The aim of this study was to establish in vitro analytical methods for assessing an investigated oral BCG vaccine formulation. In addition, in vivo immune response was also evaluated in guinea pigs by determining the potentially protective effect of the investigated formulation on tuberculosis. The bicinchoninic acid (BCA) method for BCG protein quantitation was developed for rapid measuring the content of BCG vaccine in the investigated formulation. The analytical method was conducted at 45°C to offer good precision (coefficient of variation <3.5%) and accuracy (error: -3.6~2.6%) in the range of 150~1000 μg/mL of BCG vaccine concentrations. In the simulation study of drug release from the investigated formulation in the gastrointestinal tract under physiological conditions, the investigated oral formulation could protect active component at lower pH (0.1 N HCl) and completely release active component at higher pH (phosphate buffer, pH 6.8). Although the investigated oral BCG vaccine formulation showed weak immune response to elicit IgG titer, the PPD (purified protein derivative) skin test in guinea pigs by oral dosing of 4 mg BCG vaccine formulation acquired about equal or higher response than that by 0.5 mg dose by subcutaneous vaccination. The analytical method and in vivo approach could be further applied in the development of oral BCG vaccine formulations.


Interest in an ecological- or an ecosystem-centred approach to natural resource management is not new, and in the case of water management has been very well emphasised for many decades. Recently however, a new focus has emerged around the identification and assessment of ecosystem services, and the potential to somehow use valuation of these services as a basis for more effective management of natural and human-linked systems. Despite this growing recognition, attempts to apply such an approach to transboundary watercourses are few and far between. While key principles of international water law, for example, equitable and reasonable utilisation, are not in conflict with an ecosystem services approach; significant challenges remain in its implementation.  However, as the methods and tools used to identify ecosystem services improve, it is likely that such an approach will offer an important means by which to reconcile competing interests over shared watercourses in the future.


Australia has accepted several million immigrant and humanitarian entrant people since the large-scale immigration program began at the end of World War II. Since the White Australia Policy was completely abandoned in the early 1970s, many more Asian immigrant and humanitarian entrant people have arrived in Australia. They have disproportionately moved to and settled in the metropolitan centres, and not the regional centres. There is very little literature about the settlement of Asian immigrant and humanitarian entrant people in Australian regional centres.
This research used a dialectic social work lens to analyse critically how settlement was structurally and individually framed by exploring the settlement experience of Asian immigrant and humanitarian entrant people living in an Australian regional centre, using Coffs Harbour NSW as a case study. Respondents (31) and key informants (16) were interviewed using in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews.
There were six themes that proved to be significant that exhibited minimal social inclusion of Asian immigrant and humanitarian entrant people, resulting in a position of social inequality:
Firstly, compatriots were present in small numbers, but were not deemed important. They did not play much of a role in the settlement of the respondents.
Secondly, DIMIA funded hours of English language tuition were quite limited, and this resulted in most respondents only learning survival to functional English. Thirdly, the respondents had to interact with the townspeople, because of a lack of compatriots. Through this interaction, the respondents were forced to speak and learn more English. They were seen to be reaching out, by the townspeople.
Fourthly, the respondents reported experiencing mainly low-level and unintentional discrimination and racism. The townspeople were reported overall as polite but tentative (tolerant but not accepting).
Fifthly, the respondents were employed in part-time and casual work ranging from unskilled to semi-skilled. Their level of English kept them out of the occupations they wanted to work in, and this was not likely to change in Coffs Harbour; although, most of the respondents were employed in some capacity.
Sixthly, belongingness, acceptance by the dominant group and the respondents' sense of place, was attributed to Australia and in some cases to Australia and the country of origin. Belongingness was not attributed to Coffs Harbour or to compatriots. This reflects Australia, as the preferred country in which to live because of its standard of life.
The respondents' settlement was found to be one of minimal social inclusion (tolerance) resulting in a position of social inequality. This research has advocated change and reform, by striving to individualise the structural and giving voice to a marginalised group of people and then using this collectivised voice to advocate for change on the structural level. The commencement of this change and reform is the reconceptualisation of regional settlement.


The ability of intraglandular colloid, the holocrine secretion of cells of the marginal half of the bovine pituitary intermediate lobe, to enhance or suppress the proliferation of immature thymic cells of CH3/6JH mice, 4 to 6 weeks of age, was studied. The mice were given subcutaneous injections of colloid for 3 consecutive days at a dose of 20 mg/kg body weight in 0.2 ml of saline. The analysis of propidium iodide stained thymic cell preparations by means of flow cytometry showed that there was a significant increase in the percentage of cells in the S phase (proliferative phase) of the cell cycle of mice injected with colloid (33%) compared with saline injected (15%) and non-injected controls (7%). These findings are the first to suggest that various combinations and concentrations of intraglandular colloid neuropeptides play a role in the immune system and shed light on additional functions of the intermediate lobe.


Summary form only given. Here, we discuss an efficient parallel implementation of the treecode Ewald method for fast evaluation of long-range Coulomb interactions in a periodic system for molecular dynamics simulations. The parallelization is based on an adaptive decomposition scheme using the Morton order of the particles. This decomposition scheme takes advantage of the data locality and involves minimum changes to the original sequential code. The message passing interface (MPI) is used for interprocessor communications, making the code portable to a variety of parallel computing platforms. We also discuss communication and performance models for our parallel algorithm. The predicted communication time and parallel performance from these models match the measured results well. Timing results obtained using a system of water molecules on the IA32 Cluster at the Ohio Supercomputer Center demonstrate high speedup and efficiency of the parallel treecode Ewald method.


Ocean mesoscale phenomena such as eddies and current convergence zones can often be seen in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images due to characteristic patterns caused by natural film induced damping of the waves. Such films have also been found to exert a significant effect on air-sea gas exchange, which may be important for the global scale climate system. Satellite SAR may prove very useful to quantify the extent of natural film. To investigate the composition of these films and their effect on radar return, we compared samples of the sea surface with ERS 1/2 SAR images of coastal ocean areas during the COASTWATCH'95 experiment. Simultaneous observations were made with a shipmounted C band dual-polarized Doppler radar, and surface drifters were deployed to investigate the surface current variations in the vicinity of different slicks (areas where the short surface waves sensed by a radar are damped). One confirmed case of natural film was thus verified to be caused by a convergence zone. The study also showed that the films investigated during COASTWATCH'95 were generally less concentrated and originated from marine organisms, compared to the films with terrestrial influences found in a previous experiment in a fjord [Espedal et al., 1996]. The dependence of the existence of the films on wind speed is also investigated, and an estimate of natural film distribution during the experiment period is given, using a total of 71 ERS 1/2 SAR images collected over the same coastal area under a variety of wind conditions. Up to 40% natural film coverage was found for 2.5 m/s wind speeds, while already at 5–10 m/s all SAR imagery had under 5% film coverage.


Abstract. The study of soil N cycling processes has been, is, and will be at the centre of attention in soil science research. The importance of N as a nutrient for all biota; the ever-increasing rates of its anthropogenic input in terrestrial (agro)ecosystems; its resultant losses to the environment; and the complexity of the biological, physical, and chemical factors that regulate N cycling processes all contribute to the necessity of further understanding, measuring, and altering the soil N cycle. Here, we review important insights with respect to the soil N cycle that have been made over the last decade, and present a personal view on the key challenges of future research. We identify three key challenges with respect to basic N cycling processes producing gaseous emissions: 1. quantifying the importance of nitrifier denitrification and its main controlling factors; 2. characterizing the greenhouse gas mitigation potential and microbiological basis for N2O consumption; 3. characterizing hotspots and hot moments of denitrification Furthermore, we identified a key challenge with respect to modelling: 1. disentangling gross N transformation rates using advanced 15N / 18O tracing models Finally, we propose four key challenges related to how ecological interactions control N cycling processes: 1. linking functional diversity of soil fauna to N cycling processes beyond mineralization; 2. determining the functional relationship between root traits and soil N cycling; 3. characterizing the control that different types of mycorrhizal symbioses exert on N cycling; 4. quantifying the contribution of non-symbiotic pathways to total N fixation fluxes in natural systems We postulate that addressing these challenges will constitute a comprehensive research agenda with respect to the N cycle for the next decade. Such an agenda would help us to meet future challenges on food and energy security, biodiversity conservation, water and air quality, and climate stability.


