Groundwater is the sole source of residential water supply in Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties, Wisconsin. A regional three-dimensional groundwater-flow model and three associated demonstration inset models were developed to simulate the groundwater-flow systems in the three-county area. The models were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the three county governments. The objectives of the regional model of Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties were to improve understanding of the groundwaterflow system and to develop a tool suitable for evaluating the effects of potential water-management programs. The regional groundwater-flow model described in this report simulates the major hydrogeologic features of the modeled area, including bedrock and surficial aquifers, groundwater/surface-water interactions, and groundwater withdrawals from high-capacity wells. Results from the regional model indicate that about 82 percent of groundwater in the three counties is from recharge within the counties; 15 percent is from surface-water sources, consisting primarily of recirculated groundwater seepage in areas with abrupt surface-water-level changes, such as near waterfalls, dams, and the downgradient side of reservoirs and lakes; and 4 percent is from inflow across the county boundaries. Groundwater flow out of the counties is to streams (85 percent), outflow across county boundaries (14 percent), and pumping wells (1 percent). These results demonstrate that the primary source of groundwater withdrawn by pumping wells is water that recharges within the counties and would otherwise discharge to local streams and lakes. Under current conditions, the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers are groundwater discharge locations (gaining reaches) and appear to function as "fully penetrating" hydraulic boundaries such that groundwater does not cross between Wisconsin and Minnesota beneath them. Being hydraulic boundaries, however, they can change in response to water withdrawals. Tributary rivers act as "partially penetrating" hydraulic boundaries such that groundwater can flow underneath them through the deep sandstone aquifers. The model also demonstrates the effects of development on groundwater in the study area. Water-level declines since predevelopment (no withdrawal wells) are most pronounced where pumping is greatest and flow between layered aquifers is impeded by confining units or faults. The maximum simulated water-level decline is about 40 feet in the deep Mount Simon aquifer below the city of Hudson, Wisconsin. Three inset models were extracted from the regional model to demonstrate the process and additional capabilities of the U.S. Geological Survey MODFLOW code. Although the inset models were designed to provide information about the groundwater-flow system, results from the inset models are presented for demonstration purposes only and are not sufficiently detailed or calibrated to be used for decisionmaking purposes without refinement. Simulation of groundwater/lake-water interaction around Twin Lakes near Roberts, in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, showed that groundwater represents approximately 5 to 20 percent of the overall lake-water budget. Groundwater-contributing areas to streams in western Pierce County are generally similar in size to the surface-water-contributing areas but do not necessarily correspond to the same land area. Transient streamflow simulations of Osceola Creek in Polk County demonstrate how stream base flow can be influenced not only by seasonal precipitation and recharge variability but also by systematic changes to the system, such as groundwater withdrawal from wells. Introduction Groundwater is the sole source of residential water supply in Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties, WI (fig. 1), and it also sustains area lakes, streams, and wetlands. There are currently 29 municipal water-supply systems with 65 active wells operating in Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties (fig. 2), which withdrew an average of approximately 8.2 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) from 1994 to 2004 (Appendix 1). Of the 65 active wells, 9 withdraw water from Quaternary sand and gravel aquifers, whereas the remaining 56 municipal wells withdraw water from bedrock aquifers. These aquifers are susceptible to contamination (Juckem, 2007) as indicated by local areas with high concentrations of nitrates in groundwater samples (Masarik and others, 2006). In addition, the counties are experiencing population growth because of their proximity to the Twin Cities metropolitan area in Minnesota. This growth is contributing to the conversion Simulation of the Groundwater-Flow System in Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties, Wisconsin


There is an increasing focus on the concept of integrated systems control in applications to industrial systems, e.g. chemical processing and steel. Motivating factors include (i) rising costs (and limited availability) of energy and various raw materials, (ii) competitive pressures to improve production efficiency, labour productivity, flexibility, etc., and (iii) more stringent government regulations concerning environmental impact and product quality. At the same time, the tools for effecting systems control (analytical techniques, systems methodology, computer hardware and software) have become increasingly powerful, reliable, and available. Here, control is considered in a very general context to include all aspects of decision-making applied to the operating system, ranging from process control to production scheduling and planning. The digital computer plays a very central role in making feasible the modern industrial control system where it serves the functions of information processing, on-line control, and decision-making in real time through man-machine interaction. The hierarchical control approach provides a conceptual framework for organizing and implementing integrated control of large industrial systems. Various aspects of the control hierarchy are considered; these will be described in the context of integrated systems control applied to the steel industry.


The pitch canker pathogen Fusarium circinatum was first found to cause damage in nurseries and pine plantations in northern Spain in 2004. Since then, establishment of pine plantations in the region has decreased as a result of the pro-hibitions placed on planting Pinus spp. and Pseudotsuga menziesii in areas affected by the disease. However, although most pine species have been found to be susceptible to the pathogen under nursery conditions, little is known about how the fungus affects the trees in the field. Furthermore, it is not known whether some of the native or exotic species commonly planted in the area are also susceptible to F. circinatum . The aim of this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of several conifer species commonly planted in northern Spain to the pitch canker pathogen. For this purpose, two different trials were carried out, one under controlled laboratory conditions and the other in the field. Although most of the conifers were affected by the pathogen in the laboratory tests, only Pinus radiata , Pinus nigra , Pinus pinaster and Pinus uncinata were susceptible to the pathogen in the field.


By applying a variational principle on a magnetic system within the framework of extended irreversible thermodynamics, we find that the presence of a temperature gradient in a ferromagnet leads to a generalisation of the Landau-Lifshitz equation with an additional magnetic induction field proportional to the temperature gradient. This field modulates the damping of the magnetic excitation. It can increase or decrease the damping, depending on the orientation of the magnetisation wave vector with respect to the temperature gradient. This variational approach confirms the existence of the magnetic Seebeck effect which was derived from thermodynamics and provides a quantitative estimate of the strength of this effect.


This paper estimates the empirical relationship between the prices of cocaine and heroin and objective indicators of use. The set of outcomes is drug related hospital emergency department admissions where cocaine and heroin are cited, for 21 large U.S. metropolitan areas. These outcomes are superior to subjective self-reports, and are policy-relevant since they directly measure a large component of the health-care costs associated with heavy or chronic drug usage. Panel data methodology is used to identify the empirical link between drug prices and these indicators. Results indicate that health consequences associated with heavy or chronic drug use are negatively related to drug prices, an instrument of drug control policy. The elasticity of the probability of a cocaine mention with respect to own-price is estimated at -0.27, and the corresponding elasticity for the probability of a heroin mention is -0.15. The probability of any drug related episode, which captures polydrug usage, is also significantly negatively related to both cocaine and heroin prices. Cross-price effects are consistent with a complementary relationship between cocaine and heroin. Models indicate the presence of negative lagged price effects, confirming the strong addictive aspects of both drugs and the cumulative adverse effects of drug use on health.


We propose a technique that enables the study of weak loop filter nonlinearities in a class of continuous-time delta-sigma modulators. The technique can easily be implemented in a tool intended to simulate discrete-time modulators with linear loop filters, thereby significantly reducing the simulation time. Thanks to this technique, the utility of the Schreier Delta-Sigma toolbox can be extended to include weakly nonlinear effects in the loop filter, thus enabling the architectural exploration of alternate loop filter and operational amplifier (opamp) topologies. The results from the use of our technique are compared to those obtained using a circuit simulator, and good agreement is seen.


In this work, the magnetization dynamics of clusters supported on nonmagnetic substrates is shown to exhibit a complex response when subjected to external magnetic fields. The field-driven magnetization reversal of small Co clusters deposited on a Cu(111) surface has been studied by means of first-principles calculations and atomistic spin dynamics simulations. For applied fields ranging from 1 to 10 Tesla, we observe a coherent magnetization reversal with switching times in the range of several tenths of picoseconds to several nanoseconds, depending on the field strength. We find a nonmonotonous dependence of the switching times with respect to the strength of the applied field, which we prove has its origin in the complex magnetic anisotropy landscape of these low-dimensional systems. This effect is shown to be stable for temperatures around 10 K, and is possible to realize over a range of exchange interactions and anisotropy landscapes. Possible experimental routes to achieve this unique switching behavior are discussed.


Peter Robson was a distinguished scientist/engineer, internationally renowned for his pioneering work in the field of II–V semiconductor materials and devices. His early research was on the theory and experimentation of guided microwaves, and he was able to apply this expertise directly to semiconductors when his work moved from vacuum devices to the solid state. A further move occurred when his semiconductor research shifted from microwaves to the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Peter made significant contributions to the then new field of optoelectronics and produced a lasting legacy. Much of his research on semiconductors sowed the seeds for many technological developments that have an enormous impact on our lives today, such as the Internet and mobile phones.


Cartilage and tendons owe their special mechanical properties to the fibrous collagen structure. These strong fibrils are aggregates of a sub-unit consisting of three collagen proteins wound around each other in a triple helix. Even though collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, the response of this protein complex to ionizing radiation has never been studied. In this work, we probe the direct effects of VUV and soft X-ray photons on isolated models of the collagen triple helix, by coupling a tandem mass spectrometer to a synchrotron beamline. Single-photon absorption is found to induce electronic excitation, ionization and conversion into internal energy leading to inter- and intra-molecular fragmentation, mainly due to Gly-Pro peptide bond cleavages. Our results indicate that increasing the photon energy from 14 to 22 eV reduces fragmentation. We explain this surprising behavior by a smooth transition from excitation to ionization occurring with increasing photon energy. Moreover, our data support the assumption of a stabilization of the triple helix models by proline hydroxylation via intra-complex stereoelectronic effects, instead of the influence of solvent.


