A 55 years old and 121.5 m long ve-span prestressed bridge has been subjected toshear failure test in Kiruna, Sweden. This in-situ test is a desirable test to validate andcalibrate the existing nonlinear nite element program for predicting the shear behaviorof reinforced and prestressed concrete structures.Two 3D nite element (FE) models of the Kiruna Bridge are built in commercial soft-ware Abaqus, one using shell-elements and one using a combination of shell and beam ele-ments. Predictions obtained from these two models are well consistent with mode shapesand eigenfrequencies computed from acceleration measurements on the bridge before andafter loading it to failure. Shear-failure test of this bridge performed by Lulea Universityof Technology (LTU) is also simulated using the built-in concrete damage plasticity (CDP)model in Abaqus. The predicted load-displacement curve is in good agreement with themeasurement. Verication of the CDP model is conducted at element and member levelwith two dierent damage parameter evolutions. According to the verication, it indi-cates the damage parameter will aect the predicted shear behavior of reinforced concretestructures and it is not reliable to adopt the CDP model to simulate the shear behaviorof reinforced concrete structures based on the present research.A long term goal is to use use the measured mode shapes, eigenfrequencies and FEmodels for evaluating methods for damage identication. Such methods are important formaintenance of dierent structures, for extending their life span and for better knowledgeof their load carrying capacity. We describe how so-called sparse regularization niteelement method updating (FEMU) methods can be used. We then demonstrate someimportant properties of such methods with simulations on a Kirchho plate. For instance,the simulations suggest that both eigenfrequencies and mode shapes should be used forprecise localization of the damage.


We show that one can evaluate the cumulative probability
density function m weighted sums of n correlated lognormal variables
with Monte Carlo simulation rapidly, by deriving its joint probability
density function. The adaptive Monte Carlo method allows us to
estimate the number of rounds required to achieve a given tolerance.
The need for evaluating this function rapidly occurs in many
applications, for instance for pricing combinatorial options for
bandwidth markets.


If two theory formulations are merely different expressions of the same theory, then any problem of choosing between them cannot be due to the underdetermination of theories by data. So one might suspect that we need to be able to tell distinct theories from mere alternate formulations before we can say anything substantive about underdetermination, that we need to solve the problem of identical rivals before addressing the problem of underdetermination. Here I consider two possible solutions: Quine proposes that we call two theories identical if they are equivalent under a reconstrual of predicates, but this would mishandle important cases. Another proposal is to defer to the particular judgements of actual scientists. Consideration of an historical episode—the alleged equivalence of wave and matrix mechanics—shows that this second proposal also fails. Nevertheless, I suggest, the original suspicion is wrong; there are ways to enquire into underdetermination without having solved the problem of identical rivals.


Despite growing interest and investment in ecosystem services across global science and policy arenas, it remains unclear how ecosystem services – and particularly changes in those services – should be measured. The social and ecological factors, and their interactions, that create and alter ecosystem services are inherently complex. Measuring and managing ecosystem services requires a sophisticated systems-based approach that accounts for how these services are generated by interconnected social–ecological systems (SES), how different services interact with each other, and how changes in the total bundle of services influence human well-being (HWB). Furthermore, there is a need to understand how changes in HWB feedback and affect the generation of ecosystem services. Here, we outline an SES-based approach for measuring ecosystem services and explore its value for setting policy targets, developing indicators, and establishing monitoring and assessment programs.


Abstract. Retrieved from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on-board the Aqua satellite, 12 years (2003–2014) of aerosol and cloud properties were used to statistically quantify aerosol–cloud interaction (ACI) over the Baltic Sea region, including the relatively clean Fennoscandia and the more polluted central–eastern Europe. These areas allowed us to study the effects of different aerosol types and concentrations on macro- and microphysical properties of clouds: cloud effective radius (CER), cloud fraction (CF), cloud optical thickness (COT), cloud liquid water path (LWP) and cloud-top height (CTH). Aerosol properties used are aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom exponent (AE) and aerosol index (AI). The study was limited to low-level water clouds in the summer. The vertical distributions of the relationships between cloud properties and aerosols show an effect of aerosols on low-level water clouds. CF, COT, LWP and CTH tend to increase with aerosol loading, indicating changes in the cloud structure, while the effective radius of cloud droplets decreases. The ACI is larger at relatively low cloud-top levels, between 900 and 700 hPa. Most of the studied cloud variables were unaffected by the lower-tropospheric stability (LTS), except for the cloud fraction. The spatial distribution of aerosol and cloud parameters and ACI, here defined as the change in CER as a function of aerosol concentration for a fixed LWP, shows positive and statistically significant ACI over the Baltic Sea and Fennoscandia, with the former having the largest values. Small negative ACI values are observed in central–eastern Europe, suggesting that large aerosol concentrations saturate the ACI.


The near-surface rock structure that covers an abandoned marl mine nearby the village of Montevecchia (Italy) was investigated through a combination of seismic surveys performed in two different survey campaigns. The methods selected for these investigations were Refraction Seismics and Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW). A sort of transillumination experiment was also attempted. All the methods were successful and gave complementary information. Refraction seismics was used to characterize the shallower low velocity layers and a deeper high velocity layer of the near-surface structure. The MASW method was necessary to assess the existence of a velocity inversion revealing the presence of a low velocity layer between the faster layer identified by refraction seismics and a 4th high velocity layer covering the upper mine gallery. The transillumination experiment validated the presence of the 4th layer and gave an estimate of the average velocity that represents a lower boundary for the P-wave velocity within this layer. Both refraction and transillumination data were analysed to derive average estimates of attenuation level and rock quality factor.


The cave site of Moula-Guercy, 80 meters above the modern Rhone River, was occupied by Neanderthals approximately 100,000 years ago. Excavations since 1991 have yielded rich paleontological, paleobotanical, and archaeological assemblages, including parts of six Neanderthals. The Neanderthals are contemporary with stone tools and faunal remains in the same tightly controlled stratigraphic and spatial contexts. The inference of Neanderthal cannibalism at Moula-Guercy is based on comparative analysis of hominid and ungulate bone spatial distributions, modifications by stone tools, and skeletal part representations.


Through a case study of scientific research on opium addiction in early twentieth-century Manchuria, the epicenter of the global narcotic economy, I trace the changing ways in which colonial medicine was used to legitimate Japanese imperialism. From a justification of empire, research on addiction was transformed into a source of validation for the Manchukuo nation-state. Distinctive practices, including the establishment of local, world-class laboratories and the training of subjects as scientists, highlight the relative importance of colonial medicine to Japanese imperialism, compared to the West.


Sperm chromatin integrity may affect the outcomes of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Developing a clinically reliable strategy to enrich sperm samples with high chromatin quality spermatozoa prior to sperm banking or use in ART would thus be advantageous. The objectives of this study were to: (i) assess the sperm chromatin quality in men with different categories of semen parameters; and (ii) evaluate the extents of Annexin‐V magnetic‐activated cell sorting (MACS) technology coupled with differential density gradient centrifugation (DGC) in improving sperm chromatin quality. Three categories of men from couples attending a university‐based fertility clinic were recruited based on their semen parameters: normozoospermic (n = 13), asthenoteratozoospermic (n = 17) and teratozoospermic (n = 12). For each patient, spermatozoa in semen samples were processed first by DGC to enrich the motility and further by MACS to remove spermatozoa showing apoptotic features. The yield and enrichment of sperm quality was evaluated at each step with conventional semen parameters in conjunction with a combination of five complementary assays, to assess sperm maturity, chromatin structure, compaction and DNA integrity (Hyaluronic Binding Assay, SCSA, chromomycine A3 staining and TUNEL and COMET assays). Our results demonstrated that, compared with normozoospermic samples, raw asthenoteratozoospermic and teratozoospermic samples had a higher proportion of spermatozoa containing DNA breaks, but only asthenoteratozoospermic exhibited altered chromatin structure and decreased binding to hyaluronic acid. Interestingly, the DGC appeared to select for more mature spermatozoa with high DNA compaction. More importantly, in all categories of semen samples, Annexin‐V MACS allows enrichment of spermatozoa with good chromatin quality as measured by the TUNEL and SCSA. Because effective treatment modalities to improve sperm DNA damage are limited, our results suggest a potential clinical value of MACS as a mean to enhance sperm quality that may improve assisted reproductive outcomes.


Gastronomic tourism has the capacity to brand/re-brand a destination or region through its food and drink tourism offering, leading to increased visitation and thus visitor spend, while also supporting local food companies, outlets, suppliers, producers, manufacturers, agri-food and sustainable localised food initiatives, such as the Slow Food Movement and Eat/Shop Local initiatives etc. The sustainability aspects of gastronomic tourism have largely gone ignored in the extant literature and this chapter proposes to examine the potential of this phenomenon as it applies to County Cork in the Republic of Ireland. The chapter contextualises the development of gastronomic tourism and its link with sustainability and in doing so identifies key market trends in relation to the growing links between tourism, gastronomy and sustainability. It then presents a case study of the development of gastronomic tourism in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, examining its growth, development, key features and links with sustainable development. It examines the well-recognised Cork "model" and makes recommendations as to how it might be considered for application to other destinations as a development option for sustainable gastronomic tourism.


