Cytosolic proteolysis is carried out predominantly by the proteasome. We show that a large oligopeptidase, tripeptidylpeptidase II (TPPII), can compensate for compromised proteasome activity. Overexpression of TPPII is sufficient to prevent accumulation of polyubiquitinated proteins and allows survival of EL-4 cells at otherwise lethal concentrations of the covalent proteasome inhibitor NLVS (NIP-leu-leu-leu-vinylsulfone). Elevated TPPII activity also partially restores peptide loading of MHC molecules. Purified proteasomes from adapted cells lack the chymotryptic-like activity, but still degrade longer peptide substrates via residual activity of their Z subunits. However, growth of adapted cells depends on induction of other proteolytic activities. Therefore, cytosolic oligopeptidases such as TPPII normalize rates of intracellular protein breakdown required for normal cellular function and viability.


Gas embolism is a known complication of various invasive procedures, and its management is well established. The consequence of gas microemboli, microbubbles, is underrecognized and usually overlooked in daily practice. We present the current data regarding the pathophysiology of microemboli and their clinical consequences. Microbubbles originate mainly in extracorporeal lines and devices, such as cardiopulmonary bypass and dialysis machines, but may be endogenous in cases of decompression sickness or mechanical heart valves. Circulating in the blood stream, microbubbles lodge in the capillary bed of various organs, mainly the lungs. The microbubble obstructs blood flow in the capillary, thus causing tissue ischemia, followed by inflammatory response and complement activation. Aggregation of platelets and clot formation occurs as well, leading to further obstruction of microcirculation and tissue damage. In this review, we present evidence of the biological and clinical detrimental effects of microbubbles as demonstrated by studies in animal models and humans, and discuss management of the microbubble problem with regard to detection, prevention, and treatment. (CHEST 2005; 128:2918–2932)


The membership of the Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada voted to enter into a partnership with Language and Literacy: A Canadian Educational e Journal .  The partnership reflected a mutual desire to strengthen and promote scholarship in the Canadian language and literacy community. As we begin this new chapter in our organizational life, it is interesting to reflect back to its beginning.


"We must not allow our abhorrence of an act to become the abhorrence of conscious and deliberate thought and observation in connection with child abuse." (1) INTRODUCTION The line between medicine and law has never been exactly bright. Yet when physical violence occurs, it naturally implicates both disciplines. This interdisciplinary blend is particularly evident in the case of child abuse. Thus, as child abuse became a recognized phenomenon in medical science, it also became a subject of criminal prosecution. As the scientific definition of child abuse has expanded, so has its importance in the legal arena. Battered child syndrome (BCS), which was originally intended to be a helpful tool for physicians, has evolved into a cunning instrument for prosecutors and a clever trump card for parricide defendants. Since 1962, doctors have been researching child abuse in the form of BCS. More recently, over the past few decades, both child abuse prosecutors and homicide defendants have sought to introduce evidence of the syndrome into the courts. Because of these two distinct and conflicting forms, one might ask, "[W]hich use of battered child syndrome do you believe? Many courts have still not figured this out." (2) Medical and mental health professionals generally use BCS as a shorthand description of serious abuse. Children who are intentionally harmed by their caretakers are labeled battered children. (3) Injuries that may fall within BCS range from minor bruises to fatal skull fractures. (4) Furthermore, the broad syndrome may also be defined to include the profound psychological effects of abuse. (5) In order to determine the intentionality of the injuries, the repetitive nature of child abuse is often a particularly important aspect of BCS. (6) However, the original definition of the syndrome has not been closely adhered to in all cases. Thus, for all the good it can do, the introduction of BCS evidence in some cases is also rife with peril. As one student commentator described it, BCS evidence "is a weapon capable of mischief." (7) In particular, when BCS is used by prosecutors to mask otherwise impermissible and prejudicial character evidence and by defense attorneys as a justification for homicide, one should worry about its admissibility into the judicial system. In these cases, lawyers have improperly shifted the focus of BCS from the abused child to the person who is alleged to have caused the abuse. Because prosecutors and defense attorneys are distorting BCS and obfuscating its role in medicine, judges should take care to limit testimony regarding BCS to facts about the abuse itself rather than the abuser. II THE HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF THE BATTERED CHILD SYNDROME Child abuse has occurred everywhere for centuries, albeit under different levels of approval. (8) In the West, philosophers such as Aristotle suggested that killing defective children was wise, and Roman law gave fathers ultimate command over their children, including control over life and death. (9) Parents in the eighteenth century went so far as to maim their children so that they could become lucrative beggars or circus exhibits. (10) Even into the twentieth century, child abuse was generally an unrecognized trauma. (11) In 1962, Dr. C. Henry Kempe and his colleagues published a seminal article on child abuse and introduced the term "battered child syndrome." (12) Kempe used the term to describe "a clinical condition in young children who have received serious physical abuse, generally from a parent or foster parent." (13) Kempe recognized physicians' reluctance to consider abuse as the cause of a child's injuries. (14) But he admonished them that "[t]o the informed physician, the bones tell a story the child is too young or too frightened to tell." (15) Based on this recognition, Kempe argued that "the physician's duty and responsibility to the child requires a full evaluation of the problem and a guarantee that the expected repetition of trauma will not be permitted to occur. …


Empathy is often thought to occur automatically. Yet, empathy frequently breaks down when it is difficult or distressing to relate to people in need, suggesting that empathy is often not felt reflexively. Indeed, the United States as a whole is said to be displaying an empathy deficit. When and why does empathy break down, and what predicts whether people will exert effort to experience empathy in challenging contexts? Across 7 studies, we found that people who held a malleable mindset about empathy (believing empathy can be developed) expended greater empathic effort in challenging contexts than did people who held a fixed theory (believing empathy cannot be developed). Specifically, a malleable theory of empathy--whether measured or experimentally induced--promoted (a) more self-reported effort to feel empathy when it is challenging (Study 1); (b) more empathically effortful responses to a person with conflicting views on personally important sociopolitical issues (Studies 2-4); (c) more time spent listening to the emotional personal story of a racial outgroup member (Study 5); and (d) greater willingness to help cancer patients in effortful, face-to-face ways (Study 6). Study 7 revealed a possible reason for this greater empathic effort in challenging contexts: a stronger interest in improving one's empathy. Together, these data suggest that people's mindsets powerfully affect whether they exert effort to empathize when it is needed most, and these data may represent a point of leverage in increasing empathic behaviors on a broad scale.


Writing skills are one of the most important skills college graduates need to possess; however, college graduates struggle to complete written communications proficiently in the workforce. Previous researchers have explained that college instructors must understand the students' fears with writing in order to create effective writing curriculum. Writing apprehension has been described as one of the main factors hindering students' motivation to write and confidence to complete writing responsibilities. In the college setting, negative views toward writing cause low motivation to enroll in writing courses or take the course seriously; ultimately, writing apprehension causes students to not make writing a priority. Using the theoretical framework of self-efficacy, this paper sought to explore how a writing intensive course changed a student's confidence or belief in their writing skills, and in turn, how the intensive writing course improved their writing apprehension. A two-phase, convergent parallel design mixed methods study was used to determine what change, if any, occurred during the writing intensive course. The findings showed writing apprehension, or avoidance-like attitudes, may be diminished in undergraduate students throughout the duration of a writing intensive course. Recommendations for practitioners and future research are also provided.


This thesis contributes to the body of research known as the new economic geography. According to this paradigm, increasing returns to scale at the firm level, monopolistic competition, and transportation costs interact in shaping the spatial distribution of economic activity. The introductory chapter lays out the motivation of this thesis and puts it into the perspective of the existing literature. Chapter 1 introduces a typical model of new economic geography: the nature of the agglomeration and dispersion forces it displays is recurrent in this body of research; the model also displays multiple equilibria. The welfare properties of these equilibria are also analysed. Chapter 2 completely characterizes the set of equilibria of a wide range of models that are the quintessence of the new economic geography paradigm. The model of chapter 2 is shown to share the qualitative features of these models. Chapter 3 integrates a simple version of the model chapter 2 within a political economy framework. The welfare analysis of chapter 2 provides the motivation for this theoretical exercise. Chapter 4 seeks to provide an answer to the important but thus far neglected question of what is the mechanism that actually determines the magnitude policies that seek to affect the equilibrium spatial allocation of industries. The geography model is integrated in a fully specified political economy process of policy selection. Chapter 4 extends the model of chapter 2 to deal with the issue of the 'fragmentation' of the production process when new economic geography forces are at play. Finally, the analysis of chapter 5 contributes to the growing literature on the labour market imperfections as a driving force for agglomeration. In particular it shows how the hold-up problem can be softened or worsened by the cluster of industries using workers with similar skills.


This paper aims to analyze the impact of servant leadership on organizational culture, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and customer satisfaction. This paper also aims to analyze the impact of organizational culture, organizational commitment, and OCB on customer satisfaction.Data was obtained from 240 handycraft customers in the community of handicraft craftsmen in Bekasi Regency. The data was analyzed by using Structural Equation Modeling. The validity and reliability test by using factor analysis shows that the instrument used in research is valid and reliable. The results showed: servant leadership correlated significantly with organizational culture; servant leadership is significantly related to OCB;OCB has a significant relationship with organizational commitment; servant leadership has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction;and organizational commitment has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction.Therefore, servant leadership can have a direct relationship with customer satisfaction, and servant leadership can be organizational culture. Knowledge of the effect of these relationships can be used as input to design strategies to improve customer satisfaction. The findings of the effect of servant leadership in the organizational culture on customer satisfaction have been discussed, however, there are limitations and guidelines for future research that needs to be shown.


