SPIRITUALLY ORIENTED PSYCHOTHERAPY. Edited by Len Sperry and Edward P. Shafranske. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2005. Hb, 376 pp. $49-95. Reviewed by Larry N. Ferguson (Fresno, CA). Perhaps it is ironic to read this book, published by the APA. In the early 1970s (when some of us old folks were in graduate school) it was clear that the APA was suspicious of any religious or spiritual conceptualizations within psychology. Programs such as the Fuller Graduate School of Psychology struggled for APA accreditation because of its obvious religious bent. Now, 40 years later, the APA publishes this book on Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy! Organizations like CAPS, and schools like Fuller and Rosemead have promoted the role of spiritual aspects within psychotherapy. At one time it was a step of faith to claim one was a "Christian Psychologist." Today it is not so. The many hundreds of Christian men and women, psychologists, counselors, and social workers alike, continue to show that the "spiritual dimension in psychotherapy" is important. Psychology is a science. Therefore the scientific principles applied to any area of research must be applied to the definition, understanding, and application of spirituality in psychotherapy. As the book begins, it is noted "the empirical evidence suggests links between health and spiritual and religious factors" (p. 11). Using the rigors of science to help verify or demonstrate these assertions is critical. Since a religious faith is important to many people, spirituality cannot be ignored in therapy. It is these observations that enervate psychotherapeutic approaches to address the spiritual side of humanity. This book is outlined in three sections. Part I sets out the Theoretical Foundations. Beginning with definitions and explanation, Shafranske and Sperry set the stage. Then, in chapters two and three, psychoanalytic and Jungian foundations are introduced. Historically and contextually these two major influences in psychotherapy are shown to be valuable in understanding the spiritual aspect of humanity. Rather than explaining away religion or spirituality, it is clear these two allow "the integration of spirituality in psychotherapeutic practice" (p. 5). One of the questions asked is whether "the psychological and spiritual dimensions of human experience and development" are the same (or different) and which has primacy (if either). There is still theoretical debate on this, and may best be answered at this point as "It is a metaphysical question requiring an answer born of faith" (p. …


OBJECTIVE
To determine cerebrospinal fluid levels of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha in full-term infants with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, comparing with control infants.

METHODS
Controlled, prospective study, performed between July 1999 and October 2001 with two groups of full-term newborns: 20 controls with no sepsis and/or meningitis and Apgar score > or =9 at first and fifth minutes; and cases, 15 asphyxiated full-term newborns with Apgar < or =4 and < or =6 at first and fifth minutes, umbilical blood cord pH<7.20 and/or umbilical arterial blood lactate>3.0 mmol/L, and requiring positive pressure ventilation for at least 2 minutes after birth. Cerebrospinal fluid samples were collected within 48 hours of birth for determination of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha by enzyme immunoassay.

RESULTS
Groups were similar concerning birthweight, gestational age, type of delivery and mean time required for cerebrospinal fluid sample collection. The samples were collected at mean with 17 hours of life. The medians cerebrospinal fluid levels in asphyxiated newborn infants were: 157.5 pg/ml for interleukin-6 and 14.7 pg/ml for tumor necrosis factor-alpha, significantly higher than the controls (interleukin-6: 4.1 pg/ml and tumor necrosis factor-alpha: 0.16 pg/ml).

CONCLUSIONS
Full-term newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy present higher cerebrospinal fluid interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels than the controls, possibly because of the local cerebral production of these cytokines, especially tumor necrosis factor-alpha. These results support a recommendation for future studies with brain blockers of the actions of these cytokines for neuroprotective strategies.


This paper presents a new technique for calibrating a camera mounted on a controllable head/eye platform. It uses the trajectories of an arbitrary number of tracked corner features to improve the calibration parameter estimates over time, utilizing a novel variable state dimension form of recursive filter. No special visual stimuli are required and no assumptions are made about the structure of the scene, other than that it is stationary relative to the head. The algorithm runs at 4 frames per second on a single Inmos T805 transputer, and is fully integrated into a real-time active vision system. Updated calibration parameters are regularly passed to the vision modules that require them. Although the algorithm requires an initial estimate of camera focal length, results are presented from real experiments demonstrating that convergence is achieved for initial errors up to 50%.


The People's Republic of China is experiencing severe air pollution with very serious public health and economic consequences. Over the past decade, the Chinese government has sought to utilize bureaucratic, political, legal and educational vehicles to address these problems. This paper examines the ways in which those policy measures have been communicated to, understood by, and acted upon by the citizenry, drawing in important part on household and epidemiological surveys conducted in Anhui. Our study suggests that the central government's message has yet to be absorbed to the degree intended and then considers both why this has been the case and how the effectiveness of policy mechanisms might be enhanced.


Once upon a time, many years ago - when our grandfathers were little children - there was a doctor, and his name was Dolittle - John Dolittle M.D. Doctor Dolittle likes animals. In fact, he likes them so much he fills his house with every kind of creature imaginable and even learns to talk their language. And when the Doctor hears of a terrible sickness among the monkeys in Africa, soon he and his animal friends are setting off on the most unforgettable adventure...


The need for improving the product development process within the construction
industry is widely acknowledged. In response to this challenge, different process
models have been developed by academia and industry to enhance the effectiveness
and efficiency of the design and construction activity. However, the effective and
widespread adoption and use of product development process models in practice has
been limited, and the benefits resulting from these endeavours have been ambiguous
at best and non-existent at worst. This led to the research need for better
understanding of the dynamics of implementing product development process models
in construction firms. Such understanding includes identifying strategies to allow the
process model adaptation and adoption into specific project environments, as well as
examining factors that affect implementation. To develop such understanding the
process management, organisational change and technology transfer literature have
been revised and synthesised.
The research methodology employed a case study approach to test research
hypotheses and, in doing so, create new theoretical insights. Different research
techniques were applied, including literature review and synthesis, interviews,
observation, content analysis and cognitive mapping. As a result, a better
understanding of implementation in real life settings was achieved through a detailed
discussion of implementation cases. This research has produced a theoretical
framework to evaluate the content of product development process models with a
view to its implementation and a typology for factors affecting implementation. The
key research findings are: the need to consider the design and implementation of
process models in an integrated fashion within the organisational context in which it
takes place; and, a shift in the role of product development process models within
firms from a rational 'planning and control perspective' to a softer 'learning'
approach.


Abstract Since the discovery in the 1980s that nitric oxide (NO) is in fact the elusive endothelium-derived relaxing factor, it has become evident that NO is not only a major cardiovascular signalling molecule, but that changes in its bioavailability are crucial in determining whether atherosclerosis will develop or not. Sustained high levels of harmful circulating stimuli associated with cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes mellitus elicit responses in endothelial cells that appear sequentially, namely endothelial cell activation and endothelial dysfunction (ED). ED, characterised by reduced NO bioavailability, is now recognised by many as an early, reversible precursor of atherosclerosis. The pathogenesis of ED is multifactorial; however, oxidative stress appears to be the common underlying cellular mechanism in the ensuing loss of vaso-active, inflammatory, haemostatic and redox homeostasis in the body's vascular system. The role of ED as a pathophysiological link between early endothelial cell changes associated with cardiovascular risk factors and the development of ischaemic heart disease is of importance to basic scientists and clinicians alike.


The anti-inflammatory activity of different extracts of five plants abundantly growing in Egypt, namely Ipomoea palmata Forsk. (Convolvulaceae), Alstonia scholaris R.Br. (Apocynaceae), Salix subserrata Willd., Salix tetrasperma Roxb. and Populus nigra Linn. (Salicaceae) has been studied. Phytochemical study on selected bioactive extracts was carried out as well as their possible mechanism of action. The results revealed a significant anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts under investigation to different degrees. A chromatographic study of the bioactive lipoidal extracts of A. scholaris and I. palmata was carried out and the results revealed the presence of unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic). Beta-sitosterol and campesterol were present in A. scholaris and I. palmata, respectively. Chromatographic and spectral investigation of the flavonoids in the bioactive aqueous extract of I. palmata revealed the presence of luteolin, quercetin 7-glycoside and apigenin. The anti-inflammatory activity may be due to the presence of these phytochemical constituents.


Background Spatial analyses of case–control data have suggested a possible link between breast cancer and groundwater plumes in upper Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Objective We integrated residential histories, public water distribution systems, and groundwater modeling within geographic information systems (GIS) to examine the association between exposure to drinking water that has been contaminated by wastewater effluent and breast cancer. Methods Exposure was assessed from 1947 to 1993 for 638 breast cancer cases who were diagnosed from 1983 to 1993 and 842 controls; we took into account residential mobility and drinking water source. To estimate the historical impact of effluent on drinking water wells, we modified a modular three-dimensional finite-difference groundwater model (MODFLOW) from the U.S. Geological Survey. The analyses included latency and exposure duration. Results Wastewater effluent impacted the drinking water wells of study participants as early as 1966. For > 0–5 years of exposure (versus no exposure), associations were generally null. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) for > 10 years of exposure were slightly increased, assuming latency periods of 0 or 10 years [AOR = 1.3; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.9–1.9 and AOR = 1.6; 95% CI, 0.8–3.2, respectively]. Statistically significant associations were estimated for ever-exposed versus never-exposed women when a 20-year latency period was assumed (AOR = 1.9; 95% CI, 1.0–3.4). A sensitivity analysis that classified exposures assuming lower well-pumping rates showed similar results. Conclusion We investigated the hypothesis generated by earlier spatial analyses that exposure to drinking water contaminated by wastewater effluent may be associated with breast cancer. Using a detailed exposure assessment, we found an association with breast cancer that increased with longer latency and greater exposure duration.


