Abstract. Discrepancies between historical sea surface temperature (SST) datasets have been partly ascribed to use of different adjustments to account for variable measurement methods. Until recently, adjustments had only been applied to bucket temperatures from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the aim of correcting their supposed coolness relative to engine cooling water intake temperatures. In the UK Met Office Hadley Centre SST 3 dataset (HadSST3), adjustments have been applied over its full duration to observations from buckets, buoys and engine intakes. Here we investigate uncertainties in the accuracy of such adjustments by direct field comparison of historical and modern methods of shipboard SST measurement. We compare wood, canvas and rubber bucket temperatures to 3 m seawater intake temperature along a central tropical Pacific transect conducted in May and June 2008. We find no average difference between the temperatures obtained with the different bucket types in our short measurement period (∼1 min). Previous field, lab and model experiments have found sizeable temperature change of seawater samples in buckets of smaller volume under longer exposure times. We do, however, report the presence of strong near-surface temperature gradients day and night, indicating that intake and bucket measurements cannot be assumed equivalent in this region. We thus suggest bucket and buoy measurements be considered distinct from intake measurements due to differences in sampling depth. As such, we argue for exclusion of intake temperatures from historical SST datasets and suggest this would likely reduce the need for poorly field-tested bucket adjustments. We also call for improvement in the general quality of intake temperatures from Voluntary Observing Ships. Using a physical model we demonstrate that warming of intake seawater by hot engine room air is an unlikely cause of overly warm intake temperatures. We suggest that reliable correction for such warm errors is not possible since they are largely of unknown origin and can be offset by real near-surface temperature gradients.


This thesis analysed Religious Education Coordinators' perceptions of their role in Catholic secondary schools of the Archdiocese of Melbourne from 1970 – 2000. The theoretical framework for the study, which was reported on in this thesis, was drawn from Catholic Church documents on religious education at both international and national levels, and from the work of researchers within the field of religious education. In particular the study investigated the diversity of language used to describe religious education and religious education theory and analysed the significance that this has had in the development of an understanding of the role of the Religious Education Coordinator. It was argued that there were significant factors in the development of the role of the Religious Education Coordinator that included changes in the understanding of the nature and purpose of religious education during the second half of the twentieth century. In addition there were historical factors peculiar to the Archdiocese of Melbourne that played an important part in the understanding of the RECs role. Quantitative data in the form of annual survey material (1988-1999) from the Catholic Education Office Melbourne provided a framework for the empirical component of the research. The empirical component involved the interviewing of Religious Education Coordinators from a deliberately selected sample that covered the range of skills and experiences deemed necessary in the research. The purpose was to ascertain from the perspective of the Religious Education Coordinators themselves how they analysed their role. Grounded theory methodology was used as the basis for the inductive analysis of the data that emerged from the in-depth interviews. Theory that was generated on the role of the Religious Education Coordinator includes: the importance of an understanding of the theoretical dimensions of religious education and the role of the Religious Education Coordinator; an elaboration of the role of the Religious Education Coordinator in the school context and the necessary skills and attributes that are required to meet the challenges in the role; and the complexity of the challenges that are faced by the Religious Education Coordinator.


Background: The paper presents the data on a condition and a role of inflammation mediators and the antioxidant protection system in blood plasma for endometriosis genitalis (EG) in women of reproductive age. The material for the research included results from the survey of 104 women of reproductive age, divided into two groups (control group and clinical group). It is shown in the paper that EG occurs with the development of oxidative stress (OS) caused by activation of lipid peroxidation and the cytokine system with a simultaneous reduction in the antioxidant defense system.

Aims and Objective: To define the condition and the role of inflammation mediators of lipid and cytokine natures and the antioxidant protection system in the development of EG in women of reproductive age.

Materials and Methods: The research was carried out among 104 women of reproductive age, divided into control and clinical groups. The clinical groups included women with adenomyosis and EG externa. EG was verified with clinical findings, ultrasound examinations of pelvic organs, hysteroscopies, and diagnostic laparoscopies. Statistik, version 6.0, was used for statistical analysis. Diagnostic techniques included spectrophotometric, biochemical, and enzyme immunodetection methods.

Results: Imbalance between radical processes and antioxidant protection systems causes the development of OS for EG; imbalance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines leads to inflammation activation and increased activities of triggers that develop endometrioid focuses.

Conclusion: Due to unclear mechanisms of its development, EG is problematic in its respond to treatment while the OS contribution into the pathophysiological basis is highly reasonable. Components of menstrual blood are triggers for OS. With failed mechanisms in the cleansing system, the macrophage reaction gets stronger followed by a release of cytokines.


OBJECTIVES
Biliverdin (BV), one of the byproducts of heme catalysis through the heme oxygenase system, is a known scavenger of the reactive oxygen species. We hypothesized that adding BV to the perfusate and cold storage solution could protect rat lung grafts from oxidative injuries via its antioxidant efficacies.

METHODS
Orthotopic left lung transplantation was performed in a syngenic Lewis-to-Lewis rat combination under 100% oxygen. Grafts were preserved in low-potassium dextran (LPD; Perfadex) at 4°C for 6 h with or without supplementation of 1 or 10 μM of BV into LPD.

RESULTS
Prolonged cold storage and reperfusion resulted in a considerable deterioration of graft functions associated with massive apoptosis in the grafts after reperfusion. The untreated grafts exhibited the early up-regulations of mRNA for inflammatory mediators and an increase in a marker of lipid peroxidation, showing oxidative injuries. Although BV supplementation of LPD at a lower concentration (1 μM) did not improve the graft gas exchange, the grafts treated with BV (10 μM) showed a significant improvement of oxygenation and less inflammatory responses as well as reduced lipid peroxidation and apoptosis. Although the rapid activations of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) were seen 30 min after reperfusion in the grafts stored in control LPD, BV treatment significantly reduced phosphorylated-MAPK protein expression.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrates that the exposure of the lung grafts to BV during cold storage can impart potent cytoprotective effects to lung cold ischaemia/reperfusion injury and significantly improve the lung graft function following extended cold preservation and transplantation by the mechanism of a reduction in oxidative injury and following inflammatory events.


Abstract: Relative to other twentieth-century totalitarian experiments, the Cuban regime has developed a special mix of control, mobilization, and harassment. Since the crushing of internal opposition in the 1960s, the regime has created a system of "vertical" controls that concentrate power in the hands of the state and "disempower" and "direct" society, while in the process diminishing alternative or horizontal information flows, contacts, organizations, and solidarity networks. Over the past fifteen years, the regime has moved from full totalitarianism to a more transitional "charismatic post-totalitarianism." Since Fidel Castro fell ill in 2006, the trend toward posttotalitarianism has deepened, and the pending question now is whether the Cuban regime will "mature" into this phase, or move toward another regime type.  Although the transfer of power from Fidel to Raúl has been relatively uneventful, potential divisions within the ruling elite, especially between the military and the Party, are likely to emerge before too long.


The Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT), is one of the main components of the London Tideway Improvements Programme, designed to capture combined sewer overflows (CSOs) which currently discharge untreated combined sewage into the tidal river Thames. CSO discharges would be stored in the tunnel until there is capacity at Beckton sewage treatment works (STW), to accept, for treatment, pumped sewage from the tunnel system. There is at present limited literature information on odour generation from stored combined sewage in CSO control systems; on sampling methods of actual combined sewage and continuous monitoring and sampling of gas and liquid phases of stored combined sewage. To better understand the relationship between odour and stored combined sewage, the TTT project team have designed and operated a septicity rig to evaluate the aspects of odour generation from the tunnel system during storage conditions. The key areas of research include: 1. Odour monitoring to measure the emission rates of H 2 S during tunnel storage conditions, 2. Assessment of the potential for the development of septic conditions and the generation of sulphide compounds that could cause odour problems, 3. Extensive investigation of the impact of biofilm formation and slime growth on the tunnel lining. The findings of the study have determined the levels of sulphide that could potentially be generated from the CSO tunnel system, during storage operations, to ensure adequate consideration in the design of the air management system and tunnel lining and potential for adverse impact on STW operations.


In this article, I discuss the influence of stage lighting on the processes of scenic design and the functioning of performance space. There has been a huge advance in lighting technology with regard to their accessibility, usability, luminosity and costs during the past decades. Light can no longer be thought of as a necessity that can just be added to the performance. It has become one of its basic visual elements, directing and focusing the spectators gaze. The rhythm of changing lighting cues create a visual dramaturgy, which has turned visual design from solid constructrions to a score of temporal events. Today you seldom see a performance without any use of projections or digital videos. I begin with a quick historical survey on the adaptation of electric light in order to exemplify the artistic significance of technological innovations. I move on to a more philosophical conversation about the metaphorical connotations of light as a basic component of the visual mise-en-scene . Then I return to the practices of contemporary theatre making and examine the contributions of the latest projection technology. I suggest that stage lighting has developed from being a technical tool making the scenes visible into a sovereign artistic agency creating images on its own terms. Today's intermedial scenography can be seen as a parallel to the contemporary experience of our spatio-visual environment in everyday life, echoing the changes that happen in our ways of perceiving and conceptualizing the world.


