The commitment to social change demonstrated by the founder of vocational psychology, Frank Parsons, continues in several areas of vocational psychology today, including individual career counseling, guidance work in the schools, career interventions with special populations, and vocational research. This article highlights ways in which career counselors and vocational psychologists have focused and can continue to focus their practice and research to improve the condition of society and to provide interventions that enhance the ability of all individuals to love and to work in a meaningful way. The founder of vocational psychology, Frank Parsons, was an advocate for youth, women, the poor, and the disadvantaged and "taught the principles of cooperation, love of justice, and hatred of oppression and discrimination" (Davis, 1969, p. 23). Although Parsons died at a young age, his legacy continues in the work of many career counselors and vocational psychologists. The focus of this article is to highlight several areas of vocational research and intervention that emulate the social justice work of Parsons and to propose several lessons for career counselors and vocational psychologists from the work and life of Frank Parsons. Social Justice Social justice or social change work can be defined as actions that contribute to the advancement of society and advocate for equal access to resources for marginalized or less fortunate individuals in society. Herr and Niles (1998) suggested that although few career counselors conceive of their work as contributing to social change, many are involved in work that brings hope to the discouraged and has implications not only for individuals but also for institutions and public policy. They noted the following: In this sense, for most of the last 100 years, whether or not it has been explicit, counseling and, in particular, career counseling and career guidance have become sociopolitical instruments, identified by legislation at the federal level, to deal with emerging social concerns such as equity and excellence in educational and occupational opportunities, unemployment, human capital development, persons with disabilities, child abuse, AIDS, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, career decision making relative to the preparation for entrance into emerging skilled occupations, and the identification and encouragement of students with high academic potential to enter higher education in science and mathematics. (p. 121) This focus on social justice through career interventions originated with the founder of vocational psychology, Frank Parsons. Parsons was a complex and, in some ways, contradictory man whose legacy of social action continues in several areas of vocational psychology today, including individual career counseling, guidance work in the schools, career interventions with special populations, and vocational research. Social Justice Work Individual Career Counseling Parsons (1909) was an ardent advocate for individualized approaches to career counseling. He founded the first vocational guidance center (i.e., the Vocational Bureau) and provided counseling using the overarching principles of Light, Information, Inspiration, and Cooperation (Parsons, 1909). Spokane and Glickman (1994) operationalized these principles as follows: Light was defined as the insight gained about oneself; Information included data collected about oneself and the world of work; Inspiration was equated with hope that encouraged confidence in career pursuits; and Cooperation involved the mobilization of resources to actualize one's career choice. Although many would consider Parsons's greatest gift to career counseling the articulation of the primary tenets of the matching model of career development (i.e., understand yourself, learn about your environment, and use true reasoning to select an occupation from these data), Jones (1994) suggested that some of Parsons's principles of vocational interventions are congruent with more integrated approaches to career counseling being advanced today (Blustein & Spengler, 1995; Lucas, 1993; Zamostny, O'Brien, & Tomlinson, 2000). …


As controversy exists regarding the prognostic significance of genomic rearrangements of CRLF2 in pediatric B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) classified as standard/intermediate-risk (SR) or high-risk (HR), we assessed the prognostic significance of CRLF2 mRNA expression, CRLF2 genomic lesions (IGH@-CRLF2, P2RY8-CRLF2, CRLF2 F232C), deletion/mutation in genes frequently associated with high CRLF2 expression (IKZF1, JAK, IL7R), and minimal residual disease (MRD) in 1061 pediatric ALL patients (499 HR and 562 SR) on COG Trials P9905/P9906. Whereas very high CRLF2 expression was found in 17.5% of cases, only 51.4% of high CRLF2 expressors had CRLF2 genomic lesions. The mechanism underlying elevated CRLF2 expression in cases lacking known genomic lesions remains to be determined. All CRLF2 genomic lesions and virtually all JAK mutations were found in high CRLF2 expressors, whereas IKZF1 deletions/mutations were distributed across the full cohort. In multivariate analyses, NCI risk group, MRD, high CRLF2 expression, and IKZF1 lesions were associated with relapse-free survival. Within HR ALL, only MRD and CRLF2 expression predicted a poorer relapse-free survival; no difference was seen between cases with or without CRLF2 genomic lesions. Thus, high CRLF2 expression is associated with a very poor outcome in high-risk, but not standard-risk, ALL. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00005596 and NCT00005603.


Abstract Under the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the rights of children are protected in the same manner as are those of ordinary South African citizens. In Section 28, the Constitution also makes provision for the protection of specific children's rights. Thus, for children, constitutionally articulated rights, such as the right to autonomy (derived from the privacy rights), the right to equality, the right to education and freedom of religion, expression and association, are meaningful. It is mainly through social services for children and their families that definitive objectives are met, such as family (or alternative) care, protection from ill-treatment, neglect, abuse and degradation, and the best interests of the child. This article focuses on human rights issues that relate to children and explores the Children's Act with regard to children and informed consent, surgical operations and termination of pregnancy. It concludes that children need support from their families and communities when faced with medical decision-making, and that in the context of children, professional medical practice requires patience, dedication, honesty and mindfulness.


OBJECTIVES
To determine the efficacy and safety of adjunctive corticosteroid therapy in clinical Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) in infants exposed to HIV infection.

DESIGN
Double-blind randomised placebo-controlled trial.

METHODS
Infants with a clinical diagnosis of PCP, based on an 'atypical' pneumonia with: (i) hypoxia out of proportion to the clinical findings on auscultation; (ii) C-reactive protein count less than 10 mg/1; (iii) lactate dehydrogenase level above 500 IU/1; (iv) compatible chest radiograph findings; and (v) positive HIV enzyme-linked immunosorbert assay (ELISA) were included in the study. Patients were randomised to receive either prednisone or placebo. The protocol provided for the addition of prednisone to the treatment at 48 hours if there was clinical deterioration or an independent indication for steroid therapy. Other treatment was carried out in accordance with established guidelines. The primary study endpoint was in-hospital survival. Secondary outcome was time from admission to the first day of mean oxygen saturation above 90% in room air.

RESULTS
One hundred patients were included, 47 in the prednisone and 53 in the placebo group. Patients in the prednisone group had a 43% better chance of survival than the placebo group (hazard ratio (HR) 0.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.30 - 1.07, p=0.08). No significant differences could be demonstrated between groups with regard to other parameters of recovery.

CONCLUSIONS
In HIV-exposed infants with clinical PCP, adjunctive corticosteroid treatment does not appear to add benefit regarding time to recovery or oxygen independency, but early administration may improve survival. A large multicentred trial is needed to confirm these findings.


This article provides the complete description of results from the Phase I data set of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). The Phase I data set is based on a 0.65 kt-year exposure of heavy water to the solar 8B neutrino flux. Included here are details of the SNO physics and detector model, evaluations of systematic uncertainties, and estimates of backgrounds. Also discussed are SNO's approach to statistical extraction of the signals from the three neutrino reactions (charged current, neutral current, and elastic scattering) and the results of a search for a day-night asymmetry in the ?e flux. Under the assumption that the 8B spectrum is undistorted, the measurements from this phase yield a solar ?e flux of ?(?e) = 1.76+0.05?0.05(stat.)+0.09?0.09 (syst.) x 106 cm?2 s?1, and a non-?e component ?(? mu) = 3.41+0.45?0.45(stat.)+0.48?0.45 (syst.) x 106 cm?2 s?1. The sum of these components provides a total flux in excellent agreement with the predictions of Standard Solar Models. The day-night asymmetry in the ?e flux is found to be Ae = 7.0 +- 4.9 (stat.)+1.3?1.2 percent (sys.), when the asymmetry in the total flux is constrained to be zero.


This paper presents an axiomatic characterization of difference-form group contests, that is, contests fought among groups and where their probability of victory depends on the difference of their effective efforts. This axiomatization rests on the property of Absolute Consistency, stating that the difference in winning probabilities between two contenders in the grand contest must be the same as when they engage in smaller contests. This property overcomes some of the drawbacks of the widely-used ratio-form contest success functions. Our characterization shows that the criticisms commonly-held against difference-form contests success functions, such as lack of scale invariance, are unfounded. Finally, we extend our axiomatization to relative-difference contests where winning probabilities depend on the difference of contenders effective efforts relative to total aggregate effort.


The study of adversarial vulnerabilities of deep neural networks (DNNs) has progressed rapidly. Existing attacks require either internal access (to the architecture, parameters, or training set of the victim model) or external access (to query the model). However, both the access may be infeasible or expensive in many scenarios. We investigate no-box adversarial examples, where the attacker can neither access the model information or the training set nor query the model. Instead, the attacker can only gather a small number of examples from the same problem domain as that of the victim model. Such a stronger threat model greatly expands the applicability of adversarial attacks. We propose three mechanisms for training with a very small dataset (on the order of tens of examples) and find that prototypical reconstruction is the most effective. Our experiments show that adversarial examples crafted on prototypical auto-encoding models transfer well to a variety of image classification and face verification models. On a commercial celebrity recognition system held by this http URL, our approach significantly diminishes the average prediction accuracy of the system to only 15.40%, which is on par with the attack that transfers adversarial examples from a pre-trained Arcface model.


