America is currently facing a major crisis with prison overcrowding and operating costs that exceed the annual budget. In the 1980s, the federal government began a "war on drugs" and Congress passed a number of drug statutes that carried mandatory minimum penalties for offenders. Since then, the federal prison population began to grow exponentially and has now reached a practically unsustainable level. The marginal changes made thus far are simply not enough to address the problem. Since 1984, the federal sentencing system has struggled to efficiently and effectively balance mandatory minimum sentences with the sentencing guidelines. Mandatory minimum sentences should be abolished, and all authority transferred to the Sentencing Commission. The Commission needs to comprehensively reevaluate and reformulate all sentencing guidelines free from the control of the mandatory sentences. Nevertheless, a complete reform of the sentencing system will take quite some time and more immediate relief is necessary. In the interest of alleviating the strain of the prison population and its costs, the Commission and Congress need to first eliminate the mandatory sentences for drug offenses and begin developing alternatives to incarceration for those whose offenses do not warrant imprisonment or who are in need of treatment. The Comment discusses the federal sentencing system and how mandatory minimum sentences spurred by the "war on drugs" have created a culture of incarceration that cannot be sustained by prison facilities or budgets. The sentencing system needs comprehensive reform that eradicates mandatory minimums and values treatment as well as punishment.


Direct methods have been devised for calibrating the quantum efficiencies of two x-ray detectors: a Siemens flow-proportional counter in the energy range 2.6 to 11.2 keV, and a General Electric SPG 5 scintillation counter in the range 5.9 to 50.4 keV. Literature values for x-ray attenuation coefficients of detector components are used only to estimate small corrections for x-ray scattering. The largest known errors in the measurements are statistical errors in photon counting and range from 0.03 to 0.23%. In the energy range 5.9 to 11.2 keV, efficiencies of a lithium-drifted silicon detector measured by comparison with the two calibrated detectors as references agree satisfactorily. Linear attenuation coefficients have been measured for argon, methane and P-10 gas (90% Ar; 10% CH4) in the energy range 2 to 12 keV; these can be used to calculate the efficiency of any flow-proportional counter of known geometry when used with counter gas consisting of a known mixture of argon and methane.


The depth of the 2006–9 drought in the humid, southeastern US left several metropolitan areas with only a 60–120 day water supply. To put the region's recent drought variability in a long-term perspective, a dense and diverse tree-ring network—including the first records throughout the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint river basin—is used to reconstruct drought from 1665 to 2010 CE. The network accounts for up to 58.1% of the annual variance in warm-season drought during the 20th century and captures wet eras during the middle to late 20th century. The reconstruction shows that the recent droughts are not unprecedented over the last 346 years. Indeed, droughts of extended duration occurred more frequently between 1696 and 1820. Our results indicate that the era in which local and state water supply decisions were developed and the period of instrumental data upon which it is based are amongst the wettest since at least 1665. Given continued growth and subsequent industrial, agricultural and metropolitan demand throughout the southeast, insights from paleohydroclimate records suggest that the threat of water-related conflict in the region has potential to grow more intense in the decades to come.


Localized mobility management is a well-understood concept in the
IETF, with a number of solutions already available. This document
looks at the principal shortcomings of the existing solutions, all of
which involve the host in mobility management, and makes a case for
network-based local mobility management. This memo provides
information for the Internet community.


Andrew Pithouse and Anne Crowley outline key findings and themes arising from an All Wales survey of local authority placements commissioned by the National Assembly for Wales. Their paper highlights the number and key characteristics of looked after children and the placements they occupied on a 'census date' in early 2000. The authors go on to discuss the ways in which needs and outcomes are typically understood by providers and comment on the pressing problems they face in this area. Finally they identify the main challenges to the looked after system in providing quality placements and comment upon the strategic issues ahead for local authorities.


Eelgrass Zostera marina provides refuge to numerous fish species but is vulnerable to fragmentation through natural and anthropogenic disturbance. In Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland, eelgrass patch size was altered to measure changes in predation risk in Age-0 juvenile cod, Gadus morhua. Artificial eelgrass mats of 5 sizes (0.32, 1.1, 5.5, 11 and 22 m2) were deployed in duplicate at each of 2 sites in Newman Sound in Terra Nova National Park during summer/autumn in 1999 and 2000. Predator distribution was determined using a combination of weekly underwater transect surveys and biweekly seining. Relative predation rates were measured by tethering Age-0 cod at the center of each patch and recording the incidence of predation (n = 1116 tether sets). Predation rates were negatively correlated with patch size during both years, suggesting that larger patches reduce predator foraging ability. However, high predator densities in the largest eelgrass patch resulted in higher than expected rates of predation. Therefore, habitat dimension affected predation risk in juvenile cod via 2 opposing mechanisms. Our results stress the importance of considering both habitat areal extent and predator distribution when estimating the effects of habitat fragmentation on predation rates.


Recently the physical properties of the surface and the interface of polymeric materials are analyzed by several experimental methods in a few nanometer scales. On the other hand, the analysis is also needed from the point of view of polymer chain. Our group studied the phenomena of polymer materials in the point of view of polymer chain dynamics using the coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. In this review, we show two topics listed below; the local glass transition temperature at the surface and interface, and the polymer chain dynamics at the friction force microscopy using atomic force microscopy. In the first topics, we studied the local dynamics of polymer chains. The surface and interfacial glass transition temperatures which are also estimated by the experiments are measured by the mean square displacement analysis. In the second topics, we study the model simulation of the friction force to the polymer surface by probe tip in atomic force microscopy. In the series of simulation, we can observe the chain withdrawing and it is one of the important origin of the friction.