The concept of 'cultural heritage' has acquired increasing currency
 in culture, politics and societies in East Asia. However, in
 spite of a number of research projects in this field, our understanding
 of how the past and its material expressions have
 been perceived, conceptualised and experienced in this part
 of the world, and how these views affect contemporary local
 practices and notions of identity, particularly in a period of
 rapid economic development and increasing globalisation, is still
 very unclear. Preoccupation with cultural heritage - expressed in
 the rapid growth of national and private museums, the expansion
 of the antiquities' market, revitalisation of local traditions,
 focus on 'intangible cultural heritage' and the development of
 cultural tourism - is something that directly or indirectly affects
 national policies and international relations. An investigation of
 how the concept of 'cultural heritage' has been and continues to
 be constructed in East Asia, drawing on several case studies taken
 from China, Japan and Korea, is thus timely and worthwhile.


Manganese oxide deposits have long been observed in association with carbonates within the Appalachian Mountains, but their origin has remained enigmatic for well over a century. Ore deposits of Mn oxides from several productive sites located in eastern Tennessee and northern Virginia display morphologies that include botryoidal and branching forms, massive nodules, breccia matrix cements, and fracture fills. The primary ore minerals include hollandite, cryptomelane, and romanechite. Samples of Mn oxides from multiple localities in these regions were analyzed using electron microscopy, X-ray analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and trace/rare earth element geochemistry. The samples from eastern Tennessee have biological morphologies, contain residual biopolymers, and exhibit REE signatures that suggest the ore formation was due to supergene enrichment (likely coupled with microbial activity). In contrast, several northern Virginia ores hosted within quartz-sandstone breccias exhibit petrographic relations, mineral morphologies, and REE signatures indicating inorganic precipitation, and a likely hydrothermal origin with supergene overprinting. Nodular accumulations of Mn oxides within weathered alluvial deposits that occur near to breccia-hosted Mn deposits in Virginia show geochemical signatures that are distinct from the breccia matrices, and appear to reflect remobilization of earlier-emplaced Mn and concentration within supergene traps. Based on the proximity of all of the productive ore deposits to mapped faults or other zones of deformation, we suggest that the primary source of all of the Mn may have been deep-seated, and that Mn oxides with supergene and/or biological characteristics result from the local remobilization and concentration of this primary Mn.


E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Division of Health Sciences Norwegian Institute of Public Health He contributed to the project plan, literature review, selection of studies and assessment of their risk of bias, use of GRADE and to the first draft of the article. Kjetil G. Brurberg is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and associate professor at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. The author has completed the ICMJE form and reports no conflicts of interest.


This thesis examines the relationship between metaphysical theorisation and the practice of philosophy as a way of life. The thesis begins by highlighting the parallels between the Cartesian shift away from the premodern practice of philosophy as a way of life (what Foucault terms 'the Cartesian moment') and the ontological suspension of 'life' in Descartes' influential re-conception of the soul as the principle of thinking instead of life and in his mechanistic understanding of living beings as automata. After this, it examines the works of Martin Heidegger, Heidegger's former students Hannah Arendt and Giorgio Agamben, as well as Gilles Deleuze (and via Deleuze, Henri Bergson) and considers how the metaphysical theoretical conception of 'being', 'living' and 'thinking' informs and affects the practice of philosophy. The thesis concludes with a re-reading of Augustine's philosophy of life in light of these contemporary philosophical developments. By underscoring the connections between Augustine's metaphysical conception of God as 'Life itself' and his philosophical practice of introspection as notably found in his Confessions—one of the most important texts of Western metaphysics and spiritual practice, this thesis argues that metaphysical theorisation is in fact not incompatible with the premodern practice of philosophy as a way of life or spiritual exercise (as suggested by Foucault and to some extent Heidegger). Instead, Augustine's Christian appropriation of the Platonic metaphysics of participation in light of his philosophical interpretation of the Christian doctrine of the incarnation not only shows us how speculative metaphysics can provide a powerful theoretical incentive to lead a philosophical life, but also how a 'religious' approach to philosophising can help recover the understanding of philosophy as way of life and furthermore reconcile the supposed division between metaphysical theorisation and the practice of philosophy as a way of living.


As poets continue to use digital media technology, functionalities of computing extend aesthetic possibilities in documents focusing attention on crafting verbal content. Utility of these machines and tools enables multiple types of compounded articulation (combinations of verbal, visual, animated, and interactive elements). Building larger public awareness of the mechanics of digital poetry, New Directions in Digital Poetry aspires to influence the formation of writing with media in literary society of the future, specifically as a record of a particular technological era. Emerging from these studies is that digital poetry as a WWW-based, networked form happens 'in stages', 'on stages'. Few works require singular responses from viewers both composition of works and viewing them are processes involving multiple steps and visual scenarios. For anyone interested in the interplay of poetry and technology, this book provides an informed look at digital poetry in its contemporary state. In the process of performing "close readings," Funkhouser makes suggestions and provides methods for viewing works, for audiences perhaps unfamiliar with mechanical and semiotic conventions being used."


The commentary investigates Japanese aesthetics of space, silence and emptiness - ma and mu - that informed my compositional practice during the research period 2012 - 2015. The portfolio comprises text compositions and sound installations in which forms of micro events and sustained events are employed. Throughout, the emphasis is on my personal engagement with, and manifestation of emptiness that concerns a particular model of listening and perception.
Chapter 1 discusses six primary research areas: ma and mu, material, text, form, listening and perception. Firstly, I introduce ma and mu by examining noh culture and Zeami's teaching of senu hima (where there is no-action) in the context of my personal approaches to music. The following subjects are then used to contextualise my PhD practice by means of examples from various composers and visual artists. Here, these particular and enigmatic concepts are explored through Japanese art as well as Western contemporary works by Alvin Lucier, Eliane Radigue and those of the Wandelweiser collective.
Part 2 provides contextual commentaries on selected compositions from the portfolio that mostly articulate my aesthetics in relation to the topics covered in Chapter 1. koso koso addresses my methodologies to investigate the essence of senu hima, followed by treow that discusses my approach to materials and the importance of space. I move on to grade two and grade two extended in order to examine text scores, and then, look into Especes d'espaces 03 and 04 as examples of musical forms that I employ.
Finally, listening and perception are investigated through the compositions gnome and con.de.structuring. Throughout, I describe how my works explore emptiness as a result of my particular emphasis on listening over composing.


Online surveys and interviews, the observations of chat rooms or online games, data mining, knowledge discovery in databases (KDD), collecting biomarkers, employing biometrics, using RFID technology - even as implants in the human body - and other related processes all seem to be more promising, cheaper, faster, and comprehensive than conventional methods of human subjects research. But at the same time these new means of gathering information may pose powerful threats to privacy, autonomy, and informed consent. Online research, particularly involving children and minors but also other vulnerable groups such as ethnic or religious minorities, is in urgent need of an adequate research ethics that can provide reasonable and morally justified constraints for human subjects research. The paper at hand seeks to provide some clarification of these new means of information gathering and the challenges they present to moral concepts like -privacy, autonomy, informed consent, beneficence, and justice. Some existing codes of conduct and ethical guidelines are examined to determine whether they provide answers to those challenges and/or whether they can be helpful in the development of principles and regulations governing human subjects research. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations are presented that can help in the ask of formulating an adequate research ethics for human subjects research.


M-Modes for graphical models is the problem of finding top M label configurations of highest probability in their local neighborhoods. The state-of-the-art method for solving M-Modes is a dynamic programming algorithm which computes global modes by first computing local modes of each subgraph and then search through all their consistent combinations. A drawback of the algorithm is that most of its time is wasted on computing local modes that are never used in global modes. This paper introduces new algorithms that directly search the space of consistent local modes in finding the global modes, which is enabled by a novel search operator designed to search a subgraph of variables at each time. As a result, the search algorithms only need to generate and verify a small number of local modes and can hence lead to significant improvement in efficiency and scalability.


Classical cadherins are Ca-dependent, transmembrane, cellular adhesion proteins that are essential for the development and maintenance of tissue structures. As cells sort and re-arrange to form functional tissues, these proteins are subjected to tugging forces. However, the mechanisms by which cadherins withstand mechanical forces and regulate their adhesion in response to mechanical stress is not understood at the molecular level. This dissertation integrates single molecule force clamp experiments using Atomic Force Microscope, molecular dynamics simulations, steered molecular dynamics simulations, principal component analysis and coarse-grained energy landscape mapping to understand, at the single molecule level, the mechanisms by which cadherins mediate cellular adhesion in the presence of tensile forces. I show that cadherins can bind in multiple trans conformations: strand-swap dimers (S-dimers), X-dimers and an intermediate conformation sampled along the X-dimer to Sdimer interconversion pathway. These conformations respond to force by varying their biomechanical properties. S-dimers are in a binding orientation that form slip bonds that weaken as force increases. In contrast, when X-dimers are pulled, they rearrange themselves and form force-induced interactions that lock them into a tighter conformation that resists rupture. X-dimers thus form biphasic catch-slip bonds that initially strengthen with force and then weaken beyond a critical force. Finally, intermediate structure undergoes a torsional motion perpendicular to the pulling direction which results in ideal bonds that are insensitive to tensile stress. By varying their conformation, cadherins are thus able to tune their kinetics and withstand mechanical stress.


