1. Introduction Nanotechnology promises (or perhaps threatens) to change the way we live. Like other novel technologies, nanotechnology will allow us to do new things, and so will present us with new choices. Importantly, nanotechnology may also influence the very values according to which we will make those new choices. In general, new technologies--even radically new ones--evolve within a more or less stable framework of conventional values, and the apparent novelty of any given technology doesn't automatically warrant skepticism about those values. So new technology doesn't warrant radically new approaches to ethics. (1) But none the less, all technologies--and especially paradigm-bending technologies like nanotechnology--have the ability to shape our values. This warrants careful thought. The nano-technological application to be explored in this paper is surveillance technology, and the specific values to be discussed are values related to privacy. Privacy, according to Lessig, is to be understood as an ideal that stands in competition with the ideas of monitoring and searching. (2) That is, the less one's life is monitored, and the less one's life is subject to being searched, the more privacy one has. A number of technologies being developed, or envisioned, within the broad category of nanotechnology have significant implications for the extent to which individuals are subject to monitoring and search. Technologies currently being developed or refined, including "smart dust" (3) and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags (4) are already posing challenges to privacy, to say nothing of the challenges that would be posed if we one day see inexpensive video cameras "with the size and aerodynamic characteristics of a mosquito." (5) Further, one of the less controversial predictions about nanotechnology is that it will lead to important breakthroughs in computer technology, breakthroughs that will help computer manufacturers break past what is otherwise expected to be the end of current yearly increases in computing power. (6) Nanotechnology thus means the potential for significantly increased processing power--the kind of processing power that would make it feasible for individuals, corporations, and governments to process the massive quantities of data that can already be gathered by traditional surveillance equipment such as security cameras. As things stand, we have a certain degree of privacy even when in front of a surveillance camera; without powerful biometric software and databases capable of storing and comparing the face in front of Bank Camera A with the face in front of Airport Camera Z, a face is just a face. So if nanotechnology makes good on the promise of significantly improved computational capacity, this too will have an effect on privacy. Such, then, is the description of the possibilities inherent in nanotechnology for altering the availability of privacy. If our evaluation of the ethical dimension of this aspect of nanotechnology is to proceed in way that depends less upon invocations of gut reactions than have most debates in biotechnology, we need to bring to bear some theoretical tools. 2. Theoretical Framework: Ethical Conventionalism Theorists should make clear the theoretical underpinnings of their conclusions, if they wish to avoid giving the impression that they are merely moralizing. Thus I will next make explicit, and take some time to explain, one simple theoretical framework that may help us better understand the shifts in privacy-related values that may accompany the coming of nanotechnology. My theoretical framework is "ethical conventionalism," or the view that ethical values, standards and principles should be understood in terms of social conventions. According to this view, ethics is about informal, tacit social "agreements" to act in certain ways, agreements that typically evolve in response to particular characteristics of our environment. …


Inventors face a stark choice between two intellectual property systems of protecting innovative ideas: patents and trade secrecy. But accounts of this choice underexplore the role of the regulators that dominate some areas of innovation. Regulation interacts with intellectual property exclusivity in socially problematic ways by encouraging secrecy at the expense of innovation, efficiency, and competition. This Article theorizes how regulation empowers intellectual property generally, explains why this strengthening is problematic for trade secrecy but not for patents, and offers the solution of regulator-enforced disclosure. When a regulator defines a product or a process, it becomes much harder to successfully commercialize minor variations on that product or process. Any associated intellectual property exclusivity thus gets much more powerful. When the FDA approves a new drug, patents covering that chemical become much costlier to invent around because similar but non-identical chemicals lack the tremendous benefit of FDA approval. This interaction between patents and regulation interaction, however, can be noted and explicitly addressed by policy. The Hatch-Waxman Act, for example, facilitates generic drug entry once drug patents expire. Regulation strengthens trade secrecy too, but more problematically. Biologics, which comprise the most innovative and expensive drugs today, are the path-dependent result of complex, secret manufacturing processes. Meeting the FDA's definition of a biologic requires reverse-engineering its complex, secret process, making trade secrecy much more valuable, but stifling competition and innovation. In such situations, regulation can push firms to choose secrecy over patents in precisely those socially important industries, like drugs, medical devices, and pesticides, where disclosure is most important. Where regulation creates problems, however, it also offers the hope of a solution. Regulators are in a strong position to require disclosure directly: regulated firms have strong incentives for candor, regulators have the necessary expertise, and regulatory incentives can offset the costs of disclosure. More effective regulator-mediated disclosure would increase oversight and enable cumulative innovation, while retaining incentives for invention in regulated industries.


Vortices are topological objects carrying quantized orbital angular momentum, also known as topological charge, and have been widely studied in many physical systems for their applicability in information storage and processing. Here we focus on vortices in semiconductor microcavity polariton condensates. In systems with spin degree of freedom the elementary excitations are so called half-vortices. A half-vortex carries a quantum circulation only in one of the two spin components. It has lower energy in comparison with a full-vortex and, importantly, has a circularly polarized density peak in the vortex core region, while elsewhere the condensate is linearly polarized. We demonstrate the spontaneous formation of localized half-vortices in spinor polariton condensates, non-resonantly excited by a linearly polarized ring pump. The pseudospin structure of the condensate includes a TE-TM splitting leading to effective spin-orbit coupling, resulting in solutions with broken cylindrical symmetry. The cross-interaction between different spin components provides an efficient method to realize optical vortex core switching between left- and right-circularly polarized states. This switching can be easily detected by measuring the polarization resolved intensity in the vortex core region and it can also be applied to higher order half-vortex states.


The article below tries to describe early age marriage according to contemporary Islamic Family law. Actually the substance of Islamic family law is to create a social merit for people in the present and the future. Islamic law is humane and always brings mercy to the world. It intends to make the Islamic law remain up to date, relevant and able to respond to the dynamics of the times. The government prohibits early-age marriages by several considerations. Even though, the religion does not limit the age of marriages, but it also has a positive value. Such a problem is quite a dilemma. Therefore, in such a context Islam is a mercy to the universe, including Indonesia, the grounding of Islamic law in the faces that follow the movement of the people of Indonesia to follow the motion flow of the Indonesian people to be a necessity. Thus, in the view of the author, in the Indonesian context, the grounding of values of Islamic law, or, more precisely, the adaptation of Islamic law in the social change of Indonesian people. It can be used as a counter towards the practice of early-age marriages that are in fact still be mistaken by most Indonesian society. Thus, the assumption that early-age marriages are permitted by religion but not permitted under the law is wrong and is the form of ignorance about the history of the building concept of the establishment of syari'ah law in general, the history and formation as well as the enactment of the Act No. 1 in 1974 in particular, as well as the understanding and dissemination of the concept and application of the Indonesian Fiqh.


With the increasing demand for renewable energy and sustainable waste treatment, biogas production is expanding. Approximately four billion litres of bio-ethanol are produced annually for vehicle fuel in Europe, resulting in the production of large amounts of stillage residues. This stillage is energy-rich and can be used for biogas production, but is a challenging substrate due to its high levels of nitrogen and sulphate. At the full-scale biogas production plant in Norrkoping, Sweden (Svensk Biogas i Linkoping AB), thin grain stillage is used as a biogas substrate. This paper describes the plant operation and strategies that have been implemented to digest thin stillage successfully. High ammonia concentrations in the digester have resulted in syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) becoming the major pathway for acetate degradation. Therefore, a long hydraulic retention time (HRT) (40–60 days) is used to allow the syntrophic acetate-oxidising bacteria time to grow. The high sulphate levels in thin stillage result in high levels of hydrogen sulphide following degradation of protein and the activity of sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), the presence of which has been confirmed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis. To optimise biogas production and maintain a stable process, the substrate is diluted with tap water and co-digested with grain residues and glycerine to keep the ammonium nitrogen (NH 4 -N) concentration below 6 g L −1 . Combined addition of iron, hydrochloric acid and cobalt successfully precipitates sulphides, reduces ammonia toxicity and supplies microorganisms with trace element. Mesophilic temperature (38 °C) is employed to further avoid ammonia toxicity. Together, these measures and doubling the digester volume have made it possible to increase annual biogas production from 27.7 TJ to 69.1 TJ.


: By installing fog catchers in the hills around Lima, Peru, conservationists seek to transform fog into water for use in infrastructures of fog oasis reforestation. This article describes the devices and techniques of inquiry through which fog was gradually rendered catchable. These relational engagements with the atmosphere, and the multifarious forms that fog assumed along the way, will be used to reflect on the possibilities and limitations of speculative realism for more-than-human ethnography. Particularly relevant is Graham Harman's notion of 'vicarious causation', which denotes how things located outside thought can be accessed vicariously and partially, for example, through allusion. My contention is that this concept may be productively adapted for ethnographic inquiry if repurposed to fit with an open-ended and relational understanding of the outside.