Abstract. The accumulation of evidences of the effects of intensive agricultural practices against wildlife fauna and flora, and biodiversity in general, has been largely published in scientific papers (Tildman, 1999). However, data serving as sup-port to their conclusions are often kept hidden behind research institutions. This paper presents a data visualization sys-tem opened on the Web allowing citizens to get a comprehensive access to data issued from such kind of research institution, collected for more than 20 years. The Web Information System has been thought in order to ease the comparison of data issues from various databases describing the same object, the agricultural landscape, at different scales and through different observation devices. An interactive visualization is proposed in order to check co-evolution of fauna and flora together with agricultural practices. It mixes aerial orthoimagery produced since 1950 with vectorial data showing the evolutions of agricultural parcels with those of a few sentinel species such as the Montagu's harrier. This is made through a composition of maps, charts and time lines, and specific tools for comparison. A particular concern is given to the observation effort bias in order to show meaningful statistical aggregates.


Abstract. Accurate Earth system model simulations of the terrestrial carbon cycle and its feedbacks to climate critically depend on algorithms representing the decomposition of litter and soil organic matter. Litter bag studies, in which specific types of plant litter are subject to varying environmental conditions in the field and decomposition is measured, serve as valuable benchmarks for model performance. Here we test the Energy Exascale Earth System land model (ELM), which has two different structural representations of decomposition, using observations from the Long-term Intersite Decomposition Experiment (LIDET) over six different biomes and six different leaf litter types. We find that seasonal patterns in soil conditions and nutrient availability have large effects on decomposition rates, and that it is critical to include this in the simulation design. Despite widely differing base decomposition rates between the two different model structures, the models produce similar temporal patterns of decomposition when nitrogen is limiting. Both models overpredict the fraction of original nitrogen present as a function of carbon remaining when using default parameterizations. A parameter sensitivity analysis indicates strong dependence of model outputs on nitrogen limitation, carbon use efficiency and decomposition rates. A large spread in model predictions when considering an ensemble of possible parameter combinations strongly suggests parameter uncertainty may be more influential than model structural uncertainty, and that new measurement and modelling approaches may be necessary to constrain these uncertainties.


" Singing the Chaos: Madness and Wisdom in Modern Poetry" combines both a historical and a critical approach toward the works of major British, American, French, German, and Russian poets. Comprehensive in scope and arranged chronologically to survey a century of high poetic achievement, the study is unified by Pratt's overriding argument that "modern poets have endowed a disintegrating civilization with humane wisdom by 'singing the chaos' that surrounds them, making ours a great age in spite of itself." In developing this central theme, Pratt brings alive the energy, the freshness, and the originality of technique that made Baudelaire, Pound, Yeats, Rilke, Eliot, and others the initiators of the revolution in poetry. He brings a more complete, clearer perspective to other major themes: modernism as an age of irony; poets as both madmen and geniuses; the modern poet as tragic hero; the dominance of religious or visionary truths over social or political issues; and the combination of radical experiments in poetic form with an apocalyptic view of Western civilization. His detailed treatment of the Fugitive poets and his recognition of their prominent role in twentieth-century literature constitute an important historical revision.Brilliantly informed, insightful, and, above all, accurately sympathetic to the points of view of the poets Pratt presents, "Singing the Chaos" is that rare book that belongs on all shelves devoted to modernist poetry.


Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG). A Pilot Study
Background: When obesity is associated to tobacco smoking which is now by far the largest preventable cause of death in the industrialized world, pulmonary damages seem to be majored. So what is the most effective way to follow up patients with overlap syndrome? Methods: It is a case report of a patient treated for an OSAS but without an improvement. So for his resistant dyspnoea respiratory functional tests with a six minute walking test (6-WT) were indicated. A COPD was diagnosed and treated. The patient was followed by a medical questionnaire, measuring his respiratory function and a 6-WT. Results: The medical questionnaire and the pulmonary function don't show a significant improvement, but a significant improvement in the walking distance at the 6-WT is noted. Conclusion: 6-WT can be considered as an objective and useful test for monitoring patients with an "overlap syndrome".


Problem Statement The MRI machines at Radiology Associates are limiting the company's ability to expand and compete within the local market. After discussing with technicians and managers at Radiology Associates, we decided to focus on hardware and software upgrades for the MRI machines. With 2 of the 3 locations purchasing new machines in the near future, our focus was on upgrades at the Santa Maria facility. The two machines at this location needed hardware and/or software upgrades to remain on par competitively both within the company and with local scanning options. Flexible coils are beneficial in terms of size, weight, and both patient/technician experience. They are significantly lighter and smaller than their traditional, out-of-box counterparts. The flexible nature also allows for increased patient comfort and, potentially, image quality. Rejection rates may decrease as well. Several economic models were created to give decision makers of Radiology Associates options: rent, purchase, rent + purchase, etc. Based on this, we recommend renting the set of flexible coils for 1 year, then purchasing. This option provides the highest rate of returns taking into account learning curve and adjustment periods. The software upgrades that are proposed include cardiac imaging and blood sensitive imaging of the brain. Cardiac imaging would be a new exam type since this type of imaging is not currently offered. Both machines in Santa Maria are capable of cardiac imaging with the proposed upgrades. The blood sensitive imaging is available for the Hitachi Oasis and would help diagnose PTSD, brain hemorrhaging and strokes.