Paramecium tetraurelia is a ciliated single cell used as a model organism for the study of ciliopathies. Ciliopathies are mammalian diseases involving the dysfunction of cilia, including cilia maintenance, construction, and signaling. P. tetraurelia and its cilia provides an excellent non-canonical system for the investigation and elucidation of proteins important for the structure, maintenance and function of cilia and ciliary beating. We utilize features of this cell such as its 1000's of cilia and highly organized and patterned cell surface to observe changes in swimming behavior or disruptions in the ordered cell surface which are not feasible in mammalian cells. Here, we present research on three proteins in Paramecium, two of which are homologs to human ciliopathy genes. Using combinations of epitope-tagging, RNA interference (RNAi), immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitations, LC-MS/MS analysis and electrophysiology, we have attempted to elucidate the location, function, and potential interacting partners of these three proteins. The first protein, meckelin (MKS3), is a contributing factor in Meckel-Gruber syndrome, among other ciliopathies. Using epitope tagging, we identified the location of the Mks3 protein above each basal body. Depletion of MKS3 using RNAi leads to global loss of cilia, a severe disruption in the surface organization and a mislocalization of basal bodies out of the anteriorposterior axis of the cell. We show that depletion of Mks3 leads to abnormal backward swimming in ionic stimuli and depleted secretion of trichocysts. Based on our data, we propose two functions for Mks3 in P. tetraurelia. The first function is a transition zone component important for proper regulation of ciliary protein content, consistent with MKS3 function in other organisms. The depletion of MKS3 led to global ciliary loss, but also an imbalance in the ciliary ion channels that was different from the loss of cilia due to interference with intraflagellar transport as observed in cells depleted of IFT88. The second novel role for MKS3 is as a transient connection to the kinetodesmal fiber which is important for basal body guidance when daughter basal bodies migrate away from the mother basal body before cell division. We also examine the contribution of the non-selective cation channel Polycystin-2 (Pkd2) in Paramecium to Mg2+ permeability and Mg2+-induced behavior. When mutated in humans, Pkd2 leads to 15% of the cases of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD). When PKD2 is depleted using RNAi in Paramecium, cells show short backward swimming in Mg2+ solutions, a resistance to heavy metal paralysis, and depleted membrane permeability to Mg2+. The channel-like protein XntA which is unique to Paramecium and Tetrahymena, is also important for these phenotypes. Therefore, we utilized the Paramecium XntA1 mutant in our studies, which lacks Mg2+-induced behavior. We demonstrate that both Pkd2 and XntA are present in the cell membrane and in the cilia. Co-IP assays show that the IP of XntA-myc co-IPs the Pkd2-FLAG channel, but not vice versa, possibly because of an occluded FLAG epitope due to protein interactions. To tease apart the contributions of Pkd2 in the cilia and the cell membrane, electrophysiology was used to measure membrane potential of ciliated and deciliated cells. Depletion of BBS8 eliminates Pkd2 in the cilia, allowing us to examine Pkd2 activity restricted to the cell membrane of ciliated cells. Depletion of Pkd2 or XntA decreases membrane permeability to Mg2+. When Pkd2 was restricted to the cell membrane via BBS8 depletion, the membrane permeability to Mg2+ increased, much like over-expressing the Pkd2 protein. Depletion of Pkd2, especially in the deciliated XntA1 mutant, leads to a dramatic decrease in Mg2+ membrane permeability. Based on these data, we propose that Pkd2 is the Mg2+ channel in Paramecium and XntA is not a channel, but is perhaps important for stabilizing Pkd2 in membrane microdomains. We have uncovered novel function roles for the proteins mentioned here, leading to a broader understanding of their function. These studies also highlight to usefulness and importance of the model organism Paramecium tetraurelia to the study of human ciliopathy genes.


"This is a book about science, technology, and love," writes Sherry Turkle. In it, we learn how a love for science can start with a love for an object--a microscope, a modem, a mud pie, a pair of dice, a fishing rod. Objects fire imagination and set young people on a path to a career in science. In this collection, distinguished scientists, engineers, and designers as well as twenty-five years of MIT students describe how objects encountered in childhood became part of the fabric of their scientific selves. In two major essays that frame the collection, Turkle tells a story of inspiration and connection through objects that is often neglected in standard science education and in our preoccupation with the virtual. The senior scientists' essays trace the arc of a life: the gears of a toy car introduce the chain of cause and effect to artificial intelligence pioneer Seymour Papert; microscopes disclose the mystery of how things work to MIT President and neuroanatomist Susan Hockfield; architect Moshe Safdie describes how his boyhood fascination with steps, terraces, and the wax hexagons of beehives lead him to a life immersed in the complexities of design. The student essays tell stories that echo these narratives: plastic eggs in an Easter basket reveal the power of centripetal force; experiments with baking illuminate the geology of planets; LEGO bricks model worlds, carefully engineered and colonized. All of these voices--students and mentors--testify to the power of objects to awaken and inform young scientific minds. This is a truth that is simple, intuitive, and easily overlooked. Introductory and concluding essays by: Sherry Turkle. Mentor essays by: Susan Hockfield, Donald Ingber, Alan Kay, Sarah Kuhn, Donald Norman, Seymour Papert, Rosalind Picard, Moshe Safdie.


This article entails a comparative study of municipal consultative councils in Guadalajara, Mexico, to explore the mediation styles employed by those in charge of conducting the councils' deliberation, which I call Mediators of Deliberative Process (MDP). Through the construction of an indicator called Participants' Perception of Success, the article evaluates the relationship between the mediators' styles and the degree to which participants think that the consultative council (CC) has been successful in achieving its purported goals. The results suggest that 1) MDPs exert different levels of directiveness that change over the course of the mediation according to the type of decision-making under deliberation; 2) that participants have a higher perception of the CC's success in the case where the MDP is an expert in the subject matter of the council, resorts to a more directive approach to mediation, and deliberation is more oriented towards the outcomes of the mediation; and 3) that participants perceive the CCs as successful spaces to communicate with public officials, but least successful in having an influence over public policies.


What is the role of the judiciary in resolving, or participating in the resolution, of highly contested social and political issues? This question, when applied in the law and religion context, carries special resonance in all modern polities, more so in societies in which religious law is part of the legal system, as in the case of Israel. The paper considers two aspects of judicial involvement in the public sphere: first, the decision in itself, and secondly, post-decision dynamics, that is, the impact of the decision on social and political processes. The analysis of the court's role is based on two continuums. The first, concerned with judicial readiness to intervene, offers options ranging from interfervention, through shirking and evasion, to refusal, either technical or substantive. The second continuum offers a framework for the analysis of post-decision dynamics, ranging from full compliance, evasion (or "creative compliance"), to defiance. These two analytical frameworks are applied in an analysis of several recent decisions of the HCJ on petitions that challenged practices of Haredi (ultra-orthodox) communities that are considered discriminatory and segregatve in non-Haredi circles. In the 2009 Noar Ke-Halacha case, the applicant, a Haredi of Sephardi (Eastern, North African/Asian) origin, challenged the discrimination of Haredi high school girls in Immanuel, a religious local authority. The HCJ's order to eliminate all types of discrimination then led to complex dynamics, including the evasion of authorities, the defiance of parents, and in a broader context, the continuance of this practice in other cities. In the Ragen decision, delivered in January 2011, the HCJ shirked from enforcing a straight rule against the practice of separating men and women on public buses. Although the decision was couched with strong criticism, the court approved the government's adoption of a year's trial in which the practice would continue voluntarily. In the Azaria affair, filed and removed from the dock in October 2011, the court relied on the respondent's undertaking to prevent future separation between men and women in the sidewalks of Mea Shearim (an ultra-orthodox neighborhood) during the religious festival of Simchat Tora, despite the breach of an identical undertaking in the previous year. These dynamics, tentatively considered against the recent rise of ultra-orthodox extremism, support an analysis of the role of the court, which is based on a dialogue/conversation model. Under this model, the judiciary is an important, but not supreme, player in an ongoing process of decision-making in the public sphere. Not necessarily the final arbiter, the court operates, inter alia, as a mediator between contesting parties and offers access to weakened groups who have no other direct access to the political process.


