While autoregressive models excel at image compression, their sample quality is often lacking. Although not realistic, generated images often have high likelihood according to the model, resembling the case of adversarial examples. Inspired by a successful adversarial defense method, we incorporate randomized smoothing into autoregressive generative modeling. We first model a smoothed version of the data distribution, and then reverse the smoothing process to recover the original data distribution. This procedure drastically improves the sample quality of existing autoregressive models on several synthetic and real-world image datasets while obtaining competitive likelihoods on synthetic datasets.


Realistic 3D models of the seismic velocity distribution within the Earth have the potential to significantly improve our ability to accurately and precisely locate seismic events around the world ( e.g. , Flanagan et al. 2007). Development of these models by tomographic inversion of observed seismic travel times and the use of such models in seismic event location calculations, require the ability to accurately and efficiently compute predicted source to receiver travel times through 3D velocity structures. Meeting these requirements on a global scale presents two fundamental challenges: 1) how to represent the 3D distribution of seismic velocity in the Earth in models that can be interpolated efficiently, and 2) how to efficiently and accurately compute predicted travel times through these models. We present a 3D variable-resolution modeling methodology and a travel time prediction algorithm based on ray theory that address these issues and are compatible with computational resources ranging from laptop computers to powerful distributed computing systems.

A simple representation of the 3D distribution of Earth properties is a regular latitude-longitude grid over the surface of the Earth with grid nodes distributed in an irregular manner in the radial direction (Figure 1A). Finding the grid cell in which an arbitrary point is located in such a model is both straight-forward and efficient. For models that do not extend to polar regions ( e.g. , Pasyanos et al. 2004), this approach provides satisfactory performance, but for global models such as the Crust 2.0 model (Bassin et al. 2000; http://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/crust2.html) the approach suffers from the fact that meridians intersect at the poles, leading to much smaller grid cells at high latitudes than at the equator, when cell size is evaluated in km2.

Over the past couple of decades gridless Earth model representations and several representations involving irregular meshes have been …


During development of the Lower Cretaceous succession in the Spitsbergen domain of the epicontinental Boreal Basin, a fall in relative sea-level caused a major subaerial unconformity to form. This unconformity forms the lithostratigraphic boundary between the Rurikfjellet Formation below, and the Helvetiafjellet Formation above. The previous Ullaberget Member in the upper part of the Rurikfjellet Formation was originally defined using the Ullaberget section in Nathorst Land as its stratotype. The Ullaberget section is not representative for the upper sandstone-rich member of the Rurikfjellet Formation, but is chosen here as the stratotype for the new Louiseberget Bed of the Festningen Member. The Louiseberget Bed consists of deltaic sandstone, located above the subaerial unconformity capping the Rurikfjellet Formation, and forms a facies body within the Festningen Member, the fluvially-dominated lower member of the Helvetiafjellet Formation. The Kikutodden Member is here defined as a new member substituting for the Ullaberget Member as the upper, sand-rich part of the Rurikfjellet Formation; the Kikutodden section in Sørkapp Land being the stratotype and the Strykejernet section being new hypostratotype for the member. The Festningen Member and the Glitrefjellet Member in the lower and upper parts of the Helvetiafjellet Formation, respectively, are re-established as formal members.


Synopsis : Railway prestressed concrete sleepers are required to resist repetitive impact stress waves from dynamic interactions between the rail vehicle and track infrastructure in services. The magnitude of the shock load relies on various factors such as axle load, types of wheel/rail imperfections, speeds of vehicle, track stiffness, etc. This paper demonstrates the application and development of finite element modelling to predict the dynamic responses of prestressed concrete sleepers, particularly under a variety of controlled low-velocity, drop-weight impact loads. The numerical model of prestressed concrete sleeper has been developed using a finite element package, LS-Dyna. It has been verified by the experiment carried out using the high capacity drop-weight impact machine at the University of Wollongong. In the validation experiment, the accelerometers were installed along the top surface of the tested sleeper. The low-velocity impact loading was generated by the drop weight impact machine with the varied drop heights from 100 to 500 mm. The drop mass used in these experiments was 5.81 kN. The results, which are the acceleration responses captured by the device in the loading range of 300 to 600 kN, are discussed herein. The experimental results provide very good correlation with numerical simulations. In addition, the numerical studies on the influential parameters of railway track environment are highlighted.


Publishing Addiction Science is a comprehensive guide for addiction scientists facing the complex process of contributing to scholarly journals. Written by an international group of addiction journal editors and their colleagues, it discusses how to write research articles and systematic reviews, choose a journal, respond to reviewers' reports, become a reviewer, and resolve the often difficult authorship, ethical and citation issues that arise in addiction science publishing. As a "Guide for the Perplexed," Publishing Addiction Science helps novice as well as experienced researchers to deal with these challenges. It is suitable for university courses and forms the basis of the training workshops offered by the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors (ISAJE). Co-sponsored by ISAJE and the scientific journal Addiction, the third edition of Publishing Addiction Science gives special attention to the challenges faced by researchers from developing and non-English-speaking countries and features new chapters on guidance for clinician-scientists and the growth of infrastructure and career opportunities in addiction science.


Bringing together the thoughts of economists, political scientists, anthropologists, philosophers, and agricultural policy professionals, this volume focuses on the issues of sustainability in development. Examining such topics as international trade, political power, gender roles, legal institutions, and agricultural research, the contributors focus on the missing links in theory and practice that have been barriers to the achievement of truly sustainable development.Any theory of sustainable development must take into account economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Until recently, the question "What is development?" was often answered predominantly from the economist's perspective, with high priority being assigned to expansion of economic output. Social, political, institutional, and ethical aspects have often been neglected. But now that sustainable development has become a broadly accepted concept, it is impossible to maintain a narrowly economistic view of development. For this reason, the varied perspectives offered by the contributors to this volume are crucial to understanding the process of development as it relates to environmental sustainability and human well-being.The selection of articles is meant to be stimulating and provocative rather than comp-rehensive. They are roughly divided between those dealing with broad theoretical issues concerning the economic, political, and social aspects of development (Part I) and those presenting more applied analysis (Part II). The common thread is a concern for examining which factors contribute to making development socially just and environmentally sound."Rethinking Sustainability" will be of interest to economists and social scientists, development professionals, and instructors seeking to offer their students a broad perspective on development issues.Jonathan Harris is Senior Research Associate, Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University, as well as Adjunct Associate Professor of International Economics at Tufts University Fletcher School of Law.


The optical switches for single-mode operation cannot be directly utilized in optical communication and interconnect systems adopting mode-division multiplexing. In this paper, three general architectures for on-chip optical space and mode switching are proposed, which are optimized for optical space switching, optical space switching plus local optical mode switching, and global optical mode switching, respectively. A silicon thermo-optic 2×2 four-mode optical switch is demonstrated. The minimum and maximum optical link insertion losses are 16.0 and 20.9 dB (including ∼6  dB coupling loss), respectively, in the wavelength range of 1525–1565 nm, while the optical signal-to-noise ratios of the optical links are larger than 15.3 dB. The optical power penalty at a bit error rate of 10−9 varies from 1.0 to 5.6 dB for 40 Gbps data transmission through different optical links. This work provides a systematic solution to on-chip information switching for different physical and mode channels.


ABSTRACT Type III secretion systems (TTSS) are virulence-associated components of many gram-negative bacteria that translocate bacterial proteins directly from the bacterial cytoplasm into the host cell. The Salmonella translocated effector protein SopE has no consensus cleavable amino-terminal secretion sequence, and the mechanism leading to its secretion through the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) TTSS is still not fully understood. There is evidence from other bacteria which suggests that the TTSS signal may reside within the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of the mRNA of secreted effectors. We investigated the role of the 5′ UTR in the SPI-1 TTSS-mediated secretion of SopE using promoter fusions and obtained data indicating that the mRNA sequence is not involved in the secretion process. To clarify the proteinaceous versus RNA nature of the signal, we constructed frameshift mutations in the amino-terminal region of SopE of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium SL1344. Only constructs with the native amino acid sequence were secreted, highlighting the importance of the amino acid sequence versus the mRNA sequence for secretion. Additionally, we obtained frameshift mutation data suggesting that the first 15 amino acids are important for secretion of SopE independent of the presence of the chaperone binding site. These data shed light on the nature of the signal for SopE secretion and highlight the importance of the amino-terminal amino acids for correct targeting and secretion of SopE via the SPI-1-encoded TTSS during host cell invasion.


AIM
This paper describes the theory-based development of a standardized training model for peer tutors. The aim is to qualify tutors to teach communication skills integrated with practical clinical skills, to medical students in the pre-clinical curriculum. As a result, students are encouraged to form a basic understanding of the biopsychosocial model of diseases early in their studies.

METHOD
The training model's design is based on the Kern model for curriculum development as adapted by McLean et al., who outlined the following steps: planning, implementation, and evaluation/feedback. Our focus is on development, review of feasibility, and evaluation as measured by the subjectively perceived effectiveness of the implemented training model. 2 target groups were considered: the peer tutors and the student tutees.

RESULTS
In 2009, a 3-step training model consisting of 12 units was developed, based on the theory of patient-centered communication and the biopsychosocial model. The training was rated very positively on a 5-point Likert scale by all tutors at 2 points in time: t1 (directly after training) and t2 (after conducting 2 tutorials) (t1: M=1.67; SD=±0.86; t2: M=1.75; SD=±0.71). On a 6-point Likert scale, the tutees also evaluated their communication and clinical skills as being significantly better after completing the 10 tutorials (t2: scale for interaction and communication: M=4.81; SD: 1.09; scale for clinical examination: M=4.99; SD: 0.85) than before the tutorials (t0: scale for communication and interaction: M=3.18; SD=1.15; scale for clinical examination: M=2.88; SD: 1.09).