Since the 1980s, Taiwan has been subjected to heavy foreign and global influences, leading to a marked erosion of its traditional cultural forms. Indigenous traditions have had to struggle to hold their own and to strike out into new territory, adopt or adapt to Western models. For most theatres in Taiwan, Shakespeare has inevitably served as a model to be imitated and a touchstone of quality. Such Taiwanese Shakespeare performances prove to be much more than merely a combination of Shakespeare and Taiwan, constituting a new fusion which shows Taiwan as hospitable to foreign influences and unafraid to modify them for its own purposes. Nonetheless, Shakespeare performances in contemporary Taiwan are not only a demonstration of hybridity of Westernisation but also Sinification influences. Since the 1945 Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, or KMT) takeover of Taiwan, the KMT's one-party state has established Chinese identity over a Taiwan identity by imposing cultural assimilation through such practices as the Mandarin-only policy during the Chinese Cultural Renaissance in Taiwan. Both Taiwan and Mainland China are on the margin of a "metropolitan bank of Shakespeare knowledge" (Orkin, 2005, p. 1), but it is this negotiation of identity that makes the Taiwanese interpretation of Shakespeare much different from that of a Mainlanders' approach, while they share certain commonalities that inextricably link them. This study thus examines the interrelation between Taiwan and Mainland China operatic cultural forms and how negotiation of their different identities constitutes a singular different Taiwanese Shakespeare from Chinese Shakespeare. In recognising this, the core of this thesis rests on how Shakespeare plays speak insightfully to Taiwan society across historical, geographical, and cultural boundaries. Many Shakespeare plays powerfully echo the political turmoil of contemporary Taiwan society, but it is the negotiation of the political and cultural dependency that constitutes a distinct Taiwanese Shakespeare identity that is different from Chinese Shakespeare. This study therefore focuses on Shakespeare performances in contemporary Taiwan between 1986 and 2003, emphasising political context as key factor in adaptation, as Taiwan society transited from a military age to post-millennium democracy after martial law was lifted in 1987.


Efficient generation of antibodies by B cells is one of the prerequisites of protective immunity. B cell activation by cognate antigens via B cell receptors (BCRs), or pathogen-associated molecules through pattern-recognition receptors, such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs), leads to transcriptional and metabolic changes that ultimately transform B cells into antibody-producing plasma cells or memory cells. BCR signaling and a number of steps downstream of it rely on coordinated action of cellular membranes and the actin cytoskeleton, tightly controlled by concerted action of multiple regulatory proteins, some of them exclusive to B cells. Here, we dissect the role of Missing-In-Metastasis (MIM), or Metastasis suppressor 1 (MTSS1), a cancer-associated membrane and actin cytoskeleton regulating protein, in B cell-mediated immunity by taking advantage of MIM knockout mouse strain. We show undisturbed B cell development and largely normal composition of B cell compartments in the periphery. Interestingly, we found that MIM−/− B cells are defected in BCR signaling in response to surface-bound antigens but, on the other hand, show increased metabolic activity after stimulation with LPS or CpG. In vivo, MIM knockout animals exhibit impaired IgM antibody responses to immunization with T cell-independent antigen. This study provides the first comprehensive characterization of MIM in B cells, demonstrates its regulatory role for B cell-mediated immunity, as well as proposes new functions for MIM in tuning receptor signaling and cellular metabolism, processes, which may also contribute to the poorly understood functions of MIM in cancer.


Our understanding of molecular biology of the viruses that infect lagomorphs is largely limited to the leporipoxvirus myxoma virus (MYXV) and the lagoviruses rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) and European brown hare syndrome virus (EBHSV) that infect the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) respectively. Thanks to the great effort of historic surveillance studies and careful sample archiving, the molecular evolution of these viruses is being resolved. Although historically considered viruses that cause species specific diseases recent reports show that several lagomorphs may now face the threat of these maladies. The driving factors behind these changes has not been determined and the effect of these species jumps on lagomorph populations has yet to be seen. Lagomorphs are also affected by several other lesser studied viral diseases. In addition, recent metagenomic studies have led to the identification of novel lagomorph viruses the importance of these to lagomorph health remains to be fully determined. In this chapter we summarize molecular aspects of viruses that infect lagomorphs, paying particular attention to recent interspecies infections.