SUCCEEDING IN BUSINESS WITH MICROSOFT ACCESS 2013 prepares your students to solve business problems by moving beyond the basic "point and click" skills to think critically about realistic business situations. When students combine software analysis with their own decision making abilities, they are more likely meet any business challenge with success. The Succeeding in Business Series emphasizes problem-solving, critical thinking, and analysis - challenging students to find efficient and effective solutions.


Planning, estimating and control management functions as performed by
Portuguese construction companies were studied. For this purpose, inquiries
were made into the way a set of Portuguese contractors carried out these tasks,
with special reference to planning, estimating and the preparation of data for
control during the pre-contract stage. There is a lack of integration among those
functions in the current practice of companies surveyed. This is a problem that
companies would like to see solved. Data systems analysis was used to tackle
the problem. It was concluded that there is no functional dependency between
planning and estimating in most construction projects. This is especially due to
the form in which. data is structured in the basic documents currently used for
those functions (the bill of quantities for estimating and the construction
programme for planning). A possible integrated approach to planning and
estimating is suggested by considering construction works assigned both to the
items of the bill of quantities and to the activities of the construction programme.
This facilitates the preparation of data for control on site because costs and time
are closely related in this approach. A model for the integration of planning and
estimating management functions during the pre-contract stage of construction
projects is presented. The model also enables one to achieve efficient
preparation of data for control on site. Computer support for the model is also
presented. This is based on a Database Management System which provides for
an adequate environment for the model. The model was tested in some
Portuguese construction companies, and led to satisfactory results. Those
companies highlighted the advantage of building up the model upon a relational
database which makes data manipulation and retrieval easier and allows for
integration among management functions.


The role of a political leader has always been important for understanding both domestic and world politics. The most significant historical events are usually associated in our minds with the images of the people who were directly involved and who were in charge of the most crucial decisions at that particular moment in time. Thus, analyzing the American Civil War, we always mention the great role and the achievements of Abraham Lincoln as the president of the United States. We cannot forget about the actions of such charismatic leaders as Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt when we think about the brutal events and the outcome of the World War II. Or, for example, the Cuban Missile Crisis and its peaceful solution went down in history highlighting roles of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev in the tense negotiations during the confrontation. This thesis is built as a single-case study discovering the personality of Mikhail Gorbachev as a leader and his role in the peaceful solution of the Cold War. It shows how particular social and political-economic backgrounds shaped certain features of his character, and how those features influenced his political decisions later on. Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and the last President of the USSR, is a perfect example of a leader who acted in a new unique historical situation without much of theoretical guidance from the past. Under Gorbachev, the Soviet Union started to shift from socialism towards a new political regime that entitled significant changes in international politics. Table of


This paper describes a web-based tool that supports the modeling and design of abstract unit-load picking systems. The term "abstract" implies that the model is not specific to any equipment or vendors' products, but, instead, focuses on the generic system components such as pallets, racks, slots, forklifts, cranes, etc. that comprise typical unitload picking systems. The objectives of the tool are to support the design of an AS/RSbased or a manual forklift-based picking system based on a set of design parameters and to be able to convert from an AS/RS design to a flat warehouse design and vice versa. The research objective is to design the formal model (the data structure and operational description) that supports the conversion from one type to the other and supports the generation of static and dynamic analysis models and the recording of the analysis results. The web implementation uses a mix of XML, HTML, JavaScript and PHP and implements two existing analysis methodologies from the literature.


This Article examines problems (including information asymmetries, agency problems and cognitive biases) that auditors and lawyers (collectively, gatekeepers) confront when they evaluate and respond to risk, as well as the various ways in which gatekeeper regulation addresses these problems. Then, using the analytical framework of New Institutional Economics, this Article recognizes that optimal solutions to gatekeeper problems are far from certain. Better solutions are thus more likely to emerge from experimenting with different rules and observing outcomes from those rules. If auditors and lawyers are governed by different rules, a jurisdiction can simultaneously experiment with two different regulatory approaches for these two professions, and then make adjustments accordingly. Private actors also can signal which rules they prefer in a particular context by choosing whether to use, or to insist that other private actors use, auditors or lawyers for a particular task. Similarly, if rules for both professions vary among jurisdictions, jurisdictions can learn not only from their own experimentation but from the experimentation of other jurisdictions with different rules. Private actors can also signal their rule preferences by choosing the jurisdiction in which they want professional services to be performed. Improvements to gatekeeper regulation should follow from the observed results of this experimentation. These purported benefits from regulatory competition could, however, be undermined if private actors are allowed unlimited choice among regulatory regimes (a race to the bottom). This article thus discusses the limits of regulatory competition, and mentions various strategies for reducing the likelihood of a race to the bottom. Finally, this article observes that, within a framework of controlled regulatory competition, market and social conditions may cause some rules governing auditors and lawyers to converge, as well as some rules governing both professions in the United States and Europe to converge. Profession-specific and jurisdiction-specific differences, however, will probably remain, unless experimentation and observation demonstrate that a particular rule is clearly superior across professional and/or jurisdictional boundaries.


This document attempts to address some of the issues involved in
building a disconnected IMAP4 client. In particular, it deals with the
issues of what might be called the "driver" portion of the
synchronization tool: the portion of the code responsible for issuing
the correct set of IMAP4 commands to synchronize the disconnected
client in the way that is most likely to make the human who uses the
disconnected client happy. This note describes different strategies
that can be used by disconnected clients and shows how to use IMAP
protocol in order to minimize the time of the synchronization process.
This note also lists IMAP extensions that a server should implement in
order to provide better synchronization facilities to disconnected
clients. This memo provides information for the Internet community.


With the proliferation of large irregular sparse relational datasets, new storage and analysis platforms have arisen to fill gaps in performance and capability left by conventional approaches built on traditional database technologies and query languages. Many of these platforms apply graph structures and analysis techniques to enable users to ingest, update, query and compute on the topological structure of these relationships represented as set(s) of edges between set(s) of vertices. To store and process Facebook-scale datasets, they must be able to support data sources with billions of edges, update rates of millions of updates per second, and complex analysis kernels. These platforms must provide intuitive interfaces that enable graph experts and novice programmers to write implementations of common graph algorithms. In this paper, we explore a variety of graph analysis and storage platforms. We compare their capabil- ities, interfaces, and performance by implementing and computing a set of real-world graph algorithms on synthetic graphs with up to 256 million edges. In the spirit of full disclosure, several authors are affiliated with the development of STINGER.


This paper presents the design and performance of an electrostatic actuator consisting of a laterally compliant cantilever beam and a fixed curved electrode, both suspended above a ground plane. A theoretical description of the static behavior of the cantilever as it is pulled into contact with the rigid fixed-electrode structure is given. Two models are presented: a simplified semi-analytical model based on energy methods, and fully three-dimensional (3-D) coupled electromechanical numerical simulations using CoSolve-EM. The two models are in qualitative agreement with each other, and predict stable actuator behavior when the beam deflection becomes constrained by the curved electrode geometry before electrostatic pull-in can occur. The pull-in behavior depends on the shape of the curved electrode. Test devices have been fabricated by polysilicon surface micromachining techniques. Experimental results confirm the basic theoretical results. Stable behavior with relatively large displacements and forces can be generated by these curved electrode actuators. Depending on the design, or as a result of geometrical imperfections, regions of unstable (pull-in) deflection behavior are also observed.


This paper considers pilot-based channel estimation in large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems, also known as "massive MIMO". Unlike previous works on this topic, which mainly considered the impact of inter-cell disturbance due to pilot reuse (so-called pilot contamination), we are concerned with the computational complexity. The conventional minimum mean square error (MMSE) and minimum variance unbiased (MVU) channel estimators rely on inverting covariance matrices, which has cubic complexity in the multiplication of number of antennas at each side. Since this is extremely expensive when there are hundreds of antennas, we propose to approximate the inversion by an L-order matrix polynomial. A set of low-complexity Bayesian channel estimators, coined Polynomial ExpAnsion CHannel (PEACH) estimators, are introduced. The coefficients of the polynomials are optimized to yield small mean square error (MSE). We show numerically that near-optimal performance is achieved with low polynomial orders. In practice, the order L can be selected to balance between complexity and MSE. Interestingly, pilot contamination is beneficial to the PEACH estimators in the sense that smaller L can be used to achieve near-optimal MSEs.


The problems that relate to the outermost limits of institutional care, if such limits exist, will certainly be among the most salient problems during the coming years—no matter whether such care proceeds on an inpatient or an outpatient basis. Whatever course may be taken will certainly affect the lives of every citizen in urbanized and industrialized society. At present in California there is considerable shifting of individuals from one care status or category to another, in efforts to find accommodations that will better reflect the realities of modern existence. However, such shifting of caseloads as the moving of individuals from nursing and convalescent homes to hospitals and back again does not constitute a change, either from the standpoint of the subjects involved or from the standpoint of significantly affecting the overall caseload. Most commonly, the shifting of caseloads has been merely jurisdictional. Much the same can be said of the transfers from a police agency to welfare, or vice versa. Similarly, a shift from inpatient status to outpatient status does not constitute a significant change. Such transfers from one jurisdiction to another reflect a reduction in caseload for one agency, but a corresponding increase in caseload for another. Thus, there has been no significant change in the subject population as such. Jurisdictional transfers are often merely caretaking actions that reflect bureaucratic decisions. Equally often, such decisions do not address themselves to the basic priorities that guide the functions of caretaking. Explicitly stated priorities must supersede jurisditional transfers if the concept of caretaking is to include better resources for human development and if the subject population is to participate in the managing of institutions. On any given day during 1969 in the state of California, virtually 8 million people from an estimated population of 19,800,000 were under some form of institutional care or in some institutional program, or were employed to provide the care and administer the programs. Clearly this is a vast effort toward the training and retraining, as well as the rehabilitation of people, in the traditional sense of these words. The salient problems that have emerged from this context of urban and industrial development involve social control, social mobility, organizational behavior by caretakers and subjects, minority peoples, and the extensions of institutions into communities. Given these developments, is it not proper to ask whether or not the nature of urbanized and industrialized society has changed to such a point that a return to the past (and past solutions) is no longer feasible? Is it not also proper to ask what voice the subject population will have in helping to guide the urban and industrialized state into the future? And certainly there is a question that virtually everyone will ask: What percentage of tax revenues (whether shared or under direct programs) shall be destined to better meet the problems of this future society, which, it seems, is already upon us?


