The most frequent and probably the earliest described surgical intervention of ENT field is tonsillectomy. Various methods were described and devices were invented up to now in order to increase safety and decrease time consumption and complications. All new created devices promises lower intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative time, postoperative pain and bleeding. But with their widely use it is seen that they cannot fulfill what they promise. Debate also continues as to which technique yields the best outcome. This study reports a summary for common medical devices which were previously used in tonsillectomy.


This review deals with the environmental burden caused by Pt group metal emissions from automobile catalytic converters, and related health hazards. Catalytic converters in automobiles reduce the production of gaseous pollutants on one hand and are the source of Pt group metal emissions on the other. Concentrations of Pt metals in the environment have significantly increased in recent decades, largely due to their use as catalysts. It has been generally assumed that the health hazard associated with environment exposures to Pt group metals are negligible due to their low concentrations and metallic nature of emitted particles. However, recent studies have shown relatively high solubilities of emitted Pt metals and the possibility of their transformations into soluble compounds which could have a negative effect on human health. Recent findings in and topicality of the Pt metal problems are reviewed.


The decision to pursue a college education has extensive economic implications, and economists have studied this decision for decades. However, the current economic approach to educational choice oversimplifies the decision, and cannot adequately explain student behavior. I relax several standard assumptions of educational choice models to allow for a more realistic approach to student beliefs and a more flexible approach to the structure of the choice. First, using a novel survey data set, I demonstrate that observed labor market conditions are a poor proxy for student perceptions of labor market payoffs to education. Then, using those student perceptions, I estimate student demand for education. I show that, contrary to common assumption, financial reward plays only a small part in educational choice, and consumption value is more central in driving student plans. Finally, I model college choice more realistically as a two-agent bargaining problem between parent and student. Using a choice experiment, I show that parent and student preferences differ, and demonstrate the implications of this difference on choice and the construction of effective education policy.


Upper mantle seismic velocity variations beneath northern Tanzania coupled with the structure of the 410 and 660 km discontinuities reveal a 200‐ 400-km-wide thermal anomaly extending into but not necessarily through the transition zone beneath the eastern branch of the East African rift system. This finding is not easily explained by small-scale mantle convection induced by passive stretching of the lithosphere or by a broad thermal upwelling extending from the lower mantle into the upper mantle, but it can be attributed to a mantle plume, provided that a plume head is present under the lithospheric keel of the Tanzania craton. A plume interpretation for the deep thermal anomaly is supported by evidence for mantle having the geochemical characteristics of a plume at >150 km depth beneath northern Tanzania.


The design of a tunable metal-coated long-period fiber grating (LPFG) filter based on the material dispersion consideration is presented. The tuning of the resonant wavelength can be achieved by heating the metal layer. Based on the coupled mode theory, the influences of the material dispersion on the transmission spectrum of the metal-coated LPFG are studied. There is a special grating period for a specific cladding mode; when the grating period is less than or equal to the special grating period, the material dispersion has weak influence on the resonant wavelength. Under such condition, the attenuation band depth corresponding to the specific cladding mode has excellent stability while the temperature changes, thus improving the filtering performances of the tunable loss filter. Further, experimental results demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed tunable filter.


The choice of assignment types in a course is shown to have differential effect on performance of specific types of students. Using data from six semesters of college Economics classes, the study demonstrates that male and non-traditional students are more likely to have higher performance on multiple choice questions. Students whose major field of study is related to the course are more likely to do better on the essay questions. This non-uniform effect implies that choosing only one assignment type in a course may provide an advantage to certain types of students. As a result, utilizing a combination of assessment instruments may be recommended. Keywords: Assignment Type, Student Performance, Assessment Instruments ********** A variety of tools is commonly used in higher education to assess student performance. The most prominent examples of the alternative assessment tools are the multiple choice question exams and the essay examinations. This study compares student performance on multiple choice question examination and on essay questions and examines whether the performance of the same students on each type of assignment is equivalent. Furthermore, the study reports the student demographic characteristics that are associated with better performance on each of these two assessment measures. If there are systematic differences between the types of students that do better on the multiple choice questions, and the types of students that do better on essay questions, that may have important implications for the design of course assessment tools. Sole use of a single assessment mechanism in a course may put certain students at a disadvantage. There is limited examination in the academic literature of the relationship between assignment type and student performance. One study that attempts to compare examinations based on multiple choice questions with essay examinations comes from Scouller (1998). The focus of this study, however, is not on student performance but on the students' learning approach. Based on survey evidence in a sample of 206 students, Scouller demonstrates that students are more likely to employ deep learning approaches when preparing for an essay exam, while surface learning approaches are more likely to be associated with a multiple choice exam. In terms of performance, poorer performance in essay exams was linked with the use of surface learning strategies. Chulkov (2006) demonstrates that the likelihood a student is motivated with grading incentives to complete coursework varies with the demographic characteristics of the student. The results of that study show that grades do not motivate all students in the same fashion. In particular, female students, students whose major field of study is related to the course, and traditional-age college students were influenced by the grading incentives in a course to a larger extent. While these differences in student types were shown to affect student effort in completing assignments, the effect on student performance was not examined. In contrast, the current study looks at the importance of student characteristics in predicting performance in the two different types of exams. Several studies have looked at the determinants of student performance on exams, and identified a number of relevant variables. For instance, Rayburn and Rayburn (1999) demonstrate that students that systematically submit homework perform better on exams. In addition, students enrolled in longer classes perform better overall. In contrast, Ewer et al. (2002) examined the link between class length and student performance on exams in introductory Accounting classes. Specifically, they compared compressed 4-week classes and the regular 16-week classes and did not find significant differences in performance. Aldosary (1995) demonstrates that class attendance improves student performance on exams. This study attempts to complement the existing literature in two ways. …


Patterns of genetic structure and gene flow among populations help us understand population dynamics and properly manage species of concern. Matrilineal mtDNA sequence data have been instrumental in revealing genetic structure at the intraspecific level, but bi-parentally inherited markers are needed to confirm patterns at the genome level and to assess the potential role of sex-biased dispersal on gene flow, particularly in species where males are known to be the main dispersing sex. Here we use microsatellite loci to examine patterns of genetic structure across the range of the great bustard in Iberia and Morocco, an area representing 70% of the world population of this globally threatened species. We used population differentiation statistics and Bayesian analysis of population structure to analyse data from 14 microsatellite loci. These data provide greater resolution than mtDNA sequences, and results reveal the existence of three main genetic units corresponding to Morocco, the northeastern part of Spain, and the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. Our results, together with previous mtDNA data, confirm the genetic differentiation of the northern Africa population and the importance of the Strait of Gibraltar as a barrier to gene flow for both males and females, rendering the Moroccan population a separate management unit of high conservation concern.