The First Tithe: Memoirs and Edifying Discourses of the Hebrew War for Freedom, by Israel Eldad, ttanslated by Zev Golan. Tel Aviv: The Jabotinsky Institute in Istael, 2008. 420 pp. 60 shekels. Translator of Nietszche, Ph.D. in Philosophy, gt aduate of a rabbinical seminary, and a Hasid by culture, Israel Scheib is better known as Israel Eldad, the ideologue of LEHI during the war against the British in Palestine from 1942 to 1948. These memoirs first appeared in Hebrew in 1950, and their translation into English is an impot tant reminder of the ideological conflict between the two branches of Jabotinsky 's Beitar youth movement: one followed Abraham Stern into LEHI and the othet Menahem Begin, who claimed the shreds of Jabotinsky 's mantle, into ETZEL, mote popularly known as the Irgun. These memoirs are an important contribution to an historical understanding of the origins and development of the Jewish Revolt during the 1940s, the vicissitudes that beset the various underground movements and their respective rivalries, the problems that challenged the British during their life and death struggle with Nazi Germany, and other 1940s topics. The British experience in the East Mediterranean during the 1940s should provide lessons to an inexperienced United States that inherited Britain's tradition of bungling and added its own. Palestine was one of the hot spots of the British 1940s debacles (Greece and Iraq were others). It was both the overt and covert war in the Yishuv that annoyed the beleaguered British sufficiently so that they abandoned the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and chose to assist the Arabs in the fight for Palestine. The anti-British war began in the early 1940s when it became evident that elements of the Yishuv were losing their confidence in the British sense of fair play. LEHI - Fighters fot the Freedom of Israel, declared open war against the foreign occupiers of the Hebrew land in 1942, and sought, according to Eldad, to establish a Malkhut Yisrael, a Sovereign Israel in place of the British-controlled militaty and economic base in the Eastern Mediterranean. The battle cry of LEHI was drawn from the Beitar Youth theme: In blood and fire Judea fell In blood and fire Judea will rise These youth, and Eldad's very language, were also fired with the prophetic and passionate poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg, the guru of nationalist fervor. The blood they resurrected was that of ancient Jewish heroes against the Gt eeks and Romans; the blood they shed was that of the occupying British army. The British t esponded with cut fews, searches and seizures, imprisonment, and the gallows. Between the hard covers of Eldad's book lie the anger and the cold analyses of an intellectual revolutionary who declared war on the British Empire long before Menahem Begin published his own proclamation to the same effect. Eldad argued against both ETZEL and the Haganah and defined the fight against the British as occupiers of the land of the Nation of Israel who must be driven out. His language and arguments resonate in the current propaganda of Al-Qaida and the Palestinians. For the present generation of readers we may note that the British definition of terrorism, applied to LEHI in the 1940s, has been petverted into its contemporary usage by al-Qaida to justify killing innocents whom it defines as enemies. However, the ideological justification of the open warfare between the occupied and the occupier that produced such animosity between Palestinian Jews and the British still resonates to out own day. The sentiments expressed by the author and his recall of negative British attitudes toward the Jews of Eretz Israel may help us understand some of the blatant anti-Israel policies of the BBC, manifest also among elements of the British public and politicians. …


Conze's critical editions, translations and commentary on the Sanskrit Heart Sūtra indicated three problematic statements: 1. "no attainment and no non-attainment" (§1.1); 2. "because of non-attainment(ness)" (§1..2); and 3. "without thought coverings" (§1.3). Utilizing Nattier's theory of the text's history (§1.4), we trace back these three phrases from the Chinese Heart Sūtra, to the Chinese larger Prajnāpāramitā texts, to the Sanskrit Pancavimśati (§1.5). Subsequently, we generate new readings and incidentally a new structure for these three phrases, distinct from the Sanskrit Heart Sūtra, which is possibly apocryphal. Our new readings are: 1. "no attainment" as no realization (§2). 2. "due to engagement in non-apprehension" (§3). 3."the mind does not hang on anything" (§4). The new structure ties the usage of the second phrase back to the first phrase within the Sūtra context of "therefore, in emptiness there is no form, … no attainment; due to engagement in non-apprehension", rather than at the start of the next section. The third phrase indicates the mind which does not take any object, a synonym for non-apprehension. While the readings and overall structure are new, they still reflect the core notions, i.e. the heart, of the Astasāhasrikā and Pancavimśatisāhasrikā, the key Perfection of Wisdom texts (§5).


High blood pressure (BP) is a leading risk factor for premature death relating to cardiovascular (CV) disease. Some individuals with normal resting BP may experience an excessive rise in BP with exercise; a condition termed 'hypertensive response to exercise' (HRE). Despite having normal resting BP, an HRE has been implicated in contributing to CV risk, but little is known on the condition. The broad aims of this research program were to determine; the prognostic and clinical significance of an HRE; the efficacy of a lifestyle intervention program to 'treat' an HRE and; the haemodynamic mechanisms contributing to exercise BP.
In study 1 (chapter 2), the prognostic value of an HRE for predicting CV events and mortality was examined via systematic review and meta-analysis on data from 12 studies (46,314 individuals). Elevated BP at moderate intensity exercise predicted CV events and mortality, independent of resting BP, age and multiple CV risk factors (HR=1.36, 95% CI: 1.02-1.83, P=0.039).
Study 2 (chapter 3) sought to determine a possible explanation as to why an HRE was associated with increased CV risk. In a cohort of 77 individuals with an HRE, a high prevalence (56%) of masked hypertension was observed. Moreover, moderate exercise systolic BP >190 mmHg revealed the presence of masked hypertension with high positive predictive value (94% sensitivity, P<0.001).
In study 3 (chapter 4), the effects of a one-year lifestyle (exercise and diet) intervention on exercise BP was examined in 185 individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. An HRE was not significantly reduced by the intervention. However, development of an HRE was preventable in those individuals without an HRE at baseline (P=0.020).
In study 4 (chapter 5), the haemodynamic mechanisms of exercise central BP were examined in 10 individuals undergoing coronary angiography. Exercise BP was principally related to increases in forward wave propagation generated by left-ventricular ejection, whereas mathematically-derived aortic reservoir function was unchanged with exercise. This mechanistic work was extended in study 5 (chapter 6), where aortic reservoir pressure was directly measured for the first time in 10 individuals undergoing coronary bypass surgery. Directly-measured and mathematically-derived aortic reservoir pressures were highly related, thus providing evidence for an 'aortic reservoir function' in generation of central BP.
In summary, this research shows that an HRE is related to increased CV risk, and this may be due to masked hypertension. Furthermore, it was possible to attenuate progression towards an HRE with lifestyle intervention. Finally, exercise BP was found to be predominantly due to forward wave transmission, and mathematically-derived aortic reservoir pressure is a valid construct relevant to understanding the physiology of central BP.


