Despite an extensive literature on homelessness there is surprisingly little work that investigates the roots of homelessness by tracking homeless people over time. In this fascinating and much-needed ethnographic study, Megan Ravenhill presents the results of ten years' research on the streets and in the hostels and day-centres of the UK, incorporating intensive interviews with 150 homeless and formerly homeless people as well as policy makers and professionals working with homeless people. Ravenhill discusses the biographical, structural and behavioural factors that lead to homelessness. Amongst the important and unique features of the study are: the use of life-route maps showing the circumstances and decisions that lead to homelessness, a systematic study of the timescales involved, and a survey of people's exit routes from homelessness. Ravenhill also identifies factors that predict those most vulnerable to homelessness and factors that prevent or considerably delay the onset of homelessness.


Implementation of e-Government, in fact facilitates the relationships between government, private, and the community, making them more efficient, effective, and productive. The ease of governance relationships through e-Government was responded well by the Surabaya City Government in order to improve services to the government, the private sector and the public. To improve its services, city officials adopted the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), a kind of software that integrates all departments and functions of a company or into a computer system that can serve all the needs of the company, either from the sales department, HR, production or finance. The objective of the ERP system is to coordinate the organization's overall business. The Surabaya City Government has implemented the ERP software with the name of Government Resources Management System (GRMS). The GRMS is one of the innovations developed as a resource management system that is integrated with the administration of bureaucratic activity from upstream to downstream (in the context of spending) that has been developed by the government of Surabaya in order to support local financial management. The implementation of GRMS is expected to increase transparency and accountability in government procurement, information on the state or condition of physical progress of a work and its problems, and facilitate the acknowledgement and accumulation of expenditures for each activity in the construction and implementation of activities or tasks in accordance with schedule which have been implemented. So that the desired output to meet the challenges and demands of better public services.


JOHN CUNNISON 'IAN' CATFORD, IPA Council member and one of the great phoneticians, died peacefully on 6 October 2009. Catford was not only one of the best phoneticians; he was also a good, kind, honest human being. He always gave credit where and when credit was due. Catford first became seriously interested in phonetics when, at age 14, his parents took him to see a stage performance of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. From that time until his death, he maintained a professional interest in phonetics and linguistics. Soon after seeing Pygmalion, he found a copy of A Primer of Phonetics by Henry Sweet in a second-hand bookstore in Edinburgh. It became his 'bible', and over the next two years he read every book on phonetics and linguistics he found in the Edinburgh Public Library. About the same time, he started keeping notebooks on his ideas and phonetic observations.


The Federal Government is seeking to impose restrictions on the existing statutory vehicles for limiting the term of employment contracts. The justification often offered for this move is that the employees concerned perceive the uncertainty inherent in fixed-term contracts as negative. It is assumed that offering the same positions on a permanent basis is the superior alternative. However, since firms' demand for labour differentiates between flexible and inflexible employment, there is a clear risk that, in the absence of the term-fixing option, either other instruments will be used to achieve the same flexibility or demand for labour will decrease. The sociodemographic group most affected by fixed-term contracts is that of younger workers at the start of their careers. As can be demonstrated by analyses of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), if the use of fixed-term contracts is rendered more difficult, this group may lose any chance of entering the labour market at all. Nor is there any evidence that entering into fixed-term employment precludes a subsequent transition to permanent employment and thus entails the risk of entrapment in permanently precarious circumstances. Within a period of three years, more than half of fixed-term employees switch to permanent employment. An analysis based on propensity score matching shows that, for the previously inactive, taking up fixed-term employment increases the likelihood of immediate success on the labour market. After three years, those entering fixed-term employment have spent over seven months longer in full-time work and seven months less in unemployment. In addition, they have achieved a cumulated salary that is €32,000 higher than that of a control group of similar persons who have not taken this step.


This book presents recent advances in the theory and implementation of intelligent and other computational techniques in the insurance industry. The paradigms covered encompass artificial neural networks and fuzzy systems, including clustering versions, optimization and resampling methods, algebraic and Bayesian models, decision trees and regression splines. Thus, the focus is not just on intelligent techniques, although these constitute a major component; the book also deals with other current computational paradigms that are likely to impact on the industry. The application areas include asset allocation, asset and liability management, cash-flow analysis, claim costs, classification, fraud detection, insolvency, investments, loss distributions, marketing, pricing and premiums, rate-making, retention, survival analysis, and underwriting.


Simulations have changed chemistry education by allowing students to visualize the motion and interaction of particles underlying important chemical processes. With kinetics, such visualizations can illustrate how particles interact to yield successful reactions and how changes in concentration and temperature impact the number and success of individual collisions. This study examined how a simulation exploring particle collisions, or screencast employing the same simulation, used as an out-of-class introduction helped develop students' conceptual understanding of kinetics. Students either manipulated the simulation themselves using guided instructions or watched a screencast in which an expert used the same simulation to complete an assignment. An iterative design approach and analysis of pretest and follow up questions suggests that students in both groups at two different institutions were able to achieve a common base level of success. Instructors can then build upon this common experience when instructing students on collision theory and kinetics. Eye-tracking studies indicate that the simulation and screencast groups engage with the curricular materials in different ways, which combined with student self-report data suggests that the screencast and simulation provide different levels of cognitive demand. This increased time on task suggests that the screencast may hold student interest longer than the simulation alone.


Drawing on a wide range of temperance reform literature, this essay examines the temporal dimensions of America's antebellum crusade against alcohol and their remarkably complex treatment in the tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The inebriates in Hawthorne's tales are not necessarily drinkers (the writer's fondness for drink is well known), but rather those reformers and idealists who, in their zeal for perfection, seek to obliterate the past. In his richest portrait of this temporal intemperance, "The Birth-Mark" (1843), Hawthorne portrays the perilous nature and effects of the cultural amnesia that flows from America's intoxicating confidence in the transformative power of industrial technology. To counter the temporal imbalance of an industrializing nation drunk with the spirit of innovation, Hawthorne's "temperance" tales ultimately offer a distillation of time that transports the reader into a fluid realm of temporal ambiguity where past, present, and future converge. Reaching far beyond its reformist connotations, "temperance" ultimately proves to be a seminal metaphor for the imaginative state of temporal equilibrium that Hawthorne would achieve as a writer of historical romances.


ABSTRACT:

The thesis focuses on the socio-cultural interaction between Gallo-Romans and barbarians in fifth century Gaul. Its aim is to investigate how both Romans and barbarians, particularly the Gothic people, shared a common living space within imperial territory, how this space was created, and to which extent both sides assimilated with each other in terms of their cultural and political understanding. By moving away from the argument of brutal warfare as the main means of contact, I am trying instead to look more at the changes of their cultural understanding which eventually would lead to the world of the Middle Ages. The slow emergence of barbarian powerbases created a political world that was different from the Roman empire. The Gallo-Romans had to accept a new political order in which they not only faced the gradual loss of their former positions of political/military superiority but which also challenged their previously undisputed concept of cultural understanding; violent occupation of Roman territory was only one part of this process as there was simultaneously a continuation of Roman literature and culture in general possible. Gradual attempts at assimilation can be seen for example in the continuation of Gallo-Roman aristocratic involvement in the political establishment of the Gothic court, and the increasing role of the Gallo-Roman nobility in the church in general and in the Episcopate in particular. Equally the Gothic side had to adapt their political and cultural understanding to a new concept which was compatible with the Roman administration if they wanted to survive as ethnic communities within the empire; such political/military assimilation not only with the Roman empire but especially with the Gallo-Roman aristocracy was even more important when it came to the establishment of an independent Gothic settlement and eventually a Gothic kingdom in Gaul.


Objectives
Beta-carotene oxygenase 2 (BCO2) is a carotenoid metabolic enzyme located to the inner membrane of mitochondria. Decreased expression of and mutations in BCO2 are associated with obesity and metabolic disorders in humans and mice. We recently reported that depletion of BCO2 alters mitochondrial respiratory activity. Here, we further present that BCO2 is important for mitochondrial dynamics and respiratory supercomplex formation in mice.

Methods
Six-week-old male and female 129S6 (wild type, WT) and BCO2 knockout (KO) mice fed a chow diet were used in the current study. Hypothalamic tissues were collected for mitochondrial morphology by transmission electron microscopy, mitochondrial proteomics, and mitochondrial respiratory supercomplex formation and respiratory activity assays. Key proteins in mitochondrial dynamics, including OPA1, Mfn2, DRP1, p62, ULK1 were assessed by Western blot. Cardiolipin was measured by ELISA.

Results
The results showed that mitochondrial complex I subunit NDUFA11 was more abundant, assembly of complex I into the I-III-IV-containing supercomplexes was greatly enhanced, yet complex III homodimer was diminished in the hypothalamus of the BCO2 knockout mouse, compared to the wild type. Decreases in mitochondrial respiration activities, disruption of mitochondrial elongation (e.g., increased DRP1 and pS757-ULK1), suppression of mitochondrial biogenesis (e.g., decreased PPARgamma and PGC-1alpha), promotion of mitochondrial oxidative stress, and elevation of the cardiolipin level occurred in depletion of BCO2.

Conclusions
BCO2 is critical for the hypothalamic mitochondrial homeostasis through regulation of respiratory supercomplex formation, mitochondrial dynamics, and consequent oxidative stress.

Funding Sources
N/A.


