An account of the formation and characterization of stripe waveguides formed by silver/sodium ion exchange is given. It is shown that the variation of effective index with guide width can be predicted with good accuracy using a computer model to both solve the exchange equation to obtain the refractive index profile and to calculate the modes of the resulting structure. It is found that while the use of an anodized aluminum mask results in low-loss waveguides, a metallic mask causes deposition of silver at the edges of the guide. The experimental methods used for aluminum anodization and for characterization of the waveguides are described in detail.


This paper considers inference from multinomial data and addresses the problem of choosing the strength of the Dirichlet prior under a mean-squared error criterion. We compare the Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) and the most commonly used Bayesian estimators obtained by assuming a prior Dirichlet distribution with "noninformative" prior parameters, that is, the parameters of the Dirichlet are equal and altogether sum up to the so called strength of the prior. Under this criterion, MLE becomes more preferable than the Bayesian estimators at the increase of the number of categories k of the multinomial, because non-informative Bayesian estimators induce a region where they are dominant that quickly shrinks with the increase of k. This can be avoided if the strength of the prior is not kept constant but decreased with the number of categories. We argue that the strength should decrease at least k times faster than usual estimators do.


This article describes the evolution of the public corporation's role in the criminal justice process - from potential defendant to "branch office of the prosecutor," partnering with the government in investigating business crime - and assesses the impact of this evolution on criminal justice policy. The first part of the article describes the branch-office role, tracing its development back to the 1970s, and shows how it has come to be routine for public corporations to assist prosecutors in their investigations. The second part discusses the implications of this shift in institutional role. The article first argues that the public corporation's branch-office role is likely to be durable because it benefits both corporations and prosecutors, effectively exploiting the misalignment of interests between the corporation and its employees and providing substantial efficiency gains to prosecutors. The article next examines the effect of this new role on legal rules, arguing that the protections of the corporate attorney-client privilege should not be increased nor constitutional constraints imposed when the corporation is acting in its branch-office role. The article then examines the potential effect of the new role on prosecutors' willingness to bring criminal charges against corporations and, ultimately, on deterrence in business crime cases. The article argues that the danger of this new role lies primarily in these areas. The new branch-office role, with its tools of amnesty, agreements not to prosecute, and agreements to defer prosecution, provides a middle ground for prosecutors between declination and prosecution. This middle ground may prove overly attractive to prosecutors, increasing their ability to prosecute corporate executives, but cutting down on first-offense prosecutions against corporations, likely the most critical for deterring corporations from committing business crimes. Although pursuing criminal charges against executives and employees can certainly be an effective deterrent to business crime, it is not a sufficient one. A credible threat of corporate criminal liability is necessary to assure overall deterrence, as well as to assure that corporations continue to have an incentive to play this important branch-office role in investigating complex business crime cases.


American death sentences have both declined and become concentrated in a small group of counties. In his dissenting opinion in Glossip v. Gross in 2014, Justice Stephen Breyer argued today's death penalty is unconstitutional, noting that from 2004 to 2006, "just 29 counties (fewer than 1% of counties in the country) accounted for approximately half of all death sentences imposed nationwide." That decline has become more dramatic. Just fifty-one defendants were sentenced to death in 2015 in thirty-eight counties. In 2016, just thirty defendants were sentenced to death in twenty-seven counties. In the mid-1990s, by way of contrast, over three hundred people were sentenced to death in as many as two hundred counties per year. While scholars and journalists have increasingly commented on this decline and speculated as to what might be causing it, empirical research has not examined it. This Article reports the results of statistical analysis of data hand-collected on all death sentencing, by county, for the entire modern era of capital punishment, from 1990 to 2016. This analysis of death sentencing data from 1990 to 2016, seeks to answer the question why a few counties, but not the vast bulk of the others, still impose death sentences. We examine state and county-level changes in murder rates, population, victim race, demography, and other characteristics that might explain shifting death sentencing patterns. We find that death sentences are strongly associated with urban, densely populous counties. Second, we find that death sentences are strongly associated with counties that have large black populations. Third, we find homicide rates are related to death sentencing in three ways: contemporaneously within and between death sentencing counties, lagged within and between death sentencing counties. and that counties with more white victims of homicide have more death sentencing. Fourth, we find that death sentencing is associated with inertia or the number of prior death sentences within a county. These results suggest what remains of the American death penalty is quite fragile and reflects a legacy of racial bias and idiosyncratic local preferences. We conclude by discussing the practical and legal implications of these trends for the much- diminished death penalty and for criminal justice more broadly.


Global Capitalism, FDI and Competitiveness comprises 15 of John Dunning's most widely acknowledged writings on the changing characteristics of the global economy over the past three decades. In particular, it examines how these events have shaped, and been shaped by, the growing internationalization of all forms of business activity.


The therapist's function in a group of adolescents can't be kept out of consideration from one's own mental disposition, experience, cultural references and from one's own adolescence. The teen-agers themselves are able to recognize the leader's psychological profile and to challenge the adult-therapist attacking his or her vulnerability. Before discussing the subject, it is important for me to specify that I work as a therapist in a public psychiatric structure in Rome. In this context, I hold positions in the institution as an administrator and as a therapist. The patients expect many things from me: they would like a comfortable room, with nice furniture, while at the same time maintaining total availability. Often patients who use public services are guided by some fantasies: the ambulatory is seen like a big good mother that can offer many things, not particulary punitve and that is ready to receive everybody,a structure that functions like a large-meshed net. The operators are often trusted to by the fantasy to be omnipotent and to be very good in their work because they have many years of experience and because they have seen many patients. All this, unavoidably, brings the risk of running into frequent disappointments, devaluations or idealization of the therapist. In this congress it is important for me to investigate which functios are brought up by the group of teen-agers on the therapist.


Sleep is important to a healthy lifestyle for parents and children, and having effective ways of putting a child to sleep contributes significantly to mental and physical wellbeing. Cultural groups around the world have developed a variety of approaches to this task, for example, rocking, co-sleeping, bed-sharing, breastfeeding to sleep, and encouraging infants to self soothe through various methods of infant sleep training. In New Zealand the continuation of traditional Māori approaches to infant sleep, e.g. co-sleeping, bed-sharing, responsivity to infant cues have been over-shadowed by its negative association with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and dependence on parent interaction when initiating infant sleep. In this study, we were interested in the approaches Māori parents used to put their pēpi (child, 2 months-2 years of age) to sleep and the various factors that have influenced these approaches. Data were collected through online surveys (n =58) and face-to-face interviews (n =10) with Māori parents. Survey results indicated that being held and breast or bottle fed to sleep were the most practiced techniques by Māori parents. Parent assisted approaches, e.g., rocking, feeding, lying with baby until they go to sleep, were the most practiced. Many parents planned for their babies to sleep separately but very few actually persisted with self-soothing approaches due to a number of factors, such as discomfort with listening to their babies cry, culture, whānau (extended families) influences safety, and convenience. The majority of participants expressed a desire for separate sleep; however, few within the interview group actually successfully practiced separate sleep regularly.


Abstract: Broad concern for language issues in evaluation has been limited in comparison to other social science disciplines. In this article, some occasions of definitional or conceptual confusion with evaluation theory language are identified that emerged during a study conducted by Christie. We suggest that much of the language we use to describe evaluation practice is steeped in theoretical terminology, which may limit the utility of the language. We also argue that theoretical language ought to be used with great care, with attention to the subtleties and nuances of terms, for there may be unexpected confusion or ambiguity in the field about the terms we routinely use. A research agenda is offered, suggesting that it would be both an informative as well as a useful task for us to learn more about the everyday "folk theories" of the field and the vernacular used to describe them.


Many pharmacists are involved in public health in some way or another, although they may not use this term, while others may not be familiar with public health opportunities for pharmacists, but may wish to become more involved in the future. In this article, we will consider the relevance of public health to current and future pharmacy practice in South Africa.
We commence by looking at what is meant by "public health", and discussing its relevance to South Africa. We will then deliberate on who should be involved. Pharmacists roles in public health will be explored, and current and future opportunities and challenges for South African pharmacists in public health, examined.


BACKGROUND
Sperm functional tests as an addition to semen analysis have been used to study the fertilization ability of spermatozoa. Besides the usual variability of the seminal analysis an individual variability in the results of functional tests has been recently found.

AIM
To evaluate in a three months period, the individual variability of sperm parameters and sperm maturation using the chromatin condensation test and epidydime a-glucosidase (that allows to discriminate obstructive processes).

MATERIAL AND METHOD
The evaluation was carried out in two donors (12 samples) apparently in good health. One of them presented evident semen analysis alterations (donor 1) and the other was considered normal under the WHO standards (donor 2).

RESULTS
The averages for donor 1 were: Sperm count 24 x 106 sperm/ml (range 10-58 x 106 sperm/ml), morphology 31.8% (range 30-35%), total motility 33% (range 20-42%), sperm maturation 38% (range 28-78%), a-glucosidase 8.65 (U/ml (range 5-10 (U/ml). The averages for donor 2 were: Sperm count 96 x 106 sperm/ml (range 50-140 x 106 sperm/ml), morphology 32.2% (range 30-35%), total motility 69% (range 58-78%), sperm maturation 17% (range 7-30%), a-glucosidase 36.9 (U/ml (range 20-82 (U/ml).