The paper signposts a number of issues identified within the research project: Postcode Justice - Rural and Regional Disadvantage in the Administration of the Law. It highlights key areas in which regional Victorians experience disadvantage in access to justice system services in comparison to their metropolitan counterparts. Issues raised by interviewees and survey participants demonstrate inherent problems with the current delivery of justice system services, programs and processes in regional Victoria. Briefly explored within the paper is the relationship of 'distance' to the delivery of justice. The paper suggests that little consideration is given to the spatial disadvantage experienced by regional communities in the development of legislation or the implementation of justice system programs, practices and procedures. The paper also examines the Magistrates' Court criminal court programs which embrace the principles of 'problem solving courts' and 'therapeutic jurisprudence'. While they are important innovations, these programs have had limited roll-out to regional communities. In its conclusion the paper suggests that an independent and unified 'voice' is needed to ensure a genuine and informed response to the diverse areas in which inequity exists in the delivery of justice system services to regional communities.


Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF) with the objective to minimize the sum of the travel times of the agents along their paths is a hard combinatorial problem. Recent work has shown that bounded-suboptimal MAPF solvers, such as Enhanced Conflict-Based Search or ECBS(w1) for short, run often faster than optimal MAPF solvers at the cost of incurring a suboptimality factor w1, that is due to using focal search. Other recent work has used experience graphs to guide the search of ECBS(w1) and speed it up, at the cost of incurring a separate suboptimality factor w2, that is due to inflating the heuristic values. Thus, the combination has suboptimality factor w1w2. In this first feasibility study, we develop a bounded-suboptimal MAPF solver, Improved-ECBS or iECBS(w1) for short, that has suboptimality factor w1 rather than w1w2 (because it uses experience graphs to guide its search without inflating the heuristic values) and can run faster than ECBS(w1). We also develop two first approaches for automatically generating experience graphs for a given MAPF instance. Finally, we observe heavy-tailed behavior in the runtimes of these MAPF solvers and develop a simple rapid randomized restart strategy that can increase the success rate of iECBS(w1) within a given runtime limit.


Diane Vaughan reconstructs the Ohio Revco case, an example of Medicaid provider fraud in which a large drugstore chain initiated a computer-generated double billing scheme that cost the state and federal government half a million dollars in Medicaid funds, funds that the company believed were rightfully theirs. Her analysis of this incident why the crime was committed, how it was detected, and how the case was built provides a fascinating inside look at computer crime. Vaughan concludes that organizational misconduct could be decreased by "less" regulation and more sensitive bureaucratic response."


With reference to two different projects examining North American Christianities, this symposium contribution explores opportunities for critique when conducting fieldwork. Drawing from observations made by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, I suggest that critique is most productive when it uses the perspective and position of one's interlocutors as its point of departure.


On 10 February 1927, the "First International Congress against Imperialism and Colonialism" in Brussels marked the establishment of the anti-imperialist organisation, the League against Imperialism and for National Independence (LAI, 1927-37). The complex preparations for the congress were though initiated already in 1925 by Willi Munzenberg, a German communist and General Secretary of the communist mass organisation, Internationale Arbeiterhilfe (IAH, 1921-35), together with the Communist International (Comintern, 1919-43). Berlin was the centre for the LAI and its International Secretariat (1927-33), a city serving the intentions of the communists to find colonial emigre activists in the Weimar capital, acting as representatives for the anti-colonial movement in Europe after the Great War. With the ascendancy to power of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) on 30 January 1933, the LAI reached an abrupt, but nonetheless, expected end in Berlin. This doctoral thesis examines the role, pu rpose and functions of a sympathising communist organization (LAI): to act as an intermediary for the Comintern to the colonies. The analysis evaluates the structure and activities of the LAI, and by doing so, establish a complex understanding on one of the most influential communist organisations during the interwar period, which, despite its short existence, assumed a nostalgic reference and historical bond for anti-colonial movements during the transition from colonialism to post-colonialism after the Second World War, e.g. the Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. Fredrik Petersson's study, based on archives in Moscow, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, and Stockholm, uncovers why the Comintern established and supported the LAI and its anti-imperialist agenda, disclosing a complicated undertaking, characterised by conflict and the internal struggle for power, involving structural constraints and individual ambitions defined by communist ideology and strategy.


This paper discusses the strategies available to multinational pharmaceutical companies (MPCs) to expand their activities in Brazil through the national drugs policy. MPCs have existed in Brazil for decades, but they are increasing their focus on emerging markets as growth in developed markets slows. Despite the potential for market expansion, this paper considers the political factors that could promote or constrain their strategy. Since the 1990s, Brazil's national framework on healthcare and more specifically pharmaceuticals has shifted considerably. On the domestic front, Brazil has created a public health system, introduced regulation on patents and established a thriving generics sector, while it has become more pro-active internationally, as highlighted by the AIDS epidemic. This paper argues that MPCs should respond to the political changes in Brazil and the global industry-specific pressures by adapting corporate strategies to the local context rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.A dissertation submitted in part-fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of M.Sc. in Globalisation and Latin-American Development, 2008-9.


Background of study: Patient Health Record System (PHRS) is used byphysicians for capturing patient medical records in electronic media.Standardization in PHRS arises a major challenge due to its complexities. Theused of clinical terminology is needed in order to facilitate more expressiveclinical data input, provide unambiguous encoding and support the exchange ofclinical information. One of highly specialized clinical terminology is SNOMEDCT(Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms) that able to encodeclinical data, and contains concepts that linked to clinical knowledge to enableaccurate recording of data without ambiguity. The aims of this paper is to discussthe use of clinical terminology in PHRS and identifying importance factors forapplying clinical terminology in healthcare services.Method: This study used review of literature in order to find the use of clinicalterminology in patient health record system by reviewing current used of clinicalterminology.Result: The result of the study found that clinical terminology supportsinformation exchange between healthcare providers.


The relationship between ports and governments has changed profoundly over the past quarter of a century. Many governments have sought to extract themselves from the business of port operations and, in many cases, the provision of port services has devolved to local governments, communities or private management and administration. As such devolution implies a change in governance model, this trend raises questions about consequent performance. This issue examines the changed port management environment, focusing particularly on government policies such as devolution, regulatory reform and newly imposed governance models, all of which have exerted a significant influence over the nature of that changed environment. The issue is structured so as to first explore the devolution and port reform approaches for 14 countries or regions, before examining how ports are governed and what the choice of governance might mean for their performance.
 Part I introduces the issue, and provides a framework for defining the basic concepts involved in devolution; it paints a picture of the current port environment, its likely future evolution and the expected impact this will have on the functioning of ports. Part II examines the port industry in 14 countries or administrations, and presents the thinking behind any devolution programs that have been implemented. Part III focuses on port governance and devolution generally, and examines governance from both strategic management and economics perspectives, including topics such as governance models, supranational governance and stakeholder conflict. Part IV examines the measurement of port performance and closes by providing conclusions and a future research agenda.
 This issue will be of interest to port managers, government officials and academics alike.

 *Examines the relationship between ports and governments with a focus on devolution
 *Divided into sections that provide an overview, evaluate the port industry, disucss port governance, and suggest new measures of port performance
 *14 countries or regions are addressed


The SARS-CoV-2 lineage B.1.1.7, now designated Variant of Concern 202012/01 (VOC) by Public Health England, originated in the UK in late Summer to early Autumn 2020. We examine epidemiological evidence for this VOC having a transmission advantage from several perspectives. First, whole genome sequence data collected from community-based diagnostic testing provides an indication of changing prevalence of different genetic variants through time. Phylodynamic modelling additionally indicates that genetic diversity of this lineage has changed in a manner consistent with exponential growth. Second, we find that changes in VOC frequency inferred from genetic data correspond closely to changes inferred by S-gene target failures (SGTF) in community-based diagnostic PCR testing. Third, we examine growth trends in SGTF and non-SGTF case numbers at local area level across England, and show that the VOC has higher transmissibility than non-VOC lineages, even if the VOC has a different latent period or generation time. Available SGTF data indicate a shift in the age composition of reported cases, with a larger share of under 20 year olds among reported VOC than non-VOC cases. Fourth, we assess the association of VOC frequency with independent estimates of the overall SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number through time. Finally, we fit a semi-mechanistic model directly to local VOC and non-VOC case incidence to estimate the reproduction numbers over time for each. There is a consensus among all analyses that the VOC has a substantial transmission advantage, with the estimated difference in reproduction numbers between VOC and non-VOC ranging between 0.4 and 0.7, and the ratio of reproduction numbers varying between 1.4 and 1.8. We note that these estimates of transmission advantage apply to a period where high levels of social distancing were in place in England; extrapolation to other transmission contexts therefore requires caution.


