Abstract An experiment was conducted to determine the responses of 27 Iranian local and improved rice genotypes to two salinity levels (0 and 100 Mm NaCl) at Soilless Culture Research Center of Isfahan University of Technology. The treatments were arranged as factorial in a completely randomized design with three replications. The results showed that there was considerable variation in agro-morphological characters among Iranian rice genotypes under saline and nonsaline conditions. A great variation in salt tolerance was observed among local genotypes of north, improved genotypes of north and local genotypes of center of Iran. Root growth was more sensitive to salt stress than shoot growth and responds more quickly to the stress. The salt-tolerant rice genotypes had more green leaf area duration as a major factor for salinity tolerance. Average total biomass of local genotypes of north, improved genotypes of north and local genotypes of center of Iran under non-saline conditions were 0.94, 1.09 and 1.38 and under saline conditions were 0.46, 0.59 and 0.58 g/plant, respectively. The highest and lowest tolerance to 100 mM NaCl salinity among local genotypes of north were observed in Daylamani and Domsorkh, among improved genotypes of north in Neda and Shiroodi, and among local genotypes of center of Iran in Jozdan and Zayandehrood, respectively. The genetic variation for salinity tolerance in Iranian rice genotypes may improve salt tolerance and increase rice production under saline conditions.


Mechanomyography (MMG) is extensively used in the research of sensor development, signal processing, characterization of muscle activity, development of prosthesis and/or switch control, diagnosis of neuromuscular disorders, and as a medical rehabilitation tool. Despite much existing MMG research, there has been no systematic review of these. This paper aims to determine the current status of MMG in sensor development, related signal processing, and applications. Six electronic databases were extensively searched for potentially eligible studies published between 2003 and 2012. From a total of 175 citations, 119 were selected for full-text evaluation and 86 potential studies were identified for further analysis. This systematic review initially reveals that the development of accelerometers for MMG is still in the initial stage. Another important finding of this paper is that sensor placement location on muscles may influence the MMG signal. In addition, we observe that the majority of research processes MMG signals using wavelet transform. Time/frequency domain analysis of MMG signals provides useful information to examine muscle. In addition, we find that MMG may be applied to diagnose muscle conditions, to control prosthesis and/or switch devices, to assess muscle activities during exercises, to study motor unit activity, and to identify the type of muscle fiber. Finally, we find that the majority of the studies use accelerometers as sensors for MMG measurements. We also observe that currently MMG-based rehabilitation is still in a nascent stage. In conclusion, we recommend further improvements of MMG in the areas of sensor development, particularly on accelerometers, and signal processing aspects, as well as increasing future applications of the technique in prosthesis and/or switch control, clinical practices, and rehabilitation.


A new approach is presented to form self-supported bimetallic nanosized solids with acid and redox catalytic properties. They are water-, airand H2-stable, and are able to activate demanding C–C and C–H reactions. A detailed mechanistic study on the formation of the Ag–Fe bimetallic system shows that a rapid redox-coupled sequence between Ag, O2 (air) and Fe 2+ occurs, giving monodisperse Ag nanoparticles supported by O-bridged diatomic Fe triflimides. The system can be expanded to Ag nanoparticles embedded within a matrix of Cu, Bi and Yb triflimide.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
A quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method targeting the pneumolysin gene of Streptococcus pneumoniae in sputum specimens from patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) was evaluated for the identification of pneumococci.

METHODS
The applicability of the assay to clinical samples was evaluated by studying 140 sputum specimens from patients with CAP. Of the specimens, 96 (68.6%) were found to be positive by real-time PCR. The results were compared to culture findings.

RESULTS
The sensitivity and specificity of the real-time PCR assay developed in this study as compared to those of the culture method were 97.2% and 60.9%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Real-time PCR assay was found to be a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of pneumococci.


The debate about restorative justice and community justice that Paul McCold encourages in his article (McCold, 2004, this issue) is an important one in the American context. It is important because it would be unfortunate if the development of restorative justice in the US were circumscribed by the limits of community justice. While community justice has proven a popular idea, and while balanced and restorative justice (BARJ) has managed to incorporate a number of restorative justice concepts into community justice, little attention has been given to producing evidence that community justice or BARJ are effective strategies for crime reduction or enhanced community efficacy. While restorative justice might be criticized on similar grounds, progress continues to be made around the world to test its effectiveness. We need to ensure not only that policymakers understand the differences between restorative justice and these other programs but also that much more effort is put into finding the evidence in both community justice and restorative justice about what works, when, and for whom.


In a recent result, Weitz [31] established equivalence betw e n the marginal distribution of a node, say v, in any binary pair-wise Markov Random Field (MRF), say G, with the marginal distribution of the root node in the selfavoid walk tree of theG starting atv. In this paper, we exploit this remarkable connection to obt ain insights in the performance of the widely popular Belief Propagation heuri stic for computing marginal distribution (sum-product) and max-marginal distribution (max-product). We obtain a tight characterization of the size of self-avoid ing walk tree for any connected graph as a function of number of edges. This may be of interest in its own right.


Background: Competence in the motor domain is associated with positive, health-related outcomes. Physical education teachers often administer assessments into their programs to measure motor competence for a variety of reasons. Recently, researchers have questioned the relatedness of performance on different assessments. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare motor assessment outcomes of the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) and the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) in school-age children. Method: Sixty-five children (M = 6.7 years) completed the TGMD-2 and the MABC-2. The TGMD-2 includes two subscales: object control and locomotor skills. The MABC-2 includes three subscales: manual dexterity, aiming and catching, and balance. Standard scores and percentile rankings were used for analysis. Findings: Although 10 of the possible 12 Pearson correlations were significant, the range of r² values was 0.07–0.27 indicating low practical significance. A paired samples t-test revealed that participants scored higher on the MABC-2 (M = 42.2 percentile) compared to the TGMD-2 (M = 17.2 percentile, p < 0.01). A 2 (sex) × 3 (grade) MANOVA revealed no significant sex differences on total performance of the TGMD-2 (F = 0.85, p = 0.36) or the MABC-2 (F = 0.2, p = 0.66), indicating that boys and girls performed similarly on each assessment. Results also revealed no significant differences on total performance on the MABC-2 (F = 0.93, p = 0.4) based on the grade level. However, a grade difference was found on the TGMD-2 (F = 4.3, p = 0.02; η² = 0.128). Tukey's post hoc analysis revealed a significantly higher TGMD-2 performance for first graders compared to second graders (p = 0.03). No significant interaction effect was found for either assessment (p > 0.05). Results indicate that both assessments agreed on 9 out of 11 possible children as at-risk of Developmental Coordination Disorder (81.8% agreement) and 27 out of 29 children as delayed in the motor domain (93.1% agreement). Conclusions: The TGMD-2 and MABC-2 measure different aspects and/or levels of motor competence and should not be used interchangeably. Each assessment may be used to complement each other. Given the level of agreement between the TGMD-2 and the MABC-2 to identify children as at-risk of Developmental Coordination Disorder and developmentally delayed in the motor domain, it may be recommended that physical education teachers administer the TGMD-2 as part of annual testing. Physical educators can act as the first line of defense in early identification of motor delay and can make the appropriate referral based on TGMD-2 performance.


Photomedical researchers have been in search of low-cost, effective illumination devices with form factors that could facilitate widespread clinical applications of photodynamic therapy (PDT) or photobiomodulation (PBM). Student researchers from the University of Central Florida and other scientists recently discovered that ultrabright, efficient deep-red quantum-dot light-emitting devices (QLEDs) could fit nicely into this niche. Their recent paper in the Journal of the SID (JSID) described how a photomedical approach based on these QLEDs could increase cell metabolism over control systems for PBM applications and kill cancerous cells efficiently for PDT applications.


Abstract The document first gives definitions of basic terms related to liquid-crystalline and mesomorphic states of matter and then terms specific to the classification of liquid-crystal polymers. The terms have been restricted to those most commonly encountered in the structural description of the latter class of materials. The terms have been selected from the recently published comprehensive document "Definitions of basic terms relating to low-molar-mass and polymer liquid crystals" [Pure and Applied Chemistry73(5), 845-895 (2001)] and are intended to form a readily usable guide for the reader interested in the structural description of polymer liquid crystals. The more comprehensive document should be used for terminology associated with types of mesophases and the optical and physical characteristics of liquid-crystalline materials. The advice given by representatives of the International Liquid Crystal Society for the preparation of this document is gratefully acknowledged.


Electronic business is a major force shaping the digital world. Yet, despite of years of research and standardization efforts, many problems persist that prevent e-business from achieving its full potential. Problems arise from different data vocabularies, classification schemas, document names, structures, exchange formats and their varying roles in business processes. Non-standardized business terminology, lack of common acceptable and understandable processes (grammar), and lack of common dialog rules (protocols) create barriers to improving electronic business processes.Handbook of Research on E-Business Standards and Protocols: Documents, Data and Advanced Web Technologies contains an overview of new achievements in the field of e-business standards and protocols, offers in-depth analysis of and research on the development and deployment of cutting-edge applications, and provides insight into future trends. This book unites new research that promotes harmony and agreement in business processes and attempts to choreograph business protocols and orchestrate semantic alignment between their vocabularies and grammar. Additionally, this Handbook of Research discusses new approaches to improving standards and protocols, which include the use of intelligent agents and Semantic Web technology.