The design optimization of H5, H6, neutral point clamped, active-neutral point clamped, and conergy-NPC transformerless photovoltaic (PV) inverters is presented in this paper. The components reliability in terms of the corresponding malfunctions, affecting the PV inverter maintenance cost during the operational lifetime period of the PV installation, is also considered in the optimization process. According to the results of the proposed design method, different optimal values of the PV inverter design variables are derived for each PV inverter topology and installation site. The H5, H6, neutral point clamped, active-neutral point clamped and conergy-NPC PV inverters designed using the proposed optimization process feature lower levelized cost of generated electricity and lifetime cost, longer mean time between failures and inject more PV-generated energy into the electric grid than their nonoptimized counterparts, thus maximizing the total economic benefit obtained during the operational time of the PV system.


Nondegenerate four-wave mixing was used to write permanent distributed-feedback refractive-index gratings in a Ce3+-doped (80 parts in 106), aluminosilicate, single-mode glass optical fibser at 300 K with a corresponding change in the refractive index Δn = 2.5 × 10−5 at 808 nm. Direct excitation of the 2F5/2−5d transition at 292 nm results in the photoionization of Ce3+ and the creation of color centers. The photoinduced absorption recovered on wavelength-dependent time scales ranging from seconds to hours. Below approximately 450 nm the recovery was incomplete, which contributed to the observed refractive-index change.


The paper deals with issues of special importance as of today that arise in the field of input VAT deduction. A brief review is given of the historical preconditions for emergence of VAT. Analysis is provided of certain normative acts currently valid in Lithuania, which regulate the fundamentals of input VAT deduction, the legal force of accounting documents; separate cases are studied when an accounting document formally is in conformity with the requirements of law but does not have the legal force; essential requirements, set for the particulars of accounting documents, are discussed. Separate tax-law terms are compared in the paper, and concepts of input VAT deduction and of the contents of an economic operation are formulated with the help of teleological, grammatical-logical, practical analysis and normative act analysis methods; conditions are determined when an accounting document is to be considered as being or not being of legal force. The paper was prepared by making analysis and generalization of the legal acts in the field of taxes in Lithuania and provisions of legal acts relating to finance, opinions of foreign and Lithuanian authors and specialists in tax law, which were involved in studying problems considered in the paper.


The mortality rate from coronary heart disease (CHD) has fallen considerably in many Western populations. Some evidence notes an associated fall in incidence, yet other information indicates a rise. In any case, CHD remains a formidable cause of illness and death. While only about half of the disease's variance can be explained by known risk factors, knowledge is sufficient to attempt avoidance of the disease. Dietary changes involving, for example, reduction in fat intake and changes in fat composition, have had mixed therapeutic success. Since Mediterranean populations have a much lower CHD mortality rate, compared with those of northern Europe - this is also true for diet-related cancers - their diet has attracted considerable attention. The principle features thereof are a high intake of monounsaturated fat, chiefly olive oil, and very high intakes of vegetables and fruit. While the diet's potential role in disease avoidance is undoubted, the chances of its adoption, even by high-risk segments, are remote.


Few individuals in the nation have experience coordinating a mass care response at the state or major metropolitan level during a major or catastrophic disaster. With the call in the National Mass Care Strategy for more states to identify a State Mass Care Coordinator, persons assigned this task will be responsible for developing a capability to respond during such an event. The purpose of this White Paper is to introduce the State Mass Care/Emergency Assistance (MC/EA) Coordination Process and the Mass Care Task Force as tools that can be utilized to expand state mass care capability.


ABSTRACT Introduction Carcinosarcoma of the bladder is a very rare neoplasm. The pathogenesis of carcinosarcomas is not clearly understood and remains a subject of debate. Whilst there is some research conceptualizing the histopathological findings of bladder carcinosarcomas, the demographic features, clinical outcomes, prognosis and treatment options remain unclear. Materials and Methods We analyzed 12 consecutive cases of patients with sarcoma-toid bladder cancer who were treated surgically at a single Urology Department be-tween 1999 and 2015. Radiology, pathology and surgical reports were reviewed to determine the pathological staging at the time of cystectomy. These were directly compared with 230 patients having cystectomies for urothelial cell carcinoma. The sarcomatoid patients, were compared to patients with urothelial cell cancers. The other histological sub types, squamous cell (17), neuroendocrine (9), metastatic (7), mixed (4), adenocarcinoma (3), were not included. Results and conclusion Carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder is often described in the literature as a highly malignant neoplasm that is rapidly lethal. We found that the sarcoma does not offer a worse prognosis than conventional high-grade urothelial car-cinoma. There is no significant difference in grade, stage, positive surgical margin rate, nodal involvement, associated prostate cancer or incidence rates of progression, all cause or disease specific mortality. There was a barely significant difference in carcinoma in-situ. However, carcinosarcomas are three times the volume of urothelial cell tumors which may contribute to its reputation as an aggressive tumour (44cc v 14cc). Sarcomatous elements do not appear, from our small study, to bestow a worse prognosis.


Key messagesDespite its promotion of contract farming (widely considered to be a relatively pro-poor approach to agribusiness expansion), Brazil's Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program (SPOPP) cannot be considered to be an inclusive development program in its current format. Findings suggest that land- and labor-constrained households are more likely to be excluded from contract farming under this program than other households.Viable options to strengthen inclusivity within the program include permitting smallholders to develop smaller plantations, promoting intercropping and reducing barriers that currently prevent smallholders under the scheme from engaging external laborers.Despite civil society concerns that contract farming could result in smallholders abandoning staple food crop production to focus only on oil palm, there is no evidence to date that contract farming under the SPOPP scheme has exacerbated smallholder food insecurity.Results suggest that while smallholder performance ranges widely, from highly productive farms to near abandonment of oil palm plots, the majority of smallholders involved in the scheme have been unable to meet the performance expectations of oil palm companies.To increase the likelihood of success amongst the 12% of smallholders at highest risk of credit default, additional support should be provided, for example in the form of targeted capacity-building initiatives or enabling management outsourcing arrangements where successful smallholders take over plantation management through production sharing arrangements.


The -kicked rotor is a paradigm of quantum chaos. Its realisation with clouds of cold atoms in pulsed optical lattices demonstrated the well-known quantum chaos phenomenon of 'dynamical localisation'. In those experi ments by several groups world-wide, the £-kicks were applied at equal time intervals. However, recent theoretical and experimental work by the cold atom group at UCL Monteiro et al 2002, Jonckheere et al 2003, Jones et al 2004 showed that novel quantum and classical dynamics arises if the atomic cloud is pulsed with repeating sequences of unequally spaced kicks. In Mon teiro et al 2002 it was found that the energy absorption rates depend on the momentum of the atoms relative to the optical lattice hence a type of chaotic ratchet was proposed. In Jonckheere et al and Jones et al, a possible mechanism for selecting atoms according to their momenta (velocity filter) was investigated. The aim of this thesis was to study the properties of the underlying eigen values and eigenstates. Despite the unequally-spaced kicks, these systems are still time-periodic, so we in fact investigated the Floquet states, which are eigenstates of U(T), the one-period time evolution operator. The Floquet states and corresponding eigenvalues were obtained by diagonalising a ma trix representation of the operator U(T). It was found that the form of the eigenstates enables us to analyse qual itatively the atomic momentum probability distributions, N(p) measured experimentally. In particular, the momentum width of the individual eigen states varies strongly with as expected from the theoretical and ex- perimental results obtained previously. In addition, at specific close to values which in the experiment yield directed motion (ratchet transport), the probability distribution of the individual Floquet states is asymmetric, mirroring the asymmetric N(p) measured in clouds of cesium atoms. In the penultimate chapter, the spectral fluctuations (eigenvalue statis tics) are investigated for one particular system, the double-delta kicked rotor. We computed Nearest Neighbour Spacing (NNS) distributions as well as the number variances (E2 statistics). We find that even in regimes where the corresponding classical dynamics are fully chaotic, the statistics are, unex pectedly, intermediate between fully chaotic (GOE) and fully regular (Pois- son). It is argued that they are analogous to the critical statistics seen in the Anderson metal-insulator transition.


This research aims to outline a framework based on procedural and object-oriented Paradigms that facilitates generic automated quality assurance. Along with the outline, a skeleton framework has been developed to evaluate the research, and the final aim is to expand the footprint of the framework; theoretical inclusion of other programming paradigms has been discussed. This research developed a taxonomy of quality assurance techniques in order to identify potential candidates for generic quality assurance and also to minimise experimental requirements, as the taxonomy categories are generated based on implementation requirements; this means that a category can be deemed feasible within the scope of this framework if a single technique can be implemented. The novel aspects of this research are the taxonomy, paradigm-specific framework, and finally the theorised paradigm-generic framework. An experimental method has been used to provide evidence to support the claims made by this research, which is accompanied by a study of literature providing a foundation for all areas discussed. Although a paradigm-generic framework can be achieved, the internal representation used in this research showed that application of the logical paradigm would not be simple and has little benefit in the scope of automated quality assurance. This being said, procedural, object-oriented, and functional paradigms have been demonstrated as feasible with significant impact on programming language development and automated quality assurance of software.


