Abstract Corals have the potential to record several centuries of highly detailed environmental information in the form of chemical proxies such as trace elements and stable isotopes. Massive corals commonly lay down density bands that are used as annual markers, allowing time-series records to be produced. In addition, Montastraea faveolata, a common Caribbean coral species used for proxy records, apparently erects its skeleton in two phases, with a second phase of skeletonization producing micro-scale banding that may reflect daily cycles of carbonate secretion. While this raises the possibility of producing proxy records of daily environmental variation, it also introduces uncertainty as we seek to sample at progressively finer scales until we better understand the mechanisms and timing of skeletonization. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) and backscattered electron imaging (BEI) study of Montastraea faveolata reveals that it produces a complex pattern of microbands three orders of magnitude smaller than the density bands commonly used for proxy records. Etched, polished sections of coral skeleton show that the microbands consist of shingled aragonite crystallites oriented at high angles to the main axis of colony growth. The microbands are 1 to 10 μm in width and suggest a second phase of skeletonization that occurs later than the main axis of corallite extension. Individual imaged crystallites show a stepped increase in crystal breadth that could either be real or an artifact of sample preparation related to differential solubility. BEI analysis reveals that the bands of crystallites contain cyclical alternations of elemental abundance. High-resolution electron microprobe traverses (1-μm beam diameter, 1-μm step size) reveal that the elemental alternations are controlled at least in part by variations in Sr/Ca within individual crystallites. Sr concentration in the microbands ranges cyclically between 9,800 and 10,800 ppm. The microbands appear to fill in the pore space between thecae (corallite walls) and dissepiments (corallite "floors"). This secondary skeletonization process appears to be responsible for the production of the larger-scale annual high-density bands via destruction of pore space. The possibility exists that the crystallite microbanding and the chemical alternation within it is driven by external cyclicity such as diurnal temperature variation. If this is the case, then the direction and timing of this microscale skeletonization could interfere with the collection of proxy data within the high-density band. The secondary skeletonization would likely cause "blurring" of the chemical signal and be responsible for chemical noise in proxy patterns produced by analytical techniques such as ion microprobe analysis. As the resolution of analytical techniques improves, these problems would likely be exacerbated. On the other hand, the possibility exists for extremely high-resolution sampling within the high-density band to reveal daily environmental variation and short-lived pulse events presently difficult to detect in coral records. It is also possible that the chemistry and fabric of the microbanding patterns could be used as an indicator of the degree of diagenetic alteration, an important consideration as fossil corals are used increasingly to study paleoclimatic conditions.


Telomeres play a vital position in cellular destiny and developing antique with the resource of adjusting the cellular reaction to stress and increase stimulation on the idea of previous cell divisions and DNA damage. As a minimum, a few hundred nucleotides of telomere repeats want to "cap" every chromosome cease to avoid activation of DNA restore pathways. Repair of significantly brief or "uncapped" telomeres by telomerase or recombination restricted in maximum somatic cells and apoptosis, or cellular senescence delivered on when too many "uncapped" telomeres collect. The hazard of the latter will increase due to the fact the expected telomere duration decreases. The standard telomere period is ready and maintained in cells of the germline, which naturally explicit excessive levels of telomerase in the destiny hobby clearly may focus at the genome, and with more appreciation of its importance as a rather sensitive organ of the cell, monitoring genomic sports activities and correcting commonplace mistakes, sensing the uncommon and surprising events, and responding to them, frequently with the aid of the usage of restructuring the genome.


Principal component analysis (PCA) can be regarded as approximating a data matrix with a low-rank one by imposing sparsity on its singular values, and its robust variant further captures sparse noise. In this paper, we extend such sparse matrix learning methods, and propose a novel unied framework called sparse additive matrix factorization (SAMF). SAMF systematically induces various types of sparsity by the so-called model-induced regularization in the Bayesian framework. We propose an iterative algorithm called the mean update (MU) for the variational Bayesian approximation to SAMF, which gives the global optimal solution for a large subset of parameters in each step. We demonstrate the usefulness of our method on articial data and the foreground/background video separation.


Exercise can have deleterious effects on the secretion of salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA), which appears to be related to perturbations in sympatheticoadrenal activation (Teeuw et al., 2004). Caffeine, commonly used for its ergogenic properties is associated with increased sympathetic nervous system activity, and it has been previously shown that caffeine ingestion before intensive cycling enhances s-IgA responses during exercise (Bishop et al., 2006). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effect of a performance cereal bar, containing caffeine, before and during prolonged exhaustive cycling on exercise performance and the salivary secretion of IgA, alpha-amylase activity and cortisol. Using a randomised cross-over design and following a 10 – 12 hour overnight fast, 12 trained cyclists, mean (SEM) age: 21(1) yr; height: 179(2) cm; body mass: 73.6(2.5) kg; maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max: 57.9(1.2) completed 2.5 h of cycling at 60%VO2max (with regular water ingestion) on a stationary ergometer, which was followed by a ride to exhaustion at 75% VO2max. Immediately before exercise, and after 55 min and 115 min of exercise participants ingested a 0.9 MJ cereal bar containing 45 g carbohydrate, 5 g protein, 3 g fat and 100 mg of caffeine (CAF) or an isocaloric noncaffeine bar (PLA). Unstimulated timed saliva samples were collected immediately before exercise, after 70 min and 130 min of exercise, and immediately after the exhaustive exercise bout. Saliva was analysed for s-IgA, alpha-amylase activity and cortisol concentration. Saliva flow rates were determined to calculate the s-IgA secretion rate. Data were analysed using a 2-way repeated measures ANOVA and post-hoc t-tests with Holm Bonferroni adjustments applied where appropriate. Time to exhaustion was 35% longer in CAF compared with PLA ((2177 (0.2) vs 1615 (0.16) s; P < 0.05)). Saliva flow rate did not change significantly during the exercise protocol. Exercise was associated with elevations in s-IgA concentration (9% increase), s-IgA secretion rate (24% increase) and alpha-amylase activity (224% increase) post-exhaustion (P < 0.01), but there was no effect of CAF on these responses. Salivary cortisol concentration increased by 64% post-exhaustion in the CAF trial only (P < 0.05), indicating an increase in adrenal activity following caffeine ingestion. Values were 35.7 (5.5) and 19.6 (3.4) nmol/L post-exhaustion for CAF and PLA, respectively. These findings show that ingestion of a caffeine containing cereal bar during prolonged exhaustive cycling enhances endurance performance, increases salivary cortisol secretion post-exhaustion, but does not affect the exercise-induced increases in s-IgA or alpha-amylase activity.


This article considers family solicitors' responses to recent initiatives intended to improve legal practice in handling family breakdown. It discusses solicitors' practice and views in relation to how children's needs are best taken into account as required by the two Protocols governing this area of work, and reports on their views on FAINs. It suggests that these developments are challenging solicitors' images of themselves as family lawyers, as distinct from family dispute managers.


Big Data Application Architecture Pattern Recipes provides an insight into heterogeneous infrastructures, databases, and visualization and analytics tools used for realizing the architectures of big data solutions. Its problem-solution approach helps in selecting the right architecture to solve the problem at hand. In the process of reading through these problems, you will learn harness the power of new big data opportunities which various enterprises use to attain real-time profits. Big Data Application Architecture Pattern Recipes answers one of the most critical questions of this time 'how do you select the best end-to-end architecture to solve your big data problem?'. The book deals with various mission critical problems encountered by solution architects, consultants, and software architects while dealing with the myriad options available for implementing a typical solution, trying to extract insight from huge volumes of data in realtime and across multiple relational and non-relational data types for clients from industries like retail, telecommunication, banking, and insurance. The patterns in this book providethe strong architectural foundation required to launch your next big data application. The architectures for realizing these opportunities are based on relatively less expensive and heterogeneous infrastructures compared to the traditional monolithic and hugely expensive options that exist currently. This book describes and evaluates the benefits of heterogeneity which brings with it multiple options of solving the same problem, evaluation of trade-offs and validation of 'fitness-for-purpose' of the solution. What youll learn Major considerations in building a big data solution Big data application architectures problems for specific industries What are the components one needs to build andend-to-end big data solution? Does one really need a real-time big data solution or an off-line analytics batch solution? What are the operations and support architectures fora big data solution? What are the scalability considerations, and options for a Hadoop installation? Who this book is for CIOs, CTOs, enterprise architects, and software architects Consultants, solution architects, and information management (IM) analysts who want to architect a big data solution for their enterprise


Some linguistic structures found in Amazonian Spanish tend to be associated by and large with a rural variety spoken by people frequently depicted as indigenous. However, direct observations indicate that most of these features are pervasive among speakers across the social spectrum. What, then, are the parameters of linguistic variation in Peruvian Amazonian Spanish? Is there any social and/or linguistic meaning associated with the attested variation? This paper looks at data from ten monolingual speakers, five born and raised in Iquitos, and five born and raised in Kokama indigenous villages. The linguistic variables examined are: (i) permutation j/f, (ii) possessor/noun number agreement, (iii) double possession, and (iv) genitive fronting. This study concentrates on one social variable, place, which is found to significantly impact language use. City-speakers emphasize or downplay their category membership through the quantitative manipulation of markers; village-speakers show less variability in their language use. In addition, certain possessive constructions seem to be undertaking specialized functions.