Background: Psychiatric disorders are common in patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. These disorders are poorly understood and are an important co-morbidity. They may occur as a consequence of the effects
of the autoimmune inflammation on the central nervous system. Peripheral inflammation inducing central cytokine production in the CNS has been documented in acute inflammatory models such as after systemic LPS challenge,
and cytokine administration has been shown to induce cognitive impairment and mood disorders. These disorders may be due to the central action of cytokines on neurogenesis and reduced hippocampal neurogenesis has been implicated in depression and cognitive decline. Peripheral inflammation and some specific cytokines have been reported to inhibit hippocampal neurogenesis, resulting in
cognition impairment and depressive-like behaviour in animal models.
Hypothesis: Based on this evidence, we hypothesized that peripheral inflammation associated with arthritis can induce central production of inflammatory mediators in the brain contributing to reduction in hippocampal
neurogenesis thereby offering a mechanism and potential therapeutic targets for RA-associated psychiatric disorders.
Aims and Methods: The aim of this project is 1) to investigate whether peripheral immune/inflammatory responses during arthritis can induce changes
in inflammatory mediators in brains of collagen induced arthritis (CIA) mice, using this as a model for an adaptive immune response contributing to neurological disease development similar to the human disease. We used
Luminex bead-based screening assays to determine a wide range of inflammatory mediator proteins in single small volume samples obtained from mouse brain tissues. In the same tissues, the transcription levels of genes encoding these inflammatory mediators were also quantified using real-time PCR and quantified as absolute copy numbers. 2) To investigate whether peripheral immune/inflammatory responses during arthritis can induce changes in
hippocampal neurogenesis in brains of collagen induced arthritis (CIA) mice, we also measure changes in hippocampal neurogenesis in CII immunized mice using
the immunohistochemistry of neuronal marker doublecortin (DCX). In order to confirm that changes in both inflammatory mediators and hippocampal 3
neurogenesis were due to peripheral inflammation, CII immunized mice were given peripheral anti TNF-α etanercept treatment. Inflammatory mediator profiles and hippocampal neurogenesis in brains of etanercept-treated CII
immunized mice were compared to PBS -treated CII immunized mice and naive control mice.
Results: Systemic etanercept treatment attenuated arthritis in CII immunized mice. IL-1β, IL-5, CXCL1 and FGF2 protein were increased in the serum of CII immunized mice. In addition, we found up-regulation of protein and
gene concentrations of IL-1β, IL-1-α, TNF-α, IL-6, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12, IL-4, IL-5, CXCL1, CXCL0 and CCL2, VEGF and FGF2 in brains of CII immunized mice compared to those in naive control mice. The reduction in number of DCXpositive
neurons in the dentate gurus of CII immunized mice compared to those in naive control mice, suggesting the impairment in hippocampus neurogenesis in CII immunized mice. In addition, reduction of inflammatory mediators, including IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-12, CXCL1, and increases of IL-6, IL-2 and VEGF and FGF2 protein concentrations were observed in brains of etanercept-treated CII immunized mice compared to those in untreated CII immunized mice. In addition, the impairment in hippocampal neurogenesis was reversed by
peripheral etanercept treatment in CII immunized mice. In conclusion, the data of this thesis shows that peripheral inflammation during arthritis potentially induces production of inflammatory mediators in brains of CII immunized mice. Up-regulation of these inflammatory mediators in the brain may be associated with the impairment in hippocampal neurogenesis of CII immunized mice. In addition, peripheral etanercept treatment seems to have protective effect against peripheral-induced brain inflammation and the impairment in hippocampal neurogenesis in CII immunized mice. In summary, we demonstrated that peripheral inflammation resulting from arthritis may induce brain inflammation and contribute to the impairment of
hippocampal neurogenesis. Systemic etanercept treatment not only attenuated joint inflammation, but also reduced brain inflammation and reversed the impairment in hippocampal neurogenesis resulting from peripheral inflammation
in CII immunized mice.


High glycine-tyrosine (HGT) proteins are an important constituent of the keratin associated proteins (KAPs) present in human hair. The glassy state physics of hair fibres are thought to be largely regulated by KAPs, which exist in an amorphous state and are readily affected by environmental conditions. However, there are no studies characterizing the individual KAPs. In this paper, we present the first step to fill this gap by computational modeling and experimental studies on a HGT protein, KAP8.1. In particular, we have modeled the three-dimensional structure of this 63-residue protein using homology information from an anti-freeze protein in snow flea. The model for KAP8.1 is characterized by four strands of poly-proline II (or PPII) type helical secondary structures, held together by two cysteine disulphide bridges. Computer simulations confirm the stability of the modelled structure and show that the protein largely samples the PPII and β-sheet conformations during the molecular dynamics simulations. Spectroscopic studies including Raman, IR and vibrational circular dichroism have also been performed on synthesized KAP8.1. The experimental studies suggest that KAP8.1 is characterised by β-sheet and PPII structures, largely consistent with the simulation studies. The model built in this work is a good starting point for further simulations to study in greater depth the glassy state physics of hair, including its water sorption isotherms, glass transition, and the effect of HGT proteins on KAP matrix plasticization. These results are a significant step towards our goal of understanding how the properties of hair can be affected and manipulated under different environmental conditions of temperature, humidity, ageing and small molecule additives.


Social media enable individuals to link together to form networks. These networks can cut across the boundaries of existing organisations to disrupt their existing ways of working. Three case examples are used to explore what is put at risk by these forms of social disruption. While existing ways of working may be disrupted, new possibilities may also be created. The paper uses Freud's distinction between three kinds of identification to show how these disruptions may also evidence identifications of the third kind - identifications that give expression to new possibilities and new desires. The paper draws on a Lacanian understanding of how identification may be mediated by the effects of language. It argues that while identifications of the first two kinds may provide defences against anxiety, identifications of the third kind may provide support for creative responses to anxiety. The conclusion drawn is that in managing the risks of social disruption, individuals must work the relation between 'above' and 'below' the surface of their working relationships, but they must also work the relation between 'inside' and 'outside' the organisation with which they are identified.


The concept of sustainable design as a specialism within design, business and manufacture is not a new one. Writers and educators such as Victor Papanek (Papanek 1971) and
Buckminster Fuller (Fuller and Snyder 1969) were advocating a change in the way we taught students how to design and look at the world in which they live. In parallel with this, many other experts (Carson 1962; Lovelock 1979) were highlighting the difficulties being caused by
industrialisation and global trade in the natural environment. Issues such as the dramatic impact of the global population on ecosystems; the strains on the global and local economic systems and the challenges meted by social inequity were starting to be raised by scientists,
economists and even designers as early as the 1960s. These are now finally accepted as real problems for today's students and professionals and for the world as a whole. They now provide clear opportunity both to graduates and to businesses as fields in which they can provide and develop expertise with a view to mitigating past and future problems. This research grew out of an opportunity to examine how students and professionals learn to
contextualise their design training through a sustainable design lens. Over a five year period from 2004-09 the research sought to evaluate how the learner understands and· applies their knowledge and skills and to begin the process of developing a sustainable design mindset.
Through the development of a series of case studies the research goes on to develop learning strategies that can assist the learner to work in a multidisciplinary environment and to develop a sustainable literacy with their colleagues from non design disciplines.
The work outlined here deals with how undergraduate students learn about sustainable design in a studio based environment over an extended period. It looks at the use of elearning, multidisciplinary project work, live projects and the mixing students with professionals all through the vehicle of sustainable design. The research also develops a number of strategies for assisting both SME (Small and
Medium Enterprises) and practicing design professionals to learn about sustainable design. These strategies encourage the professionals to look at sustainability in a holistic manner and to develop a personal understanding about how it can influence their business and their design practice.
The principal research question is: How can the third level effectively educate students, SMEs and professionals in sustainable design so as to be able to apply their knowledge, skills and competencies to design and industry practice in an effective manner within a complex and rapidly changing world paradigm? This body of research is a first comprehensive comparison of how undergraduate students, SME professionals and design professionals learn about sustainable design. It develops a number of learning strategies and proposes a sustainable design learning model based on the findings of the applied research.


Lithium-rich anti-perovskites (LiRAPs) are a promising family of solid electrolytes, which exhibit ionic conductivities above 10(-3) S cm(-1) at room temperature, among the highest reported values to date. In this work, we investigate the defect chemistry and the associated lithium transport in Li3OCl, a prototypical LiRAP, using ab initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations and classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We studied three types of charge neutral defect pairs, namely the LiCl Schottky pair, the Li2O Schottky pair, and the Li interstitial with a substitutional defect of O on the Cl site. Among them the LiCl Schottky pair has the lowest binding energy and is the most energetically favorable for diffusion as computed by DFT. This is confirmed by classical MD simulations, where the computed Li ion diffusion coefficients for LiCl Schottky systems are significantly higher than those for the other two defects considered and the activation energy in LiCl deficient Li3OCl is comparable to experimental values. The high conductivities and low activation energies of LiCl Schottky systems are explained by the low energy pathways of Li between the Cl vacancies. We propose that Li vacancy hopping is the main diffusion mechanism in highly conductive Li3OCl.


Face tracking is an extensively studied field. Nevertheless, it is still a challenge to make a robust and efficient face tracker, especially on mobile devices. This extended abstract briefly describes our implementation of a high-performance multi-platform face and facial feature tracking system. The main characteristics of our approach are that the tracker is fully automatic and works with the majority of faces without any manual initialization. It is robust, resistant to rapid changes in pose and facial expressions, does not suffer from drifting and is modestly computationally expensive. The tracker runs in real-time on mobile devices.