In the rising momentum for new and reformulated cultural identities, the Turkish Alevi have also emerged on the scene, demanding due recognition. In this process a number of dramatic events have served as important milestones: the clashes between Sunni and Alevi in Kahramanmaras in 1979 and Corum in 1980, the incendiarism in Sivas in 1992, and the riots in Istanbul (Gaziosmanpasa) in 1995. Less evocative, but in the long run more significant, has been the rising interest in Alevi folklore and religious practices. Questions have also arisen as to what this branch of Islamic heterodoxy represents in terms of old and new identities. In this book, these questions are addressed by some of the most prominent scholars in the field.


As protests erupt throughout the nation to hold law enforcement and criminal justice institutions accountable, UIC's Richard J Daley library has created this research guide to help our community understand systemic racism and demand justice for all.


Armey Curve, propounded by Richard Armey, is one of the tools that developed to demonstrate the role of the state in the economic process. The basic logic behind the Armey Curve is that the relationship between public spending and gross domestic product (GDP) is positive up to a certain point, thereafter the relationship becomes negative. According to Friedman (1997), the government has an important role in a free and open society. It is emphasized that, average contribution of the public sector in the economy is positive, but as the public share of national income increases from 15% to 50% the marginal contribution of the public sector will be negative. Therefore, Friedman advocates that based on development level of countries, the optimal level of public spending should be between 15% and 50%. In this article, Friedman's hypothesis is tested for Turkish economy using the data of the period 1975-2010 by the help of econometric timeseries analysis, and Armey Curve is evaluated whether it is valid for total public expenditure and expenditure components or not. Empirical findings confirmed that there is a relationship as "inverse U" between economic growth and other expenditure components except public investment expenditure. Moreover, the optimal level of total public expenditure for Turkish economy is calculated as 16% of GDP. This ratio is below the level of 26.6% which is the ratio of 2010 public expenditure to GDP. In this case, one of the macroeconomic policy proposals can be the reduction of the public expenditures in Turkish economy.


Marine bacterioplankton in the coastal region off Aveiro (NW Portugal) develop under the influence of the plume of a mesotrophic estuarine system (Ria de Aveiro) and, more recently, under the influence of the discharges of a marine sewage outfall (S. Jacinto). In an attempt to com- pare the degree of disturbance introduced by these 2 features to the abundance of sewage bacteria and heterotrophic activity of natural bacterioplankton, water samples were collected at 10 offshore and nearshore locations. Rates of ectoenzymatic activity and monomer incorporation were deter- mined as proxies for potential heterotrophic activity of natural bacterial communities. ATP and chl a concentrations were used as estimates of the total abundance of phytoplankton. Faecal coliforms and total colony counts were used as indicators of sewage bacteria contamination. However, ATP, chl a, faecal coliforms, total colony counts, aminopeptidase activity and the maximum rate of leucine incorporation (leucine Vm) correlated negatively with linear distance to the mouth of the estuary, establishing the estuarine plume as an importance source of disturbance. Chl a, aminopeptidase activity and total colony counts also correlated negatively with linear distance to the sewage outfall, but no significant impact on the concentration of faecal bacteria could be detected. Compliance with the European Union Bathing Water Directive 76/160/EEC was achieved in 97% of samples. The ratio between β-glucosidase activity (polymer degradation) and glucose incorporation (monomer uptake) increased as the distance from the mouth of the estuary and from the sewage outfall increased. This indicates that, in addition to inputs of bacteria and nutrients, changes in the quality of the available organic substrates and/or sewage-related toxic effects may impose a shift in the functioning of heterotrophic bacterioplankton communities in this costal area.


Academic works on inequality in China have documented China's growing regional inequalities, yet paid far less attention to inequality along ethnic lines. The handful of direct studies on ethnic inequality in China have yet to reach agreement over whether ethnic inequality is largely the result of ethnicity, or a consequence of well-documented regional inequalities. This study analyzes whether ethnic inequality in family income is the result of ethnicity per se, or a combination of other factors, particularly the respondent's region of residence using data at the individual level. While at first glance there may be inequality between the Han and non-Han in family income, using panel data from 1989 through 2006 I show that such differences can better be explained through regional inequalities and socio-economic measures.


BACKGROUND
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is found around and inside the brain and vertebral column. CSF plays a crucial role in the protection and homeostasis of neural tissue.

METHODS
Key points on the physiology of CSF as well as the diagnostic and treatment options for hydrocephalus are discussed.

RESULTS
Understanding the fundamentals of the production, absorption, dynamics, and pathophysiology of CSF is crucial for addressing hydrocephalus. Shunts and endoscopic third ventriculostomy have changed the therapeutic landscape of hydrocephalus.

CONCLUSIONS
The treatment of hydrocephalus in adults and children represents a large part of everyday practice for the neurologist, both in benign cases and cancer-related diagnoses.


We conducted direct observation of 23 caregiver–infant pairs for 130 hours and recorded wash-related behaviors to identify pathways of fecal–oral transmission of bacteria among infants. In addition to testing fingers, food, and drinking water of infants, three infants actively ingested 11.3 ± 9.2 (mean ± SD) handfuls of soil and two ingested chicken feces 2 ± 1.4 times in 6 hours. Hand washing with soap was not common and drinking water was contaminated with Escherichia coli in half (12 of 22) of the households. A one-year-old infant ingesting 1 gram of chicken feces in a day and 20 grams of soil from a laundry area of the kitchen yard would consume 4,700,000–23,000,000 and 440–4,240 E. coli, respectively, from these sources. Besides standard wash and nutrition interventions, infants in low-income communities should be protected from exploratory ingestion of chicken feces, soil, and geophagia for optimal child health and growth.


Although it is widely held that growth of periphyton communities on walls of marine mesocosms creates artifacts which bias experimental results, there are surprisingly few studies that directly quantify such 'wall effects'. To test the hypotheses that the magnitude of wall effects is related to experimental system dimensions and that these effects can be controlled by routine peri- phyton removal, we conducted a series of studies using cylindrical mesocosms of 5 different sizes and shapes with treatments involving removal of wall periphyton. Results indicate that periphyton bio- mass and production were consistently and significantly reduced in containers receiving twice- weekly wall-cleaning treatment, but not in systems cleaned at weekly intervals. Whereas partition- ing of ecosystem properties (total primary production and algal biomass) among wall, plankton, and sediment habitats revealed large and significant changes with wall-cleaning, treatment effects on the mean values of these and other ecosystem-level properties (e.g. nutrient concentrations) were small to negligible and generally inconsistent. Changes in biomass of wall periphyton and phytoplankton induced by wall-cleaning were significantly related to mesocosm radius. Reductions in wall periphy- ton with cleaning treatment were generally compensated by parallel increases in algal biomass in other habitats, with enhanced sediment microalgae only present in shallower systems. It appears that wall-cleaning also affected the abundance of benthic macrofauna and bacterioplankton, as well as phytoplankton taxonomic composition. Although periphyton dislodged through wall-cleaning were retained within the mesocosms in this study, we estimate that removal of this material from the exper- imental systems would have caused a severe nitrogen loss, equivalent to that required for supporting total ecosystem primary production.


Introduction: IFN-γ and IL-21 have pro-inflammatory properties and support induction and expansion of aggressive cytotoxic T cells. IL-21 also regulates the differentiation of B cells into antibody producing plasma cells, and high numbers are associated with the occurrence of rejection. We investigated whether successful anti-rejection treatment eliminates circulating donor-reactive cytokine producing cells (pc). Material and Methods: PBMC samples of 85 stable kidney transplant recipients of whom 30 patients were successfully treated with rejection therapy (high-dose corticosteroids for 3 consecutive days (n=23) followed by ATG treatment (n=7) at median 7 days after transplantation, range: 6-48) were analysed by IFN-γ and IL-21 Elispot after rejection treatment (1.22±0.91 years after transplantation). Patient's PBMC were stimulated with irradiated donor cells or third-party cells that were completely HLA mismatched. Results: Significantly higher frequencies of donor-reactive IFN-γ and IL-21 pc were found in patients treated with rejection therapy compared to those without rejection [IFN-γ: median 24/3x10E5 PBMC (6-119) vs. 9/3x10E5 PBMC (3-27), p=0.01; IL-21: 27/3x10E5 PBMC (10-59) vs. 9/3x10E5 PBMC (4-32), p=0.004]. No difference was found between the patient groups after third-party stimulation. Remarkably, the number of donor-reactive IFN-γ and IL-21 pc in the rejection treated group was comparable with the third-party reactivity, while the number of donor-reactive cytokine pc in patients without rejection was significantly lower than the third-party reactivity [IFN-γ: 9/3x10E5 PBMC (3-27) vs. 33/3x10E5 PBMC (15-117), p<0.0001; IL-21: 9/3x10E5 PBMC (4-32) vs. 40/3x10E5 PBMC (19-88) p<0.0001]. Conclusion: High numbers of donor-reactive IFN-γ and IL-21 pc in patients subsequently and successfully treated with anti-rejection therapy appear to be insensitive to therapy. These patients should be more carefully monitored as they are at risk for rejection when their immunosuppressive adherence decreases. P-2.21


