Objective To investigate the association between childhood trauma and multiple sclerosis (MS) by comparing histories of child abuse and neglect between patients with MS and adults from the general population in a cross-sectional case-control study. Previous research has demonstrated a connection between MS and a variety of emotional stressors, but childhood trauma, which is known to have long-lasting negative consequences for physical health decades into adulthood, has not been studied. Methods The self-reported Childhood Trauma Questionnaire for the assessment of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and emotional and physical neglect was administered to 234 patients with definite MS and 885 adults from the general population. Results After adjusting for sociodemographic factors and current depression, patients with MS scored significantly higher in all Childhood Trauma Questionnaire subscales apart from physical abuse and neglect than adults from the general population. Adjusted odds ratios for these types of childhood trauma were higher in the MS group than in controls, ranging from 2.0 for emotional neglect (95% confidence interval = 1.3–3.2) to 3.4 for emotional abuse (95% confidence interval = 2.0–5.7). Although childhood trauma was not associated with the degree of current MS-related disability, patients with MS with histories of physical and/or sexual abuse had significantly higher relapse rates than patients without early-life stress. Conclusions Our findings suggest an association between childhood trauma and MS in this cross-sectional study. Larger prospective longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the relationship between early-life stress and the risk for MS in genetically susceptible individuals. Abbreviations MS = multiple sclerosis; SDMT = Symbol Digit Modalities Test; CTQ = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire; EDSS = Expanded Disability Status Scale


Methods and results from the representation theory of finite dimensional algebras have led to many interactions with other areas of mathematics. The aim of this workshop was, in addition to stimulating progress in the representation theory of algebras, to further develop such interactions with commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, group representation theory, Lie-algebras and quantum groups, but also with the new theory of cluster algebras. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 16Exx, 16Gxx, 16L60, 16W35, 18Exx, 18Gxx. Secondary: 13Dxx, 15Axx, 20Cxx, 14Lxx, 16Sxx, 17Bxx. Introduction by the Organisers The workshop was well attended with about 50 participants from many continents. The core group was from the representation theory of algebras, with several experts from related areas. The previous Oberwolfach meeting devoted to representations of finite-dimensional (associative) algebras took place in 2000. After discussions with the then director, we decided to shift the activities to other mathematical centers. We are grateful to the new director who convinced us that all parts of active mathematical research are again welcome at Oberwolfach. The 2005 Oberwolfach meeting was preceded by a two days conference held at Bielefeld with the title Perspectives in Mathematics: Algebras and Representations. The lectures at Bielefeld provided outlines of new developments. They 318 Oberwolfach Report 6/2005 were given by J. F. Carlson (Athens), W. W. Crawley-Boevey (Leeds), S. Iyengar (Lincoln), J. C. Jantzen (Aarhus), M. Reineke (Münster), I. Reiten (Trondheim), R. Rouquier (Paris, New Haven), J. Schröer (Leeds), Jie Xiao (Beijing), A. Zelevinsky (Boston), and E. Zelmanov (San Diego). Since most of the Oberwolfach participants took part in the Bielefeld conference, it was possible to arrange the Oberwolfach schedule in a complementary way. By now, the usefulness of methods and results from the representation theory of algebras is well-known. In particular, the notion of a quiver, its representations and the corresponding quiver varieties have become quite popular in many parts of mathematics. In this way, there have been a lot of interactions between the representation theory of algebras and other areas. A main focus of this meeting was to promote the interaction with such areas, and most of the talks dealt with topics of general interest. One of the important connections with other areas is given by the Hall algebras and their connection with quantum groups. Recent developments in this area, partially inspired also by work of Drinfeld, were presented by Hubery and by Keller. The latter report was based on a recent construction of Toën. The cluster algebras introduced by Fomin–Zelevinsky have had a lot of influence on various parts of algebra, including representation theory of algebras. Some recent investigations on quantum cluster algebras were presented by Zelevinsky, with challenging questions about further connections with finite dimensional algebras. The work on cluster algebras inspired work on what are called cluster categories and cluster tilted algebras, which gives some feedback on the theory of cluster algebras, in particular in the acyclic case. This was discussed in talks by Marsh and Buan. The cluster tilted algebras are of interest for several reasons: they provide a new class of algebras whose representation theory is controlled by a quadratic form, and they shed light on the tilted algebras themselves: any tilted algebra is the factor algebra of a corresponding cluster tilted algebra. Further relationship between cluster algebras and finite dimensional preprojective algebras was discussed by Geiß. The cluster categories are Calabi-Yau categories of dimension 2 (and related categories give arbitrary dimensions). They contain the stable categories of preprojective algebras of finite type, and such stable categories are Calabi-Yau of dimension 2 for finite dimensional preprojective algebras in general. This has put an emphasis on the study of Calabi-Yau categories and their dimensions for categories related to finite dimensional algebras, in particular for stable categories of selfinjective algebras. Results of this nature were discussed by Erdmann. Iyama's higher analogue of almost split sequences in maximal n-orthogonal subcategories is also related to this, and his talk dealt with complements in Calabi-Yau categories. There are interesting examples in commutative ring theory, as discussed by Yoshino. With many experts on areas where Calabi-Yau categories appear, an evening session was organized to provide a survey on Calabi-Yau phenomena, with contributions by Buchweitz, Geiß, Hille, Lenzing, Neeman and Van den Bergh. A wide range of topics was touched, for example mirror symmetry and reflexive Representation Theory of Finite-Dimensional Algebras 319 polytopes, A∞ categories, elliptic curves. Three short abstracts concerning these evening lectures are included at the end of the report. Derived and triangulated categories were also discussed from other points of view, in connection with coherent sheaves by Burban, infinitesimal deformations by Keller, thick subcategories by Krause, and with homotopy categories of projectives and of injectives by Iyengar. And we have to mention here the various aspects of Koszul duality. The corresponding Koszul algebras are a topic of central interest. Questions concerning Koszul algebras were discussed by Mart́ınez-Villa, Martsinkovsky, Green, and Zacharia. An important collection of problems in finite dimensional algebra theory are the homological conjectures, including the finitistic dimension conjecture, the (generalized) Nakayama conjecture and the Gorenstein symmetry conjecture. Some of these problems are of interest also in commutative algebra. A survey, along with new ideas for attacking the first conjecture, was given by Xi, and ideas for the Gorenstein symmetry conjecture by Beligiannis. A simple counterexample to a more general conjecture of Auslander was presented by Smalø. Here, a first example was given within commutative algebra. A related homological conjecture is the conjecture of Happel, that the eventual vanishing of Hochschild cohomology implies finite global dimension, where a counterexample was given in the talk by Green. Homological techniques in commutative algebra were discussed by Avramov. Various aspects of quiver representations were dealt with in talks by Reineke and Buchweitz, and de la Peña discussed problems related to spectral radii. Applications of techniques and results for proving finite, tame or wild representation type were given by Schmidmeier and Farnsteiner. The workshop presented a vivid picture of the present state of the art. And it provided a clear sight of the many still open problems, and on methods which may be helpful to attack them. We are sure that the interaction between the participants will lead to further progress in the coming years. We thank Angela Holtmann (Bielefeld) for her careful preparation of this report. Trondheim and Bielefeld, May 16th, 2005 Idun Reiten, Claus Michael Ringel Representation Theory of Finite-Dimensional Algebras 321 Workshop: Representation Theory of Finite-Dimensional Algebras


Using data from 1997 to 2008, this paper investigates the cost efficiency of the Ghanaian banking sector after financial liberalisation. The Ghanaian bank with the highest efficiency score is found to be operating at maximum possible efficiency. The average bank is however operating at high costs. Despite mixed evidence in the literature, there is the received wisdom that most cross-border mergers and acquisitions post-liberalisation result in failure due to factors that include poor credit quality, inadequate generation of fee income, and poor customer mix. In Ghana, the situation is different because the only foreign-acquired bank had prior knowledge of the local conditions and has managed to utilise this advantage, coupled with redundancy programmes and layoffs and without branch expansion following the acquisition, to operate at a relatively high level of cost efficiency.


Few studies assessed the associations between dietary vitamin K and depressive symptoms. We aimed to investigate the association between dietary vitamin K and depressive symptoms in a large cohort of North American People. In this cross-sectional analysis, 4,375 participants that were aged 45–79 years from the Osteoarthritis Initiative were included. Dietary vitamin K intake was collected through a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and categorized in quartiles. Depressive symptoms were diagnosed using the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) ≥ 16. To investigate the associations between vitamin K intake and depressive symptoms, logistic regression analysis were run, which adjusted for potential confounders. Overall, 437 (=10%) subjects had depressive symptoms. After adjusting for 11 confounders, people with the highest dietary vitamin K intake had lower odds of having depressive symptoms (OR = 0.58; 95%CI: 0.43–0.80). This effect was only present in people not taking vitamin D supplementation. In conclusion, higher dietary vitamin K intake was significantly associated with a lower presence of depressive symptoms, also after accounting for potential confounders. Future longitudinal research is required to explore the directionality of the association.