Reducing the number of allowable absences from three labs to two labs per semester improved students' lab attendance, lab grades, and course grades in an introductory biology course. Science courses with hands-on, investigative labs are a typical part of the general education requirements at virtually all colleges and universities. In these courses, labs that satisfy a curricular requirement for "lab experience" are important because they provide the essence of the scientific experience - that is, they give students hands-on experience with designing experiments, handling and studying organisms, learning laboratory skills, analyzing data, and communicating results. To help ensure that students obtain this experience, most introductory courses have attendance requirements for lab (e.g., students can miss no more than 20% of the laboratory periods per semester). Although there have been many studies of students' overall performances in introductory science courses (Burchfield & Sappington, 2000; Congos, Langsam, & Schoeps, 1997; Friedman, Rodriguez, & McCombs, 2001; Grise & Kenney, 2003; Moore, 2003; Sappington, Kinsey, & Munsayac, 2002), there have been virtually no studies of students' performances in the laboratory portions of introductory science courses. This lack of research regarding students' performances in lab probably results from the fact that students' lab performances are usually embedded in students' overall coursegrades (e.g., lab usually accounts for 25% to 50% of students' grades in introductory science courses). Given the importance of lab experiences to the integrity of introductory science courses, as well as the fact that these courses are often characterized by significantly higher rates of absenteeism (Friedman, Rodriguez, & McComb, 2001) and failure (Congos, Langsam, & Schoeps, 1997) than other courses, we wondered what an analysis of students' lab performances could tell us about students' overall performances in introductory science courses. This paper reports a study of students' academic engagement in labs of an introductory biology course. Class attendance is the leading indicator of academic engagement (e.g., students' course-related effort and activities) because it requires a consistent and ongoing effort that is directly related to students' academic success (Moore, Jensen, Hatch, Duranczyk, & Koch, 2003; Rumberger, 2001). Students choose to attend class. Despite the importance of attendance to success in science courses, absenteeism in introductory courses often exceeds 25%, even in classes taught by award-winning instructors (Friedman, Rodriguez, & McComb, 2002; Thompson, 2002). Romer (1993), who notes that absenteeism in introductory courses is "rampant," describes the situation this way: "A generation ago, both in principle and in practice, attendance at class was not optional. Today, often in principle and almost always in practice, it is" (p. 174). Many students skip lectures because they believe they can "make up" their absences by downloading or copying notes, reading the textbook, or talking with a classmate (Moore, 2003). However, students usually cannot "make up" a missed lab because of the logistical problems associated with offering the lab experience (e.g., the restricted availability of equipment, reagents, and specimens). For many years, we noted that students who missed three of a semester's fourteen labs earned disproportionately lower grades in both the lab and lecture portions of the course and had only about a 20% chance of passing (Moore, in press). We concluded that although a policy of allowing students to miss three labs during a semester complied with the minimum standard set by the university for a laboratory experience, most students who missed two or three labs earned a D or F in the course. Since there is little consolation for a student who meets a university requirement yet still fails a class, we wondered if raising the laboratory attendance requirement would improve students' attendance in lab. …


CONTEXT
The supraspinatus is the most commonly affected muscle with rotator-cuff pathology and necessary for stability of the humeral head in the glenoid fossa. Rehabilitative ultrasound imaging (RUSI) of skeletal muscles provides a safe and clinically accessible measure of intact human muscle function at rest or during contracted states. The ability to perform accurate assessment of supraspinatus function has not been studied and may be of value in assessment and treatment.

OBJECTIVES
To determine the validity and reliability of measures obtained using RUSI for assessing supraspinatus muscle at rest and contracted conditions.

DESIGN
Reliability and validity

SETTING
Outpatient physical therapy clinic.

SUBJECTS
15 asymptomatic subjects age 30-49 y.

INTERVENTION
The supraspinatus muscle was measured at rest and contracted with a 0.9-kg weight with the arm positioned in 45° of abduction in the plane of the scapula. Repeated ultrasound images of the supraspinatus were collected by 3 physical therapists on 2 separate days.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Reliability was assessed with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of the measurement (SEM). Validity was tested by comparing mean difference between active and passive states for all 3 raters on both days.

RESULTS
All ICC values were found to be at .9 or above. In addition, for all days and raters, the active condition was significantly thicker than the passive condition (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS
Thickness measures of the supraspinatus using RUSI, during passive and active conditions, demonstrate high interrater and intrarater reliability and can easily distinguish between active and passive states. These findings suggest that RUSI may provide an appropriate quantitative measure for changes in the thickness of supraspinatus that are important for determining improvement or deterioration in muscle function.


A prospective comparative study conducted at Basrah Teaching Hospital in Basrah between December 2000 and February 2002. Eighty patients included, they were 13 (16.2%) male and 67(83.7%) female patients, most of the patients aged between 20-50 year (81%). The patients were allocated in two groups, each comprises 40 patients. The external laryngeal nerve (E.L.N) is a motor nerve to cricothyroid muscle of the larynx which concerned with high pitch voice. The incidence of injury to this nerve during thyroid surgery is between 11-25% in the literature. This study aimed to compare the incidence of ELN injury in thyroid surgery between the ordinary approach and the nerve stimulator approach in two groups, and to evaluate the efficacy of nerve preservation technique using nerve stimulator. In the first group, thyroid surgery was done with the aid of nerve stimulator, while in the second group the surgery was done in classical way; we found that the incidence of ELN injury in rthe first group was zero while in the second group was 12.5% (5/40). We Also found increase risk of injury to ELN in thyrotoxic patient and it was about 30.7% (4/13). We concluded that nerve stimulation is an effective method for preservation of ELN in thyroid surgery and we recommend its use in every thyroidectomy specially in cases having thyrotoxicosis, thyroiditis, huge goitre and in certain professional groups like teachers, lectureres singers and female patients.


In this work, we introduce a Hierarchical Generative Model (HGM) to enable realistic forward eye image synthesis, as well as effective backward eye gaze estimation. The proposed HGM consists of a hierarchical generative shape model (HGSM), and a conditional bidirectional generative adversarial network (c-BiGAN). The HGSM encodes eye geometry knowledge and relates eye gaze with eye shape, while c-BiGAN leverages on big data and captures the dependency between eye shape and eye appearance. As an intermediate component, eye shape connects knowledge-based model (HGSM) with data-driven model (c-BiGAN) and enables bidirectional inference. Through a top-down inference, the HGM can synthesize eye images consistent with the given eye gaze. Through a bottom-up inference, HGM can infer eye gaze effectively from a given eye image. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations on benchmark datasets demonstrate our model's effectiveness on both eye image synthesis and eye gaze estimation. In addition, the proposed model is not restricted to eye images only. It can be adapted to face images and any shape-appearance related fields.


A visual explanation of networking technologiesWhat you always wanted to know about networking but were afraid to ask! How the Internet works How e-mail, e-learning, and telephony work on the Internet What makes a network safe How traffic gets from here to there Disaster recovery and other ways to keep a network running How businesses share data See the world of Cisco networking with this illustrated guide's visual approach to learning Useful for both novices and networking professionals Covers a broad variety of internetworking topics-from e-mail to VPNsAt last-an illustrated guide to the world of Cisco networking. Cisco Networking Simplified breaks down the complicated world of internetworking into easy-to-understand parts. Learn quickly and easily the fundamentals of a variety of topics, such as security, IP telephony, and quality of service, from the full-color diagrams and clear explanations found in Cisco Networking Simplified.This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, the only authorized publisher for Cisco Systems.


Concerns regarding the acoustic quality of habitats have increased over the past years.
Within the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, this has led to the proposal of
environmental status indicators for underwater noise levels. One indicator, based on 1/3-
octave band levels at 63- and 125-Hz, intends to monitor anthropogenic noise, particularly
from shipping. In this context, ambient noise is defined as the acoustic energy not assignable
to a specific source.

We applied this indicator to passive acoustic underwater recordings from the Southern
Ocean, which represents an environment relatively void of anthropogenic noise. To collect
multi-year passive acoustic data, two autonomous underwater recorders were deployed in
the Weddell Sea at 0°W/E 66°S and 0°W/E 69°S between March 2008 and December 2010.
The analysis of the data revealed three caveats in the current implementation of this
indicator:

1.) Usually, band noise calculations are based on temporal averages over all available
data at the temporal resolution desired. However, this approach will bias towards
transient, single loud and nearby acoustic events rather than representing the typical
ambient noise. We propose to calculate ambient noise levels on the basis of the
quietest 10 s each e.g. 5-min recording.

2.) Ambient noise levels in the 125-Hz band were strongly influenced by biotic sources.
We propose that definitions of noise bands suitable for monitoring of anthropogenic
noise need to be tuned as to avoid region-specific biotic interference.

3.) Our recordings reveal a substantial seasonal variability of ambient noise levels (102-
115 dBrms re 1 μPa, broadband sound pressure level 5th and 95th percentile), even if
selected outside biotic bands, primarily due to sea state and ice cover. This implies
that detecting gradual changes in ambient noise (e.g. the frequently reported 0.3dB/a)
on the basis of annual averages is rather challenging if statistical significance is
required.


