A BALANCING ACT: DIVISON III STUDENT -ATHLETES TIME DEMANDS AND LIFE ROLES A majority of the research on student-athletes occurs at the Division I level, and less is known about Division III student-athletes. The scant research addressing the experiences of Division III students-athletes focused on academics, campus involvement, development, and athletic identity (Griffith & Johnson, 2002; Heuser & Gray, 2009; Richards & Aries, 1993; Schroeder, 2000; Umbach, Palmer, Kuh, & Hannah, 2006). What remains unknown is how they manage life roles as Division III student-athletes. This case study sought to address the time demands and life roles (e.g. athletics, family, friendship, religion, academic, and romantic interests) of student-athletes. Two private, Division III institutions in the Midwest were selected. A total of 21 studentathletes from both men and women's basketball teams were interviewed. The findings suggest student-athletes are strained by time demands, yet have developed strategies to better manage their time. Family serves as a foundation and the most important life role for a majority of student-athletes. Teammates, coaches, and athletic involvement offer additional support as student-athletes transition through college. The life roles of religion and romantic relationships, however, were not seen as important for student-athletes. This research concluded that Division III student-athletes juggle multiple roles but their priorities change over time. Of note, participant's integrated roles over time and particular transition phases existed for students. Moreover, instead of border keepers vying to reinforce borders between roles, this study concluded that border bridgers existed instead that sought to aid students in blurring boundaries between their various


This is the inaugural volume in the Erasmus Institute Books series. Founded in 1997, the institute strives to build bridges between Catholic thought and secular scholarship by encouraging the application of Catholic intellectual traditions to research in the humanities and social sciences, including the arts and professional fields such as law. The institute also supports parallel work grounded in the intellectual traditions of other Christian faiths, of Judaism, and of Islam. The essays in this volume began as papers delivered at a conference on Higher Learning and Catholic Traditions held at the University of Notre Dame in October 1999. In Higher Learning and Catholic Traditions a number of distinguished academics from various disciplines and different religious convictions present their views on the complex relations between some important aspects of Catholic thought and modern academic culture and knowledge. The contributors discuss the development of specialized disciplines, the fragmentation of academic knowledge, and the apparent isolation of Christian intellectual traditions from the discourse of the modern university. More tellingly, some of the contributors also subvert the conventional story of uniform estrangement and decline. They uncover strong evidence of symmetry, convergence, and even interdependence in unsuspected places. The result is a sustained, critical analysis of the role of Catholic intellectual traditions within modern higher education and a token of the insight which may come from continuing to reappraise the relationship between academic knowledge and Christian thought and that of the other Abrahamic religions.


The purpose of this study, part of the Medical Library Association (MLA) Nursing and Allied Health Resources Section's project to map the allied health literature, is to identify the core journals in the field of speech-language pathology and to identify indexing and abstracting services that provide access to these journals. Four representative speech-language pathology journals were selected and subjected to citation analysis to determine which journals were cited and how many times each was cited. Bradford's Law of Scattering was applied to the resulting list of journals to identify the core journals of this discipline. Six indexing and abstracting services were selected and scanned to determine coverage for the speech-language pathology core journals. The core journals received broad coverage in the health sciences and social sciences indexing and abstracting databases surveyed, although there was no one database that provided complete coverage of all core journals. The full Current Contents database provides the most extensive coverage of core journals. For individuals without access to the complete Current Contents database, a combined search of both MEDLINE and PsycINFO provides very comprehensive coverage of core journals.


Recently, maskless lithography (ML) systems have become popular in digital manufacturing technologies. To achieve high-throughput manufacturing processes, digital micromirror devices (DMD) in ML systems must be driven to their operational limits, often in harsh conditions. We propose an instrument and algorithm to detect DMD malfunctions to ensure perfect mask image transfer to the photoresist in ML systems. DMD malfunctions are caused by either bad DMD pixels or data transfer errors. We detect bad DMD pixels with $20{\times}20$ pixel by white and black image tests. To analyze data transfer errors at high frame rates, we monitor changes in the frame rate of a target DMD pixel driven by the input data with a set frame rate of up to 28000 frames per second (fps). For our data transfer error detection method, we verified that there are no data transfer errors in the test by confirming the agreement between the input frame rate and the output frame rate within the measurement accuracy of 1 fps.


What is addiction? Since its transformation as a word in the late 19th century, not only has it taken on the form of a scientific concept, but it also contains a complex social-historical component that tells a story of how and why addiction is now conceived of as a harmful and deviant behaviour. The objective of this text is to highlight how addiction fundamentally eclipses scientific discourses and instead functions as a social concept in the interests of colonization – comprised of forces of State and capitalism. Based on a critical reading of Mircea Eliade's The Sacred and the Profane, we will find that the colonizing forces of State and capitalism express the post-modern form of the sacred, wherein rituals that sustain the sacred world are deemed good and promoted, whereas those rituals which threaten the State or capitalist mode of being are classified as bad, or profane. Thus, we will contrast the figure of the sports fanatic through his/her participation on online forums as they exhibit institutional characteristics of addiction, to the criminalized and demonized subjects and objects of addiction, with the intent of portraying two forms of institutional addiction with contrasting relations to colonial ideals. Moreover, in three films by Satyajit Ray (The Music Room, The Chess Players, and Charulata), we will not only see how social processes delineate the primary nature of the drug/user relationship which characterizes addiction, but also how forces of colonization repurpose rituals to serve colonial ideals. By tracing the transformation of the word addiction to authoritative relations with drunkenness, it will become evident how the impositions of morality and higher social forces have made addiction a social tool and a concept irreconcilable with scientific theories. Finally, in contrasting texts by Gabor Mate, Bruce Alexander and Stanton Peele, with texts by Harry Levine, Alfred Lindesmith and Thomas Szasz, we will see distinguishing types of discourses which attempt to address the problem 'what is addiction?'


. Variations are inherent in all manufacturing processes and can significantly affect the quality of a final assembly, particularly in multistage assembly systems. Existing research in variation management has primarily focused on incorporating GD&T factors into variation propagation models in order to predict product quality and allocate tolerances. However, process induced variation, which has a key influence on process planning, has not been fully studied. Furthermore, the link between variation and cost has not been well established, in particular the effect that assembly process selection has on the final quality and cost of a product. To overcome these barriers, this paper proposes a novel method utilizing process capabilities to establish the relationship between variation and cost. The methodology is discussed using a real industrial case study. The benefits include determining the optimum configuration of an assembly system and facilitating rapid introduction of novel assembly techniques to achieve a competitive edge.


In this paper I describe the influence of community-based forest management (CBFM) on the well-being of local stakeholders in eight Tanzanian villages. The justification for this focus is based on the broad, international support for CBFM, support for its expansion within Tanzania specifically, and foundational belief that CBFM has the potential to provide significant social benefits to the communities in which it is practiced. Using a participatory video process, I developed a questionnaire to help quantify and qualify changes in aspects of well-being over a 10-year period, 2005–2015. These changes were based on individual responses but reflected changes in larger household units. Individuals given the questionnaire were selected following a wealth ranking process in which households were assigned, by a subselection of their community, a wealth category. This process also helped to identify current leaders and female-headed households in each village, groups that have been demonstrated to disproportionately benefit or bear the cost of other interventions. Households' wealth categories were found to be largely stable, with most remaining in the wealth category assigned in 2005 to 2015 with no significant difference between villages with or without CBFM. In contrast, current leaders were found to be more likely to increase in wealth and female-headed households, more likely to decrease. Two significant differences in CBFM and non-CBFM villages are reported: greater food insecurity and better water access in areas with CBFM. Focal group discussions of these results challenged the relevance of CBFM presence-absence in driving such findings, revealing a strong narrative of communitylevel support for CBFM by local stakeholders defined by greater control of their forest (and an ability to exclude outsiders), regular access to forest products, and pride in recognition for their conservation efforts (by other villages and the state).


Occupational therapists use school-based yoga programs, but these interventions typically lack manualization and evidence from well-designed studies. Using an experimental pretest-posttest control group design, we examined the effectiveness of the Get Ready to Learn (GRTL) classroom yoga program among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The intervention group received the manualized yoga program daily for 16 wk, and the control group engaged in their standard morning routine. We assessed challenging behaviors with standardized measures and behavior coding before and after intervention. We completed a between-groups analysis of variance to assess differences in gain scores on the dependent variables. Students in the GRTL program showed significant decreases (p < .05) in teacher ratings of maladaptive behavior, as measured with the Aberrant Behavior Checklist, compared with the control participants. This study demonstrates that use of daily classroomwide yoga interventions has a significant impact on key classroom behaviors among children with ASD.


BACKGROUND
Chronic and excessive consumption of alcohol is associated with structural, physiological, and functional changes in multiple regions of the human brain including the prefrontal cortex, the medial temporal lobe, and the structures of the reward system. The present study aimed to assess the ability of alcohol-dependent patients (ADP) to learn probabilistic stimulus-reward contingencies and to transfer the acquired knowledge to new contexts. During transfer, the relative preference to learn from positive or negative feedback was also assessed.

METHODS
Twenty-four recently detoxified ADP and 20 healthy controls engaged in a feedback learning task with monetary rewards. The learning performance per se and transfer performance including positive versus negative learning were examined, as well as the relationship between different learning variables and variables comprising alcohol and nicotine consumption patterns, depression, and personality traits (harm avoidance and impulsivity).

