Myriad treatment modalities are available for neurogenic bladder (NGB) including behavioral therapies, oral pharmacotherapy, catheterization and surgical procedures. Little is known about how NGB patients are managed in the real world, how well patterns relate to clinical guidelines and how strategies may have changed over time. To address this gap, a systematic review (SR) was conducted using MEDLINE and EMBASE [1996–2017]. The inclusion criteria for studies were: (I) published in English; (II) conducted in human subjects; (III) reporting the treatment patterns/use in NGB; (IV) conducted in a real world setting. A narrative synthesis of results was conducted, comparing the results to current treatment guidelines. Percentage of treatment use was summarized using ranges. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Although most studies focused on spinal cord injuries (SCI), study designs and settings were heterogeneous. All data was collected before 2007. The most popular form of oral pharmacotherapy was antimuscarinics, used by 12.6–86.7% of patients; 0–100% of patients used catheterization techniques, 2.5–53.1% used reflex voiding (RV), and 0.2–55% underwent surgery. A notable amount of patients switched treatments. This SR revealed that numerous strategies have been used to manage NGB throughout the years and there has been a large variance in their use. Whilst there were some discrepancies, most practices matched recommendations made in current guidelines. Ultimately, this SR showed that there is a large gap of epidemiological studies conducted in the field of NGB and the authors felt that available data was insufficient to build a comprehensive picture of treatment patterns. Epidemiological studies using electronic medical records (EMRs) are necessary to advance our understanding of how treatment patterns have changed, and also build a comprehensive picture of how patients are managed in current practice.


The frequent occurrence of regional air pollution makes it challenging to control. Based on source sensitivity research performed with the Chinese Unified Atmospheric Chemistry Environment (CUACE) model and dispersion simulation performed with the Flexible Particle dispersion model (FLEXPART), the regional transport of particulate matter (PM), potential source regions, and transport pathways were investigated for Beijing in summer (July) and winter (December) 2013. The mean near-surface trans-boundary contribution ratio (TBCR) of PM2.5 in Beijing was 53.4% and 36.1% in summer and winter 2013, respectively, and 51.8% and 35.1% for PM10. Regional transport in summer was more significant than that in winter. Seasonal difference of meteorological condition combined with the distribution of emission is responsible for seasonal difference of TBCR. The secondary aerosol is mostly contributed by regional transport. The transport of PM is mostly from Hebei province and Tianjin municipality. Based on backward trajectories analysis, the air mass source occurred from different directions in summer, while occurred from northwest in winter. The pollution level and the TBCR were closely related to the transport pathways and distance, especially in summer.


BACKGROUND
The study of specific genes expressed in the testis is important to understanding testis development and function. Spermatogenesis is an attractive model for the study of gene expression during germ cell differentiation. Spermatogenesis associated-19 (Spata-19) is a recently-identified important spermatogenesis-related gene specifically expressed in testis. Its protein product is involved in sperm cell development and reproduction. In this report we examined the expression of Spata-19 mRNA in mouse testis, fetus, and cell lines.

METHODS
Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), nested PCR, and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) were used to analyze Spata-19 mRNA expression in different stages of mouse testis development, mouse fetus, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF), mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC), Sertoli cells, and NIH/3T3 cells.

RESULTS
We identified a novel splice variant of Spata-19 in the mouse genome that it is expressed in the fetus and after the meiotic phase of spermatogenesis, and over-expressed in the post-meiotic stage of mouse spermatogenesis. This novel splice variant was absent in five days old mice testis, mESC, MEF, Sertoli, and NIH/3T3 cell lines.

CONCLUSION
The Spata-19 has a large novel splice variant in mouse testis that is expressed beyond meiotic phase of testis development. We suggest that this new Spata-19 mRNA variant might be involved in mitochondrial maintenance in sperm cells, and might be correlated with androgen secretion and male fertility.


We present a record of ambient sound obtained using a unique deep-ocean instrument package and mooring that was successfully deployed in 2015 at Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench. The 45 m long mooring contained a hydrophone and an RBRTM pressure-temperature sensor. The hydrophone recorded continuously for 24 days at a 32 kHz sample rate. The pressure logger recorded a maximum pressure of 11,161.4 decibars, corresponding to a depth of 10,829.7 m, where actual anchor depth was 10,854.7 m. Observed sound sources included earthquake acoustic signals (T phases), baleen and odontocete cetacean vocalizations, ship propeller sounds, airguns, active sonar, and the passing of a Category 4 typhoon. Overall, Challenger Deep sound levels in the ship traffic band (20–100 Hz) can be as high as noise levels caused by moderate shipping, which is likely due to persistent commercial and military ship traffic in the region. Challenger Deep sound levels due to sea surface wind/waves (500 Hz to 1 kHz band) are as high as sea state 2, but can also be very low, equivalent to sea state 0. To our knowledge, this is the first long-term (multiday to week) broadband sound record, and only the fifth in situ measurement of depth, ever made at Challenger Deep. Our study indicates that Challenger Deep, the ultimate hadal (>6,000 m) environment, can be relatively quiet but is not as acoustically isolated as previously thought, and weatherrelated surface processes can influence the soundscape in the deepest parts of the ocean. By Robert P. Dziak, Joseph H. Haxel, Haruyoshi Matsumoto, Tai-Kwan Lau, Sara Heimlich, Sharon Nieukirk, David K. Mellinger, James Osse, Christian Meinig, Nicholas Delich, and Scott Stalin


This article focusses on the experience of providing reparation for survivors of conflict related violence in the Western Balkans after the 1990s conflicts. While there has been an increase in awareness of sexual violence as a war crime over the past two decades, the long-term effects of the crimes are still being felt by victims and their families. The article describes many of the challenges to implementing comprehensive reparation programs, including the limitations of judicial remedies, and the need to develop administrative remedies that are truly transformative and empower women to support sustainable peacebuilding. Reparation successes and failings in the Western Balkans may provide valuable lessons for other conflict and post conflict settings.


Abstract. Significance: Over the past decade, laser-based digital holographic microscopy (DHM), an important approach in the field of quantitative-phase imaging techniques, has become a significant label-free modality for live-cell imaging and used particularly in cellular neuroscience. However, coherent noise remains a major drawback for DHM, significantly limiting the possibility to visualize neuronal processes and precluding important studies on neuronal connectivity. Aim: The goal is to develop a DHM technique able to sharply visualize thin neuronal processes. Approach: By combining a wavelength-tunable light source with the advantages of hologram numerical reconstruction of DHM, an approach called polychromatic DHM (P-DHM), providing OPD images with drastically decreased coherent noise, was developed. Results: When applied to cultured neuronal networks with an air microscope objective (20×, 0.8 NA), P-DHM shows a coherent noise level typically corresponding to 1 nm at the single-pixel scale, in agreement with the 1/N-law, allowing to readily visualize the 1-μm-wide thin neuronal processes with a signal-to-noise ratio of ∼5. Conclusions: Therefore, P-DHM represents a very promising label-free technique to study neuronal connectivity and its development, including neurite outgrowth, elongation, and branching.


In this work we aim to propose a new approach for preliminary epidemiological
studies on Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR) collected in many spatial
regions. A preliminary study on SMRs aims to formulate hypotheses to be investigated
via individual epidemiological studies that avoid bias carried on by
aggregated analyses. Starting from collecting disease counts and calculating expected
disease counts by means of reference population disease rates, in each
area an SMR is derived as the MLE under the Poisson assumption on each observation.
Such estimators have high standard errors in small areas, i.e. where
the expected count is low either because of the low population underlying the
area or the rarity of the disease under study. Disease mapping models and other
techniques for screening disease rates among the map aiming to detect anomalies
and possible high-risk areas have been proposed in literature according to
the classic and the Bayesian paradigm. Our proposal is approaching this issue
by a decision-oriented method, which focus on multiple testing control, without
however leaving the preliminary study perspective that an analysis on SMR
indicators is asked to. We implement the control of the FDR, a quantity largely
used to address multiple comparisons problems in the eld of microarray data
analysis but which is not usually employed in disease mapping. Controlling
the FDR means providing an estimate of the FDR for a set of rejected null
hypotheses.
The small areas issue arises diculties in applying traditional methods
for FDR estimation, that are usually based only on the p-values knowledge
(Benjamini and Hochberg, 1995; Storey, 2003). Tests evaluated by a traditional
p-value provide weak power in small areas, where the expected number of disease
cases is small. Moreover tests cannot be assumed as independent when spatial
correlation between SMRs is expected, neither they are identical distributed
when population underlying the map is heterogeneous.
The Bayesian paradigm oers a way to overcome the inappropriateness of
p-values based methods. Another peculiarity of the present work is to propose
a hierarchical full Bayesian model for FDR estimation in testing many null
hypothesis of absence of risk.We will use concepts of Bayesian models for disease
mapping, referring in particular to the Besag York and Mollie model (1991) often
used in practice for its exible prior assumption on the risks distribution across
regions. The borrowing of strength between prior and likelihood typical of a
hierarchical Bayesian model takes the advantage of evaluating a singular test
(i.e. a test in a singular area) by means of all observations in the map under
study, rather than just by means of the singular observation. This allows to
improve the power test in small areas and addressing more appropriately the
spatial correlation issue that suggests that relative risks are closer in spatially
contiguous regions.
The proposed model aims to estimate the FDR by means of the MCMC
estimated posterior probabilities b i's of the null hypothesis (absence of risk) for
each area. An estimate of the expected FDR conditional on data (\FDR) can
be calculated in any set of b i's relative to areas declared at high-risk (where thenull hypothesis is rejected) by averaging the b i's themselves. The\FDR can be
used to provide an easy decision rule for selecting high-risk areas, i.e. selecting
as many as possible areas such that the\FDR is non-lower than a prexed
value; we call them\FDR based decision (or selection) rules. The sensitivity
and specicity of such rule depend on the accuracy of the FDR estimate, the
over-estimation of FDR causing a loss of power and the under-estimation of
FDR producing a loss of specicity. Moreover, our model has the interesting
feature of still being able to provide an estimate of relative risk values as in the
Besag York and Mollie model (1991).
A simulation study to evaluate the model performance in FDR estimation
accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the decision rule, and goodness of
estimation of relative risks, was set up. We chose a real map from which we
generated several spatial scenarios whose counts of disease vary according to
the spatial correlation degree, the size areas, the number of areas where the
null hypothesis is true and the risk level in the latter areas. In summarizing
simulation results we will always consider the FDR estimation in sets
constituted by all b i's selected lower than a threshold t. We will show graphs of
the\FDR and the true FDR (known by simulation) plotted against a threshold
t to assess the FDR estimation. Varying the threshold we can learn which FDR
values can be accurately estimated by the practitioner willing to apply the model
(by the closeness between\FDR and true FDR). By plotting the calculated
sensitivity and specicity (both known by simulation) vs the\FDR we can
check the sensitivity and specicity of the corresponding\FDR based decision
rules. For investigating the over-smoothing level of relative risk estimates we will
compare box-plots of such estimates in high-risk areas (known by simulation),
obtained by both our model and the classic Besag York Mollie model. All the
summary tools are worked out for all simulated scenarios (in total 54 scenarios).
Results show that FDR is well estimated (in the worst case we get an overestimation,
hence a conservative FDR control) in small areas, low risk levels and
spatially correlated risks scenarios, that are our primary aims. In such scenarios
we have good estimates of the FDR for all values less or equal than 0.10. The
sensitivity of\FDR based decision rules is generally low but specicity is high.
In such scenario the use of\FDR = 0:05 or\FDR = 0:10 based selection rule can
be suggested. In cases where the number of true alternative hypotheses (number
of true high-risk areas) is small, also FDR = 0:15 values are well estimated, and
\FDR = 0:15 based decision rules gains power maintaining an high specicity.
On the other hand, in non-small areas and non-small risk level scenarios the
FDR is under-estimated unless for very small values of it (much lower than
0.05); this resulting in a loss of specicity of a\FDR = 0:05 based decision rule.
In such scenario\FDR = 0:05 or, even worse,\FDR = 0:1 based decision rules
cannot be suggested because the true FDR is actually much higher. As regards
the relative risk estimation, our model achieves almost the same results of the
classic Besag York Mollie model. For this reason, our model is interesting for
its ability to perform both the estimation of relative risk values and the FDR
control, except for non-small areas and large risk level scenarios. A case of study
is nally presented to show how the method can be used in epidemiology.