The dedifferentiation of pancreatic β cells into progenitor cells may underlie the development of type 2 diabetes. Some patients with type 2 diabetes exhibit a decreased capacity to produce insulin from pancreatic β cells, which leads to an inability to properly regulate blood glucose concentrations. Although, in response to chronic stress, β cells can become exhausted and undergo apoptotic cell death, resulting in loss of β cell mass, whether this contributes to or is the only mechanism responsible for β cell dysfunction in type 2 diabetes is not clear. Talchai et al. investigated mice with β cells deficient in the transcription factor Foxo1 (IKO mice), which is required for increased β cell mass and the responses of β cells to stress. Under basal conditions, IKO mice exhibited normal β cell function and glucose tolerance; however, under various conditions of stress, IKO mice showed decreased insulin production, reduced glucose tolerance, and increased production of the hormone glucagon. Immunohistochemical analysis and lineage tracing experiments showed that β cells in stressed IKO mice had normal survival but became dedifferentiated, losing β cell markers, as well as transcription factors and enzymes required for insulin production. Analysis of the differentiation state of the Foxo1-deficient β cells showed the presence of markers of progenitor-like cells, including Oct4 and Neurogenin3. Further lineage-tracing experiments showed that the dedifferentiated β cells in IKO pancreatic islets gave rise to other cell types, including glucagon-producing α cells. Analysis of other mouse models of type 2 diabetes showed a similar loss of β cell identity and the increased abundance of markers of progenitor cells. As Puri and Hebrok discuss in commentary, although these findings have yet to be confirmed in humans, the data raise the possibility that therapeutic reversal of β cell dedifferentiation may be effective in preventing the development of type 2 diabetes. C. Talchai, S. Xuan, H. V. Lin, L. Sussel, D. Accili, Pancreatic β cell dedifferentiation as a mechanism of diabetic β cell failure. Cell 150, 1223–1234 (2012). [Online Journal] S. Puri, M. Hebrok, Diabetic β cells: To be or not to be? Cell 150, 1103–1104 (2012). [Online Journal]


A $k$-factorization of $K_v$ of type $(r, s)$ consists of $k$-factors each of which is the disjoint union of $r$ copies of $K_{k+1}$ and $s$ copies of $K_{k,k}$. By means of what we call the patterned $k$-factorization $F_k(D)$ over an arbitrary group $D$ of order $2s + 1$, it is shown that a $k$-factorization of type $(1, s)$ exists for any $k\ge2$ and for any $s\ge1$ with $D$ being an automorphism group acting sharply transitively on the factor-set. The general method to construct a $k$-factorization $F$ of type $(1, s)$ over an arbitrary 1-factorization $S$ of $K_{2s+2}$ ($F$ is said to be based on $S$) is used to prove that the number of pairwise non-isomorphic $k$-factorizations of this type goes to infinity with $s$. In this paper, we show that the full automorphism group of $F$ is known as soon as we know the one of $S$. In particular, the full automorphism group of $F_k(D)$ is determined for any $k\ge2$, generalizing a result given by P. J. Cameron for patterned 1-factorizations [J London Math Soc 11 (1975), 189-201]. Finally, it is shown that $F_k(D)$ has exactly $(k!)2s+1(2s+1)|Aut(D)|$ automorphisms whenever $D$ is abelian.


In the present study, the potential hazard of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) kurstaki HD1 spore-crystal mixture (spore/δ-endotoxin) on parasitization performance and longevity of female egg parasitoid Trichogramma evanescens Westwood was evaluated. For this purpose, Bt kurstaki HD1 was incubated at 30 °C in T3 medium at 200 rpm for seven days. Lyophilized spore-crystal mixture (5000 µg mL−1) was mixed with 50% honey solution and supplied to 0–24 h old T. evanescens adults as a nutrient to ensure the ingestion of the toxins by the parasitoids. The results indicated that spore-crystal mixture of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (Btk) HD1 did not induce considerable decrease in parasitization performance and longevity of T. evanescens adults. Thus, it can be concluded that Btk HD1 products can safely be used together with egg parasitoid T. evanescens in integrated pest management system to compensate the deficiency of each control tactic alone.


The mineralogical compositions and petrological character of non-calcareous mineral sand tempers in prehistoric potsherds from Pacific islands are governed by the geographic distribution of geotectonic provinces controlled by patterns of plate tectonics. As sands from different islands are not mingled by sedimentary dispersal systems, each temper sand is a faithful derivative record of parent bedrock exposed on the island of origin. Tempers are dominantly beach and stream sands, but also include dune sand, colluvial debris, reworked volcanic ash, broken rock, and broken pottery (grog). From textural relations with clay pastes, most tempers were manually added to clays collected separately, but naturally tempered clay bodies occur locally. Calcareous temper sands derived from reef detritus are widely distributed, but ancient potters commonly preferred non-calcareous sands for temper. Consequently, beach placer sand tempers rich in diagnostic heavy minerals are typical of many temper suites. Distinctive temper classes include oceanic basalt, andesitic arc, dissected orogen, and tectonic highland tempers characteristic of different geologic settings where contrasting bedrock terranes are exposed. Most Oceanian sherd suites contain exclusively indigenous tempers derived from local island bedrock, but widely distributed occurrences of geologically exotic tempers document limited pottery transfer over varying distances at multiple sites.


In the this investigation, physics of natural convection flow and heat transfer in closed enclosure including an isothermal heat block are analyzed by double population approach of lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The sidewalls are isothermally cooled at a constant temperature while the upper and bottom walls are considered to be adiabatic except for the rectangular block heated at a uniform temperature. The simulations were performed for a Prandtl number fixed to 0.71. Main attention has been focused on the effects of Rayleigh number (10 3 ≤ Ra ≤ 10 6 ), source position (0.1 ≤ xc ≤ 0.4), source length (0.1 ≤ a ≤ 0.6) and source height (0 ≤ b ≤ 0.4) upon dynamic and thermal fields of the fluid. It is found that the present approach of LB thermal model D2Q4-D2Q9 produces similar results by comparison with former predictions. Besides, the computational results show that the parameters governing the problem have a considerable effect on the flow patterns, the temperature repartition and consequently on the heat transfer rate. By increasing Rayleigh number, average Nusselt number along upper and lateral surfaces of the heater increases causing an enhancement of convective mode in enclosure. A weakening of heat transfer rate is obtained with increasing position, length as well as height of hot source.


Over the last 20 years, the popularity of the zebrafish model has grown more rapidly than any other vertebrate model, and by now the zebrafish is used for virtually all disciplines of biological and medical research. New sophisticated advances in gene editing, transgenesis, 3D-imaging and behavioural assay design have been established successfully and complemented the 'tool box' to make the zebrafish one of the most powerful vertebrate model organisms. There is now information available on expression of over 12 000 genes and about 1000 mutant phenotypes. The latest high-quality sequence assembly of the zebrafish genome allows in-depth comparative genomic analysis which will further enhance the use of zebrafish as a model for human diseases. Together with the previously established techniques such as forward genetics, cell-transplantation, -ablation and -extraction, which can now be used for new generation sequencing analysis with temporal-spatial precision, the zebrafish provides an outstanding in vivo vertebrate model to study development and human disease.

Key Concepts

The advantages of the zebrafish model include rapid development, short generation time, large number of offspring and transparency of the embryos
The zebrafish has become an excellent genetic model organism, amenable to forward genetic screens, targeted mutagenesis and efficient transgenesis
Using the zebrafish as a research model for developmental biology, regeneration, chemical screens and disease will expand our knowledge in basic and clinical research

Keywords:

zebrafish;
model organism;
development;
genetics;
disease model


This paper reviews the state of the art on the resilience of complex systems by embracing different research areas and using bibliometric tools. The aim is to identify the main intellectual communities and leading scholars and to synthesize key knowledge of each research area. We also carry out a comparison across the research areas, aimed at analyzing how resilience is approached in any field, how the topic evolved starting from the ecological field of study, and the level of cross-fertilization among domains. Our analysis shows that resilience of complex systems is a multidisciplinary concept, which is particularly important in the fields of environmental science, ecology, and engineering. Areas of recent and increasing interest are also operation research, management science, business, and computer science. Except for environmental science and ecology, research is fragmented and carried out by isolated research groups. Integration is not only limited inside each field but also between research areas. In particular, we trace the citation links between different research areas and find a very limited number, revealing a scarce cross-fertilization among domains. We conclude by providing some directions for future research.


"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them."1 I. INTRODUCTION Espionage, political threats, and infiltration of private societies are activities more seemingly identified as plot elements in the latest Tom Clancy thriller or The Da Vinci Code2 than as unfortunate byproducts of an ambiguous tax code. Churches struggling to find a voice in modern public policy debates, however, claim that these are real tactics utilized by groups seeking to enforce extreme interpretations of the Internal Revenue Code's political speech restrictions against tax-exempt organizations.3 Some of these groups have gone to the extreme of planting spies within churches to immediately report to the 1RS whenever clergymen address policy issues and admonish churchgoers to take action on those issues.4 Those opposed to tax-exempt churches having a role in the political realm view such actions by religious leaders as clear violations of a church's tax-exempt status.5 At the opposite end of the spectrum are those who support the right of churches to speak out on political issues unfettered by intervention from the 1RS or any other organization.6 Thus, in the modern development of fair and just tax policy, two competing visions have emerged as polar extremes7 in the debate over the relationship between the tax-exempt status of churches and their political advocacy efforts. Couched somewhere between these two extremes is § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which places two restrictions on the political speech and activities of tax-exempt organizations.8 The first is a more limited restriction mandating that "no substantial part of [a 501(c)(3) organization's] activities" may consist of "carrying on propaganda, or otherwise attempting, to influence legislation."9 The second restriction mandates that 501(c)(3) organizations may "not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."10 These two restrictions have caused great concern to parties on both sides of the issue-some arguing that the restrictions do not go far enough to separate churches from the political arena and others arguing that these restrictions are an unconstitutional burden on religion. The bulk of modern attention in this area has centered on the political campaign ban while giving only lip service to the restriction against "substantial" attempts to influence legislation. This one-sided focus of commentators11 and legislators12 likely stems from not only the increased political activity of churches during recent presidential elections13 but also the relative harshness of the political campaign ban versus the lobbying restrictions.14 Further, many view the constitutionality of the lobbying restrictions against 501(c)(3) organizations as settled law after the Supreme Court's decision in Regan v. Taxation with Representation of Washington.1* However, to this day, the 1RS has never revoked the tax-exempt status of a church solely for having a substantial amount of its activities dedicated to influencing legislation.16 Nonetheless, groups opposed to the political activity by churches continue to threaten religious entities with revocation of tax-exempt status for speaking out on social policy issues and urging members to take action in support of church positions.17 The lack of aggressive enforcement by the 1RS and continued threats against churches demonstrate that a number of lingering questions still cloud the definition of permissible church conduct in attempting to shape public policy: (1) How much of a church's activities, labor, and funds can it devote to influencing legislation and still retain its tax-exempt status? …


