Positive aging and other related terms (optimal, healthy, successful, active, productive aging) are viewed as scientific concepts, most of them operationally described by a broad set of bio-psycho-social factors, assessed through objective and subjective indicators, as well as being closely related to lay concepts reported cross-culturally by older persons. From a semantic perspective most of these terms emphasize a diversity of positive conditions across the aging process and during old age, such as physical fitness and health, optimal cognitive functioning, positive emotional states, and social involvement. Three important methodological issues emerge from the field: (1) although it is generally considered a multidimensional concept there are also researchers who reduce positive aging to just one of its components, (2) moreover, those components can be assessed by objective or/and subjective indicators; and, finally, (3) this conceptual and methodological diversity determines that the prevalence of positive aging reported is extremely broader. Since empirical definition of any scientific concept requires consensus, this paper discusses several definitions of aging with reference to the results yielded by the ELEA Study (Longitudinal Study of Active Aging).Results support a multidimensional concept of positive aging, composed by objective and subjective measures, with a similar structure to well considered definitions of positive aging: health, cognition, activity, positive affect, and physical fitness are the major domains for aging well and this structure is not affected by age or gender. Also, when prevalence of aging well is calculated through simple and multi-domain measure assessed by objective and subjective indicators, multidomains measures show more realistic results.


A novel application of quantitative phase imaging under linearly polarized light is introduced for studying unstained anisotropic live cells. The method is first validated as a technique for mapping the two-dimensional retardation distribution of a well-characterized optical fiber and is then applied to the characterization of unstained isolated cardiac cells. The experimental retardation measurements are in very good agreement with the established Brace-Köhler method, and additionally provide spatially resolved cell birefringence and phase data.


A new tetrabenzofluorene fluorophore, containing 2,2-dicyanoethenylphenyl groups, was synthesized and subjected to photophysical studies. This substance was found to exhibit a relatively intense fluorescence in various organic solvents associated with remarkable solvatofluorochromism [ΔλEM = 170 nm (5060 cm−1) from cyclohexane to CH2Cl2]. In addition, the tetrabenzofluorene derivative displays crystallization-induced enhanced emission (CIEE) in aqueous THF solutions. The results of theoretical calculations show that this substance has a low energy LUMO and that a high level of spatial separation exists between its HOMO and LUMO. This finding suggests that the ground-to-excited state electronic transition of this substance should have intramolecular charge-transfer character. In addition, the tetrabenzofluorene derivative serves as a turn-on fluorescent sensor for cyanide by displaying an intense blue-green fluorescence in the presence of cyanide ions.


Graphene is a promising sensing material due to its high specific area, high electrical conductivity, and low electrical noise. In this work, the n-type doping of monolayer graphene on SiO2/Si by polyethylenimine (PEI) coating and exposure to methanol vapor was investigated using Raman spectroscopy. Pristine graphene was single- and double-coated with PEI via spin-coating. Doping effectiveness was evaluated based on the changes in the Raman features, such as peak position, FWHM, and intensity ratios, of the signature graphene band peaks. In-situ Raman measurements were obtained before, during, and after exposure to methanol in order to investigate the interaction of the gas adsorbates on the graphene surface. The doping method using volatiles can be employed as a gas sensing mechanism of pristine graphene.


The authors describe a case of acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) that occurred in a previously healthy young man. The presentation was similar to that of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and the diagnosis was established by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). The authors note that it is important to recognize the subset of patients with AEP who present with an ARDS-like picture, especially since corticosteroids are very effective in this setting.


Abstract. This paper presents a stochastic weather generator based on analogues of circulation (AnaWEGE). Analogues of circulation have been a promising paradigm to analyse climate variability and its extremes. The weather generator uses precomputed analogues of sea-level pressure over the North Atlantic. The stochastic rules of the generator constrain the continuity in time of the simulations. The generator then simulates spatially coherent time series of a climate variable, drawn from meteorological observations. The weather generator is tested for European temperatures, and for winter and summer seasons. The biases in temperature quantiles and autocorrelation are rather small compared to observed variability. The ability of simulating extremely hot summers and cold winters is also assessed.


Pair a neighborhood in need of revitalization with a university program interested in partnering with their local community, mix them together, and voila! You've bridged the gap between community and university, right? Actually, it takes more effort than that, as was demonstrated by the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department Adopt-a-Park Program at Morris A. Farlow Park.


Effect of the fungus Trichoderma harzianum BI on stimulation of induced systemic resistance in tomato seedling, cv. Early Urbana, based on activity of chitinase and glucanase enzymes in root was measured. Roots of seedling were inoculated by Trichoderma harzianum and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici fungi and second stage juveniles of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne javanica , by method of soil drenching. Changes of chitinase and glucanase enzymes in roots were daily measured by spectrophotometer from the first day of inoculation up to seven days. The results of this enzymes level in plants inoculated with nematode alone, plants inoculated with Fusarium alone and in simultaneous inoculation of nematode and Fusarium , as compared to the application T. harzianum BI before inoculation with nematode and Fusarium , indicate that T. harzianum BI significantly increased chitinase enzyme activity. While glucanase enzyme activity did not increase as a result of antagonist fungus.


Research background: The motive behind intentional non-microbiological contamination or adulteration of foods is to limit costs, enhance competitiveness, and increase profits. Profits motivate entrepreneurs and costs caused by operating a quality assurance program that is not offset by revenue increases are resisted. Purpose of the article: To understand the constraints preventing companies from having quality assurance programs, this study examines differences in importance of various constraints in three food industry sub-sectors in Shanghai, China. Methods: The study applies the own survey data because there is a lack of readily available data on the selected topic. A total of 199 food company representatives completed a questionnaire during a workshop on food regulations between September and December, 2016. Descriptive statistics and the heteroskedasticity corrected regression technique are applied to identify statistically significant factors. Findings & Value added: Results show that perishable food sub-sector companies more often agreed that constraints were important in limiting quality assurance programs as compared to the non-perishable food sub-sector. A company anticipating a decrease in revenues in the three years following the survey (2017-2019), employing seasonal workers, and represented by a middle level manager was more likely to view constraints as barriers. Although Shanghai is a large commercially area, the study does not include companies from other provinces recognizing that some regional specificity may matter in implementing quality assurance program. The identified factors suggest the role for government agencies in facilitating such implementation by offsetting selected costs associated with the process of adopting a quality assurance program, while the society at large learns about factors motivating or hampering the implementation of quality assurance programs by food manufacturing companies. This study fills the void in the literature and provides insights about the constraints faced a company generating knowledge for regional and national regulators useful in choosing subsectors and specific aspects facilitating food quality program implementation.


Some of the emblematic cases of corporate-related infringements of human rights have appeared in unstable and violence-ridden zones, including armed conflict and other contexts with lower levels of conflict, internal disturbances, widespread violence and latent tensions. Businesses have been involved in different ways, as direct perpetrators, accomplices or mere trading partners. This article tracks the issue of conflict-affected areas as elaborated in the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights during the Special Representative's mandate (2005–2011) and the post-mandate period of 2011–2014, especially by looking at the UN Working Group on business and human rights and the emerging National Action Plans. Conflict was a theme of high priority during John Ruggie's UN mandate but lost visibility in the post-2011 period. What could explain this change? This article analyses in depth the relevant provisions in the UN Guiding Principles, particularly Principle 7, and how stakeholders have responded to the Special Representative's policy recommendations. The results of this analysis indicate that, contrary to appearances, Principle 7 is not merely an operational, context-specific principle limited to conflict-affected zones where the host state is incapacitated by conflict; rather Principle 7 should be seen as a foundational principle about gross abuses, about the responsibilities of home states to act preventively and reactively when 'their' companies are involved in gross abuses in conflict-affected areas and beyond.


The purpose of this study is to identify non-formal learning attributes in the community amongst adults in Malaysia guided by the following research questions: (1) What is the profile of adult learners? (2) What are the non-formal learning patterns? (3) Why do the Malay-Muslims participate in non-formal learning? (4) Why do rural community participate in non-formal learning? (5) Why is religion the main learning content? and (6) Why are mosques the main venues for learning?
The study combined quantitative and qualitative methods based on the sequential multi method design. Quantitative method was used specifically for inquiring into first and the second research questions. Qualitative method was employed to address third to sixth research questions.
The quantitative sampling comprised of 3000 respondents aged twenty-one years old and above. Four states namely Kedah, Terengganu, Selangor and Melaka were selected as the locations of the study. Trained enumerators collected data using a set of questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the SPSS program. For the qualitative phase, the researcher conducted a case study at Kampung Kurnia, Kluang, Johor. Eight participants selected using the snowballing sampling technique were interviewed.
The study indicates that learners' profile is Muslim-Malay, non–married middle age, rural community, with lower education level and income. Participation by both genders is about the same. The learners possess a positive attitude towards learning and a high self–esteem. The study also shows that religion is the primary learning content and house of worship as the major learning site, provider and sponsor. Most non-formal learning is free. Majority of the learners spend one to two hours daily for their learning. Acquiring knowledge and serving the community are the primary motives participating in learning. Time and work constraints are the primary learning problem. Based on the case study, participation of Malay-Muslims and rural community is influenced by the religion, values and culture. Religion becomes a major learning content to fulfill the religious obligation and inadequacy feeling of religious knowledge. The mosque is the main learning site because of the influence of religion, values and culture as well as being an important social institution.
The study concludes that adult learners for the non-formal learning come from various socio-demographic backgrounds. Attributes and participation in the learning influenced by contextual factors of religion and culture.