Anti-tumor necrosis factor-α (anti-TNF) agents are used to treat different autoimmune conditions. Etanercept and Adalimumab are examples of this class of medications used for the treatment of Psoriasis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a review in 2003 of clinical trials using anti-TNF agents and reported a relative risk (RR) for lymphoma ranging from 2.3 to 6.4. In 2005, a randomized placebo-controlled trial of Etanercept versus placebo in patients with Wegener's Granulomatosis found a statistically significant increase in solid malignancies in the experimental arm. Observational studies, several randomized clinical trials, and the subsequent meta-analysis has emerged with conflicting results. However, the association between anti-TNF therapy and occurrence of concurrent multiple malignancies have not been previously described. We present a case of three synchronous malignancies (diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma involving heart, multiple myeloma, and invasive ductal carcinoma of breast) presenting during the use of anti-TNF agents (Etanercept and Adalimumab) for psoriasis and review current literature focused on the association of this therapeutic modality and malignancies. One must remain cautious about the risk of malignancy with anti-TNF compounds, ensuring age-appropriate cancer screening and considering avoidance in patients with proved or suspected genetic predisposition for cancer.


A cross sectional survey was conducted in a hydroelectric power plant in which the workforce was exposed to large numbers of caddis flies. 28 of 57 employees participated. About 50% of the participants reported work related eye, nose, and sinus symptoms and wheezing. Working in locations with greater exposure to caddis flies was significantly associated with work related symptoms. 17 workers (61%) were skin prick positive to a laboratory prepared caddis fly antigen (LCFA) made from the remains of caddis flies present in the plant and 11 (39%) had positive reactions to a commercial caddis fly antigen (CCFA). Workers stationed in heavily exposed areas were 3.7 times as likely to have a positive response to the LCFA (p = 0.009) and 5.3 times as likely to have a positive response to the CCFA (p = 0.036). 13 (46%) of survey respondents reported three or more work related symptoms. 10 (91%) CCFA positive workers reported three or more work related symptoms. Pulmonary function studies revealed slight, but not significantly decreased forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and FEV1/FVC ratios in workers who were skin test positive to either caddis fly preparation when compared with those who were negative. One worker who was skin test positive to both antigens had a cross shift fall in FEV1 of 20% predicted. Occupational allergy to caddis flies proved to be a significant health problem at this work site.


This article places the 2013 European audience survey in the wider historical context of the ongoing societal appropriation of digital media. To better understand longitudinal changes in the patterns of media use, the article compares the technological, industrial, and cultural factors that, together, shape the observable patterns of media use. Because Internet diffusion does not occur at exactly the same time in all countries, comparisons of audiences across the nine countries of the survey can be interpreted in terms of changes over time. The article, further, reports longitudinal evidence from Belgium, Denmark, and Germany, which sheds additional light on current changes at the country level. Building on these findings, the article finally addresses key challenges for future longitudinal research on media use across cultures.


Peer-to-peer systems are used as the foundation for constructing large-scale distributed query systems. This thesis addresses the loss of accuracy in the query result experienced when nodes fail in a peer-to-peer query network. The existing peer-to-peer based aggregation systems are reviewed, and the algorithms for aggregation query execution are described and analyzed. This analysis of algorithms and properties of data loss is used when methods for increasing accuracy in aggregation queries are proposed. A simulator is constructed to investigate the behavior of the original algorithms and the modified algorithms. The simulations show the effects of node failures and how the various algorithms compare for different aggregation functions. The findings suggest that existing systems using the Hierarchical algorithm should focus on increasing the branching factor instead of replicating the aggregation process, as is suggested in existing litterature. Also, the results show that the aggregation functions react differently to some parameters, suggesting that that the aggregation algorithm should be chosen based on which aggregation functions are involved.


Background: Indigo naturalis (IN) consists of ligands for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and exhibits anti-inflammatory effects. Previously, we demonstrated that an 8-week treatment with oral IN is effective in inducing a clinical response in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). Some UC patients with proctitis are refractory to topical mesalamine or corticosteroids and therefore require an alternative topical treatment. Objectives: We aimed to prospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of IN suppositories in UC patients. Method: We performed an open-label, single-center, prospective pilot study from February 2018 to October 2018. A total of 10 patients with active UC, who had moderate to severe inflammation from the rectum to the sigmoid colon, were enrolled. The patients received a daily dose of 50 mg IN suppository for 4 weeks. The primary endpoint was safety at week 4. Results: Although 1 patient experienced anal pain, no serious adverse events were observed. At week 4, the rates of clinical remission and mucosal healing were 30 and 40%, respectively. Mayo rectal bleeding subscores significantly improved after treatment (1.80 ± 0.13 vs. 0.90 ± 0.28; p = 0.009). Approximately 80% of the patients with a baseline Mayo endoscopic subscore in the rectum (r-MES) of 2 achieved mucosal healing, but those with a baseline r-MES of 3 did not. Conclusions: We found that 4 weeks of IN suppository can be tolerated by UC patients, but its efficacy was limited by the severity of the disease. Further investigation will be needed in order to confirm the optimum dose of IN suppository for patients with UC.


To shed light on regional integration schemes in North America and Europe (and on the alleged trading bloc in East Asia), the authors explore the nature of bilateral trade relationships. Using the gravity model, they conduct an econometric analysis of trade flows between major trading countries. They estimate bilateral trade flow equations using a data set for 45 countries over 12 years and then use those equations to study the contribution of trading blocs to intra-regionnal trade. Past investigators have estimated the gravity equation using data for total trade, pooling data across countries. The authors estimate separate equations for the exports and imports of 22 countries (nine in East Asia, six in Europe, three in North America, two in South America, and one in Oceania). Using 27 countries outside of North America, East Asia, and the founding members of the European Union (EEC) as the control countries, the authors test for each region's openness to trade with outside countries. They conclude that: 1) results based on individual-country equations differ greatly from those obtained from pooled, cross-country equations. In some cases, this difference is qualitative. Not surprisingly, in virtually all cases the cross-country equation masks large differences among countries. The coefficient asscociated with distance, for example, varies between -4.4 and -0.4 across the authors' equations. In almost every case the coefficient is statistically significant at a confidence level of 99 percent or more; 2) If there is an intra-regional bias in trade, it is more in North America and among the founding members of the European Union than in East Asia. Canada, the United States, and all countries of the EEC show an intra-regional bias in both exports and imports. In East Asia, on the other hand, exports in six out of nine countries have a statistically significant bias away from intra-regional markets; 3) There is little support for the hypothesis that East Asian markets are closed to trade with outside countries; and 4) Contrary to conventional wisdom, controlling for other variables, many countries export less to North America than to countries outside the three regions. Similiarly, countries outside the EEC export more to the EEC than to countries in the control group.


Prior research has shown that exogenous shocks to the demand for medical products spur additional product development. These studies do not distinguish between breakthrough products and those that largely duplicate the performance of existing products. In this paper, we use a novel data set to explore the impact of the introduction of Medicare Part D on the development of new biotechnology products. We find that the law spurred development of products targeting illnesses that affect the elderly, but most of this effect is concentrated among products aimed at diseases that already have multiple existing treatments. Moreover, we find no increase in products targeting orphan disease or those receiving either fast track or priority review status from the FDA. This suggests that marginal changes in demand may have little effect on the development of products with large welfare benefits.