Far out in the Indian Ocean, stretched like a string of pearls between the Grand Ile of Madagascar and the coast of East Africa, lies one of the world's most beautiful groups of islands, one of its most intriguing civilisations, and one of its most puzzling territories: the Comoro Islands. The archipelago is altogether one-quarter the size of Corsica. The four main islands—Mayotte, Anjouan, Mohéli, and Grande Comore, surrounded by numerous smaller isles and coral reefs—between them cover an area of only 852 square miles (2,336 sq. km.). The total population at the time of the most recent census in 1958 amounted to 183,133, with 90,790 on Grande Comore, 61,815 on Anjouan, 23,364 on Mayotte, and 7,164 on Moheli. The latest estimate, for 1963, gives a total of about 200,000. Tiny as they are, apparently unaffected by the wind of change, and isolated from the main tide of the world events, the islands still present a microcosm of the problems encountered by the developing countries on the mainland. They too are undergoing the difficult transition from a colonial system to independence, and have to reckon with the strong traditional structures of a civilisation left largely untouched by French administration, which still influences the lives of the mass of the population.


A moving debut novel about a foster child learning to open her heart to a family's loveCarley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookiecutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong--until her mother wants her back and Carley has to decide where and how to live. She's not really a Murphy, but the gifts they've given her have opened up a new future.


The structural changes affecting the organization of the international economy and an increasingly close relationship between sustainable development and the new industrial revolution have made, for some years now, the issues of bioeconomy and circular economy part of the analysis on possible growth trends of the South and of the Country as a whole. This is even more true in light of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which on the one hand is accelerating changes that existed before the arrival of the coronavirus, and on the other is favouring the shaping of new production and consumption models. The aim of this paper – based on the updating of the remarks made in the SVIMEZ 2020 Report – is to present the guidelines drawn by the Association for the Industrial Development of the South over the last year, making use of the contribution of an interdisciplinary working group specially constituted. Thus, an overall picture of the current diffusion of the circular bioeconomy in Southern Italy, the links with European strategies and the definition of new models of sustainable development emerge, with some possible policy indications to think about for a meta-sector that is potentially able not only to support the recovery of the South, but also to encourage the engagement of a significant part of its production chains in new international value chains.


Blended learning, as a new approach to education, is rapidly being adopted by educational institutions for the purpose of teacher education or teacher training. This study reports the results of a survey exploring the relationships between perceived learning and satisfaction in a blended teacher education program among three different groups of specialization at the Institute of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). This study was mainly exploratory in nature, employing specifically the quantitative research method, utilizing crosssectional survey as the method of data collection. The respondents consisted of 170 teacher trainees who were randomly selected through quota sampling. The instrument used to collect data was a modified questionnaire that measured the respondents' perception of learning and satisfaction in the blended teacher education program. The respondents reported high levels of perceived learning and satisfaction toward the blended teacher education program. The results showed positive and moderate correlation between perceived learning and satisfaction, while there was no statistically significant difference among all groups of teacher trainees' perception of learning and satisfaction.


Kuramoto et al. identified the catalytic α1 subunit of adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK, which, in neurons, is activated in response to hypoxia, ischemia, or enhanced metabolic activity) in a yeast two-hybrid screen of rat brain cDNA for proteins that bind the γ-aminobutyric acid type B (GABAB) receptor, which is a G protein-coupled receptor. In vitro binding, coimmunoprecipitation, and immunofluorescence analysis of the subcellular distribution in cultured hippocampal neurons of AMPK and GABAB receptors confirmed an interaction between GABAB receptors and the AMPK α1 and 2 isoforms. GABAB receptors exist as R1 and R2 heterodimers; AMPK bound the cytoplasmic tail of the R1 subunit and phosphorylated Ser917 of R1 and Ser783 of R2. Using HEK-293 cells that heterologously expressed Kir3.1 and 3.2 K+ channels and GABAB receptors as a system in which to assess rundown of GABAB receptor-dependent activation of K+ current, the authors found that AMP decreased rundown elicited by intracellular perfusion with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and guanosine triphosphate (GTP). Furthermore, the protective effect of AMP or of pharmacological activation of AMPK on GABA-activated K+ current depended on phosphorylation of R2 Ser783. Moreover, pharmacological activation of AMPK stimulated Ser783 phosphorylation and reduced GABAB receptor-activated K+ current rundown in cultured hippocampal neurons. Ischemic brain injury (following transient occlusion of the middle cerebral artery) led to an increase in Ser783 phosphorylation in rat hippocampus. Pharmacological inhibition of glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation activated AMPK and stimulated Ser783 phosphorylation in cultured hippocampal neurons; intriguingly, neurons overexpressing Ser783Ala R2 mutants survived this treatment less well than those overexpressing wild-type R2. Thus, the authors conclude that AMPK activation has a neuroprotective effect that depends on phosphorylation of the GABAB receptor. Hardie and Frenguelli discuss this research in a thoughtful Preview. N. Kuramoto, M. E. Wilkins, B. P. Fairfax, R. Revilla-Sanchez, M. Terunuma, K. Tamaki, M. Iemata, N. Warren, A. Couve, A. Calver, Z. Horvath, K. Freeman, D. Carling, L. Huang, C. Gonzales, E. Cooper, T. G. Smart, M. N. Pangalos, S. J. Moss, Phospho-dependent functional modulation of GABAB receptors by the metabolic sensor AMP-dependent protein kinase. Neuron 53, 233-247 (2007). [PubMed] D. G. Hardie, B. G. Frenguelli, A neural protection racket: AMPK and the GABAB receptor. Neuron 53, 159-162 (2007). [PubMed]


Issues concerning the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which governs agency solicitation of policy advice from outside groups, have arisen with greater frequency in recent years. This is true in part as a result of regulatory initiatives that aim to include larger numbers of interested parties in regulatory decisionmaking processes. In this Article, Professors Croley and Funk first provide an overview of the history and basic structure of the FACA, and then consider the many legal questions surrounding the Act's purpose, scope, interpretation, and implementation. Along the way, they consider whether and how the FACA advances good-government goals such as openness and administrative efficiency. Their analysis is guided by the results of a survey of agency "advisory committee management officers," through which they sought to gather agencies' own views of the FACA's administration, as well as by contacts with the General Services Administration's Committee Management Secretariat, the agency which supervises all advisory-committee activities, and other agency personnel. Professors Croley and Funk conclude with a set of concrete recommendations for Congress, the White House, the courts, the GSA, and agencies that use federal advisory committees.


This Article focuses on the debate concerning state constitutional expansion of criminal-procedure protections. It examines two such rights: (1) the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures; and (2) the right to the assistance of counsel in defending a criminal case. Each of these rights is embodied in both the federal and most, if not all, state constitutions. Each right is thus doubly applicable to the states, first, through the federal version by virtue of its incorporation into the Fourteenth Amendment's due process protection and, second, through the state constitution's version of the cognate right. So focused, the question is, what deference if any does a state court owe the Supreme Court in interpreting state constitutional provisions protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures and affording the criminally accused the right to counsel?This Article explores the question of deference in the context of a particular state, Massachusetts, employing that focus for three reasons. First, the Commonwealth's Declaration of Rights — which has remained virtually unchanged since its adoption in 1780 — served as a principal model for the federal Bill of Rights, leaving no doubt but that textually and historically the federal and state provisions at issue here are essentially the same. This poses the interpretive question most starkly; in each case, we are considering federal and state versions of what was to their respective framers the same normative protection. Second, unlike most state court judges, the justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court are appointed and have lifetime tenure, putting them in the same, politically-insulated position as their federal counterparts. This poses the issue of decisional legitimacy in bold relief, forcing consideration of the counter-majoritarian aspects of judicial review. Finally, the Supreme Judicial Court has been quite active over the past three decades in this area of state constitutionalism, much of this activity in the area of criminal procedure. Its jurisprudence in state constitutionalism is thus well rehearsed and provides a good backdrop for this discussion of such state-court decision making.