Banded iron formations of the ca. 2770–2405 Ma Hamersley province of Western Australia were locally upgraded to high-grade hematite ores during the Early Paleoproterozoic by a combination of hypogene and supergene processes after the initial rise of atmospheric oxygen. Ore genesis was associated with the stratigraphic break between the Lower and Upper Wyloo Groups of the Ashburton province, and has been variously linked to the Ophthalmian orogeny, late-orogenic extensional collapse, and anorogenic continental extension. Small-spot in situ Pb/Pb dating of baddeleyite by sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) has resolved the ages of two key suites of mafic intrusions, constraining for the first time the tectonic evolution of the Ashburton province and the age and setting of iron-ore formation. Mafic sills dated as ca. 2208 Ma were folded during the Ophthalmian orogeny and then cut by the unconformity at the base of the Lower Wyloo Group. A mafic dike swarm that intrudes the Lower Wyloo Group and has a close genetic relationship to iron ore is ca. 2008 Ma, slightly younger than a new syneruptive 2031 ± 6 Ma zircon age for the Lower Wyloo Group. These new ages constrain the Ophthalmian orogeny to the period between ca. 2208 and 2031 Ma, before Lower Wyloo Group extension, sedimentation, and flood-basalt volcanism. The ca. 2008 Ma dikes pre s ent a new maximum age for iron-ore genesis and deposition of the Upper Wyloo Group, thereby linking ore genesis to a ca. 2050–2000 Ma period of continental extension similarly recorded by Paleoproterozoic terrains worldwide well after the initial oxidation of the atmosphere by ca. 2320 Ma.


Internet of Things leads to routing table explosion. An inexpensive approach for IP routing table lookup is required against ever growing size of the Internet. We contribute by a fast and scalable software routing lookup algorithm based on a multiway trie, called Poptrie. Named after our approach to traversing the tree, it leverages the population count instruction on bit-vector indices for the descendant nodes to compress the data structure within the CPU cache. Poptrie outperforms the state-of-the-art technologies, Tree BitMap, DXR and SAIL, in all of the evaluations using random and real destination queries on 35 routing tables, including the real global tier-1 ISP's full-route routing table. Poptrie peaks between 174 and over 240 Million lookups per second (Mlps) with a single core and tables with 500--800k routes, consistently 4--578% faster than all competing algorithms in all the tests we ran. We provide the comprehensive performance evaluation, remarkably with the CPU cycle analysis. This paper shows the suitability of Poptrie in the future Internet including IPv6, where a larger route table is expected with longer prefixes.


Schnitzler syndrome (SS) is an autoinflammatory dermatosis that often goes undiagnosed for 5-6 years. Patients typically carry a diagnosis of urticaria; however, their cutaneous symptoms fail to respond to typical urticaria therapies and lack symptoms such as pruritus. Additionally, patients with SS may see multiple providers for nonspecific complaints of fever, lymphadenopathy, arthralgias, and bone pain. A correct diagnosis is paramount, as close to 20% of patients may develop a lymphoproliferative disorder and appropriate treatment may ameliorate all symptoms.1 We report 2 cases of SS misdiagnosed as urticaria for years in order to illuminate diagnostic pearls, histopathological findings, and treatment modalities. Additionally, we highlight the importance of neurologic disturbances in this rare but important differential diagnosis of urticaria. J Drugs Dermatol. 2017;16(6):625-627..


UNLABELLED
•

PREMISE OF THE STUDY
The species-rich Neotropical genera Centropogon, Burmeistera, and Siphocampylus represent more than half of the ∼1200 species in the subfamily Lobelioideae (Campanulaceae). They exhibit remarkable morphological variation in floral morphology and habit. Limited taxon sampling and phylogenetic resolution, however, obscures our understanding of relationships between and within these genera and underscores our uncertainty of the systematic value of fruit type as a major diagnostic character.•

METHODS
We inferred a phylogeny from five plastid DNA regions (rpl32-trnL, ndhF-rpl32, rps16-trnK, trnG-trnG-trns, rbcL) using maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference. Ancestral character reconstructions were applied to infer patterns of fruit evolution.•

KEY RESULTS
Our results demonstrate that the majority of species in the genera Centropogon, Burmeistera, and Siphocampylus together form a primarily mainland Neotropical clade, collectively termed the "centropogonids." Caribbean Siphocampylus, however, group with other Caribbean lobelioid species. We find high support for the monophyly of Burmeistera and the polyphyly of Centropogon and mainland Siphocampylus. The ancestral fruit type of the centropogonids is a capsule; berries have evolved independently multiple times.•

CONCLUSIONS
Our plastid phylogeny greatly improves the phylogenetic resolution within Neotropical Lobelioideae and highlights the need for taxonomic revisions in the subfamily. Inference of ancestral character states identifies a dynamic pattern of fruit evolution within the centropogonids, emphasizing the difficulty of diagnosing broad taxonomic groups on the basis of fruit type. Finally, we identify that the centropogonids, Lysipomia, and Lobelia section Tupa form a Pan-Andean radiation with broad habitat diversity. This clade is a prime candidate for investigations of Neotropical biogeography and morphological evolution.


Traditional means of content analysis are ill-equipped to deal with the vast universe of international investment agreements (IIAs). In this article, we propose a novel approach to efficiently investigate over 2100 IIAs and their 24,000 articles in unprecedented detail by treating treaty text as data. Our suggested metric yields new and surprising insights about the IIA universe at four different levels. First, at the global level, we use our approach to investigate the effect of asymmetries on negotiation outcomes finding that developed countries tend to be the IIA system's rule-makers, while developing countries tend to be its rule-takers. Second, on the country level, our method can trace consistency and legal innovation in national treaty networks uncovering hitherto unknown investment policy changes such as the Finnish shift to a pre-establishment template in 1999. Third, on the inter-treaty level, our metric can detect investment policy diffusion highlighting that Israel, for instance, copied its bilateral investment treaty (BIT) language from British investment agreements. Finally, on the individual treaty level, our approach enables us to assess the novelty of newly concluded agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, by relating them to prior practice. Our metric thus provides researchers, practitioners and policy-makers with a powerful novel tool to analyze the IIA universe.