Empirical research is scarce concerning the dynamics of farmland markets which inspire the decision to sell farmlands. This paper explores the real option to postpone the sale of land in farmland valuation. In this article, a real options approach is used to analyze farmland prices behavior using historical cash flow and land price information for Illinois. In general, rising farmland values are primarily dependent on agricultural commodity prices and interest rates. Results suggest that uncertainty about future growth and capital gains is a significant component of farmland market value. Furthermore, this research examines several shift factors of the option value of the state's farmland by taking into account of uncertainty to improve the analysis of farmland market values.


Query answering under existential rules -- implications with existential quantifiers in the head -- is known to be decidable when imposing restrictions on the rule bodies such as frontier-guardedness [BLM10, BLMS11]. Query answering is also decidable for description logics [Baa03], which further allow disjunction and functionality constraints (assert that certain relations are functions), however, they are focused on ER-type schemas, where relations have arity two.
This work investigates how to get the best of both worlds: having decidable existential rules on arbitrary arity relations, while allowing rich description logics, including functionality constraints, on arity-two relations. We first show negative results on combining such decidable languages. Second, we introduce an expressive set of existential rules (frontier-one rules with a certain restriction) which can be combined with powerful constraints on arity-two relations (e.g. GC 2, ALCQIb) while retaining decidable query answering. Further, we provide conditions to add functionality constraints on the higher-arity relations.


Probabilistic numerics casts numerical tasks, such the numerical solution of differential equations, as inference problems to be solved. One approach is to model the unknown quantity of interest as a random variable, and to constrain this variable using data generated during the course of a traditional numerical method. However, data may be nonlinearly related to the quantity of interest, rendering the proper conditioning of random variables difficult and limiting the range of numerical tasks that can be addressed. Instead, this paper proposes to construct probabilistic numerical methods based only on the final output from a traditional method. A convergent sequence of approximations to the quantity of interest constitute a dataset, from which the limiting quantity of interest can be extrapolated, in a probabilistic analogue of Richardson's deferred approach to the limit. This black box approach (1) massively expands the range of tasks to which probabilistic numerics can be applied, (2) inherits the features and performance of state-of-the-art numerical methods, and (3) enables provably higher orders of convergence to be achieved. Applications are presented for nonlinear ordinary and partial differential equations, as well as for eigenvalue problems-a setting for which no probabilistic numerical methods have yet been developed.


Many real-world sequential decision problems involve multiple action variables whose control frequencies are different, such that actions take their effects at different periods. While these problems can be formulated with the notion of multiple action persistences in factored-action MDP (FA-MDP), it is non-trivial to solve them efficiently since an action-persistent policy constructed from a stationary policy can be arbitrarily suboptimal, rendering solution methods for the standard FA-MDPs hardly applicable. In this paper, we formalize the problem of multiple control frequencies in RL and provide its efficient solution method. Our proposed method, Action-Persistent Policy Iteration (AP-PI), provides a theoretical guarantee on the convergence to an optimal solution while incurring only a factor of |A| increase in time complexity during policy improvement step, compared to the standard policy iteration for FA-MDPs. Extending this result, we present ActionPersistent Actor-Critic (AP-AC), a scalable RL algorithm for high-dimensional control tasks. In the experiments, we demonstrate that AP-AC significantly outperforms the baselines on several continuous control tasks and a traffic control simulation, which highlights the effectiveness of our method that directly optimizes the periodic non-stationary policy for tasks with multiple control frequencies.


Multistep processing is commonly used for nearest neighbor (NN) and similarity search in applications involving high-dimensional data and/or costly distance computations. Today, many such applications require a proof of result correctness. In this setting, clients issue NN queries to a server that maintains a database signed by a trusted authority. The server returns the NN set along with supplementary information that permits result verification using the data set signature. An adaptation of the multistep NN algorithm incurs prohibitive network overhead due to the transmission of false hits, i.e., records that are not in the NN set, but are nevertheless necessary for its verification. In order to alleviate this problem, we present a novel technique that reduces the size of each false hit. Moreover, we generalize our solution for a distributed setting, where the database is horizontally partitioned over several servers. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions with real data sets of various dimensionalities.


This book is the first publication of the complete correspondence of Sigmund Freud with his daughter Anna. The correspondence ranges over personal and family matters - social events, family holidays, births and deaths, health issues, war experiences, etc. - as well as professional matters, including the progress of Sigmund Freud s and Anna Freud s scientific works, their views on students and colleagues, and the international dissemination and publication of psychoanalytical writings. The letters provide valuable insight into the work and family life of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, including the changes in his perception of women that were triggered by his relation with his daughter. They also shed fresh light on the development of Anna s life and career - the early years in England, the period of her analysis with her own father and the last phase of her father s illness and death, when Anna became the torch-bearer and protector of her father s works, and eventually became the leading figure in the International Psychoanalytic Association. Richly annotated with editorial comments, this unique volume of correspondence between Sigmund and Anna Freud is an invaluable source of historical documentation about the formation and development of psychoanalysis and the early decades of the psychoanalytic movement.


4-Oxo-2-nonenal (ONE), an aldehyde originating from the peroxidation of omega6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, preferentially reacts with the cysteine residues of protein. Despite the fact that there has been significant recent interest in the protein reactivity and biological activity of ONE, the structural basis of the ONE-cysteine adducts remain to be established. In the present study, to gain a structural insight into the sulfhydryl modification by ONE, we characterized reaction products that originated from the initial ONE-cysteine Michael adducts. N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (10 mM) was incubated with an equimolar concentration of ONE in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.4) at 37 degrees C. Within 1 h of incubation, the reaction of N-acetyl-L-cysteine with ONE resulted in the formation of two (C-2 and C-3) Michael addition products possessing a carbonyl functionality. Subsequent incubation of the reaction mixture resulted in their disappearance and concomitant formation of advanced reaction products, including a minor product III and major products IVa, IVb, and V. Product III was identified to be a thiomorpholine derivative, 4-acetyl-5-hydroxyl-6-(2-oxoheptyl)thiomorpholine-3-carboxylic acid, which might have originated from the C-2 Michael addition product. The major products were identified to be the novel 2-cyclopentenone derivatives, that is, 2-(acetylamino)-3-[(3-butyl-4-oxocyclopent-2-en-1-yl)sulfanyl]propionic acid (IVa and its isomer IVb) and 2-(acetylamino)-3-[(4-butyl-5-oxocyclopent-3-en-1-yl)sulfanyl]propionic acid (V), which might be generated through the base-catalyzed cyclization of the C-2 and C-3 Michael addition products, respectively. The furan derivative, which has been reported as the end product of the Michael adducts, was found to be formed only under acidic conditions. Thus, this study identified the novel ONE-cysteine adducts, including the most prominent 2-cyclopentenone derivatives, that originated from the initial Michael adducts.


Nanocomposites based on a poly(mannitol sebacate) (PMS) matrix – a member of the poly(polyol sebacate) (PPS) polyester family – reinforced either with cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) or electrospun poly(lactic acid) nanofibers (NF-PLA) have been developed in order to evaluate the reinforcing filler morphology for achieving useful adaptive materials with shape-memory functionality. All the as-prepared nanocomposites have better mechanical properties than the neat PMS matrices, allowing for a wider range of mechanical and degradation properties. However, a superior balance of properties was observed after the introduction of PLA electrospun nanofibers into the low-modulus PMS matrix. In particular, enhanced shape-memory properties are imparted to the PMS matrix by using PLA nanofibers as reinforcing filler, specifically in a temperature range (15–45 °C) of interest for possible medical applications. In addition, two well-separated thermal glass transitions due to matrices and PLA nanofibers could enable the future design of triple-shape-memory systems. Mechanical properties are markedly enhanced with a 4-fold increase when 4 wt% of PLA nanofibers are infiltrated. On increasing the filler content to 10 and 15 wt%, 20-fold and 53-fold enhancements in the Young's modulus were achieved, respectively. These better mechanical properties are accompanied by higher toughness than the neat matrix without reducing the elongation at break. In addition, the shape stability during degradation and the obtained mass loss rates imply that these nanocomposites are useful materials for long-term implants. Here we introduce a sequence of materials based on different fillers that offers great design flexibility, as depending on the geometry and amount of filler employed the properties of the obtained composites can be adjusted to those of living soft to hard tissues, being useful to configure biomedical devices with specific properties, such as for the treatment of patients with coronary artery disease.