Consideration is given to the use of the time differential perturbed directional correlation (TDPDC) technique in biomedical applications such as structural studies of the selenoproteins. Mathematical models of the perturbed directional correlations show that the application of the TDPDC technique to the study of the electric quadrupole interactions experienced by an ensemble of probe nuclei bound to a protein is capable of yielding the fraction of probe nuclei occupying each of a number of distinct types of binding site in the protein, the strength, symmetry and inhomogeneity of the nuclear quadrupole interaction occurring at each different type of site and, if the environment of the protein is a viscous solution, the diffusion constant for the protein in the solution, from which the associated correlation time and hence the radius of the protein may be derived. A time spectrometer employing a pair of barium fluoride (BaF2) scintillation counters was designed and constructed to allow TDPDC experiments to be performed. The optimum time resolution of the spectrometer was found to be 354+/-10 ps for the 1.173 and 1.332 MeV gamma-rays emitted in the decay of 60Co. The characteristics of the spectrometer were inferior to those of similar systems which are described elsewhere. A number of improvements to the spectrometer that was used in this work have been suggested. The manner in which various deviations from the ideal experimental arrangement affect both the observed perturbed directional correlation and the optimum methods of conducting TDPDC experiments has been carefully considered. Of particular importance was the effect of source decentring, since the employed apparatus does not allow the radioactive source to be precisely centred. It was found that the implications of source decentring are that the values of the parameters describing the perturbation of the directional correlation must be derived from a single TDPDC spectrum, as must those of a number of additional parameters which are of little interest. The viability of this procedure was investigated by carrying out a TDPDC study of the 356-81 keV gamma-gamma cascade in 133Cs, taking account of the interference from sum-coincidence effects and competing cascades. From the TDPDC spectrum that was obtained, the smearing effects of the finite time resolution of the spectrometer were partially removed by deconvolution, resulting in an unfolded time spectrum to which attempts were made to fit a suitable model. Although it was not possible to achieve a satisfactory fit, a number of potential remedies for the poor fit have been proposed. A TDPDC study of the 121-280 keV gamma-gamma cascade in 75As was performed for the purpose of assessing the feasibility of using the TDPDC technique in future investigations employing 75Se-labelled selenoproteins. Account was again taken of the interference from sum-coincidence effects and competing cascades. A bid to deconvolve the smeared TDPDC spectrum that was acquired was not successful, and so attempts were made to fit to the smeared spectrum a model which allowed for the finite time resolution of the spectrometer. The fitting proved to be problematic, indicating that it would be difficult to apply the TDPDC technique to an investigation of 75Se-labelled selenoproteins. However, this conclusion is perhaps unduly pessimistic because some of the problems that arose in the feasibility study will not be present in practice when a 75Se-labelled selenoprotein is used. The available evidence suggests that 73Se offers advantages over 75Se as a radiolabel in TDPDC studies of the selenoproteins.


Structural equational modeling is a very popular statistical technique in the social sciences, as it is very flexible and includes factor analysis, path analysis and others as special cases. While usually done with specialized programs, the same can be achieved in Mathematica, which has the benefit of allowing control of any aspect of the calculation. Moreover, a second, more flexible, approach to calculating these models is described that is conceptually much easier yet potentially more powerful. This second approach is used to describe a solution of the attenuation problem of regression.


We introduce a new deterministic parallel sorting algorithm for distributed memory machines based on the regular sampling approach. The algorithm uses only two rounds of regular all-to-all personalized communication in a scheme that yields very good load balancing with virtually no overhead. Moreover, unlike previous variations, our algorithm efficiently handles the presence of duplicate values without the overhead of tagging each element with a unique identifier. This algorithm was implemented in SPLIT-C and run on a variety of platforms, including the Thinking Machines CM-5, the IBM SP-2-WN, and the Cray Research T3D. We ran our code using widely different benchmarks to examine the dependence of our algorithm on the input distribution. Our experimental results illustrate the efficiency and scalability of our algorithm across different platforms. In fact, the performance compares closely to that of our random sample sort algorithm, which seems to outperform all similar algorithms known to the authors on these platforms. Together, their performance is nearly invariant over the set of input distributions, unlike previous efficient algorithms. However, unlike our randomized sorting algorithm, the performance and memory requirements of our regular sorting algorithm can be deterministically guaranteed.


We present the first nitrogen isotope (δ15N) measurements of planktic foraminifera, paleoceanographically important zooplankton, from the nutrient‐rich waters of the modern Southern Ocean. Foraminifera were collected from net tows in the Subantarctic and Polar Frontal Zones (SAZ and PFZ, respectively) south of Africa during winter 2015 and late summer 2016. In late summer, consistent with preferential uptake of 14N‐nitrate and the progressive, northward depletion of nitrate by phytoplankton across the Southern Ocean, foraminifer tissue and shell‐bound δ15N rise equatorward along with nitrate δ15N. However, foraminifer δ15N is ~3‰ lower than expected for heterotrophs relying on photosynthetic biomass generated directly from nitrate. This discrepancy appears to originate with the particulate organic N (PON) in late‐summer surface waters, the δ15N of which is lowered by ammonium recycling. In winter, when overall productivity and foraminifer production are reduced, foraminifer δ15N is higher (by 4.6 ± 0.8‰ for tissue and by 4.0 ± 1.5‰ for shell‐bound N compared to late summer) and exhibits no clear north‐south trend. These characteristics can also be explained by the feeding‐driven connection of foraminifera to PON, which is elevated in δ15N by net degradation in winter. Therefore, foraminifer δ15N is more closely tied to PON δ15N than to nitrate δ15N in the Southern Ocean mixed layer. Combining our isotope data with previously reported sediment trap fluxes from the western Pacific SAZ/PFZ suggests that, under modern conditions, the late‐summer ammonium recycling signal outweighs that of wintertime decomposition on the annually integrated δ15N of sinking foraminifera.


The illitization of a K-smectite in 0.5 molal KCl solution at 300°C and vapour saturation was studied to determine the nature of layers in interstratified run products formed in solutions supposed to favour the formation of illite layers. Solid products were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron microprobe and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and solutions by ICP-AES and ICP-MS. The percentage of illite layers in mixed-layer clays was determined by XRD and IR spectroscopy (on NH 4 + saturated experimental products). The main results are: (i) discrepancies between the Si contents measured in mixed-layer clays by electron microprobe and the percentages of supposed illite layers estimated by different techniques confirm the existence of non (glycol) expandable dehydrated K-smectite layers; (ii) infrared spectroscopy indicates that some of these layers have not fixed interlayer K + ions and are still exchangeable (with NH 4 + ) whereas others cannot exchange their interlayer cation; this behaviour is probably related to the layer charge deficiency and its structural location in the smectite layers; (iii) the amounts of dissolved smectite layers and crystallized non-expandable layers (illite, dehydrated smectite) in newly formed ordered interstratified clays increase with time. The high concentration of K + and the absence of Na + in the experimental solution does not clearly favour the formation of illite in short-time experiments (less than 6 months).


Avian malaria parasites are prevalent around the world, and infect a wide diversity of bird species. Here we report the sequencing and analysis of high quality draft genome sequences for two avian malaria species, Plasmodium relictum and Plasmodium gallinaceum. We identify 50 genes that are specific to avian malaria, located in an otherwise conserved core of the genome that shares gene synteny with all other sequenced malaria genomes. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the avian malaria species form an outgroup to the mammalian Plasmodium species. Consistent with their phylogenetic position, we identify orthologs of genes that had previously appeared to be restricted to the clades of parasites containing P. falciparum and P. vivax - the species with the greatest impact on human health. The subtelomeres of P. relictum and P. gallinaceum contain several novel gene families, including an expanded surf multigene family. We also identify an expansion of reticulocyte binding protein homologs in P. relictum and within these proteins proteins, we detect distinct regions that are specific to non-human primate, humans, rodent and avian hosts. For the first time in the Plasmodium lineage we find evidence of transposable elements, including several hundred fragments of LTR-retrotransposons in both species and an apparently complete LTR-retrotransposon in the genome of P. gallinaceum.


A spontaneous assembly variant, B 50, has been isolated from the MPC‐11 mouse myeloma cell line. This variant synthesizes fewer light chains per cell than the parent resulting in the production of a slight molar excess of heavy chains. These changes are associated with a delay and change in the pathway of assembly and a delay in secretion. Spontaneous revertants of B 50 have been obtained, all of which synthesize normal amounts of light chains and assemble and secrete the immunoglobulin molecule through the same pathways and with the same kinetics as the parental cells. A comparison of the tryptic‐chymotryptic peptides of the parental, variant and revertant heavy and light chains did not reveal any differences. These studies indicate that variants in mouse myeloma cells can arise with defects in the quantitative expression of the immunoglobulin gene and suggest that the presence of excess light chains facilitates the assembly and secretion of some immunoglobulin molecules.