For several years I have been teaching a social work course on how social workers can make their employing organization more responsive to consumers. We'study how decisions are made in organizations. The students and I have become intrigued with the use of consensus decision-making in some organizations. Many—but by no means all—of these organizations are feminist organizations that wish to put feminist beliefs and philosophy into practice within organizations and to avoid structured administrative hierarchies for decision making. In their study of "consensus decision-making" organizations, students have reported that some participants are impatient with the time required by the use of consensus decision-making for all decisions—large and small. One student brought to class a copy of "Martha's Rules" that were developed by Martha's Housing Co-op for families in Madison, Wisconsin. "Martha's Rules" are not only an alternative to Robert's Rules, but provide ideas for people in organizations who are committed to consensus decision-making and who want to make it work well.


Studies have shown that HCV subtype 3a had likely been circulating in South Asia before its global spread. However, the time and route of this dissemination remain unclear. For the first time, we generated host and virus genome-wide data for more than 500 patients infected with HCV subtype 3a from the UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand. We used the host genomic data to infer the ancestry of the patients and used this information to investigate the epidemic history of HCV subtype 3a. We observed that viruses from hosts of South Asian ancestry clustered together near the root of the tree, irrespective of the sampling country and that they were more diverse than viruses from other host ancestries. We also inferred that three independent transmission events resulted in the spread of the virus from South Asia to the UK, North America and the Australian continent. This initial spread happened during or soon after the end of the second world war. This was followed by an exponential growth in the effective population size of HCV subtype 3a worldwide and many independent transmissions between the UK, North America and Australian continent. Using both host and virus genomic information can be highly informative in studying the virus epidemic history especially in the context of chronic infections.


The advent of the Internet, accompanied by the growth of related technologies, has
created a significant impact on the lives of people around the globe. For marketers,
one of the most significant impacts has been the emergence of virtual stores that sell
products and services online. Consumers can now purchase goods and services
virtually anywhere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without geographical and
temporal boundaries.
While many marketers acknowledge the importance of using the Internet in their
marketing mixes, little research has empirically tested the critical factors that
influence an individual's decision when buying products or services online. Based on
the gaps found in the literature, this study was designed to investigate factors that
encourage and discourage purchase intention of consumers when buying health
foods online in Thailand. The study also examined the relative importance of such
factors. Thus, the research problem investigated in this thesis is:
What are the important factors influencing consumer's online purchase
intention of health foods in Thailand?
The specific objectives of this research were not only to identify and explore the
relative importance of factors, but also to develop a model to investigate the factors
influencing purchase intention of consumers when buying health foods online in
Thailand. This research was designed in three stages covering both exploratory and
explanatory research. The exploratory stage covering stage one and two, started by
reviewing the existing literature relating to behaviors and attitudes when consumers
buy products online. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis
(1989) was selected as a theoretical framework to build a conceptual model for this
study. In addition to the two original constructs in the TAM model, namely,
perceived usefulness (POU) and perceived ease of use (EOU), the literature review
suggested three additional constructs. These were perceived risk (PR), customer
experience (CE), and product and company attributes (PCA). Four focus groups
were conducted in stage two to gain consumer insights in order to understand, refine
and develop the final model and hypotheses to be confirmed and tested in the
explanatory research. Finally, the modified TAM model and eleven hypotheses were proposed to explain and test the behavioral intention of health food consumers when
buying health foods online in Thailand.
In the explanatory stage, which forms the major portion of this research, an online
survey was conducted with responses from 786 consumers taken from the Cerebos
customer database. All respondents had used both health foods and the Internet
during the past 12 months. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to explore
and test the suitability of data collected from the survey. Structural equation
modeling (SEM) was chosen to confirm the measurement model in this study
because it offered a mechanism to validate the relationships between constructs and
indicators by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and tested the relationships
among constructs by using path analysis. All five constructs in the model exhibited
high levels of reliability, validity and produced the final measurement and structural
models. Nine out of eleven hypotheses were accepted and two were rejected. In
addition, six propositions were also found in this study.
Similar to prior research, the results in this study indicated that perceived usefulness
(POU) was a powerful determinant and the strongest predictor of behavioral
intention. It was the only construct that showed a significant positive and direct
effect on purchase intention with no indirect effect involvement. Customer
experience (CE) was the second most important factor in this study. The customer
experience itself, did not have any direct effect on purchase intention but
demonstrated a significant positive and indirect effect on purchase intention.
Perceived risk (PR) was the third most important factor in this study. Similar to
customer experience, perceived risk did not have any direct effect but it
demonstrated a significant negative and indirect effect on purchase intention.
Perceived ease of use (EOU) and product and company attributes (PCA) were found
to have little effect on behavioral intention in this study. Similarly to previous
studies, the two original constructs in the TAM model, perceived usefulness (POU)
and perceived ease of use (EOU), were found to be mediating factors of other
constructs in influencing purchase intention (PI), in this study.
In summary, forty effective measurement items were identified and confirmed to be
associated with fourteen factors under these five constructs in the structural model.
Variety of choices was the most effective item of measurement for perceived usefulness (POU), while modern personality, product assurance, trusted company
and simple order procedure were found to be the most effective measurement items
for customer experience (CE), perceived risk (PR), product and company attributes
(PCA), and perceived ease of use (EOU), respectively. All of these factors
demonstrated statistically significant high factor loadings on the relevant constructs.
The findings from this research provide useful information for corporate
management, and marketers in prioritizing and allocating their resources in terms of
manpower, investment, marketing effort, and time to improve the impact of these
constructs, all of which will ultimately enhance the possibility of consumers buying
health foods online. Results from this study are beneficial to Web developers in
designing attractive and effective Web sites or homepages to draw consumer's
attention when buying products online. Cost of using the Internet should be reduced
to make it more competitive and affordable to wider population. In addition, these
findings are also useful to the Thai government in designing and drafting an Internet
policy to enhance the scope and development of e-commerce and online business in
Thailand.
This dissertation concluded by identifying opportunities for future research. These
were addressing the delimitations of scope, further testing and validation of the
measurement scales, measurement of actual buying behavior, adding demographic
and psychographics variables into the model, conducting longitudinal observation,
and last but not least, the application of the modified TAM model to other consumer
products in the Thai context.


Growth in Internet Protocol (IP) traffic is bringing about a need for larger packet switches. Merely adding more small switches to the network to handle the increased IP traffic is an inefficient solution, since the effective capacity of a router falls when packets must pass through many routers—the number of futile transit ports falls with increased switch size. In addition, control is simpler in networks with a smaller number of nodes. In this Focus Issue, authors from NEC, Alcatel, Lucent Technologies, and Chiaro Networks examine designs that enable high-capacity packet switches.


Background:
Joint hypermobility syndrome (HMS) is thought to be associated with increased pain and reduced health status and quality of life. Good quantitative data are rare however, and no studies exist comparing HMS patients with directly matched controls.

Objectives:
The aim of the current study was to pilot a large national prevalence study of the effects of HMS on joint pain and health status.

Methods:
39 people with a diagnosis of hypermobility completed survey forms covering general health status (EuroQoL EQ5D, Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Questionnaire), foot pain (Visual Analogue Scale) and distribution of symptoms. Age and gender matched controls completed a modified version of the same survey forms.

Results: The sample comprised 39 hypermobiles (36F, 3M) and 37 controls (28F, 9M). The mean ages were 38 years (HMS) and 36 years (controls). Within the HMS group 16 (41%) knew their HMS type to be benign familial, three reported a diagnosis of EDS type 1, and five EDS type 3. Fifteen did not know.

People with HMS had significantly worse general health measured by EQ-5D (65pts vs 90**), much greater foot impairment (MFPDQ scores 16/33 vs 0/33**) and greater foot pain VAS scores (34mm vs 0.4mm**)(where ** represents P<0.001).

Respondents provided data on Likert-type scales reporting frequency of symptoms in various joints and limb segments. The measures employed five point scales labelled with ranks "never", "seldom", "sometimes", "much of the time", and "constantly".

With the exception of headache, people with HMS reported significantly higher rates of symptoms in all axial and upper limb segments or joints. The most commonly affected joints were the shoulders, hands and lower back (see Table).

Frequency and location of symptoms:
N (%) of HMS group reporting Median score HMS Median score control symptoms 'sometimes' group (+ descriptor) group (+ descriptor) Neck 27 (69%) 2 (sometimes) 1 (seldom)** Shoulders 30 (77%) 3 (much of the time) 0 (never) ** Elbows 18 (46%) 1 (seldom) 0 (never) ** Hands 31 (79%) 3 (much of the time) 0 (never) ** Lower back 29 (74%) 3 (much of the time) 1 (seldom) ** Hips 30 (77%) 3 (much of the time) 0 (never) ** Knees 34 (87%) 3 (much of the time) 0 (never) ** Ankles 29 (74%) 3 (much of the time) 0 (never) ** Feet 28 (72%) 3 (much of the time) 0 (never) **

**Significantly different, adjusted P<0.001

In the lower limb the hips, knees, ankles and feet all returned medians of three indicating impairment "much of the time". All responses were significantly worse than those of the control group.