RESULTS
Patients did not show a significant general learning deficit in the acquisition of stimulus-response-outcome associations. Fifteen healthy subjects and 13 patients reached the transfer phase, in which ADP showed generally lower performance than healthy controls. There was no specific deficit with regard to learning from positive or negative feedback. The only near-significant (negative) correlation between learning variables and drug consumption patterns, depression, and personality traits emerged for harm avoidance and positive learning in controls.

CONCLUSIONS
Impaired transfer performance suggests that ADP had problems applying their acquired knowledge in a new context. Potential relations to dysfunctions of specific brain structures and implications of the finding for therapy are discussed.


Abstract Hunting is a primary driver of biodiversity loss across South-east Asia. Within Cambodia, the use of wire snares to capture wildlife is a severe threat in protected areas but there have been few studies of the behaviour of hunters from local communities. Here, we combine the unmatched count technique with direct questioning to estimate the prevalence of hunting behaviours and wildlife consumption amongst 705 households living within Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia. We assessed respondents' knowledge of rules, and their perceptions of patrols responsible for enforcing rules. Estimates of hunting behaviour were variable: results from the unmatched count technique were inconclusive, and direct questioning revealed 9% of households hunted, and 20% set snares around farms to prevent wildlife eating crops. Hunting with domestic dogs was the method most commonly used to catch wildlife (87% of households owned dogs). Wild meat was consumed by 84% of households, and was most frequently bought or caught, but also gifted. We detected a high awareness of conservation rules, but low awareness of punishments and penalties, with wildlife depletion, rather than the risk of being caught by patrols, causing the greatest reduction in hunting. Our findings demonstrate the challenges associated with reliably estimating rule-breaking behaviour and highlight the need to incorporate careful triangulation into study design.


A 62-year-old man presented with excruciating joint pains, back stiffness and numbness of his hands and feet. Over the past 18 months, he had experienced similar episodes for which the diagnoses of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and lateral epicondylitis had been made. Physical examination revealed polyarticular arthritis affecting the shoulders, wrists and right knee. Palpable purpura overlying the calves and ankles was present. Laboratory tests showed markedly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C-reactive protein in the setting of negative blood and urine cultures. Rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibodies were negative. Chest CT demonstrated bilateral pulmonary infiltrates. A punch biopsy of the rash showed leukocytoclastic vasculitis. Anti-proteinase-3 titers returned strongly positive. A diagnosis of granulomatosis with polyangiitis was made. Treatment with high-dose steroids, followed by rituximab resulted in normalisation of inflammatory markers with subsequent resolution of joint pains, rash and pulmonary infiltrates and improvement of neuropathic symptoms.


The feasibility of measuring crater geometries by use of optical coherence tomography (OCT) is examined. Bovine shank bone on a motorized translation stage with a motion velocity of 3 mm/s is ablated with a pulsed CO2 laser in vitro. The laser pulse repetition rate is 60 Hz and the spot size on the tissue surface is 0.5 mm. Crater geometries are evaluated immediately by both OCT and histology methods after laser irradiation. The results reveal that OCT is capable of measuring crater geometries rapidly and noninvasively as compared to histology. There are good correlation and agreement between crater depth estimates obtained by two techniques, whereas there exists distinct difference between crater width estimates when the carbonization at the sides of craters is not removed.


Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is lipid messenger involved in the regulation of embryonic development, immune system functions, and many other physiological processes. However, the mechanisms of S1P transport across cellular membranes remain poorly understood, with several ATP-binding cassette family members and the spinster 2 (Spns2) member of the major facilitator superfamily known to mediate S1P transport in cell culture. Spns2 was also shown to control S1P activities in zebrafish in vivo and to play a critical role in zebrafish cardiovascular development. However, the in vivo roles of Spns2 in mammals and its involvement in the different S1P-dependent physiological processes have not been investigated. In this study, we characterized Spns2-null mouse line carrying the Spns2tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi allele (Spns2tm1a). The Spns2tm1a/tm1a animals were viable, indicating a divergence in Spns2 function from its zebrafish ortholog. However, the immunological phenotype of the Spns2tm1a/tm1a mice closely mimicked the phenotypes of partial S1P deficiency and impaired S1P-dependent lymphocyte trafficking, with a depletion of lymphocytes in circulation, an increase in mature single-positive T cells in the thymus, and a selective reduction in mature B cells in the spleen and bone marrow. Spns2 activity in the nonhematopoietic cells was critical for normal lymphocyte development and localization. Overall, Spns2tm1a/tm1a resulted in impaired humoral immune responses to immunization. This study thus demonstrated a physiological role for Spns2 in mammalian immune system functions but not in cardiovascular development. Other components of the S1P signaling network are investigated as drug targets for immunosuppressive therapy, but the selective action of Spns2 may present an advantage in this regard.


Viral Superspreaders Viruses are thought to spread across a lawn of cells by an iterative process of infection, replication, and release. If this were the case, the rate of spread would be limited by the viral replication kinetics. Now, Doceul et al. (p. 873, published online 21 January; see the Perspective by Pickup) describe a spreading mechanism used by vaccinia virus that is not restricted by viral replication kinetics and that causes a dramatic acceleration of spread. Early after infection, vaccinia virus proteins A33 and A36 are expressed as a complex on the cell surface. This marks the cell as infected and causes superinfecting virions to be repelled by the formation of actin projections beneath the virus particle. Virions are repelled from infected cells repeatedly until an uninfected cell is reached and are thus pushed further away from the origin of infection to accelerate dissemination. Early in infection, vaccinia virus exploits the actin cytoskeleton to promote rapid cell-to-cell spread. Viruses are thought to spread across susceptible cells through an iterative process of infection, replication, and release, so that the rate of spread is limited by replication kinetics. Here, we show that vaccinia virus spreads across one cell every 75 minutes, fourfold faster than its replication cycle would permit. To explain this phenomenon, we found that newly infected cells express two surface proteins that mark cells as infected and, via exploitation of cellular machinery, induce the repulsion of superinfecting virions away toward uninfected cells. Mechanistically, early expression of proteins A33 and A36 was critical for virion repulsion and rapid spread, and cells expressing these proteins repelled exogenous virions rapidly. Additional spreading mechanisms may exist for other viruses that also spread faster than predicted by replication kinetics.


The microstructure and mechanical properties of polymer composites based on polypropylene and wood flour modified with monochloroacetic acid were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and wide-angle X-ray diffraction were used as methods to probe the composite microstructures, while the tensile test was used to measure the physical strength. The wood flour modification was performed at different levels of monochloroacetic acid, ranging from 0.01 to 1 mol, while the modified wood flour was used as filler for polypropylene at 10, 20 and 30 wt.-%. It was found that increasing the monochloroacetic acid fraction influences the microstructure of the composites and leads to more homogeneous products. The introduction of non-modified wood flour decreases the polypropylene crystallization degree, but it improves after introduction of monochloroacetic acid. Physical-mechanical tests showed positive effects on tensile tests and Charpy notched impact strength. The new composites appear to be promising materials for construction purposes.


While we are aware of the prominent African-American women educators of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who were teachers, principals, and school founders, such as Fanny Jackson Coppin, Anna Julia Cooper, Lucy Laney, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, and Mary McLeod Bethune; we know little of the role of African-American women educators in higher education. Although African-American women educators were largely represented in the public and private elementary and secondary schools of the nation's black communities, African-American women also served on the faculties of selected historically black colleges from their inception and beginning with Lucy Diggs Slowe, they served as administrators. This essay will discuss the important contributions to higher education of Lucy Diggs Slowe, the first African-American woman dean at Howard University in Washington, D.C. (1922-37). An examination of Slowe is important not only because of her prominence at Howard University, but also for the impact of her educational philosophy on the higher education of African-American women in general. As one of the earliest black women formally trained in student personnel, during her fifteen year tenure at Howard, Slowe became an outspoken advocate for self-determination, respect, and advancement of college-trained African-American women. Slowe took seriously the charge that the educated members of the race should be in leadership positions. She believed strongly that African-American women had a vital role to play in race leadership and, as a result, she sought to develop the leadership skills of black college women. Slowe's leadership in black women's higher education resulted in the establishment of two important organizations for the advocacy of African-American college women - the National Association of College Women (NACW) and the National Association of Women's Deans and Advisors of Colored Schools (NAWDACS). Slowe's educational and racial philosophy concerning women is noteworthy because unlike other prominent black women educators of her era whose motivation and rhetoric were often religious, Slowe's desire to enhance black women's status was more pragmatic than spiritual. In addition, unlike many who often discussed educating women for the "uplift" and benefit of the race, Slowe wanted to prepare black women for the "modern" world, a term in vogue among white women educators of the period.(1) At the same time, members of NACW were also affiliated with international groups and efforts for worm peace, and Slowe believed that black women college students should be exposed to and active in such activities.(2) While most in the black community viewed teaching as a woman's highest calling, Slowe was very critical of the view that female students should pursue teaching as a profession without providing other options and career choices. As new employment opportunities opened for white women, Slowe felt strongly that black women should be prepared for and aware of these fields as well. Thus, career guidance was an important aspect of her student personnel program. Slowe was also unique in that she was extremely critical of the conservative religion to which most black women students were exposed in their families and communities. She believed strongly that such religion often contributed to the conservative and sexist beliefs of many black families. She addressed all of these issues through her work at Howard and with the NACW and the NAWDACS. Slowe's Early Life Lucy Diggs Slowe was born July 4, 1885 in Berryville, Virginia. Orphaned as a young child, Slowe was raised by a paternal aunt, Martha Slowe Prince in Lexington, Virginia. At age thirteen, Slowe and her family moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she attended the separate Colored High School, graduating second in her class in 1904. Following her graduation she entered Howard University on an academic scholarship. It was at Howard that Slowe's interest in enhancing the quality and status of African-American women's higher education was stimulated. …


Objectives
Postprandial lipemia is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, independent of fasting levels, and is influenced by multiple factors including; environmental, genetic, metabolic, metagenomic and the meal-context. Postprandial lipemic responses may therefore differ between individuals, however previously this has only been studied in limited numbers. The PREDICT I study is the largest study to date to measure inter-individual variability in postprandial lipemic responses using a standardized test meal model.