Using airlines as a backdrop, we study optimal overbooking policies with endogenous customer demand, when customers internalize their expected cost of being bumped. We first consider the traditional setting in which compensation for bumped passengers is fixed and booking limits are the airline's only form of control. We provide sufficient conditions under which demand endogeneity leads to lower overbooking limits in this case. We then consider the broader problem of joint control of ticket price, bumping compensation, and booking limit. We show that price and bumping compensation can act as substitutes, which reduces the general problem to a more tractable one-dimensional search for optimal overbooking compensation and effectively allows the value of flying to be decoupled from the cost of being bumped. Finally, we extend our analysis to the case of auction-based compensation schemes and demonstrate that these generally outperform fixed compensation schemes. Numerical experiments that gauge magnitudes suggest that fixed-compensation policies that account for demand endogeneity can significantly outperform those that do not and that auction-based policies bring smaller but still significant additional gains.


Commercial suppliers of nondefense products and services must also comply with acquisition regulations. When they think of government procurement, most people picture multibillion-dollar weapons systems. Media coverage of the termination of large defense contracts reinforces this perception, as did the Persian Gulf War. Admittedly, defense is the largest sector of government procurement and is the focus of the American Institute of CPAs audit and accounting guide, Audits of Federal Government Contractors. However, a number of commercial suppliers provide nondefense products and services to the federal government. It is critical for practitioners auditing these companies and for corporate financial executives to be familiar with the government's system and control requirements if they are to operate successfully in this area. All federal procurement of supplies and services is governed by a precise set of acquisition regulations outlining the framework within which the government and its contractors or prospective contractors operate. The federal acquisition regulation (FAR) is the principal system. Many departments and agencies, such as the Department of Defense and the General Services Administration (GSA), supplement these rules with their own special requirements. All pertinent regulations are available in Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) form from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. Nondefense government contractors often are lulled into a false sense of security; they fail to realize how pervasive the regulatory aspect of government contracting can be. Regulations and requirements apply no matter what product or service a company sells to the government. The chief financial officer of a company selling fighter planes no doubt understands the rules, but the CFO of an office supply company may not recognize the need for strict compliance. This article's purpose is to clarify this confusion, both for independent auditors and for executives with operational and oversight responsibility. FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE PROGRAM The federal supply schedule program (FSSP) is authorized by FAR part 38. Managed by the GSA, the program provides federal agencies with a simplified means of acquiring commonly used supplies and services, including office furniture, copiers, hand tools and computers. As the primary buyer for all agencies, the GSA tries to obtain the lower prices associated with volume purchases by awarding contracts from which individual agencies fulfill their needs. The Veterans Administration is an exception; it has been authorized by the GSA to award federal supply schedule contracts for medical, dental and veterinary supplies. In doing so, the VA has adopted GSA policies, procedures and forms. Under the program, ordering agencies * Issue orders directly to contractors. * Receive shipments. * Pay contractors. * Administer individual orders. Contracts are awarded in two ways: by sealed bid and by negotiation. In both cases they are listed according to product type and are commonly referred to as schedules. Sealed-bidding procedures allow the government to award contracts solely on the basis of the lowest price offered by a qualified supplier. Companies awarded schedule contracts by sealed bid do not have to comply with the rules governing negotiated contracts. For negotiated contracts, the offeror submits a proposal that is the basis for price negotiations. The process results in an agreement between the supplier and the government. These are "bread-and-butter" products with recognized brand names. Four types of schedule contracts are awarded: * Single award schedule. * Multiple award schedule (MAS). * New item introductory schedule. * International federal supply schedule. The principal means of contracting is through the MAS program. …


PURPOSE
To investigate the safety and efficacy of chicken type II collagen in treating uveitis associated with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA).

METHODS
A prospective dose-ranging (60 and 540 microg) pilot study of orally administered chicken type II collagen in 13 participants, aged 2-18 years, with JRA and uveitis and without prior exposure to collagens. Anterior chamber cells, flare, vitreous haze, visual acuity, and concomitant anti-inflammatory medications were the ophthalmic outcomes. Arthritis outcomes included the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) core set.

RESULTS
No serious or related adverse events were reported. Four participants (2 low dose, 2 high dose) experienced improvement in ophthalmic outcome, while two participants (1 in each group) worsened (p > 0.5). According to ACR criteria, six participants showed improvement in JRA.

CONCLUSIONS
Although appearing safe, clearly demonstrating the efficacy of this treatment for JRA or uveitis remains a challenge. Based on the results from this pilot study, a large positive treatment effect on uveitis is unlikely.


This dissertation presents a comprehensive study of the intrinsic room temperature ferromagnetism, RTFM, in technologically important thin films of ZnO, MgO, Mg@ZnO, the so-called d0–magnets that do not contain any intrinsic magnetic elements. We also present the first report on magnetism in Mn doped MgO films fabricated by dc magnetron sputtering. We have just published (April 2013 'on-line') a state of the art review entitled 'p-type ZnO Theory, growth, properties, and devices' in the prestigious journal 'Progress in Materials Science', summarizing the recent advances of the studies on p-type ZnO thin films and pointing out the major challenges that remain in the field. The experimental work then focuses on the magnetic properties of band gap engineered Mg@ZnO films exploiting the fact that by substitutional doping of Mg for Zn in ZnO it is possible to tailor new materials with bandgap energy in the range 3.3 eV to 7.2 eV, thus extending the possibilities for new magnetic and optical device applications. In addition, we show that by doping Mn in MgO its magnetic properties can be enhanced to saturation values as high as 38.5 emu/cm3 in a 92 nm thick film. These studies involve extensive characterization of the high quality films in the thickness range of nanometers, using SQUID magnetometer for magnetic properties, XRD for structural analysis, Dual beam HRSEM/FIB and AFM for accurate film cross-sectioning and surface morphology, EDXS for elemental analysis, UV-VIS NIR for measuring the band gap of MgxZn(1-x)O films, Mg K-edge NEXAFS experiment in order to understand electronic structure of specific cations present in the thin films The origin of the observed room temperature feerromaganetism is attributed to cation vacancies and its consequences on the polarization about these vacancies in the oxides...ZnO films are promising materials for optoelectronic device applications, and the fabrications of high quality p-type ZnO and p–n junction are the key steps to realize these applications. However, reliable p-type doping of the material remains a major challenge because of the self-compensation from native donor defects (VO and Zni) and/or hydrogen incorporation. Considerable efforts to obtain p-type ZnO by doping different elements with various techniques have resulted in remarkable progress in the field both from theoretical and experimental point of view. In our paper, we discuss p-type ZnO materials: theory, growth, properties and devices, comprehensively. We first discuss the native defects in ZnO. Among the native defects in ZnO, VZn and Oi act as acceptors. We then present the theory of p-type doping in ZnO, and summarize the growth techniques for p-type ZnO and the properties of p-type ZnO materials. Experimentally, besides the intrinsic p-type ZnO grown at O-rich ambient, p-type ZnO (MgZnO) materials have been prepared by various techniques using Group-I, IV and V elements. We pay a special attention to the band gap of p-type ZnO by band gap engineering and room temperature ferro magnetism observed in p-type ZnO. Finally, we summarize the devices based on p-type ZnO materials.In presenting the current studies, we first focus on the sputtering process in order to produce high quality films. From a comparative study of RTFM, in MgO films deposited by sputtering from 99.999% pure metallic Mg, Vs MgO targets respectively on glass/Si substrates under identical ambience during deposition it is found that the metallic targets give the best magnetic properties (e.g: with maximum Ms values of ~13.75 emu/g vs ~ 4.2 emu/g respectively on Si substrates.(supplement 2). Furthermore, the Ms values are strongly film thickness dependent with Mg target while it is weakly so for films from MgO target. Also, the as deposited MgO films using metallic Mg target are found to be amorphous, while it is nanocrystalline when the films are sputtered off MgO targets. The overall Ms values are found to be dependent on the oxygen content in the atmosphere during deposition, increasing to 2.69 emu/g at a oxygen partial pressure of 40% of the total working gas pressure. On annealing to nanocrystallize these films in the temperature range 600 to 8000C strong XRD peaks corresponding to (200) orientation are observed, and Ms values decrease proportionately. (supplement 3).With the above information on studies for optimizing the effect of sputtering gas, film thickness, and oxygen partial pressure, PO2, comprehensive investigations on band gap engineering and magnetism in MgxZn(1-x)O co-sputtered thin films from Mg and Zn targets are then closely examined. The optical band gap calculated from absorption spectra shows that the band gaps of Mg-doped ZnO thin films increased linearly from 3.33 to 4.074 eV. Our studies indicate that both the magnetic properties and the band gap of the film can be tailored by tuning the film thickness and PO2 in the working gas.In summary, RTFM ordering in the thin films originates from cation vacancies which couple ferromagnetically and establish long range magnetic order. The ferromagnetic ordering in these materials is shown to arise from defects situated at the cation sites. Electronic structure studies of some selected films disclose that the unoccupied O 2p states exist and this unoccupied state results from cation vacancy (VMg).