The TORoidal Plasma EXperiment (TORPEX) is a Simple Magnetized Torus (SMT) where open helical magnetic field lines are obtained from the superposition of a small vertical component on the main toroidal field. The SMT configuration features the main driving mechanisms of plasma instabilities characterising the Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) of larger tokamak devices, making TORPEX a very attractive machine to perform fusion oriented studies of plasma turbulence. A new experimental set-up has been recently developed to generate a poloidal magnetic field. It consists in a toroidal copper wire suspended in the middle of the vacuum vessel by seven 1mm stainless steel wires, three vertical and four lateral, plus the vertical electrical coaxial feed-through. A current up to 1kA can be driven in the system, giving us the possibility to include a rotational transform and to deal with a SOL much closer to the one of a fusion device. Moreover plasma core and closed-to-open field line region studies could be performed. The technical details of the set-up will be given together with the experimental results obtained during the first campaigns with Hydrogen plasmas. A magnetic configuration with almost closed flux surfaces has been chosen, resulting from the poloidal magnetic field together with a small vertical component. The radial profiles of the main plasma parameters will be presented, such as plasma density n_e, plasma temperature T_e and plasma potential V_pl. The spectral properties of plasma dominant coherent modes at the position of maxima fluctuations will be provided too, including power spectral density estimates and measurements of vertical and toroidal wave-numbers obtained for different values of poloidal magnetic field. This allows us to calculate the poloidal and toroidal mode-numbers which can be used together with fluid simulations to asses the kind of instability we are dealing with. An overview of the new accessible magnetic field configurations will be showed as well, ranging from Single Null X-points to magnetic Snowflakes.


Abstract While much of the debate over the implications of China's rise tends to dichotomise around either status quo or revisionist predictions, the reality seems to lie somewhere in between. In broad terms, China has embraced multilateral forms of cooperation and governance. This does not mean, however, that it is satisfied with the distribution of power in many international institutions, or some of the norms and principles that underpin them. This has resulted in a reformist position, with China increasingly willing to offer its own supplementary alternatives. China's rise has also provided an important economic alternative to dealing with the West, and considerably undermined the ability of others to establish their preferences and world views. China's lack of commitment to democracy and the external promotion of human rights remains a key reason why some analysts remain unconvinced about the long-term ambitions of an illiberal actor in a global liberal order.


The electro-optic Kerr effect in cubic blue phase liquid crystals comprises two components with different characteristic response times: one attributed to the primary (purely electro-optic) effect and another attributed to the secondary, or indirect (photoelastic) effect. Through simultaneous measurement of the polarized reflection spectrum and transmitted phase, we show that the contribution of the secondary electro-optic effect can be as large as 20% of the total change in refractive index, and that it is suppressed in the polymer-stabilized blue phase. Our results show the importance of stabilizing the lattice structure to realize blue-phase devices with fast response.


PurposeThis article examines the nature of service provision in the platform-based collaborative economy from the perspective of entrepreneurship theories. It departs from a knowledge gap about the individual and contextual determinants of service provision through digital platforms. By exploring these determinants for the service provision in two main sectors of the collaborative economy, transportation and accommodation, the study provides a first conceptual introduction of these activities and their nature for the existing entrepreneurship research.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is based upon Eurobarometer microdata (2018), covering 28 European countries with about 27,000 observations, and uses a seemingly unrelated Probit model.FindingsThe likelihood of service provision through platforms in the collaborative economy is highest for individuals aged 25–34 years but decreases continuously with age. Occupation, sex and population density of the place of residence are other relevant determinants. By contrast, the regulatory system and GDP per capita of the region are not relevant.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings illuminate the under-studied individual and contextual determinants related to individuals engaging with entrepreneurial activities in the collaborative economy. Future research should investigate the role of previous self-employment, skills and spatial context.Practical implicationsThe collaborative economy is still a marginal sector in Europe that is likely to grow bigger. Particularly the young, highly educated entrepreneurial persons located in urban regions may spur this expected growth. Supporting policy measures aimed at this social stratum might foster digital entrepreneurship and contribute to growth in the digital economy.Originality/valueBy exploring the individual and contextual determinants for the service provision in the two main sectors of the platform-based collaborative economy, transportation and accommodation, the study provides a first conceptual introduction of these activities and their nature into existing entrepreneurship research.


Flotation of lignites is inherently difficult. However, pre-heat treatment of coal is also known to make coal surfaces more hydrophobic possibly through removal of water entrapped in the structure of coal. In this context, the objective of this study was, therefore, to determine changes in the hydrophobicity of some lignites under moderately controlled heat treatment, and correlate the flotation response of lignites in different salt solutions of NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2 without using any reagent. The results of flotation tests suggested that, under the present test conditions, it was possible to float thermally pre-treated lignite samples of partially hydrophobic character in salt solutions in the absence of collector and frother. In addition, the effect of heat treatment on hydrophobicity, and in turn flotation was explained by a theoretical model based on extended DLVO interactions to quantify the effects of both heat treatment and salt concentration on bubble-particle interactions. The results of theoretical modeling suggested that the removal of hydrogen containing groups from coal surfaces significantly contributed to the electrical double layer and hydrophobic forces that governed the magnitude of energetic barrier and also the extent of bubble-particle attachment.


The Persistence of Modernity presents four essays, drawn from works by one of Germany's foremost philosophers, that go to the heart of a number of contemporary issues: Adorno's aesthetics, the nature of a postmodern ethics, and the persistence of modernity in the so-called postmodern age.Albrecht Wellmer defends the general thesis that modernity contains its own critique and that what has been called postmodernism is in fact a further articulation of that critique. More specifically, his essays offer a reinterpretation of Adorno's aesthetics in the framework of a postutopian philosophy of communicative reason, an analysis of the postmodern critique of instrumental reason and its subject that becomes an argument for democratic pluralism and universalism, a discussion of the dialectics of modernism and postmodernism in the context of architecture and industrial design, and a dialogical ethics that is inspired by and yet takes issue with Habermas's discourse ethics.Albrecht Wellmer is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Berlin.


"Before it becomes a political issue, the will to forget is an anthropological one: man has always harbored the desire to rewrite his own biography, to change the past, to wipe out tracks, both his own and others." --Milan Kundera, The Art of the Novel The Study and Its Vocabulary The focus of my interest in the study on which this article is based is an action net that can be called "managing the city of Warsaw," and an organization field that can be named "big city management. (1) This description, however, is not formulated in the terms used in the field, and therefore needs some explanation. In society as we know it, a person who produces to make a living has to sell. Usually, producing, as a type of organizing, is further connected to more organizing actions, such as purchasing, marketing, financing, investing, and recruiting. These interconnected actions can be called action nets, in the sense that it is the actions rather than actors that are connected (Czarniawska 1997). Obviously, the actors influence the shape and kind of actions performed, but for many generations of merchants and producers in the same institutional order, production required marketing and selling. Those action nets cover the entire global economy, but a researcher can single out any piece that seems to make sense. There is also a constant structuring taking place within nets themselves. Some actors attempt to fix their piece of an action net so that it will have to change according to their wishes. In market theory, the result is sometimes called "nasty networks" (Brunsson and Hagg 1993), or, in social psychology, a "clique." On the other hand, some actors may decide to mobilize their part of the net, creating a collective actor including even non-humans, such as Callon's (1986) "actor-network." Such collective actors can then undertake certain common actions, such as petitioning the government to change roles or remove regulations, or even boycotting such rules and regulations, which non-humans often do. Often, however, it is more than a part of one net that needs to be mobilized. Nets are repeated all over the place: There are many production nets and sales nets, and it is very likely that in the same time and place they will look alike. One speaks of an organization field, which hosts people and organizations involved in similar action nets (DiMaggio 1983). They might never meet one another, but they feel a community of practice, as, for example, "those who deal in public investments." Their community is not only spiritual; there are special organizations promoting contacts in the organization field, such as norm and standard institutions, professional associations, and more or less formal lobbies. Thus, a part of a net that become mobilized ("public investors in Warsaw") establishes contact with a similar part of other nets ("public investors in big cities") and can exert impact within or even outside its field. Within the field of city management, Warsaw's problems, as reported by my interlocutors, can be seen as both typical and special. City finances, transportation, water, and waste systems are typical problems in big cities. Warsaw is additionally a big city administered while a transformation of the institutional order was taking place. Institutional order here has a wider meaning than a set of formal institutions: It is a set of social practices considered legitimate in a given place and time. It is against this background that the management of Warsaw was taking place in 1994-95, which was the time of the study. The attempts to forge a new institutional order--within and outside city management--made use of models existing in other places. To understand how these models were used, the notion of translation can be of aid. In order to denote the transfer of ideas and practices from one context to another, one traditionally speaks of diffusion. But "diffusion" suggests a physical process subject to the laws of physics. …


Plants, both above- and belowground, offer diverse habitats for microbial colonization and growth. Plant-microbe interactions lie at the heart of plant performance and ecology. Plants provide various growth substrates and physical habitats for microbes on both sides of the air-soil interface, and numerous plant-associated niches have been exploited by specific microbial species, either by specializing on the distinct environmental conditions available, or entering into commensal, mutualistic, or parasitic interactions with plants. This chapter seeks to examine the state of the art with respect to our ability to characterize the structure, function and interactions of plant-associated microbial communities, with a particular focus on the role of molecular biological methods and environmental genomics strategies in promoting this field. We will pay particular attention to bacterial and fungal colonization of above and belowground plant surfaces (phyllosphere and rhizosphere, respectively), as well as in planta (endosphere) interactions of endophytic, parasitic and symbiotic microorganisms. Of particular importance to advancing this research field are emerging methodologies, including novel '-omics' approaches, that seek to link microbial identity to in situ functioning, and holistic approaches that capture the complexities involved in multiple plant-microbe interactions.