In this paper, we explore some of the results from a survey of 378 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) based in the southeast of England. The objective of this survey was to build a snapshot of the state of play of the information and communications technology (ICT) use by SMEs in economically significant sectors in this region. The sectors chosen were as follows: food processing, transport and logistics, media and internet services. More specifically, the survey was intended to answer the following questions: what types of ICT are in use by SMEs in this region, what prevents and facilitates the adoption and use of ICT amongst these firms, and where do SMEs acquire information on ICT related issues. Our survey suggests that most SMEs in the southeast of England are in general positively inclined towards adoption and use of ICT. However, this adoption and use of ICT is mainly focused on operational matters with few extensions into potential strategic use of such technologies in their business environments. SME owner/managers perceive ICT to be often costly and complex and are wary of consultants and vendor organisations. We also discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that SMEs are largely unaware of existing policy instruments at the regional, national and European levels, designed to help them in their adoption and use of ICT.


Changes in monetary policy have surprisingly strong effects on forward real rates in the distant future. A 100 basis point increase in the two-year nominal yield on a Federal Open Markets Committee announcement day is associated with a 42 basis point increase in the ten-year forward real rate. This finding is at odds with standard macro-models based on sticky nominal prices, which imply that monetary policy cannot move real rates over a horizon longer than that over which all prices in the economy can readjust. Instead, the responsiveness of long-term real rates to monetary shocks appears to reflect changes in term premia. One mechanism that could generate such variation in term premia is based on demand effects due to the existence of what we call yield-oriented investors. We find some evidence supportive of this channel.


The principle of "sustainability" is soon to mark its 40th anniversary. It is a concept that has experienced both evolution and stasis. It has shaken the legal foundation, often engaged, recited, and even revered by policymakers, lawmakers, and academics worldwide. This essay assesses the extent to which sustainability registers on the scales of the United States Supreme Court, particularly during the tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts.None of the environmental cases decided thus far during the tenure of Chief Justice Roberts engage sustainability. The word "sustainability" does not appear to exist before the Court. It does not appear in any majority, concurring, or dissenting opinion. While the Court seems to be agnostic about the idea of sustainability as a governing norm, strong astringent reveals that with some counterexamples the extent to which decisions before the Roberts' Court regarding biodiversity, land use, air pollutant emissions, and cleanup standards implicate sustainability, they do so negatively, as discussed below. The article concludes that factors having little or nothing to do with sustainability per se are at the heart of these results. Yet unless and until parties amass the courage of their conviction and infuse "sustainability" into litigative lexicon and strategy, sustainability will continue to matter to the U.S. Supreme Court not at all.


In this article we examine the concept of 'indigenous knowledge' as it is currently used in resource management discourse. In the process of engaging with government agents and researchers in the bureaucracy of resource management, indigenous knowledge is a powerful concept in
the legitimization of local indigenous practice as well as the recognition of resource and socio-environmental management aspirations. Our use of the phrase 'management speak'frames our analysis of these bureaucratic engagements as process (management) and dialogue, rather than a 'space'. We do so in order to gain insights into the politics and practice of these engagements that might go beyond recognition of indigenous interests and toward more practical approaches. Our discussion draws on research conducted at Yarrabah Aboriginal Community in northern Queensland in relation to marine resource management in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.


Several outcrops with diatoms have been identified in the Neogene-Quaternary Baza basin. The most relevant two are located in the NE margin, in different lithostratigraphic units. Their diatom flora is dominated by Epithemia adnata and Epithemia turgida, a littoral epiphytic aquatic plants. These diatom assemblages are typical of fresh to slightly brackish waters in shallow and alkaline lakes. Those two diatomitic deposits are interstratified between alluvial sediments and represent permanent shallow lakes developed during two wet periods of time. Barranco de las Lumbres is the oldest of these lake events and is dated by fauna and paleomagnetism as late Miocene (Turolian). The upper beds of the younger lake episode (Rincon de la Losa) is dated by paleomagnetism and mammals at 1.9 Ma. In addition to these marginal diatomitic deposits, other outcrops with diatoms have been identified in more central areas of the Basin in Galera village, the lower part of Barranco del Agua section is composed of gypsum, carbonates and dark-brown clays and marls. Here epiphytic shallow-water diatoms Epithemia adnata, Epithemia turgida and some planktonic littoral forms (Fragilaria sp.) suggest a shallow fresh to oligosaline water environment. Additional diatomaceous deposits were located in a more evaporitic zone of the basin near the town of Castillejar. This outcrop presents species (Navicula digitoradiata and Surirella ovalis), which indicate distinctive more saline waters and environment. The distribution of the diatom flora in the Baza basin is consistent with stratigraphic data, which indicates an increase of evaporitic facies towards the center of the basin and the occurrence of different kinds of waters within the lake system. The isotopic composition (δ34S, δ18O) of the gypsum samples of Baza basin (Gibert et al., 2007a) is consistent with a Triassic origin of the sulphate as a result of chemical recycling. These data also suggest that a similar recycling mechanism operated in the saline lake system, where the gypsum sediments from the margins were coevally recycled towards the inner part.


Data are presented which demonstrate the minimal insulin peptide required to activate a large group of insulin-specific T hybrids following presentation by either live or fixed APC, is the N-terminal insulin-A(1-13) peptide. Functional activation and competition assays using both live and fixed APC with 19 synthesized variants of the N-terminal bovine insulin A-chain molecule permitted classification of peptide residues into MHC agretope and T cell epitope regions. Our findings indicate insulin A-chain peptide occupies the Ag binding groove of class II MHC in an extended conformation as a result of intracellular reduction of A-loop disulfide bonds. Insulin A-chain Cys7 and Cys11 residues represent two independent T cell epitopes N- and C-terminal to the A-loop region. Data are presented that demonstrate the unique residues associated with several insulin isoform molecules contribute to the peptide agretope region. Our findings may suggest peptide agretopes may subtly modify the peptide/MHC conformation presented to TCR.


Investigation of the mechanisms underlying the biological effects induced by densely ionizing radiation has relevant implications in both radiation protection and therapy. In particular, the possible advantages of hadrontherapy with respect to conventional radiotherapy in terms of high conformal tumor
treatment and sparing of healthy tissues are well known. Further improvements are limited by lack of radiobiological knowledge, particularly about the specific cellular response to the damage induced by particles of potential interest for tumor
treatment. This study compares early and late effects induced in AG01522 normal human primary fibroblasts by γ-rays and C-ions having E ∼ 45 MeV/u at the cell entrance, corresponding to LET (in water) ∼ 49 keV/μm. Different end points have been investigated, namely: cell killing and lethal mutation, evaluated as early and delayed reproductive cell death, respectively; chromosome damage, as measured by micronuclei induction (MN); DNA damage, in terms of DSB induction and repair, as measured by the H2AX phosphorylation/dephosphorylation kinetics.
Linear dose-response relationships were found for cell killing and induction of lethal mutations, with RBEs of about 1.3 and 1.6 respectively, indicating that the presence of genomic instability is greater in the progeny of C-ions irradiated cells. H2AX phosphorylation/dephosphorylation kinetics have shown a maximum foci number at 30 min after irradiation, higher for γ-rays than for C-ions. However, in the first 12 h the fraction of residual γ-H2AX foci was higher for C-ions irradiated cells, indicating a lower removal rate, possibly related to multiple/more complex damage along the particle track, with respect to the sparse lesions produced by γ-rays. MN induction, observed after 72 h from irradiation, was also greater for C-ions.
Overall, these data indicate a more severe DNA damage induced by 45 MeV/u C-ions with respect to γ-rays, likely responsible of an increased cellular misrepair, leading to the greater observed levels of chromosome damage and, eventually, of genomic instability. They give strong support to the idea that higher damage severity at molecular level, determined by the typical deposition pattern of densely ionizing radiation, is the earliest relevant factor for the more severe late effects at cellular level.


In this paper we explore the ways in which culturally based beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors influence participation in and the development and delivery of water safety education programs. We examine existing data pertaining to ethnic and racial minorities' drowning rates and argue that these groups' high rates of drowning are related to a failure to understand and account for non-Eurocentric beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, and issues of social exclusion. We then summarize health communication strategies and provide real-life examples of these strategies at work in water safety education. Finally, we identify four overarching promising practices to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of water education programs targeted at ethnic and cultural minorities. In short, we argue that literature pertaining to cultural aspects of water safety needs to be translated into evidence-based approaches that fundamentally change the ways in which water safety education programs are designed and delivered.


The spelling bee is among the oldest educational competitions in the United States of America, dating back to as far as the 1700s. With an increasing number of young English language learners from diverse socio-economic backgrounds, it has become increasingly important to adequately support this young generation in building a solid foundation in spelling and vocabulary, leading to greater literacy. The spelling bee, an educational competition of spelling and vocabulary, can be an exciting, enriching experience. In order to understand how to support these young minds, we examined the study tools that elementary and junior-high level spellers use to prepare for the spelling bee and the factors that affect their engagement. By surveying spellers, this study investigated the role of student motivation and the use of various learning strategies in preparation for competition in spelling bees. Supplementing the broad range of techniques and strategies, the findings suggest that learning and fun are the major motivating factors for spellers who exhibit continued participation in spelling bees. Spellers preferred digital materials over paper-based reference materials and valued the flexibility of learning with their self-planned approaches. The results have broad implications, such as in educational course design and instruction, in which taking individual uniqueness into account can allow for differentiation and individualized learning tailored to student needs.