Methods
A multi-center postprandial study of 1000 individuals from the UK (unrelated, identical and non-identical twins) and 100 unrelated individuals from US, assessed postprandial (hourly 0-6h) lipemic responses to sequential mixed-nutrient dietary challenges (50g fat and 85g carbohydrate at 0h; 22g fat and 71g carbohydrate at 4h) in a clinical setting. Inter-individual variability in postprandial triacylglycerol (TG) responses was measured for incremental area under the curve (iAUC), Cmax, Tmax and increase above fasting at 5h (mean peak concentration time-point).

Results
Analysis showed high inter-individual variability in postprandial lipemic responses (Figures 1-3) in the tightly controlled clinic setting (interim analysis of n = 537); IQR (median) was; iAUC (0-6h) 2.34 (2.38) mmol/L.h; Cmax 1.32 (2.02) mmol/L; Tmax 30.0 (300) min; and increase above fasting at 5h 0.92 (0.95). TG variation was higher in the non-fasting versus the fasting state; fasting TG concentration IQR (median); 0.57 (0.91) mmol/L.

Conclusions
The large variation in the magnitude and pattern of lipemic responses to identical meals in healthy people demonstrates the limitations of using the group mean and the importance of individualized dietary approaches. Ongoing exploration in PREDICT I of the determinants of postprandial lipemic responses considering environmental, genetic, metagenomic and microbiome variables will significantly advance our ability to predict an individual's postprandial response.

Funding Sources
NIHR, Wellcome Trust, Zoe Global Ltd.

Supporting Tables Images and/or Graphs


Imitation learning is a popular approach for teaching motor skills to robots. However, most approaches focus on extracting policy parameters from execution traces alone (i.e., motion trajectories and perceptual data). No adequate communication channel exists between the human expert and the robot to describe critical aspects of the task, such as the properties of the target object or the intended shape of the motion. Motivated by insights into the human teaching process, we introduce a method for incorporating unstructured natural language into imitation learning. At training time, the expert can provide demonstrations along with verbal descriptions in order to describe the underlying intent (e.g., "go to the large green bowl"). The training process then interrelates these two modalities to encode the correlations between language, perception, and motion. The resulting language-conditioned visuomotor policies can be conditioned at runtime on new human commands and instructions, which allows for more fine-grained control over the trained policies while also reducing situational ambiguity. We demonstrate in a set of simulation experiments how our approach can learn language-conditioned manipulation policies for a seven-degree-of-freedom robot arm and compare the results to a variety of alternative methods.


Purpose of review This review summarizes novel human data on cholesteryl ester-transfer protein (CETP) and atherosclerosis and the possible use of CETP inhibitors in the treatment of dyslipidemia. In addition, it will underline that therapeutic targeting of the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) metabolism entails more than simply observing changes in cholesterol levels of this lipoprotein. Recent findings Two pharmacological small-molecule inhibitors of CETP, JTT-705 and torcetrapib, have recently been shown to effectively raise HDL cholesterol in humans without serious side effects when either used as a monotherapy or combined with statins that lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Importantly, prospective data from the Epic-Norfolk study furthermore indicate that elevated CETP concentration in conjunction with elevated triglyceride levels are associated with increased odds for cardiovascular events. Data from the Diabetic Atherosclerosis Intervention Study furthermore show that elevated CETP concentration is associated with increased progression of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes who use fenofibrate. Summary Long-term studies will have to show whether CETP inhibition decreases the risk of atherosclerotic disease in dyslipidemic patients. Increased CETP activity might be detrimental under hypertriglyceridemic conditions which is of importance when considering that a large proportion of patients at increased risk from coronary artery disease exhibit elevated triglyceride levels. Studies into the effects of CETP inhibition in hypertriglyceridemic patients therefore seem warranted. Awaiting the first data on the effect of CETP inhibition on surrogate endpoints for atherosclerosis, this review furthermore outlines that the complexity of HDL metabolism will necessitate a wide variety of studies on many aspects of this intriguing lipoprotein.


This study investigated the impact of an isocaloric and isonitrogenous ketogenic diet (KD) versus a traditional western diet (WD) on changes in body composition, performance, blood lipids, and hormonal profiles in resistance-trained athletes.

METHODS
Twenty-five college aged men were divided into a KD or traditional WD from weeks 1-10, with a reintroduction of carbohydrates from weeks 10-11, while participating in a resistance-training program. Body composition, strength, power, and blood lipid profiles were determined at week 0, 10 and 11. A comprehensive metabolic panel and testosterone levels were also measured at weeks 0 and 11.

RESULTS
Lean body mass (LBM) increased in both KD and WD groups (2.4% and 4.4%, p<0.01) at week 10. However, only the KD group showed an increase in LBM between weeks 10-11 (4.8%, p<0.0001). Finally, fat mass decreased in both the KD group (-2.2 kg ± 1.2 kg) and WD groups (- 1.5 ± 1.6 kg). Strength and power increased to the same extent in the WD and KD conditions from weeks 1-11. No changes in any serum lipid measures occurred from weeks 1-10, however a rapid reintroduction of carbohydrate from weeks 10-11 raised plasma TG levels in the KD group. Total testosterone increased significantly from Weeks 0-11 in the KD diet (118 ng/dl) as compared to the WD (-36 ng/dl) from pre to post while insulin did not change.

CONCLUSIONS
The KD can be used in combination with resistance training to cause favorable changes in body composition, performance and hormonal profiles in resistance-trained males.


The objective of this research was to search for an antiviral compound, garcinol (or guttiferone F) from the Garcinia kola nuts using two different extraction techniques and formulate a suitable liposome for control release using an antiviral compound. The two extraction techniques used were: liquid-liquid extraction (for simplicity purposes, the term solvent-solvent, S-S, will be used interchangeable) and Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE). Both techniques were used to profile compounds found in Garcinia kola and for statistical comparison purposes. Extracts from both techniques were collected and analyzed for separation using ReversedPhase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) using Ultraviolet Photodiode Array (UV-PDA) detection, determined physical and chemical properties by proton and phosphorus Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ( 1H NMR and 31 P-NMR), and quantify by Ultra Performance Convergence Chromatography (UPC 2 ) coupled to Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectroscopy (Q-ToF/MS). The UPC 2 Q-ToF/MS data was processed using TransOmics Informatics for Metabolomics and Lipidomics (TOIML) and statistical analysis was performed interrogating similarities and dissimilarities of each extraction techniques. Biological assay were conducted on three of the S-S extracts and compared to know antiviral inhibiting drugs as controls. For the formulation study, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and release studies were conducted in order to characterize the garcinol liposomes. Initial RP-HPLC results showed no compounds with photodiode array (PDA) fingerprints characteristic of garcinol were found in either of the extracts from both extraction techniques. NMR confirmed what was already observed: garcinol has the same molecular formula, weight and chemical structure as the previously reported guttiferone F and both names (garcinol and guttiferone F) are used interchangeable. Comparison of the different extraction techniques by UPC 2 QToF/MS resulted in the identification of 1291 chemical features and the features were grouped together statistically based on their relative extraction solvents and techniques. Of the 1291 detectable mass constituents, 43.81% can be extracted by S-S technique and 40.09% can be extracted by SFE technique, relatively similar extraction profile. Approximately 20.99% of the mass constituents were detected using both extraction techniques. Overall, results from the SFE showed the comprehensive profile of all mass constituents found within this natural product and each mass grouped statistically based on their relative extraction solvents to determine extraction coverage. In addition, these statistical analysis and extraction techniques have never been performed simultaneously and or compared on Garcinia kola seeds. Biological data revealed that extracts from the S-S technique was negative for the inhabitation of antiviral activities as compare to the controls. The results of the liposome release studies indicated initial rapid release of less than 1% of garcinol from the liposomes, followed by a sharp drop in concentration at 4 hours, suggesting precipitation in the dissolution medium with no further release as the concentration leveled off to 140 hours. DSC results indicated that the surface charge of the liposome was -10.5 mV and remained relatively constant for 7 days suggesting stability issues. DLS results indicated an increase in particle size and Polydispersity index over a 7 day period which also suggests stability issues. Overall, the formulation study showed garcinol released less than 1% and may interact significantly with the DPPC phosphate head groups, as indicated by the large increase in net negative surface charge. Although no antiviral activities were active in Garcinia kola, this edible plant could serve as an abundant source of naturally-occurring, bioactive compounds for further pharmaceutical development for other biological activities.


Imprisonment casts a long shadow in the United States. Currently, 1.4 million individuals are behind bars in America's state and federal prisons. For every person who goes to prison, there is a family and community left behind. Despite the huge number of affected families and children, there is little research on the impact of incarceration on American family life. In Prisoners Once Removed, the authors explore this important issue-from the psychological impact of imprisonment on prisoners and the difficulty of reentering free society to the challenges faced by communities who must integrate the prisoners once they return. They look at family functioning during a period of imprisonment, and how families are affected by the return of an incarcerated parent. Finally, they evaluate the current system and suggest ways to improve interaction between the corrections and health and human services to better serve the growing population of children, families, and communities. This book is vital reading for anyone who is concerned about foster care, child development, strengthening families, and post-prison adjustment.