Early one day in June 1913, Willa Cather left her house at 5 Bank Street in Greenwich Village to do the day's marketing. She had just finished off a breakfast made from fresh raspberries, brioche, and strong Chinese tea, and she was in good spirits to haggle. She walked south toward the Jefferson Street market, chatting about France with her friend Elizabeth Sergeant, who had recently arrived in New York. As the two women walked, they passed near the home of John Sloan, a painter and illustrator who had been submitting regularly to The Masses since Max Eastman took over the editorship in 1912. But Willa Cather was probably not thinking about radical journalism; she was probably thinking about a good French Camembert. (1) The weather was agreeable and the two women decided not to walk directly to the market, but to stroll east to Fifth Avenue and south to Washington Square. They liked to admire the old houses, and Cather particularly wanted to show Sergeant the Church of the Ascension, where she often went to vespers and gazed at John La Farge's frescoes. Across the street from the church was a mansion whose upper floor was rented out to Mabel Dodge, a woman recently returned from Europe who was hosting regular gatherings in her home, inviting people like Big Bill Heywood, Carl Van Vechten, Emma Goldman, Margaret Sanger, John Reed, and Lincoln Steffens to stir up the conversation. But Cather had not met Mabel Dodge yet, and so she passed by without comment; instead, she pointed out the Brevoort Hotel, where, only a few years earlier, she and Edith Lewis were taking their dinner as often as four times a week. (2) They walked near the old house of Richard Watson Gilder off Fifth Avenue on Eighth Street. The Gilder house had hosted a distinguished salon at the end of the nineteenth century, drawing such artists as August Saint-Gaudens, John Burroughs, Helena Modjeska, and Stanford White, the architect who designed the Washington Memorial Arch in nearby Washington Square. As Cather and Sergeant walked under the Arch, Cather pointed directly south to 60 Washington Square South, the first building she lived in after moving to New York to work for S. S. McClure in 1906. Next door, at 61 Washington Square South, was the "House of Genius," a building that had known Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, and a variety of other artists and journalists as tenants. After they walked through the park filled with local Villagers, mostly Italian immigrants, they turned west, walked past the studio of William Glackens, and, crossing MacDougal Street, looked south toward Polly's restaurant, home of Heterodoxy, a local radical women's group. After O Pioneers! was published, Willa said, she got all sorts of invitations from local women's groups, and she hated the very thought of belonging. "Perish all social clubs for women!" she exclaimed. (3) They soon made it to the Jefferson Street Market, and Willa and Elsie bought a chicken from an Italian man with a ragged blue hat, an unshaven chin, and one fang-like tooth pushing against his lip and forcing his ready smile into an eccentric shape. Cather, nodding at a well-dressed young man in a black-banded straw hat who was walking near, said to Sergeant, "Surely that one sells bonds on Wall Street, and no doubt his mother had his teeth straightened! Mouths should be left as nature made them--mouths are as individual as ears or eyes, ... but the dentists insist on deadly conformity." (4) After getting back to Bank Street with armfuls of food for Josephine Bourda to cook, Cather excused herself and told Sergeant that she must be alone for two and a half hours, as it was time for her to write. "Greenwich Village does not exist" Two assumptions confront anyone exploring Willa Cather's relationship to Greenwich Village. First, that Willa Cather, who lived in the Village from 1906 until 1927, and made New York her permanent residence until her death in 1947, was at American modernism's geographic center: around her in these years was the highest concentration of artistic talent that twentieth century America ever knew. …


The influence of gendered relationships on access to forests and on forest sustainability remains a concern for scholars and practitioners. This paper presents a comparative study of forest management across four countries in East Africa and Latin America: Kenya, Uganda, Bolivia and Mexico. It focuses on one question: Do varying proportions of women (low, mixed, high) in forest user groups influence their likelihood of adopting forest resource enhancing behavior? We found that higher proportions of females in user groups, and especially user groups dominated by females, perform less well than mixed groups or male dominated ones. We suggest that these differences may be related to three factors: gender biases in technology access and dissemination, a labor constraint faced by women and a possible limitation to women's sanctioning authority. Mixed female and male groups offer an avenue for exploiting the strengths of women and men, while tempering their individual shortcomings.


The study is devoted to both static and earthquake response analysis of retaining structures acted upon by lateral earth pressure. Two main approaches were implemented in the analysis, namely, the Mononobe-Okabe analytical method and the numerical Finite element procedure as provided in the ready software ABAQUS with explicit dynamic method. A basic case study considered in the present work is the bridge approach retaining walls as a part of AL-Jadiriya bridge intersection to obtain the effects of the backfill and the ground water on the retaining wall response including displacement of the retaining structure in addition to the behavior of the fill material. Parametric studies were carried out to evaluate the effects of several factors such as vertical and horizontal components of the earthquake, maximum peak acceleration, angle of friction, damping ratio, height of the wall and groundwater level within the medium of fill. Three heights of retaining walls were considered for those above mentioned factors, these are (2.9m, 4.7m and6.7m). A comparison is made between the responses obtained on the basis of finite element analysis with those obtained using the Mononobe-Okabe method. It is found that the lateral wall responses obtained using the FE were larger than those calculated by the Mononobe-Okabe method for all heights of the retaining wall, it was also found that pore pressure of the ground water depends on the water flow through the backfill during the earthquake. The distribution of the dynamic earth pressure on the wall is nonlinear and depends on the earthquake ground acceleration in addition to the wall height and soil properties. Based on the numerical analysis and the results obtained from the parametric studies carried out, two expressions are proposed to evaluate the maximum lateral wall response in terms of wall height, soil properties and earthquake base excitation acceleration, and hence the dynamic earth pressure acting on the retaining structure.


This master thesis describes and treats the conflict between usability and safety in designing industrial interfaces. With literature studies and case studies as a base it analyzes valuable characteristics that are important to include in a design process to increase the possibility to solve this conflict. Further, the thesis investigates several existing design methods and the most valuable parts are extracted and merged into a new method that this thesis argues to have the ability to bridge the gap between safety and usability. The TSAR method, (Task and Safety Analysis Rationale), is based on parts of several existing and established methods proven to work due to extensive usage.


Candida albicans forms part of the normal human flora whose growth is usually restricted by the normal flora bacteria and the host's immune system. It is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes infections in immunocompromised individuals, mechanical trauma victims and iatrogenic patients. Candida albicans can ingress the human host by adhering to a plastic surface (i.e. prosthetic devices, catheters, artificial organs, etc.) that is subsequently implanted, and forms a protective biofilm that provides a continuous reservoir of yeast to be hematogenously dispersed. In order for the medical profession to battle device-related infections, initial adhesion and biofilm formation of C. albicans needs to be better understood. There has been some skepticism as to whether the initial adhesion events bear any relationship to subsequent biofilm formation. Thus, to better comprehend the relationship between the initial adhesion rates and growth rate and biofilm formation, these events were studied on two different, well-defined culture surfaces, native polystyrene and Pluronic F127-conditioned polystyrene. The adhesion studies determined that Pluronic F127 adsorption dramatically reduced the adhesion of C. albicans to polystyrene. The biofilm growth studies, analyzed by confocal scanning laser microscopy, revealed that Pluronic F127 decreased the biofilm surface coverage, cluster group size, thickness and the presence of hyphal elements over the untreated polystyrene. These findings indicate that the effect of a material's surface chemistry on the initial adhesion process has a direct influence on subsequent biofilm formation.


This paper reports on a workshop held at the 19th National Family Practitioners Conference in August 2016. The aim of the workshop was to describe possible future scenarios for the discipline of family medicine in South Africa and identify possible options for action. The workshop led a group of 40 family physicians from academic, public and private sector settings through a scenario planning process developed by Clem Sunter and Chantell Ilbury. After an overview of the current situation the participants reached a consensus on the rules of the game, key uncertainties, future scenarios and options for action. The main message was that the South African Academy of Family Physicians as a professional body needs to take a stronger role in advocating for the contribution of family medicine to government, health managers and the public.


Abstract Objective To evaluate the performance of diagnostic prediction models for ovarian malignancy in all patients with an ovarian mass managed surgically or conservatively. Design Multicentre cohort study. Setting 36 oncology referral centres (tertiary centres with a specific gynaecological oncology unit) or other types of centre. Participants Consecutive adult patients presenting with an adnexal mass between January 2012 and March 2015 and managed by surgery or follow-up. Main outcome measures Overall and centre specific discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility of six prediction models for ovarian malignancy (risk of malignancy index (RMI), logistic regression model 2 (LR2), simple rules, simple rules risk model (SRRisk), assessment of different neoplasias in the adnexa (ADNEX) with or without CA125). ADNEX allows the risk of malignancy to be subdivided into risks of a borderline, stage I primary, stage II-IV primary, or secondary metastatic malignancy. The outcome was based on histology if patients underwent surgery, or on results of clinical and ultrasound follow-up at 12 (±2) months. Multiple imputation was used when outcome based on follow-up was uncertain. Results The primary analysis included 17 centres that met strict quality criteria for surgical and follow-up data (5717 of all 8519 patients). 812 patients (14%) had a mass that was already in follow-up at study recruitment, therefore 4905 patients were included in the statistical analysis. The outcome was benign in 3441 (70%) patients and malignant in 978 (20%). Uncertain outcomes (486, 10%) were most often explained by limited follow-up information. The overall area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was highest for ADNEX with CA125 (0.94, 95% confidence interval 0.92 to 0.96), ADNEX without CA125 (0.94, 0.91 to 0.95) and SRRisk (0.94, 0.91 to 0.95), and lowest for RMI (0.89, 0.85 to 0.92). Calibration varied among centres for all models, however the ADNEX models and SRRisk were the best calibrated. Calibration of the estimated risks for the tumour subtypes was good for ADNEX irrespective of whether or not CA125 was included as a predictor. Overall clinical utility (net benefit) was highest for the ADNEX models and SRRisk, and lowest for RMI. For patients who received at least one follow-up scan (n=1958), overall area under the receiver operating characteristic curve ranged from 0.76 (95% confidence interval 0.66 to 0.84) for RMI to 0.89 (0.81 to 0.94) for ADNEX with CA125. Conclusions Our study found the ADNEX models and SRRisk are the best models to distinguish between benign and malignant masses in all patients presenting with an adnexal mass, including those managed conservatively. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01698632.