Since 1945 the focus of the principle of self-determination has
been on decolonization. The remarkable success of the application of
the principle in the decolonization process has established it as a
hximan right, a norm of modern international law and (arguably) part of
jus cogens. With decolonization virtually completed, the question is
whether self-determination as a right of all peoples should still be
legally valid in the post-colonial era. In this research the conclusion
is reached that international law neither recognizes nor prohibits selfdetermination
as a right in the post-colonial context, and that the law
is in this sense "neutral".
The neutrality of international law on the subject does not prejudge
the issue as to the desirability of a recognition of the right in the
post-colonial context. A fortiori it necessitates a rational analysis
of the role of self-determination in the context of decolonization and
the potential of the principle in the pos.t-colonial setting with the view
to regulating competing claims. To this end, the research analyses the
function of self-determination in decolonization and arrives at the conclusions
that, within that context, self-determination is a putative
remedial right aimed at remedying a specific form of human relations
manifested by domination, exploitation and (or) a general denial of human
rights. In the light of this, the research advances the thesis that in
the post-colonial context, where inter-communal relationships in a
sovereign state are characterized by similar trends of domination and
denials of human rights, the application of self-determination could be
a useful remedy. It also indicates that, as an inherently democratic
principle, self-determination could be used to settle certain types of
territorial disputes.
Using the relationship between human rights and self-determination
as the normative basis for a community policy on post-colonial self determination,
the research recommends a set of substantive and procedural prescriptions on the support for or rejection of specific claims.
The first two chapters of the research deal with the emergence of
self-determination as a right in international law and its application
in the colonial context. Chapter Three discusses the relationship
between self-determination and other norms of international law, namely
territorial integrity, domestic jurisdiction and the use of force (within
the context of decolonization). In all, the first three chapters
define the confines of self-determination as lex lata.
Chapter Four addresses the issue as to whether self-determination
exists as lex lata beyond the context of decolonization and concludes
that it does not exist. Chapter Five is devoted to a normative inquiry
into the desirability of recognizing a right of self-determination in
the post-colonial context. The chapter draws the conclusion that in
view of the persistence of competing claims usually accompanied by conflicts
of international dimensions, and in view of the relationship
between human rights and self-determination, it is desirable to recognize
the right, at least in cases that involve gross deprivation of human
rights (e.g. genocide).
Chapter Six is devoted to a discussion of separatist movements
that seek a right of self-determination in the post-colonial context.
In Chapter Seven, human rights as the normative basis for a community
policy on post-colonial self-determination is discussed. On the strength
of the discussion, recommendations are made as to which claims should
be supported and which claims should be rejected. It is also recommended
that as a means of expressing popular will, the principle of self determination
could be useful in the settlement of territorial disputes
that involve transfer of populations. Chapters Eight and Nine deal
with the substantive and procedural conditions that must precede the
support of a claim for self-determination in the post-colonial
context.


We present a new measurement of the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Using 600 square degrees of overlapping sky area, we evaluate the mean pairwise baryon momentum associated with the positions of 50,000 bright galaxies in the BOSS DR11 Large Scale Structure catalog. A non-zero signal arises from the large-scale motions of halos containing the sample galaxies. The data fits an analytical signal model well, with the optical depth to microwave photon scattering as a free parameter determining the overall signal amplitude. We estimate the covariance matrix of the mean pairwise momentum as a function of galaxy separation, using microwave sky simulations, jackknife evaluation, and bootstrap estimates. The most conservative simulation-based errors give signal-to-noise estimates between 3.6 and 4.1 for varying galaxy luminosity cuts. We discuss how the other error determinations can lead to higher signal-to-noise values, and consider the impact of several possible systematic errors. Estimates of the optical depth from the average thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich signal at the sample galaxy positions are broadly consistent with those obtained from the mean pairwise momentum signal.


In January 2010, President Obama announced a goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years. The "National Export Initiative" has since become the centerpiece of the administration's trade policy agenda. One major oversight of the NEI is its failure to include any sensible reforms to the U.S. antidumping regime. Four out of every five U.S. antidumping measures restrict imports of inputs consumed by downstream U.S. producers in their own production processes. Yet the statute forbids the administering authorities from considering the economic impact of antidumping restrictions on those firms or on the economy at large. Such restrictions raise the costs of production for downstream firms, rendering them less competitive at home and abroad. Antidumping duties on magnesium, polyvinyl chloride, and hot-rolled steel, for example, may please upstream, petitioning domestic producers, who can subsequently raise prices. But those duties are costly to U.S. producers of auto parts, paint, and appliances, who consume those inputs in their own manufacturing processes. Those downstream companies are more likely to export and create jobs than are the firms that turn to the antidumping law to restrict trade. The administration is fully aware of the importance of ensuring that manufacturers have access to imported inputs. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is arguing these points in its complaint against Chinese export restrictions at the World Trade Organization. And the president himself described how U.S. competitiveness requires that restrictions on imported inputs be limited when he signed into law the Manufacturer's Enhancement Act last year. The NEI should include a serious commitment to antidumping reform. At a minimum, consuming industries should be given legal standing to participate fully in antidumping proceedings, antidumping measures should be rejected if the projected costs of those restrictions on those firms and on the broader economy exceed some reasonable threshold, and any duties applied should not exceed the level found necessary to remedy injury to the petitioning domestic industry.


This essay explores the experiences with emergency and emergency-like powers in postcolonial Pakistan and India to illustrate the ways in which constitutional and extraconstitutional states of exception can converge in their application. The experiences in Pakistan with what I term its "extraconstitution" - illustrated most recently by the state of "emergency" declared by Pervez Musharraf in 2007 - demonstrate, perhaps unsurprisingly, that extraconstitutional assertions of emergency powers can provide a ready template for authoritarian rulers to usurp power, violate fundamental rights, and transform the constitutional landscape in the guise of addressing a crisis. At the same time, the authoritarianism in such moments is not entirely "lawless," and the experiences of both Pakistan and India suggest that the assertion of constitutionally-authorized emergency powers - as perhaps most notably exercised by Indira Gandhi in India from 1975-77 - can be as difficult to constrain as extraconstitutional regimes of the sort seen in Pakistan, and can lead to excesses and lasting transformations that are at least as severe.While constitutionality is not necessarily irrelevant in constraining or legitimising emergency powers regardless of context, in postcolonial South Asia the significance of constitutionality has had limits. Owing in part to the persistence in both countries of the shared discourse of emergency powers inherited from the British colonial state, the antidemocratic tendencies inherent in the use of emergency powers have continued to manifest themselves in the laws and institutions of both India and Pakistan, albeit in evidently and importantly different ways in each country. Whether those tendencies have operated through constitutional or extraconstitutional means, the basic results have in some respects been strikingly similar.


The recognition of individual animals is crucial to many aspects of research. Prawns (Penaeus monodon) present unique difficulties in this respect since they molt regularly. Thus, almost all tagging and marking methods developed for prawns so far have proven inadequate. Some tags or marks are lost during molting; others cause injury to the prawns. A new and efficient method has been developed at the Igang Seafarming Station of the Aquaculture Department. Rectangular brass tags measuring 5 mm by 20 mm and numbered consecutively are used. The prawn is held gently but firmly at the base of the carapace with the left hand while the right hand slips the brass tag around the stalk of the unablated eye and presses the tag gently. All tagging must be made under water to avoid stress. From May 29 to September 7 1977 to a total of 348 unilaterally-ablated adult female prawns were tagged on the unablated eyestalk in 5 batches to enable individual observations on gonadal maturation, molting, and growth. Periodic examinations were made four times a month to coincide with the different phases of the lunar cycle. On each examination, survival and recovery rates were recorded. The data included death due to immediate mortality during ablation and loss to cannibalism for the duration of the experiments. In all five tagging experiments, most of the prawns recovered had their tags intact. These included even dead and molting animals. The eyestalk tagging method is suitable for prawns because the tags can be attached without causing injury and has no effect on the rate of growth, maturity, molting and behavior of the animal. The tags are identifiable and permanent; they remain attached to the animal even after death.


Thermal Qualification Program of NASA's Multiple Payload Ejector (MPE) for Responsive Deployment of Small Satellites on a Single Launch Vehicle Roland Coelho This thesis describes the passive thermal design of NASA's Multiple Payload Ejector (MPE) using optical coatings and insulation blankets, thermal analysis performed on the MPE in worst case hot and cold orbits as well as thermal vacuum chamber simulation, the results of the MPE system level qualification thermal vacuum test, and the correlation of data between the modeling analysis and the thermal vacuum test. Initial conditions, environments, and model construction are discussed along with the Thermal Desktop predictions for worst case flight conditions and thermal balance. The temperature data from the thermal vacuum test is compared with the predictions from Thermal Desktop, and the model will be updated for heat generation and conduction values if needed. The scope of this document is limited to a "2-Stack" MPE configuration. After analyzing the MPE thermal vacuum test data and comparing it to the thermal model, MPE demonstrates all avionics hardware to have a 20°C margin over worst case hot and cold flight predictions. Therefore from a thermal perspective, the MPE is fully qualified for flight.