Currently, in New Zealand, children at birth have their heel pricked to test for metabolic conditions which, if found early enough, can be treated. The present New Zealand newborn metabolic screening programme is a competent and successfully run programme with good detection and participation rates. The programme staff is committed to the success of newborn screening, is progressive in attitude towards the benefits of screening and fosters good links with other international programmes.The programme has avoided negative publicity, and has carefully managed access to the Guthrie cards in the interests of maintaining public confidence. New Zealand is well placed to have a flexible and responsive screening programme, given the small population; the single medical contact for each child (the lead maternity carer); a nationally consistent screening panel; centralised testing; and public funding. New Zealand is following international trends in newborn screening but not in too hurried a fashion. Even before expansion, the New Zealand programme was screening for a respectable number of serious disorders (more than, for example, the United Kingdom). New Zealand has been able to use the implementation lag to absorb knowledge about and experience of these new technologies from overseas, and to put in place adequate support services, such as the employment of a clinical metabolic specialist, before launching tandem mass spectrometry (MSMS) screening.There is little public awareness of the successful New Zealand newborn programme, beyond recognition that the 'heel prick test' is a routine procedure for newborns. The National Metabolic Screening Programme has been consulting on various aspects of the programme and the storage and use of the Guthrie cards. This consultation is a positive move given the anecdotal evidence of growing anxiety surrounding the use of DNA samples and Guthrie cards. A small but growing number of parents who are requesting the return of the cards points to concern about potential uses of the DNA samples. This concern may have implications for the screening programme in the future.More public education and information regarding the programme, particularly in antenatal classes and on the internet, should be made available to the general population. Publications, whether scientific or popular, about newborn screening should be made more widely available to parents and members of the public who are seeking more information than is currently contained in educational pamphlets. Audit, epidemiological and cost-effectiveness data should be gathered from the programme.Given the constrained levels of financial support, and small number of key staff, this research would best be done in association with other researchers. Screening expansion is an exciting move for many and the programme expects that an additional five to ten children with genetic disorders will be detected through the programme per annum. The MSMS screening is also to be used as a metabolic diagnostic tool. Given the expansion of newborn screening, and the versatility of the new technology and its potential for disease prevention, the purchase of MSMS was perhaps worthy of better governmental support, rather than the programme's reliance on a children's charity for financial support.The newborn metabolic screening programme can be classed as a genetic service. At present, there is unofficial and ad hoc national co-ordination with respect to genetic services. There is apparently a review underway of the 2003 National Health Committee (NHC) report on co-ordination of genetic testing in New Zealand by the New Zealand District Health Boards, presumably with a view to implementation of at least some of the report; there is no other information available on this review at present. Newborn metabolic screening should be acknowledged in future genetic coordination initiatives; though, equally, the programme legitimately belongs within the mandate of screening services.When scientifically accurate, clinically useful, cost-effective, high-throughput screening processes are available, the pros and cons of inclusion of early onset, untreatable disorders, such as lysosomal or peroxisomal storage disorders, should be publicly discussed.If screening of untreatable disorders is introduced, then there must be improved education so that parents are aware of the implications of screening. In the future, it is likely that DNA screening for individual disorders will be introduced as adjunct tests to the metabolic screening programme. In view of the speed at which science is developing in genetics, it is impossible to say, with any certainty, what the longer-term future holds for newborn screening or even whether the screening time point might move to (non-invasive?) antenatal screening. Whole genome sequencing remains likely in the future, although how and when this information might be used, after the initial sequencing process, remains to be seen.Expansion of newborn screening into DNA screening will require more characterisation of minority populations in New Zealand. It is likely that there will be differing allele frequencies for various disorders in these populations, compared with populations of Northern European descent (as for cystic fibrosis in the United States). It is also possible that a small number of genetic disorders, rarely found in Northern European populations, are more commonly found in minority populations here. If any were identified, there would be merit in evaluating them for screening.The current Wilson-Jungner criteria, which have been used as a foundation for newborn screening and which were originally formulated in 1968 for chronic adult disorders, should be reformulated for newborn screening.


The mass extinction at the end of the Triassic Period was one of the largest extinction events in the Phanerozoic and it was the result of a global environmental crisis. In connection with this, the last two decades have seen increasing research efforts to gain more knowledge and thus a better understanding of this event. These efforts have included detailed studies of numerous stratigraphic sections worldwide. The review presented here attempts to summarize the major results of multi-faceted international research on the stratigraphic and fossil record of the end-Triassic event, discussing proposed cause-and-effect relationships and possible scenarios. In addition, there is also an overview of studies  made  in  recent  decades  on  the  Triassic-Jurassic  boundary  sections  in  Hungary,  with  an  emphasis  on  their relevance to global research into the Triassic-Jurassic boundary.


One of the greatest difficulties facing a stock trader or investment manager is the stock selection process. In this process, the investor is faced with a large number of competing investments, and a fixed amount of capital. The goal is to spread the available capital across a reduced subset of the competing investments, with the aim of increasing the return. Typically, the investor relies on one of two main frameworks to guide the selection process, namely Fundamental Analysis, and Technical Analysis. This paper focuses on Technical Analysis, and implements a neural network which supports the stock selection process.


"Sendero: historia de la guerra milenaria en el Peru" (Lima, 2008) from Gustavo Gorriti Ellenbogen (Lima, 1948 - ), is an heterogeneous ad hybrid literary product. The book is an extended chronicle about the most important stages of insurgence and development of the Peruvian guerrilla movement and party Sendero Luminoso during a ten years period, between the 80's and the 90's. This work is the result of a huge investigation that even caused Gorriti's imprisonment and torture, under the leadership targeted by Fujimori's government. The book reconstructs Sendero's millenaristic rhetoric, based on an apocalyptic vision of the world - unintentionally established on pre-Hispanic features - through official documents of the political party, interviews and testimonies. Gorriti relativizes both literary genres and the dichotomy between objectivity and subjectivity, by using different kinds of literary tools to sketch real facts and to show his personal engagement with the represented cultural and historical setting as well. This article aims to present Sendero Luminoso's apocalyptic rhetoric by focusing on Gorriti's work. Moreover, I will consider the phenomenon of Peruvian Narrative Journalism as a new literary genre in the horizon of Latin American non-fiction tradition, through the analysis of the fruitful intersection between history and literature, which gives voice to subaltern realities, often denied, being testimony and effort of reconstruction of a shared memory.


Abstract Recent data indicate that many adolescent English language learners (ELLs) comprehend English texts at only a limited literal level. The purpose of this research synthesis was to systematically identify and describe the research related to the English reading comprehension of middle grades ELLs while also making practical connections to instruction. Parameters were established to determine whether the collected research studies met the purpose of the synthesis and the standards for quality research, using the guiding principles for scientific research set forth in the National Research Council's Scientific Research in Education. Three themes emerged across the 11 identified studies: (a) the essential role of vocabulary knowledge in ELLs' English reading comprehension, (b) the role of first language and transfer in ELLs' reading comprehension, and (c) the role of effective instruction in enhancing ELLs' English reading comprehension. In this paper, we discuss the findings and their implications for classroom instruction and note substantive and methodological concerns that should be addressed in future research.


This feature examines the many new types of health care delivery systems now operating and developing. It is in keeping with POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE'S responsibility to bring readers information not only on clinical subjects but on changes that are occurring in the social, economic, ethical, and legal aspects of practice.


Engrailed-2 (EN2) is a transcription factor involved in development, where it has multiple functions and is expressed in a caudal-to-rostral gradient in the midbrain. Its mRNA and protein expression are absent from most adult cells, but are switched back on in cancer cells. Although transcription factors are usually located in the nucleus, a number of previous reports have indicated that EN2 protein could be in the cell membrane and on the cell surface on tumour samples, from where some at least might be released, as EN2 has been found in the urine of prostate cancer patients - a more readily obtainable clinical sample than tumour biopsies.
 In this study EN2 protein is definitively shown to be on the membrane of prostate cancer cells and in the tumour microenvironment. The commercial anti-EN2 antibody was found to be non-specific and we therefore used a tagged version of EN2 to study its cellular distribution and behaviour. This revealed different modes of EN2 protein transport and secretory mechanisms in different cancer cell lines. Live cell imaging further revealed the generation of secretory vesicles from PC3 cells, which are derived from metastatic prostate cancer, but not WPMY-1 cells that are derived from normal prostate fibroblasts. The findings further suggest that EN2 protein switches roles during tumour progression, from a transcriptional regulator to a regulator of protein translation in localised regions of the cytoplasm. The latter mechanism is especially significant as EN2 cellular localisation becomes dysregulated in cancer, becoming widely cytoplasmic and available for packaging into luminal vesicles. The findings also indicate that the translation factor EIF4E is a potential binding partner of EN2, in prostate cancer.
 The study findings also indicate that a monoclonal antibody-drug conjugate targeting EN2 may not be the most effective method of targeting EN2-expressing cells. A blocking peptide or antibody would be more appropriate to prevent its secretion and transfer, both of which have been shown to be possible mechanisms of tumour progression. Alternatively, because less EN2 is secreted (and hence more is retained) in prostate cancer cell lines with low metastatic potential, such as LnCaP, T cells could be employed to target early-stage prostate cancer.
 To conclude, cancer cells have seemingly retained the ability to tightly regulate the expression of EN2 protein in a spatial and temporal manner, unlike normal adult cells. EN2 is secreted in large vesicles by cells from more advanced prostate tumours and thus monoclonal antibodies may not be the most effective approach to therapy.