1 Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA 2 Division of Microscale and Mesoscale Meteorology, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA * Corresponding author address: Dr. Yuh-Lang Lin, Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com In this study, the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5) was used to simulate Supertyphoon Bilis (2000) in order to improve the prediction and the understanding of dynamics of orographic rainfall associated with the passage of typhoons over the Central Mountain Range (CMR) of Taiwan. The rainfall prediction is significantly improved by bogussing a vortex, compared to a previous study (Lin et al. 2002). We identified several common ingredients present in this case which are responsible for producing heavy rainfall. The most important ingredients appear to be the presence of convective available potential energy (CAPE), a potentially unstable layer, a very moist airstream impinging on the CMR, and the presence of a low level wind maximum associated with the outer circulation of the typhoon. A simple moisture flux model was also used to estimate rainfall, which compares well with observations. In addition, we also found that the orographic rainfall is dominated by moisture convergence and the contribution of moisture advection in the vicinity of the mountain is negligible. (


The female hormone oestrogen is thought to influence vascular physiology throughout the female lifespan particularly during life events such as menopause and pregnancy. The rapid decline in oestrogen during the menopause is associated with increased cardiovascular (CV) risk, potentially via reduced vascular function. Moreover pregnancy, where oestrogen is elevated for a prolonged period, is a time of profound physiological upheaval including large CV adaptations. Nonetheless, the impact of these important events in the female life course on cerebral and peripheral vascular risk is largely unknown and developing an understanding of such vascular responses is necessary. Importantly, exercise training has known benefits on cerebral and peripheral vascular function, however the role of exercise and physical activity (PA) in pregnancy and menopausal vascular adaptation is poorly defined. Moreover, maternal health has shown to program foetal health in-utero and is associated with immediate and long-term effects on offspring into adulthood and even in subsequent generations. Pregnancy exercise may therefore translate to the neonatal environment, although this has yet to be defined in humans. The aim of this thesis was to describe the cerebral and peripheral vascular changes that are associated with menopause and to assess the impact of exercise training during pregnancy on maternal and offspring vascular health. In a cross-sectional design study, 50 pre-menopausal (PRE-M; 33.29.1years) and 50 post-menopausal (POST-M; 58.55.5years) women underwent assessment of brain blood flow assessed via middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv), cerebrovascular reactivity (CBV-R) and cerebral autoregulation. Peripheral vascular function (brachial and femoral artery endothelial function via flow mediated dilation (FMD)) and structure (brachial (b), femoral (f) and carotid (c) intima-media thickness (IMT) and pulse wave velocity (PWV)) were also assessed. Cardiorespiratory fitness was determined by a maximal oxygen consumption test (VO2max) and objective measures of PA and sedentary behaviour were made. All PRE-M and POST-M women were compared followed by a sub-analysis that included women close to- (Late-PRE-M, N=10) and within 5 years of menopause (Early-POST-M, N=10). POST-M women engaged in significantly less vigorous PA (5 [3, 7 min/d]) compared to PRE-M women (9 [7, 11 min/d] p=0.01) and had a lower cardiorespiratory fitness (24.8 [22.6, 26.9 ml·kg·min]) compared to PRE-M women (34.7 [32.6, 36.9 ml·kg·min] p<0.001). Early-POST-M ii women engaged in significantly less light PA (354 [292, 415 min/d]) compared to Late-PRE-M women (264 [199, 329 min/d] p=0.05). There were no differences between PRE- or POST-M women for absolute CBV-R (p=0.52), relative CBV-R (p=0.18) or parameters of cerebral autoregulation including normalized gain (p=0.56) or phase in the low frequency (p=0.73). In the sub analysis, there were no differences between groups for absolute CBV-R (p=0.79), relative CBV-R (p=0.99), normalized gain (p=0.77) or phase (p=0.18) in the low frequency. POST-M women had lower brachial FMD (4.1 [2.9, 5.2 %]) compared to PRE-M women (6.4 [5.4, 7.5%] p=0.004) and a lower femoral FMD 2.8% [1.9, 3.6 %]) compared to PRE-M women (5.8 [4.9, 6.7 %] p<0.001). POST-M women also had a higher PWV (6.87 [6.5, 7.3 m/s]) compare to PRE-M women (5.45 [5.1, 5.8 m/s] p<0.001) compared to PRE-M. Only femoral FMD was lower in Early-POST-M women (2.1% [0.8, 3.5 %]) compared to Late-PRE-M women (4.1 [2.7, 5.5 %] p=0.049). Menopause was associated with higher carotid artery lumen diameter (p=0.01), as well as higher IMT at the carotid (0.70 [0.68, 0.73 mm] p<0.001), brachial (0.38 [0.36, 0.41mm] p=0.001) and femoral arteries (0.49 [0.46, 0.53 mm] p<0.001). Only cIMT (0.67 [0.63, 0.63 mm]) compared to Late-PRE-M women (0.59 [0.54, 0.65 mm] p=0.03). In summary, menopause is associated with lower MCAv, impaired central and peripheral vascular function and greater artery wall thickness compared to the PRE-M state. These decrements are not all present in early menopause suggesting that the duration of time from menopause and age may have a greater effect on these parameters than the event of menopause alone. Finally, our data provides some evidence that post-menopausal vascular decline may be partly driven by reductions in vigorous PA and/or cardiorespiratory fitness. Twenty-one healthy pregnant women were recruited in trimester 1 (T1) to a partially supervised exercise (EX) or control (CONT) group. Women underwent assessment of cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular function and structural measurements at the end of T1, trimester 2 (T2), and trimester 3 (T3). Participants performed a submaximal exercise test and PA and sedentary behavior objectively monitored for 7 days at each trimester. The exercise intervention comprised of 3-4 sessions per week starting with 15-minutes progressing to 30-minutes at 60-70% maximum heart rate as per the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (RCOG) guidelines. MCAv reduced significantly during pregnancy (-8 cm/s-1 [-14, -2 cm/s]; main effect of time p=0.02). There was a trend for normalised gain in the low frequency domain to increase during pregnancy (1.6% [1.5, 1.7%]; main effect of time p=0.08). There was a trend for an effect of time for increased phase in the low frequency (13.9° [29°, 39°]; main effect of time p=0.06). Femoral artery FMD decreased during pregnancy (3.5% [-6.5, -0.5%]; iii main effect of time p=0.03). Brachial artery diameter increased during pregnancy (0.03cm [0.01, 0.06 cm]; main effect of time p=0.03). Carotid artery diameter increased during pregnancy (0.33mm [0.07, 0.58 mm]; main effect of time p=0.04). There was a trend for a reduced PWV during pregnancy (5.01 m/s [2.8, 7.2 cm/s]; main effect of time p=0.09). However, PWV was significantly greater in the EX group (5.3 m/s [1.6, 8.9 m/s] compared to the CONT group (4.7m/s [3.0, 6.5 m/s]; main effect of intervention p=0.04). There was no time*intervention effect for PWV (p=0.68). No other intervention effects were apparent. In summary, pregnancy results in reduced MCAv, possibly due to reduced vascular resistance (carotid artery enlargement) and altered cerebral autoregulation. Pregnancy also results in increased systemic conduit artery size and a reduction in femoral FMD; changes that are seemingly unaffected by adhering to pregnancy exercise guidelines as recommended by the RCOG. In study 3 offspring cIMT, delivery outcomes and maternal quality of life (QOL) were assessed in the women recruited for study 2. Although not significant, compared to the control group, the offspring of the EX group (N=7) had a smaller IMT (EX; 0.45±0.06mm; CONT; 0.49±0.07mm, p=0.27) and IMT/Lumen (EX; 0.15±0.02, CONT; 0.17±0.04, p=0.19) compared to the control group (N=11). The EX group also had a larger yet non-significant carotid lumen diameter (EX; 2.92±0.13, CONT; 2.88±0.40, p=0.82). Delivery outcomes and maternal QOL were unaffected by exercise. This pilot data suggests that maternal exercise participation may have some role in programming progeny vascular structure the vasculature but does not appear critical to influencing delivery outcomes or post-partum QOL.


This investigation can be seen as an 'ethnohistory of dance' that has examined Irish society in the 1940s and 1950s through the 'embodied cultural knowledge' of recreational dance. There has been a particular focus on 'small farmers' and their culture in north Co. Roscommon. It has been established that in the dance halls around Elphin, 'modern dances' such as quicksteps and foxtrots were embraced by the majority of young people during these years. Such moves ran contrary to the thrust of hegemonic 'national-popular' culture, associated with 'Irish dances' such as ceili, and promoted by powerful groups in the young Irish state. On this basis, and challenging perceptions of cultural life at the time as sterile, insular and conservative, it can be said that Irish youths constructed a generational dance culture that was vibrant, outward-looking and pluralist. A type of counter-hegemonic subculture was activated on the basis of dance, music, space and 'deviance'. The discourses of moral panic during the period act as a marker for these tensions. At the same time, another perspective on this dance culture would see it in more conservative terms as related to the rise of the transnational culture industry, as well as to more exclusive processes around 'distinction'. Finally, other findings clearly present the pleasures of attending dances, those related to the moving body, to collective emotions and to 'being together' on the dance floor. Significantly, it has been found that both men and women were immersed in these dancing pleasures, a finding that challenges views of males as reluctant dancers.

Two main theoretical frames have been used to conceptualise dance moves, meanings and events within the research setting. The first, Gramsci's notion of 'cultural hegemony', has allowed recreational dance to be viewed as both undermining and reproducing power. The second has operated at a more microcosmic level, drawing on a critical challenge to the gramscian paradigm in the form of a 'post-hegemony' influenced by radical anthropology and anarchist cultural studies. In particular, Turner's 'communitas' and Malbon's 'playful vitality' have been critically combined to posit a more phenomenological understanding of dance.

Methodologically, the research has centred on forty-five depth interviews carried out over a period of five years of 'yo-yo ethnography'. This data has been complemented by an analysis of census returns from 1946 and 1956, as well as by an examination of the local newspaper, The Roscommon Herald. These methodological considerations have been located within a reflexive approach that has drawn in a deliberate fashion on the researcher's experiences in three ways - first, as a recreational dancer with an embodied understanding of the complexities of dancing; second, as the son of a man who grew up in the research setting; and, third in my role as a male researcher. Together, they have allowed me to see my role as that of 'halfie' ethnohistorian.


The Oligocene sediments formed between the Pyrenean and Savian tectonic pulses. The earliest Oligocene was characterized by a widespread shallow water transgression. Global cooling coincided with the subsequent retreat of the sea which is also the time of the Grande Coupure faunal turnover. Renewed stepwise transgression resulted in the deposition of the Boom Clay during the Rupelian. High-frequency cyclic changes in water depth of the Boom Clay are driven by waxing and waning of ice masses while lower-frequency cycles can be tectonic signals. By the end of the Rupelian, differential vertical tectonics resulted in considerable erosion west of the Campine subsidence area and in shallower water depth in the eastern part of the southern coastal area. Subsidence of the Lower-Rhine graben resumed at the start of the Chattian. The sea could only briefly transgress over the area outside the graben but in the graben thick Chattian sediments are preserved. Outside the graben, erosion continued to dominate during the Chattian and the Aquitanian. This long period above sea level is due to a combination of the Savian tectonic uplift pulse and a global low sea level.