This article employs section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Act, popularly known as the Volcker rule, to examine agency level activity during the pre-proposal rulemaking phase – a time period about which little is known, despite its importance to policy outcomes. By capitalizing on transparency efforts specific to Dodd-Frank, I am able to access information on agency contacts whose disclosure is not required by the APA and, therefore, not typically available to researchers. I analyze the roughly 8000 public comment letters received by FSOC in advance of its study regarding Volcker rule implementation, and the meeting logs of the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, CFTC, SEC, and FDIC prior to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. This analysis reveals significant public activity, but also a stark difference in investment by financial institutions versus other actors in influencing Volcker rule implementation. It also reveals a greater unity of interest among financial market participants than would be suggested by press reports and the provision's legislative history. Finally, the data shed light on the efficacy of the notice and comment process as a means for federal agencies to engage the general public.


Fifty years ago, the idea that parties could "choose" the law governing their contract was alien to the way most courts viewed their roles. Applicable law depended on complicated conflict of laws rules, administered by judges who would apply the law, not on party choice. Contemporary contracts, by contrast, nearly always specify the law that will govern them. Choice of law clauses reduce uncertainty, contribute to economic welfare and, in most instances, are no longer controversial. But when we move from negotiated contracts to adhesion and mass market contracts, choice of law clauses can become less than benign. A drafter will, of course, choose law that best suits its needs. But the law that best suits the drafter may well be less than ideal for the customer. Not surprisingly, recent cases reveal that mass market drafters often choose the law of a state that offers very limited protection for customers in their dealings with the drafter. Cases show, for example, that drafters choose the law of a state that recognizes adhesive class action waivers over the law of a state that does not. If such a choice of law provision is effective against customers whose law ordinarily protects them from such waivers, the drafter has effectively replaced the law their state crafted to protect its residents with the less-beneficial law the drafter chose. This, of course, raises policy questions and both courts and state legislatures have begun to address them. How can a state "protect" the law it has developed to benefit its residents without jeopardizing the commercial certainty that choice of law provisions provide? After providing an analytic framework for considering the complex issues raised by this amalgam of conflicts and contract law, we proceed to consider solutions both at the state and federal level.


We review the latest developments in computational methods for direct simulation of fully fluctuating field theories of polymeric assemblies. In this context, we describe a newly developed theoretical and computational framework for accurately computing fluctuation-corrected phase diagrams of mesostructured polymer systems and report the first such complete phase diagram for a diblock copolymer melt. The method is based on complex Langevin sampling of a UV regularized field-theoretic model, with Helmholtz free energies computed using thermodynamic integration. UV regularization ensures that the free energies do not have an arbitrary reference; they can be compared between incommensurate phases, permitting for the first time the computation of order-order transitions with fluctuation corrections. We further demonstrate that computed free energies are accurate in the disordered phase by comparison to perturbation theory on the one-loop level. Importantly, we note that our method uses no uncontrolled approximations beyond the initial definition of a coarse-grained molecular model for the polymer melt or solution. The method can be applied straightforwardly to melts and solutions containing multiple species with diverse polymer architectures.


A comparison between the northwestern Hawaiian islands (NWHI), a large, remote, and lightly fished area, and the main Hawaiian islands (MHI), an urbanized, heavily fished area, revealed dramatic differences in the numerical density, size, and biomass of the shallow reef fish assemblages. Grand mean fish standing stock in the NWHI was more than 260% greater than in the MHI. The most striking difference was the abundance and size of large apex predators (primarily sharks and jacks) in the NWHI compared to the MHI. More than 54% of the total fish biomass in the NWHI consisted of apex predators, whereas this trophic level accounted for less than 3% of the fish biomass in the MHI. In contrast, fish biomass in the MHI was dominated by herbivores (55%) and small-bodied lower-level carnivores (42%). Most of the dominant species by weight in the NWHI were either rare or absent in the MHI and the target species that were present, regardless of trophic level, were nearly always larger in the NWHI. These differences represent both near-extirpation of apex predators and heavy exploitation of lower trophic levels in the MHI compared to the largely unfished NWHI. The reefs in the NWHI are among the few remaining large-scale, intact, predator-dominated reef ecosys- tems left in the world and offer an opportunity to understand how unaltered ecosystems are struc- tured, how they function, and how they can most effectively be preserved. The differences in fish assemblage structure in this study are evidence of the high level of exploitation in the MHI and the pressing need for ecosystem-level management of reef systems in the MHI as well as the NWHI.


This is the 22nd and final article in the series designed by the American College of Radiology (ACR), the Canadian Association of Radiologists, and the American Journal of Roentgenology. The series has been designed to progressively educate radiologists in the methodologies of rigorous clinical research, from the most basic principles to a level of considerable sophistication. The articles are intended to complement interactive software that permits the user to work with what he or she has learned, which is available on the ACR Web site (www.acr.org).


The convergence of Web technology, wireless networks, and portable client devices provides new design opportunities for computer/communications systems. In the HP Labs' "Cooltown" project we have been exploring these opportunities through an infrastructure to support "web presence" for people, places and things. We put web servers into things like printers and put information into web servers about things like artwork; we group physically related things into places embodied in web servers. Using URLs for addressing, physical URL beaconing and sensing of URLs for discovery, and localized web servers for directories, we can create a location-aware but ubiquitous system to support nomadic users. On top of this infrastructure we can leverage Internet connectivity to support communications services. Web presence bridges the World Wide Web and the physical world we inhabit, providing a model for supporting nomadic users without a central control point.


The aim of the project is to demonstrate that the traditional processes of printmaking, in
particular etching, are relevant as a medium for artistic engagement with the subject of
violence. My research investigates how printmaking has developed its own unique
visual language as a means of addressing violence in our society, and specifically how
artists have depicted violence using the medium of printmaking.
To provide a context for my own practice, I examine artists from the past such as
Jacques Callot, Francisco Goya, Kathe Kollwitz, Otto Dix and Pablo Picasso, all of
whom engaged with the medium of etching to convey violence, as well as the work of
contemporary artists Leon Golub, Nancy Spero, William Kentridge, Diane Victor,
Sandow Birk, and Jake and Dinos Chapman which addresses issues such as war,
social unrest and abuse of political power. The tradition of socio-political printmaking in
Australia is also briefly examined, revealing a relative lack of contemporary artists in
this field dealing with the theme of violence. This research informed the directions for
my own work.
My own work began by addressing global violence issues. Experimentation with
unconventional materials and processes formed an integral part of the journey. The
resultant effects from this experimentation were layered into and became part of the
work. The focus of my final work is on social violence in Australia, in particular the
Cronulla riots of 2005. Thousands of people were involved in these riots, making them
the largest racially motivated riots in Australian history.
The major work, The Cronulla Riot, is a large etching completely covering the gallery
wall. My intention is to emphasise the chaos of the riot, imparted through the layers of
figurative imagery, imbuing a sense of time. The scale of the work enables the viewer
to feel immersed in the violence. The work challenges traditional printmaking
boundaries by virtue of scale, methodology and subject matter.
The power of etching, using a painstaking autographic process, has given new life to
the theme of violence; an issue not explored in the medium in relation to the Cronulla
riots by any other contemporary Australian artist. The core technology of etching may
be ancient, but it continues to present the contemporary artist with a powerful and
dynamic medium for personal artistic expression.


The Effect of Experimentally-Induced Anterior Knee Pain on Postural Control Emily Elizabeth Falk Department of Exercise Sciences, BYU Master of Science Context: Knee pain is experienced by many people. Because of this, authors have started researching the effects of pain on lower extremity mechanics and also on static and dynamic postural control. However, the effects of pain are difficult to study due to associated confounding variables. Objective: We asked: (1) Will experimentally-induced anterior knee pain alter perceived pain using the visual analogue scale? ; (2) will perceived pain affect postural control as measured by center-of-pressure during static and dynamic movement? Design: Crossover. Setting: Biomechanics laboratory. Participants: Fifteen healthy subjects. Intervention: Each subject participated in single leg quiet stance, landing, and walking trials under three conditions (pain, sham, control), at three different times for each condition (pre-injection, injection, and post-injection). Main Outcome Measures: The dependent variables were measured at preinjection, injection, and post-injection. Pain was measured using the visual analogue scale across all three times during each condition. Center-of-pressure sway was measured during single leg quiet stance to calculate the average center-of-pressure velocity in the anterior-posterior and medial-lateral directions. The center-of-pressure time to stabilization was measured in anteriorposterior, medial-lateral, and vertical directions, and center-of-pressure trajectory excursion was measured in the medial-lateral direction during walking. Results: Perceived pain was significant (P < 0.05) but did not affect postural control as measured by center-of-pressure medial-lateral and anterior-posterior sway during single leg quiet stance, in time to stabilization during landing, and in medial-lateral excursion during walking. Conclusions: Injection of hypertonic saline resulted in statistically significant perceived pain but did not affect postural control as measured by center-of-pressure medial-lateral and anterior-posterior sway during single leg quiet stance, in time to stabilization during landing, and medial-lateral excursion during walking.


