The organization and complexity of growth and development is clearly evident in the changes that take place in the head and face. Craniofacial growth is a complex process. A thorough understanding of the principles or concepts of growth will enable to meticulously plan the treatment, and also understand the normal variations from abnormalities. The basic control of growth, both in magnitude and timing, is located in the genes. The main potential for growth lies in the genes. Many growth studies have been done over the years and the information received from them has been priceless. Extensive research work in growth required large scale growth studies. The purpose of this article is to review the various growth studies and their findings in orthodontic literature. *Corresponding author: Rohit Kulshrestha, Consulting Orthodontist, Private Practice, Mumbai, India, E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


1 Hospital Evangélico, Instituto Avançado de Cirurgia Plástica, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. 2 Hospital Casa de Portugal, Universidade Santa Úrsula, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Conflicts of interest: none. Introduction: During the last few years, the surgical principles of abdominoplasty have remained unchanged. Therefore, many patients undergoing this technique have misalignment and high and straight transverse scars of the abdomen, with the final position of the umbilical scar being very close to the transverse scar, making the abdomen seem short. We propose modifying the basic concept of marking in abdominoplasty, because we believe it is important to position the transverse scar lower in the medial and pubic region and higher at the lateral ends, allowing anterior lumbar flap rotation in an inferomedial direction. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 146 patients with abdominal defects and subjected them to lipomid-abdominoplasty, marking with strong upper concavity and guiding the sides of the scar towards the lower transverse line of the abdomen, 4 cm equidistant from the root of the thigh. We also define liposuction as a complementary treatment to body contouring. Results: We consider that mid-abdominoplasty parameters are applicable in most cases, obtaining satisfactory results both in patients with flatness and supraumbilical abdominal lipodystrophy and patients with an "apron" abdomen with considerable flaccidity and diastasis of the abdominal rectus. Conclusion: It is important to determine the area of the abdominal defect and its classification to establish treatment strategies and association with complementary procedures. A lower marking with respect to the treatment areas will allow a more aesthetic scar and a harmonic body contour as well as an adequate placement of the umbilical scar, pubis, and lateral ends of the transverse abdominal scar. ■ ABSTRACT


The aimed of the study was to research of health of newborns from mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus.
Methods: The study included 210 pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and 200 without disorders of carbohydrate metabolism, who gave birth during the period: II quarter of 2017 III quarter of 2018 in the maternity ward of the city clinical hospital No. 29 named after N.E. Bauman in Moscow. This was a prospective case-control study.
Results: One of the leading problems of the early neonatal period was morpho-functional immaturity: more than half of the children from mothers with GDM were born with signs of immaturity - 115 (54.8%). In the "on insulin therapy" group, children were 5 times more likely to have cardiomyopathy than those from mothers who were on a diet. With the same frequency in the control group, and for newborns from mothers with GDM, heart defects occurred: 20 (9.5%) and 24 (12.1%), respectively (p> 0.05). The main part of them were small (valvular) heart defects: defects of the interventricular and interatrial septums (18 (8,6%) in GDM group). Conclusion: The level of health in the early neonatal period of newborns from mothers with GDM in modern conditions is determined mainly by morpho-functional impairments. The incidence of newborns from mothers who were on insulin therapy was higher than from mothers who only had a diet.


This reports documents a project conducted for Norwegian transport authorities, Avinor and the Norwegian Environment Agency. The project team has calculated the effect various policy measures and instruments will have on CO2 emissions in the transport sector. The calculations show that it is difficult to achieve significant emission reductions if measures only aimed at the demand side are applied. New technologies, including electric cars and rechargeable hybrids, appear to have significantly greater potential for reducing emissions compared to measures that contribute to changes in the population's travel behavior. It is worth noting though, that increased kilometer costs for road transport, parking charges, densification by public transport nodes, cheaper public transport and combinations of these measures all contribute to lower emissions. Also for freight transport, the calculations show that strong measures are needed to achieve significant changes in the modal share.


We investigate the possibility of using structured data to improve search over unstructured documents. In particular, we use relevance feedback to create a 'virtuous cycle' between structured data from the Semantic Web and web-pages from the hypertext Web. Previous approaches have generally considered searching over the Semantic Web and hypertext Web to be entirely disparate, indexing and searching over different domains. Our novel approach is to use relevance feedback from hypertext Web results to improve Semantic Web search, and results from the Semantic Web to improve the retrieval of hypertext Web data. In both cases, our evaluation is based on certain kinds of informational queries (abstract concepts, people, and places) selected from a real-life query log and checked by human judges. We show our relevance model-based system is better than the performance of real-world search engines for both hypertext and Semantic Web search, and we also investigate Semantic Web inference and pseudo-relevance feedback.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of ventricular arrhythmias in clinically normal adult Boxers.

DESIGN
Prospective cross-sectional study.

ANIMALS
301 Boxers (181 females and 120 males) > 1 year old with echocardiographically normal systolic function and no history of syncope or congestive heart failure.

PROCEDURES
Physical examination, which included echocardiography, was performed on all dogs. A 24-hour ambulatory ECG was performed on each dog, and results were evaluated to assess ventricular arrhythmias. Statistical evaluation was performed to determine correlations between the total number of ventricular premature complexes (VPCs)/24 h, grade of ventricular arrhythmia, and age of the dogs.

RESULTS
Age of dogs ranged from 1 to 16 years (median, 4 years). Number of VPCs/24 h in each dog ranged from 0 to 62,622 (median, 6 VPCs/24 h). Grade of arrhythmias ranged from 0 to 3 (median, 1). Age was correlated significantly with number of VPCs/24 h (r = 0.43) and with grade of arrhythmia (r = 0.37). Number of VPCs/24 h was significantly correlated with grade of arrhythmia (r = 0.82).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Clinically normal adult Boxers generally had < 91 VPCs/24 h and an arrhythmia grade < 2. Boxers with > 91 VPCs/24 h were uncommon and may have represented dogs with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or other disease processes that could have resulted in the development of ventricular arrhythmias.


BACKGROUND
Comfort is often considered to be a central part of nursing, although the value placed on it may have diminished over time. Many views of comfort are expressed in the literature but it still remains a diffuse concept that requires further clarification. Research evidence about older people and comfort is limited, and further work is needed to find out how staff and patients view comfort and how it is achieved in practice.

AIMS
This paper reports a study to investigate what comfort means both to older people in hospital and their health care workers.

RESEARCH METHODS
Ethnography was the methodology chosen, and data were collected using in-depth interviews with 19 older people and 27 staff members, and 130 hours of participant observation, complemented by additional weekly visits to the study ward.

FINDINGS
Three themes were identified: the nature of comfort/discomfort; key determinants of comfort/discomfort; and the underlying factors that influence the achievement of comfort/discomfort.

DISCUSSION
In this hospital setting, the focus of nursing on relief of discomfort suggested a tendency to react to problems, rather than proactively to create an environment that facilitated comfort. Staff were aware of ideals of practice but found these difficult to achieve in reality. In this study comfort was not consistently provided, and some ways of working actively promoted discomfort. As comfort is central to nursing and nursing is central to the care of hospitalized older people, it is crucial that practitioners are enabled to fulfil their potential in this area.


Cervicovaginal human papillomavirus (HPV) viral load has been purported as a potential marker for the detection of high‐grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or cancer (≥CIN2). To examine disease association with type‐specific viral load for the full‐range of anogenital HPV infections, we conducted cross‐sectional and prospective analyses of ∼2,000 HPV‐infected women from a 10,000‐woman population‐based study in Guanacaste, Costa Rica with 7 years of follow‐up. Cervical specimens were tested for >40 HPV types using a MY09/MY11 L1 consensus primer PCR method with type‐specific dot blot hybridization and PCR signal intensity as a measure of viral load. A positive association was observed between prevalent ≥CIN2 and high viral load compared to low viral load for women with baseline single HPV16 infections (OR = 19.2, 95% CI = 4.4–83.2) and single non‐16 carcinogenic infections (OR = 9.2, 95% CI = 2.1–39.9). Inclusion of women with multiple HPV types did not substantially change these associations. In prospective follow‐up, only women infected with HPV16 alone (OR = 27.2, 95% = 3.5–213.5) had a strong association between high viral load and incident ≥CIN2; non‐16 carcinogenic high viral load was not associated with incident ≥CIN2 (OR = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.2–1.9). Single noncarcinogenic type viral load was not associated with increased risk of prevalent or incident ≥CIN2 (OR = 1.2 and 1.1, respectively). In conclusion, carcinogenic high viral load was associated with prevalent ≥CIN2; however HPV16 was uniquely associated with incident ≥CIN2. The extent to which these observations can be translated into clinical practice must be rigorously examined in the context of the method of viral load measurement and the type‐specific differences observed for incident ≥CIN2. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


For students at elite US liberal arts colleges, symbolic capital accrues to their association with the institution itself, and for racially unmarked (white) students, symbolic capital can also accrue to other, informal associations with such institutions, such as friend and family ties or social fraternities. For racially marked students at elite schools, sources of symbolic capital are more limited to institutional venues such as the classroom and official school organizations. They are under pressure to act as good campus citizens, to "bring diversity" as "campus leaders," enacting a combination of institutional pride and neoliberal values as key aspects of their "diversity." This is particularly the case for students whose educations are provided through the Posse Foundation, which recruits and promotes "diverse" students explicitly as "leaders" and "change agents." Such students are subject to neoliberal interpellation (hailed to enact a specific subjectivity) in ways that unmarked students are not because their options for an acceptable racial subjectivity is limited to a narrow range of social performance. In this way, neoliberal subjectivity can exacerbate racial markedness.