The powers of the legislature are defined and limited; and that those limits may not be mistaken or forgotten, the constitution is written. To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing; if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained? --Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison (1803) THE YEAR 2003 will mark the bicentennial year of Marbury v. Madison, one of the most influential opinions of the United States Supreme Court. Authored by Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison affirmed the Court's power of judicial review--its ability to review congressional and executive acts and overturn those it deems unconstitutional. The case also established the federal judiciary's position as a co-equal, independent branch of the federal government. Marbury v. Madison has had a lasting impact on Supreme Court adjudication, serving as a precedent for some of the Court's most famous (Brown v. Board of Education) and infamous (Dred Scott v. Sandford) decisions. It also underlies current debates over "judicial activism" and "judicial restraint." The study of Marbury v. Madison opens numerous perspectives on American political and legal history. The case was at the center of debate between the Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans, offering insight into one of our nation's first great political struggles. The power of judicial review established by Marbury has since defined many of the most significant eras in Supreme Court history--the Civil War, the Lochner-era Court of the early twentieth century, the New Deal, the civil rights movement, and the Court's recent turn toward federalism and states' rights. And the issue of judicial review raises questions central to our understanding of America's constitutional democracy. How is the voice of the people represented in our democracy? What gives the federal judiciary authority to invalidate laws passed by popularly elected representatives, given that federal judges are neither elected nor directly accountable to public opinion? What are the checks on the judiciary's power of judicial review? This article first discusses Marbury v. Madison in its historical context and then offers a sketch of the opinion's legacy. Marbury v. Madison remains a vital part of Supreme Court jurisprudence and continues to shape our understanding of the powers our Constitution grants--and the limitations it places on--the branches of government at both the state and federal levels. In its bicentennial year, as questions about government power are again at the center of national debate, Marbury v. Madison deserves our study and attention more than ever. "A Masterwork of Indirection": Marbury v. Madison in its Political Context Marbury v. Madison has been described as a "masterwork of indirection, a brilliant example of [Chief Justice John] Marshall's capacity to sidestep danger while seeming to court it, to advance in one direction while his opponents are looking in another." (1) As these references to "danger" and "opponents" suggest, Marbury v. Madison was decided in a climate of considerable political risk for the Supreme Court. That the Court managed to emerge from this risk claiming the power of judicial review over congressional and executive actions is remarkable. Marbury v. Madison has its roots in the waning days of John Adams's presidency and his Federalist Party's domination of Congress. Thomas Jefferson and his Republicans had just defeated Adams and the Federalists in the 1800 elections. The 1800 Republican victory has been seen "as a victory for democracy and as the culmination of a period of popular involvement in politics." (2) This emphasis on populism, combined with the actions of the Federalists in their final days of power, set the stage for a battle between Jeffersonian Republicans and Federalists over the federal judiciary. …


Recent biographies of Thomas Jefferson have stressed the sphinxlike puzzles of his character--famous champion of freedom yet lifelong slaveholder, foe of miscegenation yet secret lover of a beautiful slave for 30 years, aristocrat yet fervent advocate of government by the people. E. M. Halliday's absorbing and lucid portrait recognizes these and other puzzles about this great founder, but shows us how understandable they can be in light of his personal and social circumstances. Halliday takes readers deep into Jefferson's private life--exploring his childhood, his literary taste, and his unconventional religious thinking and moral philosophy. Here, too, are his adamant opinions on women, the evolution of his ideas on democracy and freedom of expression, and fresh insights into his relationship with Sally Hemings.


Lignocellulosic biomass, rich in potential carbon sources and value added products, has been intensively investigated in scope of its costefficient and effective decomposition. Many methods were developed, physicochemical or biological. Nevertheless, they are either expensive, inefficient or pose threat to the environment. Recently discovered proteins, lacking any hydrolytic activity, can be a key to solve problems associated with a slow process of enzymatical, eco-friendly degradation. These proteins belong to three related groups – swollenins, expansins and loosenins. Using different molecular mechanisms, they disrupt hydrogen bonds within cellulose chains, enabling enzymes to perform hydrolysis leading to decomposition of lignocellulosic complex.


The happiest doctors in Britain may be found north of the border from now. It's April, Scotland has escaped the stranglehold of the quality outcomes framework (QOF), and Margaret McCartney waves it off (doi:10.1136/bmj.i1763). "What will happen next is a great big uncontrolled experiment, with England versus Scotland." Among some of QOF's more "perverse incentives" McCartney writes, were points for asking whether even patients who had never smoked had started in the past five years—a clumpy question to weave into a consultation. I doubt McCartney is alone in waving good riddance to QOF, but it remains to be seen exactly what will move into the space it vacates. Space, specifically life on Mars, is the stuff of science fiction, but doctors are thinking about how to help humans survive there. In BMJ Careers Sheyna Gifford is interviewed about her three year expedition to Mars, simulated from a volcano in Hawaii (http://careers.bmj.com/careers/advice/Life_on_Mars). That "all the fluids in the body gravitate upwards and the heart assumes a balloon-like configuration" sounds worrying, combined with the expected muscle atrophy and low bone density in low gravity. Gifford, an astrophysicist and expedition doctor, cares for simulation astronauts on the NASA funded Hi-Seas programme, where she says her role has forced her to "get back to the basics of what medicine is really about: looking, listening, feeling, asking, watching and waiting." Watching and describing form the basis of research documenting brain abnormalities in Brazilian babies born with microcephaly in 2015, after presumed infection with Zika virus in utero. It's unusual for The BMJ to publish case series, but we need more data on the association between maternal infection and pregnancy outcomes. These new data from Maria de Fatima Vasco Aragao and colleagues (doi:10.1136/bmj.i1901) appear in The BMJ this week alongside old and partly unpublished data on dietary fat gathered between 1968 and 1973 (doi:10.1136/ bmj.i1246). Does replacement of saturated fat with vegetable oils reduce coronary heart disease and death? Ask Ramsden and colleagues. Residents of US nursing homes and state mental hospitals were randomised to a diet rich in polyunsaturated fat and compared with a control group with a diet high in saturated fat. In an accompanying editorial (doi:10.1136/bmj.i1512) J Lennert Veerman says that the meta-analysis casts doubt on dietary advice to the general population to switch from saturated to polyunsaturated fat. Polyunsaturates reduced the surrogate marker of cholesterol, which Veerman explains was "paramount in decisions about dietary guidelines." But he writes that Ramsden's team found that polyunsaturates "did not reduce mortality: in fact participants in the intervention group had a higher mortality than controls." He awaits further clarification, so watch this space.


We experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional(3D) ghost imaging method based on period diffraction correlation imaging. Compared with conventional ghost imaging, our method can easily retrieve the images of different focal planes. Due to the correlation between the disturbed object beam and the reference beams which do not pass through any scattering, the clear images can be periodically obtained in the uncovered zones even through a scattering medium. The analysis of the 3D imaging resolution reveals that the proper resolution for actual demand can be achieved by designing our devices. The implementation of this experiment is quite simple and low-cost. It facilitates the practical applications of ghost imaging.


The West is in a worsening, eroding position in the struggle against global terrorism. While we have experienced some tactical success and thus far managed to protect the U.S. homeland, the growing tide of radicalization will create an increasingly volatile and dangerous environment. Taking the form of a report card, State of the Struggle assesses the West's progress across a wide array of counterterrorism imperatives. From ethical questions of balancing security and core values to the problems of creating viable counterterrorism coalitions to the likelihood of terrorist use of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons, the report examines a wide swath of issues necessary to create workable counterterrorism strategies. This distinguished group of international terrorist experts, including former congressman Lee Hamilton, explains how the West successfully shut down Afghanistan as a terrorist sanctuary only to face new dangers as that beleaguered nation moves again toward anarchy. The authors explain why Iraq may well become not only a breeding ground for terrorists but a base from which trained operatives will boomerang back to the European continent. The book examines such trends as the rise in suicide terrorism, the effects of al-Qaeda's self-perceived triumph, and the potential for new recruits and new technologies to replenish and advance faster than the West can respond to these challenges. These factors inform the report's predictions about future terrorist threats. The authors call for a new long-term strategy, with all that implies in terms of allocating resources, maintaining public support, and reversing the swell in terrorist ranks. The current emphasis on military action needs to be shifted. The failure to shape viable longterm policy solutions thus far makes for a bleak outlook.