Information technology has become one of the core elements of managerial reform, and electronic government (e-government) may figure prominently in future governance. This study is designed to examine the rhetoric and reality of e-government at the municipal level. Using data obtained from the 2000 E-government Survey conducted by International City/County Management Association and Public Technologies Inc., the article examines the current state of municipal e-government implementation and assesses its perceptual effectiveness. This study also explores two institutional factors (size and type of government) that contribute to the adoption of e-government among municipalities. Overall, this study concludes that e-government has been adopted by many municipal governments, but it is still at an early stage and has not obtained many of expected outcomes (cost savings, downsizing, etc.) that the rhetoric of e-government has promised. The study suggests there are some widely shared barriers (lack of financial, technical, and personnel capacities) and legal issues (such as privacy) to the progress of municipal e-government. This study also indicates that city size and manager-council government are positively associated with the adoption of a municipal Web site as well as the longevity of the Web site.


Deployment of a large box structure in many sea states has been investigated. Two deployment methods are compared; crane installation over the side and through moonpool installation. The structure is 12 [m] long, 6 [m] wide and 12 [m] high with a mass of 250 [t]. Normand Subsea is used as installation vessel. Both JONSWAP and Torsethaugen wave spectra are used for crane lowering while only JONSWAP is used for moonpool installation. Splash zone lowering is seen as the most critical stage of the installation because hydrodynamic forces are largest at the surface. Hydrodynamic uplift is assumed limiting for the deployment, i.e "slack slings". Slings are the lower part of the lift rigging. The operation limit is that dynamic uplift should not exceed 90 % of the modules static weight. Forces in z-direction are hence most interesting. Minimum wire tension for the lowering is therefore calculated at two time instances; when the module bottom end is at mean water level and when the module is fully submerged with its top end 0.5 [m] below mean water level. These time instances are referred to as time instance 1 and 2 in the report respectively. Design significant wave heights, Hs, are taken from plots of minimum wire tension for different wave peak periods Tp and wave headings. Based on these design Hs values, which equals the operation limits, operability rosettes are plotted. It is seen that wave headings 90⁰ and 120⁰ are most critical with lowest operability for crane installation while wave heading 90⁰ is worst for moonpool deployment. The lowest design Hs for all Tp values considering wave headings 0⁰ ±30⁰ is used as overall operation limit for deployment when weather window statistics are computed. Time instance 1 is worst for crane deployment with resulting forecasted weather operational criterion Hs=2.8 [m]. Time instance 2 is worst for moonpool deployment with forecasted operational criterion Hs=2.5 [m] and Tp ≥ 13.0 [s]. Reference time for deployment, hence the time needed from the weather forecast is issued to the module is landed on the seabed, is 6 hours. Based on reference time and forecasted operation limits weather window statistics are estimated. Moonpool deployment annual operability is 7.24 days, hence 2.0 % of the year, and can naturally not be used. Crane deployment annual operability is 213.22 days, 58.4 % of the year. This is much better but still not very good as it is theoretically desirable to be able to install the module any day year round.


4MOST is a wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic survey facility under development for the VISTA telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Its main science drivers are in the fields of galactic archeology, high-energy physics, galaxy evolution and cosmology. 4MOST will in particular provide the spectroscopic complements to the large area surveys coming from space missions like Gaia, eROSITA, Euclid, and PLATO and from ground-based facilities like VISTA, VST, DES, LSST and SKA. The 4MOST baseline concept features a 2.5 degree diameter field-of-view with ~2400 fibres in the focal surface that are configured by a fibre positioner based on the tilting spine principle. The fibres feed two types of spectrographs; ~1600 fibres go to two spectrographs with resolution R<5000 (λ~390-930 nm) and ~800 fibres to a spectrograph with R>18,000 (λ~392-437 nm and 515-572 nm and 605-675 nm). Both types of spectrographs are fixed-configuration, three-channel spectrographs. 4MOST will have an unique operations concept in which 5 year public surveys from both the consortium and the ESO community will be combined and observed in parallel during each exposure, resulting in more than 25 million spectra of targets spread over a large fraction of the southern sky. The 4MOST Facility Simulator (4FS) was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of this observing concept. 4MOST has been accepted for implementation by ESO with operations expected to start by the end of 2020. This paper provides a top-level overview of the 4MOST facility, while other papers in these proceedings provide more detailed descriptions of the instrument concept[1], the instrument requirements development[2], the systems engineering implementation[3], the instrument model[4], the fibre positioner concepts[5], the fibre feed[6], and the spectrographs[7].


This paper presents a conceptual approach for near real time Global Positioning System (GPS) meteorology in Malaysia using combined space- and ground-based GPS observations. Data from a single GPS station is utilised to derive wet refractivities for comparison with radio occultation (RO). This study shows that the wet refractivities from the ground-based GPS present similar patterns and better correlation with the radiosonde data than that from the space-based GPS RO data at altitudes between 0 - 5 km. Similarly, the wet refractivities derived from RO are more highly correlated with the radiosonde data than the ground-based GPS at altitudes above 5 km. The residual Nwvary from -9.25 - 21.136 N-unit at 00 h UTC for the ground-based GPS while for the GPS RO, it is -19 - 9.259 N-unit at 00 h UTC.


Abstract. Due to their coarse horizontal resolution, present-day climate models must parameterize deep convection. This paper presents single-column simulations of deep convection using a probability density function (PDF) parameterization. The PDF parameterization predicts the PDF of subgrid variability of turbulence, clouds, and hydrometeors. That variability is interfaced to a prognostic microphysics scheme using a Monte Carlo sampling method. The PDF parameterization is used to simulate tropical deep convection, the transition from shallow to deep convection over land, and midlatitude deep convection. These parameterized single-column simulations are compared with 3-D reference simulations. The agreement is satisfactory except when the convective forcing is weak. The same PDF parameterization is also used to simulate shallow cumulus and stratocumulus layers. The PDF method is sufficiently general to adequately simulate these five deep, shallow, and stratiform cloud cases with a single equation set. This raises hopes that it may be possible in the future, with further refinements at coarse time step and grid spacing, to parameterize all cloud types in a large-scale model in a unified way.


Thanks to the development of internet - and network-based information and communication systems, virtually every product and service produced today has a supply chain that extends around the globe. For the last twenty-five years, companies such as Wal-Mart, Dell, and Toyota have enjoyed strong competitive advantages in their respective markets as a result of their world-class supply chains. As the supply chain increasingly lengthens, managers at all levels of the organization must understand the unique challenges of working with suppliers and customers located around the world - and the opportunities that can build new competitive advantages. This book will introduce readers at all levels of experience to cutting-edge methods and strategies for global sourcing and global distribution through the discussion of current research and case study vignettes from companies in every corner of the world.


Abstract Social flexibility, that is, the expression of different types of social systems within one species, has been reported in several mammalian taxa, including rodents. However, sociality in rodents has been studied mostly in captivity and the results are often regarded as laboratory artifacts. We present field data for 2 populations of the striped mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio), a diurnal muroid rodent from southern Africa. The 2 populations inhabit different environments and demonstrate differences in social organization. R. pumilio in the arid succulent karoo lives in social groups, comprising multiple adults of both sexes that share 1 nest and the same territory. Striped mice in the moist grasslands of South Africa are solitary. Females inhabit exclusive territories and territories of males overlap those of several females; association between the sexes appears to be restricted to mating. Home ranges of females in the grasslands were 6 times larger and home ranges of males were 10 times larger than their counterparts in the succulent karoo. Onset of reproductive activity occurred earlier and at a significantly lighter body weight in grasslands. In the succulent karoo, sexually mature offspring remain in their natal group without reproducing. We suggest that group living in the succulent karoo is in response to habitat saturation and the benefits of philopatry, whereas living alone in the grasslands may be a response to limiting resources, such as food.


DIMOV, D., and D. KUZMANOVA, 2007. Zootechnical and economic characteristics of sheep genetic resources in Plovdiv area lowlands. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 12: 105-118 The study took place within 2002 - 2004 in 17 towns and villages of Plovdiv area lowlands. Zootechnical and economic characteristics of three sheep genetic resources was made, namely, the Synthetic dairy sheep population, White Maritza Sheep and Patch faced Maritza sheep, bread on the plains of Plovdiv area. Primary information was collected from 29 private sheep farms by questionnaires and 2 to 6 visits to each farm, annually. It is characteristic of the area that Synthetic sheep population is grown on farms with an average of 283 ewes while White and Patch faced Maritza sheep are grown in small flocks on small-scale farms with an average of 31 and 32 ewes, respectively. It was found that milk yield per ewe of the Synthetic dairy population was 115.50 l that was insignificantly higher than Patch faced Maritza sheep - 112.76 l and White Maritza sheep - 101.60 l. Milk yield of studied sheep genetic resources was good, though not high. The number of lambs sold per ewe of the Synthetic dairy population was 0.92 and Patch faced and White Maritza sheep values for this index were 0.79 and 0.80, respectively. There was no difference between the average weight of Patch faced and White Maritza lambs sold, on the one hand and Synthetic dairy, on the other - 18.78 kg, 19.67 kg and 18.08 kg. The same was true about prolificacy coefficient - 1.34, 1.34 and 1.29, no significant differences between them. In each specific production system, the provision of alfalfa hay per ewe was 185.13 kg for Patch faced Maritza sheep, 174.57 kg for White Maritza sheep and 154.76 kg for the Synthetic population. Feed costs in Patch faced and White Maritza sheep flocks was higher, i.e. 173.03 kg and 180.74 kg and in the Synthetic dairy population - 152.25 kg. The percentage of revenue from milk in Patch faced Maritza sheep was 46.50%, White Maritza sheep - 43.86% and Synthetic population flocks - 48.64%. Lamb sales was the second major revenue source with insignificant breed dependent variation, i.e. 32.43% in Patch faced Maritza sheep flocks, 37.73% on White Maritza farms and 37.90% on Synthetic population farms. The gross income per one Patch faced Maritza sheep was BGN 73.86, White Maritza - BGN 65.55 and Synthetic population - BGN 69.90.