The applicability of miniaturized magnetic field sensors is being explored in several areas of magnetic field detection due to their integratability, low mass, and potentially low cost. In this respect, different thin-film technologies, especially those employing magnetoresistance, show great potential, being compatible with batch micro- and nanofabrication techniques. For low-frequency magnetic field detection, sensors based on the planar Hall effect, especially planar Hall effect bridge (PHEB) sensors, show promising performance given their inherent low-field linearity, limited hysteresis and moderate noise figure. In this work, the applicability of such PHEB sensors to different areas is investigated. An analytical model is constructed to estimate the performance of an arbitrary PHEB sensor geometry in terms of, e.g., sensitivity and detectivity. The model is valid for an ideal case, e.g., disregarding shape anisotropy effects, and also incorporates some approximations. To validate the results, modelled data was compared to measurements on actual PHEBs and was found to predict the measured values within 13% for the investigated geometries. Subsequently, the model was used to establish a design process for optimizing a PHEB to a particular set of requirements on the bandwidth, detectivity, compliance voltage and amplified signal-to-noise ratio. By applying this design process, the size, sensitivity, resistance, bias current and power consumption of the PHEB can be estimated. The model indicates that PHEBs can be applicable to several different areas within science including satellite attitude determination and magnetic bead detection in lab-on-a-chip applications, where detectivities down towards 1 nTHz -0.5 at 1 Hz are required, and maybe even magnetic field measurements in scientific space missions and archaeological surveying, where the detectivity has to be less than 100 pTHz -0.5 at 1 Hz.


The intensity of enforcement efforts by securities regulators varies widely among financially developed nations, but countries with "common law origins" appear to systematically expend more on securities regulation than countries with "civil law origins." However, whether this variable of relative enforcement intensity explains the greater financial development of countries with common law origins or is instead the product of that differential in development remains open to question and depends on the direction of causality. This paper examines several explanations and prefers the hypothesis that enforcement intensity is a product of the level of retail ownership in the jurisdiction, with a high level of retail ownership creating a political demand for greater enforcement. Even more striking than this disparity between "common law" and "civil law" countries, however, is the outlier position of the United States, whose public and private enforcement efforts dwarf those of other nations. The United States is unique not in its expenditures on securities regulation, but in the amount and severity of the penalties it imposes. Enforcement efforts can be sensibly measured either in terms of "inputs" (i.e., budget and staff size) or outputs (i.e., enforcement actions brought or financial sanctions levied). After adjustment for market size or GDP, the U.S. does not differ materially from other common law countries in its expenditures, but it brings far more enforcement actions and imposes far greater financial penalties. For example, in 2005/06, the financial penalties imposed by the SEC exceeded those imposed by the U.K.'s Financial Services Agency ("FSA") by a thirty to one ratio, which, even after adjustment for differences in market capitalization, still translates into a ten to one ratio. The greater emphasis on enforcement in the United States is also evident in a comparison of the budgets of the major securities regulators, with the SEC devoting a percentage of its budget to enforcement that more than doubles that of the FSA. Behind this varying emphasis on enforcement may lie different approaches to regulation: an "ex ante" advisory and consulting approach elsewhere and an "ex post," deterrence-oriented emphasis in the United States. The greater use of public enforcement in the United States is more than paralleled by corresponding disparities in private enforcement and the use of the criminal sanction. Virtually alone, the United States recognizes the class action and the contingent fee. The actual financial sanctions imposed by private enforcement in the United States exceed those imposed by public enforcement, and the margin appears to be increasing. The only nation to rival the U.S. among "common law origin" countries is Australia, which actually devotes a higher percentage of its securities regulator's budget to enforcement and also uses the criminal sanction heavily. Australia is also characterized by a high level of retail ownership. What has been the consequence of this greater emphasis on enforcement in the United States? Much recent commentary has suggested that it has deterred foreign issuers from entering the U.S. and threatened U.S. capital market competitiveness. Closer examination suggests, however, that the firms most deterred from cross-listing have been firms with controlling shareholders and a pattern of extracting high private benefits of control. Foreign issuers that do cross-list in the United States incur a cost of capital reduction averaging 13% and a valuation premium (measured in terms of Tobin's q) that is 32% greater than that of non-cross-listing firms. Although the cross-listing decision involves a complex interaction of bonding, signaling, self-selection, and reduced informational asymmetry, the overall evidence supports the "bonding hypothesis" and suggests that U.S.'s greater emphasis on enforcement reduces informational asymmetry and gives it a lower cost of equity capital.


Meditation and visualization exercises have been found to alter an individual's mood and perception, and it is hypothesized that these techniques will enhance one's ability to anomalously influence the function of a random event generator (REG) with the mind. This study is comprised of a control experiment and a second experiment with the administration of meditation and visualization exercises. There was no support for a significant deviation of the REG in the direction of the participants' volition in Experiment 1, t(29) = -1.26, p = .22 (two-tailed), but results revealed a significant deviation in the intended direction in Experiment 2, t(29) = 2.66, p = .01 (two-tailed). Moreover, comparisons between cumulative deviations across both samples were found to be statistically significant, indicating that meditation and visualization exercises may promote significant deviations, t(58) = -2.69, p = .009 (two-tailed). These analyses suggest that the use of meditation and visualization techniques in experiments that study direct mental influence may be beneficial for finding anomalous effects.
            Keywords:       meditation, visualization, random event generator, direct mental influence


What would the story of Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac look like through the value magnitude of Chukchi sacrifice, and vice versa? Drawing on the Dumontian idea that a dominant value contains its contrary within, I show that what counts as the dominant value in each of the two sacrificial traditions is so deeply co-implicated that trickery (Chukchi) becomes the shadow of faith (Abraham), and vice versa. At certain moments, one dominant value or the other is captured by its own shadow and flips into its contrary. This reversibility takes place against a "paramount value" shared by both traditions: the necessary hierarchical distance between humanity and divinity. All of this allows us to reconsider Abraham's trial in a manner that is precisely contrary to most prevailing interpretations—namely, as an act in which God is put on trial by Abraham.


The IEEE 802.11ah is a long range 802.11 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standard. It aims to achieve a cost-effective and large scale wireless network for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Convolutional encoding is an important process to provide error-correcting codes for the wireless transmission in a 802.11ah transmitter. This thesis work explores the digital integrated circuit (IC) design and implementation of a low-power and small-area convolutional decoder by the Viterbi Algorithm for the receiver to fit the low-throughput and low-power requirement of 802.11ah standard. After investigating different architectures and algorithms to save the power and area, the promising designs are implemented with the Cadence digital IC design tool using the TSMC 40nm technology at 1.1V supply voltage. To fulfill the current project requirements, 5 Mb/s is the target throughput. The results of the Cadence front-end and back-end simulation are analyzed concerning the power and area and also are compared with the state-of-the-art design in the literature. Among all the architectures with the conventional Viterbi Algorithm, the optimal design is the fully-parallel architecture which has 247 uW power and 0.04 mm area at 10 MHz clock. Among all implemented algorithms based on the fully-parallel architecture with the conventional Viterbi Algorithm, the pre-traceback (PTB) algorithm are the optimal with 269 uW power and 0.04 mm area at 5 MHz clock rate. PTB can achieve the maximum throughput (40 Mb/s) among all designs with 40 MHz clock rate. So it is promising to be the optimal low-power design by the voltage and clock rate scaling. The power target based on the scaling results of state-of-the-art designs can be achieved by two selected implementations.


Echinococcus granulosus is one of the small tap worms that causes Hydatid cyst. This study was planned for detection of the incidence among cancer patients at Tumor unit in Baghdad medical city. A total of 11 samples of liver biopsy have taken from patients with liver cancer in this study. All patients were suffering from Hydatid cyst infection. The present study showed that the predominance of hydatidosis was in the patients whose ages ranged between (≤ 20- 60) years. The majority incidence was recorded between (50-60) years. The study showed that the predominance of hydatidosis was higher in females 28(70%), than males12 (30%). Analysis of the gene sequence showed that there were genetic mutations occurred in the hepatic cells, and several locations underwent change in genetic sequence including TCC to TCT in exon 147(5), GGT to AGT in exon 152(5), ACT to CCT in exon 160(5), TAT to TGT in exon 203(6), ATG to CTG in exon 235(7


It is common practice in organizational research to restrict the concept of organization to formal organizations, and to describe the world outside these entities by such other concepts as institutions or networks. It is argued in this article that the concept of organization can be fruitfully broadened to include some aspects of the order that exists outside and among organizations. A broader concept includes not only complete, formal organization, but also 'partial organization'. Both types of organization are based on decisions, but whereas complete organizations have access to all elements of organization, partial organization is based on only one or a few of these elements. Like complete organization, partial organization is a common phenomenon that not least characterizes much of the contemporary global order. The authors discuss how partial organization arises, how and why institutions and networks sometimes become organized, and the consequences of organization for change, transparency and accountability.


The Internet is now a part of American democracy. A majority of Americans are online and many of them use the Internet to learn political information and to follow election campaigns. Candidates now invest heavily in Web and e-mail campaign communication tools in order to reach prospective voters, as well as to communicate with journalists, potential donors, and political activists. How are their efforts paying off? Are voters influenced by what they see on the Internet? Do they use online resources to learn about issues and candidates that mainstream media are not covering? Is the Internet empowering the shrinking electorate to return to the polls? Campaigning Online answers these questions with a close-up look at the dynamics of the 2000 election on the Internet. Examining how candidates present themselves online, and how voters respond to their efforts - including measures of whether they learn from candidates' web sites and whether their opinions are affected by what they see, the authors present the first systematic depiction of the role of campaign web sites in American elections. The authors paint a portrait of the voters' side and the candidates' side of campaigning on the Internet that has been unavailable so far. They report on a wealth of new data and evidence drawn from national and state-wide surveys, laboratory experiments, interviews with campaign staff, and analysis of web sites themselves.


