecting the seminal papers from the original volumes together with extensive unpublished material, new papers on related topics and discussion of research developments since the publication of the original volumes. Focusing on the subjects of 'Wadge Degrees and Pointclasses' (Part III) and 'Projective Ordinals' (Part IV), each of the two sections is preceded by an introductory survey putting the papers into present context. These four volumes will be a necessary part of the book collection of every set theorist.


This study presents an integrated examination of
both the ecosystem services (ES) and ecosystem disservices (EDS) associated
with smallholder animal husbandry in rural livelihoods in three villages in
southeast South Africa. It recognises the contribution of ES supporting and
resulting from smallholder livestock and poultry production, but also details
the limiting factors or EDS, such as tick-borne disease, birds of prey or
unpalatable rangeland, produced by the same system. Using a mixed-methods
approach, including focus group discussions with various Participatory Learning
and Action (PLA) activities, key informant interviews, household surveys and
land-use change mapping on GIS, we consider the relative value and benefits
from ES after the effects of EDS, as well as the management and strategies that
households adopt to minimise EDS


Reversible oxidation of dynein light chain contributes to activation of NF-κB by stimuli that produce reactive oxygen species. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which are inflammatory mediators, trigger the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activate the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Jung et al. report that ROS contribute to the activation of NF-κB by promoting the oxidation and dimerization of the 8-kD dynein light chain called LC8. LC8 was previously identified as a substrate for TRP14, a disulfide reductase, which suggests that LC8 may be regulated by reversible oxidization. Addition of LC8 to an in vitro kinase assay showed that LC8 inhibited the phosphorylation of the NF-κB inhibitor IκBα by the kinase IKK, an event necessary for activation of NF-κB. LC8 did not inhibit IKK activity per se, but the association of LC8 with IκBα prevented its phosphorylation. Overexpression of LC8 inhibited NF-κB activation in response to TNF-α, IL-1β, and LPS. Cells in which LC8 was knocked down by siRNA methods showed increased abundance of Mn2+-dependent superoxide dismutase, which is encoded by an NF-κB target gene, compared with wild-type cells both in unstimulated cells and after TNF-α stimulation. Gel electrophoresis mobility shift assay revealed that a portion of LC8 was oxidized, so that it formed a disulfide-linked dimer in cells exposed to peroxide or TNF-α. In a pull-down assay with IκBα, reduced LC8 interacted to a greater extent than did oxidized LC8, and in cells exposed to TNF-α or peroxide, less endogenous LC8 coimmunoprecipitated with IκBα than in untreated cells. Inhibition of ROS production by addition of antioxidants or by inhibition of NADPH oxidases decreased the phosphorylation of IκBα in response to TNF-α. The authors propose that ROS-producing inflammatory ligands trigger the oxidation of LC8, which promotes its dissociation from IκBα, allowing IκBα to be phosphorylated and degraded, thereby releasing NF-κB from the inhibitory complex. TRP14 contributes to resetting the system by reducing LC8, which can then reassociate with IκBα. Y. Jung, H. Kim, S. H. Min, S. G. Rhee, W. Jeong, Dynein light chain LC8 negatively regulates NF-κB through the redox-dependent interaction with IκBα. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 23863-23871 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


INTRODUCTION AND AIMS
Once involved in the criminal justice system, people who inject drugs (PWID) have a high probability of multiple system encounters. Imprisonment typically fails to rehabilitate PWID, who upon return to the community are at considerable risk of returning to injecting drug use (IDU) and poor health and social outcomes. We examined the effect of IDU resumption, and a suite of other sociodemographic, criminogenic, health and behavioural indicators, on the timing of reincarceration among adults with a history of IDU following release from prison.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Structured interviews were conducted with 561 PWID in Queensland, Australia prior to release from prison and approximately 1, 3 and 6 months post-release. Data were linked prospectively with correctional records and the National Death Index. Data collected at multiple time-points were treated as time-varying covariates. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the rate and hazards of reincarceration.

RESULTS
Sixty-eight percent of participants (n = 350) were reincarcerated over a combined observation time of 1043.5 years, representing a rate of 33.5 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval [CI] 30.2-37.2). Time-invariant predictors of reincarceration in PWID were: male gender (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 1.62, 95% CI 1.19-2.21), older age at release (AHR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-1.00), previous adult (AHR = 2.00, 95% CI 1.41-2.84) or juvenile (AHR = 1.78, 95% CI 1.27-2.49) imprisonment, shorter imprisonment (≤90 days vs. >365 days, AHR = 2.09, 95% CI 1.30-3.34), release on parole (AHR = 2.29, 95% CI 1.82-2.88) and drug-related sentence (AHR = 1.84, 95% CI 1.34-2.53). Time-varying predictors included resumption of IDU (AHR = 2.04, 95% CI 1.60-2.61), unemployment (AHR = 1.53, 95% CI 1.07-2.19) and low perceived social support (AHR = 1.41, 95% CI 1.05-1.90). Very-high psychological distress at the most recent interview was protective against reincarceration (AHR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.44-0.95).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Efforts to prevent resumption of IDU and address disadvantage, social inclusion and health service access in ex-prisoners through the scale-up and integration of prison-based and post-release interventions are likely to reap both public health and criminal justice benefits.


Abstract.  Critical research in information systems is based on and inspired by ethics and morality. In order to support this proposition, this paper will suggest a way of classifying critical research that differs from definitions common IS research. According to the current definition, research is critical when it is motivated by the intention to change social realities and promote emancipation. Based on this critical intention, critical research is furthermore characterized by critical topics, critical theories, and critical methodologies. Using these criteria of critical research, the paper argues that critical research is ethical in nature. To support this view, the paper introduces the concepts of ethics and morality by analysing two traditions of moral philosophy, here called the 'German tradition' and the 'French tradition'. Using three examples of current critical research in information systems, the paper will show that ethics and morality strongly influence critical intention, topics and theories. Having thus established the ethical nature of critical research, the paper concludes by discussing the weaknesses of critical research from the point of view of ethics and morality.