Based on USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) database, relationships between the presence of tallow tree and related driving variables including forest landscape metrics, stand and site conditions, as well as natural and anthropogenic disturbances were analyzed for the southern states infested by tallow trees. Of the 9,966 re-measured FIA plots in eastern Texas, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, 190 plots (1.9%) were found to be infested by tallow trees during the new measurement cycle (between 2004 and 2008). Logistic regression showed that the probability for a plot to be infested by tallow trees is significantly related to ecoregion, forest type, stand size class, slope and distance to other infested plots and highways. Tallow trees are mainly distributed in the western Gulf section of coastal plains and flatwoods (16.4%), the western section of mid-coastal plains (5.2%) and the Atlantic coastal flatwoods section (4.2%), where oak-gum-cypress, elm-ash-cottonwood, oak-pine and pine (loblolly pine/shortleaf pine) forests dominate. Younger stands or stands near to infested sites are more prone to be infested. Regionally, southeast Texas and southern Louisiana were the most vulnerable areas with the highest abundance of tallow trees.


Karstic aquifers are preselit in large areas along the Mediterranean coast. In most cases these aquifers represent the unique resource ofwater supply for drinking, agricultural and industrial uses. Especially in the European side of Mediterranean basin the increase of population, the concentration of agricu1tural practices (and in same countries industrial activities), together with the decrease of precipitation and the increase of evapotranspiration due to climatic change, determine a very high exploitation of groundwater resources. In coastal conditions, it means that the aquifer is open toward the sea and fresh waters float on sa1t water of marine origin, the overexploitation of the aquifers creates a progressive salinisation of groundwater due to seawater intrusion. Coastal karstic aquifers are more sensitive to this phenomenon than porous or only fractured Dnes, because karstic channels, normally feeding subaerial or submarine springs, can become easy way of penetration inIand of seawater, when overexploitation conditions of the aquifer are reached. Such type of aquifers need a particular care in their management, that can be realised only knowing exactly their functioning, especially as far as the laws regulating the delicate equilibrium between fresh water and intruding sa1t water are concemed. The CO ST Action 621 "Groundwater management of coastal karstic aquifers" started in April 1997, having as maiD objective that of increasing the knowledge necessary to establish criteria for improving groundwater utilisation in karst aquifers and for recovering groundwater resource in aquifers overexploited and salinised. In this Action participate representatives coming from Il countries (Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Ma1ta and Turkey. One ofCost Working Groups (WGl-"Aquifers characterisation") had the maiD target to collect information on the presence and characteristics of coastal karstic aquifers in the participating countries with reference to the different peculiar hydrogeological environments. This collection allowed grouping of coastal karstic aquifers in different classes, according to the geo-morphological, hydrogeological, exploitation and seawater intrusion conditions. Moreover, the resu1ts of the Working Group 1 are important for the Managers of karstic groundwater resources in coastal zones, allowing them to understand, as a first approaeh, the problems connected with the aquifers they are exploiting. This is the reason why the Management Committee of the CO ST 621 Action decided to publish this book, which contents are not only addressed to the scientific community, but also to the people who have the duty to protect the groundwater resources in coastal karstic areas. The brief and simple description of geological and hydrogeological conditions of the considered examples ofkarstic coastal aquifers allows any reader to understand the peculiar fetures characterising those zones and the problems linked to the sustainable exploitation of related groundwater resources. Luigi Tu1ipano Chainnan of the Management Committee of GOST Action 621


Receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatase α (RPTPα)-knockout mice have severe hippocampal abnormalities similar to knockouts of the Src family kinase Fyn. These enzymes are linked to the matrix-rigidity response in fibroblasts, but their function in neurons is unknown. The matrix-rigidity response of fibroblasts appears to differ from that of neuronal growth cones but it is unknown whether the rigidity detection mechanism or response pathway is altered. Here, we report that RPTPα is required for rigidity-dependent reinforcement of fibronectin (FN)-cytoskeleton bonds and the rigidity response in hippocampal neuron growth cones, like in fibroblasts. In control neurons, rigid FN surfaces inhibit neurite extension and neuron differentiation relative to soft surfaces. In RPTPα–/– neurons, no inhibition of extension and differentiation is found on both rigid and soft surfaces. The RPTPα-dependent rigidity response in neurons is FN-specific, and requires clustering of αvβ6 integrin at the leading edge of the growth cones. Further, RPTPα is necessary for the rigidity-dependent concentration of Fyn and p130Cas phosphorylation at the leading edge of the growth cone, like it is in fibroblasts. Although neurons respond to rigid FN surfaces in the opposite way to fibroblasts, we suggest that the mechanism of detecting FN rigidity is similar and involves rigidity-dependent RPTPα recruitment of Fyn.


Research on Western mainstream media's framing of HIV/AIDS in the 1980's, showed that media narratives influenced audiences' understanding of the epidemic, as well as society's responses. Subsequently, by analyzing a society's mass media and its framing of HIV/AIDS, it is possible to explore what understandings are given preferential treatment in that society, as well as explore what social change those narratives indirectly or directly facilitate. Such an analysis is particularly important in Sub-Saharan Africa, the continent most affected by HIV/AIDS and which has struggled to reverse the course of the epidemic. This dissertation has in five separate articles, not only identified and described media narratives on HIV/AIDS and the closely related topic of same-sex sexuality in three countries hard-hit by the epidemic –Lesotho, Namibia and Uganda – but also discussed the potential effects of persistent silences, as well as narratives that are counterproductive to the countries' ability to respond to their epidemics. The research uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches: content analysis of independent and government-controlled print media products, semi-structured interviews with media practitioners and representatives from organizations that seek to influence the media agenda, as well as analysis of legislative and policy documents.The articles discuss a range of persistent silences and counterproductive narratives on HIV/AIDS in the three countries. Overall, the media is found to largely fail in providing its readers with narratives that contain many of the particular factors – economic, social, cultural, biological, as well as those related to stigma and discrimination –that fuel their epidemics. The research however also finds differences between the countries and the types of media. In particular privately-owned media is found to play important role in terms of acknowledging the existence of same-sex sexuality as well as relevance in relation to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services in Namibian and Ugandan.


Ferritin-Based Photo-Oxidation of Biomass for Nanoparticle Synthesis, Bioremediation, and Hydrogen Evolution Oscar D. Petrucci Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The cell is the basic unit of all living organisms. It is an amazing machine capable of self-replicating, growing, and synthesizing and shuttling thousands of compounds. To perform all of these activities the cell needs energy. The original source of energy for all living beings is the Sun. The energy of the sun is collected by the autotrophs (mostly plants) through photosynthesis and stored in the chemical bonds of carbohydrates and lipids through carboxylic acid intermediates; animals use these compounds to obtain the energy for their cells. Most of the energy extracted by the cell comes from the citric acid cycle. Therefore, two crucial energy transfer checkpoints are photosynthesis and citric acid cycle. With growing need for energy, the limited supply of fossil fuel, and the search for a cleaner environment, scientists have turned to the Sun (directly or indirectly through wind, tides, biomass, etc.) to satisfy the needs of modern society trying to reach the dual Holy Grail of energy: harvesting energy through Artificial Photosynthesis and Low Temperature Biomass Oxidation. This work represents one more step toward reaching these Holy Grails. The core reagent used in our technique is ferritin. Ferritin recapitulates some of the essential features of a plant cell: it contains a semiconductor capable of charge separation, like chlorophyll, acts as a membrane to isolate compartments, and has an enzymatic activity that prevents charge build up and oxidative damage. The energy absorbed by ferritin from the artificial "solar" radiation is used to extract reducing equivalents from stable and partially oxidized compounds, mainly carboxylic acids. The energized electrons produced are then used for a number of technical applications, from synthesis of catalytically active nanoparticles, to reductive precipitation of contaminant heavy metals (i.e.: mercury), to hydrogen evolution.


Examines the Jordanian foreign policy under King Abdullah II particularly within inter-Arab and Middle East politics, as the regime has attempted to maneuver between domestic and regional challenges. Relation of Jordan with Syria and Iraq; Information on the Jordan's stabilized inter-Arab and regional relations against the context of renewed crises in the region, as the kingdom has been wedged between violence to the west, between Israelis and Palestinians; Discussion of the domestic implications of Jordan's regional position and its foreign policy choices.


A decentralized algorithm is presented that enables the different rate-adaptive receivers in different multicast sessions to adjust their rates to satisfy some fairness criterion. The problem of congestion control in networks, which supports both multirate multicast sessions and unicast sessions. A one-bit Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) marking strategy to be used at the nodes is also proposed. The congestion control mechanism does not require any per-flow state information for unicast flows at the nodes. At the junction nodes of each multicast tree, some state information about the rates along the branches at the node may be required. This Paper calculates the throughput and rates of unicast and multicast packets for the given topology network receivers. The congestion control mechanism takes in to account the diverse user requirements when different receivers within a multicast session have different utility functions, but does not require the network to have any knowledge about the receiver utility functions. This paper compared the performance and fairness of unicast and multicast sessions.


This thesis describes a study of the content and applicability of BS8800:1996 Guide to occupational health and safety management systems. The research is presented chronologically, with literature review and content analysis of SMS related guides and standards interwoven with two elements of qualitative empirical work. The first of these was carried out shortly after publication of BS8800 in 1996, a 'before-the-event' investigation of how organisations were intending to approach SMS implementation. The challenges faced by these organisations are reviewed against standard management theory, suggesting that the initial motivation for SMS implementation governs the approach organisations will adopt to guidance such as BS8800. The second phase of empirical work was undertaken in the context of OHSAS 18001, an auditable protocol based on BS8800, which allows organisations to certify their safety management systems. A discussion of the evolution of certifiable safety management system is presented, highlighting the similarities and differences between this, BS8800, SMS and wider management system standards. A case study then reviews the experiences of a catering company that implemented 18001, motivated by the opportunity for certification as a business benefit. The empirical work is used to comment on the guidance provided by BS8800, within its evolved role as guidance organisations may use for implementation of a SMS to be certified according to the specifications of OHSAS 18001. It is suggested that optimal implementation is facilitated by initial status review, continual improvement and the use of annexes, where there are used to make changes to the existing safety management system. This thesis concludes with a discussion of these elements, highlighting pertinent areas within BS8800 where revision or amendment may be appropriate.