PURPOSE Imaging may produce unexpected or incidental findings with consequences for patients and ordering of future investigations. Chest radiography in patients with acute cough is among the most common reasons for imaging in primary care, but data on associated incidental findings are lacking. We set out to describe the type and prevalence of incidental chest radiography findings in primary care patients with acute cough. METHODS We report on data from a cross-sectional study in 16 European primary care networks on 3,105 patients with acute cough, all of whom were undergoing chest radiography as part of a research study workup. Apart from assessment for specified signs of pneumonia and acute bronchitis, local radiologists were asked to evaluate any additional finding on the radiographs. For the 2,823 participants with good-quality chest radiographs, these findings were categorized according to clinical relevance based on previous research evidence and analyzed for type and prevalence by network, sex, age, and smoking status. RESULTS Incidental findings were reported in 19% of all participants, and ranged from 0% to 25% by primary care network, with the network being an independent contributor (P <.001). Of all participants 3% had clinically relevant incidental findings. Suspected nodules and shadows were reported in 1.8%. Incidental findings were more common is older participants and smokers (P <. 001). CONCLUSIONS Clinically relevant incidental findings on chest radiographs in primary care adult patients with acute cough are uncommon, and prevalence varies by setting.


Several tablets are prepared with two forms of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of which one (less than 1% w/w) is considered undesirable. The presence of this component is tested for by Raman microscopy in a series of mapping experiments. These experiments are conducted with a statistically based sampling routine in which the number of spectra to collect across the whole surface of a tablet is set so as to theoretically ensure spectral detection of the low-concentration form. Such experiments are then repeated a number of times to achieve ∼95% confidence that the strictly limited number of sampling points suffice to detect the low-concentration form and that Raman microscopy is technically a reliable method for analytical analysis of this type.


This September marks six years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the height of the financial crisis. Recently, a growing debate has emerged over the Justice Department's failure to criminally prosecute Wall Street executives for their role in creating the crisis. One side of that debate contends the government has failed to bring to justice individual wrongdoers — primarily the heads of banks operating in the mortgage-backed securities market — instead preferencing enforcement decisions that target corporations, resulting in punishments that are "little more than window-dressing." The other side argues that cases against individuals are precluded by the realities of the federal criminal justice system, and that "corporate headhunting" will only inhibit meaningful regulatory reform. It is difficult, however, to evaluate these competing claims without proper context. This Article explores the recent conviction and sentencing of Wall Street executive Kareem Serageldin as a means of providing that context. Although Serageldin has been trumpeted as the "the most senior Wall Street official" to be sentenced for conduct committed during the financial crisis, and his conviction was framed as a victory in punishing those accountable for the financial collapse, a critical look at his case reveals he committed only a mundane white collar crime marginally related to the crisis. This disconnect creates a unique lens through which to understand and evaluate the current state of — and debate surrounding — financial crisis prosecutions. And it ultimately highlights the merits, and shortfalls, of each camp's arguments. The Article concludes by offering something largely absent from the current debate: specific proposals for how we might go about prosecuting individuals so as to prevent the next crisis.


Chronic infections, obesity, alcohol, tobacco, radiation, environmental pollutants, and high-calorie diet have been recognized as major risk factors for the most common types of cancers. All these risk factors are linked to cancer through inflammation. While acute inflammation that persists for short-term mediates host defense against infections, chronic inflammation that lasts for long-term can predispose the host to various chronic illnesses, including cancer. Linkage between cancer and inflammation is indicated by numerous lines of evidence; first, transcription factors NF-κB and STAT3, two major pathways for inflammation, are activated by most cancer risk factors; second, an inflammatory condition precedes most cancers; third, NF-κB and STAT3 are constitutively active in most cancers; fourth, hypoxia and acidic conditions found in solid tumors activate NF-κB; fifth, chemotherapeutic agents and gamma irradiation activate NF-κB and lead to chemo-resistance and radio-resistance; sixth, most gene products linked to inflammation, survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis are regulated by NF-κB and STAT3; seventh, suppression of NF-κB and STAT3 inhibits the proliferation and invasion of tumors; and eighth, most chemo-preventive agents mediate their effects through inhibition of NF-κB and STAT3 activation pathways. Thus suppression of these pro-inflammatory pathways may provide opportunities for both prevention and treatment of cancer. The potential of dietary agents in regulation of these inflammatory cell signaling pathways and their role in prevention and therapy of cancer, is discussed.


This paper studies quantization error in the context of Matching Pursuit coded streams and proposes a new coefficient quantization scheme taking benefit of the Matching Pursuit properties. The coefficients energy in Matching Pursuit indeed decreases with the iteration number, and the decay rate can be upper-bounded with an exponential curve driven by the redundancy of the dictionary. The redundancy factor is therefore used to design an optimal a posteriori quantization scheme for multi-resolution Matching Pursuit coding. Bits are optimally distributed between successive coefficients according to their relative contribution to the signal representation. The quantization range and the number of quantization steps are therefore reduced along the iteration number. Moreover, the quantization scheme selects the optimal number of Matching Pursuit iterations to be coded to satisfy rate constraints. Finally, the new exponentially upper-bounded quantization of Matching Pursuit coefficients clearly outperforms classical uniform quantization methods for both random dictionaries and Gabor dictionaries in the practical case of image coding.


The Huntingfield area has a varied vegetation, including substantial areas of Eucalyptus amygdalina heathy woodland, heath, buttongrass
moorland and E. amygdalina shrubby forest, with smaller areas ofwetland, grassland and E. ovatashrubby forest. Six floristic communities
are described for the area. Two hundred and one native vascular plant taxa, 26 moss species and ten liverworts are known from the area,
which is particularly rich in orchids, two of which are rare in Tasmania. Four other plant species are known to be rare and/or unreserved
in Tasmania. Sixty-four exotic plant species have been observed in the area, most of which do not threaten the native biodiversity. However,
a group of fire-adapted shrubs are potentially serious invaders. Management problems in the area include the maintenance of open areas,
weed invasion, pathogen invasion, introduced animals, fire, mechanised recreation, drainage from houses and roads, rubbish dumping
and the gathering of firewood, sand and plants.


We propose a technique called voice augmented manipulation (VAM) for augmenting user operations in a mobile environment. This technique augments user interactions on mobile devices, such as finger gestures and button pressing, with voice. For example, when a user makes a finger gesture on a mobile phone and voices a sound into it, the operation will continue until stops making the sound or makes another finger gesture. The VAM interface also provides a button-based interface, and the function connected to the button is augmented by voiced sounds. Two experiments verified the effectiveness of the VAM technique and showed that repeated finger gestures significantly decreased compared to current touch-input techniques, suggesting that VAM is useful in supporting user control in a mobile environment.


Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) cause the life-threatening neurological illness botulism in humans and animals and are divided into seven serotypes (BoNT/A–G), of which serotypes A, B, E, and F cause the disease in humans. BoNTs are classified as "category A" bioterrorism threat agents and are relevant in the context of the Biological Weapons Convention. An international proficiency test (PT) was conducted to evaluate detection, quantification and discrimination capabilities of 23 expert laboratories from the health, food and security areas. Here we describe three immunological strategies that proved to be successful for the detection and quantification of BoNT/A, B, and E considering the restricted sample volume (1 mL) distributed. To analyze the samples qualitatively and quantitatively, the first strategy was based on sensitive immunoenzymatic and immunochromatographic assays for fast qualitative and quantitative analyses. In the second approach, a bead-based suspension array was used for screening followed by conventional ELISA for quantification. In the third approach, an ELISA plate format assay was used for serotype specific immunodetection of BoNT-cleaved substrates, detecting the activity of the light chain, rather than the toxin protein. The results provide guidance for further steps in quality assurance and highlight problems to address in the future.


STUDY QUESTION
Do BRCA1/2 mutation carriers have a compromised ovarian reserve compared to proven non-carriers, based on serum anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels?

SUMMARY ANSWER
BRCA1/2 mutation carriers do not show a lower serum AMH level in comparison to proven non-carriers, after adjustment for potential confounders.

WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
It has been suggested that the BRCA genes play a role in the process of ovarian reserve depletion, although previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the association between serum AMH levels and BRCA mutation status. Hence, it is yet unclear whether BRCA1/2 mutation carriers may indeed be at risk of a reduced reproductive lifespan. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: A multicenter, cross-sectional study was performed between January 2012 and February 2015 in 255 women. We needed to include 120 BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and 120 proven non-carriers to demonstrate a difference in AMH levels of 0.40 µg/l (SD ± 0.12 µg/l, two-sided alpha-error 0.05, power 80%).

PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHOD
Healthy women aged 18-45 years who were referred to the Clinical Genetics Department and applied for predictive BRCA1/2 testing because of a familial BRCA1/2 mutation were asked to participate. A cross-sectional assessment was performed by measuring serum AMH levels and filling out a questionnaire. Multivariate linear regression analyses adjusted for age, current smoking and current hormonal contraceptive use were performed on log-transformed serum AMH levels.

MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Out of 823 potentially eligible women, 421 (51.2%) were willing to participate, and of those, 166 (39%) did not meet our inclusion criteria. Two hundred and fifty-five women were available for analyses; 124 BRCA1/2 mutation carriers and 131 proven non-carriers. The median [range] AMH level in carriers was 1.90 µg/l [0.11-19.00] compared to 1.80 µg/l [0.11-10.00] in non-carriers (P = 0.34). Adjusted linear regression analysis revealed no reduction in AMH level in the carriers (relative change = 0.98 (95%CI, 0.77-1.22); P = 0.76).

LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION
Participants were relatively young. Power was insufficient to analyze BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers separately. AMH levels may have been influenced by the use of hormonal contraceptives, though similar proportions of carriers and non-carriers were current users and adjustments were made to correct for potential confounding in our analysis.

WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
Limitations of the current analysis and limitations of the existing literature argue for prospective, well-controlled follow-up studies with recurrent AMH measurements to determine whether carriers might be at risk for low ovarian reserve and to definitively guide care.

STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS
This study was partially financially supported by a personal grant for Inge A.P. Derks-Smeets, kindly provided by the Dutch Cancer Society (Grant Number UM 2011-5249). Theodora C. van Tilborg, Inge A.P. Derks-Smeets, Anna M.E. Bos, Jan C. Oosterwijk, Christine E. de Die-Smulders, Lizet E. van der Kolk, Wendy A.G. van Zelst-Stams, Maria E. Velthuizen, Marinus J.C. Eijkemans and Margreet G.E.M. Ausems have nothing to disclose. Ron J. van Golde has received unrestricted research grants from Ferring and Merck Serono, outside the submitted work. Annemieke Hoek received an unrestricted educational grant from Ferring pharmaceutical BV, The Netherlands and a speaker's fee for post graduate education from MSD pharmaceutical company, outside the submitted work. Joop S.E. Laven has received unrestricted research grants from Ferring, Merck Serono, Merck Sharpe & Dome, Organon, and Schering Plough, outside the submitted work. Frank J.M. Broekmans is a member of the external advisory board for Merck Serono (The Netherlands), outside the submitted work.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
NTR no. 4324.


ABSTRACT This paper examines mobility governance in an environment where varied mobility practices occur. Drawing on a quasi-ethnography of canal users in England and Wales, we discuss how multiple mobilities (including boating, walking, cycling and running) are practised in the relatively confined and linear spaces of canals and adjacent towpaths, and often at the same time. We demonstrate how these different yet intertwined modes of movement, and their associated tempos, are governed through creative interplays of freedom and control, and hierarchy and etiquette. These findings give rise to wider questions regarding the potentialities of governmobility – i.e. a system in which mobilities are able to govern themselves. Our conclusion, therefore, explores how the governance of mobilities on the UK canal network might offer insight, or a 'watery blueprint', for mobility governance in other shared spaces. This includes exploring the debates between giving citizens greater freedom and agency to negotiate their own mobility juxtapositions and tensions, versus imposing upon them stricter rule-based systems of mobility regulation.


This dissertation examines the extent of which strategic HR practices exist in reality within a small sample of the pharmaceutical industry. This study investigates the perception of strategic HR from both a General Management perspective and a HR professional perspective and seeks to establish the reality of same. The study also investigates the perceived HR competencies required by HR professionals to enable them to carry out the role of strategic HR within their own organisations.

The study further investigates the obstacles that currently prevent the HR professionals within the chosen organisations from acting in a strategic capacity. The study also attempted to establish if HR professionals had the freedom to act strategically if they so wished. The study was composed of two elements: a questionnaire completed by all respondents and a Focus Group meeting attended only by the HR professionals.

The study commences with a literary overview of Human Resource Management from its origins in the Welfare role right through to the role of Strategic Human Resource Management in today's organisations. Whilst the strategic HR overview incorporates some of the most up to date thinking in relation to the whole area of strategy it also includes some of the more negative literary comments.

The results showed that whilst the practices of strategic HR were in part understood by all the reality of them being seen in practice was different. The results also concluded that being strategic meant different things to different people and that there is no one set of congruent strategic HR practices that can be put in place without remaining cognizant of the operating environment.


Regulated phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) discharges and the cost of fertilizer provide economic drivers for nutrient removal and recovery from wastewater. This study used ion exchange (IX) in dilute (domestic) wastewater to concentrate nutrients with subsequent recovery by struvite precipitation. This is the first tertiary wastewater treatment study directly comparing P removal using a range of Fe, Cu, and Al-based media followed by clinoptilolite IX columns for N removal and precipitation using the combined regenerants. Phosphate removal prior to breakthrough was 0.5–2.0 g P Lmedia−1, providing effluent concentrations <0.1 mg L−1 PO4-P and <0.2 mg L−1 NH4-N for ≥80 bed volumes. Dow-FeCu resin provided effective P removal, efficient neutral pH regeneration and 560 mg P L−1 in the regeneration eluate (≥100× concentration factor). Exchange capacity of clinoptilolite in column mode was 3.9–6.1 g N Lmedia−1 prior to breakthrough. Precipitation using the combined cation and anion regenerants resulted in a maximum of 74% P removal using Dow-FeCu. Precipitates contained impurities, including Al3+, Ca2+, and Fe. Overall, the IX-precipitation recovery process removed ≥98% P and 95% N and precipitates contained 13% P and 1.6% N. This sequential process can satisfy increasingly stringent wastewater standards and offers an effective alternative to traditional treatment technologies that simply remove nutrients. Approximately 84% of total P and 97% of total Kjeldahl N entering a treatment plant can be captured (accounting for primary clarifier removal), whereas most existing technologies target side streams that typically contain only 20–30% of influent P and 15–20% of influent N.


The aim of this study was to develop a valid instrument to measure student nurses' perceptions of community care (SCOPE). DeVellis' staged model for instrument development and validation was used. Scale construction of SCOPE was based on existing literature. Evaluation of its psychometric properties included exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. After pilot-testing, 1062 bachelor nursing students from six institutions in the Netherlands (response rate 81%) took part in the study. SCOPE is a 35-item scale containing: background variables, 11 measuring the affective component, 5 measuring community care perception as a placement, 17 as a future profession, and 2 on the reasons underlying student preference. Principal axis factoring yielded two factors in the affective component scale reflecting 'enjoyment' and 'utility', two in the placement scale reflecting 'learning possibilities' and 'personal satisfaction', and four in the profession scale: 'professional development', 'collaboration', 'caregiving', and 'complexity and workload'. Cronbach's α of the complete scale was 0.892 and of the subscales 0.862, 0.696, and 0.810 respectively. SCOPE is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring students' perceptions of community care. By determining these perceptions, it becomes possible to positively influence them with targeted curriculum redesign, eventually contributing to decreasing the workforce shortage in community nursing.


The Objective of the present study is to compare the sealing ability of high-temperature thermoplasticized injectable technique and cold lateral condensation. 68 fresh in vitro teeth were divided into four groups: Group A (30 teeth), Group B (30 teeth), Positive Group (4 teeth), and Negative Group (4 teeth). In Group A, high-temperature thermoplasticized injectable technique was used, while in Group B, the cold lateral condensation technique was used. The root canal filling time, leakage phenomenon, sealing ability and compliance were compared in these groups. In Group A, the root canal filling time (6.48±0.45 min) and leaking length (1.02±0.14) were significantly lower than in Group B. The sealing capacity of 1.5mm, >100 and <250 root canal 1.5mm, and ≥250 root canal 1.5mm and 3.5mm (0.9485±0.0218, 0.9504±0.0152, 0.9452±0.0147, and 0.9522±0.0142), and the compliance of 1.5mm and 3.5mm (0.9558±0.0164 and 0.9722±0.0142) were significantly higher in Group A than Group B (P<0.05). Hightemperature thermoplasticized injectable technique can reduce the filling time, increase compliance, and has good sealing effects on root canal.


Terrestrial hydrology is central to the Arctic system and its freshwater circulation. Water transport and water constituents vary, however, across a very diverse geography. In this paper, which is a component of the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis, we review the central freshwater processes in the terrestrial Arctic drainage and how they function and change across seven hydrophysiographical regions (Arctic tundra, boreal plains, shield, mountains, grasslands, glaciers/ice caps, and wetlands). We also highlight links between terrestrial hydrology and other components of the Arctic freshwater system. In terms of key processes, snow cover extent and duration is generally decreasing on a pan‐Arctic scale, but snow depth is likely to increase in the Arctic tundra. Evapotranspiration will likely increase overall, but as it is coupled to shifts in landscape characteristics, regional changes are uncertain and may vary over time. Streamflow will generally increase with increasing precipitation, but high and low flows may decrease in some regions. Continued permafrost thaw will trigger hydrological change in multiple ways, particularly through increasing connectivity between groundwater and surface water and changing water storage in lakes and soils, which will influence exchange of moisture with the atmosphere. Other effects of hydrological change include increased risks to infrastructure and water resource planning, ecosystem shifts, and growing flows of water, nutrients, sediment, and carbon to the ocean. Coordinated efforts in monitoring, modeling, and processing studies at various scales are required to improve the understanding of change, in particular at the interfaces between hydrology, atmosphere, ecology, resources, and oceans.


With the rapid development of the social economy, the industrialization and urbanization process is accelerating, and the harm of serious environmental pollution has become increasingly evident. Among them, the atmosphere as the essential factor for human survival, has been a threat to survive and healthy of humans and other organisms. And the pollution sources have the diversity and specificity. This paper analyzes the causes of the formation of Shanghai haze pollution, as well as the characteristics and sources of major PM2.5 components. According to the analysis, point out that the adverse weather conditions is the culprit for the formation of haze pollution, and air pollutants are the accomplices. Base on the specific nature of pollution sources and regional particularity, to develop a strategic plan for Shanghai haze governance.To optimize and maintain the urban environment, it requires the city government to develop scientific plans for the controlling of economy and key sources of pollution. Urban residents also need to consciously participate into the environmental protection work, advocating green and low-carbon life, and friendly living and travel habits. Overall, the Shanghai government should make a good job in green environmental protection from the details.


Stable isotope
mixing models are used to estimate proportional contributions of sources to a
mixture, such as in the analysis of animal diets, plant nutrient use,
geochemistry, pollution, and forensics. We describe an algorithm implemented as
SISUS software for providing a user-specified number of probabilistic exact
solutions derived quickly from the extended mixing model. Our method
outperforms IsoSource [1],
a deterministic algorithm for providing approximate solutions to represent the
solution polytope. Our method is an approximate Bayesian large sample procedure.
SISUS software is freely available at StatAcumen.com/sisus and as an R package
at cran.r-project.org/web/packages/sisus.