Mammary tumors affect older female cats. The majority of tumors are malignant and associated with aggressive behavior. Early detection and radical surgery is associated with more favorable outcome. Cats with large tumors and/or aggressive histology have a poor prognosis despite systemic chemotherapy. Epidemiology and etiology Mammary tumors represent the 3rd most common neoplasia in cats and are not as common in cats as in dogs1. However, despite the overall lower incidence when compared to dogs, mammary tumors nevertheless represent a significant health problem in cats because of the higher rate of malignancy and the more aggressive clinical behavior. The main risk factors developing mammary tumors in cats include hormonal influence, age and breed1. Hormonal influence: Hormonal influences play a major role in mammary tumor development also in cats. Sexually intact cats have a 7-fold increased risk for mammary tumors compared to spayed cats1. However, OHE must be performed early in life in order to be protective: The protective effects diminish quickly over the first few years as illustrated by a risk reduction of 91%, 86% and 11% depending on whether the cat is spayed before 6 months, between 7-12 months, or 13-24 months, respectively. There appears to be little to no benefit after the first 24 months. Exposure to exogenous progestins also increases the tumor risk in the cat. Cats treated with progestins were found to have an overall relative risk of 3.4 compared to cats that did not receive such treatments. Benign tumors are more common than malignant tumors in progestin-treated cats3. The tumorigenic effects of progestins in cats are also illustrated by the reports of mammary tumors in male cats. In general, mammary tumors are rare in males, but according to a large case series on mammary cancer in male cats 8/22 cats had a history of progestin use4. OC-i10 764 2011 WsaVa·fasaVa World Congress proceedings 14(Fri) ~ 17(Mon) October 2011 ICC Jeju, Korea 2011 WSAVA·FASAVA World Congress www.wsava2011.org Reprinted in IVIS with the permission of WSAVA Close this window to return to IVIS 36th World Small Animal Veterinary Congress 2011 Jeju, Korea Age: Mammary neoplasia is a disease seen predominantly in middle aged to older cats. The mean age of tumor diagnosis is between 10-12 years5. Malignant tumors are rare in younger cats, but fibroepithelial hyperplasia a progestin-induced diffuse mammary gland enlargement of the can be seen in very young intact cats. Breed: Several studies have reported that Siamese cats are over-represented when compared to other cat breeds1. Interestingly, Siamese cats also mammary tumors at an earlier age than other breeds supporting a genetic predisposition for mammary tumors. Clinical presentation Mammary tumors are relatively easy to detect on physical exam. The tumors appear as relatively firm discrete mass(es) in the mammary gland(s). Multiple tumors are common; one study reported that 60 % of the cats had more than one tumor at diagnosis5. The size of the tumor(s) at diagnosis, presence or absence of ulceration, fixation and enlarged lymph nodes depend on when in the course of disease the tumors are detected and diagnosed. Inflammatory mammary carcinomas in cats are rare, but can occur also in cats. Most cats that receive regular veterinary care are likely to be diagnosed prior to signs of systemic illness. Nevertheless, due to the high rate of malignancy and the fact that most of these cats are older, and may have unrelated medical problems, a complete blood count, serum chemistry panel, complete staging, including tumor measurements, lymph node assessment and 3 view thoracic radiographs should be performed prior to surgery. Staging system: A modified WHO staging system is used to stage feline mammary tumors6. The system is based on the T (tumor size) N (lymph node status) and M (metastasis) system. see Table 1. Table 1: Tumor size Lymph node status Metastasis Stage 1 T1 < 2 cm N0 M0 Stage 2 T2 2-3 cm N0 M0 Stage 3 T1,2 < 3cm N1(positive) M0 T3 > 3 cm N0 or N1 M0 Stage 4 Any Any M1(metastasis) Note that stage 3 disease includes cats with small tumors (T1 and T2; < 3 cm) and positive lymph nodes (N1) as well as cats with larger tumors (> 3 cm) regardless of lymph node status. Prognostic factors Tumor size is one of the most consistent prognostic factors in feline mammary carcinoma. Cats with tumors less than 2 cm or 8 cm3 can have an excellent long term survival (> 3 years) if treated with surgery alone (radical mastectomy) according to a prospective and retrospective studies in cats7,8. These prolonged survival times have not been reproduced by later studies despite the fact that cats in these studies also received adjuvant chemotherapy. There is however a general agreement that cats with tumors larger than 3 cm (27 cm3) have a poor prognosis7,8,11. 765 2011 WsaVa·fasaVa World Congress proceedings mammary Gland tumOrs in Cats: risK faCtOrs, CliniCal presentatiOn, treatemnts and OutCOme Reprinted in IVIS with the permission of WSAVA Close this window to return to IVIS 36th World Small Animal Veterinary Congress 2011 Jeju, Korea Lymph nodes: Cats with positive regional lymph nodes have a poor prognosis. According to a recent study all cats with positive local lymph nodes were dead within the first 9 months9. These findings are biologically plausible; metastasis to the lymph node confirms metastatic ability and implies systemic involvement, and therefore an indication for systemic therapy. Age and breed: Several retrospective studies have reported a worse prognosis in older cats. However, these results may be biased due to potential differences in stage and treatment choices in older cats. According to a large prospective randomized trial, there was no difference in outcome according to age8. Thus, age itself should not be a factor when considering treatment for cats with mammary carcinoma as long as the cat is otherwise healthy. According to the same study, domestic shorthair cats did significantly better than purebred cats. Histopathological prognostic factors: 80-90 % of mammary tumors in cats are malignant. Adenocarcinoma is the most common type. Histological grade using a similar scoring system as described in dogs (grade I, grade II and grade III) can be used to identify cats with more aggressive tumors. Two independent studies confirmed that cats with grade III tumors had a significantly shorter survival than cats with lower grade tumors. Additionally the presence of vascular invasion regardless of tumor size and grade was associated with a worse prognosis according to one of these studies9. Treatments and outcome Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for cats with mammary tumors. Radical mastectomy of the entire ipsilateral chain has become the standard surgical procedure in cats. Bilateral radical mastectomy should be performed in cats with tumors in both chains. This standard is based on results from a retrospective study comparing remission and survival in cats treated with conservative surgery versus radical surgery. Cats treated with radical surgery (whole chain plus inguinal lymph nodes) had a significantly longer remission than cats treated with a more conservative procedure (removal of affected gland and adjacent gland)7. The difference in remission suggest that prophylactic mastectomy of normal glands is beneficial by preventing new tumors in the affected chain, thus a longer remission. However, the type of surgery does not affect survival, reflecting that this is a highly aggressive cancer and cause of death in most of these cats is metastatic disease. Results from a later study suggested that bilateral mastectomy may be superior to unilateral mastectomy, however, this was also a retrospective study and information regarding tumor size and grade in the subgroup treated with bilateral mastectomy was not provided11. Bilateral radical mastectomies are aggressive procedures resulting in longer recovery time, and may need to be staged in some cats. Chemotherapy: Despite the poor outcome and the high incidence of metastatic disease in cats diagnosed with large tumors and unfavorable histopathology, few advances have been made regarding systemic therapy in cats with mammary carcinomas. Several retrospective reports describe outcome in cats treated with adjuvant doxorubicin based chemotherapy11,12,13. Interestingly, none of these reports reproduce the prolonged survival reported in cats with stage I disease treated with surgery alone. Early diagnosis and aggressive surgery is associated with a better prognosis in cats with mammary carcinoma7,8. However, further research and prospective trials to indentify effective drugs to prevent or delay metastasis is desperately needed. 766 2011 WsaVa·fasaVa World Congress proceedings Reprinted in IVIS with the permission of WSAVA Close this window to return to IVIS 36th World Small Animal Veterinary Congress 2011 Jeju, Korea References 1) Dorn CR, Taylor DO, Schneider R, et al. 1968. Survey of animal neoplasms in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California. II. Cancer morbidity in dogs and cats from Alameda County. J Natl Cancer Inst 40, 307–318. 2) Overley B, Shofer FS, Goldschmidt MH, et al. 2005. Association between ovariohysterectomy and feline mammary carcinoma. J Vet Intern Med 19, 560–563 3) Misdorp W, Romijn A, Hart AA. 1991. Feline mammary tumors: A case-control study of hormonal factors. Anticancer Res 11,1793–1797. 4) Skorupski KA, Overley B, Shofer FS, et al. 2005. Clinical characteristics of mammary carcinoma in male cats. J Vet Intern Med 19, 52–55. 5) Hayes AA, Mooney S. Feline mammary tumors. 1985. Vet Clin North Am Small Anim Pract;15:513–520. 6) Lana SE, Rutteman GR, Withrow SJ. Tumors of the mammary gland. In: Withrow SJ. Vail DM, eds. Withrow & MacEwen's Small Animal Clinical Oncology, 4th ed. St Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier, 2007:619–636. 7) MacEwen EG, Hayes AA, Harvey HJ, et al. 1984. Prognostic factors for


Parametric static analysis allows choosing a parameter value to balance the precision and cost of the instantiated analysis. We propose an efficient approach to either find a cheapest parameter value to prove a given query or show that no such parameter value exists. Our approach is based on refinement, as in CEGAR (counterexample-guided abstraction refinement), but applies a novel meta-analysis to abstract counterexample traces to efficiently find parameter values that are incapable of proving the query. We formalize our approach in a generic framework and apply it to two parametric analyses: a thread-escape analysis and a type-state analysis. The thread-escape analysis is implemented and applied to eight Java benchmarks comprising 2.5 MLOC. Our experiments show that our approach is effective in practice: for our four largest benchmarks, searching 2 parameter values for each of 10K queries on average per benchmark, it finds a cheapest one for proving 46% queries and shows that none exists for 37% queries, in one minute per query on average.


The most important amendments to the Brussels I Regulation adopted on 12 December 2012 are presented and discussed. The amendments concern: 1) arbitration, 2) external situations, 3) choice-of-court agreements, and 4) abolition of exequatur. Compared to the Commission's ambitions, only modest, but probably useful compromises were achieved in respect of arbitration and external situations. For exclusive choice-of-court agreements, an efficient and sophisticated provision based on the Commission's ideas was adopted, and the Commission's primary goal, to abolish exequatur, was also successfully achieved.