The aim of this paper is to look at the UK's renewable energy policy in the context of its overall decarbonisation and energy policies. This will allow us to explore the precise nature of the 'failure' of UK renewables policy and to suggest policy changes which might be appropriate in light of the UK's institutional and resource endowments. Our focus is on the electricity sector both in terms of renewable generation and to a lesser extent the facilitating role of electricity distribution and transmission networks. We will suggest that the precise nature of the failure of UK policy is rather more to do with societal preferences and the available mechanisms for encouraging social acceptability than it is to do with financial support mechanisms. Radical changes to current policy are required, but they must be careful to be institutionally appropriate to the UK. What we suggest is that current policies exhibit an unnecessarily low benefit to cost ratio, and that new policies for renewable deployment must pay close attention to cost effectiveness.


Since the government commissioned the Crossing Bridges programme in 1998 (Falcov, 1998) and through legislation and a number of government policies and initiatives since, there has been emphasis on addressing the needs of families where there are parental mental health problems. Furthermore, there is a fast-growing body of research pointing to the needs of these families. However, service structures, development and provision have lagged behind. Most often parents with mental health difficulties have access to services addressing their individual mental health needs while their needs as parents and the needs of their children remain largely invisible. One such need that has been highlighted repeatedly in the literature is the need for children to have information about and make sense of their parent's mental health difficulties. Given the lack of services to respond to this need, it is most often left to the parent to make decisions about and respond to their child's search for understanding.

This study is a qualitative study that explores parents' experiences of decision-making and responding to this need, and the social processes and dominant discourses that impact on these experiences. Fifteen parents with mental health difficulties were interviewed, using semi-structured individual interviews, which were transcribed, and interpretive Grounded Theory was employed to analyse and interpret the data.

The grounded theory that was constructed suggest two main social processes that impact on parents' talking with their children about parental mental health issues. Firstly, within a relational context, parents were Negotiating mutuality between themselves and their children. Secondly, within an identity context, parents had to navigate Holding on to self, holding on to life. These social processes indicate that both parents' relationships with their children and also their own sense of themselves within the context of their mental distress powerfully shape telling, talking and keeping silent. Implications of these findings both in relation to clinical interventions and future research are considered. In particular, the importance of positioning the parent as active role-player in the healing of their child, and positioning the child as active role-payer in their own meaning-making, are highlighted. Furthermore, developing 'double-stories' beyond the mental health story and beyond 'information' is emphasised and the importance of a sense of continuity of self and identity over time for parent and child is accentuated. Finally, the importance of allowing for complex and ever-evolving understandings of mental distress is indicated, and the role of both talking and remaining silent in this process is stressed.


Since 1966, when criminal defense lawyer Richard Ryder was disciplined for retaining physical evidence that connected his client to a bank robbery, lawyers and courts have struggled with the ethical dilemma of how defense lawyers should deal with physical evidence that potentially incriminates one of their clients. When a lawyer takes possession of an evidentiary item, must she always turn it over to the authorities, as required by most courts that have addressed this dilemma? Or, can defense counsel return the evidence to the source from whom counsel received it as recommended by Standard 4-4.6 of the ABA Criminal Justice Standards for Prosecution and Defense Functions?This Article explores three scenarios that present variations of the physical evidence conundrum and explores the extent to which existing authority provides clear guidance when lawyers find themselves wrestling with a physical evidence quandary. The Article concludes that Standard 4-4.6's more nuanced return-to-the-source rule strikes a better balance between defense counsel's duty as an officer of the court and her duties as a zealous advocate than the mandatory turnover rule championed by most courts and by section 119 of Restatement (Third) of the Laws Governing Lawyers. Finally, the Article urges those revising Standard 4-4.6 to retain its basic approach, but to address some of the weaknesses of the Standard.


Background Cystic Fibrosis (CF) lung disease is characterized by liquid hyperabsorption, airway surface dehydration, and impaired mucociliary clearance (MCC). Herein, we present a compartment-based mathematical model of the airway that extends the resolution of functional imaging data. Methods Using functional imaging data to inform our model, we developed a system of mechanism-motivated ordinary differential equations to describe the mucociliary clearance and absorption of aerosolized radiolabeled particle and small molecules probes from human subjects with and without CF. We also utilized a novel imaging metric in vitro to gauge the fraction of airway epithelial cells that have functional ciliary activity. Results This model, and its incorporated kinetic rate parameters, captures the MCC and liquid dynamics of the hyperabsorptive state in CF airways and the mitigation of that state by hypertonic saline treatment. Conclusions We postulate, based on the model structure and its ability to capture clinical patient data, that patients with CF have regions of airway with diminished MCC function that can be recruited with hypertonic saline treatment. In so doing, this model structure not only makes a case for durable osmotic agents used in lung-region specific treatments, but also may provide a possible clinical endpoint, the fraction of functional ciliated airway.


We propose a new concept upon the renormalization group (RG) procedure for an interacting many-electron correlated system in the framework of natural orbitals, and formulate an algorithm for this RG approach. To demonstrate its effectiveness, we apply this new approach on a quantum cluster-impurity model with four impurities in comparison with the exact diagonalization method. We also find a shortcut to dramatically improving this RG algorithm. Further discussion is presented with the cluster dynamical mean-field theory and multi-impurity/orbital Kondo problems.


Many bacterial and archaeal species can couple growth to the respiratory reduction or oxidation of insoluble mineral oxides of transition metals. These solid substrates are abundant electron sinks and sources for life on Earth, but, since they are insoluble in water, they cannot enter the bacterial cells. So, to exploit these electron sinks and sources, specific respiratory electron-transfer mechanisms must overcome the physical limitations associated with electron transfer between a microbe and extracellular metal oxides. Recent microbiological, geochemical, biochemical, spectroscopic and structural work is beginning to shed light on the molecular mechanism and impacts of electron transfer at the microbe–mineral interface from a nanometre to kilometre scale. The research field is attracting attention in applied quarters from those with interests in nanowires, microbial fuel cells, bioremediation and microbial cell factories.


OBJECTIVE To investigate lipid levels in former gestational diabetic mothers, 5–6 years postpartum, and to evaluate the relationship of these values to glucose, insulin, BMI, and blood pressure. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The subjects studied were 56 former gestational diabetic mothers and 48 control mothers 5–6 years postpartum. Two hours after a 50-g carbohydrate meal, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), HDL and LDL cholesterol, glucose, and insulin were measured and compared between the two groups (analysis of variance). BMI and blood pressure were also evaluated. The risk of finding an abnormal metabolic, anthropometric, or hemodynamic parameter in either group was assessed (X2 analysis and Fisher's exact test). Correlation coefficients were assessed between the lipids versus insulin, glucose, BMI, and blood pressure. RESULTS Mean TC, TG, LDL cholesterol, glucose, and systolic blood pressure were significantly higher in the gestational diabetic mothers than in the control mothers. In addition, there was greater likelihood of finding an abnormal TC ≥ 5.17 mmol/l, LDL cholesterol ≥ 4.14 mmol/l, and systolic blood pressure > 140 mmHg in gestational diabetic mothers. Triglycerides correlated with BMI, insulin, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and HDL cholesterol correlated inversely with insulin in gestational diabetic mothers. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that at 5–6 years postpartum, former gestational diabetic mothers demonstrate changes in lipid levels that differ from control mothers and that specific lipids correlate with cardiovascular risk factors. Further study is needed to evaluate gestational diabetic mothers for the development of cardiovascular risk factors including insulin resistance.


In this paper, we address the trade-off between the data plane efficiency and the control plane timeliness for the BitTorrent performance. We argue that loss-based congestion control protocols can fill large buffers, leading to a higher end-to-end delay, unlike low-priority or delay-based congestion control protocols. We perform experiments for both the uTorrent and mainline BitTorrent clients, and we study the impact of uTP (a novel transport protocol proposed by BitTorrent) and several TCP congestion control algorithms (Cubic, New Reno, LP, Vegas and Nice) on the download completion time. Briefly, in case peers in the swarm all use the same congestion control algorithm, we observe that the specific algorithm has only a limited impact on the swarm performance. Conversely, when a mix of TCP congestion control algorithms coexists, peers employing a delay-based low-priority algorithm exhibit shorter completion time.


Globalisation and the development of information technologies promise to increase the quality of human communications and to foster general economic growth. What, however, is the impact of this digital evolution on fundamental rights, such as privacy or data protection (recently codified in the Lisbon Treaty) and digital identity (a possible new right in the future)? The aim of this paper is to identify the main challenges and risks that these rights have to face within a global digital environment and, in the meantime, highlight the opportunities that human rights (HRs) protection could receive from digital technologies, if they are properly deployed. It will consider as case-studies some significant 'digital events' of the web.2.0 era, namely the recent developments in the functionality of social networking sites (SNS), e.g. Facebook's default privacy settings and the launch of its new facial recognition system: these examples will be used as starting points for a wider discussion on the evolution of digital rights and in particular of data protection rights. Moreover, the SNS example will offer the occasion for a reflection on the users' online attitudes concerning data protection and identity management and for a consideration of the increasing use of networked technologies in the digital environment, often relying on human physical/behavioural attributes, which strain some of the main data protection requirements (e.g. consent). These reflections will lead to canvassing the possibility of theorising a right to digital identity, as a comprehensive right for the citizen/user of the digital era, and of implementing it by means of a suitable legal-technical approach.