Criminal restitution is a core component of punishment. In its current form, this remedy rarely serves restitution's traditional aim of disgorging a defendant's ill-gotten gains. Instead, courts use this monetary award not only to compensate crime victims for intangible losses, but also to punish the defendant for the moral blameworthiness of her criminal action. Because the remedy does not fit into the definition of what most consider "restitution," this Article advocates for the adoption of a new, additional designation for this prototypically punitive remedy: punitive compensation. Unlike restitution, courts measure punitive compensation by a victim's losses, not a defendant's unlawful gains. Punitive compensation acknowledges the critical element of moral blameworthiness present in the current remedy. Given this component of moral blameworthiness, this Article concludes the jury should determine how much compensation to impose on a particular criminal defendant. The jury is the preferable fact-finder both because jurors represent the conscience of the community, and because the Sixth Amendment jury trial right compels this result. Nevertheless, many scholars and legislators remain reluctant to permit juries to determine the financial award in a particular criminal case. Courts and lawmakers share a common misperception that juries make arbitrary, erratic, and irrational decisions, especially in the context of deciding criminal punishments and punitive damages, both of which overlap conceptually with punitive compensation. In debunking this narrative, this Article relies on empirical studies comparing judge and jury decision-making and concludes that juries are the more fitting fact-finder to determine the amount of punitive compensation to impose in a given case. Although anchoring biases, difficulties in predicting the duration and degree of a crime victim's future emotional response, and poorly written jury instructions challenge juries, each of these impediments can be counteracted through thoughtful and conscientious systemic responses.


Onset of the combined metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a complex progressive process involving numerous cardiovascular risk factors. Although patients with established MetS exhibit reduced coronary flow reserve and individual components of the MetS reduce microvascular vasodilation, little is known concerning the impact of early-stage MetS on the mechanisms of coronary flow control. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine is attenuated in early-stage MetS by reduced A2 receptor function and diminished K+ channel involvement. Pigs were fed control or high-fat/cholesterol diet for 9 weeks to induce early-stage MetS. Coronary atheroma was determined in vivo with intravascular ultrasound. In vivo coronary dilation was determined by intracoronary adenosine infusion. Further, apical coronary arterioles were isolated, cannulated and pressurized to 60 cmH2O for in vitro pharmacologic assessment of adenosine dilation. Coronary atheroma was not different between groups, indicating early-stage MetS. Coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine (in vivo) and 2-chloroadenosine (2-CAD; in vitro) was similar between groups. In control arterioles, 2-CAD-mediated dilation was reduced only by selective A2A receptor inhibition, whereas only dual A2A/2B inhibition reduced this response in MetS arterioles. Arteriolar A2B, but not A2A, receptor protein expression was reduced by MetS. Blockade of voltage-dependent K+ (Kv) channels reduced arteriolar sensitivity to 2-CAD in both groups, whereas ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channel inhibition reduced sensitivity only in control arterioles. Our data indicate that the mechanisms mediating coronary arteriolar dilation to adenosine are altered in early-stage MetS prior to overt decrements in coronary vasodilator reserve.


In 2009, the U.S. Department of Education made grants to eleven school districts under the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans (TASAP) program. The impetus for the program came from the Council of Great City Schools, which was concerned that school districts would respond to a recent Supreme Court decision by dismantling policies with integrative aims. We analyze the design of the TASAP program, its implementation by the USED, and how the grantee districts used the funds, and find that TASAP's effects were mixed. Five districts represented examples of "successful" implementation, using the grant funds in ways that prioritized diversity. Six demonstrated "subverted" implementation, using funds in ways that met local needs but moved away from the diversity goal.


The objective of this study was to compare the effects of previous crop residue (wheat vs. lentil), tillage (reduced tillage vs. no-tillage) and nitrogen source (rhizobial inoculant and fertilizer-N application) on nodul formation, dry matter accumulation and seed yield of double crop soybean. The experiment was laid out as split-split plot with three replications. According to results obtained from the study, previous crop residue affected seed yield, and seed yield after cultivation of lentil was higher than after wheat. Nodul nitrogen content decreased at the reduced tillage, while nodule dry matter and seed yield increased compared to no-tillage system. Rhizobium inoculation alone produced the highest seed yield. However, the addition of N-fertilizer to inoculated soybean did not improve seed yields when compared with inoculated only treatment. This research demonstrates that applying rhizobium inoculation in no-tillage system under lentil residue has the potential in increase nodulation and seed yield of soybean grown double-cropping system.


A 2.6 GHz cascode CMOS power amplifier with the derivative superposition (DS) method and the second harmonic control for LTE application is fabricated in TSMC 1P6M 0.18 μm standard CMOS process. The DS method uses two transistors connected in parallel and biased in low and high inversions to compensate for the gm3 and achieves the greater third-order intercept point (IIP3). The second harmonic control degrades the intermodulation distortion (IMD) and enhances the power added efficiency (PAE) performance. The simulation result shows that the circuit exhibited a power gain of 9.6 dB, an output power at P1dB of 19.5 dBm with a PAE of 39.5 % under 2.8 V voltage supply, an output third-order intercept point (OIP3) of 22 dBm and a power consumption of 26.54 mW.


The goal of the present work is to develop simple, rapid, and sensitive extractive spectrophotometric methods for the assay of nimesulide in pharmaceutical formulations and human plasma. The methods depend on the formation of colored ion-pair complexes between nimesulide and five different reagents, bromocresol green (BCG), bromocrcsol purple (BCP), bromothymol bule (BTB), brilliant blue G (BBG) and methyl orange (MO) in Britton-Robinson buffer solutions of pH 2.0-3.5. The colored products were extracted in chloroform and absorbance measured at 412, 410, 407, 502 and 482 nm, respectively. The analytical parameters and their effects on the reported systems were investigated. The extracts are intensely colored and very stable at room temperature. The calibration graphs were linear over the concentration range of 2-18 μg/mL for BCG, BTB and BBG, 2-16 μg/mL for BCP and 2-14 μg/mL for MO. The stoichiometry of the reaction was found to be 1:1 in all cases and the conditional stability constant (K(subscript f)) of the complexes were calculated. The proposed methods were successfully extended to pharmaceutical preparations in tablet form. Excipients used as additives in commercial formulations did not interfere with the analysis. The proposed methods can be recommended for quality control and routine analysis where time, cost effectiveness and high specificity of the analytical technique are of great importance.


In the past century and a half, the evolution of biology has outstripped that of any of its subjects. Since Darwin's monumentally influential but rudimentary discoveries, biologists have advanced their knowledge of genetics and genomics with such astonishing speed as to be able not just to understand life processes but also to control them. While expanding our therapeutic and reproductive capabilities, these innovations also serve to obscure the very notion of life and its sanctity. In The Second Tree, award-winning journalist Elaine Dewar seriously reexamines our identity, rights, and responsibilities in a world where scientists can invent new creatures at their whim. She also turns her journalistic eye to the culture of acquisitiveness and secrecy at the highest levels of biological research, revealing the scientific community as one in which greed has replaced intellectual curiosity as the primary motivation of advancement, and in which the race for near-omnipotence is veiled by a supposed desire to do good. This is a powerful and fascinating book about an elite group of researchers who see mortality itself as just another disorder that they intend to cure-and the moral ramifications of their work.


ABSTRACT REE, Th, and Sc analyses of metasedimentary rocks collected from the western sequence of the Boyden Cave roof pendant, when compared with similar analyses of uppermost Precambrian to Cambrian miogeoclinal mudstones from the Nopah Range, support the idea that rocks from the former area are a part of a large tectonically displaced fragment of the Cordilleran miogeocline, as proposed by R.A. Schweickert and M.M. Lahren. For example, REE distribution diagrams for samples from the western sequence of the Boyden Cave pendant show parallel light-REE enrichment trends and negative Eu anomalies that range from 0.61 to 0.86, and average 0.69. Likewise, REE distribution patterns for samples from the uppermost Precambrian to Cambrian Cordilleran miogeoclinal section in the Nopah Range also show p rallel light-REE enrichment trends, and Eu anomalies that range from 0.65 to 0.75 and average 0.68. On a La-Th-Se diagram, samples from the Boyden Cave pendant cluster with specimens from the Nopah Range. Finally, sediments from both areas have broadly similar Th/Sc and Th/U ratios. These results suggest that samples from the western sequence of the Boyden Cave pendant are composed of detritus like that shed from differentiated western North American upper continental crust during the early development of the Cordilleran miogeocline. Such an interpretation is consistent with: (1) the quartz-rich to slightly feldspathic character of sandstones in the Boyden Cave pendant, which implies a continental to transitional continental-block provenance; (2) a Precambrian U-Pb age for detrital zirco extracted from a single sandstone bed; and (3) the complete absence of volcanic material in the western sequence of the Boyden Cave pendant. Our results support the regional correlations and tectonic model proposed by R.A. Schweickert and M.M. Lahren, and further suggest that although underutilized, REE, Th, and Sc analyses are useful in evaluating stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and tectonic problems in complexly metamorphosed and deformed metaclastic terranes.