Although there has been much theorising on the impact of Indias economic reforms of 1991 on Indian manufacturers, there is hardly any previous study that has taken up the task of actually asking the manufacturing firms as to what the true impact of economic reforms has been on them. In this paper, we report the findings of a small sample survey of manufacturing enterprises in the Delhi region regarding perceptions of the impact of economic reforms of 1990s. Most firms felt that the reforms were helpful by increasing access to foreign technology and making imports of capital and intermediate goods cheaper. They also felt that improvement in infrastructure and more flexible labour laws will facilitate further growth of Indias manufacturing sector.


Recently, keratin attracts tremendous interest because of its intrinsic ability to interact with different cells. It has the potential to serve as a controllable extracellular matrix protein that can be used to demonstrate cell mechanism and cell-matrix interaction. However, there have been relatively few studies on the effects of keratin on stem cells. In the present work, we study the effects of human keratin on porcine adipose-derived stem cells (pASCs) and a series of selective cell lines: 3T3 fibroblasts, Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, and MG63 osteoblasts. Relative to un-treated culture plate, our results showed that keratin coating substrates promote cell adhesion and proliferation to above cell lines. Keratin also improved pASCs adhesion, proliferation, and enhanced cell viability. Evaluation of genetic markers showed that adipogenic and osteogenic differentiations of pASCs can be successfully induced, thus demonstrating that keratin did not influence the stemness of pASCs. Furthermore, keratin improved adipogenic differentiations of pASCs in terms of up-regulations in lipoprotein lipase, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, and CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein alpha. The osteogenic markers type I collagen, runt-related transcription factor 2, and vitamin D receptor were also upregulated when pASCs cultured on keratin substrates. Therefore, keratin can serve as a biological derived material for surface modification and scaffold fabrication for biomedical purpose. The combination of keratin with stem cells may be a potential candidate for tissue repair in the field of regenerative medicine. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 180-192, 2017.


This thesis critically explores: "Perspectives on the educational experiences of African Caribbean boys". It draws upon the earlier literature in the field of secondary schools (Mac an Ghaill, 1988 and 1994, Gillborn, 1995, Sewell, 1997, Blair, 2001, LDA 2003). But this study adopts a comparative approach, specifically focusing on Black boys current experiences of both state secondary schooling and other areas of education, namely, a supplementary school and a youth organisation. Recent statistics have indicated a continuing high level of underachievement among African-Caribbean boys studying in British schools. The DFES 2006 reports that only 39% of Black pupils achieve 5+ A*-C GCSE grades which denotes that Black boys are among the lowest achievers at secondary school level as compared with pupils of other ethnic minority communities. The DFES further reports that Black pupils are more likely to be excluded from schools than pupils from any other group (Education and Skills, 2006). This study will go beyond the statistics by examining the reasons as to why Black boys have negative experiences in their secondary school education which is linked to their historically-based underachievement in secondary schools. The literature review of the study explores the academic literature/reports concerning African-Caribbean pupils' underachievement (Mac an Ghaill, 1988, Wright, 1992, Benskin 1994, Gillborn, 1995, Sewell 1997, Ofsted, 1999, Blair 2001, LDA 2003, Education and Skills, 2006). The discussion reflects a number of inter-related issues that are shaped by the intersection of race, class and gender. These issues include: racialisation and accompanying negative stereotypes of the Black community and more specifically portraying Black masculinity as a problem, lack of respect for Black boys and their culture, peer group influence, and differences in treatment by teachers towards Black boys, as some of the significant factors affecting Black boys' negative experiences at secondary schools and their resulting underachievement. In addition to examining the impact of these factors, as indicated above, this thesis critically examines two other areas of education, a supplementary school and a youth organization. Earlier studies have identified such sites as a powerful source of positive experiences for secondary school Black boys. This comparative, multidisciplinary approach enables original data to be gathered, in probing into the reasons as to why these institutions are successful in making Black boys educational experiences more meaningful. Over a course of six months, 36 participants were involved in this research study. The boys, their parents and their teachers were interviewed at the secondary and supplementary school. At the youth organisation, the Black boys and their youth workers were interviewed. The research used a wide range of methods, such as semi-structured interviews, participant-observation and non-participant-observation. This process provided the researcher with the bigger picture, giving insight into why Black boys have negative and positive experiences of education. The study makes a number of recommendations based on the findings, which include: actively recruiting more Black teachers to provide Black pupils with positive role models who understand their culture; employing Black culture/history in schools for the benefit of Black boys and teachers in state secondary schools learning from the other educational sites in terms of curriculum, pedagogy and relations between educators and Black male pupils. Such recommendations have been proposed in potentially being a step towards removing institutional racism within schools and promoting the career paths of these boys into successful professions.


Abstract The use of crumb rubber in the modification of asphalt has occurred because of the problems related to disposal of scrap tires. However, the use of scrap tires in asphalt pavements, known as asphalt rubber pavements, can minimize environmental impacts and maximize conservation of natural resources. The textile fibers from recycled tires are typically disposed of in landfills or used in energetic valorization, but similar to other fibers, they can be used as a valuable resource in the reinforcement of engineering materials such as asphalt mixtures. Thus, this work aims at studying the use of textile fibers recycled from ground tires in the reinforcement of conventional asphalt mixtures. The application of textile fibers from ground tires was evaluated through laboratory tests on specimens extracted from slabs produced in the laboratory. Indirect tensile tests were performed on a series of nine asphalt mixtures with different fiber and asphalt contents and compared with a conventional mixture. The results obtained from a 50/70 pen asphalt were used to define three asphalt mixture configurations to be used with 35/50 pen asphalt. The results indicate that the textile fibers recycled from used tires can be a valuable resource in the reinforcement of asphalt mixtures.


Some Indo-Portuguese creoles exhibit morphological patterns that are characteristic of inflecting languages such as Latin or Portuguese. Verb forms contain not only overt tense and aspect suffixes but also theme vowels which identify the conjugation class of the verb. The genuine theme vowels are meaningless inflectional units which make no contribution to the overall meaning of the verb. They are however an inherent part of the verbal paradigm and determine the shape of inflected verb forms. Because of the presence of genuine theme vowels, the inflectional paradigms of Indo-Portuguese make a clear distinction between roots, stems and suffixes. Both stems and suffixes also exhibit allomorphic shape alternations that are triggered solely by conjugation class distinctions.The question as to why verbal inflection survived in this small group of Indo-Portuguese creoles will be tentatively explored from the perspective of naturalistic adult second language learning. Based on the growing consensus that creole formation involves substantial L2 acquisition by adults, we examine the extent to which sociocultural and attitudinal factors may have had an effect on the L2 grammars that emerged in the early stages of contact between Portuguese and the substrate languages. It will be argued that Indo-Portuguese creoles were shaped by substrate speakers who, as a result of their favourable attitude towards the Target Language community, acquired a L2 variety with overt verbal inflection (or "Post-Basic Variety").


ABSTRACT:This essay argues that although The Phantom is an American comic about a superhero of British heritage set in a fictional African country filled with colonial nostalgia, it is also, within Sweden, a leading example of antiracist politics and anti-apartheid protest literature. Since 1972 the Swedish-based scriptwriters of "Team Fantomen" have regularly supplied officially licensed adventures to The Phantom comics around the world. This essay suggests that this shift in the scripts' geographical origin also altered the politics of the comic: the Swedish creators added social commentary and political thought to the storylines, as the Phantom was redefined in line with New Left ideology. Southern Africa, with societies affected by institutionalized racism, is inscribed into the plots, which function to inform the reader about the righteousness and validity of the dominant Swedish foreign-policy doctrine of the time. This essay contends that The Phantom played an important part in shaping Swedish public discourse on apartheid, while also helping to establish Sweden as a leading international antiracist voice.


In 2003, the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration allowed a test section of Porous Friction Course (PFC) to be placed on I74 east of Indianapolis. The design, construction and early performance of that surface were compared to an adjacent Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) surface and a conventional Superpave HMA surface in a report prepared for the Institute for Safe, Quiet and Durable Highways. The early performance indicated that the PFC offered several advantages over the SMA and the conventional surfaces, including reduced tire/pavement noise, high friction and surface texture, and reduced splash and spray. There was a concern, however, that porous surfaces can lose their porosity, and therefore their performance advantages, over time. Consequently, the project summarized in this report was planned to continue monitoring the performance of the PFC and the comparison surfaces in order to investigate the durability of the porous surface over a five-year period (after construction). After five years under traffic, there have indeed been some changes in these properties. Most of the changes, however, took place quickly as the asphalt binder film coating the exposed aggregate particles was worn off by traffic. Since then, the changes have been relatively minor. The PFC section is still significantly quieter than the adjacent SMA section to which it has been compared. The PFC has retained most of its texture and is still providing good friction levels. Both the PFC and the SMA are still in very good condition with little distress and have higher friction levels than a section of dense graded asphalt constructed with similar materials that has also been evaluated for the duration of the study.


Are job losses and the degradation of working conditions in the developed world due to globalization and the offshoring of jobs? Contrary to popular beliefs and fears, most economic analysis evaluating the long-term and global implications of the internationalization of employment does not support this view. Yet for workers who have been displaced, a positive global impact does not remove their immediate loss. This study discusses a paradox: globalization may have enhanced the overall well-being of those countries that have participated, and reduced poverty worldwide, but it looks more and more like a monster that devours jobs, as there are few mechanisms to compensate those that have suffered. The book analyzes trends and patterns in the internationalization of employment, looks at losers and winners, and proposes new policies of compensation.