CONCLUSIONS
By implementing a standardized tutor training model, one can qualify peer tutors to teach communication skills integrated with practical clinical skills during the pre-clinical phase. Practice teaching of the curricular material via role playing, tutorial simulation and an extensive feedback session, along with the definition of clinical standards for recording case histories and performing examinations, have proven themselves to be core elements of effective tutor training.


This report describes the conversion of a Global Electric Motorcars (GEM, a Chrysler company) electric utility vehicle into a Fuel Cell Vehicle called HydroGEM, at the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). The report is prepared as a case study within the framework of Task 18 on "Evaluation of Integrated Hydrogen Systems," of the IEA Hydrogen Implementing Agreement. The vehicle's fuel cell system was designed in 2005, manufactured and built into the vehicle in 2006 and operated from 2007 onwards. The design-choices, assembly, operation and maintenance-issues are presented and discussed.


Since the 1990s there have been strong campaigns against landmines and both the legal and illicit trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). While a treaty banning the use of anti-personnel landmines has been in place since 1997, there is no treaty to regulate the trade in SALW. This has led to a vibrant debate about why, if it was possible to create an international treaty controlling landmines, a treaty to limit the legal distribution of SALW is yet to be agreed on.


Martin Heidegger was engaged in a continual struggle to find words ? new words, both descriptive and analytical ? for his radical form of philosophy. This tendency can be traced from Being and Time, where he elaborated an entirely new vocabulary for his ontological enquiry; to Contributions to Philosophy, which saw him committed to a transformation of language; to later essays on poets such as Rilke and Trakl in On the Way to Language.
The Writing of Aletheia is the first study to appear in either English or German that provides a full account of Heidegger's language and writing style. Focusing not only on his major philsophical works but also on his lectures, public talks and poetry, this book explores the complex textuality of Heidegger's writing: the elaborate chains of wordplay and neologistic formations; the often oblique, circuitous and regressive exposition of his ideas; the infamous tautologies; the startling modification of grammatical rules and syntax; the idiosyncratic typography of his texts; the rhetorical devices, imagery and symbolism; and the tone and voice of his writing. All of these aspects betray not only his will to structure and his assertiveness but also his ongoing self-questioning and reflectiveness about the ultimate goal of his philosophical quest.


The unique chemical composition and microstructure of porous ceramics enable the ceramic products used in a number of applications such as filtration of molten metals and hot corrosive gases, high-temperature thermal insulation, support for catalytic reactions, filtration of diesel engine exhaust gases, etc. These applications take advantage of special characteristics of porous ceramics such as low thermal mass, low thermal conductivity, controlled permeability, high surface area, low density, and high specific strength. In this chapter, we emphasize on direct foaming method, a simple and versatile approach that allows fabrication of porous ceramics with tailored microstructure along with distinctive properties. Foam stability is achieved upon controlled addition of amphiphiles to the colloidal suspension, which induce in situ hydrophobization, allowing the wet foam to resist coarsening upon drying and sintering.


As soon as the Kansas Territory was opened for settlement in 1854, towns sprang up like mushrooms first along the Missouri border, then steadily westward along trail routes, rivers, and railroad lines. Many of them barely got beyond the drawing board and hundreds of them flowered briefly and died, victims of the "boom or bust" economy of the frontier and the vagaries of weather, finance, mining, agriculture, railroad construction, and politics. "Ghost Towns of Kansas" is a practical guide to these forsaken settlements and a chronicle of their role in the history of Kansas. It focuses on 100 towns that have either disappeared without a trace or are only "a shadowy remnant of what they once were," telling the story of each town's settlement, politics, colorful figures and legends, and eventual abandonment or decline. The culmination of more than ten years of research, this new book is a distillation of the author's immensely popular three-volume work on the state's ghost towns, now out of print. Condensed and redesigned as a traveler's guide, it is organized by region and features ten maps and detailed instructions for finding each site. Twenty of the towns included are discussed for the first time in this volume. The book also contains more than 100 black-and-white photographs of town scenes. With this new guide in hand, travelers and armchair adventurers alike can journey back to the Kansas frontier to places like Octagon City, where settlers signed a pledge not to consume liquor, tobacco, or "the flesh of animals" in order to purchase land at $1.25 per acre from the Vegetarian Settlement Company. Or to Sheridan, a tough, end-of-the-line railroad town where, according to the Kansas Commonwealth, "the scum of creation have congregated and assumed control of municipal and social affairs." At least thirty men were hanged and a hundred killed either in gunfights or by Indians during Sheridan's tumultuous two-year life span. Today the only remainder of Octagon City is a stream named Vegetarian Creek, and "wild and woolly" Sheridan is again a pasture."


This special issue reflects upon the student protest and public controversy over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Visualizing Cultures website in 2006 from multiple perspectives. Three sets of questions raised by the incident are addressed by contributors to the volume. The first entails questions over the changing narratives of nationalism and history in Sino-Japanese-US relations, and as taught to and contested by Chinese overseas students. The second revolves around the use and display of visual images in pedagogical, digital, and scholarly contexts, examining debates over authority and interpretation of propagandistic, racist, and violent visual imagery. The third stems from the promises of digital media and examines the challenges of public participation and dissent in the pedagogical sphere. In what ways should or could the norms of scholarship, pedagogy, and student interaction evolve in response to the digital turn, to the globalization of the student body, and to the appropriation of visual technology in the classroom?


Nanostructured materials are extensively investigated for application in energy storage and power generation devices. This paper deals with the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials based on oxides of vanadium and with their application as electrode materials for energy storage systems viz. supercapacitors. These nano-oxides have been synthesized using a hydrothermal route in the presence of templates: 1-hexadecylamine, Tweens and Brij types. Using templates during synthesis enables tailoring of the particle morphology and physical characteristics of synthesized powders. Broad X-ray diffraction peaks show the formation of nanoparticles, confirmed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) investigations. SEM studies show that a large range of nanostructures such as needles, fibers, particles, etc. can be synthesized. These particles have varying surface areas and electrical conductivity. Enhancement of surface area as much as seven times relative to surface areas of starting parent materials has been observed. These properties make such materials ideal candidates for application as electrode materials in supercapacitors. Assembly and characterization of supercapacitors based on electrodes containing these active nano-oxides are discussed. Specific capacitance of >100 F g–1 has been observed. The specific capacitance decreases with cycling: causes of this phenomenon are presented.


The speed at which microprocessors can perform computations is increasing faster than the speed of access to main memory, making efficient use of memory caches ever more important. Because of this, information about the cache behavior of applications is valuable for performance tuning. To be most useful to a programmer, this information should be presented in a way that relates it to data structures at the source code level; we will refer to this as data centric cache information. This dissertation examines the problem of how to collect such information. We describe techniques for accomplishing this using hardware performance monitors and software instrumentation. We discuss both performance monitoring features that are present in existing processors and a proposed feature for future designs.
The first technique we describe uses sampling of cache miss addresses, relating them to data structures. We present the results of experiments using an implementation of this technique inside a simulator, which show that it can collect the desired information accurately and with low overhead. We then discuss a tool called Cache Scope that implements this on actual hardware, the Intel Itanium 2 processor. Experiments with this tool validate that perturbation and overhead can be kept low in a real-world setting. We present examples of tuning the performance of two applications based on data from this tool. By changing only the layout of data structures, we achieved approximately 24% and 19% reductions in running time.
We also describe a technique that uses a proposed hardware feature that provides information about cache evictions to sample eviction addresses. We present results from an implementation of this technique inside a simulator, showing that even though this requires storing considerably more data than sampling cache misses, we are still able to collect information accurate enough to be useful while keeping overhead low. We discuss an example of performance tuning in which we were able to reduce the running time of an application by 8% using information gained from this tool.


In this introductory presentation the principles and components of active control systems will be briefly overviewed. Current research topics and areas of application will be discussed including duct noise, machinery isolation, wave control in beams, interior noise in aircraft, and structurally radiated sound. The use of adaptive materials in active noise and vibration control will also be touched upon. The presentation will finish with a discussion on the present limitations of active control and future promising directions.


Müllerian agenesis, also referred to as müllerian aplasia, Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome, or vaginal agenesis, has an incidence of 1 per 4,500-5,000 females. Müllerian agenesis is caused by embryologic underdevelopment of the müllerian duct, with resultant agenesis or atresia of the vagina, uterus, or both. Patients with müllerian agenesis usually are identified when they are evaluated for primary amenorrhea with otherwise typical growth and pubertal development. The most important steps in the effective management of müllerian agenesis are correct diagnosis of the underlying condition, evaluation for associated congenital anomalies, and psychosocial counseling in addition to treatment or intervention to address the functional effects of genital anomalies. The psychologic effect of the diagnosis of müllerian agenesis should not be underestimated. All patients with müllerian agenesis should be offered counseling and encouraged to connect with peer support groups. Future options for having children should be addressed with patients: options include adoption and gestational surrogacy. Assisted reproductive techniques with use of a gestational carrier (surrogate) have been shown to be successful for women with müllerian agenesis. Nonsurgical vaginal elongation by dilation should be the first-line approach. When well-counseled and emotionally prepared, almost all patients (90-96%) will be able to achieve anatomic and functional success by primary vaginal dilation. In cases in which surgical intervention is required, referrals to centers with expertise in this area should be considered because few surgeons have extensive experience in construction of the neovagina and surgery by a trained surgeon offers the best opportunity for a successful result.