Proponents of transfer taxation argue that levies on gifts and estates serve the dual purposes of breaking up large concentrations of private wealth, while raising significant revenues. A number of commentators have recently questioned the first of these purported advantages, on the grounds that a variety of available estate planning techniques allow wealthy individuals to pass on vast resources essentially tax free. Most techniques entail the use of intra vivos transfers, and are particularly effective when these transfers are made as early in life as possible. In this paper, I argue that the use of these same estate planning techniques also largely neutralize the second objective of transfer taxation by depressing income tax revenues. This effect is reinforced by the tendency for estate taxation to encourage charitable bequests. Although it is difficult to quantify the indirect revenue effects with a high degree of precision, I find that, prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, these effects could easily have offset all revenues collected through the estate tax. The recent Tax Reform Act only partially vitiates this conclusions.


We propose a method for efficiently computing orientation-preserving and approximately continuous correspondences between non-rigid shapes, using the functional maps framework. We first show how orientation preservation can be formulated directly in the functional (spectral) domain without using landmark or region correspondences and without relying on external symmetry information. This allows us to obtain functional maps that promote orientation preservation, even when using descriptors, that are invariant to orientation changes. We then show how higher quality, approximately continuous and bijective pointwise correspondences can be obtained from initial functional maps by introducing a novel refinement technique that aims to simultaneously improve the maps both in the spectral and spatial domains. This leads to a general pipeline for computing correspondences between shapes that results in high-quality maps, while admitting an efficient optimization scheme. We show through extensive evaluation that our approach improves upon state-of-the-art results on challenging isometric and non-isometric correspondence benchmarks according to both measures of continuity and coverage as well as producing semantically meaningful correspondences as measured by the distance to ground truth maps.


Temperature-dependent 57Fe Mössbauer effect (ME) spectroscopic studies were carried out on ferrocene (Fc), 1,1'-dimethylferrocene (1,1'(CH3)2Fc) and ferrocenium hexafluorophosphate (FcPF6) guest species in cucurbit[n]uril (n = 7, 8) inclusion complexes. The solid inclusion complexes were isolated by freeze-drying of dilute aqueous solutions and/or microwave-assisted precipitation from concentrated mixtures. The presence of genuine 1 : 1 (host : guest) inclusion complexes in the isolated solids was supported by liquid-state 1H and solid-state 13C{1H} MAS NMR, elemental and thermogravimetric analyses, powder X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, and diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectroscopy. The ME spectra of the complexes CB7·Fc and CB7·1,1'(CH3)2Fc consist of well-resolved doublets with hyperfine parameters (isomer shift and quadrupole splitting at 90 K) and temperature-dependent recoil-free fraction data that are very similar to those for the neat parent compounds, Fc and 1,1'(CH3)2Fc, suggesting that the organometallic guest molecules do not interact significantly with the host environment over the experimental temperature range. The ME spectra for CB7·FcPF6 and CB8·FcPF6 consist of a major broad line resonance attributed to a paramagnetic FeIII site. From the temperature-dependence of the recoil-free fraction it is evident that the charged guest species in these systems interact with the host environment significantly more strongly than was observed in the case of the neutral guest species, Fc and 1,1'(CH3)2Fc. Moreover, the ME data indicate that the vibrational amplitude of the ferrocenium guest molecule is significantly larger in the CB8 host molecule than in the CB7 homologue, as expected on the basis of the different cavity sizes.


The US government's overriding goal since September 11 has been to defeat terrorism. Determined as this campaign has been, it remains to be seen whether it is merely a fight against a particularly ruthless set of criminals or an effort to defeat the motivations of terrorism. Is the war on terrorism a struggle against Osama bin Laden, his Al Qaeda network, and a few like-minded groups, or is it also an effort to undermine the paradigm that anything goes in the name of a cause and the idea that even the slaughter of civilians is an acceptable political act? The answer to these questions will, in the long run, determine the success of the campaign. If conceived broadly, as it should be, the fight against terrorism must be understood as a campaign for human rights because the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law, with their limits on permissible conduct in war, establish that terrorism is not a legitimate act of war or politics. These rules codify the principle that civilians should never deliberately be killed or abused, regardless of the cause. Yet the urgency of the effort to defeat particular terrorists has tempted governments to compromise human rights. Many of the governments joining the fight against terrorism have yet to decide whether this battle provides an opportunity to reaffirm the principles of human rights or a new reason to ignore them, whether this is a moment to embrace values governing means over ends or an excuse to subordinate means to ends. Unless the global anti-terror coalition firmly rejects this amorality, and until the rules of international human rights and humanitarian law clearly govern all anti-terror actions, the battle against particular terrorists risks reaffirming the warped instrumentalism of terrorism. The fight against terrorism is only partly a mater of security; it is also a matter of values. While police, intelligence units, and even armies all have a role to play in meeting particular terrorist threats, terrorism also emanates from the realm of public morality. The pathology that led a group of men to attack thousands of civilians on September 11 may never be understood, but it is essential to understand the mores that would countenance such mass murder as a legitimate political tool. Sympathy for such crimes is the breeding ground for terrorism, and sympathizers are potential recruits. Building a stronger human rights culture--one in which any disregard for civilian life is condemned rather than condoned--is essential for defeating terrorism in the long run. Middle East Misery A human rights culture as an antidote to terrorism is especially needed in the Middle East and North Africa, where Al Qaeda attracts many of its adherents. Unfortunately, the willingness of most Western governments to tolerate abuses in the region has undermined human rights. This neglect has incited intense regional anger as the death toll mounts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and as Iraqi sanctions drag on with no indication that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will acquiesce to UN demands. The United States has proposed invading Iraq and toppling Hussein, but the Arab world in particular has greeted this proposal coolly, in part because of Washington's weak response to Israeli abuses. The Bush administration has repeatedly called for an end to the "violence," but its reluctance to insist more specifically on a cessation of abuses has made it easier for Israel to respond to suicide bombers with its own disproportionate attacks. The West's commitment to human rights in places such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt has also been feeble. In Saudi Arabia, the native land of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers, the government strictly limits civil society, severely discriminates against women, and systematically suppresses dissent. But the West has contented itself with purchasing Saudi oil and soliciting Saudi contracts while maintaining its silence toward Saudi abuses. …


Methanotrophic bacteria can grow on methane as their sole source of carbon and energy. Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b is a Gram negative, methanotrophic bacterium, which can convert methane to methanol by either particulate (pMMO) or soluble (sMMO) methane monooxygenase. The sMMO comprises three polypeptides; hydroxylase (αβγ)2, regulator/coupling protein (protein B), and reductase. The hydroxylase contains the diiron active site.
The three components of sMMO are found to be indispensable for full enzyme activity. In the present study, the sMMO hydroxylase was purified by anion exchange chromatography and protein B fused with GST was purified by using affinity chromatography. Attempts to purify the reductase were unsuccessful although the reductase was detected during the purification steps. To shorten the long purification protocol of the hydroxylase and minimize the loss of its activity during multiple purification steps, a new system was developed by inserting a His-tag in the wild type hydroxylase β-subunit. The His-tag hydroxylase was then purified in one step by using an affinity column. The new His-tag system yields hydroxylase with detectable activity when it was tested toward propylene. Solid phase microextraction (SPME) was used for the first time in the present study to detect the product propylene oxide from propylene oxidation for the wild type His-tagged hydroxylase.
Crystallographic studies have suggested roles for a number of amino acids within and around the active site. The present study used site-directed mutagenesis to create four new mutants in addition to performing further characterization of another two. The mutation C151S preserved activity toward a range of substrates, and indicated that radical chemistry at this position is not
xviii
essential for monooxygenase activity toward a number of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Results from other mutations included stabilising a previously unstable mutant (C151Y) with a secondary mutation to gain the double mutant E114D C151Y. The mutant R98L showed activity toward the monoaromatic substrate ethyl benzene and the diaromatic substrate naphthalene. Mutation of one of the diiron site coordinating residues E114D resulted in a stable hydroxylase with activity toward naphthalene. In terms of the oxidation of the triaromatic hydrocarbons anthracene and phenanthrene, no activity could be detected for the mutants tested in the present study or the wild type.


Prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is rapidly rising throughout the globe at an alarming rate, where India leads with largest number of diabetics and became diabetes capital of the world. Currently available conventional options for diabetes have certain limitations; considering which options from alternative resources are being searched to meet the need. Ayurveda, the traditional system of Indian subcontinent hold huge number of remedies that can be useful in the treatment of diabetes and associated complications. To revalidate the actual efficacy of these formulations in DM (~Madhumeha); many studies have been carried out at different research centers of India. The current attempt is aimed to compile such works done at two Post Graduate institutes of Gujarat Ayurved University during 2000-2013. These studies aimed at establishing the impact of various Ayurvedic treatment modalities viz. Shodhana (purification/cleansing procedures) and Shamana (pacifying medicinal treatment) etc., in DM. These therapies were found to increase quality of life, significantly effective and clinically safe as no adverse drug reactions were reported during the treatment period.