Abstract: Interactions with predators and parasites can result in traces found on Recent and fossil echinoids. However, identifying specific trace makers, particularly on fossil echinoids, remains contentious. To document the range of trace morphologies present on echinoids and improve our ability to identify and quantify biotic interactions affecting echinoids, we characterized traces found on fossil echinoids using museum collections and field sampling spanning the Jurassic to Recent worldwide. Using light microscopy, 8,564 individual echinoid specimens were examined including 130 species, and 516 traces of potential biotic interactions identified. Morphological characteristics were recorded for each trace, including the shape of the trace outline, maximum diameter and cross-section profile. Based on shared morphological characteristics, it was possible to classify all traces into eight categories: circular, subcircular, elongated, irregular, rectangular, figure-eight, notched, and linear. Cross-section characteristics provided additional insights into the identity of potential trace makers. To further evaluate the proposed biotic origins of these traces, trace diversity was examined through time and compared with anticipated ecological trends associated with the diversification of echinoids, and their predators and parasites. Trace diversity increased over time, starting in the late Eocene, coincident with the proliferation of echinoid-drilling gastropods, an indication that biotic interactions intensified through evolutionary time, as predicted by several macroevolutionary hypotheses previously tested using mollusks. The morphological descriptions provided here enhance our understanding of biotic traces on fossil echinoids, and the potential to identify temporal trends in the intensity and diversity of biotic interactions that have affected echinoids throughout their evolutionary history.


The following is a tool developed by the Water and Sanitation Division of the IDB for evaluating customer management practices in use by water and sewerage utilities. In order to facilitate the use of this tool, all matters which relate to customer management have been grouped into four main functional areas: the "Billing Factory" (or the recurrent billing and collection activities); Revenue Management; Customer Care (management of contacts with customers); and Customer Marketing, a relatively new activity in water and sewerage companies, which aims to study and propose solutions tailored for various types of customers. The tool is an Excel program, designed to be freestanding. This tool may be used in two major ways, as a support for dialogue between a professional of customer management and an external expert, or directly by the company itself to measure the consistency of different approaches to customer management and perceptions regarding their effectiveness.


We prove that for no nontrivial ordered abelian group G, the ordered power series eld R((G)) admits an exponential, i.e. an isomorphism between its ordered additive group and its ordered multiplicative group of positive elements , but that there is a non-surjective logarithm. For an arbitrary ordered eld k, no exponential on k((G)) is compatible, that is, induces an exponential on k through the residue map. This is proved by showing that certain functional equations for lexicographic powers of ordered sets are not solvable.


Volatilization of ammonia (NH3) from animal manure is a major pathway for nitrogen (N) losses that cause eutrophication, acidification, and other environmental hazards. In this study, the effect of alternative techniques of manure treatment (aeration, separation, addition of peat) and application (broadcast spreading, band spreading, injection, incorporation by harrowing) on NH3 emissions in the field and on N uptake by ley or cereals was studied. The effect of a mixture of slurry and peat on soil properties was also investigated. The aim of this study was to find ways to improve the utilization of manure N and reduce its release to the environment. Injection into the soil or incorporation by harrowing clearly reduced NH3 volatilization from slurry more than did the surface application onto a smaller area by band spreading or reduction of the dry matter of slurry by aeration or separation. Surface application showed low NH3 volatilization, when pig slurry was applied to tilled bare clay soil or to spring wheat stands in early growth stages. Apparently, the properties of both slurry and soil enabled the rapid infiltration and absorption of slurry and its ammoniacal N by the soil. On ley, however, surface-applied cattle slurry lost about half of its ammoniacal N. The volatilization of NH3 from surface-applied peat manure was slow, but proceeded over a long period of time. After rain or irrigation, the peat manure layer on the soil surface retarded evaporation. Incorporation was less important for the fertilizer effect of peat manure than for pig slurry, but both manures were more effective when incorporated. Peat manure applications increase soil organic matter content and aggregate stability. Stubble mulch tillage hastens the effect in surface soil compared with ploughing. The apparent recovery of ammoniacal manure N in crop yield was higher with injection and incorporation than with surface applications. This was the case for leys as well as for spring cereals, even though NH3 losses from manures applied to cereals were relatively low with surface applications as well. The ammoniacal N of surface-applied slurry was obviously adsorbed by the very surface soil and remained mostly unavailable to plant roots in the dry soil. Supplementing manures with inorganic fertilizer N, which adds plant-available N to the soil at the start of growth, increased the overall recovery of applied N in crop yields.


Ice‐nucleating particles (INPs) are required for initial ice crystal formation in clouds at temperatures warmer than about −36°C and thus play a crucial role in cloud and precipitation formation. Biomass burning has been found to be a source of INPs in previous studies and is also a major contributor to atmospheric black carbon (BC) concentrations. This study focuses on isolating the BC contribution to the INP population associated with biomass combustion. Emissions of condensation mode INPs from a number of globally relevant biomass fuels were measured at −30°C and above water saturation as fires progressed from ignition to extinguishment in a laboratory setting. Number emissions of INPs were found to be highest during intense flaming combustion (modified combustion efficiency > 0.95). Overall, combustion emissions from 13 of 22 different biomass fuel types produced measurable INP concentrations for at least one replicate experiment. On average, all burns that produced measureable INPs had higher combustion efficiency, which is associated with higher BC emissions, than those that did not produce measureable INPs. Across all burns that produced measureable INPs, concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 10 cm−3, and the median emission factor was about 2 × 107 INPs per kilogram of fuel burned. For a subset of the burns, the contribution of refractory black carbon (rBC) to INP concentrations was determined by removing rBC via laser‐induced incandescence. Reductions in INPs of 0–70% were observed, indicating an important contribution of rBC particles to INP concentrations for some burns, especially marsh grasses.


Background: Tamoxifen (TMX) is a synthetic drug that is widely used for treatment of breast cancer. Despite the beneficial effects of TMX, the use of this drug has several side effects such as the development of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) in the patients. Silybum marianum is the most researched plant in treatment of liver disease. Objectives: In this study the effect of Silybum marianum Extract (SME) on histological and biochemical parameters in TMX-treated rats was investigated. Materials and Methods: Adult female Wistar rats were divided to four groups; 1) normal control untreated rats, 2) SME-treated rats, that received only SME in a dose of 1.6 g/kg body weight/day, oral gavage for 14 days, 3) TMX-treated rats, that received TMX in a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight/day, subcutaneously, for seven days, 4) TMX-SME-treated rats, that received TMX in a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight/day, subcutaneously, for seven days and then SME by oral gavage for 14 days. The groups were compared in terms of serum glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT), Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP), High-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (HDL-C), Low-Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (LDL-C), total protein and liver triglyceride amount, and histological findings. Results: Concentrations of HDL-C and protein decreased and activity of ALT increased in TMX group compared with the control group. The SME increased protein concentration and decreased ALT activity in TMX-SME group compared with the TMX group. Histopathological examination and triglyceride assay in liver tissues showed lipid accumulation in the TMX-treated rats and amelioration of lipid accumulation in the liver of TMX-SME-treated rats. Conclusions: Intake of water extract of Silybum marianum is a useful treatment for liver function in drug-induced fatty liver.


This book offers a dynamic theory of law and economics focused on change over time, aimed at avoiding significant systemic risks (like financial crises and climate disruption) and implemented through a systematic analysis of law's economic incentives and how people actually respond to them. This theory offers a new vision of law as fundamentally a macro-level enterprise establishing normative commitments and a framework for numerous private transactions, rather than as an analogue to a market transaction. It explains how neoclassical law and economics sparked decades of deregulation culminating in the 2008 financial collapse. It then shows how economic dynamic theory helps scholars and policymakers make wise choices about how to avoid future catastrophes while keeping open a robust set of economic opportunities, with individual chapters addressing the law and economics of financial regulation, contract, property, intellectual property, antitrust, national security and climate disruption.


ABSTRACT Contemporary models of motor learning implicate the value of Parkour-style training as an activity to enrich athletic performance in different sports. We explored Parkour Traceurs' experiential knowledge on the range of physical, perceptual, psychological and social skills that they perceive to be developed during Parkour practice and performance. We also investigated their recommendations on how to design Parkour practice to facilitate the development of foundational performance behaviours. Experienced male Parkour Traceurs (n = 14) were interviewed using an open-ended, semi-structured approach, with a two-stage thematic analysis being conducted to identify themes. The analysis identified two dimensions: Skills Developed Through Parkour and Recommendations for Designing Parkour Training Environments. Parkour Traceurs outlined numerous physical (locomotor skills; endurance; strength; agility; balance), perceptual (multi-limb coordination; control precision; rate control; response orientation), psychological (problem-solving; stress relief; self-efficacy; risk management) and social (networking; initiative; social perceptiveness; receptiveness to feedback) capacities and skills that could be augmented through Parkour training. Parkour Traceurs explained how indoor Parkour environments should promote creative and exploratory movement behaviours that enable physical conditioning, whilst enhancing decision-making and action functionality. Responses suggest that these aims are often achieved by designing a modular practice landscape where Parkour Traceurs manipulate the spacing, orientation and angles of bars and wall set-ups to facilitate the development of different perceptual, cognitive and physical skills. In conclusion, this study provides insights on how affordances offered by a Parkour environment could be integrated into practice to enhance athlete self-regulation and transfer of functional behaviours to team sport performance.


