This article addresses the topic "the Word in the World" by seeking to clarify both concepts in the light of biblical usage and the present situation of believers. While "the world" features quite prominently in the New Testament, the understanding of the motif throughout Christian history has reflected more the Church's experience with its socio-cultural and religious context rather than the New Testament usage. The largely defensive attitude to the world that was the stance of the Roman church in reaction to the Reformation and Enlightenment was radically challenged at the Second Vatican Council, offering the chance to re-orientate the Church towards an understanding of "world" in a less objectified sense as an imaginative construction of reality. From the New Testament, notably the Gospel of John, at least four understandings of "world" emerge, of which only one is negative. The Synoptic tradition, in particular the parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, addresses the issue of evil by indicating the world as one reality in which good and evil are pervasively intertwined such that believers can never isolate themselves over against or out of the world but must contest, with the power of the Gospel, the destructive dynamics at work in God's good world. The Word, which believers are commissioned to proclaim to the world, is not first and foremost a message but Jesus, the Word Incarnate, who is both with us and one us, while also the locus and instrument of God's salvific work within the world. The particularity of the Incarnation, especially as the Wisdom of God incarnate, rather than a scandal or limitation in a pluralistic world, can open us up to the infinite mystery of God mediated by all religious traditions. The Incarnation also designates our humanity as the locus of God's Presence in the world, enabling believers, as Christ's body, to be the Word of God resounding in the world.


Objectives: Recent animal studies have revealed critical roles of interleukin (IL)17, which is produced by a newly identified subset of helper T cells, Th17 cells, in the development of autoimmune diseases including arthritis. However, in human rheumatoid arthritis (RA), detailed characteristics and the prevalence of Th17 cells are unclear. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained from 123 patients with RA and 28 healthy controls. Mononuclear cells were also prepared from synovial membrane or synovial fluid of 12 patients with RA. IL17 (IL17A) positive T cells were identified by a flow cytometer after ex vivo stimulation with phorbol myristate acetate and ionomycin. Disease activity was assessed with the 28-joint Disease Activity Score (DAS28). Results: IL17 positive cells were detected in CD45RO+ CD4 T cells. Most IL17 positive T cells produced neither interferon (IFN)γ nor IL4, but tumour necrosis factor (TNF)α similar to murine Th17 cells. The frequency of Th17 cells was neither increased in RA nor correlated with DAS28. Unexpectedly, the frequency of Th17 cells was significantly decreased in the joints compared with PBMC of the same patients with RA, whereas Th1 cells were more abundant in the joints than in PBMC. Conclusions: We could not obtain evidence that positively supports predominance of Th17 cells in RA. Further careful investigation is necessary before clinical application of IL17-targeting therapy.


Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a burgeoning health problem of unknown etiology that varies in prevalence among ancestry groups. To identify genetic variants contributing to differences in hepatic fat content, we carried out a genome-wide association scan of nonsynonymous sequence variations (n 9,229) in a population comprising Hispanic, African American and European American individuals. An allele in PNPLA3 (rs738409[G], encoding I148M) was strongly associated with increased hepatic fat levels (P 5.9 10(-10)) and with hepatic inflammation (P 3.7 10(-4)). The allele was most common in Hispanics, the group most susceptible to NAFLD; hepatic fat content was more than twofold higher in PNPLA3 rs738409[G] homozygotes than in noncarriers. Resequencing revealed another allele of PNPLA3 (rs6006460[T], encoding S453I) that was associated with lower hepatic fat content in African Americans, the group at lowest risk of NAFLD. Thus, variation in PNPLA3 contributes to ancestry-related and inter-individual differences in hepatic fat content and susceptibility to NAFLD.


Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs in African schools have received increased attention, particularly around the potential impact of poor menstrual hygiene management (MHM) on equity for girls' education. This study was conducted prior to a menstrual feasibility study in rural Kenya, to examine current WASH in primary schools and the resources available for menstruating schoolgirls. Cross-sectional surveys were performed in 62 primary schools during unannounced visits. Of these, 60% had handwashing water, 13% had washing water in latrines for menstruating girls, and 2% had soap. Latrines were structurally sound and 16% were clean. Most schools (84%) had separate latrines for girls, but the majority (77%) had no lock. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supported WASH in 76% of schools. Schools receiving WASH interventions were more likely to have: cleaner latrines (Risk Ratio (RR) 1.5; 95% Confidence Intervals [CI] 1.0, 2.1), handwashing facilities (RR 1.6, CI 1.1, 2.5), handwashing water (RR 2.7; CI 1.4, 5.2), and water in girls' latrines (RR 4.0; CI 1.4, 11.6). Schools continue to lack essential WASH facilities for menstruating girls. While external support for school WASH interventions improved MHM quality, the impact of these contributions remains insufficient. Further support is required to meet international recommendations for healthy, gender-equitable schools.


Electrophoretic deposition of silicon carbide in ethanol suspensions was studied with the aim to fabricate liquid-phase sintered (LPS) SiC-based ceramics densified at temperatures below 1500°C. The effect of suspensions composition (solids content, pH, sintering additives) on the deposition rate and the properties of the deposits was analysed. The consistency of deposits and their solids loading was found to be significantly dependent on composition of the starting suspension: the highest solids loading (54.5 vol. %) for pure SiC was obtained with the addition of citric acid, while for the suspension containing aluminum phosphate the deposition was more successful from alkaline suspensions.


This experiment ( N = 238) tested propositions from social identity theory alongside the intergroup contact hypothesis to examine whether having a political discussion with an in-group (politically similar) or out-group (politically different) member affects subsequent evaluations of these social groups. Although several experimental results provide strong support for the antisocial predictions proposed by social identity theory, ultimately it was found that having a political discussion with an out-group member led to more positive moral and affective evaluations of out-group members than having a discussion with an in-group member. This result is consistent with the contact hypothesis and supports the notion that political discussions across party lines can produce positive social outcomes.


International climate negotiations have specified that projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) should not lead to a 'diversion' of official development assistance (ODA). It is however unchallenged that ODA can be used in capacity building for the CDM. Diversion can be interpreted in purpose, sectoral, and regional terms. There are possibilities to use ODA benchmarks to define diversion such as the UN 0.7 per cent target but they are unlikely to be politically acceptable. On the project level, three main options exist but none of them is perfect. The Development Assistance Committee of OECD endorses deduction of the value of emissions credits (CERs) from ODA. This however leads to a long-term pressure on the ODA level. Differentiating an ODA-financed baseline project and a 'piggyback' CDM option is likely to be arbitrary in many circumstances. Even if CERs do not accrue for the ODA share of the investment, still private CDM projects are crowded out due to the subsidizing of CDM projects.


Mobile instantaneous messaging (MIM) services significantly facilitate personal and business communications, inevitably consume substantial network resources, and potentially affect the network stability. In this paper, we aim to understand the traffic nature of MIM in cellular networks. Specifically, in order to reach credible conclusions, our research takes account of practical measurement records of MIM services from China Mobile at two different levels. First, a data set of individual message level (IML) traffic is exploited and reveals power-law distributed message length and lognormal distributed interarrival time, the heavy-tailness of which completely diverts from the geometric model and the exponential model recommended by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). Second, another data set considers the statistical pattern of aggregated traffic within one whole base station, and demonstrates the accuracy of α-stable models for the aggregated traffic. Furthermore, it verifies that the α-stable models are suitable for characterizing the traffic in both the conventional fixed core networks and the cellular access networks. At last, with the aid of the generalized central limit theorem, we build up a theoretical relation between the distributions of IML traffic and aggregated traffic.


Metal n5-cyclopenta[c]thienyl complexes are of significant interest in both catalysis and materials chemistry. These relatives of the low-band-gap polymer polybenzo[2,3-c]thiophene show great promise as environmentally stable conductive polymers and as energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) due to their unique electronic properties. Recently, studies have shown that cyclopenta[c]thiophene molecules are effective as photodynamic anticancer agents which are particularly aggressive toward leukemia cells. The current method of synthesizing these compounds is lengthy, costly, and has a very low yield. Our group has developed a novel one-step method to produce precursors of these compounds. This procedure increases product yields, eliminates the use of toxic and expensive solvents such as CCl4, and lowers the total number of synthetic steps involved in synthesis of thiapentalenes. These precursors are synthesized by C-C dialkylation using malonate esters to form fused fivemembered rings. This new method is of value not only as "green" chemistry but also has the potential to lower the cost of cancer treatments and electricity bills.


This theoretical viewpoint paper presents a new perspective on urban governance in an information age. Smart city governance is not only about technology but also about re-organizing collaboration between a variety of actors. The introduction of new tools for open collaboration in the public domain is rapidly changing the way collaborative action is organized. These technologies reduce the transaction costs for massive collaboration dramatically and thus facilitate new forms of collaboration that we could call 'open governance': new innovative forms of collective action aimed at solving complex public policy issues, contributing to public knowledge, or replacing traditional forms of public service provision. These innovative open and collaborative organisational forms in cities seem to point towards not only a wide variety of digitally connected actors but also to a fundamentally different and more invisible role of government in these arrangements. We argue that the recently emerging paradigm of New Public Governance (NPG) (Osborne 2010) also fails to capture the dynamics of open governance since it does not acknowledge the emergent – pop-up – character of the new collaborations; neither does it present an understanding of massive individualized collaboration in cities. This paper aims to theoretically and empirically explore the core elements and the underlying socio-technical developments of this new Open Governance (OG) paradigm and compare and contrast OG with existing governance paradigms. Based on illustrative real-life cases, we will argue that we need a new paradigm that is better capable of explaining these emerging innovative forms of governing cities. We will argue that this requires an understanding of governance as a platform that facilitates an urban ecosystem. By connecting new insights from studies on digital governance to the debate about governance paradigms, this paper results in a set crucial empirical and normative questions about governance of cities and also in guidelines for urban governance that builds upon the rich, emerging interactions in cities that are facilitated by new technologies.