This paper investigates whether types of dictatorships differ systematically when it comes to the protection of property rights. Differentiating between monarchies, military regimes, one-party and multiparty autocracies, the paper argues that different dictatorial institutions create different incentives to protect property and enforce contracts by influencing the time horizon of the ruling elite. Where rulers fear losing power and regime insiders are uncertain about their own political survival beyond the dictator, expropriation of property is more likely to take place. The paper reports evidence that monarchic autocracies protect property rights relatively well compared to other types of dictatorships, and even when compared to democracies was found. In these regimes, dynastic succession and certainty about the composition of the future elite provide rulers with relatively long time horizons for their dynasties, reducing incentives to expropriate property for short-term gain.


This work (written in Spanish) summarises the most important aspects of the international literature on cartels and coordinated behaviour; provides some insights from Chilean practice; and proposes some policy options. Part I analyses general aspects of coordinated behaviour, from both legal and economic standpoints. Particularly, the conditions of sustainability of the coordination and the social costs of collusion are explained. Part II starts examining the concept of agreement and the means of proof. Then it makes a comparison between the treatment of collusion in Chile and Europe and the US. So far, the treatment of collusive behaviour in Chile - particularly regarding cartels - has been unfortunate in several aspects. However, a recent reform to the law should enable the introduction of a more accurate and modern approach. Crucially, I argue, the introduction of a per se rule is vital. This part ends with a brief description of the adequate level of enforcement. Part III assesses the main aspects of tacit collusion, with particular focus on parallel behaviour and information exchanges. Finally, the conclusion stresses the need for a pragmatic approach: to focus enforcement only on explicit agreements - at least at this early stage of development of the new rules introduced by the mentioned legal reform.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate development of the theory of mind (TOM) of mentally retarded students and its relationship with the number of siblings. Materials & Methods: This descriptive study was in correlation type determination, the total number of 8-14 years old mentally retarded students (59 people) who were studying in 1st to 5th degree of primary school in Mee'aad education center of Torbat-e Heidarieh (the only male education center of Torbat-e Heidarieh) in academic year 2008-09 participated. To collect data of theory of mind (TOM) Unexpected-content task and 38-item test of theory of mind were used. In order to analyze data, ANOVA, Scheffe, Pearson correlation coefficient and Chi- square were carried out. Results: The first and second level of the evolution theory of mind of the mentally retarded students ascending to 12 years (P<0.001) and then fixed (P=0.87). But that theory of mind development which was measured by Unexpected-content task, was ascending (P=0.02). Also, the number of siblings was not statistically significantly correlated with theory of mind development of mentally retarded students (P=0.52). Conclusion: Theory of mind development of mental retarded students varies based on that type of task being used to assess. In total, the claim of Theory-Theory approach, that says theory of mind development is on the basis of necessary processes, could be accepted. Also those theories which are based on cultural-social approaches calming that experience with other people causes development of mind understanding need to be more examined.


This study aims to offer a postcolonial reading of Camilla Gibb's Sweetness in the Belly based on the critical theory of Edward Said' Orientalism as well as his advocate, Albert Memmi's post-post-colonial notions. To that end, the study commences with a detailed explanation of Edward Said's theory of postcolonial literature considering the descriptions of "orientalism", "culture and imperialism", "hegemony", "othering". This research also casts light on Sweetness in the Belly with Albert Memmi's 'mythmaking' and 'nominal generalization'. To commence with, the researcher believes that the character of Lilly as the alter-ego of the writer Camilla Gibb is consciously trying to depict the people of Africa in a positive attitude. However, using the critical theories, the researcher delves into analyzing the novel with a critical Saidian eye and claims that Lilly represents Africans not as the way they really are but, in contrast, as an imaginary construct which consists of some inferior creatures compared to their European counterparts. Furthermore, although Lilly seems to be considering herself as one member of the African community, she is, in fact, making them an "Other" although this process of Othering is depicted in a way that Lilly is both the other and the one who displays others to the reader. The researcher, at this point, turns towards the question of discourse and argues that the colonial discourse causes nominal generalizations and myths about the Africans and Muslims, resulting in their subjugation and suppression.


Epidemiological studies have consistently found that hypertension is associated with poor cognitive performance. We hypothesize that a putative causal mechanism underlying this association is due to genetic loci affecting both blood pressure and cognition. Consistent with this notion, we reported several blood pressure (BP) quantitative trait loci (QTLs) that co-localized with navigational performance (Nav)-QTLs influencing spatial learning and memory in Dahl rats. The present study investigates a chromosome 2 region harboring BP-f4 and Nav-8 QTLs. We developed two congenic strains, S.R2A and S.R2B introgressing Dahl R-chromosome 2 segments into Dahl S chromosome 2 region spanning BP-f4 and Nav-8 QTLs. Radiotelemetric blood pressure analysis identified only S.R2A congenic rats with lower systolic blood pressure (females: −26.0 mmHg, P = 0.003; males: −30.9 mmHg, P<1×10−5), diastolic blood pressure (females: −21.2 mmHg, P = 0.01; males: −25.7 mmHg, P<1×10−5), and mean arterial pressure (females: −23.9 mmHg, P = 0.004; males: −28.0 mmHg, P<1×10−5) compared with corresponding Dahl S controls, confirming the presence of BP-f4 QTL on rat chromosome 2. The S.R2B congenic segment did not affect blood pressure. Testing of S.R2A, S.R2B, and Dahl S male rats in the Morris water maze (MWM) task revealed significantly decreased spatial navigation performance in S.R2A male congenic rats when compared with Dahl S male controls (P<0.05). The S.R2B congenic segment did not affect performance of the MWM task in males. The S.R2A female rats did not differ in spatial navigation when compared with Dahl S female controls, indicating that the Nav-8 effect on spatial navigation is male-specific. Our results suggest the existence of a single QTL on chromosome 2 176.6–179.9 Mbp region which affects blood pressure in both males and females and cognition solely in males.


Tested Metal: Canada's Peacekeepers at War by Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan (Ottawa: Esprit de Corps, 1998, 263pp. $29.95)Soldiers of Diplomacy: The United Nations, Peacekeeping, and the New World Order by Jocelyn Coulon, trans. Phyllis Aronoff and Howard Scott (1994; Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998, xi, 231 pp, $35.00)Peace in the Midst of Wars: Preventing and Managing International Ethnic Conflicts edited by David Carment and Patrick James (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998, xi, 333pp, US$39.95)The Evolution of US Peacekeeping Policy Under Clinton: A Fairweather Friend? by Michael G. MacKinnon (London: Frank Cass, 2000, xx, 203pp, US$59.50)'IT MAY NOT BE WAR, BUT IT SURE AS HELL AIN'T PEACE.'(f.1) Thus did Major-General S.L. Arnold, the commander of all United States Army forces in the Unified Task Force, describe the situation in Somalia in January 1993. Sadly, those words have a certain resonance for the entire 1990s, arguably the most challenging period in United Nations history. Over the past decade the organization has been extremely busy with peace operations, though the setbacks in Somalia, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia have somewhat slackened the demand for its services. New tasks, such as the recently enlarged peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), where 11,000 are scheduled to be deployed,(f.2) and the partnerships with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Kosovo and with the Australians in East Timor, have been as varied as earlier missions, many of which continue to this day in the Middle East, Jammu and Kashmir, and elsewhere.The interpretations of these events by journalists, scholars, diplomats, and soldiers are as diverse as the operations they discuss. The four books under review here, all either written or edited by Canadians, illustrate some of the current trends in the literature. In their gritty description of peacekeeping duty, Scott Taylor and Brian Nolan provide an emotional punch and a perspective 'from the ground up' that is almost always absent in academic treatments. Jocelyn Coulon, formerly the international affairs editor for Montreal's Le Devior and now head of the Lester B. Pearson Peacekeeping Centre's new office in that city, offers an insightful book that profits from his extensive experience, which includes visits to nine United Nations missions. The essays collected by David Carment and Patrick James examine ethnic conflict from an international relations perspective. Finally, Michael MacKinnon examines the development of Presidential Decision Directive 25, the United States peacekeeping policy statement.Taylor and Nolan concentrate on the Canadian experience in United Nations missions ranging from Korea to Rwanda, though their major focus is on the former Yugoslavia, where the Canadian Forces were repeatedly compelled to defend themselves. One of the book's objectives is to highlight the heroism and self-sacrifice of Canada's soldiers, particularly the non-commissioned members. We learn, for example, that Private Gilbert Perron, a National Hockey League draft pick whose future 'looked bright' (p 23), was killed on peacekeeping duty in Cyprus in 1974, during Turkey's invasion. Another important theme running through the book is that this example of supreme sacrifice, the 1 Commando Group, Canadian Airborne Regiment in general, and most other examples since then have gone largely unrecognized in Canada.Also illustrative is the chapter on the 'Medak Pocket,' a major hotspot in western Croatia during the wars of Yugoslav succession. In August 1995, a major Croat offensive and ethic-cleansing campaign began against local Serbs. The Canadians stationed there repeatedly came under and returned fire. Taylor and Nolan describe the terrible emotional and psychological burden placed on the peacekeepers, who witnessed so much death and horror but were powerless to stop it. 'Medak Pocket' opens with the results of this horror on one soldier, who committed suicide while he was on leave in Winnipeg, Manitoba. …


Libraries have undergone rapid and exciting changes in the last decade. Their role has expanded beyond just collecting and preserving material, to actively engaging communities and curating their collections. While these ongoing changes have been largely successful, there remains a considerable disconnect between cultural institutions and Indigenous peoples.