Image segmentation refers to the process of subdividing an image into a set of nonoverlapping regions. Image segmentation is a critical and essential step to almost all higher level image processing and pattern recognition approaches, where a good segmentation relieves higher level applications from considering irrelevant and noise data in the image. Image segmentation is also considered as the most challenging image processing step due to several reasons including spatial discontinuity of the region of interest and the absence of a universally accepted criteria for image segmentation. Among the huge number of segmentation approaches, active contour models or simply snakes receive a great attention in the literature. Where the contour/boundary of the region of interest is defined as the set of pixels at which the active contour reaches its equilibrium state. In general, two forces control the movement of the snake inside the image, internal force that prevents the snake from stretching and bending and external force that pulls the snake towards the desired object boundaries. One main limitation of active contour models is their sensitivity to image noise. Specifically, noise sensitivity leads the active contour to fail to properly converge, getting caught on spurious image features, preventing the iterative solver from taking large steps towards the final contour. Additionally, active contour initialization forms another type of limitation. Where, especially in noisy images, the active contour needs to be initialized relatively close to the object of interest, otherwise the active contour will be pulled by other non-real/spurious image features. This dissertation, aiming to improve the active model-based segmentation, introduces two models for building up the external force of the active contour. The first model builds up a scale-based-weighted gradient map from all resolutions of the undecimated wavelet transform, with preference given to coarse gradients over fine gradients. The undecimated wavelet transform, due to its near shift-invariance and the absence of down-sampling properties, produces well-localized gradient maps at all resolutions of the transform. Hence, the proposed final weighted gradient map is able to better drive the snake towards its final equilibrium state. Unlike other multiscale active contour algorithms that define a snake at each level of the hierarchy, our model defines a single snake with the external force field is simultaneously built based on gradient maps from all scales. The second model proposes the incorporation of the directional information, revealed by the dual tree complex wavelet transform (DT CWT), into the external force field of the active contour. At each resolution of the transform, a steerable set of convolution kernels is created and used for external force generation. In the proposed model, the size and the orientation of the kernels depend on the scale of the DT CWT and the local orientation


This study centers on the analysis of effect of two main trade relations - multilateral
and regional trade liberalizations, on the macroeconomic variables (GDP growth
rates, foreign direct investment, and wage rate) of five ASEAN countries namely
Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The study covers the
period 1976- 2000.
Endogenous growth model built on the framework of Bronsztein et al. (1998) is
utilized and Generalised Least Square (GLS) fixed effects estimation technique is
applied to estimate the parameters. Convergence hypothesis is also tested in the data.
Four measures of trade liberalisation - trade share, Dollar's exchange rate distortion,
average tariff and regional trade arrangement (RTA) dummy for participation
regional trade arrangements, are constructed.
The main results are that multilateral trade liberalisation and participation in regional
trade arrangement lead to faster growth rate. This implies that maintaining stable
exchange rate, tariff on selected key products, and high trade share boost economic
iii [ a ~
growth in ASEAN region. Regional groupings could be utilized to achieve stable
economic growth. Other important determinants of the cross-country growth rates
are wage rate, employment level and FDI emphasizing the importance of incentives
to workers and technology to improve total factor productivity per worker.
Also multilateral trade liberalisation accelerates FDI, while regional trade
liberalisation decelerates it. Other factors that influence the location of FDI in the
regional economies are wage rate (low labour cost), employment level, human
capital and initial GDP. Market size is not an important factor in the location of FDI
in ASEAN countries in the regional and multilateral trading system. Where it is
significant, its effect is negative.
There is no noticeable effect of multilateral trading system on wage rate but regional
trade liberalisation has. The most important determinants of wage rate in ASEAN
region are GDP growth rates and FDI and employment level in both trade
liberalisations. The impact of multilateral trading system on total factor productivity
is positive with exchange rate distortion index and negative with average tariff.
Regional trade liberalisation leads to low total factor productivity. The factors
influencing total factor productivity are FDI, wage rate and export intensity in both
trade liberalizations.
Our data detect unconditional and conditional P - convergence. The conditional
P -convergences in either trade liberalization 2re similar. This shows that ASEAN
colintries can follow either of trading system to achieve the long run steady state
equilibrium.


The purpose of this study was to determine systems thinking skill development among undergraduate students and assess the effectiveness of two different instructional methods for increasing these skills. Undergraduate students from two four-year state institutions, one located in the Midwestern region (n=20) of the United States and one in the Southwestern region (n=16) participated in the study. To accomplish the research object, the study employed a mixed between-within subjects experiment. Employing two different systems thinking teaching interventions, one group of students was exposed to a one-time intervention while the other group was exposed to a more extended and holistic intervention. Data were collected at two points in time: preand post-intervention. At the beginning (pre-intervention) and end (postintervention) of one semester, students read case studies describing apparel firms' sustainability efforts. The students were then tasked to identify sustainability challenges, analyze conflicts between challenges, and offer business recommendations. Using a rubric, the authors scored the students' responses on a scale of 0 to 5 and assessed ability to 1) think holistically and 2) perceive interrelationships and resolve resulting conflicts. T-tests revealed that prior to the teaching interventions, as a whole, the students had unsophisticated skills related to their ability to think in systems. ANOVA revealed that, through instructional methods focused on systems thinking, it is possible to increase students' ability to think in systems. Additionally, the study revealed that, compared to a constrained one-time intervention, a long-term, holistic, and integrated approach is significantly more effective in encouraging students' system thinking competencies. Results of this study support the need for educators to integrate teaching methods designed to increase students' systems thinking competencies holistically throughout course curriculum. Additionally, the study outlines a transferrable approach to assessing systems thinking skills within postsecondary education.


HE 0230−4323 is a hot sdB star in a binary system. An earlier work demonstrated that the light curve of the system shows a strong (∼4 per cent) reflection effect and also appears to exhibit photometric variations of the type associated with the slowly pulsating class of sdB star (multiple periods in the range ∼1–2 h). In this paper, we show that HE 0230−4323 is, in fact, a rapidly pulsating sdB with at least five frequencies between 3227 and 3532 μHz (periods between 310 and 283 s). The long periods previously claimed were the result of undersampling the light curve at a time interval very close to that of the short periods. The interpretation of the very slow variation (∼0.45 d) as a reflection effect in a close binary is unaffected by these new results.


Drawing on threshold theory, we examine the effects of attributes of alternative opportunities on persistence decisions of family business entrepreneurs. The results of our conjoint experiment show that: (a) family business entrepreneurs are generally more persistent than other entrepreneurs and (b) family business entrepreneurs focus more on non-financial benefits than other entrepreneurs. Our study contributes to persistence literature within the family business context and provides a good basis for how family business literature can benefit from multi-level theoretical and empirical modelling.


BACKGROUND
Identifying kidney allograft recipients who are predisposed to acute rejection (AR) could allow for optimization of clinical treatment to avoid rejection and prolong graft survival. It has been hypothesized that part of this predisposition is caused by the inheritance of specific genetic variants. There are many publications reporting a statistically significant association between a genetic variant, usually in the form of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), and AR. However, there are additional publications reporting a lack of this association when a different cohort of recipients is analyzed for the same SNP.

METHODS
In this report we attempted to validate 75 common genetic variants, which have been previously reported to be associated with AR, using a large kidney allograft recipient cohort of 2,390 European-Americans and 482 African Americans.

RESULTS
Of those variants tested, only one variant, rs2910164, which alters expression of the microRNA MIR146A, was found to exhibit a significant association within the African American cohort. Suggestive variants were found in the genes CTLA and TLR4.

DISCUSSION
Our results show that most variants previously reported to be associated with AR were not validated in our cohort. This shows the importance of validation when reporting associations with complex clinical outcomes such as AR. Additional work will need to be done to understand the role of MIR146A in the risk of AR in kidney allograft recipients.


The abundance of a phosphatase that targets a death receptor determines whether autophagy protects cells against apoptosis. Autophagy, a process in which aggregated proteins and damaged organelles are degraded by lysosomes, can inhibit or promote apoptosis (see Joshi and Ryan). Gump et al. investigated the molecular mechanisms by which autophagy regulates apoptosis by the death receptor agonists Fas ligand and TRAIL. FACS analysis of proliferating BJAB B-cell lymphoma expressing a fluorescent reporter of autophagic flux identified high- and low-flux subpopulations. These differences in autophagic flux were transient and were not maintained after 24 hours of culture, suggesting that these differences were not due to genetic heterogeneity. Apoptosis in response to Fas ligand was greater in BJAB cells with high autophagic flux, whereas BJAB cells with low autophagic flux were more sensitive to apoptosis induced by TRAIL. Like the differences in autophagic flux, these differences in sensitivity to death receptor agonists were transient. Fas-induced apoptosis was decreased in BJAB cells treated with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine but was not affected in chloroquine-treated Jurkat A3 cells. In addition, shRNAs directed against the autophagy factors Atg5 or Atg7 reduced Fas-induced, but not TRAIL-induced, apoptosis in BJAB cells or apoptosis triggered by either death receptor agonist in Jurkat cells. Dephosphorylation of Fas by the tyrosine phosphatase Fap-1 decreases the cell surface abundance and activity of Fas. Cells can be classified on the basis of the pathway through which Fas mediates cell death signaling as either type I, independent of mitochondrial signals, or type II, requiring mitochondrial signals. Fap-1 abundance was greater in BJAB cells (type I cells) with low autophagic flux than in those with high autophagic flux, and Fap-1 was not detectable in Jurkat cells (type II cells). Blocking autophagy with chloroquine treatment or shRNA knockdown of various autophagy factors, including Atg5 and Atg7 in BJAB and SKW6.4 cells (both of which are type I cells), resulted in increased Fap-1 abundance, suggesting that Fap-1 could be targeted by autophagic degradation, and reduced apoptosis in response to Fas ligand. In contrast, shRNA knockdown of autophagy components decreased cell viability in Jurkat cells. Jurkat cells that overexpressed wild-type Fap-1, but not a catalytically inactive Fap-1, behaved more like type I cells in that they were less sensitive to Fas ligand–induced apoptosis after chloroquine treatment. Conversely, BJAB cells that were deficient in Fap-1 behaved more like type II cells in that they showed increased sensitivity to Fas ligand–induced apoptosis after chloroquine treatment (although there were no differences in TRAIL-induced apoptosis). The autophagic adaptor protein p62 interacted with Fap-1 after Fas ligand stimulation and mediated its autophagic degradation, and knockdown of p62 in BJAB cells decreased sensitivity to Fas ligand–induced apoptosis. These results suggest that the abundance of Fap-1 determines whether autophagy protects cells against apoptosis triggered by Fas ligand. J. M. Gump, L. Staskiewicz, M. J. Morgan, A. Bamberg, D. W. H. Riches, A. Thorburn, Autophagy variation within a cell population determines cell fate through selective degradation of Fap-1. Nat. Cell Biol. 16, 47–54 (2014). [PubMed] S. Joshi, K. M. Ryan, Autophagy chews Fap to promote apoptosis. Nat. Cell Biol. 16, 23–25 (2014). [PubMed]