Organic molecules adsorbed on inorganic substrates are the topics of interest in this thesis. Interfaces of this kind are found in dye sensitized solar cells that convert solar energy to electricity, a promising environmentally friendly energy source which might provide a route to replace fossil fuels. Another field where these interfaces play a role is in molecular electronics, an approach to solve the down scaling in the ever increasing hunt for miniaturized electronic devices. The motivation for this work lies among other in these applications and surface science is a suitable approach to investigate the electronic and morphologic properties of the interfaces as it provides detailed knowledge on an atomic level. Phthalocyanines are the organic molecules investigated and the inorganic substrates range from wide band gap via narrow band gap semiconductors to metals. Photoelectron and X-ray spectroscopy experiments are performed to shed light on the electronic properties of the adsorbed molecules and the substrate, as well as the chemical interaction between adsorbate and substrate at the interface. The ordering of the adsorbate at the interface is important as ordered molecular thin films may have other properties than amorphous films due to the anisotropic electronic properties of the organic molecules; this is investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy. We find that the phthalocyanines are affected by adsorption when the substrate is TiO2 or Ag, where charge transfer from the molecule occurs or an interface state is formed respectively. The molecules are adsorbed flat on these surfaces giving a large contact area and a relatively strong bond. On Ag, ordered structures appear with different symmetry depending on initial coverage. The reactivity of the TiO2 surface is not ideal in the solar cell application and by modifying the surface with a thin organic layer, the negative influence on the adsorbed phthalocyanine is reduced. ZnO is not as reactive as TiO2, thanks maybe to the upright adsorption mode of the phthalocyanines. The semiconductor InSb is less reactive leading to self-assembled molecular structures on the (001) surface, either homogenously distributed in a one monolayer thick film or in strands along the reconstruction rows. InAs on the other hand has a larger influence on the adsorbed molecules resulting in a metallic film upon thermal treatment.


For more than 20 years, the Heritage Foundation has been promoting myths such as the Marva Collins story. Now, in No Excuses, Heritage rehashes discredited nonsense, Mr. Schmidt charges. IT AMAZES me that the Heritage Foundation can even attempt to continue the double talk regarding the three Chicago schools offered in No Excuses - let alone dispatch a publicist to reply to Gerald Bracey's Kappan critique (see the exchange in Backtalk, January 2001). If Chicago's versions of No Excuses are an indication of what is going on elsewhere, the books have been cooked by the Heritage researchers. The disturbing facts regarding both George Washington and Amelia Earhart elementary schools are available for anyone who wants to consult the website of the Chicago Public Schools and do a little analysis. In both cases, the "gains" in test scores took place during a unique time when the number of students tested was reduced significantly, as Bracey pointed out. Both schools had high-powered principals who were well aware of the consequences of getting the numbers right. Between 1990 and 1998, according to the Chicago Board of Education's school data (available through the Office of Accountability section of the Chicago Public Schools website), the number of students at Earhart increased from 150 to 248. The number whose Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) scores were reported, however, increased only from 91 to 103. The gains praised by No Excuses were probably made in this all-too- typical fashion: students expected to score low were excluded from the test. Moreover, both Earhart and Washington elementary schools are typical of the middle-class schools that Chicago has among its nearly 600 public schools. Neither has anything to teach America about the hard-core schools of the poorest ghettos and barrios. Anyone who knows Chicago knows that the communities in which Earhart and Washington are located are not in the heart of Chicago's inner city. Anyone who wishes to join me on a tour of the community north of Earhart can see the very expensive homes and equally expensive landscapes and cars that go with them. Black Chicago is not one uniform, impoverished ghetto. It is offensive that No Excuses presents Earhart - a middle-class school in a middle-class community - as if it were in the heart of the ghetto with all the attendant problems of poverty simply because it is an all-black school. This white blind spot is typical of the way the data are rendered. In addition, Earhart's "success" is measured by the "percentage at or above national norms" on the ITBS reading test. It is now widely known that, during the period of Earhart's gains, Chicago refused to use the newest norms for the ITBS and continued using the same old tests over and over. …


Explosive muscular contractions are fundamental to sports activities such as sprinting, jumping or throwing. In these types of contractions the rate at which force is developed has been suggested to be the most important physical capacity. Therefore, the aims of these review was: to review the reliability of rate of force development (RFD) measures; to show the relationships between  RFD and performance in specific sports movements; and to provide information about the response of RFD variables to different training interventions. From a total of 655 articles, after the exclusion criteria 60 articles were read. RFD has shown high to very high reliability in most of the studies, independently of the device used or the specific variable measured. The RFD at early time intervals has shown the higher correlations with performance in several sports movements. In addition, RFD at early time intervals has been shown sensitive to most training interventions, therefore, it seems to be the key point among RFD variables.


What role do Latin Americans expect legislatures to play vis-à-vis the executive? How do expectations shape political trust in a developing democracy like Peru? This article introduces new indicators gauging citizens' current perceptions of, and idealized expectations for, the institutional independence of their elected assemblies. It uses 2007 data to test the hypothesis that the gap between the two indicators – the "legislative autonomy gap" – predicts trust in Congress. Most Peruvians claimed to prefer a more autonomous legislature. And citizens whose high expectations for institutional independence were adequately met were more likely to express confidence in Congress. However, having low expectations of congressional autonomy met also enhanced confidence in that institution. Trust in Congress proved to be pragmatic too, tied to perceptions of strong national economic performance, confidence in political parties, approval of congressional leadership, and approval of the same president from whom most Peruvians wished Congress would become more independent.


In Sweden, parents receive a parental-leave allowance of a high percentage (currently 80%) of their pre-birth salary for about a year in connection with any birth. If they space their births sufficiently closely, they avoid a reduction in the allowance caused by any reduced income earned between the births. The gain is popularly called a "speed premium". In previous work we have shown that childbearing was sped up correspondingly. This is clear evidence of a causal effect of a policy change on childbearing behavior. In the present paper, we study how this change in behavior was adopted in various social strata of the Swedish population.


This book approaches the middle voice from the perspective of typology and language universals research. The principal aim is to provide a typologically valid characterization of the category of middle voice in terms of which it can be incorporated in a cognitively-based theory of human language. The term "middle voice" has had a wide range of applications in the linguistic literature of this century.
The main thesis in this volume is that there is a coherent, though complex, semantic category of middle voice in human language, which receives grammatical instantiation in many languages. The author claims there is a semantic property crucial to the nature of the middle, which she terms "relative elaboration of events", that serves as a parameter along which the reflexive and the middle can be situated as semantic categories intermediate in transitivity between one-participant and two-participant events, and which differentiates reflexive and middle from one another.
In this area, most analyses deal with one language and/or are limited to Indo-European languages. This work deals with a subset of middle-marking languages that was chosen so as to observe the highest possible number of different middle systems showing significant independent diachronic development.


ABSTRACT Lack of access to services is one of the chief difficulties faced by marginalized urban communities. The proximity of digital technologies and data promises to remove a key constraint to greater access: the unequal distribution of information. However, issues of digital literacy and affordability and the local specificity of services make opportunities for achieving well-being both a technical and ethical concern. We discuss 2 community-based projects—one in Western Sydney, Australia, and the other in Dhaka, Bangladesh—that sought to unpack this interface through prototyping a combination of offline and online service directories. Through these, we explore what we have termed altruistic assemblages—circulations of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), researchers, local communities, service providers, hackathons, co-design events, and technology devices. The contributed time, resources, hopes and care of these assemblages do not presuppose a finite solution to urban service delivery but rather offer a prefigurative politics for the more equitable cities to come.


Albumin modulates the abundance and activity of renal Na,K-ATPase. Albumin filtered in the renal glomerulus is reabsorbed by renal epithelial cells in the proximal tubule through a process of receptor-mediated endocytosis. Various renal diseases are associated with increased glomerular albumin filtration, which leads to increased proximal tubule albumin and the appearance of albumin in the urine (albuminuria), which, in turn, contribute to the progression of renal dysfunction. Peruchetti et al. used the LLC-PK1 line of polarized pig renal epithelial cells as a model of proximal tubule cells in which to explore the effects of physiological and pathophysiological concentrations of albumin on the Na,K-ATPase, or sodium pump, an enzyme crucial for renal sodium reabsorption. Albumin at concentrations between 0.0005 and 1.0 mg/ml increased LLC-PK1 Na,K-ATPase activity, an effect that peaked at 0.01 mg/ml albumin and then decreased, so that 10 or 20 mg/ml albumin failed to stimulate pump activity. When added to the luminal surface where it is endocytosed, albumin stimulated Na,K-ATPase activity; however, albumin did not affect Na,K-ATPase activity when added to the basolateral side where the Na,K-ATPase is located. Albumin's stimulation of Na,K-ATPase activity became apparent after 2 hours of exposure, and pharmacological analysis indicated that it depended on protein synthesis; a combination of approaches indicated that 0.01 mg/ml albumin increased the abundance of the Na,K-ATPase α1 subunit in cell homogenates and at the basolateral cell surface. Albumin applied at 0.01 mg/ml increased the activity of protein kinase C (PKC) and decreased that of protein kinase A (PKA), whereas 20 mg/ml albumin decreased PKC activity and had no effect on that of PKA. Pharmacological analysis indicated that albumin's activation of PKC and Na,K-ATPase depended on phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)–protein kinase B (PKB, also known as Akt) signaling and that inhibition of PKA through PI3K-PKB-PKC signaling contributed to its enhancement of Na,K-ATPase activity. The authors thus propose that endocytosed albumin acts as a messenger to modulate intracellular pathways that regulate Na,K-ATPase abundance and thereby sodium reabsorption in the proximal tubule. D. B. Peruchetti, A. A. S. Pinheiro, S. S. Landgraf, M. Wengert, C. M. Takiya, W. B. Guggino, C. Caruso-Neves, (Na+ + K+)-ATPase is a target for phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B and protein kinase C pathways triggered by albumin. J Biol. Chem. 286, 45041-45047 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Introduction Co-infection with Hepatitis C (HCV) and HIV is common and HIV accelerates hepatic disease progression due to HCV. However, access to HCV treatment is limited and success rates are generally poor. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess HCV treatment outcomes in observational cohorts. Two databases (Medline and EMBASE) were searched using a compound search strategy for cohort studies reporting HCV treatment outcomes (as determined by a sustained virological response, SVR) in HIV-positive patients initiating HCV treatment for the first time. Results 40 studies were included for review, providing outcomes on 5339 patients from 17 countries. The pooled proportion of patients achieving SVR was 38%. Significantly poorer outcomes were observed for patients infected with HCV genotypes 1 or 4 (pooled SVR 24.5%), compared to genotypes 2 or 3 (pooled SVR 59.8%). The pooled proportion of patients who discontinued treatment due to drug toxicities (reported by 33 studies) was low, at 4.3% (3.3–5.3%). Defaulting from treatment, reported by 33 studies, was also low (5.1%, 3.5–6.6%), as was on-treatment mortality (35 studies, 0.1% (0–0.2%)). Conclusions These results, reported under programmatic conditions, are comparable to those reported in randomised clinical trials, and show that although HCV treatment outcomes are generally poor in HIV co-infected patients, those infected with HCV genotypes 2 or 3 have outcomes comparable to HIV-negative patients.