We developed a long-term tagging method that can be used to understand species assemblages and social groupings associated with large marine fishes such as the Sand Tiger shark Carcharias taurus. We deployed internally implanted archival VEMCO Mobile Transceivers (VMTs; VEMCO Ltd. Nova Scotia, Canada) in 20 adult Sand Tigers, of which two tags were successfully recovered (10%). The recovered VMTs recorded 29,646 and 44,210 detections of telemetered animals respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate a method for long-term (~ 1 year) archival acoustic transceiver tag implantation, retention, and recovery in a highly migratory marine fish. Results show low presumed mortality (n = 1, 5%), high VMT retention, and that non-lethal recovery after almost a year at liberty can be achieved for archival acoustic transceivers. This method can be applied to study the social interactions and behavioral ecology of large marine fishes.


Abstract Raman microscopy of the kaolinite polymorphs was used to study single crystals and bundles of aligned crystals of kaolinite. The spectra of the hydroxyl stretching region were both sample and orientation dependent. Kaolinites can be classified into two groups according to the ratio of the intensities of the 3685 and 3695 cm-1 bands. No relationship was found between the d-spacing and the crystal domain size measurement from the 001 reflection and the Raman spectral intensities indicating the Raman spectra are independent of d-spacing and crystallinity. However, a relationship of the crystallinity in the a-b direction and intensities of the 3685 and 3695 cm-1 bands indicate that the relative position of one layer to the other determines the position of the inner surface hydroxyl groups and the hydrogen bonding with the oxygen of the opposite layer. A new hypothesis based on symmetric and non-symmetric hydrogen bonding of the inner surface hydroxyl groups is proposed to explain the two inner surface hydroxyl bands centred at 3685 and 3695 cm-1. The bands at 3670 and 3650 cm-1 are described in terms of the out-of-phase vibrations of the in-phase vibrations at 3695 and 3685 cm-1.


Populist antitrust notions suddenly are fashionable again. At their core is the view that antitrust law is responsible for a myriad of purported socio-political problems plaguing society today, including but not limited to rising income inequality, declining wages, and increasing economic and political concentration. Seizing on Americans' fears about changes to the modern US economy, proponents of populist antitrust policies assert the need to fundamentally reshape how we apply our nation's competition laws in order to implement a variety of prescriptions necessary to remedy these perceived social ills. The proposals are varied and expansive but have the unifying theme of returning antitrust to the "big-is-bad" enforcement era prevalent in the first half of the twentieth century.

But the criticisms populist antitrust proponents raise are generally unsupported and often dramatized, and the resulting policy proposals are, accordingly, fatally flawed. There is sparse evidence today suggesting that the underlying trends these critics purportedly identify are real or in any way linked to lax antitrust enforcement. Ironically, populist antitrust proponents ignore that antitrust law debated over 50 years ago the same proposals that they are raising anew today. At that time, leading jurists, economists, enforcers, and practitioners from across the political spectrum rejected the use of liability standards that seek to evaluate a variety of vague and often contradictory socio-political goals or that condemn conduct based simply on the size of a company. They recognized that these tests led to incoherent and paradoxical results that often did more to hinder than to promote competition by undermining the rule of law and fostering corporate welfare. Instead, antitrust evolved the elegant "consumer welfare standard" that simplified the core issue of what constitutes harm to competition into a straightforward question: does the conduct at issue harm consumers?

Today, the consumer welfare standard offers a rigorous, objective, and evidence-based framework for antitrust analysis. It leverages developments in modern economics more reliably to predict when conduct is likely to harm consumers as a result of harm to competition. It offers a tractable test that is broad enough to contemplate a variety of evidence related to consumer welfare but also sufficiently objective and clear to cabin discretion and honor the principle of the rule of law. Perhaps most significantly, it is inherently an economic approach to antitrust that benefits from new economic learning and is capable of evaluating an evolving set of commercial practices and business models. These virtues are precisely the target of the new populist antitrust movement, which seeks to reject economics in favor of mere supposition.

This Article makes the case in support of the current consumer welfare standard and against a sweeping set of unsupported populist antitrust reforms. There is significant room for debate within the consumer welfare model for what types of conduct should face antitrust scrutiny, what evidence is relevant, and where liability standards should be drawn. Such debate is healthy and to the benefit of antitrust enforcement. But it does not require abandoning decades of experience and economic learning that would turn back the hands of time and return us to an era where antitrust enforcement was incoherent and deleterious.


The human papilloma virus (HPY) infection has a causal association with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cervical cancer. However, pre-malignant or malignant transformation is not always observed with HPY infection. lILA molecules are important in the regulation of the immune response to foreign antigens. The role of genetic variation at the HLA class II loci (DR and DQ) in CIN was investigated in 176 British Caucasian patients and 420 controls (normal cervical cytology and negative for HPY 16, 18, 31 and 33). HLA DQB 1 *03 typing was performed by a novel polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism method (A-RFLP). The technique uses PCR to mutate the first base of codon 40 (DQ alleles) from T to G to create an artificial restriction site for an enzyme, MluI, which distinguishes DQB 1 *03 from other alleles and is confirmed by digestion of amplified DNA with MluI. Further HLA DR-DQ typing was performed by PCR DNA amplification and oligonucleotide probe typing. HPY types (16, 18, 31 & 33) were detected by using type-specific oligonucleotide primers and PCR. The alleles of the DQB 1 *03, DRB 1 *04 and DRB 1 * 11 groups were strongly associated with susceptibility to CIN. Specifically the haplotypes DRB 1 *040 I-DQB 1 *0301 and DRBl*1101-DQB1*0301 were significant and indicated susceptibility. The DQBl*03 locus was more contributory to this association than the DRB 1 loci. A weak protective effect was shown for the haplotype DRB 1 *0 10 I-DQB 1 *0501. Positive correlation was also observed for HPY-positive CIN, suggesting that specific HLA alleles may be important in determining the immune response to HPY antigens and the risk for CIN after HPY infection. Immunoaffinity purification of the susceptibility and protective HLA ~ molecules was performed and the naturally processed peptides were eluted and sequenced by Edman degradation. The data obtained was used for motif prediction of HPY 16 E6, E7, Ll and L2 sequences that may be capable of binding to these HLA molecules. Motif prediction as well as the binding affinity of predicted peptide motifs for HLA D RB 1 *0401 and DRB 1 *0 10 1 was accomplished using the published data' on the naturally bound peptide sequences bound to these HLA molecules. The results revealed significant differences in both the number and binding affinity of the HPV 16 derived peptides to the protective and susceptibility HLA molecules. These results should help in the rational design of vaccines against HPV.


Abstract. Past characterizations of the land–ocean continuum were constructed either from a continental perspective through an analysis of watershed river basin properties (COSCATs: COastal Segmentation and related CATchments) or from an oceanic perspective, through a regionalization of the proximal and distal continental margins (LMEs: large marine ecosystems). Here, we present a global-scale coastal segmentation, composed of three consistent levels, that includes the whole aquatic continuum with its riverine, estuarine and shelf sea components. Our work delineates comprehensive ensembles by harmonizing previous segmentations and typologies in order to retain the most important physical characteristics of both the land and shelf areas. The proposed multi-scale segmentation results in a distribution of global exorheic watersheds, estuaries and continental shelf seas among 45 major zones (MARCATS: MARgins and CATchments Segmentation) and 149 sub-units (COSCATs). Geographic and hydrologic parameters such as the surface area, volume and freshwater residence time are calculated for each coastal unit as well as different hypsometric profiles. Our analysis provides detailed insights into the distributions of coastal and continental shelf areas and how they connect with incoming riverine fluxes. The segmentation is also used to re-evaluate the global estuarine CO2 flux at the air–water interface combining global and regional average emission rates derived from local studies.


This article looks at influential survey texts on world art history since c. 1980, and considers how they have dealt with the art nearest to them in time. I examine the terminology used, and problems of classification, periodization, and history writing at large. In order to describe how these texts struggle with the terms contemporary and postmodern, I focus on their treatment of conceptual art and two artists: Joseph Beuys and Cindy Sherman. The symbolic and economic consolidation of contemporary art during the last decade or so prompts me to establish a broader frame of understanding, linking it to constructions of the contemporary in the nineteenth century and to the idea of co-existing temporalities for art.


The academic basic education and training of military officers is still very young in both Sweden and Austria compared to other professions such as lawyers and physicians. As the training of officers has changed to meet academic requirements throughout Europe, so has the approach to educating and training of leadership. Contemporary research has stressed that weaknesses in interaction between theory and practice often result in polarisation and consequently a poor understanding of how academic knowledge should be put to use in action. In this thesis the measures of cross-fertilizing theory and practice at the Swedish Officers' Programme and the Austrian 'FH-Bachelor Programme Military Leadership' are investigated.The methodological approach is of qualitative descriptive design and the data used are mainly derived from syllabuses, official documents and two in-depth interviews which are conducted with the directors of the respective academies leadership education and training sections. First, the author analyses how leadership is modelled and conceptualised, secondly the modules containing leadership education and training are reviewed and finally the didactic methods applied are examined.The results indicate that Sweden and Austria have two widely different means of modelling leadership as well as of cross-fertilizing theory and practice. Austria lays more emphasis on intercultural competence and bringing in officers from the field whereas Sweden currently is reshaping its present concept raising the requirements on the background of the teachers. Based on the research and its results, the author suggests that Sweden could draw inspiration from the Austrian model of educating and training leadership in order to promote the intertwining effect of theory and practice.