This paper presents a usage analysis and taxonomy of methods which are used to evaluate the usability of computer systems. To accommodate the analysis and taxonomy, a matrix of strategies which can be used for effective usability evaluation is presented. Such an analysis, taxonomy and strategies support human-computer interaction (HCI) professionals who have the responsibility for ensuring computer system usability. The strategies outlined are named Virtual Engineering, Soft Modelling, Hard Review and Real World. This paper also uses a composite set of existing popular generic evaluation methods which can be used as part of these strategies. The methods used are observation, questionnaire, interview, empirical methods, user groups, cognitive walkthroughs, heuristic methods, review methods and model methods. The paper continues by presenting a Usage Analysis Table of these methods and concludes by grouping them into a Taxonomy of Usability Evaluation Methods. A key emphasis of this paper is the appropriateness of individual methods to lifecycle timing.


The use of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), or consumer drones, in agriculture has the potential to revolutionize the way certain farm practices are conducted and the way science, technology, engineering, and math principles can be taught. Currently, there is need for UAS training for both adults and youths, and that need will increase with the expected growth of the UAS industry. This article addresses the need to include UASs in Extension programming, the associated legalities, and the best types of UASs to use in such programming.


In recognition of the central importance of surveillance and epidemiology in the control of antimicrobial resistance and the need to strengthen surveillance at all levels, Wellcome has brought together a new international expert group SEDRIC (Surveillance and Epidemiology of Drug Resistant Infections Consortium). SEDRIC aims to advance and transform the ways of tracking, sharing and analysing rates of infection and antimicrobial resistance, burden of disease, information on antimicrobial use, opportunities for preventative measures such as vaccines, and contamination of the environment. SEDRIC aims to strengthen the availability of information needed to monitor and track risks, including an evaluation of access to, and utility of data generated by pharma and research activities, and will support the translation of surveillance data into interventions, changes in policy and more effective practices. Ways of working will include the provision of independent scientific analysis, advocacy and expert advice to groups, such as the Wellcome Drug Resistant Infection Priority Programme. A priority for SEDRIC's first Working Group is to review mechanisms to strengthen the generation, collection, collation and dissemination of high quality data, together with finding more effective and creative uses of existing data and proxy measures, and linking such approaches to existing in-country capabilities. SEDRIC will also promote the translation of technological innovations into public health solutions.


Examining the role of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in the development of the European Union (EU) and the evolution of the EU treaties, this book focuses on the negotiations of what are termed the eight constitutional IGCs. These eight include the negotiations of the 1950s and 1960s on: 1) the European Coal and Steel Community, 2) the European Defence and Political Community, 3) the European Economic Community and European Atomic Energy Community, and 4) the Fouchet Plan. The book also examines the more recent constitutional IGCs on: 1) the Single European Act, 2) the Maastricht Treaty, 3) the Amsterdam Treaty, and 4) the Nice Treaty. This book challenges the neofunctionalist and liberal intergovernmentalist perspectives that have been used in the past to explain the process of IGCs. The author presents an alternative perspective in the form of an incremental model to explain the nature of negotiations at all eight constitutional IGCs. It is also argued that the increasing frequency of IGC negotiations signifies a gradual institutionalisation of the process to the point where the constitutional IGC is becoming a regular feature on the EU's political landscape. Governments are locked into a process of constitutional IGCs that leaves the primary legal document of the EU in a state of perpetual reform. In turn, it is argued that the incrementalism that defines the IGC negotiations shapes the entire process of European integration and the general nature of the European Union.


The authors used Andersen's (2008) behavior model to investigate patterns of enrollment and treatment engagement among 343 custodial grandmothers who participated in a randomized clinical trial of three psychosocial interventions:(a) a behavioral parenting program, (b) a cognitive behavioral coping program, or (c) an information-only condition. Treatment completion was superior to that typically found with birth parents, even though the grandmothers and their target grandchildren both had high levels of mental and physical health challenges. Compliance did not differ significantly by condition but was higher among grandmothers who self-reported less positive affect, were older, and were using mental health professionals. Treatment satisfaction was highest in grandmothers who attended more treatment sessions, reported lower annual family income, had a health problem, and were using mental health professionals. The practice and policy implications of these findings are discussed, especially in terms of strategies for enhancing the engagement of custodial grandfamilies in future psychoeducational interventions.


The main purpose of this study is to compare and contrast the English-Chinese translated financial terms of Mainland China and Hong Kong in light of the necessary criteria for special communication terminology, and explore the feasibility of standardisation. Some distinctive linguistic properties and translation methods of the two regions' Chinese financial terminology will be illustrated based on data from an industry glossary and major bank annual reports. The present situation is that Mainland China and Hong Kong display both similarities and differences in their Chinese translation of financial terms. With the increasing contact since the 1997 handover, the two regions appear to have been influencing each other, especially in that Mainland China has been adopting Hong Kong's Chinese translations. In view of the fact that some translation scholars and practitioners advocate the standardisation of Chinese financial terminology in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for the sake of better economic development, this paper outlines the main properties of the two regions' terminologies and evaluates how such standardisation might possibly proceed. Limited research has been done with regard to the translation of Chinese financial terminology and this exploratory study will fill that gap and attract similar studies in the translation and terminology fields.


: As countries around the world went into lockdown, we turned to 32 leading scholars working on different aspects of democracy and asked them what they think about how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted democracy. In this article, we synthesize the reflections of these scholars and present five key insights about the prospects and challenges of enacting democracy both during and after the pandemic: (1) COVID-19 has had corrosive effects on already endangered democratic institutions, (2) COVID-19 has revealed alternative possibilities for democratic politics in the state of emergency, (3) COVID-19 has amplified the inequalities and injustices within democracies, (4) COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for institutional infrastructure for prolonged solidarity, and (5) COVID-19 has highlighted the predominance of the nation-state and its limitations. Collectively, these insights open up important normative and practical questions about what democracy should look like in the face of an emergency and what we might expect it to achieve under such circumstances.


In The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area, Guillaume Van der Loo provides the first comprehensive legal analysis of this complex and controversial international agreement.


Pathbreaking and controversial, Darwin and International Relations offers the first comprehensive analysis of international affairs of state through the lens of evolutionary theory. Bradley A. Thayer provides a new method for investigating and explaining human and state behavior while generating insights into the origins of human and animal warfare, ethnic conflict, and the influence of disease on international relations. Using ethnological and statistical studies of warfare among tribal societies, Thayer argues that humans wage war for reasons predicted by evolutionary theory -- to gain and protect vital resources but also for the physically and emotionally stimulating effects of combat. Thayer demonstrates that an evolutionary understanding of disease will become a more important part of the study of international relations as new strains of diseases emerge and advances in genetics make biological warfare a more effective weapon for states and terrorists. He also explains the deep causes of ethnic conflict by illuminating how xenophobia and ethnocentrism evolved in humans. He notes that these behaviors once contributed to our ancestors' success in radically different environments, but they remain a part of us. Darwin and International Relations makes a major contribution to our understanding of human history and the future of international relations.


This paper presents a dynamic associative network model for e-commerce site selection system based on the psycholinguistic theories of human memory; Spreading Activation Network (SAN). The system is designed to give personalized suggestions based on the user's current personal preferences, other user's common preferences, web-link structure, and activation rules. This work employs a SAN as a technique to provide the evaluation and selection mechanism that provides multiple parallel processes for perception by representing dynamic associations among web-links, user activities, and the relevance subjects of the websites. The system attempts to evaluate a number of sites in an unpredictable complex dynamic environment. Spreading activation explains the predictive top-down effect of knowledge. These processes select the group of the most suitable websites (context) in response to the current conditions (e-commerce activities) while the system continues working towards the user objective goal.