Introduction The idea of doing things that can improve something is an extremely popular concept in American culture. For example, I found the phrase, make a difference, in 129 million Web pages in a Yahoo! search in July 2009. The concept typically applies to impacts at local levels because, until recently, few people had opportunities to do things that could positively affect substantial numbers of people throughout the country in which they live or even throughout the world. After dot com bubble burst, many investors found that the slogan that "the Internet changes everything" did not apply to many of the requirements for having a successful business. However the Internet really does provide opportunities for those who create knowledge to share it with more people who can use it to advantage, and share it more quickly than through other means. Of course, this potential capability to share materials is limited by people's abilities to find useful information in the billions of pages on the Internet. Yahoo reported indexing over 19 billion pages in 2005. (Perhaps responding to criticism of the estimates,1 the leading search engine companies no longer publish counts of pages indexed. Although no one really knows how big the "haystack" is, the simile about "finding a needle" is quite applicable to the Internet.) Nevertheless there are two aspects of innovative materials that work in favor of their being found: • The goals of search engine companies. • The nature of knowledge.


This article aims at presenting a model of interdisciplinary diagnosis screening in a child care neuropsychological group. The biopsychosocial perspective is the base of the diagnosis screening, which consists of an initial interview with the children in groups carried by an interdisciplinary staff. The model is justified for the fact that this initial perception of the neuropsychologist, through the traditional model, is time-consuming, costly and, inefficient for most neurology patients. The proposal is that this can direct the assessment, generating a starting point for the neuropsychology evaluation. Considering the patient's decrease of emotional loses, the integrated diagnosis, and the financial aspect, we conclude that the implementation of this procedure in clinic services promotes benefits which involve not only the reduction of costs, but also the humanization of the patient's care.


Background: The first case of open-heart surgery (OHS) in the University College Hospital, Ibadan, took place on December 19, 1978. Since then, various attempts have been made to provide definitive solutions for patients with structural cardiac diseases, but till now, no permanent regular service exists. We present our initial experience with interventional cardiology (IC) and OHS in a resource-challenged setting. The challenges encountered are discussed, and the solutions we have proffered with each situation are presented as we forge ahead toward achieving a more regular service for IC and OHS in our center. Results: In January 2016, eight children underwent diagnostic cardiac catheterization with a view to performing a possible corrective intervention. Two subsequently had device closure of patent ductus arteriosus – the first in the history of the hospital. Four patients (one with a large atrial septal defect (ASD), one severe pulmonary stenosis, one with a large ventricular septal defect (VSD), and one with Fallot's tetralogy) were deemed to be more suitable for OHS and were, therefore, deferred. The muscular VSD in another patient was thought to be too small to need intervention. The last patient, initially thought to have a coarctation of the aorta, was found to have normal cardiac anatomy. The patient with large ASD and VSD subsequently underwent successful total repair of his lesions in our facility. Conclusion: The successful outcome in the three patients has encouraged us to be optimistic that despite various resource challenges, it will soon be possible to establish a regular service for both IC and OHS in our center.


Global trade and the movement of people accelerate biological invasions by spreading species worldwide. Biosecurity measures seek to allow trade and passenger movements while preventing incursions that could lead to the establishment of unwanted pests, pathogens, and weeds. However, few data exist to evaluate whether changes in trade volumes, passenger arrivals, and biosecurity measures have altered rates of establishment of nonnative species over time. This is particularly true for pathogens, which pose significant risks to animal and plant health and are consequently a major focus of biosecurity efforts but are difficult to detect. Here, we use a database of all known plant pathogen associations recorded in New Zealand to estimate the rate at which new fungal pathogens arrived and established on 131 economically important plant species over the last 133 years. We show that the annual arrival rate of new fungal pathogens increased from 1880 to about 1980 in parallel with increasing import trade volume but subsequently stabilised despite continued rapid growth in import trade and recent rapid increases in international passenger arrivals. Nevertheless, while pathogen arrival rates for crop and pasture species have declined in recent decades, arrival rates have increased for forestry and fruit tree species. These contrasting trends between production sectors reflect differences in biosecurity effort and suggest that targeted biosecurity can slow pathogen arrival and establishment despite increasing trade and international movement of people.