CONCLUSIONS
These results show that significant variations can be found in the sperm parameters and in seminal plasma a-glucosidase; however these variations are generally maintained at the normal or abnormal ranges for each individual, except the sperm morphology that was constant and with low variation in both donors. The determination of the chromatin condensation in the semen analysis gives an additional information about the grade of sperm maturation and would be of great value for differentiating between sperm samples that show similar morphology values.


The population of Sweden is ageing and the number of pensioners is increasing. This means that the incomes of older people and the income differences between older and younger people and among pensioners have become more important in terms of public debate and research. In this paper, we examine the income distribution of those 65 years and older. The income differences among both men and women have increased among those of 65-74 years and older since 1982. Women generally have lower incomes and pensions than men. Foreign born persons generally have lower incomes and pensions compared to natives. This difference has increased, especially with regard to those coming from non-OECD countries. Among those with low pensions, women, the foreign born and those who have been self-employed are overrepresented. Many who retire have large amount of net wealth, especially in the form of property (houses, apartments).


Previous studies have demonstrated that the salin- ity in the Levantine basin depends on the intensity of the At- lantic water (AW) inflow. Moreover, its spreading eastward (to the Levantine basin) or northward (to the Ionian Sea) is determined by the Ionian circulation pattern, i.e. by the Adriatic-Ionian Bimodal Oscillating System (BiOS) mecha- nism. The aim of this paper is to relate salinity variations in the Levantine basin to the salt content variability in the core of the Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) passing through the Sicily Channel (SC) and its possible impact on the West- ern Mediterranean Transition - WMT (i.e. the sudden salin- ity and temperature increase in the deep layer of the Algero- Provencal subbasin occurring since 2004). From the his- torical data set MEDAR/MEDATLAS in the Levantine and northern Ionian, we present evidence of decadal occurrences of extreme salinities associated with the varying influx of AW over the last 60 yr. Furthermore, we show that the salin- ity variations in the two subbasins are out of phase. High- salinity episodes in the Levantine are a pre-conditioning for the potential occurrence of the events like the Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT). Cross-correlation between the salinity time series in the Levantine basin and in the SC suggests that the travel time of the LIW is between 10 and 13 yr. Comparing the timing of the salinity increase asso- ciated with the WMT and the salinity in the LIW core in the SC, we estimate that the total time interval needed for the signal propagating from the Levantine to reach the deep mixed layers of the Algero-Provencal subbasin is about 25 yr. We also showed that the extra salt input from the eastern Mediterranean contribute up to about 60 % to the salt content increase in the bottom layer of the western Mediterranean.


Imatinib mesylate (imatinib) has been shown to be highly efficacious in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Continuous and adequate dosing is essential for optimal outcomes and with imatinib treatment possibly being lifelong, patient adherence is critical. The ADAGIO (Adherence Assessment with Glivec: Indicators and Outcomes) study aimed to assess prospectively over a 90-day period the prevalence of imatinib nonadherence in patients with CML; to develop a multivariate canonical correlation model of how various determinants may be associated with various measures of nonadherence; and to examine whether treatment response is associated with adherence levels. A total of 202 patients were recruited from 34 centers in Belgium, of whom 169 were evaluable. One-third of patients were considered to be nonadherent. Only 14.2% of patients were perfectly adherent with 100% of prescribed imatinib taken. On average, patients with suboptimal response had significantly higher mean percentages of imatinib not taken (23.2%, standard deviation [SD] = 23.8) than did those with optimal response (7.3%, SD = 19.3, P = .005; percentages calculated as proportions x 100). Nonadherence is more prevalent than patients, physicians, and family members believe it is, and therefore should be assessed routinely. It is associated with poorer response to imatinib. Several determinants may serve as alert signals, many of which are clinically modifiable.


Web-based geospatial client applications such as Google Earth and NASA World Wind must listen to data requests, access appropriate stored data, and compile a data response to the requesting client application. This process occurs repeatedly to support multiple client requests and application instances. Newer Web-based geospatial clients also provide user-interactive functionality that is dependent on fast and efficient server responses. With massively large datasets, server-client interaction can become severely impeded because the server must determine the best way to assemble data to meet the client applications request. In client applications such as Google Earth, the user interactively wanders through the data using visually guided panning and zooming actions. With these actions, the client application is continually issuing data requests to the server without knowledge of the server s data structure or extraction/assembly paradigm. A method for efficiently controlling the networked access of a Web-based geospatial browser to server-based datasets in particular, massively sized datasets has been developed. The method specifically uses the Keyhole Markup Language (KML), an Open Geospatial Consortium (OGS) standard used by Google Earth and other KML-compliant geospatial client applications. The innovation is based on establishing a dynamic cascading KML strategy that is initiated by a KML launch file provided by a data server host to a Google Earth or similar KMLcompliant geospatial client application user. Upon execution, the launch KML code issues a request for image data covering an initial geographic region. The server responds with the requested data along with subsequent dynamically generated KML code that directs the client application to make follow-on requests for higher level of detail (LOD) imagery to replace the initial imagery as the user navigates into the dataset. The approach provides an efficient data traversal path and mechanism that can be flexibly established for any dataset regardless of size or other characteristics. The method yields significant improvements in userinteractive geospatial client and data server interaction and associated network bandwidth requirements. The innovation uses a C- or PHP-code-like grammar that provides a high degree of processing flexibility. A set of language lexer and parser elements is provided that offers a complete language grammar for writing and executing language directives. A script is wrapped and passed to the geospatial data server by a client application as a component of a standard KML-compliant statement. The approach provides an efficient means for a geospatial client application to request server preprocessing of data prior to client delivery. Data is structured in a quadtree format. As the user zooms into the dataset, geographic regions are subdivided into four child regions. Conversely, as the user zooms out, four child regions collapse into a single, lower-LOD region. The approach provides an efficient data traversal path and mechanism that can be flexibly established for any dataset regardless of size or other characteristics.


The long-acting b2-agonist salmeterol xinafoate: effects on airway inflammation in asthma. J.A. Roberts, P. Bradding, K.M. Britten, A.F. Walls, S. Wilson, C. Gratziou, S.T. Holgate, P.H. Howarth. #ERS Journals Ltd 1999. ABSTRACT: Salmeterol xinafoate is an inhaled long-acting b2-adrenoceptor agonist recently introduced for the treatment of asthma. Both in vitro and animal studies suggest that it may have anti-inflammatory activities of benefit in this disease. To assess this directly, the effects of 6 weeks' treatment with salmeterol on indices of clinical activity, airway dysfunction and inflammation in subjects with stable atopic asthma were investigated. In a double blind study, asthmatic patients were randomized to 6 weeks' treatment with either salmeterol 50 mg twice daily (n=14) or placebo (n=12). They underwent bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and bronchial biopsy immediately before starting treatment and again after 6 weeks. Treatment with salmeterol improved clinical indices of asthma activity, but there were no changes in BAL differential cell counts or mediator levels, and no change in Tcell numbers or activation status. In the biopsy specimens there were no changes in numbers of inflammatory cells, sub-basement membrane collagen deposition or mast cell degranulation. Regular treatment with salmeterol improves clinical indices of asthma but has no effect on the underlying inflammatory process. These findings strengthen guideline recommendations that long-acting b2-agonists should not be prescribed as sole antiasthma medication. Eur Respir J 1999; 14: 275±282. University Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.


This paper addresses several related epistemological difficulties with the neoclassical
micro‐foundations of standard economics, and explores what these
difficulties imply about the recent dominance of these micro‐foundations in both
economic research and applied policy and finance settings. Building on the
crucial distinction made by Knight and Keynes between calculable risk and
uncertainty, the paper makes a further distinction between two types of
uncertainty – epistemological and ontological. It argues that standard economics
underestimates how problematic the interface between theory and reality is for
both economic agents and social scientists, and overlooks the impossibility of
knowing the future yet to be created by innovation and the freedom to choose.
The paper outlines alternative micro‐foundations that capture how agents use
imagination and narratives alongside market coordination to cope with
uncertainty and construct the future. It also explains several research and policy
implications of taking uncertainty seriously – the limits of prediction, the
incoherence of many bolt‐on amendments to neo‐classical theory, the dangers of
analytical monocultures, and the importance of discourse analysis and pluralism
in modelling. Recognition that neo‐classical models are inappropriate for dealing
with problems characterised by widespread innovation and uncertainty should
augment rather than reduce the undoubted value of these same models in many
other areas of analysis.