The COVID-19 outbreak has wreaked havoc on educational systems on a scale never seen before in history. The closure of schools and other institutions of learning has impacted 94% of the world's student population. Even school closures, such as those that occur during the summer, have a significant effect on children's academic ability. The word "learning loss" refers to any loss of information and abilities, whether specific or generic. By Fall 2020, extended absences from school will have a detrimental effect on student achievement. Learning loss is commonly addressed when schools close for extended periods of time during the summer, natural catastrophes, or epidemics. Even brief school closures might result in significant loss of learning. Due to the global nature of the COVID-19 epidemic, special attention was devoted to learning losses. During the pandemic, learning loss occurs as a result of kids studying at home due to school closures. School closures do not have to result in an equal loss of learning for all students. The variables that contribute to learning loss include "change in teaching methods", "opportunities to reach education", "less time for learning", and "emotional factors". Reduced instructional time–provided by teachers in accordance with the national curriculum–is likely to result in loss of learning. Due to the disparate scales used in the studies, it is hard to compare the magnitudes of learning losses. However, based on the data from the studies, it is reasonable to assume that these nations are investigating learning losses and that they exist. As a result, there is convincing evidence that students lose more information during lockdown than they do over the course of a normal school year. The elements causing learning losses differ according to context. With the reopening of schools, it is important to establish the actual magnitude of learning losses and to implement remedial measures in order to avoid the emergence of medium- and long-term educational difficulties.


Introduction: Sub-arachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) occurs when cerebral artery ruptures and blood leaks out into the sub-arachnoid space. This is often a catastrophic event for the individual and morbidity and mortality rates are significantly influenced by early intervention. This makes the role of the clinical biochemistry laboratory in early diagnosis vitally important, as delays in diagnosis can have a major clinical impact.

The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of healthy individuals is optically clear. It has, however, been recognised for over a century that it can become coloured (xanthochromia) following a cerebrovascular incident such as a SAH. This has made the main role of the clinical biochemistry laboratory in SAH diagnosis that of detecting xanthochromia in the CSF.

The majority of laboratories which offer a xanthochromia screening service use the national guidelines that are based upon ultra-violet scanning spectrophotometry (350 nm to 600 nm). This analytical technique is not without its problems: it is subjective, has a possibility of inter-operator variability and due to the specialised nature of the test can take many hours or even days for a result to be issued.

This project aimed to improve the current laboratory service by investigating: turnaround times, users opinions of the current service and potential alternative analytical methods.

Methods: An audit of the current analytical provision was used to assess its effectiveness and in order to elucidate the service users' perception. This was effected by a questionnaire that was distributed to service users across three different NHS Trusts in England and Wales.

In an attempt to improve the laboratory service, alternatives to scanning spectrophotometry were investigated. These were selected through consideration of the nature of SAH i.e. blood is released into the subarachnoid space and the brain is damaged. Laboratory analysis therefore needed to focus on detecting the presence of blood and/or its breakdown products, any change in CSF constituents that arise as a direct consequence of blood being introduced in to the subarachnoid space or a specific analyte which would only be present if brain damage occurred.

Investigation of current research into subarachnoid haemorrhage identified the following analytes as potential alternatives: CSF diazo bilirubin, CSF Ferritin, CSF protein S100 and serum protein S100.

Results: The audit revealed the average turnaround time for reporting xanthochromia results to be 26 hours, with almost 20% of samples being reported as equivocal. The service user's questionnaire revealed a general lack of awareness of current United Kingdom National External Quality Assurance Scheme (UKNEQAS) guidelines for the 'Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid for bilirubin in suspected Subarachnoid haemorrhage' and a lack of understanding regarding the timing of lumbar punctures. Additionally, one third of users felt that the turnaround time for results was inadequate.

CSF protein S100 was found to be unsuitable due to the difficulty in achieving a suitable balance between sensitivity and specificity; at a cut-off of 0.40 μg/l sensitivity is 80% and specificity is 4%, at a cut-off of 1.60 μg/l sensitivity is 40% and specificity is 94%. Serum protein S100 was found to be unsuitable due to the difficulty in achieving a suitable balance between sensitivity and specificity at appropriate cut-offs (66 % and 73%, respectively, at a cut-off of 0.09 μg/l). When the CSF diazo bilirubin and CSF ferritin were compared to current laboratory practises using pre-defined criteria then CSF diazo bilirubin was found to be the analyte of choice to base new guidelines upon. CSF diazo bilirubin was then used as an initial 'rule-out' step in a new set of guidelines for the determination of SAH utilising CSF analysis.

Conclusion: The new guidelines employ CSF diazo bilirubin analysis as a 'rule-out' step with all samples that are above the cut-off (300 nmol/l) being processed through the UKNEQAS guidelines. In order for the guidelines to be introduced and accepted, local training and education programmes for laboratory and clinical staff will need to be developed and implemented and they will need to be disseminated through publication of articles in journals relevant to both the clinical biochemistry community and requesting clinicians.


Since automatic speaker verification (ASV) systems are highly vulnerable to spoofing attacks, it is important to develop mechanisms that can detect such attacks. To be practical, however, a spoofing attack detection approach should have (i) high accuracy, (ii) be well-generalized for practical attacks, and (iii) be simple and efficient. Several audio-based spoofing detection methods have been proposed recently but their evaluation is limited to less realistic databases containing homogeneous data. In this paper, we consider eight existing presentation attack detection (PAD) methods and evaluate their performance using two major publicly available speaker databases with spoofing attacks: AVspoof and ASVspoof. We first show that realistic presentation attacks (speech is replayed to PAD system) are significantly more challenging for the considered PAD methods compared to the so called `logical access' attacks (speech is presented to PAD system directly). Then, via a cross-database evaluation, we demonstrate that the existing methods generalize poorly when different databases or different types of attacks are used for training and testing. The results question the efficiency and practicality of the existing PAD systems, as well as, call for creation of databases with larger variety of realistic speech presentation attacks.


Augmented and virtual reality applications bring new insights to real world objects and scenarios. This paper shares research results of the TalkTech project, an ongoing study investigating the impact of learning about new technologies as members of global communities. This study shares results of a collaborative learning project about augmented and virtual reality and their applications in a variety of businesses and industries. In the TalkTech project, students from universities in the United States and Romania, collaboratively work together to research the use of augmented and virtual reality in an assigned industry, create original augmented reality artifacts, communicate and share their findings with their international partners. The authors evaluate the TalkTech project through the lens of the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) framework as a pedagogy to enhance student learning about augmented reality and improve their digital skills. The paper also discusses the SAMR framework as implemented in the TalkTech project, and its application to creating learning projects to transform Information Systems education.


BACKGROUND
Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) have KIT or platelet-derived growth factor receptor α (PDGFRα) mutations affecting receptor tyrosine kinase activity and do not benefit from classic treatment regimens.

AIMS
The aim of this study was to review the algorithm that may be followed for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis in GISTs by investigating the histomorphological parameters and expression characteristics of classical immunohistochemical antibodies used in routine tests in addition to DOG1 expression.

STUDY DESIGN
Diagnostic accuracy study.

METHODS
We reevaluated the histological and immunohistochemical parameters of 37 GISTs. The standard immunohistochemical diagnosis and differential diagnosis panel antibodies (CD117, PDGFRα, CD34, vimentin, desmin, SMA, S-100, and Ki67) were studied on the tumor sections. We also used the popular marker DOG1 antibody with accepted sensitivity for GISTs in recent years and the PDGFRα immune marker for which the benefit in routine practice is discussed.

RESULTS
Classification according to progressive disease risk groups of the 37 cases revealed that 54% were in the high risk, 19% in the moderate risk, 16% in the low risk, 8% in the very low risk and 8% in the no risk group. Cytological atypia, necrosis, mucosal invasion and the Ki67 index were found to be related to the progressive disease risk groups of the tumors (p<0.05). Positive immunoreaction was observed with CD117 and PDGFRα in all GISTs in the study (100%). Positivity with the DOG1 antibody was found in 33 (89%) cases. CD34 was positive in 62% (23) of the cases.

CONCLUSION
The CD117 antibody still plays a key role in GIST diagnosis. However, the use of DOG1 and PDGFRα antibodies combined with CD117 as sensitive markers can be beneficial.


An article in this week's Science magazine by Dr Stefan Reis of the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and colleagues from six countries examines how science and policy address air pollution effects on human health and ecosystems, and climate change in Europe.

In a Policy Forum commentary entitled "From Acid Rain to Climate Change" Dr Reis and his colleagues discuss how scientists and policy makers working together have developed and implemented policies to improve air quality and reduce the impacts of air pollution on human health and ecosystems over the last decades.

The authors conclude that substantial improvements have been made, for example in reducing deposition of acidifying substances on soils and ecosystems in Europe since the 1970s. However there are still major challenges ahead. For example, emission levels of air pollutants in 2020 will still lead to an average loss of life expectancy by about four months, while excessive nitrogen deposition and consequent biodiversity loss will put more than 40 percent of Europe's nature at risk.

The article highlights several examples where successful collaboration between scientists and policy makers is required to develop cost-effective air pollution policies that address serious environmental issues. Their priority list includes the need to further reduce nitrogen emissions, for example in the form of ammonia from agriculture, which will help to bring down acidification of soils and eutrophication of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems.

They also discuss the requirement for integrated policies working on the interactions between air pollution and climate change which would help reduce short-term climate forcers such as black carbon and ozone. They suggest that the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), a multilateral agreement aiming to reduce air pollution across the UNECE region, needs to work in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and conventions covering biodiversity, the marine environment and water.