The success of Silicon Valley as a technological industrial cluster in the US has made industrial cluster gain a popularity among local authorities in developing countries as a means of enhancing local competitiveness. In West Java, most industrial clusters grow naturally with minimal assistance from the government. They grow naturally as some families' inherited skills are transfered to or imitated by their neighbors and other family members in the same village. The purpose of this research is to identify the clusters and their sizes in West Java. Using 2 sources data from BPS, namely, the 2006 census of formal small scale industries and the 2005 survey of informal small scale and home industries, it is found that the largest clusters in term of size are found in Bogor municipal, bandung municipal, Cirebon municipal, Tasikmalaya city and municipal and Bekasi municipal. The product varies from palm suga, rattan furniture, brick and roof tiles, embroidery and garment. It is also found that industrial clusters in West Java are more of Sonobe's and Otsuka's concept of "one village one product" with few related businesses located in the same location. Keywords: industrial cluster, labor market pooling, specialized suppliers, knowledge spillover, small scale industry, home industry


Introduction: manifestations of atopy such as asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic conjunctivitis, and food allergy constitute atopic disease. They are accompanied by minor signs which are the stigmata or particular expressions of atopy. These stigmata of atopy have been the subject of few studies in Africa.
Patients and methods: This was a cross-sectional retrospective study conducted in the Dermatology-Venerology department of NUHC-HKM (Cotonou-Benin). It examined the records of children aged 0-14 years seen between January 1st, 2003 and December 31th, 2007 and in whom atopic stigmata was recorded.
Results: The prevalence was 32.80%. The mean age of atopic children was 5.54 years. The sex ratio male/female was 0.92. Allergic asthma and rhinitis were the most frequent antecedents in atopic children. The stigmata of atopy were found in 43.87% of children. The clinical stigmata most frequently observed in atopic children were: skin xerosis (22%); the sign of Dennie Morgan (14.5%) and eczematides (10.6%).


The Bose Basin, Guangxi, Southern China, has yielded many Middle Pleistocene sites known for a very long time. The technology is based on pebble shaping, usually unifaces and sometimes on both sides. Although the technology has been carefully studied in several sites, the tools themselves were analyzed so far only from a typological point of view. Two major results came out from the previous analyses of Bose Basin archaeological sites. First, the technology seems to remain stable from 800 ka to 20 ka, which is an important singularity in the worldwide Pleistocene archaeological record. Second, the tool-kit is dominated by heavy-duty tools shaped on pebbles, with a high proportion of picks and transversal cutting edges. The discovery of Nalai site, rich of more than 2 000 pieces into 7 stratigraphic layers from the Lower Pleistocene to the Neolithic provides an opportunity for studying the assemblage from a techno-functional approach, in order to identify precisely techno-functional groups and their functional potentials. Furthermore, macro-wear traces were preserved on some of the pieces. This combination allows this study to focus on the diversity of the tool-kit and its use by hominins through the Middle Pleistocene in Southern China. Focusing on the Pleistocene stratigraphy also leads to address the issue of technical stability or continuity into the hominin technologies through time. The chronological succession will provide brand new data to understand the technical evolution in the Bose Basin through the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. The results of this work show a good correlation between the techno-functional categories hypothesized and the macro-wears identified. It brings the research to a next step of understanding in terms of technical activities and hominin behaviors in Southern China during the Lower Pleistocene.


Desized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon fibers (CF) were chemically and electrochemically oxidized and reduced. CF surfaces were activated via cyclic voltammetry studies with anodic and cathodic scans. The changes in CF surfaces were studied by contact angle measurements. Lifshitz-van der Waals and acid-base components of single fibers were determined. In general, oxidation resulted in the formation of an acidic surface energy component and reduction gave rise to no change in the number of basic functionalities at the CF surface.


Endometriosis (EM) is one of the common gynecological conditions causing menstrual and pelvic pain and affects 10%–15% of women of reproductive age. In recent years, the complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatment for EM has become popular due to the few adverse reactions reported. The CAM therapy for EM includes several different treatments such as herbs (herbal prescription, extract, and patent), acupuncture, microwave physiotherapy, and Chinese herb medicine enema (CHM enema). These CAM therapies are effective at relieving dysmenorrhoea, shrinking adnexal masses, and promoting pregnancy, with less unpleasant side effects when compared to hormonal and surgical treatments. In this review, we focus on the status quo of CAM on EM and try to identify therapeutic efficacy and mechanisms based on some clinical and experimental studies. We hope to provide some instructive suggestions for clinical treatment and experimental research in the future.


The problem. --The problem in this study was to describe the issues arising in employment decisions appealed to the Texas Commissioner of Education. Decisions made in courts are binding on school officials, and they are published in law reporters found in most libraries. The Commissioner's decisions are also binding on school officials, but they are not published or widely reported. Thus, this important body of information may not reach those who are responsible for its application.
Methods. --The decisions of the Commissioner were examined to determine the issues and the underlying rationale used by the Commissioner in the process of deciding the appeals. A series of data reductions allowed a determination of patterns found in the outcomes of the decisions which favored the employee and those which favored the school districts. The analysis produced a set of data from which implications for decision making could be drawn.


Learning a regression function using censored or interval-valued output data is an important problem in fields such as genomics and medicine. The goal is to learn a real-valued prediction function, and the training output labels indicate an interval of possible values. Whereas most existing algorithms for this task are linear models, in this paper we investigate learning nonlinear tree models. We propose to learn a tree by minimizing a margin-based discriminative objective function, and we provide a dynamic programming algorithm for computing the optimal solution in log-linear time. We show empirically that this algorithm achieves state-of-the-art speed and prediction accuracy in a benchmark of several data sets.


This text provides a comprehensive introduction to comparative politics. Comparative politics is an empirical science that deals primarily with domestic politics. It is one of the three main subfields of political science, alongside international relations and political theory. Comparative politics has three goals: to describe differences and similarities between political systems and their features; to explain these differences; and to predict which factors may cause specific outcomes. This edition compares the most important features of national political systems and contains chapters on integration, globalization, and promotion of democracy in non-Western parts of the world. This introductory chapter explains what comparative politics is, and discusses its substance as well as method.


Various types of granitic rocks occur in several plutonic complexes in the Sanandaj-Sirjan Metamorphic Belt (SSMB), Zagros Orogen, Iran including I-type, M-type, S-type and H-type granitoids. A-type granites are less abundant; their outcrops are seen in some localities such as Muteh, Almogholagh and Saqqez in the northwest of the SSMB. Radiometric dating has resulted in upper Jurassic to Tertiary ages for major plutonic bodies, especially for granitic rocks of the SSMB. These bodies indicate a magmatic suite generated in a continental arc setting followed by collisional and post-collisional magmatism. In the Saqqez area, there are two contrasting granitoid complexes (G1 and G2). G1 granitoids are peralkaline whereas G2 granitoids are subalkaline (calc-alkaline) and metaluminous. G1 granitoids are ferroan alkali and ferroan alkali-calcic but G2 granitoids are magnesian and calcic. G1 granitoids show agpaitic trends on Harker diagrams. They contain high concentrations of alkalis, Zr, Rb, Nb,Y, Ce, Th, high FeO/MgO ratios and low concentrations of Mg, Ca and Sr. According to tectonic discrimination diagrams, G1 granitoids plot into the field of within plate granites and G2 granitoids into the field of granitic rocks of volcanic arc setting. Considering petro- graphic and geochemical characteristics it seems likely that G1 granitoids are of A-type whereas G2 granitoids have similar pro- perties to I-type granites. G1 granitoids of SE Saqqez resemble the A2 subtype of A-type granites, which are generated in a post- orogenic/post-collisional setting.


Clustering of signaling proteins in highly ordered complexes continues to be major theme in studies of signal transduction. Davare et al. report that L-type Ca2+ channels from rat neurons are tightly linked to the β2-adrenergic receptors (β2ARs) that control channel conductance. The authors characterized a signaling complex that contains all of the intermediates for signaling from the receptor to the channel: the β2AR itself, the heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide binding protien Gαs, the adenylyl cyclase activated by the G protein to produce cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), and the cAMP-dependent protein kinase, which controls the channel through covalent phosphorylation. This close association appears to restrict signaling by β2AR to those channels that are in the receptor complex. Patch-clamp recordings from a tiny portion of the cell membrane showed that local application of an agonist (within the pipette) could activate the calcium channel, but that the application of the same stimulus to the rest of the cell did not activate the channels within the patch. Laporte et al. wrote an accompanying Perspective on the Davare et al. article. M. A. Davare, V. Avdonin, D. D. Hall, E. M. Peden, A. Burette, R. J. Weinberg, M. C. Horne, T. Hoshi, J. W. Hell, A β2 adrenergic receptor signaling complex assembled with the Ca2+ channel Cav1.2. Science 293, 98-101 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text] S. A. Laporte, R. H. Oakley, M. G. Caron, Bringing channels closer to the action! Science 293, 62-63 (2001). [Full Text]


Cities in the developing world are rapidly expanding, boosting countries' economies, reducing poverty, and fueling global prosperity. But as more people, assets, and economic activity become concentrated in cities, and infrastructure struggles to keep up with rapid growth, the risk posed by natural disasters and climate change is rising. The urban poor – who are most exposed and least able to cope – will be hardest hit, with up to 77 million urban residents potentially falling back into poverty as a result of climate change alone. To help the urban poor unlock their full economic potential and protect hard-won development gains, the report discusses the need to invest in urban resilience. Over the next 15 years, at least 400 billion dollars will be needed each year to make city infrastructure low-emissions and more resilient to the wide range of shocks and stresses that cities may encounter. The flagship report -- co-authored by the World Bank Group and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery -- illustrates how building urban resilience is critical to reducing poverty and promoting shared prosperity. And while, over the last five years, the World Bank Group has financed more than $9 billion in projects to help cities in 41 countries become more resilient, significant investment gaps remain. To overcome these gaps, the World Bank Group and other multilateral development institutions can play a critical role in enabling city and national governments leverage private


This book gives a comprehensive description of the architecture of microprocessors from simple in-order short pipeline designs to out-of-order superscalars. It discusses topics such as - the policies and mechanisms needed for out-of-order processing such as register renaming, reservation stations, and reorder buffers - optimizations for high performance such as branch predictors, instruction scheduling, and load-store speculations - design choices and enhancements to tolerate latency in the cache hierarchy of single and multiple processors - state-of-the-art multithreading and multiprocessing emphasizing single chip implementations Topics are presented as conceptual ideas, with metrics to assess the performance impact, if appropriate, and examples of realization. The emphasis is on how things work at a black box and algorithmic level. The author also provides sufficient detail at the register transfer level so that readers can appreciate how design features enhance performance as well as complexity.