BACKGROUND: Magnetic anal sphincter augmentation is a novel technique for the treatment of patients with fecal incontinence. OBJECTIVE: The current study reports the long-term effectiveness and safety of this new treatment modality. DESIGN: This was a prospective multicenter pilot study. SETTINGS: The study was performed at 4 clinical sites in Europe and the United States. PATIENTS: The cohort included patients with severe fecal incontinence for ≥6 months who had previously failed conservative therapy and were implanted with a magnetic anal sphincter device between 2008 and 2011. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adverse events, symptom severity, quality of life, and bowel diary data were collected. RESULTS: A total of 35 patients (34 women) underwent magnetic anal sphincter augmentation. The median length of follow-up was 5.0 years (range, 0–5.6 years), with 23 patients completing assessment at 5 years. Eight patients underwent a subsequent operation (7 device explantations) because of device failure or complications, 7 of which occurred in the first year. Therapeutic success rates, with patients who underwent device explantation or stoma creation counted as treatment failures, were 63% at year 1, 66% at year 3 and 53% at year 5. In patients who retained their device, the number of incontinent episodes per week and Cleveland Clinic incontinence scores significantly decreased from baseline, and there were significant improvements in all 4 scales of the Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life instrument. There were 30 adverse events reported in 20 patients, most commonly defecatory dysfunction (20%), pain (14%), erosion (11%), and infection (11%). LIMITATIONS: This study does not allow for comparison between surgical treatments and involves a limited number of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Magnetic anal sphincter augmentation provided excellent outcomes in patients who retained a functioning device at long-term follow-up. Protocols to reduce early complications will be important to improve overall results.


In this paper we analyze R&D collaboration networks in industries where firms are competitors in the product market. Firms' benefits from collaborations arise by sharing knowledge about a cost-reducing technology. By forming collaborations, however, firms also change their own competitive position in the market as well as the overall market structure. We analyze incentives of firms to form R&D collaborations with other firms and the implications of these alliance decisions for the overall network structure. We provide a general characterization of both equilibrium networks and endogenous production choices, and compare it to the efficient network architecture. We also allow for firms to differ in their technological characteristics, investigate how this affects their propensity to collaborate and study the resulting network architecture.


Over time, teachers collect a great deal of information about each student. Integrating that information intelligently requires models for how the students' proficiency changes over time. Armed with such models, teachers can filter the data—more accurately estimate the student's current proficiency levels—and forecast the student's future proficiency level. Furthermore, partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDPs) and recently developed computer algorithms can help tutors create strategies for student achievement and identify at-risk students. Implementing this vision requires models for how instructional actions change student proficiencies. This paper introduces a general action model (also called a bowtie model) that separately models the factors contributing to the success or effectiveness of an action and the proficiency growth under success and failure. The paper shows how the general action model expresses prerequisites and changes in action effectiveness due to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development.


In 2005 a middle aged Norwegian man became aphasic as a result of a left hemisphere stroke. After a few months his aphasic condition had improved. He was mildly agrammatic with word finding problems and what sounded like a foreign accent. Deviant prosody was an important feature of his foreign sounding speech, in particular the lack of a clear distinction between the two Norwegian word tones (pitch accents). Acoustic analysis of his speech revealed limited F0 variation at word and utterance level and a similar F0 pattern on the two word tones. His deviant prosody is assumed to be the result of reduced ability to produce appropriate F0 variation, a dysarthric condition. There was no clear indication of apraxia of speech.


This chapter has examined the scheme investment procedure, which is the tier 1 and highest level (umbrella) document in a power network construction QMS suite of procedures. The objective of the procedure is to obtain an optimum design and cost effective solution that satisfies the need case. This in turn requires a relatively complex process that must take into account a very significant number of considerations. Those who lead, and have responsibilities within, this process must be well versed and competent in the requirements, since the decisions made have a profound impact on the integrity of the power system and the financial wellbeing of the companies involved.


Measures of economic output captured by traditional national account metrics emphasise the importance of paid work over unpaid work which can lead to inefficient policy decision making. We utilise Irish census data to measure the economic value of informal care in Ireland. Our results reveal the considerable value of informal care in Ireland ranging between €2.1 and €5.5 billion, depending on valuation approach. They also show a gendered distribution of informal care activities and the consequences of transposing market-based gender compensation asymmetries directly onto non-market activity. We discuss evidence of best practice in long-term care policy across Europe, which involves a combination of income supports for informal carers and substantial investment in formal home care provision. We also discuss apparent incongruences in current Government policy, which appears to prioritise a formal residential care model over more community-based care models, contradicting previously stated policy objectives and best practice in Europe.


The linear quadratic regulator (LQR) has been shown to have very attractive stability robustness properties. However, some authors have shown that LQR may suffer from poor robustness when special perturbations in its state-space formulation were introduced. This thesis continues the study of the stability robustness of LQ regulators. To acquire good stability robustness, weight selection is first investigated. For general cost weighting matrices, a new lower bound on the minimum singular value of the return difference is proposed. New guaranteed stability margins are also presented. This gives a formal mathematical basis for guidelines for the designer to improve stability robustness. As the weight on the plant's inputs approaches zero, the exact bound on the perturbations which ensures stability is compared with the guaranteed margins. It is shown that the stability robustness properties are preserved in a general sense. Then, a numerical analysis of the conditioning of the continuous-time algebraic Riccati equation (CARE) is presented. The condition numbers of the CARE are utilized to measure the sensitivity of LQR subject to parameter changes. It is shown that the condition numbers grow sig-
nificantly when the weighting parameters on the system state and input matrices approach zero and infinity. This has application to the applied control situation
because it can be used to detect hidden vulnerabilities in LQR systems.


This research focuses on the relative advantages and disadvantages of using price-based and quantity-based controls for electricity markets. It also presents a detailed analysis of one specific approach to quantity based controls: the SmartAC program implemented in Stockton, California. Finally, the research forecasts electricity demand under various climate scenarios, and estimates potential cost savings that could result from a direct quantity control program over the next 50 years in each scenario. The traditional approach to dealing with the problem of peak demand for electricity is to invest in a large stock of excess capital that is rarely used, thereby greatly increasing production costs. Because this approach has proved so expensive, there has been a focus on identifying alternative approaches for dealing with peak demand problems. This research focuses on two approaches: price based approaches, such as real time pricing, and quantity based approaches, whereby the utility directly controls at least some elements of electricity used by consumers. This research suggests that well-designed policies for reducing peak demand might include both price and qua_ntity controls. In theory, sufficiently high peak prices occurring during periods of peak demand and/ or low supply can cause the quantity of electricity demanded to decline until demand is in balance with system capacity, potentially reducing the total amount of generation capacity needed to meet demand and helping meet electricity demand at the lowest cost. However, consumers need to be well informed about real-time prices for the pricing strategy to work as well as theory suggests. While this might be an appropriate assumption for large industrial and commercial users who have potentially large economic incentives, there is not yet enough research on whether households will fully understand and respond to realtime prices. Thus, while real-time pricing can be an effective tool for addressing the peak load problems, pricing approaches are not well suited to ensure system reliability. This research shows that direct quantity controls are better suited for avoiding catastrophic failure that results when demand exceeds supply capacity. Real-time pricing has many advantages, but consumer response to real-time prices is not reliable enough to protect against catastrophic system failure. The reason is the distinction between higher (but well-behaved) increases in marginal supply costs versus system failure. Peak demand problems do not develop smoothly and gradually. Instead, peak demand problems are characterized by infrequent but serious crises whose timing is largely unpredictable. It is the potential for system failure that requires rapid temporary changes, and it is here that pricing measures appear to subject some severe practical limitations. Real-time pricing cannot guarantee a sufficient demand reduction to avoid system failure. The price elasticity for electricity demand is largely unknown, particularly at extreme temperatures. A one-time high hourly p#ce may not be able to produce the necessary reduction in demand quickly or predictably enough to avoid catastrophe. This suggests one major advantage of direct quantity controls: if the control is effective and can be deployed quickly, regulators can be assured of avoiding system catastrophe. For these reasons, the ideal peak demand policy might contain a mixture of tools, with realtime pricing and direct load controls to reduce peak demand and maintain system reliability under different climate change scenarios.


This book of CASES AND MATERIALS ON INNOVATION AND COMPETITION POLICY is intended for educational use. The book is free for all to use subject to an open source license agreement. It differs from IP/antitrust casebooks in that it considers numerous sources of competition policy in addition to antitrust, including those that emanate from the intellectual property laws themselves, and also related issues such as the relationship between market structure and innovation, the competitive consequences of regulatory rules governing technology competition such as net neutrality and interconnection, misuse, the first sale doctrine, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Chapters will be updated frequently. The author uses this casebook for a three-unit class in Innovation and Competition Policy taught at the University of Iowa College of Law and available to first year law students as an elective. This document is Chapter 7, second edition, which addresses IP misuse and related doctrines.