Establishing an extensive and highly durable, long-term, seafloor network of autonomous broadband seismic stations to complement the land-based Global Seismographic Network has been a goal of seismologists for decades. Seismic signals, chiefly the vibrations from earthquakes but also signals generated by storms and other environmental processes, have been processed from land-based seismic stations to build intriguing but incomplete images of the Earth's interior. Seismologists have mapped structures such as tectonic plates and other crustal remnants sinking deep into the mantle to obtain information on their chemical composition and physical state; but resolution of these structures from land stations is not globally uniform. Because the global surface is two-thirds ocean, increasing the number of seismic stations located in the oceans is critical for better resolution of the Earth's interior and tectonic structures. A recommendation for a long-term seafloor seismic station pilot experiment is presented here. The overarching instrumentation goal of a pilot experiment is performance that will lead to the installation of a large number of long-term autonomous ocean-bottom seismic stations. The payoff of a network of stations separated from one another by a few hundred kilometers under the global oceans would be greatly refined resolution of the Earth's interior at all depths. A second prime result would be enriched understanding of large-earthquake rupture processes in both oceanic and continental plates. The experiment would take advantage of newly available technologies such as robotic wave gliders that put an affordable autonomous prototype within reach. These technologies would allow data to be relayed to satellites from seismometers that are deployed on the seafloor with long-lasting, rechargeable batteries. Two regions are presented as promising arenas for such a prototype seafloor seismic station. One site is the central North Atlantic Ocean, and the other high-interest locale is the central South Pacific Ocean.


The principal aim of this study is the evaluation of algal laminites as appropriate substrates for the application of the Re-Os chronometer. Devonian Keg River algal laminites produced an isochron date (382.2 ± 6.9 Ma) consistent with the expected age of about 388 Ma, and showed a lower degree of sample scatter than comparable dating studies of black shales. Ordovician kukersites from the Yeoman Fm. also produced a consistent age (459 + 14 Ma, compared to the expected age of 450 Ma) but exhibited a much higher degree of scatter. The scatter was the result of blank overand undercorrection due to the extremely low concentrations of Re and Os in these organic-rich rocks. The unexpectedly low metal concentrations require an oxic interpretation of the kukersite depositional environment. Kukersites were likely rapid, shallow water deposits protected from grazing and burrowing by hypersalinity, rather than deeper anoxic deposits. ID-NTIMS investigation of the association between various metals and specific organic ligands known as porphyrins revealed very good circumstantial evidence for the existence of Re porphyrins in the sedimentary environment, something never reported before. The overall lack of equivalent Os porphyrins indicates that sedimentary organic matter possesses distinct organic matter fractions with differing Re/Os ratios, which could allow the construction of an organic matter isochron if these separate reservoirs remain closed with respect to Re and Os. An Os blank correction performed on the solvent extracts indicates that most of the Os extracted from the rock is Os – to be expected on the basis of the Re-support, and their age. However, fewer Os porphyrins were observed than could be expected based on the abundance of Re.


Geisinger Health System is a physician-led, not-for-profit, integrated delivery system serving an area with approximately 2.6 million people in northeastern and central Pennsylvania with innovative products and services designed to drive higher performance. Geisinger's leaders believe that the organization can simultaneously improve quality, sat- isfaction, and efficiency only by redesigning and reengineering the delivery of care. This philosophy is epitomized by ProvenCare, a portfolio of products (many of which are package-priced) for which care processes have been redesigned to reliably administer a coordinated bundle of evidence-based best practices. Use of the ProvenCare model has improved clinical outcomes while decreasing resource utilization. Fundamental to Geisinger's success are its vision of becoming a national model for care delivery, the lead- ership to achieve that vision reinforced with a performance-based compensation system strategically aligned with specific goals every year, and timely feedback using an advanced electronic health record to measure progress toward those goals.


In 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin promised that any peace agreement with the Syrians, which would return some or all of the Golan Heights to Syria, would be submitted for the people's approval in a national referendum. During his campaign in 1999, Ehud Barak reiterated that commitment and promised that any final-status agreement with the Palestinians, which would affect the sovereignty of Jerusalem as well as resolve other controversial issues, would also be the subject of a referendum. During the Camp David summit in the summer of 2000, Barak negotiated as his government fell apart at home, and he stated frequently that any deal with Arafat would be ratified by a vote of the people. Before the recent outbreak of violence and election of a new prime minister in February 2001, peace agreements seemed possible in the relatively near future, so Israeli politicians turned their attention to the mechanics of a referendum vote. Israel is one of the few democratic countries that has never held a nationwide referendum, and therefore it has not set up a legal framework for these votes. Ideally, a structure for a popular vote would be implemented before a government announced a decision to submit a particular issue to a referendum. Once a specific issue becomes the subject of direct democracy, the stakes become higher because one side will often be benefited by one set of implementation decisions and the other side disadvantaged. Moreover, rules that are shaped to accommodate interests in a particular ballot question may prove ill suited for referendums that are held in the future but are unanticipated at the time the framework is established. For example, the United Kingdom ("UK"), after a series of ad hoc referendums conducted under differing rules that appeared (and probably were) largely a result of political factors rather than of principle, appointed a commission (the "Nairne Commission") to establish a set of electoral regulations that could be used to govern all future referendums! The United Kingdom discovered, as have many countries and as Israel may, that a nationwide referendum is seldom a one-shot experience; once used, popular elections usually remain as part of a hybrid democratic system with elements of representative democracy and elements of direct democracy. In Israel's case, however, the framework for direct democracy will be developed in the shadow of highly emotional issues that will be its first subjects. Thus, many of the key issues of implementation will necessarily be resolved on the basis of political factors relating to the peace agreements, even if the referendum law is phrased broadly to provide rules for other popular elections. When the Knesset deliberates enacting a basic law relating to referendums, its members should consider the experience of other democracies in light of Israel's unique political situation. In this article, I will discuss three kinds of implementation issues and suggest possible resolutions. First, rules must determine the effect of the popular vote. Is the referendum binding or advisory? Is there any real difference between the two? What sort of vote is required for a referendum to pass? Will a certain threshold of the total electorate, in addition to a threshold of those voting in the election, be required for passage? Second, decisions affecting the information that voters receive about the referendum must be made, although they may be less important in the context of a salient, infrequent, high-profile nationwide referendum than in the United States context where a single ballot in a state with direct democracy may include several initiatives and referendums. Nevertheless, structuring the information environment surrounding the campaign and the vote is a crucial task. How will the question be worded on the ballot, and what information will appear on the ballot itself,. What sort of official voter information booklets) will be sent to voters? …


A popular use of crowdsourcing is to collect and aggregate individual worker responses to problems to reach a correct answer. This paper studies the relationship between the computation complexity class of problems, and the ability of a group to agree on a correct solution. We hypothesized that for NP-Complete (NPC) problems, groups would be able to reach a majority-based correct solution once it was suggested by a group member and presented to the other members, due to the "easy to verify" (i.e., verification in polynomial time) characteristic of this complexity class. In contrast, when posed with PSPACE-Complete (PSC)  "hard to verify" problems (i.e., verification in exponential time), groups will not necessarily be able to choose a correct solution even if such a solution has been presented. Consequently, increasing the size of the group is expected to facilitate the ability of the group to converge on a correct solution when solving NPC problems, but not when solving PSC problems. To test this hypothesis we conducted preliminary experiments in which we evaluated people's ability to solve an analytical problem and their ability to recognize a correct solution. In our experiments, participants were significantly more likely to recognize correct and incorrect solutions for NPC problems than for PSC problems, even for problems of similar difficulties (as measured by the percentage of participants who solved the problem). This is a first step towards formalizing a relationship between the computationally complexity of a problem and the crowd's ability to converge to a correct solution to the problem.


Thousands of birdwatchers come to Arizona each year seeking rare or intriguing species, and for those watching the skies the additional sighting of a bird of prey is a reward in itself. The Grand Canyon state boasts the most dramatic assortment of raptors in North America: hawks, eagles, falcons, kites, and owls, plus vultures and condors. Here can be found nearly all the raptor species of the continental United States and also established populations of species associated with Mexico, such as the Gray Hawk, Common Black-Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, and Whiskered Screech-Owl. Arizona's raptors are found in an unrivaled diversity of habitats, from saguaro cactus forests where tiny Elf Owls nest to the Vermilion Cliffs, where the gigantic California Condor was introduced in 1996. Yet many species live in habitats that are now jeopardized by degradation or development, making an understanding and appreciation of raptors crucial to their survival. The Raptors of Arizona brings together the knowledge and insights of 29 raptor and wildlife authorities who provide original information and syntheses on Arizona's 42 raptor species, with an emphasis on aspects of their natural history in Arizona. A chapter on each bird includes its description, a range map, and information on its distribution, habitat, life history, and status. Additional chapters cover conservation, habitats, where and when to watch raptors, and the sport of falconry. The book is enhanced by 42 full-color illustrations by Richard Sloan, one of the premier wildlife artists in North America, whose paintings were commissioned by the Arizona Wildlife Foundation specifically for this project. Co-published with the Arizona Game and Fish Department


Model transformation tools often work at the meta-model level by manipulating instances of metamodel constructs. In our work on enabling automatic test case generation from UML diagrams, we built a tool that converts a sequence diagram to a graph structure. Our tool uses a sequence diagram editor, SeDi, which uses the UML2 Eclipse plugin, which in turn implements the superstructure of the UML 2.0 metamodel. During the tool development process, we faced several challenges that can be attributed to either the UML superstructure or its implementation. In this paper, we illustrate the problems and our solutions.