Dr Reis, an environmental scientist at CEH, said, "The long-term collaboration of scientists and policy makers in the different task forces, working groups and other bodies of the Convention is crucial in forming a robust science-policy interface. Building trust in scientific results and a fostering a better understanding of the policy process ultimately leads to better, more efficient policies."

Co-author Professor Martin Williams from King's College London and Chair of the CLRTAP Executive Body, said, "The key role played by science as an integral part of the policy process in the Convention on LRTAP has been demonstrated again in the revised Gothenburg Protocol. In one of the few international environmental instruments to be agreed in this time of world-wide economic difficulty, science has helped steer a positive path through the problems and by incorporating the latest science at the boundary between air pollution and climate change, has pointed the way forward for the future of the Convention."

As well as CEH, commentary authors include scientists from the Swedish Environmental Research Institute, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, Imperial College London, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, Ecometrics Research and Consulting, the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks in France, the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Germany and King's College London.

http://www.ceh.ac.uk/news/news_archive/science-policy-integration-air-pollution_2012_60.html


Inertial sensors and magnetometers are often used for attitude determination of moving platforms. This thesis treats an alternative method; GPS-based attitude determination. By using several GPS-antennas, and with carrier phase measurements determining the relative distance between them, the attitude can be calculated. Algorithms have been implemented in Matlab and tested on real data. Two commercial GPS-based attitude determination systems have also been tested on a mobile platform and compared to a navigation grade Inertial Navigation System (INS). The results from the tests show that GPS-based attitude determination works well in open areas, but would require support from additional sensors in urban and forest environments.


[1] We use an inverse model analysis to compare the top-down constraints on Asian sources of carbon monoxide (CO) in spring 2001 from (1) daily MOPITT satellite observations of CO columns over Asia and the neighboring oceans and (2) aircraft observations of CO concentrations in Asian outflow from the TRACE-P aircraft mission over the northwest Pacific. The inversion uses the maximum a posteriori method (MAP) and the GEOS-CHEM chemical transport model (CTM) as the forward model. Detailed error characterization is presented, including spatial correlation of the model transport error. Nighttime MOPITT observations appear to be biased and are excluded from the inverse analysis. We find that MOPITT and TRACE-P observations are independently consistent in the constraints that they provide on Asian CO sources, with the exception of southeast Asia for which the MOPITT observations support a more modest decrease in emissions than suggested by the aircraft observations. Our analysis indicates that the observations do not allow us to differentiate source types (i.e., anthropogenic versus biomass burning) within a region. MOPITT provides ten pieces of information to constrain the geographical distribution of CO sources, while TRACE-P provides only four. The greater information from MOPITT reflects its ability to observe all outflow and source regions. We conducted a number of sensitivity studies for the inverse model analysis using the MOPITT data. Temporal averaging of the MOPITT data (weekly and beyond) degrades the ability to constrain regional sources. Merging source regions beyond what is appropriate after careful selection of the state vector leads to significant aggregation errors. Calculations for an ensemble of realistic assumptions lead to a range of inverse model solutions that has greater uncertainty than the a posteriori errors for the MAP solution. Our best estimate of total Asian CO sources is 361 Tg yr−1, over half of which is attributed to east Asia.


Estimates of predictive uncertainty are important for accurate model-based planning and reinforcement learning. However, predictive uncertainties---especially ones derived from modern deep learning systems---can be inaccurate and impose a bottleneck on performance. This paper explores which uncertainties are needed for model-based reinforcement learning and argues that good uncertainties must be calibrated, i.e. their probabilities should match empirical frequencies of predicted events. We describe a simple way to augment any model-based reinforcement learning agent with a calibrated model and show that doing so consistently improves planning, sample complexity, and exploration. On the \textsc{HalfCheetah} MuJoCo task, our system achieves state-of-the-art performance using 50\% fewer samples than the current leading approach. Our findings suggest that calibration can improve the performance of model-based reinforcement learning with minimal computational and implementation overhead.


In this paper, we address the problem of recognizing student engagement in prosocial games by exploiting engagement cues from different input modalities. Since engagement is a multifaceted phenomenon with different dimensions, i.e., behavioral, cognitive, and affective, we propose the modeling of student engagement using real-time data from both the students and the game. More specifically, we apply body motion and facial expression analysis to identify the affective state of students, while we extract features related to their cognitive and behavioral engagement based on the analysis of their interaction with the game. For the automatic recognition of engagement, we adopt a machine learning approach based on artificial neural networks, while for the annotation of the engagement data, we introduce a novel approach based on the use of games with different degrees of challenge in conjunction with a retrospective self-reporting method. To evaluate the proposed methodology, we conducted real-life experiments in 4 classes, in 3 primary schools, with 72 students and 144 gameplay recordings in total. Experimental results show the great potential of the proposed methodology, which improves the classification accuracy of the three distinct dimensions with a detection rate of 85%. A detailed analysis of the role of each component of the Game Engagement Questionnaire, i.e., immersion, presence, flow, and absorption, in the classification process is also presented in this paper.


Is the opioid epidemic attributable to prescription painkillers becoming more accessible? I find that, for an average county, Medicaid expansions under the Affordable Care Act caused approximately 175,000 more opioid units to be prescribed per year, and 4 additional opioid-related deaths per year. Medicaid expansions explain nearly a third of the overall death toll. These results are driven largely by deaths of white men, and vary by local access to marijuana (an opioid substitute). After estimating the interactive impact of Medicaid expansions and marijuana legalization on opioid-related deaths, I conclude that opioid mortality can be reduced without restricting opioid access.


This study demonstrates that the presence of diversified corporate forms within the insurance industry does not always lead to the dominance of what is, according to theory, the most efficient business form, the joint-stock corporation. Swedish mutual insurance companies have often been connected to various popular movements, and have thus obtained quasi-monopoly rights for writing certain kinds of insurance. This has been important as a means of obtaining economies of scale and creating efficient organisations, and has allowed them to compete with their joint-stock rivals. Mutuals have also remained important players in the insurance market by keeping policyholders' interests in focus through creative product diversification and by expanding nationally to reach customers outside of their original base. Mutuality also protected them against hostile take-overs that weakened the stock corporations. Mutual insurers not only survived as independent companies but also were a success.


SUMMARY The gut constitutes the main reservoir of the bodyis serotonin. The latter has effects not only on colonic motility via activation of cholinergic or nitric oxide-dependent neurons but also on the modulation of sensation by excitation of intrinsic sensory neurons. The abundance of serotonin receptors within the enteric nervous system constituted a challenge, as the pharmacological intervention on these receptors could be the etiological treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). 5-HT 3 and 5-HT4 are the main subtypes of serotonin receptors in the gut. Therapeutic blockade of 5HT 3 by alosetron in women with diarrhea- predominant IBS brought a revolution in the treatment of IBS. This drug acts both on colonic motility and the secretory function of the bowel but, despite the spectacular results, it had to be withdrawn due to 49 cases of ischemic colitis. 5-HT 4 agonists have been used for the treatment of patients with constipation-prone IBS. In large comparative trials tegaserod was more effective than placebo although the therapeutic gain over placebo was small. Prucalopride is a potent 5-HT 4 agonist but much concern has been raised by the report of carcinogenicity in animals. Other serotonergic modulators include piboserod (SB207266) and MKC 733 but no clinical trials in humans are available. Sumatriptan, a 5-HT 1B/D agonist developed for the treatment of migraine, causes relaxation of the gastric fundus in man, but its intranasal administration limits its use. As abdominal pain constitutes the main complaint of IBS patients, future efforts must concentrate on medications acting on visceral hypersensivity.


Abstract The article presents, for the first time, the results of the research on composite film obtained from hydroxylated endohedral metallofullerenes (EMF) Y@C82, Y2@C82, with Y2C2@C82 and highest fullerenes as dopant. The composite film has been established to have electric conductivity and to be a ferroelectric with the value of residual polarization of ∼0.75 μC/cm2. The impedance spectroscopy of this sample allowed us to determine dispersion of dielectric permittivity and conductivity in the range of frequencies of 0.5 Hz–100 MHz. It is stated that the value of the high-frequency dielectric permittivity of films is ε′∞ = 2.8. However, with reduction in the electric field frequency, real and imaginary parts of ε increase to values ∼104–105. Such increase in dielectric permittivity is connected with increase in polarizing caused by accumulation of mobile electric charges (electrons of ions, protons) on boundaries of the structural defects of a film, which are divided by thin dielectric interlayers. The film is solid electrolyte with the ionic conductivity of ∼5 × 10−7 S/cm. Graphical Abstract


This study researched authentic leaders (Avolio & Gardner, 2005) who were selfaware of their values, beliefs, ethical philosophies, and character strengths while using this knowledge to strengthen their self-regulation. They used positive modeling to enhance follower development, which ultimately promoted veritable and sustainable outcomes personally and professionally that integrated with the authentic leader's purpose in life. Higher education, as a multi-billion dollar industry, uses shared governance that creates challenges for its leadership. Authentic leaders who hold senior administrative positions within higher education are often confronted with varying levels of administrative challenges, especially immoral, unethical, or illegal policies and practices. Senior administrators are often the frontline for creating, supporting, and maintaining either an inauthentic culture at their institution that supports the status quo or an authentic culture at their institution that promotes and supports positive change focused on the common good. This study reviewed the literature regarding eudaimonia, positive psychology, positive leadership, and higher education administration. The focus was on authentic leaders who were senior administrators in higher education administration. This study utilized life stories to identify the common themes within these senior administrators' lives that allowed them to develop into authentic leaders who had the moral courage to take courageous principled-action against immoral, unethical, and illegal policies and practices within their institutions. This study produced a theoretical model that was juxtaposed against Avolio and Gardner's (2005) Authentic Leader Model confirming their research, as well as extending their research into the moral courage and courageous principled-action research domains. This study has primary value for persons interested in having a deeper understanding of leadership, positive leadership, authentic leadership, moral development, moral courage, courageous principled-action, and higher education administration. This study has secondary value for persons interested in developing as an authentic leader, working effectively within higher education administration, or aspiring to develop the moral courage that will support their willingness and capabilities for taking courageous principled-action.