Central banks are under increased scrutiny because of the rapid growth in, and composition of, their balance sheets. Therefore, understanding the processes that shape these balance sheets and their consequences is crucial. We contribute by studying an extensive dataset of banks' liquidity uptake and pledged collateral in central bank repos. We document systemic arbitrage whereby banks funnel credit risk and low-quality collateral to the central bank. Weaker banks use lower quality collateral to demand disproportionately larger amounts of central bank money (liquidity). This holds both before and after the financial crisis and may contribute to financial fragility and fragmentation.


One of the fundamental problems in distributed computing is how identical processors with identical local memory can choose unique IDs provided they can ip a coin. The variant considered in this paper is the asynchronous shared memory model (atomic registers), and the basic correctness requirement is that upon termination the processes must always have unique IDs. We study this problem from several viewpoints. On the positive side, we present the rst protocol that solves the problem and terminates with probability 1. The protocol terminates in (optimal) O(log n) expected time, using O(n) shared memory space, where n is the number of participating processes. On the negative side, we show that no protocol can terminate with probability 1 if n is unknown, and that no nite-state protocol can terminate with probability 1 if the schedule is non-oblivious (i.e., may depend on the history of the shared variable). We also discuss the dynamic setting (where processes may join and leave the system dynamically), and give a deterministic protocol for the read-modify-write model that needs only 3 shared bits.


Abstract Lithospheric dilation on Europa has occurred at ridges, bands, and various hybrid lineaments on a global scale over a large part of the geological age of the surface. Dilational ridges (Class 2 in the R. Greenberg et al. (1998, Icarus 135 , 64–78) taxonomy) are elevated, are usually a few kilometers across, and may have a lineated or hummocky interior and a pronounced medial groove. Bands are lower and usually wider than Class 2 ridges, and may have a lineated interior with no prominent medial groove. Some lineaments have characteristics of both ridges and bands. The character of Class 2 ridges, bands, and hybrid forms suggests that they are dilational gaps in the lithosphere, filled from below, and that they constitute a morphological continuum with Class 2 ridges and bands as end-members. These relationships may be explained by a model in which external forcing superimposes a secular dilation on the tidal cycle that opens and closes cracks each Europan day, resulting in incomplete closure with accumulation and possible extrusion of new ice fill. Where the lineament ultimately falls on the morphological continuum—especially how much it is elevated above ambient terrain—depends upon the ratio of daily secular dilation to the amplitude of the cyclic tidal separation. We call this ratio the "dilation quotient". Changes in the dilation quotient during the active life of the lineament will create variable lineament forms. One driver for dilation is tidal "walking" of strike-slip faults, which dilates linked nonparallel cracks. That process is prominent in the 800-km-long strike-slip fault Astypalaea Linea. A subsurface liquid water ocean allows the decoupling needed for horizontal displacements and is the source for the ice that fills the dilated lineaments.


We propose a new type of algorithm for computing first-order (FO) rewritings of concept queries under ELHdr-TBoxes. The algorithm is tailored towards efficient implementation, yet complete. It outputs a succinct non-recursive datalog rewriting if the input is FO-rewritable and otherwise reports non-FO-rewritability. We carry out experiments with realworld ontologies which demonstrate excellent performance in practice and show that TBoxes originating from applications admit FO-rewritings of reasonable size in almost all cases, even when in theory such rewritings are not guaranteed to exist.


The energy drawn by Cloud data centers is reaching worrying levels, thus inciting providers to install on-site green energy producers, such as photovoltaic panels. Considering distributed Clouds, workload managers need to geographically allocate virtual machines according to the green production in order not to waste energy. In this paper, we propose SAGITTA: a Stochastic Approach for Green consumption In disTributed daTA centers. We show that compared to the optimal solution, SAGITTA consumes 4% more brown energy, and wastes only 3.14% of the available green energy, while a traditional round-robin solution consumes 14.4% more energy overall than optimum, and wastes 28.83% of the available green energy.


From the Publisher:
As simple Web access to data housed on corporate mainframes is fast becoming a core business requirement, mainframe programmers need to learn how to develop Java applications to keep pace with growing corporate needs. Focusing on concepts familiar to mainframe programmers, this book gives step-by-step guidance on how to use Java to access file and database structures common to mainframe environments. After comparing Java and mainframe languages such as COBOL and PL/I, Marco goes on to cover Java implementations for IBM's OS/390 and advanced Java programming techniques, including Java classes and EJB.
A must-read for anyone who needs to provide users with access to business data via a Web interface, this book is a logical companion to System 390 JCL (0-471-28309-6), our bestselling mainframe programming book now in its fourth edition.


We present an approach towards the automatic detection of names of proteins, genes, species, etc. in biomedical literature and their grounding to widely accepted identifiers. The annotation is based on a large term list that contains the common expression of the terms, a normalization step that matches the terms with their actual representation in the texts, and a disambiguation step that resolves the ambiguity of matched terms. We describe various characteristics of the terms found in existing term resources and of the terms that are used in biomedical texts. We evaluate our results against a corpus of manually annotated protein mentions and achieve a precision of 57% and recall of 72%.


This paper analyses normative change in electricity supply in order to understand the challenges associated with the introduction of a non-negotiable environmental norm, a change necessary to ensure long-term environmental sustainability of the supply system. The analysis combines the work of Wolfgang Streeck together with that of ecological modernisation to trace the fate of an environmental norm as it emerges within a complex pre-existing institutional context comprising social norms around accessibility, affordability and reliability as well as the more recent emphasis on the benefits of competition. The analysis shows how 'strong' forms of ecological modernist policy change, policies in which environmental norms were explicit, were vulnerable to carbon intensive businesses arguing that they posed too significant a social risk. Yet, solar PV has been associated with 'weaker' forms of ecological modernist policy development where solar proponents have succeeded in demonstrating, despite significant opposition, how solar PV can be embedded within the competition norm thereby promoting both competition and environmental goals. This weaker form of ecological modernist change may have far reaching unintended consequences as solar PV on residential houses enhances the capacity of those households as 'prosumers' to ensure their interests are better supported. An environmental norm may be established here but social norms around rights to an essential service may also be placed at risk.


The stellar distribution derived from an $H$ and $K_{\mathrm S}$-band survey of the central region of our Galaxy is compared with the Fe XXV K$\alpha$ (6.7 keV) line intensity observed with the Suzaku satellite. The survey is for the Galactic coordinates $|l| \lesssim 3^{\circ}.0$ and $|b| \lesssim 1^{\circ}.0$ (equivalent to 0.8 kpc $\times$ 0.3 kpc for $R_0 = 8$ kpc), and the number-density distribution $N(K_{\mathrm S,0}; l, b)$ of stars is derived using the extinction-corrected magnitude $K_{\mathrm S,0}=10.5$. This is deep enough to probe the old red giant population and in turn to estimate the ($l$, $b$) distribution of faint X-ray point sources such as coronally active binaries and cataclysmic variables. In the Galactic plane ($b=0^{\circ}$), $N(10.5; l, b)$ increases to the Galactic center as $|l|^{-0.30 \pm 0.03}$ in the range of $-0^{\circ}.1 \geq l \geq -0^{\circ}.7$, but this increase is significantly slower than the increase ($|l|^{-0.44 \pm 0.02}$ ) of the Fe XXV K$\alpha$ line intensity. If normalized with the ratios in the outer region $1^{\circ}.5 \leq |l| \leq 2^{\circ}.8$, where faint X-ray point sources are argued to dominate the diffuse Galactic X-ray ridge emission, the excess of the Fe XXV K$\alpha$ line intensity over the stellar number density is at least a factor of two at $|l| = 0^{\circ}.1$. This indicates that a significant part of the Galactic center diffuse emission arises from a truly diffuse optically-thin thermal plasma, and not from an unresolved collection of faint X-ray point sources related to the old stellar population.