In industrial variable speed drives, the supply of low voltage induction motors by IGBT-PWM inverters through screened cables may cause dangerous over-voltage surges at the motors terminals. These voltage peaks of about twice the de link voltage, with a short rise time of about 200 nsec, increase the armature insulation stress and may damage the motor insulation. The prsent study provides a theoretical approach to this matter and is completed by tests performed on two 3 and 7.5 kW drives, with different cable lengths. Its target is to define the properties of these voltage peaks, their dependency on the installation parameters, and to present two measures to reduce the voltage gradient du/dt or the peak voltages at the motor terminals in order to raise motor lifetime of such a.c motors.


Lossy video compression is commonly used when transmitting and storing video data. Unified video codecs (e.g., H.264 or H.265) remain the de facto standard, despite the availability of advanced (neural) compression approaches. Transmitting videos in the face of dynamic network bandwidth conditions requires video codecs to adapt to vastly different compression strengths. Rate control modules augment the codec's compression such that bandwidth constraints are satisfied and video distortion is minimized. While, both standard video codes and their rate control modules are developed to minimize video distortion w.r.t. human quality assessment, preserving the downstream performance of deep vision models is not considered. In this paper, we present the first end-to-end learnable deep video codec control considering both bandwidth constraints and downstream vision performance, while not breaking existing standardization. We demonstrate for two common vision tasks (semantic segmentation and optical flow estimation) and on two different datasets that our deep codec control better preserves downstream performance than using 2-pass average bit rate control while meeting dynamic bandwidth constraints and adhering to standardizations.


In the empirical literature on work experience, job tenure, training and earnings, only one previous study has made a distinction between the effects of work experience in the current occupation and work experience in previous ones, and no study has made the distinction with respect to training. Yet it is reasonable to hypothesize that the distinction is important. Using data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, it is found that the returns to work experience in the current occupation with previous employers are similar to those to work experience with the current employer, and that tenure has no independent effect. Similarly it is found that the distinction between training for current and previous occupations gives better results than a distinction between training for current and previous employers. It is found that work experience, classroom training and vocational institute training for the current occupation have highly significant effects on earnings, with work experience having by far the largest absolute impact. Apart from high school vocational institute training, which actually has a significantly negative effect on the earnings of those with high cognitive test scores, the previous-occupation counterparts do not have significant effects.


Online learning is now reaching the core, helping to transform higher education and moving beyond isolated efforts to pervasive influence and change. The dichotomy of distance learning vs. campus-based education has broken down, and forward-looking senior administrators have embraced new approaches to education that contain the elements of successful online education while cultivating the community-building and branding of site-based education, particularly to promote enriched faculty and program development. Rather than being isolated in a distance learning task force or continuing education program, the conversations about online learning now occur—or need to occur—at the executive level and throughout other levels and structures.


This dissertation focuses on topics in health economics and public finance. I deal with questions that have importance for health policy, and that are simultaneously of general economic interest; in particular, I consider the efficiency impact of privatization, the effects of competition in health care markets, and the effects of incomplete contracting and imperfect competition on rates of pass-through to consumers and governments. In Chapter One, I examine the extent to which contracting out by governments yields efficiency improvements, by looking to Medicaid contracting in New York State. To identify the efficiency impact of private, relative to public Medicaid, I exploit involuntary switching between the two; primarily, I leverage agebased rules forcing individuals to switch from private to public Medicaid at 65. I also leverage unique administrative data, which longitudinally tracks individual utilization across the public and private Medicaid settings. I find evidence that private Medicaid yields efficiency improvements, but find no evidence that these improvements are passed on to either governments or patients. Instead, I find that pass-through is substantially limited by incomplete contracting, with plans shifting costs to medical services that remain under government provision. In Chapter Two, I examine the effects of cost-sharing among a previously understudied population-those dually enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare. I leverage an exogenous court ruling that resulted in loss of Medicaid coverage in Tennessee, among 25,000 individuals who had previously been dually-enrolled. This disenrollment resulted in an increase in average cost-sharing rates, from around 0% to around 20%. I find that this cost-sharing increase resulted in a utilization reduction of about 30%, implying an arc-elasticity in spending of about -.2. In Chapter Three, with Mark Duggan and Amanda Starc, we examine how contracts are affected by their generosity, by looking to the Medicare Advantage program. In doing so, we exploit a substantial policyinduced increase in MA reimbursement in metropolitan areas with a population of 250,000 or more relative to MSAs below this threshold. Our findings also reveal that about one-eighth of the additional reimbursement is passed through to consumers in the form of better coverage. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Applied Economics First Advisor Mark G. Duggan This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2071


I. INTRODUCTION II. BACKGROUND A. Purpose Behind Intellectual Property Law B. Design Piracy C. Historical Fashion Design Protection D. Current Legal Protection for Fashion Design 1. Trademark and Trade Dress 2. Copyright 3. Patent E. Protection for Other Designs Not Sufficiently Protected Under Federal Copyright Law 1. Architectural Design Protection 2. Semiconductor Chip Protection 3. Vessel Hull Design Protection F. Proposed Increased Protection for Fashion Design: Past and Present 1. The Trend in Attempted Fashion Design Protection Legislation 2. House Bill 5055 3. House Bill 2033 4. Senate Bill 1957 5. House Bill 2196 III. ANALYSIS A. Comparison of the Most Recently Proposed Legislation B. Proponents of the Most Recently Proposed Legislation 1. Fashion Industry Supporters: Council of Fashion Designers of America 2. Academic Proponents 3. Congressional Supporters 4. The U.S. Copyright Office C. Opponents of the Most Recently Proposed Legislation 1. Fashion Industry Opponents: American Apparel and Footwear Association and the California Fashion Association 2. Academic Opponents D. Comparison with the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act IV. RECOMMENDATION A. The Fashion Industry Must Form a True Coalition B. Drafters Should Learn from Past Legislation to Ensure a Swift Success C. International Pressure V. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION On May 12, 1913, the New York Times published a letter from Vivian Burnett, the editor of the Lace and Embroidery Review, calling for all parties affected by fashion design piracy to join together to achieve increased intellectual property design protection. (1) She deemed piracy "the greatest deterrent to creative work in this country, especially in the field of fashion," and recognized the need to amass all interested parties to create legislation that addressed as many concerns as possible. (2) Finally, Ms. Burnett appealed to the industry through the importance of the international effect of design piracy. (3) Disappointingly, nearly a century has passed and her cause remains unsettled. Although times have changed, Ms. Burnett's simple components still weave the strongest rope for securing design piracy protection through an industry-drafted congressional statute. This Note examines the history of intellectual property protection and its application to fashion design, explains and evaluates recently proposed legislation to provide copyright protection to fashion design, and compares the recently proposed and recently defeated legislation with other pieces of legislation that have successfully brought intellectual property protection to similar industries. Ultimately, this Note argues that copyright protection is necessary for fashion design and proposes that the industry unite to support a cohesive bill, adjusted for flaws in past bills, and exploit the international pressure behind fashion design anti-piracy legislation. II. BACKGROUND American fashion is a $350 billion industry, and more than $12 billion worth of fashion designs are pirated and sold as counterfeits. (4) Even more pirated designs are sold under a different brand name. (5) For other artistic works, such as music, copying a product and selling it under a different brand name is considered counterfeiting, plagiarism, theft, or piracy, and has legal consequences. (6) Yet companies that engage in pirating fashion designs and turning them into tangible garments go unpunished. (7) This Part of the Note explains the purpose behind intellectual property law and further details the concept of design piracy. It sets forth the current legal protection available to companies in the fashion industry in the form of trademarks, copyrights, and patents, and explains what types of designs are subject to each kind of protection. …


The introduction of an intrauterine system that releases 20 mg of levonorgestrel (LNG-IUS) directly to the uterine lining has ushered in a new era for the intrauterine device. The LNG-IUS reduces menstrual bleeding and dysmenorrhea, and is an effective nonsurgical treatment for idiopathic menorrhagia in premenopausal women. Women using the device experience significant reductions in menstrual flow and increases in hemoglobin. Abnormal uterine bleeding has become a primary indication for the use of this intrauterine device in Europe, and it is an emerging off-label indication in the United States. Women randomized to the use of the device experience a reduction in bleeding similar to that obtained by hysteroscopic procedures, and satisfaction with the results is high. The device also provides endometrial protection in combination with estrogen as postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy. In this paper, the growing literature on the emerging noncontraceptive indications for the LNG-IUS is reviewed.


