INTRODUCTION Hydroxylammonium nitrate (HAN) is a major constituent in a class of liquid monopropellants that have many attractive characteristics and which display phenomena that differ significantly from other liquid monopropellants [1]. They are composed primarily of HAN, H20 and a fuel species, often triethanolammonium nitrate (TEAN). HAN-based propellants have attracted attention as liquid gun propellants (e.g., [1]), and are attractive for NASA spacecraft propulsion applications [2]. A representative propellant is XM46. This mixture is 60.8% HAN, 19.2% TEAN and 20% H20 by weight. Other HAN-based propellant mixtures are also of interest. For example, methanol and glycine have been investigated as potential fuel species for HAN-based monopropellants for thruster applications [3]. In the present research, experimental and theoretical studies are performed on combustion of HAN-based monopropellant droplets. The fuel species considered are TEAN, methanol and glycine. Droplets initially in the mm size range are studied at pressures up to 30 atm. These pressures are applicable to spacecraft thruster applications [2]. The droplets are placed in environments with various amounts of Ar, N2, 02, NO 2 and N20. Reduced gravity is employed to enable observations of burning rates and flame structures to be made without the complicating effects of buoyant and forced convection. Normal gravity experiments are also performed in this research program. The experiment goals are to provide accurate fundamental data on deflagration rates, gasphase temperature profiles, transient gas-phase flame behaviors, the onset of bubbling in droplets at lower pressures, and the low-pressure deflagration limit. Theoretical studies are performed to provide rational models of deflagration mechanisms of HAN-based liquid propellants. Besides advancing fundamental knowledge, this research should aid in applications (e.g., spacecraft thrusters and liquid propellant grins) of this unique class ofmonopropellants.


The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotations (PSVT: R) is a widely used assessment of spatial ability. In this report, the factor structure of the PSVT: R test items was examined through confirmatory factor analysis with data from 541 engineering design graphics students. Stata 15 and Mplus 8.2 statistical software were used to examine a hypothesized 30 item one-factor model. Upon initial examination, data from engineering design graphics students produced a poor model-fit for the hypothesized one-factor 30 item model in both statistical programs. Respecified one-factor models with 10 test items and eight test items produced acceptable model-fit for the data employing Stata 15 and Mplus 8.2, respectively.


Over the last several decades longitudinal household panel surveys have become essential elements of the social science infrastructure in Europe, the UK, North America, Asia and Australia. They shed new light on a wide range of social and economic phenomena and their effects on wellbeing. They also offer data that can be used to evaluate policy. Currently, no such survey exists in New Zealand, although Statistics New Zealand administered the Survey of Family, Income and Employment (SoFIE) from 2002–2010. Establishing a new LHS for New Zealand would require significant interest and support from the research, policy, and statistical community. Current work under this project evaluates the case for a new LHS and sets out issues and options for its design, governance, and administration. It has been supported by the Motu Foundation, Motu Research, Statistics New Zealand, the Treasury and MBIE through the Department of Labour. In July 2012, Dave Mare from Motu Research circulated a paper that outlined options for initiating a new longitudinal household survey in New Zealand, and discussed a range of related issues. Feedback was invited from a range of interested parties. A brief set of prompts was provided to stimulate feedback, though was not intended to constrain the scope of feedback. A copy of the prompts is included as Appendix One. A half-day workshop was held in Wellington on 20 August 2012. At the workshop, Dave Mare provided an overview of the issues and options and of the feedback received. The workshop also included a presentation by Mark Wooden, the Director of the Australian HILDA study, on 'Lessons from HILDA', and a Statistics New Zealand presentation on 'Longitudinal data - Recent Experience and Future Direction' by Anton Samoilenko. All of the workshop materials, together with this summary of feedback, are available at http://www.motu.org.nz/research/detail/longitudinal_household_survey. A final version of the 'Issues and Options' paper is available as Motu Working Paper 13- 04 (http://www.motu.org.nz/publications/detail/issues_and_options). The current paper summarises feedback received on the prospect for a new longitudinal household survey. It provides a balanced account of the range of feedback received, and summarises the main points made by respondents. In many places, we have included quotations from respondents, indicated by italicisation and quotation marks.


Extreme enrichment and postmagmatic hydrothermal mobilization of the rare earth elements (REE), Zr, and Nb have been reported for a number of anorogenic peralkaline intrusions, including the world-class REE-Zr-Nb deposit at Strange Lake, Quebec, Canada. Establishing lithogeochemical vectors for these types of deposits is a challenging task because the effects of hydrothermal processes on element distribution are poorly known and the relationships of alteration types to mineralization stages have not been well documented. Here, we present results of a detailed mineralogical and geochemical investigation involving a dataset of over 500 mineral and bulk-rock analyses of a northeast-southwest section through the potential ore zone at Strange Lake. Based on these data, we develop a model that explains the role of hydrothermal processes in concentrating metals in peralkaline granitic systems and identify lithogeochemical vectors for their exploration. The B zone, located along the northwestern margin of the Strange Lake pluton, contains a lens-shaped, pegmatite-rich domain comprising subhorizontal sheets of pegmatites hosted by granites with a total indicated resource of 278 million tonnes (Mt) grading 0.93 wt % total rare earth oxides (TREO), of which 39% are heavy rare earth elements (HREE). Within this resource, there is an enriched zone containing 20 Mt of ore grading 1.44 wt % TREO, of which 50% are HREE. The pegmatites are characterized by a core enriched in quartz, fluorite, and light rare earth elements (LREE) fluorocarbonates, and a granitic border enriched in zirconosilicates and granitic minerals. The pegmatite sheets and surrounding granites evolved in three essential stages: a magmatic stage (I), a near-neutral hydrothermal stage involving their interaction with NaCl-bearing orthomagmatic fluids (II), and an acidic hydrothermal stage (III, comprising high-[IIIa] and low-temperature [IIIb] substages) that resulted from their interaction with pegmatite-sourced HCl-HF–bearing fluids. Stage IIIa led to pseudomorphic mineral replacement reactions (e.g., Na-Ca exchange during replacement of zirconosilicates) and formation of an aegirinization/hematization halo around the pegmatites. In contrast, stage IIIb, which was responsible for the hydrothermal mobilization of Zr and REE, is manifested by fluorite and quartz veins, zircon spherules, gadolinite-group minerals, gittinsite, ferriallanite-(Ce), and a pervasive replacement of the granite by these minerals. The distribution of REE, Zr, Nb, and Ti was controlled by the competition between hydrothermal fluids and the stability of primary REE-F-(CO 2 ) minerals (e.g., bastnasite-(Ce) host to LREE), zirconosilicates (i.e., Na zirconosilicates and zircon host to HREE and Zr), and Nb-Ti minerals (i.e., pyrochlore host to Nb and narsarsukite host to Ti), and the stability of secondary LREE silicates (i.e., ferriallanite-(Ce)), HREE silicates (i.e., gadolinite-(Y)), zirconosilicates (i.e., gittinsite and zircon), and Nb-Ti minerals (i.e., titanite and pyrochlore). Lithogeochemical vectors were identified to distinguish between the high-temperature acidic alteration (IIIa), using CaO/Na 2 O (indicator of Ca metasomatism) and Fe 2 O 3 /Na 2 O ratios (indicator of aegirinization/hematization), and the low-temperature acidic alteration (IIIb), using the CaO/Al 2 O 3 ratio (indicator of Ca-F metasomatism). Bulk-rock compositional data show that alteration was accompanied by an enrichment in heavy rare earth oxides (HREO) and ZrO 2 at the deposit scale, whereas there was no selective enrichment in the light rare earth oxides (LREO). A 2-D geochemical model of the deposit indicates that the LREO are more dispersed, whereas HREO and ZrO 2 are selectively distributed. These variations in LREE/HREE are also reflected in the mineral chemistry, especially in hydrothermal zircon crystals showing an unusual LREE enrichment and HREE depletion, contrasting with pseudomorphs, which are enriched in HREE. Hydrothermal ferriallanite-(Ce) and gadolinite-group minerals also show a clear trend of REE depletion with Ca enrichment. Controlling factors for the hydrothermal mobilization of LREE, HREE, and Zr were temperature, pH, and the availability of fluoride ions (F − ) in the fluid for the dissolution of zircon, and chloride ions (Cl − ) for the complexation of the REE. The study of rare hydrothermal minerals in conjunction with field observations and the evaluation of variations in bulk-rock composition allowed us to develop a new model for the hydrothermal evolution stage of Strange Lake.


Predator–prey interactions shown by ichnofossils are not very frequent and the interpretation of so–called 'terminated trackways' can represent a good opportunity of study. Especially the behavioural tendency of some vertebrates can be confirmed. In the Lower Permian of the Valtellina area (Orobic Basin, Southalpine, North Italy) a very peculiar development of arthropod walking–trails (Dendroidichnites elegans Demathieu, Gand & Toutin–Morin, 1992 and cfr. Heteropodichnus variabilis Walter, 1983) and the presence in suspicious position of Dromopus sp. footprints, should testify a possible predation attempt from the vertebrate maker on the formers. Thus, during the Lower Permian it should be also documented that the partial predator role in the Southalpine, was occupied just by the araeoscelid trackmaker of the Dromopus. Inside the trophic pyramid, probably with the Varanopus and Camunipes ones, Dromopus's maker occupied the opportunist consumer role. Amphisauropus latus Haubold, 1971 and A. imminutus Haubold, 1971 makers played the primary consumer role, while a true carnivore is missing.