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by inhibiting translation of target mRNAs through pairing with miRNA recognition elements (MREs), usually in 3′ UTRs. Because pairing is imperfect, identification of bona fide mRNA targets presents a challenge. Most target recognition algorithms strongly emphasize pairing between nucleotides 2–8 of the miRNA (the 'seed' sequence) and the mRNA but adjacent sequences and the local context of the 3′ UTR also affect targeting. Here, we show that dispatched 2 is a target of miR-214. In zebrafish, dispatched 2 is expressed in the telencephalon and ventral hindbrain and is essential for normal zebrafish development. Regulation of dispatched 2 by miR-214 is via pairing with three, noncanonical, weak MREs. By comparing the repression capacity of GFP reporters containing different dispatched 2 sequences, we found that a combination of weak sites, which lack canonical seed pairing, can effectively target an mRNA for silencing. This finding underscores the challenge that prediction algorithms face and emphasizes the need to experimentally validate predicted MREs.


In the past decades, a number of research results have been reported for energy-efficient scheduling over uniprocessor and multiprocessor environments. Different from many of the past results on the assumption for task power characteristics, we consider real-time scheduling of tasks with different power characteristics. The objective is to minimize the energy consumption of task executions under the given deadline constraint. When tasks have a common deadline and are ready at time 0, we propose an optimal real-time task scheduling algorithm for multiprocessor environments with the allowance of task migration. When no task migration is allowed, a 1.412-approximation algorithm for task scheduling is proposed for different settings of power characteristics. The performance of the approximation algorithm was evaluated by an extensive set of experiments, where excellent results were reported.


Cloud computing has become the more accepted answer to the current information needs. With today's enterprises operating across multilingual and multicultural spectrum, cloud computing search algorithms should be upgraded to perform searches based on multilingual languages. Data stored in cloud is in encrypted form this is in order to maintain the data integrity, the data search techniques used in the cloud needs to maintain this encryption as the cloud service provider should not be able to ascertain what is entering and leaving the cloud. This paper proposes a solution ,which will provides a method for finding exact encrypted data by using multilingual search queries, phonetic based and also keeping the data integrity of the stored data in the cloud intact. The paper also provides a comparative study between the various public key encryptions and the proposed scheme.


In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the biomass production and the economic results of sorghum growing in Greece under surface and subsurface drip irrigation and with three different amounts of irrigating water: 100%, 70% and 50% of the daily evapotranspiration. Thus, a field experiment comprising a completely randomized block design with six treatments and four replications was conducted at the Experimental Farm Station of the University of Thessaly in 2007. Water needs were satisfied by using full (100% ET) and partial (70% and 50% ET) amounts of irrigating water. Crop production was measured in terms of dry biomass, while gross revenue, production costs and gross margin were the economic parameters to be measured and examined. The comparative data analysis of the two irrigation methods showed that the subsurface drip irrigation method was performing significantly better than the surface one in biomass production and other economic results.


A theoretical modeling is proposed to predict the efficiency factors for attenuation, total scattering, and backscattering for spherical and homogeneous phytoplanktonic cells in suspension. The input parameters of this modeling are the actual size distribution, the spectral values of absorption by the living cells, and an adjustable value of the real part of the refractive index. The variations in these parameters lead to very diverse spectral behavior of the efficiency factors. Theoretical predictions are compared to experimental results for some species to evaluate the reliability of the model for algal cells of various indices and morphologies.


Within the activities undertaken by IIASA's Food and Agriculture Program one part has been directed to assessing the role which new technologies for protein production could play in the future in covering the global demand.

This report contains the main papers submitted to the Task Force Meeting on "New Technologies for the Utilization of Biologically Based Raw Materials for Feed and Food Production" held at Tbilisi, Georgia, USSR in August 1981. The meeting was the second in a series of meetings dealing with the problems of new technologies for the utilization of agricultural wastes.

The main topics for discussion at the Tbilisi meeting were defined during the first meeting held at IIASA in September 1980. Furthermore the network of collaborating institutions and teams, established after this first meeting, produced interesting background material in the form of answers to the questionnaires distributed by IIASA. (See Table 6 of this report) .

The meeting was seen as a further step towards the assessment of the new technologies on protein production and the basis for future collaboration was outlined and the proposal for holding the next meeting was submitted.


Any quotation dictionary that includes an entry for "education" provides ample testimony that education is more than schools. From Aristotle to Oscar Wilde come warnings that education is no substitute for experience. Indeed, for some critics of schooling, we learn that formal education is antithetical to learning. "America's Schools and the Mass Media "collectively explore the contents of mass media and how it shapes educational programming and policy-making. The editors claim that American schooling for the past forty years has less to do with a learning agenda and pedagogy than with economic competition and national security. The editors and contributors to this important volume contend that American public schooling has historical roots as a crucible for democratic government. This ideal has not only grown increasingly suspect in recent years, but is now commonly assailed as a brake on both economic growth and intellectual excellence. The editors ask what minimum skills and knowledge one must possess in order to participate in the life of the nation, if not in the life of the mind. The essays by Gerald Grant, Bella Rosenberg, Charles T. Salmon, Joan Richardson, and Susan Tifft take direct aim at this issue, with surprising, but stimulating results. The volume begins with Myron Lieberman's "law" to wit, the "more important an educational question, the less people know about it." The remainder of the contributions aim Jo begin removing this law with a more salutary understanding. The twelve essays that constitute the work deal with the interplay of educational and media institutions; what students learn and how they learn it--with a special emphasis on the long and questionable history of corporate, special interest and government attempts to shape the beliefs of future citizens and present consumers. The volume closes with a full scale effort to review the nation's educational priorities, and how questions of school choice are entwined with those of media choice.