Histological, cytochemical and ultrastructural changes in giant black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon were investigated at various time intervals after injection with yellow head virus (YHV). Hemocytes, lymphoid organs (LO) and gills were the main focus of the study. After injection with YHV, onset of mortality varied from 36 h onward. By normal hematoxylin and eosin staining, the 3 tissues showed clear and increasing prevalence of nuclear condensation, pyknosis and karyorrhexis from approximately 36 h post-injection (p.i.) until death, although pathology was evident in the LO as early as 12 h p.i. in some shrimp. By nuclear DNA staining with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and by specific labeling of 3'-OH ends of nuclear DNA using a technique called terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxy-UTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL), cells of the 3 tissues showed evidence of chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation, respectively. Both are generally considered to be characteristic of apoptosis. In addition to TUNEL labeling, evidence for DNA fragmentation was supported by the appearance of approximately 200 base pair DNA ladders at approximately 48 h p.i. in hemocytes of YHV-infected but not uninfected shrimp. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of LO tissue revealed features of apoptosis in tissues of YHV-infected shrimp only. These included marginated, condensed and fragmented chromatin without concurrent cytoplasmic damage. Histological, cytochemical, ultrastructural and biochemical data were consistent with the hypothesis that widespread and progressive apoptosis occurred in susceptible shrimp infected with YHV. Although no specific tests were carried out to determine whether this purported apoptosis was the cause of mortality, moribund shrimp had extensive deterioration of vital tissues such as the hemolymph, gills, heart and LO, suggesting that many essential bodily functions had been severely compromised. This probably resulted in the gross signs of lethargy and weakness seen, and it is reasonable to suggest that further, progressive deterioration could have led to the collapse of vital functions followed by death.


Lexical morphology is barely attended to in the teaching of vocabulary in primary schools. If and when it is addressed, it is generally via derivation and composition and, unfortunately, looking to exploit pupils' etymological knowledge which is inexistent. This article proposes to present to Robert Brio dictionary (2004). This dictionary, which is relatively unknown, allows an alternative means of studying morphology: without recourse to classical languages and using a comparative approach to analyzing words. This article is divided into three sections: theoretical (presentation of the theoretical and methodological options of the Robert Brio), lexicographical, pedagogical (discovery of patterns favouring in particular the acquisition of lexical spelling).


This study investigated the effects of learner control, English learning strategies, and the use of advance organizers on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning from interactive hypermedia lessons. The experiment used 150 EFL subjects in Taiwan who studied English using one of several alternate versions of a hypermedia-based interactive video program. A 2 X 2 X 2 factorial experimental design was employed. The independent variables were: (a) variations of control--learner control or program control, (b) the use of advance organizers--presence or absence of advance organizers, and (c) students' English learning strategy ability--high ability or low ability as measured by Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (S.I.L.L.). The dependent variables in this study included: (a) scores on immediate recall protocols, and (b) students' attitudes toward learning English from interactive hypermedia lessons. Results of this study revealed significant effects of the learner control treatment and the use of advance organizers. Learner control was especially beneficial for students with lower ability in English learning strategy use. Students' attitudes were very positive toward learning English from interactive multimedia regardless of the treatments. The issue of learner control in second language learning has been discussed by several researchers who have emphasized that effective language learning requires the learner's control and active involvement in the learning process (Liu, 1992; Oxford, 1993; Underwood, 1984). For instance, based on Krashen's (1982) assumptions about second language acquisition, Underwood (1984) categorized computer-assisted language learning (CALL) activities with linguistic dimensions by distinguishing communicative CALL from noncommunicative CALL. In communicative CALL, the learner is in control of the learning process, and students relate to subject matter in a personal way creating their own learning experience. In noncommunicative CALL, the program is in control of the learning process. In the past, the issue of learner control in computer-assisted instruction (CAI) or multimedia has been investigated extensively but researchers have reported ambiguous results. In addition, existing studies have rarely addressed second language learners. Steinberg (1977) argued that many learner control experiments failed to show advantages of learner control because subjects used incorrect learning strategies. In addition to issues associated with learning strategies, researchers have noted that learner disorientation and cognitive overload are two challenges faced by instructional designers of hypermedia lessons (Jonassen, 1989; Kenny, 1992). To cope with this problem, Steinberg (1989) suggested that certain strategies might be embedded in hypermedia to help students. Past research has demonstrated that advance organizers can have beneficial effects on memory and subsequent achievement (Ausubel, 1968). This view also aligns with the theory of communicative language teaching (Krashen, 1982), which stresses that while learning a second language, learners need to actively interact with the external environment and integrate new information with the information already stored in their memory. Although the effects of advance organizers on learners' comprehension of text have been demonstrated, very few studies have focused on how advance organizers influence EFL learning in a hypermedia-based learning environment. Another factor that may play a role in students' language learning from multimedia is the language learning strategies that the learners themselves bring to the task. Language learning strategies are the various methods individuals have for perceiving and processing information while reacting to their environment. According to Oxford (1993), there is significant variation across levels in English learning strategy use among EEL students. Do EFL learners with fewer English learning strategies have difficulty learning in hypermedia-based lessons in the target language? …


Rhinoviruses and enteroviruses are the major members of the picornavirus genus that cause human disease. We compared the polymerase chain reaction and viral culture for the identification of picornaviruses in nasal aspirates from children during episodes of respiratory symptoms and when asymptomatic and from asymptomatic adults. One hundred eight children, aged 9 to 11 years, completed a year-long study. Within 24 to 48 h of a report of respiratory symptoms, a nasal aspirate was taken in the home. Nasal aspirates were also taken from 65 of the children and from 33 normal adults when they had been free of respiratory symptoms for at least 2 weeks. Picornaviruses were isolated by culture for three passages in Ohio HeLa cells in rolling tubes at 33 degrees C and pH 7.0. For the polymerase chain reaction, duplicate 50-microliters samples were amplified with conserved primers from the 5' noncoding region. Picornaviruses generated approximately 380-bp bands in agarose gel electrophoresis; the specificity of these bands was confirmed by filter hybridization with a conserved internal probe. Picornaviruses were isolated by culture in 47 (46 rhinoviruses) of 292 symptomatic episodes (16%), whereas the polymerase chain reaction identified picornavirus genomic material in 146 episodes (50%), including all but one of the culture-positive episodes. As for asymptomatic samples, eight (12%) children and two (4%) adults were positive by the polymerase chain reaction, whereas only one child's specimen was positive by culture. This polymerase chain reaction assay represents a clear advance in the identification of picornavirus infection, with a detection rate threefold greater than the virus culture method.