Network speeds have been increasing rapidly. The higher bandwidth communication links available now, ranging from 100 Mbits/sec to Gbits/sec, present considerable potential for distributed applications. Processor speeds have also increased relentlessly. However, until now the ultimate throughput delivered to the user application has not increased as rapidly. The paper describes the implementation of the TCP/IP and UDP/IP protocol suite on Digital's Alpha AXP systems with the DEC OSF/1 operating system over FDDI. User applications are able to achieve almost the full FDDI bandwidth of 100 Mbits/sec, thus essentially eliminating the end-system as a bottleneck for network I/O bottleneck. Included in the TCP/IP implementation are extensions to TCP recently adopted by the IETF such as support for large transport windows for higher performance. This is particularly desirable for high speed networks and/or large delay networks. Incremental work for data movement and checksums are often the most expensive operations of protocol processing. These have been optimized to take advantage of the Alpha XP workstation architecture including 64 bit support, wider cache lines and the coherence of cache blocks with DMA. We show, via measurement results that TCP achieves a throughput of 95 Mbits/sec. We also show that UDP performance is comparable. In addition, and unlike typical BSD-derived systems, the UDP receive throughput to user applications is also maintained at high load.<<ETX>>


Objective To assess, in a sample of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological interventions, the completeness of intervention reporting, identify the most frequently missing elements, and assess review authors' use of and beliefs about providing intervention information. Design Analysis of a random sample of systematic reviews of non-pharmacological stroke interventions; online survey of review authors. Data sources and study selection The Cochrane Library and PubMed were searched for potentially eligible systematic reviews and a random sample of these assessed for eligibility until 60 (30 Cochrane, 30 non-Cochrane) eligible reviews were identified. Data collection In each review, the completeness of the intervention description in each eligible trial (n=568) was assessed by 2 independent raters using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist. All review authors (n=46) were invited to complete a survey. Results Most reviews were missing intervention information for the majority of items. The most incompletely described items were: modifications, fidelity, materials, procedure and tailoring (missing from all interventions in 97%, 90%, 88%, 83% and 83% of reviews, respectively). Items that scored better, but were still incomplete for the majority of reviews, were: 'when and how much' (in 31% of reviews, adequate for all trials; in 57% of reviews, adequate for some trials); intervention mode (in 22% of reviews, adequate for all trials; in 38%, adequate for some trials); and location (in 19% of reviews, adequate for all trials). Of the 33 (71%) authors who responded, 58% reported having further intervention information but not including it, and 70% tried to obtain information. Conclusions Most focus on intervention reporting has been directed at trials. Poor intervention reporting in stroke systematic reviews is prevalent, compounded by poor trial reporting. Without adequate intervention descriptions, the conduct, usability and interpretation of reviews are restricted and therefore, require action by trialists, systematic reviewers, peer reviewers and editors.


Powerize Server 1.0, developed by Powerize.com, is a content-based information filtering and retrieval system that presently uses a manually constructed user model known as a search profile. User modeling captures a user's information needs. A user model can be constructed explicitly by the user or implicitly by exploiting feedback from the user about which documents are relevant. Implicit feedback can be inferred from user behavior without any additional work on the part of the user. The study reported in this paper investigates a way of implementing the implicit feedback technique of user modeling for the Powerize Server 1.0. Previous studies on Internet discussion groups (USENET news) have shown reading time to be a useful source of implicit feedback for predicting a user's preferences. In this study, we examined: 1) whether reading time is useful for predicting a user's preferences for academic or professional journal articles, and 2) whether printing behavior adds anything to what we already know from reading time. Two experiments were conducted with undergraduate students using professional articles from the telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries. The results of the experiments showed that reading time could be used to predict the relevancy of documents, although the threshold on reading time required to detect relevant documents would be higher than for USENET news articles. The experiments also showed that printing behavior adds to what can be inferred from reading time. All the documents that were printed in the experiments were relevant, but the reading time for many of these documents was below the mean reading time for all documents read. This result implies that the use of printing behavior with reading time could increase the precision and recall ratios for detecting relevant documents. Suggestions for incorporating the results of the study into the Powerize Server were made in conclusion. This paper also reports detailed technical descriptions of the experiment design, including research problem, experimental system, and data collection.


This paper contrasts proximities, skills and knowledge in the aerospace industry of Wales, UK. It distinguishes between three areas of main strengths and assesses their current and future viability. North Wales represents a vertical production supply chain cluster dominated by an Airbus plant. The industry in South Wales is more fragmented and less embedded in the region, and qualifies as an agglomeration. The advent of composites as the wing material of the future devalues the metal expertise of the north and calls for the development of composite skills. The south builds on a more heterogeneous knowledge base requiring diversified strategies for knowledge development, but should benefit most from fostering composite RDT.


Two neighbouring republics, with a common history and culture, followed very different paths of development in the second half of the nineteenth century. Extraordinary mineral wealth was discovered during this period in the South African Republic (ZAR), the neighbour where political and economic stability was fragile compared with the Republic of the Orange Free State (OFS). We connect these divergent development paths to the literature on the resource curse, especially the recent literature on the conditional resource curse where the quality of the institutional structure plays a crucial role in the outcomes of a large resource discovery. By introducing a new objective measure for the quality of institutions, namely the accuracy of boundaries on maps, we provide evidence of the institutional quality in the ZAR prior to the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. The statistical technique that we use, Procrustes analysis, is an innovation in economic analysis. The evidence supports Acemoglu and Robinson's account of the development path in the ZAR, and the later Union of South Africa, as compromised by the conditional resource curse.


To the Editor:—We read with interest the two case reports by Dr. Heavner et al. in which the introduction of an epiduroscope for placement of hyaluronidase, local anesthetic, and steroids in the lower lumbar epidural space led to the apparent disruption of venous wall integrity. Unintended vascular uptake of dye was documented on fluoroscopy. The case reports raise several concerns about the value of using an epiduroscope to place medication in this manner. The evidence in the literature does not support the practice of using an epiduroscope to perform a caudal injection as a means to improve outcome, when compared with a fluoroscopically guided injection via a catheter or needle. As these case reports portray, use of an epiduroscope clearly offers no protection against vascular trauma. Indeed, the view through the scope gave no indication in either case that vascular wall integrity had been broached. It was fluoroscopic imaging in conjunction with dye administration that diagnosed the inadvertent injection. Rather than protecting against trauma, it is reasonable to assume that the larger instrument (the epiduroscope is blunt, rigid, and 2.8 mm in diameter; a 20-gauge epidural catheter is softer and less than 0.9 mm in diameter) would be more likely to cause trauma. Indeed, Heavner et al. suggest that it is the lack of a low-pressure alternative route for the injectate to escape around the vessel that drives injectate into the vein. An epidural catheter, taking up less space, would allow more avenues of egress for the injectate and would be less likely to traumatize the vessel (smaller and softer) or lead to a high-pressure environment that would distend the vessel breach and induce this unwanted vascular ingress of medication. The cost and charge to the patient of the fluoroscopically guided epiduroscope-based epidural injection is higher than a fluoroscopically guided needle or catheter injection. Because a catheter is as effective, is less expensive, is less traumatic, and uses the only imaging technique (fluoroscopy) that provides safety in this injection, we must ask: Where is the value in using an epiduroscope to inject medication into the lumbar epidural canal? The concept of introducing a flexible fiberoptic scope into the epidural space to directly visualize structures is appealing. Ideally, we could accomplish this safely, be able to clearly define normal and abnormal anatomy, and use the anatomical information to improve treatment by providing directed therapy. These goals have been elusive, despite the availability of this technique for more than 20 yr. The current case reports are a clear reminder that the risks and benefits of this technique have yet to be clearly established. We believe that safety and cost dictate that the routine use of epiduroscopy to "guide" caudal injection not be used until evidence generated by randomized controlled trials proves that it provides benefit sufficient to warrant the additional trauma, risk, and cost it obviously incurs.


This research examines the mediating role of emotions implicated in the multicultural experience—creativity link. We propose that when individuals are dealing with apparent cultural contradictions upon encountering two cultures simultaneously, mentally juxtaposing dissonant cultural stimuli could lower positive affect or increase negative affect, which could in turn induce a deeper level of cognitive processing of cultural discrepancies and inspire creativity. Two studies compared dual cultural exposure versus single cultural exposure among bicultural Singaporeans (Study 1) and compared self-relevant (jointly presenting local and foreign cultures) versus self-irrelevant (jointly presenting foreign cultures only) dual cultural exposure among monocultural Taiwanese (Study 2). As in past research, dual cultural exposure promotes creativity, particularly if one presented culture is self-relevant. Further, this effect was mediated by a less positive or a more negative emotional state. These findings illuminate the underlying influence of emotions activated by simultaneous exposure to diverse cultures.


In this paper, John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science and Stephen M.Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government contend that the centerpiece of U.S. Middle East policy is its intimate relationship with Israel. The authors argue that although often justified as reflecting shared strategic interests or compelling moral imperatives, the U.S. commitment to Israel is due primarily to the activities of the "Israel Lobby." This paper goes on to describe the various activities that pro-Israel groups have undertaken in order to shift U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction.


DNA is the bio-polymer containing the genetic information needed for the development and functioning for all living organisms. It has a polymeric structure consisting of units called nucleotides, each consisting of a non-polar, hydrophobic interior (the base pairs) and polar, hydrophilic exterior which is negatively charged due to the phosphate groups along the backbone of the DNA. Its heterogeneous properties permit DNA molecule to interact with other molecules and different types of substrates at the same time. It is important to understand the DNA morphology on flat surface that serves as a template for DNA based sensors and microarray applications, particularly under an electric field. Taken together, the ability to deposit a single DNA molecule on the electrode is essential to increase its specificity. In our study, we optimize the conditions in order to control a single DNA molecule adsorbing and desorbing to/from the electrode. Simultaneously dynamic imaging enables us to analyze its morphological behavior by real-time Electrochemical Atomic Force Microscopy (EC-AFM) in aqueous conditions. (C) 2012 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.008207jes] All rights reserved.