Sponges are commonly divided into high (HMA) and low (LMA) microbial‐abundance species according to the bacterial biomass in their tissue. These two groups reflect distinct aquiferous structures and feeding strategies. In the NW Mediterranean coralligenous community, HMA and LMA sponges are often packed in dense, multispecies assemblages that cover many pinnacles and overhangs. We investigated the metabolism of HMA and LMA species that cohabitate the coralligenous community by sampling in situ the inhaled and exhaled water. Sponges consumed plankton, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and ammonium in relation to their abundance in ambient water. The plankton retention efficiency was high for all species. DOC was the main source of C for the sponge species, accounting for ∼ 90% of the examined sources. Nitrogen fluxes markedly differed between the two groups: plankton was the main source of nitrogen for LMAs that excreted dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and ammonium. The nitrogenous waste products of LMAs were found to be the major source of nitrogen (up to 97%) for HMAs that efficiently removed DON and ammonium and excreted nitrate. The different capacity of both sponge strategies to use dissolved resources suggests a partial trophic niche separation related to HMA‐LMA dichotomy as a mechanism facilitating their dense co‐existence in the community. Our findings suggest that a mixed assemblage of sponges (and their associated microbes) is able to utilize the suspended particulate and dissolved material more efficiently than a single species population and may contribute to the understanding of the phenomena of the stability and diversity of dense sponge assemblages in oligotrophic habitats.


PTH induces c-fos expression rapidly and transiently in osteoblastic cells and requires the activity of the cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). Here we provide evidence that protein kinase A (PKA) is the enzyme responsible for phosphorylating CREB at serine 133 (S133) and that this event is required for PTH-induced c-fos expression. PTH increases the level of phosphorylation of CREB at S133 in a time- and dose-dependent manner, correlating with the time and level of activation of PKA in response to PTH. PTH-(1-34) and -(1-31), each known to activate the cAMP pathway, induced the phosphorylation of CREB and increased the levels of c-fos messenger RNA, whereas PTH-(3-34), -(13-34), and -(28-48) could not. Specific inhibitors of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases and protein kinase C could not inhibit CREB phosphorylation or c-fos expression in response to PTH; however, H-89, a specific inhibitor of PKA, could do so in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, PTH-induced c-fos promoter activity was completely inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion by transfection of the heat-stable inhibitor of PKA. Taken together, these data provide strong evidence that PKA is the enzyme responsible for phosphorylating CREB at S133 in response to PTH and that PKA activity is required for PTH-induced c-fos expression.


Tau aggregation is a pathological feature of numerous neurodegenerative disorders and has also been shown to occur under certain conditions of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Currently, no effective treatments exist for the long-term effects of TBI. In some cases, TBI not only induces cognitive changes immediately post-injury, but also leads to increased incidence of neurodegeneration later in life. Growing evidence from our lab and others suggests that the oligomeric forms of tau initiate the onset and spread of neurodegenerative tauopathies. Previously, we have shown increased levels of brain-derived tau oligomers in autopsy samples from patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. We have also shown similar increases in tau oligomers in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases and TBI. In the current study, we evaluated the presence of tau oligomers in blast-induced TBI. To test the direct impact of TBI-derived tau oligomer toxicity, we isolated tau oligomers from brains of rats that underwent either a blast- or a fluid percussion injury-induced TBI. Oligomers were characterized biochemically and morphologically and were then injected into hippocampi of mice overexpressing human tau (Htau). Mice were cognitively evaluated and brains were collected for immunological analysis after testing. We found that tau oligomers form as a result of brain injury in two different models of TBI. Additionally, these oligomers accelerated onset of cognitive deficits when injected into brains of Htau mice. Tau oligomer levels increased in the hippocampal injection sites and cerebellum, suggesting that tau oligomers may be responsible for seeding the spread of pathology post-TBI. Our results suggest that tau oligomers play an important role in the toxicity underlying TBI and may be a viable therapeutic target.


This article describes the developmental patterns of Hispanic-White math and reading achievement gaps in elementary school, paying attention to variation in these patterns among Hispanic subgroups. Compared to non-Hispanic White students, Hispanic students enter kindergarten with much lower average math and reading skills. The gaps narrow by roughly a third in the first 2 years of schooling but remain relatively stable for the next 4 years. The development of achievement gaps varies considerably among Hispanic subgroups. Students with Mexican and Central American origins—particularly first- and second-generation immigrants—and those from homes where English is not spoken have the lowest math and reading skill levels at kindergarten entry but show the greatest achievement gains in the early years of schooling.


Geologic and hydrologic conditions at a burial site for low-level radioactive waste were studied, and migration of leachates from the buried waste into surrounding unconsolidated sediments were evaluated. The burial site and vicinity are underlain by a sequence of unconsolidated sediments of Late Cretaceous, Tertiary, and Quaternary age. These sediments are deposited over a graben which has been filled with sedimentary rocks of Triassic age. Hydraulic properties of the sediments beneath the burial site were determined by laboratory and field tests. Laboratory hydraulic conductivity values ranged from about 10~^ to 10"^ feet per day for the clayey sediments to nearly 22 feet per day for aquifer sands. Field aquifer tests indicate a transmissivity of about 22,000 feet squared per day for Cretaceous sediments and about 6,000 feet squared per day for Tertiary sediments. Aquifer tests indicate heterogeneity in the upper 200 feet of the Tertiary sediments. Water samples were analyzed from 51 wells, 5 streams, a Carolina bay, and rainfall at the burial site. The total dissolved solids of the ground water ranged from about 7 to 40 milligrams per liter in the upper clayey sediments to about 150 milligrams per liter in the water in the deeper calcareous sediments. The pH of the ground water ranges from 4.8 to 6.5. This slightly acidic water is corrosive to buried metal. Tritium activity greater than background was detected in sediment cores taken from drill holes adjacent to the burial trenches. High tritium activity occurred at depths above the trench floor. This indicates upward movement of water or vapor to the land surface. Tritium and organic constituents greater than background concentrations were observed in a monitoring well about 10 feet from a trench, indicating lateral migration of radionuclides from the buried waste. Traces of cobalt-60 and tritium greater than background activity were observed in sediment cores collected 5.8 feet beneath the trench floor at one site. A hydrologic model was used to simulate ground-water flow in the study area. Based on the model results the minimum time of travel for ground water to move from the burial site to the nearest stream, Marys Branch Creek, is about 50 years. Radionuclides will move more slowly than the water, and will diminish in activity, because of dispersion and radioactive decay.


The construct of work personality has been linked to the development of effective work behaviors and overall vocational adjustment for individuals with disabilities. One conceptualization of work personality that has received consideration in the rehabilitation research literature is the construct of developmental work personality (DWP). The primary strengths of the DWP model are that it is grounded in developmental, learning, and work theories that have been widely validated with multiple populations in a variety of contexts and that the model is designed to explain components of the work personality, described by Neff as being "semi-autonomous." The purpose of this study is to provide evidence of the psychometric properties of the DWP scale in samples of persons eligible to receive vocational rehabilitation services. The results of this three-phase study reveal empirically defined factors of the scale that correspond to the DWP model, adequate convergent validity measures, and adequate to good internal and temporal reliability coefficients in a sample of students. Recommendations for best use of the model and scale are included.


Another Asia is a unique and provocative work in which Calcutta based theatre director, writer and cultural critic, Rustom Bharucha, has produced an informative and insightful narrative on the spiritual friendship between Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and Okakura Tenshin (1862-1913). Set against the volatile backdrop of the anti-English Swadeshi movement in Bengal, and Japanese imperialism of the late Meiji period, this book questions ideas of Asia through encounters between these two iconic figures: Tagore as India's national poet and the first Asian Nobel Prize winner, and Okakura as the internationally renowned Japanese art historian and curator for the Japan Institute of Fine Arts (Nihon Bijutsuin), the Tokyo Fine Arts School and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. These two men of culture held very different views towards Asia as they did towards each other; while Tagore stood for universal humanism, Okakura was branded an imperialist and even an 'ultra-nationalist'.


Vortex generators have been widely used in aerodynamics to control the separation of boundary layers. In such application (Angele and Muhammad, 2005) vortex generators are embedded in the boundary layer and the vortex height, with regards to the wall, is of the boundary layer thickness. The objective of this configuration is obviously far from being the effects of a single longitudinal vortex (generated upstream by an elliptical plan form profile) on the turbulent boundary layer shape over a Naca0015 symmetric foil at different incidences at high Reynolds number 5 105 . The vortex is situated outside the boundary layer (ten times the BL thickness over the wall) taking into account the small value of the thickness in our hydrodynamic application. Obviously, this situation is optimum as the vortex delays separation and increases the maximum lift but introduces drag penalty at small incidence. This is nevertheless frequently encountered in hydrodynamic applications (hub vortex upstream of a rudder) and of interest. To point out the mechanism of the boundary layer manipulation, both global efforts using gauge balance and velocity measurements using LDV and PIV have been performed and compared with and without vortex. The base flow is an APG boundary layer characterized by a predominant wake area. Effect of the vortex is analyzed via the shape factor both in inflow and outflow regions. The longitudinal vortex suppress the hysteretic loop classically described in this Reynolds number range (Djeridi et al., 2009) but an increase of the drag is observed in the range of incidence just before stall. Velocity measurements indicated that, for incidences near the stall appearance, the shape factor is decreased both in the inflow and in the outflow regions. Even for large incidences, in the inflow region the value of the shape factor is equivalent to the one found in the turbulent BL over a flat plate. In this region the vortex modifies the equilibrium state of the BL as attested by the Clauser parameter. Even for large distances between the vortex and the wall, the ability of the vortex to suppress the detachment of the BL is observed on the evolution of the backflow coefficient. This effect is greater pronounced in inflow area near the trailing edge region where the flow is locally reattached due to the high momentum fluid displacement.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