The aim of this thesis was to find occurrence of drug side effects in the elderly by studying the association between changes in clinical parameters and prevalence of selfreported symptoms and the use of drugs in an elderly population. The studies were performed in the Kungsholmen project, a longitudinal population based study of aging and dementia in Stockholm. Data from baseline (1987-89), 1 follow-up (1991-93), 2 follow-up (1994-96), and 3 follow-up (1997-98) were used. The first two articles describe cross-sectional studies examining the prevalence of low blood pressure (Paper I) and sodium and potassium disturbances (Paper II) with respect to medication (baseline, n=1748 and 1558). The third paper examined the association between drug use and hyperglycemia, as measured by increased HbA1c levels (2 follow-up, n=578). The fourth article is a longitudinal (6 years follow-up) study of age-related impairment of renal function in connection to drug use (baseline to 3 follow-up, n=242). The fifth article examines the use of antidepressants and anxiolytics in relation to self reported somatic and psychiatric symptoms (3 follow-up, n=419). The most important results are summarised below. Study I: The use of potassium-sparing diuretics, dopaminergic antiparkinsonian drugs and neuroleptics were significantly associated with low systolic blood pressure and dopaminergic antiparkinsonian drugs with low diastolic blood pressure. Study II: The occurrence of hyponatraemia was associated with the use of carbamazepine, laxatives (enema), diuretics and ACE-inhibitors and hypernatraemia with osmotically active laxatives. Hypokalaemia was associated with thiazide-related and combination diuretics and hyperkalaemia with potassium-sparing diuretics, βblockers, cytostatic drugs and tricyclic antidepressants. Study III: Use of loop diuretics was significantly associated with high HbA1c levels in both women and men. Eighteen percent of users had high levels compared with 8% in non-users. Study IV: The prevalence of renal impairment, defined as estimated creatinine clearance (CE) <50 ml/min, was 33 % at baseline and 93 % in 3 follow-up. The use of drugs that should be avoided or be prescribed in reduced doses in mild or moderate renal insufficiency increased over time, with few exceptions. Doses decreased for digoxin, spironolactone and allopurinol, but increased for drugs against peptic ulcer, ACE-inhibitors and citalopram. Study V: Elderly treated with antidepressants showed a high total score on the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale (CPRS) (23.6±10.9) and score for depressive symptoms (6.4±7.2). The scores were even higher for users of anxiolytics (26.3±23.2 and 7.6±14.4). The use of antidepressants was significantly associated with several somatic symptoms such as vertigo/dizziness, tendency to fall, involuntary urination, and shortness of breath. The use of anxiolytic drugs was associated with vertigo/dizziness and shortness of breath. Conclusions: Side effects of drugs occur frequently in an elderly population and with many drugs that are generally not considered in clinical practice. There is a continuous age-related loss of renal function. However, apparently physicians often do not adjust the treatment according to this very important agerelated physiological change, which in turn increases the risk of side effects. Our results also indicate ineffective and inappropriate treatment of depression as well as side effects of anxiolytic and antidepressant therapy in the elderly.


"The last few years have seen a flood of courses on the Internet in higher education. This increase has seen institutional stakeholders wrestle with decisions about committing funds, faculty, staff, and other resources to this new educational forum, in the midst of uncertainties about its effectiveness. In particular, persistence and other motivational problems in Web-based instruction have been reported. This study compared 184 theological seminary students taking Greek or Hebrew either online (N=64) or in the classroom (N=120), and at either a high or low level of social integration (as measured by Kember's DESP), on their motivational orientation and self-regulated learning strategies (as measured by the MSLQ). 2 x 2 ANOVAs revealed that, while level of social integration did not significantly impact motivational orientation and self-regulated learning strategies, course format did: online students scored significantly higher on intrinsic value, self-efficacy, organization, and metacognitive self-regulation. These findings suggest that course format--in and of itself--may not be a key factor in student motivation and learning."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


From service science perspective, value co-creation based on mutual understanding between customer and provider is one of fundamental importance. Service-dominant (S-D) logic is tied to the value-in-use meaning of value. The roles of providers and consumers are not distinct, meaning that value is co-created, jointly and reciprocally, also mutually beneficial relationship. However, at crucial points of interaction between customer and provider, where the co-creation experience occurs and where value is co-created, misunderstandings and service breakdowns can destroy the relationship. In this paper, we analyze formally how customer and provider are sharing internal model in the first phase of value co-creation model of service innovation, i.e., co-experience and co-definition. In co-experience, customer and provider perceived the value of each value proposition differently. Customer have an own internal model and so provider is, therefore co-experience is the most crucial feature of service system. Symbiotic hypergame analysis, in general explicitly assumes that the players involved possess subjective internal model of the environment including the counterparts. These assumptions convince us that it is the most adequate and convenient for describing value co-creation process by customer and provider. First, we categorizing customer and provider into the several types based on customer expectation and provider ability. Then, analyze formally using symbiotic hypergame analysis, how mutual understanding can be achieved between customer and provider. From the analysis, mutual understanding can be achieved as long as customer and provider have same interpretation, customer who has high expectation believes that provider is innovative and vice versa. It has been proven by analyzing Hyper Nash equilibrium in each scenario for pair of each type based on symbiotic hypergame analysis.


Fixing bugs manually is expensive, time-consuming, and unpleasant. How about getting the computer to fix the bugs, automatically? Automatically repairing them might save us from misunderstandings, lack of time, carelessness, or plain old laziness. But this brings into question some fundamental limitations. Yet in the past 10 years, a number of young scientists have taken on automatic bug fixing. This interview discusses the approximations currently in use and how far they can take us.


Objective: Sexual risk behavior during adolescence is an important public health problem. Self-esteem and hopefulness are potentially important psychological factors that may play a role in the behavioral regulation mechanisms of adolescents. These factors are inadequately explored in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed at exploring patterns and associated factors for sexual risk behavior (SRB), self-esteem, and hopefulness among adolescents from a resource-poor setting in Kenya. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted in 2019 among 296 adolescents (12–17 years old) from rural Kilifi (n = 133) and urban informal settings of Nairobi (n = 163) in Kenya. Participants completed the Kilifi Health Risk Behavior Questionnaire, Rosenberg self-esteem questionnaire, and Hope scale administered via computerized tablets. A binary outcome variable based on the experience of adolescents of at least one of the five forms of SRB: transactional sex, sexual violence, intergenerational sex, early sexual debut, and condom non-use was generated. Bi-variate analysis was conducted to summarize various social-demographic and psychosocial factors. A multivariable logistic regression model was fitted to investigate factors associated with the occurrence of SRB, self-esteem, and hopefulness among adolescents. Results: About 13% of the participants had experienced a form of SRB, and among these, 36% reported co-occurrence of multiple forms of SRB. Adolescent SRB was largely characterized by having experienced sexual violence, as well as intergenerational and transactional sex. Higher scores of hopefulness were reported among adolescents who never experienced SRB (P = 0.03) at bivariate analysis level. However, both self-esteem and hopefulness were not significantly associated with the occurrence of SRB in the adjusted logistic regression analysis. Having depressive symptoms (Adj. OR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.39–10.4), feeling unsafe in the neighborhood (Adj. OR = 3.4, 95% CI: 1.6–7.2), and being in higher compared with lower primary education level (Adj. OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1–0.8) were statistically significantly associated with the occurrence of SRB. Conclusion: Targeted reproductive health interventions, designed with the cognizance of structural and social drivers of adolescent SRB, are needed to concurrently tackle multiple forms of SRB. It is important to integrate mental health promotion within these interventions. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms and implications of self-esteem and hopefulness for adolescent sexual and reproductive health.


Sumatra has a large and persistent wetland/peatland fire problem. Perspectives differ on the source and nature of the problem. There have been large negative environmental and socio-economic impacts arising from the fires. At the same time, fire is a useful tool for wetland use, and there are increasing population and development pressures on the wetlands. There is an urgent and critical need to identify, assess and resolve the problem fires; and work towards sustainable development and conservation of wetland resources.This book documents the insights and perspectives of different stakeholders in the wetlands of Sumatra on the key fire issues and their possible solutions in four common settings - a) Plantation and estate crop development, b) Remaining protection and production forests, c) Deforested wetlands mainly subject to local community use, and d) Transmigration agricultural development. They look beyond the fires at the underlying issues that need to be tackled such as development policies, livelihood pressures and options, and viable alternatives to burning in the wetlands. It is hoped that these insights from the ground will be useful for policy makers, forest managers, plantation companies, development agencies and non-governmental organizations to understand and work towards resolving Sumatra's wetland fire problem. Lessons from Sumatra are also relevant for other wetland regions of Indonesia.


BACKGROUND: Patients who experience major weight loss may have pronounced breast ptosis, loss of projection of the higher pole, and excessive tissue in the lateral thorax. Rubin & Khachi described a mastopexy technique with dermal suspension and parenchymal remodeling associated with augmentation with autologous tissue. This technique treats the mammary deformity and the excessive tissue in the lateral thorax in a single surgery. In this study, we describe this surgical technique and demonstrate its reproducibility and the possible complications. METHODS: From December 2008 to December 2009, surgery was performed using the technique described above on 14 patients with grade 2 and 3 deformities according to the Pittsburgh scale. The following data were analyzed: type of breast deformity, translocation of the papillary-areolar complex (PAC), dimension of the flaps used, surgical time, permanence time of the drain, and the incidence of complications. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 41.21 ± 7.67 years and the mean body mass index was 29.30 ± 2.77. The follow-up period ranged from 3 months to 18 months, with a mean of 8 months. Among the 14 patients that underwent surgery, 4 patients (28.6%) had grade 3 deformities and 10 patients (71.4%), had grade 2 deformities. The mean translocation of the PAC was 6.38 cm, the mean dimensions of the flap were 25.21 cm × 6.92 cm, and the mean surgical time was 188.57 minutes. The drains remained for an average of 6.21 days. The following complications were observed: PAC epitheliosis, dehiscence of the T-junction, a small hematoma, and lateral thoracic lymphedema. CONCLUSIONS: Mastopexy with dermal suspension, parenchyma remodeling, and augmentation with autologous tissue is a reproducible technique that can be performed quickly and has a low complication rate.