Ultrasonic meters have been used in gas custody transfer measurement worldwide for over 25 years with varying degrees of success. Initial attempts proved unstable and maintenance intensive, this was contrary to the initial expectations which foresaw a device with little or no obstruction, limitless turndown and little to no required maintenance. The advent of higher speed, more robust electronics enabled the use of digital signal processing which eliminated the need for analog threshold levels and the constant problem of peak skipping and lost timing. The improved electronics also enabled the implementation of large internal logs, advanced diagnostics, improved communications and overall stability, all of which increased user confidence in the ultrasonic technology. Today meters have the ability to store years of audit, alarm and operational data, communicate via Ethernet, locally and remotely, continually monitor diagnostic parameters and alarming when values exceed preset limits. This paper will briefly cover GUSM history, look at USM transit time basics, path configurations, meter construction, installation requirements and trends to look for in the future.


Abstract &agr;-Amylases are widespread enzymes that catalyze endohydrolysis of long &agr;-1,4-glucan chains such as starch and glycogen. The highest amylolytic activity was found in 5th instar nymphs and midgut of the predatory bug, Andrallus spinidens F. (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). The &agr;-amylase was purified following a three-step procedure. The purified &agr;-amylase had a specific activity of 13.46 U/mg protein, recovery of 4.21, purification fold of 13.87, and molecular weight of 21.3 kDa. The enzyme had optimal pH and temperature of 7 and 45°C, respectively. Na+, Mn+, Mg2+, and Zn2+ significantly decreased activity of the purified &agr;-amylase, but some concentrations of K+, Ca2+, and Cu2+ had the opposite effect. EDTA, EGTA, and DTC significantly decreased enzymatic activity, showing the presence of metal ions in the catalytic site of the enzyme. Kinetic parameters of the purified &agr;-amylase showed a Km of 3.71% in starch and 4.96% for glycogen, suggesting that the enzyme had a higher affinity for starch.


Simulations of electromagnetic waves scattering from two-dimensional perfectly conducting random rough surfaces are performed using the method of moment (MoM) and the electric field integral equation (EFIE). Using wavelets as basis and testing functions, the resulting moment matrix is generally sparse after applying a threshold truncation. This property makes wavelets particularly useful in simulating large-scale problems, in which reducing memory storage requirement and CPU time are crucial. In this paper, scattering from Gaussian conducting rough surfaces of a few hundred square wavelengths are studied numerically using Haar wavelets. A matrix sparsity less than 10% is achieved for a range of root mean square (RMS) height at eight sampling points per linear wavelength. Parallelization of the code is also performed. Simulation results of the bistatic scattering coefficients are presented for different surface RMS heights up to 1 wavelength. Comparisons with sparse-matrix/canonical-grid approach (SM/CG) and triangular discretized (RWG basis) results are made as well. Depolarization effects are examined for both TE and TM incident waves. The relative merits of the SM/CG method and the present method are discussed.


IUCN World Heritage Outlook 3 builds on three cycles of Conservation Outlook Assessments undertaken since 2014. It presents the main results for 2020, but also some longer-term trends based on a comparison of three data sets now available. As such, it can ser ve as an indicator of the effectiveness of protected and conserved areas at a time when the international community seeks to measure progress  towards global biodiversity targets and defines the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Focusing on the natural values for which sites are inscribed, threats to these values, and the effectiveness of actions to protect them, the IUCN World Heritage Outlook assesses the conservation prospects of all natural World Heritage sites. These sites are globally recognised as the most significant natural areas on Earth and their conservation must meet the high standards of the World Heritage Convention. Our ability to conserve these sites is thus a litmus test for the broader success of conservation worldwide. Securing a positive outlook for these sites is a priority, as expressed in the Promise of Sydney carried by IUCN's World Parks Congress in 2014.


This action research was conducted to determine if the use of technology, specifically the interactive SMART board, would lead to higher student assessment scores on the district tests for letter identification and letter sound recognition. The research was completed in a full-day traditional public school transitional kindergarten (TK) class. Data was collected using district-wide alphabet assessments, teacher observation journals, student conferences, and student checklists used by a classroom instructional assistant. Letters of the alphabet were divided into two equal groups based on letter formation and level of difficulty identified through research. One group of letters and sounds was taught using only lessons using technology, and the other group of letters and sounds was taught using only lessons with classroom materials and no technology. For most students, final assessment data showed the teacher driven lessons using classroom educational materials produced an overall higher growth rate than the technology driven lessons using the SMART board. It is possible that the use of technology as a teaching tool stimulated interest to the point that teacher driven lessons were more effective than in previous years when used alone. Therefore, results suggest that a combination of technology driven lessons and teacher driven lessons could be the best course of action for future practice. Further research could measure the effect on learning when presenting all the letters using both teaching methods.


Metaheuristic optimization procedures such as evolutionary algorithms are usually driven by an objective function that rates the quality of a candidate solution. However, it is not clear in practice whether an objective function adequately rewards intermediate solutions on the path to the global optimum and it may exhibit deceptiveness, epistasis, neutrality, ruggedness, and a lack of causality. In this paper, we introduce the frequency fitness H, subject to minimization, which rates how often solutions with the same objective value have been discovered so far. The ideas behind this method are that good solutions are difficult to find and that if an algorithm gets stuck at a local optimum, the frequency of the objective values of the surrounding solutions will increase over time, which will eventually allow it to leave that region again. We substitute a frequency fitness assignment process (FFA) for the objective function into several different optimization algorithms. We conduct a comprehensive set of experiments: the synthesis of algorithms with genetic programming (GP), the solution of MAX-3SAT problems with genetic algorithms, classification with Memetic Genetic Programming, and numerical optimization with a (1+1) Evolution Strategy, to verify the utility of FFA. Given that they have no access to the original objective function at all, it is surprising that for some problems (e.g., the algorithm synthesis task) the FFA-based algorithm variants perform significantly better. However, this cannot be guaranteed for all tested problems. Thus, we also analyze scenarios where algorithms using FFA do not perform better or perform even worse than with the original objective functions.


Mineral availability is one of the most important concerns in poultry nutrition. In modern, high-producing, meat and laying poultry, mineral metabolism disorders often lead to decreased eggshell quality and osteoporosis in laying hens and bone weakness in broiler chickens. This has negative effects not only on the economic profitability of production but also on the welfare of the birds. The article discusses the results of studies on the effect of chosen feed additives, namely organic acids and prebiotic fructans, on mineral utilisation in poultry. The results of some of the experiments presented in the article indicate that the use of these additives may have a positive impact on mineral metabolism in poultry.


The Book of Job in Form presents to the reader a platform for a personal and intensive encounter with a great work of art. Its bilingual centre offers the text in Hebrew and English, and shows the forty poems in their original form, in 412 strophes and 165 stanzas. The commentary points out how these proportions and the remarkable precision of the poet (who counted syllables on all text levels) affect the thematics of the book, so that the portrait of the hero can be redrawn; his stubbornly defended integrity meets vindication and his last words, generally misunderstood, require a positive understanding. The poetry and its slim framework in prose are a unified composition which deserves a synchronic approach.


The one thing everybody knows about Jerry Lewis is that he is beloved by the French, those incomprehensible hedonistic strangers across the sea. The French understand him, while in the U.S. he is at best a riddle, not one of us. Lewis is someone we take profound pleasure in excluding, if not ridiculing. Enfant Terrible! Jerry Lewis in American Film is the first comprehensive collection devoted to one of the most controversial and accomplished figures in twentieth-century American cinema. A veteran of virtually every form of show business, Lewis's performances onscreen and the motion pictures he has directed reveal significant filmmaking talents, and show him to be what he has called himself, a "total filmmaker." Yet his work has been frequently derided by American critics. This book challenges that easy reading by taking a more careful look at Lewis's considerable body of work onscreen in 16 diverse and penetrating essays. Turning to such films asThe Nutty Professor, The Ladies Man, The King of Comedy, The Delicate Delinquent, Living It Up, The Errand Boy, The Disorderly Orderly, Arizona Dream, and The Geisha Boy, the contributors address topics ranging from Lewis's on- and offscreen performances, the representations of disability in his films, and the European obsession with Lewis, to his relationship with Dean Martin and Lewis's masculinity. Far from an out of control hysteric, Enfant Terrible! instead reveals Jerry Lewis to be a meticulous master of performance with a keen sense of American culture and the contemporary world. Contributors include: Mikita Brottman, Scott Bukatman, David Desser, Leslie A. Fiedler, Craig Fischer, Lucy Fischer, Krin Gabbard, Barry Keith Grant, Andrew Horton, Susan Hunt, Frank Krutnik, Marcia Landy, Peter Lehman, Shawn Levy, Dana Polan, Murray Pomerance, and J. P. Telotte.