Although platelets are small anucleate cell fragments, they are highly organized cells rich in different types of organelles. Platelets contain three secretory granules, dense granules, α-granules and lysosomes which are released upon platelet activation at sites of injury. Most of these α-granule proteins are synthesized by the platelet precursor cells, the megakaryocytes (MKs). Platelets and MKs are, however, unique in that they also take up plasma proteins. The mechanisms behind the endocytosis of plasma proteins as well as the exocytosis machinery are, however, still poorly understood. In our work, we employ protein-protein interaction studies and cell-based internalization studies to get more insight into the mechanisms underlying the endocytosis of plasma proteins in MKs. In addition, we utilize mass spectrometry-based approaches to assess the role of the platelet integrins in α-granule cargo enrichment as well as the mechanism of the release thereof. α-granule coagulation factor V (FV) derives entirely from receptor-mediated endocytosis by megakaryocytes. In our work we provided evidences of a novel role for the lectin galectin8 (Gal8) as mediator of FV uptake. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis showed a reversible and dose-dependent binding of Gal8 and FV. By inhibiting Gal8 functions and/or targeting its expression in the megakaryocyte-like cells (DAMI), we demonstrated that Gal8-FV complex formation is a prerequisite for FV uptake. Further we explored the potential role of other interaction partners of Gal8, i.e. GPIIbIIIa and GPIb-GPIX-GPV, in FV endocytosis. Mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of platelet lysates from leukocyte adhesion deficiency type III (LAD-III) and Glanzmann's thrombasthenia (GT) patients show that the level of GPV and not of GPIIbIIIa correlates with the amount of FV. Biochemical approaches show that Gal8 can act as a cross-linker between FV and GPV, suggesting a potential role for GPV as Gal8 counter-receptor. Fibrinogen, the most abundant α-granule protein, can be taken up from plasma by both circulating platelets and megakaryocytes. Here, by mass spectrometry analysis of the platelet content from GT and LAD-III patients we explored the role of integrins on platelets cargo enrichment.The results show that GPIIbIIIa only contributes to the uptake of fibrinogen, and that activation of this integrin is not required to facilitate fibrinogen endocytosis. Novel differentially expressed proteins that may be associated with the investigated diseases are identified as well. Moreover MS analysis further revealed the genetic defect of a previously uncharacterized GT patient. In a different line of research, we explored the platelet secretory efficiency of α-granulesin patients with Familial Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis-5 (FHL-5). Disease-causing mutations have been mapped onto the gene encoding syntaxin-binding-protein2 (Munc18-2). We use MS, flow cytometry and electron microscopy to identify the protein product of a Munc18-2 splice-site variant (1247-1G>C) and the effect thereof on platelet degranulation. This Munc18-2 variant has been established to cause impaired degranulation of neutrophils. In spite of previous suggestions, flow cytometry, electron microscopy and MS studies reveal that the splice-site variant does not significantly affect platelet. Moreover MS analysis revealed the still unknown protein product resulting from the 1247-1G>C mutation.


We propose a model for demand estimation in multi-agent, differentiated product settings and present an estimation algorithm that uses reversible jump MCMC techniques to classify agents' types. Our model extends the popular setup in Berry, Levinsohn and Pakes (1995) to allow for the data-driven classification of agents' types using agent-level data. We focus on applications involving data on agents' ranking over alternatives, and present theoretical conditions that establish the identifiability of the model and uni-modality of the likelihood/posterior. Results on both real and simulated data provide support for the scalability of our approach.


Abstract. Four different communities and one culture of autotrophic microbial assemblages were obtained by incubation of samples collected from high elevation snow in the Alps (Mt. Blanc area) and the Andes (Nevado Illimani summit, Bolivia), from Antarctic aerosol (French station Dumont d'Urville) and a maritime Antarctic soil (King George Island, South Shetlands, Uruguay Station Artigas), in a minimal mineral (oligotrophic) media. Molecular analysis of more than 200 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that all cultured cells belong to the Bacteria domain. Phylogenetic comparison with the currently available rDNA database allowed sequences belonging to Proteobacteria Alpha-, Beta- and Gamma-proteobacteria), Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla to be identified. The Andes snow culture was the richest in bacterial diversity (eight microorganisms identified) and the marine Antarctic soil the poorest (only one). Snow samples from Col du Midi (Alps) and the Andes shared the highest number of identified microorganisms (Agrobacterium, Limnobacter, Aquiflexus and two uncultured Alphaproteobacteria clones). These two sampling sites also shared four sequences with the Antarctic aerosol sample (Limnobacter, Pseudonocardia and an uncultured Alphaproteobacteriaclone). The only microorganism identified in the Antarctica soil (Brevundimonas sp.) was also detected in the Antarctic aerosol. Most of the identified microorganisms had been detected previously in cold environments, marine sediments soils and rocks. Air current dispersal is the best model to explain the presence of very specific microorganisms, like those identified in this work, in environments very distant and very different from each other.


Three "fast" drying and three "slow" drying corn inbreds, whose hybrids demonstrate various rates of drying after physiological maturity, were used to study the genetics controlling differential drying rates among hybrids. Drying rate was estimated by the moisture loss from husked ears in a forced-air dryer at 38 C for 18 hours. Initial moisture range was 30 to 40% while dried ears had a range of 20 to 30%. Correlations in this population indicate that selection for faster drying rate would most likely result in smaller ears, later silking date, and lower moisture content at 60 days after silking. Phenotypic and genotypic correlations were moderately high and similar. Most environmental correlations were nonsignificant. Diallel analysis indicated significant differences for both general and specific combining ability effects with the additive component more important than the non-additive; therefore, drying rate is fixable. Broad sense heritability estimates obtained by the F₂ variance method were moderately high, while higher estimates were obtained by genetic components of variance from F₁ replication means. High heritability was also indicated by the genetic correlations. Estimates of HMb were between 52% and 95%. Xenia effect on differential drying rates was generally found to be non-significant. Determination of drying rate by use of forced-air dryers offers a good approach for the plant breeder in selection for faster drying rates.


This thesis deals with the determination of organic contaminants in wastes and is part of the multidisciplinary faculty programme 'Biological waste in circulation between urban and rural areas - biology and flow of energy and material' which started at SLU in 1994. To ensure long-term sustainability of food production it is important to recycle resources such as the nutrients and organic material in organic waste. The biodegradable fraction of source separated household waste is attractive as raw material for composting and anaerobic digestion, because the products can be used in agriculture and horticulture. Quality is an important aspect on compost and anaerobically digested organic household waste, and it is important to ensure that the products are not contaminated. As the available information on organic contaminants in the biodegradable fraction of household waste and the products thereof is limited, an important goal with this work was to increase the knowledge of organic contaminants in these material as a foundation for future studies to reduce the environmental risk from these materials. Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) were found in fresh household waste. CPs are a complex mixture of chlorinated alkanes with varying (10-30) carbon chain lengts and varying (30- 70%) unspecific chlorination. The high numbers of isomers and homologues complicates the determination of CPs. We found that multivariate analysis can be used to interpret chromatographic data of CPs and this was used to characterise the CP contamination of houshold waste. It is presently impossible to pin-point the source of CP contamination using the data available, but most probably the contamination occurs during the collection of the waste. To further improve the determination of CPs an extraction method using high diffusion liquids, pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) was developed. PLE was shown to be a suitable technique for extracting CPs from complex matrices such as fresh household waste. A source close to the collection chain is also indicated for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). The PCB-profile found in the fresh household waste resembles that of a low chlorinated technical product. The PCB-profile expected in this type of material would originate from waste of animal origin in which the low chlorinated congeners have been degraded and the more highly chlorinated and persistent congeners dominate. Differences in the degradation rate of PCBs between composting and anaerbically degestion of the waste were also observed. A third indication of a contamination source in the collection chain is the presence of the n-alkanes in the fresh and anaerobically digested household waste, which suggest a petrogenic rather than a biogenic origin. Since the major part of the organic fraction of household waste is of plant origin, much of which is treated with pesticides, it was expected to find pesticides in the waste. Many of the pesticides were not degraded during composting or anaerobic digestion, and two that were not found in the waste were found in compost or anaerobically sludge. In these cases the organic bulk material is mineralized more rapidly than the pesticides. The anaerobic biotransformation of nonylphenol mono- and diethoxylates (NPEOI-2) was studied in sludge, landfilled sludge and landfilled municipal solid waste. The NPEO1-2 are degradation products of nonylphenol ethoxylates (heavy duty surfactants) and are further degraded to nonylphenol (NP) which is far more persistent and ecotoxic than its parental compou


Introduction: The term used to describe a growing fear in today"s world is Nomophobia, a portmanteau for " no mobile phone phobia",refers to the discomfort or anxiety caused to a person by the nonavailability of a phone. Nomophobia arises from a feeling of not being able to make and receive phone calls, send or receive text messages, losing internet connectivity and access to social networking sites and being able to access information online .The aim of the review is to explore Nomophobia and its impact on health ocomplications. Materials and methods: The articles were collected from PubMed Database and the selection criteria for screening the literature were population with Nomophobia age group between 17 25. The search keywords included were nomophobia, cell phone addiction, health implication, anxiety, no mobile phone phobia. The study was conducted in the year 2020. The study group consisted of a population with Nomophobia between the age group 17-25. Result and Conclusion: This review is done to understand the clinical symptoms, complications and various preventive measures taken against nomophobia and from the obtained results after screening relevant articles based on selection criteria it can be concluded that the addiction towards cell phones and social media might lead to depression , loss of memory and anxiety.