This paper examines the effects of political, structural and economic changes on environmental quality in 25 Central and East European countries (CEECs) and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) using selected water pollution indicators and by testing the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). Despite substantial research on the transition effects from centrally planned economies and totalitarian political systems to democracy and free market economies, the literature is limited with respect to the short- and long-term environmental impacts. Considering the institutional and structural changes in these economies, rising per capita income and increased trade and investment openness, these countries can be characterized as early, late and non-liberalizers with respect to the start and continuation of liberalization processes – a critical element of the systemic transformation in the CEECs. While trends in selected economic and social indicators (based on the OECD pressure–state–response framework) show that early liberalizers enjoyed positive gains relative to late liberalizers, the selected environmental indicators do not indicate consistent trends with regard to surface water quality. Among early and late liberalizers, nitrate, orthophosphate and ammonium concentrations decline and converge over time. Phosphorus concentrations initially dropped but then increased again for both groups of countries. Using the indicator of biological oxygen demand (BOD) as the dependent variable and a set of structural and economic measures as the independent variables, our econometric regression model provides some evidence for the EKC hypothesis and estimates the per capita income turning point for industrial BOD effluents to be approximately 3800–5000 USD. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


TESTING THE UNFOLDING THEORY OF TURNOVER: DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXIT SURVEY by Rachael R. Tellez Understanding turnover has always been a concern for organizations. The costs of turnover to an organization are both direct and indirect, through financial and personnel consequences. By understanding why employees leave, organizations can create more effective retention strategies in hopes of keeping top talent. One theory of turnover, The Unfolding Theory, proposes that employees follow one of five cognitive pathways when deciding to leave an organization. Previous studies evaluating this theory have both methodological and administrative flaws, such as conducting interviews after employees leave the organization. The present study examined the Unfolding Theory by creating an exit survey based on all the aspects of the theory and administering the survey to 107 employees before leaving an organization. The results indicated that the Unfolding Theory does well to capture the processes employees engage in when deciding to leave an organization. However, the data also suggested that additional cognitive pathways may exist and that different groups of employees may have a higher prevalence for a particular pathway. The study discusses how organizations can utilize the findings to gather exit data more accurately, which will help to better understand why employees leave an organization.


This paper examines the role outdoor recreation and education plays in the development of generic leaders who have a positive relationship to the natural world. Three questionnaires (Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire - MLQ; the New Ecological Paradigm Scale - NEP; and the Connectedness to Nature Scale - CNS) were administered online to 104 international outdoor leaders through five online networks. The three instruments assessed the nexus of transformational leadership theory and outdoor leadership. A descriptive analysis of early findings from the project are outlined in this paper. The results can be viewed as an appropriate platform for understanding outdoor recreation and education leaders' ecological perspectives and the generic, transformational leadership skills.


A number of many-body problems can be formulated using Hamiltonians that are quadratic in the creation and annihilation operators. Here, we show how such quadratic Hamiltonians can be efficiently estimated indirectly, employing very few resources. We found that almost all the properties of the Hamiltonian are determined by its surface and that these properties can be measured even if the system can only be initialized to a mixed state. Therefore, our method can be applied to various physical models, with important examples including coupled nano-mechanical oscillators, hopping fermions in optical lattices and transverse Ising chains.


5 Long term climate goals call for immediate investment in new transport technology To meet long-term climate targets, developed countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions with 65 to 95% compared to 2000 levels. If the transport sector should match these reductions three crucial conditions need to be fulfilled: (1) substantial changes in travel behaviour, travel demand and public acceptance, (2) availability of zero-carbon or lowcarbon fuels, (3) availability of advanced vehicle technology. The measures that are currently available for the period until 2020 do not have sufficient potential to meet the long-term climate targets. To meet these goals, there is a need for parallel investments in 'new' technologies (electricity, hydrogen) which, in the future, could be decarbonised to a large extent. Since these new technologies have long lead and implementation times, a policy strategy should be developed today, which ensures that experience is gained and cost reductions are induced. A similar conclusion can be drawn for the Dutch climate policy programme Schoon en Zuinig: Most transport measures in the Dutch policy programme that contribute substantially to the emission reduction target for 2020 create little incentive for the development of vehicle technology and low-carbon fuels, which are needed in the long term.


We present results from a unique nationwide survey conducted in Sweden on sexual orientation and job satisfaction. Our results show that gay men, on average, seem more satisfied with their job than heterosexual men; lesbians appear less satisfied with their job than heterosexual women. However, the issue of sexual orientation and job satisfaction is complex since gay men, despite their high degree of job satisfaction, like lesbians find their job more mentally straining than heterosexuals. We conclude that gay men and lesbians are facing other stressers at work than heterosexuals do. We also conclude that discrimination and prejudice may lead gay men to have low expectations about their job; these low expectations may translate into high job satisfaction. In contrast, prejudice and discrimination may hinder lesbians from realizing their career plans, resulting in low job satisfaction.


The effects of biofilm development on ultrafiltration membranes with regard to permeate stability and permeation rates were investigated using Gravity Driven Membrane (GDM) filtration. The first part of the study aimed at evaluating the influence of the biofilm on permeate flux quality and quantity with regard to Assimilable Organic Carbon (AOC) degradation. In addition, two types of biological pre-treatments were evaluated: slow sand filtration and packed bed bio-reactor, compared to a control (no treatment). Biofilm formation helped to decrease the AOC content of permeate water, compared to the influent. Both pre-treatments additionally reduced the AOC level in the permeate and thus increased its biological stability, however none of the systems were able to guarantee microbiologically stable water. Removal of AOC before the GDM filtration reduced the biofilm growth potential, which in turn influenced its physical structure and enhanced the permeation rates. Influence of inorganic particle removal by pre-sedimentation and its effect on biofilm structure were also studied. Pre-sedimentation of particle populations selected fine and homogeneous particle fractions, which led to the formation of a homogeneous biofilm structure characterised by an increased hydraulic resistance. This was clearly visible between horizontally and vertically installed membranes where the latter ones had a significantly reduced flux despite lower deposited particle mass. The presence of larger, heterogeneous particle fractions counterbalanced the negative effects of the fine particles, which overall resulted in enhanced permeation rates. doi: 10.2166/ws.2013.197 om https://iwaponline.com/ws/article-pdf/14/2/274/415548/274.pdf 2019 A. Chomiak (corresponding author) J. Mimoso S. Koetzsch B. Sinnet W. Pronk N. Derlon E. Morgenroth Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com E. Morgenroth Institute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland


Vacuum chambers coated with nonevaporable getter (NEG) materials have been used in straight sections of synchrotron light sources for the past 10years. The MAX II storage ring, where four NEG-coated insertion device vacuum chambers and three NEG-coated dipole vacuum chambers have been installed, is the first synchrotron light source to also use NEG-coated dipole vacuum chambers. In connection with the installation of the latest two NEG-coated dipole chambers in April 2009, the evolution of the pressure and lifetime-limiting effects in MAX II has been determined from measurements with movable scrapers. The results have been compared with results from scraper measurements done in 2003, before any NEG-coated vacuum chambers were installed in the storage ring. Less than three months after the installation of the latest dipole chambers the vacuum system in MAX II was performing well with a pressure already lower than the pressure measured in 2003.


Gridded QuikSCAT data has been used to show that a strong confluence zone of the Southeast Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone (SITCZ) existed in 2000 – 2002 during boreal spring, and the Panama wind jet contributes to its variability. Time series analysis of winds off the Gulf of Panama and convergence advection into the Southern Hemisphere (from 80W to 95W) show these winds kept the SE Trades out of the Northern Hemisphere and created a confluent zone in the Southern Hemisphere. A monthly averaged SITCZ is maintained by the deceleration of the SE Trades that flow from warm water toward the equatorial cold tongue, creating a speed convergent zone south of the equator. Images of wind trajectories show zonally orientated SE Trade winds that were deflected from a divergent zone parallel to the coast of South America converge with more meridional Trades over warm waters. Panamanian winds crossed into the Southern Hemisphere to contribute to this convergence. It is hypothesized that this confluent zone can be intensified by the Panamanian winds. In 2002, the SITCZ confluent zone occurred with more intense Panamanian gap flow than the previous two years. Cross equatorial SE Trades wrapped anti-cyclonically around a divergent pocket in the Northern Hemisphere and became southward winds, which allowed the Panamanian winds to enter the Southern Hemisphere and intensify the SITCZ. Variability in the Panamanian winds makes a substantial contribution to the evolution of the SITCZ.


A major problem in tackling many environmental issues, transboundary and global in particular, is the fundamental fairness concerns involved. These arise from the wide differences among countries in responsibility for the problems at hand and the degree to which they are affected by them, and the difficulty of distributing fairly the costs and benefits of regulations among parties whose interests in and ability to pay for an agreement vary drastically.

The acid rain negotiations in Europe is a prime case demonstrating that substantial emission reduction strategies must, among the core requirements involved, be viewed as fair if they are to be politically feasible and accepted, implemented, and honored in the long run. Research to date, however, has focused almost exclusively on the analysis and generation of options which are effective in economic and, more recently, environmental terms.

The study discusses the general fairness issues involved in attempts to control and reduce sulfur and nitrogen dioxide emissions in Europe, through negotiation in particular. The nature and some implications of the diverse principles underlying proposed strategies for managing the transboundary air pollution problem are analyzed. Explored is the potential applicability of certain analytic problem-solving tools in helping to bridge or reconcile, in a negotiation process, opposing positions regarding "fair" emission abatement strategies in Europe.