Measurements of blood flow in the human hippocampus are complicated by its relatively small size, unusual anatomy and patterns of blood supply. Only a handful of arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI articles have reported regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) values for the human hippocampus. Numerous reports have found heterogeneity in a number of other physiological and biochemical parameters along the longitudinal hippocampal axis. There is, however, only one ASL study of perfusion properties as a function of anteroposterior location in the hippocampus, reporting that rCBF is lower and the arterial transit time (ATT) is longer in the anterior hippocampus than in the posterior hippocampus of the rat brain. The purpose of this article was to measure ATT and rCBF in anterior, middle and posterior normal adult human hippocampus. To better distinguish anteroposterior perfusion heterogeneity in the hippocampus, a modified ASL method, called Orthogonally Positioned Tagging Imaging Method for Arterial Labeling with Flow‐sensitive Alternating Inversion Recovery (OPTIMAL FAIR), was developed that provides high in‐plane resolution with oblique coronal imaging slices perpendicular to the long axis of the hippocampus to minimize partial volume effects. Perfusion studies performed with this modified FAIR method at 3 T indicated that anterior, middle and posterior human hippocampus segments have unique transit time and rCBF values. Of these three longitudinal hippocampal regions, the middle hippocampus has the highest perfusion and the shortest transit time and the anterior hippocampus has the lowest perfusion and the longest transit time. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


New Caledonia's Northern Province has been selected for the establishment of the new Mariculture Technical Development Centre (CCDTAM) on the Foué peninsula in Koné, the administrative capital of the Northern Province. The construction of CCDTAM was a partnership between the local government and New Caledonia's three provinces (Northern, Southern and Loyalty Islands). CCDTAM is currently being managed by ADECAL (the territory's Agency for Economic Development) as part of the activities of an innovation and technological park created in 2011 (Technopole de Nouvelle-Calédonie).


Electronic health record (EHR) systems are a popular mechanism for accessing health records in the developed world and have contributed towards improved and cost-effective health care management. However, the development of appropriate and scalable EHR systems in developing countries has been difficult to achieve because of certain limitations inherent in the technological infrastructure. In this paper, we present a comparative study of 19 EHR systems in terms of the security and usability of these systems within the context of the developing world. Our aim was to investigate whether online health services designed for developed countries can be adopted for EHR systems in developing countries. The investigation was based on a number of dimensions such as development environment, system platform, type and access control standards found in the National Institute for Standard and Technology (NIST) and Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT). Our research indicates that all the systems evaluated require online access control decisions. Solely relying on an online access control system is limiting, particularly in developing countries where access to the server can be disrupted by a number of disastrous events.


Abstract. The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is known to be contributing to sea level rise in a warming climate. The snow cover on the ice sheet is the direct link between a potentially warmer atmosphere and the ice itself. However, little is known about the microstructure and especially about the spatial and temporal variability of the snow cover, except from indirect evidence from remote sensing. The detailed snowpack stratigraphy is relevant for processes such as the albedo feedback, water infiltration and firn densification. During a field campaign in 2015, spatially distributed snow observations of the GrIS were gathered at stations belonging to the Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net). High-resolution snow profiles of density, specific surface area and hardness were measured. Hardness was measured with the SnowMicroPen, which was also used to assess the spatial variability of the snow density with depth. The snow cover model SNOWPACK was forced with reanalysis data from the model NHM-SMAP. The measured mean density of the upper snow cover was in good agreement with the simulations using constant densities for snow accumulation, i.e. new snow, depending on the geographical location on the GrIS. However, the observed stratigraphy in terms of density and SSA could not be reproduced. We found that for a one-dimensional snowpack model it is difficult to parameterize for snowpacks undergoing multiple erosion and redeposition events, as is typical for the GrIS and other perennial polar snowpacks. This limitation may be a drawback to understanding past and future changes of the snow, and the associated processes.


Honckenya peploides is the most common plant species on the island of Surtsey. It arrived in 1967 and af- ter a juvenile period of 4 years it produced seeds and had increased its number from below 100 to several millions. Most populations had the individuals distributed in a regular or random pattern, suggesting that intraspecific competition is important. H. peploides has a subdioecious reproductive system consisting of pistillate plants producing capsules, and staminate plants delivering pollen. Some of the latter are in addition producing capsules and are denoted hermaphrodites. Populations at the south coast of Iceland had around equal numbers of pistillate and staminate plants. At Surtsey we found more pistillate plants, probably due to their higher wa- ter stress tolerance. We also found a tendency to a higher frequency of hermaphrodite plants with a higher number of seeds per capsule compared to populations at the south coast of Iceland and the nearby island of Heimaey. We suggest that this arises from the time right after the colonization of Surt- sey where population size was small and the small generalist pollinators were not able to deposit sufficient pollen on pistil- late plants, causing the hermaphrodites to have an advantage by being able to set seed after selfing. The result of this ini- tial advantage of the hermaphrodites in combination with the inheritance of the sexes can still be seen due to the longevity of individuals. A generalized account of the colonization his- tory of H. peploides is given.


Previous studies indicated that cytosolic aldolase (ALDc) could be a rate limiting step in glycolysis and thus play a role in the regulation of carbon partitioning in sink tissues. In this study the role of ALDc in sugarcane was studied. Expression patterns of both ALDc transcript and protein were examined. In contrast to the leaves where ALDc expression is very low, the enzyme (transcript and protein) levels were high in all internodal tissues at all stages of maturity. In the leaves the plastidic isoform was prevalent as found previously in other C4 plants. The similar pattern of expression in transcript and protein abundance illustrate that there are no activators or inhibitors of ALDc activity present in sugarcane. The control on ALDc activity in sugarcane is therefore regulation of gene expression. To investigate the possibility that ALDc could be regulating carbon partitioning in sugarcane a series of transgenic sugarcane plants in the varieties NCo310 and N19 were produced. The presence and expression of the transgene and resultant effect on ALDc levels were determined for all the transgenic lines. The degree of ALDc reduction varied, with the biggest suppression of aldolase being 90% of that of the control plants. Alteration of ALDc activity caused no obvious phenotype. In both the varieties large decreases in ALDc tended to to lead to higher sucrose levels than that of the the control plants. C radiolabelling studies were conducted to investigate the effect of reduced ALDc levels on respiration and carbon partitioning. No differences in carbon metabolism could be found between the transgenic and control plants. Even in the line exhibiting a more than 90% decrease, the residual ALDc was sufficient for plants to grow normally under favourable glasshouse conditions. This would suggest that ALDc does not play a role in the regulation of flux through glycolysis, carbon partitioning and sucrose accumulation.


This thesis presents and investigates a theory of entrepreneurship based on the Austrian School of Economics. By using a different theoretical framework than that of conventional economics we deduce a holistic theory of entrepreneurship and seek to explain other economic phenomena, such as the emergence of firms and business cycles, on the basis of this. We also suggest implications this new theory has for micro-economic models, management theory and public policy. We find that the Austrian School of Economics helps shed light on many phenomena that are poorly elaborated upon by conventional economics.


The diet of Eurasian Kestrels Falco tinnunculus during the breeding season is well documented in continental populations, but not in their island-dwelling counterparts. The subspecies F. tinnunculus canariensis is a habitat-generalist on the oceanic island of Tenerife, one of its southernmost breeding sites in the Western Palaearctic. We analysed trophic diversity and diet in its main five habitat-types by identifying 5284 prey items in regurgitated pellets from nest sites and roosting sites collected during two consecutive breeding seasons. Secondly, we analysed 2585 prey remains collected from nest sites during 19 breeding seasons. In terms of numbers, insects (mainly Orthoptera and Coleoptera) predominated in pellets: 71% in chicks and 89% in adults, with variation in taxa according to habitat. This reflects opportunistic predation of insects, with grasshoppers being the staple diet in subalpine scrub (above 2000 m a.s.l). The endemic Gallot's Lizard Gallotia galloti provided the greatest biomass in pellets (58% in chicks, 55% in adults) and comprised the most abundant source of prey remains found at nest sites (92% in terms of numbers). Chick diet showed broader trophic diversity than adults. We found high overlap in diet composition between habitats in Tenerife (71% chicks; 66% adults). Kestrels inhabiting anthropogenic environments and northern scrub showed broader trophic diversity; those inhabiting subalpine scrub showed the lowest values. Kestrels inhabiting different habitats in Tenerife showed broad trophic diversity which suggests opportunistic and flexible foraging strategies, as expected of a generalist species. Regardless of habitat, trophic diversity showed high overlap in adult diet composition not only between the Canary Islands (87%), but also between insular and continental reference populations, especially the Iberian Peninsula (81%). Thus, the generalist habits of the Eurasian Kestrel seem to predominate over any expected ecological adaptations associated with island populations.


What are the discussions about 'European Union Bill' in UK political arena? This documentation features the transcripts of the unabridged speeches held in the UK Parliament from the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague), the Minister for Europe (Mr David Lidington), Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) (Lab) and other MPs' of the UK Parliament. This non-partisan documentation offers the reader a direct glance at the parliamentary debate on 'European Union Bill' and the discussions of the Parliamentary members in relation to the political agenda.


Mucin glycoproteins, a secretory product of the gallbladder, are thought to contribute to the matrix or nucleus of gallstones. Human black pigment stones originate in the gallbladder and have as their major constituent calcium bilirubinate, as well as inorganic salts and small amounts of cholesterol. The object of this study was to estimate the amount of glycoprotein in black pigment stones and to isolate gallbladder mucin from dissolved stones. Black pigment stones containing 18 to 65% calcium bilirubinate were first dissolved in 12.5 mMEDTA/0.1 iVNaOH and decolorized, then subjected to glycoprotein assay. The mean glycoprotein content of eight stones was 12.4%. In separate experiments, pigment stones were partially dissolved by brief exposure to EDTA/NaOH to minimize glycoprotein breakdown, and the glycoproteins isolated by gel filtration and ultracen‐trifugation. Pigment stones contained two glycoprotein fractions on Sepharose 4B; a high molecular weight mucin glycoprotein in the void volume and a lower molecular fraction in the included volume. Mucin was further purified by density gradient ultracentrifugation in cesium chloride. Three separate mucin fractions had an average buoyant density of 1.48 gm per ml which is typical for these glycoproteins. Bile pigment was associated with high molecular weight mucin even after extensive dialysis, gel filtration, and density gradient ultracentrifugation. The identity of mucin was further established by β‐elimination of glycoproteins in alkaline borohydride which yielded galactosaminitol from cleavage of O‐glycosidic bonds.