Goddesses in Context examines from different perspectives some of the most challenging themes in Mesopotamian religion such as gender switch of deities and changes of the status, roles and functions of goddesses. The authors incorporate recent scholarship from various disciplines into their analysis of textual and visual sources, representations in diverse media, theological strategies, typologies, and the place of image in religion and cult over a span of three millennia.
Different types of syncretism (fusion, fission, mutation) resulted in transformation and homogenization of goddesses' roles and functions. The processes of syncretism (a useful heuristic tool for studying the evolution of religions and the attendant political and social changes) and gender switch were facilitated by the fluidity of personality due to multiple or similar divine roles and functions.
Few goddesses kept their identity throughout the millennia. Individuality is rare in the iconography of goddesses while visual emphasis is on repetition of generic divine figures (hieros typos) in order to retain recognizability of divinity, where femininity is of secondary significance.
The book demonstrates that goddesses were never marginalized or extrinsic and that their continuous presence in texts, cult images, rituals, and worship throughout Mesopotamian history is testimony to their powerful numinous impact.
This richly illustrated book is the first in-depth analysis of goddesses and the changes they underwent from the earliest visual and textual evidence around 3000 BCE to the end of ancient Mesopotamian civilization in the Seleucid period. Goddesses in Context is a compelling contribution to Mesopotamian religion and history as well as to history, art history, history of religion and gender studies.


Recently, health measurements have broadened to include the assessment of quality of life (QOL). This study was conducted to assess whether the short form of the World Health Organization (WHO) QOL questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) was an effective tool for measuring morbidity due to Schistosoma mansoni infection and whether it could detect an impact of treatment with praziquantel. A total of 724 adults 18-85 years of age were enrolled. At baseline, S. mansoni prevalence was 73.2% by stool examination and 75.4% by circulating cathodic antigen, and there was no association between infection status and WHOQOL-BREF scores. Six months after treatment, S. mansoni prevalence was lower and the proportion of persons with higher WHOQOL-BREF scores significantly increased among persons who were infected at baseline. However, a similar increase was observed in persons not infected at baseline. In areas of high prevalence, the WHOQOL-BREF may not be able to detect the benefits of schistosomiasis control programs.


Abstract Small fossils are preserved as phosphatic (carbonate fluorapatite) micro-steinkerns (~ 0.5 mm diameter) in Upper Ordovician beds of the Cincinnati area. Mollusks are common, along with bryozoan zooecia, echinoderm ossicles, and other taxa. Similar occurrences of Ordovician micromorphic mollusks have been interpreted as ecologically dwarfed and adapted to oxygen-starved conditions, an interpretation with implications for ocean anoxia. An alternative explanation for small phosphatic steinkerns is taphonomic. Stable carbonate fluorapatite selectively filled small voids, thus preserving small fossils, including larval/young mollusks. Reworking concentrated small phosphatic steinkerns from multiple generations while larger, unfilled calcareous shells were destroyed, resulting in small fossils progressively replacing larger fossils. With thin sections and insoluble residues, we document evidence that many of these steinkerns are incomplete ("teilsteinkerns") recording small parts of larger, normal-sized animals, or juveniles, along with smaller species. This finding suggests that these fossil assemblages are taphonomically, not ecologically, size-limited. Based on the ecology of modern oxygen minimum zones in which shelled mollusks are rare, the presence of abundant shelled organisms actually argues against severe oxygen stress. Our results also imply that the process by which the "small shelly fossils" of the Cambrian were preserved continued into the Ordovician.


This paper describes preliminary results from using an AI robot control software architecture, known as 3T as the software framework for a procedure tracking system for the space shuttle Remote Manipulator System (RMS). The system, called 3TPT, is designed to track the expected steps of the crew as they carry out RMS operations, detecting malfunctions in the RMS system from failures or improper configurations as well as improper or incomplete procedures by the crew. Scheduled for a ground demonstration in February 1997, and a test flight the following fall, 3TPT was employed this past fall to track the RMS check~ut procedures on a space shuttle mission. It successfully carried out its task because the reactive nature of the architecture allowed it to stay synchronized with the procedures even in the face of intermittent loss of telemetry and unexpected crew actions.


Ever since the introduction of an 'IT productivity paradox' by Robert Solow, the business value of information
technology (IT) has been the topic of many debates by practitioners as well as by academics. In these discussions a distinction can be made between the variance approach, investigating what the relationship between IT investments and organisational performance is, and the process approach, investigating on how this relationship works. Following the process approach, this paper describes a useful framework for assessing the organisational impact of IT. Secondly the paper considers the relation between IT impact and organisational performance and reviews the IT investment evaluation methods. The paper concludes with a proposal for a multivariable value assessment sheet, based on insights derived from the balanced scorecard theory.


Objective: To determine the trends in prescribing antidiabetic drugs among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) over a period of three years.
Methods: The study was conducted as a cross sectional observational study. Prescription pattern of diabetic patients who admitted during 2008 to 2010 in medicine wards was collected from tertiary care hospital in south India. And analysed using SPSS version 20.
Results: As per the study criteria, data were collected from 773, 700 and 647 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who were admitted during the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively in the medicine wards. The study showed that most of the patients were males. The mean age of the study population was 57.8 years. Type 2 DM patients had a prevalence of microvascular complications from 8-18.14% and macro vascular complications from 7.6-11.8% of the diabetic population over a period of three years. On evaluation of trends in prescribing for patients with type 2 DM over a period of three years, in monotherapy, there is a decrease in rate of prescription in 2009, but again it increased in 2010(p=0.020). Monotherapy was the predominant way of management with insulin followed by sulfonylureas and metformin. Combinations of sulphanylureas and metformin commonly used as dual therapy. Insulin, Sulphanylureas and metformin combination are commonly used as triple drug therapy. There is no difference in rate of prescription in dual therapy (p=0.419) and also three drug combinations (p=0.361) over a period of three years.And few cases four and five drug combinations were used.
Conclusion: We observed there is no changes in trends in prescribing antidiabetic drugs over a period of three years and also shows physicians are adhering to standard guidelines for diabetic treatment in this hospital.


The role of thimerosal containing vaccines in the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been an area of intense debate, as has the presence of mercury dental amalgams and fish ingestion by pregnant mothers. We studied the effects of thimerosal on cell proliferation and mitochondrial function from B-lymphocytes taken from individuals with autism, their nonautistic twins, and their nontwin siblings. Eleven families were examined and compared to matched controls. B-cells were grown with increasing levels of thimerosal, and various assays (LDH, XTT, DCFH, etc.) were performed to examine the effects on cellular proliferation and mitochondrial function. A subpopulation of eight individuals (4 ASD, 2 twins, and 2 siblings) from four of the families showed thimerosal hypersensitivity, whereas none of the control individuals displayed this response. The thimerosal concentration required to inhibit cell proliferation in these individuals was only 40% of controls. Cells hypersensitive to thimerosal also had higher levels of oxidative stress markers, protein carbonyls, and oxidant generation. This suggests certain individuals with a mild mitochondrial defect may be highly susceptible to mitochondrial specific toxins like the vaccine preservative thimerosal.


Lithuanian poet, literary critic and essayist, Tomas Venclova was a child during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, an inhabitant of Vilnius in the period of high Stalinism and a Soviet dissident intellectual and member of the Lithuanian Helsinki group during the 1970s. Since his emigration from the Soviet Union to the West in 1979, Venclova has become a prominent diasporic thinker on the 'memory frictions' of Cold War and post-Soviet Europe and the Baltic States, particularly how the remembrance of past conflicts affects relations between Lithuanians and Jews, Lithuanians and Poles and Lithuanians and Russians. This paper will analyse four of Venclova's literary and political essays, in particular his post-1989 works 'Odo et Amo' (1990) and 'Poems Melted into Ice' (1991) in order to explore Venclova's response to Soviet colonialism and its aftermaths. Following Stef Craps, this analysis will suggest that through an attentiveness to Venclova's essays, particularly in relation to language and history, a different aesthetic of bearing witness to trauma can be interpreted. This representational strategy rejects, "the modernist aesthetic of fragmentation and aporia" (Craps, Postcolonial Witnessing: Trauma Out of Bounds, 2012, p. 2) traditionally associated with a post-Caruth trauma theory orientated towards the theoretical and literary traditions of Western Europe and America. Instead, Venclova presents strategies of representation which are much more attuned to the specific post-Soviet cultural, linguistic and political experiences of the Baltic States, a specific set of experiences, which while reflecting on much discussed topics such as the Holocaust and Soviet oppression, remain nonetheless geographically marginalized in contemporary Anglophone trauma studies.


Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH: 'hearing voices') are found in both schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In this paper we first demonstrate that AVH in these two diagnoses share a qualitatively similar phenomenology. We then show that the presence of AVH in schizophrenia is often associated with earlier exposure to traumatic/emotionally overwhelming events, as it is by definition in PTSD. We next argue that the content of AVH relates to earlier traumatic events in a similar way in both PTSD and schizophrenia, most commonly having direct or indirect thematic links to emotionally overwhelming events, rather than being direct re-experiencing. We then propose, following cognitive models of PTSD, that the reconstructive nature of memory may be able to account for the nature of these associations between trauma and AVH content, as may threat-hypervigilance and the individual's personal goals. We conclude that a notable subset of people diagnosed with schizophrenia with AVH are having phenomenologically and aetiologically identical experiences to PTSD patients who hear voices. As such we propose that the iron curtain between AVH in PTSD (often termed 'dissociative AVH') and AVH in schizophrenia (so-called 'psychotic AVH') needs to be torn down, as these are often the same experience. One implication of this is that these trauma-related AVH require a common trans-diagnostic treatment strategy. Whilst antipsychotics are already increasingly being used to treat AVH in PTSD, we argue for the centrality of trauma-based interventions for trauma-based AVH in both PTSD and in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.