Two efficiency-based grid refinement strategies are investigated for adaptive finite element solution of partial differential equations. In each refinement step, the elements are ordered in terms of decreasing local error, and the optimal fraction of elements to be refined is determined based on efficiency measures that take both error reduction and work into account. The goal is to reach a pre-specified bound on the global error with a minimal amount of work. Two efficiency measures are discussed, work times error and accuracy per computational cost. The resulting refinement strategies are first compared for a one-dimensional model problem that may have a singularity. Modified versions of the efficiency strategies are proposed for the singular case, and the resulting adaptive methods are compared with a threshold-based refinement strategy. Next, the efficiency strategies are applied to the case of hprefinement for the one-dimensional model problem. The use of the efficiency-based refinement strategies is then explored for problems with spatial dimension greater than one. The work times error strategy is inefficient when the spatial dimension, d, is larger than the finite element order, p, but the accuracy per computational cost strategy provides an efficient refinement mechanism for any combination of d and p.


We present a methodology for fast prototyping of morphologies and controllers for robot locomotion. Going beyond simulation-based approaches, we argue that the form and function of a robot, as well as their interplay with real-world environmental conditions are critical. Hence, fast design and learning cycles are necessary to adapt robot shape and behavior to their environment. To this end, we present a combination of laminate robot manufacturing and sample-efficient reinforcement learning. We leverage this methodology to conduct an extensive robot learning experiment. Inspired by locomotion in sea turtles, we design a low-cost crawling robot with variable, interchangeable fins. Learning is performed using both bio-inspired and original fin designs in an artificial indoor environment as well as a natural environment in the Arizona desert. The findings of this study show that static policies developed in the laboratory do not translate to effective locomotion strategies in natural environments. In contrast to that, sample-efficient reinforcement learning can help to rapidly accommodate changes in the environment or the robot.


New structures for the energy-sensing kinase AMPK suggest a potential mechanism for adjusting the amount of activation to suit the cell's energy status. The cellular energy store of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) can be considered similar to a battery that needs to maintain its charge (see Hardie); cells sense changes in the abundance of ATP relative to its metabolites ADP (adenosine diphosphate) and AMP (adenosine monophosphate) and activate the heterotrimeric AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) when the "battery" needs recharging. AMPK activity requires phosphorylation of a threonine residue (Thr172) in the α subunit, and this site undergoes dynamic phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. AMP protects the kinase from dephosphorylation and also allosterically stimulates the activity of the kinase. The AMPK γ subunit has four nucleotide binding sites: Site 2 is unoccupied, site 4 is always occupied by AMP, and Mg-ATP and AMP compete for sites 1 and 3. Xiao et al. performed biochemical analysis and x-ray crystallography to determine how adenosine nucleotides regulated AMPK activity. Their analysis showed that, in addition to AMP, ADP also protected the enzyme from dephosphorylation and that Mg-ATP and ATP did not exhibit this protective effect. Sites 1 and 3 had different affinities for nucleotides, with both sites showing stronger affinities for AMP or ADP relative to Mg-ATP. NADH bound to AMPK at the higher affinity site (site 1), and both NADH and ADP prevented the allosteric activation of AMPK by AMP, suggesting that site 1 is the site responsible for the allosteric effects of AMP. NADH did not prevent ADP from protecting AMPK from dephosphorylation, which is consistent with site 3 serving this function. Structural analysis, supported by biochemical analysis of point mutants, provided a molecular basis for the protective effect of AMP or ADP binding to site 3 of the γ subunit. Analysis of structures reported here along with previously reported structures suggested that binding of either of these nucleotides to site 3 increased the interaction between the catalytic subunit and the regulatory β subunit and further predicted that binding of Mg-ATP to this site would disrupt this conformation. In addition to providing a detailed mechanistic view of AMPK regulation, this work suggests that cells can finely tune AMPK activity such that under mild energetic stress, ADP stimulates the activity by preventing dephosphorylation of AMPK, but under severe stress when AMP concentrations rise, AMP binding not only protects the enzyme from dephosphorylation but also further increases its activity allosterically. B. Xiao, M. J. Sanders, E. Underwood, R. Heath, F. V. Mayer, D. Carmena, C. Jing, P. A. Walker, J. F. Eccleston, L. F. Haire, P. Saiu, S. A. Howell, R. Aasland, S. R. Martin, D. Carling, S. J. Gamblin, Structure of mammalian AMPK and its regulation by ADP. Nature 472, 230–233 (2011). [PubMed] D. G. Hardie, How cells sense energy. Nature 472, 176–177 (2011). [PubMed]


Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease in which fatigue and impaired quality of life (QoL) commonly manifest. Fatigue has been associated with increased disease activity in SLE1-3 and both fatigue and disease activity are considered predictors of impaired QoL2-4, although some studies have not reported any association between disease activity and QoL5-6. Objectives The aim of this study was twofold, firstly to determine whether vitamin D is associated with fatigue and QoL in SLE patients during the winter when status would be expected to be lowest and again during summer when vitamin D levels are thought to be highest and secondly to examine for any relationship between fatigue, QoL and disease activity. Methods SLE patients were recruited from November to March (winter) (n=52) and followed up during June and July (summer) (n=50). Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) was measured by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Fatigue was assessed using the fatigue severity score (FSS) and QoL was examined using the 36-item short form questionnaire (SF-36). Disease activity and damage were scored using versions of Systemic Lupus Activity Measure, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index, British Isles Lupus Assessment Group and Systemic Lupus International Collaborative Clinics/American College of Rheumatology. Primary statistical analysis included Spearman's rho correlation and two tailed paired t-test. Multivariate and logistic regression analysis was employed to investigate potential predictors of fatigue and QoL. To investigate whether vitamin D was associated with fatigue and QoL, data from the serial winter and summer measurements were combined to give a larger sample (n=102) with greater power and regression analysis was reapplied. Results During the winter and summer months respectively 47 (96%) and 49 (98%) SLE patients reported fatigue (FSS ≥ 3) and 98% of the cohort presented with vitamin D inadequacy (25(OH)D < 75 nmol/L) throughout the year. The mental component score (MCS) (95% CI 0.02, 5.42, P=0.049) and social functioning (SF) (95% CI 1.01, 13.27 P=0.023) subscales of the SF-36 were reduced during the summer. Analysis from the serial winter and summer data, reported vitamin D status to be reduced in those with fatigue (n=96) (95% CI -39.46, -2.03, P=0.030) and FSS and SF-36 significantly correlated with all disease activity measures. Conclusions Vitamin D inadequacy, fatigue and poor QoL were prevalent in this cohort of Northern Irish SLE patients. Given the observation of reduced vitamin D in those with fatigue and the association between vitamin D and disease activity, it is plausible that improvements in fatigue mediated via increasing 25(OH)D may indirectly improve disease activity and possibly enhance QoL. Further research such as placebo controlled vitamin D intervention trials are warranted to investigate this hypothesis before any firm conclusions can be made. References Zonana-Nacach et al. Lupus 2000; 9(2):101-9. Kozora E et al. Arthritis Rheum 2006; 55(4):628-35. Mattsson et al. Scand J Rheumatol 2008; 37(4):269-77. Jolly & Utset. Lupus 2004; 13(12):924-6. Moldovan et al. Lupus 2011; 20(12):1285-92. Leong et al. Lupus 2010; 19(1):100-6. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


The effect of the pH on the ultrafiltration performance of natural surface waters with moderate NOM content was evaluated at a laboratory scale using a plate-and-frame polysulphone membrane of 47 kDa MWCO. The results at three different pH values (acid, neutral and basic) demonstrated the important role of the pH on the ultrafiltration (UF) performance controlling the membrane - fouling matter interactions. The higher fluxes and lower natural organic matter (NOM) rejections obtained, at basic pH when compared to acid pH, are explained in terms of the variation of membrane and NOM charge, due to electrostatic repulsion and adsorption effects.


"Thick and Thin" is the follow-up to Sarah Harte's hit debut, "The Better Half", and it is a gripping story of what happens between life-long friends when their world is hit by a bomshell. It's combines the compulsive 'what would you do' appeal of a Jodi Picoult novel with wonderfully sharp social observation and real heart. As students, Marianne Dillon and Clare McMahon become instant and unlikely friends. Marianne's generosity and Clare's steadfastness are the glue of a friendship that sees them through twenty-five years of love and loss, successes and disappointments, marriage and motherhood. The secret of their friendship, they believe, is that they are complete opposites. But when a life-altering crisis hits their relationship - a crisis that involves their husbands, children and indeed the lives they have created - the crack that was there all along tears them apart. Each must face catastrophe without the support of the best friend she would always turn to. Is it possible that a relationship that was so central to their lives was built on sand? And can they rescue something from the wreckage? Sarah Harte's debut, "The Better Half", had critics raving about her ability to get under the skin of women who appear to have it all, but underneath are barely coping in their gilded cages. "Thick and Thin" is an even more thought-provoking and ambitious story set in the same shiny world.


In this paper, we propose a general two-dimensional hidden Markov model (2D-HMM), where dependency of the state transition probability on any state is allowed as long as causality is preserved. The proposed 2D-HMM model can capture, for example, dependency among diagonal states, which can be critical in many image processing applications. A new expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm suitable for estimation of the new model is derived, where a novel general forward-backward (GFB) algorithm is proposed for recursive estimation of the model parameters. A new conditional-independent subset-state sequence structure decomposition is proposed for the 2D Viterbi algorithm. The new model can be applied to many areas such as trajectory classification and image segmentation. Application to aerial image segmentation shows the superiority of our model compared to the existing 2D-HMM model.