A large mining project has the potential to be a partner in assisting local communities in their development efforts. Communities located in close proximity to a large mine have every right to expect that the project will benefit their community. Often, reality falls short of their expectations and a hostile environment can result. The use of a contract between a miner and neighbouring communities can be a valuable tool to achieve community development and to help define and manage expectations. This paper introduces the principal issues involved in legislating requirements for community development agreements and also contains model mining act provisions and regulations.


This thesis is the result of a study of consumers' saving behaviour in Iraq. It is an empirical investigation of consumers' attitudes towards commercial banking services with special reference to savings accounts in Iraq. A number of research objectives and related hypotheses were stated to be achieved through carrying out this investigation. The main focus of the research objectives was to develop a theoretical model and an empirical method of investigating consumers' saving behaviour (decisions) in Iraq. This investigation was carried out in order to achieve the following benefits: (a) providing better understanding of consumers' banking behaviour in Iraq, as one of the less-advanced countries, where little attention has previously been paid to consumers and their needs, wants and satisfaction; (b) contributing to the literature of bank marketing in the Third World which is very limited; (c) establishing the extent to which models of consumer behaviour are applicable in investigating consumers' banking behaviour in a less-advanced country such as Iraq; (d) providing better understanding of consumers' saving decisions in Iraq, which may help banks to gain more savers and enhance the process of mobilisation of finance, and that will have positive effect on the national economy; (e) relating consumers' saving decisions to their attitudes, socio-economic, demographic and some psychographic financial characteristics; and (f) the findings of the research may encourage banks to provide better services for consumers in Iraq by providing banks with some insights about Iraqi consumers in terms of their wants, needs, desires and opinions. The theoretical part of the research was devoted to covering the following: (a) a background review of the status of the Iraqi banking system; (b) a review of the literature related to the problem under investigation; (c) a discussion of the theories of consumer behaviour in general and consumer banking behaviour in particular; and (d) a presentation of the research methodologies of research design, data collection, sampling and the statistical methods of data analysis. The empirical part of the research was designed according to the Faceted Design which helps in defining and selecting the most important and relevant variables to the research problem. Also, the faceted design was of a great help in preparing the research questionnaire for this investigation which was used for the purpose of primary data collection from respondents. Data was gathered in Iraq by questionnaires distributed to 800 respondents. Two methods of probability random sampling, area and systematic sampling, were used for the purpose of selecting a representative sample of the population. The collected primary data consisted of attitudinal and categorical variables. In other words, the data was multivariate in type and of ordinal and nominal scales. The variables were dependent and independent in nature. Therefore, three statistical methods of data analysis were used to analyse the primary data. Factor Analysis and Two-Group Discriminant Analysis were used to analyse the attitudinal data and achieve the relevant research objectives, while Multiple Classification Analysis was used to analyse the categorical data and achieve the relevant objectives. In addition, the Kolmogorov-Sairnov Goodness-of-Fit test, the F-test and the T-test were used as statistical tests for the purpose of testing the research hypotheses. With regard to consumers' saving behaviour (decisions) in Iraq, the findings of the empirical part of the investigation revealed, in brief, the following: The results of Factor Analysis indicate that there are thirteen attitudinal factors which are perceived by SAVERS in Iraq as of significant importance in influencing their decisions to open savings accounts. These thirteen factors summarise the 60 attitudinal variables related to SAVERS' attitudes towards savings accounts. The results of Two-Group Discriminant Analysis and T-test confirm that there are dissimilarities between the Iraqi consumers' attitudes towards the idea of saving and having savings accounts, if compared according to their: (1) Saving decisions; (2) Saving habits; (3) Age group; (4) Family size; (5) Income; and (6) Educational level. The results of the Multiple Classification Analysis suggest that consumers' socio-economic and demographic characteristics have an influence on Iraqi consumers' saving decisions (hold / not hold a bank savings account). In other words, the results of the analysis confirm that the seven consumers' socio-economic and demographic characteristics used in this investigation, taken together, have significant influence on their saving decisions. However, when the relationship between each of the seven consumers' socio-economic and demographic characteristics and consumers' saving decisions are examined separately, the findings confirm that each of them, except sex of respondents, has a significant influence on consumers' saving decisions in Iraq. Thus, the findings confirm that sex of respondent in Iraq had no significant influence on his I her saving decision, while, marital status, age, family size, income, educational level and occupation of respondents were of significant importance in influencing consumers' saving decisions. The main reason for this finding can be attributed to the fact that in the Iraqi society women have a less prominent role in general, and have less financial independence in particular. Finally, the main contributions of the present study can be summarised as follows: (a) a model for investigating consumer's banking behaviour in Iraq, as one of the underdeveloped countries, was developed, as presented in figures 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 5.1; (b)Facet Theory was extended to be used in bank marketing research in general, and in investigating consumer banking behaviour in Iraq, as one of the underdeveloped countries, in particular; (c) this study is the first study of consumer banking behaviour in Iraq and its model can be generalised and modified to be used in investigating consumer banking behaviour in the underdeveloped countries; and (d) in comparison with previous comparative studies this study is more comprehensive in terms of its model, methodology and findings.


Assessing waist/ hip ratio is widely common to use since it does not require much skill and is vastly inexpensive. The understanding of how accurate the waist/ hip ratio technique, however, should be compared to more accepted practices in assessing percent body fat. PURPOSE: To determine if abdominal circumference (AC) predicts percent body fat (%BF) better than body mass index (BMI). METHODS: One hundred and fifty four subjects (age=26.3±5.1 yrs, height=168.5±9.6 cm, weight=80.4±22.09 kg) first had their height and weight measured with a Seca S-214 height rod (Hanover, MD) and a Detecto DR400C platform scale (Webb City, MO), with no shoes. Subjects %BF was then measured using a Lange skinfold caliper. All subjects were marked with a ballpoint pen using a flexible measuring tape, then a skinfold was grasped with the left thumb and forefinger and the thickness assessed with the caliper in the right hand. The measurement sites were made on the right side of the subject as follows: Male: chest, triceps, and subscapular. Female: triceps, suprailiac, and thigh. Subjects then had their AC measured using a flexible measuring tape around the abdomen at the level of the navel, which took less than one minute. Pearson's Product Moments correlations were used to establish the relationship between the predictor and criterion and Cronbach's alpha was used as an intraclass measure of reliability. Significance was set with Alpha < .05. RESULTS: There was a significant relationship between BMI and %BF, r(152)=.48, p=.001, α=.61, as well as AC and %BF, r(152)=.51, p=.001, α=.61. The regression model was significant for BMI, Y=.754(BMI)+5.96, p=.001, as well as for AC, Y=.288(AC)+.735, p=.001. CONCLUSION: Since the relationship between each predictor was significant with the criterion, it can be plausible to use either as an estimate of %BF in this population. When using either of the predictors, however, they must be used with caution given that the relationships between the measures are no stronger than moderate.


Members of the Capnodiales class of fungi have evolved contrasting lifestyles on plants,
ranging from biotrophy, through to endotrophy and necrotrophy. Many of these fungi
contain homologs of the effector protein called Ecp2. The 'currant' tomato (Solanum
pimpinellifolium) resistance (R) gene Cf-Ecp2 recognises Ecp2 produced by the
pathogenic fungus, Cladosporium fulvum. In this study, Cf-Ecp2 was fine-mapped to the
Orion locus, which contains eight Homologs of Cladosporium resistance gene Cf-9 (Hcr9s),
four of which share 100% sequence identity within their open reading frame. The Cf-Ecp2
locus exemplifies the complex nature of many R gene loci brought about by successive
rounds of tandem duplication. This extensive duplication renders R gene loci complex
and difficult to resolve. As a consequence, the sequencing of a BAC minimal tiling path
across the Cf-Ecp2 locus required use of both short read and long read sequencing
technologies, with MinION providing vital scaffolding reads. A transposon mutagenesis
experiment generated two deletion mutants. The mutants had lost the ability to
recognise Ecp2 along with the OR2A (2A) gene from the Cf-Ecp2 locus. Wild-type tomato
(Solanum lycopersicum) Cf0 stable transformants, overexpressing 2A via the cauliflower
mosaic virus 35S promoter, partially recapitulated the S. pimpinellifolium CfEcp2
phenotype. Lack of penetrance of the phenotype in the transgenic plants was attributed
to the functional interference of 2A overexpression. The non-host, Nicotiana paniculata
TW99, also recognises Ecp2 from C. fulvum. N. paniculata CfEcp2 was characterised for
its ability to recognise many homologs of Ecp2, including those from Mycosphaerella
fijiensis (causal agent of Black Sigatoka on banana) and the wilt-causing fungi, Fusarium
oxysporum and Verticillium dahliae. The ability of Cf-Ecp2 to code for the recognition of
an effector from many plant pathogens provides an exciting opportunity to engineer
resistance to such pathogens in important crops.