The linear quadridentate N2S2 donor ligand 1,7-bis(N-methylbenzimidazol-2′-yl)-2,6-dithiaheptane (bmdhp) forms mono- and di-hydrate 1 : 1 copper(II) complexes which are significantly more stable toward autoreduction than those of the non-methylated analogue. The deep green monohydrate of the perchlorate salt crystallises as the mononuclear aqua-complex, [Cu(bmdhp)(OH2)][ClO4]2, in the monoclinic space group P21/n, with Z= 4, a= 18.459(3), b= 10.362(2), c= 16.365(3)A, and β= 117.14(1)°. The structure was solved and refined by standard Patterson, Fourier, and least-squares techniques to R= 0.047 and R′= 0.075 for 3 343 independent reflections with l > 2σ(l). The compound consists of [Cu(bmdhp)(OH2)]2+ ions and ClO4– counter ions. The co-ordination around copper is intermediate between trigonal bipyramidal and square pyramidal, with Cu–N distances of 1.950(4) and 1.997(4)A, Cu–O(water) 2.225(4)A, and Cu–S 2.328(1) and 2.337(1)A. In the solid state, the perchlorate dihydrate's co-ordination sphere may be a topoisomer of the monohydrate's. A new angular structural parameter, τ, is defined and proposed as an index of trigonality, as a general descriptor of five-co-ordinate centric molecules. By this criterion, the irregular co-ordination geometry of [Cu(bmdhp)(OH2)]2+ in the solid state is described as being 48% along the pathway of distortion from square pyramidal toward trigonal bipyramidal. In the electronic spectrum of the complex, assignment is made of the S(thioether)→ Cu charge-transfer bands by comparison with those of the colourless complex Zn(bmdhp)(OH)(ClO4). E.s.r. and ligand-field spectra show that the copper(II) compounds adopt a tetragonal structure in donor solvents.


As a major agricultural subsector, milk production plays an important role in the EU 28. Political decisions such as the abolition of the milk quota system in 2015, highly volatile milk prices, high bargaining power of retailers and fierce international competition have led to challenges for both farmers and dairies and have created a need to improve competitiveness. Furthermore, the dairy sector is increasingly subject to societal demands for higher animal welfare and ecological standards. The concept of sustainability in the form of a production standard can be seen as a means for both dairy farmers and dairies to gain competitive advantages and meet stakeholders' demands. Farmers' willingness to participate in a sustainability standard is a key factor for its successful implementation. One attractive target group for such a standard are future-oriented farmers who plan to stay in dairy farming in the long run. This study, therefore, focuses on future-oriented dairy farmers and investigates their willingness to participate in a comprehensive sustainability standard. A hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis is conducted to identify different groups based on their willingness to participate. 211 farmers can be categorized into three different clusters: 'halfhearted sustainability proponents', 'highly dedicated sustainability proponents' and 'profit-oriented sustainability refusers'. Further analysis provides insights into the determinants of farmers' willingness to participate in a sustainability standard. The results of this study provide manifold starting points for deriving managerial implications for the successful implementation of sustainability standards in European dairy farming


Abstract (full):

Within the international master study programme of Media Arts and Practices (MAP) the University of Nova Gorica School of Arts is currently developing an interdisciplinary module in Art, Science and Technology (MAST) within a diverse partnership of two further universities and three NGOs. Both curriculum development projects were funded by the European Commission for their progressive, even disruptive character. If MAP (2011-2014), developed within the ADRIART.net project, was to join four countries as well as several artistic and media production fields creating a new partnership model and a contemporary employment profile, MAST (2018-2020) now seeks to root the art-thinking paradigm deep into the innovation process outside university. In order to reinvent better and meaningful futures for the society at large the dominance of the technological and the scientific approach is to be balanced out by the artistic openness and radical difference. This in turn mirrors the structure of the MAST curriculum – not only that its outcomes are unprecedented and tuned onto most progressive priorities of the Europen Union. The syllabus reminds of the innovation process itself, building a new module-specific graduate profile of an "innovation catalyst'.

The abovementioned two cases will be interpreted on the background of 'The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area' (ESG) as the primary setting of their development and implementation, while the 'internal' quality aspect shall be prioritized. The discussion will predominantly refer to the design and approval of programmes, but also present some novel solutions in student-centered learning, teaching and assessment. After touching upon a relevant recognition issue, the public impact and meaning of such programmes will be considered more broadly.

As far as the design and approval of programmes (ESG 1.2) are concerned, the Guidelines point out that curricula should be designed "in line with the institutional strategy" which often proves a paradox – a new academic programme development may instigate radical institutional change from the bottom-up, such that is unlikely to occur through the conventional top-down approach. The MAP project involved four university partners, of which two accredited the master programme fully as such (Croatia and Slovenia) and two participated therein merely with partnership modules. While the Slovenian partner gradually modified its strategic priorities as a (fairly small) art school throughout the project's three years, the bigger Croatian national art academy would let the MAP programme remain insulated from other programmes, preventing the curricular innovations and new teaching and learning methods from spreading to other programmes. This eventually led to inter-institutional conflicts and a closure of the programme in 2018 after three years of its running. Even if all invlved universities "involved students and other stakeholders in the work" and the MAP programme contained "well-structured placement opportunities" (ESG 1.2), its sustainability was evaluated low also in the case of the Italian and Austrian partners, since most of the MAP curricular structures eventually proved too open and progressive for their traditional acdemic environments. The Graz Technical University (Austria) returned in the MAST project again to enter a new, more contemporary alliance, founded on their bilateral continuity with the University of Nova Gorica, and their strategic priority of developing interdisiplinary programmes. The latter has in 2014 also established and continues to lead a South-Eastern-Europe wide CEEPUS network of ten art academies named ADRIART.CE (Belgrade, Budapest, Graz, Nova Gorica, Krakow, Rijeka, Split, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Skopje, Sofia), three of which presented its core that developed from the MAP partnership (www.ADRIART.net/ce). Besides Nova Gorica and Graz, the MAST partnership involves one further university (Madeira University, Portugal) and three NGOs (the renowned Kapelica Gallery from Slovenia, the Croatian Cultural Allience and the Europe-wide network Culture Action Europe).

The ESG standard 1.3 on student-centred learning, teaching and assessment suggests that the programme delivery should "encourage students to take an active role in creating the learning process, and that the assessment of students reflects this approach." The MAP programme manifests this approach in several novums such as the 'Progress Track' module, where students critically peer-reflect on their academic progress along three semesters, or the 'Studio' module that brings into the programme external art (and later in MAST also science and/or technology) practitioners. It also treats contemporary topical issues that relate to the European topics such as e.g. 'The Future of Work' as well as to the profile of the cohort, their course selections and career orientation. A continuous 'Carrier Module' (MAST being one of them, others are Film, Animation, New Media, Photography and Contemporary Art Practice) in the MAP programme supports the student's "flexible learning path" along three semesters of gradual academic progression: After exploring the chosen realm, and then defining own topical interest and method, the student focuses on her or his area of artistic (or interdisciplinary) investigation, in order to complete the Master Thesis (that includes a theoretical thesis and a practical project) in the fourth semester, all to encourage "a sense of autonomy in the learner, while ensuring adequate guidance and support from the teacher". In the case of MAST the students shall each year be faced with the semester-long 'Challenge' course that is to keep them deeply involved in a real-life innovation process brought in from NGOs or companies, along with their expert mentors, or evaluators (in assessment committees, programme boards etc).

Both MAP and MAST curriculum development projects focussed importantly on the issue of "fair recognition of higher education qualifications, periods of study and prior learning, including the recognition of non-formal and informal learning" (ESG 1.4). This was to not only support but also promote mobility of staff and especially students, since both curricular structures instigate international as well as inter-sectoral collaboration: if the academic experience of students and their career prospects is to be advanced, a dynamc flux and interaction of students, (external) mentors and (university) teachers needs to be preserved at both entry and exit points to the programme (or module). Only this way the positive public impact and meaning of such programmes (ESG 1.8) can be kept transparent – not only to be accounted for, but also actively steered towards actual social and economic relevance! Study programmes that matter to all stakeholders – the students, the universities and the employers, including a broader public, need to be kept open for manifold talents and apply progressive interdisciplinary teaching and learning methods, attracting experts and tackling real-life challenges across disciplinary sectors, and national borders.


Introduction Over 1 million metal-on-metal (MOM) hip replacements were performed between 2003 and 2010. These prostheses were intended to be more durable than previous models, but have been associated with a higher failure rate. There have also been isolated cases of fulminant cardiomyopathy in patients with very high serum cobalt levels. We screened a cohort of asymptomatic patients with these prostheses for subclinical cardiac abnormalities. Methods All patients with MOM hip replacements at our centre undergo regular follow-up in the orthopaedic clinic with serum cobalt and chromium levels, and periodic magnetic resonance scanning of the affected joint. We recruited consecutive asymptomatic patients to receive echocardiography and recorded demographic data including age, height, weight, serum cobalt and chromium levels, and date of prosthesis implantation. Echocardiographers were blinded to medical history and laboratory results. The cohort was split into quartiles of serum cobalt. ANOVA, Kruksall-Wallis H test and Chi-squared tests were used to evaluate the differences between groups. Results Baseline characteristics between each quartile were similar (table 1). Mean duration of implant increased with quartile, but serum cobalt was not correlated with duration of prosthesis (r=0.135, p=0.162). Patients in the highest quartile of serum cobalt levels had larger left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic dimensions (50.8 vs. 44.7 mm, p=0.018; 31.6 vs. 25.8 mm, p=0.014 respectively) and indexed end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes by Simpsons method (42.0 vs. 32.8 ml/m2, p<0.001; 16.4 vs. 11.7 ml/m2, p<0.001 respectively) compared with those in the lowest quartile (Figure). They also had larger indexed left atrial volumes (Ln volume 3.2 vs. 2.9, p=0.006). However, there was no difference in wall thickness, ejection fraction, left ventricular outflow tract velocity time integral, mitral valve E and A waves, medial and lateral tissue Doppler magnitude, peak longitudinal strain or strain rate, or time to peak strain. Conclusions Subjects with the highest serum cobalt levels have larger left ventricular and left atrial chamber sizes than those with the lowest serum levels. However, no difference in even sensitive markers of systolic or diastolic function were found. Left ventricular measurements are part of a range and therefore it is not possible to specify a cut-off for abnormality in these people. Whilst our findings do not suggest a clear relationship between serum ion levels and basic echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular systolic and diastolic dysfunction, we cannot exclude an idiosyncratic response as described in isolated case reports. We therefore advise that patients with MOM hip replacements undergo serial cardiology follow up. Abstract 15 Table 1Abstract 15 Figure 1 Mean left ventricular chamber size by quartile of serum cobalt levels. Bars represent standard error.