In 1905 Rev. Francis Clement Kelley founded the Catholic Church Extension Society of the United States of America. Drawing attention to the common link of religion, Kelley proclaimed the Extension Society's duty to be that of preventing American Protestant missionaries, public school teachers, and others from separating people from their natural faith, Catholicism. Though domestic evangelization was its founding purpose, the Extension Society eventually expanded beyond the national border into Mexico in an attempt to solidify a hemispheric Catholic identity. Exploring international, racial, and religious implications, Anne M. Martinez's Catholic Borderlands examines Kelley's life and actions, including events at the beginning of the twentieth century that prompted four exiled Mexican archbishops to seek refuge with the Archdiocese of Chicago and befriend Kelley. This relationship inspired Kelley to solidify a commitment to expanding Catholicism in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines in response to the national plan of Protestantization, which was indiscreetly being labeled as "Americanization." Kelley's cause intensified as the violence of the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero Rebellion reverberated across national borders. Kelley's work with the U.S. Catholic Church to intervene in Mexico helped transfer cultural ownership of Mexico from Spain to the United States, thus signaling that Catholics were considered not foreigners but heirs to the land of their Catholic forefathers.


Introduction: El Niño 2015-2016 was considered one of the most severe worldwide, causing the third global event of coral bleaching. Previous high-intensity El Niño events (1982-83 and 1997-98) caused high coral mortalities and deterioration of coral reef structures along the Eastern Tropical Pacific, affecting both ecosystem and associated economical activities. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the impact of the most recent El Niño event on coral reefs from Cocos Island and the Pacific coast of southern Costa Rica. Methods: Coral reefs were surveyed before (2013-2014) and after (2016) the disturbance, using underwater visual censuses within belt transects, to quantify the bottom coverage at different depths. Results: In general, average live coral cover decreased 50% after the 2015-2016 El Niño event, with Golfo Dulce being the most affected area with 75% of live coral cover decline. However, in certain localities such as Isla del Coco and Isla del Caño, the effects of El Niño were apparently minimal, since no substantial loss of live coral cover was detected. Differences in the level of deterioration found between coral reefs could be related to several factors, including the age of the protected area, the distance to centers of human population, and the effectiveness in the application of management strategies. Conclusions: The synergistic impact of the 2015-16 El Niño event and other stressors (e.g. illegal fishing and unregulated coastal human development) increased the levels of disturbance on coral reefs, threatening their structure and functioning. It is necessary to strengthen conservation strategies in order to improve the resilience of coral reefs to the impact of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Concrete actions such as coral reef restoration, marine environmental education, and marine spatial planning must become important tools to maintain the good health of coral reefs and ensure the sustainability of the goods and services provided by these ecosystems.


Protein secondary structure prediction (PSSP) is an essential task in computational biology. To achieve the accurate PSSP, the general and vital feature engineering is to use multiple sequence alignment (MSA) for Position-Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSM) extraction. However, when only low-quality PSSM can be obtained due to poor sequence homology, previous PSSP accuracy (merely around 65%) is far from practical usage for subsequent tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel PSSM-Distil framework for PSSP on low-quality PSSM, which not only enhances the PSSM feature at a lower level but also aligns the feature distribution at a higher level. In practice, the PSSM-Distil first exploits the proteins with high-quality PSSM to achieve a teacher network for PSSP in a full-supervised way. Under the guidance of the teacher network, the low-quality PSSM and corresponding student network with low discriminating capacity are effectively resolved by feature enhancement through EnhanceNet and distribution alignment through knowledge distillation with contrastive learning. Further, our PSSM-Distil supports the input from a pre-trained protein sequence language BERT model to provide auxiliary information, which is designed to address the extremely low-quality PSSM cases, i.e., no homologous sequence. Extensive experiments demonstrate the proposed PSSM-Distil outperforms state-of-the-art models on PSSP by 6% on average and nearly 8% in extremely low-quality cases on public benchmarks, BC40 and CB513.


Many sponge species produce secondary metabolites that deter predation. Sponges also
contain siliceous spicules, but previous studies have provided little evidence that spicules offer
any defense against generalist fish predators. However, feeding assays in past investigations
tested sponge skeletal elements in isolation, and did not consider whether they may enhance
chemical defenses. To determine whether the two components have an additive, antagonistic, or
synergistic interaction, crude organic extracts and spicules from 8 Caribbean sponge species
were isolated and tested in laboratory assays. The sponges used included one chemically
defended reef sponge (Agelas clathrodes) and seven sponges known to be intermediately
deterrent. These included six reef species (Calyx podotypa, Cinachyra alloclada, Cribrochalina
vasculum, Niphates digitalis, Rhaphidophlus juniperinus, and Xestospongia muta) and one
mangrove species (Tedania ignis). Extracts and spicules were used in various concentrations,
both individually and in combination, in laboratory feeding assays with the bluehead wrasse,
Thalassoma bifasciatum. A SAS based GENMOD procedure based on an isobolographic
analysis model was used for statistical comparisons. Four sponges (A. clathrodes, C. alloclada,
R. juniperinus, and X. muta) showed evidence of synergisms. Of these species, synergy in C.
alloclada, R. juniperinus, and X. muta was caused by approximate natural concentrations of
extracts and spicules. Extracts of A. clathrodes were deterrent, but combination assays required
unnatural reductions in extract concentrations and increases in spicule concentrations to show the
synergistic effect. Contrary to previous findings, spicules from Cribrochalina vasculum and X.
muta were deterrent at natural concentrations. These results indicate that, for some sponges,
structural elements may serve to enhance chemical defenses against consumers.


The modem American economy was the creation of four men: Andrew Camegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay Gould, and J. P. Morgan. They were the giants of the Gilded Age, a moment of riotous growth that established America as the richest, most inventive, and most productive country on the planet. Acclaimed author Charles R. Morris vividly brings the men and their times to life. The ruthlessly competitive Camegie, the imperial Rockefeller, and the provocateur Gould were obsessed with progress, experiment, and speed. They were balanced by Morgan, the gentleman businessman, who fought, instead, for a global trust in American business. Through their antagonism and their verve, they built an industrial behemoth - and a country of middle-class consumers. "The Tycoons" tells the incredible story of how these four determined men wrenched the economy into the modem age, inventing a nation of full economic participation that could not have been imagined only a few decades earlier.


The advancement of computer technology has brought about greater ability to model and render complex 3-D scenes. Highly complex structures in these scenes give rise to large amounts of information that can be hidden using conventional rendering and visibility techniques because of occlusion. In order to expose structural information in a complex model, non-photorealistic visibility techniques must be used.
This thesis presents non-deformative techniques for creating structurally rich visualizations of complex 3-D scenes. Techniques for reducing occlusion globally are combined with an importance specification system to expose and emphasize objects and regions of interest. These occlusion reduction methods are also applied locally according to an occlusion function defined over a cutaway structure. Localized occlusion reduction can be combined with augmentations to the polygonal and volumetric rendering pipeline to create cutaway illustrations that expose and emphasize objects and regions of interest. The presented techniques are made with realtime rendering in mind, and are shown to operate at interactive framerates for dynamic models and scenes. Sample result images are presented for medical and architectural visualization scenarios.
The main contributions of this thesis are a novel method for creating sparse line representations of isosurfaces in volumes, a contextual cutaway structure and associated occlusion function, an efficient and flexible image-based cutaway surface computation algorithm, and several cutaway surface function modifications to support perspective projection correction, edge compression, locally defined angles, and directional constraints.


Currently, FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) is one of the most widely used methods in field of functional prototypes of components creation in various industries. When using RepRap type of printing in some cases occurs to reduced quality of surface area of component that is located on a support, or complications when removing the supporting material. For low surface quality of components produced by using this technology it is necessary to adjust this surface, according to specific customer requirements. The article deals with the problems of components surface post-treatment produced by FDM technology. Using standard machining methods with support and machining process simulation in Creo 3.0 software, by testing, cutting parameters and additional surface smoothing by acetone vapor bath method.


Morbid obesity is defined as excess weight or body fat to an extent that may have negative effects on health. It increases the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obstructive sleep apnea. Excessive food intake and lack of physical activity are thought to explain most cases of obesity; others are associated with genetic disorders, organic diseases, and psychiatric conditions. Obesity is defined as body mass index (BMI) 30 kg/m2 or higher and is further sub-classified into three groups: BMI 30.0 to 34.9 kg/m2 is class I, 35.0 to 39.9 kg/m2 is class II and greater than or equal to 40 is class III. The goal of obesity treatment is to reach and maintain a healthy weight. The primary treatment consists of diet and physical exercise; however, maintaining weight loss is difficult and requires discipline. Medications such as orlistat, lorcaserin, and liraglutide may be considered as adjuncts to lifestyle modification. One of the most effective treatments for obesity is bariatric surgery. There are several bariatric surgery procedures, including laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. Sleeve gastrectomy is the most commonly performed bariatric surgery worldwide. It is performed by removing 75% of the stomach, leaving a tube-shaped stomach with limited capacity to accommodate food. Here, we present the case of an obese patient who undergoes laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.