It is now widely understood that access to material which reflects a person's culture and history can play a profound role in determining their social, cultural and emotional wellbeing. The problem lies in the fact that for many Aboriginal people this material is hidden behind cultural, lingual and physical barriers; largely accessible to everyone but the people it relates to. If Indigenous peoples are expected to play a greater role in determining the future of these collecting institutions, there must first be some basic structures in place. Photographs and other heritage materials must be released back into Indigenous communities and Indigenous peoples must have a larger stake in the curation of Aboriginal heritage materials.

Historically a large amount of Aboriginal heritage material has been donated by non-Aboriginal people, and items have little in the way of identification, or context – often with simple captions such as "Blacks, WA" or "Man, Kimberley, 1940". Comparatively, heritage material relating to non-Aboriginal people is often identified with incredible detail and accompanied by rich, primary sources including diaries, letters and notes.

Barriers to access are further complicated by a number of other factors, in particular literacy and language. For many Aboriginal people Standard Australian English is not as important as traditional Aboriginal language(s), and efforts to promote English literacy can be seen as holdovers from the previous 'assimilation approach' to education and administration. Additionally, English may be a second, third or fourth language and speakers may not be confident in their understanding and use of English in formal settings such as libraries and schools. For this reason Storylines is being trialled as a tool for engaging Aboriginal people in digital and information literacies – literacies which have the potential to transcend traditional lingual barriers.

The State Library of Western Australia's Storylines project is directly challenging these barriers by working with Indigenous communities, organisations and families to reinterpret collections, develop community capacity and return historical material. Complementary programs, including family history sessions, information literacy training and photo identification workshops, are informing the State Library's ongoing development of policies and frameworks in relation to collections, engagement models and service delivery. These activities are also building the confidence and capacity of Aboriginal clients; empowering people to discover photographs of their ancestors, and to share their own stories, knowledge and histories.

The Storylines Project seeks to restore balance to these heritage collections and create a truly inclusive Western Australian history. This paper will explore some of the effects the project is having on both the State Library and Aboriginal communities, with a particular focus on the curation of inclusive collections and the creation of culturally relevant literacy and learning opportunities.


In 1824, when the popularity of the Harmonie ensemble as a vehicle for court music was waning, the fifteen-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composed what would become an enigmatic staple of the wind band repertoire. Mendelssohn's work, originally composed for the 11-member Harmonie heard at the spa at Bad Doberan but rescored by the composer in 1838 for military band, has been modified to fit modern band instrumentation numerous times, with each subsequent version presenting different performance anomalies. In 2005, urtext performing editions were produced under the expert editorship of Christopher Hogwood and published by Barenreiter. How can a conductor reconcile these very different editions? Is there a deeper, more meaningful background to this work and what is the significance of its place in Mendelssohn's output? How might some of the challenges of performing this work be solved? In investigating the answers to these questions, this author sought the guidance of two of the world's foremost Mendelssohn scholars, R. Larry Todd and Christopher Hogwood, and he remains indebted to them for their invaluable contributions to this project.
Versions of Mendelssohn's composition have always been an important part of chamber wind, wind ensemble, and concert band repertoire as an example of a work for wind instruments by one of history's most respected composers and a representative of early 19th century compositional style. The following study seeks to broaden the contextual frame of this youthful example of Mendelssohn's gifted style in an attempt to help present informed performances that are free of unnecessary complications.


Summary Objective: The aim of this study was to assess cardiopulmonary and metabolic functions and exercise tolerance in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) in comparison with healthy subjects. Materials and Methods: Twenty patients with paraplegia and fifteen healthy controls were included in the study. Fourteen patients were complete and six were incomplete according to the classification of the American Spinal Injury Association. Mean age of the patients was 31.31±8.17 years. The mean time since injury was 3.81±5.08 months. All subjects were considered either sedentary or minimally active and their upper bodies were not aerobically trained. Resting pulmonary functions were assessed spirometrically. Cardiopulmonary and metabolic responses to exercise were investigated with an electronically braked arm crank ergometry. Results: There was a significant respiratory dysfunction in paraplegic patients. The mean peak oxygen consumption in the patient and control groups were 9.86±4.21 ml/kg/min and 14.27±1.59 ml/kg/min, respectively. Also, peak heart rate, peak minute ventilation, respiratory exchange ratio, peak power output values were lower in the paraplegic subjects than those in the healthy ones. As expected, healthy subjects reached significant higher values at peak exercise compared to the patient group (p range, <0.05 to 0.001). Conclusion: In the present study, we determined that there was a significant respiratory dysfunction (60% in patients with SCI versus 1.3% in healthy controls, p<0.001) in the study population. Moreover, they had a decreased exercise tolerance and cardiopulmonary and metabolic responses to maximum exercise when compared to the healthy subjects. Turk J Phys


Ocean Floor Geoscience Convener:*Kyoko Okino(Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo), Keiichi Tadokoro(Research Center for Seismology, Volcanology and Earthquake and Volcano Research Center, Nagoya University), Osamu Ishizuka(Institute of Geoscience, Geological Survey of Japan/AIST), Tomohiro Toki(Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus), Narumi Takahashi(Earthquake and Tsunami Research Project for Disaster Prevention, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology), Chair:Tomohiro Toki(Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus), Kyoko Okino(Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo) Fri. May 2, 2014 11:00 AM 12:45 PM 418 (4F) Ocean Floor Geoscience session covers a broad range of research on seafloor such as mid-ocean ridge process, subduction dynamics, arc magmatism, hot spot and LIPs, crustal movement and structure etc. Every field of researches and every approaches are welcomed. The session aims to encourage discussion among scientists from different study fields and to integrate our understanding of ocean floor.


Winner of the 2012 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award (non-US).Most studies of the Sino-Japanese War are presented from the perspective of the West. Departing from this tradition, The Battle for China brings together Chinese, Japanese, and Western scholars to provide a comprehensive and multifaceted overview of the military operations that shaped much of what happened in political, economic, and cultural realms. The volume's diverse contributors have taken pains to sustain a scholarly, dispassionate tone throughout their analyses of the course and the nature of military operations, from the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to the final campaigns of 1945. They present Western involvement in Sino-Japanese contexts, and establish the war's place in World War II and world history in general.


How non-coding DNA gives rise to new protein-coding genes (de novo genes) is not well understood. Recent work has revealed the origins and functions of a few de novo genes, but common principles governing the evolution or biological roles of these genes are unknown. To better define these principles, we performed a parallel analysis of the evolution and function of six putatively protein-coding de novo genes described in Drosophila melanogaster. Reconstruction of the transcriptional history of de novo genes shows that two de novo genes emerged from novel long non-coding RNAs that arose at least 5 MY prior to evolution of an open reading frame. In contrast, four other de novo genes evolved a translated open reading frame and transcription within the same evolutionary interval suggesting that nascent open reading frames (proto-ORFs), while not required, can contribute to the emergence of a new de novo gene. However, none of the genes arose from proto-ORFs that existed long before expression evolved. Sequence and structural evolution of de novo genes was rapid compared to nearby genes and the structural complexity of de novo genes steadily increases over evolutionary time. Despite the fact that these genes are transcribed at a higher level in males than females, and are most strongly expressed in testes, RNAi experiments show that most of these genes are essential in both sexes during metamorphosis. This lethality suggests that protein coding de novo genes in Drosophila quickly become functionally important.


The Robotics Toolbox is a software package that allows a MATLAB user to readily create and manipulate datatypes fundamental to robotics such as homogeneous transformations, quaternions and trajectories. Functions provided, for arbitrary serial-link manipulators, include forward and inverse kinematics, Jacobians, and forward and inverse dynamics. This article introduces the Toolbox in tutorial form, with examples chosen to demonstrate a range of capabilities. The complete Toolbox and documentation is freely available via anonymous ftp.


African-Americans are still experiencing racial discrimination rooted in structural bias in US American society. Research has shown that this behaviour can be reduced if individuals are made conscious of their bias, but little is known about these mechanisms on a societal level. Envisaging the white-supremacist Charlottesville rally in 2017 as an event that rendered American society conscious of its racism, we scrutinise whether racial bias in the digital media has changed, comparing levels of preand post-Charlottesville bias. We fit word embedding models to a broad sample of largely US media and quantify bias by calculating cosine similarities between terms for black or white actors and positive or negative character traits. We find no differences in positive character traits after Charlottesville. However, African-Americans are associated substantially less with negative character traits post-Charlottesville, while white actors are semantically closer to negative traits.