Abstract The WO3 thin films have been synthesized on to the glass substrates by a simple and easy spin coating method at different deposition cycles and their sensor responses towards various concentrations of NO2 gas were investigated. The WO3 films were spin coated at a spinning rate of 2500–3000 rpm for 5, 10 and 15 deposition cycles, respectively. Then the films were annealed at 400 °C for 1 h in a furnace. The structural, morphological, optical and electrical properties of WO3 films were studied by different characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), FT-RAMAN Spectroscopy and electrical resistivity measurements by laboratory made two probe method respectively. It reveals a spherical grain – like morphology with a pure monoclinic phase of WO3. The FT-RAMAN spectra also confirm the pure monoclinic phase of WO3. The WO3-10 film sensor exhibits maximum gas sensitivity 21.93 and 102.4% to 5 and 100 ppm NO2 at 200 °C, respectively. The WO3-10 thin film sensors is highly sensitive and selective to NO2 over other gases.


Palladium nanoparticles modified with the hexadecyl-2-hydroxyethyl-dimethylammonium dihydrogen phosphate (HHDMA) ligand have been stabilised within the microchannels of a metallic monolith coated with a high-surface area γ-alumina layer. The stainless steel skeleton of the monolith was 3D printed by stereolithography. The washcoating protocol has been optimised in order to maximise the γ-alumina loading without blocking the microchannels. A battery of techniques has been applied to characterise the properties and three-dimensional organisation of the phases within the monolithic reactor from the macro- to the nanoscale including N2 sorption, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance and infrared spectroscopies, X-ray tomography, and optical or electron microscopies. Evaluation of the catalyst performance in the flow hydrogenation of acetylenic compounds of different size and functionality demonstrates the high efficiency and stability of the structured catalyst. Particularly, the monolithic reactor retains the intrinsic selective character of the hybrid palladium nanoparticles, even at high temperatures and pressures (T > 343 K and P > 5 bar). This is attributed to the improved isothermicity of the catalyst bed, deriving from the high thermal conductivity of the metallic skeleton of the monolith. Overall, the work provides a general route to prepare monolithic reactors based on Pd-HHDMA nanoparticles, bridging the gap between hybrid nanomaterial and reactor engineering.


Crowdsourcing services such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) provide new venues for recruiting participants and conducting studies; hundreds of surveys may be offered to workers at any given time. We reflect on the results of six related studies we performed on MTurk over a two year period. The studies used a combination of open-ended questions and structured hypothetical statements about story-like scenarios to engage the efforts of 1252 participants. We describe the method used in the studies and reflect on what we have learned about identified best practices. We analyze the aggregated data to profile the types of Turkers who take surveys and examine how the characteristics of the surveys may influence data reliability. The results point to the value of participant engagement, identify potential changes in MTurk as a study venue, and highlight how communication among Turkers influences the data that researchers collect.


This book is the product of extended research by five scholars working in the area of private international law. It provides a comprehensive review and analysis of the jurisprudence surrounding the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). As of 1st January 2004, 62 countries have adopted the CISG as their countries' international sales law. Since the introduction of the CISG fifteen years ago, a critical mass of interpretive jurisprudence has developed, and, given its importance now as the world's preeminent sales law, the authors believed that a fresh analysis of the evolving case and arbitral law was now needed. The analysis in the book is undertaken at two levels - the practical interpretation of the CISG and the theoretical limits of interpretation of supranational conventions.


The mass migration of refugees in the fall of 2015 in Europe posed an immense humanitarian and logistical challenge: exhausted from their week-long journeys, refugees arrived in Vienna in need of care, shelter, food, medical aid, and onward transport. The refugee crisis was managed by an emerging polycentric and intersectoral collective of organizations. In this paper, we investigate how leaders of these organizations made decisions in concert with each other and hence sustained the capacity to act as collective. We ask: what was the logic of decision-making that orchestrated collective action during the crisis? In answering this question, we make the following contribution: departing from March's logics of consequences and appropriateness as well as Weick's work on sensemaking during crisis, we introduce an alternative logic that informed decision-making in our study: the logic of tact. With this concept (a) we offer a better understanding of how managers may make decisions under the condition of bounded rationality and the simultaneous transgression of their institutional identity in situations of crisis; and (b) we show that in decision-making under extreme pressure cognition is neither ahead of action, nor is action ahead of cognition; rather, tact explicates the rapid switching between cognition and action, orchestrating decision-making through their interplay.