This paper explores the phenomenon that pro-adverbs of manner are cross-linguistically used to mark transitions from one activity to another. In Estonian, the pro-adverb nii is used for this purpose. Among Estonian refugees in Sweden, an activity transition is frequently marked with soo. Both nii and soo originally had the same semantic meaning 'like this/that, in this way, so', even though soo merely in its source language German. The article argues that the deictic pro-adverbs of manner are especially suitable for the task of marking activity transitions because they can be applied at the boundaries of verbal as well as non-verbal activities. The reason for the existence of this pattern seems to lie in the general necessity in human interaction to jointly move from one activity to another and the exophoric deictic capacity of pro-adverbs. The study explores audio- and video-recorded examples with regard to the sequencing of social actions accomplished by the participants in the verbal as well as the bodily domain.


Renaissance diplomat and part-time spy, William Hakluyt was also England's first serious geographer, gathering together a wealth of accounts about the wide-ranging travels and discoveries of the sixteenth-century English. One of the epics of this great period of expansion, "The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation" describes, in the words of the explorers themselves, an astonishing era in which the English grew rapidly aware of the sheer size and strangeness of their world. Mingling accounts of the journeys of renowned adventurers such as Drake and Frobisher with descriptions by other explorers and traders to reveal a nation beginning to dominate the seas, Hakluyt's great work was originally intended principally to assist navigation and trade. It also presents one of the first and greatest modern portraits of the globe.


BACKGROUND: Type III open tibia fractures are common combat injuries. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of injury characteristics and surveillance cultures on outcomes in combat-related severe open tibia fractures. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of all combat-related open Gustilo and Anderson (G/A) type III diaphyseal tibia fractures treated at our centers between March 2003 and September 2007. RESULTS: One hundred ninety-two Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom military personnel with 213 type III open tibial shaft fractures were identified. Fifty-seven extremities (27%) developed a deep infection and 47 extremities (22%) ultimately underwent amputation at an average follow-up of 24 months. Orthopedic Trauma Association type C fractures took significantly longer to achieve osseous union (p = 0.02). G/A type III B and III C fractures were more likely to undergo an amputation and took longer to achieve fracture union. Deep infection and osteomyelitis were significantly associated with amputation, revision operation, and prolonged time to union. Surveillance cultures were positive in 64% of extremities and 93% of these cultures isolated gram-negative species. In contrast, infecting organisms were predominantly gram-positive. CONCLUSIONS: Type III open tibia fractures from combat unite in 80.3% of cases at an average of 9.2 months. We recorded a 27% deep infection rate and a 22% amputation rate. The G/A type is associated with development of deep infection, need for amputation, and time to union. Positive surveillance cultures are associated with development of deep infection, osteomyelitis, and ultimate need for amputation. Surveillance cultures were not predictive of the infecting organism if a deep infection subsequently develops. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.


This Article draws on novel data and presents the results of the first empirical analysis of how potentially salient characteristics of Court of Appeals judges influence class certification under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. We find that the ideological composition of the panel (measured by the party of the appointing president) has a very strong association with certification outcomes, with all-Democratic panels having dramatically higher rates of procertification outcomes than all-Republican panels—nearly triple in about the past twenty years. We also find that the presence of one African American on a panel, and the presence of two women (but not one), is associated with procertification outcomes.

Our results show that, contrary to conventional wisdom in scholarship on diversity on the Courts of Appeals, the impact of diversity extends beyond conceptions of "women's issues" or "minority issues." The consequences of gender and racial diversity on the bench, through application and elaboration of certification law, radiate widely across the legal landscape, influencing implementation in such areas as consumer, securities, labor and employment, antitrust, insurance, product liability, environmental, and many other areas of law. In considering possible explanations for our findings on the procertification preferences of women and African Americans, we note that class action doctrine, as transsubstantive procedural law, traverses many policy areas. As strategic actors, it would be rational for judges to take into consideration how class-certification doctrine in a case that does not implicate issues on which they have distinctive preferences might affect certification in cases that do. Alternatively, or in addition, our results may be the first evidence that transsubstantive procedural law affecting access to justice is itself a policy domain in which women and African Americans have distinctive preferences. In either case, the results highlight the importance of exploring the effects of diversity on transsubstantive procedural law more generally.

Our findings on gender panel effects in particular are novel in the literature on panel effects and the literature on gender and judging. Past work focusing on substantive antidiscrimination law found that one woman can influence the votes of men in the majority (mirroring what we find with respect to African Americans in class-certification decisions). These results allowed for optimism that the panel structure—which threatens to dilute the influence of underrepresented groups on the bench because they are infrequently in the panel majority—actually facilitates minority influence, whether through deliberation, cue taking, bargaining, or some other mechanism.

Our gender results are quite different and normatively troubling. We observe that women have substantially more procertification preferences based on outcomes when they are in the majority. However, panels with one woman are not more likely to yield procertification outcomes. Panels with women in the majority occur at sharply lower rates than women's percentage of judgeships, and thus certification doctrine underrepresents their preferences relative to their share of judgeships and overrepresents those of male judges.


We continue to live in a dangerous world. We are exposed to the risk that hostile states or terrorist groups with global reach might attack our civilian population or those of our allies using weapons of mass destruction. In such circumstances, it might seem natural for U.S. policymakers to consider preventive war as a possible tool for countering such threats. Yet in the current climate of opinion, such thinking would be controversial - in large part, no doubt, because of the continuing disputes over the normative, strategic, and legal wisdom of what has been called the "Bush Doctrine."Preventive war, in appropriate circumstances, can be justified for reasons that are closely analogous to those usually offered to justify humanitarian intervention. The key difference is that in preventive war the intervenors protect their own populations, whereas in humanitarian intervention the intervenors protect the target state's population. Although critics of preventive war tend to be sympathetic to humanitarian intervention, the underlying logic for both uses of force is substantially the same.In this Essay, we first explain what we mean by "preventive" war, and how it is distinguishable from "preemptive" war. Then we briefly consider whether, as critics of the Bush Doctrine allege, the War in Iraq was virtually unprecedented in the Nation's history or was, instead, one of several major conflicts fought by the United States that could fairly be described as preventive wars. Finally, we shall recommend certain normative guidelines and criteria for policymakers to follow in deciding whether to initiate a "preventive" war.


As the structure of modern organizations shifts, so correspondingly must the methodologies which underlie the evaluation and development of the security posture of their information systems. We have witnessed an ever-growing gap between organizational policy and technology. We have also witnessed an ever increasing complexity of decisions regarding the planning and design of IS security. Within this paper, we propose a decision support framework consistent with security and decision theory and develop a model of the decision analysis space suitable for multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). The adoption of MCDM techniques within the context of this model can show inherent trade-offs between alternatives in a security decision, encapsulate qualitative as well as quantitative elements within the analysis space, and facilitate group-decision making thereby dealing with conflicting perspectives of multiple stakeholders. The paper concludes with a demonstration of the proposed model through a case study conducted with a major financial services provider.


Introduction: Diabetes Mellitus is a metabolic disorder with high blood sugar level. Type 2 is the common form. The herbal remedies for diabetes treatment is an area of research with a huge potential for the progress in the growth of inexpensive alternative medicine with low or no side effects. In this paper, reviews mainly focused on traditionally used medicinal herb, Gymnema sylvestre and its bioactive components and their mode of actions. Method: Relevant information was collected from scientific journals, research papers, books and various medicinal reviews. Result: This review provides a comprehensive report on Gymnema sylvestre having antidiabetic and antioxidant activity due to its bioactive compounds like oleanines (Gymnemic acid, Gymnema saponins), dammarenes (Gymnemasides), anthraquinones, flavones, hentriacontane, pentatriacontane, phytin, resin, tartaric acid, formic acid, butyric acid, lupeol, β-amyrene related glycosides and anthraquinones, alkaloid like gymnamine, flavonoids, cinnamic acid, folic acid, ascorbic acid etc. Conclusion: Considering the presence of bioactive compounds present in Gymnema sylvestre, this review is aimed to summarize the information of the chemical constituents and their antidiabetic activities and specially to detect the relation between antioxidants and antidiabetic compounds regarding blood sugar reduction in diabetes.