The effect of additives on the densification behavior and mechanical properties of pure and additive (Zr, B and Mg)-added silica ceramics were investigated for their application to the matrix phase of a silica fiber reinforced silica (SiO2/SiO2f) composite. The additives affected the rate of densification and crystallization (or transformation) of the amorphous silica. Among the compositions, pure silica ceramics sintered at 900°C for 1 h showed the maximum flexural strength. Based on the results, SiO2/SiO2f was fabricated by a repeated vacuum-assisted infiltration method followed by the heat treatment at 900°C for 1 h. The relative density of the composite was 78.2% with a flexural strength of 22.4 MPa. Fractography revealed that the composite was damaged by strong bonding at the fiber/matrix interface and the fracture of fiber.


We analyze interaction effects of birth weight and the business cycle at birth on individual cardiovascular (CV) mortality later in life. In addition, we examine to what extent these long-run effects run by way of cognitive ability and education and to what extent those mitigate the long-run effects. We use individual records of Swedish birth cohorts from 1915–1929 covering birth weight, family characteristics, school grades, sibling identifiers, and outcomes later in life including the death cause.The birth weight distribution does not vary over the business cycle. The association between birth weight (across the full range) and CV mortality rate later in life is significantly stronger if the individual is born in a recession. This is not explained by differential fertility by social class over the cycle. Ability itself, as measured at age 10, varies with birth weight and the cycle at birth. But the long-run effects of early-life conditions appear to mostly reflect direct biological mechanisms. We do not find evidence of indirect pathways through ability or education, and the long-run effects are not mitigated by education.


The use of plastic packaging is widely diffuse because this material possesses several advantages such as being lightweight, durable, easy to carry and having a low cost production. However, plastic packagings have the problem of not being biodegradable and, therefore, have a global environmental impact. Moreover when in contact with foods, petrol-derived plastics can be harmful for human health especially if the convey plasticizers such as polyvinylclhoride (PVC) that is can cause severe damages to endocrin system. A solution to this problem is to direct attention towards the development of packaging designed primarily for the food industry. (Floros et al.,1997). These innovative materials, that could be named edible films, are obtained from natural molecules like proteins, polysaccharides or lipids and are prepared using different techniques such as spray-drying, casting and dip-coating. In some cases, these films can be used as carriers of antimicrobial agents and are defined as active packaging. However, even if edible films are harmless for both human and environment health,, they possess pour mechanical and barriers properties compared to the traditional ones. Such properties can be improved by the inclusion of covalent bonds by transglutaminase (TGase), that is a biotechnological tool that can polymerize proteins through intermolecular cross-links -( - glutamyl) lysine.

In this work we have obtained edible films made of Citrus pectin and TGase-crosslinked whey proteins, and evaluated their use as active packaging when conveying a peptide with antimicrobial activity. Moreover such films have been used to coat dry biscuits and fryed donuts to establish their effectiveness in extending biscuit shelf-life and reduction of fat up-take in donuts.

The milk whey is the residue of cheese, is a highly polluting waste material despite being a reserve of high biological value food. As source of such proteins we have used a purchased product named Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) contaning: β-lactoglobulin (65%), α-lactoalbumin (25%), and bovine serum albumin (8%). WPI is largely used in the food industry as a milk substitute, for the production of ice cream, for increasing the protein content of foods, and as food for people that practise hard physical activity.
Pectin is a heteropolysaccharide, consists mainly of acid D-galacturonic molecules linked by (-(1-4) and is obtained mainly from the peel of fruits of the Citrus family. In isolated form, pectin is rapidly reassociated to form aggregates or networks may also interact with proteins through hydrogen-type bonds, and ionic bonds.(Liu and Kost, 2009). These interactions can be improved by several treatments to obtain three dimensional complexes with improved mechanical and barrier properties.

At the first beginning, the present research was focused on indentifying the best WPI/Pectin ratio and the pHc in order to obtaining the maximum degree of complexation. These parameters allowed us to obtain a stable colloidal solution that was used as the basis for the production of edible films crosslinked or not by TGase. Results have shown that the films obtained at a 4:1 ratio WPI/Pectin and pH 5.1 (pHc) crosslinked with TGase showed good mechanical properties and barrier water vapor and oxygen. In addition, the crosslinking created by TGase makes them a valid support for the release of molecules with antimicrobial activity.

The application of these films by dip-coating technique has allowed us to create a layer on surface foods such as dry biscuits and donuts. Results obtained have shown that the application of the films on dry biscuits decreases absorption of water prolonging the shell-life, while applying the same coating to fried products like donuts significantly reduces the oil absorption.

In conclusion, the TGase turns out to be a valuable biotechnology tool to reticulate soluble complexes obtained from WPI and Pectin, that allow to obtain edible films with good mechanical and barrier properties useful for valuable applications in the food field.


Infection with HIV causes a spectrum of clinical problems beginning at the time of seroconversion (primary HIV) and terminating with AIDS and death. It is now recognised that it may take 10 years or more for AIDS to develop after seroconversion. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA developed the most widely used classification for HIV disease based on the presence of clinical symptoms and signs, the presence of certain conditions and investigative findings, the availability of HIV screening and the degree of immunosuppression as measured by the CD4 lymphocyte count. The infection is divided into four groups:

This article has been adapted from the forthcoming 5th edition of ABC of AIDS . The book will be available from the BMJ bookshop and at www.bmjbooks.com

#### Summary of CDC 1992 classification system for HIV disease

Group I Primary HIV

Group II Asymptomatic infection

Group III Persistent generalised lymphadenopathy

Group IV Symptomatic infection

Group IVA HIV wasting syndrome (AIDS) and constitutional disease

Group IVB HIV encephalopathy (AIDS) and neurological disease

Group IVC1 Major opportunistic infections specified as AIDS defining

Group IVC2 Minor opportunistic infections

Group IVD Cancers specified as AIDS defining

Group IVE Other conditions

Group I Primary HIV infection

Group II Asymptomatic phase

Group III Persistent generalised lymphadenopathy

Group IV Symptomatic infection

Group IV is subdivided into several subgroups and some of these (groups IVA, B, C1 and D) are AIDS defining conditions.

In 1992 the CDC included all HIV infected persons with CD4 lymphocyte counts of <200×106 cells/l as fulfilling an AIDS defining diagnosis. However, this additional classification is not widely used outside the USA.

A second classification also combines clinical and CD4 count information. Symptoms and clinical findings are graded in severity from A to C and CD4 counts as they fall from 1 to 3.

Primary HIV infection (PHI) is also called the seroconversion …


Abstract Since the seminal work of Chris Argyris research has realized that the design of Management Control Systems (MCS) has a significant impact on the social framework of an organization. This influence has been discussed in literature for decades. But there has been no holistic alternative for budget related MCS until the development of Beyond Budgeting (BB). Even though BB proponents claim that BB empowers organizations to become more adaptable, efficient and fair and is able to reduce unethical behaviors, BB has not been adopted by a considerable amount of organizations. One reason for this conservative attitude of organizations might be the lack of a framework that makes it possible to assess the possible advantages of BB for a specific organization. Current research suggests evaluating MCS in terms of their impact on organizational justice perceptions. Building on these new empirical findings, our paper tries to contribute to a better understanding of the potential advantages and disadvantages of BB by assessing the impact of BB characteristics on organizational justice perceptions. After identifying BB core characteristics, these characteristics are assessed regarding their impact on organizational justice perceptions. Partial least squares regression is applied to evaluate the relationship between BB core characteristics and organizational justice perceptions. Our results suggest that applying BB might enhance informational and interpersonal justice perceptions and therefore be beneficial for knowledge-based organizations.


MicroReg is a tax-benefit microsimulation model, developed by IRPET (Regional Institute for Economic Planning in Tuscany), able to simulate the main fiscal policies for all the Italian Regions. The model is based on the EUROSTAT Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). In its traditional version MicroReg can simulate direct taxes and in-cash transfers, but recently it was extended in two directions. The first extension aims at adding indirect taxes to simulated tax policies, thanks to a statistical matching between EU-SILC and the Italian Household Budget Survey by Istat(National Institute of Statistics (Italy)). To improve the matching, an estimation of the level of expenditure for each EU-SILC household is added to the variables on which the matching is conditioned, by applying the relation between consumption and income estimated on the Bank of Italy Survey of Households Income and Wealth. The second extension aims at including in-kind transfers, in health and education and in household disposable income. The monetary value of in-kind transfers is estimated with the public cost of production by using national and regional administrative data. The allocation of benefits among individuals is done by following the so called "actual consumption approach", both for health and education. This paper describes MicroReg, focusing on the new extensions, and the results of an application to assess the distributive effects of fiscal policies introduced in the last few years in Italy, both on the revenue and on the expenditure side.