The potential for growers in Western New York to grow, pack, and market 10 fresh vegetable crops was investigated. Terminal market price data for 1984-1988 were collected and analyzed for each crop. The cost of central packing, marketing, and transportation to terminal markets was estimated. The resulting net returns to growers and the costs of production using recommended cultural practices were calculated. Results, which depend very heavily on particular assumptions used in the study, indicated that tomatoes and green beans were profitable in an average season, giving positive returns to above total costs of production and marketing. Three crops (green peppers, broccoli, and cucumbers) had positive returns above variable costs, indicating that some returns would accrue to fixed resources. Four other ~rops (sweet corn, zuchinni, winter squash, and cauliflower) had negative returns to variable costs, indicating that they were unprofitable to grow and market through a central packing facility. The tenth crop, cherry tomatoes, could not be analyzed because of incomplete data.. Market window analysis, which incorporated a risk factor, indicated that six crops had market windows for at least one week in the season. These crops were snap beans, broccoli, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and zuchinni. The market windows identified were, however, typically very early or very late in the season when few observations of prices were available and production risk is substantial. These results show some opportunities for expanded production of tomatoes, green beans, peppers, broccoli, and cucumbers for growers who are willing and financially able to incur substantial risk.


We discuss the recent proposal by Koontz-Garboden (2009) (cf. also Chierchia 2004) that reflexively marked anticausative verbs (in Romance languages and beyond) are semantically reflexive. This proposal predicts that a sentence headed by a lexical causative verb should not entail the sentence headed by the reflexively marked anticausative counterpart. We uncover problems with the main argument for this claim and add further tests which show that a causative sentence does, in fact, entail its anticausative counterpart, whether reflexively marked or not. Our findings support standard semantics of the causative alternation according to which anticausatives, whether reflexively marked or not, denote inchoative one-place predicates. They also reconfirm that the relevant reflexive morphology is syncretic and does not necessarily derive reflexive semantics.


Creation of autonomously acting, learning artifacts has reached a point where humans cannot any more be justly held responsible for the actions of certain types of machines. Such machines learn during operation, thus continuously changing their original behaviour in uncontrollable (by the initial manufacturer) ways. They act without effective supervision and have an epistemic advantage over humans, in that their extended sensory apparatus, their superior processing speed and perfect memory render it impossible for humans to supervise the machine's decisions in real-time. We survey the techniques of artificial intelligence engineering, showing that there has been a shift in the role of the programmer of such machines from a coder (who has complete control over the program in the machine) to a mere creator of software organisms which evolve and develop by themselves. We then discuss the problem of responsibility ascription to such machines, trying to avoid the metaphysical pitfalls of the mind-body problem. We propose five criteria for purely legal responsibility, which are in accordance both with the findings of contemporary analytic philosophy and with legal practise. We suggest that Stahl's (2006) concept of "quasi-responsibility" might also be a way to handle the responsibility gap. From Coder to Creator 3


Predicting future climatic events is one of the key issues in many fields, whether in scientific or industrial areas. An artificial neural network (ANN) model, based on a backpropagation type, was developed in this study to predict the minimum air temperature of the following day from meteorological data using air temperature, relative humidity, radiation, precipitation, and wind direction and speed to detect the occurrence of radiative frost events. The configuration of the next day ANN prediction system allows operating with low-power computing machines; it is able to generate early warnings that can lead to the development of effective strategies to reduce crop damage, lower quality, and losses in agricultural production. This paper presents a procedural approach to an ANN, which was trained, validated, and tested in 10 meteorological stations in central Chile for approximately 8 yr (2010-2017). The overall mean results were classified by a confusion matrix and showed good performance in predicting minimum temperature with a mean square error (MSE) of 2.99 oC for the network, 1.71 oC for training, 1.77 oC for validation, and 1.74 oC for the testing processes. Frost detection results had an appropriate 98% overall mean accuracy (ACC), 86% sensitivity (TPR), and 2% error rate (ER). Differences and errors in frost detection can be attributed to several factors that are mainly associated with the accuracy of the sensors meteorological stations, local climatic and geographic conditions, and the number of parameters that enter in the ANN training processes.


ABSTRACT Malaria elimination will require interventions that prevent parasite transmission from the human host to the mosquito. Experimentally, this is usually determined by the expensive and laborious Plasmodium falciparum standard membrane feeding assay (PfSMFA), which has limited utility for high-throughput drug screening. In response, we developed the P. falciparum dual gamete formation assay (PfDGFA), which faithfully simulates the initial stages of the PfSMFA in vitro. It utilizes a dual readout that individually and simultaneously reports on the functional viability of male and female mature stage V gametocytes. To validate, we screen the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Malaria Box library with the PfDGFA. Unique to this assay, we find compounds that target male gametocytes only and also compounds with reversible and irreversible activity. Most importantly, we show that compound activity in the PfDGFA accurately predicts activity in PfSMFAs, which validates and supports its adoption into the transmission-stage screening pipeline.


There are many factors that could have a potential impact on the growth of a firm. In this research, we examined the relationship between the following economic elements: Size of the firm, Research and development expenditure, Advertisement cost, and the growth of Iranian firms of manufacturing industry. For this purpose, four digit ISIC standard data in manufacturing industry sector have been gathered (based on the published data of the Iran Statistics Center during 1997 to 2007). Then, the effects of the size of the firm, research and development and advertisement on the firm growth were tested. Results showed that research and development and advertisement expenditure factors have positive and significant impacts on the firm growth. In contrast, there was not any significant relation between the initial size of the firm and the growth. Based on the findings of this study, the Gibrat law was confirmed. In addition, the direct relation between the behavioral elements and firm performance was verified.


Early attempts at surgical management of cartilage lesions date back to the 1950s. Since then, various reconstructive techniques have been developed; unfortunately, none of the methods used has been able to produce a regenerate formed solely of hyaline cartilage. This paper summarizes the most popular techniques for chondral and osteochondral reconstructions of knee joint tissues.The techniques differ in their indications, which depend primarily on the location of the injury, the extent of the damage and the patients overall health. In cases of deep damage, osteochondral reconstruction is indicated, which involves both repairing the bone defect and creating favorable conditions for the formation of regenerative tissue cartilage.The use of an appropriate repair technique increases the chances of a good therapeutic effect, which is understood as a reduction in pain, resumption of previous activities and slowing down the progression of osteoarthritis.


This paper investigates the variance risk premium in an international setting. First, I provide new evidence on the basic stylized facts traditionally documented for the US. I show that while the variance premiums in several other countries are, on average, positive and display significant time variation, they do not predict local equity returns. Then, I extend the domestic model in Bollerslev, Tauchen and Zhou (2009) to an international setting. In light of the qualitative implications of my model, I provide empirical evidence that the US variance premium outperforms that of all other countries in predicting local and foreign equity returns.


We propose a framework for estimation and inference about the parameters of an economic model and predictions based on it, when the model may be misspecified. We rely on a local asymptotic approach where the degree of misspecification is indexed by the sample size. We derive formulas to construct estimators whose mean squared error is minimax in a neighborhood of the reference model, based on simple one-step adjustments. We construct confidence intervals that contain the true parameter under both correct specification and local misspecification. We calibrate the degree of misspecification using a model detection error approach. Our approach allows us to perform systematic sensitivity analysis when the parameter of interest may be partially or irregularly identified. To illustrate our approach we study panel data models where the distribution of individual effects may be misspecified and the number of time periods is small, and we revisit the structural evaluation of a conditional cash transfer program in Mexico. JEL codes: C13, C23.


Face detection is a fundamental problem in computer vision. It is still a challenging task in unconstrained conditions due to significant variations in scale, pose, expressions, and occlusion. In this paper, we propose a multi-branch fully convolutional network (MB-FCN) for face detection, which considers both efficiency and effectiveness in the design process. Our MB-FCN detector can deal with faces at all scale ranges with only a single pass through the backbone network. As such, our MB-FCN model saves computation and thus is more efficient, compared to previous methods that make multiple passes. For each branch, the specific skip connections of the convolutional feature maps at different layers are exploited to represent faces in specific scale ranges. Specifically, small faces can be represented with both shallow fine-grained and deep powerful coarse features. With this representation, superior improvement in performance is registered for the task of detecting small faces. We test our MB-FCN detector on two public face detection benchmarks, including FDDB and WIDER FACE. Extensive experiments show that our detector outperforms state-of-the-art methods on all these datasets in general and by a substantial margin on the most challenging among them (e.g. WIDER FACE Hard subset). Also, MB-FCN runs at 15 FPS on a GPU for images of size 640 x 480 with no assumption on the minimum detectable face size.


It has been suggested that democratic political systems provide greater opportunities for terrorist groups and create permissive environments in which terrorist networkscan operate more easily. While the argument has a solid logical grounding that has been widely accepted, empirical tests of the connection between democracy and terrorism have been few and not very comprehensive in scope. The analysis below will consider the relationship between the degree of openness (democracy) and international terrorist activity from 1972 to 1995 in approximately 100 countries. The results should shed light on whether democratic political systems actually contribute to the activities of terrorist groups.