Abstract. Peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle and represent both an important stock of soil carbon and a substantial natural source of relevant greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4. While it is known that the quality of organic matter affects microbial degradation and mineralization processes in peatlands, the manner in which the quality of peat organic matter affects the formation of CO2 and CH4 remains unclear. In this study we developed a fast and simple peat quality index in order to estimate its potential greenhouse gas formation by linking the thermo-degradability of peat with potential anaerobic CO2 and CH4 formation rates. Peat samples were obtained at several depths (0–40 cm) at four sampling locations from an acidic fen (pH 4.7). CO2 and CH4 formation rates were highly spatially variable and depended on depth, sampling location, and the composition of pyrolysable organic matter. Peat samples active in CO2 and CH4 formation had a quality index above 1.35, and the fraction of thermally labile pyrolyzable organic matter (comparable to easily available carbon substrates for microbial activity) obtained by thermogravimetry was above 35%. Curie-point pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry mainly identified carbohydrates and lignin as pyrolysis products in these samples, indicating that undecomposed organic matter was found in this fraction. In contrast, lipids and unspecific pyrolysis products, which indicate recalcitrant and highly decomposed organic matter, correlated significantly with lower CO2 formation and reduced methanogenesis. Our results suggest that undecomposed organic matter is a prerequisite for CH4 and CO2 development in acidic fens. Furthermore, the new peat quality index should aide the estimation of potential greenhouse gas formation resulting from peatland restoration and permafrost thawing and help yield more robust models of trace gas fluxes from peatlands for climate change research.


The advantages of the maize Adh system for low level mutagenesis studies are discussed. They include high mutation rate and the availability of both a strong selection system for null mutants and a sensitive method for detection of variants. The null selection involves treatment of pollen with allyl alcohol which is converted by the Adh enzyme to the toxic acrylaldehyde. Adh variants can be detected by alteration in affinity for phytic acid as well as thermal stability and electrophoretic mobility.


Numerical simulation is an effective and economical method for optimally designing laboratory experiments and deriving practical experimental conditions. We executed a detailed numerical simulation study to examine the active fracture concept (AFC) using a 1‐m3‐sized block model. The numerical simulations for this study were performed by applying various experimental conditions, including different bottom flow boundaries, varying injection rates, and different fracture–matrix interaction (i.e., by increasing absolute matrix permeability at the fracture–matrix boundary) for a larger fracture interaction under transient or balanced‐state flow regimes. Two conceptual block models were developed based on different numerical approaches: a two‐dimensional discrete‐fracture‐network model (DFNM) and a one‐dimensional dual‐continuum model (DCM). The DFNM was used as a surrogate for a natural block to produce synthetic breakthrough curves of water and tracer concentration under transient or balanced‐state conditions. The DCM is the approach typically used for the Yucca Mountain Project because of its computational efficiency. The AFC was incorporated into the DCM to capture heterogeneous flow patterns that occur in unsaturated fractured rocks. The simulation results from the DCM were compared with the results from the DFNM to determine whether the DCM could predict the water flow and tracer transport observed in the DFNM at the scale of the experiment. It was found that implementing the AFC in the DCM improved the prediction of unsaturated flow and that the flow and transport experiments with low injection rates in the DFNM compared better with the AFC implemented DCM at the 1‐m3 scale. However, the estimated AFC parameter varied from 0.38 to 1.0 with different flow conditions, suggesting that the AFC parameter was not sufficient to fully capture the complexity of the flow processes in a 1‐m3 discrete fracture network.


Smallholder farmers' access to markets has traditionally been constrained by lack of market information. The need to facilitate farmers' access to markets has seen the emergence of many projects that employ electronic tools in the provision of market information services (MIS). This study used a triple hurdle analysis to examine the factors influencing farmer awareness of electronic based (e-based) MIS projects, the decision by smallholder farmers in Kenya to participate in such projects and the use of services they provide. It finds that the drivers of awareness, decision to participate in e-based projects and use of the use of e-based MIS various farmer, farm and location-specific characteristics as well as endowments with physical, financial, human, and social capital. It specifically finds that education, distance to market, membership to farmer organizations, household income and cell phone ownership affect both the decision to participate in e-based projects and the use of MIS services such projects offer. The study concludes that transaction costs and social, financial and human capital endowments play an important role in smallholder farmer participation in e-based projects and the use of e-based MIS. The study discusses the implications of these findings for policy and practice.


E-commerce appears to be a complementary method of
doing business. It is hypothesized that to provide the enterprises the opportunity to generate revenues.Its adoption requires the emplacement of ICT infrastructure within the enterprise, while the levels of sophistication, requirements, and expenditure for E-commerce operations vary across enterprises. Due to the significant contributions
of SME's to large enterprises, it is of interest to find out their experience in using e-commerce. The study administered a two-page structured questionnaire on a sample of 160 SME's located in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur based on the list of enterprises obtained from SMIDEX.The instrument was sent through ordinary mail (50), facsimile (90), and hand-delivered (20) in June 2003.
The survey administration produced an effective response rate of 21.9 percent (i.e. 35 usable and 3 incomplete questionnaires).The results show that E-commerce has been used as a complementary method of doing business.Enterprises were not sure whether E-commerce has generated incremental revenue. Being a complimentary tool, method does not reduce the need for face-to-face interaction with customers. The impediments to use Ecommerce
are predominantly Internet related, and they
include security, and unstable and slow data
communications


PaleontologyMost scientists think birds evolved from dinosaurs about 150 million years ago. But a sparse fossil record has provided ammunition to those who insist that birds arose independently. A stunning new fossil makes that idea virtually untenable. And a second paper this week brings dinosaur feathers vividly to life, offering new clues to why this instrument of flight first evolved in flightless creatures. On page [571][1] of this week's issue of Science , paleontologists unveil Haplocheirus sollers , a new genus of alvarezsauroid—a group of dinosaurs once thought to be flightless birds. The nearly complete skeleton, unearthed from 160-million-year-old mudstone deposits in northwestern China's Junggar Basin, extends the fossil record of alvarezsauroids back in time by a whopping 63 million years—making it about 15 million years older than the earliest known bird, Archaeopteryx .

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/327/5965/571


This research is aimed at developing a brand and packaging designs for Thai Jasmine Rice Leaf Drink "ThaiSuwan" brand in Roi-Et province, Thailand. Using the Community Enterprise Career Promotion of Baan Mao Village as a case study, a marketing strategy was developed for their organic rice products to provide job opportunities and to promote sales in global markets. For the products of the commodities, 23 logo designs were created by students studying for a degree in Graphic Design of Packaging Design Subject in Faculty of Architecture Urban Design and Creative Arts, Mahasarakham University. The research tool was a questionnaire containing rating scales for the 23 logo designs. The target sample was 200 people in Mahasarakham province. The results of this study revealed that most preferred logos were based on a traditional "Thai Jasmine Rice" design. This included leaf-detail designs, with colors and fonts that reflect the style and perception of natural products by the local community. Index Terms Visual perception, Logo Design, Branding, Development of local products, Celebration of local culture, Product Authenticity.


This study focuses on Plato's "problem" with Sophistry. In recent years, that "problem" has come to be understood either as Plato's disagreement with the "philosophical" doctrines of the ancient Sophists or as his unreflective condemnation of their way of life. Hegel is responsible for the first way of thinking, Nietzsche for the second. For both, the "problem" posed by the ancient Sophists was of considerable importance. It confronted Plato with the challenge that philosophy justify itself--a challenge which Plato could not fully understand and which he failed to meet. According to Hegel, the challenge posed by the Sophists cannot be met by advancing a doctrine. It can only be met dialectically. According to Nietzsche, it cannot be met at all for the Sophist is justified in his rejection of the "rules" of all philosophical discourse, including dialectical argument. After offering some historical background on the ancient Sophists, I examine Hegel's and Nietzsche's understanding of Plato's "problem" with them. My argument is that both are correct to identify the "problem" posed by the Sophists as a challenge that philosophy provide for itself a justification. I argue that Hegel is right to conclude that such a justification can only be given dialectically but that Nietzsche teaches us that it must be conducted in an ad hominem manner. Contrary to both, I argue that Plato understood this very well and that the dialogues are written in accordance with this understanding. I then focus on the drama of the Sophist in order to show that Plato fully understood the challenge posed by the ancient Sophists and that his response to it is adequate. Plato does not think that the challenge of the Sophist can be met for once and for good. For that reason, the philosophical life is justified.


Newspapers are expected to be objective but have often been accused of being biased. In this work, we quantitatively measure the bias of Filipino newspapers by using the TextBlob sentiment analysis tool on the coverage of the 2017 Battle of Marawi in southern Philippines. We see that an overwhelming majority (71.1% to 80.0%) of the articles on Marawi had a positive slant, while only two out of 1,185 articles were perfectly neutral. However, the small polarity absolute values (0.0286 to 0.1106) and the large deviations suggest that the articles may be considered within the "neutral" range. Moreover, these results are in sharp contrast with our previous work using another sentiment analysis tool, showing that there is still much room for improvement regarding natural language processing.