Conclusion: Nearly 9/10 people with HMS report joint symptoms, most commonly affecting the knees, hands, shoulders, wrists and hips. Symptoms associated with HMS were significantly more frequent than in the control group and were associated with increased pain and significantly


Methods are described for the analysis of the uranium and thorium contents of iron and stone meteorites. These elements are present in concentrations of about 10(^-s)gram per gram, and normally the quantity of meteorite available was limited (10 - 50 gram). Using the fluorimetric method for the microdetermination of uranium, 2 x 10(^-3)gram Uranium could be determined with an accuracy of 10%. Thorium estimates were accomplished by ɤ - particle scintillation counting of Thorium C in radioactive equilibrium with the thorium series; the counter had an extremely low background (about 0.9 counts oer hour). The Thorium C could be regenerated from the higher members of the thorium disintegration series and it could therefore be determined with an accuracy of 25%. A method was developed for the isolation of the uranium from meteorites using a retrograde solvent extraction technique involving nitric acid and diethyl other. Other chemical procedures evolved, permitted the analysis of both the uranium and thorium in single samples of meteorite. The techniques employed included solvent extractions, co-precipitations and a chromatographic separation of submierogram quantities of uranium and thorium was also accomplished by precipitating the latter element, with a sireonium carrier, using an organic precipitant. Methods for the removal of traces of uranium and thorium from reagents are also described. The determinations were correlated with the helium content of the meteorites to calculate their pre bable ages. The absolute amount of meteoritic helium, together with its isotopic analysis, enabled probable amounts of helium produced independently by cosmic rays and the naturally-occurring radio-elements to be estimated. Results suggest a probable age for eight meteorites of about 75 x 106 years, while six others appear to have solidified less than one million years ago.


In the context of "Shrinking Cities" experiencing a decrease in population and facing multiple and globalized risks, the theory of urbanism must be reconsidered. Current urban planning relying on "big flows" needs to be challenged to empower local solutions and help tackle the environmental, social and economic challenges that lie ahead, notably in Japan. While big flows rely on a further, faster, larger-scale philosophy, with externalities that economically exclude marginal territories, small flows, on the contrary, seek to strengthen urban resilience and foster economic development through local solutions. Smaller urban interventions in the urban fabric could indeed help cities survive in the age of shrinkage. The scale and the responsiveness of small flow projects – three examples from Japan from senior mobility to corporate housing are presented here – allow their management to be accessible to small organizations, to reflect local diversity and to be easily accessed by the public while achieving socio-economic impact.


With the advent of public key cryptography, digital signature schemes have been extensively studied in order to minimize the signature sizes and to accelerate their execution while providing necessary security properties. Due to the privacy concerns pertaining to the usage of digital signatures in authentication schemes, privacy-preserving signature schemes, which provide anonymity of the signer, have attracted substantial interest in research community. Group signature algorithms, where a group member is able to sign on behalf of the group anonymously, play an important role in many privacy-preserving authentication/ identification schemes. On the other hand, a safeguard is needed to hold users accountable for malicious behavior. To this end, a designated opening/revocation manager is introduced to open a given anonymous signature to reveal the identity of the user. If the identified user is indeed responsible for malicious activities, then s/he can also be revoked by the same entity. A related scheme named direct anonymous attestation is proposed for attesting the legitimacy of a trusted computing platform while maintaining its privacy. This dissertation studies the group signature and direct anonymous attestation schemes and their application to wireless mesh networks comprising resource-constrained embedded devices that are required to communicate securely and be authenticated anonymously, while malicious behavior needs to be traced to its origin. Privacy-aware devices that anonymously connect to wireless mesh networks also need to secure their communication via efficient symmetric key cryptography, as well. In this dissertation, we propose an efficient, anonymous and accountable mutual authentication and key agreement protocol applicable to wireless mesh networks. The proposed scheme can easily be adapted to other wireless networks. The proposed scheme is implemented and simulated using cryptographic libraries and simulators that are widely deployed in academic circles. The implementation and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is effective, efficient and feasible in the context of hybrid wireless mesh networks, where users can also act as relaying agents. The primary contribution of this thesis is a novel privacy-preserving anonymous authentication scheme consisting of a set of protocols designed to reconcile user privacy and accountability in an efficient and scalable manner in the same framework. The three-party join protocol, where a user can connect anonymously to the wireless mesh network with the help of two semi-trusted parties (comprising the network operator and a third party), is efficient and easily applicable in wireless networks settings. Furthermore, two other protocols, namely two-party identification and revocation protocols enable the network operator, with the help of the semi-trusted third party, to trace suspected malicious behavior back to its origins and revoke users when necessary. The last two protocols can only be executed when the two semi-trusted parties cooperate to provide accountability. Therefore, the scheme is protected against an omni-present authority (e.g. network operator) violating the privacy of network users at will. We also provide arguments and discussions for security and privacy of the proposed scheme.


Abstract While it has become increasingly common for researchers, practitioners and policymakers to draw from the insights of former extremists to combat violent extremism, overlooked in this evolving space has been an in-depth look at how formers perceive such efforts. To address this gap, interviews were conducted with 10 Canadian former right-wing extremists based on a series of questions provided by 30 Canadian law enforcement officials and 10 community activists. Overall, formers suggest that combating violent extremism requires a multidimensional response, largely consisting of support from parents and families, teachers and educators, law enforcement officials, and other credible formers.


During the early 1990s the marine dinoflagellate Alexandrium ostenfeldii was found to be producing a novel group of toxins called spirolides. Toxicity studies on mice showed that they are the causatives of PSP-symptoms like cramps and paralysis, presumably by blocking the excitation current in muscle and nerve cells. Structurally, spirolides are macrocyclic compounds particularly characterised by a tricyclic ether system and a seven-membered cyclic imine moiety. In recent LC-MS/MS investigations of the AOSH2 strain originating from Ship Harbour (Canada) we found structurally yet unknown spirolides. Precursor scans of characteristic fragment-ions revealed molecular ion masses not corresponding to already known structures or exhibiting different fragment ion spectra than spirolides of equal molecular weight. Since the unambiguous structural elucidation of these compounds requires nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, high sample amount in the upper microgram range and high purity of the isolates from raw cell extracts is needed. We used low pressure column chromatography and solid phase extraction (SPE) to remove major matrix compounds from the raw cell extracts. Finally we developed a LC-MS/MS method for the baseline separation of the complex spirolide mixture.


This work discusses various optimization techniques which were proposed in models for controlling arm movements. In particular, the minimum-muscle-tension-change model is investigated. A dynamic simulator of the monkey's arm, including seventeen single and double joint muscles, is utilized to generate horizontal hand movements. The hand trajectories produced by this algorithm are discussed.


To determine whether the effects of arginine vasopressin (AVP) on the renal and systemic vessels are modulated by prostaglandins (PGs), AVP (10, 20, and 50 mU/kg/min) was infused into the renal artery before and after treatment with indomethacin (8 mg/kg) in anesthetized rabbits. Arginine vasopressin elicited a dose-dependent increase in systemic arterial pressure and renal vasoconstriction. However, after cessation of the infusion, significant renal vasodilation was observed. Indomethacin potentiated the systemic and renal vasoconstrictor actions and attenuated the renal vasodilator reaction induced by AVP. These results suggest that endogenously produced PGs buffer the vasoconstrictor action of AVP, and the renal vasodilator reaction induced by AVP could be mediated through PGs. Further, to investigate whether the effects of AVP on the systemic and renal vessels are mediated by calcium ion (Ca++), the Ca++ entry blocker nifedipine was used. Intravenous administration of nifedipine (50 micrograms/kg) attenuated the systemic and renal vasoconstrictor action of AVP. The renal vasodilator reaction induced by AVP was also diminished after treatment with nifedipine. These results indicate that the systemic and renal vasoconstrictor actions of AVP are mediated through Ca++ influx into the vascular smooth muscle cells. The present study suggests that Ca++ participates in the AVP-induced vasodilator reaction, itself probably mediated by PGs.


The United States imprisons far more people, total and per capita, than any other country in the world. Among the more than 1.5 million Americans currently incarcerated, minorities and the poor are disproportionately represented. What's more, they tend to come from just a few of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the country. While the political costs of this phenomenon remain poorly understood, it's become increasingly clear that the effects of this mass incarceration are much more pervasive than previously thought, extending beyond those imprisoned to the neighbors, family, and friends left behind. For Trading Democracy for Justice, Traci Burch has drawn on data from neighborhoods with imprisonment rates up to fourteen times the national average to chart demographic features that include information about imprisonment, probation, and parole, as well as voter turnout and volunteerism. She presents powerful evidence that living in a high-imprisonment neighborhood significantly decreases political participation. Similarly, people living in these neighborhoods are less likely to engage with their communities through volunteer work. What results is the demobilization of entire neighborhoods and the creation of vast inequalities-even among those not directly affected by the criminal justice system. The first book to demonstrate the ways in which the institutional effects of imprisonment undermine already disadvantaged communities, Trading Democracy for Justice speaks to issues at the heart of democracy.


The aim of this paper is examination of general relationship between political ideology and radical environmental activism, with a special focus on considering the extent of influence and the exact position of the politics in the domain of mentioned eco-activism. Within the first four parts, the general characteristics of radical environmentalism, as well as its relationship with the political left-wing, political right-wing and apolitical/anti-political beliefs are analyzed, while the final part is devoted to discussion and general conclusions. Among other things, it was concluded that the basic ideological dimension of radical eco-activism is based on the idea of biocentrism, as the original environmental and nonpolitical category, while political ideological elements represent secondary and facultative components that can influence the specification of the ideology of a part of eco-activists. At the same time, it was pointed out that the proper perception of such (i.e. secondary) position of political beliefs within the radical eco-activism creates a precondition for understanding heterogeneity and frequent contradictions in the political beliefs of radical eco-activists.