Designing massively scalable, highly available big data systems is an immense challenge for software architects. Big data applications require distributed systems design principles to create scalable solutions, and the selection and adoption of open source and commercial technologies that can provide the required quality attributes. In big data systems, the data management layer presents unique engineering problems, arising from the proliferation of new data models and distributed technologies for building scalable, available data stores. Architects must consequently compare candidate database technology features and select platforms that can satisfy application quality and cost requirements. In practice, the inevitable absence of up-to-date, reliable technology evaluation sources makes this comparison exercise a highly exploratory, unstructured task. To address these problems, we have created a detailed feature taxonomy that enables rigorous comparison and evaluation of distributed database platforms. The taxonomy captures the major architectural characteristics of distributed databases, including data model and query capabilities. In this paper we present the major elements of the feature taxonomy, and demonstrate its utility by populating the taxonomy for nine different database technologies. We also briefly describe QuABaseBD, a knowledge base that we have built to support the population and querying of database features by software architects. QuABaseBD links the taxonomy to general quality attribute scenarios and design tactics for big data systems. This creates a unique, dynamic knowledge resource for architects building big data systems.


A nonperturbative analytic solution to the transient effective susceptibility tensor due to the presence of a rotational wave packet in nonrigid, symmetric-top molecules excited by intense, arbitrarily polarized laser pulses is presented. Calculations using the analytic model are carried out for the case of a linear and a symmetric-top molecule, including the effect of vibration-rotation coupling on the wave packet. We also compare the analytic results to a numeric solution of the Schrodinger equation for a linearly polarized pump pulse in order to assess the validity of the impulsive approximation.


Abstract Lyme borreliosis (LB), also known as Lyme disease, is emerging as a serious tick-borne illness across Canada. More than three decades of research on LB in North America and Europe have provided a large, complex body of research involving well-documented difficulties at several levels. However, entomologists are well situated to contribute to resolving some of these challenges. The central pathogen in LB, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Johnson et al., includes numerous genospecies and strains that are associated with different disease symptoms and distributions. The primary vectors of LB are ticks of various Ixodes Latreille species (Acari: Ixodida: Ixodidae), but questions linger concerning the status of a number of other arthropods that may be infected with B. burgdorferi but do not transmit it biologically. A variety of vertebrates may serve as reservoirs for LB, but differences in their ability to transmit LB are not well understood at the community level. Persistent cystic forms of and immune-system evasion by B. burgdorferi contribute to extraordinary challenges in diagnosing LB. Multiple trade-offs constrain the effectiveness of assays like ELISA, Western blot, polymerase chain reaction, and microscopic visualization of the spirochetes. Consequently, opportunities abound for entomologists to contribute to documenting the diversity of the players and their interactions in this devilishly complex disease.


Deliberate large‐scale interventions in the Earth's climate system—known collectively as 'geoengineering'—have been proposed in order to moderate anthropogenic climate change. Amidst a backdrop of many ways of framing the supposed normative rationales for or against their use, geoengineering proposals are undergoing serious consideration. To support decision makers in the multitude of governance considerations a growing number of appraisals are being conducted to evaluate their pros and cons. Appraisals of geoengineering are critically reviewed here for the first time using a systematic literature search and screen strategy. Substantial variability between different appraisals' outputs originates from usually hidden framing effects relating to contextual and methodological choices. Geoengineering has largely been appraised in contextual isolation, ignoring the wider portfolio of options for tackling climate change—spanning mitigation and adaptation—and creating an artificial choice between geoengineering proposals. Most existing appraisal methods do not adequately respond to the post‐normal scientific context in which geoengineering resides and show a strong emphasis on closed and exclusive 'expert‐analytic' techniques. These and other framing effects invariably focus—or close down—upon particular sets of problem definition, values, assumptions, and courses of action. This produces a limited range of decision options which seem preferable given those framing effects that are privileged, and could ultimately contribute to the closing down of governance commitments. Emergent closure around particular geoengineering proposals is identified and argued to be premature given the need for more anticipatory, responsible, and reflexive forms of governing what is an 'upstream' domain of scientific and technological development. WIREs Clim Change 2012, 3:597–615. doi: 10.1002/wcc.197


Smectites are the main components of bentonites; their characteristics define the remarkable range for their uses in industry and technology. Their application depends on their fundamental properties, namely, their atomic structure with a rather flexible crystal lattice, their variable chemical composition, their particle size, and their morphology. The interlayer region of smectites is a favorable target for molecular engineering to design organic and inorganic hybrid materials, including smectite-polymer nanocomposites and pillared complexes of smectite-metal oxides.


Introduction
Recruiting and retaining volunteers who are prepared to make a long-term commitment is a major problem for Swiss sports clubs. With the inclusion of external counselling for the change and systematisation of volunteer management, sports clubs have a possibility to develop and defuse problems in spite of existing barriers and gaps in knowledge. To what extent is external counselling for personnel problems effective? It is often observed that standardised counselling inputs lead to varying consequences for sports clubs. It can be assumed that external impulses are interpreted and transformed differently into the workings of the club. However, this cannot be solely attributed to the situational or structural conditions of the clubs. It is also important to consider the underlying decision-making processes of a club. According to Luhmann's organisational sociological considerations (2000), organisations (sports clubs) have to be viewed as social systems consisting of (communicated) decisions. This means that organisations are continually reproduced by decision-making processes. All other (observable) factors such as an organisation's goals, recruiting strategies, support schemes for volunteers etc., have to be seen as an outcome of the operation of prior organisational decisions. Therefore: How do decision-making processes in sports clubs work in the context of the implementation of external counselling?
Theoretical Framework
An examination of the actual situation in sports clubs shows that decisions frequently appear to be shaped by inconsistency, unexpected outcomes, and randomness (Amis & Slack, 2003). Therefore, it must be emphasised that these decisions cannot be analysed according to any rational decision-making model. Their specific structural characteristics only permit a limited degree of rationality – bounded rationality. Non-profit organisations in particular are shaped by a specific mode of decisionmaking that Cohen, March, and Olsen (1972) have called the "garbage can model". As sport clubs can also be conceived as "organised anarchies", this model seems to offer an appropriate approach to understanding their practices and analysing their decision-making processes. The key concept in the garbage can model is the assumption that decision-making processes in organisations consist of four "streams": (a) problems, (b) actors, (c) decision-making opportunities, and (d) solutions.
Method
Before presenting the method of the analysis of the decision-making processes in sports clubs, the external counselling will be described. The basis of the counselling is generated by a sports clubs' capability to change. Due to the specific structural characteristics and organisational principles, change processes in sports clubs often merge with barriers and restrictions. These need to be considered when developing counselling guidelines for a successful planning and realisation of change processes. Furthermore, important aspects of personnel management in sports clubs and especially volunteer management must be implied in order to elaborate key elements for the counselling to recruit new volunteers (e.g., approach, expectations). A counselling of four system-counselling workshops was conceptualised by considering these specific characteristics. The decision-making processes in the sports clubs were analysed during the counselling and the implementation process. A case study is designed with the appropriate methodological approach for such explorative research. The approach adopted for these single case analyses was oriented toward
the research program of behavioural decision-making theory (garbage can model). This posits that in-depth insights into organisational decision-making processes can only be gained through relevant case studies of existing organisational situations (Skille, 2013). Before, during and after the intervention, questionnaires and guided interviews were conducted with the project teams of the twelve par-ticipating football clubs to assess the different components of the "streams" in the context of external counselling. These interviews have been analysed using content analysis following guidelines as for-mulated by Mayring (2010).
Results
The findings show that decision-making processes in football clubs occur differently in the context of external counselling. Different initial positions and problems are the triggers for these decision-making processes. Furthermore, the implementation of the solutions and the external counselling is highly dependent on the commitment of certain people as central players within the decision-mak-ing process. The importance of these relationships is confirmed by previous findings in regard to decision-making and change processes in sports clubs. The decision-making processes in sports clubs can be theoretically analysed using behavioural decision-making theory and the "garbage can model". Bounded rationality characterises all "streams" of the decision-making processes. Moreo-ver, the decision-making process of the football clubs can be well illustrated in the framework, and the interplay of the different dimensions illustrates the different decision-making practices within the football clubs.
References
Amis, J., & Slack, T. (2003). Analysing sports organisations: Theory and practice. In B. Houlihan (Eds.), Sport & Society (pp. 201–217). London, England: Sage.
Cohen, M.D., March, J.G., & Olsen, J.P. (1972). A garbage can model of organisational choice. Ad-ministrative Science Quarterly, 17, 1-25.
Luhmann, N. (2000). Organisation und Entscheidung. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.
Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse. Grundlagen und Techniken. Weinheim: Beltz.
Skille, E. A. (2013). Case study research in sport management: A reflection upon the theory of science and an empirical example. In S. Soderman & H. Dolles (Eds.), Handbook of research on sport and business (pp. 161–175). Cheltenham, England: Edward Elgar.


In this paper we argue that research in HIV/AIDS within the education sector is largely influenced by dominant discourses within economics, medicine and epidemiology sectors which, by and large, fail to take into consideration the social and cultural embeddedness of the disease. Through a critique of the current research conducted in the last ten years, we trace three major trends of research in HIV/AIDS and education and suggest that these trends, while useful, neglect the situated context in which messages, knowledge, experience and practice are produced, reproduced and expressed. We suggest that new research has to pay close attention to developing an understanding of where and how knowledge is produced and reproduced if this sector is to contribute to enabling teachers and learners to make informed choices about their behavioural practices.