Eddy covariance measurements of net ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange (NEE) were taken at an ombrotrophic bog near Ottawa, Canada from 1 June 1998 to 31 May 2002. Temperatures during this period were above normal except for 2000 and precipitation was near normal in 1998 and 1999, above normal in 2000, and well below normal in 2001. Growing period maximum daytime uptake (−0.45 mg CO2 m−2 s−1) was similar in all years and nighttime maximum respiration was typically near 0.20 mg CO2 m−2 s−1, however, larger values were recorded during very dry conditions in the fourth year of study. Winter CO2 flux was considerably smaller than in summer, but persistent, resulting in significant accumulated losses (119–132 g CO2 m−2 period−1). This loss was equivalent to between 30 and 70% of the net CO2 uptake during the growing season. During the first 3 years of study, the bog was an annual sink for CO2 (∼−260 g CO2 m−2 yr−1). In the fourth year, with the dry summer, however, annual NEE was only −34 g CO2 m−2 yr−1, which is not significantly different from zero. We examined the performance of a peatland carbon simulator (PCARS) model against the tower measurements of NEE and derived ecosystem respiration (ER) and photosynthesis (PSN). PCARS ER and PSN were highly correlated with tower‐derived fluxes, but the model consistently overestimated both ER and PSN, with slightly poorer comparisons in the dry year. As a result of both component fluxes being overestimated, PCARS simulated the tower NEE reasonably well. Simulated decomposition and autotrophic respiration contributed about equal proportions to ER. Shrubs accounted for the greatest proportion of PSN (85%); moss PSN declined to near zero during the summer period due to surface drying.


This study was designed to evaluate the antidiabetic effect of hydroalcoholic extract from Punica granatum peels in normal and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and its potent a-amylase inhibitory. Antidiabetic effect of this extract was investigated after oral administration at dose of 400 mg/kg b.w. In normal fasted rats, the test drug extract showed no hypoglycaemic effect but were found to be depressing the peak value of blood glucose after oral glucose tolerance (glucose 2.5 g/kg b.w.). After 2-weeks of daily treatment in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, plasma glucose levels were decreased after oral administration of hydroalcoholic extract from Punica granatum peels by 56% in the first week and 32.92% in the second week. However, this extract showed hypolipidemic effect (Total cholesterol and triglycerides) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. In vitro, Punica granatum peels extract demonstrate a potent inhibitory effect on a- amylase activity (IC50=3.65 g/L) these finding strongly suggest that PGP extract improves postprandial hyperglycaemia, at least in part, by inhibiting alpha amylase activity.


We report our analysis of the stability of pulsation periods in the DAV star (pulsating hydrogen atmosphere white dwarf) ZZ Ceti, also called R548. On the basis of observations that span 31 years, we conclude that the period 213.13 s observed in ZZ Ceti drifts at a rate dP/dt ≤ (5.5 ± 1.9) × 10-15 s s-1, after correcting for proper motion. Our results are consistent with previous values for this mode and an improvement over them because of the larger time base. The characteristic stability timescale implied for the pulsation period is ∣ P/ ∣ ≥ 1.2 Gyr, comparable to the theoretical cooling timescale for the star. Our current stability limit for the period 213.13 s is only slightly less than the present measurement for another DAV, G117-B15A, for the period 215.2 s, establishing this mode in ZZ Ceti as the second most stable optical clock known, comparable to atomic clocks and more stable than most pulsars. Constraining the cooling rate of ZZ Ceti aids theoretical evolutionary models and white dwarf cosmochronology. The drift rate of this clock is small enough that we can set interesting limits on reflex motion due to planetary companions.


EurocanPlatform is an exciting collaboration between Europe's top cancer centres to accelerate the pace of taking new scientific results to the patients' bedside. This is being achieved by building shared platforms between the partners in each critical area of cancer research from causation of cancer to delivery of novel therapeutic strategies in clinical trials.

The first year of EurocanPlatform has been remarkably free of glitches. Most work packages are up and running well, inevitably a couple are getting up to speed now. The first general assembly at the end of the first year was exciting and rich in content. More than a dozen talks outlined work in hand, and outlined future plans. The most stimulating aspect was the obvious willingness of scientists from the various member institutes (23 in all) to open their technological cupboards, and in the true spirit of the project share know-how and facilities with colleagues.

Several innovative hypothesis driven trials were presented by scientists, not clinicians - probably the most remarkable memory of the meeting. And the spread of the platforms from aetiology of cancer through prevention to clinical cost efficacy was abundantly evident.

On the former topics, cancer risk assessment and prevention, two projects were discussed and supported. The first was exciting as it harnessed new technological areas, epigenetics and metabolomics to populations, normal, or at risk. IARC in Lyon is looking for epigenetic markers of early cancer using large cohorts, while the EPIC study, the largest global prospective study of diet and other lifestyle factors will be exploited to hunt patterns in metabolomics, which might also prove to be useful early signals of cancer or premalignancy. The EPIC study has recruited over 520,000 volunteers and over 2000 incident cases of lung cancer have already been noted. The intention is to take biological specimens (plasma/urine) and use high resolution mass spectrometry to unravel the molecular patterns in low and high consumers of foods of interest. In parallel, the food metabolome will be assessed with particular attention to those substances, and interactions between these and other biometric parameters will be tested for utility as future biomarkers.

Also in the area of biomarkers, Oslo (OCCC) and Milan (INT), covered extensively the molecular profiling of normal, premalignant and cancerous tissue samples from lung, ovary and pancreas. Preliminary findings on 419 glycan-related genes have been presented. The same team leads an ambitious project to refine the technology of identifying and exploiting circulating tumour cells (CTCs). The early application of this technique has shown that numbers of tumour cells retrieved from blood samples correlate with tumour bulk, and changes in numbers have mirrored response to therapy, and subsequent regrowth. Finding small numbers of circulating cells in early disease such as breast cancer has so far been disappointing, but second generation technology is being used by several groups in the consortium and better sensitivity and selectivity are confidently predicted. If one regards CTCs as easily accessible "biopsies" of tumours it is immediately apparent how useful they might be to provide information of metastatic potential, resistance to therapy, and eventual sensitivity to new targeted molecules. First however the group is planning to retrieve gene signatures from CTCs to check whether they are identical or not to the parent cancer. Gene profiling has been achieved so far on as few as 50 CTCs, so this approach looks promising.

The translational nature of the EurocanPlatform was confirmed by description of two hypotheses driven clinical trials mooted by Amsterdam (NKI), Paris (Curie), Paris (IGR), Cambridge (CRUK), Barcelona (Val d'Hebron) and London (ICR), each based on collaborative laboratory projects amongst the partners. They include an early phase trial of a dual PI3K/mTOR inhibitor together with tamoxifen to reverse hormone resistance in metastatic breast cancer patients whose cancers are HER2 negative and Estrogen receptor positive. Then there is a plan for a test of the new Braf inhibitor Vemurafenib, shown to be effective in melanoma patients whose tumours display a mutation in BRAF V600E, but in colorectal patients instead of melanoma. It seems that bowel tumours treated with an inhibitor of this mutated gene switch on EGFR which is the target for a number of agents including cetuximab, so a combination of the two agents is logical to trial.

The sharing of platform technology know-how, and open access to partner institute facilities is the very essence of EurocanPlatform. A number of collaborations have already been initiated thanks to the project, including kinome resequencing (particularly in ovarian cancer) and refinement of RNAi technology led by Amsterdam (NKI), SNP genotyping led by Cambridge (CRUK), and Reverse Phase Protein Arrays (RPPA), led by Paris (Curie).

The interlinking of clinicians and scientists has clearly been achieved already in the project, the sharing of technologies amongst scientists is evident, and the cross talk between clinical epidemiologists expert in prevention, clinicians and scientists, especially focussed on biomarker development bodes well for the future positive impact on cancer patient outcomes. The outreach and dissemination of the results of the project are the responsibility of an ongoing Education programme led by Bari (IT), and the public and professional communications are the responsibility of ecancer.org.

The following organisations are also involved in EurocanPlatform: the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) and the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI).


Vincristine is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of childhood malignancies. Neuropathy is the most common adverse effect. CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 enzymes of cytochrome p450 enzyme system are responsible in vincristine metabolism. Genetic polymorphism may alter the vincristine metabolism and the neurotoxicity rate. In this study, distribution of CYP3A5 alleles among Turkish children with malignancies, relation between CYP3A5 genotype and neurotoxicity rates, as well as severity and duration of neuropathy and total vincristine doses were investigated. Patient group consisted of 115 patients (age, 1 to 17 y) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and solid tumors, who were treated with vincristine consisting chemotherapy protocols. Control group consisted of 50 children without any neurological symptom or disorders. All patient files were reviewed for presence and severeness of neurotoxicity symptoms. Blood samples were obtained and CYP3A5 genotypes were analyzed. Neurotoxicity occurred in 20.8% of patients. Although it was found to occur more frequently after 4 doses of vincristine, and rates were higher in the low-dose vincristine group suggesting other contributing factors. Although neurotoxicity rate in the CYP3A5*1/*3 genotype was 17.6%, it was 21.6% in the CYP3A5*3/*3 genotype and the difference was not statistically significant (P<0.05). This study suggested that vincristine-related neurotoxicity is dose-independent and genotype is not the only causative factor in the occurrence of neurotoxicity in these patients.