*As in many of the world's reservoirs, floods provide most of the water to Lake Burragorang (Sydney, Australia). In this study a winter flood through this large (2km 3 ), long (ca. 50km) and narrow (ca. 0.5-2km) reservoir was monitored at multiple stations over several weeks. The nutrient-laden underflow took 7-8 days to travel from the river confluence to the dam and upwardly displaced the pre-flood anoxic hypolimnion. Particulate phosphorus and nitrogen, and turbidity settled at an exponential rate (0.34-0.42 d -1 ) in the head of the underflow. Application of a three-dimensional model (ELCOM) with large grid sizes (200×200×1m) for reasonable run times (ca. 1 day) did not resolve the underflow hydrodynamics in this large, narrow and complex geometry. A technique for 'straightening' morphologies that are narrow and curvy was applied to the Lake Burragorang bathymetry to allow large model grid sizes. Simulations with the 'straightened' bathymetry had low run times and compared well with field data. Then, an aquatic ecological model (CAEDYM) was coupled to ELCOM to simulate the biogeochemical fate of the floodwaters. Simulated spatial patterns of dissolved oxygen, and filterable and particulate nutrients compared well with field data. Further, the ELCOM-CAEDYM simulation demonstrated that the dynamic spatial variations in water quality from a Eularian perspective during such flood events are dominated by transport. Settling is the dominant process in the head of the underflow from a Lagrangian frame of reference. To simulate spatial variations during a flood it is adequate to couple an accurate hydrodynamic driver to a simply configured hiogeochemical model.


Radiotherapy aims to deliver a lethal radiation dose to cancer cells immersed in the body using a high energetic photon beam. Due to physiologic motion of the human anatomy (e.g. caused by filling of internal organs or breathing), the target volume is under permanent motion during irradiation, diluting the applied dose into regions around the target volume. Traditionally, the target volume is expanded about margins encompassing the geometric uncertainty in order to retain the target dose. As a result, however, unwanted dose to nearby organs at risk is increased significantly, which effectively limits the use of clinically promising treatment techniques such as hypo-fractionated therapies to treat cancer more effectively and economically. This thesis develops motion compensation techniques for radiotherapy using MR-imaging integrated into a novel treatment device, the MR-linac, which allows to resolve the current anatomy state during ongoing radiation with diagnostic MR-image quality. As a result the geometric uncertainty of the target positions is reduced which enables new, more effective radiotherapy paradigms. In the first chapters of this thesis, integrated MRI is employed to automatically register volumetric changes in the human anatomy. It is described how significant acceleration of this registration process can be achieved by spatially undersampling volumetric MRI-acquisitions. The calculations showed, that the MR-imaging time speed could theoretically be increased by 300% with only minor losses in registration quality. The on-line volumetric imaging feature was subsequently used to observe the anatomic motion during simulated delivery of a novel treatment scheme for the therapy of renal cell carcinoma. Significant motion could be revealed, eventually causing target dose variations of more than 10% and significant migration of the target dose into the adjacent organs at risk. Used on-line, new intra-fraction options, such as replanning or emergency beam stop could be implemented using the constantly refreshed calculation of dose delivered to the patient. The beam shaping unit (multileaf collimator, MLC) integrated in the MR-linac features real-time control of the geometry of the treatment beam. Potentially, optimal target conformity can be achieved by steering the beam in synchrony with the moving target. In order to assess the expected performance of such target tracking on an MR-linac, the Elekta Agility 160 MLC, was assessed using an experimental imaging pipeline. Low mechanic latencies of under 20ms could be shown, which enables real-time MLC tracking with minimal geometric errors. In order to compensate for residual tracking errors caused by latencies of the mechanical part and software processing, a novel tracking margin generator was designed, which aimed to retain target dose coverage. In experiments, the margin generator could show significant reductions of underdosages caused by MLC tracking errors. Considering the remarkable scalability of the integrated imaging and beam shaping options offered by the MR-linac, a multitude of novel treatment techniques become available. As described in this thesis, rapid target tracking, dose reconstruction and combinations thereof can be implemented using theon-board MR-imaging. In order to apply the described techniques to patients, stringent quality assessment and autonomous feedback processes have to be implemented for the clinical practice.


In this paper, we propose and evaluate three techniques for optimizing network performance in the Xen virtualized environment. Our techniques retain the basic Xen architecture of locating device drivers in a privileged 'driver' domain with access to I/O devices, and providing network access to unprivileged 'guest' domains through virtualized network interfaces.

First, we redefine the virtual network interfaces of guest domains to incorporate high-level network offfload features available in most modern network cards. We demonstrate the performance benefits of high-level offload functionality in the virtual interface, even when such functionality is not supported in the underlying physical interface. Second, we optimize the implementation of the data transfer path between guest and driver domains. The optimization avoids expensive data remapping operations on the transmit path, and replaces page remapping by data copying on the receive path. Finally, we provide support for guest operating systems to effectively utilize advanced virtual memory features such as superpages and global page mappings.

The overall impact of these optimizations is an improvement in transmit performance of guest domains by a factor of 4.4. The receive performance of the driver domain is improved by 35% and reaches within 7% of native Linux performance. The receive performance in guest domains improves by 18%, but still trails the native Linux performance by 61%. We analyse the performance improvements in detail, and quantify the contribution of each optimization to the overall performance.


Motion Within Motion, a two-channel video installation with immersive sound, is inspired by Persian-Islamic philosophy of change. Using the theory of 'substantial motion' (al-harakat al-jawhariyya) by philosopher Mulla Sadrā Shirazi (1571-1641) as a starting point, Emadi employs digital video and installation technologies to challenge human-centric assumptions of change, time and motion. The work engages two distinct points of view: a non-narrative documentary filmed in Iran and an altered variation that magnifies the footage to the pixel-level. The resulting installation is both synchronized and perceptually disjointed, demanding a simultaneous reading of both cinematic time/movement and the largely abstracted constituent parts of the digital image. Zooming in and out of focus, splitting images into units and using different modalities of time and motion, Emadi's installation reveals the inner activities of the frame – and provides experience "from a pixel's point of view."


In this article, I analyze a series of Canadian cases on union successor rights defining the circumstances in which labour rights should be transferred to a successor entity in the context of business sales, restructuring and subcontracting. This question poses itself in many legal orders, including US and European Union labour law. In carrying out my analysis, I cast doubt on a globally influential theory of legal interpretation, which I call the "old legality." According to this theory, labour law is made not through conventional legal reasoning but through non-legal, pragmatic and purposive applications of loose industrial relations standards. I claim that the old legality paradigm is analytically inaccurate and has the perverse effect of normalizing the status quo of the post-war labour law regime in a context where its insufficiency is widely acknowledged.Against the old legality paradigm, I propose a new approach to studying and teaching labour law doctrine, which I apply here to union successor rights law. I argue that the Canadian union successor rights cases I analyze are best understood as a series of interdependent conventionally legal holdings as to what elements should be insufficient for bargaining rights to be transferred to successor business entities. I then demonstrate that the various holdings were justified though policy argument and not through purposive reasoning alone. I demonstrate that each policy argument can be raised in many different cases and reveals deep normative conflict that renders purposive argument inconclusive. Based on my case study of union successor rights law, I thus propose that the old legality paradigm be abandoned in favour of an approach that embraces the incommensurable legal policy conflicts that lie at the heart of labour law. I suggest that this would open up the status quo for normative contestation and help create possibilities for ambitious re-regulation of living conditions in the direction of, say, radical equality, participation and redistribution.


PURPOSE
To establish a consensus in relation to case selection, conduct of therapy, and outcomes that are associated with focal therapy for men with localized prostate cancer.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Urologic surgeons, radiation oncologists, radiologists, and histopathologists from North America and Europe participated in a consensus workshop on focal therapy for prostate cancer. The consensus process was face to face within a structured meeting, in which pertinent clinical issues were raised, discussed, and agreement sought. Where no agreement was possible, this was acknowledged, and the nature of the disagreement noted.

RESULTS
Candidates for focal treatment should have unilateral low- to intermediate-risk disease with clinical stage <or=cT(2a). Prostate size and both tumor volume and tumor topography are important case selection criteria that depend on the ablative technology used. Currently, the best method to ascertain the key characteristics for men who are considering focal therapy is exposure to transperineal template mapping biopsies. MRI of the prostate using novel techniques such as dynamic contrast enhancement and diffusion weighed imaging are increasingly being used to diagnose and stage primary prostate cancer with excellent results. For general use, however, these new techniques require validation in prospective clinical trials. Until such are performed, MRI will, in most centers, continue to be an investigative tool in assessing eligibility of patients for focal therapy.