Cloud computing services can boost the competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and leverage countries' economies. In the Australian context, there is an emerging trend that SMEs begin to embrace cloud technology in their traditional business activities. However, prior studies did not pay much attention to investigating the factors that influence the cloud computing adoption among Australian SMEs. To fill the research gap, this paper investigates the influential factors that affect the decision on adopting cloud computing services for Australian SMEs. Protocol data collected from fifteen firm-level semi-structured interviews with practitioners are presented and discussed. The protocol analysis indicates that various factors are important to the adoption of cloud computing services for Australian SMEs, such as security concerns, cost savings, and privacy due to geo-restrictions. Furthermore, this study confirms the insignificance of complexity and competitive pressure factors in the adoption of cloud computing among Australian SMEs. These findings have imperative implications to scholars and practitioners alike in the cloud computing research and applications areas.


On 18 December 2017 President Trump released his National Security Strategy (NSS). It is the quintessential document that will serve as the azimuth for key government leaders to guide them through the execution of core functions at federal departments and agencies in the months and years to come. At 55 pages, it outlines key issues that he and by extension, his National Security Council, see as of paramount concern for the United States. Broadly, Trump looks to: (1) protect the homeland; (2) promote US prosperity; (3) leveraging strength to preserve peace; and (4) advance US influence in the world (NSS, 2017, p. 4).


Objective: To evaluate the effect of conservative interventions on clinically relevant outcome measures for patients with subacute low back pain. This is particularly important because effective treatment for subacute low back pain will prevent the transition to chronic low back pain, a condition that is largely responsible for the high health care costs of low back pain. Design: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Main outcome measures: Methodological quality of each trial was assessed. Effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for pain and disability and risk ratios for return to work. Results: Thirteen trials were located, evaluating the following interventions: manipulation, back school, exercise, advice, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), hydrotherapy, massage, corset, cognitive behavioural treatment and co-ordination of primary health care. Most studies were of low quality and did not show a statistically significant effect of intervention. For the strict duration of low back pain (six weeks to three months), no evidence of high internal validity was found but when other methodological criteria were considered, evidence was found for the efficacy of advice. Furthermore, there is evidence that when a broader view is taken of the duration of subacute low back pain (seven days to six months), other treatments (e.g. manipulation, exercise, TENS) may be effective. Conclusions: Our review identified a major gap in the evidence for interventions that are currently recommended in clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of subacute low back pain. Lack of a uniform definition of subacute low back pain further limited current evidence.


Multitrophic and intraguild interactions influence the success of biological control. The interactions between Acyrthosiphon pisum, three natural enemies (Pandora neoaphidis, Coccinella septempunctata and Aphidius ervi) and the host plant, Vicia faba, were assessed. Volatiles released from aphid-damaged plants had a direct effect on P. neoaphidis indicating they may act as synomones. However, volatiles did not increase efficacy of the fungus suggesting it is not a bodyguard species. Transmission was greatest during plant colonisation by aphids and was not affected by plant condition. Infection by P. neoaphidis had a direct negative effect on the fitness of the aphid through reduced reproduction and early host death.

Avoidance of infected colonies by predators and parasitoids could reduce the effectiveness of guilds of natural enemies for biological control. However, at the laboratory scale A. ervi and C. septempunctata did not detect infection and entered and foraged in infected aphid colonies. Aphidius ervi spent longer searching for hosts on plants that had been damaged by aphid feeding (and were emitting aphid-induced species-specific volatiles) and this may increase fungal transmission. Coccinella septempunctata and A. ervi significantly reduced populations of A. pisum when introduced as individual species whereas P. neoaphidis had no effect on aphid population size. Foraging by both C. septempunctata and A. ervi increased the abundance and distribution of P. neoaphidis which may be sufficient to initiate an epizootic. The benefits of increased transmission by C. septempunctata outweighed the fitness costs to the fungus of intraguild predation. Pandora neoaphidis was associated with a decrease in the reproductive success of A. ervi, which was further reduced as the competitive advantage of the fungus increased. This could result in competitive exclusion of the parasitoid. Poly tunnel experiments confirmed that A. ervi did not discriminate between infected and uninfected aphid colonies at this spatial scale. However, A. ervi did not incur a fitness cost from foraging in patches containing the fungus.

These results indicate that C. septempunctata and P. neoaphidis may be effective as multi-species biocontrol agents. In contrast, competition between P. neoaphidis and A. ervi may reduce their overall effectiveness as control agents. Further work is required at larger spatial scales and over several generations of both the pest and natural enemy species to confirm these interactions. The implications of these results for the use of P. neoaphidis as part of a multi-species biological control program are discussed.


More and more users are attracted by P2P networks characterized by decentralization, autonomy and anonymity. However, users' unconstrained behavior makes it necessary to use a trust model when establishing trust relationships between peers. Most existing trust models are based on recommendations, which, however, suffer from the shortcomings of slow convergence and high complexity of trust computations, as well as huge overhead of network traffic. Inspired by the establishment of trust relationships in human society, a guarantee-based trust model, GeTrust, is proposed for Chord-based P2P networks. A service peer needs to choose its guarantee peer(s) for the service it is going to provide, and they are both required to pledge reputation mortgages for the service. The request peer makes evaluations on all the candidates of service peer by referring their service reputations and their guarantee peers' reputations, and selects the one with highest evaluation to be its service provider. In order to enhance GeTrust's availability and prevent malicious behavior, we also present incentive mechanism and anonymous reputation management strategy. Simulation results show that GeTrust is effective and efficient in terms of improving successful transaction rate, resisting complex attacks, reducing network overhead and lowering computational complexity.


STUDY OBJECTIVES
The goal of this randomized controlled trial, conducted in breast cancer patients, was to assess the long-term efficacy of a video-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (VCBT-I), as compared to a professionally administered intervention (PCBT-I) and to a no-treatment group (CTL). An earlier report revealed that, at posttreatment, VCBT-I patients showed significantly greater sleep improvements than CTL, but that PCBT-I produced superior effects than VCBT-I on some sleep and secondary outcomes. In this report, long-term effects are compared.

METHODS
Two hundred forty-two women with breast cancer and with insomnia symptoms or using hypnotic medications participated to this three-arm randomized controlled trial: (1) PCBT-I (n = 81); (2) VCBT-I (n = 80); or (3) no treatment (CTL; n = 81) group. PCBT-I was composed of six weekly, individual sessions of approximately 50 min, whereas VCBT-I comprised a 60-min animated video and six booklets.

RESULTS
Study measures (sleep and secondary variables) were administered at pretreatment and posttreatment, and at a 3-, 6-, and 12-mo follow-up. Treatment gains were well sustained at follow-up in both PCBT-I and VCBT-I. As at posttreatment, the remission rate of insomnia at follow-up was greater in PCBT-I than in VCBT-I, which was greater than in CTL.

CONCLUSIONS
Although face-to-face therapy remains the optimal format to efficaciously administer CBT for insomnia in cancer patients, a minimal intervention, such as the video-based intervention tested in this study, produces significant and sustainable treatment effects.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00674830.


Faced with the difficulties of finding an operationalized definition of backchannels, we have previously proposed an intermediate, auxiliary unit ‐ the very short utterance (VSU) ‐ which is defined operationally and is automatically extractable from recorded or ongoing dialogues. Here, we extend that work in the following ways: (1) we test the extent to which the VSU/NONVSU distinction corresponds to backchannels/non-backchannels in a different data set that is manually annotated for backchannels ‐ the Columbia Games Corpus; (2) we examine to the extent to which VSUS capture other short utterances with a vocabulary similar to backchannels; (3) we propose a VSU method for better managing turn-taking and barge-ins in spoken dialogue systems based on detection of backchannels; and (4) we attempt to detect backchannels with better precision by training a backchannel classifier using durations and inter-speaker relative loudness differences as features. The results show that VSUS indeed c apture a large proportion of backchannels ‐ large enough that VSUs can be used to improve spoken dialogue system turntaking; and that building a reliable backchannel classifier working in real time is feasible.


This paper presents the design of a simplified version of fuzzy inference engine (FIE) built on an Altera Flex 10K field programmable gate array (FPGA). This approach uses a modified center of area method. By introducing some constraints on the defined fuzzy subsets the computational speed of the FIE is made faster. The approach discussed in this paper removes the division bottleneck and keeps the fuzzy look-up tables small, thereby reducing the computational complexity of the FPGA. Parallelism is introduced in accessing the memory, thereby increasing the computational speed. A speed of 2.5 M FLIPS is achieved with a speed grade of 25 MHz.