The Global Financial Crisis since 2008 has left in its wake the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. Governments and entire national economies have been sacrificed to save the financial sector and its major clients. Bailing out banks, bondholders and Wall Street brokerage houses – the institutions whose mismanagement, over-lending and outright fraud led to the crash – has widened economic polarization and caused fiscal strains.
This has led many countries to reconsider the character of macroeconomic management and behind it, the body of economic and political theory guiding today's societies. What seemed at first glance to be a systemic policy failure of mainstream economics is coming to be seen as not so much a failure as part of an orchestrated class to protect financial wealth and its allied rentier sectors. Economic policy has passed out of the hands of elected democratic
government to central banks and other government agencies controlled by financial planners and the rentier class behind them. Their post-crisis management has enabled these interests to gain control of a large swath of the public domain of debtor countries, along with industries and real estate in the creditor nations themselves. The Communist Manifesto's classic dictum that "the executive of the modern state is nothing but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie" no longer seems to be an exaggeration, but it may be updated to describe modern governments above all as committees to subsidize and rescue the banking and financial sector, which has become
the manager and central planner of today's global economy. The effect is to curtail industrial capacity, subordinating the forces of industrial capitalism
to an extractive (and increasingly concentrated) financial superstructure consolidating its power by bank loans, bond and stock ownership – turning the rest of society into debtors, renters and buyers of monopolized goods and services. What remains in dispute is just who comprises the today's ruling class and where its policy program is leading. The present collection of essays trace how Thorstein Veblen described the way in which the mid-19th century's industrial capitalism was becoming centered on what today is called the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) sector. Each author in this volume
discusses the character of today's capitalism, and how and why the capitalist class remains politically dominant despite the fact that it repeatedly fails to fulfill the requirements of economic leadership it claims to fulfill. Together, these papers contribute to a better understanding of "capital in the twenty first century," to use the phrase that has become popular following Thomas
Piketty's best seller. Veblen made numerous contributions to a diverse set of fields. Not surprisingly, he has been considered by some to be an economist and by others a sociologist. To others he seemed broadly to be an anthropologist, political or cultural theorist. The authors of the current collection view
him as a critic of "the established order of business," continuing in the tradition of classical political economy to analyze the often dysfunctional modern world that, in his mind, required a restructuring. Unlike today's neoclassical economics, classical political economists distinguished
between earned and unearned income, that is, the types of income accruing to productive and unproductive labor and investment respectively. The labor theory of value found its counterpart in the "rent theory" of prices. This distinction between intrinsic cost-value and market price (with economic rent reflecting the margin of price over value) provided a basis for analyzing the ownership of wealth and other special privileges to extract income without creating real
value by producing goods and services. The policy conclusion of this classical approach was that material wealth adding to overall well-being could be augmented only by productive investment. By the same token, a subset
of unproductive rentier property and financial claims was extractive rather than productive and hence, was a form of economic overhead, not real wealth. This was the essential theme of classical rent theory, which Veblen continued at a time when the economics mainstream was denying the distinction between rent extractors and industrial investors. Pursuing the logic of classical rent theory, Veblen investigated the consequences of concentrating ownership in the hands of an evolving capitalist class. He described "absentee ownership" as the "latest stage of capitalism" and "the new order of business" at the outset
of the twentieth century. "It may be said, of course, and perhaps truthfully, that the absentee owners of the country's industrial equipment," he wrote, "come in for a disproportionate share of the 'national dividend,' and that they and their folks habitually consume their share in superfluities; but no urgent moral indignation appears to be aroused by all that." This class of absentee owners comprised a new aristocracy. Like their feudal counterparts,
they did not directly manage the means of production or other assets, which took on the form mainly of corporate bonds and stock. Real estate investment was largely for speculative purposes to obtain price gains, while the stock market likewise aimed increasingly at making purely financial gains.
For Veblen, absentee ownership as the latest stage of capitalism consisted of three pillars: "the mechanical system of industry, the price system, and the national establishment." This tripartite social organization was centered on the financial sector, whose major business concern was to create industrial monopolies while gaining control of national politics. Veblen called
these monopolists and political deep state the "vested interests." The credit system was the core of the financial sector, which was employed to gain unearned income on behalf of these vested interests. The result was bifurcation between the super rich absentee owners and the underlying population, whose survival has increasingly come to depend on credit, i.e., debt on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. In Veblen's words, capitalism in the form of absentee ownership works in such a way that "the country's assets should, at a progressively accelerated rate, gravitate into the ownership, or at least into the control, of the banking community at large."


Background Current practices in developing guidelines about the use of diagnostic tests and strategies (DTS) are out of step with the conceptual discussion among experts. Objectives Identify the essential factors to consider when making recommendations about DTS. Methods We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts in assessing evidence and producing guidelines about DTS. Results We interviewed 23 international experts. Although diagnostic test accuracy (DTA) was the factor most commonly considered by organisations when developing recommendations, experts agreed that DTA is never sufficient and may be misleading. Experts identified the following additional essential factors in making decisions about DTS: resource implications, complications, inconclusive results, additional benefits of the test, diagnostic/therapeutic impact, safety, feasibility, ethical, legal, and organisational considerations, patients' and societies' values and preferences and the link between the test results and patient important outcomes. Because direct evidence on DTS's effects on patient outcomes and resource implications is frequently unavailable, most experts agreed that decision analysis and mathematical modelling will be useful, but their opinion varied about the extent of details needed. Discussion Formal decision modelling can be a useful framework for organising the clinical, cost, and preference data relevant to the use of diagnostic tests. Although it requires resources, it is useful for integrating these factors into decision making, identifying evidence gaps, and high priority research areas. Implications Developing guidelines about the use of DTS requires considering factors beyond solely DTA but implementing this demand is challenging. Further development and testing of a framework that can guide this process is needed.


Can enterprise zones have any long-term effects on the economic status of minority populations or on the concentration of poverty in urban neighborhoods? This question was tackled from two perspectives. First, do enterprise zone interventions make sense in the context of existing models of racial inequality and ghetto development. Second, do the existing literature and evaluation studies provide evidence that enterprise zones are benefiting the urban poor in general and poor minorities in particular? This study examines five selected official evaluations of state enterprise zone programs looking at how incentives are targeted toward specific populations and places and whether benefits to targeted communities were measured. The goals of state enterprise zone programs definitely include economic advancement for the disadvantaged and reducing poverty, but these goals are not directly reflected by the structure of enterprise zone programs or program evaluations. Existing measures of benefits to targeted populations or areas, generally yield negative results. The principal finding from this review of enterprise zone evaluations is the weak link between the structure of the programs, what they intend to accomplish, and what accomplishments evaluators measure. Existing evaluation research on enterprise zones does not provide evidence that existing enterprise zone programs are decreasing racial income disparity or improving the conditions of the urban poor. Enterprise zones are the wrong tool to fix the lack of economic opportunity in blighted urban neighborhoods because there is a poor fit between the structure of enterprise zones and the goal of providing opportunities for economic advancement to the urban poor.


This paper explores the relationship between microcredit and poverty reduction. To investigate this question, we posit a bare-bone, household model that outlines the economic environment within which various types of family microenterprises operate. It highlights a number of issues that impinge on household earnings such as the nature of the labour market, technology, product demand and entrepreneurial skills. The paper argues that the impact of microcredit is likely to be different across household types as well as across different economic environments. The paper identifies several important demand and supply constraints to the household's graduation from poverty. These constraints are difficult to overcome in a traditional economic environment, marked by stagnant technology and market saturation. Finally, it is suggested that microcredit has a positive effect on female empowerment—i.e., the agency to make household decisions which helps to improve the quality of family consumption and 'human development indicators' of the family. This claim may hold sway in some contexts. However, our a priori reasoning, as well as the available contrary empirical evidence, suggests that …


We use an extensive data set of bilateral exposures on credit default swap (CDS) to estimate the impact on collateral demand of new margin and clearing practices and regulations. We decompose collateral demand for both customers and dealers into several key components, including the "velocity drag" associated with variation margin movements. We demonstrate the impact on collateral demand of more widespread initial margin requirements, increased novation of CDS to central clearing parties (CCPs), an increase in the number of clearing members, the proliferation of CCPs of both specialized and non-specialized types, and client clearing. Among other results, we show that system-wide collateral demand is increased significantly by the application of initial margin requirements for dealers, whether or not the CDS are cleared. Given these dealer-to-dealer initial margin requirements, however, mandatory central clearing is shown to lower, not raise, system-wide collateral demand, provided there is no significant proliferation of CCPs. Central clearing does, however, have significant distributional consequences for collateral requirements across various types of market participants. JEL codes : G20, G28, G15.


\"This article describes the evolution of the prime lamb industry from the 1980s to the present and proposes a path for the future until 2020. In terms of income generated, the industry was floundering in the 1980s, but income increased rapidly after the late 1990s. The increase in the value of the industry was underpinned by a shift to a focus on the consumer demand and implemented by improvements in genetics, farm management and marketing. Current genetic improvement is mainly driven by improvement of carcase weight; future improvements will be derived from a reduction in fatness and an increase in muscle. The influence of genetic selection for leanness and muscle on muscle structure is discussed. It is concluded that selection and management strategies should focus on maintaining muscle with an aerobic metabolism, as this will optimise the organoleptic qualities and nutrient content of meat, which have significant implications for human health. Fat metabolism is discussed in relation to opportunities for maintaining intramuscular fat levels, reducing saturated fat content of lamb and increasing the long-chain omega-3 content of lamb. Future research should focus on improvements in supply-chain efficiency, eating quality, visual appeal, odour and the health attributes of lamb meat.