Khaya senegalensis, African mahogany, a high-value hardwood, was introduced in the Northern Territory (NT) in the 1950s; included in various trials there and at Weipa, Q in the 1960s-1970s; planted on ex mine sites at Weipa (160 ha) until 1985; revived in farm plantings in Queensland and in trials in the NT in the 1990s; adopted for large-scale, annual planting in the Douglas-Daly region, NT from 2006 and is to have the planted area in the NT extended to at least 20,000 ha.

The recent serious interest from plantation growers, including Forest Enterprises Australia Ltd (FEA), has seen the establishment of some large scale commercial plantations. FEA initiated the current study to process relatively young plantation stands from both Northern Territory and Queensland plantations to investigate the sawn wood and veneer recovery and quality from trees ranging from 14 years (NT – 36 trees) to 18-20 years (North Queensland – 31 trees).

Field measures of tree size and straightness were complemented with log end splitting assessment and cross-sectional disc sample collection for laboratory wood properties measurements including colour and shrinkage.

End-splitting scores assessed on sawn logs were relatively low compared to fast grown plantation eucalypts and did not impact processing negatively. Heartwood proportion in individual trees ranged from 50% up to 92 % of butt cross-sectional disc area for the visually-assessed dark coloured central heartwood and lighter coloured transition wood combined. Dark central heartwood proportion was positively related to tree size (R2 = 0.57). Chemical tests failed to assist in determining heartwood – sapwood boundary. Mean basic density of whole disc samples was 658 kg/m3 and ranged among trees from 603 to 712 kg/m3.

When freshly sawn, the heartwood of African mahogany was orange-red to red. Transition wood appeared to be pinkish and the sapwood was a pale yellow colour. Once air dried the heartwood colour generally darkens to pinkish-brown or orange-brown and the effect of prolonged time and sun exposure is to darken and change the heartwood to a red-brown colour. A portable colour measurement spectrophotometer was used to objectively assess colour variation in CIE L*, a* and b* values over time with drying and exposure to sunlight. Capacity to predict standard colour values accurately after varying periods of direct sunlight exposure using results obtained on initial air-dried surfaces decreased with increasing time to sun exposure. The predictions are more accurate for L* values which represent brightness than for variation in the a* values (red spectrum). Selection of superior breeding trees for colour is likely to be based on dried samples exposed to sunlight to reliably highlight wood colour differences.

A generally low ratio between tangential and radial shrinkages was found, which was reflected in a low incidence of board distortion (particularly cupping) during drying. A preliminary experiment was carried out to investigate the quality of NIR models to predict shrinkage and density. NIR spectra correlated reasonably well with radial shrinkage and air dried density. When calibration models were applied to their validation sets, radial shrinkage was predicted to an accuracy of 76% with Standard Error of Prediction of 0.21%. There was also a strong predictive power for wood density. These are encouraging results suggesting that NIR spectroscopy has good potential to be used as a non-destructive method to predict shrinkage and wood density using 12mm diameter increment core samples.

Average green off saw recovery was 49.5% (range 40 to 69%) for Burdekin Agricultural College (BAC) logs and 41.9% (range 20 to 61%) for Katherine (NT) logs. These figures are about 10% higher than compared to 30-year-old Khaya study by Armstrong et al. (2007) however they are inflated as the green boards were not docked to remove wane prior to being tallied. Of the recovered sawn, dried and dressed volume from the BAC logs, based on the cambial face of boards, 27% could potentially be used for select grade, 40% for medium feature grade and 26% for high feature grades. The heart faces had a slightly higher recovery of select (30%) and medium feature (43%) grade boards with a reduction in the volume of high feature (22%) and reject (6%) grade boards. Distribution of board grades for the NT site aged 14 years followed very similar trends to those of the BAC site boards with an average (between facial and cambial face) 27% could potentially be used for select grade, 42% for medium feature grade, 26% for high feature grade and 5% reject.

Relatively to some other subtropical eucalypts, there was a low incidence of borer attack. The major grade limiting defects for both medium and high feature grade boards recovered from the BAC site were knots and wane. The presence of large knots may reflect both management practices and the nature of the genetic material at the site. This stand was not managed for timber production with a very late pruning implemented at about age 12 years. The large amount of wane affected boards is indicative of logs with a large taper and the presence of significant sweep. Wane, knots and skip were the major grade limiting defects for the NT site reflecting considerable amounts of sweep with large taper as might be expected in younger trees.

The green veneer recovered from billets of seven Khaya trees rotary peeled on a spindleless lathe produced a recovery of 83% of green billet volume. Dried veneer recovery ranged from 40 to 74 % per billet with an average of 64%. All of the recovered grades were suitable for use in structural ply in accordance to AS/NZ 2269: 2008. The majority of veneer sheets recovered from all billets was C grade (27%) with 20% making D grade and 13% B grade. Total dry sliced veneer recovery from the logs of the two largest logs from each location was estimated to be 41.1%.

Very positive results have been recorded in this small scale study. The amount of colour development observed and the very reasonable recoveries of both sawn and veneer products, with a good representation of higher grades in the product distribution, is encouraging. The prospects for significant improvement in these results from well managed and productive stands grown for high quality timber should be high. Additionally, the study has shown the utility of non-destructive evaluation techniques for use in tree improvement programs to improve the quality of future plantations.

A few trees combined several of the traits desired of individuals for a first breeding population. Fortunately, the two most promising trees (32, 19) had already been selected for breeding on external traits, and grafts of them are established in the seed orchard.


INTRODUCTION
Higher levels of smoking, leading to increased levels of nicotine and dopamine release, may be more strongly related to bruxism, although this relationship has remained unclear. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate the possible effect of cumulative tobacco use on bruxism in a large sample of young adults.

METHODS
The material of the present study derives from the FinnTwin16, which consists of five birth cohorts born in 1975-1979. A total of 3,124 subjects (mean age 24 years, range 23-27 years) provided data in 2000-2002 on frequency of bruxism and tobacco use. Multinomial logistic regression was used to explore the relationships of frequency of bruxism with smoking and smokeless tobacco use while controlling covariates (alcohol intoxication, alcohol problems [Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index, RAPI], illicit drug use, psychological distress [General Health Questionnaire], and coffee use).

RESULTS
Based on subjective response and multivariate analyses, weekly bruxers were more than two times more likely to report heavy smoking than never bruxers (odds ratio [OR] 2.5, 95 % CI 1.8-3.4). The significant association between heavy smoking and bruxism held when the effects of other tobacco use and multiple covariates were controlled. In addition, the use of smokeless tobacco emerged as an independent risk factor for bruxism.

DISCUSSION
Given the observed associations with both heavy smoking and smokeless tobacco and a dose-response relationship, the present results support our hypothesis of a link between nicotine intake and bruxism.


With a preset echo sounding velocity, each bathymetric measurement can be corrected off-line numerically. This article presents an iteration algorithm of acoustic calibration for a representative acoustic profile versus depth of water column obtained in the survey area. In addition, different kinds of acoustic profile, represented by polynomial regression equations, were addressed offshore north Taiwan. Results gave a large variety of patterns in a acoustic profile within a small limit of territories in the shelf region, indicating that bathymetric measurements collected off northern Taiwan should be calibrated with much care. However, using an expected mean velocity at 1525 m/s, sounding accuracy with deviation less than 0.2% was obtained on the shelf in the summer.


The question of the influence of social capital on internationalization has been an important researched topic, as one of the factors for entering and post-entry operation on a foreign market. However there is a lack of knowledge, deepening on the importance social networks and relationships have for committing to a big foreign market such as the United States. The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of the importance of a network of social ties when it comes to a firms' commitment to a foreign market. This study has the goal of proving knowledge on the importance of social capital to firms' commitment to a foreign market, by explaining better its positive and negative sides over the process. The theory in this work is being divided into three parts: internationalization of SMEs, social capital and influence of social capital on the firm's commitment to a foreign market. The theoretical framework is based on the previous researches done in accordance to the topic of this thesis. A model is presented at the end of the theoretical framework in order to be outlined the process of analyzing the three firm cases later on. This study is using qualitative research method in order to find an answer to the research question set at the beginning of the project. Abductive method, combing the inductive and deductive approaches, is chosen as a way to interpret and explain causality on the elected topic and to develop the existing theory. Primary and secondary data have been collected through the research process by conducting interviews with firm representatives, looking at official web pages and reports. Three Swedish companies have been engaged in this research because of their successful establishment on the U.S. market. The results of this study are showing the importance social capital in the internationalization process. Networks should be considered as a crucial issue and cannot be neglected since this may lead to bad results, performance, loss of growth and position on the foreign market. However, different commitment results are coming from different approaches followed by companies. There might be both positive and negative results outlined from using social capital, which will lead to increased or decreased mode of internationalization.


PURPOSE
To examine the cost-effectiveness of empirical, parenteral antibiotic treatment of patients with chronic fatigue and myalgia and a positive serologic result for Lyme disease who lack classic manifestations.

DATA SOURCES
Peer-reviewed journals, opinion of experts in the field, and published epidemiologic reports.

STUDY SELECTION
Consensus by authors on articles that indicated methods for patient selection; on criteria used for diagnosis; on immunologic methods used for classifying patients; on the dose and duration of therapy; and on criteria by which responses to therapy were ascertained.