Blastocyst biogenesis and cell lineage differentiation into inner cell mass and trophectoderm (TE) are highly regulated processes initiated during cleavage. Cell positioning and contact patterns are well-accepted broad extrinsic factors involved in regulating blastocyst formation; however, subtle changes in the chemical composition of culture media, similarly extrinsic, may exert significant consequences for differentiation. In this study, we have examined whether, when, and how the lack of branched chain amino acids impacts on blastocyst differentiation and TE development. Using superovulated MF1 mice, embryos were flushed at 50 (2 cell) or 75 (8 cell) h after hCG and cultured in mKSOM with 0.6% BSA and amino acids at uterine fluid concentrations (Porter et al. 2003 Pediatr. Res. 53, 46A) with (all) or without (–br) the branched-chain amino acids valine, leucine, and isoleucine. Blastocysts (60 or 36 h after culture onset) were differentially labeled using the TNBS-anti-DNP-complement method with propidium iodide and Hoechst, and cells were counted on z-series with overlays using Metamorph software. For outgrowths, blastocysts developed with all aa or –br from 8 cells for 36 h were placed into KSOM supplemented with 10% FCS and either all aa or –br and cultured for an additional 120 h, scored daily, and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole nuclei counts were made at 120 h. Lack of branched amino acids from the 2-cell stage onwards caused a significant increase in total blastocyst cells with predominantly higher TE numbers, whereas, when exposed to –br from the 8 cell stage onwards, the outcome was reversed (ANOVA; Table 1). Upon outgrowth, prior amino acid composition was relatively less influential in determining spreading pattern and rate over time compared to outgrowth amino acid conditions (ANOVA; Table 1). Our data indicate that lineage development in the blastocyst is sensitive to small changes in free amino acids available and responds differently according to exposure time and duration. Subsequent development predominantly depends upon outgrowth conditions, irrespective of earlier experiences, suggesting that a similar capability for adaptive changes in response to different outgrowth media is maintained. These findings may help understand developmental plasticity and consider dynamic and potential longer-term responses to minor culture changes. Table 1. Blastocyst differentiation and outgrowth Funding by DOHaD, Gerald Kerkut Trust, and NIH are gratefully acknowledged.


Carole H. Thornton Recruiting Minority Teachers; A Guide for Vocational School Administrators 2000 Advisor: Dr. Don Bagin Educational Public Relations The purpose of this study was to determine the severity of the minority teacher shortage in New Jersey's vocational schools and identify steps to be taken by administrators to attract and retain minority teachers. A written survey was mailed to all 21 New Jersey county vocational school superintendents. Twelve surveys were returned. The results of the study validate the need to hire more minority teachers to teach in our culturally diverse classrooms. Many vocational schools in the state reported difficulty in attracting minority candidates; however, weak or indifferent recruitment practices are partly to blame for the problem. Other causes of the minority teacher shortage have been cited. While many reasons have been identified as contributing to the critical lag, recruitment practices have not kept pace with the rest of society's advancement. The study addressed many factors leading up to the shortage of minority teachers, including affirmative action, and barriers for minorities. In addition, research confirms that minority students need role models and advocates; Minority teachers often inspire minority students to become educated and improve their socioeconomic status. By making a true commitment and utilizing public relations, districts can successfully recruit talented and qualified minority candidates. Public relations is key to increasing the minority candidate pool and reversing this problematic trend.


Currently, research in chemical manufacturing moves towards flexible plug-and-play approaches focusing on modular plants, capable of producing small scales on-demand with short down-times between individual campaigns. This approach allows for efficient use of hardware, a faster optimization of the process conditions, and thus, an accelerated introduction of new products to the market. Driven mostly by the search for chemical syntheses under biocompatible conditions, so-called "click" chemistry rapidly became a growing field of research. The resulting simple one-pot reactions are so far only scarcely accompanied by an adequate optimization via comparably straightforward and robust analysis techniques. Here we report on a fast and reliable calibration-free online high field NMR monitoring approach for technical mixtures. It combines a versatile fluidic system, continuous-flow measurement with a time interval of 20 s per spectrum, and a robust, automated algorithm to interpret the obtained data. All spectra were acquired using a 500 MHz NMR spectrometer (Varian) with a dual band flow probe having a 1/16-inch polymer tubing working as a flow cell. Single scan 1H NMR spectra were recorded with an acquisition time of 5 s, relaxation delay of 15 s. As a proof-of-concept, the thiol-ene coupling between N-boc cysteine methyl ester and allyl alcohol was conducted in non-deuterated solvents while its time-resolved behaviour was characterised with step tracer experiments. Through the application of spectral modeling the signal area for each reactant can be deconvoluted in the online spectra and thus converted to the respective concentrations or molar ratios. The signals which were suitable for direct integration were used herein for comparison purposes of both methods.


Past research has often conceptualized stress from a deficit-oriented approach. This approach is unbalanced, often associating stress with negative events and outcomes. The current study examined stress from the Transactional Model, and proposed alternative ways to conceptualize stress. In addition, both psychosocial and physiological stressors were utilized to induce stress. Study aims were threefold: (1) to examine beliefs about stress and effects of framing on changes to perceptions of stress, (2) to examine the comparative effects of two different stress-induction methods, and (3) to explore the interactive effects of framing and stress-induction on subjective perceptions of stress and measures of stress reactivity. Results confirmed a deficit-orientation of stress within the sampled population. Comparative effects of both stressors highlighted differential stress responses based on task demands and appraisal. Finally, interactive effects of framing and stress-induction provided support for alternative conceptualizations of stress in adaptive coping.


Research has shown the educational benefits of using the video game Minecraft in areas such as sciences and educational purposes as a teaching tool to transfer knowledge. Most studies, however, address the issue from an external perspective, rather than a student-centred perspective by evaluation from the researchers' or teachers' perspectives. This leads to a gap of data from the participants' perspective and its usage in education. Those studies discuss how Minecraft is used as a simple teaching tool by filling it with content. Likewise, little research has studied in detail about the pedagogical designs of the virtual learning environments, or the design of the content within the game. This study aims at examining how the chosen content design and playability of the online learning environments influence the formal and informal learning outcome of a student in Minecraft. It looks at challenges faced by teachers and students by using those designs as a tool for transferring knowledge and how those challenges are dealt with during the study. In addition, the "Steinbeiß-Ruotsalainen Model for Formal, Non-Formal and Informal Learning with Minecraft" will be introduced and validated. In order to do so, a design-based research project was carried out, including six face-to-face interventions. 16 students participated in those interventions and had the opportunity to access to the online content 24 hours a day over a time period of three months. The presented data was collected through observations, video data, interviews and a survey. Based on the results of the study, the research showed that gamified designed learning environments in Minecraft benefit informal and formal learning experiences. It was observed that the designed reward-based learning environments can function as a motivational tool during the formal and informal learning phases. The introduced "teacher as an online facilitator" can support the learning outcome during formal and informal learning phases in Minecraft. It was concluded that spatially divided designs for learning environments can benefit formal learning, and that designing a learning environment by simply providing content can benefit informal learning. Designs facilitating an online society in Minecraft can create opportunities to establish social connections, and self-regulated learning benefits the learning outcome. It was observed that children need time to adapt to newly designed learning environments in Minecraft, and those with previous gaming experience do not necessarily benefit more than others. Clear rules on the Minecraft-server are needed to be implemented in order to maintain a successful learning environment. By linking theory and research results it was concluded that the "Steinbeiß-Ruotsalainen Model" can be used as a cornerstone for designing educational content in the game and for further research attempts in Minecraft based on design-based research.


Background: Financial incentives are effective in moderating physician and patient behaviour, but they have not been studied in the context of medical education. Aim: This study assessed whether financial incentives can motivate students to acquire electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation skills. Methods: Students enrolled for a cardio-respiratory teaching module (n = 121) were randomised to an intervention (financial incentive) or a control (book voucher raffle) condition. All students took three validated exams of ECG interpretation skills (at module entry, module exit and seven weeks later). Only the exit exam was financially incentivised in the intervention group. The primary outcome was the proportion of students who correctly identified ≥60% of clinically important diagnoses in the exit exam. Results: Financial incentives more than doubled the odds of correctly identifying ≥60% of diagnoses in the exit exam (adjusted odds ratio 2.44, 95% confidence interval 1.05–5.67) and significantly increased student learning time. However, there was no significant effect on performance levels in the retention exam. Conclusions: Financial incentives increase reported learning time and examination results in the short-term. The lack of a sustained effect on performance suggests that financial incentives may foster a superficial or strategic rather than a deep approach to learning.