Jane Austen's satirical classical novels have made a lasting contribution to English literature and first gave the novel its distinctly modern character with the treatment of ordinary people in everyday life. Her works, such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma andMansfield Park, remain as popular today as they ever have been, both in book form and a screen adaptations. The Preface Books series approaches the work of Jane Austen from a particular perspective which, by introducing the writer via a biographical sketch and a survey of her cultural and social context, encourages readers to understand her work in the period and style it was written. Christopher Gillie's A Preface to Austen looks at Austen's life and literary background and their effect on her work. Using biographical information, it clearly sets her writing firmly in the context of her times and will be essential reading for anyone interested in the works of Austen.


This chapter addresses several different computational methods for the identification of periplasmic proteins from sequence information alone. The benefits, pitfalls, and performance of the methods are discussed, and an approach for the optimal computational identification of periplasmic proteins from a sequenced genome is presented. Recognizing that PSORT I could be significantly improved, the authors' group set out to develop a new method, PSORTb, for the prediction of protein subcellular localization in bacteria. Indeed, many of the other methods described in the chapter use ePSORTdb as a source of training and testing data. By parsing the remaining records into an easy-to-manipulate format such as tab-delimited text format, researchers can then identify periplasmic proteins by either manually reviewing each annotated localization site or extracting any records with an instance of the word "periplasm". The former approach is slow, but has the advantage of allowing the researchers to incorporate their own expert knowledge into the review process. Of all the methods developed for signal peptide prediction, the suite of tools developed at the Technical University of Denmark has consistently been ranked as the best by several independent evaluations. These programs include SignalP, LipoP, and TatP, which are discussed individually. The chapter has presented an overview of a selection of methods for the computational identification of periplasmic proteins. While the analytical pipeline described in the chapter will identify a large proportion of periplasmic proteins with a moderate to high degree of confidence, the need still exists for improved localization prediction methods.


Aging hearts are known to have diminished capacity to be protected against reoxygenation ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury provided by various cardioprotective regimens. In search of a more successful regimen, we have studied the response of aged hearts to preconditioning (PC) and postconditioning (POST) elicited by sphingosine or sphingosine 1-phosphate treatment. An ex vivo rat heart model was used to study the ability of PC and POST to protect old hearts (27 month) against I/R injury generated by 40 minutes (min) of index ischemia followed by 40 min of reperfusion. The response to ischemic PC was reduced in 27 month old hearts relative to 3–6 month (young) hearts as noted by a poor recovery of left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) upon reperfusion (45% vs. 74% in young hearts) and a large infarct size after 40 min of reperfusion (37% versus 8% in young hearts). PC with sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) was also poor in old hearts yielding only 49% recovery of LVDP and a 27% infarct size. In contrast, PC with sphingosine was unaffected by aging; the 78% recovery of LVDP and 8% infarct size were not different from young hearts. Ischemic POST was less affected by aging than ischemic PC, but the old hearts still experienced infarct sizes of 28%. POST of old hearts with S1P was also associated with a substantial infarct size (24%). However, POST of old hearts with sphingosine was superior to the other forms of POST in that it reduced the infarct size to 12%. S1P levels were found to be lower in old hearts which may contribute to the decreased effectiveness of ischemic PC and POST. Further, phospho-Akt levels and distribution were altered in response to cardioprotection in the old hearts. In conclusion, POST was less affected by aging than PC; and sphingosine is a uniquely effective agent for both PC and POST of aging hearts.


Recent studies have found disapproval of peer punishment of norm violations. This seems puzzling, given the potential benefits peer punishers contribute to the group. We suggest part of the answer is that peer punishers tend to come across as aggressive and as such may be viewed as more problematic than beneficial to have around. We used simple computer animations of geometric shapes to enact 15 precise variations of social sanctions against a norm violator. More than 1,800 subjects were recruited to watch an animation and judge the behavior and character of the animated agents. They also completed a trait aggression measure. Across the variations peer punishment was typically disapproved of, especially when severe or openly aggressive, and especially by subjects low on trait aggression. We conclude that there seems to be a social norm against peer punishment and that dislike of aggressiveness seems to be part of the reason why.


No multilateral environmental agreement (MEA) has so far been concluded with a view to addressing the problem of ocean acidification. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is considered by many as being capable of addressing ocean acidification as it regulates carbon dioxide emissions – the root cause of the problem. In this article it is argued that, on the contrary, the UNFCCC does not provide an adequate legal framework for the problem because ocean acidification is not an effect of 'climate change', meaning that it is outside the UNFCCC's jurisdiction. The article provides a critical examination of whether ocean acidification is likely to be addressed through the self-organization of existing MEAs or whether a new MEA is necessary. Specifically, it considers the extent to which the provisions of relevant MEAs are applicable to ocean acidification and how their decision-making bodies have responded to the problem. This article observes inherent weaknesses in the emerging polycentric order and reaches the conclusion that a new MEA on ocean acidification is necessary to fill the regulatory gap. The article concludes by outlining two hypothetical candidates as a way of discussing key considerations informing the choice of an appropriate form and forum for an MEA on ocean acidification.


This paper describes a research effort directed to produce methods to model three-dimensional scenes of construction field objects in real-time that adds valuable data to construction information management systems, as well as equipment navigation systems. For efficiency reasons, typical construction objects are modeled by bounding surfaces using a high-frame rate range sensor, called Flash LADAR. The sensor provides a dense cloud of range points which are segmented and grouped into objects. Algorithms are being developed to accurately detect these objects and model characteristics such as volume, speed, and direction. Initial experiments show the feasibility of this method. The advantages and limitations, and potential solutions to limitations are summarized in this paper.


This thesis describes the procedure and results from four years research undertaken through the IHD (Interdisciplinary Higher Degrees) Scheme at Aston University in Birmingham, sponsored by the SERC (Science and Engineering Research Council) and Monk Dunstone Associates, Chartered Quantity Surveyors. A stochastic networking technique VERT (Venture Evaluation and Review Technique) was used to model the pre-tender costs of public health, heating ventilating, air-conditioning, fire protection, lifts and electrical installations within office developments. The model enabled the quantity surveyor to analyse, manipulate and explore complex scenarios which previously had defied ready mathematical analysis. The process involved the examination of historical material costs, labour factors and design performance data. Components and installation types were defined and formatted. Data was updated and adjusted using mechanical and electrical pre-tender cost indices and location, selection of contractor, contract sum, height and site condition factors. Ranges of cost, time and performance data were represented by probability density functions and defined by constant, uniform, normal and beta distributions. These variables and a network of the interrelationships between services components provided the framework for analysis. The VERT program, in this particular study, relied upon Monte Carlo simulation to model the uncertainties associated with pre-tender estimates of all possible installations. The computer generated output in the form of relative and cumulative frequency distributions of current element and total services costs, critical path analyses and details of statistical parameters. From this data alternative design solutions were compared, the degree of risk associated with estimates was determined, heuristics were tested and redeveloped, and cost significant items were isolated for closer examination. The resultant models successfully combined cost, time and performance factors and provided the quantity surveyor with an appreciation of the cost ranges associated with the various engineering services design options.


We describe the design of a microscope combining rotational shear interferometer (RSI)-based coherence imaging with an objective lens to simultaneously obtain high numerical aperture and high depth of field imaging. We present experimental results showing the operation of this instrument.


Based on almost 18 months of continuous direct measurements coupled with an electronic questionnaire, we have analysed the influence of indoor temperature and illuminance, outdoor climate parameters, thermal and visual sensation, clothing and season on the perceived productivity of office occupants. Using linear regression analysis, we have identified which of these variables have a significant influence on perceived productivity. From this we noticed that the observed variance in productivity is best expressed by either extreme or aggregated values of our driving variables (including indoor and outdoor temperature or thermal sensation), rather than by instantaneous stimuli. Our analysis also suggests that under warm conditions perceived productivity decreases by around of 10% compared to relatively cooler conditions. An assessment of the existence of a conjugate impact of these variables is also provided.


This memo defines a set of extensions that instrument RADIUS
accounting client functions. These extensions represent a portion of
the Management Information Base (MIB) for use with network management
protocols in the Internet community. Using these extensions, IP-based
management stations can manage RADIUS accounting clients. This memo
obsoletes RFC 2620 by deprecating the MIB table containing IPv4-only
address formats and defining a new table to add support for version-
neutral IP address formats. The remaining MIB objects from RFC 2620
are carried forward into this document. This memo also adds UNITS and
REFERENCE clauses to selected objects. This memo provides information
for the Internet community.


The original edition of Pompeii: A Sourcebook was a crucial resource for students of the site. Now updated to include material from Herculaneum, the neighbouring town also buried in the eruption of Vesuvius, Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook allows readers to form a richer and more diverse picture of urban life on the Bay of Naples.