People can be disgusted by the concrete and by the abstract -- by an object they find physically repellent or by an ideology or value system they find morally abhorrent. Different things will disgust different people, depending on individual sensibilities or cultural backgrounds. In Yuck!, Daniel Kelly investigates the character and evolution of disgust, with an emphasis on understanding the role this emotion has come to play in our social and moral lives. Disgust has recently been riding a swell of scholarly attention, especially from those in the cognitive sciences and those in the humanities in the midst of the "affective turn." Kelly proposes a cognitive model that can accommodate what we now know about disgust. He offers a new account of the evolution of disgust that builds on the model and argues that expressions of disgust are part of a sophisticated but largely automatic signaling system that humans use to transmit information about what to avoid in the local environment. He shows that many of the puzzling features of moral repugnance tinged with disgust are by-products of the imperfect fit between a cognitive system that evolved to protect against poisons and parasites and the social and moral issues on which it has been brought to bear. Kelly's account of this emotion provides a powerful argument against invoking disgust in the service of moral justification.


Previous models of boycott motivation are incomplete because they only consider beliefs and attitudes. This article argues that consumers' proximity to the consequences of the critical actions of a company is the primary trigger of the desire to boycott. As consumers need to justify this desire, they search for supportive arguments. Thus, the arguments consumers give to explain why they are boycotting or not are pre-decisional rationalizations rather than independent rational considerations. Consequently, the paper suggests that scholars need to respecify the antecedents identified in prior studies. These constructs are mediator variables of the indirect influence of proximity on boycott participation. The paper tests the assumptions on the basis of survey data gathered from 544 consumers using the example of a real boycott that was called in response to factory relocation. The model proposed was tested by means of partial least squares regression analysis. The mediation hypotheses were examined using simple and multiple mediation tests. The empirical study confirms that boycott motives are mainly rationalizations of a pre-existing desire to boycott, which is contingent on proximity. Managerial implications and avenues for further research are proposed.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This study focuses on the analysis of an ARF-MikroKopter OktoXL drone manufactured by MikroKopter. This internship is part of the SIERA project, co-supervised by the Automatic Control Department of CentraleSupelec in cooperation with the SONDRA Laboratory.
The goal of the SIERA project is to use the drone to obtain radar images of a certain ground. To do so, an accurate control of the attitude, and most importantly, speed, is needed. The drone study was initiated in 2014 with the CEI team focusing on a simplified model of the drone. In 2015, two CEI groups continued to work on the project, achieving the following points:
· developing a complete model of the drone implemented via a simulator in MATLAB/Simulink;
· developing some control laws tested on the proposed models;
· developing a model for the air drag;
· reviewing the source-code used by Mikrokopter in the ARF processor.
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to provide a better understanding of the source-code that can help future CEI implement the different control laws. Prior to that, though, the model has to be validated. In this internship, some guidance and tools are proposed to work towards this validation.
In a first instance, the hardware composing the Oktokopter is reviewed in Chapter III. Then the source-code provided on the SVN repository is further studied in Chapter IV, with a focus on the measurements and the FlightCtrl module. In Chapter V, the communication between the FlightCtrl and the BLCtrl is analyzed, which could help model validation and further understanding of the units and gains of the signals involved in the control process.. Additionally, appendix 5 reviews the tests performed by the CEI groups and during this internship to tune the air drag model developed by CEI 2.


In this paper, the performance of a 2000-ton hybrid AIP system submarine is investigated by analyzing the weight, volume and efficiency of its propulsion system. The engine of the investigated AIP system employs a low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell which makes use of the hydrogen and oxygen as the reactants. More specifically, the reactants of fuel cell in this study are considered from the combination of three fuel storage systems, methanol (MeOH), liquid hydrogen (LH2) and metal hydride (MH2), and two oxidant storage systems, liquid oxygen (LOX) and compressed oxygen (O2). Based on the assumed various daily propulsion load consumptions, a propulsion system of a 3500 kW diesel generator, a 300 kW fuel cell, and a 7500 kWh energy capacity Li-ion battery bank is determined. With the system installed in the submarine, the maximum designed endurance can reach a total of 26 days for the fuel cell using the combination of reactant LH2  LOX, and the minimum designed endurance can be up to 10 days for using the reactant MH2  O2. For submarine cruising at zero speed, the submerged endurance of the AIP system using reactant LH2  LOX plus battery bank is 22.8 times of that using battery bank alone. This value will increase to 25.0 times for submarine cruising at 7.4 knots. At the cruising speed of 5.5 knots, the maximum submerged range of submarine increases a factor of 24.1 for fuel cell using the reactant of LH2  LOX as compared with operation on battery bank alone. Therefore, the submerged endurance is substantial enhanced for using the combination of fuel cell and battery. In addition, the indiscretion ratio is zero for the AIP system submarine with a cruising speed below 7.1 knots; this can greatly reduce the submarine vulnerability. Based on the weight and volume analysis of the submarine equipped with a hybrid AIP system, the usage of the reactant LH2  LOX is well suited for a smallto medium-sized 2000-ton submarine with a fuel cell system. Furthermore, using the reactant MeOH  LOX has the advantage for large-sized LT-PEMFC AIP system submarines.


Energy poverty is widely recognized as a major obstacle to economic and social development and poverty alleviation. To help inform the design of appropriate and effective policies to reduce energy poverty, we present a brief analysis of the current macro financial flows in the electricity and gas distribution sectors in developing countries. We build on the methodology used to quantify the flows of investment in the climate change area. This methodology relies on national gross fixed capital formation, overseas development assistance, and foreign direct investment. These high-level and aggregated investment figures provide a sense of scale to policy-makers, but are only a small part of the information required to design financial vehicles. In addition, these figures tend to mask numerous variations between sectors and countries, as well as trends and other temporal fluctuations. Nonetheless, for the poorest countries, one can conclude that the current flows are considerably short (at least five times) of what will be required to provide a basic level of access to clean, modern energy services to the "energy poor".


Fieldwork carried out in the Tirunelvell District of Tamil Nadu, South India, has led to the delineation of a 'micro-region' of three agricultural villages This micro-region acquires its sociological unity by virtue of a system of inter-caste relationships and prestations which embraces all these villages and which manifests itself equally in the religious, economic, political and administrative spheres. In particular, the various specialist caste-groups perform their respective services for clienteles made-up of all or part of the population of the micro-region concerned. One aspect of each specialist's duty is his role in the life-crisis rituals of his clients. These rituals are themselves subsequently re-examined from the opposite perspective, namely with reference to the intra-caste relationships which they bring into play. Particular attention is paid to female puberty rites and to marriage; these are considered as a single ritual complex, concerned with caste purity and the legitimation of off-spring. The phenomenon of marriage between a man and his elder sister's daughter is examined. There is a discussion of the problems which this practice raises for the conventional view of the 'Dravidian' marriage system, and an alternative structure is suggested for the kinship terminology in the present case. It is argued throughout that the problems being considered are best approached from a sociological, structural perspective, and a three-level model of social reality is adapted for this purpose. As a complement to this, the study concludes with a critique of the recently-advanced 'cultural' and 'ethnosociological' approaches in South Asian anthropology.


The unique strength of the current work is the author's attempt to create his own framework for investigating construal, [...] drawing on a number of theoretical perspectives that have never before been brought together for this purpose. Thus, the empirical part of the monograph is deeply situated within the field of Second Language Acquisition, with its focus on the processing of language by L2 learners. [...] Since construal as such, the pivotal concept of the monograph, is a notion developed within Cognitive Linguistics, the major theoretical orientation of the book is quite obviously on theories developed within this field, [...]. However, the author is not satisfied with such a narrow focus and expands his framework by connecting the concept of construal to the theoretical perspectives developed in other disciplines, such as philosophy, psycholinguistics, or cognitive psychology. An important and innovative approach to the notion of construal proposed in the volume is viewing attention, with its related concept of cognitive salience, as the most superordinate process in construal. This novel approach opens up exciting opportunities for future research projects, which will certainly be stimulated by the many excellent ideas and the sound and logical theoretical framework present in the current work.