We show how the situation calculus can be reformulated in terms of the first-order stable model semantics. A further transformation into answer set programs allows us to use an answer set solver to perform propositional reasoning about the situation calculus. We also provide an ASP style encoding method for Reiter's basic action theories, which tells us how the solution to the frame problem in ASP is related to the solution in the situation calculus.


This INTRAC Paper explores different models of resourcing strategies that international NGOs (INGOs) have adopted to ensure their financial sustainability. The review of these models is intended to develop our understanding of the different funding options and the importance of balancing restricted with unrestricted funds. Specifically, this paper explores the distinction between gift-based INGOs, aided-INGOs and more enterprise-based INGOs; and analyses the consequences of the different resourcing strategies that different INGOs commonly pursue.


Abstract. The wavelet threshold method is widely used in signal denoising. However, traditional hard threshold method or soft threshold method is deficient for depending on fixed threshold and instability. In order to achieve efficient denoising of echo signals, an adaptive wavelet threshold denoising method, absorbing the advantages of the hard threshold and the soft threshold, is proposed. Based on the advantages of traditional threshold method, new threshold function is continuous, steerable and flexibly changeable by adjusting two parameters. The threshold function is flexibly changed between the hard threshold and the soft threshold function by two parameter adjustments. According to the Stein unbiased risk estimate (SURE), this new method can determine thresholds adaptively. Adopting different thresholds adaptively at different scales, this method can automatically track noise, which can effectively remove the noise on each scale. Therefore, the problems of noise misjudgement and incomplete denoising can be solved, to some extent, in the process of signal processing. The simulation results of MATLAB show that compared with hard threshold method and soft threshold method, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the proposed de-noising method is increased by nearly 2dB, and 4dB respectively. It is safely to conclude that, when background noise eliminated, the new wavelet adaptive threshold method preserves signal details effectively and enhances the separability of signal characteristics.


As the population ages and healthcare costs continue to soar, the focus of the nation and the healthcare industry turns to reducing costs and making the delivery process more efficient. Demonstrating how improvements in information systems can lead to improved patient care, Information and Communication Technologies in Healthcare explains how to create a holistic Medical Records System as a core component to addressing the issues affecting the U.S. healthcare system. Examining the impact of our aging population on healthcare, the book describes the range of systems that support key segments of the industry, including: hospitals, physicians, imaging, and nursing. It considers patient records, the physicians office, emerging home-monitoring networks, the recording and information submitting process, and hospice/nursing home use. Leaving no stone unturned, this reference investigates: Healthcare technology Healthcare data standards Healthcare information exchange Legal and regulatory issues Electronic medical records Usability by patients and physicians Security and privacy Healthcare facility planning Emerging media and healthcare The book includes a case study that illustrates the human factors behind the implementation of technology. Following the principle that data should be captured only once, stored in a repository, and then made available throughout the medical system, this is the ideal starting point for those looking to improve the effectiveness and cost efficiencies of the healthcare system.


Participatory design fosters the integration of users into the process of generating new products and services. Although a relatively well established technique known to result in useful and usable outcomes, one of its widely recognized limitations is that these outcomes generally lack innovativeness. A probable reason for this is that it integrates individuals possessing typical needs and desires as a platform for generating products and services. By contrast the lead user method known to result in innovative outcomes enables the integration of lead users who possess future needs as opposed to current and typical ones. Therefore, integrating them into participatory design could increase the innovativeness of outcomes. However, mechanisms to recruit lead users are relatively undeveloped, with them vitally including the identification of lead user trends and needs. Furthermore, this complex and incorporated identification process for these lead user trends and needs is largely unexplored, which emphasizes the requirements for studies that not only attempt to extend, but also demystify it for practitioners within alternate domains like participatory design. Consequently, this study, details the process used to identify lead user trends and needs, and provides guidelines of how to recruit lead users for participatory design using it. Finally, methods adopted within this study involved consulting secondary sources of data, and undertaking sixteen semi-structured interviews with market and technology experts.


Fleet repositioning problems pose a high financial burden on shipping firms, but have received little attention in the literature, despite their high importance to the shipping industry. Fleet repositioning problems are characterized by chains of interacting activities, but state-of-the-art planning and scheduling techniques do not offer cost models that are rich enough to represent essential objectives of these problems. To this end, we introduce a novel framework called Temporal Optimization Planning (TOP). TOP uses partial order planning to build optimization models associated with the different possible activity scenarios and applies branch-and-bound with tight lower bounds to find optimal solutions efficiently. We show how key aspects of fleet repositioning can be modeled using TOP and demonstrate experimentally that our approach scales to the size of problems considered by our industrial


The Romantic Circles Website, along with a number of other major projects in digital Romanticism, came online around 1995, a historical moment that also saw the emergence of neo-Luddism, in part as a reaction to the techno-hype of the Internet boom. At the time. neo-Luddites often claimed as a precedent the original historical Luddism of 1811-16, but they usually also Romanticized that collective labor subculture to fit their own late-twentieth-century ideas of "technology." This essay looks back at the interlinked assumptions in the air around 1995–neo-Luddite and Romantic–as the context out of which Romantic Circles defined its own engaged experiment in technology. Iw ill cite specific examples of digital technologies from our first year (two editions about technology, including the technology of texts), and one from our most recent year (an experiment in podcasting), in order to explain how we at Romantic Circles have attempted to work at the crossroads of Romanticism and technology, while stubbornly refusing to play the role of "natural Luddites,"


This study aimed to validate and extend Hallin and Mancini's framework of comparison to discriminate empirical types of media systems in Central and Eastern Europe. We tested and complemented their original dimensions by using aggregated data from 11 countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia). Our study shows the strength of political parallelism and public service broadcasting as variables for comparison. It also found that press freedom and foreign ownership point to significant differences between media systems in the region. Finally, a cluster analysis revealed the existence of three groups of media systems and provides empirical support for the assertion that there is no unique type of East-Central European media system.