Focusing upon inscriptions and ancient texts, it translates and sets into context a representative sample of the huge range of source material uncovered in these towns. From the labels on wine jars to scribbled insults, and from advertisements for gladiatorial contests to love poetry, the individual chapters explore the early history of Pompeii and Herculaneum, their destruction, leisure pursuits, politics, commerce, religion, the family and society. Information about Pompeii and Herculaneum from authors based in Rome is included, but the great majority of sources come from the cities themselves, written by their ordinary inhabitants – men and women, citizens and slaves.

Encorporating the latest research and finds from the two cities and enhanced with more photographs, maps, and plans, Pompeii and Herculaneum: A Sourcebook offers an invaluable resource for anyone studying or visiting the sites.


Due to the large quantities of construction and demolition waste (CDW) in Europe, its reuse or recycling is of particular importance. Although several countries already recycle high amounts of CDW, the use as secondary raw materials is often limited by inferior building material properties. Specific characteristics, like high porosity and low density are caused by hardened cement paste in crushed concrete and the content of mortar and plaster in brick debris. Impurities like wood or gypsum and also harmful substances like organic pollutants may be a major problem for a reuse and should be minimized. Therefore unwanted materials and impairing substances have to be separated from the secondary building material stream. This can be done during the demolition process by using techniques for selective dismantling or during the subsequent treatment of the resulting rubble. Since almost all processing steps are associated with environmental impacts, the benefits of saving natural resources by applying secondary building materials should be weighed carefully. An environmental performance evaluation was undertaken to assess different techniques for reducing gypsum in recycled concrete aggregates, aiming at a minimization of elutable sulfates. These results were compared to the environmental impacts of the extraction of natural aggregates for concrete.


Poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (PSMA) based copolymers are known to undergo conformational transition in response to environmental stimuli. This smart behaviour makes it possible to mimic the behaviour of native apoproteins. The primary aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of the structure-property relationships of various PSMA-based copolymers sought. The work undertaken in this thesis has revealed that the responsive behaviour of PSMA-based copolymers can be tailored by varying the molecular weight, hydrophobic (styrene) and hydrophilic (maleic acid) balance, and more so in the presence of additional hydrophobic, mono-partial ester moieties. Novel hydrophilic and hydrophobic synthetic surfactant protein analogues have successfully been prepared. These novel lipid solubilising agents possess a broad range of HLB (hydrophilic-lipophilic balance) values that have been estimated. NMR spectroscopy was utilised to confirm the structures for PSMA-based copolymers sought and proved useful in furthering understanding of the structure-property relationships of PSMA-based copolymers. The association of PSMA with the polar phospholipid, 2-dilauryl-sn-glycero-3- phosphocholine (DLPC) produces polymer-lipid complexes analogous to lipoprotein assemblies present in the blood plasma. NMR analysis reveals that the PSMA-based copolymers are not perfectly alternating. Regio-irregular structures, atactic and random monomer sequence distribution have been identified for all materials studied. Novel lipid solubilising agents (polyanionic surfactants) have successfully been synthesised from a broad range of PSMA-based copolymers with desired estimated HLB values that interact with polar phospholipids (DLPC/DPPC) uniquely. Very low static and dynamic surface tensions have been observed via the du Noϋy ring method and Langmuir techniques and correlate well with the estimated HLB values. Synthetic protein-lipid analogues have been successfully synthesised, that mimic the unique surface properties of native biological lubricants without the use of solvents. The novel PSMA-DLPC complexes have successfully been combined with hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid, HA). Today, the employment of HA is economically feasible, because it is readily available from bacterial fermentation processes in a thermally stable form - HyaCare®. The work undertaken in this thesis highlights the usage of HA in biolubrication applications and how this can be optimised and thus justified by carefully selecting the biological source, concentration, molecular weight, purity and most importantly by combining it with compatible boundary lubricating agents (polar phospholipids). Experimental evidence supports the belief that the combined HA and PSMA-DLPC complexes provide a balance of rheological, biotribological and surface properties that are composition dependent, and show competitive advantage as novel synthetic biological lubricants (biosurfactants).


In Russia and elsewhere, proponents of rapid, mass privatization of state-owned enterprises (ourselves among them) hoped that the profit incentives unleashed by privatization would soon revive faltering, centrally planned economies. The revival didn't happen. We offer here some partial explanations. First, rapid mass privatization is likely to lead to massive self-dealing by managers and controlling shareholders unless (implausibly in the initial transition from central planning to markets) a country has a good infrastructure for controlling self-dealing. Russia accelerated the self-dealing process by selling control of its largest enterprises cheaply to crooks, who transferred their skimming talents to the enterprises they acquired, and used their wealth to further corrupt the government and block reforms that might constrain their actions. Second, profit incentives to restructure privatized businesses and create new ones can be swamped by the burden on business imposed by a combination of (among other things) a punitive tax system, official corruption, organized crime, and an unfriendly bureaucracy. Third, while self-dealing will still occur (though perhaps to a lesser extent) if state enterprises aren't privatized, since self-dealing accompanies privatization, it politically discredits privatization as a reform strategy and can undercut longer-term reforms. A principal lesson: developing the institutions to control self-dealing is central to successful privatization of large firms.


Mechanical degradation of polymer solutions is an important problem which has to be assessed before injection into a reservoir. The main consequence is a viscosity loss due to macromolecules breakage which can strongly reduce the polymer solution effectiveness in controlling the water mobility inside the reservoir. Flow experiments have been performed by recirculating hydrolyzed polyacrylamide solutions through a small pack of sand particles. Polymer characteristics determined by viscometric and light scattering measurements have been analyzed before and after injection at various flow rates. A normalized rate of degradation was defined by comparing the initial and final values of the intrinsic viscosity of solutions. The parameters investigated were: polymer concentration, molecular weight, concentration and nature of electrolytes.


Burns are a significant health problem in Brazil, but there have been few data collected that could shape treatment and prevention programs. To help overcome that knowledge gap, this study looked at the types of accidents and the characteristics of 138 burn patients admitted into the burn unit of the University of São Paulo Hospital in Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, between November, 1991, and December, 1993. Patient charts were reviewed to collect data on age, sex, region of the body affected, burn depth and surface affected, agent causing the burn, and circumstances in which the burn happened. Of the 138 cases, 71% occurred in the home. In 50% of all accidents the victims were children. Boiling water was the agent responsible for 59% of the accidents among children younger than 3 years of age; fuel alcohol used in the home for cooking and other purposes caused 57% of the accidents among children between 7 and 11 years, the most affected pediatric group. Among adults, the group between 20 and 39 years of age was the most affected (23%); 84% of the victims in this age group were male. Seventeen percent of all cases involved adult males at work. Women suffered burns in accidents at home (67%) and in suicide-related events (33%). Seventy-five percent of the suicide cases were women. The strategies to reduce the incidence of burn injuries should aim at eliminating environmental risk factors and implementing educational programs disseminated through radio and television.


In Muslim societies, men use Islamism and its variants as means of self-actualization and directly in service of matters associated with personhood, masculinity, and particularly honor. This expressive trajectory i.e. exercising masculinity via Islamism holds true in Pakistan and can be broadly attributed to three elements. First, Pakistan's postcolonial baggage – a well-documented history of rise of Muslim nationalism, and Islamism in the subcontinent; second, western domination and interference in Pakistan's socio-economic and political domains (as in competition with Islamic heritage and governance frameworks) affecting some segments (and not all) among Muslim youth; and third, decades of authoritarian rule taking turns with weak democratic governments who have largely disappointed in terms of alleviating absolute to relative poverty, marginalization and alienation troubling Pakistani society. Pakistan's history and contemporary settings both reveal a dissonance between the prescribed, normative and idealized Muslim masculinity imperatives – and the socio-economic and political location of Pakistani men in the real world. Mostly leading dangerous, disenfranchised, and economically deprived lives it is difficult for them to uphold, for example, Quran's masculine imperative of being a qawwam or an ethnic normative of honor. Islamism becomes one such avenue that increases the possibility of self assertion and actualization of masculinity imperatives and as they appear in religious and cultural texts, narratives and anecdotes – for instance the theme of martyrdom. The resulting death will not only be divine, but also heroic. In the presence of precedence i.e. in form of documented history highlighting jihadism – this becomes plausible and ultimately adds to individual and collective rationality among Muslims. To develop these ideas further, this article draws upon empirical data sets and historical archival records.


Our knowledge of the circadian clock in plants has advanced considerably in recent years and we now have a clearer view of the biochemical processes making up its mechanism. Recent work provides insight into the central role played by the circadian system in the regulation of many aspects of metabolism. The multiple systems involved in photoreception have been determined leading to an understanding of how light entrains the internal biological clock to the natural cycle of day and night and how this impacts on key events in the plant lifecycle such as the photoperiodic regulation of flowering.


rates? Despite the importance of this parameter for models of monetary policy efficacy, little is known about the intensive and extensive margins of mortgage demand to interest rates. I propose an identification strategy using novel microdata on mortgage rates. I exploit the fact that, due to regulatory factors, spreads in mortgage rates across borrowers exhibit a cutoff at certain FICO scores, and show using default and securitization data that a regression discontinuity design across mortgage pricing breakpoints isolates demand, not supply, margins. I show that the intensive and extensive margins of demand for mortgages are sensitive to interest rates and are economically large: a 25 basis point decrease in mortgage rates for high-FICO individuals is associated with a 50% increase in the likelihood of a potential borrower to demand a loan and an increase in loan size of approximately $15k, or approximately 10% of the average origination volume. I additionally find that for both the intensive and extensive margin, borrowers with high FICOs tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, elasticities are relatively constant over time, and the marginal responsiveness to interest rates is decreasing. Direct correspondence about this paper to: Stephanie H. Lo, PhD Candidate, Economics, Harvard University, email@example.com.


Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with abnormalities in financial reward processing. Previous research suggests that patients with MDD show reduced sensitivity to frequency of financial rewards. However, there is a lack of conclusive evidence from studies investigating the evaluation of financial rewards over time, an important aspect of reward processing that influences the way people plan long-term investments. Beck's cognitive model posits that patients with MDD hold a negative view of the future that may influence the amount of resources patients are willing to invest into their future selves. Method We administered a delay discounting task to 82 participants: 29 healthy controls, 29 unmedicated participants with fully remitted MDD (rMDD) and 24 participants with current MDD (11 on medication). Results Patients with current MDD, relative to remitted patients and healthy subjects, discounted large-sized future rewards at a significantly higher rate and were insensitive to changes in reward size from medium to large. There was a main effect of clinical group on discounting rates for large-sized rewards, and discounting rates for large-sized rewards correlated with severity of depressive symptoms, particularly hopelessness. Conclusions Higher discounting of delayed rewards in MDD seems to be state dependent and may be a reflection of depressive symptoms, specifically hopelessness. Discounting distant rewards at a higher rate means that patients are more likely to choose immediate financial options. Such impairments related to long-term investment planning may be important for understanding value-based decision making in MDD, and contribute to ongoing functional impairment.


Euripides' interest in the psychology and social position of women is well known. Of the great Greek playwrights, he most directly reflects contemporary philosophical and social debates, and his work is of great value as a source for social history. The important new studies in this volume explore Euripides' treatment of sexuality and Greek ideals of women's behaviour. Using a wide range of analytic techniques, seven scholars direct new light not only on Euripides' own views of women but also on the ideals and preoccupations of his contemporaries in this area. Athenian women of the classical period were used, in Plato's phrase, 'to a life in the shadows'. This book helps us to see how far the influence of these cloistered women extended into the sunlit world of men.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to prepare sustained release (SR) spherical agglomerates with improved flow and compression properties using spherical crystallization technique. Methods: The spherical agglomerates of tiaprofenic acid were prepared by using quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion technique. Acetone and 0.1 N HCl were used as good solvent and poor solvent, respectively, while Eudragit RS100 and RL100 were used as release retardant polymers. The prepared agglomerates were evaluated for micromeritic, mechanical, and compression properties. Morphology and release characteristic of agglomerates was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis and in-vitro dissolution study, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) were performed to determine the presence of any drug-polymer interaction. Results: Spherical agglomerates were generated with uniform dispersion of drug within the matrix of polymer having size in the range of 100-500 μm. Due to spherical shape, agglomerates showed excellent flow, packability, compatibility, and mechanical properties. Good mechanical strength was indicated through higher crushing strength of agglomerates. Improved compressibility of agglomerates was indicated by lower σ0 value in Heckel plot analysis, higher tensile strength, and lower elastic recovery compared to pure drug crystals. Sphericity and surface smoothness of agglomerates were revealed in SEM photos. In-vitro dissolution study indicated SR of drug for prolonged period. DSC and FT-IR indicated the absence of drug-polymer interaction and no change in molecular structure of drug due to agglomeration in the presence of polymers. Conclusion: Quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion technique has been successfully utilized for the development of directly compressible SR spherical agglomerates of poorly soluble drugs like tiaprofenic acid.


This paper aims to tackle the very interesting and important problem of user personalized ranking of search results. The focus is on news retrieval and the data from which the ranking model is learned was provided by a large online newspaper. The personalized news search ranking model which we have developed takes into account not only document content and metadata, but also data specic to the user such as age, gender, job, income, city, country etc. All the user specic data is provided by the user himself when registering to the news site.


The application of cross absorption modulation for optical sampling and phase sensitive pulse measurement is presented. Both a commercial 40 GHz electroabsorption modulator and a vertical microcavity saturable absorber are used to sample a 2 ps pulse train at 40 GHz. The modulator was then used to make cross-absorption modulation based frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) measurements. The results were verified by comparison with a commercial optical sampling oscilloscope and the more standard second harmonic generation FROG technique.


This contribution is part of a dredger innovation project (ECODRAGA) aimed at reducing the pollution produced by suction dredging operations where one of the objectives was to evaluate the effect of the dredger modifications over the underwater noise generated. Measurements of the dredger working in ECO and conventional mode were made, also a methodology to obtain Source Levels was proposed with both experimental and software methods. Hydrophone measurements of the dredger were made in Moaña port in Pontevedra (North West Spain), a shallow water zone in Ría de Vigo (a drowned river valley). Noise measurements where accompanied with oceanographic sonde (CTD) measures, obtaining salinity, temperature and speed of sound depth profiles of the measurements zone. To obtain Source Levels of the Eco-dredger two propagation losses calculation methods were used: the first experimental one consists in the use of a calibrated source emitting single tones, in the same position as the dredger during the measurements, to calculate propagation losses of each 1/3 octave band from 125Hz to 4kHz. The second one is a simulation and analysis of the first setup using the software "dBSea". "dBSea" is the first commercial software of 3D underwater noise estimation with 3D bathymetry and 3 different calculation algorithms: parabolic equation, normal modes and ray tracing. All algorithms were tested and analysed to determine which one fits better with the measurements made. Conclusions compare the use of both propagation losses calculation methods and their application to the computation of the dredger source level.


Office technology and management (OTM) education is an integral part of business education programme in Nigeria. The course is expected to provide occupational skills for its recipients in business or office related occupations either as employees or self-employed. However, it has been observed that most graduates of this progamme at both colleges of education and university levels are unemployed despite the presumed acquired skills and knowledge. In view of this, the study sought to examine the training of OTM education student vis-a-vis the job demands in business environment in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Thus, three research questions are raised and answered. The research design adopted descriptive survey. The population of the study consisted of 4,030, made up of 15 OTM lecturers in College of Education, Ikere Ekiti and Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and all the 4,015 registered operators/managers of private establishments with the Ministry of Commerce and Trade in Ekiti State in 2018. The sample of the study was 1,220 respondents made up of the entire 15 OTM lecturers in the two institutions and 1,205 randomly selected respondents across the 16 local government areas, representing 30% of the population of the operators of business establishments.  Mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the three research questions. The results revealed that most of the needed ICT facilities for effective training of these students to meet job demands are not enough and that most OTM lecturers require additional ICT- related training to produce competent and qualified OTM education graduates for improved employability. Thus, the study concluded that most OTM education graduates are not adequately prepared to meet the expected job demands in a technologically-driven office environment.  It is therefore recommended that government should provide needed modern-day instructional facilities for this programme and sponsor OTM lecturers on relevant ICT packages


Long-term effects of liming on microbial biomass and activity and soil organic matter (SOM) were investigated in samples from organic horizons (Of/Oh) in spruce forests at Adenau, Hoglwald, Idar-Oberstein, and Schluchsee (Southern Germany) where plots have been manually treated 7 to 13 years ago with dolomitic limestone. At all sites, pH values were markedly increased after liming. The contents of C and N in the organic horizons of the limed plots appeared to be lower with the greatest decrease at Hoglwald (Dystric Luvisol) where liming has affected the soil properties for the longest time of all sites. Catalase activity was promoted after liming at Adenau (Cambic Podzol). This was also the case for the Dystric Luvisol where liming resulted also in higher basal respiration. Biomass-C was higher in samples from the limed plot at Idar-Oberstein (Dystric Cambisol). The 13 C CPMAS NMR spectra of organic horizons from the control plots indicate no differences in the gross carbon composition of SOM. Furthermore, spectra from the limed Cambic Podzol, Dystric Cambisol, and Haplic Podzol (Schluchsee) were remarkably similar. However, for the Dystric Luvisol, the lime-induced promotion of microbial activity resulted in lower O-alkyl-C intensity. The observed patterns of microbial biomass and activity were site-dependent rather than a result of liming. Obviously liming had only small long-term effects on the humus quality in the organic horizons, as far as detectable by CPMAS NMR spectroscopy. More sensitive techniques like pyrolysis-GC/MS should be applied to analyze differences in C composition.


The food crisis of 2008, the subsequent financial crisis, and the ongoing climate crisis have created new challenges to the attainment of global food security. This essay examines the historic and current practices that have contributed to food insecurity in developing countries, and recommends several steps that the international community might take to promote the fundamental human right to food. The essay begins by outlining the trade and aid policies that laid the foundation for food insecurity in the global South from colonialism until the early twenty-first century. It then examines the impact of the financial crisis and the climate crisis on food security – including speculative "bubbles" in agricultural commodity markets, the biofuels boom, and the growing number of "land grabs" (long-term leases or purchases of agricultural lands) by foreign investors in developing countries. The essay concludes by suggesting specific measures that the international community might take to promote food security through international law and regulation.