More and more of what consumers spend for their groceries has gone to the firms that process, package, and distribute agricultural commodities. The farm share of retail food prices has likewise been shrinking. For example, farmers earned 33 percent of what consumers spent for fresh fruit at retail foodstores in 1982, but just 20 percent in 2004. Likewise, the share for fresh vegetables shrank from 34 to 19 percent. However, new research finds that the more recent estimates understate the share of the produce dollar going to the farmer. ERS's market basket data series measures the spread (or difference) between the price paid by consumers for a mix or basket of foods purchased in foodstores and the revenues earned by farmers for supplying the commodities in those foods. ERS estimates spreads for nine commodity groups: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, dairy foods, meat products, poultry, eggs, fats and oils, processed fruit and vegetables, and bakery/cereal products. The series aims to inform both policymakers and the agricultural community about the cost of marketing commodities and how these costs compare with what farmers themselves earn. The farm share does not measure farm income or profitability. Each consumer commodity basket strives to represent the food items and quantities bought by a typical American household in a year. The corresponding farm basket contains the amounts of agricultural commodities that produce the contents of the consumer basket, taking into account losses due to trimming at processing facilities and spoilage at retail stores. Thus, the consumer basket for fresh vegetables contains 20.2 pounds of carrots, while the farm basket contains 20.8 pounds. The contents of the consumer and farm baskets are based on 1982-84 data on American households' grocery store purchases. Applying measures of retail price inflation supplied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and yearly farm prices allows ERS to update values each year. The total farmgate value of all commodities used to produce the consumer basket for fresh vegetables in 2004 was $48.77, 19 percent of the estimated price of $256 for the consumer basket. U.S. food shopping habits have changed since 1982, and fresh fruit and fresh vegetable shopping are no exception. Between 1987 and 1997, the average supermarket produce department expanded from 4,817 to 5,140 square feet, and the number of items stocked grew from 173 to 335 over the same period. ERS's food availability data, which include both the at-home and away-from-home markets, show dramatic changes in the quantities of some fresh fruit and fresh vegetables available for consumption since 1982. Notable increases have occurred in the per capita supply of bell peppers (up 3.9 pounds) and broccoli (up 3.5 pounds). Until 1985, the supply of romaine lettuce was too small to track, but totaled 11.2 pounds per person in 2003. ERS is currently reviewing each of the nine commodity groups in its market basket series, and used purchase data on about 7,000 households in both 1999 and 2003 to compile new consumer baskets for fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Updated farm baskets were also calculated to correspond with these new consumer baskets. Based on the new farm baskets, farm revenues accounted for 26.6 percent of consumer spending for fresh fruit at retail foodstores in 2004 and 23.5 percent for fresh vegetables. These estimates are higher than estimates provided by the current series partly because the new baskets contain more fruit and vegetables with higher farm values. For example, the new basket for fresh vegetables adds asparagus (with a relatively high farm value of $1.22/pound), bell peppers ($0.34), broccoli ($0.33), mushrooms ($1.14), and romaine lettuce ($0.19). By contrast, celery ($0.15), corn on the cob ($0.21), iceberg lettuce ($0.17), and onions ($0.11) are less represented in the updated basket.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the risk of recurrence of adverse perinatal outcomes in second pregnancies in developing countries.

METHODS
Data from the 2004-2008 Global Survey on Maternal and Perinatal Health were used to determine the outcomes of singleton second pregnancies for 61 780 women in 23 developing countries. The mother-infant pairs had been followed up until discharge or for 7 days postpartum.

FINDINGS
At the end of their second pregnancies, women whose first pregnancy had ended in stillbirth (n = 1261) or been followed by neonatal death (n = 1052) were more likely than women who had not experienced either outcome to have given birth to a child with a birth weight of < 1500 g (odds ratio, OR: 2.52 and 2.78, respectively) or 1500-2499 g (OR: 1.22 and 1.60, respectively), or to an infant requiring admission to an intensive care unit (OR: 1.64 and 1.68, respectively). At the end of their second pregnancies, those whose first pregnancy had ended in a stillbirth were at increased risk of another stillbirth (OR: 2.35) and those whose first infant had died as a neonate were at increased risk of having the second infant die within the first 7 days of life (OR: 2.82). These trends were found to be largely unaffected by the continent in which the women lived.

CONCLUSION
In the developing world, a woman whose first pregnancy ends in stillbirth or is followed by the death of the neonate is at increased risk of experiencing the same outcomes in her second pregnancy.


Using rigorous diffraction theory we investigate the scattering properties of various random textures currently used for photon management in thin-film solar cells. We relate the haze and the angularly resolved scattering function of these cells to the enhancement of light absorption. A simple criterion is derived that provides an explanation why certain textures operate more beneficially than others. Using this criterion we propose a generic surface profile that outperforms the available substrates. This work facilitates the understanding of the effect of randomly textured surfaces and provides guidelines towards their optimization.


Optical spectroscopy has shown potential as a tool for precancer detection by discriminating alterations in the optical properties within epithelial tissues. Identifying depth-dependent alterations associated with the progression of epithelial cancerous lesions can be especially challenging in the oral cavity due to the variable thickness of the epithelium and the presence of keratinization. Optical spectroscopy of epithelial tissue with improved depth resolution would greatly assist in the isolation of optical properties associated with cancer progression. Here, we report a fiber optic probe for oblique polarized reflectance spectroscopy (OPRS) that is capable of depth sensitive detection by combining the following three approaches: multiple beveled fibers, oblique collection geometry, and polarization gating. We analyze how probe design parameters are related to improvements in collection efficiency of scattered photons from superficial tissue layers and to increased depth discrimination within epithelium. We have demonstrated that obliquely-oriented collection fibers increase both depth selectivity and collection efficiency of scattering signal. Currently, we evaluate this technology in a clinical trial of patients presenting lesions suspicious for dysplasia or carcinoma in the oral cavity. We use depth sensitive spectroscopic data to develop automated algorithms for analysis of morphological and architectural changes in the context of the multilayer oral epithelial tissue. Our initial results show that OPRS has the potential to improve the detection and monitoring of epithelial precancers in the oral cavity.


Peter Sekaer (1901-50) emerged as an artist in the company of Ben Shahn, Berenice Abbott, and Walker Evans. This book intends to show how he stepped from their benign shadows to build his own distinctive style. It is the first monograph to show the full range of his accomplishments. Sekaer's early work combines dispassionate images with others that show his concern and intuitive grasp of the human condition. Many of his most memorable photographs were made while fulfilling mundane assignments for various government agencies. Sekaer had none of the reformer's passion found in the works of Jacob Riis or Lewis Hine. His stance was more that of the artist/anthropologist, who delighted in recording the artifacts and gestures that defined American society in the 1930s.


Several promising techniques have been proposed to automate different tasks in software testing, such as test data generation for object-oriented software. However, reported studies in the literature only show the feasibility of the proposed techniques, because the choice of the employed artifacts in the case studies (e.g., software applications) is usually done in a non-systematic way. The chosen case study might be biased, and so it might not be a valid representative of the addressed type of software (e.g., internet applications and embedded systems). The common trend seems to be to accept this fact and get over it by simply discussing it in a threats to validity section. In this paper, we evaluate search-based software testing (in particular the EvoSuite tool) when applied to test data generation for open source projects. To achieve sound empirical results, we randomly selected 100 Java projects from SourceForge, which is the most popular open source repository (more than 300,000 projects with more than two million registered users). The resulting case study not only is very large (8,784 public classes for a total of 291,639 bytecode level branches), but more importantly it is statistically sound and representative for open source projects. Results show that while high coverage on commonly used types of classes is achievable, in practice environmental dependencies prohibit such high coverage, which clearly points out essential future research directions. To support this future research, our SF100 case study can serve as a much needed corpus of classes for test generation.


Interfering with Interferons Infections with Mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium leprae or M. tuberculosis, vary substantially in their clinical presentation. For instance, in some cases of M. leprae, the infection is self-healing with very few lesions. In contrast, some people experience the disseminated form, where skin lesions abound and bacteria are abundant. In patients infected with M. leprae, Teles et al. (p. 1448, published online 28 February) found that the disseminated disease associates with a type I interferon gene signature, whereas the self-healing form associates with a type II interferon gene signature. In cultured cells, type I interferon and its downstream signaling cascade inhibited the antimicrobial response induced by type II interferons, providing a potential explanation for why robust disease rather than protection is seen in some cases of infection. Disseminated Mycobacterium leprae infection is associated with blockade of the antimicrobial response by type I interferons. Type I interferons (IFN-α and IFN-β) are important for protection against many viral infections, whereas type II interferon (IFN-γ) is essential for host defense against some bacterial and parasitic pathogens. Study of IFN responses in human leprosy revealed an inverse correlation between IFN-β and IFN-γ gene expression programs. IFN-γ and its downstream vitamin D–dependent antimicrobial genes were preferentially expressed in self-healing tuberculoid lesions and mediated antimicrobial activity against the pathogen Mycobacterium leprae in vitro. In contrast, IFN-β and its downstream genes, including interleukin-10 (IL-10), were induced in monocytes by M. leprae in vitro and preferentially expressed in disseminated and progressive lepromatous lesions. The IFN-γ–induced macrophage vitamin D–dependent antimicrobial peptide response was inhibited by IFN-β and by IL-10, suggesting that the differential production of IFNs contributes to protection versus pathogenesis in some human bacterial infections.