There is scarce literature discussing errors as a source of waste in design. Also, there
is poor understanding on what constitutes waste in the context of design development.
This paper aim is to identify the main perceived causes of errors and waste in the
design phase of residential buildings. The paper reports on part of an on-going PhD
research, which aims to develop a framework to support designers to identify sources
of errors and reduce waste through different design phases. In order to obtain an
initial understanding of the designers' perception of waste and gauge their knowledge
of design errors, interviews were conducted in Jordan, with senior design engineers
from the private sector, lead design engineers from the Jordan Engineers Association,
and the assistant to the manager of Public Works. Results demonstrate perceptions
that the main causes of errors and waste are related to (a) client changes; (b) design
drawing and detail issues; and (c) problems with following regulations and building
codes.


The mechanical weakening processes involved in the development of major crustal fault systems have been widely documented, and it is recognised that clay-bearing fault rocks frequently have a significant influence on fault strength and slip behaviour in the upper crust. It is less well-understood how mechanical processes, such as cataclasis and the entrainment of shales along fault zones, interact with chemical processes, such as clay mineral transformations, during fault rock development. These processes can combine to form fault zones that may be both lithologically and mechanically heterogeneous, and which may also evolve over time, changing the nature of observed heterogeneities.

Data are presented here from a suite of exhumed fault sections of the southern Dead Sea Fault System (DSFS), Israel. The DSFS is an active continental transform fault that has accumulated approximately 105 km of sinistral displacement since the mid-Miocene; 60 km in an initial phase (20-18 Ma) and a further 45 km within the last 5 Ma. The studied faults lie immediately to the west of the active fault trace, west of the town of Elat, southern Israel, and are estimated to have been exhumed from shallow depths (<5 km, but potentially significantly less). Fieldwork has been carried out to document the architecture of the fault outcrops, recording comprehensive structural data, and to collect samples of a range of fault rocks. Samples have been analysed by optical and scanning electron microscopy to record microstructures and mineralogy of framework minerals, by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to record mineralogy of clay minerals, and by fusion inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (FUS-ICP/MS) to quantify elemental composition.

Results show the fault sections to be highly heterogeneous and comprise a range of fault rocks: variably fractured damage zones hosted in crystalline basement and sedimentary cover rocks; crushed crystalline basement rocks; mechanically entrained shale gouges; and fault gouges formed by a combination of cataclasis and neomineralisation of Mg-bearing smectite. Through operation of grain-size reduction and limited fluid-rock interactions, there is a bulk change from fault rocks dominated by frictionally strong phases, such as quartz, feldspars and calcite, displaying no obvious fabric, through to foliated phyllosilicate-rich fault gouges that likely have much lower frictional strengths. Elemental compositions across the fault zones suggest limited ingress of chemically reactive exotic fluids during neomineralisation. Mechanically entrained shale that has not undergone significant brittle deformation is also present in relatively large volumes in some instances and it is likely that the incorporation of this material inhibits further cataclastic deformation within the fault zones. Phyllosilicate-rich gouges contain microfolds on the centimetre to micron-scales, and preserve evidence of distributed deformation at shallow depth and low temperature conditions.

The heterogeneous nature of mechanically complex fault zones is influenced largely by the initial mineralogy of protolith rocks, but also by syn-tectonic processes, leading to the evolution of fault rock mineralogy with time. The development of layers of aligned phyllosilicate minerals have the potential to significantly alter the physical properties and mechanical strength of a fault zone, even if they are not present in large volumes (perhaps as little as 10-20%). The precipitation and/or entrainment of weak mineral phases may account for the evidence of both aseismic creep (microfolding) and coseismic slip (rock pulverisation) within these fault zones, recording different stages in their evolution.


By integrating the corpus of existing knowledge with new information gained by applying geo-archaeological techniques as well as more traditional techniques to fresh archaeological investigations at Black Patch and elsewhere, the aims of the research are to look at the economy, social organization and ritual behaviour of life in the Middle and Late Bronze Age on the South Downs in the light of modern archaeological theory to consider the questions 'Why were these areas chosen for settlement?', 'What caused their abandonment?' and 'What can we learn about the life of the people associated with the settlements?'.
The combination of field walking, field survey and soil sampling has shown the presence of a Neolithic flint spread, woodland clearance and agriculture before and during the period of site settlement at Black Patch. The positioning of the Hut platforms and enclosures across existing lynchets, the modification of the existing field system, the establishment of a new one and the adoption of more intensive farming techniques (manuring, weeding and crop location and rotation) would imply a change of social order and the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle for some.
The existence of centrally placed hearths in huts found at Black Patch brings into doubt the existing day/night life/death metaphor currently commonly used for this period. Structured deposition points to a society concerned with agricultural fertility. The abandonment of Black Patch identified by Drewett and the dearth of later dated artefacts, at about the same time as the abandonment of the only other positively identified Deverel-Rimbury site in the immediate area, Itford Hill, suggests another change of social order, with livestock becoming more important as the Downland area around Black Patch appears then to be used only by nomadic herders.
Areas to the west of the River Ouse which had been settled earlier developed more complicated specialist production sites. These have yet to be found east of the River Ouse


The Wareham Basin of East Dorset contains internationally
important but scarce deposits of ball clay - a clay used in
the manufacture of high quality ceramics – together with
regionally important sand and gravel resources. Elsewhere
in the UK, ball clay is confined to only two small areas in
Devon. The Wareham Basin is also subject to very
extensive landscape, and international and national nature
conservation designations. These include the Dorset Area
of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and numerous Special
Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas
designated in accordance with European Directives. The
constraints on mineral extraction are, therefore, very severe
and it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify
acceptable sites for future mineral working.The Department
for Transport, Local Government and the Regions wished
to examine mineral resource and policy issues in the area in
order to identify the best means of approaching this
problem. The British Geological Survey was
commissioned, in association with the Centre for Ecology
and Hydrology, Mineral & Resource Planning Associates
and Dr E C Freshney, to undertake a detailed study of the
inter-relationships of the mineral, land-use and
environmental resources of the Wareham Basin and to
make recommendations for the future. The research
included detailed geological mapping, a small borehole
programme, together with associated sampling and
analytical work, the creation of a large borehole database
and the collation of a large amount of data on the
environmental constraints. To facilitate the interaction and
interpretation of the large amounts of spatially related data
collected a Geographical Information System (GIS) has
been designed and incorporates the main elements of the
data to facilitate their rapid analysis.
The results of the research are presented in this
Technical Report, which provides a full account of the
background to the study, the methods of investigation and
results, together with the potential for heathland restoration.
A Summary Report entitled Sustainable development issues
for mineral extraction in the Wareham Basin of East Dorset
(Highley et al., 2002) sets out recommendations in relation
to resource management issues, the planning process and
sustainable development considerations. It is intended that
the reports and their associated maps and databases, will
deliver information that will assist sustainable resource
management, planning and policy development in the
Wareham Basin.
The study recommends:
• that Government should take a view on the national
importance of ball clay;
• the results of the study should be used for the
identification of the extent of commercial ball clay
deposits in the area, and the location of these in relation
to landscape and nature conservation designations;
• the Geographical Information System and associated
database developed should be maintained to provide a
framework for planning, and specifically mineral
planning, in the area;
• that the options for the supply of ball clay, including
alternative sources and materials, should be monitored
and reviewed;
• that research on the restoration of mineral workings,
especially the re-creation of natural habitats in isolation
and as part of an integrated resource and rehabilitation
programme, should be promoted by the planning
process; and
• that consideration of whether the current approach to
safeguarding ball clay resources is adequate.
The databases and maps, which underpin the
conclusions set out in this Technical Report and the
associated Summary Report are available from the British
Geological Survey, Keyworth, NG12 5GG.


Large-scale distributed storage systems have gained increasing popularity for providing highly available and scalable services. Most of these systems have the advantages of high performance, tolerant to failures, and elasticity. These desired properties are achieved mainly by means of the proper adaptation of replication techniques. We discuss the state-of-art in replication techniques for distributed storage systems. We present and compare four representative systems in this realm. We define a design space for replication techniques, identify current limitations, challenges and open future trends.


A new type of iron-copper-carbon (Fe-Cu-C) ternary micro-electrolysis filler was prepared with a certain proportion of iron powder, activated carbon, bentonite, copper powder, etc. The effect of the new type of micro-electrolysis filler on the simulated methyl orange dye wastewater was studied. The effects of various operational parameters, such as reaction time, initial pH value, aeration rate, filler dose and reaction temperature, on the degradation rate of methyl orange were studied to determine the optimum treatment conditions, and the micro-electrolysis filler was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The experimental results show that the degradation rate of 220 mL of simulated dye wastewater with a concentration of 100 mg/L reached 93.41% ± 2.94% after 60 mL/min of aeration, with an initial pH = 2, a dose of 45 g and 125 minutes of reaction at room temperature. The new micro-electrolysis filler has a high degradation rate for methyl orange solution, which is attributed to the iron and activated carbon particles sintered into an integrated structure, which makes the iron and carbon difficult to separate and affects the galvanic cell reaction. The addition of copper also greatly increases the transmission efficiency of electrons, which promotes the reaction. In addition, the surface iron is consumed, the adjacent carbon is stripped layer by layer, and the new micro-electrolytic filler does not easily passivate and agglomerate during its use.