Scientists and clinicians must become familiar with the factors that affect the emotional, physical, and spiritual health of their patients that are outside the ken of the traditionally dominant value systems. Although many researchers have addressed the cultural and ethnical factors, very few have considered the impact of religion. Islam, as the largest and fastestgrowing religion in the world, has adherents throughout the world, presents a complete moral, ethical, and medical framework, while it sometimes concurs conflicts with the conventional and secular ethical framework. This paper introduces to the Islamic principles of ethics in organ transplantation involving human subject to address issues of religion and religious ethics. Historical reflections are discussed as to why Muslim thinkers were late to consider contemporary medical issues such as organ donation. Islam respects life and values need of the living over the dead, thus allowing organ donation to be considered in certain circumstances. The sources of Islamic law are discussed in brief to see how the parameters of organ transplantation are derived. The Islamic perception, both Shiite and Sunni, is examined in relation to organ donation and its various sources. The advantages and disadvantages of brain dead and cadaveric donation are reviewed with technical and ethical considerations. The Islamic concept of brain death, informed and proxy consent are also discussed. The concept of rewarded donation as a way to alleviate the shortage of organs available for transplantation is assessed. doi: 10.3329/taj.v21i1.3230 TAJ 2008; 21(1): 97-103


Abstract This paper presents a simple yet general approach to estimate the uncertainties that arise in satellite retrievals of cloud optical depth when the retrievals use one-dimensional radiative transfer theory for heterogeneous clouds that have variations in all three dimensions. For the first time, preliminary error bounds are set to estimate the uncertainty of cloud optical depth retrievals. These estimates can help us better understand the nature of uncertainties that three-dimensional effects can introduce into retrievals of this important product of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument. The probability distribution of resulting retrieval errors is examined through theoretical simulations of shortwave cloud reflection for a set of cloud fields that represent the variability of stratocumulus clouds. The results are used to illustrate how retrieval uncertainties change with observable and known parameters, such as solar elevation or cloud brightness. Furthermore, the results i...


Commentators and policymakers have articulated growing concerns about U.S. dependence on China and other authoritarian capitalist states as a source of credit to fund the United States' trade and budget deficits. What are the security implications of China's creditor status If Beijing or another sovereign creditor were to flex its financial muscles, would Washington buckle The answer can be drawn from the existing literature on economic statecraft. An appraisal of the ability of creditor states to convert their financial power into political power suggests that the power of credit has been moderately exaggerated in policy circles. To use the argot of security studies, China's financial power increases its deterrent capabilities, but it has little effect on its compellence capabilities. China can use its financial power to resist U.S. entreaties, but it cannot coerce the United States into changing its policies. Financial power works best when a concert of creditors (or debtors) can be maintained. Two case studiesthe contestation over regulating sovereign wealth funds and the protection of Chinese financial investments in the United Statesdemonstrate the constraints on China's financial power.


As the usage of machine learning techniques is becoming ubiquitous, the efficient execution of neural networks is crucial to many applications. Frameworks, such as Halide and TVM, separate the algorithmic representation of the deep learning model from the schedule that determines its implementation. Finding good schedules, however, remains extremely challenging. Auto-tuning methods, which search the space of valid schedules and execute each candidate on the hardware, identify some of the best performing schedules, but the search can take hours, hampering the productivity of deep learning practitioners. What is needed is a method that achieves a similar performance without extensive search, delivering the needed efficiency quickly. We model the scheduling process as a sequence of optimization choices, and present a new technique to accurately predict the expected performance of a partial schedule using a LSTM over carefully engineered features that describe each DNN operator and their current scheduling choices. Leveraging these predictions we are able to make these optimization decisions greedily and, without any executions on the target hardware, rapidly identify an efficient schedule. Our evaluation shows that our performance predictions are one order of magnitude more accurate than the state of the art. This enables us to find schedules that improve the execution performance of deep neural networks by 2.6× over Halide and 1.5× over TVM. Moreover, our technique is two to three orders of magnitude faster than that of these tools, and completes in seconds instead of hours.


Measurements of magnetic susceptibility (MS) have been performed on a continuous set of samples from a well-dated ∼3 m sequence of sediments collected from Hall's Cave, Edwards Plateau, central Texas. Three major climatic events are represented by distinctive MS increases in the sequence: (1) the Heinrich event H1 (from 17,500 to 17,000 yr B.P.); (2) the end of full glacial conditions on the Edwards Plateau at 14,200 yr B.P.; and (3) the 8200 yr B.P. climatic event (from 8250 to 8050 yr B.P.). In addition, a minor event at 4400 yr B.P. is also well defined here and in Canada, indicating that it is a broadly regional event. These data indicate that all four events represent a shift toward milder climatic conditions accompanied by increased rainfall at this location. The general climatic trends interpreted from the MS data are consistent with independent vertebrate assemblages, floral indicators, and isotopic data recovered from the cave.


This paper presents a framework in which many structural credit risk models can be made hybrid by randomizing the default trigger, while keeping the capital structure intact. This produces random recovery rates negatively correlated with the default probability. The approach is implemented on a firm-by-firm basis using maximum likelihood and the unscented Kalman filter (UKF) on each of the 225 companies of the CDX NA IG and HY indices using weekly CDS data from December 2007 to January 2012. Adding the surprise element and the time-varying distribution of recovery rates has a large impact on credit spreads as it modifies both the level and shape of the curves. When a bond portfolio is considered, the presence of dependence among firm leverage ratios and between default probabilities and recovery rates produces clusters of defaults with low recovery rates. It has a major impact on standard risk measures such as Value- at-Risk and conditional tail expectation.


Increased creditor control in chapter 11 cases has generated considerable debate over the past several years. Proponents of creditor control argue that, among other things, it promotes efficiency in corporate reorganizations. Critics assert that it destroys corporate value and frequently forces otherwise viable entities to liquidate. The increasing involvement of professional distressed debt investors in chapter 11 cases has intensified this debate. In this article, I present and analyze empirical data regarding the investment practices and strategies of distressed debt investors. Based on this data and actual case reports, I reach two primary conclusions. First, although relatively few in number, activist distressed debt investors are well-financed and relatively successful in their attempts to influence change at or to acquire troubled companies. Second, unchecked creditor control by distressed debt investors or others has the potential to lead to creditor self-dealing, to the detriment of the debtor and its other stakeholders. The Bankruptcy Code, as currently structured, presents opportunities not only for creditor control, but also for creditor self-dealing. In analyzing the survey data and actual case reports, I suggest one possible legislative change to create a more balanced, estate-focused chapter 11 process. This change would entail eliminating the concept of statutory committees and replacing it with an estate representative. The concept of an estate representative is just one proposal; certainly, alternative or complementary legislative changes could create a more balanced playing field in chapter 11 cases. I discuss a few of these prospective changes here. Moreover, the concept of an estate representative is a preliminary proposal. Further research and study is necessary to develop this and related concepts.


Objectives To identify the chronic health conditions associated with multidimensional poverty. Design Cross-sectional study of the nationally representative Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Setting Australian population in 2003. Participants 35 704 individuals randomly selected from the Australian population by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Outcome measures Multidimensional poverty status, costs of disability, short form 6D health utility score, income, education attainment. Results Among those who were multidimensionally poor, 75% had a chronic health condition and the most common health conditions were back problems (11% of those in multidimensional poverty had back problems) and arthritis (11%). The conditions with the highest proportion of individuals in multidimensional poverty were depression/mood affecting disorders (26% in multidimensional poverty) and mental and behavioural disorders (22%). Those with depression/mood affecting disorders were nearly seven times (OR 6.60, 95% CI 5.09 to 8.55, p<0.0001) more likely to be multidimensionally poor than those with no health condition. Equivalising for the additional costs of disability increased the proportion of individuals in multidimensional poverty for all conditions and the conditions with the highest proportion of individuals in multidimensional poverty changed. Conclusions Owing to the influence of certain health conditions on poverty status, health interventions have the potential to improve national living standards and poverty rates in a similar way that 'traditional' policy responses such as changes to welfare payment currently do. Using a multidimensional poverty measure reveals the health conditions that should be the focus of such efforts.


A systems methodology for identifying, characterizing, and evaluating engineering solutions and policies that prevent the formation of brownfields is presented. Brownfields exist in very large numbers and pose serious environmental and health risks in developed countries around the world. As industries abandon unprofitable sites and development spreads to other parts of the globe, potential brownfield creation abounds which will further exacerbate the problem. Preventing the creation of brownfields in the first place should be a priority. However, it will depend on the availability of options (technology) and the incentives to implement them (policy). A retrospective look at the City of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, shows that a $10,000 investment in prevention could have avoided $100,000+ of cleanup cost on former gas station sites. Similarly, leaking underground fuel tanks could be prevented in South Sudan with double-walled tanks and appropriate procedures for less than 2% of the cost of cleaning up fuel leaks. Additional health-related economic and social costs associated with consumption of hydrocarbon contaminated groundwater could also be avoided. Actual implementation of pollution prevention requires a systems approach. Our research focuses on enhancing the relationship between engineering and policymaking through systems thinking and providing practical decision making support tools to guide development in a sustainable manner.


Spatial structure regulates and modifies processes at several levels of ecological organization (e.g. individual/genetic, population and community) and is thus a key component of complex systems, where knowledge at a small scale can be insufficient for understanding system behaviour at a larger scale. Recent syntheses outline potential applications of network theory to ecological systems, but do not address the implications of physical structure for network dynamics. There is a specific need to examine how dendritic habitat structure, such as that found in stream, hedgerow and cave networks, influences ecological processes. Although dendritic networks are one type of ecological network, they are distinguished by two fundamental characteristics: (1) both the branches and the nodes serve as habitat, and (2) the specific spatial arrangement and hierarchical organization of these elements interacts with a species' movement behaviour to alter patterns of population distribution and abundance, and community interactions. Here, we summarize existing theory relating to ecological dynamics in dendritic networks, review empirical studies examining the population- and community-level consequences of these networks, and suggest future research integrating spatial pattern and processes in dendritic systems.