This research investigates the determinants of asymmetric price transmission (APT) in European petroleum markets. APT is the faster response of retail prices to cost increases than to cost decreases; resulting in a welfare transfer from consumers to fuel retailers. I investigate APT at 3 different levels: the EU, the UK and at the Birmingham level. First, I examine the incidence of asymmetries in the retail markets of six major EU countries; significant asymmetries are found in all countries except from the UK. The market share data suggest that asymmetries are more important in more concentrated markets; this finding supports the collusion theory. I extend the investigation to 12 EU countries and note that APT is greater in diesel markets. The cross-country analysis suggests that vertical and horizontal concentration at least partly explains the degree of asymmetry. I provide evidence justifying scrutiny over retail markets' pricing and structure. Second daily data unveil the presence of APT in the UK fuel markets. I use break tests to identify segments with different pricing regimes. Two main types of periods are identified: periods of rising oil price exhibit significant asymmetries whilst periods of recession do not. Our results suggest that oligopolistic coordination between retailers generate excess rents during periods of rising oil price whilst the coordination fails due to price wars when oil prices are going downwards. Finally I investigate the pricing behaviour of petroleum retailers in the Birmingham (UK) area for 2008. Whilst the market structure data reveals that the horizontal concentration is higher than the national UK average, I find no evidence of APT. In contrast, I find that retail prices are sticky upwards and downwards and that firms with market power (majors and supermarkets) adjust their prices slower than other firms.


Summary

In the study, antibacterial activities of the seed extracts of three different grapes were examined against fifteen bacteria, and total phenolic contents of the extracts were additionally determined. The contents of total phenolic compounds of the grape seed extracts were 589.09 (Hasandede), 506.60 (Emir) and 549.54 (Kalecik Karasi) mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per gram with acetone:water:acetic acid (90:9.5:0.5). These extracts at 1%, 2.5%, 5% and 10% concentrations were tested for their antibacterial effects by using the agar diffusion method against some pathogenic and spoilage bacteria including Aeromonas hydrophila, Bacillus cereus, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, E. coli O157:H7, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Mycobacterium smegmatis, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Salmonella enteritidis, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus and Yersinia enterocolitica. All tested bacteria were inhibited by the grape seed extracts using agar well diffusion method. The most sensitive of the bacteria was A. hydrophila while Hasandede grape seed extract was the most inhibitive extract on test bacteria. Hasandede seed extract at 10% concentration gave the largest inhibition zone diameter (30.67 mm) against A. hydrophila. According to serial dilution method, while all the grape seed extracts at 0.5% and 1% concentrations had generally bacteriostatic activities against E. coli O157:H7, the same extracts appeared to have bactericidal effects at concentrations above 2.5%. In addition, the extracts at all concentrations had bactericidal activities against S. aureus at the end of 48 h. and A. hydrophila at the end of 1 h.


The complex temporal evolution of on-column exocytotic release of serotonin and proteins from individual rat peritoneal mast cells (RPMCs) was monitored by using capillary electrophoresis. Laser-induced native fluorescence detection with 275-nm excitation was used, and a detection limit of 1.7 amol (S/N = 3; rms) was obtained for serotonin. A physiological running buffer was used to ensure that the cell remained viable throughout. The secretagogue was polymyxin B sulfate (Pmx). Following the injection of a single mast cell into the capillary, electromigration of Pmx toward and past the cell induced degranulation and release of serotonin. The time course of release was registered in the electropherograms with subsecond resolution. Subsequent introduction of SDS caused the cell to lyse completely and allowed the residual serotonin to be quantified. The average amount of serotonin observed per RPMC was 1.6 +/- 0.6 fmol; the average percentage of serotonin released was 28 +/- 14%. Events that are consistent with released serotonin from single submicrometer granules (250 aL each) were evident, each of which contained an average amount of 5.9 +/- 3 amol.


Estimates of overdiagnosis in mammography screening range from 1% to 54%. This review explains such variations using gradual implementation of mammography screening in the Netherlands as an example. Breast cancer incidence without screening was predicted with a micro-simulation model. Observed breast cancer incidence (including ductal carcinoma in situ and invasive breast cancer) was modeled and compared with predicted incidence without screening during various phases of screening program implementation. Overdiagnosis was calculated as the difference between the modeled number of breast cancers with and the predicted number of breast cancers without screening. Estimating overdiagnosis annually between 1990 and 2006 illustrated the importance of the time at which overdiagnosis is measured. Overdiagnosis was also calculated using several estimators identified from the literature. The estimated overdiagnosis rate peaked during the implementation phase of screening, at 11.4% of all predicted cancers in women aged 0–100 years in the absence of screening. At steady-state screening, in 2006, this estimate had decreased to 2.8%. When different estimators were used, the overdiagnosis rate in 2006 ranged from 3.6% (screening age or older) to 9.7% (screening age only). The authors concluded that the estimated overdiagnosis rate in 2006 could vary by a factor of 3.5 when different denominators were used. Calculations based on earlier screening program phases may overestimate overdiagnosis by a factor 4. Sufficient follow-up and agreement regarding the chosen estimator are needed to obtain reliable estimates.


This paper investigates the determinants of public sector pension plan investment and funding behavior. Its goal is to draw lessons which may be used to improve the design and governance of public pensions. Plan performance is related to characteristics of the pension systems' governance structure and authority, using a new survey of U.S. state and local public pension plan governance practices and performance outcomes. The study suggests that most large public pension systems funded their plans satisfactorily in 1990, but some did not. Better public pension funding was associated with a pension system having in-house actuaries and when pension Board members were required to carry liability insurance. In contrast, public pension funding was lower when states experienced fiscal stress, and when employees were represented on the pension system Board. Pension funding did not appear sensitive to statutes guaranteeing benefits or funding levels, nor by the ability of states to carry budget deficits from one year to the next. The results also suggest that public pension Boards having more retiree-Trustees experienced lower investment returns, as did public sector pension plans required to devote a portion of their assets to in-state investments. Returns did not differ depending on whether a pension Board had in-house, or external money managers. No single set of pension plan management practices can optimize plan performance for all systems across all time periods. Nevertheless, these results suggest that care must be taken when designing the regulatory and investment environment in which these plans operate.


In three decisions in 2004 and 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected the sweeping claims by President Bush that his role as Commander in Chief entitled him to detain persons indefinitely and, if he chose, to subject them to war crimes trials before military commissions that did not have all of the procedural protections of courts martial. The Court's rulings, however, left open the possibility that, notwithstanding the treaty obligations of the United States under the Geneva Conventions, Congress could authorize the President to take the steps that he could not take unilaterally. In the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, Congress did just that. However, despite its title, the MCA does far more than authorize military commissions. Most significantly, it eliminates the statutory right of aliens declared by the government to be 'unlawful enemy combatants' and detained indefinitely on that basis, to seek a writ of habeas corpus from a federal court. To be sure, the MCA provides some right of access to federal court for persons convicted of war crimes by military commissions or found to be unlawful enemy combatants by a military 'combatant status review tribunal' or equivalent body, but even then, it severely curtails opportunities for judicial relief. In this and other respects, the MCA purports to confer rights that, upon close inspection, prove illusory. For example, it uses the language of the Geneva Conventions, even while forbidding courts to look to international and foreign sources to construe that language. The MCA is, more broadly, an exercise in misdirection. It is, in a word, 'Orwellian'.


In recent years, flash-based SSDs have grown enormously both in capacity and popularity. In high-performance enterprise storage applications, accelerating adoption of SSDs is predicated on the ability of manufacturers to deliver performance that far exceeds disks while closing the gap in cost per gigabyte. However, while flash density continues to improve, other metrics such as a reliability, endurance, and performance are all declining. As a result, building larger-capacity flash-based SSDs that are reliable enough to be useful in enterprise settings and high-performance enough to justify their cost will become challenging.

In this work, we present our empirical data collected from 45 flash chips from 6 manufacturers and examine the performance trends for these raw flash devices as flash scales down in feature size. We use this analysis to predict the performance and cost characteristics of future SSDs. We show that future gains in density will come at significant drops in performance and reliability. As a result, SSD manufacturers and users will face a tough choice in trading off between cost, performance, capacity and reliability.


The prescription of psychotropic medications for children continues to be a controversial area of medical practice. In the United States, academic medical centers, medical researchers, prescribers, and the FDA are all ostensibly committed to the common goal of disseminating accurate information and promoting treatment based on scientific evidence. In the United States, however, medical treatment takes place in the context of legal and pervasive direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). There are concerns about the potential for DTCA to affect public health negatively and to increase health care costs.


In this work, the effects of deposition and annealing conditions on the dielectric properties and dc conductivity were investigated on the thin amorphous SrTiO3 films prepared by a sputtering method using neutralized argon-ion beams. It was demonstrated that the dielectric constant and dc conductivity increased markedly by vacuum annealing and by increasing the target-substrate distance during deposition. The amorphous SrTiO3 films have the optical band gap of about 2.5eV, accompanying with rather wide band tails. This suggests the existence of structural defects which may be caused by oxygen deficiency in the amorphous structure. The amounts of the oxygen deficiency were considered to be dependent on the annealing atmosphere as well as the target-substrate spacing. It is supposed that the ionization of oxygen vacancies, Vo→Vo¨+2e', plays an important role for the dielectric properties and dc conductivity of the amorphous SrTiO3 thin flms. The relative dielectric constants obtained ranged from 20 to 550.