This thesis studies the state of California's responses to migratory families and children during the Depression and Dust Bowl. In particular, it emphasizes the growth of several state bureaucracies during this time, including the Department of Public Health, the Department of Education, and the Youth Authority. It also engages with local nonprofit relief agencies as well as county agencies, which functioned as direct aid providers to migrants. The efforts to provide relief to migrant families are explained, as are the surrounding rhetorical frameworks used to discuss the perceived negative attributes of migrant children. These discourses influenced administrators, California residents, and other agents, and they responded by creating new programs, such as school lunches, and by reforming old ones, such as the juvenile detention facilities. This work also sheds light on how Progressive ideas interacted with the New Deal state and antimigrant sentiment to complicate the treatment of transient youths. This account also challenges the Dust Bowl historiographic turn away from histories of the state, arguing instead that understanding the migrant child's experience requires an in-depth analysis of state programs. iv Table of


York Health Economics Consortium Ltd, University of York, York YO10 5NQ, UK Purpose: To generate UK health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) data for adult patients with moderate-to-severe limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), unilateral or bilateral, due to physical or chemical ocular burns to help inform economic evaluations of treatments. Patients and Methods: EQ-5D-3L with vision bolt-on scores was prospectively measured for one of five clinical scenarios of LSCD described in vignettes in a demographically representative population of 520 UK adults. These were converted to health state utilities using three different UK value sets. A standard gamble (SG) was then undertaken using 12 SG scenarios to examine the component drivers of health utility for the treatment of LSCD. Results: For the EQ-5D-3L scenarios, the mean disutility for LSCD with poor visual acuity, pain and disfigurement in both eyes compared to one eye was −0.084 (range=−0.156 to −0.045 across the value sets). The mean disutility of bilateral LSCD with pain, disfigurement, and poor visual acuity compared to unilateral LSCD with only poor visual acuity in one eye was −0.104 (range=−0.151 to −0.078). Similarly, where one eye was affected, pain and disfigurement in combination were associated with a greater mean disutility than improvements in visual acuity alone: −0.011 (range=−0.04 to 0.005). Mean SG utilities were within a narrow range (0.682–0.765). Where one eye was affected, the main driver was disfigurement: mean utility was 0.731 (0.709–0.753) compared to 0.682 (0.659–0.704) when disfigurement was removed compared to vision restored to normal. For bilateral LSCD, mean utilities were 0.693 (0.672–0.715) for normal vision and 0.75 (0.73–0.771) when disfigurement and pain were removed. Conclusion: Improvements in pain and disfigurement appeared to be the main factors driving differences in health utilities associated with symptom profiles in LSCD, with improvements in visual acuity having lesser impact.


The Pacific Islands Field Education (PIFE) initiative started in 2012 and has developed into an innovative project combining various stakeholders. Over the last 4 years, it has seen 20 Western Sydney University (WSU) students successfully complete a 3-month field education placement in either Fiji, Samoa or Tonga; in an array of agencies working with women, children, families and adult offenders. Apart from mobilising students to undertake international learning opportunities, the initiative strives to support the development of social work education, teaching and learning outcomes with the University of the South Pacific (USP); who has an active MOU arrangement with Western Sydney University. Such an approach is embedded within the desire to also create a more nuanced, sustainable perspective on the professional role of Social Work across Oceania.


Abstract. Numerous studies have focused on the local and regional climate effects of irrigated agriculture and other land cover and land use change (LCLUC) phenomena, but there are few studies on the role of ocean–atmosphere interaction in modulating irrigation climate impacts. Here, we compare simulations with and without interactive sea surface temperatures of the equilibrium effect on climate of contemporary (year 2000) irrigation geographic extent and intensity. We find that ocean–atmosphere interaction does impact the magnitude of global-mean and spatially varying climate impacts, greatly increasing their global reach. Local climate effects in the irrigated regions remain broadly similar, while non-local effects, particularly over the oceans, tend to be larger. The interaction amplifies irrigation-driven standing wave patterns in the tropics and midlatitudes in our simulations, approximately doubling the global-mean amplitude of surface temperature changes due to irrigation. The fractions of global area experiencing significant annual-mean surface air temperature and precipitation change also approximately double with ocean–atmosphere interaction. Subject to confirmation with other models, these findings imply that LCLUC is an important contributor to climate change even in remote areas such as the Southern Ocean, and that attribution studies should include interactive oceans and need to consider LCLUC, including irrigation, as a truly global forcing that affects climate and the water cycle over ocean as well as land areas.


Current methods for introducing new genes into cattle and other livestock have a low efficiency--no more than 10% at best. But in the 24 November issue of the
 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , researchers report on a new method for producing such transgenic animals that approaches 100% efficiency at passing on the foreign gene. They achieved this by introducing a foreign gene into cow eggs before they were fertilized rather than shortly after, as is currently done. The increased efficiency should be welcome news to researchers who want to introduce genes into livestock, either to improve the strains or to use the animals to produce medically valuable proteins such as monoclonal antibodies or vaccine proteins, and could even make cloning of livestock obsolete.


There is a significant and increasing interest in using fungi as biocontrol agents for insect pests in agricultural systems, and also a growing interest in the basic biology of insect-fungal associations from the perspective of parasitism, symbiosis, and infection. Vega and Blackwell are well-regarded workers in this field, and they have assembled an impressive short book of ten chapters to cover the most important topics in this field, incorporating new molecular techniques wherever possible. The book should appeal to worker in ecology, entomology, mycology, plant pathology, and biological control and pest management.


An important role of the team physician is to provide care for the whole athlete. This includes mental health issues for instance screening for depression and knowing the factors that affect the onset of depression. The USA Preventive Service Task Force (USPSTF) recommends screening adults for depression when staff-assisted depression care supports are in place to assure accurate diagnosis, effective treatment and follow-up.1 Most studies report prevalence rate of depression among college athletes ranges from as low as 15.6% to as high as 21%.2 Depression levels were significantly higher in current college athletes (about 17%) compared with former, graduated college athletes (8%).

The stress of sports and athletic participation place athletes at risk. Performance failure was significantly associated with depression. The statistically strongest predictors of depression in student-athletes were female gender, lower self-esteem, less social connectedness and decrease sleep. Female student-athletes had 1.32 greater odds (95% CI 1.01 to 1.73) of experiencing symptoms of depression compared to male student-athletes. Freshmen had 3.27 greater odds (95% CI 1.63 to 6.59) of experiencing symptoms of depression than their more senior counterparts.3

USPSTF recommends the use of one of these three screening tools; 9-Question Patient Health Questionnaire—Depression Screener (PHQ-9), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Depression Screener from the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The PHQ-9, a nine-question survey, when the cut-off is a score of 5 or more has 95% sensitivity and 88.3% specificity when scored with a cut point of 11. The CES-D, 10-question survey, when the cut-off is 22 has sensitivity 84%, specificity 60% and positive predicted value 77%.4 Most recommend a cut-off of 16 to increase sensitivity but it decreases the …


In arid and semi arid regions water scarcity and high temperature are major production constraints. Plant water deficit during grain filling in wheat has been found to substantially affect grain yield. The study was aimed 1) to determine the physiological and biochemical response of plants to the variation in the temperature and moisture in plants grown in fields of arid, semi arid and high temperature areas during milky stage of grain formation. 2) To compare the performance of plants grown in pots at critical stages of grain filling under drought stress induced at anthesis stage. Furthermore, the effect of abscisic acid (ABA) and benzyladenine (BA), the two important hormones involved in stress tolerance applied at anthesis stage were studied on the physiology and biochemistry of plants at different developmental phases of grain filling viz. anthesis, watery ripe, milky, soft dough and hard dough stages.

Wheat samples collected from high temperature areas and arid and semi arid areas of Pakistan were analyzed for sugar, protein, proline and phytohormones-Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), Gibberellin (GA3) and abscisic acid (ABA) content of flag leaves and spikes. The amount of sugar content decreased in both flag leaves and spikes of plants collected from both high temperature and arid and semi arid areas but the plants collected from high temperature region showed greater decrease than that of arid and semi arid areas plants. Protein content was increased with the increase in temperature. The concentration of growth promoting hormones, Indole-3-aceticacid (IAA) and Gibberellin (GA3) decreased whereas, that of stress hormone abscisic acid increased with increase in temperature and decrease in moisture content of soil. Sugar, protein, proline, IAA, GA3 and ABA contents of spikes were higher than that of leaves under both the stresses. The effect of high temperature was more marked than that of arid and semi arid areas.

Seeds of two wheat varieties (Triticum aestivum L.) cv Margalla-99 (cvl) and cv Manthar-2003 (cv2) were .sown in pots under natural climatic conditions. Stress treatments were imposed immediately after anthesis by withholding water supply for a period of 10 days. Aqueous solution of growth regulators, abscisic acid (I 0-6 M) and benzyl adenine (10-6M) were sprayed on the leaves at anthesis stage. Drought stress treatments were imposed immediately after anthesis and measurements were made subsequently at each successive stage of grain filling viz. anthesis, watery ripe, milky, soft dough and hard dough stages. Leaves and spikes were analyzed for protein, proline and sugar content and endogenous level of IAA, GA3 and ABA.

Under drought stress the relative water content, water potential, osmotic potential, sugar, protein, IAA, GA3 , grain yield, grain moisture content, grain weight, shoot biomass was found to be decreased while the application of abscisic acid and benzyl adenine partially ameliorated the inhibitory effect of drought but the effect of abscisic acid was more marked than that of benzyladenine. In all cases decrease was more in cv2 Manthar-2003 than in cvl Margalla-99. Application of both ABA and BA was to maintain the water budget and regulation of osmotic imbalance by regulating the relative water content of flag leaves and production of proline. IAA and GA3 content and IAA/GA ratio decreased under drought conditions in both flag leaves and spikes. ABA and BA application increased the IAA and GA3 content and ratio of IAA and GA3 over drought. Highly significant positive correlations existed in RWC, osmotic and water potential of flag leaves.