The lectin receptor dectin-1 triggers three pathways that fine-tune cytokine secretion in response to exposure to fungi. Dectin-1 is a receptor on dendritic cells that recognizes β-glucan carbohydrates on fungi. Dectin-1 triggers the activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB, the p65 and c-Rel subunits) through a canonical pathway involving activation of inhibitor of κB kinase (IKK) complex that requires the kinase Syk. Dectin-1 also elicits Syk-independent signaling that modulates Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling, and Gringhuis et al. now show that dectin-1 stimulates a noncanonical NF-κB pathway that activates RelB. Costimulation of human dendritic cells with a TLR4 ligand and curdlan (a dectin-1 ligand) triggered changes in the mRNA expression of multiple cytokines, some of which were increased in a Syk-dependent manner and some of which were influenced by the activity of the kinase Raf-1. Raf-1 was activated in cells exposed to curdlan, and this was not prevented by the Syk inhibitor piceatannol. However, induction by curdlan of the mRNA for all of the cytokines was blocked if Syk was inhibited or knocked down with RNAi. In contrast, Raf-1 inhibition or knockdown decreased the abundance of the mRNA encoding interleukin (IL)-10 (IL-10), IL-12p35, IL-12p40, and IL-6 but abolished the increase in the mRNA for IL-1β and increased the production of the mRNA for IL-23p19. Thus, the response to the Raf-1 arm of dectin-1 signaling differed for different cytokines. Dectin-1 stimulated the nuclear translocation and DNA binding of NF-κB subunits p65 and c-Rel, which dimerize with p50, and RelB, which dimerizes with p50. When Syk activity was inhibited, activation of all NF-κB complexes was blocked. In contrast, when Raf-1 activity was inhibited, RelB-p50 activation was enhanced, suggesting that Raf-1 inhibits RelB activity. Exposure of cells to curdlan led to the formation of inactive RelB-p65 complexes, which were associated with Raf-1–mediated phosphorylation of p65. RelB represses the expression of the genes encoding IL-12p40 and IL-1β but stimulates the expression of genes encoding the CC chemokines CCL22 and CCL17. Consequently, inhibition of Raf-1 activity has opposite effects on the regulation of these genes by curdlan. Curdlan stimulation of cells also induced the acetylation of p65, which increases the DNA binding affinity of p65, in a Raf-1–dependent manner. Thus, the Raf-1 arm of dectin-1 signaling tips the balance between the p65 and RelB NF-κB subunits toward active p65, which, in turn, shifts the cytokine response. The effects of the change in NF-κB subunit balance on the various cytokine promoter genes was confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Dectin-1 signaling through Raf-1 controls the cytokine secretion profile of the dendritic cells to promote differentiation of T helper 1 cells and, when Raf-1 activity was inhibited, curdlan stimulation of dendritic cells in the presence of naïve T cells resulted in the production of T helper 2 cells at the expense of T helper 1 cells. S. I. Gringhuis, J. den Dunnen, M. Litjens, M. van der Vlist, B. Wevers, S. C. M. Bruijns, T. B. H. Geijtenbeek, Dectin-1 directs T help cell differentiation by controlling noncanonical NF-κB activation through Raf-1 and Syk. Nat. Immunol. 10, 203–213 (2009). [PubMed]


Abstract:  Melatonin is a potent antioxidant with neuroprotective activity in animal models of ischemic stroke, which based on its lack of serious toxicity has raised hopes that it might be used for human stroke treatment in the future. This study investigated how subacute delivery of melatonin, starting at 24 hr after stroke onset, and continuing for 29 days (4 mg/kg/day; via drinking water), influences neuronal survival, endogenous neurogenesis, motor recovery and locomotor activity in C57Bl6/j mice submitted to 30‐min middle cerebral artery occlusion. Histologic studies showed that melatonin improved neuronal survival and enhanced neurogenesis, even when applied 1 day after stroke. Cell survival was associated with a long‐lasting improvement of motor and coordination deficits, evaluated by the grip strength and RotaRod tests, as well as with attenuation of hyperactivity and anxiety of the animals as revealed in open field tests. The robust functional neurologic improvements encourage proof‐of‐concept studies with melatonin in human stroke patients.


The main body of work presented in this thesis is precise frequency and phase control of a 1.2 kW CW cooker magnetron (National 2M137) locked to a 10 MHz reference injected with a very small RF signal (of the order of -40 dBc) creating a suitable RF source for particle accelerators and other sophisticated applications. We will go on to discuss the characterization of the magnetron with differing heater powers and load conditions when operated with a low cost switched mode power supply. We similarly identify three different regimes of the magnetron operation with respect to the heater power: firstly low noise operation for small heater powers (up to 15W), secondly unstable operation for mid-range heater powers (15W to 30W) and thirdly high noise operation at high heater powers (30W to 54W). We then introduce a novel method to lock the magnetron output frequency to the 10 MHz reference using a digital frequency synthesizer IC (Analog Devices ADF4113) in a negative feedback loop, with this method we exploit the use of the pushing mechanism where the ADF41113 controls the power supply output to vary the magnetron's anode current, keeping its natural frequency locked to the reference. We next investigate the injection locking of the frequency locked magnetron with small injection levels (-29 dBc to -43 dBc) under differing operating conditions and observe a phase jitter performance of the order of+/-13 o for very small heater power and -29 dBc injection level. We then fast switch/ramp the injection phase and establish the maximum rate of change of the magnetron output phase. This rate was found to be 4p/us for -29 dBc injection level and 44W heater power. We finally discuss the implementation of a fast DSP based feedback control on the injection phase to improve the magnetron phase jitter performance to below 1o r.m.s.