Training of genomic prediction in dairy cattle may use deregressed proofs (DRP) as phenotypes. In this case, DRP should be estimated breeding values (EBV) corrected for information of relatives included in the data used for genomic prediction, and adjusted for regression to the mean (i.e., their reliability). Deregression is especially important when combining animals with EBV with low reliability, as commonly the case for cows, and high reliability. The objective of this paper, therefore, was to compare the performance of different deregression procedures for data that include both cow and bull EBV, and to develop and test procedures to obtain the appropriate deregressed weights for the DRP. Considered DRP were EBV: without any adjustment, adjusted for information of parents and regression to the mean, or adjusted for information of all relatives and regression to the mean. Considered deregressed weights were weights of initial EBV: without any adjustment, adjusted for information of parents, or adjusted for information of all relatives. The procedures were compared using simulated data based on an existing pedigree with 1,532 bulls and 13,720 cows that were considered to be included in the data used for genomic prediction. For each cow, 1 to 5 records were simulated. For each bull, an additional 50 to 200 daughters with 1 record each were simulated to generate a source of data that was not used for genomic prediction. The simulated trait had either a heritability of 0.05 or 0.3. The validation involved 3 steps: (1) computation of initial EBV and weights, (2) deregression of those EBV and weights, (3) using deregressed EBV and weights to compute final EBV, (4) comparison of the initial and final EBV and weights. The methods developed to compute appropriate weights for the DRP were either very precise and computationally somewhat demanding for larger data sets, or were less precise but computationally trivial due their approximate nature. Adjusting DRP for all relatives, known as matrix deregression, yields by definition final EBV that are identical to the original EBV. Matrix deregression is therefore preferred over other approaches that only correct for information of parents or not performing any deregression at all. It is important to use appropriate weights for the DRP, properly corrected for information of relatives, especially when individual reliabilities of final EBV are computed based on the prediction error variance of the model.


In this paper, a new optical parallel binary arithmetic processor (OPBAP) capable of computing arbitrary n-bit look-ahead carry full-addition is proposed and implemented. The conventional Boolean algebra is considered to implement OPBAP by using two schemes of optical logic processor. One is space-variant optical logic gate processor (SVOLGP), the other is shadow-casting optical logic array processor (SCOLAP). SVOLGP can process logical AND and OR operations different in space simultaneously by using free-space interconnection logic filters, while SCOLAP can perform any possible 16 Boolean logic function by using spatial instruction-control filter. A dual-rail encoding method is adopted because the complement of an input is needed in arithmetic process. Experiment on OPBAP for an 8-bit look-ahead carry full addition is performed. The experimental results have shown that the proposed OPBAP has a capability of optical look-ahead carry full-addition with high computing speed regardless of the data length.


This paper is aimed at capturing some fingerprints of possible Englishes at lexical and syntactical levels by Indonesian speakers. 16 written narratives of four male and four female pre-service teachers were selected in this study. Three American colleagues and the researcher intersubjectively identified and triangulated possible Englishes in the narratives of personal experiences of these pre-service teachers during their teaching practicum. The analyses show that the Standard English was deviated when Indonesian expressions were re-phrased (or are implied to have been stated) in English words/phrases/sentences which may inevitably still sound nonnative or erroneous for the American speakers. Despite the Americans' conformity to their Standard English, the researcher contends that deviations from the American English are not to always be viewed negatively as being linguistically inferior. Rather, EFL educators are to explore how English nonnative speakers, especially those from Indonesia, use various possible Englishes and how these educators address the Englishes.


CryptHOL provides a framework for formalising cryptographic arguments in Isabelle/HOL. It shallowly embeds a probabilistic functional programming language in higher order logic. The language features monadic sequencing, recursion, random sampling, failures and failure handling, and black-box access to oracles. Oracles are probabilistic functions which maintain hidden state between different invocations. All operators are defined in the new semantic domain of generative probabilistic values, a codatatype. We derive proof rules for the operators and establish a connection with the theory of relational parametricity. Thus, the resuting proofs are trustworthy and comprehensible, and the framework is extensible and widely applicable. The framework is used in the accompanying AFP entry "Gamebased Cryptography in HOL". There, we show-case our framework by formalizing different game-based proofs from the literature. This formalisation continues the work described in the author's ESOP 2016 paper [1]. A tutorial in the AFP entry Game-based cryptography explains how CryptHOL can be used to formalize game-based cryptography proofs.


A Thesis submitted to the Department of Industrial Art,
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of
the requirement for the degree of
Master of Fine Art (Textile Design), 2009


The problem of phase retrieval is a classic one in optics and arises when one is interested in recovering an unknown signal from the magnitude (intensity) of its Fourier transform. While there have existed quite a few approaches to phase retrieval, recent developments in compressed sensing and convex optimization-based signal recovery have inspired a host of new ones. This work presents an overview of these approaches.
Since phase retrieval, by its very nature, is ill-posed, to make the problem meaningful one needs to either assume prior structure on the signal (e.g., sparsity) or obtain additional measurements (e.g., masks, structured illuminations). For both the cases, we review conditions for the identifiability of the signal, as well as practical algorithms for signal recovery. In particular, we demonstrate that it is possible to robustly and efficiently identify an unknown signal solely from phaseless Fourier measurements, a fact with potentially far-reaching implications.


Japan's monastic warriors have fared poorly in comparison to the samurai, both in terms of historical reputation and representations in popular culture. Often maligned and criticized for their involvement in politics and other secular matters, they have been seen as figures separate from the larger military class. However, as Mikael Adolphson reveals in his comprehensive and authoritative examination of the social origins of the monastic forces, political conditions, and warfare practices of the Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1333) eras, these "monk-warriors" (sohei) were in reality inseparable from the warrior class. Their negative image, Adolphson argues, is a construct that grew out of artistic sources critical of the established temples from the fourteenth century on. In deconstructing the sohei image and looking for clues as to the characteristics, role, and meaning of the monastic forces, "The Teeth and Claws of the Buddha" highlights the importance of historical circumstances; it also points to the fallacies of allowing later, especially modern, notions of religion to exert undue influence on interpretations of the past. It further suggests that, rather than constituting a separate category of violence, religious violence needs to be understood in its political, social, military, and ideological contexts.


This chapter introduces the Hubbard model and its applicability as a corrective tool for accurate modeling of the electronic properties of various classes of systems. The attainment of a correct description of electronic structure is critical for predicting fur - ther electronic-related properties, including intermolecular interactions and formation energies. The chapter begins with an introduction to the formulation of density func- tional theory (DFT) functionals, while addressing the origin of bandgap problem with correlated materials. Then, the corrective approaches proposed to solve the DFT band- gap problem are reviewed, while comparing them in terms of accuracy and computational cost. The Hubbard model will then offer a simple approach to correctly describe the behavior of highly correlated materials, known as the Mott insulators. Based on Hubbard model, DFT+U scheme is built, which is computationally convenient for accu- rate calculations of electronic structures. Later in this chapter, the computational and semiempirical methods of optimizing the value of the Coulomb interaction potential ( U ) are discussed, while evaluating the conditions under which it can be most predictive. The chapter focuses on highlighting the use of U to correct the description of the physi- cal properties, by reviewing the results of case studies presented in literature for various classes of materials.


List of Contributors. Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. 1.0. Introduction (Kevin R. Henke). Abstract. 1.1 Arsenic Origin, Chemistry, and Use. 1.2 Arsenic Environmental Impacts. 1.3 Arsenic Toxicity. 1.4 Arsenic Treatment and Remediation. 1.5 References. 2.0. Arsenic Chemistry (Kevin R. Henke and Aaron Hutchison). Abstract. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Atomic Structure and Isotopes of Arsenic. 2.3 Arsenic Valence State and Bonding. 2.4 Chemistry of Arsenic Solids. 2.5 Introduction to Arsenic Oxidation and Reduction. 2.6 Introduction to Arsenic Methylation and Demethylation. 2.7 Arsenic in water. 2.8 Chemistry of Gaseous Arsenic Emissions. 2.9 References. 3.0. Arsenic in Natural Environments (Kevin R. Henke). Abstract. 3.1 Introduction. 3.2 Nucleosynthesis: The Origin of Arsenic. 3.3 Arsenic in the Universe as a Whole. 3.4 Arsenic Chemistry of the Solar System. 3.5 Arsenic in the Bulk Earth, Crusts, and Interior. 3.6 Arsenic in Hydrothermal and Geothermal Fluids and their Deposits. 3.7 Oxidation of Arsenic-Bearing Sulfides in Geologic Materials and Mining Wastes. 3.8 Interactions between Arsenic and Natural Organic Matter (NOM). 3.9 Sorption and Coprecipitation of Arsenic with Iron and Other (Oxy)(hydr)oxides. 3.10 Arsenate (As(V)) Precipitation. 3.11 Reductive Dissolution of Iron and Manganese (Oxy)(hydr)oxides. 3.12 Arsenic and Sulfide at < 50oC. 3.13 Arsenic and its Chemistry in Mined Materials. 3.14 Marine Waters and Sediments. 3.15 Estuaries. 3.16 Rivers and Other Streams. 3.17 Lakes. 3.18 Wetlands. 3.19 Groundwater. 3.20 Glacial Ice and Related Sediments. 3.21 Arsenic in Air and Wind-blown Sediments. 3.22 Petroleum. 3.23 Soils. 3.24 Sedimentary Rocks. 3.25 Metamorphic Rocks. 3.26 References. 4.0. Toxicology and Epidemiology of Arsenic and its Compounds (Michael F. Hughes, David J. Thomas, and Elaina M. Kenyon). Abstract. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Physical and Chemical Properties of Arsenic. 4.3 Exposure to Arsenic. 4.4 Arsenic Disposition and Biotransformation in Mammals. 4.5 Systemic Clearance of Arsenic and Binding to Blood Components. 4.6 Tissue Distribution. 4.7 Placental Transfer and Distribution in the Fetus. 4.8 Arsenic Biotransformation. 4.9 Arsenic Excretion. 4.10 Effects of Arsenic Exposure. 4.11. Cardiovascular. 4.12. Endocrine. 4.13 Hepatic. 4.14 Neurological. 4.15 Skin. 4.16 Developmental. 4.17 Other Organ Systems. 4.18 Cancer. 4.19 Animal Models for Arsenic-induced Cancer. 4.20 Mechanism of Action. 4.21 Regulation of Arsenic. 4.22 References. 5.0. Arsenic in Human History and Modern Societies (Kevin R. Henke and David A. Atwood). Abstract. 5.1 Introduction. 5.2. Early Recognition and Uses of Arsenic by Humans. 5.3 Alchemy, Development of Methods to Recover Elemental Arsenic, and the Synthesis of Arsenic Compounds. 5.4 Applications with Arsenic. 5.5 Increasing Health, Safety, and Environmental Concerns. 5.6 Arsenic in Crime. 5.7 Poisoning Controversies: Napoleon Bonaparte. 5.8 Arsenic in Prospecting, Mining, and Markets. 5.9 Arsenic in Coal and Oil Shale Utilization and their Byproducts. 5.10 References. 6.0. Major Occurrences of Elevated Arsenic in Groundwater and Other Natural Waters (Abhijit Mukherjee, Alan E. Fryar, and Bethany M. O'Shea). Abstract. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 Arsenic Speciation and Mobility in Natural Waters. 6.3 Immobilization of Arsenic in Hydrologic Systems. 6.4 Mobilization of Arsenic in Water. 6.5 Natural Occurrences of Elevated Arsenic around the World. 6.6 References. 7.0. Waste Treatment and Remediation Technologies for Arsenic (Kevin R. Henke). Abstract. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 Treatment Technologies for Arsenic in Water. 7.3 Treatment Technologies for Arsenic in Solids. 7.4 Treatment Technologies for Arsenic in Gases. 7.5 References. Appendices. A: Common Physical and Chemical Constants and Conversions for Units of Measure. B: Glossary of Terms. B.1 Introduction. B.2 Glossary. C: Arsenic Thermodynamic Data. C.1 Introduction. C.2 Modeling Applications with Thermodynamic Data. C.3 Thermodynamic Data. D: Locations of Significant Arsenic Contamination. E: Regulation of Arsenic: A Brief Survey and Bibliography. E.1 Introduction. E.2 Regulation of Arsenic in Water. E.3 Regulation of Arsenic in Solid and Liquid Wastes. E.4 Sediment and Soil Guidelines and Standards for Arsenic. E.5 Regulation of Arsenic in Food and Drugs. E.6 Regulation of Arsenic in Air. E.7 Other References. Subject Index.