Background: Return-to-sport (RTS) testing after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction (ACLR) surgery has become popular. It has been recommended that such testing should incorporate several domains, or set of tests, but it is unclear which are most associated with a successful RTS. Purpose: To determine (1) the proportion of patients who can pass a set of self-report and functional tests at 6 months after ACLR; (2) age, sex, and activity level differences between patients who pass and those who do not; and (3) whether specific types of tests are associated with a return to competitive sport at 12 months. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: This was a prospective longitudinal study of 450 patients who had primary ACLR. At 6 months postoperatively, patients completed 2 self-report measures, the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) subjective knee form and ACL–Return to Sport after Injury (ACL-RSI) scale, and 3 functional measures: single hop and triple crossover hop for distance and isokinetic quadriceps strength. Limb symmetry index scores of ≥90 for functional tests, IKDC scores ≥85, and ACL-RSI scores ≥65 were considered indicators of satisfactory recovery. Proportional statistics and contingency analysis were used to determine associations between age, sex, preinjury sports level, and (1) meeting test thresholds and (2) RTS at 12 months. Results: Only 17 (3.8%) patients met all 5 test criteria at 6 months, and 95 (21%) patients did not pass any test. More of the younger patients (<21 years) passed all of the functional tests (P < .01), and more male patients met the IKDC threshold (P = .03). Patients who played level I sports before injury had the same pass rates as those who played level II/III sports. Patients who passed the thresholds for the ACL-RSI and IKDC scales had 4 and 3 times the odds, respectively, of RTS at 12 months (both P < .0001). Meeting the threshold for quadriceps strength or either of the hop tests at 6 months was not associated with RTS. Conclusion: At 6 months after ACLR, few patients met all of the thresholds of the common tests used to assess RTS ability, although younger patients had higher rates of passing the functional tests. Self-perceived symptoms/function and psychological readiness were associated with a return at 12 months.


Orthodontic treatment with extraction of molars in adult patients is technically more complex due to a number of factors. In general, the space to be closed is greater than premolar spaces rendering critical anchorage and longer treatment time. Often such cases exhibit some degree of periodontal involvement due to patient age. Hence, the need for greater control over orthodontic mechanics to reduce the side effects of space closure. Therefore, good finishing results can be more difficult to achieve. Thus, the purpose of this article is to determine the reasons for molar extraction indications, describe different stages of orthodontic mechanics, and explain the issues involved in this kind of planning and treatment. Additionally, it aims at describing some treatments with molar extractions. Abstract


I. INTRODUCTION Switzerland's image of neutrality during World War II, a country surrounded by warring nations and yet heroically maintaining its own peaceful neutrality,(1) has served the Swiss well. Switzerland's official position of neutrality as well as its renowned tradition for absolute secrecy in banking have allowed this tiny nation to grow from obscurity to international prominence as the worldwide banking center.(2) In fact, for the past fifty years the Swiss citizens have "boasted to their neighbors about their enviable wealth," but it is now apparent that they were "profiting from blood money."(3) Discoveries of long dormant Nazi-era accounts have toppled this seemingly sacred historical dogma of the courageous Swiss persevering despite being surrounded by the Nazis and other Axis powers.(4) Recently, the international community has become increasingly concerned about long dormant accounts of Holocaust victims.(5) In addition, more and more evidence has surfaced regarding the pivotal role that the Swiss gold purchases from Germany had in prolonging World War II.(6) The international furor that was created by these revelations and the ensuing threats of various private sanctions(7) resulted in an unprecedented opening of the wall of secrecy that has surrounded Swiss banking for the past seventy years.(8) Consequently, several questions remain unanswered regarding Switzerland's continued neutrality.(9) the continued viability of Swiss banking secrecy laws,(10) and the inheritance rights of the heirs of deceased depositors.(11) The question of Switzerland's continued neutrality will be determined by its international activities in the next century, just as it has been over the last few centuries.(12) However, the latter questions of banking secrecy and inheritance of the newly discovered funds demand immediate Swiss action and their corrective actions must undergo global scrutiny. This Comment will focus upon these latter two questions and attempt to illustrate the legal morass and political difficulties involved in sorting out these accounts. In addition, the laws that allowed these abuses to occur will be examined against the backdrop of these recent revelations. Consequently, it will become apparent that the proliferation of legislation protecting the financial confidentiality of a bank's clients inevitably led to various abuses. The discussion of these issues is rather hollow without a brief review of the historical events that set the stage for the controversial actions of Switzerland. This is necessary to grasp the context surrounding both the inception of these accounts and the terms of various Swiss dealings with the Nazis. This background information will be presented in Part II. In Part III, the problems that the Swiss banks face in distributing these funds will be thoroughly examined. The distribution of a single account is potentially controlled by the probate codes of the several nations in which the heirs reside. Accordingly, this paper will primarily focus on the conflict of laws problem and compare the author's conclusions to the actual practices of the Swiss banks today. Following this, the continued viability of this type of banking secrecy will be examined in light of the stated benefits and potential for abuse, as illustrated by both the current controversy and other evidence of its facilitation of worldwide organized crime. II. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT In order to grasp the inappropriateness of Switzerland's conduct during the course of World War II, one must understand the historical context in which its actions occurred. After World War I, Switzerland was recognized by the League of Nations as an officially neutral state.(13) This action buttressed the century-old neutralization of Switzerland that was imposed due to its penchant for producing mercenary armies to terrorize 19th Century Europe.(14) The rise of Nazi Germany provided the first real test of Swiss neutrality. …


Abstract We present an experimental study of 'polygons' forming on the free surface of a swirling water flow in a partially filled cylindrical container. In our set-up, we rotate the bottom plate and the cylinder wall with separate motors. We thereby vary rotation rate and shear strength independently and move from a rigidly rotating 'Newton's bucket' flow to one where bottom and cylinder wall are rotating oppositely and the surface is strongly turbulent but flat on average. Between those two extremes, we find polygonal states for which the rotational symmetry is spontaneously broken. We investigate the phase diagram spanned by the two rotational frequencies at a given water filling height and find polygons in a regime, where the two frequencies are sufficiently different and, predominantly, when they have opposite signs. In addition to the extension of the family of polygons found with the stationary cylinder, we find a new family of smaller polygons for larger rotation rates of the cylinder, opposite to that of the bottom plate. Further, we find a 'monogon', a figure with one corner, roughly an eccentric circle rotating in the same sense as the cylinder. The case where only the bottom plate is rotating is compared with the results of Jansson et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 96, 2006, art. 174502), where the same size of cylinder was used, and although the overall structure of the phase diagram spanned by water height and rotational frequency is the same, many details are different. To test the effect of small experimental defects, such as misalignment of the bottom plate, we investigate whether the rotating polygons are phase locked with the bottom plate, and although we find cases where the frequency ratio of figure and bottom plate is nearly rational, we do not find phase locking. Finally, we show that the system has a surprising multistability and excitability, and we note that this can cause quantitative differences between the phase diagrams obtained in comparable experiments.


In 1771 J.E. Gunnerus outlined a reform of the University of Copenhagen. The reform plan was commissioned by J.F. Struensee who at the time was the ruler of Denmark and Norway and was part of a wide reform movement aiming at a thorough modernization of the Danish states. The article summarizes parts of the university reform project and discusses them in the context of Enlightenment philosophical thinking on the nature of scientific knowledge. One byproduct of the university reform proposal was a projected university in Norway. The reform proposals came to a standstill when Struensee was overthrown in 1772.


Communication between humans deeply relies on our capability of experiencing, expressing, and recognizing feelings. For this reason, research on human-machine interaction needs to focus on the recognition and simulation of emotional states, prerequisite of which is the collection of affective corpora. Currently available datasets still represent a bottleneck because of the difficulties arising during the acquisition and labeling of authentic affective data. In this work, we present a new audio-visual corpus for possibly the two most important modalities used by humans to communicate their emotional states, namely speech and facial expression in the form of dense dynamic 3D face geometries. We also introduce an acquisition setup for labeling the data with very little manual effort. We acquire high-quality data by working in a controlled environment and resort to video clips to induce affective states. In order to obtain the physical prosodic parameters of each utterance, the annotation process includes: transcription of the corpus text into the phonological representation, accurate phone segmentation, fundamental frequency extraction, and signal intensity estimation of the speech signals. We employ a real-time 3D scanner for the recording of dense dynamic facial geometries and track the faces throughout the sequences, achieving full spatial and temporal correspondences. The corpus is not only relevant for affective visual speech synthesis or view-independent facial expression recognition, but also for studying the correlations between audio and facial features in the context of emotional speech.


This thesis focused on students' misconceptions in the topic of seasons. Its three investigations, explored the central question of: How do frames of reference influence students' conceptual understanding of seasons? The results from these investigations found that some single frames of reference can limit students' understanding of seasons or confuse students, while additional frames of reference can enhance students' understanding. These three investigations were driven by the principles of design research methodology. They examined how frames of reference provided by: Starry NightTM software, 3D models and textbook diagrams influenced students' understanding of seasons. The first investigation compared two groups of students. One group, the Egocentric Group (n=15), used Starry NightTM. The second group, the Exocentric Group (n=13), mainly used text diagrams and 3D models. This investigation isolated different frames of reference in students' explanations of seasons. The results from this first
investigation revealed that different frames of reference limit students' explanations of seasons.
The second investigation addressed findings from the first investigation and observed how sixteen, grade six students' explanations about seasons changed as they were exposed to different frames of reference over the course of seven days for two hours per day. Students gave written explanations to the same questions about seasons during the first, fourth and seventh days. The results in this investigation revealed that students' explanations of seasons changed gradually and incorporated their experiences as they were introduced to new frames of reference.
The third investigation explored what was happening to the students' intuitive understanding of seasons as they moved between different frames of reference in a problem-solving situation. Qualitative discourse analysis from three pairs of students found that as students moved between different frames o f reference they brought different types of knowledge to bear on their initial ideas about seasons.
This thesis concluded that using a variety of frames of reference to teach students about seasons helps them relate to the topic in multiple ways. This method fosters better understanding of seasons and prepares students to explore other topics in astronomy.