Ocean acidification results from an increase in the concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) impacts on marine calcifying species, which is predicted to become more pronounced in the future. By the end of this century, atmospheric pCO2 levels will have doubled relative to the pre-industrial levels of 280 ppm. However, the effects of pre-industrial pCO2 levels on marine organisms remain largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the effects of pre-industrial pCO2 conditions on the size of the pluteus larvae of sea urchins, which are known to be vulnerable to ocean acidification. The larval size of Hemicentrotus pulcherrimus significantly increased when reared at pre-industrial pCO2 level relative to the present one, and the size of Anthocidaris crassispina larvae decreased as the pCO2 levels increased from the pre-industrial level to the near future ones after 3 days' exposure. In this study, it is suggested that echinoid larvae responded to pre-industrial pCO2 levels. Ocean acidification may be affecting some sensitive marine calcifiers even at the present pCO2 level.


A bullet misses its target in Sarajevo, a would-be Austrian painter gets into the Viennese academy, Lord Halifax becomes British prime minister in 1940 instead of Churchill: seemingly minor twists of fate on which world-shaking events might have hinged. Alternative history has long been the stuff of parlor games, war-gaming, and science fiction, but over the past few decades it has become a popular stomping ground for serious historians. The historian Richard J. Evans now turns a critical, slightly jaundiced eye on a subject typically the purview of armchair historians. The book s main concern is examining the intellectual fallout from historical counterfactuals, which the author defines as alternative versions of the past in which one alteration in the timeline leads to a different outcome from the one we know actually occurred. What if Britain had stood at the sidelines during the First World War? What if the Wehrmacht had taken Moscow? The author offers an engaging and insightful introduction to the genre, while discussing the reasons for its revival in popularity, the role of historical determinism, and the often hidden agendas of the counterfactual historian. Most important, Evans takes counterfactual history seriously, looking at the insights, pitfalls, and intellectual implications of changing one thread in the weave of history. A wonderful critical introduction to an often-overlooked genre for scholars and casual readers of history alike."


In this period of high uncertainty about future economic growth, we have developed a growth projection tool for 13 advanced countries and the euro area at the 2100 horizon. This high uncertainty is reflected in the debate on the possibility of a 'secular stagnation', fuelled by the short-lived Information and Communication Technology (ICT) shock and the current low productivity and GDP growth in advanced countries. Our projection tool allows for the modelling of technology shocks, for different speeds of regulation and education convergence, with endogenous capital growth and TFP convergence processes. We illustrate the benefits of this tool through four growth scenarios, crossing the cases of a new technology shock or secular stagnation with those of regulation and education convergence or of absence of reforms. Over the 2015-2100 period, the secular stagnation scenario assumes yearly TFP growth of 0.6% in the US, leading to a 1.5% GDP growth trend. The technology shock scenario assumes that the third technological revolution will, in the US, provide similar TFP gains to electricity during the second industrial revolution, leading to a 1.4% TFP trend, to which we add a TFP growth wave peaking in 2040, and thus to an average GDP growth rate of 3% in the US. In non-US countries, GDP growth will depend on the implementation of regulation reforms, the increase in education and on the distance to the country-specific convergence target, namely the US, as well. Over the period 2015-2060, for the euro area, Japan and the United Kingdom, benefits from regulation and education convergence would amount to a 0.1 to 0.4 pp yearly growth rate depending on the initial degree both of rigidity and the TFP distance to the US.


Abstract A field test that was conducted at Garner Valley, California, on 11 and 12 September 2013 using distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) to sense ground vibrations provided a continuous overnight record of ambient noise. The energy of ambient noise was concentrated between 5 and 25 Hz, which falls into the typical traffic noise frequency band. A standard procedure (Bensen et al. , 2007) was adopted to calculate noise cross‐correlation functions (NCFs) for 1‐min intervals. The 1‐min‐long NCFs were stacked using the time–frequency domain phase‐weighted‐stacking method, which significantly improves signal quality. The obtained NCFs were asymmetrical, which was a result of the nonuniform distributed noise sources. A precursor appeared on NCFs along one segment, which was traced to a strong localized noise source or a scatterer at a nearby road intersection. NCF for the radial component of two surface accelerometers along a DAS profile gave similar results to those from DAS channels. We calculated the phase velocity dispersion from DAS NCFs using the multichannel analysis of surface waves technique, and the result agrees with active‐source results. We conclude that ambient noise sources and the high spatial sampling of DAS can provide the same subsurface information as traditional active‐source methods.


Background and Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the food safety knowledge and behavior of housewives in the city of Tehran, Iran in 2015. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study 12 Focus Group Discussions by directed content analysis method (n= 96), were conducted among the women who were responsible for food handling in their households in 10 health centers. Each session was held with 7-10 participants, and their voices were recorded. The final transcripts were read to obtain categories until developing themes by using constant comparison method. Results: Three categories in nine themes were emerged as follows: 1) Personal hygiene and poisoning (Washing hands as priority in personal hygiene); 2) Food safety, preparation and storage (Inadequate knowledge about proper time for boiling raw milk, Lack of awareness about temperature of refrigerator, Incorrect storage of food in the refrigerator, Storage of unwashed and unpacked eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator, Thawing frozen raw meat and chicken at room temperature, Incorrect separation and sanitization of cutting boards for fresh vegetables, raw meat, chicken, and Inappropriate washing of fresh leafy vegetables); and 3) Safety of cooked foods (Improper reheating of leftover foods). Conclusions: The findings of this study illustrated that there was lack of knowledge about food safety. It was evident that the majority of the participants were not familiar with appropriate practices to prevent crosscontamination and food handling. Therefore, home food safety education should be conducted for housewives.


Thymoquinone (TQ) is a potent anticancer phytochemical with confirmed in vitro efficacy. Its clinical use has not yet established, and very few reports have documented its formulation. There also are no reports about the aqueous solubility and stability of this valuable drug, despite their direct correlation with the in vivo efficacy. In the current research, we have established and validated a stability-indicating HPLC method for the detection of TQ and its degradation products under different conditions. We then investigated the solubility and stability profiles of TQ in aqueous solutions. The stability study was aimed to determine the effect of pH, solvent type and light on the degradation process of TQ, along with the investigation of the kinetics of this degradation. The solubility of TQ varied in different aqueous solvents, and might be compromised due to stability issues. However, these findings confirm that the aqueous solubility is not the major obstacle for the drug formulations mainly due to the considerable water solubility (>500 μg/mL) that may be enough to exert pharmacologic effects if administered via parenteral route. Stability study results showed a very low stability profile of TQ in all the aqueous solutions with rapid degradation that varied with solvent type. The study of the degradation kinetics showed a significant effect of pH on the degradation process. The process followed first order kinetics at more acidic and alkaline pH values, and second order kinetics at pH 5–7.4, regardless of the solvent type. The results also expressed that light has a greater impact on the stability of TQ as a shorter period of exposure led to severe degradation, independent of the solution pH and solvent type. Our results also addressed some discrepancies in previously published researches regarding the formulation and quantification of TQ with suggested solutions. Overall, the current study concludes that TQ is unstable in aqueous solutions, particularly at an alkaline pH, in addition to presenting severe light sensitivity. This data indicates the inappropriateness of aqueous solutions as pharmaceutical vehicles for TQ preparations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study describing TQ aqueous solubility and stability that may lead to the development of a stable and effective TQ formulation.


Sustainability Indicators (SIs) have been popular among a section of the policy and science community for some years and are often promoted by this group as a potent vehicle to help make sustainable development a reality. One of the claimed strengths of SIs is their ability to present complex data and trends to policy makers. It is assumed that SIs can thereby help to make policy and indeed management more transparently evidence-based, yet this assumption has rarely been tested. This was the rationale behind the European Union funded Framework 7 project 'Policy Influence of Indicators' (POINT; contract no 217207) which began in 2008. A major element of the project involved a number of participatory stakeholder workshops designed to elicit viewpoints regarding the use of SIs in sustainable development policy at EU and member-state levels. This paper presents the results of those workshops, and discusses the ramifications for the use of SIs in evidence-based policy in the EU. We summarise some of the key findings as the '5 Ds':
Disconnect with current use of SIs. Issues here are a lack of understanding as to what is required in sustainable development and who is responsible for implementation.
Dominance of economic indicators making it difficult for SIs to be heard .
Dissemination; covers the need for education in the importance of sustainable development and the means by which information is disseminated.
Disambiguation; covers data availability issues and opaqueness of existing SIs making them difficult to appreciate.
Dictum. A grammar or rules is needed clearly indicating what we mean by sustainable development and thus the SIs that are needed for implementation.
Our research is also indicting that we are gaining clarity over what features are most consistent between indicator user groups and indicator use. This is leading us towards an heuristic device for measuring and even predicting the use of indicators by specific policy groups.


In its first century, the National Park Service was transformed from an agency that managed a small number of western parks to one responsible for over 400 sites across the country. The management of these park sites has changed as well, with many new parks structured as a partnership effort between the National Park Service and surrounding cities and towns, as well as non-profit organizations and friends groups. The Park Service has had its work extended by Congress to reach beyond park boundaries in order to help states and local governments with resource preservation and the development of recreational opportunities in neighborhoods where people live and work. The Park Service has also been given a leadership role in providing technical assistance to other countries in creating national parks and preserving their natural and cultural resources. As the National Park Service enters its second century, it faces many of the same challenges as other federal agencies. The two primary challenges facing the National Park Service as it moves forward are ensuring sufficient funding for the national park system from Congress and other revenue sources and keeping the national parks relevant to succeeding generations of Americans. National parks remain popular with the American public for the way they connect us to the land and the story of our country. Perhaps former National Park Service Director George Hartzog stated it best when he said: "The national park idea has been nurtured by each succeeding generation of Americans. Today, across our land, the National Park System represents America at its best. Each park contributes to a deeper understanding of the history of the United States and our way of life; of the natural processes which have given form to our land, and to the enrichment of the environment in which we live." Recommended Citation Hellmann, Donald J. (2017) "The National Park Service at 100," Akron Law Review: Vol. 50 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/akronlawreview/vol50/iss1/2  Download


The behaviour of saturated soft clays subjected to cyclic loading is of considerable importance in the design of railway subgrades. Soft clays can be extensively found in many coastal regions of Australia up to significant depths, including the coastal belt and the central part of NSW. These soft clay deposits are characterised by very low bearing capacity and excessive settlement. The increase in generated excess pore pressures due to heavy freight trains significantly reduces the bearing capacity and causes serious damage to the rail infrastructure such as clay pumping underneath railway tracks and excessive subsidence. The use of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) is one of the popular methods for soft ground improvement. In this paper, the behaviour of soft clay subjected to cyclic loads is investigated using large-scale triaxial tests. Cyclic triaxial tests on remoulded soft clay samples with and without vertical drains have been carried out using a large-scale triaxial apparatus designed and built at the University of Wollongong. It was found that the PVD under cyclic loading allows the generated cyclic excess pore pressures to dissipate during and after the cyclic load application. The extent of smear zone was approximately three times the equivalent diameter of the mandrel used during installation and is comparable to the generally accepted relationship between mandrel and smear produced under static loading. The case history at Sandgate Rail Grade Separation Project is also presented with a Class A numerical prediction. Design methodology and finite element analysis are discussed through associated settlement and lateral displacement.