The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model is a model for technology integration in education, in which the relationship with pedagogy and content is central. At this moment, the TPACK self-report survey of Schmidt et al. (2009a) is an often used instrument to measure the TPACK of (pre-service) teachers. However, little research has been conducted on the validity of this instrument. In this study the construct validity of the survey is investigated through convergent and discriminant validity. In addition, it is investigated to which degree the scores on the TPACK self-report survey correlate higher with a TPACK measure with another instrument (lesson plan) when the scores are controlled for general self-efficacy. To answer these questions, 59 pre-service teachers completed the TPACK self-report questionnaire and a general self-efficacy questionnaire. In addition, 25 of these students designed a lesson plan that has been analyzed on TPACK level, in order to make comparisons between the questionnaire and the lesson plans. Analyzes are performed mainly through calculations with correlations. Results show that the questionnaire had little discriminating ability between different TPACK domains measured with the questionnaire. The results also show that the questionnaire did not discriminate between students from the first and second year of the education, between which a difference in TPACK level was expected. The correlations between corresponding domains measured with the questionnaire and the lesson plan turned out not to be significant, this result does not support convergent validity. Finally, the results showed that the scores on the TPACK self-report questionnaire and the scores on the lesson plan did not correlate higher when controlling for general self-efficacy. In this study the validity of the TPACK self-report survey has not been demonstrated. The study though has raised questions, for example regarding the relationship between the TPACK domains. Further research on these aspects is essential.


Although Charles Darwin never visited China, his ideas landed there with force. Darwinism was the first great Western theory to make an impact on the Chinese and, from 1895 until at least 1921, when Marxism gained a formal foothold, it was the dominant Western ism influencing Chinese politics and thought. The authority of Darwin, sometimes misiniterpreted, influenced reformers and revolutionaries and paved the way for Chinese Marxism and the thought of Mao Tse-tung. This study evaluates Darwin's theory of evolution as a stimulus to Chinese political changes and philosophic challenge to traditional Chinese beliefs. James Pusey bases his analysis on a survey of journals issued from 1896 to 1910 and, after a break for revolutionary action, from 1915 to 1926, with emphasis on the era between the Sino-Japanese War and the Republician Revolution. The story of Darwinism in China involves, among others, the most famous figures of modern Chinese intellectual history.


We report on measurements of residual stress up to 300 MPa with a microfocused synchrotron X-ray beam in quartz fragments in a cataclasite from the damage zone of the San Andreas fault, California (USA). Samples were extracted from the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth drill core at a depth of 2.7 km. Stresses were derived from lattice distortions observed on Laue diffraction images. These stresses are distributed nonhomogeneously at the micron scale and are much higher than bulk-rock strengths of fault gouge, suggesting different processes at the microscopic and macroscopic scales. Our results indicate that residual lattice strain in quartz is a potential paleopiezometer to estimate stress in deformed rocks.


This thesis is focused on studies of substituted Hg-based superconducting copper oxides ((Hg1-xMx)Ba2Can-1CunO2n+2+δ). These compounds are promising objects of investigation, not only from a fundamental point of view but also because of their high values of superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and irreversibility field (Hirr).The first part of the thesis is devoted to optimization of the synthesis procedure for Hg-based cuprates. The influence of different parameters (T, t, p(Hg), p(O2)) on the synthesis of these compounds in sealed silica tubes was studied. Optimal conditions yielded samples containing up to 95% of HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ (Hg-1223). The formation of solid solutions with the formula (Hg1-xCux)Ba2Ca2Cu3O8+δ (where x <= 0.5) was also established. Another technique was developed, using LiF as a flux, for synthesis of samples containing up to 90% of the HgBa2CaCu2O6+δ (Hg-1212) phase.The second part concerns synthesis and studies of oxyfluorides using Hg-1212 and Hg-1223 as starting materials together with XeF2 as a fluorinating agent. It was found that oxyfluorides of both phases have a parabolic dependence of Tc vs. a parameter as well as enhanced Tc values (ΔT ≈ 3-4 K) in comparison with optimally doped non-fluorinated analogues. The crystal structure of Hg-1223 oxyfluoride was studied by X-ray powder and neutron diffraction methods. It is suggested that chemical modification of the crystal structure leads to a decrease in Cu-O distance without noticeable change in Cu-O-Cu angle (in the (CuO2) layers), which may be the significant factors influencing this Tc increase. Hg-1223 oxyfluoride was also studied under high pressure for first time. It was found that this compound has a record-high Tc value (≈ 166 K) at P ≈ 23 GPa.The last part describes the investigation of substituted Hg-based superconductors in the series (Hg0.9M0.1)Ba2CuO4+δ {(Hg,M)-1201}, where M = Tl, Pb, W, Mo, Nb and V. A comprehensive study of these compounds by various methods (X-ray powder diffraction, EDX, IR-, EXAFS- and XANES -spectroscopy) indicated that the change of charge carrier doping level is a crucial factor determining the irreversibility line. (Hg0.9Mo0.1)Ba2CuO4+δ showed the most improved irreversibility line position among the (Hg,M)-1201 compounds studied in this series.


Today, many software companies continuously deliver and deploy new features to their customers. However, many software systems are still released traditionally with long feature freeze periods and time-based releases due to historical reasons. Currently, only a few empirical inquiries of transformations towards continuous delivery exist. In this paper, we aim to understand how feature freeze was practiced and the feature freeze period reduced in an R&D program at Ericsson. The case organization has struggled with the feature freeze approach and is now moving towards the continuous delivery paradigm. We investigated the intended and actual effects of the feature freeze practice, how the feature freeze period was reduced and what effects the reduction had. We interviewed 11 employees, covering all the development teams at the largest site of the distributed organization. In addition, we analyzed data from software repositories to get quantitative triangulation of the qualitative results. Historically, the organization was not able to comply with the intended feature freeze practice, due to pressure for new feature development and long feature freeze periods leaving little time to perform actual development. By implementing test automation, the organization was able to reduce the feature freeze period by 56%, after which the amount of changes during the freeze decreased by 63% and the amount of changes close to the release date by 59%. We conclude that reducing the feature freeze period is possible using test automation, and reducing the freeze time can increase conformance to the intended feature freeze practice. To further reduce feature freeze, attention must be paid to deployment automation and collaboration between development and operations, in addition to test automation.


We propose a new character-based text classification framework for non-alphabetic languages, such as Chinese and Japanese. Our framework consists of a variational character encoder (VCE) and character-level text classifier. The VCE is composed of a β-variational auto-encoder (β -VAE) that learns the proposed glyph-aware disentangled character embedding (GDCE). Since our GDCE provides zero-mean unit-variance character embeddings that are dimensionally independent, it is applicable for our interpretable data augmentation, namely, semantic sub-character augmentation (SSA). In this paper, we evaluated our framework using Japanese text classification tasks at the document- and sentence-level. We confirmed that our GDCE and SSA not only provided embedding interpretability but also improved the classification performance. Our proposal achieved a competitive result to the state-of-the-art model while also providing model interpretability.


Teff has its origin in Ethiopia as grain crop , while in South Africa it is primarily a forage crop for hay and recently as summer grazing pasture. The response of teff herbage and grain production to planting date , growth stage at cutting, seeding rate and N fertilizer application was studied. Previously limited research data were available for teff production in South Africa. Spring plantings (September to October) are required to maximise total herbage yield with 9.40, 8.48 and 7.64 t DM ha') recorded for 1996/97, 1997/98 and 1998/99 respectively. Summer plantings (November to December) give maximum herbage yield from the first cut, yielding 4.42,4 .72 and 3 .78 t DM ha') for 1996/97, 1997/98 and 1998/99 respectively. The exact planting date is season dependent. Temperature and rainfall determine the beginning of the growth season regarding favourable conditions for teff germination and growth. Herbage yield of cut 1 increases with advancement in growth stage at cutting. Cutting at the vegetative and piping stages gives most number of cuts , up to five yielding 7.45 t DM ha') (1996) while the full flowering stage gives the least (one or two cuts , 4.75 and 7.72 t DM ha' ! in 1996 and 1997 respectively). Yield is also affected by environmental conditions influencing germination, biomass accummulation and regrowth after cutting and by lodging. A trad e-off results between herbage quantity and quality. Yield increases while quality decreases with advancing phenological stage, resulting in reduced digestibilty and CP and increased fibre content. Seeding rate differences were manifested primarily in weed infestation level, which varied between cultivars depending on leafiness and associated sward density. Nitrogen application levels gave maximum response between 75 and 150 kg N ha", with some cultivar differences . Split N application according to expected yield distribution related to planting date is recommended . Grain yield response to seeding rate and N fertilization levels could not be established. Heavy grain losses through thunderstorms and wet conditions at grain maturity precluded yield measurements. Teff yield responses are influenced by day length, environmental factors, such as temperature and rainfall. and phenological stage at cut ting. These variables influence biomass accumulation and regrowth .


The event-related potential (ERP) component named phonological mismatch negativity (PMN) arises when listeners hear an unexpected word form in a spoken sentence [1]. The PMN is thought to reflect the mismatch between expected and perceived auditory speech input. In this paper, we use the PMN to test a central premise in the predictive coding framework [2], namely that the mismatch between prior expectations and sensory input is an important mechanism of perception. We test this with natural speech materials containing approximately 50,000 word tokens. The corresponding EEG-signal was recorded while participants (n = 48) listened to these materials. Following [3], we quantify the mismatch with two word probability distributions (WPD): a WPD based on preceding context, and a WPD that is additionally updated based on the incoming audio of the current word. We use the between-WPD cross entropy for each word in the utterances and show that a higher cross entropy correlates with a more negative PMN. Our results show that listeners anticipate auditory input while processing each word in naturalistic speech. Moreover, complementing previous research, we show that predictive language processing occurs across the whole probability spectrum.


For a business, knowing current stakeholder product knowledge is essential to influencing behaviour. What do consumers think and feel about biomass residential heating? An assessment of consumers' semantic structure about a biomass residential heating product: pellet stove/furnace, reveals that consumers perceive the product as natural but laborious to maintain, and dirty/smelly. An exploratory analysis of the industry's marketing communications suggests that the industry is not addressing the 'ease-of-use' issue.