This edited collection examines the multi-faceted ways in which labour standards can play a role in the achievement of development. A variety of critical perspectives are presented here, with contributions from a number of different disciplines, including law, politics, and economics. The book begins by considering potential theoretical connections between work and development, acknowledging controversy over how the latter should be approached, interpreted and rendered 'sustainable'. The remainder of the collection is devoted to an analysis of the part that protection of labour standards can play in developmental terms, with reference to concrete issues: anti-discrimination, child labour, trade relations, and social dialogue. The book concludes with a final chapter, reflecting on how theory has been and could be put into practice. The theme that transcends all the contributions to this collection is that of human agency. The authors are not merely interested in the realisation of an individual person's 'functioning' in society (which development will assist), but also with the ways that people can be engaged in the very process of defining what development aims should and can be. They do not wish to see economic, social and environmental development objectives as being determined by technical experts and implemented according to their prescriptions. Rather, they consider development in procedural as well as substantive terms, and in participatory as well as material terms. Contributors to this volume - Tonia Novitz and David Mangan Bob Hepple Brian Langille Judy Fudge Jacqui True Mark Bell Sonia Bhalotra Surya Deva Beate Sjafjell Adelle Blackett Charlotte Villiers David Tajgman Tonia Novitz Rolph van der Hoeven


This is the third volume in the Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science Series. It is based on a conference that was held in 1990, which was sponsored by the Cognitive Science Program and Linguistics Department of Simon Fraser University. Over the last decade, there has emerged a paradigm of cognitive modeling that has been hailed by many researchers as a radically new and promising approach to cognitive science. This new paradigm has come to be known by a number of names, including "connectionism", "neural networks", and "parallel distributed processing", (or PDP). This method of computation attempts to model the neural processes that are thought to underlie cognitive functions in human beings. Unlike the digital computation methods used by AI researchers, connectionist models claim to approximate the kind of spontaneous, creative and somewhat unpredicatable behavior of human agents. However, over the last few years, a heated controversy has arisen over the extent to which connectionist models are able to provide successful explanations for higher cognitive processes. A central theme of this book reviews the adequacy of recent attempts to implement higher cognitive processes in connectionist networks.


The first report of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was presented in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, in December 2019 (1). COVID-19 is an infectious virus with a high level of spread. According to its fast pandemic condition in the world, it has been announced as an emergency of public health by the World Health Organization (WHO) related to its fast pandemic condition (1-3). Movements of population, communication among humans, and environmental factors cause the transfer of this virus. The most prevalent clinical symptoms include fever, cough, headache, muscle cramps, and fatigue (4). Different industries in different countries have faced many problems and even there were many days off in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic. The pharmaceutical industry, among all industries, has a unique and exclusive sensitivity according to the necessity in the production of pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical industry has been important since the past years as a complementary part of the primary process in the treatment of the patients that shows the significance of development in this industry.

In the COVID-19 pandemic situation, pharmaceutical companies try to respond to the challenges in the supply chain, change the business process, and protect the health of the staff. If the epidemic of COVID-19 continues for a medium/long time, this will affect active supplies, necessary materials, and medication export/import. Moreover, it causes adverse effects on research and development (R&D) activities, production, and developmental projects related to improving the industry. Although the effect of global expansion has not been apparent yet, pharmaceutical companies should respond, improve, and develop. Therefore, during the COVID-19 pandemic situation, pharmaceutical companies should continue their activities and even develop it while facing many challenges. Moreover, it will help them detect the challenges and approaches of development in safety and health in pharmaceutical companies during the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Challenges of pharmaceutical companies in the COVID-19 pandemic situation include: 1) Hiding or lack of reports in COVID-19 affection; 2) Lack of appropriate monitoring of distribution vehicles in the prevention of infection; 3) Continual contacts with documents and internal permissions of products leading to the lack of supervision of health principles; 4) Production in closed and limited space; 5) Continual production line and necessity of team working; 6) Commotion of the personnel with public transportation and lack of knowledge in family health; 7) The physical presence of staff in administrative positions (R&D, marketing, IT, and planning); 8) Serving food in the restaurant of the company (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack); 9) Closing of air conditioning system in departments; 10) Lack of correct extrusion of produced wastes; 11) Lack of the attention of personnel on their health; and 12) The entrance of infected products and raw materials to the COVID-19.

Solutions in safety and health improvement of pharmaceutical company in facing COVID-19 pandemic include: 1) Disinfection of the external surface of the vehicles which contain materials and raw materials barrels at the entrance; 2) Use of electronic forms for documentation, product permissions, other production processes, quality control, and Health and Safety Executive ; 3) Use of distancing between the personnel with separator and fresh air injection into the rooms with building management system equipment; 4) Supply of mask and shield for all staff in sufficient number, and control of the use, extirpation, and protection of documents; 5) Use of masks with cartridge and N95 pad in administrative departments in exposure to chemical materials and changing them according to standard; 6) Assignment of the dedicated vehicles to the staff communication and their disinfection; 7) The necessity of using masks by the staff during transportation; 8) Provision of the opportunity for administrative staff to work from long distance; 9) Installation of the bags and buckets for sanitary wastes (mask, gloves, and tissue); 10) Disinfection of air conditioning system based on WHO rules; 11) Disinfection of all spaces and surfaces per hour or after use; 12) Installation of automatic disinfection equipment at the entrance of all buildings and busy places; 13) Introduction of COVID-19 as a job sickness to fast identification and self-declaration of the staff and elimination of transferring chain; 14) Assignment of subvention to treatment and leave of absence with salary for COVID-19 patients; 15) Psychological consultation and call contact with COVID-19 patients; 16) Online monitoring of the personnel and their families with an online questionnaire; 17) Transfer and management of waste by mechanizing systems and trained executive team with personal protection equipment; 18) Arrangement of all internal and external meetings online; 19) Presentation of all training courses in online classes (sky-room webinar); 20) Risk assessment in facing COVID-19 patients based on age, background illness, facing jobs, and a team of colleagues; 21) Non-public quarantine of the staff according to the importance of medicine production; 22) Specialization in COVID-19 tests for a suspicious person; 23) Distribution of self-protect equipment and disinfectants among the staff's families; 24) Quarantine of suffering, suspicious people or those who were in contact with suffering patients; 25) Quarantine of the products in the warehouse to eliminate the transporting chain of the infected products.
Conclusion

The pharmaceutical stability of industry and permanent presence is an inseparable part of treatment teams in the world. Therefore, the necessity of continual observation of environmental health in pharmaceutical companies and the staff health could develop the efficiency, health protection of the personnel, and consumers in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Controlling the challenges, as the next step, helps the presence of pharmaceutical companies in the current condition. Therefore, international, national, and local organizations should emphasize the revision of health and safety standards in the workplace. In addition, the self-declaration of industries and physical observation is necessary to conduct the suggested solutions for the personnel health as a staff in the health area.


Abstract This study set out to examine whether shyness, an aversion to novelty and unfamiliar social situations, can affect the processes that underlie early word learning. Twenty-four-month-old children (n =32) were presented with sets of one novel and two familiar objects, and it was found that shyer children were less likely to select a novel object as the referent of a novel label. Furthermore, not-shy children then showed evidence of retaining these novel mappings, but shy children did not. These findings suggest that shy children's aversion to novelty and to the unfamiliar context can impact on their word learning.


Coaching supervision is an emerging profession in need of developing its knowledge base. However, there is a lack of understanding of the supervision process from the coaching supervisees' perspective a crucial element without which issues and debates about coaching supervision are incomplete. Furthermore, although most of the professional bodies that represent coaches in the UK require coaches to have supervision, they do not provide clear guidelines on how supervisees can use supervision effectively. This article describes research that aims to fill this gap, providing empirical evidence on how supervisees can help and hinder their supervision.


A suite of aerosol physical and chemical measurements were made at the Mace Head Atmospheric Research Station, Co. Galway, Ireland, a coastal site on the eastern seaboard of the north Atlantic Ocean during NAMBLEX. The data have been used in this paper to show that over a wide range of aerosol sizes there is no impact of the intertidal zone or the surf zone on measurements made at 7 m above ground level or higher. During the measurement period a range of air mass types were observed. During anticyclonic periods and conditions of continental outflow Aitken and accumulation mode were enhanced by a factor of 5 compared to the marine sector, whilst coarse mode particles were enhanced during westerly conditions. Baseline marine conditions were rarely met at Mace Head during NAMBLEX and high wind speeds were observed for brief periods only. The NAMBLEX experiment focussed on a detailed assessment of photochemistry in the marine environment, investigating the linkage between the HOx and the halogen radical cycles. Heterogeneous losses are important in both these cycles. In this paper loss rates of gaseous species to aerosol surfaces were calculated for a range of uptake coefficients. Even when the accommodation coefficient is unity, lifetimes due to heterogeneous loss of less than 10 s were never observed and rarely were they less than 500 s. Diffusional limitation to mass transfer is important in most conditions as the coarse mode is always significant. We calculate a minimum overestimate of 50% in the loss rate if this is neglected and so it should always be considered when calculating loss rates of gaseous species to particle surfaces. HO2 and HOI have accommodation coefficients of around 0.03 and hence we calculate lifetimes due to loss to particle surfaces of 2000 s or greater under the conditions experienced during NAMBLEX. Aerosol composition data collected during this experiment provide representative information on the input aerosol characteristics to western Europe. During NAMBLEX the submicron aerosol was predominately acidified sulphate and organic material, which was most likely internally mixed. The remaining accumulation mode aerosol was sea salt. The organic and sulphate fractions were approximately equally important, though the mass ratio varies considerably between air masses. Mass spectral fingerprints of the organic fraction in polluted conditions are similar to those observed at other locations that are characterised by aged continental aerosol. In marine conditions, the background input of both sulphate and organic aerosol into Europe was observed to be between 0.5 and 1 mu g m(-3). Key differences in the mass spectra were observed during the few clean periods but were insufficient to ascertain whether these changes reflect differences in the source fingerprint of the organic aerosol. The coarse mode was composed of sea salt and showed significant displacement of chloride by nitrate and to a lesser extent sulphate in polluted conditions.