ABSTRACT Copywriters ground advertising insight in their understanding of the consumer. In contemporary consumer culture, much meaningful consumption takes places in a communal, collective, and tribal environment. Advertisers and copywriters in particular would benefit from a culturally-grounded understanding of the language, meanings, rituals, and practices of the consumer tribes with which advertising seeks to communicate. This article suggests that the rigorous application of netnography—the online practice of anthropology—could be helpful to advertisers and copywriters as they seek this enhanced understanding. Netnography is faster, simpler, timelier, and much less expensive than traditional ethnography. Because it is unelicited, it is more naturalistic and unobtrusive than focus groups, surveys, or interviews. However, it still largely text-based, anonymous, poses ethical issues, is often overwhelming, can invite superficial and decontextualized interpretation, and requires considerable researcher acuity. In a detailed interpretation of a single newsgroup posting, I seek to demonstrate the level of cultural nuance required for quality netnographic interpretation and the potential of the method for generating technocultural insights to guide advertising copywriters.


The design of resonator-based Kerr-nonlinear functionalities for all-optical signal processing is investigated based on an analytical one-dimensional model. The influence of different device parameters is analyzed and aspects of design optimization are discussed. It is shown that important tradeoffs are to be made in terms of power budget, device length, and signal bandwidth, making these functionalities for the moment only feasible for dense wavelength-division multiplexing systems. Several issues concerning nonlinear integration in standard technologies are highlighted.


The study assessed the occurrence of controphic species diversity and abundance on mosquito larval population in five categories of habitat in Mbale Municipality. The goal of this study was to determine the diversity and abundance of controphic species that may serve as potential biological control agents for mosquito larvae. The effects of physicochemical parameters on controphic species were also evaluated. A total of 992 species distributed across 11 orders were recorded. Controphic species diversity was lowest in Pond (H' = 1.39) and highest in Ditch (H' = 3.47) and Puddle (H' = 2.48), whereas Mosquito larvae diversity was lowest in rice field (H' = 0.58) and Pond (H' = 0.60), and highest in Ditch (H' = 2.13). One –way ANOVA (post-hoc test) showed that significant differences were observed in the abundance of both controphic species and mosquito larvae across habitat types. Ponds supported the highest number (51.60 ± 7.814) with a range of 31 to74 of controphic species while swamps supported the least (16.71 ± 3.490) with a range of 3 to 27 individuals. That of mosquito larvae, Pond supported the highest number (28.33 ± 8.090) with a range of 14 to 42 larvae while rice field supported the least (16.00 ± 6.807) with a range of 3 to 26 larvae. There was a positive correlation between the diversity of mosquito larvae and that of controphic species (r = .900*) and this was highly significant at (p = .037). Physical chemical parameters varied across habitats, with the pond having the highest amount of ammonia (mean value of 146.920 ± 2.731) while the rice field had the least with mean value of -1.320 ± 0.601. The abundance of controphic species was also positively correlated with phosphorous composition (r = . 971) and was highly significant at (p = .006). These findings should however be treated with caution because data collections lasted a period of only two Months and different techniques were used to collect samples in the different habitat types.


Peru, 1950s. A young airman is found brutally murdered near an Air Force base in the northern desert. Lieutenant Silva and Officer Lituma set out to investigate, hitching rides on chicken trucks and cajoling a cab driver into taking them to the crime scene. Without support from their superiors and with the base's commanding officer standing in their way, the case won't be easy. But they are determined to uncover the truth. Who Killed Palomino Molero? is an entertaining and brilliantly plotted detective novel. It takes up one of Mario Vargas Llosa's characteristic themes - how hard it is to be an honest man in a corrupt society.


In January 2004 and January 2005 the state of Illinois increased its minimum wage to $5.50 and then $6.50, well above the national minimum of $5.15. This study, comparing the impacts on Illinois fast food outlets to a control group of Indiana outlets, was conceived as a repetition of the Card-Krueger study of a similar situation in New Jersey. The central question is whether the Illinois outlets demonstrated a substantial reduction in employment in response to the higher legislated wage rates. We conclude that the Illinois-Indiana data lack the power to differentiate between a "zero employment effect" and a "small negative employ-ment effect." Furthermore, we question the welfare significance of such a determination even if it could be convincingly made.


Aquaponic is a relatively new system of farming, which has received much research attention due to its potential for sustainability. However, there is no consensus on comparability between crop yields obtained from aquaponics (AP) and conventional hydroponics (cHP). Meta-analysis was used to synthesize the literature on studies that compared crop yields of AP and cHP. Factors responsible for differences were also examined through subgroup analysis. A literature search was conducted in five databases with no time restriction in order to capture any publication on AP and cHP crop yield comparisons. The search was, however, limited to journal and conference articles published in English. Study characteristics and outcome measures of food crops were extracted. A natural log response ratio effect size measure was used to transform study outcomes. An unweighted meta-analysis was conducted through bootstrapping to calculate overall effect size and its confidence interval. Between-study heterogeneity ( I 2 ) was estimated using a random effects model. Subgroup and meta-regression were used to assess moderators, in an attempt to explain heterogeneity in the effect size. The results showed that although crop yield in AP was lower than conventional cHP, the difference was not statistically significant. However, drawing conclusions on the overall effect size must be done with caution due to the use of unweighted meta-analysis. There were statistically significant effects of aquatic organism, hydroponic system type, and nutrient supplementation used in the studies on crop yield comparisons. Nutrient supplementation, particularly, led to on average higher crop yield in AP relative to cHP. These findings are a vital information source for choosing factors to include in an AP study. These findings also synthesize the current trends in AP crop yields in comparison with cHP.


Temperature data for the Japan Sea obtained from ocean data assimilation modeling is applied to atmospheric simulations of monthly precipitation for January 2005. Because the volume of flow of the Tsushima Warm Current was large during the winter season, the sea surface temperature (SST) and coastal precipitation were higher in comparison with those in 2003. In order to evaluate influence of SST on monthly precipitation, we use surface temperatures of the Japan Sea in 2003 and 2005 for comparative simulations of precipitation for January 2005. The precipitation in experiment C (using cool SST data in 2003) is smaller than that in experiment W (using warm SST data in 2005) in a large part of the sea area, since the small evaporation results from the low SST over the upstream area of northwesterly winter monsoon. In the domain of 33.67-45.82°N and 125.89-142.9°E, the averaged evaporation and precipitation in experiment C are 10% and 13% smaller than those in experiment W, respectively. About half of the difference between the precipitations observed for January 2003 and 2005 in a heavy snow area is equal to the difference between the two simulations. Our results show that the mesoscale SST difference between 2003 and 2005 is related to the local difference of monthly precipitation.


It is commonplace for many high-performance coaches to be former elite athletes in the same sports they coach (Christensen, 2013; Mielke, 2007; Werthner & Trudel, 2009). In many cases, such individuals are 'fast-tracked' through formal coach accreditation structures into these high-performance coaching roles (Rynne, 2014). The reasons why former elite athletes dominate coaching roles in professional sports clubs and why a 'fast-track' pathway from elite athlete to high-performance coach is supported remain unclear. The project builds upon existing research on coach development to understand the social processes for how high-performance athletes negotiate the career transition into post-athletic high-performance coaching roles in men's association football and rugby union.
The project employed a Straussian grounded theory methodology which consisted of three iterations of empirical data collection and analysis. The first and second iterations respectively sampled eight senior club directors and 11 academy directors of men's professional association football and rugby union clubs on why they appointed 'fast-tracked' coaches and how they valued particular sources of coaching knowledge. Data were abductively analysed (Blaikie, 2009) and signified Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and hexis in addition to Foucault's concepts of docile bodies, surveillance and technologies of power. The data suggested that elite athletes were drawn through within their clubs into high-performance coaching roles based on three main themes: a) to ensure the perpetuation of specific playing and coaching philosophies; b) clubs' former athletes were regarded to act as docile bodies when embodying the clubs' values in their coaching, and; c) 'fast-tracked' appointments were often based upon enhanced levels of symbolic capital and the perceived ability to gain player 'respect'. Such appointment processes imposed symbolic violence onto other populations for whom competing in male elite sport is inaccessible, most distinctly women.
The final iteration investigated how current or former elite athletes negotiated a 'fast-tracked' career trajectory when developing their coaching identities. Current or former elite athletes (n=15) were interviewed on two occasions over a 10-12 month period whilst registered onto their respective national governing body's level three coach qualification. Both courses were designed only for senior professional athletes to attend. The resulting grounded theory provides an original contribution to the field of coach development by signifying a number of distinct social process for how the athletes negotiated the 'fast-track' coaching pathway for developing their coaching identities. The difficulties the coaches encountered in balancing the values imposed on them by their clubs during the process of consolidating their own coaching identities are critically discussed in alignment with Bourdieu and Foucault's conceptual frameworks.
Recommendations for the provision of formal coach education programmes are made concerning how coaches mediate developing their own coaching philosophies against imposed structural regimes of truth, along with conceptualising the value the coaches attributed to informal mentors over formal mentors. Recommendations are also provided to inform the policies surrounding coach recruitment at the high-performance level in the hope that directors' recorded subconscious discriminatory practices are addressed.