In large earthquakes, damaging ground motions may occur at large epicentral distances. Because of the relatively slow speed of seismic waves, it is possible to construct a system to provide short-term warning (as much as several tens of seconds) of imminent strong ground motions from major earthquakes. Automated safety responses could be triggered by users after receiving estimates of the arrival time and strength of shaking expected at an individual site. Although warning times are likely to be short for areas greatly damaged by relatively numerous earthquakes of moderate size, large areas that experience very strong shaking during great earthquakes would receive longer warning times.


Simulating convective heat transfer using traditional numerical methods requires explicit definition of thermal boundary conditions on all boundaries of the domain, which is almost impossible to fulfill in real applications. Here, we address this ill-posed problem using machine learning techniques by assuming that we have some extra measurements of the temperature at a few locations in the domain, not necessarily located on the boundaries with the unknown thermal boundary condition. In particular, we employ physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) to represent the velocity and temperature fields while simultaneously enforce the Navier-Stokes and energy equations at random points in the domain. In PINNs, all differential operators are computed using automatic differentiation, hence avoiding discretization in either space or time. The loss function is composed of multiple terms, including the mismatch in the velocity and temperature data, the boundary and initial conditions, as well as the residuals of the Navier-Stokes and energy equations. Here, we develop a data-driven strategy based on PINNs to infer the temperature field in the prototypical problem of convective heat transfer in flow past a cylinder. We assume that we have just a couple of temperature measurements on the cylinder surface and a couple more temperature measurements in the wake region, but the thermal boundary condition on the cylinder surface is totally unknown. Upon training the PINN, we can discover the unknown boundary condition while simultaneously infer the temperature field everywhere in the domain with less than 5% error in the Nusselt number prediction. In order to assess the performance of PINN, we carried out a high fidelity simulation of the same heat transfer problem (with known thermal boundary conditions) by using the high-order spectral/hp-element method (SEM), and quantitatively evaluated the accuracy of PINN's prediction with respect to SEM. We also propose a method to adaptively select the location of sensors in order to minimize the number of required temperature measurements while increasing the accuracy of the inference in heat transfer.


Many have lauded the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. as a significant victory for the first-sale doctrine under copyright law. However, in the digital context, the Kirtsaeng holding and the first-sale doctrine in general face extinction. This Essay argues for the first-sale doctrine's survival in the digital context.


Urban water managers around the world are adopting decentralized water supply systems, often in combination with centralized systems. While increasing demand for water arising from population growth is one of the primary reasons for this increased adoption of alternative technologies, factors such as climate change, increased frequency of extreme weather events and rapid urbanization also contribute to an increased rate of adoption of these technologies. This combination of centralized-decentralized water systems approach is referred to as "hybrid water supply systems" and is based on the premise that the provision of alternative water sources at local scales can both extend the capacity of existing centralized water supply infrastructures, and improve resilience to variable climatic conditions. It is important to understand, however, that decentralized water production and reuse may change the flow and composition of wastewater and stormwater, thereby potentially also having negative impacts on its effectiveness and performance. This paper describes a framework to assess the interactions between decentralized water supply systems and existing centralized water servicing approaches using several analytical tools, including water balance modelling, contaminant balance modelling and multi-criteria decision analysis. The framework enables the evaluation of impacts due to change in quantity and quality of wastewater and stormwater on the existing centralized system arising from the implementation of hybrid water supply systems. The framework consists of two parts: (1) Physical system analysis for various potential scenarios and (2) Ranking of Scenarios. This paper includes the demonstration of the first part of the framework for an area of Melbourne, Australia by comparing centralized water supply scenario with a combination of centralized water supply and reuse of treated waste water supply scenario.


Part of an ophiolite sequence and pre-Jurassic continental basement rocks are remnants of the composite floor of the Cretaceous back-arc basin system on South Georgia. The partially preserved ophiolite consists of pillow lavas and breccias, inter-bedded tuffs, basic and silicic dykes and occasional sills. It is intruded by a composite gabbro-plagiogranite pluton and smaller gabbroic plutons. The basement gneisses are intruded by layered gabbros, diorites, granitic rocks and numerous basic dykes. A migmatitic aureole surrounds the plutonic rocks, which are fragmented and net-veined by remobilized crustal rocks. The mafic rocks of the ophiolite sequence and basement complex are geochemically similar and both formed by differentiation of a mantle-derived, sub-alkali tholeiitic magma in a former back-arc basin tectonic setting. The plagiogranite and silicic dykes and lavas of the ophiolite and some of the silicic rocks within the basement formed by differentiation of the basic magma. The remainder of the granitic rocks within the basement are geochemically distinct, comprising remobilized basement rocks and a calc-alkaline pluton of a remnant magmatic arc. The back-arc basin formed by emplacement of the tholeiitic magma within pre-existing basement rocks. Up to 80% extension of the continental crust occurred prior to rifting and development of the back-arc basin.


OBJECTIVES
We examined whether drinking untreated rainwater, a practice that is on the rise in developed countries because of water shortages, contributes to community gastroenteritis incidence.

METHODS
We conducted a double-blinded, randomized controlled trial in Adelaide, Australia. Sham or active water treatment units were installed, and participants recorded incidences of illness in a health diary for 12 months. The primary outcome was highly credible gastroenteritis (HCG; characterized by a specified number of loose stools or vomiting alone or in combination with abdominal pain or nausea in a 24-hour period), and we used generalized estimating equations to account for correlations between numbers of HCG events for individuals in the same family.