The present study has two aims. Firstly, it aims to determine eighth grade students' conceptual understanding of floating and sinking through formative assessment probes . Secondly, it aims to determine whether or not there is a significant difference between students' performance in formative assessment probes and their achievement in the Standardized Science and Technology Exam (TEOG 1) exam.  The sample of this research is 61 eighth grade students from a central middle school in Eskisehir. Data collection tools are four two-stage formative assessment probes and the scores of the student taken from the first TEOG 1 exam. The answers of the students to the two-stage probes were scored by use of a rubric. Findings indicated that most of the students either: a) both chose incorrect answer and did not write correct scientific explanation (%41);  b) chose correct answer but did not write correct scientific explanation (%33); and c) chose correct answer but wrote partially correct explanation (%43). This result indicates the poorness of students' explanation and interpretation skills in formative assessment probes. In addition, the findings of the dependent sample t-test results also indicate that there is a significant difference between the scores of the students taken from the standardized science test (TEOG 1) and the formative assessment probes on the concepts of floating and sinking.  This finding shows that the students are more successful on standardized science test than the formative assessment probes in general. These research findings, suggest that students should be exposed to teaching practices based on "formative assessment" that promotes the development of students' skills of explaining, interpreting, and reasoning rather than multiple-choice tests in science lessons.


This paper discusses identification based on difference-in-differences (DiD) approaches with multiple treatments. It shows that an appropriate adaptation of the common trend assumption underlying the DiD strategy for the comparison of two treatments restricts the possibility of effect heterogeneity for at least one of the treatments. The required assumption of effect homogeneity is likely to be violated because of non-random assignment to treatment based on both observables and unobservables. However, this paper shows that, under certain conditions, the DiD estimate comparing two treatments identifies a lower bound in absolute values on the average treatment effect on the treated compared to the unobserved non-treatment state, even if effect homogeneity is violated. This is possible if, in expectation, the effects of both treatments compared to no treatment have the same sign, and one treatment has a stronger effect than the other treatment on the respective recipients. Such assumptions are plausible if treatments are ordered or vary in intensity.


With increasing numbers of students wishing to become conference interpreters, but limited capacities in most university degree programs, accurate admission testing is an important means of predicting an applicant's chances of completing the program successfully. This article focuses on three aptitude tests for simultaneous interpretation: Pochhacker's SynCloze test; Chabasse's cognitive shadowing test; and Timarova's personalized cloze test. The test battery was administered at the start of the 2009/2010 academic year to students beginning the two-year Master's program in conference interpreting (MA KD) at Germersheim. Correlations between test performance and subsequent exam grades at the end of the second semester were examined for all three tests. Given the large number of applicants each year, practical feasibility of the tests was taken into consideration with a view to scheduling the format and content of the entrance exam for the 2012/2013 academic year. In this perspective, cognitive shadowing was identified as the most useful test under the existing time constraints.


This research project was conducted within the setting of English General Practice and explored the experience of nurse partnerships; from the perspective of the Nurse Partners and their colleagues. The inquiry was within a social constructionist framework; the research was inductive, emerging and shaped by the researcher's experience. A critical emancipatory perspective fully embraced and exploited the subjectivity of the researcher. Reflexivity is used throughout the report, making visible the researcher's individuality and effect on the research process. It has been possible for nurses to become partners in general practice since 1997. However, it is not possible to determine the exact numbers of nurse partners, as there is no national list or database. There is little published research about Nurse Partners.A purposive sample of five self-selecting practices was used; geographically spread across England; representing the diversity of general practice. Nineteen in-depth interactive interviews were audiotaped: five GPs; five Nurse Partners; five practice managers and four members of the nursing team.The data was thematically analysed using the Attride-Stirling method of thematic networks. The web-like networks are an organising principle and representational. Two Global Themes were developed to conceptualise the main argument and assumptions, drawing on ten Basic Themes and four Organising Themes. The Global Theme metaphors became the titles of the interconnected Networks; 'Stepping out the Box' and Toe in the Water. The findings suggest that the Nurse Partners are pioneers; combining professional nursing with an entrepreneurial perspective. However, there remain cultural issues around equality. The research practices have embraced multi-professional working, with the Nurse Partner playing a major role in the senior management team of partners.The Nurse Partners enjoy an autonomy and independence; are able to show entrepreneurship and demonstrate a commitment to the 'business' of general practice. Nevertheless these nurses have not received the recognition they deserve. It is therefore a concern that Nurse Partnerships are not being considered as part of the solution to the 'crisis' in general practice. The entrepreneurship and expertise demonstrated by these Nurse partners in multi-professional working is vital to the continuation of modern effective primary healthcare.


Although heavy-tailed fluctuations are ubiquitous in complex systems, a good understanding of the mechanisms that generate them is still lacking. Optical complex systems are ideal candidates for investigating heavy-tailed fluctuations, as they allow recording large datasets under controllable experimental conditions. A dynamical regime that has attracted a lot of attention over the years is the so-called low-frequency fluctuations (LFFs) of semiconductor lasers with optical feedback. In this regime, the laser output intensity is characterized by abrupt and apparently random dropouts. The statistical analysis of the inter-dropout-intervals (IDIs) has provided many useful insights into the underlying dynamics. However, the presence of large temporal fluctuations in the IDI sequence has not yet been investigated. Here, by applying fluctuation analysis we show that the experimental distribution of IDI fluctuations is heavy-tailed, and specifically, is well-modeled by a non-Gaussian stable distribution. We find a good qualitative agreement with simulations of the Lang-Kobayashi model. Moreover, we uncover a transition from a less-heavy-tailed state at low pump current to a more-heavy-tailed state at higher pump current. Our results indicate that fluctuation analysis can be a useful tool for investigating the output signals of complex optical systems; it can be used for detecting underlying regime shifts, for model validation and parameter estimation.


Quick Look Drug Book 2013 includes the most current information on thousands of commonly used drugs. Medical transcriptionists and other healthcare professionals rely on this comprehensive resource for information on brand and generic drug names, pronunciations, look-alike/sound-alike issues, therapeutic categories, dosages, and dosage forms. Exclusive to Quick Look Drug Book is the Indication/Therapeutic Category Index that lists conditions/diseases alphabetically with the drugs used to treat them. Updates include new drugs introduced or approved by the FDA in 2012. Nine appendices are included. The CD-ROM version has search functions that allow super-fast reference. For full details, see Quick Look Electronic Drug Reference 2013.


This study investigated the spatio-temporal patterns of antimicrobial action against Staphylococcus epidermidis planktonic and biofilm bacteria. Bacteria were stained with a fluorogenic esterase substrate, Calcein-AM, which allowed for the visualization of cells that possessed intact cell membranes. Four different antimicrobial agents were tested for their effect upon cell viability as associated with membrane integrity. The four biocides were Barquat®, glutaraldehyde, chlorine, and nisin. Planktonic bacteria were analyzed with flow cytometry, observing fluorescence loss during 1 h antimicrobial treatment. Treatment with Barquat resulted in initial fluorescence loss, which increased during the treatment period to levels which were present prior to the introduction of biocide, along with a decrease in cell density. Treatments with glutaraldehyde and chlorine resulted in increased average fluorescence intensity for the cell population, accompanied by decreased cell density for chlorine and increased cell density for glutaraldehyde. Nisin treatment resulted in a decrease in CAM fluorescence with an increase in cell density. Viable cell plate counts showed average log reductions in CFU/mL of 3.61, 3.83, 4.12, 4.26, and 4.67 for Barquat, glutaraldehyde, high and low concentrations of chlorine, and nisin treatments, respectively. There was no apparent correlation between plate counts and flow cytometry data. Biofilm bacteria were analyzed with time-lapse confocal scanning laser microscopy, observing fluorescence loss during biocide treatment. Biofilms treated with Barquat lost an average of 91.5% of their initial fluorescence, and clusters decreased in areal coverage by 9%. Fluorescence loss during Barquat treatment suggested the presence of a tolerant subpopulation of bacteria in the interior regions of the biofilm. Glutaraldehyde treatment reduced the average fluorescence by 16%, and cluster area did not change. There was CTC staining after glutaraldehyde treatment only. The high and low concentrations of chlorine treatment showed averages of 100% and 79% reductions in CAM staining, with liquefaction of biomass causing erosion events which reduced areal coverage by 90% and 43%, respectively. Nisin treatment reduced CAM staining by an average of 100%, while shrinking the cluster area by 8%. Corner biofilms showed qualitative differences during treatment than isolated clusters. Mathematically-predicted biocide diffusion times were much faster than experimentally observed fluorescence loss in biofilms.