Purpose: GOG-0218, a double-blind placebo-controlled phase III trial, compared carboplatin and paclitaxel with placebo, bevacizumab followed by placebo, or bevacizumab followed by bevacizumab in advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Results demonstrated significantly improved progression-free survival (PFS), but no overall survival (OS) benefit with bevacizumab. Blood samples were collected for biomarker analyses. Experimental Design: Plasma samples were analyzed via multiplex ELISA technology for seven prespecified biomarkers [IL6, Ang-2, osteopontin (OPN), stromal cell–derived factor-1 (SDF-1), VEGF-D, IL6 receptor (IL6R), and GP130]. The predictive value of each biomarker with respect to PFS and OS was assessed using a protein marker by treatment interaction term within the framework of a Cox proportional hazards model. Prognostic markers were identified using Cox models adjusted for baseline covariates. Results: Baseline samples were available from 751 patients. According to our prespecified analysis plan, IL6 was predictive of a therapeutic advantage with bevacizumab for PFS (P = 0.007) and OS (P = 0.003). IL6 and OPN were found to be negative prognostic markers for both PFS and OS (P < 0.001). Patients with high median IL6 levels (dichotomized at the median) treated with bevacizumab had longer PFS (14.2 vs. 8.7 months) and OS (39.6 vs. 33.1 months) compared with placebo. Conclusions: The inflammatory cytokine IL6 may be predictive of therapeutic benefit from bevacizumab when combined with carboplatin and paclitaxel. Aligning with results observed in patients with renal cancer treated with antiangiogenic therapies, it appears plasma IL6 may also define those patients with EOC more or less likely to benefit from the addition of bevacizumab to standard chemotherapy.


Standards reduce production costs and increase products' value to consumers. Standards however entail risks of anti-competitive abuse. After the adoption of a standard, the chosen technology normally lacks credible substitutes. The owner of the patented technology might thus have additional market power relative to locked-in licensees, and might exploit this power to charge higher access rates. In the economic literature this phenomenon is referred to as 'hold-up'. To reduce the risk of hold-up, standard-setting organisations often require patent holders to disclose their standard-essential patents before the adoption of the standard and to commit to license on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms.The European Commission normally investigates unfair pricing abuse in a standard-setting context if a patent holder who committed to FRAND ex-ante is suspected not to abide to it ex-post. However, this approach risks ignoring a number of potential abuses which are likely harmful for welfare. That can happen if, for example, ex-post a licensee is able to impose excessively low access rates ('reverse hold-up') or if a patent holder acquires additional market power thanks to the standard but its essential patents are not encumbered by FRAND commitments, for instance because the patent holder did not directly participate to the standard setting process and was therefore not required by the standard-setting organisations to commit to FRAND ex-ante.A consistent policy by the Commission capable of tackling all sources of harm should be enforced regardless of whether FRAND commitments are given. Antitrust enforcement should hinge on the identification of a distortion in the bargaining process around technology access prices, which is determined by the adoption of the standard and is not attributable to pro-competitive merits of any of the involved players.


The essential tRNA-specific adenosine deaminase catalyzes the deamination of adenosine to inosine at the wobble position of tRNAs. This modification allows for a single tRNA species to recognize multiple synonymous codons containing A, C, or U in the last (3'-most) position and ensures that all sense codons are appropriately decoded. We report the first combined structural and kinetic characterization of a wobble-specific deaminase. The structure of the Escherichia coli enzyme clearly defines the dimer interface and the coordination of the catalytically essential zinc ion. The structure also identifies the nucleophilic water and highlights residues near the catalytic zinc likely to be involved in recognition and catalysis of polymeric RNA substrates. A minimal 19 nucleotide RNA stem substrate has permitted the first steady-state kinetic characterization of this enzyme (k(cat) = 13 +/- 1 min(-)(1) and K(M) = 0.83 +/- 0.22 microM). A continuous coupled assay was developed to follow the reaction at high concentrations of polynucleotide substrates (>10 microM). This work begins to define the chemical and structural determinants responsible for catalysis and substrate recognition and lays the foundation for detailed mechanistic analysis of this essential enzyme.


Strain-compensated double InGaAs quantum-well saturable Bragg reflectors (SBR's) with high damage thresholds have been developed for use as mode-locking elements in high-average-power neodymium lasers. Nd:YVO4 lasers have been developed with these new SBR's, which produce transform-limited pulses of 21-ps duration at 90 MHz and an average power of 20 W in a diffraction-limited output beam. The peak pulse power at an output power of 20 W was 10.6 kW. A comparison of the operating parameters of strained single and strain-compensated double-well SBR's indicates that the damage threshold increased by a factor of at least 2–3. Long cavity laser variants were investigated to assess the limitations of further power scaling. At a repetition frequency of 36-MHz stable mode-locked pulses with peak pulse powers of 24.4 kW and pulse energies of 0.6 µJ could be generated.


Having accepted the invitation to revisit my essay of 1982, "What Is the History of Books?", I find that I can do it only in the first person singular and therefore must ask to be excused for indulging in some autobiographical detail. I would also like to make a disclaimer: in proposing a model for studying the history of books twenty-four years ago, I did not mean to tell book historians how they ought to do their jobs. I hoped that the model might be useful in a heuristic way and never thought of it as comparable to the models favored by economists, the kind in which you insert data, work it over, and arrive at a bottom line. (I do not believe that bottom lines exist in history.) It seemed to me in 1982 that the history of books was suffering from fissiparousness: experts were pursuing such specialized studies that they were losing contact with one another. The esoteric elements of book history needed to be integrated into an overview that would show how the parts could connect to form a whole—or what I characterized as a communications circuit. The tendency toward fragmentation and specialization still exists.


In this article we use a Markov Switching model with two lags to identify and to compare the business cycle in Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland using data on industrial production for the 1991-2011 period. We use a model with two regimes that reflect the economic expansions and contractions. The Markov Switching models have been widely used in order to detect and to date the business cycle turning points. However, it should be pointed out that the industrial production may have a little bit different dynamics than the quarterly gross domestic product which is the main measure of economic activity. Based on the smoothed regime probabilities the model track three recessionary periods of the Romanian economy in 1991, 1997 and 2009 and two recessionary periods for the other countries in 1991 and 2009. Mean yoy growth of IPI is 5.01% during expansion periods, while it switches to -18.6% during contraction periods for the Romanian economy. In comparison, mean yoy growth of IPI is 7.25% during expansion periods, while it switches to -13.4% during contraction periods for the Poland economy. Furthermore, in Romania, the duration of the three recessions in months was 25, 25 and 9 months. In Poland, the duration of the two recessions was 16 and 10 months. The results of the study may be used in order to compare the business cycle in Central and Eastern European countries with the Euro Area business cycle.


Autism-like phenotypes in male valproate (VPA)-exposed offspring have been linked to high glutamatergic neurotransmission in the thalamic-amygdala pathway. Glial cystine/glutamate exchange (system Xc−), which exchanges extracellular cystine for intracellular glutamate, plays a significant role in the maintenance of extracellular glutamate. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a cystine prodrug that restores extracellular glutamate by stimulating system Xc−. In this study, we examined the effects of NAC on autism-like phenotypes and neurotransmission in the thalamic–amygdala synapses, as well as the involvement of metabotropic glutamate receptors 2/3 (mGluR2/3). Valproate-treated rats received a single intraperitoneal injection of 500 mg/kg NaVPA on E12.5. On postnatal day 21 (P21), NAC or saline was administered once daily for 10 days. From day 8 to 10, NAC was given 1/2 h prior to behavioral testing. Chronic administration of NAC restored the duration and frequency of social interaction and ameliorated anxiety-like behaviors in VPA-exposed offspring. In amygdala slices, NAC treatment normalized the increased frequency of mEPSCs and decreased the paired pulse facilitation (PPF) induced by VPA exposure. The effects of NAC on social interaction and anxiety-like behavior in the VPA-exposed offspring were blocked after intra-amygdala infusion of mGluR2/3 antagonist LY341495. The expressions of mGluR2/3 protein and mGluR2 mRNA were significantly lower in the VPA-exposed offspring. In contrast, the mGluR3 mRNA level did not differ between the saline- and VPA-exposed offspring. These results provide the first evidence that the disruption of social interaction and enhanced presynaptic excitatory transmission in VPA-exposed offspring could be rescued by NAC, which depends on the activation of mGluR2/3.


A finite element model was constructed using a commercial software Fidap to analyze the Cu-base filler metal droplet spreading process in laser brazing, in which the temperature distribution, droplet geometry, and fluid flow velocity were calculated. Marangoni and buoyancy convection and gravity force were considered, and the effects of laser power and spot size on the spreading process were evaluated. Special attention was focused on the free surface of the droplet, which determines the profile of the brazing spot. The simulated results indicate that surface tension is the dominant flow driving force and laser spot size determines the droplet spreading domain.