Summary

1
To understand population dynamics in stressed environments it is necessary to join together two classical lines of research. Population responses to environmental stress have been studied at low density in life table response experiments. These show how the population's growth rate (pgr) at low density varies in relation to levels of stress. Population responses to density, on the other hand, are based on examination of the relationship between pgr and population density.

2
The joint effects of stress and density on pgr can be pictured as a contour map in which pgr varies with stress and density in the same way that the height of land above sea level varies with latitude and longitude. Here a microcosm experiment is reported that compared the joint effects of zinc and population density on the pgr of the springtail Folsomia candida (Collembola).

3
Our experiments allowed the plotting of a complete map of the effects of density and a stressor on pgr. Particularly important was the position of the pgr= 0 contour, which suggested that carrying capacity varied little with zinc concentration until toxic levels were reached.

4
This prediction accords well with observations of population abundance in the field. The method also allowed us to demonstrate, simultaneously, hormesis, toxicity, an Allee effect and density dependence.

5
The mechanisms responsible for these phenomena are discussed. As zinc is an essential trace element the initial increase in pgr is probably a consequence of dietary zinc deficiency. The Allee effect may be attributed to productivity of the environment increasing with density at low density. Density dependence is a result of food limitation.

6
Synthesis and applications. We illustrate a novel solution based on mapping a population's growth rate in relation to stress and population density. Our method allows us to demonstrate, simultaneously, hormesis, toxicity, an Allee effect and density dependence in an important ecological indicator species. We hope that the approach followed here will prove to have general applicability enabling predictions of field abundance to be made from estimates of the joint effects of the stressors and density on population growth rate.


This report examines the effects of land development patterns on travel choices by residents of the Twin Cities area. A historical analysis studies changes in travel behavior between 1958 and 1990, focusing in particular on total daily time spent traveling. The conclusion is that daily time per traveler changed only very slightly over this time, despite very significant changes in land use. The second major analysis in the report looks at travel choices in 1990 in greater detail. Again, the conclusion is that land use per se did not play a significant role in travel choices when other factors were controlled for. Dense central areas generated much less mileage per person, but this was almost entirely because of lower speeds, not because central city residents spent much less time driving. Overall, there was less than a 20% difference in average time spent driving per day between central city and outer suburbs, and this difference arose entirely from commute times. Non-work travel time showed no systematic variation by location, in contrast to expectations. The one area in which land use played a significant role was that large dense job locations attracted very high shares for non-auto modes.


Objective To determine and compare the diagnostic accuracy of electrically elicited multiplet discharges (MDs) and fasciculation potentials (FPs) in motor neuron disease (MND). Methods Patients were eligible when they had MND in their differential diagnosis and were referred for electromyogram (EMG). Stimulated high-density surface EMG of the thenar muscles was performed on the same day as standard EMG examination. High-density recordings were analysed for presence of MDs and needle EMG of any muscle investigated in the cervical region for presence of FPs. Results Of the 61 patients enrolled in this diagnostic study, 24 patients were clinically diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and 11 patients with progressive muscular atrophy (PMA). Another diagnosis was made in 26 patients. Sixteen patients in whom MDs were detected were diagnosed with either ALS (n=11) or PMA (n=5; sensitivity=47.1%, PPV=94.1%). MDs were detected in only one patient initially diagnosed with PMA, but in whom later on, multifocal motor neuropathy could not be excluded (specificity=96.2%). Electrically elicited MDs had a higher specificity than FPs (96.2% vs 53.9%, p<0.001, n=26) and lower sensitivity (47.1% vs 85.3%, p=0.002, n=34). When considering presence of MDs in MND as neurogenic EMG abnormality, lower motor neuron involvement of ≥1 EMG region increased from 50% to 73.5% (p=0.008, n=34). Conclusions Electrically evoked MDs are highly specific for ALS and PMA and are an early sign of lower motor neuron dysfunction.


Abstract. Two different approaches, referred to as Bu and Ej, can be used to examine the time development of electric fields and currents in space plasmas based on the fundamental laws of physics. From the Bu approach, the required equation involves the generalized Ohm's law with some simplifying assumptions. From the Ej approach, the required equation can be derived from the equation of particle motion, coupled self-consistently with Maxwell's equation, and the definition of electric current density. Recently, some strong statements against the Ej approach have been made. In this paper, we evaluate these statements by discussing (1) some limitations of the Bu approach in solving the time development of electric fields and currents, (2) the procedure in calculating self-consistently the time development of the electric current in space plasmas without taking the curl of the magnetic field in some cases, and (3) the dependency of the time development of magnetic field on electric current. It is concluded that the Ej approach can be useful to understand some magnetospheric problems. In particular, statements about the change of electric current are valid theoretical explanations of change in magnetic field during substorms.


A complement to in-hospital educational interventions is web-based patient education accessed during the home recovery period. While findings demonstrate the effectiveness of web-based patient education interventions on patient outcomes, they fall short of identifying the characteristics that are associated with desired outcomes. The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the characteristics of web-based patient education interventions that are associated with producing changes in self-care behaviors. A systematic review involving 19 studies was conducted to determine the most effective components of a web-based intervention. Findings suggest that the most effective form of web-based patient education is one that is interactive and allows patients to navigate the online system on their own. The findings from this systematic review allow for the design of a web-based educational intervention that will promote increased performance of self-care behaviors during the home recovery period.


The Kap Washington Group volcanic rocks occur on the north coast of Greenland and were extruded at or just before the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary. The suite is strongly bimodal with basaltic lavas, comendites and comenditic ash-flow tuffs predominating. The basic lavas are of transitional basalt type but have characteristically alkaline minor-element contents. The riebeckite-bearing comendites have strong light REE enrichment and large negative Eu anomalies as commonly found in continental peralkaline suites. As well as the comendites there are other rhyolite lavas and minor intrusions of distinctly different chemistry which are thought to have originated by crustal refusion. The peralkaline nature of the siliceous rocks is in keeping with the extensional tectonic environment suggested by an intense alkali dolerite dyke swarm which immediately preceded the extrusive activity. Association with the development of the Makarov Basin in Cretaceous times is suggested.


New geopolitical realities -- including terrorism, pandemics, rogue nuclear states, resource conflicts, insurgencies, mass migration, economic collapse, and cyber attacks -- have created a dramatically different national-security environment for America. Twentieth-century defense strategies, technologies, and industrial practices will not meet the security requirements of a post-9/11 world. In Democracy's Arsenal, Jacques Gansler describes the transformations needed in government and industry to achieve a new, more effective system of national defense. Drawing on his decades of experience in industry, government, and academia, Gansler argues that the old model of ever-increasing defense expenditures on largely outmoded weapons systems must be replaced by a strategy that combines a healthy economy, effective international relations, and a strong (but affordable) national security posture. The defense industry must remake itself to become responsive and relevant to the needs of twenty-first-century security.


The definition of the genus Docimodus is revised so that it can accommodate an additional species.

The description of the type species D. johnstonii is expanded and a new species, D. evelynae, described and illustrated.

Examination of stomach contents reveal that D. johnstonii feeds mainly upon the fins of clariid catfishes and D. evelynae upon the flank scales of cichlids or cyprinids and the skin of catfishes.