CONCLUSIONS
Consensus was derived for most of the key aspects of case selection, conduct of treatment, and outcome measures for men who are undergoing focal therapy for localized prostate cancer. The level of agreement achieved will pave the way for future collaborative trials.


Massively multilingual models subsuming tens or even hundreds of languages pose great challenges to multi-task optimization. While it is a common practice to apply a language-agnostic procedure optimizing a joint multilingual task objective, how to properly characterize and take advantage of its underlying problem structure for improving optimization efficiency remains under-explored. In this paper, we attempt to peek into the black-box of multilingual optimization through the lens of loss function geometry. We find that gradient similarity measured along the optimization trajectory is an important signal, which correlates well with not only language proximity but also the overall model performance. Such observation helps us to identify a critical limitation of existing gradient-based multi-task learning methods, and thus we derive a simple and scalable optimization procedure, named Gradient Vaccine, which encourages more geometrically aligned parameter updates for close tasks. Empirically, our method obtains significant model performance gains on multilingual machine translation and XTREME benchmark tasks for multilingual language models. Our work reveals the importance of properly measuring and utilizing language proximity in multilingual optimization, and has broader implications for multi-task learning beyond multilingual modeling.


This study examined the relationship between perceived socialization from parents, school, peers, and media and adolescents' cognitive susceptibility to initiating sexual intercourse and transition to intercourse 2 years later. Baseline and follow-up in-home Audio-Computer Assisted Self Interview surveys were completed by 854 Black and White male and female adolescents who, at baseline, were 12–14 years old and had not engaged in sexual intercourse. Results showed that stronger connections to parents and schools and less exposure to permissive sexual norms from peers and media were associated with less susceptibility and sexual behavior, especially among White adolescents. Susceptibility mediated 38–64% of the relations between parent and school socialization and sexual intercourse behavior, and mediated 28–53% of the peer and media socialization links to behavior. Findings provide support for social cognitive models of adolescents' behavior and suggest potential strategies for successful interventions to delay initiation of sexual intercourse.


Dr. Nadine Beydoun is a Fellow of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (Faculty of Radiation Oncology). She obtained her Bachelor of Medicine from the University of New South Wales in 2004. Her interest in Oncology commenced during her years as a medical officer at Bankstown Hospital, which propelled her to complete her training in radiation oncology at the St George Hospital. She then undertook her subspecialty training in genitourinary cancer and brachytherapy at the St George Hospital Prostate Cancer Institute (2012, 2013), with completion of hundreds of prostate brachytherapy implants, and publications on the use of Iodine-125 thinseeds, exercise intervention and hormonal therapy in prostate cancer patients, and polyethylene glycol hydrogel spacer use to ameliorate rectal toxicity in prostate radiotherapy.


The transmission of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection to recipients of some batches of Factor VIII has recently been reported. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for the detection of HAV RNA in factor VIII concentrates. Primer sequences used were derived from a consensus of published sequences in the 5′ non coding region; a nested PCR was used to increase sensitivity and specificity and the resulting fragment was 151 base pairs in length. The PCR was initially validated in clinical samples and only IgM anti‐HAV positive patient samples and a sample of liver tissue from a patient who required liver transplantation for fulminant hepatitis A were HAV PCR positive. Other samples tested included those that were IgG anti‐HAV positive; these were found to be PCR negative. In an investigation of coagulation factor VIII concentrates by HAV PCR, 40 batches of solvent/detergent‐treated high‐purity concentrate from four different manufacturers, including one batch of factor VIII possibly implicated in HAV transmission, and a further 3 batches of monoclonal antibody purified factor VIII were all HAV PCR negative. Gel chromatography material, before and after use in factor VIII purification, and eluates from this material were also negative for HAV RNA. Our preliminary results therefore suggest that either the contamination of factor VIII concentrates by HAV RNA is an extremely rare event or that the PCR is insufficiently sensitive to detect an infective HAV dose since each batch of factor VIII concentrate would have been derived from a plasma pool consisting of 10,000 donations, or more and the resulting concentration of virus may be 102 or less.


Using panel data on corporate social responsibility (CSR) matched with corporate proxy statement data for a large and representative sample of 1,492 publicly-traded firms in Japan over 2006-2014, we provide rigorous econometric evidence on the effects of CSR on gender diversity in the workplace. Our fixed effect estimates point to positive and significant effects on gender diversity of CSR, yet the effects are felt only after two to three years. Such CSR effects are found to be larger and more significant for firms that adhere more closely to the traditional Japanese management model with employee stakeholder salience, which is mostly consistent with an influential theory of CSR--the theory of stakeholder salience. The magnitude of the effects is neither trivial nor implausibly large. For those firms that adhere closely to the participatory model, one standard deviation increase in our summary CSR score, after three years, will result in 0.8 more female college graduate hires from its mean of 17.5; 1.7 more female managers from its mean of 26.2; and 0.16 more female directors from its mean of 1.69. Finally, the positive and significant CSR effects on gender diversity are found to be robust to the inclusion of controls capturing the possible effects of various work-life balance (WLB) practices on gender diversity, pointing to the direct impact of CSR on gender diversity rather than the CSR effects mediated by WLB. In designing and revising various public policies to achieve their current key policy goal of advancement of women in the labor market, Japanese policy makers may want to pay more attention to a potentially important role that CSR plays in gender diversity in the workplace in general and the heterogeneity of the CSR effects and their considerable gestation period in particular.


Trans persons face structural barriers to access education and employment worldwide. They experience extremely adverse socioeconomic conditions, which ultimately lead to high rates of engagement in sex work as their main source of income. The majority of states around the world currently impose restrictions or criminal sanctions on at least one party involved in sex work activities in an attempt to abolish the practice, assumed to be inherently exploitative. Cisgender women are usually the target of sex work legislation and academic literature on the issue. This approach can overlook a significant group of people also supressed by gender norms. This thesis will focus on the experiences of sex workers of any gender, with an emphasis on trans individuals. It will incorporate post-modern feminism, queer theory, and intersectionality concepts to investigate the negative impact of abolitionist sex work legislation and to demonstrate how it creates a reality of powerlessness, accentuating the marginalisation of gender-oppressed groups in society. This thesis argues for the adoption of decriminalisation strategies, thus recognising sex work as a legitimate form of labour, and calls for the implementation of legislation and public policies primarily aimed at protecting sex workers from human rights violations and abuse. ALEXANDRE LEAL DE FREITAS RED LIGHT AT THE INTERSECTION: THE STIGMA OF SEX WORK AND THE DOUBLE OPPRESSION INFLICTED UPON TRANS SEX WORKERS ALEXANDRE LEAL DE FREITAS


Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement presents a clear, socially-oriented approach to understanding and developing inclusion in education. It focuses on encouraging pre-service teachers to develop strategies to engage students of all backgrounds, needs and abilities in a diverse classroom. The second edition covers a wide range of important topics in inclusion, including physical disabilities, sensory impairments, students with Indigenous heritage and gifted children. With a rich pedagogy that blends theoretical issues and context with practical skills, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement provides teachers with the knowledge and understanding to manage classroom challenges and develop inclusive learning environments.


The principal semidiurnal (M2 and S2) and diurnal (K1 and O1) tidal constituents are described on the west Florida continental shelf (WFS) using a combination of in situ measurements and a three-dimensional, primitive equation numerical model. The measurements are of sea level and currents along the coastline and across the shelf, respectively. The model extends from west of the Mississippi River to the Florida Keys with an open boundary arcing between. It is along this open boundary that the regional model is forced by a global tide model. Standard barotropic tidal analyses are performed for both the data and the model, and quantifiable metrics are provided for comparison. Based on these comparisons, the authors present coamplitude and cophase charts for sea level and velocity hodographs for currents. The semidiurnal constituents show marked spatial variability, whereas the diurnal constituents are spatially more uniform. Apalachicola Bay is a demarcation point for the semidiurnal tides that are well developed to the southeast along the WFS but are minimal to the west. The largest semidiurnal tides are in the Florida Big Bend and Florida Bay regions with a relative minimum in between just to the south of Tampa Bay. These spatial distributions may be explained on the basis of local geometry. A Lagrangian Stokes drift, coherently directed toward the northwest, is identified but is of relatively small magnitude when compared with the potential for particle transport by seasonal and synoptic-scale forcing. Bottom stressinduced tidal mixing is examined and estimates are made of the bottom logarithmic layer height by the M2 tidal currents.


At the centre of the water law reform process initiated by the first democratic government of the Republic of South Africa (RSA) lay the challenge of transforming away from apartheid water injustices. Reform culminated in the promulgation of new legislation, regarded internationally as ambitious and forward-thinking legislation reflective of the broad aims of integrated water resource management. However, implementation of this legislation has been challenging. This paper analyses institutional dysfunction in water management in the Sundays River Valley Municipality (Eastern Cape Province, RSA). A transdisciplinary approach is taken in addressing the failure of national law and policy to enable the delivery of effective water services in post-apartheid RSA. A case study is used to explore interventions to promote effective water supply, locating these interventions and policies within the legislative structures and frameworks governing the water sector. We suggest that fine-grained institutional analysis together with learning from persistent iterative, adaptive practice, with principled goals intact, offers a pragmatic and achievable alternative to grand-scale policy change.