The cost of pollution, in human as well as material terms is clearly given and parts of the book have the forcefulness of a crusading pamphlet. The underlying idea behind several of the articles is that pollution can be controlled by economic measures. If industrialists can be made to pay for the detrimental effects of their own pollution and to benefit from pollution-prevention, then they will by their own free choice decide on the most satisfactory amount of polluting matter which can be discharged to water and air. Some interesting proposals are made. For example it is suggested that storage of waste material could be encouragcd by increasing the charge levied for discharge of pollutant when the flow in a receiving stream is low. The &dquo;classification&dquo; of rivers receives some attention, and the use of some water-courses as waste-carriers is considered within an overall plan involving the up-grading of other parts of a river system. JOHN PICKFORD.


Spam blogs or Splogs are blogs created for the sole purpose of hosting ads, promoting affiliate sites and getting new content indexed, with auto-generated or plagiarized content from other sources. Spammers equipped with readily available splog creation software inundate the blogosphere both at ping servers, and at systems that index and analyze blogs. Our own studies estimate these numbers to be around 75% at ping servers and 20% at popular blog search engines. In this open submission we hence propose Spam Blog Classification as a new task in the Blog Track. Splogs are a specific instance of the more general spam web-pages. While offline graph based mechanisms like TrustRank are quite effective and sufficient for the Web, the blogosphere demands new techniques. The quality of blog search engines is judged not just by their reach, but also by their ability to index recent (non-spam) posts. This requires that fast online splog detection/filtering be used prior to indexing new content, followed by offline techniques that exploit link graph anomalies. The nature of this problem makes splog detection challenging. This open task submission underscores the seriousness of the splog problem in the TREC 2006 collection, details how it impacts the primary task of Opinion Identification, and proposes multiple assessment and evaluation approaches for a Spam Blog Classification task in Blog Track 2007.


Indigenous people are the most impoverished and socially disadvantaged groups in India. They account for 8.2% of the total Indian population. This group stands at the lower strata of access and participation in higher education despite constitutional protection and strong Government affirmative action policies. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of these groups has improved significantly during the last decade, but the participation in absolute terms is much below the national average. This paper examines issues concerning higher education access and equity for communities of Indigenous people, gender disparity within this group and also highlights their unique problems which may require divergent policy responses.


The objective of this paper is to implement a baseband OFDM transceiver on FPGA hardware. The design uses 8-point SLT/ISLT (Slantlet/Inverse Slantlet) for the processing module with processing block of 8 inputs data wide. All modules are designed and implemented using VHDL programming language. Software tools used in this work includes Altera Quartus II 7.2 and ModelSim Altera 6.1g, to assist the design process and downloading process into FPGA board while Cyclone III board EP3C120F780C7 is used to realize the designed module.


Currently, COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been widely spread around the world; nevertheless, so far there exist no specific antiviral drugs for treatment of the disease, which poses great challenge to control and contain the virus. Here, we reported a research finding that SARS-CoV-2 invaded host cells via a novel route of CD147-spike protein (SP). SP bound to CD147, a receptor on the host cells, thereby mediating the viral invasion. Our further research confirmed this finding. First, in vitro antiviral tests indicated Meplazumab, an anti-CD147 humanized antibody, significantly inhibited the viruses from invading host cells, with an EC50 of 24.86 μg/mL and IC50 of 15.16 μg/mL. Second, we validated the interaction between CD147 and SP, with an affinity constant of 1.85×10−7M. Co-Immunoprecipitation and ELISA also confirmed the binding of the two proteins. Finally, the localization of CD147 and SP was observed in SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero E6 cells by immuno-electron microscope. Therefore, the discovery of the new route CD147-SP for SARS-CoV-2 invading host cells provides a critical target for development of specific antiviral drugs.


At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist. Why do England lose?" "Why do Germany & Brazil Win?" "How have Spain conquered the World?" "Penalties - what are they good for?" "What is the price on achieving success and the true cost of failure?" These are questions every football fan has asked. Soccernomics (previously published as Why England Lose) answers them. Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, it applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. Soccernomics isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about "The Magic of the FA Cup", "England's Shock Defeat" and "Newcastle's New South American Star". No training in economics is needed to read Soccernomics but the reader will come out of it with a better understanding not just of football, but of how economists think and what they know.


At the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Japan, pharmacists have been involved in drug treatment management and patient care as members of multidisciplinary heart transplant teams that include surgeons, physicians, recipient transplant coordinators, and nurses during the waiting period for heart transplantation (HTx), HTx surgery, and post-HTx. During the waiting period, pharmacists play an important role in adjusting the use of antibiotics, anticoagulants, and antiarrhythmics by patients receiving a ventricular assist device (VAD). During HTx surgery and post-HTx, pharmacists advise physicians regarding the individualized medication protocol for immunosuppression and infection prevention to be used for each patient based on the patient's pre-HTx characteristics as well as gene polymorphisms. They thus contribute to reducing the burden on the physician through the sharing of tasks. Throughout all three phases of HTx, pharmacists repeatedly provide medication and adherence education to the patients and caregivers. It is hoped that an academic society-led training protocol as well as transplant pharmacists will be established in Japan and other developed countries, and that these specialized transplant pharmacists would then provide individualized pharmacotherapy for the use of various antibiotics, anticoagulants, and immunosuppressive agents that have a narrow range of treatment in VAD and HTx patients.


An alternative rapid digestion method has been developed for the determination of tungsten (W) in soil samples using fractionation studies and response surface methodology. The digestion method using the Kjeldahl instrument was applied to samples, and soluble tungsten was determined via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Digestion parameters were selected depending on the results of fractionation studies and optimized using a four-factor and five-level central composite design. The contributions of the phosphoric acid concentration (X$_{1})$, digestion temperature (X$_{2})$, digestion time (X$_{3})$, and hydrochloric acid concentration (X$_{4})$ were evaluated for the determination of W from samples in which its levels were maximum. Optimum conditions for factors were found to be X$_{1}$ = 9.00 M, X$_{2}$ = 124 $^{\circ}$C, X$_{3}$ = 45 min, and X$_{4}$ = 1.52 M using a predicted W level of 86.82 $\mu $g L$^{-1}$. This yielded an expected level of 1736.40 mg kg$^{-1}$ under the optimized conditions. Experimental W levels were in good agreement with this predicted level and found to be 1682.69 mg kg$^{-1}$. Thus, measured W levels showed the versatility of the central composite design in such a complex soil matrix for method development.


This thesis describes the research and development into a range of time-temperature integrators (TTIs) for the measurement of process values for food heat treatments. The TTIs are based on the first order thermal degradation of bacterial \(\alpha\)-amylases. Two new TTIs are described, one for mild pasteurisation treatments of a few minutes at 70°C and one for full sterilisation of >3 minutes at 121.1°C. Examples are given of how these TTIs are applied to a variety of industrial thermal processes. These include traditional methods such as canning, but also more complex systems such as tubular heat exchangers and batch vessels, together with novel systems such as ohmic heating. Some of the industrial experiments dealt with processes in which the thermal effects had not been previously quantified. For sterilisation, a highly innovative solution is required. A candidate TTI material is identified based on an amylase secreted by the hyperthermophilic microorganism Pyrococcus furiosus. This microorganism exists in extreme conditions where it metabolises in boiling volcanic pools; with elemental sulphur readily available, in water of high salinity, and in a reducing atmosphere. The amylase it secretes is naturally thermostable and withstands a full thermal sterilisation process.


We present a three‐dimensional modeling study of gas flow in the unsaturated fractured rock of Yucca Mountain. Our objective was to estimate large‐scale fracture permeability, using the changes in subsurface pneumatic pressure in response to barometric pressure changes at the land surface. We incorporate the field‐measured pneumatic data into a multiphase flow model for describing the coupled processes of liquid and gas flow under ambient geothermal conditions. Comparison of field‐measured pneumatic data with model‐predicted gas pressures is found to be a powerful technique for estimating the fracture permeability of the unsaturated fractured rock, which is otherwise extremely difficult to determine in field studies with large scales of interest. In addition, this study demonstrates that the multidimensional flow effect on estimated permeability values is significant and should be included when determining fracture permeability in heterogeneous fractured media.


The gap between a supercomputer's theoretical maximum (\peak")
oatingpoint
performance and that actually achieved by applications has grown wider
over time. Today, a typical scientific application achieves only 5{20% of any
given machine's peak processing capability, and this gap leaves room for significant
improvements in execution times.
This problem is most pronounced for modern \accelerator" architectures
{ collections of hundreds of simple, low-clocked cores capable of executing the
same instruction on dozens of pieces of data simultaneously. This is a significant
change from the low number of high-clocked cores found in traditional CPUs,
and effective utilisation of accelerators typically requires extensive code and
algorithmic changes. In many cases, the best way in which to map a parallel
workload to these new architectures is unclear.
The principle focus of the work presented in this thesis is the evaluation
of emerging parallel architectures (specifically, modern CPUs, GPUs and Intel
MIC) for two benchmark codes { the LU benchmark from the NAS Parallel
Benchmark Suite and Sandia's miniMD benchmark { which exhibit complex
parallel behaviours that are representative of many scientific applications. Using
combinations of low-level intrinsic functions, OpenMP, CUDA and MPI, we
demonstrate performance improvements of up to 7x for these workloads.
We also detail a code development methodology that permits application developers
to target multiple architecture types without maintaining completely
separate implementations for each platform. Using OpenCL, we develop performance
portable implementations of the LU and miniMD benchmarks that are
faster than the original codes, and at most 2x slower than versions highly-tuned
for particular hardware.
Finally, we demonstrate the importance of evaluating architectures at scale
(as opposed to on single nodes) through performance modelling techniques,
highlighting the problems associated with strong-scaling on emerging accelerator
architectures.