The high proportion of trawl caught catfish bearing wounds characteristic of attack by Docimodus suggest that the latter are more abundant than their low catches would suggest.


The breakpoint distance between two n-permutations is the number of pairs that appear consecutively in one but not in the other. In the median problem for breakpoints one is given a set of permutations and has to construct a permutation that minimizes the sum of breakpoint distances to all the original ones. Recently, the problem was suggested as a model for determining the evolutionary history of several species based on their gene orders. We show that the problem is already NP-hard for three permutations, and that this result holds both for signed and for unsigned permutations.


During educational dissections some rare anatomic variations were encountered in the left upper limb of a human adult male cadaver. The variations were unilateral and included the median nerve presenting three roots, two from the lateral and one from the medial cord of the brachial plexus, communication between median nerve and musculocutaneous nerve in the distal half of the arm, the lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve showing a loop and the brachial vein passing between the medial and lateral roots of median nerve to drain into the axillary vein. The abnormal root of median nerve coming from the lateral cord had a very close oblique course over the distal part of the axillary artery. These kinds of variations are more prone to injury in radical neck dissections and in other surgical operations of the axilla. The very close course of the unusual branch with the axillary artery may lessen the blood supply of the upper extremity by compressing the vessel. The communicating branch from median nerve to the musculocutaneous nerve can be explained on the basis of its embryologic development. Injury to such a variant median nerve in the proximal arm may lead to paresthesia along the preaxial border of the forearm, weakness of elbow flexion, in addition to other manifestations of median nerve injury. The clinical implications as well as the possible clinical symptoms resulting from these anomalies are discussed.


Abstract The crystal structure of the high-pressure Mg2Cr2O5 phase was studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis for the recovered samples. The 61 parameters including anisotropic displacement parameters of each atom and site occupancies of Mg and Cr in cation sites were refined with R1 = 1.26%, wR2 = 4.33%, and Sfit = 1.265 for 470 unique reflections. The results show that the structure of the recovered Mg2Cr2O5 phase is the same as modified ludwigite (mLd)-type Mg2Al2O5 [space group: Pbam (no. 55)], and the lattice parameters are a = 9.6091(2), b = 12.4324(2), c = 2.8498(1) Å (Z = 4). The refined structure of the Mg2Cr2O5 phase has four (Mg,Cr)O6 octahedral sites and a MgO6 trigonal prism site, and is similar to but distinct from that of CaFe3O5-type Mg2Fe2O5 phase, which has two octahedral sites and a bicapped trigonal prism site with two longer cation-oxygen bonds. The isotropic atomic displacement parameter of the trigonal prism site cation in mLd-type Mg2Cr2O5 is relatively small compared with that of CaFe3O5-type Mg2Fe2O5, suggesting that the trigonal prism site is less flexible for cation substitution than that of CaFe3O5-type structure. To stabilize mLd-type A22+B23+O5 $\begin{array}{} A_2^{2+}B_2^{3+}\text{O}_5 \end{array} $ phase, it would be an important factor for the B3+ cation to have high octahedral-site preference, resulting in only A2+ cation being accommodated in the tight trigonal prism site. Our study also suggests that mLd-type phase with (Mg,Fe2+)2Cr2O5 composition would crystallize as one of decomposed phases of chromitites, when the chromitites were possibly subducted into the mantle transition zone.


The electronic structures of HgO and Tl2O3 have been investigated by valence and core-level x-ray photoemission, x-ray absorption, and x-ray emission spectroscopies. Valence-band photoemission under Al K alpha excitation is dominated by the metal 5d partial density of states and thus provides a sensitive probe of shallow core mixing into the O 2p valence-band states. Conversely O K shell emission is determined by the O 2p partial density of states and therefore allows the extent of corresponding mixing of O 2p character into the shallow core states to be measured. The experimental work is supported by band-structure calculations carried out within the framework of density-functional theory. It is shown that the bonding in HgO involves significant mixing between O 2p states and both Hg 6s and shallow core 5d states: the calculated O 2p partial density of states mirrors the O K shell emission spectrum and reveals significant O 2p character within the shallow core Hg 5d states. There is, however, little direct on-site mixing between the Hg 6s and 5d states. In Tl2O3, the hybridization of the deeper metal 5d states with O 2p states is much less pronounced than in HgO. Moreover, the states at the bottom of what is conventionally regarded as the O 2p valence band are found in fact to have very strong Tl 6s atomic character. The photoemission spectrum of Tl2O3 shows a well-defined metallic Fermi edge: the shape of the structure around the photoemission onset suggests that the metallic nature of Tl2O3 arises from an occupation of states above the main valence-band edge, probably arising from oxygen vacancy defects. The conduction electrons of Tl2O3 are strongly perturbed by ionization of Tl core levels, giving rise to distinctive plasmon satellites in core x-ray photoemission spectroscopy.


The Abitibi-Price Paper Mill located in Grand Falls, Newfoundland presently has eight (8) hydro-generating units in operation to assist in offsetting the power demands created through normal mill operations. The largest of these units has a capacity of 25 MW, was originally installed in 1937/38, and had previously been upgraded in the mid-1950's. One disadvantage caused by this upgrade was a significant increase in runner deterioration due to cavitation. This severe cavitation problem plus general wear and tear on other turbine and generator components prompted Abitibi-Price to again consider a major unit overhaul. This paper explores the economic factors involved in the decision to replace the entire completion parts assembly and presents the benefits of such a decision by comparing various new versus existing designs.


This paper proposes a suite of models for clustering high-dimensional data on a unit sphere based on von Mises-Fisher (vMF) distribution and for discovering more intuitive clusters than existing approaches. The proposed models include a) A Bayesian formulation of vMF mixture that enables information sharing among clusters, b) a Hierarchical vMF mixture that provides multiscale shrinkage and tree structured view of the data and c) a Temporal vMF mixture that captures evolution of clusters in temporal data. For posterior inference, we develop fast variational methods as well as collapsed Gibbs sampling techniques for all three models. Our experiments on six datasets provide strong empirical support in favour of vMF based clustering models over other popular tools such as K-means, Multinomial Mixtures and Latent Dirichlet Allocation


The connection between emotions and ethical views or ethical inquiry has been considered intimate by a number of philosophers. Based on Peirce's discussion on the emotional interpretants in MS 318, I will suggest that such interpretants could be exploited in ethical inquiry. I will first argue, drawing on T. L. Short's interpretation of Peirce, that there are final emotional interpretants, and such emotional interpretants actually formed (or dynamical) can be more or less appropriate concerning the sign's (dynamical) objects. I will then explore the prospect that emotional interpretants could be harnessed for the particular cognitive purpose of ethical inquiry, concluding that normative judgments based on feelings could serve as its observational part. Includes: Comment. A note on moral sentimentalism in the light of the emotional interpretant by Jean-Marie Chevalier (pp. 513–517).


Objective To analyse characteristics and outcomes of infective endocarditis (IE) on bicuspid aortic valves (BAV) and to compare the risk of death according to the presence or absence of BAV. Design 5-year observational study. Setting Population of 856 patients with definite IE according to the Duke criteria from two tertiary centres (Amiens and Marseille, France). Patients 310 consecutive patients with definite native aortic valve IE enrolled between 1991 and 2007. Interventions Patients underwent transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography during hospitalisation. Surgery was performed on a case-by-case basis according to conventional guidelines. Main outcome measures In-hospital mortality and 5-year overall mortality. Results Patients with BAV IE (n=50, 16%) were younger, had fewer comorbidities and a higher frequency of aortic perivalvular abscess (50%). Presence of BAV (OR 3.79 (1.97–7.28); p<0.001) was independently predictive of abscess formation. Early surgery was performed in 36 BAV patients (72%) with a peri-operative mortality of 8.3%, comparable to that of patients with tricuspid aortic valve IE (p=0.89). BAV was not independently predictive of in-hospital mortality (OR 0.89 (0.28–2.85); p=0.84) or 5-year survival (HR 0.71 (0.37–1.36); p=0.30). Age, comorbidities, heart failure, Staphylococcus aureus and uncontrolled infection were associated with increased 5-year mortality in BAV patients. Conclusion BAV is frequent in adults with native aortic valve IE. Patients with BAV IE incur high risk of abscess formation and require early surgery in almost three-quarters of cases. IE is a severe complication in the setting of BAV and warrants prompt diagnosis and treatment.