DATA EXTRACTION
In a cost-effectiveness model, the costs and benefits of empirical parenteral therapy for patients seropositive for Lyme disease were compared with a strategy in which only patients having classical symptoms of Lyme disease were treated.

DATA SYNTHESIS
In areas endemic for Lyme disease, the incidence of false-positive serologic results in patients with nonspecific myalgia or fatigue exceeds by four to one the incidence of true-positive results in patients with nonclassical infections. Treatment of the former group of patients costs $86,221 for each true-positive patient treated. The empirical strategy causes 29 cases of drug toxicity for every case in the more conservative strategy. If patients were willing to pay $3485 to eliminate anxiety about not treating possible true Lyme disease, the empirical strategy would break even.

CONCLUSION
For most patients with a positive Lyme antibody titer whose only symptoms are nonspecific myalgia or fatigue the risks and costs of empirical parenteral antibiotic therapy exceed the benefits. Only when the value of patient anxiety about leaving a positive test untreated exceeds the cost of such therapy is the empirical treatment cost-effective.


The Eighth Amendment's mandate in death penalty proceedings is to "ensure that only the most deserving of execution are put to death[.]" This Article continues development of a thesis of this author, presented in an earlier piece, that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute those who are not "most deserving," and that the determination of this must include consideration of mitigation evidence. From this conclusion flows a second one, the focus of this Article - because the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment is a limitation on society's power, an individual may not consent and submit himself to a punishment that society itself is banned from imposing. A regime of "mandatory mitigation," overriding a defendant's wish that no evidence in support of a life sentence be presented, is the only way to ensure that a resulting death sentence does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment by guaranteeing that the fact finder have the information necessary to determine whether he/she is within the narrow class of "most deserving," at times denominated "the worst of the worst." The Article shows that such a conclusion is not incompatible with decisional law under the Sixth Amendment that accords an accused the right of self-representation, and with that the right to "preserve actual control over the case he chooses to present to the jury."


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CREDIT: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/GETTY

Perhaps the greatest challenge in realizing a sustainable future is energy consumption. It is ultimately the basis for a large part of the global economy, and more of it will be required to raise living standards in the developing world. Today, we are mostly dependent on nonrenewable fossil fuels that have been and will continue to be a major cause of pollution and climate change. Because of these problems, and our dwindling supply of petroleum, finding sustainable alternatives is becoming increasingly urgent. This special issue focuses on some of the challenges and efforts needed to harness renewable energy more effectively at a sufficient scale to make a difference and some of the people who are working on these problems. As introduced in the first News article (p. 782), the Editorial by Holdren (p. [737][2]), and the Perspective by Whitesides and Crabtree (p. [796][3]), many of the outstanding questions require major research efforts in underfunded areas.

Much of the focus on sustainable energy is aimed at different ways of tapping into the most abundant renewable resource: solar energy. Lewis (p. [798][4]) points out that the direct conversion of sunlight with solar cells, either into electricity or hydrogen, faces cost hurdles independent of their intrinsic efficiency. Ways must be found to lower production costs and design better conversion and storage systems. In the short term, utilization of biomass relies mainly on sugar fermentation; Goldemberg (p. 808) discusses how Brazil's use of ethanol from sugarcane has greatly reduced its need for imported oil. Many long-term goals have been set for biomass utilization; for example, the European Union (EU) hopes to produce a quarter of its transportation fuels from biomass by 2030, as discussed by Himmel et al. (p. [804][5]). Better ways are also needed for processing the available sugars, and conversion to higher alcohols or even alkanes is desirable. Stephanopoulos (p. 801) explores the options afforded by reengineering biosynthetic pathways in microbes.

How we tackle energy problems will turn on a number of policy issues. Poto

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nik (p. 810) discusses how the EU is setting targets and allocating funding for alternative energy. Finally, Schrag (p. [812][6]) explores the feasibility of sequestering carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel use and our technological readiness and willingness to implement such schemes.

The News section profiles national lab directors, computer modelers, captains of industry, and bench scientists who are writing the early chapters of the next book on energy research. Some of them are developing better plants to grow as fuel or ways to convert them into ethanol. Others are developing catalysts to extract hydrogen from water or generate electricity from hydrogen. What they all share is a desire to find new ways to power the future. [ScienceCareers.org][7] takes a look at three young private-sector scientists who are on their first steps to careers in energy R&D: a consultant helping Israel meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, a former particle physicist designing solar energy systems, and a Ph.D.-level engineer integrating sustainable electricity supplies into the power grid.

 [1]: pending:yes
 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1139792
 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1140362
 [4]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1137014
 [5]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1137016
 [6]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1137632
 [7]: http://sciencecareers.org/


USING VEGETATION TO REDUCE NITROGEN RUNOFF IN CALIFORNIA CANEBERRIES By Rebecca I. Riesenfeld With a 700% rise in global fertilizer use in the last 50 years, agricultural lands are a significant source of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in aquatic ecosystems worldwide. Record high levels of nitrate-contaminated runoff from agricultural sources in California's Central Coast are affecting drinking water supplies in the Pajaro Valley and increasingly threatening the ecological health of the Monterey Bay. Bands of vegetation strategically planted to control runoff and soil erosion, or vegetative filter strips (VFS), are used in urban landscapes and at some farm peripheries. On-farm vegetative diversity has been promoted for its contribution to biodiversity and pest control. The efficacy of in-row VFS for nutrient removal, however, has never before been explored in caneberries, the fastest-growing agricultural commodity in Central California. This on-farm study experimentally tested the ability of three different types of common and native VFS planted between the rows to reduce nitrogen runoff in California caneberry fields: California field sedge (Carex praegracilis), creeping wild rye (Leymus triticoides), and wild mustard (Brassica juncea). Overall, nitrates in runoff decreased significantly with greater VFS cover. Of the three species tested, L. triticoides grew fastest, but B. juncea yielded the greatest cover by the end of the rainy season. VFS were shown to be a cost-effective tool that growers can use in California caneberries to decrease nitrate runoff while inherently promoting on-farm biodiversity.


Abstract Sequence stratigraphic models emphasize the role of external, allogenic controls such as relative sea level, tectonic subsidence, and climate on alluvial to coastal plain stratigraphic architecture, at the expense of internal, autogenic behaviors such as avulsion. These models are tested via sedimentologic analysis of fine-grained floodplain deposits and their relationship to channelized fluvial sandbodies in a well exposed alluvial to coastal plain succession developed under progressively increasing distance from the coeval shoreline and an accompanying decrease in the rate of accommodation creation (Late Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation, Wasatch Plateau, central Utah, U.S.A). The studied alluvial to coastal plain succession contains fourteen lithofacies, which are grouped into four associations and eight architectural elements. Facies associations consist of: 1) channelized fluvial sandstone bodies; 2) nonchannelized fluvial sandstone and siltstone bodies; 3) fine-grained floodplain deposits; and 4) brackish floodplain deposits. Paleosols are immature, and are classified as entisols, inceptisols, and histosols. Integrated analysis of paleosol character, facies analysis, and architectural-element analysis indicates deposition on a rapidly aggrading floodplain that was subject to frequent crevassing and channel-belt switching. The character, relative abundance, and vertical stacking of the paleosol types, architectural elements, and the first three facies associations exhibit little variation stratigraphically, from base to top of the Blackhawk Formation (c. 250 m), or paleogeographically between the northern and southern limits of the outcrop belt (c. 100 km). Local stratigraphic architectures record three styles of avulsion, representing avulsion by reoccupation, avulsion by progradation, and avulsion by incision. Avulsion style displays no consistent pattern with stratigraphic position or paleogeographic location. In combination, these results suggest that floodplain sedimentation and local stratigraphic architecture are dominated by autogenic avulsion. The three observed avulsion mechanisms operated in apparent uniformity over a range of tectonic subsidence rates (c. 80–700 m/Ma) and distances from the coeval shoreline (c. 0–100 km).


We analyze the consequences of seasonal variation in maternal consumption on child health using two nationally representative Gambian household surveys. Seasonal fluctuation in consumption stems from difficulties borrowing when incomes are low during the rainy season and saving when they peak after harvest. The resulting fluctuations in maternal nutritional intake can affect birth outcomes and lactational performance. Using mother fixed effects to isolate the effect of birth season, we find that child health—measured by weight-for-age and height-for-age—varies significantly with birth timing. Children in farm households born during dry seasons (February-June) fare considerably worse than siblings born in other seasons.


The study was conducted in a hunting reserve in northeastern areas, Albania, in animals and wild birds such as stock dove, partridges, turtledoves and boars. The Institute of Food Safety and Veterinary (IFSV) Tirana, Albania, conducted the test in 158 samples taken from animals and birds. In order to achieve the analytical procedure of isolation and identification of Salmonellas the Standard method (ISO) was used, whereas for the serological identification, antiserum salmonele were used according to the White-Kayffmann scheme. The latest was mainly used to determine the exact species that used salmonelare antisera, Kauffmann-White scheme. After checking, the total positive samples resulted 49.31%, from which the E. coli 20, or 12.6% and salmonella 29, or 18.4%. Positive samples from poultry meat resulted in E. coli 13.3% and salmonella 10%, positive samples of pork resulted in E. coli 5% and salmonella 25%. Positive samples of eggs: E. coli 11.1%, salmonella 22.1%. The results also show that the samples with higher positivity result were turtle eggs, and less positive were doves and quails. Tests were also conducted from stool samples the results show as follows: Birds E. coli 8% and salmonella 16%, whereas pork with E. coli 10% and salmonella 30%. From the examined samples 5 strains of Salmonella spp were isolated and identified, the larges affected was that in birds i.e stock dove, partridges, turtledoves. Due to this 4 types of Salmonela were isoleted and detected: Salmonella agony, Salmonella entertidis, Salmonella infantis, from birds and also one from boar Salmonella typhimurium.