There is a way of talking about epistemic justification that involves the notion of our being subject to epistemic obligations the failure to comply with makes us blameworthy, called the deontological conception. In this thesis, I defend the deontological conception against criticisms first levied by William Alston that it (a) implies doxastic voluntarism which is false and thereby violates the principle that ought implies can, and (b) is in tension with what is distinctive about the epistemic domain, namely its connection with the goal of believing truths and avoiding falsehoods. I argue that the extent to which (a) is problematic depends on the extent to which (b) is problematic. Further, that (b) IS not problematic to the deontological conception if we view it not as a way to cash out epistemic justification, but as a way to understand normativity in general. I do this by making a distinction between merely evaluative and deontological levels of appraisal and that it is only in the latter that the notion of an obligation functions. I argue that it is nonsensical to use sortal terms at the level of obligations, (where obligations carry the notion of blameworthiness), i.e. that there cannot be obligations from an epistemic point of view anymore than there can be obligations from an ethical point of view. However, sortal terms can be used to distinguish between differing types of reasons (which, on their own, operate at the merely evaluative level)" but because obligations only emerge out of a network of differing sorts of reasons, it does not make any sense to talk about different sorts of obligation. I strengthen that last claim up by arguing, against the evidentialist, that there are such things as non-epistemic reasons for belief


Preservation of seafood quality against oxidation of highly unsaturated lipids, autolysis reactions and microbial activities is important. Chitosan, a deacetylated form of chitin, has been identified as a versatile biopolymer for a broad range of food applications. However, very little information is available about the use of chitosan as an edible coating material for preservation of seafood quality and virtually nothing is known regarding the effect of viscosity of chitosan on its preservative efficacy for seafood. Effect of chitosan coating for extension of shelf-life of two different fish species, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) as a lean fish, and herring (Clupea harengus) as a fatty fish, was evaluated during a 12-days storage at refrigerated temperature (4 ± 1°C). Three chitosan preparations from snow crab (Chinoecetes opilio) processing wastes, differing in viscosities and molecular weights, were prepared and used in this study. The apparent viscosity of chitosans was dependent on the deacetylation time of their chitin precursors and were 14, 57 and 360 cP for samples prepared over a 20, 10 and 4 h period, respectively. -- Prepared chitosan samples were used as edible coating material on the surface of the fish muscle and the quality of the coated samples were monitored. This was achieved by monitoring relative moisture loss (%) and peroxide value (PV), conjugated dienes (CD), 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and headspace (HS) volatiles, all which are related to lipid oxidation. Furthermore, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), trimethylamine (TMA) and hypoxanthine (Hx), which are related to chemical spoilage, as well as total plate count (TPC) related to microbial spoilage were monitored. A significant (p ≤ 0.05) reduction in relative moisture loss, by 37, 29, 29, 40, and 32%, over that of uncoated cod samples was observed for those coated with 360 cP chitosan after 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 days of storage, respectively. Chitosan coating significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced lipid oxidation, chemical spoilage and growth of microorganisms in both fish model systems compared to uncoated samples. The preservative efficacy and the viscosity of chitosan were inter-related; the efficacy of chitosans with a viscosity of 57 and 360 cP was superior to that with a 14 cP viscosity. -- In another study, antioxidant efficacy of different viscosity chitosans in cooked comminuted herring and cod systems was investigated. Oxidative stability of treated fish species was determined and compared to those treated with conventional antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) at a level of 200 ppm. Progression of oxidation was monitored by employing peroxide value and TBARS tests. In general, all chitosans exhibited varying antioxidant activities in both types of fish model systems investigated. Formation of hydroperoxides and TBARS in herring samples containing 200 ppm 14 cP chitosan was reduced after day-8 of storage by 61 and 52%, respectively. -- The mechanism of action of chitosan coating for extension of shelf-life of seafood appears to be due to chelation of metal ions contained in fish muscle proteins, controlling of gas exchange, particularly oxygen, between fish meat and the surrounding environment, and bactericidal effect of chitosan itself. Edible superficial chitosan coatings provide supplementary and sometimes essential means to control physiological, microbiological and physicochemical changes in seafood products. The active edible chitosan coatings may thus be extended to new fully adapted superficial or internal applications for seafood products.


A topic with ever-increasing appeal and scope, Media Studies is attracting more and more higher education students as well as the thousands of practitioners within its various fields. Written by two prominent experts, "The Penguin Dictionaries of Media Studies" gives the definitive overview of this huge area, covering print, digital and broadcast media, as well as the theories, technicalities and key figures involved. This new addition to the highly-successful series of Penguin subject dictionaries is comprehensive, authoritative and user-friendly - a must for anyone with an interest in the media and the wider cultural arena.


"The lamellar foraminifera, which construct their tests by the addition of lamellae of perforate calcite or aragonite, one per instar, covering the whole test, are here recognized as a distinct group and are separated from the non-lamellar foraminifera, which construct their tests by the simple addition, at each instar, of a chamber on the former apertural face. . . . The present classification is based on anatomy, composition and texture of the chamber walls, apertural characters and tooth-plates, canal systems, and chamberarrangement. Although essentially not a phylogenetic (9vertical9) one, the present classification supports Hofker9s conclusions to a great extent."


Medical leadership must decide how prehospital airways will be managed in a combat environment, and airway skills can be complicated and difficult to learn. Evidence informed airway strategies are essential. A search was conducted in Medline and EMBASE databases for prehospital combat airway use. The primary data of interest was what type of airway was used. Other data reviewed included: who performed the intervention and the success rate of the intervention. The search strategy produced 2,624 results, of which 18 were included in the final analysis. Endotracheal intubation, cricothyroidotomy, supraglottic airways, and nasopharyngeal airways have all been used in the prehospital combat environment. This review summarizes the entirety of the available combat literature such that commanders may make an evidence-based informed decision with respect to their airway management policies.


High-resolution δ13C records of bulk organic matter (OM) from three loess-paleosol successions from the central Chinese Loess Plateau document systematic fluctuations in C3 and C4 plant abundance for certain intervals during the past 620 k.y. Measured δ13C values of OM in paleosols are less negative by 0.5‰–4‰, and total organic carbon (TOC) contents are higher by up to 0.5 wt% relative to corresponding values in loess deposits. The δ13COM and TOC decrease from peak values in paleosols progressively into overlying and underlying loess deposits. Integrated δ13COM, TOC, and magnetic susceptibility rec ords indicate an increase in C4 vegetation to ≥50% during peak paleosol formation and a decrease in C4 vegetation to ≤30% during loess deposition for three of the past glacial-interglacial cycles. These results indicate that C4 plant abundance declined during glacials in this mid-latitude region driven primarily by a shift to enhanced winter precipitation and lower temperatures, and further contribute to the rapidly growing body of evidence that low p CO2 during Pleistocene glacials was insufficient to trigger C4 plant expansion without coincident favorable climatic conditions.


CONTEXT
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and the metabolic syndrome have many features in common and may share the same pathogenesis.

OBJECTIVE
This study was performed to determine the prevalence and predictors of the metabolic syndrome in PCOS.

DESIGN
The clinical, hormonal, and oral glucose tolerance test results were analyzed in 394 PCOS women who were screened for participation in a multicenter trial to evaluate the effects of troglitazone on ovulation and hirsutism.

SETTING
A multicenter clinical trial is presented.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
The subjects were women with PCOS who had or lacked the metabolic syndrome.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Waist circumference, fasting glucose, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, and blood pressure were the main outcome measures.

RESULTS
Twenty-six (6.6%) subjects had diabetes; among the 368 nondiabetics, the prevalence for individual components comprising the metabolic syndrome were: waist circumference greater than 88 cm in 80%, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol less than 50 mg/dl in 66%, triglycerides greater than or equal to 150 mg/dl in 32%, blood pressure greater than or equal to 130/85 mm Hg in 21%, and fasting glucose concentrations greater than or equal to 110 mg/dl in 5%. Three or more of these individual criteria were present in 123 (33.4%) subjects overall. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome did not differ significantly between racial/ethnic groups. The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome from lowest to highest quartile of free testosterone concentration was 19.8, 31.3, 46.9, and 35.0%, respectively [P = 0.056 adjusted for body mass index (BMI)]. None of the 52 women with a BMI less than 27.0 kg/m2 had the metabolic syndrome; those in the top BMI quartile were 13.7 times more likely (95% confidence interval, 5.7-33.0) to have the metabolic syndrome compared with those in the lowest quartile. Thirty-eight percent of those with the metabolic syndrome had impaired glucose tolerance compared with 19% without the metabolic syndrome (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
The metabolic syndrome and its individual components are common in PCOS, particularly among women with the highest insulin levels and BMI. Hyperinsulinemia is a likely common pathogenetic factor for both PCOS and the metabolic syndrome.