Orthodontic literature indicates that upper molar distalisation is a tipping and extrusion movement, combined with mesio-buccal rotation and buccaly-crown torque, depending on the distalisers used. FEM (finite element method) allow a simulation of force systems which can determine bodily distal molar movement. Using FEM we can also determine the role of second and third molar during upper first molar distalisation movement. This study presents a model of upper first molar, periodontal ligment and alveolar bone using the analysis and design programmes Solidworks2007 and CATIA P3V5R16. Our results using FEM shows that the rotational axis of first molar is displaced when applying a palatal force for distalisation from buccaly apex to palatal crown and compressive stress is located on cervical region of distobuccal root. For bodily movement, the moment/force ratio at the molar centre of resistance must be zero, so it is necessary to reduce the moment on the molar band using a counterbalancing couple (CBC) with effects in vertical plane. The displacement of upper molar rotational axis during distalisation is proved by molar rotation and explains the second molar role as a fulcrum, when is not erupted. In conclusion, bodily distal upper molar movement could be obtained only when rotational axis is at infinite and the compressive stress is homogeneously distributed in the periodontal ligament.


[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In 1944 the Carnegie Corporation of New York sponsored the publication of a landmark study, with which historians of race relations in the United States are very familiar: An American Dilemma. Economist Gunnar Myrdal, a Swede, had been selected to direct the project and write the study because his nation had no heritage of slavery, colonialism, or imperialism; therefore his impartiality could be presumed. (1) In mid-century America the Carnegie Corporation could not have conceived of assigning the project to an African American scholar--like W. E. B. Du Bois, who actually knew something about the subject, the fruit of a lifetime's study and experience. But Myrdal's comprehensive study--the book weighed in at over one thousand pages, with ten appendices and two-hundred and fifty pages of notes--set in motion the acute awareness of the disjunction between democratic ideals and Jim Crow. Exactly a decade later, the unanimous Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education would acknowledge a terrible historic injustice. Its footnote #11, in citing An American Dilemma, served as a justification for outlawing racial segregation in public schools, which violated what Myrdal called the American Creed of egalitarianism. In 1944 the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace sponsored the publication of a consequential book by another European author. But Raphael Lemkin had come to the United States not as an invited and welcome visitor but as a refugee from Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, the title he gave his 712-page scholarly tome. A Polish Jew, Lemkin could not pretend to neutrality on this subject. In the Final Solution he lost forty-nine of his relatives (including his parents), which made the fate of his family typical of Polish Jews, of whom only one in ten managed to survive the catastrophe. There were no exact precedents to the paranoiac fury with which an advanced nation was extinguishing with calculated efficiency two out of every three European Jews. What the German occupiers were doing in Eastern Europe, Winston Churchill asserted in 1941, was "a crime without a name." The famously articulate prime minister was rarely if ever at a loss for words. But it was left to Lemkin, an attorney who had taught international law at Duke University upon his arrival in the United States, to supply a name for that crime. The key to its analysis was a neologism he coined to describe atrocities that were still unfolding: genocide. Since 1944 a huge scholarly literature has emerged that draws upon and amplifies Lemkin's definition of that word, its applications, and implications. (2) Though the political campaigns that have been waged under the rubric of human rights have extended what Lemkin was the first to name, the juxtaposition of the simultaneous publication of those two Carnegie volumes inaugurates an argument about historical change. In the course of the two decades after 1944, the momentum against bigotry and discrimination gained remarkable force. An ideal of democratic inclusion came noticeably closer to fulfillment, especially outside the region. The impossibility of reconciling the value of equality with the practice of Jim Crow doomed the South to the crisis that erupted in the 196os, when the federal government demanded that the region live up more fully to the American Creed and conform more closely to the rest of the republic. Because segregation was once believed to be impregnable, and because southern white attitudes were held to be immutable, an explanation is therefore needed for the striking political and social change that punctuated the 1960s. Historians have offered multiple explanations for the transformation, ranging from the moral authority and political effectiveness of the Civil Rights Movement to the Northern effort to complete the liberal agenda of the New Deal to the increasing social stigma attached to intolerance. But awareness of the genocide that had been perpetrated against European Jewry might also be factored in. …


In recent years, due to a need to reduce emissions, the automotive industry has focused on increasing vehicle efficiency. One of the areas being examined for potential improvement is the automatic transmission; specifically, the torque converter clutch damper. The better the performance of the damper, the more time the torque converter can be kept in the optimum locked position, thus increasing vehicle efficiency. Currently a large number of vehicle manufacturers use transmission technology sourced from external OEMs; due to a lack of available performance data or validated simulations, sometimes vehicle manufacturers are not able to fully understand the behaviour of the damper. If damper performance (or interactions with other components) cannot be fully assessed during the design development phase, key issues may become known too late in the development process. Thus a deeper understanding of the processes of experimentally characterising and simulating torque converter dampers is required. This thesis describes the development of an arc spring torque converter damper simulation, including the gathering of the experimental data required to validate the simulation. The simulation is used to draw conclusions on the impact of excitation signal form on damper behaviour, leading to new knowledge on the signals required to experimentally characterise a damper. In this thesis a methodology for (and implementation of) the characterisation of torque converter dampers is detailed. It was found that existing available technologies (e.g. fired engines, electric dynamometers) were either too inflexible or prohibitively expensive; thus a novel high frequency mechanical pulsation generator was developed. This solution was developed from a 4 cylinder motored diesel engine; the cylinders are filled with compressed air and the crankshaft driven using an electric dynamometer. Simulation and experimental data has confirmed that mean torque can be controlled using the input dynamometer, with the compressed air producing fluctuations of up to 900Nm amplitude. However, it was found that the frequency of the output pulsations varied from a fired engine; this is due to reactions between the pulsation generator and the stiffness and inertias of other components on the rig. A review of the performance of the novel pulsation generation concept against other damper excitation methods was also conducted. It was determined that fired engines and electric motors are more suitable for durability testing; the flexibility of the electric motors and the low running costs of the pulsation generator suit damper performance tests. The second phase of this project was to develop a simulation of a two-stage arc spring turbine damper. This damper consists of three inertias, separated by two spring sets; the outer spring set has 3 individual arc springs, while the inner spring set has 5 nested pairs. The principle of conservation of angular momentum is applied to each of the three inertias in order to calculate their individual accelerations. This method is also applied when calculating the acceleration and movement of the springs; the arc springs are discretised into mass and (massless) spring segments. Two features not previously seen in literature are included in the simulation; hardstops and nested springs. The physical hardstops limit the movement of the spring sets (relative movements of the inertias). In this study, the nested springs were simulated as a pair of parallel springs, rather than as a single stiffer arc spring; this is due to the friction that occurs between the springs (the inner race of the larger spring forms the housing for the inner spring). These two features highlight the need for hardware examination before simulation development; disassembling the hardware also allows the location of hardstops (and other features) to be measured rather than relying on the test data. Once a damper simulation was designed, a methodology for simulation parameterisation was required; parameterisation is the process of improving simulation performance through iterations of estimated parameters. The simulated damper was excited using sampled experimental data; to maximise parameterisation process efficiency, each time a parameter change was made, a set of key test points were selected in order to assess simulation performance change. It is not recommended that single test points be examined individually; parameter changes may improve simulation performance at one test point but have an adverse reaction at another. A clear causal relationship between simulation timestep and accuracy (as well as simulation run time) was found; a link between the number of discretised segments and simulation accuracy (and run time) was also confirmed. It was determined that 8 segments was optimal for the inner springs and 18 outer segments offered the best balance between computing power and simulation time. A variety of methods for analysing damper (and simulation) performance are presented in this thesis; it was found that for the 2.5 bar torque curve experimental data set the simulation performs excellently, with on average less than 5% error. Overall torque error is less than 10% across the tested speed range (900 to 2800rpm), with mean torque differences between simulated and tested order magnitudes of less than 5Nm. It has been determined that hysteresis loops are not an accurate predictor of real-world damper performance; while they can approximate general trends, they do not cover the normal operating condition. In the final phase of this thesis, the validated simulation has been used to investigate excitation signal, areas of poor damper performance and the link between speed and damper stiffness. By subjecting the simulation to a variety of sinusoidal input signals, it was established that if a sinusoidal signal approximates the 3 most dominant frequencies in a real signal, the damper will behave in a representative manner. Additional orders that have lower frequencies than the dominant order will have a greater impact on the attenuation behaviour of the damper; the effect of additional orders on attenuation behaviour is also linked to their magnitude (relative to the dominant order). A methodology for efficient damper mapping is proposed; the key aim is to produce a dataset that will minimise the length of the parameterisation process while capturing key damper behaviours. It was found that the magnitude of the torque oscillations used to excite the damper is linked to parameter adjustment impact, though this relationship is not linear for all parameters; an approximate level of 300Nm should be used for excitation. Parameters such as spring stiffness and plate inertias are more likely to have a substantial impact on damper performance at frequencies below 70Hz; friction tuning factors are impacted more by magnitude changes at frequencies above 150Hz. It has been demonstrated that while speed can have an effect on magnification ratio, this effect is far less significant at mean torques above the knee point and when sinusoidal input magnitude is kept at or above 300Nm. It was concluded that neither engine speed nor precise excitation magnitude must be replicated in order to predict approximate performance. During the investigation into areas of poor damper performance, it was confirmed that the trend of increasing magnification ratio with lower frequencies (<30Hz) seen in experimental data continued. Simulation testing above 140Hz revealed that there is not a linear relationship between increased frequency and increased magnification ratio; these areas of magnification ratio spikes are likely due to system resonances. It has been confirmed that while fluctuation magnitude does impact magnification ratio, fluctuation frequency has the most significant (dominant) impact. Finally, the effect of speed on apparent damper stiffness was investigated for both hysteresis loop testing and across a range of outer spring vibration angles; it was confirmed that increasing speed does result in non-homogeneous compression of the springs. It was established that while speed can have an effect on spring stiffness, this effect will vary significantly depending on the movement range (vibration angle) of the spring. The largest increase in spring stiffness with speed is seen when segments of the spring become inactive (cease to move), hence why the effect of speed is more substantial at vibration angle of <10°. The simulation was used to confirm the theories linking speed and stiffness found in the literature; higher speeds increase frictional forces, slowing damper segments, resulting in reduced movement. The findings of this thesis are relevant to damper simulation and testing engineers; by expanding knowledge of damper behavioural responses to high frequency excitation signals, as well as demonstrating an effective method for producing validated damper simulations, it is hoped that the vehicle design process will be more efficient and damper modifications more effective.