Economic development organizations (EDOs) are groups of business leaders who seek to improve the climate for business in their domains through such activities as the protection of existing industries, the attraction of new industries and companies, and the management of local infrastructures. EDO memberships are dominated by the CEOs and owners of companies. As major government lobbyists, EDOs constitute an important component of the interorganizational environment within which public organizations operate (Wise, 1990), and they are among the most elite business networks in a region. Whereas many studies have investigated the extent of women's participation in positions of influence in the business community, including representation in the ranks of managers (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1985; Wellington, 1998), memberships on corporate boards of directors (Kesner, 1988; Sweetman, 1996), status as officers of large corporations (Catalyst, 1998), and leadership of small businesses (Daily Fd Dalton, 1999; Leavitt, 1988), studies on women in the important executive networks known as EDOs are comparatively rare. Understanding patterns of women's integration into EDOs is important for several reasons (Andre, 1995). First, women's participation at this level of meta-organization is one reflection of women's advancement through the business hierarchy. When women become leaders among leaders, they have clearly achieved a new level of acceptance and influence in the business community. EDOs, like corporate boards, are somewhat like private clubs (Driscoll & Goldberg, 1993), and the acceptance of women, or other under-represented groups, into such powerful voluntary associations has not yet been demonstrated. Second, just as women's careers and styles for networking differ from those of men, so their values with respect to priorities for economic development may differ (Aldrich, 1989; Ely, 1994; Ibarra, 1993; Powell & Mainiero, 1992). To illustrate, in the public sector, the increased representation of women in politics has led to more legislation affecting children, the elderly, health care, and the environment (Boxer, 1993). Anecdotal evidence suggests that economic development agendas of women may differ from those of men (Driscoll & Goldberg, 1993) and, in fact, that preferred agendas of women sometimes differ so significantly that women establish their own organizations parallel to the existing EDOs (Montminy, 1992). These authors analyze women's and men's representation and networking in the East South Central, West South Central, and South Atlantic regions at the state level. In a national report of women's representation in EDOs (Andre, 1995), the regions included represented a crosssection of the national results, with the West South Central being among the regions with the strongest representation, the South Atlantic being among those with the lowest level of representation, and the East South Central being among those with mid-range representation. In that study, regional differences were significant. This study investigates two research questions. First, it examines the hypothesis that, as women increase their overall presence in business, they will also increase their membership in EDOs. Second, it examines the extent to which women formally network among southern EDOs. In the process of investigating these questions, the study also enumerates the major EDOs in the South and the companies that have established the widest representation in the EDOs. Method The major private sector EDOs involved with state economic development in the East South Central, West South Central, and South Atlantic regions, as defined by the United States Bureau of the Census, were targeted for this study. Because public sector versus private sector influence is a central concern in economic development, this study focused solely on those EDOs with memberships predominantly from the private sector, e. …


HIV-specific Elispot responses were investigated in 57 antiretroviral therapy-naive children, of median age 9.9 years. CD8+ T-cell responses were detected in 96% children; Nef was the immunodominant protein. Responses broadened over time, but there was no association between magnitude, breadth or specificity of response and viraemia. Gag-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, detectable in 26% children, correlated inversely with viraemia (R = −0.43, P < 0.001), suggesting that preservation of this cell population may be an important goal of therapeutic/vaccine strategies.


Leaf fall disease caused by Corynespora casiicola can damage the rubber resulting in considerable economic losses. The opportunities to get rubber plant genetic resources that are resistant to leaf fall disease Corynespora casiicola have been made   by testing the resistance of some germplasm IRRDB 1981. Testing the resistances of some germplasm is to produce genetic resources that are resistant to leaf fall diseases and used as parents in the crossing. Testing was done by using immersion leaves method in a solution of toxin C. casiicola. Resistance testing of 28 genotypes germplasm IRRDB 1981 showed various resistance responses. The results indicated that there were five genotypes that had moderate resistant which were PN 323, PN 333, PN 448, PN 494, and PN 593, and one genotype PN 235 showed highly resistant. The six genotypes needed to be tested in the field to determine their interaction with the environment and then used as cross parents to obtain resistant parentage to C. casiicola leaf fall disease.


Issues of universal human rights are critically important topics in education today. Educators, scholars, and activists urge schools to promote awareness and understanding of human rights in their curricula from the earliest levels. Written by by Betty A. Reardon, one of the foremost scholars on human rights education for the primary and secondary levels, Educating for Human Dignity is designed for both teachers and teacher educators. It is the first resource offering both guidance and support materials for human rights education programs from kindergarten through high school. It opens possibilities for an holistic approach to human rights education that directly confronts the values issues raised by human rights problems in a context of global interrelationships.


This essay invites readers into a process of exploration. In order to address the dynamic nature of memory, it opens with a reconsideration of the author's engagement with Holocaust memory. This is my way into demonstrating the performative nature of memory. Here memory is a lively endeavor that moves from Holocaust commemoration to ritual and from there to a contemporary rereading of Freud and finally culminates in reconsideration the legacy of the founding of the State of Israel in 1948 through the medium of photography. Building towards an engagement with the work of contemporary Israeli cultural critic Ariella Azoulay, this essay enacts the kind of ongoing critical engagement it calls for. It makes its case by taking readers on a journey from Holocaust memory towards 1948 with excursions into ritual, prayer, and Freudian-inflected letters and postcards.


In wireless systems where transmitters are subject to a strict received power constraint, such as in underlay cognitive radio networks, cooperative communication is a promising strategy to enhance network performance, as it helps to improve the coverage area and outage performance of a network. However, this comes at the expense of increased resource utilization. To balance the performance gain against the possible over-utilization of resources, we propose a hybrid-cooperation technique for underlay cognitive radio networks, where secondary users cooperate only when required. Various performance measures of the proposed hybrid-cooperation technique are analyzed in this paper, and are also further validated numerically.


Introduction: Some viral warts are refractory to treatment, some others tend to recur. Oral isotretinoin is useful against warts to varying degrees. Objective: To determine the efficacy of oral isotretinoin for treating mucocutaneous human papillomavirus infections. Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies published from the date of inception of the databases to December 30, 2017 were conducted. Randomized controlled trials or case series with ≥10 patients with mucocutaneous human papillomavirus infection who had received oral isotretinoin treatment were analyzed. The meta-analysis estimated the pooled odds ratio and pooled response rate. Results: The review included eight studies. Trials of oral isotretinoin versus placebo treatment revealed that isotretinoin effectively treated mucocutaneous human papillomavirus infections (odds ratio: 43.8, 95% confidence interval: 9.7–198.8). The pooled estimate of the complete response rate of oral isotretinoin to mucocutaneous human papillomavirus was 67.7% (95% confidence interval: 49.5–81.7%). Another pooled estimation revealed that 83.9% (95% confidence interval: 59.7–94.9%) of patients exhibited at least 50% lesion clearance, whereas 12.3% with complete response experienced recurrence. Limitations: This meta-analysis had a small sample size and high inter-study heterogeneity. Conclusion: Oral isotretinoin is superior to placebo for treating mucocutaneous human papillomavirus infections, particularly plane warts. The recurrence rate and risk of severe side effects are low.


Laser fluorescence spectroscopy has been performed on the two-photon 62S1/2 to 52D3/2 transition in Ba+. Using signals from an individual laser-cooled ion in a rf trap, a laser limited linewidth of less than 3 MHz has been achieved with an effective wavelength of 2.07 μm. The absence of any sidebands in the spectra spaced at the 5.5-MHz oscillation frequency of the ion in the rf quadrupole trap indicates that the ion vibrational motion must be well into the Lamb–Dicke regime. An upper limit of 165 nm is given to the vibrational amplitude.


To enhance users' social embedding within learning networks, we propose to establish ad hoc transient communities. These communities serve a particular goal, exist for a limited period of time and operate according to specific social exchange policies that foster knowledge sharing. This paper explores the theoretical underpinnings of such communities. To this end, it identifies five theories that explain how group interaction affects community behaviour and argues that these can shed light on the expected behaviour of ad hoc transient communities. The paper also examines three conditions which community policies should adhere to in order to foster knowledge sharing and it suggests that ad hoc transient communities should be designed accordingly. Finally, it analyses how ad hoc transient communities can be implemented in an Information Technology (IT) platform which is currently under development, the TenCompetence Personal Competence Manager (PCM), and discusses the current practices in communities outside the learning arena. Finally, the paper explores the avenues for further work.