Protein adsorption at oil-water interfaces of emulsions is an important process in the manufacture of many emulsion-based products in food and pharmaceutical industries. It is widely known that for protein-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions, the interfacial structure of proteins adsorbed at oil-water interfaces plays an active role in controlling the physical stability of the emulsions. However, the colloidal properties of emulsions such as the strong scattering and high absorbance of light have severely limited the ability of spectroscopic techniques to measure the interfacial structure of proteins. The lack of studies that systematically investigate the interfacial structure of proteins adsorbed at oil-water interfaces has limited our understanding of how the adsorption process mediates protein structural change and in turn the physical stability of the protein-stabilized emulsions. To address this issue, there is therefore great need to employ novel biophysical techniques that provide molecular level understanding of the interfacial structure of proteins adsorbed at oil-water interfaces.
This thesis explores three biophysical techniques, i.e. synchrotron radiation circular dichroism (SRCD) spectroscopy, front-face tryptophan fluorescence (FFTF) spectroscopy and dual polarization interferometry (DPI), to study the interfacial structure of proteins adsorbed at oil-water interfaces of emulsions. The strong light from the synchrotron radiation source significantly enhanced the sensitivity of SRCD spectroscopy in measuring optically turbid emulsions. SRCD spectroscopy proved to be a powerful technique providing information on both the secondary and tertiary structure of proteins adsorbed at oil-water interfaces. Studies using FFTF spectroscopy in this thesis provided specific information on changes in the tertiary folding of globular proteins adsorbed at oil-water interfaces. DPI was employed in this thesis as a sensing technique to measure the geometric dimensions of proteins (thickness and density) adsorbed at planar hydrophobic interfaces mimicking oil-water interfaces of emulsions. Using the techniques of SRCD, FFTF and DPI, the interfacial structures of three proteins, i.e. β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg), α-lactalbumin (α-La) and β-casein, adsorbed at oil-water interfaces were therefore characterized at a molecular level. These milk proteins are common components of emulsifiers used in many food emulsions and have been frequently used as model proteins in studies of protein adsorption.
Studies on the interfacial structure of β-Lg adsorbed at oil-water interfaces of two model emulsions (hexadecane-in-water and tricaprylin-in-water emulsions) showed that upon adsorption to oil-water interfaces, β-Lg changed from its native globular structure (3.6 nm in diameter) rich in β-sheet into an open flat structure with a non-native secondary structure with heat-resistant, α-helical-rich characteristics. The β-Lg layer adsorbed at planar hydrophobic surfaces mimicking oil-water interfaces of emulsions was shown to be thin (~1 nm) and dense (~1 g/cm3). The droplet surfaces surrounded by the β-Lg interfacial layers were negatively charged (approximately -60 mV of ζ-potential), providing electrostatic repulsion between the emulsion droplets. Parallel studies on the physical stability of β-Lg-stabilized emulsions showed that these emulsions were resistant to droplet flocculation under the condition of heating up to 90 °C. However, increasing the ionic strength by adding 120 mM NaCl reduced the strength of the electrostatic interactions and thus caused β-Lg-stabilized emulsions to undergo heat-induced droplet flocculation.
Studies on the interfacial structure of α-La adsorbed at oil-water interfaces showed that α-La also underwent a significant structural change. Adsorption caused a loss of the well-defined globular structure of α-La (2.5 x 3.2 x 3.7 nm in crystal structure dimension) accompanied by the formation of a non-native, heat-resistant, α-helical-rich secondary structure. This structural change resulted in a thin (~1 nm) and dense (~1 g/cm3) layer of α-La, which was negatively charged (approximately -49 mV of ζ-potential). The main stabilization mechanism of α-La-stabilized emulsions was therefore also electrostatic repulsion. Like β-Lg-stabilized emulsions, α-La-stabilized emulsions were resistant to droplet flocculation under the condition of heating up to 90 °C. Interestingly, α-La-stabilized emulsions displayed better stability than β-Lg-stabilized emulsions under the condition of heating in the presence of 120 mM NaCl, mainly due to the lack of inter-droplet disulfide bonding reactions between the interfacial α-La layers.
Studies on β-casein, a flexible protein with a large amount of unordered secondary structure, showed that adsorption to oil-water interfaces induced the formation of the non-native α-helical structure in β-casein. The β-casein layer adsorbed at the planar hydrophobic surface was thicker (~5 nm) and more diffuse (0.4 g/cm3) than the β-Lg and α-La layers. The droplet surfaces surrounded by the β-casein layers were also negatively charged (-40 mV of ζ-potential). This interfacial structure of β-casein provided both electrostatic and steric repulsion between the droplets of β-casein-stabilized emulsions, which showed excellent resistance to droplet flocculation under conditions of heating up to 90 °C and 120 mM NaCl addition. This interfacial structure and function of β-casein in oil-in-water emulsions led to a study exploring the ability of β-casein as a stabilizer in another colloidal system, i.e. lipid liquid crystalline nanostructured particles, which are important systems in drug delivery applications. Results obtained from this study revealed that β-casein adsorbed to lipid-water interfaces, provided steric stabilization and favoured the formation of the hexagonal liquid crystalline phase in these lipid nanostructured particles.
 Overall, studies in this thesis have advanced our understanding of how adsorption to oil-water or lipid-water interfaces leads to changes in the structure of proteins and in turn how it impacts on their function as stabilizers for colloids containing oil or lipid particles, which have implications in areas such as improvement of food emulsion stability and development of new drug delivery systems.


The innervation of the muscles of the cheliped of Cambarus clarkii has been investigated both anatomically and physiologically. It is found that at least three of the six principal muscles of the cheliped show a triple innervation. Each of these muscles in the unregenerated claw is innervated by three axons only. Such "completely" innervated muscles are the extensor and flexor of the carpopodite and the flexor of the propodite. The extensor of the propodite and the abductor of the dacty-lopodite have only a double innervation. Both these muscles together are innervated by three axons; one fibre gives branches to each of the muscles, a second to the abductor only, and a third to the extensor. An extension of the last fibre can, in a number of cases, be seen to join two fibres for the adductor of the dactylopodite, making the innervation of this muscle complete. In other preparations the third fibre for the adductor is very thin.

It is shown for the flexor of the carpopodite that each of the three fibres of this "completely" innervated muscle has a different function. Stimulation of the thickest fibre gives a fast contraction, stimulation of the second in size a slow contraction and stimulation of the third fibre, the smallest, causes inhibition. Both the fast and the slow contraction can be inhibited, but the slow contraction is more sensitive in this respect (see Fig. 4). It is shown that the axon which the abductor and the extensor of the propodite have in common is of the excitatory type. This makes these muscles two parts of one motor unit, each part having its own inhibitory fibre.


Rheumatoid arthritis-like symptoms can be initiated experimentally in naive K/BxN mice by simultaneously administering the two monoclonal antibodies 11H3 and 46H9. Both antibodies specifically recognize Glucose- 6-Phosphate Isomerase (GPI), a known auto antigen in RA patients. Amino acid sequences of the Fv parts of the antibodies were determined by translating the respective hybridoma DNA sequences and served for threedimensional structure modeling of the paratope regions. In silico docking of both Fv antibody structure models to the X-ray structures of the homodimeric murine GPI as well as to the homodimeric human GPI predicted the murine epitope of the 11H3 antibodies to comprise partial amino acid sequences QRVRSGDWKGYTGKS (aa134-148) and AAKDPSAVAK (aa232-241), generating an assembled (conformational) epitope. The 11H3 epitope on human GPI encompasses the matching partial amino acid sequences QRVRSGDWKGYTGKT (aa134-148) and AAKDPSAVAK (aa232-241). The epitope of the 46H9 antibody was determined to consist of the partial murine GPI amino acid sequence RKELQAAGKSPEDLEK (aa446-461) and the human GPI amino acid sequence RKELQAAGKSPEDLER (aa446-461), respectively, resembling consecutive (linear) epitopes. The predicted epitopes were verified by mass spectrometric epitope mapping using synthetic epitope peptides. Peptide QRVRSGDWKGYTGKS[GSMSGS] AAKDPSAAK included a small spacer sequence in between the epitope sequences, mimicking the assembled epitope for the 11H3 antibody. The peptide RKELQAAGKSPEDLEK represented the consecutive epitope for the 46H9 antibody. The determined B-cell epitopes of GPI and their interactions with the monoclonal antibodies provide a detailed structural understanding of immunological disease onset mechanisms in a mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis.


Čokan Čingisovič Valichanov (1835-1865) has been one of the most significant personalities in Kazakh culture of 19th century. This article aims to examine three items of his intellectual production that highly, although subtly, influenced the self-identification of contemporary Kazakhstan after its independence from Soviet Union: the ambiguous relationship with Russian world, the admiration toward the West, the interpretation of Islam as a cultural element of the steppe rather then the key religious system of Kazakh people. As a result, Valichanov appears not only as a great polymath of the past, but as a constant ideological reference for today's Kazakhstan.


This paper investigates whether the presence of college increases house prices and the tax base. Colleges provide cultural and recreational amenities to the surrounding area but lifestyle choices of students may create negative externalities that depress property prices. In addition, colleges are exempt from property taxes. While the property tax exemption reduces the tax base, the amenity value of the college may cause more development on the remaining land. Previous literature considers the impact of a wide range of amenities including open space, however, none try to capture the effect from a college in a given area. We find that the presence of a college is associated with house prices that are about 11 percent higher. However, the interaction of the college dummy and enrollment is also significant and negative. Taken together, the results suggest that small colleges have the largest effect on house prices and the positive effect on house prices disappears once the college enrollment reaches about 12,500 students. We also find that the effect on house prices is stronger for four-year colleges (14 percent higher) and that the source of the differential is the degree to which the college is residential. For the tax base, the story is simpler. The presence of a college is associated with a tax base that is about 24 percent higher. As is the case with house prices, the effect of a four-year college on the tax base is stronger (about 32 percent) than the effect of a community college. However, neither the size of the college nor the degree to which the college is residential has an impact on the tax base.