This study sought to examine how social class bias may be enacted by mentors and mentoring program staff within community-based youth mentoring relationships and how these biases may influence the mentoring relationship. A narrative thematic analysis was conducted with interviews from mentors, mentees' parents/caregivers, and mentoring program staff representing 36 matches participating in a larger, prospective, mixed-methods study examining factors associated with early match closures. Findings indicate that although some mentors were able to partner with the youth and family to effectively navigate challenges related to the family's economic circumstances, other mentors and some mentoring program staff held deficit views of the youth and their family that appeared to be at least partially rooted in negative social class-based assumptions about attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, we observed tendencies on the part of some mentors and program staff toward (a) deficit-based views of families and youth, (b) individual-level attributions for the family's economic circumstances and blaming of caregivers, and (c) perceiving mentors as being underappreciated by the youth's caregiver. These deficit perspectives contributed to the minimization of parent/caregiver voice in the mentoring process and negative interpretations of parent/caregiver and, in some cases, youth attitudes and behaviors.


Local authorities are key actors for implementing innovative energy efficiency technologies (retrofitting) to reduce end-use energy demand and consequently reduce negative effects of high energy use such as climate change and public budget deficits. This paper reports the results of a large-scale survey of German municipalities by assessing drivers and barriers for deploying LED street lighting as an example of innovative retrofits. The results indicate that competencies and capacities, transparency of the underlying technology base, and a clear proposition of savings are crucial drivers for municipal retrofitting engagement. Most significant barriers include lack of experience, the tendency to wait for future improvements of innovative energy efficiency technologies, and existing contracts with energy suppliers, manufacturers, or other conventional retrofitting contractors. Investments in municipal competency building (both regarding technologies and procurement) as well as diffusing standard tendering criteria and (public) monitoring of their effectiveness are highly recommended to accelerate the municipal modernization process.


Anti-CD4 treatment is reported to prevent collagen-induced arthritis if administered before the onset of clinical disease but has relatively little effect on established arthritis. In contrast, we have recently shown that anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha/beta (TNF) treatment reduces the severity of established arthritis. We now study the effect of combined administration of anti-CD4 monoclonal antibody (YTS 191.1.2/YTA 3.1.2) and anti-TNF monoclonal antibody (TN3-19.12) in established arthritis. Anti-CD4 treatment caused some reduction in paw-swelling but did not significantly prevent joint erosion. A suboptimal dose of anti-TNF alone had no significant effect on arthritis. In contrast, anti-CD4 plus suboptimal anti-TNF significantly reduced paw-swelling, limb involvement, and joint erosion. As previously reported, an optimal dose of anti-TNF alone inhibited paw-swelling, limb involvement, and joint erosion. However, optimal anti-TNF combined with anti-CD4 caused significantly greater reductions in paw-swelling and joint erosion than those achieved by optimal anti-TNF alone. Coadministration of anti-CD4 was also effective in preventing an antibody response to the hamster anti-TNF antibody, which may have implications for long-term therapy in human disease. Thus anti-CD4 acts synergistically with anti-TNF in ameliorating established collagen-induced arthritis and this combined therapeutic approach may provide effective long-term control of rheumatoid arthritis.


"Trade liberalization is expected to act positively on world economic development and poverty alleviation, both of which have become high priorities of the international community. This emphasis explains why numerous studies have focused on assessing the expected benefits of trade liberalization on development. The main empirical tools for these assessments have been the use of spatial and nonspatial partial equilibrium models, gravity equations, and single- and multicountry computable general equilibrium models (CGEMs). Multicountry CGEMs, however, have produced strikingly divergent results. As demonstrated by recent studies, the associated increase in world welfare from full trade liberalization ranges from 0.2 to 3.1 percent—results that differ by a factor of 15! The objective of this study is to examine the efficiency of trade modeling in capturing the benefits from trade liberalization. It provides a survey of methodologies utilized to assess the impact of trade liberalization, putting an emphasis on multicountry CGEMs, and examines the extent to which such assessments diverge. The survey also demonstrates the benefits of "complementary analysis," which utilizes different methodologies to study a specific topic. The report presents global modeling results using a general equilibrium model—the modeling international relations under applied general equilibrium (MIRAGE) model—the results of which are compared to those obtained in recent studies. Using the MIRAGE model,1 full trade liberalization is estimated to increase world real income by US$100 billion (+0.33 percent) after 10 years of implementation. This trade reform would be development-friendly, as it entails a larger growth rate of real income for developing countries and especially for least-developed countries." "Authors' Abstract


The hydraulics theory and wind-wave modelling are used to model annual changes of a threshold (sand bar) height at the mouth of the Narva River in 2002. The changes in the threshold height are attributed to two mechanisms: the cross-shore sediment transport driven by the river flow that erodes the obstacle and the long-shore transport forced by waves that increases the threshold height. It is shown that the flow stratification in the river mouth switches between one- and two-layer modes in different seasons, depending on variations of water level, river discharge and wave activity.


The paper examines Dickson's (1999) question how it is possible to hold the theoryladen observation thesis and, at the same time, to uphold the thesis of the empirical equivalence of theories. After the elucidation of several semantic distinctions we propose the definitions of empirical equivalence of expressions and theories, respectively. In the next step, we scrutinize the theory-ladenness thesis more closely and propose three distinct, but related, specifications of it. Finally, we reconsider the two theses in question order to show that they could be interpreted as fully compatible.


In this work we introduce a theoretical and computational modeling framework for the contractile response of single cells triggered by external mechanical stimuli. The structural response due to the formation and dissociation of stress fibers is modeled following isotropic anisotropic contractile phases with an orientation that evolves with time and strain. The passive and active structural components are postulated to act in parallel, and the re‐orientation process drives the anisotropic phase of stress fiber orientation to align with the direction of the maximum principal stretch. A reduced form of the Hai‐Murphy model is used to follow kinetics of myosin states considering the combined effect of "latch"‐ and "cross"‐bridge states. The introduction of distinct isotropic and anisotropic activation allows modeling of the contractile intensity of each phase. Tractions on the cell surface initiate bio‐chemical signaling through the RhoA pathway, which in turn controls both myosin contraction and F‐actin polymerization. A signaling model is introduced to effectively connect intracellular events with the tractions on the cell surface. The overall model is defined by a free energy density function that couples the deformation and the activation, and associated equilibrium and kinetic models for evolution. Features of the model are highlighted via implementation in a finite element model and application to benchmark problems. The model captures the dynamic contractile responses of cells and stress fiber re‐alignment under complex load histories. For example, physiologically relevant scenario such as relaxation of cells to their initial state upon removal of applied loads can be simulated.


Purpose of review Patients with diseases affecting the central nervous system present a wide range of clinical manifestations increasing the perioperative risk. The following review focused on recommendations for anaesthesiological management in patients with both neurologic and psychiatric diseases. Recent findings The heterogeneity of disorders affecting the central nervous system and the variability of comorbidities make definition of standards for anaesthesiological management difficult. Anatomical malpositions, pulmonary and cardiac co-morbidities determine the perioperative risk. Patients require a careful preoperative assessment, including interdisciplinary communication between neurologists, psychiatrists or paediatric physicians. Adequate devices and equipment for airway management should be available before induction of general anesthesia. For premedication in patients with limited respiratory function, clonidine, given orally, is a good alternative. The use of short-acting hypnotic and analgesic drugs (e.g. propofol/remifentanil) can be safely administered for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. The use of volatile agents and succinylcholine is strictly avoided in patients with muscular dystrophy and myopathies. Peripheral and neuroaxial regional anesthesia is not contraindicated in patients with neuromuscular diseases unless there is a rapid deterioration of the neurological status. Summary The 'best' anesthesia includes adequate preoperative evaluation of the individual risk, optimization of comorbidities before elective surgery, the use of short-acting anesthetic agents for induction and maintenance of general anesthesia, avoidance of volatile agents and succinylcholine in muscular dystrophy and myopathies.


This thesis uses techniques and theory from argumentation, informal logic, and critical thinking to assess the quality of arguments presented by journalists in Pulitzer Prize-winning stories. Journalists strive to inform citizens about the way their world is, was, and will be. These claims about the world are descriptive arguments, which can be accepted or rejected based on the quality of their reasons and evidence. Argumentation, informal logic, and critical thinking provide tools for determining whether the reasons and evidence given in an argument support its conclusion. So one way to test whether journalists fulfill their goal of informing citizens is to see whether they offer good reasons and evidence to support their conclusions. This thesis carries out such a test on Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporting. It finds that the stories frequently presented insufficient evidence in support of their conclusions, while also struggling to justify important assumptions and appeals to authority.