The energy system in a modern integrated steel plant is a complicated network of units exchanging
energy and matter with each other. System studies using process integration tools are important to avoid
sub-optimization. At the steel plant in Lulea such studies have been carried out using a MILP-based mathematical
programming tool (reMIND), mainly because of its inherent flexibility for handling combined
flows and reactions of both matter and chemical, thermal and mechanical energy. There are, however,
areas where the energy system is dominated by creation, transport and exchange of thermal energy, and
where pinch analysis can be expected to be a valuable tool. For this reason a pinch targeting study was
carried out for the plant site of the integrated steel plant in Lulea. The coke plant and the iron making/
steelmaking plant were both studied with three ambition levels of possible improvements. The study confirmed
that pinch analysis is a powerful tool for targeting energy savings in areas where thermal energy
flows dominate the local energy system, e.g., the gas cleaning area at the coke plant. The study also indicated
that a connection between the energy systems in the coke plant and the iron making/steelmaking
would be valuable. This is not 100% feasible because of distance, but, a common steam net could add a
degree of flexibility.


This paper reviews fundamental concepts in environmental economics and explores theoretical results regarding the choice of the key policy instruments for the control of externalities: taxes, subsidies and marketable permits. The paper explains why today market mechanisms are increasingly being used as a tool for allocating unpriced rights and scarce resources. We survey how significant market imperfections, a pre-existing regulatory environment and concentration in both permit and output markets can impede the proper functioning of a permit system. The main factors that affect the effectiveness of marketable permits are then discussed. Given the importance of understanding the emission permit price formation, we overview recent attempts at developing valid price models for emission permits, taking into account banking and borrowing opportunities, pollution abatement measures, strategic trading interactions and the presence of asymmetric information in the permit market.


South Africa's truth and reconciliation process is perhaps the best-known example of an institutionalized attempt to build a more democratic future by confronting human rights atrocities from the past. Yet the South African case is often quite misunderstood, with many misconceptions widely accepted and asserted. This article addresses five facts about the South African experience. Using data from a large national survey of ordinary people, it demonstrates both that the truth and reconciliation process is viewed as effective by most people and that in fact systematic evidence indicates that the process achieved several of its primary goals. From the South African case we learn that, despite their various shortcomings and compromises, truth processes can attain legitimacy among ordinary people in transitional systems and that they can contribute to societal reconciliation.


OBJECTIVES
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a treatment for chronic neuropathic pain. Recently, SCS has been enhanced further with evoked compound action potential (ECAP) sensing. Characteristics of the ECAP, if appropriately isolated from concurrent stimulation artifact (SA), may be used to control, and aid in the programming of, SCS systems. Here, we characterize the sensitivity of the ECAP growth curve slope (S) to both neural response (|Sresp |) and SA contamination (|Sart |) for four spinal ECAP estimation methods with a novel performance measure (|Sresp /Sart |).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We collected a library of 112 ECAP and associated artifact recordings with swept stimulation amplitudes from 14 human subjects. We processed the signals to reduce SA from these recordings by applying one of three schemes: a simple high pass (HP) filter, subtracting an artifact model (AM) consisting of decaying exponential and linear components, or applying a template correlation method consisting of a triangularly weighted sinusoid. We compared these against each other and to P2-N1, a standard method of measuring ECAP amplitude. We then fit the ECAP estimates from each method with a function representing the growth curve; we then calculated the Sresp and Sart parameters following the fit.

RESULTS
Any SA reduction scheme selected may result in under- or overestimation of neural activation, or misclassification of SA as ECAP. In these experiments, the ratio of neural signal preservation to SA misclassification (|Sresp /Sart |) on the ECAP estimate was superior (p < 0.05) with the HP and AM schemes relative to the others.

CONCLUSIONS
This work represents the first comprehensive assessment of spinal ECAP estimation schemes. Understanding the clinically relevant sensitivities of these schemes is increasingly important, particularly with closed-loop SCS systems using ECAP as a feedback control variable where misclassification of artifact as neural signal may lead to suboptimal therapy adjustments.


Millions of people use public transportation and consult electronic timetable information systems. A customer selects from the connections offered by the system according to personal preferences. The chosen connection is typically a compromise based on the importance of several criteria, including departure and arrival time, travel time, comfort and ticket cost. Consequently, multi-criteria optimization should be used to deliver "attractive" alternatives. We developed the concept of advanced Pareto optimality as an evolution of the classical Pareto optimality approach. It delivers more alternatives and removes unattractive solutions from the results to suit the notion of attractive connections for all potential customers. Realistic modeling of the search for attractive connections leads to shortest-path algorithms. Fast search algorithms are needed to answer customer requests in only a few milliseconds since the schedules are modeled as large graphs (several hundred thousand edges and nodes). The graphs are either time-expanded or time-dependent to model the dimension of time. In contrast to the majority of scientific work on the subject, our approach is fully realistic without simplifying assumptions. We extended the time-expanded graph model to an exact representation satisfying all constraints of a real schedule. Based on a generalization of Dijkstra's shortest-path algorithm, we developed our full-fledged multi-criteria timetable information system MOTIS (Multi Objective Traffic Information System). It delivers valid connections according to the principle of advanced Pareto optimality. A customer may actually buy a ticket for the connections determined by our system. Furthermore, we also explored the time-dependent model and built a prototype system working on that model as a proof of concept. We also investigated several additional criteria that had not been considered before, for example special offers (reduced ticket cost under certain conditions, e.g. based on the availability of contingents) or the reliability of interchanges, a measure of how likely it is to catch all connecting trains of a trip. Moreover, we present approaches to the search for night trains with the additional objective of ensuring reasonable sleeping times without the need for train changes. Our algorithms respecting these criteria are fast and deliver attractive alternatives. We explored and adapted existing speed-up techniques and developed new ones suitable for our scenario. In an extensive computational study we discuss the cost of regarding the criteria, the effect of various parameterizations of our algorithm, and the impact of the developed speed-up techniques. Applying these, we achieve runtimes of about one quarter of a second on average and solve most of the queries (95%) in less than a second. Delays occur quite frequently in public transportation. They may invalidate connections as interchanges become infeasible. Current systems do not take that into account. At the utmost, they add changed departure or arrival times to connections calculated according to the static schedule. By incorporating information about delays into our model, we are able to deliver valid connections. We propose a multi-server architecture that allows several search servers to be updated by a central server distributing delay data. The simulation of a whole day with more than 6 million status messages takes less than two minutes. In our architecture, update phases may be scheduled to guarantee the availability of service at all times. We have built user interfaces and visualization tools for our system. Additionally, we have created a new service: proactive route guidance. Within this service a planned trip is registered in CoCoAS (our Connection Controller and Alternatives System). While the passenger travels, the system continously checks the status of the connection. As soon as the system determines that the connection will break, it offers alternatives. By computing these alternatives as early as possible, an asset of our system, more and better options can be explored.


ABSTRACT To understand the crucial work of property in land in enforcing and sustaining relationships of power between people, it is necessary to analyse the particular manner in which property became territorialized. I focus here on one crucial moment in which this occurred – the reconception of the space of landed property in seventeenth century rural England – tracing three domains of practice – surveying, husbandry and law. These forms of expert knowledge did not simply record changes in property's reterritorialization, I suggest, but actively participated in its remaking. As an 'interaction device', territory helped reconstitute changing property relations. While drawing from previous geographies of property, these practices placed an increased importance upon a territorial exclusivity that centred on individual rights, most particularly the right of the individual to exclude others. As such, the legal and practical defence of territory became of more pressing importance. This shift relied on and helped sustain a particular logic of visualization and spatialization, I shall suggest. Increasingly, property became disentangled from a localized nexus of collectively organized relations, and became situated within wider networks of calculation and commodification. The geographies of property forged in this period continue to be important to contemporary life, framing power relations in particular ways. As such, they demand our attention.


Background: Oxidative stress has been proposed as a potential trigger in the etiopathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome-related infertility. Thiol/disulphide homeostasis, a recently identified oxidative stress marker, is one of the antioxidant mechanism in humans with critical roles in folliculogenesis and ovulation. Aims: To investigate follicular fluid thiol/disulphide homeostasis in the etiopathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome and to determine its association with in vitro fertilization outcome. The study procedures were approved by the local ethics committee. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Follicular fluid from 22 women with polycystic ovary syndrome and 20 ovulatory controls undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment was sampled. Thiol/disulphide homeostasis was analyzed via a novel spectrophotometric method. Results: Follicular native thiol levels, as well as the native thiol/total thiol ratio, were lower in the polycystic ovary syndrome group than in the non-polycystic ovary syndrome group (p=0.041 and p<0.0001, respectively). Disulphide levels, disulphide/native thiol, and disulphide/total thiol ratios were increased in the polycystic ovary syndrome group (p<0.0001). A positive correlation between the fertilization rate and native thiol (p=0.01, r=0.53) and total thiol (p=0.01, r=0.052) among polycystic ovary syndrome patients was found. A positive predictive effect of native thiol level on the fertilization rate in the polycystic ovary syndrome group was also found (p=0.03, β=0.45, 95% CI= 0.031-0.643) Conclusion: Deterioration of thiol/disulphide homeostasis, especially elevated disulphide levels, could be one of the etiopathogenetic mechanisms in polycystic ovary syndrome. Increased native thiol levels are related to the fertilization rate among polycystic ovary syndrome patients and are positive predictors of the fertilization rate among polycystic ovary syndrome patients. Improvement of thiol/disulphide homeostasis could be important in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome to increase in vitro fertilization success.


An aging society and economic pressure have caused an increase in the patient-to-staff ratio leading to a reduction in healthcare quality. In order to combat the deficiencies in the delivery of patient healthcare, the European Commission in the FP6 scheme approved the financing of a research project for the development of an Intelligent Robot Swarm for Attendance, Recognition, Cleaning and Delivery (iWARD). Each iWARD robot contained a mobile, self-navigating platform and several modules attached to it to perform their specific tasks.