Tropospheric air trajectories that occurred during the Southern African Fire-Atmosphere Research Initiative (SAFARI) in August-October 1992 are described in terms of a circulation classification scheme and the vertical stability of the atmosphere. Three major and frequently occurring stable discontinuities are found to control vertical transport of aerosols in the subtropical atmosphere at the end of the dry season. Of these, the main subsidence-induced feature is a spatially ubiquitous and temporally persistent absolutely stable layer at an altitude of about 5 km (3.5 km above the interior plateau elevation). This effective obstacle to vertical mixing is observed to persist without break for up to 40 days. Below this feature an absolutely stable layer at 3 km (1.5 km above the surface) prevails on and off at the top of the surface mixing layer for up to 7 days at a time, being broken by the passage of regularly occurring westerly wave disturbances. Above the middle-level discontinuity a further absolutely stable layer is frequently discerned at an altitude of about 8 km. It is shown that five basic modes can be used to describe horizontal aerosol transportation fields over southern Africa. Dominating these is the anticyclone mode which results in frequent recirculation at spatial scales varying from hundreds to thousands of kilometers. In exiting the anticyclonic circulation, transport on the northern periphery of the system is to the west over the Atlantic Ocean via a semistationary easterly wave over the western part of the subcontinent. On the southern periphery, wave perturbations in the westerly enhance transports which exit the subcontinent to the east into the Indian Ocean. Independently derived data suggest that during SAFARI only 4% of the total transport of air from three locations south of 18 degrees 8 was into the Atlantic Ocean. Over 90% of the transport was into the Indian Ocean across 35 degrees E. This result reflects circulation fields typical of the extremely dry conditions prevailing in 1992. The integrated effect of the control exerted by atmospheric stability on vertical mixing, on the one hand, and the nature of the horizontal circulation fields, on the other, is to produce a distinctive suite of transport patterns that go a long way to explain the observed high concentrations of tropospheric aerosols and trace gases observed over the subcontinent in winter and spring, as well as over the tropical South Atlantic and southwestern Indian Oceans.


Islamic banks are financial intermediaries with the claim of being an alternative to commercial banks. Recently a considerable literature has been produced around the theme of whether or not the alternative presented in theory has been reflected in practice. However, these studies are exploratory and interpretative in nature. The quantitative researches presented thus by far provide indirect evidence for the central theoretical issue. To date, very little attention has been paid to the role of the relationship between interest rates and profit-share accruals. These studies have also suffered from shortcomings with regards to the methods applied. The primary aim of this paper is to provide empirical and theoretical evidence to the claim of Islamic banks to be alternative to commercial banks. It does so by investigating the relationship between profit share accruals and deposit rates by employing wavelet coherence method for the first time. This study uses longitudinal monthly data for the 2000 to 2018 period, particularly from Turkey, and provides an exciting opportunity to advance our knowledge about the structure of Islamic banking with focusing specifically on fund supply. The results have revealed that Islamic banks are an alternative to fund suppliers in short-term. In addition long-term maturities had shown a strong alternative characteristic in the pre-2006 period; however, they were unable to preserve it in the post-2006 period after the effectiveness of Banking Act No. 5411. Findings also show bidirectional causalities to be found in different periods. The findings have important implications for the market players and policy makers.


A large single interactive display designed for the cockpits of future airplanes, as it was developed during the European Project ODICIS is presented. It is based on an array of several short throw wide angle projectors resulting in a seamlessly tiled display. The project results are discussed in this contribution.


Abstract. Advances in the understanding of tsunami impacts allow developing products to assess its consequences in tsunami-prone areas, as it is the case of the coast of the Sultanate of Oman. This paper presents the followed methodology and the obtained results for the assessment of the tsunami hazard of the coast of Oman and the development of the scenario database that feeds its Tsunami Warning System (TWS). Initially, a seismo-tectonic analysis of the area was carried out, focused on identifying the seismic areas whose earthquakes could generate tsunamis affecting the coast of Oman. A database of 3181 tsunamigenic sources was characterized by means of the parameters that define their focal mechanisms. This database includes scenarios with magnitudes Mw ranging from 6.5 to 9.25 within the study area, but it is especially focused on the Makran Subduction Zone (MSZ). The 3181 cases were numerically propagated to feed the database and to work as precomputed scenarios for the TWS: In case of tsunami, the results for the closest precomputed scenario (in location and magnitude) are shown. From the database, 7 worst-case scenarios were selected and computationally simulated at national and local scale, in 9 municipalities all along the coast of Oman, resulting in tsunami hazard maps containing relevant variables in the flooded area, such as the inundation water depth and the drag level (hazard degree for people instability). Finally, in order to manage conveniently the results, an online tool, called Multi-Hazard Risk Assessment System (MHRAS), was developed. This tool is a viewer that contains an easy-to-use application, including the results of the tsunami hazard assessment and the tsunami scenario database, and the selection algorithm to choose the proper case among the precomputed ones. The results of this research are part of the National Multi-Hazard Early Warning System of Oman (NMHEWS).


The Income and Expenditure Survey (IES) conducted by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) between September 2005 and August 2006 was the third of its kind, after similar surveys in October 1995 and October 2000. The main purpose of the IES is to collect and provide information on income and expenditure patterns of a representative sample of households, so as to update the basket of goods and services required for the compilation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Nonetheless, these surveys have also become an important source of information for poverty and inequality analysis, mainly because of the absence of other detailed datasets containing income and expenditure data. There are, however, important reasons why these datasets cannot be unquestioningly compared. This paper attempts to show why. The IESs conducted in 1995 and 2000 used the recall method. In the recall method, a single questionnaire was administered to a household at a selected dwelling unit in the sample, and the responding household was required to recall income and expenditure either during the month prior to the survey or for the twelve months prior to the survey. However, in the IES conducted in 2005-2006, the diary method was used extensively for the first time in order to record the household's daily acquisitions on a daily basis. In addition to the adoption of the diary method, the 2005-2006 IES is also different from the previous IESs in many aspects, such as sampling design, questionnaire structure, number of visits to the households, additions of some new expenditure items in the questionnaire, categorization of income and expenditure items, etc., and the focus of this paper is to look at how different the three IESs are, so as to assist researchers and policy makers when they try to analyze the IES data.


Adobe® Dreamweaver® CS3 UnleashedZak RuvalcabaThis book is the most comprehensive and independent resource for experienced web developers who want to plan, architect, develop, and deploy state-of-the-art websites, applications, and services.Expert web developer and trainer Zak Ruvalcaba brings together real-world insights and advanced techniques for every facet of contemporary web development, from site management to data-driven applications and multimedia content to security. Ruvalcaba systematically illuminates the major improvements Adobe has brought to Dreamweaver CS3, including its powerful new Spry framework for Ajax development, its innovative CSS browser compatibility checking, and more.You'll learn how to smoothly integrate Dreamweaver CS3 with other key web design and development tools, ranging from Photoshop to Flash to databases. You'll also discover how to use Dreamweaver CS3 to improve team collaboration, automate workflow, streamline content management, and reuse assets more efficiently.Detailed information on how to... Get productive with Dreamweaver CS3 development fast, whether you're new to Dreamweaver or upgrading from previous versions Create more effective, compatible CSS sitesi¾–and leverage Dreamweaver CS3's powerful new CSS templates Streamline and automate workflow across your development and content teams Incorporate animation, video, and audio, including Adobe Flash content Make the most of databases and SQL queries in your sites and applications Build dynamic pages and sites that integrate everything from search functionality to user authentication Implement high-performance web services with Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 Use Adobe's new Spry framework, widgets, and effects to quickly build rich XML-based applications Zak Ruvalcaba has been researching, designing, and developing for the Web since 1995. He's built websites and applications for such companies as Gateway, HP, Toshiba, IBM, Intuit, Peachtree, Dell, Qualcomm, Microsoft, and many others. Aside from teaching and holding design lectures on various technologies and tools, including Dreamweaver, ASP.NET, and Flash, for the San Diego Community College District and Palomar Community College, he is the author of the 10 Minute Guide to Dreamweaver 4 from Que Publishing, Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Website Using C# and VB.NET from SitePoint Press, and Beginning Expression Web from Wrox.Register your book at www.samspublishing.com/register for convenient access to updates and example source code from this book.Category:i¾ Web Development/DreamweaverCovers:i¾ Adobe Dreamweaver CS3User Level:i¾ Intermediate-Advanced


The Web has moved, slowly but steady, from a collection of documents towards a collection of structured data. Knowledge graphs have then emerged as a way of representing the knowledge encoded in such data as well as a tool to reason on them in order to extract new and implicit information. Knowledge graphs are currently used, e.g., to explain search results, to explore knowledge spaces, to semantically enrich textual documents or to feed knowledge intensive applications such as recommender systems. In this work we describe how to create and exploit a knowledge graph to supply a hybrid recommendation engine with information that builds on top of a collections of documents describing musical and sound items. Tags and textual descriptions are exploited to extract and link entities to external graphs such as WordNet and DBpedia which are in turn used to semantically enrich the initial data. By means of the knowledge graph we build, recommendations are computed using a feature combination hybrid approach. Two explicit graph feature mappings are formulated to obtain meaningful item feature representations able to catch the knowledge embedded in the graph. Those content features are further combined with additional collaborative information deriving from implicit user feedback. An extensive evaluation on historical data is performed over two different datasets. A dataset of sounds composed by tags, textual descriptions and user's download information gathered from Freesound.org, and a dataset of songs that mixes song textual descriptions with tags and user's listening habits extracted from Songfacts.com and Last.fm respectively. Results show significant improvements with respect to state of the art collaborative algorithms in both datasets. In addition, we show how the semantic expansion of the initial descriptions helps in achieving much better recommendation quality in terms of aggregated diversity and novelty. CCS Concepts: rInformation systems→ Recommender systems; Information extraction; Ontologies;


I study the effect of the demolition of 22,000 units of public housing on crime in Chicago using an approach that is designed to capture general equilibrium spillovers. Point estimates that incorporate both the direct and spillover effect of the demolitions indicate that in the short run the average demolition increased city-wide crime by 0.5% per month relative to baseline, with no evidence of offsetting long run reductions. I also provide evidence that spillovers are mediated by demolition induced migration across gang territorial boundaries. These findings stand in contrast to earlier work purporting to show that demolitions caused reductions in aggregate crime. I reconcile my findings with the existing literature by proposing a test that is informative for the presence of control group contamination in difference in difference designs with many treatment periods. I apply the test and conclude that estimates from prior work are likely biassed by spillovers.