In 1896, a Norwegian immigrant and mother of eight children named Helga Estby was behind on taxes and the mortgage when she learned that a mysterious sponsor would pay $10,000 to a woman who walked across America. Hoping to win the wager and save her family' s farm, Helga and her teenaged daughter Clara, armed with little more than a compass, red-pepper spray, a revolver, and Clara' s curling iron, set out on foot from Eastern Washington. Their route would pass through 14 states, but they were not allowed to carry more than five dollars each. As they visited Indian reservations, Western boomtowns, remote ranches and local civic leaders, they confronted snowstorms, hunger, thieves and mountain lions with equal aplomb. Their treacherous and inspirational journey to New York challenged contemporary notions of femininity and captured the public imagination. But their trip had such devastating consequences that the Estby women's achievement was blanketed in silence until, nearly a century later, Linda Lawrence Hunt encountered their extraordinary story.


Replacement and upgrading of the mains water system in North Berwick provided an opportunity to identify and record deposits and structures across the core of the medieval burgh. The methods of trench excavation used meant that archaeological features were largely only seen in section, however, a large amount of information about the development of the burgh, and its layout, was collected despite this. Over much of the central core of the medieval burgh, layer upon layer of occupation deposits and more mixed material were interspersed with obvious inundations of wind-blown sand. The existence of a rough surface running east-west along much of the High Street could suggest that this is the more likely candidate for the earliest focus for the burgh, rather than the north/south running Quality Street further to the east. Road surfaces were also seen along East Road, running out of the town. The density of occupation deposits markedly lessened along Westgate, the continuation of the High Street, indicating the limits of the medieval core. A number of structures were also identified, including a wall at the east of the town that may represent the town wall, or at least define the limit of settlement to the east. The data collected from the watching brief will allow better assessments for future planning decisions, and also shows the importance of archaeological monitoring of this type of construction work.


The advent of new advances in mobile computing has changed the manner we do our daily work, even enabling us to perform collaborative activities. However, current groupware approaches do not offer an integrating and efficient solution that jointly tackles the flexibility and heterogeneity inherent to mobility as well as the awareness aspects intrinsic to collaborative environments. Issues related to the diversity of contexts of use are collected under the term plasticity. A great amount of tools have emerged offering a solution to some of these issues, although always focused on individual scenarios. We are working on reusing and specializing some already existing plasticity tools to the groupware design. The aim is to offer the benefits from plasticity and awareness jointly, trying to reach a real collaboration and a deeper understanding of multi-environment groupware scenarios. In particular, this paper presents a conceptual framework aimed at being a reference for the generation of plastic User Interfaces for collaborative environments in a systematic and comprehensive way. Starting from a previous conceptual framework for individual environments, inspired on the model- based approach, we introduce specific components and considerations related to groupware.


This paper seeks to argue that mediation has been hitherto conceived in the construction industry, and indeed by practitioners in other related disciplines such as property management, as largely a "problem-solving" mechanism. Whilst this is clearly an aim of mediation there is also the appended danger that the value of mediation is conceived in these terms alone. If this is the case, then its value, or success, is conceived very narrowly. The aim of this paper is, then, to argue that there are wider values to mediation in a construction setting. These values can be considered as a "family" of related attitudes, skills and perceptions that can positively affect the persons involved. By affecting growth in individuals an organisational change may follow. This, in turn, can result in a significant cultural change in the industry, and associated professions as a whole, as well as having a positive impact on construction education. The paper begins by an overview of the development of mediation and proceeds to consider its current use of mediation in construction. It then considers the question of how mediation success is conceived. The paper argues that both the current practice of construction mediation and the way in which its success is measured are too narrow. It argues that a wider approach to construction mediation is required. Finally, drawing from the literature on "idealist" mediation an account of mediation as a developmental process is developed.


Increasing evidence, in particular from gene expression data, indicates that mandibles throughout the Mandibulata are gnathobasic and that myriapod and hexapod mandibles do not represent 'whole limbs'. These observations do not necessarily imply that the gnathal edges of the mandibles are also homologous, though this homology finds some support from gene expression. The gnathal edges of mandibles commonly consist of three parts : an incisor process (pars incisivus), a molar process (pars molaris) and a lacinia mobilis (or similar structures with different names), situated between the two processes. A comparative SEM study shows that, in contrast to the lacinia mobilis, a broad homology of the pars incisivus and the pars molaris in Myriapoda, Crustacea and Hexapoda can potentially be defended. In Chilopoda, the proximal part of the gnathal edge is represented by a bristled pad, the 'Haarpolster', that has been identified as equivalent to a pars molaris. By comparison to other myriapods, notably Symphyla, Scutigeromorpha is assumed to be plesiomorphic in having the Haarpolster on a separate sclerite and in having a molar plate formed by rows of confluent spines amidst the Haarpolster bristles. In many crustacean and hexapod mandibles, the surface of the pars molaris is covered by a pattern of scaly transverse ridges built by rows of spines, often confluent with each other and with projections of the gnathal edge. This implies that the grinding surface of the pars molaris is not the original surface of the gnathal edge, but is built on a more distal second level. Rows of spines and a spinose marginal fringe with gaps between the rows are common features of the pars molaris in myriapods, hexapods and crustaceans, providing evidence for homology by special structure, in addition to the criterion of positional correspondence.


In recent years there has been an increasing use of logical methods and significant new developments have been spawned in several areas of computer science, ranging from artificial intelligence and software engineering to agent-based systems and the semantic web. In the investigation and application of logical methods there is a tension between: * the need for a representational language strong enough to express domain knowledge of a particular application, and the need for a logical formalism general enough to unify several reasoning facilities relevant to the application, on the one hand, and * the need to enable computationally feasible reasoning facilities, on the other hand. Second-order logics are very expressive and allow us to represent domain knowledge with ease, but there is a high price to pay for the expressiveness. Most second-order logics are incomplete and highly undecidable. It is the quantifiers which bind relation symbols that make second-order logics computationally unfriendly. It is therefore desirable to eliminate these second-order quantifiers, when this is mathematically possible; and often it is. If second-order quantifiers are eliminable we want to know under which conditions, we want to understand the principles and we want to develop methods for second-order quantifier elimination. This book provides the first comprehensive, systematic and uniform account of the state-of-the-art of second-order quantifier elimination in classical and non-classical logics. It covers the foundations, it discusses in detail existing second-order quantifier elimination methods, and it presents numerous examples of applications and non-standard uses in different areas. These include: * classical and non-classical logics, * correspondence and duality theory, * knowledge representation and description logics, * commonsense reasoning and approximate reasoning, * relational and deductive databases, and * complexity theory. The book is intended for anyone interested in the theory and application of logics in computer science and artificial intelligence.


Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) was introduced in 1995 to address the problem of recurrent depression. MBCT is based on the notion that meditation helps individuals effectively deploy and regulate attention to effectively manage and treat a range of psychological symptoms, including emotional responses to stress, anxiety, and depression. Several studies demonstrate that mindfulness approaches can effectively reduce negative emotional reactions that result from and/or exacerbate psychiatric difficulties and exposure to stressors among children, adolescents, and their parents. Mindfulness may be particularly relevant for youth with maladaptive cognitive processes such as rumination. Clinical experience regarding the utility of mindfulness-based approaches, including MBCT, is being increasingly supported by empirical studies to optimize the effective treatment of youth with a range of challenging symptoms. This paper provides a description of MBCT, including mindfulness practices, theoretical mechanisms of action, and targeted review of studies in adolescents.


This essay examines the implications of economic globalization on the labor markets in the Philippines and Indonesia. Today's economic globalization characterized by liberalization of the market, privatization of state-owned enterprises, and minimal government intervention in the economy, results in job losses, retrenchments and irregular employment and rising wage differentials among workers. Both countries follow liberal economic policies that have constrained the state's response in terms of labor market policies to mitigate the negative impact of economic globalization. Free market proponents consider as labor rigidities the state's policy interventions in the labor market and the participation of trade unions. Labor flexibility and the free interplay of labor supply and demand are the ones valued in the liberalized labor market. Though constrained and weakened to address the economic restructuring brought about by globalization, the labor movements in the Philippines and Indonesia continue to find ways to develop new unionisms and strategies to organize themselves as social movements.


The advent of non-volatile memory (NVM) will fundamentally change the dichotomy between memory and durable storage in database management systems (DBMSs). These new NVM devices are almost as fast as DRAM, but all writes to it are potentially persistent even after power loss. Existing DBMSs are unable to take full advantage of this technology because their internal architectures are predicated on the assumption that memory is volatile. With NVM, many of the components of legacy DBMSs are unnecessary and will degrade the performance of data intensive applications. To better understand these issues, we implemented three engines in a modular DBMS testbed that are based on different storage management architectures: (1) in-place updates, (2) copy-on-write updates, and (3) log-structured updates. We then present NVM-aware variants of these architectures that leverage the persistence and byte-addressability properties of NVM in their storage and recovery methods. Our experimental evaluation on an NVM hardware emulator shows that these engines achieve up to 5.5X higher throughput than their traditional counterparts while reducing the amount of wear due to write operations by up to 2X. We also demonstrate that our NVM-aware recovery protocols allow these engines to recover almost instantaneously after the DBMS restarts.