This paper discusses the conceptual and methodological challenges to co-developing high-quality and transferable knowledge to understand and manage harmful algal bloom (HAB) risks as part of adaptation to changing aquatic ecosystems in Europe. Global HAB-climate change research efforts to date have focused on enhancing the credibility of scientific knowledge by conducting basic scientific research aimed at understanding the physical and biogeochemical drivers and mechanisms shaping HAB dynamics in order to predict their occurrence and prevent their societal and ecological impacts. However, the rapid and interconnected changes occurring in marine ecosystems worldwide necessitate a simultaneous shift toward enhancing the salience, legitimacy, usefulness, and usability of this knowledge for decision-making. To address this need, we present and discuss empirical findings from the marine-focused CoCliME project, which set out to co-develop user-oriented climate services to support HAB risk mitigation and adaptation in European coastal regions. We present lessons learned in relation to four areas of project implementation, across five regional cases, that emerged as essential for enhancing the quality of knowledge for managing HAB-climate risks: (1) Engaging stakeholders to understand their knowledge, experiences, interests and concerns; (2) Co-developing a shared terminology and framing of the "HAB-related problems"; (3) Advancing scientific understanding of drivers and interactions shaping HAB-climate risks and; (4) Co-producing prototype services that integrate social and HAB-climate data and knowledge to support decision-making. We find that efforts to reduce scientific knowledge gaps and uncertainties about HAB-climate linkages (efforts to enhance credibility), while important, risk overlooking key aspects of knowledge co-production and application that are necessary to render this knowledge more salient, legitimate, useful, and usable. Understanding the multi-risk decision-making context within which societal stakeholders appraise HAB and climate change risks and approaching knowledge co-production as a learning process, are vital lessons learned in this respect. Drawing on project learning, we highlight key priorities for enhancing the societal relevance and impact of HABs-climate research during the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.


This paper considers the spectrum sharing network consisting of a pair of primary users (PUs) and a pair of cognitive users (CRs) in a fading channel. The pair of PUs establishes a wireless link as the PU link. The pair of CRs establishes a wireless link as the CR link. The PU link and CR link utilize spectrum simultaneously with different priorities. The PU link has a higher priority to utilize spectrum with respect to the CR link. When the PU link utilizes spectrum, a desired quality of service (QoS) is given to be assured and the CR utilizes spectrum with an opportunistic power scale under this constraint, assuring the desired QoS on the PU link. To compute an optimal opportunistic power scale for the CR link, a fuzzy-based opportunistic power control strategy is proposed based on the Mamdani fuzzy control model using two input variables: the PU's SNR and PU's interference channel gain. By the proposed fuzzy-based power control strategy, the desired QoS could be assured on the PU link and the bit error rate (BER) is also reduced compared with the spectrum sharing network without power control strategy.


To conceal user identities, Tor, a popular anonymity system, forwards traffic through multiple relays. These relays, however, are often unreliable, leading to a degraded user experience. Worse yet, malicious relays may strategically introduce deliberate failures to increase their chance of compromising anonymity. In this paper we propose a reputation system that profiles the reliability of relays in an anonymity system based on users' past experience. A particular challenge is that an observed failure in an anonymous communication cannot be uniquely attributed to a single relay. This enables an attack where malicious relays can target a set of honest relays in order to drive down their reputation. Our system defends against this attack in two ways. Firstly, we use an adaptive exponentially-weighted moving average (EWMA) that ensures malicious relays adopting time-varying strategic behavior obtain low reputation scores over time. Secondly, we propose a filtering scheme based on the evaluated reputation score that can effectively discard relays involved in such attacks. We use probabilistic analysis, simulations, and real-world experiments to validate our reputation system. We show that the dominant strategy for an attacker is to not perform deliberate failures, but rather maintain a high quality of service. Our reputation system also significantly improves the reliability of path construction even in the absence of attacks. Finally, we show that the benefits of our reputation system can be realized with a moderate number of observations, making it feasible for individual clients to perform their own profiling, rather than relying on an external entity.


Focusing on two of the most influential figures in the Pre-Raphaelite movement, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Morris, this book explores new ways of considering art and literature together. Elizabeth Helsinger traces the unusually close relationship between the poetry and poetics of two poet-artists and their contemporary practice of visual art and design. Her study focuses on innovations encouraged by the interaction between the arts to reassess the importance of Pre-Raphaelitism in literary as well as art history. Using the concept of "translation" from one medium to another, Helsinger develops compelling analyses of particular works and of the shared concerns of Rossetti and Morris. She connects their aesthetic and social experiments to projects undertaken by others, and she demonstrates the impact of Pre-Raphaelite strategies on later poets and poetic theorists. Lively and illuminating, this book both offers and studies the pleasures of reading and viewing attentively.


The history of transfusion medicine took a turn after the discovery of blood types and blood storage possibilities at the beginning of the 20th century. Although complications as a result of blood product transfusions have since dramatically decreased, minor to fatal complications still exist and give reason to limit administration in situations where possible risks outweigh the benefits. New guidelines have been published in order to reduce the number of unnecessary blood product transfusions. Unfortunately past papers show that the new guidelines are not yet fully implemented. In Switzerland no recent study has been published in regards to the administration of blood products. Therefore the goal of our retrospective study is to calculate the trend and evaluate the practice of transfusion medicine at the University Hospital of Zurich in the department of Obstetrics.
Women who gave birth and received at least one red blood cell, platelet or fresh frozen plasma (FFP) transfusion where selected from the department's database. Complete information was found for 241 cases from January 1996 to February 2007. Information was collected from the department's computer programs, completed and compared with archive data. Data was collected in regards to: demographics, type of delivery, blood loss, number and type of transfusions received, hematological lab values, patient complications, complications during and after labor, and type of anemia treatment.
Although we expected to see a decreasing trend in red blood cell transfusions, our results show an increasing percentage of patients receiving blood transfusions after the year 2004. Furthermore, our data shows a number of FFP, platelet and red blood cell (RBC) transfusions being administered inappropriately with discrepancies in data administration. Educational outreach and quality assurance checks are options, which could help improve the acknowledgment, understanding and administration of the practice of blood product transfusion in our clinic.


Nepal in recent times has witnessed a proliferation of community-based organization (CBOs). Established by local residents, CBOs are small level organizations that promote and defend the rights and interests of people especially that of minorities and the disadvantaged. One such minority group that CBOs greatly focus on are women. Despite dramatic increase in the number of CBOs in Nepal its impact on women is understudied. The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the relationship between Nepalese women's participation in CBOs and their autonomy. Autonomy comprises of four different dimensions; physical mobility, financial autonomy, household decision-making, and reproductive autonomy. Modifying the conceptual framework used by Mahmud, Shah, and Becker in 2012, I hypothesize that women who participate in CBOs experience greater autonomy. Data from the 2008 Chitwan Valley Family Study is used for analysis. Using SPSS, separate logistic regressions are run to analyze the relationship between CBO membership and the dimensions of autonomy. The results support three of the four proposed major hypotheses. Nepalese women who participate in CBOs have greater autonomy in terms of physical mobility, financial autonomy, and household decision-making. No evidence was found to establish link between CBO membership and reproductive autonomy. The variables that are controlled for in the study include age, caste, religion, education, marital status, exposure to television, exposure to radio, and relationship with one's mother-in-law.


Abstract: Parental provisioning of offspring should reflect selection on life-history aspects of parenting and on foraging behavior. Life history and foraging theory generally make predictions about mean behavior, but some circumstances might favor changes in the variance of parent and offspring behaviors. We analyzed data on free-living pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) experiencing a brood size manipulation. We used double-hierarchical generalized linear models to investigate patterns in means and variances of provisioning, brood begging, and parental mass. As predicted by lifehistory theory, parents with enlarged broods of intensely begging nestlings fed at higher rates and delivered more food per unit of time. They also delivered food at a more consistent rate. This contradicts the prediction from variance-sensitive foraging theory that parents facing increased brood demand should choose more variable foraging options. Indirect evidence suggests that reduced variance in trip time arose from shifts in parental time budgets. Exploratory analyses revealed patterns in residual variance of both nestling begging and parental mass changes, with enlarged broods begging less consistently and female body mass changes being more variable after longer foraging trips. We show that parent pied flycatchers simultaneously adjust means and variances in multiple aspects of their provisioning effort to changes in brood demand and that these responses might be linked with nestling begging and changes in parental body mass. Our study highlights both the importance of adopting sophisticated statistical approaches and the potential intersection of two bodies of theory that may affect strategic adjustments of individuals engaged in central-place provisioning.