As part of the iWARD project, the research described in this thesis is interested to develop hospital robot modules which are able to perform the tasks of surveillance and patient monitoring in a hospital environment for four scenarios: Intruder detection, Patient behavioural analysis, Patient physical condition monitoring, and Environment monitoring. Since the Intruder detection and Patient behavioural analysis scenarios require the same equipment, they can be combined into one common physical module called Situation recognition module. The other two scenarios are to be served by their separate modules: Environment monitoring module and Patient condition monitoring module.

The situation recognition module uses non-intrusive machine vision-based concepts. The system includes an RGB video camera and a 3D laser sensor, which monitor the environment in order to detect an intruder, or a patient lying on the floor. The system deals with various image-processing and sensor fusion techniques.

The environment monitoring module monitors several parameters of the hospital environment: temperature, humidity and smoke.

The patient condition monitoring system remotely measures the following body conditions: body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and others, using sensors attached to the patient's body.

The system algorithm and module software is implemented in C/C++ and uses the OpenCV image analysis and processing library and is successfully tested on Linux (Ubuntu) Platform. The outcome of this research has significant contribution to the robotics application area in the hospital environment.


During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ca. 56 Ma), thousands of gigatons of carbon were released into the ocean and atmosphere over several thousand years, offering the opportunity to study the response of ocean biogeochemistry to a carbon cycle perturbation of a similar magnitude to projected anthropogenic CO 2 release. PETM scenarios typically invoke accelerated chemical weathering of terrestrial silicate rocks as a significant negative feedback driving the recovery and termination of the event. However, the implications of this mechanism for the geochemical cycling of silica during the PETM have received little attention. I use "back-of-the-envelope" calculations and a simple two-box geochemical model of the marine silica cycle to demonstrate that the sequestration of thousands of gigatons of carbon by enhanced silicate weathering during the PETM would have dramatically increased the riverine supply of dissolved silica (H 4 SiO 4 ) to the oceans. This would have elevated seawater [H 4 SiO 4 ], encouraging both increased opal (SiO 2 ) production by siliceous organisms and enhanced preservation of SiO 2 in the water column and sediments. Both of these factors would have promoted a prompt (due to the relatively short oceanic residence time of silica) increase in sedimentary opal burial, thus balancing the marine silica budget. Several recently recovered deep-sea sedimentary records from the central North Atlantic demonstrate elevated SiO 2 content across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, which I argue is the result of enhanced production and/or preservation of SiO 2 in response to elevated [H 4 SiO 4 ] in the North Atlantic, representing the ultimate fate of excess Si weathered from the continents during the PETM.


Bullfighting has long been perceived as an antiquated, barbarous legacy from Spain's medieval past. In fact, many of that country's best poets, philosophers, and intellectuals have accepted the corrida as the embodiment of Spain's rejection of the modern world. In his brilliant new interpretation of bullfighting, Adrian Shubert maintains that this view is both the product of myth and a complete misunderstanding of the real roots of the contemporary bullfight. While references to a form of bullfighting date back to the Poem of the Cid (1040), the modern bullfight did not emerge until the early 18th century. And when it did emerge, it was far from being an archaic remnant of the past-it was a precursor of the 20th-century mass leisure industry. Indeed, before today's multimillion-dollar athletes with wide-spread commercial appeal, there was Francisco Romero, born in 1700, whose unique form of bullfighting netted him unprecedented fame and wealth, and Manuel Rodriguez Manolete, hailed as Spain's greatest matador by the New York Times after a fatal goring in 1947. The bullfight was replete with promoters, agents, journalists, and, of course, hugely-paid bullfighters who were exploited to promote wine, cigarettes, and other products. Shubert analyzes the business of the sport, and explores the bullfighters' world: their social and geographic origins, careers, and social status. Here also are surprising revelations about the sport, such as the presence of women bullfighters-and the larger gender issues that this provoked. From the political use of bullfighting in royal and imperial pageants to the nationalistic "great patriotic bullfights" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this is both a fascinating portrait of bullfighting and a vivid recreation of two centuries of Spanish history. Based on extensive research and engagingly written, Death and Money in the Afternoon vividly examines the evolution of Spanish culture and society through the prism of one of the West's first-and perhaps its most spectacular-spectator sports.


Purpose Osteonecrosis (ON) is a serious complication of the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL); however, data relating to ON in Asian pediatric patients with ALL are scarce. Therefore, we performed a retrospective analysis of cohorts of Japanese patients with ALL to clarify the incidence, clinical characteristics, and risk factors of ON. Patients and Methods The incidence and characteristics of ON were determined in patients with ALL (n = 1,662) enrolled in two studies from the Japan Association of Childhood Leukemia Study (JACLS) group (n = 635 and n = 1,027 patients treated with the ALL-97 and ALL-02 protocols, respectively). Results In total, 24 of 1,662 patients suffered from ON, of which 12 of 635 and 12 of 1,027 patients were treated with the ALL-97 and the ALL-02 protocol, respectively. Of the 24 patients, 23 were older than 10 years. In multivariate analysis, age (≥ 10 years) was the sole significant risk factor for ON ( P < .001). Separate evaluation of patients ≥ 10 years of age indicated a 5-year cumulative incidence of ON of 7.2% (95% CI, 4.0% to 12.6%) and 5.9% (95% CI, 3.3% to 10.4%) in the ALL-97 and the ALL-02 protocol, respectively, which was lower than reported previously, despite an administration of dexamethasone (DEX) similar to that in comparable studies; however, concomitant administration of DEX and l-asparaginase was reduced in the JACLS protocols. Conclusion We identified a low frequency of ON in the JACLS ALL-97 and ALL-02 studies. Although the sole risk factor for ON was age (≥ 10 years), even among high-risk patients, ON incidence was significantly lower than that reported in previous studies. These results suggest that, not only the total amount of DEX, but also how DEX and l-asparaginase are administered, which affects the clearance of DEX, may be associated with ON incidence in patients with ALL.


The Keynesian welfare state regimes that emerged during the long postwar boom are widely held to be in terminal decline but there is far less agreement upon the nature of the successor to such regimes. This is too large a topic to be covered in any detail here. Instead I will advance three general and somewhat speculative claims about current changes. First, a tendential shift is under way from the Keynesian welfare state (wherever it came to be established) to the Schumpeterian workfare state; second, national states in advanced capitalist economies are subject to an admittedly uneven three-way 'hollowing out'; and third, both tendencies are related to the transition in western economies from Fordism to post-Fordism. Although clearly linked to the same overall economic dynamic in the third claim, the first two claims can nonetheless be considered independently from each other. Conversely, all three claims could also be condensed into the single audacious aphorism that a 'hollowed-out' Schumpeterian workfare state provides the best possible political shell for post-Fordism. The basic assumptions and ideas involved in all four claims are summarized in this paper's first section. Further sections then contextualize the tendential shifts themselves, outline the mechanisms generating them, and outline three ideal-typical variant forms of the emerging regime. This theoretical work will also help to make the initial claims more concrete and indicate how they might be utilized in further research.


Regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is used as a model polymer for research in organic solar cells. It is popular despite its dissimilarity in many respects to the high-performing class of polymers based on the donor–acceptor (DA) motif. For example, P3HT has a low glass-transition temperature, is highly crystalline for a semiconducting polymer, is made by a living polymerization, and contains no fused rings along the conjugated backbone; these characteristics stand in contrast to most DA polymers. These differences in structure and morphology suggest that many of the results obtained for P3HT are not directly transferable to the design and processing of new materials. This highlight proposes that focusing on a few examples of conjugated polymers based in part on the way these materials assemble in the solid state would enable greater transferability of the results from one study to another. That is, the field would benefit from having more than one "fruit fly."


Since the discovery of Orrorin tugenensis in the Late Miocene Lukeino Formation, Tugen Hills, Kenya, it is generally admitted that the origin of bipedal hominids occurred earlier than 6 Myr ago and that the adaptation to bipedal stance and locomotion initially occurred in a forested or well-wooded setting. In Africa, eight localities aged between 13 and 5.5 Myr have yielded hominoid fossils belonging to nine species. We here report the occurrence of a Late Miocene hominoid in Niger, associated with a restricted fauna which indicates an age of c. 11-8 Myr. The Niger fossil locality is 940 km north of the nearest known extant hominoids, and 1000 km west of the nearest recorded fossil hominoid from Chad. The scientific value of the Niger specimen resides in its discovery locus far from any other known fossil hominoids, its Late Miocene age and the attention that it will focus on the Neogene fossil record of West Africa, currently almost unknown.


This Article deals with the United States' presence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the domestic and international law issues that have arisen, and the nature of the jurisdiction exercised there by the United States. It does not deal with the operation of the prison facility. Guantanamo Bay is near the eastern end of Cuba, 628 miles (1000 km) from the capital, Havana. It is a deepwater harbor, protected by hills from the extremes of Caribbean weather; but it has an unhealthy tropical climate. The forty-five square miles of the Guantanamo Naval Base have been occupied by the United States since the Spanish-American War in 1898. Originally a coaling station, it had been utilized for training, repairs, anti-submarine warfare, and humanitarian rescue before its present uses. Its continued presence is deeply resented in the island State of almost twelve million people, but the persistence of the communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro has strengthened U.S. determination to hold on, even though the base no longer serves a military purpose. GUANTANAMO AND U.S. LAW