This was the first study to compare acute dysphagia service provision directly between the UK and the US. It examined variations in acute dysphagia services between the UK and the US, determined clinicians' perceptions of their own service and that of their transatlantic counterparts, and elicited the reason for variation. An online survey was distributed to randomly-allocated teaching hospitals in the UK and the US, and speech and language therapists working with acute dysphagia responded anonymously via an automated system. Content analysis was employed to convert free-text responses to numeric data, and then this and existing numeric responses were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. Variability was high, with the US having on average 0.95 whole time equivalent more clinicians per hospital than the UK. This resulted in an increased number of new patients examined and increased frequency of review of existing patients compared to the UK. In contrast, the UK had significantly increased waiting times with no patient being assessed on the same day as referral (compared to 63.6% of US responses). Notable variation was also seen in objective or instrumental assessment, with most US patients receiving videofluoroscopy or fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (compared to only one UK hospital). Finance was found to be at the root of the variation. However, the more extensive US service was found to be more cost-effective.


Abstract Bryonia species have traditionally been used as a diuretic and laxative, to reduce edema and relieve joint pain. B. alba roots are used especially to treat rheumatic pain and applied to painful joints in Turkish folk medicine. B. alba roots were extracted with n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and methanol, successively. The carrageenan-induced hind paw edema model and the Whittle method were used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts in mice. The p-benzoquinone-induced abdominal constriction test and tail flick test were used to evaluate the antinociceptive activity of the extracts in mice. DPPH-radical-scavenging activity, ABTS radical–scavenging activity, total antioxidant activity, and hydroxyl radical– scavenging activity were assessed. Furthermore, the total phenolic and total flavonoid contents were calculated for all the extracts. The EtOAc extract prepared from B. alba roots had the most promising anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, and antioxidant activities. Moreover, it had high phenolic and flavonoid contents. Therefore, B. alba roots could be alternative treatment method for rheumatic disorders.


At its height Renaissance Florence was a centre of enormous wealth, power and influence. A republican city-state funded by trade and banking, its often bloody political scene was dominated by rich mercantile families, the most famous of which were the Medici. This enthralling book charts the family's huge influence on the political, economic and cultural history of Florence. Beginning in the early 1430s with the rise of the dynasty under the near-legendary Cosimo de Medici, it moves through their golden era as patrons of some of the most remarkable artists and architects of the Renaissance, to the era of the Medici Popes and Grand Dukes, Florence's slide into decay and bankruptcy, and the end, in 1737, of the Medici line.


A new data model is described which permits the representation of the different roles which a real world entity may play. This data model is an extension of the network model, as used in I-D-S and its derivative, the CODASYL database system. The concepts of item and set are retained. The record concept has been refined to clarify the old record concept and introduce the new role-segment concept. The record represents the existence of an entity of the real world while the role-segment represents the existence of one of the entity's roles.

A person and a corporation are examples of an entity, while a stockholder and a customer are examples of a role that either the person or corporation can assume. A role-segment occurrence serves to group and name the properties concerning the existence of one role.

This paper shows that the record and role segment concepts can be integrated into the required data description and data manipulation language.

The meta entity types of the role data model are contrasted with those of older data models for the data occurrence domain. The ambigous use of meta types by the older models is thus shown. This ambiguity appears to prohibit those older data models from serving as the basis of a conceptual schema where data transformation support of richer data models is required.

The meta entity types of the role data model are identified, described and related to the real world, data occurrence, conceptual schema, and data description domains.


Trajectory prediction has gained great attention and significant progress has been made in recent years. However, most works rely on a key assumption that each video is successfully preprocessed by detection and tracking algorithms and the complete observed trajectory is always available. However, in complex real-world environments, we often encounter miss-detection of target agents (e.g., pedestrian, vehicles) caused by the bad image conditions, such as the occlusion by other agents. In this paper, we address the problem of trajectory prediction from incomplete observed trajectory due to miss-detection, where the observed trajectory includes several missing data points. We introduce a two-block RNN model that approximates the inference steps of the Bayesian filtering framework and seeks the optimal estimation of the hidden state when miss-detection occurs. The model uses two RNNs depending on the detection result. One RNN approximates the inference step of the Bayesian filter with the new measurement when the detection succeeds, while the other does the approximation when the detection fails. Our experiments show that the proposed model improves the prediction accuracy compared to the three baseline imputation methods on publicly available datasets: ETH and UCY (9% and 7% improvement on the ADE and FDE metrics). We also show that our proposed method can achieve better prediction compared to the baselines when there is no miss-detection.


Letter from Earl P. Hopkins to Claude D. White discussing Claude's interest in preparing for the Federal Civil Service Examination by taking a correspondence course with the Washington Civil Service School, of which Mr. Hopkins is the president. The letter is typed on the school's letterhead. Included with it is a short booklet explaining the pricing of the course, and it includes an application. There is a return envelope addressed to Earl P. Hopkins, Pres., 507 E. Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. The envelope that the letter was sent in is addressed to Mr. C. D. White, McKinney, Texas, and it is postmarked Washington, D. C., December 14, 1907. The return address is typed in the upper left corner. There is a postmark for McKinney on December 16, on the back. The following address has been written on the front of the envelope in pencil: A. S. Kent, 205 E. Burnett, Martinsburg, West Virginia.


In recent years, new surgical tools have been designed to improve treatment results and lower patient trauma. Nevertheless, the dexterity and accuracy required for the positioning of new tools are often unreachable, if surgeons are not assisted by suitable systems. Significant advantages are derived from the introduction of computer and robot technologies. For that reason, the interaction between robotic systems and surgeons today is producing new interest worldwide both in medical and engineering fields. In particular, medical robotics has found fruitful ground in neurosurgical applications, since the high functional density of the central nervous system requires strict accuracy constraints on tool positioning. As a matter of fact, the major benefits of robots, such as precision, accuracy and repeatability, make them ideal as neurosurgeons' assistants. This paper presents a master-slave haptic robotic system for minimally invasive neurosurgery, which can aid surgeons in performing safer and more accurate stereotactic neurosurgical treatments. The design of the proposed system is based on LANS Linear Actuator for NeuroSurgery, which has been developed by our Research Group. Experimental test aimed at showing the added value of the DAANS system over its predecessor, the effectiveness of conformational caps and of the added rotational degree of freedom are scheduled for the upcoming months.


This study examines the efficiency of schools in Australia and its determinants using the gain in NAPLAN test scores of students in 6,774 schools in 2009-2011. The results show that, based on empirical input-output combinations, the growth of NAPLAN test scores in Australian schools could be improved by 64 per cent by learning from best practice, on average. At the primary level, Catholic and independent schools are less efficient than public schools. At the secondary school level, though, public schools are found to be less efficient than other (non-public) schools.


This paper describes ASPOGAMO, a visual tracking system that determines the coordinates and trajectories of football players in camera view based on TV broadcasts. To do so, ASPOGAMO solves a complex probabilistic estimation problem that consists of three subproblems that interact in subtle ways: the estimation of the camera direction and zoom factor, the tracking and smoothing of player routes, and the disambiguation of tracked players after occlusions. The paper concentrates on system aspects that make it suitable for operating under unconstrained conditions and in (almost) realtime. We report on results obtained in a public demonstration at RoboCup 2006 where we conducted extensive experiments with real data from live coverage of World Cup 2006 games in Germany.


Abstract:Liberal democracy in the Philippines is under stress, and the midterm congressional elections on 13 May 2019 did little to temper fears of an imminent turn to illiberalism. Buoyed by the popularity of President Rodrigo Duterte, his allies have gained effective control of both houses of Congress as well as other major institutions. This article argues that the current efforts to undermine the Philippines' post-1987 constitutional order are unprecedented—and many of these efforts involve nominally legal means such as acts of Congress and threats of impeachment and broad constitutional change. Southeast Asia's oldest democracy is dying not only by coercion, but also by law.


Therapeutic Effects of Sinomenine Microemulsion- Based Hydrogel on Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis in Rats
Sinomenine is an alkaloid isolated from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Sinomenium acutum, which has been used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in China. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of sinomenine microemulsion-based hydrogel (SMBH) on Freund's complete adjuvant-induced arthritis(AA) in Wistar rats. The SMBH was formulated as follows: 4%sinomenine, 2% oleic acid, 16.7% Tween-20, 41% distilled water,33.3% absolute alcohol, 3% menthol, and 2% carbomer (w/w).Treatment was started on the seventh day after AA was induced. All groups were daily applied to the hind feet skin with SMBH or sinomenine gel (SG) for 14 days.


The development of the evidence base to underpin patient blood management, or the safe and effective management of anaemia and severe bleeding, is considered a priority area for research in cardiac surgery. This is because anaemia and severe bleeding are common in this setting, are associated with adverse clinical outcomes and, despite the evaluation of many patient blood management interventions in clinical trials over the last 30 years, few have been shown to be clinically effective in terms of improving prognosis.1

In cardiac surgery, anaemia is a significant health problem; as many as 30% of patients arrive in the operating theatre with anaemia, and this is associated with up to a twofold increase in the risk of death stroke and acute kidney injury.2 ,3 The relationship between anaemia and outcome is poorly understood, and is probably multifactorial. First, low haemoglobin concentrations may compromise perioperative oxygen delivery leading to tissue hypoxia and organ injury. Second, the preferred treatment of perioperative anaemia is red cell transfusion and this is associated with additional increases in risk beyond those attributable to anaemia alone. Third, preoperative anaemia may be a marker of comorbid conditions that are also risk factors for adverse outcomes.