AIMS--To investigate the immunohistochemical expression of p53 protein in small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC), comparing it with that in non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC); and to evaluate the correlation between p53 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) expression as well as between p53 and PCNA expression and survival. METHODS--Paraffin wax embedded tissues from 61 cases of primary lung carcinoma were stained for p53 protein and PCNA using the monoclonal antibodies 1801 and PC-10, respectively, in a standard avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase method. RESULTS--Of the 61 lung carcinomas 35 (57%) were positive for p53 (range 1% to 90%). Ninety percent of the non-oat SCLC contained positive cells and the labelling index (LI) was significantly higher than that of the oat SCLC (p < 0.001). SLCC also displayed a higher p53 LI than NSCLC (p < 0.01); no difference was found between squamous carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and oat cell carcinoma. A p53 LI of greater than 1% tended to be associated with nodal metastases (p < 0.05), and p53 expression in node positive tumours as well as in oat cell carcinomas was indicative of poorer survival (p < 0.01 and p < 0.1, respectively). A p53 Li of greater than 60% was a negative prognostic factor in non-oat SCLC (p < 0.05). PCNA LI was highest in non-oat SCLC and lowest in NSCLC; oat cell carcinomas had a mean LI intermediate between NSCLC and non-oat SCLC (NSCLC v oat cell carcinoma p < 0.05 and oat cell v non-oat cell carcinomas p < 0.01). A PCNA LI was not correlated with nodal metastases or survival, but there was a significant positive correlation between PCNA LI and p53 LI (rs = 0.484, p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS--p53 and PCNA expression differ substantially among the various types of lung carcinomas. Substantial differences were also found between oat and non-oat types of SCLC, indicating that SCLC is heterogeneous as far as proliferation rate and altered p53 expression is concerned. p53 seems to be of some prognostic value. The relation between PCNA and p53 expression indicates that the PCNA gene is slightly upregulated by p53.


Process in the AEC industry is characterised by the distributed and temporary nature of project teams; discipline specific teams engage in a highly collaborative process with not yet fully standardised requirements for information exchange which often results in chaotic communication patterns. This collaborative process makes communication and coordination challenging and intensifies the need for sophisticated software tools. Efforts to address some of the UK construction industry's problems have seen rapid acceleration of BIM adoption in recent years. The exchange of interoperable building information models across teams provides the opportunity for an improved communication paradigm, where the "structured model" rather than the "document" acts as the focal unit of communication. Since collaborators are geographically distributed, this communication type finds its natural environment in online collaboration platforms hosting building information models. Effective collaboration requires coordinated communication and communicated coordination. BIM can be expressed as the "language of construction" and requires structure and standardization even on the human communication level. The life-cycle approach will pose additional collaboration requirements. Integrated, intuitive communication tools for BIM should replace e-mail. A preliminary analysis of data from the usage of online collaboration software, including network graph representations, provides some insight into usage patterns and serves as a basis for similar analyses as more of project data becomes available. Improved results would come from a better designed analysis of more projects.


CONTENTS I. Introduction 1 II. Bibliography 4 III. Systematic review 8 IV. References 84 V. Index 90 I. INTRODUCTION Among the works of acarologists of the past, Berlese's numerous writings take a particular place. Although they contain descriptions of an enormous number of new species, and notwithstanding the fact that they must be regarded as an important contribution to progress of systematics, the way of publishing is superficial to such a degree that Berlese appears to be the author that created the largest number of problems. As a rule his Latin descriptions are extremely short and consist of a few lines only. When exceptionally a figure is given, it represents at most some elementary characters. It even happens that reference is made to a species of which the diagnosis has never been published, whilst on the contrary it also occurs that a species is mentioned two times as new to science. Considering at the same time that it is difficult to recover the dates of publication of many papers, it is clear that reinvestigations are badly needed. Several authors published excellent descriptions of some of Berlese's species, but a review of a group has never been given. Besides, a complete catalogue of the records 1) and a definite bibliography are both still wanting. Because studies of the type-species of genera, and monographs of some groups of primitive Oribatid mites are in course of preparation, a revision of


The in-vivo investigation of highly dynamic biological samples, for example the beating zebrafish heart, requires high-speed volume imaging techniques. Light-sheet microscopy is ideal for such samples as it records high-contrast images of entire planes within large samples at once. However, in order to obtain images of different planes, it has been necessary to move the sample relative to the fixed focal plane of the detection objective lens. This mechanical movement limits speed, precision and may be harmful to the sample. We have built a light-sheet microscope that uses remote focusing with an electrically tunable lens (ETL). Without moving specimen or objective we have thereby achieved flexible volume imaging at much higher speeds than previously reported. Our high-speed microscope delivers 3D snapshots of sensitive biological samples. As an example, we imaged 17 planes within a beating zebrafish heart at 510 frames per second, equivalent to 30 volume scans per second. Movements, shape changes and signals across the entire volume can be followed which has been impossible with existing reconstruction techniques.


In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, climate change looms as a profound health challenge in this century. Socially, politically and economically mediated ('tertiary') effects will probably be the most significant consequences of climate change, substantially exceeding the probable burden of its direct effects and infectious diseases. Climate change will decrease crop yields in many low-latitude areas, decreasing food security in many countries, including those in Africa. Under-nutrition will worsen, aggravated by diminished economic growth – one of the most widely predicted  consequences of climate change. Furthermore, migration will increase, which will stretch and could even overwhelm health systems in destination areas, in addition to sapping donor locations of the financial and human capital they could use for further development. Mass migration heightens the risk of conflict, as does resource scarcity caused by climate change. Consequently, the capacity of states to meet the expectations of their citizens and impose law and order could further decrease, incentivising unscrupulous leaders to initiate or sustain conflict to enhance their support base. In summary, health systems on the African continent will be severely challenged by the increased demands caused by climate change, while their capacity will be diminished by its direct effects, reduced economic growth, additional migration and conflict. Adaptation is frequently treated as the best climate change response, but it is  especially difficult in poorer countries, where even general development is threatened by these challenges. Reliance on adaptation would exacerbate the health gap. Global climate change mitigation is the surest way to preserve health, in Africa and elsewhere.


We report a simple fiber nano-tip as non-plasmonic optical tweezer, which can manipulate submicron particles in a non-contact manner. The efficiency of an optical tweezer can be enhanced by using non-diffracting type optical beams such as Bessel beam or self-imaged Bessel beam (3D bottle beam). The present work, for the first time, realizes a non-plasmonic optical tweezer based on a miniaturized axicon like single-mode optical fiber nano-tip. The tip generates non-diffracting type 3D bottle beam by virtue of its changing wedge angle. The nano-tip is prepared from a photosensitive single-mode optical fiber by employing a novel chemical etching technique. We experimentally demonstrate trapping of ~60 nm silver particle and ~160 nm silica particle using this nano-tip optical tweezer. The nano-tweezer also succeeds to pick up the particles from aqueous solution. The proposed nano-tweezer working at smaller laser powers opens new avenues for nanomanipulation and analysis of sub-microscale specimens in the biological and physical sciences.


This memo assigns instruction codes, defines object formats and object
semantics for use with the High-Level Monitoring and Control Language,
defined in RFC-1023. A general system has been described in previous
memos (RFC-1021, RFC-1022). This system is called the High-Level
Entity Management System (HEMS). This memo is provisional and the
definitions are subject to change. Readers should confirm with the
authors that they have the most recent version. This RFC assumes a
working knowledge of the ISO data encoding standard, ASN.1, and a
general understanding of the IP protocol suite.


The reform of European railroads is a time-consuming process strongly charac-terized by its path-dependency. Firstly, a short outline of the historical roots of the controversial debates on the role of the state and the markets, and the organi-zation of competition in European railroad industries is provided. Secondly, the opening of the market for train services in the context of the liberalization of European transport markets since 1985 is characterized and the regulatory pre-conditions for competition on the tracks are presented. Thirdly, the evolution of track access regulation in Europe during the last decades is analyzed, differenti-ating between the period of negotiated third party access since 1991, the intro-duction of ex ante regulation by the first railroad infrastructure package in 2001, and the danger of overregulation posed by the recent Draft Directive of July 2012 establishing a single European railway area. Fourthly, the role of competi-tion on the markets for rail services and the reform process of interoperability requirements are considered. Finally, competition on the markets for rail ser-vices and public subsidies for rail infrastructures as well as subsidies for train services are evaluated.


This paper discusses the journey toward self-managed education for the Innu people of coastal Labrador who, after an arduous struggle, have finally attained autonomy from the Canadian government. While the paper briefly explores the broader context within which Innu education has evolved, particular attention will be given to the role served by a recent research project in both documenting the specific educational needs of the people and presenting a process to guide change. What emerged from that study was a wealth of data including community attitudes to education, as well as indicators of attendance, ability and achievement of the entire population of school-aged children. The study documented significant learning needs among the school-aged population despite average cognitive ability and a desire to achieve well in school. A plethora of policy recommendations was presented to guide the creation of Innu-managed education as well as to establish a template for the creation of a bicultural model of education, one in which traditional culture and native language were prioritized. This paper explores the five-year impact of that study on both policy and practice for Aboriginal education in coastal Labrador. As such, it informs the establishment of policy and pedagogical approaches for educators attempting to balance contemporary educational opportunity with retention of core cultural values.


Increased expression of cyclooxygenase (COX) and overproduction of prostaglandins (PGs) have been implicated in the development and progression of colorectal cancer (CRC). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDS) inhibit growth of various CRC cell lines by both COX-dependent and COX-independent pathways. To specifically examine the effect of COX and PGs on proliferation in CRC cells, we introduced an antisense COX-2 cDNA construct under the control of a tetracycline (Tc)-inducible promoter into a CRC cell line, HCA-7, Colony 29 (HCA-7) that expresses COX and produces PGs. In the presence of Tc, PG production in COX-depleted cells was reduced 99.8% compared with either uninduced transfectants or parental HCA-7 cells. This decrease in PG production was associated with a concomitant 60% reduction in DNA replication. Subsequently, we examined the effects of various PGs to modulate cell growth in COX-depleted HCA-7 or COX-null HCT-15 cells by quantifying [3H]thymidine incorporation and/or growth in collagen gels. We report that J-series cyclopentenone PGs, particularly PGJ2 and 15-deoxy-delta12,14-PGJ2, induce proliferation of these cells at nanomolar concentrations. Lipids extracted from parental HCA-7 cell conditioned medium stimulated mitogenesis in COX-depleted HCA-7 cells and COX-null HCT-15 cells. Using chromatographic and mass spectrometric approaches, we were able to detect PGJ2 in conditioned medium from parental HCA-7 cells. Taken together, these findings implicate a role for cyclopentenone PGs in CRC cell proliferation.