Problem definition: Online retailers disclose product availability to influence customer decisions as a form of pressure selling designed to compel customers to rush into a purchase. Can the revelation of this information drive sales and profitability? We study the effect of disclosing product availability on market outcomes—product sales and returns—and identify the contexts where this effect is most powerful. Academic/practical relevance: Increasing sell-out is key for online retailers to remain profitable in the presence of thin margins and complex operations. We provide insights into how their information-disclosure policy—something they can tailor at virtually no cost—can contribute to this important objective. Methodology: We collaborate with an online retailer to procure a year of transaction data on 190,696 products that span 1,290 brands and 472,980 customers. To causally identify our results, we use a generalized difference-in-differences design with matching that exploits one policy of the firm: it discloses product availability only for the last five units. Results: The disclosure of low product availability increases hourly sales—they grow by 13.6%—but these products are more likely to be returned—product return rates increase by 17.0%. Because returns are costly, we also study net sales—product hourly sales minus hourly returns—which increase by 12.5% after the retailer reveals low availability. Managerial implications: The positive effects on sales and profitability amplify over wide assortments and when low-availability signals are abundantly visible and disclosed for deeply discounted products whose sales season is about to end. In addition, we propose a data-driven policy that exploits these results by using machine learning to prescribe the timing of disclosure of scarcity signals in order to boost sales without spiking returns.


This Article compares the results from a survey administered to payday loan borrowers at the time of their loans to subsequent borrowing and repayment behavior. It thus presents the first direct evidence of the accuracy of payday loan borrowers' understanding of how the product will be used. The data show, among other things, that about 60 percent of borrowers accurately predict how long it will take them finally to repay their payday loans. The evidence directly contradicts the oft-stated view that substantially all extended use of payday loans is the product of lender misrepresentation or borrower self-deception about how the product will be used. It thus has direct implications for the proper scope of effective regulation of the product, a topic of active concern for state and federal regulators.


ABSTRACT This work investigates the usage of compliant universal grippers as a novel foot design for legged locomotion. The method of jamming of granular media in the universal grippers is characterized by having two distinct states: a soft, fluid-like state which in locomotion can be used to damp impact forces and enable passive shape adaptation especially on rough terrain, and a hard, solid-like state that is more suited to transmit propulsion forces. We propose a system that actively uses and switches between both states of a foot design based on granular jamming and detail the implementation on a quadruped robotic platform. The mechanism is inspired by the stiffness varying function of the tarsal bones in a human foot, and our aim is to understand how the change of foot stiffness can be used to improve the locomotion performance of legged robots. Using the same open loop trot gait in all experiments, it is shown that a fast state transition enables the robot to profit from both states, leading to more uniform foot placement patterns also on rough terrain compared to other tested feet. This results in overall faster gaits and even enables the robot to climb steeper inclined surfaces. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Na + accumulation in the leaf apoplast has been suggested to lead to dehydration, later wilting and finally, the death of the affected leaves. Our aim has been to evaluate whether the reduction in the plant growth of sensitive maize in response to salinity is correlated with higher amounts of Na + and Cl ) concentrations in the leaf apoplast. Subcellular ion patterns in intact leaves were investigated by using deionised water infiltration. We found an increase in soluble Na + and Cl ) concentrations of about 16- and 4-fold, respectively, compared with the control. These concentrations characterized the apoplasts of expanding leaves that had entirely developed under salinity. Interestingly, the K + concentration was significantly reduced by 64 % compared with its control in the symplast under salinity. Our finding of a significantly decreased Ca 2+ concentration in shoots suggested a possible association of Ca 2+ concentration with the reduction in leaf expansion under salinity. As the absolute increase in the apoplastic Na + concentration during salt treatment was much lower compared with the increase in the symplastic Na + concentration, salt treatment in maize appears not to result in osmotic stress imposed by a high apoplastic Na + concentration as has been suggested for other plant species (Oertli hypothesis).


In Myanmar, the idea of 'indigeneity' has been mobilised in two radically different ways. Ethnonationalist groups such as the Chin National Front and the Karen National Union have utilised the concept to lobby for increased autonomy in international forums such as the United Nations, while the Burmese state has used the idea of indigeneity (or native-ness, typically translated as taingyinthar in Burmese) to exclude certain minorities — most prominently the Rohingya — by explicitly striking them from the official list of Myanmar's 'national races'. To clarify how this definitional tension has developed, this article will situate the competing Burmese appeals to indigeneity within the history of international indigeneity politics, and compare the Burmese 'Indigenous situation' to other Asian countries that have addressed the question of who counts and does not count as Indigenous.


The impacts of water shortages on Egypt9s agriculture continues to receive widespread attention. Several mitigation schemes have been proposed to reduce the potential economic impact of supply reductions of the Nile9s waters into Egypt. This paper examines the economic consequences for the Egyptian agricultural economy of application of limited water markets to mitigate the impacts of potential water supply shortages. We address this aim by assembling detailed data on farm budgets, hydrology, institutions and culture in order to develop an integrated catchment framework for analyzing Egypt9s use of the Nile. The results of our policy analysis illustrate that a limited form of water trading is one institutionally flexible measure that can mitigate the impacts of water shortages. When water supplies flowing into Egypt are reduced by 10 and 20% per year, adopting limited water trading reduces national farm income losses by 32 and 33% per year, respectively, compared to income losses borne without trading. So water trading grows in importance as a measure to sustain farm income in the face of more severe water shortages. Our findings provide insight for Egyptian policymakers to enable examination of options to mitigate the economic impacts of water supply shortages resulting from drought, climate change, or renegotiated arrangements for sharing the Nile9s waters.


This research guide includes resources to help you complete the HEA-110 Globalized Presentation on College Students and Health for Coutouzis.


Tight regulation of gene expression is essential for early development. Brzostowski et al. describe a mechanism by which the activity of the maternally derived CCAAT box transcription factor (CBTF) can be controlled. CBTF activity is controlled in part by its subcellular localization: the protein is cytoplasmic before fertilization and translocates to the nucleus at the gastrula stage. Two isoforms of CBTF subunits, each of which has two consensus double-stranded RNA binding domains (dsRBD), were found in a complex with nontranslating messenger ribonucleoproteins in pre-gastrula stage Xenopus embryos. Mutation of the dsRBDs inhibited dsRNA binding in vitro, and when the mutated proteins were expressed in embryos, they exhibited premature nuclear accumulation. Injection of the oocytes with RNase led to nuclear accumulation of CBTF, confirming that RNA acts as a cytoplasmic anchor for CBTF before degradation of the maternal mRNA. Brzostowski, J., Robinson, C., Orford, R., Elgar, S., Scarlett, G., Peterkin, T., Malartre, M., Kneale, G., Wormington, M., and Guille, M. (2000) RNA-dependent cytoplasmic anchoring of a transcription factor subunit during Xenopus development. EMBO J. 19: 3683-3693. [Full Text] [Abstract]


In next generation wireless communication, mobile terminals will face mass data services. Thus, succinct signal processing in mobile terminals is needed to economize power, while high spectral efficiency and wireless data network reliability should be guaranteed at the same time. In this paper, we present a dynamic detector for the uplink of a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system in wireless communication. This scheme is based on succinct space-time coding by using some special random interleavers at the mobile terminal transmitter, while the base station receiver uses dynamic programming to detect the transmitted modulated symbols. Simulation results show the superiority of the proposed space-time (ST) code detector over the Alamouti code detector in some scenarios.