Adverbs of degree form an intriguing part of the lexicon: numerous, multiform and everchanging. They also show a great variety in distribution. In this study, the characteristics of adverbs of degree are investigated from a semantic point of view. The main focus is on Dutch, but previous studies about English and German adverbs of degree are used to compare with and to build on. The book starts with an introduction on grading and gradability, and a classification of the adverbs according to the degree they express. Next, the different lexical sources from which the adverbs emerge and the process of grammaticalization are discussed. The main part of the book is devoted to semantic restrictions on the use of adverbs of degree, on the one hand restrictions concerning the modified elements, on the other hand those concerning the environment. Topics include absoluteness versus gradability, positive versus negative evaluation, the strengthening of negation, polarity sensitivity, the logical properties of the adverbs themselves, and restrictions to reduplication and stacking. Besides the main text, three case studies are presented in which the pecularities of some of the adverbs are investigated in depth, to show more in detail to complexities of their distribution. The appendix gives an overview of Dutch adverbs of degree.


Abstract Burnup calculations consider the time dependence of the material composition or isotope inventory, which has important influence on the neutronic properties of a nuclear reactor. An essential part of burnup calculations is to solve the burnup equations, which can be approximately treated as a first-order linear system and can be solved by means of matrix exponential methods. However, because of the large decay constants of short-lived nuclides, the coefficient matrix of the burnup equations has a large norm and a vast range of spectra. Consequently, it is quite difficult to directly compute the matrix exponential using conventional methods such as the truncated Taylor expansion and the Pade approximation. Recently, the Chebyshev rational approximation method (CRAM), which is based on rational functions on the complex plane, has shown the capability to deal with this problem. In this paper an alternative method based on the generalized Laguerre polynomials is proposed to compute the exponential of the burnup matrix. Against CRAM, the Laguerre polynomial approximation method (LPAM) has simple recursions for obtaining the coefficients in any order, and all the computations are real arithmetic. A point burnup case and a pin-cell burnup case are calculated for validation, and results show that LPAM is promising for burnup calculations.


BACKGROUND
Alcohol-induced hangover represents a significant, yet understudied, global hazard and a large socio-economic burden.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of hydrogen (H2) on relieving drinking and hangover symptoms in 20 healthy volunteers.

METHODS
In this pilot, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, matched, crossover interventional trial, participants were matched into pairs and randomly assigned. Study group 1 inhaled placebo air for 1 hr, followed by drinking 100 ml of liquor (40% alcohol) within 10 min, and then pure water. Study group 2 inhaled a mixture of H2 and O2 gas for 1 hr, followed by drinking 100 ml of liquor within 10 min, and then H2 dissolved in water. On a second intervention day (crossover) ≥1 wk later, study-group subjects were switched to the opposite order. Breath alcohol concentration (BrAC), hangover severity, and cognitive scores were measured.

RESULTS
The BrACs within the H2 group were significantly lower than those within the placebo group after 30 min, 60 min, and 90 min (P < 0.05). The H2 group reported having fewer hangover symptoms compared with the placebo group (Placebo: 77% of symptoms absent, 19.7% of mild symptoms, 2.7% of moderate symptoms, 0.7% of severe symptoms; H2: 88.6% of symptoms absent, 10% of mild symptoms, 1.3% of moderate symptoms, 0% of severe symptoms; P < 0.001). H2 treatment improved cognitive testing scores (P < 0.05), including attention and executive functions. Furthermore, consumption of H2 was negatively (β = -13.016; 95% CI: -17.726, -8.305; P < 0.001) and female sex was positively (β = 22.611; 95% CI: 16.226, 28.997; P < 0.001) correlated with increased BrACs. Likewise, the consumption of H2 was negatively (OR: 0.035; 95% CI: 0.007, 0.168; P < 0.001) while female sex was positively (OR: 28.838; 95% CI: 5.961, 139.506; P < 0.001) correlated with the severity of hangover symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
H2 decreases BrACs and relieves the symptoms of hangovers.This trial was registered at China Clinical Trial Registry as ChiCTR2200059988. URL of registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=58359.


We performed an exploratory analysis of the morphology of the cranium in the white olm (Proteus anguinus anguinus) and the black olm (P. a. parkelj) with micro-CT scanning and geometric morphometrics. The mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus) was used as an outgroup. The black olm falls outside the white olm morphospace by a markedly wider skull, shorter vomers which are positioned further apart and by laterally positioned squamosals and quadrates relative to the palate (the shape of the buccal cavity). On account of its robust skull with more developed premaxillae a shorter otico-occipital region, the black olm is positioned closer to Necturus than are the studied specimens of the white olm. The elongated skull of the white olm, with an anteriorly positioned jaw articulation point, could be regarded as an adaptation for improved feeding success, possibly compensating for lack of vision. As yet, the alternative explanations on the evolution of troglomorphism in Proteus are an extensive convergence in white olms versus the reverse evolution towards less troglomorphic character states in the black olm. To further understand the evolutionary trajectories within Proteus we highlight the following hypotheses for future testing: i) morphological differentiation is smaller within than between genetically differentiated white olm lineages, and ii) ontogenetic shape changes are congruent with the shape changes between lineages. We anticipate that the morphological detail and analytical power that come with the techniques we here employed will assist us in this task.


To investigate the frame of reference with the downward displacement of
the posterior leaflet and anterior leaflet of tricuspid valve in
children by ultrasound.The downward degree of anterior and posterior
tricuspid valve was evaluated with tricuspid annulus and coronary sinus
as reference structures under ultrasound, and the position of tricuspid
regurgitation orifice was shown by color ultrasound. Color Doppler flow
imaging showed that the position of tricuspid regurgitation orifice
moved down obviously in all 42 children. One case showed 2.2cm from the
root of the anterior valve to the tricuspid annulus in the two-chamber
and four-chamber view of the apical right heart. Color Doppler can show
that the position and direction of tricuspid regurgitation orifice are
obviously deviated to the anterolateral side. The obvious deviation of
the tricuspid regurgitation orifice to the anterolateral direction may
be an ultrasonic sign for diagnosing the downward displacement of the
anterior tricuspid valve in children.


306 Background: The Standards and Guidelines Evidence (SAGE) directory of cancer guidelines is a resource designed to facilitate evidence-based clinical practice, policy formation, and guideline adaptation, and reduce duplication in guideline development.

METHODS
Developed in 2008, SAGE is a publically available (www.cancerview.ca/sage), searchable database of English language cancer control guidelines and standards released since 2003. Qualifying guidelines in SAGE are rated using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) tool. These ratings can be used to measure trends in guideline quality. SAGE also documents guideline development status, including current guidelines, guidelines in progress, those in need of an update and guidelines undergoing updates.

RESULTS
SAGE contains over 1,900 indexed records from 271 developer organizations spanning 27 countries and international jurisdictions. There is considerable variability in guideline quality both within and across guideline developers, and AGREE II quality domains of applicability and editorial independence are the poorest performing. SAGE has the ability to provide information on guideline topic gaps and overlap, demonstrating that the majority of guidelines target breast, lung, colorectal and prostate cancers, and focus on the treatment stage of the cancer control continuum. This provides a channel of communication amongst organizational groups and facilitates guideline development partnerships.

CONCLUSIONS
The value-add of SAGE to mitigate inconsistencies in guideline quality is the appraisal component of its records. It is the ultimate goal that SAGE will continue to assist efforts to leverage positive change in the field of practice guidelines, patient care and system performance in cancer control.


In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revised and standardized the reporting policy for community benefit expenses for nonprofit hospitals. These expenses are required for tax-exemption. At that time, the IRS designated some categories of activities as noneligible as a community benefit, but still mandated their reporting on hospitals' Form 990- the annual tax filing for nonprofit organizations. One such category was community building, which encompasses a broad range of nonmedial determinants of health and an important potential source of population health revenue. This is the first study to analyze community-building dollars at any level, examining New York State's nonprofit hospitals during the 2010 and 2012 tax year. Forty-six percent of hospitals reported any amount for such activities in both years, totaling 17.8 million dollars in 2010 and 16.4 million dollars in 2012. We believe this category deserves additional attention from policymakers and researchers, and should be considered by the IRS an eligible community benefit activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


The article explores how societal contexts create diff erent possibilities for faring well towards the future for young marginalized people. Based on a compara- tive project including ethnographies from Brazil, Uganda, Georgia and Denmark the authors discuss well-faring as a time-oriented process based on individual as well as societal conditions. The article argues that in order to understand well-faring it is im- portant to analyse how visions and strategies for the future are shaped in relation to local circumstances. Whether it is possible to envision the future as hopeless or hope- ful, as concrete or abstract or as dependent on family or state is a matt er of context. Well-faring is thus neither an individual nor a state project but must be analysed in a double perspective as an interplay between the two.


1. Glucose-infusion tests were performed on patients admitted for elective upper abdominal surgery 1 day before and 1 day after operation. In addition to insulin and proinsulin, a third immunoreactive insulin species of mol. wt. 20 000--30 000 was detected in plasma from two patients. The heterogeneity of plasma immunoreactive insulin (IRI) and the need to consider the effects of all forms, including proinsulin and the high-molecular-weight species, is emphasized. 2. During preoperative glucose infusions there was an increase in the percentage of the total plasma IRI present as high-molecular-weight forms (i.e. proinsulin plus the species of mol. wt. 20 000--30 000) from 3.9% to 10.8%. On the first postoperative morning all patients showed an increase in the amounts of the heavier IRI types, which accounted for 13.9% of the total plasma IRI. 3. The changes in insulin and proinsulin are consistent with the release from the pancreas of an insulin/proinsulin mixture of constant proportions, and the longer circulating half-life of proinsulin. 4. Increases in the amounts of high-molecular-weight IRI species after surgery may have a partial role in the development of insulin resistance but are probably not a major determinant of the insulin-resistant state.