Many legal jurisdictions permit victims of targeted hate speech to sue for damages in civil courts. In the US plaintiffs may sue for damages using the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress. Indeed, back in 1982, Richard Delgado proposed the introduction of a new tort of racial insult to handle such cases. In South Africa, plaintiffs can use the delict of injuria. Although there have been some successful lawsuits, the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress has been an unreliable means of recovering damages for psychological harms caused by targeted hate speech. One major obstacle to recovery in the US has been the tendency the courts to view the use of racial insults, for instance, as too ordinary or commonplace to count as 'extreme and outrageous conduct'. Even Delgado's tort of racial insult would not recognize as a cause of action the mere use of a racial insult; the insult must demean. But once again this opens up significant leeway for courts to treat many commonplace racial insults as non-demeaning. In South Africa, the courts have interpreted the delict of injuria using the abstract test of whether the speech 'impaired the plaintiff's dignity'. The open-textured nature of this test has led courts to diverge in their understanding of the dignitary threat posed by almost identical forms of hate speech. In this article, I argue that these two torts and one delict should be comprehensively rethought. At the level of theory, we should think of them as protecting people's fundamental rights to human dignity and the expression of human dignity as well as people's fundamental rights to civic dignity and confidence in their civic dignity. And, at the level of practice, courts should adopt what I am proposing as two new legal tests for degradation and humiliation as a way of interpreting and operationalizing these two torts and one delict in cases of targeted hate speech.


Background: Eosinophilic oesophagitis may be increasing but the prevalence in the general population remains unknown. Our aim was to assess this and the presence of eosinophils in the distal oesophageal epithelium in the community. Methods: Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy was performed in a random sample (n = 1000) of the adult Swedish population (mean age 54 years, 49% men). Oesophageal biopsy samples were obtained from 2 cm above, and at, the Z-line. Any eosinophil infiltration of the epithelium was defined as "eosinophils present". Definite eosinophilic oesophagitis was defined as ⩾20, probable as 15–19, and possible as 5–14 eosinophils/high-power field (HPF, at magnification ×40) in oesophageal biopsy specimens. Results: Eosinophils were present in 48 subjects (4.8%, 95% CI 3.5 to 6.1%, mean age 54 years, 63% men), in 54% without troublesome reflux symptoms. Definite eosinophilic oesophagitis was present in four subjects (0.4%, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.8%, mean age 51 years, 75% men) and probable eosinophilic oesophagitis in seven subjects (0.7%, 95% CI 0.2 to 1.2%, mean age 58 years, 43% men). Erosive oesophagitis (OR = 2.99, 95% CI 1.58 to 5.66) and absence of dyspepsia (OR = 0.23, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.75) and Helicobacter pylori infection (OR = 0.41, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.92) were independent predictors for "eosinophils present". Definite eosinophilic oesophagitis was associated with dysphagia (2/66 vs 2/926, p = 0.025), and probable eosinophilic oesophagitis with narrowing of the oesophageal lumen (2/15 vs 5/978, p = 0.005). Conclusions: Oesophageal eosinophils were present in nearly 5% of the general population; approximately 1% had definite or probable eosinophilic oesophagitis. Oesophageal eosinophils may be a manifestation of reflux disease in adults, but the condition is as likely to be asymptomatic and go unrecognised.


In optical WDM networks, transmission of information along optical lines is advantageous since it has high transmission capacity, scalability, feasibility and also high reliability. But large amount of information is being carried; any problem during transmission can lead to severe damage to the data being carried. Hence it is essential to consider the routing as well as the wavelength assignment problems and then develop a combined solution for both the problems. In this paper, we propose to develop a routing and wavelength assignment algorithm for selecting the suitable alternate path for the data packets transmission. Two stages are based on the available bandwidth and the number of wavelength used in the link as construction of alternate paths, route and wavelength selection. In proposed work, Adaptive Routing and First-Fit Wavelength Assignment (AR-FFWA) algorithm to be used. For each pair of source and destination, the path with the minimum granularity values are selected as the primary path for data transmission, allocating the sufficient wavelength. This algorithm thus provides a reliable, dynamic path for the data transmission and Dynamic RMSA with HSMR algorithm to be used and the performances will be evaluated by using ns-2 simulation models. When we compared to existing system the overall blocking probability will be reduced to low.


One of the most recent innovations in social epidemiology is the combination of epidemiological data collection with ethnographic fieldwork in order to produce algorithmic models that estimate rates of disease prevalence over time. This paper uses a case study about a multi-year study of social networks and risk among people who inject drugs (PWID) in a rural community in the US to document the challenges raised by this form of knowledge production. As the anthropologist in charge of overseeing data collection, I had a privileged position to reflect on the tensions inherent in mixed-methods collaboration in health research. The research design relied on a combination of respondent-driven sampling (N=315) of active injectors with the elaboration of "micro-ethnographic network essays" to map social networks and risk practices. One burden of such mixed-methods collaboration is that highly specialized disciplinary knowledge makes it extremely difficult for all parties to have more than a superficial understanding of each field, which can increase the potential for conflicts and misunderstandings. In addition, mixed-methods projects often have to address the inter-team tensions resulting from the higher prestige and rewards awarded to quantitative modes of reasoning. Based on this case study and following the literature on actor network theory, I argue that successful collaboration in such a multi-methods research depends on whether a team member can assume the role of a cultural broker, someone who is knowledgeable in the intricacies of both qualitative and quantitative methods, and thus able to act as a translator.


At the National Meteorological Center (NMC), a new analysis system is being extensively tested for possible use in the operational Global Data Assimilation System. This analysis system is called the Spectral Statistical Interpolation (SS1) Analysis system because the spectral coefficients used in the NMC spectral model are analysed directly using the same basic equations as statistical (optimal) interpolation. Results from several months of parallel testing with the NMC spectral model have been very encouraging. Favorable features include smoother analysis increments, greatly reduced changes from initialization, and significant improvement of 1-5 day forecasts. Although the analysis is formulated as a variational problem, the objective function being minimized is formally the same one that forms the basis of all existing optimal interpolation schemes. This objective function is a combination of forecast and observation deviations from the desired analysis, weighted by the inverses of the corresponding forecast and observation error covariance matrices. There are two principal differences in how the SSI implements the minimization of this functional as compared to the current OI used at NMC. First, the analysis variables are spectral coefficients instead of gridpoint values. Second, all observations are used at once to solve a single global problem. No local approximations are made, and there is no special data selection. Because of these differences, it is straightforward to include unconventional data, such as radiances, in the analysis. Currently temperature, wind, surface pressure, mixing ratio and SSM/I total precipitable water are used as the observation variables. Soon to be added is the scatterometer surface winds. In this paper, we provide a detailed description of the SSI and present a few results.


Thomas M. Izbicki presents a new examination of the relationship between the adoration of the sacrament and canon law from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. The medieval Church believed Christ's glorified body was present in the Eucharist, the most central of the seven sacraments, and the Real Presence became explained as transubstantiation by university-trained theologians. Expressions of this belief included the drama of the elevated host and chalice, as well as processions with a host in an elaborate monstrance on the feast of Corpus Christi. These affirmations of doctrine were governed by canon law and promulgated by popes and councils; and liturgical regulations were enforced by popes, bishops, archdeacons, and inquisitors. Drawing on canon law collections and commentaries, synodal enactments, legal manuals, and books about ecclesiastical offices, Izbicki presents the first systematic analysis of the Church's teaching about the regulation of the practice of the Eucharist.


Previous work on information extraction from unstructured, ungrammatical text (e.g. classified ads) showed that exploiting a set of background knowledge, called a "reference set," greatly improves the precision and recall of the extractions. However, finding a source for this reference set is often difficult, if not impossible. Further, even if a source is found, it might not overlap well with the text for extraction. In this paper we present an approach to building the reference set directly from the text itself. Our approach eliminates the need to find the source for the reference set, and ensures better overlap between the text and reference set. Starting with a small amount of background knowledge, our technique constructs tuples representing the entities in the text to form a reference set. Our results show that our method outperforms manually constructed reference sets, since hand built reference sets may not overlap with the entities in the unstructured, ungrammatical text. We also ran experiments comparing our method to the supervised approach of Conditional Random Fields (CRFs) using simple, generic features. These results show our method achieves an improvement in F1-measure for 6/9 attributes and is competitive in performance on the others, and this is without training data.


The term ideology originated in 1796 and has been taken up in a variety of ways by scholars in disciplines including communication, sociology, anthropology, and economics. Generally understood as an organized set or system of belief, the term over the past 200 years has been variously situated vis à vis material relations and processes of production; has been assigned negative, positive, and neutral connotations; has been rejected as outmoded and replaced by the more sweeping term discourse; and has been revived as once again being relevant by contemporary scholars.