A soil compaction study was performed on 20 timber harvest units on both rocky (15-35% by volume gravel) and non-rocky (<15% by volume gravel) surface soils of the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas, to determine if these areas met the USDA Forest Service Southern Region (R8) soil quality standards for compaction and affected area extent. The compaction standard states bulk density cannot increase more than 15% from its natural (undisturbed) level and not more than 15% of an activity area can be adversely affected. Eight of the study units exceeded this standard. These eight units generally contained less than 15% rock fragments in the top 8 inches (20 cm) of soil, and seven of the eight had been harvested during the moist season (December-June) using rubber tire skidders. The non-rocky soil units, when harvested during the dry season (July-November), resulted in about 20-50% less compaction than when harvested during the moist season. Non-rocky soils with a sandy loam surface tended to compact less during dry season but more during moist season equipment operation than the non-rocky loam or silt loam soils. Compaction also averaged about 30-50% less on the rocky soils than on non-rocky soils. On the rocky soils, logging equipment operation during either the dry or moist season did not show a difference, and only native surface roads and log decks tended to have a greater than 15% bulk density increase. Compaction due to timber harvest activities that had occurred at least 15-20 years earlier averaged about 9% bulk density increase for the nonrocky soils and 7% for the rocky soils, and indicated that partial recovery had occurred. An analysis of surface infiltration rates found that a 15% density change resulted in more than 60% reduction in infiltration. This study also found that a 15% density change can be visually determined by change in soil structure.


In this study, crashworthiness assessment and suggestions for the modification of a railroad passenger car are presented. To assess the crashworthiness, collision of the railroad passenger car onto a rigid wall is simulated by using finite element (FE) methods. A full-length, detailed passenger car model is used in FE analyses. In order to validate the FE model, simulation results obtained for different types of static loading conditions in compliance with various scenarios defined in UIC CODE OR 577 are compared with experimental measurements before running collision analyses of the railroad passenger car. The good agreement between static tests and FE analyses results indicates that the FE model accurately represents the real structure. Following the FE model validation, analysis of the collision behaviour of the railroad passenger car consists of two stages. In the first stage, the crashworthiness of the initial concept design of the railroad passenger car is analysed. It was observed that local buckling takes place at various points, which prevents the desired progressive damage behaviour in the railroad car body. Having revealed the structural weaknesses, the initial design was modified and simulated again under the same conditions. Using size optimisation, thickness of some sheet metal components is changed in order to obtain the intended progressive damage behaviour. As a result of the modifications, the passenger car design with better crashworthiness properties was obtained, in which large plastic deformations occur around the collision side of the car while mainly elastic deformations occur in the car's body away from the bumpers.


The neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are usually thought to be weakly magnetized objects accreting matter from their low-mass companions in the form of a disk. Albeit weak compared to those in young neutron-star systems, the neutron-star magnetospheres in LMXBs can play an important role in determining the correlations between spectral and temporal properties. Parallel tracks appearing in the kilohertz (kHz) quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) frequency versus X-ray flux plane can be used as a tool to study the magnetosphere–disk interaction in neutron-star LMXBs. For dynamically important weak fields, the formation of a non-Keplerian magnetic boundary layer at the innermost disk truncated near the surface of the neutron star is highly likely. Such a boundary region may harbor oscillatory modes of frequencies in the kHz range. We generate parallel tracks using the boundary region model of kHz QPOs. We also present the direct application of our model to the reproduction of the observed parallel tracks of individual sources such as 4U 1608–52, 4U 1636–53, and Aql X-1. We reveal how the radial width of the boundary layer must vary in the long-term flux evolution of each source to regenerate the parallel tracks. The run of the radial width looks similar for different sources and can be fitted by a generic model function describing the average steady behavior of the boundary region over the long term. The parallel tracks then correspond to the possible quasi-steady states the source can occupy around the average trend.


A channel graph is the union of all paths between a given input and a given output in an interconnection network. At any moment in time, each vertex in such a graph is either idle or busy. The search problem that we consider is to find a path (from the given input to the given output) consisting entirely of idle vertices or to find a cut (separating the given input from the given output) consisting entirely of busy vertices. We shall also allow the search to fail to find either a path or a cut with some probability bounded by a parameter called the failure probability. This is to be accomplished by sequentially probing the idle-or-busy status of vertices, where the vertex chosen for each probe may depend on the outcome of previous probes. Thus, a search algorithm may be modeled as a decision tree. For average-case analysis, we assume that each vertex is independently idle with some fixed probability, called the vacancy probability (and therefore busy with the complementary probability). For one commonly studied channel graph type, the parallel graph, we show that the expected number of probes is at most proportional to the length of a path, irrespective of the vacancy probability, and even if the allowed failure probability is zero. Another type of channel graph that we study is the spider-web graph, which is superior to the parallel graph as regards linking probability (the probability that an idle path, rather than a busy cut, exists). For this graph, we give upper and lower bounds that grow exponentially with the length of a path, when the vacancy probability and failure probability are fixed appropriately.


Wave overtopping is one of the most important processes for the design of seawalls. During the past 50 years methods for predicting wave overtopping of coastal structures have continuously been developed. However, it is evident from the existing literature that additional investigations into overtopping of small positive, zero and negative freeboard are needed. The present thesis describes numerical investigations based in this background. Wave overtopping is dependent on the processes associated with wave breaking. Therefore, a two dimensional breaking wave numerical model has been developed and used to study the phenomena of wave overtopping. The model is based on the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations for the mean flow and k-epsilon equations for turbulent kinetic energy, k, and the turbulence dissipation rate, epsilon. The model accuracy in simulating propagation of linear and irregular waves has been evaluated. The overall performance of the model is considered satisfactory. The development of guidelines for calculating overtopping discharge for different seawall slopes is presented. All slopes have been subjected to a wide range of irregular waves. The influence of how the slopes of seawalls, wave type (breaking and non-breaking) and crest freeboard affect the overtopping discharges has been investigated. Based on the numerical data, a new expression for breaking and non-breaking waves on smooth impermeable slopes is proposed. With the new expression it is possible to predict overtopping discharges of smooth seawalls in small positive, zero and negative freeboard.


Objective: The purpose of this study is to classify the stillbirths (SBs) in our institution and to determine the avoidable contributors using a pro forma that was developed in our perinatal unit. Materials and Method: All mothers who delivered SBs at Obafemi Awolowo University Hospitals Complex Ile-Ife, Nigeria, from April 2014 to August 2015 were the subjects of this study. At our weekly perinatal mortality meeting, every SB was reviewed in detail to determine the cause of death and identify gaps in the care. The causes of fetal death were classified using three classification systems – Simplified CODAC, ReCoDe, and our newly developed Ife Perinatal Death Classification System. Remote contributors to fetal demise were assigned using a purpose–designed "Avoidable Factor Proforma" A SB was deemed avoidable if one or more factors were identified. Results: The total number of deliveries during the study was 2,142 with 109 SBs giving a gross SB rate of 51/1000 total births. The SB rate was significantly lower among booked patients than their unbooked counterparts (15 vs. 140 per 1000; P < 0.005). Antepartum death constituted 82.6% of SB among booked patients compared to 41.2% in the unbooked. The most common cause of SB among booked mother was intrauterine growth restriction (21.7%) while obstructed labor (23.3%) was the leading cause among unbooked mothers. Using our classification system, only 3.8% of SBs were unexplained, as against 5.7% for ReCode, and 26.4% for Simplified CODAC. Majority (81.7%) of the SBs were avoidable; and the most common avoidable factor was deficiency in health care. Access to the point of care was not associated with any of the avoidable deaths. Conclusion: Our SB rate remains unacceptably high, with a preponderance of antepartum deaths among booked patients. Majority of the SBs are avoidable dictating the need for training in modern methods of fetal surveillance and improved efficiency of our health-delivery systems.


With the decreasing cost of next-generation sequencing, deep sequencing of clinical samples provides unique opportunities to understand host-associated microbial communities. Among the primary challenges of clinical metagenomic sequencing is the rapid filtering of human reads to survey for pathogens with high specificity and sensitivity. Metagenomes are inherently variable due to different microbes in the samples and their relative abundance, the size and architecture of genomes, and factors such as target DNA amounts in tissue samples (i.e. human DNA versus pathogen DNA concentration). This variation in metagenomes typically manifests in sequencing datasets as low pathogen abundance, a high number of host reads, and the presence of close relatives and complex microbial communities. In addition to these challenges posed by the composition of metagenomes, high numbers of reads generated from high-throughput deep sequencing pose immense computational challenges. Accurate identification of pathogens is confounded by individual reads mapping to multiple different reference genomes due to gene similarity in different taxa present in the community or close relatives in the reference database. Available global and local sequence aligners also vary in sensitivity, specificity, and speed of detection. The efficiency of detection of pathogens in clinical samples is largely dependent on the desired taxonomic resolution of the organisms. We have developed an efficient strategy that identifies "all against all" relationships between sequencing reads and reference genomes. Our approach allows for scaling to large reference databases and then genome reconstruction by aggregating global and local alignments, thus allowing genetic characterization of pathogens at higher taxonomic resolution. These results were consistent with strain level SNP genotyping and bacterial identification from laboratory culture.


A method for the measurement of in-plane thermal diffusivity for thin-strip materials is presented. It is especially suitable for materials having large length-to-thickness ratio, like thin films, composite laminates, and printed circuit boards. A strip sample is heated at one end, either by direct electric heating or indirect thermal radiation heating. The temperature monitored at the opposite end of the strip serves for thermal diffusivity estimation, by means of a parameter estimation method in conjunction with an analytical solution based on Laplace transformation. A discussion of the sensitivity and the errors of the proposed technique is also included. The uncertainty in the measured thermal diffusivity is better than 5%. Preliminary room-temperature measurements of thermal diffusivity of Armco iron and 304 stainless steel are compared with literature data.