RESULTS
Participants reported 769 episodes during the study (0.77 episodes/person/year), with an HCG incidence rate ratio (active vs sham) of 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.82, 1.33). Blinding of the participants was effective (index = 0.65; 95% CI = 0.58, 0.72).

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that consumption of untreated rainwater does not contribute appreciably to community gastroenteritis. However, our findings may not be generalizable to susceptible and immunocompromised persons because these groups were specifically excluded from the study.


We develop a model in which a large investor has access to a costly monitoring technology affecting securities' expected payoffs. Allocations of shares are determined through trading among risk-averse investors. Despite the free-rider problem associated with monitoring, risk-sharing considerations lead to equilibria in which monitoring takes place. Under certain conditions the equilibrium allocation is Pareto efficient and all agents hold the market portfolio of risky assets independent of the specific monitoring technology. Otherwise distortions in risk sharing may occur, and monitoring activities that reduce the expected payoff on the market portfolio may be undertaken.


The paper presents a new calibration for CORTAX (short for CORporate TAXation), which is a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model covering all EU member states, the US, Japan and a tax haven. The CORTAX model was originally built by the Centraal Planbureau (CPB) in the Netherlands based on the earlier OECDTAX model of Sorensen (2001). The calibration presented in this paper updates the base year to 2012. As the previous calibration was for 2007, the two calibrations represent pre- and post-crisis data. CORTAX models many key features of the corporate tax regimes including multinational profit shifting, investment decisions, loss compensation and the debt-equity choice of firms. The model is designed to investigate many aspects of corporate income taxation (CIT), including adjustment or harmonisation of the CIT rate or base and reforms to address the debt bias in CIT. Furthermore, it can examine consolidation of multinational CIT base, which inter alia addresses some of the issues concerning base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). Given the choices companies have when confronted with changes in their respective environments, it is important to assess the effects of the reform under a general framework, which takes into account the interactions between different parts of internationally open economies, such as the impact of CIT reforms on firms' investment decisions. Indeed, as a computable general equilibrium model, it simulates all main macroeconomic variables, including GDP, investment and employment. The paper gives an explanation of the model structure, describes the data used, the calibration method and provides descriptive statistics for the baseline values of the model, comparing those for 2012 with the previous 2007 values.


The article begins with a quantitative scientometric study of Daniel Gile's published writings. The study focuses on the diachronic development of Gile's writings and several other aspects of his scientific oeuvre such as types of publications; languages of publication; media of publication; topics; and co-authorships. The co-authorship data are then displayed by means of a coauthorship network and discussed within the framework of network analysis. In addition, a brief keyword analysis of the titles of the publications provides a first glimpse into the range of topics which are tackled in Daniel Gile's publications. The paper then goes on to deepen the insights gleaned from the scientometric study in an analysis of citations of Gile's writings by other authors. The citation analysis represents a first attempt to investigate Gile's "impact" on the scientific community, even though it is inherent to the nature of citation analysis that the data obtained by such an approach can never be complete. We think that all three approaches can provide interesting insights into Gile's oeuvre. Owing to his pioneering publications on scientometrics and citation analysis, Daniel Gile strikes us as a perfect "candidate" for such an author-centred scientometric approach.


Importance
Progress has been made in establishing evidence-based treatments for psychiatric disorders, but these are not often delivered in routine settings. A scalable solution for training clinicians in evidence-based treatments is needed.

Objective
To compare 2 methods of training college (university) counseling center therapists to treat psychiatric disorders using interpersonal psychotherapy. The hypothesis was that the train-the-trainer condition would demonstrate superior implementation outcomes vs the expert condition. Moderating factors were also explored.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This cluster-randomized trial was conducted from October 2012 to December 2017 in 24 college counseling centers across the United States. Therapist participants were recruited from enrolled centers, and student patients with symptoms of depression and eating disorders were recruited by therapists. Data were analyzed from 184 enrolled therapists.

Interventions
Counseling centers were randomized to the expert condition, which involved a workshop and 12 months of follow-up consultation, or the train-the-trainer condition, in which a staff member from the counseling center was coached to train other staff members.

Main Outcomes and Measures
The main outcome was therapist fidelity (adherence and competence) to interpersonal psychotherapy, as assessed via audio recordings of therapy sessions. Therapist knowledge of interpersonal psychotherapy was a secondary outcome.

Result
A total of 184 therapists (mean [SD] age, 41.9 [10.6] years; 140 female [76.1%]; 142 white [77.2%]) were included. Both the train-the-trainer-condition and expert-condition groups showed significant within-group improvement for adherence to interpersonal psychotherapy (change: 0.233 [95% CI, 0.192-0.274] and 0.190 [0.145-0.235], respectively; both P < .001), with large effect sizes (1.64 [95% CI, 1.35-1.93] and 1.34 [95% CI, 1.02-1.66], respectively) and no significant difference between conditions. Both groups also showed significant within-group improvement in interpersonal therapy competence (change: 0.179 [95% CI, 0.132-0.226] and 0.106 [0.059-0.153], respectively; both P < .001), with a large effect size for the train-the-trainer condition (1.16 [95% CI, 0.85-1.46]; P < .001) and a significant difference between groups favoring the train-the-trainer condition (effect size, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.05-0.89]; P = .03). Knowledge of interpersonal psychotherapy improved significantly within both groups (effect sizes: train-the-trainer, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.28-0.99]; P = .005; expert, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.38-1.01]; P < .001), with no significant difference between groups. The significant moderating factors were job satisfaction for adherence (b, 0.120 [95% CI, 0.001-0.24]; P = .048) and competence (b, 0.133 [95% CI, 0.001-0.27]; P = .048), and frequency of clinical supervision for competence (b, 0.05 [95% CI, 0.004-0.09]; P = .03).

Conclusions and Relevance
Results demonstrate that the train-the-trainer model produced training outcomes comparable with the expert model for adherence and was superior on competence. Given its potential capability to train more therapists over time, it has the potential to facilitate widespread dissemination of evidence-based treatments.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02079142.