Background: The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among adult patients with reactivation of haematogenous chronic osteomyelitis.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from 143 adult patients with chronic osteomyelitis.
Results: A total of 143 patients were included in the study group, with a mean age of 38 years (range 14–78 years). Twenty-two per cent (n=31) of patients were diagnosed with reactivation of chronic haematogenous osteomyelitis, while 78% of patients had contiguous chronic osteomyelitis (29% [n=42] post-operative and 49% [n=70] post-traumatic, respectively). Forty (28%) patients were found to be HIV positive with a mean CD4 count of 414 cells/mm³ (range 13–1 034 cells/mm³). Twenty-four (60%) of patients with HIV were on antiretroviral therapy at time of diagnosis. The prevalence of HIV infection among patients with contiguous (post-operative or post-traumatic) infections was 32%, in comparison to 13% in the group with reactivation of chronic haematogenous infections (p=0.04; OR 3.2; 95% CI 1.0–9.8).
Conclusion: The prevalence of HIV infection among patients with reactivation of chronic haematogenous osteomyelitis appeared to be lower than that seen in patients with chronic osteomyelitis from other causes and lower than that seen in the general population in South Africa.
Level of evidence: Level 4


Catabolism of glycogen stored by cyanobacteria occurs during anaerobic auto-fermentation and produces a range of C1–C3 fermentation products and hydrogen via hydrogenase. We investigated both augmenting and rerouting this carbon catabolism by engineering the glycolysis pathway at the NAD+-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH-1), its major regulation site at the nexus of two pathways (Oxidative Pentose Phosphate pathway, OPP, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis). Null (gap1::aphII) and overexpression (gap1+) strains of Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 were constructed in order to produce more NADPH (via rerouting carbon through OPP) and more NADH (via opening the glycolytic bottleneck), respectively. For gap1::aphII quantitative analyses after four days of dark auto-fermentation showed undiminished glycogen catabolism rate, significant increases of intracellular metabolites in both OPP and upper-glycolysis, decrease in lower-glycolysis intermediates, 5.7-fold increase in NADPH, 2.3-fold increase in hydrogen and 1.25-fold increase in CO2vs. wild type (WT). These changes demonstrate the expected outcome of redirection of carbon catabolism through the OPP pathway with significant stimulation of OPP product yields. The gap1+ strain exhibits a large 17% increase in accumulation of glycogen during the prior photoautotrophic growth stage (gluconeogenesis), in parallel with a 2-fold increase in the total [NAD+ + NADH] pool, foreshadowing an increased catabolic capacity. Indeed, the rate of glycogen catabolism during subsequent dark auto-fermentation increased significantly (58%) vs. WT, resulting in increases in both NADH (4.0-fold) and NADPH (2.9-fold) pools, and terminal fermentation products, hydrogen (3.0-fold) D-lactate (2.3-fold) and acetate (1.4-fold). The overall energy conversion yield over four days from catabolized glycogen to hydrogen increased from 0.6 mole of hydrogen per mole of glucose (WT) to 1.4 (gap1::aphII) and 1.1 (gap1+) under headspace accumulation conditions (without hydrogen milking). These findings demonstrate the significant potential of metabolic engineering for redirecting carbon pathways for carbohydrate catabolism and hydrogen production in cyanobacteria.


American law generally imposes liability on anyone who infringes a copyright, regardless her mental state, and even if her infringement is innocent - that is, when she engages in infringing activity without reason to know that her conduct infringes (perhaps most commonly when she knowingly copies from another's work but reasonably believes that her copying is legally permissible). This is true even though one of copyright law's most important goals is distinguishing legitimate copying, which is encouraged, from illegitimate copying, which is to be deterred. Courts and commentators have paid little attention to this aspect of copyright law. This article demonstrates that from its inception, copyright law in Great Britain and the United States reflected a substantial concern that innocent copyright infringers not be punished and explores in detail the mechanisms used to achieve that goal. These included structuring the copyright system to make it easy for users of works of authorship to avoid infringement and limiting liability for certain kinds of infringement to instances in which a party knew her acts were infringing. The article then shows how between 1909 and 1989, almost all of copyright law's safeguards protecting innocent infringers disappeared. The changes occurred gradually, and mostly for reasons entirely unrelated to innocent infringement. The end result, though, was a great increase in the likelihood that innocent infringers will be held liable. The only protection offered to unknowing infringers is limited remedial relief, which is a very weak bulwark against the danger that liability will deter permitted uses of copyrighted works. The public's ability to use copyrighted works without the owner's consent in ways that the law encourages - including making fair use of a work, or using the work's unprotected ideas - is undermined when users who innocently exceed the scope of the law's permission face liability.


During the past 30 years, there have been a steadily increasing number of scientific and popular publications dealing with lying and deception. Questions about the extent to which public officials are deceptive are standard fare in current magazines and newspapers. This volume aims to present on a more precise conceptualization of this phenomenon, manifested in some well-known constructions like spin, hype, doublespeak, equivocation, and contextomy (quoting out of context). The contents of the volume have been generated for the New Agendas symposium at the University of Texas College of Communication, and all the authors are young, leading-edge researchers offering innovative perspectives and explorations of lying and deception in various contexts. This volume will appeal to scholars, researchers, and advanced/graduate students in communication, media, and psychology. It is written to the level of advanced undergraduates, and it is appropriate for use in courses covering lying and deception.


nloaded majority of melanomas show constitutive activation of the RAS-RAF-MAP/ERK kinase (MEK)-mitogented protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. AZD6244 is a selective MEK1/2 inhibitor that markedly reduces P-MAPK levels, but it produces few clinical responses in melanoma patients. An improved understandthe determinants of resistance to AZD6244 may lead to improved patient selection and effective natorial approaches. The effects of AZD6244 on cell growth and survival were tested in a total of 14 utant and 3 wild-type human cutaneous melanoma cell lines. Quantitative assessment of phosphon levels in the Braf-mutant cell lines by reverse phase protein array (RPPA) analysis showed no significant ation between P-MEK or P-MAPK levels and AZD6244 sensitivity, but activation-specific markers in osphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-AKT pathway correlated with resistance. We also identified resistant cell ithout basal activation of the PI3K-AKT pathway. RPPA characterization of the time-dependent changes aling pathways revealed that AZD6244 produced durable and potent inhibition of P-MAPK in sensitive sistant Braf-mutant cell lines, but several resistant lines showed AZD6244-induced activation of AKT. trast, sensitive cell lines showed AZD6244 treatment–induced upregulation of PTEN protein and mRNA sion. Inhibition of AKT, TORC1/2, or insulin-like growth factor I receptor blocked AZD6244-induced tion of AKT and resulted in synergistic cell killing with AZD6244. These findings identify basal and ent-induced regulation of the PI3K-AKT pathway as a critical regulator of AZD6244 sensitivity in treatm Braf-mutant cutaneous melanoma cells and the novel regulation of PTEN expression by AZD6244 in sensitive cells, and suggest new combinatorial approaches for patients. Cancer Res; 70(21); 8736–47. ©2010 AACR.


Extent-based Incremental Model Identification (IMI) uses the concept of extent of reaction and the integral method of parameter estimation to identify reaction kinetics from transient concentration measurements. This study proposes to incorporate calorimetric measurements into the extent-based IMI approach. Calorimetric measurements are added to concentration measurements for two main purposes: (i) to be able to estimate the reaction enthalpies when all the concentrations are measured, and (ii) to be able to compute the extents of reaction in certain cases when only a subset of the concentrations are measured. The two approaches are demonstrated via the simulation of a semi-batch reactor.


Age is the strongest risk factor for most chronic diseases, and yet individuals may age at different rates biologically. A biological age formed from biomarkers may be a stronger risk factor than chronological age and understanding what factors contribute to it could provide insight into new opportunities for disease prevention.Among 480,019 UK Biobank participants aged 40-70 recruited in 2006-2010 and followed up for 6-12 years via linked death registry and secondary care records, a subpopulation of 141,254 (29.4%) non-smoking adults in good health and with no medication use or disease history at baseline were identified. Independent components of 72 biomarkers measured at baseline were characterised by principal component analysis. The Klemera Doubal method (KDM), which derived a weighted sum of biomarker principal components based on the strengths of their linear associations with chronological age, was used to derive sex-specific biological ages in this healthy subpopulation. The proportions of the overall biological and chronological age effects on mortality, coronary heart disease and age-related non-fatal hospital admissions (based on a hospital frailty index) that were explained by biological age were assessed using log-likelihoods of proportional hazards models.Reduced lung function, reduced kidney function, slower reaction time, lower insulin-like-growth factor 1, lower hand grip strength and higher blood pressure were key contributors to biological age (explaining the highest percentages of its variance) in both men and women, while lower albumin, higher sex hormone-binding globulin and lower muscle mass in men, and higher liver enzymes, blood lipids and HbA1c in women were also important. Across both sexes, a 51-principal component biological age explained 66%, 80% and 63% of the age effects on mortality, coronary heart disease and hospital admissions, respectively. Restricting the biological age to the 12-13 key biomarkers corresponding to the 10 most importantly contributing principal components resulted in little change in these proportions for women, but a reduction to 53%, 63% and 50%, respectively, for men.This study identified that markers of impaired function in a range of organs account for a substantial proportion of the apparent effect of age on disease and hospital admissions. It supports a broader, multi-system approach to research and prevention of diseases of ageing.


In July 2003, young Englishman Tig Hague was on a routine business trip to Moscow when he was arrested at the airport. Within hours, he was accused of a major crime. Next, he was tried and transported hundreds of miles to the remote, forsaken wastes of Mordovia. And prison camp Zone 22. Sentenced to spend the next four years there, every day was a struggle against disease, freezing temperatures, malnutrition, the unpredictable, sometimes terrifying behaviour of the camp guards and his fellow prisoners. But, most of all, it was a fight to ensure his own psychological survival.Only the thought of his girlfriend Lucy, fighting Russia's corrupt and labyrinthine legal system, kept Tig sane - and gave him a reason to see each day to its end. "The English Prisoner" is an extraordinary story of endurance, as one man - plucked from his normal, everyday life - is forced to reach deep inside himself to survive life in one of the bleakest outposts in the world: Russia's vast and unforgiving 'forgotten zone'.