Due to the current depleting trends in tiger population, range countries have committed to double tiger numbers by the year 2022. However, some areas, including source sites, across the range countries lack scientifically estimated tiger numbers both at the larger landscape and at the protected area level. Here we report a population of tigers, from Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (BRTTR), using camera trap based capture-mark recapture in a spatially explicit likelihood and Bayesian analyses that yielded an estimate of ~55 tigers with a density of about 6.8 tigers/100 km 2 . BRTTR nestled in a larger tiger landscape, perhaps contributes dispersing individuals to the adjoining forests, calling for integrated monitoring and management efforts for the entire landscape. This data set could help in designing long-term, landscape level plans and outcomes.


Because of increased number of sensitive loads and automated processes in industry, need for high quality power is nowadays inevitable. Deteriorated power quality my result in huge financial losses and also decreases the productivity. The power electronic based solutions for improving power quality have become more common in the recent years. One of these solutions is to use the Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), which is a series-connected voltage compensator. Interline DVR (IDVR) is a special structure, in which two DVRs share a DC-link. These two DVRs are installed in two independent distribution feeders which may have two different voltage levels. In this paper, a new structure for IDVR is proposed. The proposed DVR is based on the multilevel converters. Therefore, we call it as Multilevel Converter based IDVR (MLC-IDVR). Because of using multilevel converter, the quality of voltage waveform in the proposed structure is improved in comparison with the conventional IDVR. Also, it is more suitable for higher voltage applications. The performance of the proposed MLC-IDVR is verified by simulation results carried out by PSCAD/EMTDC software.


This interactive symposium will focus on the use of different technologies in developing innovative practice in teacher education at one university in England. Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) is a field of educational policy and practice that has the power to ignite diametrically opposing views and reactions amongst teachers and teacher educators, ranging across a spectrum from immense enthusiasm to untold terror. In a field where the skills and experience of individuals vary from those of digital natives (Prensky 2001) to lags and lurkers in digital spaces, the challenges of harnessing the potential of TEL are complex. The challenges include developing the IT skills of trainees and educators and the creative application of these skills to pedagogy in all areas of the curriculum. The symposium draws on examples from primary, secondary and post-compulsory teacher education to discuss issues and approaches to developing research capacity and innovative practice using different etools, many of which are freely available.

The first paper offers theoretical and policy perspectives on finding spaces in busy professional
lives to engage in research and develop
research-informed practice. It draws on notions of teachers as researchers, practitioner
research and evidenc-ebased practice to argue that engagement in research is integral to teacher
education and an empowering source of creative professional learning for teachers and teacher
educators. Whilst acknowledging the challenges of this stance, examples from our own research
practice illustrate how e-tools can assist us in building the capacity and confidence of staff and
students in researching and enhancing teaching, learning and assessment practice.

The second paper discusses IT skills development through the TEL pathway for trainee teachers in
secondary education across different curriculum subjects. The lead tutor for the TEL pathway will
use examples of activities developed with trainee teachers and university subject tutors to
enhance their skills in using e-tools, such as QR codes, Kahoot, Padlet, Pinterest and cloud based
learning. The paper will also focus on how these skills and tools can be used for action

Discussant - the wider use of technologies in a university centre for teacher education; course management, recruitment and mentor training.
research, evaluation and feedback and for marking and administrative tasks. The discussion will
finish with thoughts on widening trainee teachers' horizons into the future direction of
educational technology.

The third paper considers institutional policies and strategies for promoting and embedding TEL,
including an initiative called 'The Learning Conversation', which aims 'to share, highlight,
celebrate, discuss, problematise, find things out...' about TEL through an online space. The
lead for 'The Learning Conversation' will offer reflections on this and other initiatives across
the institution involving trainee teachers, university subject tutors, librarians and staff in
student support services who are using TEL to engage, enthuse and support students on campus and
during placements in schools.

The fourth paper reflects on the use of TEL to engage with trainee teachers in post-compulsory
education. This sector of education and training is more fragmented than primary and secondary
schools sectors and so the challenges of building a community of practice that can support the
development of innovative practice are greater.


Heroin overdose deaths in the Unites States more than tripled from 2010 to 2014, reaching almost 11,000 per year. Despite the use of the term "overdose," many of these victims died after self-administering an amount of opiate that would not be expected to be fatal for these drug-experienced, and drug-tolerant, individuals. Various explanations of this overdose mystery have been proposed. I describe an explanation based on Pavlovian conditioning. Organisms associate cues present at the time of drug administration with the systemic effect of the drug. These drug-predictive cues come to elicit responses that attenuate the effect of a drug. Such anticipatory conditional responses mediate chronic tolerance. If the drug is administered in the presence of novel cues, tolerance fails to occur and the victim suffers an overdose. Overdose prevention strategies should incorporate information about the contribution of drug-associated cues to drug tolerance.


Advertising plays a vital role in supporting free websites and smartphone apps. Click-spam, i.e., fraudulent or invalid clicks on online ads where the user has no actual interest in the advertiser's site, results in advertising revenue being misappropriated by click-spammers. While ad networks take active measures to block click-spam today, the effectiveness of these measures is largely unknown. Moreover, advertisers and third parties have no way of independently estimating or defending against click-spam.
 In this paper, we take the first systematic look at click-spam. We propose the first methodology for advertisers to independently measure click-spam rates on their ads. We also develop an automated methodology for ad networks to proactively detect different simultaneous click-spam attacks. We validate both methodologies using data from major ad networks. We then conduct a large-scale measurement study of click-spam across ten major ad networks and four types of ads. In the process, we identify and perform in-depth analysis on seven ongoing click-spam attacks not blocked by major ad networks at the time of this writing. Our findings highlight the severity of the click-spam problem, especially for mobile ads.


The problem I shall discuss is What reason have we for believing that there are physical objects? My purpose is not either to raise or to dispel doubts as to the existence of physical objects; this doubt constitutes a medical rather than a philosophical problem. The point of asking the question is that, while there can be no reasonable difference of opinion as to whether there are physical objects, there can be and is reasonable difference of opinion as to how the notion of a physical object is to be analysed; and if we are clear as to what grounds there are for believing in physical objects, we shall also be clearer as to what sort of physical objects we have grounds for believing in. Also, it is worth while to inquire which other beliefs are logically connected with, and which are logically independent of, the belief in physical objects.


Many central banks around the world are faced with the challenge of implementing their policy goals in the presence of surplus liquidity in domestic banking systems. Surplus liquidity can impair the central bank's ability to control its operational target and impact on its profitability, potentially affecting its ability to operate in an independent manner. Within the range of instruments available, the issuance of central bank securities is one policy option that has been used effectively by a number of central banks. In this handbook we look at the characteristics of central bank securities and how the fit into the broader monetary operations framework of a central bank. We then look at alternative instruments available to a central bank, before considering the advantages and disadvantages of these different options. It concludes by considering means of co-ordinating central bank securities with the issuance of central government securities and briefly looks at methods of auction employed to issue such securities.


On January 23, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its estimates for union membership in the United States in 2012. This issue brief focuses on the union membership numbers by state. In addition to presenting the BLS estimates for overall union membership in each state, we also provide our own breakdown of state union membership in the private and public sector.


Wireless power transfer (WPT) is a promising technology for supplying power to various applications with no physical contacts. Recently, bidirectional WPT (BD-WPT) systems are gaining popularity for grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid applications which essentially require power transfer in both directions. However, BD-WPT systems are complex in nature, and require sophisticated control strategies to provide synchronization as well as to regulate the power flow between two sides. This paper proposes a new controller that uses measured active power (P) and reactive power (Q) at the resonant network of BD-WPT systems to regulate the power flow in both directions while providing synchronization between two sides without a dedicated communication interface for controlling power transfer. The controller, located on the pickup side, is applicable to BD-WPT systems with either single or multiple loads and ensures that the volt-ampere rating of the pickup converter is at lowest for battery charging, by keeping the reactive power at the resonant tank intake by the load side minimum. Experimental results obtained from a 1-kW prototype system show good agreement with simulated results, validating that the proposed controller can be used to regulate the power flow in BD-WPT systems.


We investigated clinical efficacy of green tea extracts (polyphenon E; poly E and (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate [EGCG]) delivered in a form of ointment or capsule in patients with human papilloma virus (HPV) infected cervical lesions. Fifty-one patients with cervical lesions (chronic cervicitis, mild dysplasia, moderate dysplasia and severe dysplasia) were divided into four groups, as compared with 39 untreated patients as a control. Poly E ointment was applied locally to 27 patients twice a week. For oral delivery, a 200 mg of poly E or EGCG capsule was taken orally every day for eight to 12 weeks. In the study, 20 out of 27 patients (74%) under poly E ointment therapy showed a response. Six out of eight patients under poly E ointment plus poly E capsule therapy (75%) showed a response, and three out of six patients (50%) under poly E capsule therapy showed a response. Six out of 10 patients (60%) under EGCG capsule therapy showed a response. Overall, a 69% response rate (35/51) was noted for treatment with green tea extracts, as compared with a 10% response rate (4/39) in untreated controls (P<0.05). Thus, the data collected here demonstrated that green tea extracts in a form of ointment and capsule are effective for treating cervical lesions, suggesting that green tea extracts can be a potential therapy regimen for patients with HPV infected cervical lesions.