The association between anaemia and adverse outcome is widely accepted and it is sensible to suggest that preoperative assessment and treatment of anaemia should improve outcomes in these patients. This is a level I recommendation in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Patient Blood Management Guidelines; however, what preoperative assessment should include …


BACKGROUND
Faecal incontinence is a distressing disorder with high social stigma. Not all people with faecal incontinence can be cured with conservative or surgical treatment and they may need to rely on containment products, such as anal plugs.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the performance of different types of anal plugs for containment of faecal incontinence.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Incontinence Group Specialised Register (searched 29 February 2012). Reference lists of identified trials were searched and plugs manufacturers were contacted for trials. No language or other limitations were imposed.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Types of studies: This review was limited to randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials (including crossovers) of anal plug use for the management of faecal incontinence.

TYPES OF PARTICIPANTS
Children and adults with faecal incontinence.Types of interventions: Any type of anal plug. Comparison interventions might include no treatment, conservative (physical) treatments, nutritional interventions, surgery, pads and other types or sizes of plugs.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two reviewers independently assessed methodological quality and extracted data from the included trials. Authors of all included trials were contacted for clarification concerning methodological issues.

MAIN RESULTS
Four studies with a total of 136 participants were included. Two studies compared the use of plugs versus no plugs, one study compared two sizes of the same brand of plug, and one study compared two brands of plugs. In all included studies there was considerable dropout (in total 48 (35%) dropped out before the end of the study) for varying reasons. Data presented are thus subject to potential bias. 'Pseudo-continence' was, however, achieved by some of those who continued to use plugs, at least in the short-term. In a comparison of two different types of plug, plug loss was less often reported and overall satisfaction was greater during use of polyurethane plugs than polyvinyl-alcohol plugs.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The available data were limited and incomplete, and not all pre-specified outcomes could be evaluated. Consequently, only tentative conclusions are possible. The available data suggest that anal plugs can be difficult to tolerate. However, if they are tolerated they can be helpful in preventing incontinence. Plugs could then be useful in a selected group of people either as a substitute for other forms of management or as an adjuvant treatment option. Plugs come in different designs and sizes; the review showed that the selection of the type of plug can impact on its performance.


This article seeks to identify the theoretical foundations and practical features of spiritual management development (SMD) through social movements which have enabled the diffusion of religious practices into secular life and led to the development of a more spiritualized psychology. Although similarities can be seen with outdoor management development, SMD is distinctive because it encourages subjects to search for meaning in their everyday working life through engagement with an inner self. It thus encourages an internalized, implicit form of religiosity where the search for self-understanding and the search for meaning are closely aligned. Through a recontextualized, critical reading of the idealistic, Utopian visions portrayed by Maslow and Fromm and the spiritual, transpersonal psychologies of Jung and Assagioli, the intellectual foundations from which SMD practice has developed are traced. Analysis of the texts associated with SMD practice illustrates how these discourses are made meaningful to managers through the concepts of selfrealization, holism and personal and embodied experience which define events as implicitly religious. However, by defining managerial identity in terms of the inner self and placing responsibility for change on the individual, SMD is isolated from possible critique and transformed from a potentially enlightening into a potentially repressive project.


A multimodal approach to nondestructive seismic pavement testing is described. The presented approach is based on multichannel analysis of all types of seismic waves propagating along the surface of the pavement. The multichannel data acquisition method is replaced by multichannel simulation with one receiver. This method uses only one accelerometer-receiver and a light hammer-source, to generate a synthetic receiver array. This data acquisition technique is made possible through careful triggering of the source and results in such simplification of the technique that it is made generally available. Multiple dispersion curves are automatically and objectively extracted using the multichannel analysis of surface waves processing scheme, which is described. Resulting dispersion curves in the high frequency range match with theoretical Lamb waves in a free plate. At lower frequencies there are several branches of dispersion curves corresponding to the lower layers of different stiffness in the pavement system. The observed behavior of multimodal dispersion curves is in agreement with theory, which has been validated through both numerical modeling and the transfer matrix method, by solving for complex wave numbers.


The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) was enacted "to foster our transformation to a society that is no longer fixated on race." Georgia v. Ashcroft, 539 U.S. 461, 490 (2003). This article critiques the prevailing election law scholarship and jurisprudence as out of step with VRA's post-racial aspirations and offers proposals for Congress to correct course. The United States has long been torn between civic nationalism and racial nationalism. By the mid-20th Century, the uneasy interplay of these visions had produced a remarkable expansion of citizenship to all migrants from Europe alongside appalling discrimination against, or outright exclusion of, individuals of other ancestries. The Civil Rights Movement drew on a reinvigorated spirit of civic nationalism to expel white racial nationalism from the country's core. The rise of black nationalism and multiculturalism represent new, albeit less destructive, forms of racial nationalism that confine individuals to subjugating racial blocs. These movements have entrenched a norm in which individuals are ascribed totalizing racial scripts to perform. The diffusion of racial scripts throughout American society is sustained by a "race industrial complex" of interrelationships among self-interested academics, marketers, activists, and politicians.Nevertheless, civic nationalism retains vitality. A civic nationalist politics of deliberative exchange provides a framework for minorities to challenge white complacency in addressing structural racism, for whites to challenge minority policy preferences distorted by the race industrial complex, and for the country to reach a synthesis about maximizing social welfare. Civic nationalism can help the country achieve a post-racial society by destabilizing existing racial categories and generating national solidarity around a common hybridized culture. Voting rights law should lay the foundations for post-racial advances. VRA currently encourages formation of majority-minority districts that reward racially polarizing candidates, handicap minorities from winning politically powerful statewide races, and reproduce race as an organizing principle of American society. The law should, instead, encourage so-called crossover districts that have the exact opposite effect. Congress should also amend VRA to provide stronger protections against practices that have a disparate impact on minorities' access to the polls. Finally, Congress should amend VRA's preclearance scheme so that, to begin, no jurisdictions are required to preclear voting practices. Preclearance, though, should be automatically triggered for a jurisdiction when it is found liable for diluting the influence of minority votes through redistricting or denying minorities access to the ballot.


Genome wide chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) is used to interrogate contact frequencies among genomic elements at multiple scales and intensities, ranging from high frequency interactions among proximal regulatory elements, through specific long-range loops between insulator binding sites and up to rare and transient cis‐ and trans-chromosomal contacts. Visualization and statistical analysis of Hi-C data is made difficult by the extreme variation in the background frequencies of chromosomal contacts between elements at short and long genomic distances. Here we introduce SHAMAN for performing Hi-C analysis at dynamic scales, without predefined resolution, and while minimizing biases over very large datasets. Algorithmically, we devise a Markov Chain Monte Carlo-like procedure for randomizing contact matrices such that coverage and contact distance distributions are preserved. We combine this strategy with bin-free assessment of contact enrichment using a K-nearest neighbor approach. We show how to use the new method for visualizing contact hotspots and for quantifying differential contacts in matching Hi-C maps. We demonstrate how contact preferences among regulatory elements, including promoters, enhancers and insulators can be assessed with minimal bias by comparing pooled empirical and randomized matrices. Full support for our methods is available in a new software package that is freely available.


We evaluated the extent to which muscle-specific genes display identical patterns of mRNA accumulation during human myogenesis. Cloned satellite cells isolated from adult human skeletal muscle were expanded in culture, and RNA was isolated from low- and high-confluence cells and from fusing cultures over a 15-day time course. The accumulation of over 20 different transcripts was compared in these samples with that in fetal and adult human skeletal muscle. The expression of carbonic anhydrase 3, myoglobin, HSP83, and mRNAs encoding eight unknown proteins were examined in human myogenic cultures. In general, the expression of most of the mRNAs was induced after fusion to form myotubes. However, several exceptions, including carbonic anhydrase and myoglobin, showed no detectable expression in early myotubes. Comparison of all transcripts demonstrated little, if any, identity of mRNA accumulation patterns. Similar variability was also seen for mRNAs which were also expressed in nonmuscle cells. Accumulation of mRNAs encoding alpha-skeletal, alpha-cardiac, beta- and gamma-actin, total myosin heavy chain, and alpha- and beta-tubulin also displayed discordant regulation, which has important implications for sarcomere assembly. Cardiac actin was the only muscle-specific transcript that was detected in low-confluency cells and was the major alpha-actin mRNA at all times in fusing cultures. Skeletal actin was transiently induced in fusing cultures and then reduced by an order of magnitude. Total myosin heavy-chain mRNA accumulation lagged behind that of alpha-actin. Whereas beta- and gamma-actin displayed a sharp decrease after initiation of fusion and thereafter did not change, alpha- and beta-tubulin were transiently induced to a high level during the time course in culture. We conclude that each gene may have its own unique determinants of transcript accumulation and that the phenotype of a muscle may not be determined so much by which genes are active or silent but rather by the extent to which their transcript levels are modulated. Finally, we observed that patterns of transcript accumulation established within the myotube cultures were consistent with the hypothesis that myoblasts isolated from adult tissue recapitulate a myogenic developmental program. However, we also detected a transient appearance of adult skeletal muscle-specific transcripts in high-confluence myoblast cultures. This indicates that the initial differentiation of these myoblasts may reflect a more complex process than simple recapitulation of development.