Weakly collisional magnetized cosmic plasmas have a dynamical tendency to develop pressure anisotropies with respect to the local direction of the magnetic field. These anisotropies trigger plasma instabilities at scales just above the ion Larmor radius ρi and much below the mean free path λmfp. They have growth rates of a fraction of the ion cyclotron frequency, which is much faster than either the global dynamics or even local turbulence. Despite their microscopic nature, these instabilities dramatically modify the transport properties and, therefore, the macroscopic dynamics of the plasma. The non-linear evolution of these instabilities is expected to drive pressure anisotropies towards marginal stability values, controlled by the plasma beta βi. Here this non-linear evolution is worked out in an ab initio kinetic calculation for the simplest analytically tractable example – the parallel (k⊥= 0) firehose instability in a high-beta plasma. An asymptotic theory is constructed, based on a particular physical ordering and leading to a closed non-linear equation for the firehose turbulence. In the non-linear regime, both the analytical theory and the numerical solution predict secular (∝t) growth of magnetic fluctuations. The fluctuations develop a k−3∥ spectrum, extending from scales somewhat larger than ρi to the maximum scale that grows secularly with time (∝t1/2); the relative pressure anisotropy (p⊥−p∥)/p∥ tends to the marginal value −2/βi. The marginal state is achieved via changes in the magnetic field, not particle scattering. When a parallel ion heat flux is present, the parallel firehose mutates into the new gyrothermal instability (GTI), which continues to exist up to firehose-stable values of pressure anisotropy, which can be positive and are limited by the magnitude of the ion heat flux. The non-linear evolution of the GTI also features secular growth of magnetic fluctuations, but the fluctuation spectrum is eventually dominated by modes around a maximal scale ∼ρilT/λmfp, where lT is the scale of the parallel temperature variation. Implications for momentum and heat transport are speculated about. This study is motivated by our interest in the dynamics of galaxy cluster plasmas (which are used as the main astrophysical example), but its relevance to solar wind and accretion flow plasmas is also briefly discussed.


Simple Summary This study aimed to investigate the influence of using 1% or 2% Citrox alone or in combination with 1% chitosan on the survival of Campylobacter jejuni in camel meat slices vacuum-packed and stored at 4 or 10 °C for 30 days. The shelf life of camel meat was 30 days longer using 1% or 2% Citrox in combination with 1% chitosan than when using Citrox alone. The reductions ranged from 4.0 to 3.5 logarithmic cycles during the storage period at both 4 and 10 °C. The quality of camel meat treated with Citrox plus chitosan was also better than that of the control meat and of meat treated with 0.85% NaCl. Abstract Camel meat is one of the most consumed meats in Arab countries. The use of natural antimicrobial agents to extend the shelf life of fresh camel meat, control Campylobacter jejuni contamination, and preserve meat quality is preferred. In this study, we determined the antimicrobial effects of using 1% or 2% Citrox alone or in combination with 1% chitosan on the survival of C. jejuni in vitro and on camel meat samples during storage at 4 or 10 °C for 30 days in vacuum packaging. We determined the total viable count (TVC (cfu/g)), total volatile base nitrogen (TVB-N) content, and pH of the treated camel meat samples every three days during storage. The shelf lives of camel meat samples treated with 2% Citrox alone or in combination with 1% chitosan were longer than those of camel meat samples treated with 1% Citrox alone or in combination with 1% chitosan at both the 4 and 10 °C storage temperatures, with TVCs of <100 cfu/g after the first ten days and six days of storage at 4 and 10 °C, respectively. The addition of Citrox (1% and 2%) and 1% chitosan to camel meat samples and the application of vacuum storage were more effective than using Citrox (1% and 2%) alone and led to a reduction in C. jejuni in approximately 4.0 and 3.5 log cycles at 4 and 10 °C, respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that using a Citrox-chitosan combination improved the quality of camel meat and enhanced the long-term preservation of fresh meat for up to or more than 30 days at 4 °C.


Oblivious RAM (ORAM) is a well-established technology to hide data access patterns from an untrusted storage system. Although research in ORAM has been spurred in the last few years with the irruption of cloud computing, it is still unclear whether ORAM is ready for the cloud. As we demonstrate in this short paper, there are still some important hurdles to be overcome. One of those is the standard block-based ORAM interface, which can become a timing side-channel when used as a substrate to implement higher level abstractions such as filesystems, personal storage services, etc., typically found in the cloud. We analyze this form of leakage and discuss some possible solutions to this problem, concluding that thwarting it in an efficient manner calls for further research.


Dementia is highly prevalent among the older population. Most patients with dementia are admitted to an aged care facility due to wandering behaviour which tends to result in dangerous scenarios such as straying away from the facility and being seriously injured. Due to the decreasing availability of carers in aged care, there is a need to prioritise monitoring of patients that have a severe case of wondering. The challenge is to allow carers to monitor the status of such patients in terms of position localisation and motion behavioural status, in real-time. The long term behavioural analysis of such patients would allow carers to better manage such patients. Current indoor localisation technologies cannot provide the accuracy of location and motion to enable unobtrusive behavioural analysis. Our aim was to develop an indoor localisation and activity monitoring system for aged care workers to aid the prioritisation of surveillance to the patients with dementia. Our system used Radio Frequency tracking combined with motion and heading sensors to track a person. The motion and heading sensor information were incorporated into a human activity classification model to determine the characteristics of a patient's walking activity. We conducted a month-long trial of our localisation network and activity monitoring system in an aged care facility.


Abstract The warm, equable, and ice-free early Eocene Epoch permits investigation of ecosystem function and macro-ecological patterns during a very different climate regime than exists today. It also provides insight into what the future may entail, as anthropogenic CO2 release drives Earth toward a comparable hothouse condition. Studying plant–insect herbivore food webs during hothouse intervals is warranted, because these account for the majority of nonmicrobial terrestrial biodiversity. Here, we report new plant and insect herbivore damage census data from two floodplain sites in the Wind River Basin of central Wyoming, one in the Aycross Formation (50–48.25 Ma) at the basin edge (WRE) and the second in the Wind River Formation in the interior of the basin (WRI). The WRI site is in stratigraphic proximity to a volcanic ash that is newly dated to 52.416 ± 0.016/0.028/0.063 (2σ). We compare the Wind River Basin assemblages to published data from a 52.65 Ma floodplain flora in the neighboring Bighorn (BH) Basin and find that only 5.6% of plant taxa occur at all three sites and approximately 10% occur in both basins. The dissimilar floras support distinct suites of insect herbivores, as recorded by leaf damage. The relatively low-diversity BH flora has the highest diversity of insect damage, contrary to hypotheses that insect herbivore diversity tracks floral diversity. The distinctiveness of the WRE flora is likely due to its younger age and cooler reconstructed paleotemperature, but these factors are nearly identical for the WRI and BH floras. Site-specific microenvironmental factors that cannot be measured easily in deep time may account for these differences. Alternatively, the Owl Creek Mountains between the two basins may have provided a formidable barrier to the thermophilic organisms that inhabited the basin interiors, supporting Janzen's hypothesis that mountain passes appear higher in tropical environments.


The optimal, or even minimum, duration of medication treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD) needed to improve long-term outcomes has not been established empirically. As a result, health plans set potentially restrictive treatment standards to guide benefits and payment. To address this gap, we used a National Quality Forum measure for OUD medication treatment duration (180 days) to examine the impact of longer treatment on health care outcomes within a key population of Medicaid enrollees. Compared to buprenorphine discontinuation around the National Quality Forum benchmark (six to nine months), longer treatment (at least fifteen months) was associated with relative reductions in the risk of having all-cause inpatient (-52 percent) and emergency department (-26 percent) use, opioid-related hospital use (-128 percent), overdose events (-173 percent), and opioid prescriptions (-120 percent) and in the rate of prescription opioid use (-124 percent). We argue that these clinical benefits provide a rationale for policies that increase access to longer-term buprenorphine treatment, including lengthening the standards for minimum treatment duration.


Activity of 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) in fish is certainly the best-studied biomarker of exposure applied in the field to evaluate biological effects of contamination in the marine environment. Since 1991, a feasibility study for a monitoring network using this biomarker of exposure has been conducted along French coasts. Using data obtained during several cruises, this study aims to determine the number of fish required to detect a given difference between 2 mean EROD activities, i.e. to achieve an a priori fixed statistical power (l-beta) given significance level (alpha), variance estimations and projected ratio of unequal sample sizes (k). Mean EROD activity and standard error were estimated at each of 82 sampling stations. The inter-individual variance component was dominant in estimating the variance of mean EROD activity. Influences of alpha, beta, k and variability on sample sizes are illustrated and discussed in terms of costs. In particular, sample sizes do not have to be equal, especially if such a requirement would lead to a significant cost in sampling extra material. Finally, the feasibility of longterm monitoring is discussed.