Esophageal chondromatous hamartomas are very rare tumors, characterized by proliferating hyaline cartilage cells. We described the case of a 64-year-old woman, with a progressive foreign body sensation in the laryngopharynx caused by an intraluminal pedicled mass. Transcervical esophagectomy was performed and intraoperative biopsy revealed the mass was a cervical esophageal chondromatous hamartoma. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful and she recovered well. A review of the literature was conducted, and the symptoms, locations, histopathology findings, treatment methods and follow up results of esophageal hamartoma cases were summarized. We found that pre-operative endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) can aid in diagnosis and that aggressive surgical treatment should be recommended for cervical esophageal hamartomas.


Abstract. This study considers the assimilation problem of subsurface contaminants at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. It involves the estimation of solute concentrations and biodegradation rates of four different chlorinated solvents. We focus on assessing the efficiency of an adaptive hybrid ensemble Kalman filter and optimal interpolation (EnKF-OI) and the exact second-order sampling formulation (EnKFESOS) for mitigating the undersampling of the estimation and observation errors covariances, respectively. A multi-dimensional and multi-species reactive transport model is coupled to simulate the migration of contaminants within a Pleistocene aquifer layer located around 25 m below mean sea level. The biodegradation chain of chlorinated hydrocarbons starting from tetrachloroethene and ending with vinyl chloride is modeled under anaerobic environmental conditions for 5 decades. Yearly pseudo-concentration data are used to condition the forecast concentration and degradation rates in the presence of model and observational errors. Assimilation results demonstrate the robustness of the hybrid EnKF-OI, for accurately calibrating the uncertain biodegradation rates. When implemented serially, the adaptive hybrid EnKF-OI scheme efficiently adjusts the weights of the involved covariances for each individual measurement. The EnKFESOS is shown to maintain the parameter ensemble spread much better leading to more robust estimates of the states and parameters. On average, a well tuned hybrid EnKF-OI and the EnKFESOS respectively suggest around 48 and 21 % improved concentration estimates, as well as around 70 and 23 % improved anaerobic degradation rates, over the standard EnKF. Incorporating large uncertainties in the flow model degrades the accuracy of the estimates of all schemes. Given that the performance of the hybrid EnKF-OI depends on the quality of the background statistics, satisfactory results were obtained only when the uncertainty imposed on the background information is relatively moderate.


in Canada, Nuttall's Cottontails ( Sylvilagus nuttallii nuttallii ) occur in southcentral British Columbia (BC), where they are federally listed as a species of special Concern due to their presumed small populations and limited distribution in fragmented habitats. Their habitat use and movement patterns are poorly known at this northern edge of their distribution. We used livetrapping, radio-collaring, and fecal pellet surveys to examine Nuttall's Cottontails' use of remaining patches of native habitat as well as use of human-impacted areas. Cottontails were present in low densities and only about half of presumably suitable patches of native sagebrush-steppe were occupied. Cottontails were more likely to occur in shrubby habitat, but at a fine scale cottontails used areas that had a lower density of shrubs and finer substrates. movement patterns differed significantly between areas of varying habitat quality, with longer movements in natural habitat. one radio-collared male cottontail used anthropogenic habitats adjacent to native habitat; this use corresponds with landowner reports. However, it is not clear whether Nuttall's Cottontails are able to use anthropogenically-impacted areas to maintain populations or in areas where such habitats are not near native habitats. our results suggest that these animals are rare and occur primarily in remnant patches of shrub-steppe within BC.


The long-term health consequences of war service remain unclear, despite burgeoning scientific interest. A longitudinal cohort study of a random sample of Australian Vietnam veterans was designed to assess veterans' postwar physical and mental health 36 years after the war (2005-2006) and to examine its relation to Army service, combat, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assessed 14 years previously (1990-1993). Prevalences in veterans (n = 450) were compared with those in the Australian general population. Veterans' Army service and data from the first assessments were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression prediction modeling. Veterans' general health and some health risk factors were poorer and medical consultation rates were higher than Australian population expectations. Of 67 long-term conditions, the prevalences of 47 were higher and the prevalences of 4 were lower when compared with population expectations. Half of all veterans took some form of medication for mental well-being. The prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses exceeded Australian population expectations. Military and war service characteristics and age were the most frequent predictors of physical health endpoints, while PTSD was most strongly associated with psychiatric diagnoses. Draftees had better physical health than regular enlistees but no better mental health. Army service and war-related PTSD are associated with risk of illness in later life among Australian Vietnam veterans.


While conventional farming systems face serious problems of sustainability, organic agriculture is seen as a more environmentally friendly system as it favours renewable resources, recycles nutrients, uses the environment's own systems for controlling pests and diseases, sustains ecosystems, protects soils, and reduces pollution. At the same time organic farming promotes animal welfare, the use of natural foodstuffs, product diversity and the avoidance of waste, among other practices. However, the future of organic agriculture will depend on its economic viability and on the determination shown by governments to protect these practices. This paper performs panel regressions with a sample of Catalan farms (Spain) to test the influence of organic farming on farm output, costs and incomes. It analyses the cost structures of both types of farming and comments on their social and environmental performance.


The purpose of this study was to investigate how patients who had undergone Hallberg's TIA-school at Enkopings Lasarett rate their physical and mental health 18 months after participation. Another purpose was to examine whether they re-diagnosed with a TIA or suffered a stroke. The design of the quantitative study was longitudinal and descriptive. In the study 16 patients participated and to measure their mental and physical health the questionnaire SF36 was used. The results showed that none of the participants suffered a new TIA or stroke since participation in the TIA-school. The participants' self-rated health measured with SF36 showed the highest values in the areas of social function, emotional role function and physical role function. Which indicates a good self-rated health in these areas. Participants were asked how their physical and mental health limited them in everyday life. The majority of participants was not limited at all during the day, either physically (50%) or psychologically (62.5%). Our results demonstrate that a TIA-school like the one at Enkopings Lasarett may have long-term effects on an individual basis, but this effect can not be demonstrated in all off the patients.


This paper aims to help companies to rationalize their investments in Computerized Accounting Information Systems (CAIS hereafter) through focusing on the experience of companies that have changed their systems. The paper opted for a survey research approach using a questionnaire which has been tested for its content validity. The questionnaire has been designed to capture the experience of companies that have changed their CAIS. The questionnaires were distributed among both accountants and managers of Saudi Arabian companies of different sizes and fields that have experienced problems in their CAIS. The paper provides an insight of the reasons behind the decision to change CAIS based on the practical experience of companies in Saudi Arabia. It shows that there has been a significant change in the priorities of choosing a CAIS due to experience. It is noted also that there are some features which are available in CAIS which are not widely required by system users, and hence, it would be unwise to pay for their costs. Finally, it is noted that there is no significant difference between the managers and the accountants' requirement regarding CAIS.


A novel multilayer bidirectional linear array with the same sense circularly polarised (CP) radiation patterns are proposed. The CP resonant unit consists of a pair of loops and two square patches added on their opposite corners. With a feeding slotted substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) sandwiched between two back-to-back mirror rotated resonant units, a radiating element is designed, and same sense bidirectional CP waves are generated. Along the longitude direction, the radiating elements are arranged alternately from the centre line of the slotted SIW. Then, an 8-element linear array with uniform distribution is designed. Identical right-hand CP waves are achieved in both front and back directions. The array is fabricated, and measured results are in good agreement with simulated ones.


The synthetic analysis of Messinian, Plio-Pleistocene and Recent spatangoids of the genus Brissopsis has allowed to describe the morphological variations of Mediterranean representatives of these echinoids, following the variations of the two morphological groups B. gr. atlantica and B. gr. lyrifera from the Late Neotene to the Present-Day. It is shown that the two groups were clearly differenciated during the Messinian and that they survived in the Mediterranean during the Plicoene, and then during the Quaternary, without main morphological changes. So, the two groups have survived to the Messinian salinity event. Moreover, the presence of B. gr. lyrifera in amrls and limestones interbedded in the gypsum of Los Yesos section (Sorbas basin, SE Spain) is demonstrated. Both in Recent seas and in the ante-gypsum Messinian series, B. gr. lyrifera is one of the deepest spatangoids, living in deeper environments than those settled by Clypeaster and Schizaster. So, the absence of these two last echinoids and the abundance of B. gr. lyrifera in the marls and the lime-stones interbedded in the gypsum are arguments in favour of the gypsum deposit under relatively large depth. The survival of these echinoids, typcially stenohaline and marine organisms, in the last levels of Messinian gypsum of Sorbas basin testifies the existence of marine connexions between this basin and normal marine areas during the evaporitic episode.


Communication in industrial environments is an important scenario for ultra wideband (UWB) systems. The characteristics of this environment differ considerably from office environments, where most of the channel measurements reported in the literature are performed. In this paper, we present the results and analysis of UWB channel measurements in an industrial environment. We investigate both peer-to-peer non-line-of-sight (P-P NLOS) and base station NLOS (BS NLOS) scenarios. The measurements are performed in the frequency range 3.1 to 8 GHz, at distances 2-16 m, using a vector network analyzer in conjunction with virtual antenna arrays. From these measurements, we extract channel model parameters such as power delay profiles, pathloss exponents, rms delay spread and the percentage of energy captured by RAKE receivers with a finite number of fingers. In addition, Saleh- Valenzuela parameters such as ray and cluster power decay constants and distribution of cluster interarrival times are extracted. (Less)


PARENTAL DEATH AND ITS IMPACT ON THE MARITAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE SURVIVING ADULT CHILD Ryan Glenn Henry Department of Marriage and Family Therapy Doctor of Philosophy Previous literature has identified parental death as having a negative impact on the physical and mental health of the surviving adult child. In addition, research suggests that the marital satisfaction of a male or female adult child is negatively impacted after either a father or mother has died. The purpose of this research is to further study this topic by examining longitudinal dyadic data to determine how the death of a parent or death of an in-law impacts marital interaction when certain mediating variables are taken into account. Some of the mediating variables included quality of the parent-child relationship, caregiving, and gender. Data from 98 couples, with an average age of 47, from the USC Longitudinal Study of Generations, were examined using stepwise regression. During the 3 year interval between 1997 and 2000, 45 couples in the sample experienced the death of at least one of their parents. The main finding of the study was that marital satisfaction appears to remain fairly stable following the death of a parent. In other words, there were very few significant changes in positive or negative marital interactions for grieving sons and daughters. However, the few significant results indicated that sons who had a mother die experienced a significant decline in negative interaction with their wife. The death of a spouse's parent also did not impact perceived marital satisfaction in a significant way. Clinical implications are discussed, as well as recommendations for future research.