This work focuses on wide-scale freight transportation logistics motivated by the sharp increase of on-line shopping stores and the upsurge of Internet as the most frequently utilized selling channel during the last decade. This huge ecosystem of one-click-away catalogs has ultimately unleashed the need for efficient algorithms aimed at properly scheduling the underlying transportation resources in an efficient fashion, especially over the so-called last mile of the distribution chain. In this context the selective pickup and delivery problem focuses on determining the optimal subset of packets that should be picked from its origin city and delivered to their corresponding destination within a given time frame, often driven by the maximization of the total profit of the courier service company. This manuscript tackles a realistic variant of this problem where the transportation fleet is composed by more than one vehicle, which further complicates the selection of packets due to the subsequent need for coordinating the delivery service from the command center. In particular the addressed problem includes a second optimization metric aimed at reflecting a fair share of the net benefit among the company staff based on their driven distance. To efficiently solve this optimization problem, several nature-inspired metaheuristic solvers are analyzed and statistically compared to each other under different parameters of the problem setup. Finally, results obtained over a realistic scenario over the province of Bizkaia (Spain) using emulated data will be explored so as to shed light on the practical applicability of the analyzed heuristics.


In principle, the research–teaching nexus should be seen as a two-way link, showing not only ways in which research supports teaching but also ways in which teaching supports research. In reality, the discussion has been limited almost entirely to the first of these practices. This paper presents a case study in which some student field-trip construction projects, originally designed as a teaching tool, were also used to undertake environmental research. The research consisted of testing the implementation of a tool for assessing the environmental impact of construction sites. It was conducted at the Imperial College London Constructionarium Field Module 2012 at the National Construction College, in England. The findings highlighted the unexploited research potential of the Constructionarium teaching tool specifically and of field-trip teaching events generally. To a lesser extent, the students also learned about the research content and process. This experience could be extended to other field-trip teaching events.


eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Abstract: The US Department of Energy has launched the Zero-Net-Energy (ZNE) Commercial Building Initiative (CBI) in order to develop commercial buildings that produce as much energy as they use. Its objective is to make these buildings marketable by 2025 such that they minimize their energy use through cutting-edge energy-efficient technologies and meet their remaining energy needs through on-site renewable energy generation. We examine how such buildings may be implemented within the context of a cost- or carbon-minimizing microgrid that is able to adopt and operate various technologies, such as photovoltaic (PV) on-site generation, heat exchangers, solar thermal collectors, absorption chillers, and passive / demand-response technologies. We use a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) that has a multi-criteria objective function: the minimization of a weighted average of the building's annual energy costs and carbon / CO2 emissions. The MILP's constraints ensure energy balance and capacity limits. In addition, constraining the building's energy consumed to equal its energy exports enables us to explore how energy sales and demand-response measures may enable compliance with the CBI. Using a nursing home in northern California and New York with existing tariff rates and technology data, we find that a ZNE building requires ample PV capacity installed to ensure electricity sales during the day. This is complemented by investment in energy-efficient combined heat and power equipment, while occasional demand response shaves energy consumption. A large amount of storage is also adopted, which may be impractical. Nevertheless, it shows the nature of the solutions and costs necessary to achieve ZNE. For comparison, we analyze a nursing home facility in New York to examine the effects of a flatter tariff structure and different load profiles. It has trouble reaching ZNE status and its load reductions as well as efficiency measures need to be more effective than those in the CA case. Finally, we illustrate that the multi-criteria frontier that considers costs and carbon emissions in the presence of demand response dominates the one without it. Abstract The US Department of Energy has launched the Zero-Net-Energy (ZNE) Commercial Building Initiative (CBI) in order to develop commercial buildings that produce as much energy as they use. Its objective is to make these buildings marketable by 2025 such that they minimize their energy use through cutting-edge energy-efficient technologies and meet their remaining energy needs through on-site renewable energy generation. We examine how such buildings may be implemented within the context of a cost- or carbon-minimizing microgrid that is able to adopt and operate various technologies, such as photovoltaic (PV) on-site generation, heat exchangers, solar thermal collectors, absorption chillers, and passive / demand-response technologies. We use a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) that has a multi-criteria objective function: the minimization of a weighted average of the building's annual energy costs and carbon / CO 2 emissions. The MILP's constraints ensure energy balance and capacity limits. In addition, constraining the building's energy consumed to equal its energy exports enables us to explore how energy sales and demand-response measures may enable compliance with the CBI. Using a nursing home in northern California and New York with existing tariff rates and technology data, we find that a ZNE building requires ample PV capacity installed to ensure electricity sales during the day. This is complemented by investment in energy-efficient combined heat and power equipment, while occasional demand response shaves energy consumption. A large amount of storage is also adopted, which may be impractical. Nevertheless, it shows the nature of the solutions and costs necessary to achieve ZNE. For comparison, we analyze a nursing home facility in New York to examine the effects of a flatter tariff structure and different load profiles. It has trouble reaching ZNE status and its load reductions as well as efficiency measures need to be more effective than those in the CA case. Finally, we illustrate that the multi-criteria frontier that considers costs and carbon emissions in the presence of demand response dominates the one without it.


Using a multiscale approach, we show that
applied electric field does not affect significantly the hydrogen
uptake of weakly polarizable metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).
Nonetheless, we show that, for large MOF polarizabilities, the
hydrogen uptake can double in applied electric field. We propose
searching for a novel class of hydrogen storage materials, that of
highly polarizable porous MOFs. Hydrogen uptake in such materials would
be controlled by electric field, a much easier to adjust parameter
than pressure or temperature.


Since the doctrine of freedom of contract first rose to prominence in nineteenth-century England, its proponents have argued that a legal regime grounded in voluntary contractual relations could displace status by birth and offer a radical new freedom of choice. Yet the simultaneous growth of a model of child development emphasizing the formative power of early experiences brought this promise into question. The conflict between freedom-of-contract doctrine and understandings of child development played out in the neglected arena of Victorian adoption disputes. These cases brought to the surface the tension between the model of the freely contracting, self-determining adult and that of the dependent, malleable child. This Article explores that tension, which has been long overlooked by legal scholars, and demonstrates its continued importance by offering a new interpretation of the celebrated Baby M case.


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— This paper presents a comprehensive design of electricity transmission charges that are meant to recover regulated network costs. In addition, these charges must be able to meet a set of inter-related objectives. Most importantly, they should encourage potential network users to internalize transmission costs in their location decisions, while interfering as least as possible with the short-term behaviour of the agents in the power system, since this should be left to regulatory instruments in the operation time range. The paper also addresses all those implementation issues that are essential for the sound design of a system of transmission network charges: stability and predictability of the charges; fair and efficient split between generation and demand charges; temporary measures to account for the low loading of most new lines; number and definition of the scenarios to be employed for the calculation and format of the final charges to be adopted: capacity, energy or per customer charges. The application of the proposed method is illustrated with a realistic numerical example that is based on a single scenario of the 2006 winter peak in the Spanish power system.


From the acclaimed author of "Winter (Mirror) "and" Rehearsal in Black, Fables of Representation" is a powerful collection of essays on the state of contemporary poetry, free from the stultifying theoretical jargon of recent literary history. With its title essay, "Fables of Representation," one of the most cogent studies ever written of the New York School of poets (a group that includes the influential poet John Ashbery), this book is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand the poetry and culture of the postmodern period. Author Paul Hoover's wide-ranging subjects include African-American interdisciplinary studies; the position of poetry in the electronic age; the notion of doubleness in the work of Harryette Mullen and others; the lyricism of the New York School poets; and the role of reality in American poetry. Hoover also introduces two provocative essays sure to generate attention and discussion: "The Postmodern Era: A Final Exam" and "The New Millennium: Fifty Statements on Literature and Culture." Paul Hoover is the editor of the anthology "Postmodern American Poetry" and author of nine poetry collections, including "Totem and Shadow: New and Selected Poems "and" Viridian." His poetry has appeared in "American Poetry Review, The New Republic, "and" The Paris Review," among others. He is Poet-in-Residence at Columbia College, Chicago.


The race for the White House may seem like a marathon, but the nomination process is becoming a sprint, with the starting gun fired earlier each time. Where state primaries and caucuses were once spread out over a period of three or four months, most are now crammed into a four- or five-week interval at the very beginning of the delegate selection calendar. The compression and hastening of the nomination season are changing the nature of the presidential selection process, the most visible pillar of American democracy. Despite the importance of this issue in American politics, however, too little systematic analysis has been done on the topic. This is the first book to offer a comprehensive examination of the front-loading problem in all its facets. William Mayer and Andrew Busch define the parameters of the front-loading question as well as its impact. They trace the history that shaped the current system and explain why it is such a critical element of presidential elections. Most important, the authors present a detailed analysis of all the major proposals for coping with front-loading and of the political and constitutional obstacles for reform. While they conclude that there is no easy solution to this complex issue, they identify a general direction for reform efforts. They also feel that the political parties should be the prime movers in formulating and implementing changes.