Megan, Bella and Alice inhabit the isolated world of a girl's boarding school, Egerton Hall, buried deep in the English countryside. The Tower Room which they share is remote and high, and from it the three survey the everyday drama of school life. With only months to go until their final exams they are already sensing the dangerous delights awaiting them in the grown-up world. Megan feels a special poignancy about leaving school; orphaned soon after she came to Egerton Hall, she has virtually been brought up there as the ward of the science mistress.But it is Megan who looks down from the Tower Room that unforgettable morning, to meet Simon's inquisitive gaze. As Megan rushes to embrace her fate, her safe, cocooned world is transformed forever ...Loosely based on the Rapunzel fairytale, this highly original novel is the story of a sudden, unexpected, passionate relationship and the unforseen yet inevitable results of defying convention.


A probed memory task was used to investigate children's short-term visual memory for an object's spatial location or colour. In Experiment 1, 5-yearolds recognised the location of one of three coloured shapes that had appeared in a random spatio-temporal order. Two aspects of the children's performance confirmed their reliance on visual memory. First, performance was impaired when the shapes were visually similar. Secondly, the serial position curve was characteristic of visual memory, with a final-item recency effect and no primacy effect. Experiment 2 assessed 5and 7-year-old children's memory for a shape's colour or its spatial location. Although there was developmental improvement in memory for spatial location, that was confined to pre-recency items, there was no effect of age with regard to the recall of colour. The results go against Hasher and Zacks' (1979) proposal that, in contrast to colour, spatial location would not show developmental improvement because it is remembered automatically. The concept of an object file, that was devised specifically to explain how different visual features of an object are represented (Kahneman & Treisman, 1984), is considered as a potential explanation of both the serial position curve and the distinctive behaviour of different visual features. It is suggested that although 5-year-olds are as adept as 7-year-olds at creating and immediately accessing an object file, they are less able to access information about the visual features of objects whose files are no longer current.


Increased C-reactive protein (CRP) levels are associated with coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Physical activity prevents cardiovascular disorders, which can be partly mediated through reducing inflammation, including serum CRP levels. The association of different intensities of physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in serum was examined after adjustment for markers of adiposity, including waist-circumference and body mass index (BMI), in a large population-based study. Using data of the SuRFNCD-2007 study, a large national representative population-based study in Iran, the relationship between quantitative CRP concentrations in serum and physical activity was examined in a sample of 3,001 Iranian adults. The global physical activity questionnaire (GPAQ) was used for evaluating the duration and intensity of physical activity. Total physical activity (TPA) was calculated using metabolic equivalents for the intensity of physical activity. Quantitative CRP concentrations in serum were measured with high-sensitivity enzyme immunoassay. The CRP levels in serum significantly correlated with TPA (r=-0.103, p=0.021 in men and r=-0.114, p=0.017 in women), duration of vigorous-intensity activity (r=-0.122, p=0.019 in men and r=-0.109, p=0.026 in women), duration of moderate-intensity activity (r=-0.107, p=0.031 in men and r=-0.118, p=0.020 in women), and duration of sedentary behaviours (r=0.092, p=0.029 in men and r=0.101, p=0.022 in women) after multiple adjustments for age, area of residence, BMI, waist-circumference, smoking, and diabetes mellitus. Physical activity (of both moderate and vigorous intensity) is inversely associated with the quantitative CRP levels in serum, independent of diabetes and body adiposity.


THE BPS celebrates its centenary this year, a fitting juncture at which to explore the relationship between psychology and the public. The history of this relationship is longer than a hundred years: at the beginning of the last century, psychology had already come a long way from its roots. In its 'long past' (Farr, 1996) psychology had been entwined with philosophy. Yet by the late 1800s psychology had met a crossroads, one fork leading to the spiritual psyche, the other to scientific methods and aims of debunking (Burnham, 1987). Henceforth psychology was not only concerned with communicating the substance of research, but also with secularisation: severing 'spiritual' psychology from the canon of scientific activity. The First World War boosted the popularity of psychology (Burnham, 1987); the public were turning to psychology as a substitute for superstitious dissections of the soul (Rapp, 1988). From the 1920s psychology has, with peaks and troughs, remained in the public sphere. It has been conceived of as science, but also as quackery, as an expression of common sense, and as the antipathy of common sense (Harre et al., 1985). This article will consider what an analysis of press coverage of psychology says about our public image. The content of popularised psychology may not always be what psychologists would wish, but does it reflect society's needs?


A large body of work over the past few decades has revealed the manifestly dramatic impacts of urbanization on species' distributions and ecologies, many of which result from gross changes in land use and configuration. Less well understood are the rather more direct interactions between people and biodiversity in the urban arena. While there is a general concern that urbanization impoverishes human contact with nature, daily interaction with biodiversity in urban greenspaces and the widespread provision of food and nesting resources for wildlife form a part of many city-dwellers' experience. Using data from the UK, we show that supplementary resource provision aimed explicitly at enhancing avian populations can result in high levels of additional foraging and nesting opportunities, particularly in urban areas. However, our data also indicate that levels of such resource provision are strongly positively correlated with human population density at a regional scale, and within a large city. The proportion of households participating in bird feeding depends on social and economic features of the human population, suggesting that strong covariation between human and ecological communities will result. Indeed, we demonstrate that the abundances of some urban-adapted bird species are positively related to the density of feeding stations across the urban landscape, although such relationships were not apparent for other species that commonly use garden feeding stations. It has been suggested that interactions with nature, such as feeding birds, could have beneficial consequences for human health. A better understanding of this potential feedback is required.


We present the results of the largest L′ (3.8 μm) direct imaging survey for exoplanets to date, the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer Exozodi Exoplanet Common Hunt (LEECH). We observed 98 stars with spectral types from B to M. Cool planets emit a larger share of their flux in L′ compared to shorter wavelengths, affording LEECH an advantage in detecting low-mass, old, and cold-start giant planets. We emphasize proximity over youth in our target selection, probing physical separations smaller than other direct imaging surveys. For FGK stars, LEECH outperforms many previous studies, placing tighter constraints on the hot-start planet occurrence frequency interior to ∼20 au. For less luminous, cold-start planets, LEECH provides the best constraints on giant-planet frequency interior to ∼20 au around FGK stars. Direct imaging survey results depend sensitively on both the choice of evolutionary model (e.g., hot- or cold-start) and assumptions (explicit or implicit) about the shape of the underlying planet distribution, in particular its radial extent. Artificially low limits on the planet occurrence frequency can be derived when the shape of the planet distribution is assumed to extend to very large separations, well beyond typical protoplanetary dust-disk radii (≲50 au), and when hot-start models are used exclusively. We place a conservative upper limit on the planet occurrence frequency using cold-start models and planetary population distributions that do not extend beyond typical protoplanetary dust-disk radii. We find that ≲90% of FGK systems can host a 7–10 MJup planet from 5 to 50 au. This limit leaves open the possibility that planets in this range are common.


The publication of the 2008 Regulation in the Government Gazette, prescribing the effective date of another 17 Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP) Standards, has resulted in more entities becoming aware of the impact of accrual accounting on the future preparation of their financial statements.
Entities are also starting to acknowledge the importance of commenting on the exposure drafts issued by the Accounting Standards Board (the Board) to ensure that all entity specific matters are addressed and taken into account before a Standard of GRAP is finalised. In this article Amanda Botha, Project Manager of the Board, highlights some of the important accounting principles addressed in recently issued exposure drafts.


Structured Web search incorporating data from structured sources into search engine results has attracted much attention from both academic and industrial communities. To understand user's intent, query structure interpretation is proposed to analyze the structure of queries in a query log and map query terms to the semantically relevant attributes of data sources in a target domain. Existing methods assume all queries should be classified to the target domain, and thus they are limited when interpreting queries from different domains in real query logs. To address the problem, we introduce a human-machine hybrid method by utilizing crowdsourcing platforms. Our method selects a small number of query terms and asks the crowdsourcing workers to interpret them, and then infers the interpretations based on the crowdsourcing results. To improve the performance, we propose an iterative probabilistic inference method based on a similarity graph of query terms, and select the most useful query terms for crowdsourcing by considering their domain-relevance and gained benefit. We evaluate our method on a real query log, and the experimental results show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art method.


Variability in upper ocean optical properties is often driven by changes in the particle pool. We investigated the effects of such changes by characterizing individual particles. For particles in natural assemblages, we used a combination of Mie theory and flow cytometry to determine diameter (D), complex refractive index (n + in'), and optical cross‐sections at 488 nm. Particles were grouped into categories of eukaryotic pico/nanophytoplankton, Synechococcus, heterotrophic prokaryotes, detritus, and minerals to interpret variability in concurrently measured bulk inherent optical properties (IOPs) in New England continental shelf waters during two seasons. The summed contributions of individual particles to phytoplankton absorption and particle scattering were close to values for these properties measured independently using bulk methods (87% and 107%, respectively). In surface waters during both seasons, eukaryotic phytoplankton were responsible for the majority of both total particle absorption and total particle scattering. Mineral particles contributed the most to backscattering (bb) in the spring, whereas in the summer both mineral and detrital particles were important. Synechococcus and heterotrophic prokaryotes never contributed more than 14% to IOPs. Our findings emphasize that the measurement of nonliving particles, including detritus and minerals, is necessary for understanding variability in bb in the ocean, an important quantity in the interpretation of satellite ocean color.