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INTRODUCTION
Timely vascular access is critical, as hemorrhage is the number one cause of death on the battlefield. Anecdotal evidence in the Military Health System identified an operationally relevant procedural skills gap in vascular access, and data exist in civilian literature showing high rates of iatrogenic injuries when lack of robust procedural opportunity exists. Multiple pre-deployment training courses are available for surgical providers, but no comprehensive pre-deployment vascular access training exists for non-surgical providers.

METHODS
This mixed-method review aimed to find relevant, operationally focused, vascular access training publications. A literature review was done to identify both relevant military clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and full text articles. Reviewers also investigated available pre-deployment trainings for both surgeons and non-surgeons in which course administrators were contacted and details regarding the courses were described.

RESULTS
We identified seven full-text articles and four CPGs. Two existing surgical training programs and Army, Navy, and Air Force pre-deployment training standards for non-surgeons were evaluated.

CONCLUSION
A cost-effective and accessible pre-deployment curriculum utilizing reviewed literature in a "learn, do, perfect" structure is suggested, building on pre-existing structures while incorporating remotely accessible didactics, hands-on practice with portable simulation models, and live-feedback training.


This article examines the changes and developments of the Korean government's attitude to the Korean Wave, connecting with the notion of cultural diplomacy. It investigates presidential speeches and statements as well as other governmental documents between 1998 and 2014 because they represent and establish guidelines applying to cultural policies. By analyzing presidential statements with the notion of cultural diplomacy, it explores the government's reinterpretation of this transnational, hybrid cultural content into national products, thereby appropriating them as tools of improving national images. Throughout the research, this article connects presidents' viewpoints with their subsequent cultural policies, thereby finding fundamental perspectives framing cultural policies vis-a-vis the Korean Wave.


In previous studies of the universal pattern decomposition method (UPDM), the band width has been used to calculate standard spectral pattern vectors, without consideration of the effect of spectral response functions (SRFs). This study revised the UPDM to further reduce sensor dependence, by taking into account the effect of SRFs. Both the UPDM and the revised UPDM (RUPDM) were applied to MODIS and ETM+ data acquired over the Three Gorges region of China. The reconstruction accuracy was significantly greater when the RUPDM was used, with a relative decrease in the mean χ2 of more than 14%. Using the new method, the dependence of the decomposition coefficients and vegetation index (VIUPD) on the sensor also decreased, with their linear regression factors approximately equal to one. These increases in accuracy indicate that the RUPDM further reduces sensor dependence and hence can outperform the UPDM in data retrieval.


Background and aims Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a well-recognised mediator of liver disease and regeneration. However, the in vivo effects of IL-6 on enterocytes and the intestinal tract have not been elucidated. We sought to determine the in vivo effects of IL-6 on enterocytes. Methods Murine models of increased or absent IL-6 were examined. Results Systemic, high-dose IL-6 administration to mice over 7–10 days resulted in intestinal hyperplasia with a ∼40% increase in small bowel mass and in intestinal villus height. No increase in crypt cell proliferation was noted. IL-6 administration was associated with induction of pSTAT3 in enterocytes along the lower and middle regions of villi but not in crypts. IL-6 administration was also associated with induction of anti-apoptotic proteins including pAKT, and FLIP along with decreased executor caspase activity and PARP cleavage. Pulse bromodeoxyuridine labelling demonstrated equivalent crypt cell proliferation rates but prolonged enterocyte lifespan and slowed enterocyte migration rates in IL-6 treated mice. Furthermore, IL-6 treated mice showed less intestinal injury and improved barrier function following ischaemia reperfusion of the small bowel. Conversely, Il6 null mice exhibited impaired recovery following massive enterectomy and increased apoptosis after 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy relative to wild-type controls. Conclusions IL-6 inhibited both constitutive and induced enterocyte cell death in vivo. Loss of IL-6 in mice resulted in increased activation of pro-apoptotic and necrotic pathways in enterocytes after injury. Therapies that augment IL-6 or its signalling pathways may help manage intestinal disorders associated with increased apoptosis, necrosis and gut injury.


Computational scientists often prototype software using productivity
languages that offer high-level programming abstractions. When higher
performance is needed, they are obliged to rewrite their code in a
lower-level efficiency language. Different solutions have been
proposed to address this trade-off between productivity and
efficiency. One promising approach is to create embedded
domain-specific languages that sacrifice generality for productivity
and performance, but practical experience with DSLs points to some
road blocks preventing widespread adoption. This paper proposes a
non-invasive domain-specific language that makes as few visible
changes to the host programming model as possible. We present ParallelAccelerator,
a library and compiler for high-level, high-performance scientific
computing in Julia. ParallelAccelerator's programming model is aligned with existing
Julia programming idioms. Our compiler exposes the implicit
parallelism in high-level array-style programs and compiles them to
fast, parallel native code. Programs can also run in "library-only"
mode, letting users benefit from the full Julia environment and
libraries. Our results show encouraging performance improvements with very few changes to source code required. In particular, few to no additional type annotations are necessary.


The irrigation system in San Antonio was an integral part of its early history. Within the San Antonio area irrigation was a necessity to extend the planting season. An extended planting season would allow for diversified crops with different harvesting periods. The first municipal irrigation system was the San Pedro Acequia. It was constructed to serve the town with fresh water for household use and agricultural purposes. As the population increased and technology improved, the acequias changed in both appearance and function. In time, the San Pedro Acequia system became part of San Antonio's forgotten past. Recently, excavations on the Government Service Administration (GSA) property in downtown San Antonio unearthed portions of the San Pedro Acequia. Investigations revealed the Acequia underwent three construction phases within the (GSA) property. Results of the archaeological investigations and literature research gives a vivid picture of the history of the San Pedro Acequia.


Although a great deal of attention, on the part of several workers,
has been devoted to a study of the head structure of Hemiptera, the
interpretation of which presents one of the most controversial questions
 in external insect anatomy, uncertainty still exists as to the
correct homologies of the various sclerites. Hence in taxonomic
papers the same part of the head may be named differently according
to the views held by the respective authors.
The present work has been made possible by the recent discovery
of abundant material of Herniodoecus fidelis Evans, a representative
of the Peloridiidae, which is undoubtedly the most archaic hemipterous
family still in existence


Many theoretical and empirical algorithms have been proposed in the literature for radon release; however whilst its relation with earthquake occurrence has been developed on occasions, there have been no specific complete studies of this phenomenon. In this study, radon monitoring was carried out using emanometry technique at Palampur and Dalhousie stations in the Kangra valley of Himachal Pradesh (India) from June 1996 to September 1999. Discrete radon concentrations were recorded in soil-gas and groundwater at both the stations. Radon anomalies were correlated with microseismic events recorded along the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) of N-W Himalaya in the grid (30-34°N, 74-78°E). The influence of meteorological parameters viz, temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and wind velocity on radon concentration was qualitatively evaluated. The radon exhalation showed positive correlation with temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and negative correlation with wind velocity. Both positive and negative radon anomalies were recorded. The study reveals the precursory nature of radon anomalies and their correlation with microseismic events in 62% of the cases but prediction of earthquakes is yet a remote possibility. From the analysis it has been found that radon anomaly is not only influenced by seismic parameters but also by meteorological parameters and the nature of carrier gases/fluids. To learn more about the phenomenon, simultaneous recording of various gases (He, CO2, CH4) and meteorological parameters, together with multiple continuous measurements of radon have been suggested.


The model and framework presented in the target article by Thelen et al. is an interesting effort that is able to account for the contextual variability in the A-not-B performance of 7–12-month-old infants. In the process of developing their framework, the authors discounted the concept of object as a useful notion in discussions of A-not-B performance. For Piaget and other developmentalists, the main evidence for the acquisition of the concept of object was the disappearance of A-not-B errors after age 12 months. However, the Thelen et al. model makes predictions of A-not-B outcomes over a much shorter, trial-to-trial time scale. Given the mismatch in the time scales over which analyses in the two approaches have been based, we wonder if the challenge to the concept of object has been misplaced.