Calcium in blood plasma circulates in two main states: The non-diffusible protein-bound calcium which constitutes approximately 45% of the total plasma calcium and the diffusible free calcium fraction which can be further subdivided into complexed calcium and ionised calcium. The ionised calcium fraction is the physiologically active form. Albumin is the protein, which binds approximately 80% of the protein-bound calcium fraction in plasma, therefore any changes in plasma albumin concentration will directly influence the plasma total calcium concentration. To demonstrate this hypothesis, a study was done on patients with decreased plasma albumin concentrations to determine the effect on their total calcium, ionised calcium and corrected total calcium concentrations. Our study clearly illustrates that ionised calcium and corrected total calcium concentrations are better indicators of calcium homeostasis in patients with hypoproteinaemia, than total calcium concentrations alone. Medical staff therefore, cannot only rely on total calcium concentrations in these patients.


In this paper, we propose a novel regression-based algorithm for suppressing the residual echo present in the output of an acoustic echo canceller (AEC). We learn a functional relationship between the magnitudes of many frames of the speaker signal and the magnitude of the echo residual, per subband. We estimate and track the parameters of this function using adaptive algorithms (e.g. NLMS). We show that this approach can be interpreted as a rank-1 approximation to a more general regression model, and can address shortcomings of the earlier approaches based on correlation analysis. Preliminary results using linear regression on magnitudes of real audio signals in both mono and stereo situations demonstrate an average of 7 dB of echo suppression over the AEC output signal under a wide variety of conditions without near-end signal distortion. The framework is general enough to promise even further reductions in the future.


Author(s): Tripcevich, Nicholas | Abstract: Regional studies of obsidian artifacts in the south-central Andes have shown that over 90% of the analyzed artifacts from the Lake Titicaca Basin belong to a single geochemical obsidian type. A decade ago researchers identified the geological origin of this obsidian type as the Chivay / Cotallalli source, located 180km west of Lake Titicaca above the Colca valley in Arequipa at 71.5355° S, 15.6423° W (WGS84), and at 4972 meters above sea level. This research project focused on the obsidian source and adjacent lands within one day's travel from the source. The project included a 33 km2 survey, 8 test units, and in-depth lithic attribute analysis. Mobile GIS (Arcpad) was used extensively during survey. A substantial quarry pit and an obsidian workshop were examined closely, as were consumption sites in nearby areas. The results of this study found that the earliest diagnostic materials at the source date to the Middle Archaic (8000 – 6000 BCE) and that intensification of obsidian production occurred earlier than previously recognized, at circa 3300 BCE Increased obsidian production appears to have been focused on the acquisition of large (g 20cm) and homogeneous obsidian nodules, although the formal tools produced with obsidian were predominantly small projectile points. It is argued that the acquisition of large, homogenous nodules was prioritized because the production potential of large nodules was highest, and because obsidian was associated with competitive display among early aggrandizers. The timing and economic associations of obsidian production and circulation suggest that the possession of large obsidian pieces in the Titicaca Basin was a demonstration of social connections to distant resources, and to regional trade networks that emerged with regularized camelid caravan transport networks. Obsidian artifacts were not inherently "prestige goods"; rather, it is suggested here that obsidian was the least-perishable of a number of cultural goods distributed by an expanding network of caravans that linked communities in the region. The acquisition and consumption of these cultural goods was a demonstration of economic connections and cultural influence during the dynamic period of incipient social inequality between the Terminal Archaic (3300–2000 BCE) through the Middle Formative (1300–500 BCE).


Conflicts, characterized by mistrust, suspicion, tension and hostility between individuals, groups or even nations are inevitable and inherent in human communication. Forms, causes, duration, outcomes, and effects of the conflicts which may not always be destructive vary but it is up to the disputants' wisdom to deal with
them to achieve amicable solutions. This thesis aimed to unveil interpersonal conflicts that disrupt interpersonal communication in the Malay society. It hoped to unveil the disputants, types, motives of conflicts and the way they dealt with the arising issues.The inclusion of gender was to establish an understanding of the types and degree of conflicts between Malay men and women and those of the same gender. It would be worthwhile to also investigate if interracial conflict was apparent. Gender issues in
relation to inequality and power inequity were also embodied as part of the study. As real conflicts are difficult to capture, two sets of 19 classic and the contemporary Malay films were deployed. In order for the two conflict taxanomies to be established,Spradley's illustrated in Kalbfleisch (1993) conflict model was consulted as it is important to know what types of conflicts emerge when one is caught in a difficult situation with another party. Some modifications were made to suit the context.\ Amartya Sen's (2001) gender inequality model was then applied to examine the
gender issues. The results include two conflict taxonomies representing the two eras revealing both similarities and differences. The majority of the conflicts portrayed are of the destructive issues and that both the genders do contribute to the disputes in the Malay society; the highest being between family members and Malay men are shown to be the biggest perpetrators of conflicts in interpersonal communication in the two
eras. Malay women do face discrimination and inequality although they are bold and daring enough to make themselves heard and they fight for their rights. Interracial conflicts are shown to occur merely at work or professional levels involving more males than females. There is however a gradual move towards constructive conflict resolutions


A critical analysis and interpretation of the data published for complexation (conditional stability constants and complexation capacities) of trace metals (copper, Cu(II); zinc, Zn(II); lead, Pb(II); and cadmium, Cd(II)) in whole seawater and freshwater samples over the past 34 yr is presented. We propose that it is not necessary to invoke the presence of any particular classes of ligands (e.g., the so‐called L1 and L2 ligands) to explain the degree of metal complexation observed. Consideration of the presence of a range of many different types of ligands could explain the observed linear relationship between the stability of complexes (log ) and the effective metal ion loading (complexation capacity, ), without the need to assume the presence of any stable specific complexants. Apparently stronger binding sites are utilized at lower metal ion loadings; progressively weaker sites contribute to complexation at higher metal ion concentrations. Taking into account the detection window of the technique employed greatly improves the internal consistency of the overall data. When comparable windows are used, no significant difference is observed between the log relationship for Cu(II) and that for Zn(II), Pb(II), or Cd(II). In natural waters, the complexing material present will be a combination of that derived from terrestrial sources and that formed in situ in the water column. An important observation arising from our analysis is that the binding curves for natural ligands in whole natural‐water samples lie between the binding curves for compounds representative of each these sources, viz. isolated aquatic fulvic acids and biota.


Recent research indicates that recommended amounts of physical activity suggested for health benefits are rarely met in high-school–age adolescents. A pilot study was conducted to investigate the effects of a classroom health-education–based curriculum intervention on the physical activity of high school students. A within-group research design was used on data from a sample of ninth grade boys and girls (N = 104) who received six classroom health education lessons over 5 weeks based on social cognitive theory. The lessons focused on improvements in the theory-based psychological variables of mood, body satisfaction, physical self-concept, and exercise self-efficacy. Mixed-model repeated-measures ANOVAs indicated an overall statistically significant increase in physical activity, with no significant difference by sex. There were no statistically significant changes found in mood, body satisfaction, physical self-concept, or exercise self-efficacy. Results from a multiple regression analysis indicated that changes in the psychological variables tested explained 6% of the variance in physical activity change, which was not statistically significant. Results from this study may help researchers, school administrators, classroom health teachers, and developers of curricula better understand the role of the psychological factors of mood, body satisfaction, physical self-concept, and exercise self-efficacy in adolescent physical activity behavior and assist in the design of future school-based interventions.


The field of speech recognition is in the midst of a paradigm shift: end-to-end neural networks are challenging the dominance of hidden Markov models as a core technology. Using an attention mechanism in a recurrent encoder-decoder architecture solves the dynamic time alignment problem, allowing joint end-to-end training of the acoustic and language modeling components. In this paper we extend the end-to-end framework to encompass microphone array signal processing for noise suppression and speech enhancement within the acoustic encoding network. This allows the beamforming components to be optimized jointly within the recognition architecture to improve the end-to-end speech recognition objective. Experiments on the noisy speech benchmarks (CHiME-4 and AMI) show that our multichannel end-to-end system outperformed the attention-based baseline with input from a conventional adaptive beamformer.


In the fertile lands of the East, the farming community has been warned the wolves are coming back. Four gunslingers, led by Roland of Gilead, are also coming their way. And the farmers of the Calla want to enlist some hard calibers. Torn between protecting the innocent community and his urgent quest, Roland faces his most deadly perils as he journey through the Mid-World towards the Dark Tower.


In spite of apparent improvements in the pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia, many patients still demonstrate an incomplete therapeutic response to antipsychotic medication and/or intolerable adverse effects, necessitating a change in their medication regimen. The switch from one antipsychotic to another, however, is not without challenges and can be complicated by withdrawal-emergent adverse effects that prompt the patient or the clinician to abort the switch. The extent to which these adverse events can be predicted by comparing the effects of the old and new antipsychotic medications on various receptor systems, including dopaminergic, muscarinic, and histaminergic receptors, is of considerable clinical and research interest. For example, patients receiving a sedating antipsychotic with high affinity for histamine H(1) receptors could experience rebound insomnia if switched to a less sedating agent with a low affinity for H(1) receptors. An understanding of the differential receptor-binding profiles of the various antipsychotics can help clinicians anticipate and manage potential clinical issues that may be encountered when switching antipsychotic therapy.