Throughout the twentieth century, Sweden earned a reputation for a generous, comprehensive welfare system predicated upon collective responsibility. As a consequence, the history of publicly funded health care in Sweden during this time is largely one of growth. Trends in the Swedish political economy since the 1980s, however, have indicated a movement toward market-based reforms. This paper analyzes the context of these reforms and argues that the underlying neoliberal ideology valorizing the market is evident not only in macro-level policies pertaining to the public health finance and administration, but also in the specific programs that public health deploys to manage chronic disease— most notably in the advocacy of the human capital approach to health education.


The recent development and implementation of multi-directional mobile social media in Post-industrial societies has dissolved the ontological binary opposition between film producers and audiences.  In this context, cinematic narrative as an art form needs to be re-appraised.  The convention is to study the form as a linear method of one-way communication, and an audio-visual semiotic system derived from Linguistics.
This paper is an introduction to Quantum Filmmaking, a new interdisciplinary participatory art practice composed by Kino-Present and Now&Here=Everywhere.  It provides a framework to analyse the Physics of cinematic narrative.  That is, understanding narrative as an artistic process of producing and receiving participatory video-collages created with camera-phones.  It also draws attention to transformations in reality generated during the ON/OFF line cause and effect chain.
This article develops an interdisciplinary theory of Quantum Film, merging subatomic Physics with Expanded Cinema theories.  It explores the under-researched influence of developments in Quantum Physics during the evolution of American avant-gardes in the 1960s and the ontology of Expanded Cinema.  A synthesis of the two is emergent through the practice of Quantum Filmmaking as participatory video-collage produced through mobile social media.


This research sought to investigate the degree of beneficiaries' participation in projects, with reference to the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Project. Kenya has had many donor funded projects since independence, with specific objectives, and huge sums of money have been expended in their implementation. Regrettably, achieving of the projects' goals and objectives has been only a mirage despite the huge investments and the beneficiaries have unfortunately, continued to remain poor and vulnerable. In Kenya, for example, 50% of the Kenyans, majority of who rely on agriculture, live below the poverty line (CIA World Fact book) despite the huge investments in agriculture. The study sought to investigate the level of beneficiary participation in projects' monitoring and evaluation in four key areas; understanding the goals and objectives, participation in the identification of the activities of the project, involvement in identifying measurements to show the extent of progress achieved and finally, finding out the level of beneficiary participation in selecting formats and visual tools for presenting such information. The sample frame had 152 CWGs in the old Nyandarua district. 10% of Commodity working groups were drawn from the sample by use of stratified random sampling. At least five members of every CWG were selected at random for interview. Data collection was through a questionnaire, to allow for collection of both qualitative and quantitative data. Data analysis was done by both the content analysis method and descriptive statistics. On understanding the goals and objectives of the project, the beneficiaries seemed to understand only partially the expectations of the project. They did not understand well the amount of the investment made in the project, and neither did they understand the returns to the investments and the timeframes of the project. The variable that seemed to affect monitoring and evaluation in the project most was beneficiary participation in project activities, with beneficiaries demonstrating very poor participation in project activities, which are, sadly, the very building blocks, according to the KAPP extension process documents, of the KAPP monitoring and evaluation process. A great number of beneficiaries indicated that they understood their responsibility as KAPP CWG members; they were also involved in the election of their officials and were aware of the dates for trainings. However, in financial matters a greater majority indicated that they did not receive any financial reports form the group treasurers, and were not involved in decisions when projects follow up would take place. They also, according to the analysis, did not seem to quite understand the measurements for the project milestones. On selection of formats to show results, the beneficiaries actually submitted reports on their projects, but followed no particular formats, though the formats were provided. There is an indication that no guidelines were followed too by the beneficiaries. They were aware of the existence of the stakeholder forum and its roles, and they were also aware of their financing models in the different project locations and apparently interacted well with these models. On the effects of beneficiary participation in project monitoring and evaluation, the beneficiaries agreed that the KAPP project had many benefits, with all variables scoring above average. For example, they agreed that the project provided prompt extension service, good quality extension service providers, transparency and accountability in service delivery and increased production and incomes. The researcher recommends that the beneficiaries be trained to understand investments and returns to the investments, so that they can fully understand the project goals and objectives. On project activities, the research recommends that reasons be sought for such poor and low participation in project activities, yet the beneficiaries indicate that the project is beneficial to them. The group treasurers should, on regular basis, expose the beneficiaries to the financial reports for increased transparency and accountability.


The need for providing mobile multimedia services is increasing as the mobility of individuals' increases and wireless network are widely adopted. The advantages of Cloud Computing is utilized to address the shortage in computation, memory, and energy resources to support advanced graphic processing functions in real-time, especially for high-resolution digital multimedia contents, as well as security vulnerabilities for wireless networks connecting mobile terminals. This paper presents a framework for streaming digital multimedia contents through cloud computing infrastructure. The framework describes the relationship among the service provider, the cloud provider, and the mobile device. The main aim of this framework is to provide a scheme for multimedia streaming service that can operate in a ubiquitous environment through mobile devices.


Image representation based on image bases provides a framework for understanding neural representation of visual perception. A recent fMRI study has shown that arbitrary contrast-defined visual images can be reconstructed from fMRI activity patterns using a combination of multi-scale local image bases. In the reconstruction model, the mapping from an fMRI activity pattern to the contrasts of the image bases was learned from measured fMRI responses to visual images. But the shapes of the images bases were fixed, and thus may not be optimal for reconstruction. Here, we propose a method to build a reconstruction model in which image bases are automatically extracted from the measured data. We constructed a probabilistic model that relates the fMRI activity space to the visual image space via a set of latent variables. The mapping from the latent variables to the visual image space can be regarded as a set of image bases. We found that spatially localized, multi-scale image bases were estimated near the fovea, and that the model using the estimated image bases was able to accurately reconstruct novel visual images. The proposed method provides a means to discover a novel functional mapping between stimuli and brain activity patterns.


Traffic Road-Signs contain useful information for the road users; the operation of many of modern applications like the automatic or smart vehicle requires an automatic discrimination of the texts of the traffic road-sign. Discrimination of text compose of several stages, the first of these stages is detection and extraction of the texts. In this work, an algorithm is developed to detect, locate, and segment of the texts and the word in the video clips, that existing in the road signs in the city of Baghdad. The proposed approach includes two stages, the first one is processing the image to locate and extract images of the road-sign and neglect the rest of the image, and the second stage is processing the image of the road-sign plate to detect and extract the texts without symbols and shapes. The basic structure of the algorithm depends on the following functions: edge-detector, dilation, and filling-hole, morphological-opening. The total recall values of 89%, the total precision value of 93%.The algorithm is, then, tested based on video clips, implementation of the algorithm based on video clips confirms its ability to detect the texts which may appear in the video scenes, recall-rate(r) is excellent with a total value of 94.5% and a total precision value of 86.5%. The algorithm is tested to measure its validity to work under real-time operation, by processing one frame and exceed a set of next frames, the test appears that the algorithm is able to work under real-time operation with recall-rate(r) of (93%).


Abstract Cre recombinase is a member of a large family of site-specific recombination enzymes that performs a cut-and-paste operation between two specific DNA sequences. Our goal has been to understand the mechanism of this complex reaction by trapping and characterizing the three-dimensional structures of each of the reaction intermediates. This work has led to high resolution crystallographic models of (i) the initial synaptic complex, (ii) the covalent Cre- DNA intermediate, and (iii) the Holliday junction intermediate. The Cre-loxP system appears to function by creating at the outset a protein-DNA architecture that resembles that of the Holliday junction intermediate that is eventually formed. The "arms" of the loxP sites are initially bent by about 75° in the synaptic complex, forming a nearly planar arrangement that is held fixed, while cleavage and strand exchange occur in the central region between the arms. The simplest view of the recombination pathway is that it contains two symmetrical halves, each of which uses this Holliday junction-like architectural framework to mediate the cleavage and ligation steps. The two halves are linked by a subtle isomerization of the Holliday intermediate that switches the roles of the recombinase subunits and allows exchange of the second pair of DNA strands. In this paper, we summarize recent structural results from our laboratory, with an emphasis on the geometry of the DNA substrates.


To ensure efficient energy supply to the high demanding brain, nutrients are transported into brain cells via specific glucose (GLUT) and monocarboxylate transporters (MCT). Mitochondrial dysfunction and altered glucose metabolism are thought to play an important role in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Here, we investigated the cellular localization of key GLUT and MCT proteins in human brain tissue of non‐neurological controls and MS patients. We show that in control brain tissue GLUT and MCT proteins were abundantly expressed in a variety of central nervous system cells, particularly in microglia and endothelial cells. In active MS lesions, GLUTs and MCTs were highly expressed in infiltrating leukocytes and reactive astrocytes. Astrocytes manifest increased MCT1 staining and maintain GLUT expression in inactive lesions, whereas demyelinated axons exhibit significantly reduced GLUT3 and MCT2 immunoreactivity in inactive lesions. Finally, we demonstrated that the co‐transcription factor peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor gamma co‐activator 1‐alpha (PGC‐1α), an important protein involved in energy metabolism, is highly expressed in reactive astrocytes in active MS lesions. Overexpression of PGC‐1α in astrocyte‐like cells resulted in increased production of several GLUT and MCT proteins. In conclusion, we provide for the first time a comprehensive overview of key nutrient transporters in white matter brain samples. Moreover, our data demonstrate an altered expression of these nutrient transporters in MS brain tissue, including a marked reduction of axonal GLUT3 and MCT2 expression in chronic lesions, which may impede efficient nutrient supply to the hypoxic demyelinated axons thereby contributing to the ongoing neurodegeneration in MS. GLIA 2014;62:1125–1141