What is the nature of the "rights," jurisprudentially, that the 1964 Civil Rights Act legally prescribed? And, more generally, what is a "civil right"? Today, lawyers tend to think of civil rights and particularly those that originated in the 1964 Act, as antidiscrimination rights: our "civil rights," on this understanding, are our rights not to be discriminated against, by employers, schools, landlords, property vendors, hoteliers, restaurant owners, and providers of public transportation, no less than by states and state actors, on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, age, sexuality or disability. Contemporary civil rights scholarship overwhelmingly reflects the same conception: our civil rights are quasi-constitutional rights to be free of discrimination in the private as well as public world. But this conventional lawyerly understanding -– basically, that "civil rights" are "antidiscrimination rights" -– is clearly inadequate, certainly with respect to civil rights generally but also, and more tellingly, even with respect to the rights created and then protected by the '64 Act itself.First, on the general point: some of the "civil rights" sought or held across our history have not been antidiscrimination rights of any sort at all: labor rights, welfare rights, free speech rights, and the constitutional rights of criminal defendants have all, at various times, been championed as "civil rights," and these rights are neither logically nor jurisprudentially tied to any conception of antidiscrimination. But furthermore, even the "civil rights" which are defined and then protected against discrimination by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, as well as by various Civil Rights Acts both before and subsequent to it, are not, in circular fashion, simply our rights not to be discriminated against on the basis of impermissible characteristics. Rather, the "civil rights" of which we cannot be discriminatorily deprived, whether originating in the '64 Act or elsewhere, are, after all, rights to something: a right to vote, or to physical security, or to enter contracts, or to own, buy or sell property, or to legal recourse in the aftermath of a wrong committed against us, or to write a will, or to be considered for or to hold down a job and to be paid fairly for our labor, or to the use of a restaurant or a hotel or a city bus, or to a public education, or to marry whom we love. And, these are just some of the public goods that have been recognized at various times as "civil rights," of which we cannot be deprived by discriminatory action.Even if just that much is right, then the "civil right" protected by all of our Civil Rights Acts, including the '64 one, is considerably more complex, jurisprudentially, than the conventionally legalistic and formulaic equation of "civil rights" with "antidiscrimination rights" suggests. Minimally, the "civil right" recognized or protected by the various Civil Rights Acts is almost invariably a multilayered right, or a "right to a right": it is a right to not be discriminatorily deprived of some underlying right. Only the first right in that phrase "a right to a right" is the antidiscrimination right. The second "right," though, is the underlying civil right of which we cannot be discriminatorily deprived, and it is both itself complex, and highly variable: it might be a common law right, such as a right to enter contracts or sell property, or a statutory right, such as a right to vote, or simply a right to a social or public good, such as employment or educational opportunities, or the protection of a trustworthy police force against private violence. And, while we have generated a library of writing, and jurisprudence, and judicial opinions, on the nature of the first right in that phrase -– the right not to be deprived of various rights, on the basis of race, sex, and so forth -– we have devoted much less to the second: the nature of the underlying right of which we cannot be deprived. So, what is the jurisprudential nature of that right? What is a "civil right," jurisprudentially, both with respect to the rights protected against discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and more broadly? Again, and more generally, what is a "civil right"?


Understanding the emotions of others through nonverbal cues is critical for successful social interactions. The right posterior superior temporal sulcus (rpSTS) is one brain region thought to be key in the recognition of the mental states of others based on body language and facial expression. In the present study, we temporarily disrupted functional activity of the rpSTS by using continuous, theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) to test the hypothesis that the rpSTS plays a causal role in emotion recognition from body movements. Participants (N=23) received cTBS of the rpSTS, which was individually localized using fMRI, and a vertex control site. Before and after cTBS, we tested the ability of participants to identify emotions from point-light biological motion stimuli and a non-biological global motion identification task. Results revealed that the ability of participants to accurately identify emotional states from biological motion was reduced following cTBS stimulation to the rpSTS, but was unimpaired following vertex stimulation. Accuracy on the global motion tasks was unaffected by cTBS to either site. These results support the causal role of the rpSTS in decoding information about other's emotional state from their body movements and gestures.


There is a certain tension in Aboriginal affairs in northern Australia, as Aboriginal people are attracted to the material aspects of modernisation while at the same time resisting deeper levels of social and cultural transformation. People of remote Aboriginal towns today are far more mobile than were their grandparents' generation, acquiring four wheel drive vehicles or using other means of transport to greatly extend their range of travel into remote homelands and into regional cities. This mobility, together with the impact of modernisation through government policy and wider social interactions, has led to a varied range of potential and actual life styles, from attempts to live on the land in remote homeland locations, to mixed sedentary/hunter-gatherer living in remote Aboriginal towns, to migration to life in the city. From an analysis of these three settings based on the Aboriginal town of Lockhart River, Cape York Peninsula, it is evident firstly that modern technologies are appreciated for their utility in 'making life easy' and interesting. It is also evident, however, that the compelling solidarities of kin ties and obligations bind people in a diasporic community that has priority over the compelling forces of cultural change through Western systems of governance, commercialism, individuality and competition. A variety of emerging bicultural lifestyles is evident.


The main focus of this paper is calculation of the diameters of asteroids belonging to five families (Vesta, Eos, Eunomia, Koronis, and Themis). To do that, we used the HCM algorithm applied for a data set containing 292,003 numbered asteroids, and a numerical procedure for choosing the crucial parameter of the HCM, called "the cutting velocity" vcut. It was established with a precision as high as 1 m s−1. Thereafter, we used the WISE (Wide‐field Infrared Survey Explorer) catalog to set a range of albedo for the largest members of each family considered. The albedo data were supported by the data concerning color classification (SDSS MOC4). The asteroids with albedo out of this range were classified as interlopers and were therefore disqualified as family members. Sizes were calculated for the asteroids with albedo within the acceptable range. For the other asteroids (those chosen by means of the HCM, but with albedo not listed in the WISE), the value of albedo of the largest member of the family was adopted. Results are given in a set of figures showing the families on the planes (a, e), (a, i), (e, i). Diameters and volumes of the asteroids that are the individual members of a family were calculated on the basis of their known or assumed albedo and on their absolute magnitude. Volumes of the parent bodies of the families were found on the basis of the cumulative volume distribution of these families. We also studied the secular resonances of the family members. We have shown that the locations of members of the considered asteroid families are related to the lines of secular resonances z1, z2, and z3 with Saturn.


Surface contamination is of cardinal importance in a host of technologies and industries, ranging from microelectronics to optics to automotive to biomedical. Thus, the need to understand the causes of surface contamination and their removal is very patent. Generally speaking, there are two broad categories of surface contaminants: film-type and particulates. In the world of shrinking dimensions, such as the ever-decreasing size of microelectronic devices, there is an intensified need to understand the behavior of nanoscale particles and to devise ways to remove them to an acceptable level. Particles which were functionally innocuous a few years ago are killer defects today, with serious implications for yield and reliability of the components. This book addresses the sources, detection, characterization and removal of both kinds of contaminants, as well as ways to prevent surfaces from being contaminated. A number of techniques to monitor the level of cleanliness are also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the behaviour of nanoscale particles. The book is amply referenced and profusely illustrated. . Excellent reference for a host of technologies and industries ranging from microelectronics to optics to automotive to biomedical. . A single source document addressing everything from the sources of contamination to their removal and prevention. . Amply referenced and profusely illustrated.


This dissertation argues that the state is the silent center of poetic production in the United States after WWII. "State Verse Culture" is the first history of the national poet, the Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress, whose office sits at the nexus of institutional actors of postwar poetry. Drawing on archival research at the Library of Congress and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, it traces the collusion of 1) federal bodies (The Library of Congress, The State Department, National Endowment for the Arts) with 2) literaryprofessional organizations (Poetry Society of America, Poetry magazine/The Poetry Foundation) and 3) private patrons (Paul Mellon, Ruth Lilly). The cooperation of public and private interests is crucial to the development of what I call state verse culture—recognizable at the first National Poetry Festival in 1962, and dominant following the end of the Cold War in the 1990s-2000s. Chapter 1, "State Verse Scandals: Views from Yaddo, St Elizabeths, and the Library of Congress, 1945-1956" narrates the Bollingen Prize controversy of 1949 and the arbitration of literary capital between the Library, Poetry magazine and the university system. Chapter 2, "Inaugurating National Poetry: Robert Frost and Cold War Arts, 1956-1965" argues that the Frost-Kennedy years transformed the function of poetry in national culture. The phonocentric narrative poem provided the expressive agency of artist-citizens as ideological weaponry in the global Cold War, and a blueprint for national poets in the longer project of neoliberal identity formation. Chapter 3, "The Politics of Voice: The Workshop Poet and Poet Laureate as the Expressive Subject, 1965-1993" describes the rise of the creative writing program industry, and argues that the recentralization of poetic production in the academy after WWII is a twofold legacy: the MFA workshop poet and the poet-critic of the English Department constitute distinct cultural roles in postwar America. Chapter 4, "Civil versus Civic Verse: National Projects of U.S. Poets Laureate, 1991-2015," examines Poets Laureate initiatives (Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project, Ted Kooser's American Life in Poetry and Billy Collins's Poetry 180) funded through the state verse culture nexus. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group English First Advisor Robert Perelman


Abstract:As democracy has spread to a majority of the world's states over the past three decades, many scholars, politicians, activists, and aid administrators have gone from asking why transitions happen to asking what the new regimes are like. This new approach focuses on what makes a democracy "good" or "better," and on how improvements can not only be measured, but encouraged. While there is no absolutely objective way of laying out a single framework for gauging democratic quality, there are eight dimensions on which democracies vary in quality: freedom, the rule of law, vertical accountability, responsiveness, equality, participation, competition, and horizontal accountability. These dimensions are closely linked and tend to move together, either toward democratic improvement and deepening or toward decay.


This study examines the direct and indirect impact (via educational achievement) of student work during secondary education on later employment outcomes. To this end, we jointly model student work and later schooling and employment outcomes as a chain of discrete choices. To tackle their endogeneity, we correct for these outcomes' unobserved determinants. Using unique longitudinal Belgian data, we find that pupils who work during the summer holidays of secondary education are 15.3% more likely to have a job three months after leaving school. This premium to student work experience is higher when pupils also work during the academic year and diminishes for later employment outcomes. When decomposing this total effect, it turns out that the direct returns to student work overcompensate its non-positive indirect effect via tertiary education enrolment.