 Ideology is closely associated with the economic theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who first used the concept in The German Ideology, published in 1845–1846. Marx and Engels discussed ideology specifically in terms of the economic means and relations of production and framed it largely in negative terms, as the ideas of the ruling class intended to distort or mystify processes of capitalist exploitation. Early 20th-century Marxist followers like Vladimir Lenin, Georg Lukács, and Antonio Gramsci expanded the understanding of the word to include the belief systems of either dominant or resistant groups.
 Throughout the 20th century, the structuralist theories of Louis Althusser lent the word ideology a deterministic quality. Althusser and others explored how Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), such as schools, churches, and media, constitute subject positions for individuals, leaving them little room for agency or struggle against oppressive thought systems. Structuralism's emphasis on the primacy and force of ideology reached its apex in poststructuralist, postmodernist, and post-Marxist theories that discursified the material—that is, it made no distinction between belief systems and the real world of relations, processes, systems, etc. These theories invigorated discussions surrounding epistemology, ontology, and the role of communication in forming identities and shaping social struggles.
 Critics of poststructuralist, postmodernist, and post-Marxist theories have attempted to resituate ideology within its original theoretical context of Marxist dialectical materialism. These efforts attempt to show the importance, for theory and for democratic struggle, of distinguishing between ideas and real-world experience.


Thomas, Matthew, B.S., May 2017 Geosciences Using Thermal Infrared Imaging to Estimate Soil Hydraulic Parameters: A Novel Approach Faculty Mentor: W. Payton Gardner, Marco Maneta In this study, skin temperature measured with a thermal infrared (TIR) camera was used to estimate soil hydraulic parameters. These physical properties that control how soils transport and retain water are notoriously difficult to measure in the field due to spatial variability. Laboratory experiments were set up to record surface skin temperature response in a clean soil column using a TIR camera after an artificial wetting event. An array of thermocouples, a net radiometer, heat flux sensor and weather station were used to constrain the TIR data and the energy budget during the experiment. The soil column surface was then wetted with a known amount of water over a controlled time period and the thermal response recorded at five minute intervals over the course of 18 hours. Soil hydraulic parameters were then estimated by fitting a water-energy conservation model (ECH2O) to the observed data using a Marqhart-Levenberg least squares minimization method. The estimated parameters obtained were then compared to several sets of known values based on soil textural classification. This inversion of ECH2O was able to estimate the Brooks-Corey λ for sand with a relatively high degree of precision; however, the inversion was unable to provide reasonable estimates of air entry pressure for sand, air entry pressure for soil, or the Brooks-Corey λ for soil. These results indicate that soil hydraulic parameter estimation based on TIR skin temperature data could potentially be a fast and useful new tool to characterize the distribution and spatial heterogeneity in some soil hydraulic parameters. However, future studies should test the method with dedicated groundwater flow models and accurately account for surface emissivity before conducting field tests.


Semi-supervised node classification on graph-structured data has many applications such as fraud detection, fake account and review detection, user's private attribute inference in social networks, and community detection.
Various methods such as pairwise Markov Random Fields (pMRF) and graph neural networks were developed for semi-supervised node classification.
 pMRF is more efficient than graph neural networks. However, existing pMRF-based methods are less accurate than graph neural networks, due to a key limitation that they assume a heuristics-based constant edge potential for all edges. In this work, we aim to address the key limitation of existing pMRF-based methods. In particular, we propose to learn edge potentials for pMRF. Our evaluation results on
 various types of graph datasets show that our optimized pMRF-based method consistently outperforms existing graph neural networks in terms of both accuracy and efficiency. Our results highlight that previous work may have underestimated the power of pMRF for semi-supervised node classification.


Evaluating sums of multivariate Gaussians is a common computational task in image processing, computer vision and learning, including in the general and powerful technique of kernel density estimation (KDE). The quadratic computational complexity of KDE is a significant barrier to practical applications. The fast Gauss transform (FGT) has successfully accelerated the kernel density estimation to linear time for low-dimensional problems. Unfortunately, direct extension of the FGT to higher-dimensional problems results in an algorithm whose cost grows exponentially with dimension, making it impractical for dimensions above three. We develop an improved fast Gauss transform (IFGT) in higher dimensions. A new multivariate expansion scheme and an adaptive space subdivision technique dramatically improve the performance. The IFGT has been applied to the mean shift algorithm achieving linear computational complexity, and been applied to applications such as image segmentation, and visual tracking.
Another issue when applying kernel methods to vision problems is that the statistical similarity measures commonly used were meant for low-dimensional problems. In particular similarity measures such as the Bhattacharya coefficient or the K-L distance were computed using histograms. When these measures are used for high-dimensional problems it is found that they are either unstable or not discriminative, and further are expensive to compute. We proposed a novel simple symmetric similarity function between kernel-density estimates of the model and target distributions. The mean-shift algorithm is used to track objects by iteratively maximizing this similarity function. To alleviate the quadratic complexity of the density estimation, we employ Gaussian kernels and the IFGT, which leads to very efficient and robust nonparametric tracking algorithms. The proposed algorithms are tested with several image sequences and shown to achieve robust real-time tracking performance.
The amount of computation required for the recently popular kernel machines used in learning grows with N training samples at least as O(N2). Such a computational complexity is significant even for moderate size problems and is prohibitive for large datasets. We present an approximation technique based on the IFGT to reduce the computation into O(N). We also give error bound for the approximation, and show experimental results on the UCI datasets without significant decreasing in the accuracy.


This paper focuses on answering the question: is it possible a curriculum for diversity and responsive to the rights of all to education? For this purpose, and considering a context of educational exclusion and inclusion of vulnerable groups, first the paper adresses social inequalityu in a historical perspective in order to caracterizing the foundation of beliefs that generate victimation of the other based on his/her difference. Latin America and Brasil data shows the severe educational inequality between groups. The history of curriculum is, then, presented in order to show how this a soil for dispute filled with controversies and disagreement. Secondly, the concepto of diversity is presented as well as its direct correlation with the concept of difference. The relevance of this concept is enphasided as a means to prevent its misunderstanding that turns diversity into individual difference, an indentity mark that is at the basis of exclusion. Finally, a reflection on a curriculum for diversity and for the rights of all to education by means of a Pedagogy of Possibilities. With this paper I hope to contribute to the debate that focuses on the moving on from the current education system culture of valuing impossibilities too ne that values good practices and pedagogy.


Operating as low as tens of hertz and as high as hundreds of kilohertz, new broadband electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors have shown promise for classification of unseen buried metallic objects. The three-dimensional (3-D) and bodies-of-revolution (BOR) numerical studies reported here are designed to explain key scattering sensitivities that may either be useful in or may limit object classification capability. The target is excited either by a spatially uniform oscillating primary magnetic field or by the oscillating field from a loop antenna. The problem is formulated in terms of Poison's equation for scalar potential outside the object, where conductivity and electric field values are low and consequent conduction currents are generally negligible. The Helmholtz equation for vector potential applies inside the highly conducting and permeable object. In both regions, the electromagnetic phenomena of interest are magneto-quasi-static (MQS). The simulation algorithm uses the method of auxiliary sources (MAS), with auxiliary magnetic charges and auxiliary magnetic current elements distributed on auxiliary surfaces. These surfaces generally conform to but do not coincide with physical surfaces, providing extraordinarily efficient and accurate 3-D solutions. Comparisons to available analytical solutions and experimental data validate the solutions. The simulations and data illuminate broadband MQS scattering phenomenology for both magnetic and nonmagnetic metallic objects. Distinctive sensitivities are shown and signature effects analyzed relative to the scatterer's shape and aspect ratio, orientation, sharp points and edges, finite wall thickness in hollow bodies, and compound structure in which a geometrically complex body consists of a number of distinct sections, e.g., fins.


This paper focuses on the current trends in brain research domain and the current stage of development of research for software and hardware solutions, communication capabilities between: human beings and machines, new technologies, nano-science and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The proposed model for Human Brain assumes main similitude between human intelligence and the chess game thinking process. Tactical & strategic reasoning and the need to follow the rules of the chess game, all are very similar with the activities of the human brain. The main objective for a living being and the chess game player are the same: securing a position, surviving and eliminating the adversaries. The brain resolves these goals, and more, the being movement, actions and speech are sustained by the vital five senses and equilibrium. The chess game strategy helps us understand the human brain better and easier replicate in the proposed 'Software and Hardware' SAH Model.


Public disillusionment with the major political parties has had a profound effect on the Australian political landscape during the last decade of the twentieth century. Most significant has been the increased number of independents elected to Australian parliaments resulting in the formation of minority governments in several States. Such a political climate encourages a sharper focus on the grounds of disqualification prescribed for candidates and sitting members of parliament. While often ignored in the past, either deliberately or accidentally, this is unlikely to continue. Such grounds have the potential to destabilize the political process by undermining slim government majorities or the election of crucial independent members. Given these risks, all grounds of disqualification in relation to members of parliament should be revised to ensure they are justified and clearly understood. This article selects for revision that ground of disqualification concerned with foreign allegiance.


Modern large-scale machine learning applications require stochastic optimization algorithms to be implemented on distributed compute systems. A key bottleneck of such systems is the communication overhead for exchanging information across the workers, such as stochastic gradients. Among the many techniques proposed to remedy this issue, one of the most successful is the framework of compressed communication with error feedback (EF). EF remains the only known technique that can deal with the error induced by contractive compressors which are not unbiased, such as Top-$K$. In this paper, we propose a new and theoretically and practically better alternative to EF for dealing with contractive compressors. In particular, we propose a construction which can transform any contractive compressor into an induced unbiased compressor. Following this transformation, existing methods able to work with unbiased compressors can be applied. We show that our approach leads to vast improvements over EF, including reduced memory requirements, better communication complexity guarantees and fewer assumptions. We further extend our results to federated learning with partial participation following an arbitrary distribution over the nodes, and demonstrate the benefits thereof. We perform several numerical experiments which validate our theoretical findings.