Learning the past tense of English verbs - a seemingly minor aspect of language acquisition - has generated heated debates since 1986, and has become a landmark task for testing the adequacy of cognitive modeling. Several artificial neural networks (ANNs) have been implemented, and a challenge for better symbolic models has been posed. In this paper, we present a general-purpose Symbolic Pattern Associator (SPA) based upon the decision-tree learning algorithm ID3. We conduct extensive head-to-head comparisons on the generalization ability between ANN models and the SPA under different representations. We conclude that the SPA generalizes the past tense of unseen verbs better than ANN models by a wide margin, and we offer insights as to why this should be the case. We also discuss a new default strategy for decision-tree learning algorithms.


Concerns are commonly raised that strong public unions extract generous pension benefits from state governments and are the cause of states' burdensome pension obligations. Prior research (Anzia and Moe 2015) finds evidence supporting such concerns. Consistent with incentives to minimize such perceptions, our findings suggest that state pension plans with stronger public unions select higher discount rates to improve reported funding levels. While riskier asset allocations are used to support the higher discount rates (which equal the expected return on the plan assets), most of the higher rates appear opportunistic. In addition, consistent with a desire to avoid drawing attention to persistent plan underfunding, our evidence indicates that stronger union plans are less likely to select longer amortization periods to recognize pension deficits when underfunding is larger. We do not, however, find evidence for asset smoothing periods being used to delay the recognition of investment losses on plan assets. Together, our findings suggest that stronger union plans take steps to make their pension obligations look less burdensome to the public.


The effect of aeration on the development of a defined biofilm consortium of oral bacteria was investigated in a two-stage chemostat system. An inoculum comprising 10 species, including both facultatively anaerobic and obligately anaerobic bacteria, and species associated with oral health and disease, was inoculated into an anaerobic first-stage chemostat vessel. The effluent from this chemostat was linked to an aerated [200 ml CO2/air (5:95, v/v) min-1] second-stage vessel, in which removable hydroxyapatite discs were inserted to allow biofilm formation. Comparisons were made of planktonic and biofilm communities in the aerated second-stage vessel by means of viable counts. Both planktonic and early biofilm communities were dominated by Neisseria subflava, comprising > 40% of total c.f.u. in the fluid phase, and > 80% of c.f.u. in 2 h biofilms. Obligate anaerobes persisted in this mixed culture, and succession in biofilms led them to predominate only after 7 d. Despite the continuous addition of air, the dissolved oxygen tension (dO2) within the culture remained low (< 5% of air saturation), and the redox potential (Eh) was -275 mV. In order to assess the significance of the presence of N. subflava in community development, a subsequent experiment omitted this aerobe from the inoculum, to produce a nine-species culture. The planktonic phase was predominated by three streptococcal species, Prevotella nigrescens and Fusobacterium nucleatum. Biofilms again underwent successional changes, with anaerobes increasing in proportion with time. In contrast to the culture including N. subflava, dO2 was 50-60% of air saturation, and the Eh was +50 mV. In the final experiment, the rate of addition of first-stage culture was reduced to 1/10 of that in the previous experiment, in order to determine whether anaerobes were growing, rather than merely persisting in the aerated culture. The data for the planktonic phase indicated that the anaerobes were growing in aerated (dO2 40-50%, Eh +100 mV) conditions. Once again, anaerobes increased in proportion in older biofilms. The study indicates that mixed cultures can protect obligate anaerobes from the toxic effects of oxygen, both in the biofilm and planktonic modes of growth.


Movement and migration of fish are critical for sustaining riverine fish populations. Water resource development alters natural flow regimes and can disconnect habitats and interfere with hydrological cues for fish movement. Environmental flow releases can counter these impacts, but to be effective they must be based on quantitative flow–biota relationships. We used radio‐telemetry to investigate the association between flow and movement of Tandanus bostocki, a plotosid fish endemic to south‐western Australia. Movement was assessed for 15 adult fish at three temporal scales: weekly, daily and bihourly to reveal seasonal patterns in movement, movement around individual flow pulses, and to describe changes in home range respectively. We used a predictive modelling approach to assess the importance of discharge and other covariates on the directional distance travelled or linear home range size. Our seasonal and flow pulse study revealed that T. bostocki undertook larger downstream movements during higher flows and smaller upstream movements during lower flows. Daily movements tended to be downstream on the ascending limb of flow pulses and upstream on the descending limb. Flow‐dependent movements at weekly or daily time scales were relatively modest (typically hundreds of metres) and were moderated by time of year and gender; however, fish underwent a synchronised 1‐km movement upstream during the known reproductive period in October. The home range study revealed that T. bostocki had larger home ranges (night‐time foraging) when baseflow was elevated. These results can assist the design of customised environmental flows in the study river and other flow‐regulated rivers.


The ability of a bubble screen to redistribute the flow field and bed morphology in shallow rivers and open channels has been investigated in laboratory experiments. Rising air bubbles generated by a pressurized porous tube situated on the bed induced secondary flow perpendicular to the porous tube. The secondary flow redistributed the longitudinal velocity, which caused also morphological redistribution under mobile-bed conditions. The strength and size of the bubble-induced secondary flow were independent of the base flow velocity and increased with water depth. The size of the secondary flow cell ranged from 3× (immobile bed) to 7× (mobile bed) the water depth. Similar sizes of bubble-induced secondary flow cells have been reported in literature for water depths ranging from 0.1 to 5 m, indicating that the laboratory experiments are relevant for natural rivers and open channels.Amutually strengthening interplay occurred between the bubble screen, the bubble-induced secondary flow, and the morphology. The bubble-induced secondary flowconsiderably increased the rising velocity of the air bubbles, which on its turn strengthened the secondary flow. The morphological redistribution increased the flow depth in the region covered by the secondary flow cell, which on its turn increased the size and strength of the secondary flow cell, and its effect on the morphological redistribution. This coupled hydrodynamic-morphologic behavior explains the larger size and strength of the secondary flow over a mobile bed than over a flat immobile bed. The results demonstrate the potential of the bubble screen as a technique to modify the morphology in a variety of applications in shallowrivers and open channels.


In this work, we have developed and demonstrated a rapid and low-cost water monitoring sensor that can simultaneously detect total coliform and Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria in contaminated drinking water samples. The test method, called Mobile Water Kit (MWK), comprises a set of custom chemical reagents that would serve as colorimetric or fluorometric chemosensors, syringe filter units and a smartphone platform that would serve as the detection/analysis system. The MWK provides information about the presence/absence of total coliform and E. coli in water samples. The MWK has preliminarily been tested for its selectivity, sensitivity and accuracy, with samples of known concentrations of bacteria. The MWK has also been tested with contaminated water samples collected during the two field trials conducted in Canada and India, and the obtained results were confirmed with conventional laboratory methods. With this MWK, we were able to detect the total coliform and E. coli bacteria in water samples within 30 min or less, depending on the concentration of the bacteria. For one of the field samples, the MWK was able to detect the total coliform within 35 s, which is faster than any rapid test methods available in the market. This new technology can dramatically improve the response times for the outbreak of water-borne diseases and will help water managers and individuals to assess the quality of water sources.


Production of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in reduced tillage systems has increased in the United States during the past decade. However, interactions of tillage system and crop rotation have not been thoroughly investigated for large-seeded, Virginia market type peanut. Research was conducted at two locations in North Carolina during 1999 to 2006 to compare yield of corn (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), and peanut in different rotations planted in conventional and reduced tillage. Crop rotation affected peanut yield but did not affect corn or cotton yield. Increasing the number of times corn, cotton, or a combination of these crops were planted between peanut increased peanut yields. Tillage affected cotton and peanut yield but not in every year or at both locations. Yield was similar in conventional and reduced tillage in 8 of 10 comparisons (cotton) and 6 of 8 comparisons (peanut). Crop rotation and tillage did not interact for visual estimates of plant condition of peanut as a result of disease, soil parasitic nematode populations when peanut was planted during the final year of the experiment, crop yield, cumulative net return over the duration of the experiment, or bulk density in the pegging zone during the final year of the experiment. These data suggest that variation in response to rotation and tillage should be expected based on the crop and edaphic and environmental conditions. However, response to rotation and tillage most likely will be independent.


The idea for a seminar on developing corporate bond markets in Asia was first broached in June 2005, when Governor Zhou Xiaochuan of the People's Bank of China (PBC) invited 12 major central banks in Asia and the Pacific to participate in a high-level seminar on financial markets. During the subsequent consultation between the PBC and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), it was recognised that there had been numerous seminars on financial markets in Asia in general, including on developing local currency bond markets. But these seminars had neglected one issue that cried out for the attention of emerging market central banks: the development of the non-government segment of the local currency bond markets. While much progress had already been made in developing the local government bond markets, it was clear that the corporate bond markets in much of Asia remained behind their government bond counterparts, especially in terms of market liquidity. Hence, Governor Zhou's proposed topic was widely welcomed by the prospective participants in the seminar. He then asked the BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific to help organise the seminar. Thirty participants including high-level officials from central banks in Asia and the Pacific, the European Central Bank and the BIS took part in the seminar. Among them were Governor Zhou of the PBC, Joseph Yam of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Malcolm D Knight of the BIS. The participants also included a few academics, regulators and market participants. To prepare for this BIS/PBC seminar, the central bank participants were asked to provide background papers to describe their local currency corporate bond markets and identify important policy issues. The academics and other participants were asked to focus on particular issues. For the seminar itself, these issues were grouped around five themes: (1) why a corporate bond market? (2) legal and institutional framework; (3) role of information; (4) market liquidity; and (5) the role of central banks in market development. This volume makes available revised versions of all these papers.


Chemotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses a systemic drug to kill cancer cells wherever it finds in the body. It implements their actions through intervention with molecular mechanisms such as some core regulatory enzymes, molecular processes, or immune-related pathways during cell division and proliferation. Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines (IPs) are nitrogen-based heterocycles that have a wide variety of biological activities. This review highlights the anticancer properties of chemotherapy and the problems facing it as an anticancer therapy, Furthermore, it reviews the available works of literature focused on the potential efficacy of IPs-based compounds in cancer treatment, and discuss the molecular mechanisms driving its anticancer effects; through clarification the targets associated with cancer. This review also will benefit the research community in the field of anticancer agent discovery by introducing the IPs as novel therapeutic agents. Various In-vitro studies have shown different IPs -based compounds have potential therapeutic effects against different cancer cell lines including; breast, liver, colon, cervical, lung, and kidney cancers. The anticancer effects of these compounds primarily result from their inhibitory effects on different molecular mechanisms including, PI3K/Akt, CENP-E, IGF-1R, CDKs, Tubulin Polymerization Inhibition, and c-Met inhibition.


We show a first nontrivial example of coarea formula for vector-valued Lipschitz maps defined on the three dimensional Heisenberg group. In this coarea formula, integration on level sets is performed with respect to the 2-dimensional spherical Hausdorff measure, built by the Carnot-Caratheodory distance. The standard jacobian is replaced by the so called "horizontal jacobian", corresponding to the jacobian of the Pansu differential of the Lipschitz map. Joining previous results, we achieve all possible coarea formulae for Lipschitz maps defined on the Heisenberg group.


The Secondary Level Proficiency (SLEP) test, offered by the SLEP School Services Program (SSP) at Educational Testing Service (ETS), measures English language listening comprehension and reading comprehension skills. It was developed for use with nonnative-English speaking students in grades 7-12. SLEP is administered and scored locally, and the SLEP program does not receive routine feedback from local test users. The work described herein was undertaken to obtain formal feedback from a sample of SLEP users by means of a survey questionnaire. Questionnaires were mailed in April, 1991, to over 300 potential SLEP-use contexts worldwide (addresses of individuals, institutions or agencies placing orders for the SLEP or related materials within the most recent 18-month period). Although the return rate was relatively low (71 usable returns), the distribution of the returns by general institutional type and location was similar to that of the total sample. Survey findings provide information regarding testing practices, purposes of testing, selected characteristics of examinees (age/grade level, language background, and so on), test-users' perceptions of the principal strengths and limitations of the SLEP and/or the SLEP Test Manual (and suggestions for modification), the extent and nature of local studies concerned with validating the SLEP, and so on. Implications of the findings for SLEP-related research and development activities are discussed.


Calculation of Bayesian posteriors and model evidences typically requires numerical integration. Bayesian quadrature (BQ), a surrogate-model-based approach to numerical integration, is capable of superb sample efficiency, but its lack of parallelisation has hindered its practical applications. In this work, we propose a parallelised (batch) BQ method, employing techniques from kernel quadrature, that possesses an empirically exponential convergence rate. Additionally, just as with Nested Sampling, our method permits simultaneous inference of both posteriors and model evidence. Samples from our BQ surrogate model are re-selected to give a sparse set of samples, via a kernel recombination algorithm, requiring negligible additional time to increase the batch size. Empirically, we find that our approach significantly outperforms the sampling efficiency of both state-of-the-art BQ techniques and Nested Sampling in various real-world datasets, including lithium-ion battery analytics.


The Andes/Amazon transition is among the rainiest regions of the world and the interactions between large‐scale circulation and the topography that determine its complex rainfall distribution remain poorly known. This work provides an in‐depth analysis of the spatial distribution, variability, and intensity of rainfall in the southern Andes/Amazon transition, at seasonal and intraseasonal time scales. The analysis is based on comprehensive daily rainfall data sets from meteorological stations in Peru and Bolivia. We compare our results with high‐resolution rainfall TRMM‐PR 2A25 estimations. Hotspot regions are identified at low elevations in the Andean foothills (400–700 masl) and in windward conditions at Quincemil and Chipiriri, where more than 4000 mm rainfall per year are recorded. Orographic effects and exposure to easterly winds produce a strong annual rainfall gradient between the lowlands and the Andes that can reach 190 mm/km. Although TRMM‐PR reproduces the spatial distribution satisfactorily, it underestimates rainfall by 35% in the hotspot regions. In the Peruvian hotspot, exceptional rainfall occurs during the austral dry season (around 1000 mm in June–July–August; JJA), but not in the Bolivian hotspot. The direction of the low‐level winds over the Andean foothills partly explains this difference in the seasonal rainfall cycle. At intraseasonal scales in JJA, we found that, during northerly wind regimes, positive rainfall anomalies predominate over the lowland and the eastern flank of the Andes, whereas less rain falls at higher altitudes. On the other hand, during southerly regimes, rainfall anomalies are negative in the hotspot regions. The influence of cross‐equatorial winds is particularly clear below 2000 masl.


Motorola Xoom is the first tablet to rival the iPad, and no wonder with all of the great features packed into this device. But learning how to use everything can be trickyand Xoom doesn't come with a printed guide. That's where this Missing Manual comes in. Gadget expert Preston Gralla helps you master your Xoom with step-by-step instructions and clear explanations. As with all Missing Manuals, this book offers refreshing, jargon-free prose and informative illustrations.Use your Xoom as an e-book reader, music player, camcorder, and phone Keep in touch with email, video and text chat, and social networking apps Get the hottest Android apps and games on the market Do some work with Google Docs, Microsoft Office, or by connecting to a corporate network Tackle power-user tricks, such as barcode scanning, voice commands, and creating a Wi-Fi hotspot Sync your Xoom with a PC or a Mac


Rates of fatalities and serious injuries are higher in rural and remote crashes and have been less responsive to road safety strategies. In 2004 the research team began a study funded by Queensland Government to develop a close understanding of such crashes and to obtain data to inform targeted interventions. The study aims to recruit all persons hospitalized in North Queensland after a road crash that occurred in a non-urban site in the region.

Data is collected from patient interviews on trip experience, behavioural and social variables and attitudes to road safety. Location of crash, vehicle characteristics and medical and ambulance retrieval information are collected separately and linked to the data base.

The response rate has been high (80%+) and this paper reports on the first 150 cases. It presents the crash trip experiences, driver characteristics including their self reported use of alcohol and other licit and illicit drugs. Drivers' residential characteristics relative to crash site and type and other sociogeographical characteristics and the types and severity of injuries are also considered.


In this paper, we examine the effect of flow mass and moisture content on debris flow velocity, dis- charge, and runout using a series of smallscale flume tests in a geotechnical centrifuge. We found that an increase in mass and an increase in moisture content increased peak velocity during down-slope move- ment. However, the effect of increased moisture con- tent is much more pronounced than that of increased mass. The maximum cross-sectional area observed did not depend on mass or moisture content, although may have been affected by the flow rate entering the centrifuge. Consequently, flow velocity largely deter - mined the peak discharge of each flow. An increase in moisture content increased the mobility of the flow in terms of depositional area and runout. Further, the runout of the centre of mass of the flows appears to be linearly related to the momentum of flow material entering the flume.


New Mexico was at the forefront of the nuclear age, producing more uranium (U) than any other state in the U.S. for more than three decades until the early 1980s. The state is also unique because these historic activities have been studied and quantified over during this time, providing a unique opportunity to identify how historic uranium mining operations were influenced by economics and policy. In order to quantify these relationships, this study used a system dynamics approach to determine how these factors affected mining industry decisions and how those impacts varied based on mine size. The results of this work found that as the industry evolved over time, the influence of these factors changed and that they did not impact all mining operations equally. Results indicate that price guarantees for U concentrate and subsidies for mining and milling in the early years (1948–1964) of U mining encouraged mines of all size, although smaller mines opened and closed more quickly in response to changes in price. The economic environment created by these policies encouraged exploration and production. However, the latter led to an excess in supplies and declining prices when these incentives lapsed in the mid-1960s, which negatively impacted small- and medium-sized mines, neither of which opened after 1964. The presence of larger mines had more impact on the closing of small mines than closing of medium mines, possibly as a result of economies of scale for the medium mines or their ability to access milling resources after 1964. Lastly, medium and large mines that produced both uranium and vanadium may have had a slight historic advantage over mines that produced only uranium, as evidenced by longer delays in closing response to a unit change in average price. Quantification of these relationships assists in an improved understanding of the factors that influenced historic mining operational decisions and illustrates the complexity of the roles played by economics and policies in the boom and bust cycle manifested in the uranium industry.


Detection of non-scattering domains (voids) is an area of active research in biomedical optics. To avoid complexities of image reconstruction algorithms and requirements of a priori knowledge of void locations inherent to diffuse optical tomography (DOT), it would be useful to establish specific experimental signatures of voids that would help identify and detect them by other means. To address this, we present a radiance-based spectro-angular mapping approach that identifies void locations in the angular domain and establishes their spectral features. Using water-filled capillaries in scattering Intralipid as a test platform, we demonstrate perturbations in the directional photon density distribution produced by individual voids.


Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a key enabler to support integration of building data and is an important aspect to support a wide range of use cases, related to building navigation, control, sustainability, etc. Open BIM faces several challenges related to standardization, data interdependency, data access, and security. This means that there is often limited availability of BIM models. In Ireland, the Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) has a substantial dataset, called Prime2, which includes not only GIS data (polygon footprint, geodetic coordinate), but also additional building specific data (form and function). In this paper, an extension of an applied and tested methodology for uplifting GIS data into RDF is demonstrated for interlinking to a well-established BIM standard in the Architecture, Engineering and Constructionindustry called Industry Foundation Classes, using geolocation. This builds on initial work interlinking OSi building data with DBpedia. By interlinking building data in this way and making it available to query over, new insights and knowledge about buildings in Ireland can be made. This is an important step towards the iterative integration of ever more complex BIM models into the wider web of data to support the aforementioned use cases.


Cannabidiol, a major non-psychotomimetic compound derived from Cannabis sativa, is a potential therapeutic agent for a variety of diseases such as inflammatory diseases, chronic neurodegenerative diseases, and cancers. Here, we found that the combination of cannabidiol and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) produces synergistic antitumor effects in vitro. However, this synergistic effect was not observed in normal colonic cells. The levels of ER stress-related proteins, including C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) and phosphorylated protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase (PERK) were increased in treatment of cannabidiol. Cannabidiol enhanced significantly DR5 expression by ER stress. Knockdown of DR5 decreased the combined effect of cannabidiol and TRAIL. Additionally, the combination of TRAIL and cannabidiol decreased tumor growth in xenograft models. Our studies demonstrate that cannabidiol enhances TRAIL-induced apoptosis by upregulating DR5 and suggests that cannabidiol is a novel agent for increasing sensitivity to TRAIL.


Th is article provides an overview of the Early Estonian Printings (EEP) database and the Book Damage Atlas created within the framework of the Watermarks and Paper in Early Modern Estonia project and of questions that arose in the course of the project. The aim of the project was to consider publications as a whole and to try to combine descriptions of different parts of books into a tool for researchers that is readily available and easy to use. The compilers of the EEP database have relied on the standard worked out by the International Association of Paper Historians (IPH) in their descriptions of paper and watermarks and have also added free-form descriptions of watermarks to the database. Entries in the database are tied in with databases of the European-wide Bernstein watermarks portal The Memory of Paper.

Keywords: paper, watermarks, database, book history, preservation


Mediterranean biomes represent five biodiversity hotspots worldwide and cover just 2% of the Earth's land area; however, they support 20% of the Earth's known plant diversity. The Jarrah forest of South West, Western Australia, represents one of these valuable biomes. Documented climate change in Western Australia shows 35 years of consistently less rainfall and higher temperatures, with an extreme drought event in 2011 resulting in mortality of 1.7% or 19,000 ha of Northern Jarrah forest. To assess drought impact on vegetation of the Northern Jarrah forest, sites were chosen with a steep gradient from areas of canopy collapse to healthy forest. This provided an opportunity to assess the forest vegetation across an ecotone using space for time substitution. Our objectives were: 1) to determine factors affecting drought /heatwave induced vegetation mortality and 2) to assess differences in species response to this event.

Results from this study show mortality of species occurs in zones on sites of drought induced canopy collapse in the Northern Jarrah Forest. Midstorey mortality is determined by soil depth. Results, indicate a complex interaction between plants with differing root functional traits and soil depth, determines the collapse response in an extreme drought event. There is an ongoing shift in the species composition and structure of the forest in and around areas of drought induced canopy collapse. We anticipate the use of presence /absence of midstorey, as a proxy for soil depth, and stand composition to predict areas of forest likely to collapse in the future.


The transcription factor MEF2D plays an essential role in the negative selection of immature T cells whereby potentially autoreactive T cells undergo apoptosis. Unlike other members of the MEF2 family, MEF2D does not appear to be regulated by phosphorylation but may be controlled through interactions with other proteins. One such protein is the repressor Cabin 1, which inhibits MEF2D activity. Kasler et al. identified the extracellular signal-regulated and mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK5 in a yeast two-hybrid screen for additional binding partners for MEF2D. T cells transfected with both ERK5 and MEF2D demonstrated a 50-fold increase in reporter gene activity when treated with T cell activators. This enhanced MEF2D transcriptional activation in the presence of full-length ERK5 was dependent on the catalytic activity of ERK5; however, the COOH-terminal region of ERK5 was able to stimulate MEF2D transcriptional activity alone, suggesting that activation of the kinase domain relieves an inhibitory interaction with the COOH-domain, allowing the ERK5-MEF2D interaction to occur. Expression of fusion proteins between the ERK5 COOH-terminal domain and DNA binding domains from either GAL4 or MEF2D demonstrated that the ERK5 COOH-terminal domain can itself act as a transcriptional activator. Cabin 1 was able to compete with ERK5 for MEF2D binding, suggesting the ERK5-MEF2D interaction would require dissociation of Cabin 1 from MEF2D. Thus, the authors propose that T cell activation leads to dissociation of Cabin 1 from MEF2D and activation of ERK5, which alleviates the inhibition of MEF2D-ERK5 binding by the catalytic domain of ERK5. Then, the DNA binding domain of MEF2D may specify the recruitment of the ERK5 transcriptional activator to specific promoters. Kasler, H.G., Victoria, J., Duramad, O., and Winoto, A. (2000) ERK5 is a novel type of mitogen-activated protein kinase containing a transcriptional activation domain. Mol. Cell. Biol. 20: 8382-8389. [Abstract] [Full Text]


Cops and Robbers is a vertex-pursuit game played on a graph where a set of cops attempts to capture a robber. Meyniel's Conjecture gives as asymptotic upper bound on the cop number, the number of cops required to win on a connected graph. The incidence graphs of affine planes meet this bound from below, they are called Meyniel extremal. The new parameters mқ and Mқ describe the minimum orders of k-cop-win graphs. The relation of these parameters to Meyniel's Conjecture is discussed. Further, the cop number for all connected graphs of order 10 or less is given. Finally, it is shown that cop win hypergraphs, a generalization of graphs, cannot be characterized in terms of retractions in the same manner as cop win graphs. This thesis presents some small steps towards a solution to Meyniel's Conjecture.


This paper examines the relationship between voting weights and expected equilibrium payoffs in legislative bargaining and provides a necessary and sufficient condition for payoffs to be proportional to weights. This condition has a natural interpretation in terms of the supply and demand for coalition partners. An implication of this condition is that Snyder et al.'s (2005) result, that payoffs are proportional to weights in large replicated games, does not necessarily extend to the smaller games that arise in applications. Departures from proportionality may be substantial and may arise even in seemingly well-behaved games.


Technical and regulatory changes motivate the economics of the interconnections to be re-examined for the next-generation Internet. This paper presents a framework for the economics of market-based QoS interconnection networks. The economic model presented captures the characteristics of opportunity costs and demands and suggests strategies for QoS pricing and allocation. We use the statistical results of network simulation to present numerical examples of those market opportunity costs with respect to the contracted QoS network services. Using the model, we show the network economics of market-based QoS interconnections.


Nearby resolved dwarf galaxies provide excellent opportunities for studying the dust-producing late stages of stellar evolution over a wide range of metallicity (−2.7 ≲ [Fe/H] ≲ −1.0). Here, we describe DUSTiNGS (DUST in Nearby Galaxies with Spitzer): a 3.6 and 4.5 μm post-cryogen Spitzer Space Telescope imaging survey of 50 dwarf galaxies within 1.5 Mpc that is designed to identify dust-producing asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and massive stars. The survey includes 37 dwarf spheroidal, 8 dwarf irregular, and 5 transition-type galaxies. This near-complete sample allows for the building of statistics on these rare phases of stellar evolution over the full metallicity range. The photometry is >75% complete at the tip of the red giant branch for all targeted galaxies, with the exception of the crowded inner regions of IC 10, NGC 185, and NGC 147. This photometric depth ensures that the majority of the dust-producing stars, including the thermally pulsing AGB stars, are detected in each galaxy. The images map each galaxy to at least twice the half-light radius to ensure that the entire evolved star population is included and to facilitate the statistical subtraction of background and foreground contamination, which is severe at these wavelengths. In this overview, we describe the survey, the data products, and preliminary results. We show evidence for the presence of dust-producing AGB stars in eight of the targeted galaxies, with metallicities as low as [Fe/H] = −1.9, suggesting that dust production occurs even at low metallicity.


Saposin deficiency is a childhood neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder (LSD) that can cause premature death within three months of life. Saposins are activator proteins that promote the function of lysosomal hydrolases in the degradation of sphingolipids. There are four saposin proteins in humans, which are encoded by the prosaposin gene. Mutations causing an absence of individual saposins or the whole prosaposin gene lead to distinct LSDs due to the storage of different classes of sphingolipids. The pathological events leading to neuronal dysfunction induced by lysosomal storage of sphingolipids are as yet poorly defined. We have generated and characterised a Drosophila model of saposin deficiency that shows striking similarities to the human diseases. Drosophila saposin-related (dSap-r) mutants show a reduced longevity, progressive neurodegeneration, lysosomal storage, dramatic swelling of neuronal soma, perturbations in sphingolipid catabolism, and sensory physiological deterioration. We have also revealed a genetic interaction with a calcium exchanger (CalX), suggesting that calcium homeostasis may be altered in saposin deficiency. Together these findings support the use of dSap-r mutants in advancing our understanding of the cellular pathology implicated in saposin deficiency and related LSDs.