This thesis contributes to the understanding of computational capabilities of multi-robot systems by viewing them as devices in which mechanical and electronic components jointly perform computation. We show that a multi-robot system can use physical embodiment and spatial embeddedness as computational resources for two types of problems: (i) a continuous optimization problem of achieving optimal joint robot team configuration, and (ii) a combinatorial problem of sorting robots. In the continuous problem domain we describe a general approach for developing decentralized distributed gradient descent optimization algorithms for teams of embodied agents that need to rearrange their configuration over space and time to approach some optimal and initially unknown configuration. We provide examples of the application of this general method by solving two non-trivial problems of multi-robot coordination: energy-efficient single point and multiple point rendezvous. In the combinatorial problem domain we demonstrate a multi-robot system controller that sorts a team of robots by means of its continuous movement dynamics. Between-robot rank comparisons suggested by traditional discrete state sorting algorithms are avoided by coupling neighbors in the order in a Brockett double bracket flow system.


One of the next challenges faced in Linux kernel development is providing support for workload management. Workloads with diverse and dynamically changing resource demands are being consolidated on larger symmetric multiprocessors. At the same time, it is desirable to reduce the complexity and manual involvement in workload management. We argue that the goal-oriented workload managers that can satisfy these conflicting objectives require the Linux kernel to provide class-based differentiated service for all the resources that it manages. We discuss an extensible framework for class-based kernel resource management (CKRM) that provides policy-driven classification and differentiated service of CPU, memory, I/O and network bandwidth. The paper describes the design and implementation of the framework in the Linux 2.6 kernel. It shows how CKRM is useful in various scenarios including the desktop. It also presents preliminary performance evaluation results that demonstrate the viability of the approach.


Gilles Kahn was one of the most influential figures in the development of computer science and information technology, not only in Europe but throughout the world. This volume of articles by several leading computer scientists serves as a fitting memorial to Kahn's achievements and reflects the broad range of subjects to which he contributed through his scientific research and his work at INRIA, the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control. The editors also reflect upon the future of computing: how it will develop as a subject in itself and how it will affect other disciplines, from biology and medical informatics, to web and networks in general. Its breadth of coverage, topicality, originality and depth of contribution, make this book a stimulating read for all those interested in the future development of information technology.


: This study provides evidence of the importance of cognitive and noncognitive skills to completion of three types of vocational training (VET): education and health, technical, and business. Math and language exam scores constitute the key measures of cognitive skills; teacher-assigned grades the key measure of noncognitive skills. The data consist of two 9-year panels of youth completing compulsory education in Denmark. Estimation of completion proceeds separately by gender and VET type, controlling for selection and right censoring. The authors find that all skills are inversely related to VET enrollment, even controlling for family-specific effects. Estimates for completion vary considerably by program type, demonstrating the methodological importance of distinguishing among different VET courses. Math scores are positively related to certification for all VET tracks, though with very different magnitudes; language skills are inversely related for the nonbusiness tracks; and noncognitive skills appear important primarily for the business track.


Since the introduction of Ethereum in 2014 there has been great interest in decentralized trustless applications (smart contracts). Consequently, many have tried to implement applications with real world data on top of a blockchain. We believe that storing the application's state and code on-chain is wrong for several reasons. We present a highly scalable blockchain architecture with a consensus mechanism which is also used to check the oracle. This makes the oracle very efficient, because it avoids layering one consensus mechanism on top of another. State channels are integrated to increase privacy and scalability. Tokens in channels can be transferred using purely functional smart contracts that can access oracle answers. By not storing contract code or state on-chain, we are able to make smart contracts easier to analyze and faster to process, with no substantial loss in de facto functionality. Applications like markets for synthetic assets and prediction markets can be efficiently implemented at global scale. Several parts have proof-of-concept implementations in Erlang. Development tools and application essentials such as a wallet, naming and identity system will also be provided.


Title of dissertation: LABOR REALLOCATION, PRODUCTIVITY AND OUTPUT VOLATILITY IN JAPAN Naomi N. Griffin, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation directed by: Professor John Haltiwanger Department of Economics The dissertation offers an analysis of the labor reallocation process in Japan and sheds light on its relationship with productivity and output volatility during the 1990s, the period of sluggish growth. The first chapter provides descriptive statistics of job reallocation rates among relatively large Japanese firms. The main results show that job reallocation follows a steady decline in volatility between 1967 and 1997 and exhibits little deviation from its long-run trend in the 1990s. At the same time, the idiosyncratic effects of job reallocation appear to counteract the sectoral/aggregate effects during the 1990s in the manufacturing sector. Finally, the contribution of net entry to overall productivity growth has decreased during this period, mainly through exits by relatively productive firms. The second chapter investigates the labor input and inventory responses to demand shocks in both the Japanese manufacturing sector as a whole, and the Iron and Steel industry. The main results show that first, demand shocks increased in volatility after 1992 in both the manufacturing sector and the Iron and Steel industry. Second, for the manufacturing sector, the adjustment mechanism shifted from an intensive use of inventories to more of a reliance on employment and work hours after 1992. Finally, for the Iron and Steel industry, the employment and inventory adjustments do not exhibit any systematic changes while the work hour adjustment has become more intense since 1992. The third chapter provides a theoretical examination of the impact of the Employment Adjustment Subsidy (EAS). A partial equilibrium industry model with heterogeneous establishments and aggregate uncertainty shows that the EAS lowers labor productivity, while reducing job flows and increasing average firm-level employment. While the directly measured impact on productivity is proportional to the fraction of subsidized workers, the indirect effects of the subsidy on output and employment volatility can be substantially larger. The subsidy can lead to a sizable increase in output fluctuations over the business cycle by symmetrically increasing the output response to shocks, while still meeting its primary objective of reduced employment volatility. LABOR REALLOCATION, PRODUCTIVITY AND OUTPUT VOLATILITY IN JAPAN


Previous research has demonstrated the negative implications that poor maternal nutrition has on morbidity and mortality for both the mother and the unborn child. Although malnutrition is known to make pregnant women susceptible to miscarriage or birth of a child with stunted growth and development, many Central American countries such as Honduras lack a screening tool to detect maternal malnutrition. The purpose of this study was to develop and pilot a screening protocol for malnutrition during pregnancy using best practice and evidence-based recommendations from the AND and the ACOG, and creating a training protocol for obstetric nurse education to foster sustainability of the experimental screening tool within the Honduran medical system. The results of testing performed on women in the public health center versus public hospital showed significant differences in blood glucose levels and fundal height measurements. A two-sample t-test of blood glucose (mg/dL) was statistically significant between the two groups, BG t(15)=4.463, p≤0.001 (d=38.4 mg/dL ±8.6 mg/dL). Relative risk assessment determined women in the hospital are 2.8x more likely to present with a low fundal height than those in the public health center, indicating underdevelopment of the fetus (φ =0.59). Upon completion, comparison of mothers who were evaluated in the public health center versus the public hospital demonstrated how prenatal care can positively influence maternal health and evaluation of six major factors (fetal heart rate, maternal heart rate, blood glucose, hemoglobin, fundal height and mid-arm circumference) can help to identify mothers who potentially present as an at-risk pregnancy due to malnutrition.


Methods for triangle mesh decimation are common; however, most existing techniques operate only on static geometry. In this paper, we present a view- and pose-independent method for the automatic simplification of skeletally articulated meshes. Such meshes have associated kinematic skeletons that are used to control their deformation, with the position of each vertex influenced by a linear combination of bone transformations. Our method extends the commonly-used quadric error metric by incorporating knowledge of potential poses into a probability function. We minimize the average error of the deforming mesh over all possible configurations, weighted by the probability. This is possible by transforming the quadrics from each configuration into a common coordinate system. Our simplification algorithm runs as a preprocess, and the resulting meshes can be seamlessly integrated into existing systems. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach for generating highly-simplified models while preserving necessary detail in deforming regions near joints.


The "Earth Bible" is an international project, including volumes on ecojustice readings of major sections of the Bible. The basic aims of the Earth Bible project are: to develop ecojustice principles appropriate to an Earth hermeneutic for interpreting the Bible and for promoting justice and healing for Earth; to publish these interpretations as contributions to the current debate on ecology, ecoethics and ecotheology; to provide a responsible forum within which the suppressed voice of Earth may be heard and impulses for healing Earth may be generated. The project explores text and tradition from the perspective of Earth, employing a set of ecojustice principles developed in consultation with ecologists, suspecting that the text and/or its interpreters may be anthropocentric and not geocentric, but searching to retrieve alternative traditions that hear the voice of Earth and value Earth as more than a human instrument. The lead article in Volume V is a reflection in responses to the ecojustice principles employed in the hermeneutic of the project. Several articles offer insights into New Testament texts that seem to devalue Earth in favour of heaven. The final article by Barbara Rossing challenges the popular apocalyptic notion that in the new age Earth will be terminated. A feature of this volume is a dialogue between Norman Habel, who argues that John One seems to devalue Earth, and two respondents, Elaine Wainwright and Vicky Balabanski (who is coeditor of this volume with Norman Habel). 1