Distribution of Rhodophyta was investigated in 172 stream segments, which were sampled from May to October in 1992-1993 and 1996-1997 in six natural regions (parts of biomes or geological areas) of Sao Paulo State, southeastern Brazil. Red algae occurred in 60.5 % of stream segments sampled, a high frequency in comparison with other major surveys in the world (18-65 %). 17 species of freshwater red algae were found, of which the most widespread was Batrachospermum delicatulum occurring in 17 sites of five regions. The proportion of morphological types was as follows: gelatinous filaments (62.5 %), free filaments (19 %), tufts (12.5 %) and crusts (6 %); all but free filaments can be considered as having mechanisms to tolerate stress provoked by current velocity. No significant difference was found between the frequency distributions of variables measured for all streams and for those with red algae. Rhodophyta occurred under the following conditions (means): temperature (19.0 °C), current velocity (48 cm s -1 ), specific conductance (74 μS cm -1 ), turbidity (8 NTU), oxygen (67.3 %) and pH (6.9 ± 0.7). On the basis of species composition among the regions, the following patterns were evident: I) the number of red algal species per region ranged from 1 to 10; 2) the highest proportion of sites with red algae (65-73 %) was found in hard water regions and in Atlantic rainforest, whereas the lowest (50 %) was found in tropical rainforest; 3) more than half of the species were exclusive from a single region, whereas the higher proportion of exclusive species was in the subtropical rainforest (50 %). No combination of stream variables was clearly associated with the occurrence of red algae for the regions as a whole. Species composition for streams and rivers of Sao Paulo State revealed higher similarities with other tropical regions and had few species in common with freshwater red algal floras of other continents.


'It was a very momentous day, the day on which I was to be slaughtered'. Bringing together tales of melancholy and madness, nightmare and fantasy, this is a new collection of the most haunting German stories from the past 200 years. Ranging from the Romantics of the early nineteenth century to works of contemporary fiction, it includes Hoffmann's hallucinatory portrait of terror and insanity "The Sandman"; Chamisso's influential black masterpiece "Peter Schlemiel", where a man barters his own shadow; Kafka's chilling, disturbing satire "In the Penal Colony"; the Dadaist surrealism of Kurt Schwitters' "The Onion"; and Bachmann's modern fairy tale "The Secrets of the Princess of Kagran". Macabre, dreamlike and expressing deep unconscious fears, these stories are also spiked with unsettling humour, showing stylistic daring as well as giving insight into the darkest recesses of the human condition. Peter Wortsman's powerful translations are accompanied by brief overviews of the lives of each author, and an introduction discussing the notion of 'angst' and the stories' place in the context of German history. Translated, selected and edited with an introduction by Peter Wortsman


Forbs comprise most of the plant diversity in North American tallgrass prairie and provide vital ecosystem services, but their abundance in prairie restorations is highly variable. Restoration practitioners typically sow C4 grasses in high abundances because they are inexpensive, provide fuel for prescribed fires, can dominate reference sites, and suppress weeds that suppress sown forbs. However, C4 grasses can also suppress sown forbs, calling this practice into question. We evaluated how C4 grasses influence the abundance and diversity of sown forbs in 78 restored prairies across Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. We found that the direct negative effects of C4 grasses on sown forbs outweighed indirect positive effects that occurred as C4 grasses suppressed nonsown species, which in turn suppressed sown forbs. This pattern was especially strong for the C4 grass big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii). Therefore, strategies to promote big bluestem and other C4 grasses would not promote sown forbs. Although C4 grass cover was not strongly related to two hypothesized drivers (time since fire or site age), seeding density of C4 grasses increased their cover. Sown forb cover also increased with forb seeding density, increased indirectly with fire (through its negative effect on nonsown species), and decreased indirectly with soil water‐holding capacity (through its positive effect on nonsown species). These results highlight the complex interplay of species groups during grassland restoration and show how managers can promote sown forbs in restored prairies: increasing forb seeding density and reducing time since fire and the abundance of C4 grasses and weeds.


BACKGROUND
Extreme values that arise for any reason, including those through nonlaboratory measurement procedure-related processes (inadequate mixing, evaporation, mislabeling), lead to outliers and inflate errors in recalibration studies. We present an approach termed iterative outlier removal (IOR) for identifying such outliers.

METHODS
We previously identified substantial laboratory drift in uric acid measurements in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study over time. Serum uric acid was originally measured in 1990-1992 on a Coulter DACOS instrument using an uricase-based measurement procedure. To recalibrate previous measured concentrations to a newer enzymatic colorimetric measurement procedure, uric acid was remeasured in 200 participants from stored plasma in 2011-2013 on a Beckman Olympus 480 autoanalyzer. To conduct IOR, we excluded data points >3 SDs from the mean difference. We continued this process using the resulting data until no outliers remained.

RESULTS
IOR detected more outliers and yielded greater precision in simulation. The original mean difference (SD) in uric acid was 1.25 (0.62) mg/dL. After 4 iterations, 9 outliers were excluded, and the mean difference (SD) was 1.23 (0.45) mg/dL. Conducting only one round of outlier removal (standard approach) would have excluded 4 outliers [mean difference (SD) = 1.22 (0.51) mg/dL]. Applying the recalibration (derived from Deming regression) from each approach to the original measurements, the prevalence of hyperuricemia (>7 mg/dL) was 28.5% before IOR and 8.5% after IOR.

CONCLUSIONS
IOR is a useful method for removal of extreme outliers irrelevant to recalibrating laboratory measurements, and identifies more extraneous outliers than the standard approach.


Abstract The search for evidence of past or present life on Mars is the principal objective of the 2020 ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Rover mission. If such evidence is to be found anywhere, it will most likely be in the subsurface, where organic molecules are shielded from the destructive effects of ionizing radiation and atmospheric oxidants. For this reason, the ExoMars Rover mission has been optimized to investigate the subsurface to identify, understand, and sample those locations where conditions for the preservation of evidence of past life are most likely to be found. The Water Ice Subsurface Deposit Observation on Mars (WISDOM) ground-penetrating radar has been designed to provide information about the nature of the shallow subsurface over depth ranging from 3 to 10 m (with a vertical resolution of up to 3 cm), depending on the dielectric properties of the regolith. This depth range is critical to understanding the geologic evolution stratigraphy and distribution and state of subsurface H2O, which provide important clues in the search for life and the identification of optimal drilling sites for investigation and sampling by the Rover's 2-m drill. WISDOM will help ensure the safety and success of drilling operations by identification of potential hazards that might interfere with retrieval of subsurface samples. Key Words: Ground penetrating radar—Martian shallow subsurface—ExoMars. Astrobiology 17, 565–584.


This paper reports the findings of a project "Digital Futures in Teacher Education" (DeFT) undertaken as part of the third phase of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) UK Open Educational Resources (OER) programme. It builds on previous work (Gruszczynska and Pountney, 2012, 2013) that has addressed attempts to embed OER practice within the teacher education sector, and which has informed practice in teaching and learning in the school system involving digital literacy (Burnett and Merchant, 2011; Davies and Merchant, 2009). A framework for digital literacy is outlined, drawing heavily on socio-cultural models of digital practice (Merchant, 2011), that has the potential to re-imagine teachers and teaching, as well as learners and learning and which, at the same time, address the 'why' as well as the 'how' of digital literacy. This framework takes into account current debates (primarily within the UK but of relevance to European perspectives) focusing on issues of ICT, digital literacy and media literacy in the curriculum, which reflect a tension between digital literacy as a set of skills and competencies on the one hand and understandings that arise from sociocultural and communicative practices on the other. Current understandings of digital literacy in the context of teacher education and OERs are explored and the potential for digital literac(ies) for openness is examined. This draws on data collected in the context of the DeFT project and includes meanings and perspectives on digital literacies as expressed by project participants. The effectiveness of a methodology that prizes reflexivity and participation is examined including a range of voices, including children's voices, in the meaning-making process and recommendations on the basis of the findings are made. In terms of a digital future for teacher education the paper highlights the need for practices, learning packages and tools to continue to evolve, in close cooperation with their potential users, and linked directly to classroom and schools as the site of this production.