(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.) ... Elena TASHKOVA Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation Skopje Elena Tashkova defended her master thesis on the 4th of October 2011 at the Institute of Special Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Philosophy, "Ss Cyril and Methodius" University - Skopje in the presence of the commission members; Prof. Zora Jachova, Prof. Dr. Mile Vukovic and Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski Received: 23.11.2011 Accepted: 01.12.2011 Abstract from defended thesis Address for correspondence: TASHKOVA Elena PMS "Goce Delchev'' - Shtip Ivo Lola Ribar no. 179 2000 Shtip, R. Macedonia e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract The aphasia is the most complicated and the most difficult form of disorder of speaking and language. Most often it appears as a consequence of a brain stroke. The occurrence of aphasias is in about one third of the patients suffering from a brain stroke in an acute phase, or from 21% to 24%, and there are data for even bigger frequency. In a certain number of patients the aphasia withdraws spontaneously, but in a bigger number of patients it takes over all four models of language activity; phoneme pronunciation, carrying out a discussion, writing a letter of a full text. It spreads from the automatic to the creative expression. The process of rehabilitation of the spoken communication at the persons with aphasia is complicated, multidisciplinary and long lasting. Around the World, a big accent is placed on the use of methods and strategies of alternative communication methods (AAK) for the persons with aphasia. Although the augmentative and the AAK methods for the persons with aphasia are relatively novel in the speech therapy, their applicability deserves an attention as well as the fact that they are promising new paths for researching. The master thesis is written on 104 pages, which include 35 tables and 48 graphics, as well as a glossary with 114 biographical units. The content is divided into introduction, grounding theory and methodology of research. The introduction shows the meaning and the necessity for research of alternative methods in the therapy and the treatment of persons with aphasia. The section with the theoretical grounds contains several mutually connected chapters (parts). In methodology of research section are described the subject of the research, the aim and the character of the research. Further the text contains the tasks, hypothesis, research variables, methods and techniques of the research, as well as the sample and the organization of the research. The end of the section consist the analysis and interpretation of the collected data, results of the research, discussion, verification of the hypothesis and conclusions. After the methodology section follows the section with future recommendations. The subject of the research is the analysis of the forms of AAK that the patients with Brokin's and Vernike's aphasia use in their everyday communication. The necessity of the forms of AAK can be used for developing and improving of the communicative abilities at the persons with aphasia. The aim of this research is to find the forms and strategies of AAK that will support and help in the communication of the persons with aphasia in the Municipality of Shtip. In the process of gathering quantitative data to follow the attitude of the respondents, there were constructed two sets of questionnaires for the needs of the research. The first instrument used in the research which was designed for the respondents suffering from aphasia had a goal to confirm the forms of AAK that they use in their everyday communication. The second instrument, designed for the medical personnel and the family members of the patients as respondents, had a goal to confirm the necessity of information and preparation for using the different forms and strategies of AAK at the persons with aphasia. …


Background & Objective : Lebestatin is a new member of disintegrin family. This single-chain poly peptide comprises 107 amino acids isolated from Macrovipera venom. Lebestatin is connected to integrin, counteracts the adhesion and emigration of endothelial cells through inhibiting the action of this protein and has anti-vessel formation effect. The goal of this study was to survey the interaction of this peptide with integrin and identify important amino acids involved in this interaction. Material & methods: Given the importance of Lebestatin in inhibiting the adhesion and migration of cancer cells, in this study the structure of this peptide was constructed through Phyre2 server and it was compared with other similar peptides. In the next step, in order to identify the mechanisms of the action of this peptide, its interaction with integrin α1 subunit was investigated with Z -Dock server. The results of this interaction were analyzed with Chimera 1.5.3 and SPDBV. Results : The results obtained from simulation showed that the structure of Lebestatin is closely similar to its co-family proteins. Moreover, bioinformatics studies showed that Lys50, Cys71 and Thy92 residues of Lebestatin and Asp20, Tyr17, His118 of integrin α1 subunit are significant amino acids involved in the interaction between Lebestatin and its target integrin. Conclusion: Bioinformatics studies applied in this investigation resulted in identifying significant amino acids involved in the interaction between Lebestatin and its target integrin. Results of this study could facilitate the development of more effective peptides for the inhibition of integrin, metastasis and angiogenesis of cancer cells.


Within a linguistic continuum, the further from the irradiation centre, the later a language is affected by a change; the later a language is reached by a change, the milder the outcomes. Building upon these wave-theoretic assumptions, this dissertation provides a formal description of the relationship between diatopic/diachronic micro-variation and phonologization. In particular, an analysis is performed of the phonetic/phonological properties of unstressed vowel reduction and vowel insertion in two Northern Italian dialects: Carrarese and Pontremolese. These dialects are argued to represent two frozen stages of these processes' diffusion, Carrarese representing the diachronic stage Pontremolese has already gone through. Indeed, Pontremolese displays non-etymological vocoids that show the phonetic and phonological characteristics of epenthetic vowels and that, crucially, can be considered the phonologized correlates of Carrarese's intrusive vocoids. These, in turn, should be rather considered articulatory/perceptually driven vowel-like releases. A formal account of this diatopic, diachronic and grammatical relationship is given that supports a modular grammar architecture, in which phonetics and phonology constitute, hence, two autonomous modules. Within such an architecture, the lateral forces (government and licensing) developed by standard Government Phonology are translated into violable constraints and inserted in a BiPhon grammar. In this optimality-theoretic grammar, the phonetics-phonology interface is managed by a set of cue constraints that map acoustic dimensions (formant structures) onto phonological primitives (elements). Furthermore, to integrate morphological information in the phonological forms, the Coloured Containment Theory is resorted to. This dissertation is of relevance to anyone interested in diatopic/diachronic micro-variation, phonologization, phonological theory and Italian dialectology.


With improvements in infrared camera technology and the promise of reduced costs and noninvasive character, infrared thermal imaging resurges in medicine. The skin temperature distribution of a healthy human body exhibits a contralateral symmetry. Any disease inside body is associated with an alteration of the thermal distribution of human body. So human thermography is of unique value in studying the physiology of thermoregulation, diagnosing some diseases or evaluating the situation of human health. The physical principle of human thermography and its clinical applications are dicsussed. The latest progress of thermography, thermal texture maps (TTM) and its effectiveness are introduced.


Iheyaspira bathycodon sp. nov. is described from the Von Damm Vent Field on the world's deepest spreading centre, the Mid-Cayman Spreading Centre (MCSC), Caribbean, at 2300 m depth. The new species is defined and illustrated from 11 specimens, with brief notes on habitat and known distribution. Molecular phylogenetic data from partial COI mDNA, 16S rDNA and nuclear 18S rDNA regions are used to analyse the species' phylogenetic position and its morphology is compared with previously described skeneid and vent taxa. The new species is distinguished from the most closely allied vent species, Iheyaspira lequios Okutani, Sasaki & Tsuchida, 2000 by morphological differences in radula diagnosis and appendage structure of the head-foot. Iheyaspira bathycodon sp. nov. is the tenth turbinid to be described from a hydrothermal-vent environment and the second species to be named from recently discovered hydrothermal vents on the MCSC. Determining the faunal composition of assemblages at the vent fields of the MCSC will help to elucidate the vent biogeography of the region.


Harnessing control of human b-cell proliferation has proven frustratingly difficult. Most G1/S control molecules, generally presumed to be nuclear proteins in the human b-cell, are in fact constrained to the cytoplasm. Here, we asked whether G1/S molecules might traffic into and out of the cytoplasmic compartment in association with activation of cell cycle progression. Cdk6 and cyclin D3 were used to drive human b-cell proliferation and promptly translocated into the nucleus in association with proliferation. In contrast, the cell cycle inhibitors p15, p18, and p19 did not alter their location, remaining cytoplasmic. Conversely, p16, p21, and p27 increased their nuclear frequency. In contrast once again, p57 decreased its nuclear frequency. Whereas proliferating b-cells contained nuclear cyclin D3 and cdk6, proliferation generally did not occur in b-cells that contained nuclear cell cycle inhibitors, except p21. Dynamic cytoplasmic-nuclear trafficking of cdk6 was confirmed using green fluorescent protein–tagged cdk6 and live cell imaging. Thus, we provide novel working models describing the control of cell cycle progression in the human b-cell. In addition to known obstacles to b-cell proliferation, cytoplasmic-to-nuclear trafficking of G1/S molecules may represent an obstacle as well as a therapeutic opportunity for human b-cell expansion. Diabetes 62:2460–2470, 2013


An analytical model for the convective heat transfer coefficient and the
 two-phase bubble size of a three-phase direct contact heat exchanger was
 developed. Until the present, there has only been a theoretical model
 available that deals with a single two-phase bubble and a bubble train
 condensation in an immiscible liquid. However, to understand the actual heat
 transfer process within the three-phase direct contact condenser,
 characteristic models are required. A quasi - steady energy equation in a
 spherical coordinate system with a potential flow assumption and a cell model
 configuration has been simplified and solved analytically. The convective
 heat transfer in terms of Nu number has been derived, and it was found to be
 a function to Pe number and a system void fraction. In addition, the
 two-phase bubble size relates to the system void fraction and has been
 developed by solving a simple energy balance equation and using the derived
 convective heat transfer coefficient expression. Furthermore, the model
 correlates well with previous experimental data and theoretical results.


Mapping and localization using surface features is prone to failure due to environment changes such as inclement weather. Recently, Localizing Ground Penetrating Radar (LGPR) has been proposed as an alternative means of localizing using underground features that are stable over time and less affected by surface conditions. However, due to the lack of commercially available LGPR sensors, the wider research community has been largely unable to replicate this work or build new and innovative solutions. We present GROUNDED an open dataset of LGPR scans collected in a variety of environments and weather conditions. By labeling this data with ground truth localization from an RTK-GPS / Inertial Navigation System, and carefully calibrating and time synchronizing the radar scans with ground truth positions, camera imagery, and Lidar data, we enable researchers to build novel localization solutions that are resilient to changing surface conditions. We include 108 individual runs totalling 450 km of driving with LGPR, GPS, Odometry, Camera, and Lidar measurements. We also present two new evaluation benchmarks for 1) Localizing in Weather and 2) Multi-lane Mapping, to enable comparisons of future work supported by the dataset. The dataset can be accessed at http://lgprdata.com.