Targeting gene expression to cancer cells remains a challenge for the development of gene and viral therapy for gliomas. Recent studies have highlighted transcriptional targeting as one of the possible solutions to overcome this limitation. In this context, melanoma associated antigens (MAAs) are usually over-expressed in brain tumors in comparison to normal brain tissue. For this reason, we investigated the use of the tyrosinase promoter as a transcriptional element to target oncolytic therapy for gliomas. Tyrosinase mRNA expression was evaluated by qRT-PCR in normal human brain tissue as well as in human glioma specimens. We found that this gene was significantly over-expressed in glioma cell lines and in primary glioma samples. Tyrosinase expression correlated with the grade of the tumor (p-value range: 0.05-0.001). Furthermore, transfection of several cell cultures with human and mouse tyrosinase promoters driving a luciferase reporter gene confirmed the activity of this promoter in mouse and human cells. To evaluate whether tyrosinase-activated conditionally replicative adenoviruses (CRAds) could induce toxicity in glioma cells, two vectors (Ad h/m and Ad24TYR) were tested in a mouse glioma model. C57BL/6 mice underwent intracranial injection of tumor cell line GL261. Survival was used to evaluate efficacy of the tested vectors. Mice receiving 1 x 10(9) MOI of Ad h/m and Ad24TYR following intracranial tumor implants had a median survival of 46+/-3 days (p<0.05); in contrast, those treated with medium had a median survival of 31+/-2 days. These results suggest that injection of tyrosinase CRAds leads to prolongation of survival in mice with experimental brain tumors. The tyrosinase promoter stands as a proof of principle of the potential use of MAA over-expression patterns for targeting novel anti-glioma therapies.


Reading an electronic patient record (EPR) is a very challenging task because of the medical jargons, which are almost impossible to understand for the layman. This becomes a highly relevant challenge because of the more extensive use of the internet to get medical information. Also the Norwegian laws state that the patient has the right to read his or her own EPR. A master thesis executed in 2006, and a specialization project in 2007 addressed this subject and developed a prototype for adapting EPRs to a patient presentation. This thesis continues this work and aims to extend the system with more functionality and improve the translation of the EPRs. The main issues discussed in the thesis are how disambiguating between Norwegian words and medical terms, provide summaries of EPRs, and supply the patient with external information about his or her health condition. In addition the refined user interface from the specialization project was implemented. The conclusion of this thesis is that the Support Vector Machine classifier with character bigrams provides good and accurate disambiguation between Norwegian words and medical terms. The external information functionality provides correct and quality assured information from the patient hand book. There are still some issues, and possible improvements on providing only precise and relevant articles. Summarizing of EPRs is achieved through named entity extraction of ICD codes, and then presenting the codes together with their corresponding descriptions. This implementation seems to be accurate, correct, and precise.


Given that forests represent the primary terrestrial sink for atmospheric CO2, projections of future carbon (C) storage hinge on forest responses to climate variation. Models of gross primary production (GPP) responses to water stress are commonly based on remotely sensed changes in canopy 'greenness' (e.g., normalized difference vegetation index; NDVI). However, many forests have low spectral sensitivity to water stress (SSWS) – defined here as drought‐induced decline in GPP without a change in greenness. Current satellite‐derived estimates of GPP use a vapor pressure deficit (VPD) scalar to account for the low SWSS of forests, but fail to capture their responses to water stress. Our objectives were to characterize differences in SSWS among forested and nonforested ecosystems, and to develop an improved framework for predicting the impacts of water stress on GPP in forests with low SSWS. First, we paired two independent drought indices with NDVI data for the conterminous US from 2000 to 2011, and examined the relationship between water stress and NDVI. We found that forests had lower SSWS than nonforests regardless of drought index or duration. We then compared satellite‐derived estimates of GPP with eddy‐covariance observations of GPP in two deciduous broadleaf forests with low SSWS: the Missouri Ozark (MO) and Morgan Monroe State Forest (MMSF) AmeriFlux sites. Model estimates of GPP that used VPD scalars were poorly correlated with observations of GPP at MO (r2 = 0.09) and MMSF (r2 = 0.38). When we included the NDVI responses to water stress of adjacent ecosystems with high SSWS into a model based solely on temperature and greenness, we substantially improved predictions of GPP at MO (r2 = 0.83) and for a severe drought year at the MMSF (r2 = 0.82). Collectively, our results suggest that large‐scale estimates of GPP that capture variation in SSWS among ecosystems could improve predictions of C uptake by forests under drought.


Researchers and practitioners in the field of reinforcement learning (RL) frequently leverage parallel computation, which has led to a plethora of new algorithms and systems in the last few years. In this paper, we re-examine the challenges posed by distributed RL and try to view it through the lens of an old idea: distributed dataflow. We show that viewing RL as a dataflow problem leads to highly composable and performant implementations. We propose RLlib Flow, a hybrid actor-dataflow programming model for distributed RL, and validate its practicality by porting the full suite of algorithms in RLlib, a widely adopted distributed RL library. Concretely, RLlib Flow provides 2-9 code savings in real production code and enables the composition of multi-agent algorithms not possible by end users before. The open-source code is available as part of RLlib at https://github.com/ray-project/ray/tree/master/rllib.


ABSTRACT Objective: The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the long term is unclear. We evaluated severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)–related transmission fear and mental-health disorders in populations at high risk for COVID-19. Materials and Methods: Healthcare workers and patients with primary immunodeficiency disorders (PIDs), severe asthma, malignancy, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus were included in the study. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) and Fear of Illness and Virus Evaluation (FIVE) scales were applied during face-to-face interviews. Results: There was a total of 560 participants, 80 per group; 306 (55%) were female. The FIVE and HADS-A scale scores of health care workers were significantly higher than the other groups (p = 0.001 and 0.006). The second-highest scores were in patients with PID. There was no significant difference between the groups in HADS-D scores (p = 0.07). There was a significant positive correlation between FIVE scale scores and anxiety (r = 0.828; p < 0.001) and depression (r = 0.660; p < 0.001). The FIVE scale had significant discriminatory power for anxiety (AUC = 0.870, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.836–0.904; p < 0.0001) and depression (area under the curve = 0.760, 95% CI = 0.717–0.803; p < 0.0001). Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental-health disorders may develop in patients with comorbidities, especially healthcare workers. They should be referred to mental-health centers. Keywords: Asthma, COVID-19, fear of virus transmission, mental health, primary immunodeficiency


The development objective of Project for Integrated Urban Economic Development (PIUED) for Albania is to improve urban infrastructure, enhance tourism assets, and strengthen institutional capacity to support tourism related local economic development in selected areas in the south of Albania. Some of the negative impacts include: (i) materials supplied from illegal or unauthorized sites may exert pressure on the natural resources; (ii) water and soil pollution from improper material storage, management and usage of construction machinery; (iii) water and soil pollution from improper disposal of waste materials; (iv) impact on vegetation, trees,meadows, etc; (v) disease prevention and health examinations; and (vi) cultural or historical interest. Some of the mitigation measures include: (i) requirement for official approval or valid operating license; (ii) ensure proper waste management on site in order to prevent pollution; (iii) dispose waste material at appropriate designated location protected from runoff, in cooperation with the municipality of Saranda; (iv) the clearing of vegetation shall be kept to a minimum, with replacement planting planned and conducted, and shall be done in coordination with the measures for protection of habitats and river banks; (v) preventative health examinations for workers, training on disease prevention, provision of education or information and health related to reduce sexually related disease; and (vi) during excavation and general works, the works will cease immediately, the area will be secured and the relevant authorities will be informed within three days of said finds.


OBJECTIVE
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic mainly involves respiratory symptoms, though gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are increasingly being recognized. In this context, the presence of comorbidities appears to be associated with adverse outcomes. However, the role of digestive manifestations is not yet well defined. The primary aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of GI symptoms and digestive comorbidities in a cohort of patients with COVID-19 compared to controls. The secondary aim was to determine the association of GI-symptoms and digestive comorbidities with clinical outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Inpatients with COVID-19 and controls with similar symptoms and/or radiological findings were enrolled. Symptoms at admission and throughout hospitalization were collected as they were comorbidities. The measured clinical outcomes were mortality, intensive care unit admission and cumulative endpoint.

RESULTS
A total of 105 patients were included: 34 with COVID-19 and 71 controls. At admission, the prevalence of GI symptoms among COVID-19 patients was 8.8%. During hospitalization, the frequency of GI symptoms was higher in patients with COVID-19 than in controls (p=0.004). Among patients with COVID-19, the mortality and a cumulative endpoint rates of those with GI symptoms were both lower than for those without GI symptoms (p=0.016 and p=0.000, respectively). Finally, we found digestive comorbidities to be associated with a milder course of COVID-19 (p=0.039 for cumulative endpoint).

CONCLUSIONS
Our results highlighted the non-negligible frequency of GI symptoms in patients with COVID-19, partly attributable to the therapies implemented. In addition, the presence of GI symptoms and digestive comorbidities is associated with better outcomes. Most likely, digestive comorbidities do not hinder the host's immune response against SARS-COV-2, and the occurrence of GI symptoms might be linked to a faster reduction of the viral load via the faecal route.