This article offers a preliminary analysis of a comparative study of journalistic fields in contemporary Tatarstan and Crimea. This analysis allows us to see how the boundaries of what can be said are established in two different regions of Russia that differ by degree of autonomy from their de facto federal center and by degree of regional involvement in geopolitical conflicts. The article investigates how the state sanctions certain media outlets and journalists and how these sanctions can differ by region and bring about varying adaptation strategies among journalists who are affected. The primary focus of the article is on adaptation strategies in the form of self-censorship. Drawing on 70 qualitative interviews conducted in Tatarstan and Crimea (after Russia's annexation of the peninsula), the article shows that in the journalistic fields of more autonomous regions that are not involved in conflict journalists value social capital more than other forms of capital. This means that personal connections among people are important for a journalist to become successful, and in these cases journalists are prone to drawing a distinct line between their "private transcripts" and "public transcripts," to use the words of James C. Scott. In regions that are relatively less autonomous and are embroiled in conflict, symbolic capital, or the capital of esteem and legitimacy of those on the top of the power hierarchy, plays a relatively more important role. In this situation journalists employ a strategy of "mobilizational self-censorship" in their journalistic work, but due to the smaller role of social capital they do not self-censor outside of the workplace.
Article in Russian
DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2020-12-3-150-177


The aim of this study was to attempt to determine participant perceptions of Child to Parent Violence (CPV), more specifically to address gaps in current literature with regards to assumptions that may be made when considering gender and severity of perpetration, of both the aggressor and their victims. Based on available literature, definitions of CPV and four considered levels of aggression were developed allowing for a mixed design examination of the afore mentioned perceptions (Ibabe, Arnoso, & Elgorriaga, 2014; Miles & Condry, 2015). The study hypothesised that maternal figures would, in this study, be the primary victim of CPV across all four measures, males would be the predominant perpetrator across physical and financial levels of aggression, with predominant female perpetration across psychological and emotional CPV. A gender control would be used as a measure to determine how the group viewed gender prevalence in the perpetration of CPV. Results would determine partial congruence with the hypotheses, however it was shown that male to parent aggression, regardless of parental gender, was the dominant perception of this hidden phenomena, highlighting the shortcomings in societies understanding of the complexities of CPV. The author posits that ongoing CPV studies are more than necessary to inform policy making, with regards to CPV support for victims, offenders and other family members, whilst bringing issues of Intra-Family Violence (IFV) into line with empirical evidence that is relevant.


The Design Science Research approach is increasingly being applied in the field of Information Systems (IS) research. The philosophy behind design science research is that new scientific knowledge can be generated by means of constructing an artifact, and the core of this approach is a problem solving process used to develop the artifact. As virtual worlds are a relatively new IS medium, limited attention has been paid to investigating the use of design research in virtual worlds. Nevertheless, it is considered a relevant approach as much research in the field of virtual worlds involves the design of virtual spaces to support some kind of business activity. As such, the research purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of the design research approach in virtual worlds. In this paper, we describe and take a practical perspective of a specific case study in which design research was developed and used for a specific project. The specific project in focus is the development of a user innovation workshop inside Second Life for a start-up company interested in gaining insights and ideas for the development of its product.


In 1944, twenty-three-year-old Alfred Reed, staff arranger and copyist for the 529th Army Air Corps Band in Atlantic City, NJ, was invited to participate in a special concert in Denver, Colorado. There, a select group of musicians from several of the leading wind bands from across the country planned to premiere works by both American and Russian composers with the goal of strengthening relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Roy Harris organized the event, programming a transcription of a movement from his sixth symphony, titled "Gettysburg," as the American work. 1 The Russian work was to be Sergei Prokofiev's March op. 99, however, Harris discovered just two weeks before rehearsals were set to begin that Alfred Reed's Air Corps band had already premiered the Prokofiev work earlier that year. So, with little time left, Harris commissioned an original work from Reed, emulating Russian musical styles, to be premiered alongside Harris' work. Alfred Reed completed Russian Christmas Music in just eleven days, followed by an additional two days for him and other staff arrangers to write out the parts for rehearsals. The work was premiered on December 12, 1944, and revised to its present form in the following years. Russian Christmas Music catapulted Alfred Reed to the forefront of composers of original music for wind oand, and many of his over 100 subsequent compositions, including Greensleeves (1962), Othello (1977), The Hounds 2 of Spring (1980), and El Camino Real (1985) reside in the standard repertoire for the ensemble. This purpose of this paper is to present a historical and theoretical analysis of Russian Christmas Music along with informed suggestions for rehearsing and interpreting the work. This open access graduate research paper is available at UNI ScholarWorks: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/grp/328 The Eleven Days of Christmas An Analysis of and Conductors' Guide to Alfred Reed's Russian Christmas Music


Objectives
This study sought to examine the relationship between Internet use and suicidal ideation in Korean older adults and the mediating roles of social relationships and depressive symptoms.

Method
A nationally representative sample of older adults aged 50 or older (N = 6,306), from four waves of the Korean Welfare Panel Study, was used in the analyses. All analyses were conducted using generalized estimation equations, and the mediation effects of social relationship satisfaction and depression in the relationship between Internet use and suicidal ideation were calculated using the product-of-coefficients approach.

Results
Internet use was linked with lower levels of suicidal ideation directly and indirectly via the protective effects of Internet use on lowering depression, which was partially mediated by the positive influence Internet use has on older adults' social relationship satisfaction.

Discussion
The results support previous theories about the relationship between social relationships, depression, and suicidal behavior and prior results about how the Internet might confer mental and social health benefits to older adults. This suggests that the Internet is an important social and health activity that contributes to lowering suicidal ideation in older adults.


Estimates of the National Wealth of Denmark 1845-2013 In Denmark, there is a long-standing tradition for estimating the stock of national wealth. However, the most recent estimate is from 1985 and the longest time series available covers only the period 1950-1978. In this paper, we review the earlier estimates and present new annual time series estimates on the stock of national wealth in Denmark 1845-2013 based on a broad range of contemporary and historical statistics as well as results from previous academic research. The coverage of our national wealth is broadly in line with the most recent international national-accounts guidelines. As robustness checks, we compare this new data set with recent time-series estimates on the long-term development in the national wealth in other European countries and earlier estimates of the national wealth in Denmark. We find that the wealth-toincome ratio in Denmark has followed a U-shaped pattern over the long run, which corresponds to developments in other European countries and indications from earlier estimates of the national wealth of Denmark. However, in two areas the historical development in Denmark differ from that of other European countries. First, there were no sharp declines in the Danish wealth-to-income ratio around the two world wars as was the case in France and Germany due to war-related destruction of the capital stock. Secondly, the wealth-to-income ratio in Denmark declined significantly from 1870 to 1913 whereas the ratios were basically stationary in France and UK during the same period. This reflects a faster growth in population and real gross domestic product per capita in Denmark during this period, which saw the first wave of industrialisation in Denmark.


Trade liberalization and recent advances in communication and information technologies increasingly permit the trade of producer services across borders. This entry discusses research on the nature and importance of such trade, and on the consequences of services trade liberalization. Trade in producer services now accounts for close to 70% of services trade and 14% of total world trade. Services trade liberalization has figured prominently in multilateral negotiations in the World Trade Organization and in many regional trade agreements. Progress in liberalizing services trade has been slow, however, and has been achieved mainly via unilateral initiatives. As a consequence, important barriers remain across many countries and types of services. This is despite the fact that a small but growing body of research has shown that trade liberalization in producer services can have substantial positive economic effects.


We herein report the synthesis, crystal structure and magnetic properties of nine new heterotrimetallic complexes. [Ni(Me2valpn)] (H2Me2valpn = N,N'-bis(3-methoxysalicylidene)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-diaminopropane) was used as the precursor to construct phenoxo-bridged [Ni2Ln]3+ (Ln3+ = Dy, Tb, Gd and Y) species that were respectively connected by two [M(CN)6]3- (M = Cr, Fe or Co) anions to form octanuclear cyclic complexes, i.e. {[Ni(Me2valpn)]2Ln(H2O)M(CN)6}2 in which Ln = Y, Gd, Tb and Dy and M = Cr, Fe or Co (1-9). Each of the complexes contains many lattice-bound molecules of solvation. The Ni(ii) ions are penta-coordinate, while the Ln(iii) ions are nine coordinated with a muffin geometry. The fitting to the χmT vs. T curves of complexes 6-9 gave the parameters of JNiCr = 11.82 cm-1, JNiGd = 0.94 cm-1 and g = 2.04 for complex 6, JNiFe = 10.58 cm-1, JNiGd = 1.24 cm-1 and g = 2.03 for complex 7, JNiCr = 9.4(1) cm-1, zJ' = -0.050(2) cm-1 and g = 2.06(1) for complex 8 and JNiFe = 4.9(7) cm-1, zJ' = -0.35(2) cm-1 and g = 2.24(1) for complex 9, respectively. The dynamic magnetic investigations demonstrate that complexes 1-5 display single-molecule magnet properties with an effective energy barrier (Ueff) of 38.9 K (1, M1 = Dy, M2 = Cr), 37.2 K (2, M1 = Dy, M2 = Cr), 24.4 K (3, M1 = Dy, M2 = Co), 21.9 K (4, M1 = Tb, M2 = Cr) and 29.6 K (5, M1 = Tb, M2 = Fe), respectively. Complex 1 shows the highest energy barrier among the octanuclear [Ni4LnM2] (Ln = Dy or Tb, M = Fe, Cr, Co or W) system. Although the [Ni4Dy2Cr2] complexes have Ueff higher than that of [Ni4Dy2Fe2], complex [Ni4TbCr2] shows lower Ueff than that of [Ni4TbFe2]. The results indicate that besides the M-C[triple bond, length as m-dash]N-Ni magnetic coupling the lanthanide ions can significantly affect the magnetic performances of heterotrimetallic SMMs as well. Moreover, the SMMs are achieved when diamagnetic Co(iii) was substituted by paramagnetic Cr(iii) or Fe(iii) in the [Ni4Tb2 M2] system, suggesting that the trimetallic strategy is effective in the construction of new 3d-4f SMMs.