Diamond-based metal matrix composites have been made based on pure Al and eutectic Ag-3Si alloy by gas pressure infiltration into diamond powder beds with the aim to maximize thermal conductivity and to explore the range of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) that can be covered. The resulting composites covered roughly the range between 60 and 75 vol-% of diamond content. For the Al-based composites a maximum thermal conductivity at room temperature of 7.6 W/cmK is found while for the Ag-3Si based composites an unprecedented value of 9.7 W/cmK was achieved. The CTE at room temperature varied as a function of the diamond volume fraction between 3.3 and 7.0 ppm/K and 3.1 and 5.7 ppm/K for the Al-based and the Ag-3Si-based composites, respectively. The CTE was further found to vary quite significantly with temperature for the Al-based composites while the variation with temperature was less pronounced for the Ag-3Si-based composites. The results are compared with prediction by analytical modeling using the differential effective medium scheme for thermal conductivity and the Schapery bounds for the CTE. For the thermal conductivity good agreement is found while for the CTE a transition of the experimental data from Schapery's upper to Schapery's lower bound is observed as volume fraction increases. While the thermophysical properties are quite satisfactory, there is a trade-off to be made in these materials between high thermal conductivity and low CTE on the one side and surface quality and machinability on the other.


Slovene Immigration to Argentina from a Communications Perspective: The Slovene Mutual Association of Córdoba This article presents Slovene immigration to Córdoba, Argentina in the twentieth century, its phases and the institutions created under a mutualistic paradigm. However, the main objective of the article consists of introducing a case study which emerged from the problematization of the relation between the organizational culture and internal communication within the Slovene Mutual Association of Córdoba. This institution, established in 1940, was a late expression of ethnic mutualism and it has been maintained over the time with the primary objective of preserving Slovene identity. This relation among the subsystems has created a strong but conservative and dysfunctional organizational culture.


To date, the concept of 'European identity' remains quite vague and obscure. Who is European and who is not? What values do Europeans share, and who is included in or excluded from the European community? This paper deals with the renegotiation of European identity/ies and the simultaneous increase of discourses about national security and nationalism in Europe, especially during the financial crisis since 2008. We first discuss a range of theoretical approaches to European identity from an interdisciplinary perspective. In a second step, after summarising the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) to Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) and especially the concept of topos, we illustrate the link between discursive constructions of European identities and cultural 'Others' via some recent examples of European and national debates on migration and economic issues. More specifically, we first analyse a speech by Geert Wilders on immigration and multiculturalism after the clashes in Tunisia in 2011 and the subsequent arrival of many refugees in Italy; secondly, we focus on a speech about British relations to the European Union in the 21st century by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. It becomes apparent that debates about European identities – especially since the financial crisis of 2008 – have increasingly been accompanied by debates about both more traditional racialised cultural concerns and more recently, about economic security, leading to new distinctions between 'Us', the 'real Europeans', and 'Them', the 'Others'. In this way, the socio-political unification of Europe is challenged – once again.


Ecosystems provide a wide range of goods, services or ecosystem services (ES) to society. Estimating the impact of land use and land cover (LULC) changes on ES values (ESV) is an important tool to support decision making. This study used remote sensing and GIS tools to analyze LULC change and transitions from 2001 to 2016 and assess its impact on ESV in a tropical forested landscape in the southern plains of Nepal. The total ESV of the landscape for the year 2016 is estimated at USD 1264 million year−1. As forests are the dominant land cover class and have high ES value per hectare, they have the highest contribution in total ESV. However, as a result of LULC change (loss of forests, water bodies, and agricultural land), the total ESV of the landscape has declined by USD 11 million year−1. Major reductions come from the loss in values of climate regulation, water supply, provision of raw materials and food production. To halt the ongoing loss of ES and maintain the supply and balance of different ES in the landscape, it is important to properly monitor, manage and utilize ecosystems. We believe this study will inform policymakers, environmental managers, and the general public on the ongoing changes and contribute to developing effective land use policy in the region.


OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to determine the experience of tooth loss, as well as its associated variables, in a sample of adult Mexicans, aged 60 years and older.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This cross-sectional study was part of a larger project to measure diverse oral health indicators in a convenience sample: it included 139 adult Mexican seniors (69.1% of whom were women), ages 60 years and older, either living in long-term care facilities or living independently and participating in adult day care services. Each participant underwent an oral examination to determine the number of missing teeth. Questionnaires were administered to collect sociodemographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral data. Statistical analyses were performed using nonparametric tests and negative binomial regression.

RESULTS
The mean age was 79.06 (±9.78 years). The mean number of missing teeth was 20.02 (±8.61; median, 24); 99.3% of the participants had at least 1 missing tooth, and only 14 had 20 teeth or more. Using a negative binomial regression multivariate model, we found that for each year's increase in age, the mean number of teeth lost increased by 1% (p<0.05). In individuals who brushed their teeth fewer than two times a day, who had received radiotherapy, or who were currently smokers, the average tooth loss increased 49.2%, 22.6%, and 19.0%, respectively (p<0.01).

CONCLUSION
Tooth-loss experience in these Mexican seniors was very high (20.02±8.61). Older age (within the range of this group of seniors), tooth-brushing patterns, the receipt of radiation therapy, and (current) tobacco use were associated with higher experience of tooth loss.


Making predictions is an adaptive feature of the cognitive system, as prediction errors are used to adjust the knowledge they stemmed from. Here, we investigated the effect of prediction errors on belief update in an ideological context. In Study 1, 704 Cloud Research participants first evaluated a set of beliefs and then either made predictions about evidence associated with the beliefs and received feedback or were just presented with the evidence. Finally, they reevaluated the initial beliefs. Study 2, which involved a U.S. Census–matched sample of 1,073 Cloud Research participants, was a replication of Study 1. We found that the size of prediction errors linearly predicts belief update and that making large errors leads to more belief update than does not engaging in prediction. Importantly, the effects held for both Democrats and Republicans across all belief types (Democratic, Republican, neutral). We discuss these findings in the context of the misinformation epidemic.


This paper analytically investigates the incentive scheme of perpetrators of violent conflicts. It provides a rational equilibrium framework to elicit how monetary incentives and survival considerations shape a combatant's decision to participate in a conflict. In the model, a leader decides to award soldiers monetary incentives. Civilians finance the militia via donations and soldiers decide on the actual fighting and indulge in looting. We explore the scheduled decision-making that takes place on the path toward a violent conflict and study the principal–agent relationship that exists between the leader and the militia. In addition, we analyze the effect of several internal factors (productivity and survival risk) and external factors (relative economic resources, opponents' military strength) on the intensity of the conflict. The model shows that soldiers fighting decisions are set by personal mortality risk and the level of identification with the cause of war. In addition, our results link between monetary incentives and participation in fighting and demonstrate a substitution effect of looting and donations as monetary incentives.


Abstract This study describes geochemical barriers that have developed at three different localities in sulfiderich tailings in the Kemerovo region of Western Siberia, Russia. Iron oxyhydroxides, gypsum, malachite, chalcanthite, goslarite, bianchite, gunningite and copper and zinc chlorides crystallized in the sequence specified at an evaporative barrier around glassy slag produced by the Belovo zinc processing plant. A complex cemented barrier that has developed within the old Salair sulfide tailings contains two well defined layers: an upper layer containing Fe(III) minerals and gypsum as cements in which Pb, As, Mo, Ni and Co have been deposited; and (2) a lower calcite- and gypsum-bearing layer, in which phases containing Zn, Cd and Cu have been deposited. A complex organic_mineral barrier below the Ursk sulfide tailings consists of peaty organic matter, clay minerals and iron oxyhydroxides cemented by gypsum. Elements that have leached from the tailings are present in this barrier in a variety of different forms: Ca and Mn are present as water-soluble species; Cu, Fe and Zn are present as species produced by interaction with organic matter via ion-exchange, metal humate formation and cation bridging in organic-mineral complexes; Pb and As are co-precipitated with and/or adsorbed onto iron oxyhydroxides; gold has been deposited as minute particles of native metal. The mechanisms for the formation of the different geochemical barriers are discussed.


In the last three decades, a number of master planned communities (MPCs) have been
developed in South East Queensland (SEQ) as part of the response to the housing demands of rapid population growth. Developers, state government, local councils and communities play key roles in the production and management of infrastructure and community services in these Masterplanned communities. Alongside rising community expectations regarding quality of services, there is an increasing trend for developers to be involved in either the direct provision of infrastructure, or its funding, with local councils and the state government playing a facilitating role in provision of services alongside
their more traditional role of direct provision. It is imperative to understand the governance structures as well as governance challenges of master planned communities at different stages of development.
The objectives of this paper are to review governance frameworks and challenges for master planned communities at three critical stages of development: the visioning and planning stage, the implementation stage, and the completion stage. The paper has identified three distinct governance structures of master planned communities – single developer model, principal developer model and government led model.
Three case studies from South East Queensland, each being representative of a particular governance structure, are used to evaluate each of the three stages of development with respect to the challenges involved in the provision of infrastructure and services. The paper provides a framework for analysing the relationship between governance structures and the development of master planned communities, focusing on the relationships that exist between institutional stakeholders, and on the potential impacts of
the transfer of infrastructure and service provision from private management to community and local control.