We propose an active contour (a.k.a. snake) that takes the shape of an ellipse. Its evolution is driven by surface terms made of two contributions: the integral of the data over an inner ellipse, counterbalanced by the integral of the data over an outer elliptical shell. We iteratively adapt the active contour to maximize the contrast between the two domains, which results in a snake that seeks elliptical bright blobs. We provide analytic expressions for the gradient of the snake with respect to its defining parameters, which allows for the use of efficient optimizers. An important contribution here is the parameterization of the ellipse which we define in such a way that all parameters have equal importance; this creates a favorable landscape for the proceedings of the optimizer. We validate our construct with synthetic data and illustrate its use on real data as well.


Background: It has been speculated that a busy match schedule in sport can lead to player fatigue, which may result in underperformance during that period. There is also the risk of injury to the players.
Type of study: An inference study.
Methods: The sample consists of the 180 matches of the Spanish Soccer League played in the first 15 weekend match days of the 2003-2004, 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons respectively by Spanish teams playing simultaneously the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. The dependent variable was the result obtained by the teams in the Spanish Soccer League matches. Data were analysed using multinomial logit regression with three independent variables: the number of matches played during the week, the match location, and the status of the observed teams as Champions League debutants.
Results: Contrary to conventional knowledge, this study indicates that Spanish Champions League teams did not perform below their normal standard at the weekend when they had also played a midweek match. In fact, the Champions League debutants performed above their normal standard in the weekend matches when they played a Champions League midweek match.
Conclusion: The risk of underperformance did not increase during the first 15 weeks of the Spanish Soccer League despite the increase in the number of matches played. This indicates that, to a certain extent, a top team can cope with a busy match schedule without underperforming.


The objective of this study was to describe the diet of the lesser electric ray (Narcine brasiliensis) in the waters along the coast of Rio Grande do Sul during summer. In February 2005, all individuals caught in bottom trawl fishing hauls of the inshore waters between latitudes 29° S and 34° S were collected. Sex and total length were recorded for each individual; stomachs were fixed in 4% formalin. Food items were identified, and the frequency of occurrence, number and weight proportions, and index of relative importance were calculated for each item. Ingested food was found in 95% of the stomachs of the collected individuals. Polychaetes constituted 97% of total prey, with Notomastus lobatus being the most important food item. Stomach repletion was non-different between the sexes; no correlation was found between the richness of the diet and the total body length and between wet weight of stomach content and total weight. Thus, N. brasiliensis caught in the waters off the coast of southern Brazil during summer feed mostly on polychaetes, which could be the result of the aggregation of rays in areas with the highest abundance of a specific prey because of prey population increase.


Abstract This auto-ethnographic article explores how land-based education might challenge Western environmental science education (ESE) in an Indigenous community. This learning experience was developed from two perspectives: first, land-based educational stories from Dene First Nation community Elders, knowledge holders, teachers, and students; and second, the author's critical self‐reflections focusing on how land-based education could offer unlearning, rethinking, relearning, and reclaiming ESE. This auto-ethnography provides particular insights into who we are as environmental educators, the challenges in Western ESE, why land-based education matters, why and how a significant move should be made from Western ESE to land-based ESE, and how land-based education offers a bridge between Western and Indigenous education.


To investigate the dynamics of cell-substratum adhesion during locomotion, a double-view optical technique and computer-assisted image analysis has been developed which combines reflection interference contrast microscopy (RICM) with bright-field imaging. The simultaneous recording of cell-substratum contact and cell body contour has been applied to aggregation-competent cells of Dictyostelium discoideum. These cells are distinguished from cells at earlier stages of development by small areas of contact to a substratum. Three questions have been addressed in analysing the locomotion of aggregation-competent cells. (1) What is the relationship between changes in the shape of cells and their contact to a substratum during a chemotactic response? (2) What is the relationship between protrusion and retraction of the cell body, and between local attachment and detachment? (3) Are there differences between wild-type and mutant cells that lack certain cytoskeletal proteins? During a chemotactic response the front region of the amoeba can bend towards the gradient of attractant without being supported by its contact with a surface, which excludes the necessity for gradients of adhesion for the response. The finding that in locomoting cells protrusion of the leading edge often precedes retraction establishes a pioneer role for the front region. The finding that gain of contact area precedes loss provides evidence for the coordination of interactions between the cell surface and a substratum. For comparison with wild-type, aggregation-competent triple mutant cells have been used that lack two F-actin crosslinking proteins, alpha-actinin and 120 kDa gelation factor, and an actin filament fragmenting protein, severin. Disturbances in the spatial and temporal control of cytoskeletal activities have been unravelled in the mutant by RICM and quantified by cross-correlation analysis of attachment and detachment vectors. In order to detect these disturbances, it was essential to analyse cell locomotion on the weakly adhesive surface of freshly cleaved mica.


Various disease models have been shown to alter hepatic drug-metabolizing enzyme (DME) and transporter expression and to induce cholestasis through altered enzyme and transporter expression. Previously, we detailed the regulation of hepatic DMEs during infectious colitis caused by Citrobacter rodentium infection. We hypothesized that this infection would also modulate hepatic drug transporter expression and key genes of bile acid (BA) synthesis and transport. Mice lacking Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), interleukin-6 (IL-6), or interferon-gamma (IFN g ) and appropriate wild-type animals were orally infected with C. rodentium and sacrificed 7 days later. In two wild-type strains, drug transporter mRNA expression was significantly decreased by infection for Slc22a4, Slco1a1, Slco1a4, Slco2b1, and Abcc6, whereas the downregulation of Abcc2, Abcc3, and Abcc4 were strain-dependent. In contrast, mRNA expressions of Slco3a1 and Abcb1b were increased in a strain-dependent manner. Expression of Abcb11, Slc10a1, the two major hepatic BA transporters, and Cyp7a1, the rate-limiting enzyme of BA synthesis, was also significantly decreased in infected animals. None of the above effects were caused by bacterial lipopolysaccharide, since they still occurred in the absence of functional TLR4. The downregulation of Slc22a4 and Cyp7a1 was absent in IFN g -null mice, and the downregulation of Slco1a1 was abrogated in IL-6-null mice, indicating in vivo roles for these cytokines in transporter regulation. These data indicate that C. rodentium infection modulates hepatic drug processing through alteration of transporter expression as well as DMEs. Furthermore, this infection downregulates important genes of BA synthesis and transport and may increase the risk for cholestasis.


Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is among the most common oral lesions and pain is often the chief complaint of patients. The main etiology of RAS is unknown but several predisposing factors have been suggested. This study aims to assess the correlation of blood types (ABO/Rh) with RAS. Methods: We conducted this prospective screening study on 50 patients with RAS and 50 controls. Both groups received a questionnaire and underwent serum screening for detection of blood t


Abstract The possibility of obtaining an estimate of depth for large earthquakes from low-frequency mantle wave data alone is investigated using moment tensor formalism. After illustrating the sensitivity to depth of the eigenfunctions in the period range of 160 to 350 sec, we give several examples of application of the two-step inversion procedure proposed earlier for shorter period Rayleigh wave data (Romanowicz, 1982). We find that for earthquakes below a depth of about 50 km, we are able to resolve depth even when a spherically symmetric average Earth model is used for propagation corrections. This is particularly interesting in the case of large subduction zone earthquakes for which an estimate of the vertical extent of faulting can thus be obtained, independently of aftershock studies, in a very fast and simple manner which does not involve any synthetic seismogram calculations or lateral heterogeneity modeling. For shallower earthquakes, especially those with one steeply dipping nodal plane, the resolution of depth is less precise. Taking lateral heterogeneity into account by using available regionalized phase velocities improves the results marginally. We anticipate that accounting more accurately for the low-order harmonics in the worldwide phase velocity distribution should prove most helpful, since these interfere the most with the theoretical radiation patterns of earthquakes. The determination of depth depends more critically on the source process time, which has to be accounted for especially for horizontally propagating faults.


This Special Publication is a collection of papers which identifies, describes, and interprets the occurrence of palaeosurfaces in the geological record. The concept of a palaeosurface is one which is generally understood across the geomorphological and geological sciences but, according to discipline and application, often differs in the emphasis and detail of its interpretation. In order to encompass the widest range of contributions and views upon the subject of palaeosurfaces, a broad remit was deliberately adopted during the preparation of this volume.

Many working groups within the geological and geomorphological sciences share a common link through the Geological Society, and it is hoped that this volume will further illustrate the potential of cross-disciplinary study. Geology and geomorphology, though often approached by different research schools, are both expressions of complex Earth systems and as such can rarely be treated independently. Since the investigation of palaeosurfaces requires an understanding of both geomorphological and geological processes, their study is clearly a theme which demands this type of cross-disciplinary approach. Therefore, the aim of this volume is to bring together expertise from a variety of fields by researchers in both the geological and geomorphological disciplines who have adopted such a combined approach to palaeosurface research.

Contributions have been encouraged from the fields of geomorphology, geology, geochemistry, palynology and palaeoenvironmental studies. The papers include studies of geomorphological evolution, reconstruction of palaeolandscapes, lateritization and bauxitization, palaeo-karstification, sequence stratigraphy, geochemistry of rock alteration, the preservation of palaeosurface elements in terrains from glaciated to sub-tropical regions.