The challenges arising from the provision of affordable low-income public housing in many developing countries are suggested to be as a result of improper implementation of low-income housing policies. Even though various housing policies from these countries, which include Nigeria, promised to meet basic housing needs at an affordable cost, these promises have been left without fulfillment. Thus, housing problems in these countries, with Nigeria in focus, have increased due to some prevailing factors inhibiting successful policy implementation. As a result, governments of these countries face tremendous pressure to provide affordable public housing, especially for the low-income groups. Over the years, it has been witnessed that there has been ineffectiveness in the provision of affordable public housing for the low-income groups in the South-South region; this difficulty is seen particularly in the very poor living standards amongst the low-income groups in this region. Although it is noted that there were and still is some form of affordable housing delivery programmes initiated by past and present governments, these have not still been able to meet housing demand. Moreover, the quality of the provided housing stock is also under substantial scrutiny regarding standard, adequacy, and livability. These barriers to implementation effectiveness is suggested to be as a result of the following identified factors; poor implementation management, poor project location, inadequate project inspection, injustice and corruption in distribution and allocation, lack of an effective strategy evaluation system and a compromised stakeholder consultative system are the identified limiting factors against a successful low-income public housing implementation system. The effect of these factors on implementation success has, therefore, left Nigeria in the category of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) of the world. Despite the huge investments made by past and present government to rebuilding Nigeria through the housing and infrastructural development, public housing provision is still moving at a very slow speed, which has justified that formulation of policies alone is not enough to solving public housing problems, but the effective implementation of formulated policies. These, therefore, highlight the need for an improved approach to advance the system to enhance affordable public housing policy implementation system in the country especially in the South-South region. Thus, this study aims to propose a model that could stand as a guideline of actions to facilitate improvement in the implementation of affordable federal public housing policies that will promote an effective housing provision for the low-income group in the region. Furthermore, the study as a descriptive, explanatory research employed the use of mixed methods research strategy to identify and explain the impacts of the prevailing factors identified as barriers to the implementation of affordable public housing policy in the region. Moreover, bearing in mind the huge housing deficit in the region especially in the area of affordable public housing, the model as developed is expected to be useful to the government because it could guide policy implementers through the effective strategic actions required to improve the system. It could also inform stakeholders operating in the public housing sector, especially in the federal public housing sector on the damage and negative impact these identified factors have on the public housing sector and its recommendation could effectively improve implementation performance for a successful low-income public housing provision in the region.


Pemphigus and pemphigoid are uncommon dermatological entities in domestic animals and of a presumed autoimmune nature. In one form or another, they have been reported in the dog, cat, horse and goat. Although these diseases are considered to be bullous dermatoses, the clinical presenta-tion may vary from ulcerative to exfoliative to proliferative depending on the individual condition. Currently, four variants of pemphigus are recog-nized (vulgaris, vegetans, foliaceus, erythematosus) and two of pemphigoid (bullous, cicatricial) although cicatricial pemphigoid has not yet been conclusively demonstrated in animals. Diagnosis is based on history, clinical signs, histopathology and immunopathology. Therapy must be immunosuppressive to be effective and is palliative rather than curative.


Controllable distributed energy resources (DERs) in active distribution grids (ADGs) provide operational flexibility to system operators, thereby, offering the means to address various challenges. Existing local controllers for these resources are communication-free, robust, and cheap, but with suboptimal performance compared to centralized approaches that heavily rely on monitoring and communication. Data-driven local controls can bridge the gap by providing customized local controllers designed from historical data, offline optimization, and machine learning methods. These local controllers emulate the optimal behavior under expected operating conditions, without the use of communication. However, they exhibit high implementation overhead with the need of individual programming of DER controllers, especially when there are many DERs or when new units are installed at a later stage. In this article, we propose a clustering method to decrease the implementation overhead by reducing the individual DER controls into a smaller set while still achieving high performance. We show the performance of the method on a three-phase, unbalanced, low-voltage, distribution network.


The energy dynamics of creativity are the metaphysical foundations upon which the theory of holistic aesthetics was built. Traditional inquiry into creativity has been concerned with the isolated issues of either the process, technique, product, creator, or environment in which creation occurs. The aesthetics presented herein provide the art educator with an alternate approach and attitude.
The absolute presupposition from which the theory develops states that "there is naught but energy, for God is life." The resulting model which incorporates the rationale of the physics of light is designed to illustrate relationships between the creator and the energies of creativity. Educational applications and significance of the model are described in terms of light and color; these practical implications lend themselves to empirical testing.


Abstract does not appear. First page follows.
 Introduction
 Care must be taken to observe the winds
 And changing skies, what modes and habits be
 The region's heritage, what gifts each place
 Bears or denies. These acres favor corn
 In yonder vines grow better; elsewhere spring
 Fruit orchards and a wealth of unsown green.
 —Virgil.
 It was recognized early in agricultural history that individual crops do not grow
 equally well in all environments—that certain plants require definite climatic, soil,
 and other conditions for their maximum development.
 Also, in regions containing diverse soils and growing diverse crops, it has been observed
 that under continued agricultural development there is a tendency, due to economic
 factors, for crops to be planted and to persist in soils where they are profitable
 and to disappear from soils where they are not. Eventually, the crops of a region
 will become aligned with the soils on which they are economically best suited.
 In the south-central portion of the Santa Clara Valley a relatively long continued
 development of intensive agriculture has occurred, in which soil variation has been
 the chief factor in crop-distribution.


Conference Name:International Conference on Automatic Control and Artificial Intelligence, ACAI 2012. Conference Address: Xiamen, China. Time:March 3, 2012 - March 5, 2012.


This research explains and describes Drama teachers' lived experience of teaching Drama in contemporary schools. The case study method generates 'rich descriptions' of four Drama teachers' lived experience set in the contexts of their schools. This is framed within a critical paradigm that suggests there is a politics that informs what can be learned in Drama and how it should be taught. Drama teachers' work is influenced by those discourses concerned with control and cultural reproduction constituted within power relations. This research employs three landscapes to describe and explain the Drama teachers' lived experience within the powerful constraints in schools. Critical discourse analysis was used to reveal how Drama teachers confront, contest, accept and/or resist these powerful spaces that many believe influence their work and shape their professional identity.

Some of the findings and literature reveal that Drama teachers believe Drama offers something unique in school and often use it as a vehicle to raise awareness about social and cultural conditions that they believed were left unexplored in school. Although Drama teachers see the subject of Drama providing alternative pathways for their students, they are constrained by dominant assessment systems that fail to recognise the embodied learning experiences of students. Three core themes emerged as central to the Drama teachers' lived experience. These include - 1) performative cultures are powerful in shaping how Drama teachers know their work, students, and schools, 2) negotiating professional identities are complexly constructed, and 3) Drama is often understood as a unique and transformative subject for students but its potential can be constrained in schools.


This work discusses the importance of the kaki productive chain in the Antonio Carlos district and its growing potentialities, analysed from the perspective of Transaction Costs Economics. The objective is to verify how the transactions between the kaki producers from the Antonio Carlos district and the downstream and upstream agents of the productive chain occur, as well as to study the governance structure in this chain. The data were obtained from semi-structured interviews carried out with seven producers, who were chosen according to criteria such as accessibility and representativity of the district's production. It was verified that the contracts made between the producers and the downstream industry are classic and the form of governance is the market. In transactions between the producers and the distributors, the contracts are relational and governance is bilateral. It was observed that an effective association is necessary to provide better conditions for the purchase of inputs and the distribution of the product.


Abstract. Sounding rocket experiments were conducted during the NASA EQUIS II campaign on Kwajalein Atoll designed to elucidate the electrodynamics and layer structure of the postsunset equatorial F region ionosphere prior to the onset of equatorial spread F (ESF). Experiments took place on 7 and 15 August 2004, each comprised of the launch of an instrumented and two chemical release sounding rockets. The instrumented rockets measured plasma number density, vector electric fields, and other parameters to an apogee of about 450 km. The chemical release rockets deployed trails of trimethyl aluminum (TMA) which yielded wind profile measurements. The Altair radar was used to monitor coherent and incoherent scatter in UHF and VHF bands. Electron density profiles were also measured with rocket beacons and an ionosonde. Strong plasma shear flow was evident in both experiments. Bottom-type scattering layers were observed mainly in the valley region, below the shear nodes, in westward-drifting plasma strata. The layers were likely produced by wind-driven interchange instabilities as proposed by Kudeki and Bhattacharyya (1999). In both experiments, the layers were patchy and distributed periodically in space. Their horizontal structure was similar to that of the large-scale plasma depletions that formed later at higher altitude during ESF conditions. We argue that the bottom-type layers were modulated by the same large-scale waves that seeded the ESF. A scenario where the large-scale waves were themselves produced by collisional shear instabilities is described.


Excerpt] The Arlington Memorial Bridge is one of seven existing bridges that carry automobile traffic across the Potomac River to and from Washington, DC. Though there have been bridges crossing the Potomac in the area since the first bridge constructed at the site of the Chain Bridge in 1797, these early bridges were often damaged by environmental factors, and others were replaced over time. Thus, the Arlington Memorial Bridge, opened for use on January 18, 1932, is the second-oldest of the bridges currently in use, after the Francis Scott Key Bridge (completed in 1923.) This article examines the history of the Arlington Memorial Bridge and compares the original construction with a contemporary proposed rebuilding of it, which provides an interesting illustration of long-term price change in the United States, with the help of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.