First, the expert contributors argue, Asia must find ways to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of less favorable demographics, which implies slower growth of the workforce. Second, they contend, Asia must find ways to deliver affordable, adequate, and sustainable old-age economic security for its growing elderly population. Underpinned by rigorous analysis, a wide range of concrete policy options for sustaining economic growth while delivering economic security for the elderly are then presented. These include Asia-wide policy options – relevant to the entire region – such as building up strong national pension systems, while other policy options are more relevant to sub-groups of countries.


Both digital and physical 3D models of buildings as well as historical photographs of architecture are used for a wide range of needs, from research in humanities and information technologies, museum contexts and library studies, to touristic applications. Spatially oriented photographs play an important role in visualizing and browsing contemporary as well as historical architecture, starting with the ground-breaking Photo Tourism project [4]. We present a technique to combine physical 3D models of buildings with spatially registered historical photographic documents in a hand-held Augmented Reality (AR) environment. Users are enabled to spatially explore historical views of architecture by selecting photos from a collection of images which are then utilized as textures for the physical model rendered on their respective mobile device. We compare different methods to select photos registered to a physical model in hand-held AR.


ood Leadership: Leadership and Adult Learning for Global Food Systems, edited by Catherine Etmanski (2017), consists of eight papers in three sections: Indigenous food systems, leadership in global food system transformation, and learning in global food system transformation. Leadership, although a contested concept (Grint, 2005), has been broadly defined by Bass and Bass (2008) as "the ability to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members" (p. 23). Global food insecurity remains a persistent problem despite decades of intervention and billions of dollars of investment (Barrett, 2010; Rosegrant, Paisner, Meijer, & Witcover, 2001); yet, very little research has focused on leadership for food system transformation (Etmanski, 2017). This F


Carbon is sequestered by the plant photosynthesis and stored as biomass in different parts of the tree. Carbon sequestration rate has been measured for young species (6 years age) of Shorea robusta at Chadra forest in Paschim Medinipur district, Albizzia lebbek in Indian Botanic Garden in Howrah district, Tectona grandis at Chilapata forest in Coochbehar district and Artocarpus integrifolia at Banobitan within Kolkata of West Bengal in India by Automated Vaisala Made Instrument GMP343 and aboveground biomass carbon has been analyzed by CHN analyzer. The specific objective of this article is to measure carbon sequestration rate and aboveground biomass carbon potential of four young species of Shorea robusta, Albizzia lebbek, Tectona grandis and Artocarpus integrifolia. The carbon sequestration rate (mean) from the ambient air during winter season as obtained by Shorea robusta, Albizzia lebbek, Tectona grandis and Artocarpus integrifoliawere 11.13, 14.86 and 2.57 g/h in overcast skies and 4.22 g/h respectively. The annual carbon sequestration rate from ambient air were estimated at 8.97 t C ha-1by Shorea robusta, 11.97 t C ha-1 by Albizzia lebbek, 2.07 t C ha-1 by Tectona grandis and 3.33 t C ha-1 by Artocarpus integrifolia. The percentage of carbon content (except root) in the aboveground biomass of Shorea robusta, Albizzia lebbek, Tectona grandis and Artocarpus integrifolia were 47.45, 47.12, 45.45 and 43.33, respectively. The total aboveground biomass carbon stock per hectare as estimated for Shorea robusta, Albizzia lebbek, Tectona grandis and Artocarpus integrifolia were 5.22, 6.26, 7.97 and 7.28 t C ha-1, respectively in these forest stands.

 Key words: Shorea robusta, Albizzia lebbek, Tectona grandis, Artocarpus integrifolia, carbon sequestration rate, aboveground biomass carbon stock.


Red Mud and red sand are waste products of Alumina refining where the Al in bauxite is dissolved in a
solution of NaOH at high temperatures and pressures and precipitated (this is the Bayer Process). Red mud is the most difficult residue to dispose of. At rated capacity the ALCOA refinery at Kwinana can produce 3.1 million tonnes of solid waste. This is Z tonnes of red mud for every tonne of alumina produced (Robson(1982)).

This amount of waste causes a disposal problem for Alcoa. At present the wastes are impounded in red mud lakes which are costly to build and maintain. ALCOA is investigating the use of red mud as a soil conditioner (Ward(1983) as an alternative to the present disposal system. Ward(1983) and Barrow(1982) established that clovers and medics could grow on red mud and red mud/sand with the addition of gypsum, - fertilizer and leaching.

Waste gypsum is used instead of pure gypsum for economic reasons. The amount of F in waste gypsum and red mud has been of concern to the general public. ALCOA measured 0.05% F by weight in red mud and CSBP measured 0.39% F in waste gypsum by weight. No doubt these figures would vary according to the F content of the raw materials. Ward(1983) found levels of 15 - 25 ppm by weight in the tops of medics and subclovers grown on red mud amended Bassendean sand in an area polluted by airborne fluorides.

From the literature review it was found that F available to plants and by implication to leaching is controlled not by the total amount of F but by pH, Ca and P content of the soil, soil type and the solubility of the added fluorides (Brewer(1965)). Also F adsorbed on the soil is reversibly held. This means all adsorbed F is available to leaching.

A batch test has shown that with respect to the recommended levels of F in water for various uses (Hart(1974)) high concentrations can be leached from red mud(38.03 ppm) and gypsum waste(554.23 ppm). When
combined the concentration of the leached F was much lower at 2.06 ppm for red mud and gypsum AR and 6.08 ppm for red mud and gypsum waste. All the above figures were for 20gm solid/50ml water. This decrease for gypsum amended mud was attributed to precipitation of insoluble fluorides eg. CaF and increased adsorption due to the decrease in both ESP2 and pH. There are two reasons why adsorption should increase with decreasing pH. Firstly the surface would become less negative and the pzc of some hydrous oxides might be reached enabling F to be adsorbed and secondly the pKa of HF which corresponds to the maximum of F adsorption is closer.

A long term column leaching experiment of red mud amended with waste gypsum(5% w/w) revealed an initial
concentration of 9.8 ppm in the leachate which reduced to 5.9 ppm at 0.4 litres. The F concentration then increased to 11.2 ppm at 2.5 litres and thereafter the concentration of F decreased until 1.1 ppm was achieved at 13 litres. Since 1 litre of leachate is equivalent to more than a years rainfall this experiment shows that the leachate would be a source of pollution to groundwater for many years.

In an other experiment the gypsum requirement of red mud was determined to be 5%. It was noticed that the pH of the leachate of this column experiment rose when Ca was leached to a low level therefore the gypsum requirement to attain and keep a nominated pH depended on the amount of leachate at which the pH had to be maintained.

The hydraulic conductivity of red mud and gypsum waste was determined. A recommendation of 26% red
mud:bassendean sand to produce a hydraulic conductivity of l m/day was determined. 1 m/day was thought to be an appropriate figure to cope with sudden high rainfall and any reduction in permeability with agricultural practise. It was noted that the applicability of this work to the field was limited due to uneven mixing of red mud and sand in the field.


In the field of social protection, Poland belongs to the EU group of countries with the familybased welfare model, what is extremely visible for the long-term care where family is the main care provider for elderly individuals with limitations in activities of daily living. At the same time the proportion of elderly in the coming decades is projected to be among the highest in the European Union, what raises questions on the design of the long-term care. For the moment the system is highly unregulated and disintegrated between social assistance and health care services. But it is the health sector that concentrates policy debate with a proposal of an introduction of nursing insurance. In the social sector, the significant changes that were favorable to LTC services development were introduced by the law on the social assistance (2004) and family benefits (2003) widening the scope of care available at home and in adult day care centers. But still provision of services is insufficient and a market of private services, paid out-of-pocket rapidly develops. It seems that main problems of the long-term care development in the future will be raising demand against insufficient resources and diversified priorities of the health care system.


This paper outlines critical realism, a relatively new philosophy of science, in an attempt to increase awareness of it amongst African researchers. The paper argues that this school of thought has important implications for framing social science research and development policy in developing countries. Critical realism is a radical critique of the Western philosophy, especially positivism that is closely associated with rational choice theory and Western modernity. It has four discernible progressive phases, each of which is a complete philosophical system. A discussion of its relevance to African scholars follows, centered on the fact that critical realism gives primacy to the human values of freedom and emancipation rather than to material concerns which are central to Western modernity. Recent publications have challenged contemporary African philosophy to be more responsive to popular aspirations for socio-economic development, instead of dwelling excessively on long running debates amongst different schools of philosophy. Critical realism is presented as worthy of further investigation by scholars in Africa that seek new ways forward, and relevance in a rapidly changing world. Development research and policy is used to illustrate its potential. It is found that a critical realist approach may lead to meeting of some important precedents necessary for any meaningful development to occur in Africa.  Key Words . Critical realism, economic development, development policy, social science research Thought and Practice: A Journal of the Philosophical Association of Kenya (PAK) New Series, Vol.3 No.1, June 2011, pp.61-85


India today is achieving per capita growth rates that are historically unprecedented. Poverty reduction has also accelerated. There is concern, however, that this growth is being accompanied by rising inequality. We report on a research project that examines inequality trends and dynamics at the all-India level over three decades up to 2011/12 and contrasts these with evidence at the level of the village, or the urban block. We further unpack inequality to explore dynamics in terms of the movement of people within the income distribution over time. The assessment of mobility is informed both by evidence at the very local level and by aggregate, national-level, trends. Close attention is paid to the circumstances and fortunes of specific population groups. Finally, the study attempts to encapsulate these horizontal inequalities into a measure of inequality of opportunity as captured by inter-generational mobility in education outcomes.