We give a solution to a problem posed by Corteel and Nadeau concerning permutation tableaux of length $n$ and the number of occurrences of the dashed pattern 32–1 in permutations on $[n]$. We introduce the inversion number of a permutation tableau. For a permutation tableau $T$ and the permutation $\pi$ obtained from $T$ by the bijection of Corteel and Nadeau, we show that the inversion number of $T$ equals the number of occurrences of the dashed pattern 32–1 in the reverse complement of $\pi$. We also show that permutation tableaux without inversions coincide with L-Bell tableaux introduced by Corteel and Nadeau.


Trees are known for their positive impacts in cities including: the provision of shade, reducing heat island effects, improving amenity, reducing social vulnerability, processing carbon and improving health outcomes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, greening policies at the local and state level have proliferated. Despite these initiatives, tree cover remains stubbornly uneven. A cursory analysis of vulnerability and tree-cover by location shows that those who are most vulnerable to extreme heat events (Loughnan et al 2013) often live in those parts of cities that are most poorly shaded (ISF, 2014). Drawing on a new set of 50 online questionnaire and face-to-face interviews with local council officers in Melbourne conducted in 2014, the aim of this paper is to identify the actors and processes shaping the provision of the urban tree canopy. The results emphasise: i) the wide range of public and private organisations that, in collaboration, provide and maintain tree-cover; ii) the key role of residents within these governance frameworks; iii) the impact of urban development histories on opportunities and limits for urban greening. Theoretically, the paper advances relational models of urban governance in the context of resilient cities showing the urban canopy is the product of diverse actors and agents operating across hybrid and fluid public and private spaces (McGuirk 2012). Recognising this, the paper highlights opportunities for engagement with residents in greening initiatives; and a new integration of ecological and social data through which greening strategies can target those of greatest heat vulnerability.


In comparison with transformation vectors available for use in E. coli or yeast, there has been relatively little development of vectors for use in filamentous fungi. For example, expression yeast vectors carrying polylinkers flanked by promoters and terminators are available for various uses but such vectors have not been in the public domain for researchers working with filamentous fungi. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License. This regular paper is available in Fungal Genetics Reports: http://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol40/iss1/22 A series of six compact fungal transformation vectors containing polylinkers with multiple unique restriction sites Martin L. Pall and Joseph P. Brunelli Department of Genetics and Cell Biology and Department of Biochemistry/Biophysics, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4234 In comparison with transformation vectors available for use in E. coli or yeast, there has been relatively little development of vectors for use in filamentous fungi. For example, expression yeast vectors carrying polylinkers flanked by promoters and terminators are available for various uses but such vectors have not been in the public domain for researchers working with filamentous fungi. In addition, in E. coli, many of the most useful, compact vectors carry polylinkers into which insertion can be monitored using blue/white screening but we are only aware of one such vector designed for use in filamentous fungi (Nelson and Metzenberg, 1992 Fungal Genet. Newsl. 39:59-60). The most compact available fungal selectable marker is the Ignite/basta-resistance (bar) gene (Avalos et al. 1989 Curr. Genet. 16:369-372; Straubinger et al. 1992 Fungal Genet. Newsl. 39:82-83; Pall, this volume). We report here on the construction of six compact fungal transformation vectors carrying the bar gene. Four of these carry polylinker regions subcloned from pGEM5Zf(+), pGEM7Zf(+), and pBluescriptII KS+ (Promega Biotech and Stratagene). The other two are expression vectors with numerous useful features. The first four of the vectors are shown in Figure 1 and described in the text. Three of them (pBARGEM5-1, pBARGEM7-1, and pBARKS1) are each about 4.5 kb and all four carry the bar gene under control of the Aspergillus nidulans trpC promoter. The polylinkers from the pGEM and Bluescript vectors are shown at the top of each restriction map, with the four to eight sites that are unique in each construct underlined. Two important points about these four vectors are as follows: Insertion of markers into these polylinkers will, in most cases, disrupt the function of the lacZ` gene which can be monitored by blue/white screening in medium containing Xgal using such E. coli host strains as DH5` or SURE. These vectors all replicate at relatively high copy number in E. coli, allowing relatively easy isolation of their DNA. One vector, pBARGEM7-2, shown in (Figure 1) carries the lox NotI lox sequence derived from the pSE936 vector of Elledge et al. (1991, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:1731-1735), as shown in the the left top part of its restriction map. This sequence has several important features that are described below. Two expression vectors were constructed carrying the N. crassa mtr or, alternatively, the A. nidulans gpdA promoter and the A. nidulans trpC terminator flanking a polylinker with multiple unique sites. The BamHI to KpnI region of the polylinkers was subcloned from pBluescriptII KS+. The mtr promoter cloned into pBARMTE1 (fig. 2) is composed of nucleotides 1 through Published by New Prairie Press, 2017 306 (SalI site) of the insert of the pCVN2.9 plasmid described previously by Koo and Stuart (1991, Genome 30:198-203). It was prevously thought that the large open reading frame of the mtr gene started at position 975 (Koo and Stuart, op cit) of this sequence but Davin Dillon and David Stadler (personal communication) have recently shown that it actually starts upstream, possibly at position 347. The sequence of the gpdA promoter cloned into pBARGPE1 was from position -679 to position +53 (Punt et al. 1988 Gene 69:49-57). Both expression vectors are designed to express genes or cDNAs under their own initiation codons. In order to test the activity of these promoter/terminator combinations, precursor plasmids of pBARMTE1 and pBARGPE1, containing the same promoter/terminator sequences but without any fungal selectable markers were taken and the coding sequence of the bar gene devoid of any other promoter or terminator activity was inserted into their polylinkers. These were then used to transform N. crassa, selecting for Ignite/basta-resistance. Both of these constructs were active in generating basta-resistant transformants although about 2 to 3 times as many transformants were produced by the mtr construct as by the gpdA construct. We infer that both of these promoter/terminator combinations are active in N. crassa but that the mtr construct may be somewhat more active than is the gpdA construct. The lox-NotI-lox sequence, found above in pBARGEM7-2, is present in the upper left region of the pBARMTE1 and pBARGPE1 plasmid maps (Figure 2). This sequence has been used by Elledge et al. (1991 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:1731-1735) and by us (Brunelli and Pall, unpublished) to attach plasmids to the NotI containing arms of a derivative of lambda-gt7. This converts a plasmid vector into a lambda vector of a special type. Because the lox sites are sites of site-specific recombination catalyzed by the Cre protein, lambda infection of E. coli strains carrying a cre gene leads to excision of the plasmid sequence from the lambda vector. This "automatic excision" of the plasmid gives these vectors the advantages of both lambda and plasmids the efficient packaging, infection and storage of large inserts in lambda and the compact size and easy handling of plasmids. The EcoRI and XhoI sites in the polylinker of these vectors are unique not only in the plasmid versions but also in the lambda versions, allowing these to be used for construction of genomic and cDNA libaries. We expect to be inserting each of these three lox-NotI-lox-containing plasmids into lambda shortly. The plasmids described are available through the Fungal Genetics Stock Center. The bar gene in these constructs is active in E. coli, producing resistance to 400 micrograms/ml of Ignite/basta added to mineral salts/glucose media. We plan to replace the bar gene in some these constructs with the hygromycin B resistance gene (hph or hyg) to provide an alternative selectable marker and also change the pattern of unique sites in the polylinkers. http://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol40/iss1/22 DOI: 10.4148/1941-4765.1413 Published by New Prairie Press, 2017 http://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol40/iss1/22 DOI: 10.4148/1941-4765.1413 Published by New Prairie Press, 2017 Figure 1. Plasmid maps of four fungal transformation vectors. Each carries the bar gene as a selectable marker (lower left portion of map), a polylinker and lacZalpha sequence from pGEM or pBluescript vectors, including promoters from T3, T7 and/or SP6, and ampicillin-resistance gene and pUC type origin for growth and selection in E. coli. The pBARGEM7-2 plasmid also contains the lox-NotI-lox sequence allowing for attachment to lambda and site-specific recombination between lox sites. http://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol40/iss1/22 DOI: 10.4148/1941-4765.1413 Published by New Prairie Press, 2017 Figure 2. Plasmid maps of two fungal expression vectors. Each plasmid carries a polylinker with 5 or 6 unique restriction sites flanked on the right by a fungal promoter directing transcription into the polylinker and flanked on the left by the trpC terminator. Both plasmids carry a bar selectable marker and a lox-NotI-lox site for insertion into lambda and for site-specific recombination between lox sites. http://newprairiepress.org/fgr/vol40/iss1/22 DOI: 10.4148/1941-4765.1413


It is well-known that Gini coefficient is influenced by granularity of measurements. When there are few observations only or when they get reduced due to grouping, standard measures exhibit a non-negligible downward bias. At times, bias may be positive when there is an apparent reduction in sample size. Although authors agreed on distribution-free and distribution-specific parts of it, there is no consensus in regard to types of bias, their magnitude and the methods of correction in the former. This paper deals with the distribution-free downward biases only, which arise in two forms. One is related to scale and occurs in all the cases stated above, when number of observations is small. Both occur together if initial number of observations is not sufficiently large and further they get reduced due to grouping. Underestimations associated with the former is demonstrated and addressed, for discontinuous case, through alternative formulation with simplicity following the principle of mean difference without repetition. Equivalences of it are also derived under the geometric and covariance approaches. However, when it arises with the other, a straightforward claim of it in its full magnitude may be unwarranted and quite paradoxical. Some exercises are done consequently to make Gini coefficient standardized and comparable for a fixed number of observations. Corrections in case of the latter are done accordingly with a newly proposed operational pursuit synchronizing the relevant previous and present concerns. The paper concludes after addressing some definitional issues in regard to convention and adjustments in cases of small observations.