Despite its key role for climate change, large uncertainties persist in our knowledge of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and no global observing system exists allowing to monitor emissions from localized CO2 sources with sufficient accuracy. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite allows retrievals of the column-average dry-air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2). However, regional column-average enhancements of individual point sources are usually small compared to the background concentration and its natural variability and often not much larger than the satellite's measurement 5 noise. This makes the unambiguous identification and quantification of anthropogenic emission plume signals challenging. NO2 is co-emitted with CO2 when fossil fuels are combusted at high temperatures. It has a short lifetime of the order of hours so that NO2 columns often greatly exceed background and noise levels of modern satellite sensors near sources which makes it a suitable tracer of recently emitted CO2. Based on six case studies (Moscow, Russia; Lipetsk, Russia; Baghdad, Iraq; Medupi and Matimba power plants, South Africa; Australian wildfires; and Nanjing, China), we demonstrate the usefulness 10 of simultaneous satellite observations of NO2 and XCO2. For this purpose, we analyze co-located regional enhancements of XCO2 observed by OCO-2 and NO2 from the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite and estimate the CO2 plume's cross-sectional fluxes. We take advantage of the nearly simultaneous NO2 measurements with S5P's wide swath and small measurement noise by identifying the source of the observed XCO2 enhancements, excluding interference with remote upwind sources, allowing to adjust the wind direction, and by constraining the shape of the CO2 plumes. We compare the inferred cross-sectional 15 fluxes with the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC), and, in the case of the Australian wildfires, with the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). The inferred cross-sectional fluxes range from 31 MtCO2/a to 153 MtCO2/a with uncertainties (1σ) between 23% and 72%. For the majority of analyzed emission sources, the estimated cross-sectional fluxes agree within their uncertainty with either EDGAR or ODIAC or lie in between them. We assess the contribution of multiple sources of uncertainty and find that the 20 dominating contributions are related to the computation of the effective wind speed normal to the plume's cross-section. The ::: flux ::::::::::: uncertainties ::: are :::::::: expected :: to ::: be ::::::: reduced :: by :::: the planned European Copernicus anthropogenic CO2 monitoring mission (CO2M) ::::: which : will not only provide precise measurements with high spatial resolution but also imaging capabilities with a


El Llanto de los Suenos (2007) (The Weeping of Dreams) Cantiga Madrugada Alborada El Llanto de los Suenos draws on ideas and images from the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca. The music suggests a dream-like nostalgia for the Andalusia of the nineteen-twenties and early thirties, when Manuel de Falla and Lorca were revitalising flamenco and local culture. The title is taken from the first line of Lorca's poem Las seis cuerdas (The Six Strings) – 'La guitarra hace llorar a los suenos' ('The guitar makes dreams weep'). The music borrows the colours and harmonies that Debussy and Ravel blended in their Spanish music – a potent cocktail of Andalusian folk music, early jazz, 19th-century Romanticism, and French Impressionism. The sources for the brief song-like prelude, Cantiga, are Lorca's Six Galician Poems of 1932 and the medieval Cantigas de Amigo (love songs written to be sung on the Pilgrimage to Santiago). The second movement takes its name from Lorca's poem Madrugada (Before the Dawn), but evokes nocturnal images from many of his poems. The opening theme is a gentle serenade, but as the evening turns to night, the melody becomes lost in a confusion of moving shadows. Little by little the dawn bells begin to fracture the darkness and light gradually dissolves the night. When the serenade melody returns, it has been transformed; it has lost its innocence and is now imbued with melancholy. The piece ends with eight distant tolls of a morning bell. Alborada is based on Lorca's poem Baile, which depicts an old and slightly unhinged Carmen dancing through the streets of Seville at dawn, frightening the inhabitants. She is a little deranged and only half-remembers the dances of her younger days – strains of her Habanera and Seguidilla struggle to be heard. Carmen's attention flits quickly from one memory to another and the character of the music darts about from mood to mood. She tries to recall the Seguidilla one last time, but she cannot form it properly in her mind. She gives up and starts her final dance, which builds to a frenzied climax. El Llanto de los Suenos is dedicated to David and Maria Russell. The first performance was given by David Russell at Kings Place, London, on 30th October 2008. The score is published by Cadenza Music www.cadenza-music.com Stephen Goss © 2008 For guitar (11 mins). First performance, 30th October 2008, King's Place, London. Recorded on For David Telarc International © 2009.


The rapid emergence of gig economy platforms that use digital technologies to intermediate labour on a per-task basis has triggered an intense policy debate about the economic and social implications. This paper takes stock of the emerging evidence. The results suggest that gig economy platforms' size remains modest (1-3 per cent of overall employment). Their growth has been most pronounced in a small number of services industries with high shares of own-account workers, suggesting that thus far they have been a substitute for traditional self-employment rather than dependent employment. New evidence provided in this paper is consistent with positive effects of platform growth on overall employment and small negative or insignificant effects on dependent employment and wages. While most empirical studies suggest that platforms are more efficient in matching workers to clients, reductions in barriers to work could offset such productivity-enhancing effects by creating employment opportunities for low-productivity workers. Fully reaping the potential benefits from gig economy platforms while protecting workers and consumers requires adapting existing policy settings in product and labour markets and applying them to traditional businesses and platforms on an equal footing.


Many small online communities would benefit from increased diversity or activity in their membership. Some communities run the risk of dying out due to lack of participation. Others struggle to achieve the critical mass necessary for diverse and engaging conversation. But what tools are available to these communities to increase participation? Our goal in this research was to spark contributions to the movielens.org discussion forum, where only 2% of the members write posts. We developed personalized invitations, messages designed to entice users to visit or contribute to the forum. In two field experiments, we ask (1) if personalized invitations increase activity in a discussion forum, (2) how the choice of algorithm for intelligently choosing content to emphasize in the invitation affects participation, and (3) how the suggestion made to the user affects their willingness to act. We find that invitations lead to increased participation, as measured by levels of reading and posting. More surprisingly, we find that invitations emphasizing the social nature of the discussion forum increase user activity, while invitations emphasizing other details of the discussion are less successful.


Background Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) is a severe and rare inflammatory condition, where relapses are predictive of disability. Methods We describe a national paediatric NMO cohort's clinical, MRI, outcome, and prognostic features in relation to Aquaporin-4 antibody (AQP4-Ab) status, and compared to a non NMO control cohort. Observations Twenty NMO cases (females=90%; AQP4-Ab positive=60%; median age=10.5yrs) with median follow-up=6.1yrs were compared to a national cohort sample of known sequential AQP4-Ab negative first episode CNS acquired demyelination cases (n=29; females=55%; all AQP4-Ab negative; median age=13.6yrs). At presentation, 40% NMO cases had unilateral optic neuritis (ON); 20% bilateral ON; 15% transverse myelitis (TM); 15% simultaneous TM&ON; 10% Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. At follow up, 55% had a clinical demyelinating episode involving the brain; 30% of cases had abnormal brain MRI at onset and 75% by follow up. NMO brain scan lesions compared to controls were large (>2 cm), acute lesions largely resolved on repeat imaging, and often showed T1 hypointense lesions. Mean time to relapse=0.76yrs (95% CI 0.43–1.1yrs) for AQP4-Ab positive vs 2.4yrs in AQP4-Ab negative cases (95% CI 1.1–3.6yrs). In AQP4-Ab positive cases, 10/12 had visual acuity<6/60 Snellen in ≥1 eye (0/8 AQP4-Ab negative), and 3 AQP4-Ab negative cases were wheelchair-dependent. Conclusions In children, NMO is associated with early recurrence and visual impairment in AQP4-Ab positivity and physical disability in AP4-Ab negative relapsing cases. Distinct MRI changes appear more commonly and earlier compared to adult NMO. Early AQP4-Ab testing may allow prompt immunomodulatory treatment to minimise disability.


The aim of this research was to develop gummy jelly candy supplemented with the crude extract of Psidium guajava Linn. leaf. Effect of drying temperature (50, 60 and 70 ° C) on the total antioxidant activity (TAA) of the obtained crude extracts was investigated using the DPPH method at various pH conditions (4.0, 6.5 and 8.5). Results showed that the crude extract obtained from the drying temperature of 50°C and testing condition at pH 4.0 had the highest TAA value. However, there was interaction between drying temperature and pH conditions, thus the treatment at 50°C, pH 6.5 and 70°C, pH 4.0 was not significant different.The relationships between temperature and pH on TAA were explained using the multiple regression (R 2 =0.987). The crude extracts caused changes in texture properties of gummy jelly indicated by decreases in gumminess and chewiness of the products. Result was consistent with the results obtained from sensory evaluation (9-points hedonic scale) that sensory texture (springiness and toughness) and color scores decreased. This study suggested that the extraction of Psidium guajava Linn. leaf has the potential to be used as antioxidant supplements and it can be used in gummy jelly products.


There has been a rapid increase in the number of overseas full-fee students attending Australian universities. This article examines the enrolment patterns in Victoria's universities by course type, the financial outcomes for these universities and the implications for local students in Victoria.


The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency of Acute Necrotising Gingivitis (ANG), its sex and age distribution, ethnicity and seasonal variation amongst patients at the Dental Unit of Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in Nairobi, Kenya. Cards of patients who were seen in the Dental Unit of KNH in 1992/1993, were scrutinised for positive diagnosis of ANG, age, sex, presenting signs and symptoms and treatment that was given. Of the 53,572 patients who were treated, (0.15 per cent) had ANG. Their age range was 1.5-46 years (Mean = 14.5 years), with 58.5 per cent being below 11 years and 32.9 per cent being between 21 and 40 years. The most affected ethnic groups were the Luos and Kikuyus, while 72 per cent of the patients were seen in March and April, and between September and December. It is concluded that the frequency of ANG was low, ANG affected children and adults, and that ANG varied seasonally.


Multiple environmental mechanisms have been proposed to control bottom water hypoxia (<2 mg O2 L−1) in the northern Gulf of Mexico Louisiana shelf. Near-bottom hypoxia has been attributed to a direct consumption of oxygen through benthic microbial respiration and a secondary chemical reaction between oxygen and reduced metabolites (i.e. ferrous iron and total sulfide) from these populations. No studies to date have examined the metabolically active microbial community structure in conjunction with the geochemical profile in these sediments. Temporal and spatial differences in dissolved and solid phase geochemistry were investigated in the upper 20 cm of the sediment column. Pyrosequencing of reverse transcribed small subunit (SSU) ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) was used to determine population distribution. Results indicated that populations shallower than 10 cm below surface were temporally variable yet uniform between sites, while below this depth, populations were more site-specific. This suggests a potential interaction between the water column and the benthic microbial population limited to a shallow depth. The presence of dissolved reduced iron in the upper sediment column was indicative of low oxygen concentration, yet sulfide was at or below detection limits. Putative sulfate and iron reducing and oxidizing populations were metabolically active at similar depths suggesting potential recycling of products. Results from this study indicate low carbon concentrations in the shallow sediments limit general metabolic activity, reducing the potential for microbial respiration. Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Geomicrobiology Journal to view the supplemental file.