Several violent attacks have taken place recently where the defendant attacked the victim using wrestling-style maneuvers. This experiment tests if watching professional wrestling desensitizes college-aged subjects to acts of actual violence. Eighty-six subjects were divided into four conditions which included watching either wrestling, "Walker, Texas Ranger," boxing, or soccer. Subjects were then exposed to the same clip of an actual violent event caught on tape. Measures reflecting how violent the subjects judged the actual violence to be and reflecting personal aggression levels were taken. After a three-day period, subjects returned to view only the video of actual violence and to complete the same measures. An analysis showed no significant differences between conditions on any of the scales measured; however, trends did indicate that there may be a relation between both watching wrestling and higher aggression levels and watching wrestling and rating the video of actual violence as less violent.


Human Bocavirus was described in 2001 by Tobias Allander et al. (Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden) in nasopharyngeal aspirates collected from children with acute respiratory infections. The technique used was a random PCR cloning sequencing, observing that there is a new DNA virus identified in 17 of 540 samples (3, 1%). Full spectrum of diseases associated with human Bocavirus (BoV), remains to be defined. Presence of the virus in respiratory secretions, serum, and stool suggests that may cause systemic diseases. Bocavirus belongs to Parvoviridae family and is a single-stranded DNA virus. Analyzed samples in our study were nasopharyngeal exudates collected from 309 patients aged 19 days-96 years, hospitalized with a diagnosis of SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infections) in hospitals from eight counties and Bucharest in September 2011–September 2012. Diagnostic method used to detect human BoV was Multiplex RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription–Polymerase Chain Reaction) with Seeplex 15 One Step RV ACE Detection Kit. Of the 309 samples tested, 10 were positive for human Bocavirus. All 10 samples were collected from children (7 months-3.5 years) with bronchiolitis and pneumonia without gastrointestinal manifestations. The conclusions observed from the data analysis were: HumanBoV is also present in Romania, meeting at young ages children. The percent of 3, 3% is similar to that found in Sweden, but lower than in Jordan (9%), China (7%) and Taiwan (5, 6%). Symptoms of patients hospitalized and diagnosed with BoV were only respiratory (LRTI-lower respiratory tract infections) and no digestive. BoV positive cases were not associated with others viruses.


Semi-volatile organic compounds (semi-VOCs) are found in complex mixtures, and at low concentrations in groundwater. Chemical fingerprint analysis of groundwater is therefore challenging, as it is necessary to obtain high enrichment factors for compounds with a wide range of properties. In this study, we tested the combination of solid phase extraction (SPE) with dispersive liquid–liquid micro extraction (DLLME), or with stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), as an extraction method for semi-VOCs in groundwater. Combining SPE with DLLME or SBSE resulted in better separation of peaks in an unresolved complex mixture. SPE-DLLME was chosen as the preferred extraction method. SPE-DLLME covered a larger polarity range (log Ko/w 2.0–11.2), had higher extraction efficiency at log Ko/w 2.0–3.8 and 5.8–11.2, and was faster compared to SPE-SBSE. SPE-DLLME extraction combined with chemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and pixel-based data analysis of summed extraction ion chromatograms (sEICs) was tested as a new method for chemical fingerprinting of semi-VOCs in 15 groundwater samples. The results demonstrate that SPE-DLLME-GC-MS provides an excellent compromise between compound coverage, enrichment, and selectivity for semi-VOCs. Particularly, the ratio between well separated peaks and the unresolved complex mixture was improved by the dual enrichment and cleanup step. Combined with pixel-based analysis based on sEICs, the SPE-DLLME-GC-MS method is a promising approach for chemical fingerprinting.


Europe has been discussing how to deal with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East, Africa and other parts of the world for months now. However, one frequently overlooked aspect is the fact that just a small percentage of the world's approximately 60 million forcibly displaced people actually come to Europe – the number of asylum applications across the entire European Union between 2008 and September 2015 totalled around 3.5 million. Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iran are each accommodating over one million refugees, thus probably more than the European Union to date.
All in all, the number of people forced to leave their homes has never been as high as it was in 2015. Flight is a reaction to threats to people's physical or psychological integrity. The causes of flight include wars, political repression, terrorism, food shortages and natural disasters. What can development policy, including humanitarian aid, do in order to combat these root causes?
In the short term, attempts should be made to create or maintain so-called 'stability cores' – locations in which those who are fleeing receive physical stability and essential material resources (water, food, education, health care services). These spaces may be created in the countries of origin themselves or in host countries in the region. In the process, it is crucial to involve administrative structures within the host countries from the outset, and also to ensure that the host population benefits from the aid provided.
In the medium term, the refugees should be prepared effectively, either for their return to their countries of origin, or for their integration within the host country. Whatever happens, economic, social and legal prospects must be created for them, in order to avoid apathy and despair – a breeding ground for frustration and violence. At present, larger amounts, increased reliability and longer-term perspectives in terms of funding for humanitarian and transitional aid are urgently required.
Above all, development policy can attenuate the causes of flight preventively, with long-term effects. It is vital to ensure that no other countries, such as Egypt, Pakistan or Nigeria, are plunged into crises (civil war, political repression, etc.), with the result that the number of refugees increases considerably once more. Prerequisites for this are efforts relating not only to the short-term, but also to the long-term stabilisation of these countries. This pre-supposes not only politically, socio-economically and ecologically sustainable development, but also requires the involvement of large sections of the population in political decision-making processes. Only then can a social and political equilibrium between competing interests within society be achieved. In future, the primacy of short-term political stability via the support of authoritarian governments at the expense of political legitimacy and participation should no longer be accepted. Development policy is equipped with tools designed to promote inclusive social change and the balance of political forces without significantly expanding the financial scope of authoritarian regimes. As a result, crisis prevention and peace promotion must become important focuses of development policy once more. Experiences with 'multidimensional peace-keeping' in post-conflict countries show that concerted international commitment with multilateral leadership is the way forward, even in very challenging circumstances.


The determination of the structure of the transcriptionally active core particle of bluetongue virus is discussed. This particle is approximately 700 A in diameter and reasonably well ordered, but fragile, crystals have been obtained from two different serotypes of the virus. Cryocrystallography proved difficult and a large number of crystals were analysed at room temperature to accumulate a reasonably complete data set. The effects of synchrotron optics, station design and detector on the signal-to-noise for these weak data are discussed, with particular reference to station ID2 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Once the data had been gathered, structure determination was straightforward, using a model derived from a combination of electron microscopy and protein crystallography to obtain initial phases. Despite apparent isomorphism, it is suspected that the crystal lattice `ages', perhaps reflecting both the inevitable weakness of the forces holding crystals of such a large macromolecular complex together and flexibility in the particle.


The scope of this paper is to illustrate and discuss the Mesolithic sites discovered during recent surveys carried out by the 'Joint Rohri Hills Project' (Biagi & Shaikh 1994) in the Thari District of Upper Sindh. Until a few years ago nothing was known of the Mesolithic period in the region, even though several sites had already been discovered in the suburbs of Karachi and along the coast of Las Bela. In effect, Commander K.R.U. Todd described a flint assemblage with geometric, trapezoidal microliths collected along the banks of the Lyari River in the Karachi County Golf Club (Todd & Paterson 1947); and Professor A. Rauf Khan (1979) published many Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites, characterised by microlithic tools, just south of the Karachi University Campus and along the coast of Las Bela, in Baluchistan.


This thesis describes the design optimization of two different types of vessels. They are LHA(R), a replacement for the US Navy amphibious assault ship and DDG51, a destroyer class vessel. The overall measure of effectiveness (OMOE) and the lead ship acquisition cost (LCA) are considered to be the objective functions. The evaluation of feasibility of the designs and various ship parameter calculations are performed using the US Navy ship design evaluation software ASSET. ASSET is integrated with the design optimization software DARWIN to obtain results representing the best designs over a range of LCA. Model Center software is used to integrate the processes ASSET and Darwin. The results generated will provide the owner with the best designs possible (designs with high OMOE) over a range of LCA. This thesis is mainly of academic interest. The results generated could help the owners to look at various design options available for the amount of money they are willing to spend.


Calling for a fundamental change in the focus of public policy in America, this book paints a vivid portrait of the nation's social health. Miringoff and Opdycke clearly show that social progress has stalled and the country's energies need to be directed at critical domestic issues in the years ahead.The authors propose a new agenda for monitoring America's social well-being built around sixteen key indicators of American life, such as infant mortality, teenage suicide, health insurance coverage, and affordable housing. They maintain that social conditions, like economic conditions, must be constantly monitored in order to have a clear sense of "how we are doing" as a society.The book builds on the work of the Institute for Innovation in Social Policy and argues that there needs to be a greater visibility for social issues - and a closer link between social reporting and public action - to better address the nation's social problems. It considers the critical role of the media in advancing public understanding of social issues, and examines important advances in the community indicators movement and international social reporting. Eye-opening and compelling, the book is a provocative centerpiece for policy debates and national initiatives on today's crucial domestic concerns.