The adverse effect of drought started at anthesis stage reaching maximum at hard dough stage. ABA was more effective at the later stages (soft and hard dough stages) of grain filling whereas, BA was more effective at early stage (anthesis, watery ripe and milky stage) in most of the cases. The high temperature at the reproductive phase as well as the ABA application at anthesis stage accelerated the grain filling rate to escape the period of stress which appears an adaptive mechanism to increase the grain yield. Exogenous application of terpenoid analogue of ABA may be used for commercial use in the field to provide tolerance to plants against moisture stress


The PAX3 gene as a member of the paired homeodomain family of transcription factors plays a crucial role during embryonal development by regulating the early development of neural structures, derivatives of the neural crest and skeletal muscles. Following embryonal development, the PAX3 expression is switched off. Mutations in the PAX3 gene are commonly associated with Waardenburg's syndrome and in Craniofacial-hand syndrome. Aberrant re-expression of PAX3 after embryogenesis plays a key role in the onset, growth, survival and progression of rhabdomyosarcoma, melanoma and neuroblastoma. Alternative splicing of PAX3 results in seven transcript variants (PAX3a, PAX3b, PAX3c, PAX3d, PAX3e, PAX3g and PAX3h), the interactions of which with other downstream targets, make it difficult for manipulation and the development of potent chemotherapeutic regimens to effectively treat malignant tumours including rhabdomyosarcoma, melanoma and neuroblastoma which have unfavourable prognostic outcomes.
This research was aimed at down-regulating PAX3 gene expression in human rhabdomyosarcoma and melanoma cell lines, subsequently identifying the downstream target genes of PAX3 and determining the effects on cell growth and survival. The expression of PAX3 in human rhabdomyosarcoma and human melanoma cell lines was significantly down-regulated using novel pre-designed PAX3 small interference RNA molecules, at a final concentration of 0.5μM in an in vitro transient transfection. The three prime Affymetrix microarray analyses showed more than a four-fold and a two-fold down-regulation of PAX3 gene expression in the human JR1 embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma and RH30 alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines respectively, whilst in the human A375 melanoma cell line, over an eight-fold down-regulation of PAX3 expression was demonstrated relative to negative control cells. A quantitative RT-PCR analysis, which was used in validating results of the Affymetrix array, confirmed the knockdown of PAX3 in both human rhabdomyosarcoma and melanoma cell lines. A semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of gene expression revealed at least 90% down-regulation of all PAX3 variant expression in JR1, RH30 and A375 cell lines relative to negative controls cells. Higher levels of gene silencing were observed in the JR1 cell line than in either RH30 or A375 cell lines. Western blotting analysis, which quantified the level of PAX3 gene knockdown, indicated a 98%, 92% and 90% reduction of PAX3 protein in JR1, RH30 and A375 cell lines respectively. This down-regulation of PAX3 expression significantly inhibited tumour cell growth, proliferation, migration, adhesion, invasion, and induced apoptosis of JR1, RH30 and A375 cell lines in vitro. These results were explainable by the particular genes that were up- or down-regulated by PAX3, which were correlated with the microarray results and the quantitative RT-PCR experiments. The expression of PAX3 gene has been previously demonstrated to promote tumourigenesis of rhabdomyosarcoma and melanoma. Results of this present study suggest that down-regulation of PAX3 might inhibit the progression of rhabdomyosarcoma and melanoma and PAX3 thus could be a suitable target for the development of potent chemotherapy.
Silencing of PAX3 in these cell lines resulted in the alteration of expression of a host of downstream target genes, which PAX3 uses in the modulation of cellular activities, including cell growth, proliferation, migration, adhesion, metastatic invasion and apoptosis of the rhabdomyosarcoma and melanoma cell lines.


Background: Several systemic factors and hormones are thought to regulate the fracture healing process. Vitamin D has emerged as a compound or hormone that actively participates in the regulation of calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism. Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the serum changes in the level of vitamin D during the acute healing period of tibial and femoral shaft fractures. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study included of 73 patients with tibial and femoral shaft fractures referred to the Poursina Hospital between February 2011 and February 2012. Changes in the serum levels of vitamin D were assessed three times in a period of three weeks (at the first visit, end of first week, and end of the third week). Variables such as age, gender, fractured bone, concomitant fracture of tibia and fibula, type of fracture, time of measurement and serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were assessed. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software. Results: Forty tibial fractures and 33 femoral fractures were recorded. Mean vitamin D levels at the time of admission, after one week and at the end of the third week for the 73 participants included in the study were 39.23, 31.49, and 28.57 ng/mL, respectively. The overall reduction of vitamin D level was significantly more evident in the first week versus the following (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Serum levels of vitamin D in patients with tibial or femoral fractures were reduced during the curative period of the fracture. This can be related the role of vitamin D in the formation and mineralization of the callus. Patients with tibial or femoral shaft fractures may benefit from the administration of vitamin D supplements during the fracture healing process.


It is well known that the convergence rate of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm can be faster than those of convention first-order iterative algorithms when the overlap in the given mixture is small. But this argument has not been mathematically proved yet. This article studies this problem asymptotically in the setting of gaussian mixtures under the theoretical framework of Xu and Jordan (1996). It has been proved that the asymptotic convergence rate of the EM algorithm for gaussian mixtures locally around the true solution is o(e0.5()), where > 0 is an arbitrarily small number, o(x) means that it is a higher-order infinitesimal as x 0, and e() is a measure of the average overlap of gaussians in the mixture. In other words, the large sample local convergence rate for the EM algorithm tends to be asymptotically superlinear when e() tends to zero.


ABSTRACT Schiff-base complementary hydrogen-bonded liquid crystals (HBLC), viz., (4)MeOBD(3)AmBA:nOBAs with flexible chain length for n = 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12 are reported. 1H; 13C-NMR and Infra-Red spectroscopy used to confirm the formation of HBLCs. LC phases and transition temperatures (Tc) determined by polarised optical microscopy (POM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Tc and enthalpy (∆H) determined by DSC also. Odd-Even effect observed at clearing and melting transitions. Influence of Schiff base and Oxygen as bridging atom promote smectic phase abundance. HBLCs exhibit tetra- or penta-phase variance. Maximum (penta) phase variance is exhibited by n = 8 and 12 with long flexible chain. Prevalent abundance of quasi-two-dimensional (2D) LC phases of SmF and SmI is observed. Nematic phase is quenched. Lower (n = 4) and intermediate (n = 6) members exhibited SmBcryst phase. Predominant occurrence of enantiotropic LC phases is noticed. All members exhibited 3D tilted SmG phase. A-C transition exhibited by intermediate homologues (for n = 7, 8, 9 and 10) is found to be either second order or with very small enthalpy. Phase diagram reveals the abundance of multi-critical points with LC phasesinvolving exotic symmetries. Influence of meta-extended rigid core, complementary HB and flexibility is studied for the LC phase abundance with characteristic structural order. POM and DSC results are discussed in the wake of reports in other achiral calamitic LCs. GRPAHICAL ABSTRACT


Parametric amplification or four-wave mixing in high-birefringence optical fibers may be exploited to implement a novel type of nonlinear polarizer. Such a device leads to the simultaneous amplification, frequency conversion, and repolarization of both signal and idler waves along one of the principal birefringence axes of the fiber, independently of the pump, signal, and idler input state of polarization, power, and frequency detuning. We discuss the conditions for the observation of polarization attraction in fiber optics parametric amplifiers operating with a pump in either the normal or the anomalous dispersion regime.


Indian summer monsoon (ISM) variations have been linked to the orbital-scale boreal summer insolation and millennial-scale North Atlantic climates. Recent studies show the critical role of Indian Ocean sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) in affecting deglacial millennial-scale monsoon oscillations. However, it is unclear whether SSTs can affect monsoon rainfall and terrestrial hydroclimate during the Holocene. Here we report multiproxy evidence of hydroclimate changes in southwest China since the Last Glacial Maximum. Similar to the often-documented gradual decrease in Holocene monsoon rainfall with superimposed millennial-scale variations, our records particularly show pronounced hydroclimate fluctuations including wet conditions at ∼5000-4000 yr ago, and perhaps over the past 1000 yr. We also find coherent variations between our records and sea-surface salinities in the eastern Indian Ocean, suggesting that terrestrial hydroclimate and resultant continental drainage have affected surface ocean conditions. These fluctuations are likely linked to changes in SSTs downstream of the monsoon source in the tropical western Indian Ocean, i.e., a warmer ocean and more monsoon rainfall. We conclude that the influence of both insolation and tropical SSTs on the ISM has persisted from the last deglaciation into Holocene.


Two independent field intervention experiments involving a total of about 190 pupils were carried out in winter and early spring of 2005 in five pairs of mechanically ventilated classrooms that received 100% outdoor air. Each pair of classrooms was located in a different school. Electrostatic air cleaners were installed in classrooms and either operated or disabled to modify particle concentrations while the performance of schoolwork was measured. In one school, the used supply-air filters in a ventilation system without recirculation were also replaced with new ones to modify classroom air quality, while the filters in use in other schools were not changed. The conditions were established for one week at a time in a blind crossover design with repeated measures on ten-to-twelve-year-old children. Pupils performed six exercises exemplifying different aspects of schoolwork as part of normal lessons and indicated their environmental perceptions and the intensity of any symptoms. A sensory panel of adults judged the air quality in the classrooms soon after the pupils left. Operating the electrostatic air cleaners considerably reduced the concentration of particles in the classrooms. The effect was greater the lower the outdoor air supply rate. There were no consistent effects of this reduction on the performance of schoolwork, on the children's perception of the classroom environment, on symptom intensity, or on air quality as perceived by the sensory panel. This suggests there are no short-term (acute) effects of particle removal outside the pollen season. When new filters were installed, the effects were inconsistent, although this is believed to be due to sequential and unbalanced presentation of filter conditions and to the fact that the used filters retained very little dust.