We calculate the spin-drag relaxation rate for a two-component ultracold atomic Fermi gas with positive scattering length between the two-spin components. In one dimension, we find that it vanishes linearly with temperature. In three dimensions, the spin-drag relaxation rate vanishes quadratically with temperature for sufficiently weak interactions. This quadratic temperature dependence is present, up to logarithmic corrections, in the two-dimensional (2D) case as well. For stronger interaction, the system exhibits a Stoner ferromagnetic phase transition in two and three dimensions. We show that the spin-drag relaxation rate is enhanced by spin fluctuations as the temperature approaches the critical temperature of this transition from above.


This paper discusses recent advances in the study of salesforce motivation and compensation. Special emphasis is given to quantitative approaches from the economics, finance, and marketing literatures. The paper summarizes the findings in this analytical work in the context of some examples of compensation practice in order to illustrate the usefulness of the paradigm for the evaluation and setting of compensation systems.

We consider some major issues in setting compensation, such as the firm's own objective; the salesperson's objective; and the nature of the sales response function. Variations in these factors imply significant variation in optimal compensation policy, where "optimal" takes into account the components in the plan, the parameter levels of the components, and whether or not a menu of such plans should be made available to the salesforce. By highlighting the results in the literature in light of some relevant compensation examples, we show the applicability of theory to the practical concerns of salesforce management.

We close with a summary of these insights and directions for future research in the area.


Abstract Grassland birds have declined more than any other North American habitat-associated bird community. Because most species of grassland birds evolved within heterogeneous landscapes created by the interaction of fire and grazing, traditional rangeland management that promotes homogeneity, including annual dormant-season burning combined with early-intensive grazing, might be partly responsible for these declines, especially in some regions of the Great Plains, USA. Recently, an alternative grassland management practice known as patch-burning has been promoted as a means of restoring heterogeneity to grasslands by mimicking the grazing–fire interaction that once occurred on the prairie before European settlement. From 2003 to 2004, we examined effects of patch-burning and traditional management (annual burning followed by early-intensive grazing) on the reproductive success of dickcissels (Spiza americana) in tallgrass prairie in Oklahoma. We monitored 296 dickcissel nests and found that dickcissel nesting phenology differed between traditional and patch-burned pastures. Specifically, dickcissels tended to initiate their nests later in the traditional pasture. Mean number of eggs laid and fledglings produced were similar between the treatments, but nest densities were higher in traditional pastures. Predation was the predominant cause of nest failure and was higher in traditional pastures than in patch-burned pastures. Brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) parasitism was higher in traditional pastures than in patch-burned pastures. Overall, dickcissel nest success was higher in patch-burned pastures than in traditional pastures. The positive response of dickcissel nest success to patch-burn management provides further evidence that this practice can be a useful tool for grassland bird conservation. By creating a mosaic of different stature vegetation, patch-burn management enhances productivity of grassland bird species by providing a refuge area in the unburned patches that affords dickcissels and other nesting grassland birds some protection from the direct (e.g., trampling) and indirect (e.g., cowbird parasitism and predation) effects of grazing, which are not available under traditional management. Patch-burn management should be encouraged as a conservation strategy for grassland birds throughout the Great Plains.


Laboratory microcosm experiments using protists as model organisms have a long tradition and are widely used to investigate general concepts in population biology, community ecology and evolutionary biology. Many variables of interest are measured in order to study processes and patterns at different spatiotemporal scales and across all levels of biological organization. This includes measurements of body size, mobility or abundance, in order to understand population dynamics, dispersal behaviour and ecosystem processes. Also, a variety of manipulations are employed, such as temperature changes or varying connectivity in spatial microcosm networks. Past studies, however, have used varying methods for maintenance, measurement, and manipulation, which hinders across‐study comparisons and meta‐analyses, and the added value they bring. Furthermore, application of techniques such as flow cytometry, image and video analyses, and in situ environmental probes provide novel and improved opportunities to quantify variables of interest at unprecedented precision and temporal resolution. Here, we take the first step towards a standardization of well‐established and novel methods and techniques within the field of protist microcosm experiments. We provide a comprehensive overview of maintenance, measurement and manipulation methods. An extensive supplement contains detailed protocols of all methods, and these protocols also exist in a community updateable online repository. We envision that such a synthesis and standardization of methods will overcome shortcomings and challenges faced by past studies and also promote activities such as meta‐analyses and distributed experiments conducted simultaneously across many different laboratories at a global scale.


After years of public debate about same-sex marriage, the Australian Government put the issue to the electorate in the "Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey" in late 2017. The survey asked voters whether the law should be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry. Nationally, 61.6% of voters responded "Yes." But there were marked variations by electoral division, with the proportion of "Yes" votes varying from 26.1% to 83.7%. The aim of this paper is to explore the geographical pattern of the percentage of voters responding "Yes" by federal electoral division and identify its correlates. Results of the survey by federal electoral division were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS); other variables for electoral divisions were obtained from the ABS and the Australian Electoral Commission. Multiple linear regression and geographically weighted regression were employed to establish the relationship between the percentage of "Yes" responses at the electoral division level and the characteristics of electoral divisions' populations. In 133 of 150 electoral divisions there was a majority of "Yes" responses. Strong predictor variables of the percentage "Yes" vote included the proportions of: the population describing themselves as having no religion, those with post-school educational qualifications, those with a birthplace in Oceania, Europe, or the Americas, and those who did not vote for conservative parties in the 2016 federal election. A marginally better fit was obtained with geographically weighted regression. In conclusion, the geographical pattern of responses in the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey is closely associated with a small number of characteristics of an electoral division's population.


BACKGROUND
Our previous study has shown that nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB)-signaling pathway was associated with a higher rate of recurrence in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The combination of bortezomib, an NF-kappaB inhibitor by inhibition of proteasomes, plus docetaxel was assessed for efficacy and toxicity.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Patients with recurrent and/or metastatic HNSCC were enrolled on a phase II bortezomib/docetaxel trial (bortezomib 1.6 mg/m(2) and docetaxel 40 mg/m(2) on days 1 and 8 of a 21-day cycle). Response was assessed using RECIST. Tissue specimens were evaluated for the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) and expression of NF-kappaB-associated genes.

RESULTS
Twenty-one of 25 enrolled patients were assessable for response; one partial response (PR, 5%), 10 stable disease (SD, 48%) and 10 progressive disease (PD, 48%). Patients with PR/SD had significantly longer survival compared with patients with PD and the regimen was well tolerated. Only one of 20 tumors was positive for HPV. Patients with PD had higher expression of NF-kappaB and epidermal growth factor receptor-associated genes in their tumors by gene expression analysis.

CONCLUSION
Further understanding of treatment resistance and interactions between bortezomib and docetaxel may provide novel approaches in managing HNSCC.


The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of a nursing intervention in increasing the therapeutic self-care demand in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema after a mastectomy. The pre-experiment was carried out on women in the State Cancer Institute in Colima, Mexico. Thirty women who had undergone a mastectomy were included in this study. Each woman received a nursing intervention to increase her knowledge, skills and motivation, which are the components of therapeutic self-care demand. Students' t and P values were calculated for paired means, and the McNemar X2 test was performed for paired categorical variables. It was found that Students' t values for therapeutic self-care demand, knowledge, skills and motivation were significant (all with P = 0.00001). It was also found that McNemar X 2 values for the same criteria paired categorically were significant (P = 0.0002, P = 0.003, P= 0.0002, P = 0.00001, respectively). It was concluded that the nursing intervention was effective in increasing the therapeutic self-care demand of patients with post-mastectomy breast cancer.


Statins, a group of potent inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl Coenzyme A reductase in cholesterol biosynthesis pathway, have been widely used as a cholesterol lowering drug. The plieotrophic effect of statins on bone metabolism in long-term usage has been begun to be studied during recent years and several in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated the ability of statins to promote expression of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2), inhibition of osteoclast differentiation and reduction of osteoporotic fractures risk. The high liver specificity and low oral bioavailability of statins, leading to poor peripheral distribution, are the main obstacles to benefit anabolic effects of hydrophobic statins on bone formation. Therefore, developing new administration roots for direct delivery to achieve optimum concentration in the bone microenvironment is of interest. Here we present and compare two approaches of combining statins with bone tissue engineering scaffolds. Simvastatin was combined with a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) membrane scaffold for diffusion-controlled release by dissolving simvastatin (dis-sim) in the membrane casting dope, and for degradation-controlled release by covalently bonding saponifiedsimvastatin (sap-sim) to the PLGA in the spinning dope. Rheological and concentration-dependent membrane morphology changes were observed with saponifiedsimvastatin, suggesting ester bond cleavage and covalent bonding of the statin to the PLGA, but not with dissolved simvastatin. Dissolved simvastatin membranes showed a logarithmic decay release profile while the saponifiedsimvastatin membranes showed constant release. It can be concluded that the covalent bonding of simvastatinto PLGA scaffolds is showing potential for use as a controlled releasescaffold for bone tissue engineering.


In wireless mobile computing environments, broadcasting is an effective and scalable technique to disseminate information to a massive number of clients, wherein the energy usage and latency are considered major concerns. This paper presents an indexing scheme for the energy- and latency-efficient processing of full-text searches over the wireless broadcast data stream. Although a lot of access methods and index structures have been proposed in the past for full-text searches, all of them are targeted for data in disk storage, not wireless broadcast channels. For full-text searches on a wireless broadcast stream, we firstly introduce a naive, inverted list-style indexing method, where inverted lists are placed in front of the data on the wireless channel. In order to reduce the latency overhead, we propose a two-level indexing method which adds another level of index structure to the basic inverted list-style index. In addition, we propose a replication strategy of the index list and index tree to further improve the latency performance. We analyze the performance of the proposed indexing scheme with respect to the latency and energy usage measures, and show the optimality of index replication. The correctness of the analysis is demonstrated through simulation experiments, and the effectiveness of the proposed scheme is shown by implementing a real wireless information delivery system.