Previous research on the relationship between economic freedom and income inequality has produced mixed results. We provide a short survey of this literature, identifying potential causes for this empirical heterogeneity. Next, we replicate the results from two significant studies using six alternative measures of income inequality for an updated dataset of up to 112 countries over the period 1970–2010. Notably, we use the latest release of the Standardized World Income Inequality Dataset, which allows us to account for the uncertainty of the estimated Gini coefficients. We find that the results of previous studies are sensitive to the choice of country sample, time period and/or inequality measure used. We conclude with suggestions for future research in the area.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the impact of routine antenatal HIV testing for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in urban Zimbabwe.

METHODS
Community counsellors were trained in routine HIV testing policy using a specific training module from June 2005 through November 2005. Key outcomes during the first 6 months of routine testing were compared with the prior 6-month "opt-in" period, and clients were interviewed.

FINDINGS
Of the 4551 women presenting for antenatal care during the first 6 months of routine HIV testing, 4547 (99.9%) were tested for HIV compared with 3058 (65%) of 4700 women during the last 6 months of the opt-in testing (P < 0.001), with a corresponding increase in the numbers of HIV-infected women identified antenatally (926 compared with 513, P < 0.001). During routine testing, more HIV-infected women collected results compared to the opt-in testing (908 compared with 487, P < 0.001) resulting in a significant increase in deliveries by HIV-infected women (256 compared with 186, P = 0.001); more mother/infant pairs received antiretroviral prophylaxis (n = 256) compared to the opt-in testing (n = 185); and more mother/infant pairs followed up at clinics (105 compared with 49, P = 0.002). Women were satisfied with counselling services and most (89%) stated that offering routine testing is helpful. HIV-infected women reported low levels of spousal abuse and other adverse social consequences.

CONCLUSION
Routine antenatal HIV testing should be implemented at all sites in Zimbabwe to maximize the public health impact of PMTCT.


Shortly after the introduction of commercially available photoelectric spectrophotometers, the National Bureau of Standards began issuing calibrated disks for checking the photometric scale of spectrophotometers. At the time these standards were selected no precise information was available regarding their permanence. Recent measurements show that the glass standards kept in the files for 16 years with only occasional use have not changed. Data have also been obtained showing the nature of the changes occurring in glasses similar to the standards when exposed under glass to south skylight (including sunlight) for periods up to nearly three years.


This article draws on a range of models from language studies, particularly from linguistic pragmatics, in order to elucidate patterns in the production and reception of irony in its social and cultural context. An expanded view of the concept of irony, it is suggested, allows for better modelling of the creative mechanisms which underpin it, and in doing so can open the way for a fuller understanding of humour production and reception. A consequence of this broader (five-fold) typology of irony is that it can help shed light on the cultural dynamic of irony. The article uses a range of examples from different media and the lay definitions and interpretations that ordinary (non-academic) users of the language use in the comprehension of irony. Insofar as it seeks to develop an overarching model of irony, this paper draws on a variety of textual examples from a variety of sources, ranging from corpus evidence, through a stand-up comedy routine, to political wall murals and their discursive re-conformation as humour in present-day Northern Ireland. Although the central discussion is supported by insights from other linguistic, cognitive and socio-cultural approaches, the theoretical framework which emerges, with its focus on language and communication in context, is situated squarely within contemporary linguistic pragmatics.


Learning through original texts can be a powerful heuristic tool. This book collects a dozen classic readings that are generally accepted as the most significant contributions to the philosophy of space. The readings have been selected both on the basis of their relevance to recent debates on the nature of space and on the extent to which they carry premonitions of contemporary physics. In his detailed commentaries, Nick Huggett weaves together the readings and links them to our modern understanding of the subject. Together the readings indicate the general historical development of the concept of space, and in his commentaries Huggett explains their logical relations. He also uses our contemporary understanding of space to help clarify the key ideas of the texts. One goal is to prepare the reader (both scientist and nonscientist) to learn and understand relativity theory, the basis of our current understanding of space. The readings are by Zeno, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Descartes, Newton, Leibniz, Clarke, Berkeley, Kant, Mach, Poincare, and Einstein.


Abstract Background: Most children and adolescents recover fully from injuries. However, permanent disabilities may occur. The objective of the study was to investigate the prevalence and profile of injuries in children and adolescents five to 19 years of age seen at the emergency department of the National District Hospital in Bloemfontein. Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted. Demographic and injury-specific information obtained from hospital records of 2006 was entered into a data-capturing form. Data were analysed by using descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of injuries in this age group was 20.3%. Two hundred and nine records were investigated. The majority of cases were male (68.3%). The median age was 15 years, and 43.5% of injuries occurred in the age group 15 to 19 years. Approximately half (51.7%) were Afrikaans-speaking and resided in suburban areas (50%). Most injuries occurred at home (40.2%) between 12h00 and 17h00 (38.7%). Falls (33.7%) were the most common cause of injury. Soft tissue injuries (35.9%) occurred most commonly, fol lowed by lacerations (33.0%) and fractures (16.7%). Upper limb injuries (42.1%) were seen more than lower limb injuries (27.8%). Facial injuries occurred in 12% of cases. X-rays were performed in 57.9% of cases. Most patients (93.3%) received medication, while 22% were referred for specialist treatment. All cases except one were discharged from the emergency department. Parents accompanied patients in 65.6% of cases. Conclusions: Optimal treatment should be given to the injured child or adolescent to avoid possible long-term injury-related sequelae. Preventive strategies should be formulated, enforced and evaluated.