Patterns of illicit sexual misconduct by celebrities and institutional carers have been the subject of constant publicity in recent times. These episodes have often led to calls for reform of the law relating to the admission of prior conduct and convictions as evidence of criminal offences. The case of the Hey Dad..! star, Robert Hughes, triggered a High Court appeal on the subject aimed at resolving legal controversies in this area, but the High Court's decision was regarded as insufficient by the recently completed Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which recommended its own reform. This article argues that the problems lie in factual reasoning rather than legal rule-making. It explores the factual reasoning underlying decisions of admissibility of tendency evidence to try to shed light on issues of probative value not only under the Uniform Evidence Acts but under any legislative or common law regime.


A change in temperature is known to affect the deformation properties of a clay specimen. In order to study the effect quantitative y and its dependence on clay type a number of oedometer tests were carried out. Conventional incremental oedometer tests as well as constant-rate-of-strain tests were used. Test results clearly show that the preconsolidation pressure decreases with increasing temperature; the compression modulus is little affected. Five different clays were tested, and the change in preconsolidation pressure was found to be larger for higher clay content of the specimen. The research shows that laboratory testing at different temperatures gives the necessary information for the calculation of temperature induced settlements.


Purpose: To compare fusional vergence amplitudes in patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic near exophoria Methods: This cross-sectional study included 102 patients with near exophoria and asthenopia and 86 with asymptomatic near exophoria, all of whom were aged 15-35 years and had best corrected far visual acuity better than 20/25. Far and near fusional vergence amplitudes were evaluated in all patients. The subjects were not hyperopic. Results: We observed significant between group differences in near negative fusional vergence (NFV) break (15.91±4.90 PD vs. 14.73±4.60 PD, p=0.013), near NFV recovery (12.33±3.90 PD vs. 13.79±3.97PD, p=0.009), and far NFV recovery (5.58±3.50 PD vs. 4.50±2.70 PD, p=0.019). Other vergence amplitudes did not differ significantly. Conclusion: Although previously it was assumed that asthenopia is related to convergence insufficiency (CI), it seems that asthenopia in patients with near exophoria may be related to increased amplitudes of negative vergence.


Radiology signs have long been described in ways that communicate the imagery around us to enhance our cognitive perception. Here, we describe the use and limitations of 10 such signs in neuroradiology, divided into three groups. The first are signs that are reliable for a specific diagnosis, such as the Medusa head sign indicating a developmental venous anomaly, or a racing car sign in agenesis of corpus callosum. The second group of signs helps us to diagnose rare conditions, such as the onion skin sign in Balo's concentric sclerosis. The third group is of unreliable signs that may lead clinicians astray. For example, the absence of a swallow-tail sign in Parkinson's disease or the presence of a hummingbird sign and Mickey Mouse sign in progressive supranuclear palsy. The appropriate use of these signs in clinical practice is essential.


Several deep-sea marine invertebrates were collected from hydrothermal vents, seamounts and cold coral assemblages in the North Atlantic Ocean, near the Azores islands. The effect of their lipid crude extracts against two strains of malaria parasite P. falciparum (Dd2 and 3D7) was measured in vitro in order to establish the potential of these invertebrates as new sources for antimalarial compounds. Extracts that presented higher antimalarial activity potential were gorgonian Callogorgia verticillata and the hydrothermal vent shrimp Mirocaris fortunata, presenting the lowest value of IC50 and the highest selectivity index for both evaluated stains. To our knowledge this is the first report on the antimalarial activity of crude lipid extracts considering species collected at depths higher then 100 m.


This study explored the evolution of Denton's VHF educational television assignment Channel 2, from its inception on April 14, 1952, to September 2, 1977. The problem was to discern why the channel remained inactive for twenty-five years. Chapters explore the attempts of broadcast interests to acquire control of the channel, and discuss why they were unsuccessful. The study concludes that a lack of finances, combined with the apathy and self-interests of Denton's educational leaders, prevented the channel's utilization. Federal Communications Commission policy allowed Denton's educators more time to raise money for a Denton station. Other conclusions suggest that the channel not be reassigned and that it be activated.


In this simulator the amplitude and phase of a light wave are represented by the amplitude and phase of an ac voltage. Each layer in the film is simulated by a four-terminal network containing adjustable attenuators and an adjustable phase shifter. The network obeys the same difference equation [See: Lord
 Rayleigh

 , Proc. Roy. Soc. (London)93, 565 ( 1917);
 P.
 Rouard

 , Ann. Phys., Ser. 11, 7, 291 ( 1937);
 W.
 Pfister
 O. H.
 Roth

 , Hochfrequenztechnik und Elektroakustik51, 156 ( 1938);
 S. M.
 MacNeille

 , U. S. Patent No. 2 403 731;
 A.
 Vasicek

 , J. Opt. Soc. Am.37, 623 ( 1947);
 D.
 Caballero

 , J. Opt. Soc. Am.37, 176 ( 1947)] as that which relates the reflectance of n+1 interference layers to the separate reflectances of the first n layers taken together and of the n+1th layer. With these networks connected in sequence and the circuit parameters adjusted to correspond to the optical constants of the various layers of the film, either the reflectance or transmittance of the multilayer can be read directly on a meter. Since the circuit parameters correspond to (1) reflectance at the interface between layers, (2) phase retardation, and (3) attenuation with passage through the layer, the instrument can treat problems involving oblique as well as normal incidence, polarization, and absorption.


"The Atlas of Oral and Maxillofacial Histopathology" is a quick, user-friendly diagnostic reference text on Oral and Maxillofacial Histopathology for general pathologists, dermatopathologists, and ENT pathologists regarding oral and maxillofacial disorders. Comprised of six compact chapters, the Atlas contains the most common as well as unusual entities that are submitted by surgeons working in this anatomic area. The defining diagnostic histopathology is presented by means of carefully selected images and captions, in addition to a brief outline of the demographic information and histopathologic differential diagnoses. Pitfall problems in diagnosis are also discussed and resolved. A free companion web site features interactive text and an image bank.


Throughout the 1980s, England lurched between the highs of Ashes victories and the lows of on-field humiliation and a series of controversies involving tabloid scandals, South African rebel tours and Pakistani umpires. The Ashes were won dramatically in 1981, regained by David Gower's team in 1985 and retained by Mike Gatting in 1986/87. There was even a World Cup Final appearance in India. Yet twice the West Indies inflicted 5-0 series defeats. Players were fined for bad behaviour on the field, while Ian Botham was suspended for smoking marijuana. Lord's stumbled through ten changes of captaincy in the decade. In 1988, Gatting, under pressure following an umpiring row, was brought down by a barmaid, leading to the appointment of four skippers in one series. It was the most chaotic period in English cricket history. Through interviews with many of those involved, Sex & Drugs & Rebel Tours tells the story.


A few months ago, we produced a timetable for the implementation of U.S. financial reform under the Dodd-Frank Act.1 One of the main observations was that the legislation did little to consolidate regulation outside of banking. In contrast, the analogous UK reform legislation, the Financial Services Act, made the Bank of England (BoE) the center of UK financial and monetary stability. A 2016 amendment confirmed and strengthened the bank's role. This paper establishes a timeline summarizing the status of financial regulatory reform in the UK. It then identifies some of the forthcoming difficulties, including Brexit and the recent evolution of macroprudential policies among developed countries


Writing reliable concurrent software remains a huge challenge for today's programmers. Programmers rarely reason about their code by explicitly considering different possible inter-leavings of its execution. We consider the problem of detecting data races from individual executions in a sound manner. The classical approach to solving this problem has been to use Lamport's happens-before (HB) relation. Until now HB remains the only approach that runs in linear time. Previous efforts in improving over HB such as causally-precedes (CP) and maximal causal models fall short due to the fact that they are not implementable efficiently and hence have to compromise on their race detecting ability by limiting their techniques to bounded sized fragments of the execution. We present a new relation weak-causally-precedes (WCP) that is provably better than CP in terms of being able to detect more races, while still remaining sound. Moreover, it admits a linear time algorithm which works on the entire execution without having to fragment it.


[1] This study investigates the transport and optical properties of smoke plumes from South American biomass burning by using an aerosol transport and microphysical model. In general, the model can reproduce the smoke aerosol optical properties observed by satellite and ground-based instruments during the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia - Smoke Aerosols, Clouds, Rainfall and Climate (LBA-SMOCC) campaign. The simulated spatial distribution of smoke aerosol loading over South America also compares well to satellite observations, suggesting that the transport processes in the model are adequate over this region. The results further suggest that the emissions provided by version 2 of the Global Fire Emissions Database are too low over South America. However, wet deposition may be too aggressive in the model. Since the model wet deposition does not include the feedback smoke may have on cloud formation and precipitation suppression, too many aerosols may be removed. Surprisingly, given the different vegetation types, the model simulations also suggest that similar initial particle size distributions and aerosol optical properties can be used to simulate smoke from both African savanna and South American forest fires. However, to reproduce the observed smoke aerosol optical properties over South America, humidification of smoke aerosols needs to be considered. Model results and observations both suggest that the typical single scattering albedo of smoke over South America and Africa differ because of relative humidity, not vegetation type. Overall, this work suggests strategies for improved treatment of South American smoke plumes in climate and microphysical models.