The output of an ideally mode-locked laser, namely, one having equal phase angles of the modes, consists of a train of bandwidth-limited short pulses. The influence of deviations from equal phase angles on the laser output is investigated. Random distributions of the phases of the modes around equal phase angles introduce only limited fluctuating background, whereas the duration of the pulses remains bandwidth-limited. A systematic deviation of the phase angles at least quadratic with mode number is necessary for lengthening of the pulses. The results obtained by the superposition of these two effects are consistent with the experiments published so far. The efficiency of second- and higher-harmonic generation is discussed by help of the moments of the intensity probability distributions. It is shown how these distributions change as a result of harmonic generation and optical mixing. From intensity-correlation measurements, the moments of the intensity probability distribution can be obtained directly, as well as information on the time behavior of the light field. Experimental arrangements used to measure intensity correlations are described. © 1969 The American Physical Society.


ABSTRACT Human radiosensitivity is a quantitative trait that is generally subject to binomial distribution. Individual radiosensitivity, however, may deviate significantly from the mean (by 2–3 standard deviations). Thus, the same dose of radiation may result in different levels of genotoxic damage (commonly measured as chromosome aberration rates) in different individuals. There is significant genetic component in individual radiosensitivity. It is related to carriership of variant alleles of various single-nucleotide polymorphisms (most of these in genes coding for proteins functioning in DNA damage identification and repair); carriership of a different number of alleles producing cumulative effects; amplification of gene copies coding for proteins responsible for radioresistance, mobile genetic elements and others. Among the other factors influencing individual radioresistance are: the radioadaptive response; the bystander effect; the levels of endogenous substances with radioprotective and antimutagenic properties and environmental factors such as lifestyle and diet, physical activity, psychoemotional state, hormonal state, certain drugs, infections and others. These factors may have radioprotective or sensibilizing effects. Apparently, there are too many factors that may significantly modulate the biological effects of ionizing radiation. Thus, conventional methodologies for biodosimetry (specifically, cytogenetic methods) may produce significant errors if personal traits that may affect radioresistance are not accounted for.


We present an algorithm for computing depth-optimal decompositions of logical operations, leveraging a meet-in-the-middle technique to provide a significant speedup over simple brute force algorithms. As an illustration of our method, we implemented this algorithm and found factorizations of commonly used quantum logical operations into elementary gates in the Clifford+T set. In particular, we report a decomposition of the Toffoli gate over the set of Clifford and T gates. Our decomposition achieves a total T-depth of 3, thereby providing a 40% reduction over the previously best known decomposition for the Toffoli gate. Due to the size of the search space, the algorithm is only practical for small parameters, such as the number of qubits, and the number of gates in an optimal implementation.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the corrosion fatigue (CF) characteristics of a series of titanium alloys including Grade 4 CP Ti (ASTM F 67), Ti-6Al-4V (ASTM F 136), Ti-6Al-7Nb (ASTM F 1295), and Ti-15 Mo (ASTM F 2066). Evaluation of alloy composition, microstructure, and Vicker's microhardness was performed to ensure that each material met the required specification. Smooth and notched CF tensile samples of each alloy were machined using low stress grind techniques and tested at 1Hz according to ASTM F 1801 in both Ringer's solution and distilled/deionized water at 37°C. Smooth CF samples had a 10 mm gauge length and a 2.5 mm gauge diameter, and notched CF samples had a 2.5 mm notch root diameter (Kt=3.2). A minimum of three samples was tested at five tension-tension sinusoidal load levels including a run-out level at 106 cycles. SEM analysis was performed on the fractured surfaces of representative samples of each alloy to characterize and compare the failure mechanisms. Fatigue results revealed no differences between the smooth and notched samples of each alloy run in distilled water and those run in Ringer's solution. Results indicated corrosion fatigue mechanisms were not contributing to the fractures under these conditions. However, a significant reduction of fatigue strength was observed for the notched samples of each alloy compared to the smooth samples in identical solutions. These results suggest that even though there is no notch sensitivity in these alloys under static conditions, a notch under dynamic fatigue mechanisms may cause a substantial reduction in cycles to implant fracture. SEM analysis showed typical fatigue fracture morphologies on both the smooth and notched samples. Notch samples, however, did show more defined fluting in terracing due to the higher tri-axial stress state at the root of the notch. In conclusion, corrosion fatigue mechanisms were not contributing to the fracture of these alloys under the given conditions, but the presence of a notch significantly reduced the fatigue strength of all alloys tested.


Summary Prior research indicates that injection drug users forget substantial proportions of their injection partners when asked to recall them. Such under-reporting hampers both ascertainment of the injection networks that underlie transmission of blood-borne pathogens and contact-tracing efforts for disease control. We report here an evaluation of supplementary elicitation techniques – a set of prompting strategies and recall cues – employed in a study that involved tracing of injection partners. Sixty-one index drug injectors in Seattle participated in the study. The supplementary partner elicitation techniques enhanced recall of injection partners substantially and identified persons relevant to transmission of blood-borne pathogens. As a set, the supplementary techniques elicited additional partners from 70% of injectors, and the additional partners elicited represent a 75% increase on average. Drug injectors who recalled many partners before administration of the supplementary techniques tended to report more additional partners in response to the supplementary techniques than injectors who freely recalled few partners. In addition, partners elicited by the supplementary techniques were as likely as freely recalled partners to test positive for hepatitis C virus antibody and engage in risk behaviour with indexes. Furthermore, we found that the supplementary techniques boosted connectivity in the observed injection network considerably.


AIMS: To determine the sites, mechanisms, and clinical significance of injuries to the eyes and brains of children with non-accidental injuries in relation to differing levels of trauma. METHODS: A forensic pathological study of injuries in the eyes and brains of 23 consecutive children dying of non-accidental injuries over a 4 year period (1988-92) under the jurisdiction of Yorkshire and Humberside coroners. RESULTS: Sixteen children died from cerebral injuries and seven died from non-cerebral causes. There were high incidences of retinal detachment (63%) and subhyaloid (75%), intraretinal (75%), and perineural (68%) haemorrhages in CNS deaths. Local subhyaloid haemorrhages and retinal detachment were more common at the periphery and optic disc than at the equator. There was a strong correlation between CNS and eye trauma scores in all 23 children (r = 0.7551, p < 0.0001). Ranking of injuries by severity suggests progressively more trauma required for (a) subdural haemorrhage, (b) subhyaloid, intraretinal, perineural haemorrhages, and (c) retinal detachment. At highest trauma levels choroidal and vitreous haemorrhages were associated with additional cerebral lacerations, intracerebral and subarachnoid haemorrhages. CONCLUSIONS: In non-accidental (and probably accidental) infantile head injury the earliest eye injuries (coinciding with subdural haemorrhage) could be missed if indirect ophthalmoscopy is not performed. Retinal detachment and multiple (particularly choroidal/vitreous) haemorrhages may indicate additional cerebral lacerations and/or intracerebral haemorrhage. Vitreous traction is the likely cause of intraocular pathology.


Schizophrenia is one of the most chronic and severe mental disorders. It has hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, a lack of emotion and a lack of motivation. Schizophrenia also causes significant social and work problems. In order to prevent worsening and recurrences of schizophrenia, and to induce continuous improvement of disease, symptom management and medication training are critical factors. A serious game which makes strong interest and immersion senses is a very useful learning tool for schizophrenia patients who show attention deficit, impassiveness, lack of spontaneity and lower motivation. This study uses card match games to improve the patient's memory and concentration, and encourage procedural learning by associating the difficulty level of the game with the symptom rating scale of disorder. Also it promotes patients to express their feelings through game characters to alleviate their suffering from emotional dullness. It also helps patients to develop teamwork and build interactive skills by demanding cooperative missions for beating the game. Therefore this study is expected to contribute in improving the efficiency of schizophrenic patient education. We suggest to develop serious game design for schizophrenia patients" education.


The article argues that focusing only on disputes formally raised in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dispute Settlement system underestimates the extent of trade conflict resolution within the WTO. Both the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committees address a significant number of 'specific trade concerns' (STCs) that in the overwhelming majority of cases do not become formal disputes. The STCs address differences between Members concerning the conformity of national measures in the SPS and TBT areas with these agreements. It appears as if Committee work on STCs significantly helps defuse potential trade frictions concerning national policies in the covered areas.