Designing aesthetically pleasing and challenging jigsaw puzzles is considered an art that requires considerable skill and expertise. We propose a tool that allows novice users to create customized jigsaw puzzles based on the image content and a user-defined curve. A popular design choice among puzzle makers, called color line cutting, is to cut the puzzle along the main contours in an image, making the puzzle both aesthetically interesting and challenging to solve. At the same time, the puzzle maker has to make sure that puzzle pieces interlock so that they do not disassemble easily.
 Our method automatically optimizes for puzzle cuts that follow the main contours in the image and match the user-defined curve. We handle the tradeoff between color line cutting and interlocking, and we introduce a linear formulation for the interlocking constraint. We propose a novel method for eliminating self-intersections and ensuring a minimum width in our output curves. Our method satisfies these necessary fabrication constraints in order to make valid puzzles that can be easily realized with present-day laser cutters.


Abstract. Spaceborne lidar measurements from CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) are used to provide a vortex-wide perspective of the 2009–2010 Arctic PSC (polar stratospheric cloud) season to complement more focused measurements from the European Union RECONCILE (reconciliation of essential process parameters for an enhanced predictability of Arctic stratospheric ozone loss and its climate interactions) field campaign. The 2009–2010 Arctic winter was unusually cold at stratospheric levels from mid-December 2009 until the end of January 2010, and was one of only a few winters from the past fifty-two years with synoptic-scale regions of temperatures below the frost point. More PSCs were observed by CALIPSO during the 2009–2010 Arctic winter than in the previous three Arctic seasons combined. In particular, there were significantly more observations of high number density NAT (nitric acid trihydrate) mixtures (referred to as Mix 2-enh) and ice PSCs. We found that the 2009–2010 season could roughly be divided into four periods with distinctly different PSC optical characteristics. The early season (15–30 December 2009) was characterized by patchy, tenuous PSCs, primarily low number density liquid/NAT mixtures. No ice clouds were observed by CALIPSO during this early phase, suggesting that these early season NAT clouds were formed through a non-ice nucleation mechanism. The second phase of the season (31 December 2009–14 January 2010) was characterized by frequent mountain wave ice clouds that nucleated widespread NAT particles throughout the vortex, including Mix 2-enh. The third phase of the season (15–21 January 2010) was characterized by synoptic-scale temperatures below the frost point which led to a rare outbreak of widespread ice clouds. The fourth phase of the season (22–28 January) was characterized by a major stratospheric warming that distorted the vortex, displacing the cold pool from the vortex center. This final phase was dominated by STS (supercooled ternary solution) PSCs, although NAT particles may have been present in low number densities, but were masked by the more abundant STS droplets at colder temperatures. We also found distinct variations in the relative proportion of PSCs in each composition class with altitude over the course of the 2009–2010 Arctic season. Lower number density liquid/NAT mixtures were most frequently observed in the lower altitude regions of the clouds (below ~18–20 km), which is consistent with CALIPSO observations in the Antarctic. Higher number density liquid/NAT mixtures, especially Mix 2-enh, were most frequently observed at altitudes above 18–20 km, primarily downstream of wave ice clouds. This pattern is consistent with the conceptual model whereby low number density, large NAT particles are precipitated from higher number density NAT clouds (i.e. mother clouds) that are nucleated downstream of mountain wave ice clouds.


Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the multi-ethnic marketplace as the site of the emergence of service nepotism: the practice where employees bestow relational benefits and/or gifts on customers on the basis that they share a perceived common socio-collective identity. The authors draw on the contemporary turn to practice in social theory to explore why ethnic employees may engage in service nepotism even when they are aware that it contravenes organizational policy.

Design/methodology/approach
– Given the paucity of empirical research which investigates the multi-ethnic marketplace as a locus for the emergence of service nepotism, the authors adopted an exploratory qualitative research approach to advance insight into service nepotism. The study benefits from its empirical focus on West African migrants in the UK who represent a distinct minority group living in urban areas of the developed world. Data for the study were collected over a six-month period, utilizing semi-structured interviews as the primary method of data collection.

Findings
– The research highlights the occurrence and complexities of service nepotism in the multi-ethnic marketplace, and identifies four distinct activities (marginal revolution, reciprocal altruism, pandering for recognition, and horizontal comradeship), that motivate ethnic employees to engage in service nepotism, despite their awareness that this conflicts with organizational policy.

Research limitations/implications
– By virtue of the chosen theoretical lens, the authors were unable to demonstrate how service nepotism could be observed outside spoken language. Also, care should be taken in generalizing the findings from this study given the particularities of the sub-group involved. For example, since the study is based on a small sample of first generation migrants, the findings may not hold true for their offspring, whose socialization and marketplace experiences may be qualitatively different from those of their parents.

Practical implications
– Service nepotism challenges fundamental western egalitarian ideals in the multi-ethnic marketplace. Organizations may wish to develop strategies to placate observers' concerns of creeping favouritism in a supposedly equitable marketplace. The research could also serve as a starting point for managers objectively to assess the likely impact of service nepotism on the organizing value systems and competitiveness. In particular, the authors suggest that international marketing managers would do well to look beneath the surface to see what is really going on in international marketplaces, since ostensible experiences of marketplace consumption may not always reflect underlying reality.

Originality/value
– By using service nepotism as an analytical category to explore the marketplace experiences of ethnic service employees living and working in industrialized societies, the research shows that the practice of service nepotism, whilst taken for granted, can have far-reaching impact on individuals, observers, and service organizations in an increasingly highly differentiated multi-ethnic society.


This article addresses the need of including acoustical perspectives in the debate on alarm fatigue within the healthcare domain. We show how conceptualisations and proposed solutions to alarm fatigue are unequally distributed across what could be called the 'alarm chain': a generic model of the core structural elements and dynamic relations that constitute any alarm scenario. A focal point in the alarm chain – the 'alarm mediation cleft' – seems to divide the alarm fatigue literature from the segment of the alarm literature that deals with auditory alarm design. The current healthcare discourse on alarm fatigue is centred around the 'premediated alarm phase', which has the consequence of an unfortunate dichotomous approach to the functionality of sound. We address some shortcomings of this approach and outline some methodological implications and potentials of searching for signs of alarm fatigue in the 'post-mediated alarm phase'.