Blood and blood vessels develop in close association in vertebrate embryos and loss-of-function mutations suggest common genetic regulation. By the criteria of co-expression of blood and endothelial genes, and lineage tracing of progeny, we locate two distinct populations of progenitors for blood and endothelial cells in developing Xenopus embryos. The first population is located immediately posterior to the cement gland during neurula stages and gives rise to embryonic blood and vitelline veins in the anterior ventral blood island (aVBI), and to the endocardium of the heart. The second population resides in the dorsal lateral plate mesoderm, and contains precursors of adult blood stem cells and the major vessels. Both populations differentiate into endothelial cells in situ but migrate to new locations to differentiate into blood, suggesting that their micro-environments are unsuitable for haematopoietic differentiation. Both require BMP for their formation, even the Spemann organiser-derived aVBI, but individual genes are affected differentially. Thus, in the embryonic population, expression of the blood genes, SCL and GATA2, depend on BMP signalling while expression of the endothelial gene, Xfli1, does not. By contrast, Xfli1 expression in the adult, DLP population does require BMP. These results indicate that both adult and the anterior component of embryonic blood in Xenopus embryos derive from populations of progenitors that also give rise to endothelial cells. However, the two populations give rise to distinct regions of the vasculature and are programmed differentially by BMP.


ABSTRACT Marine spatial planning (MSP) has become the most adopted approach for sustainable marine governance. While MSP has transformative capacity, evaluations of its implementation illustrate large gaps between how it is conceptualised and how it is practiced. We argue that these gaps arise from MSP being implemented through post-political processes. Although MSP has been explored through post-political lenses, these evaluations are incomplete and do not provide sufficient detail about the complex nature of the post-political condition. Drawing on seminal literature, we conceptualise the post-political as consisting of highly interconnected modalities of depoliticisation, including: neoliberalism; choreographed participation; path dependency; technocratic-managerialism; and the illusion of progressive change. Using these modalities as an analytical framework, we evaluate English MSP and find that it focuses on entrenching neoliberal logic through: tokenistic participation; wholescale adoption of path-dependent solutions; obstructionist deployment of inactive technological solutions; and promising progressive change. We do not, however, view the post-political condition as unresolvable and we develop a suite of suggestions for the re-politicisation of MSP which, collectively, could form the basis for more radical forms of MSP.


Importance
Data on P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy after short-duration dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention are limited.

Objective
To determine whether P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy after 3 months of DAPT is noninferior to 12 months of DAPT in patients undergoing PCI.

Design, Setting, and Participants
The SMART-CHOICE trial was an open-label, noninferiority, randomized study that was conducted in 33 hospitals in Korea and included 2993 patients undergoing PCI with drug-eluting stents. Enrollment began March 18, 2014, and follow-up was completed July 19, 2018.

Interventions
Patients were randomly assigned to receive aspirin plus a P2Y12 inhibitor for 3 months and thereafter P2Y12 inhibitor alone (n = 1495) or DAPT for 12 months (n = 1498).

Main Outcomes and Measures
The primary end point was major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (a composite of all-cause death, myocardial infarction, or stroke) at 12 months after the index procedure. Secondary end points included the components of the primary end point and bleeding defined as Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2 to 5. The noninferiority margin was 1.8%.

Results
Among 2993 patients who were randomized (mean age, 64 years; 795 women [26.6%]), 2912 (97.3%) completed the trial. Adherence to the study protocol was 79.3% of the P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy group and 95.2% of the DAPT group. At 12 months, major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events occurred in 42 patients in the P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy group and in 36 patients in the DAPT group (2.9% vs 2.5%; difference, 0.4% [1-sided 95% CI, -∞% to 1.3%]; P = .007 for noninferiority). There were no significant differences in all-cause death (21 [1.4%] vs 18 [1.2%]; hazard ratio [HR], 1.18; 95% CI, 0.63-2.21; P = .61), myocardial infarction (11 [0.8%] vs 17 [1.2%]; HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.31-1.40; P = .28), or stroke (11 [0.8%] vs 5 [0.3%]; HR, 2.23; 95% CI, 0.78-6.43; P = .14) between the 2 groups. The rate of bleeding was significantly lower in the P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy group than in the DAPT group (2.0% vs 3.4%; HR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.36-0.92; P = .02).

Conclusions and Relevance
Among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, P2Y12 inhibitor monotherapy after 3 months of DAPT compared with prolonged DAPT resulted in noninferior rates of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events. Because of limitations in the study population and adherence, further research is needed in other populations.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02079194.


Abstract Emerging developmental perspectives suggest that adverse rearing environments promote neurocognitive adaptations that heighten impulsivity and increase vulnerability to risky behavior. Although studies document links between harsh rearing environments and impulsive behavior on substance use, the developmental hypothesis that impulsivity acts as mechanism linking adverse rearing environments to downstream substance use remains to be investigated. The present study investigated the role of impulsivity in linking child abuse and neglect with adult substance use using data from (a) a longitudinal sample of youth (Study 1, N = 9,421) and (b) a cross-sectional sample of adults (Study 2, N = 1,011). In Study 1, the links between child abuse and neglect and young adult smoking and marijuana use were mediated by increases in adolescent impulsivity. In Study 2, indirect links between child abuse and neglect and substance use were evidenced via delayed reward discounting and impulsivity traits. Among impulsivity subcomponents, robust indirect effects connecting childhood experiences to cigarette use emerged for negative urgency. Negative urgency, positive urgency, and sensation seeking mediated the effect of child abuse and neglect on cannabis and alcohol use. Results suggest that child abuse and neglect increases risk for substance use in part, due to effects on impulsivity. Individuals with adverse childhood experiences may benefit from substance use preventive intervention programs that target impulsive behaviors.


The federal government stands poised to exercise its constitutional right to regulate financial markets, an area traditionally left to competing provincial securities commissions. The current state of securities regulation renders impotent US-style takeover defences, such as poison pills and staggered boards, but allows voting caps and pyramiding in their stead. Various federal securities regulation models are weighted in light of the current state of their needed complementary institutions. One option, for which Canada is relatively well prepared, is the British model of activist independent institutional investors and mandatory takeover bids.


Two independent methods were used: direct spectrophotometry through the transparent windows of the atmospheric gases, and measurement of the number and diameter of the water droplets, followed by a Mie-theory calculation of the spectral transmittance. Results from the two methods are in good agreement when the media are sufficiently homogeneous, as for a quiet haze or fog and artificial smoke.The following kinds of atmospheres were considered: hazes (optical density per km in the visible spectrum is less than 2); a small number of small-drop fogs (optical density per km less than 10); evolving fogs (which have changing distributions of drop-diameters); nonevolving, slightly selective fogs; artificial smokes. In addition, some information is given on the statistical distribution of drop-diameters.It was found that the transmission of haze increased markedly with increasing wavelength, from the visible to 10 microns, but this marked increase was not found for fogs.


Cavinton was used for 10 years in 967 patients with different cerebrovascular diseases. The highest effect was seen in patients with early forms and primarily chronic forms: vegetovascular (neurocirculatory) dystonia, initial manifestations of brain blood supply insufficiency, circulatory encephalopathy in the first and second stages. Improvement of the subjective status and a decrease of the intensity of vestibulocerebellar disorders were recorded by the end of the treatment in 75-85% of such patients. In ischemic brain stroke, regress of general cerebral and focal symptoms was more rapid and significant in the adequate reaction type of cerebral hemodynamics to cavinton administration (a rise of pulse blood content of the brain and a reduction of the vascular tone according to the REG data) and was less noticeable in the hypertonic and, in particular, in the hypotonic type. Cavinton should not be used in severe general cerebral hypertensive crises, as well as in elderly or senile patients with acute cardio-cerebral or cerebro-cardiac syndrome, postinfarction cardiosclerosis, marked disorders of heart rhythm.


We analyze the structure and properties of the fringe pattern formed by a high-reflectivity Fizeau interferometer. Our analysis is based on the plane-wave representation of the wave field that is generated when an incident wave interacts with two planar mirrors that form a slight wedge. In particular, we show that within the parabolic approximation the field behind the wedge is self-imaging; it is periodic both in the direction of the incoming beam and in the perpendicular direction. Our approach lends itself to a unified and comprehensive treatment of the fringe transformation properties that occur when the system parameters are varied. The differences between the paraxial-optics and actual fringe patterns are discussed, and three-dimensional intensity plots are used to illustrate the main characteristics of the complex interference structures. Optimal detector locations are evaluated, and some concepts in Fizeau interferometry are clarified.


The definition of the conceptual design phase has been expressed in many different phrasings, but all of them lead to the same conclusion. The conceptual design phase is of the highest importance during the design process, due to the fact that many crucial decisions concerning the progress of the design need to be taken with very little to none information and knowledge about the design object. This implies to very high uncertainty about the effects that these decisions will have later on. During the conceptual design of a mechatronic system, the system to be designed is modeled, and several solutions (alternatives) to the design problem are generated and evaluated so that the most fitting one to the design specifications and requirements is chosen. The purpose of this chapter is to mention some of the most widely used methods of system modeling, mainly through hierarchical representations of their subsystems, and also to present a method for the generation and evaluation of the design alternatives.


Sustainability reporting in South Africa has emerged strongly in the last decade with evidence suggesting that corporate social responsibility assurance prevalence is growing among the top 100 publicly-listed companies. Multinational motor vehicle manufacturers will have to comply with all sustainable reporting requirements that incorporate South African motor vehicle subsidiary company results. Carbon excise tax was implemented on all passenger motor vehicles on 1 September, 2010 in South Africa. From an accounting perspective, the adequacy of carbon tax recognition and disclosures has not been assessed in South Africa. This paper examines the adequacy of carbon tax accounting disclosures by local motor vehicle manufacturers that are subject to such a tax as well as the compliance level of the related multinational motor vehicle holding companies in terms of sustainable reporting.