We address the phase noise and the superresolution problem in Toeplitz matrix-based spectral estimates. The Toeplitz autocorrelation (AC) matrix approach in spectral estimation brings in an order of magnitude computational advantage while the price paid is the phase noise that becomes effective at high signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). This noise can be mitigated with windowing the data though some concomitant loss in resolution occurs. The trade-offs between additive noise SNR, resolvability of sinusoids closer than the resolution limit, and behavior of the estimated AC lags and tone frequencies are investigated.


A primary policy of bankruptcy law is to give consumer debtors a "fresh start" by discharging their debt. A rival policy is that the discharge of debt is a selectively conferred privilege that is not granted in some situations. For example, society is unwilling to pardon debt related to embezzlement or a domestic-support obligation. This "discharge restrictions" policy is manifested in part by the Bankruptcy Code's exceptions to discharge. The Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the tension between the fresh start and discharge restriction policies. It has sought to achieve a fair balance between these policies by applying a "plainly expressed" standard when interpreting exceptions to discharge. Surprisingly, the circuit courts have not followed the Supreme Court. Instead, nearly every circuit court has developed a practice of construing exceptions to discharge narrowly in favor of the debtor and against the creditor. This Article highlights this established practice and seeks to challenge it. In essence, the circuit courts have transformed the fresh start policy into a canon of construction when interpreting exceptions to discharge. This Article makes three contributions. First, it identifies and evaluates the circuit courts' use of the fresh start policy as a canon of construction. Second, it analyzes Supreme Court jurisprudence and finds an established pattern rejecting the fresh start canon when interpreting exceptions to discharge. Third, it explores the purpose and nature of exceptions to discharge and argues the fresh start canon is an unsuitable tool for interpreting them.


Abstract. In the present study, the impact of aerosols on the photochemistry in Mexico City is evaluated using the WRF-CHEM model for the period from 24 to 29 March during the MCMA-2006/MILAGRO campaign. An aerosol radiative module has been developed with detailed consideration of aerosol size, composition, and mixing. The module has been coupled into the WRF-CHEM model to calculate the aerosol optical properties, including optical depth, single scattering albedo, and asymmetry factor. Calculated aerosol optical properties are in good agreement with the surface observations and aircraft and satellite measurements during daytime. In general, the photolysis rates are reduced due to the absorption by carbonaceous aerosols, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon hours with a long aerosol optical path. However, with the growth of aerosol particles and the decrease of the solar zenith angle around noontime, aerosols can slightly enhance photolysis rates when ultraviolet (UV) radiation scattering dominates UV absorption by aerosols at the lower-most model layer. The changes in photolysis rates due to aerosols lead to about 2–17 % surface ozone reduction during daytime in the urban area in Mexico City with generally larger reductions during early morning hours near the city center, resulting in a decrease of OH level by about 9 %, as well as a decrease in the daytime concentrations of nitrate and secondary organic aerosols by 5–6 % on average. In addition, the rapid aging of black carbon aerosols and the enhanced absorption of UV radiation by organic aerosols contribute substantially to the reduction of photolysis rates.


Agroecology is an alternative paradigm for agriculture and food systems that is simultaneously: (a) the application of ecological principles to food and farming systems that emerge from specific socioecological and cultural contexts in place-based territories; and (b) a social and political process that centers the knowledge and agency of Indigenous peoples and peasants in determining agri-food system policy and practice.
 Historically, agroecology is associated with a multifaceted body of transdisciplinary knowledge. The academic literature emphasizes the role of scientists in developing an interdisciplinary agroecology over the past ninety years. However, the practice of agroecology is much older, with deep roots in many Indigenous and peasant societies of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, Europe, and Polynesia. Although these societies never adopted the term "agroecology," their time-tested practices in growing food and fiber illustrate many principles of modern agroecology.
 The transdisciplinary field of research on agroecology examines how agroecology contributes to equitable and sustainable food and fiber production, processing, distribution, and consumption. Agroecology builds on people's knowledge, Indigenous management systems, and local institutions through "dialogues of knowledges" with social science, natural science, and the humanities. The study of Indigenous and peasant agri-food systems has thus been pivotal for the development of both agroecology and anthropology.
 The agroecological perspective is based on a transformative vision of the relationship between people and nature. Economic anthropology has unearthed a wide diversity of systems of economic exchange that are informing work on agroecology, including the vital importance of Indigenous and peasant economies, gift economies, circular economies, subsistence, and economies of care. These are pushing agroecologists to think outside of the box of dominant commodity capitalism. Agroecology is also based on a radical conceptualization of knowledge systems, whereby work on cognitive justice, epistemic justice, Indigeneity, and decoloniality is upending the dominance of Western, scientific, Eurocentric, and patriarchal worldviews as the basis for the future of food and agriculture. Agroecology is also underpinned by radical notions of democracy and new conceptualizations of popular education, transformations in governance, and empowering forms of participation.
 While the transformative agenda offered by agroecology is deeply contested by proponents of industrial and corporate food and agriculture, agroecology is increasingly important in academic and policy debates on sustainable food, farming, and land use. Exploring the relationship between agroecology and anthropology is both fruitful and timely because it can help re-root agroecology—which is increasingly at risk of becoming an abstract and devitalized concept—in the fundamentally localized practices and culture of agri-food systems.


The bulge forming process is a method for shaping tubular components using an internal hydrostatic pressure combined with an axial compressive force. Initial investigations involved carrying out an extensive literature survey to determine the components which could be formed and the types of machines which have been used. Subsequent to this, initial tests were carried out using a previously designed die and tool block in conjunction with a compression testing machine. In these tests copper tubes were formed into expander/reducers and cross pieces by manual adjustment of the axial force and internal pressure.Having obtained experience of the difficulties associated with this die and toolblock, and the loading requirements necessary for theforming process, a new bulge forming machine was designed. The design of the machine was based on the following main criteria: (i) The machine should be free standing and self contained. (ii) The axial deformation of the ends of the tube blank should besynchronised to allow the bulge to form centrally on the tube. (iii) The internal bulge forming pressure should be externallycontrollable during the forming process. (iv) The design should incorporate facilities for subsequent automatic control using a micro-processor/computer. On the basis of these requirements, a machine was designed, built andcommissioned.After correcting a few problems encountered in the commissioning of the machine, a series of tests were carried out, forming tee and cross pieces from copper tube of two different wall thicknesses. These were found to be fairly easy to produce on this new machine. From the resulting components, formed at various combinations of internal pressure and axial compressive force, the limits for a successful forming operation were established. Further analysis of these components was then undertaken to evaluate the effects of the internal pressure and axial compressive force on the bulge height and the wall thickness in the deformation zone. From these results, which have been illustrated graphically, the greatest effect on the resulting bulge can seen to be the axial compressive force.An extension of a theoretical analysis has also been presented, which predicts the wall thickness distribution around the bulge zone. Comparison of these predictions with the experimental wall thickness distributions shows fairly good agreement, especially at the root and tip of the side branch.


Abstract A series of 15 critical experiments performed at the Rocky Flats Critical Mass Laboratory in the late 1960s was evaluated and then determined to represent acceptable benchmark experiments for the validation of calculational methods. This series of experiments was part of a larger set of experiments performed to evaluate operational safety margins at the Rocky Flats Plant. The experiments consisted of bare plutonium metal hemishells reflected by steel hemishells of increasing thickness and motor oil. The hemishell assembly was suspended within dual aluminum tanks. Criticality was achieved by pumping oil into the tanks such that effectively infinite reflection was achieved in all directions except directly above the assembly; then the critical oil height was recorded. The results of these experiments had been initially ignored because early computational methods had been inadequate to analyze partially reflected configurations. The dominant uncertainties include the uncertainty in the average plutonium density and the composition of materials in the gaps between the plutonium hemishells. Simple and detailed benchmark models were developed. Eigenvalue calculations using MCNP5 and ENDF/B-VII.0 were within 2σ of the benchmark values. This benchmark evaluation has been added to the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments.


As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to manifest in our society, we still lack evidence-based treatment guidelines. Current treatment for COVID-19 pneumonia has been modeled from currently established guidelines such as that of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). COVID-19 pneumonia, also known as SARS-CoV-2, is characterized by severe hypoxia and near-normal respiratory system compliance with a time-related presentation. Dexmedetomidine is a centrally acting alpha-2 receptor agonist that promotes sedative and anxiolytic effects without the risk of respiratory depression and can provide cooperative or semi-rousable sedation. Patients who are developing ARDS secondary to COVID-19 pneumonia have been treated with self-proning intervals in combination with supplementation of oxygenation via high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) or non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV); however, a few patients have poor tolerance to the devices, leading to poor compliance and eventual worsening respiratory symptoms leading to intubation. In the current case report, we detail how a patient was able to successfully be self-proned with proper tolerance to HFNC and NIPPV while using dexmedetomidine, leading to discharge without the need for further oxygen supplementation at home.