The main objective of this thesis was to explore issues related to student achievement motivation in the Swedish TIMSS 2003 (Trend in International Mathematics and Science Study) context. The thesis comprises of five empirical papers and a summary. The expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation was used as the general theoretical framework in all empirical papers, and all papers are concerned with construct validation in one form or another. Aspects of student achievement motivation were measured on a task-specific level (motivation to do well on the TIMSS test) and on a domain-specific level (self-concept in and valuing of mathematics and science) and regressed on test performance. The first paper reports the development and validation of scores from an instrument measuring aspects related to student test-taking motivation. It was shown that a number of items in the instrument could be interpreted as a measure of test-taking motivation, and that the test-taking motivation construct was distinct from other related constructs. The second paper related the Swedish students' ratings of mathematics test-taking motivation to mathematics performance in TIMSS 2003. The students in the sample on average reported that they were well motivated to do their best on the TIMSS mathematics test and their ratings of test-taking motivation were positively but rather weakly related to achievement. In the third and the fourth papers, the internal structure and relation to performance of the mathematics and science self-concept and task value scales used in TIMSS internationally was investigated for the Swedish TIMSS 2003 sample. For mathematics, it was shown that the internationally derived scales were suitable also for the Swedish sample. It was further shown that ratings of self-concept were rather strongly related to mathematics achievement while ratings of mathematics value were basically unrelated to mathematics achievement. For the science subjects, the internal structure of the scales was less simple, and ratings of self-concept and valuing of science were not very strongly related to science achievement. The study presented in the fifth paper used interviews and an open-ended questionnaire item to further investigate student test-taking motivation and perceptions of the TIMSS test. The results mainly corroborated the results from study II. In the introductory part of the thesis, the empirical studies are summarized, contextualized, and discussed. The discussion relates obtained results to theoretical assumptions, applied implications, and to issues of validity in the TIMSS context.


Abstract Adipose tissue (AT) fatty acid (FA) composition partly reflects habitual dietary intake. Circulating NEFA are mobilised from AT and might act as a minimally invasive surrogate marker of AT FA profile. Agreement between twenty-eight FA in AT and plasma NEFA was assessed using concordance coefficients in 204 male and female participants in a 12-month intervention using supplements to increase the intake of EPA and DHA. Concordance coefficients generally showed very poor agreement between AT FA and plasma NEFA at baseline SFA: 0·07; MUFA: 0·03; n-6 PUFA: 0·28; n-3 PUFA: 0·01). Participants were randomly divided into training (70 %) and validation (30 %) data sets, and models to predict AT and dietary FA were fitted using data from the training set, and their predictive ability was assessed using data from the validation set. AT n-6 PUFA and SFA were predicted from plasma NEFA with moderate accuracy (mean absolute percentage error n-6 PUFA: 11 % and SFA: 8 %), but predicted values were unable to distinguish between low, medium and high FA values, with only 25 % of n-6 PUFA and 33 % of SFA predicted values correctly assigned to the appropriate tertile group. Despite an association between AT and plasma NEFA EPA (P=0·001) and DHA (P=0·01) at baseline, there was no association after the intervention. To conclude, plasma NEFA are not a suitable surrogate for AT FA.


Eisar, M., 2008. Geology of Sitimulyo, Puncakwangi-Todanan district, Pati-Blora regency, Central Java Province. Geological Mapping Report, Unpublished, Geological Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia.

By physiographic region, including research into the zone Rembang is part of the sedimentary basin north of East Java. This curvature extends from the West-East, approximately 250 km. Changes gradually towards the north into the North Java Sea basin, to the west associated with the North West Java Basin, south again until Kendeng Basin and East continues to include the island of Madura. In Rembang zone as a whole is characterized by facies changes namely from a regression Transgresi facies. The striking difference litologi zone of Rembang caracteristic marked with rocks yield high sand content in addition to increasing carbonate and disappearance pyroclastic deposits. Zone sediments suggest a Rembang shallow marine sediments that are not far from the beach with sedimentation environment litoral zone to zone batial with depth 500 meters. Zenith zone by tectonic systems can be classified into back arc basins ( "back arc basin") is filled by sediments thick Cenozoic age and over again starting from the Eocene to Pleistocene. In the Miocene-Pliocene basin underwent tectonic regime of compression, geological structure resulting in folds and fault-fault. State structures folded in the North East Java Basin generally Western-directional East, is caused by compression forces from the North-South. While directional fracture structure Northeast - Southwest. There is also one piece wing anticline (monocline) in the research area shown with the direction of strike / dip the same in each layer of rock with the direction of East-West strike and dip directions to the North. Mountain Zone Rembang - Madura structural units that are better known under the name "Northern Java Hinge Belt" can be separated into 2 parts of the northern ( "Northern Rembang Anticlinorium ") and southern (" Middle Rembang Anticlinorium "). Section north have experienced a stronger adoption compared with the south resulting in erosion until the formation Tawun, sometimes even until the formation Kujung Down. In the study there are 5 formations, from older to younger; Ngrayong formation (just above Tawun Formation), Upper Feather Formation, Formation Wonocolo, Formation Ledok, and Mundu Formation. Each formation from older to younger undergo a process of precipitation in the plain gradually.

Keywords: Zone of Rembang, Transgression, Regression, Anticlinorium


Explicitation is the process of rendering information which is only implicit in the source text explicit in the target text, and is believed to be one of the universals of translation (Blum-Kulka 1986, Olohan and Baker 2000, Overas 1998, Seguinot 1988, Vanderauwera 1985). The present study uses corpus technology to attempt to shed some light on the complex relationship between translation, text length and explicitation. An awareness of what makes translations longer (or shorter) and more explicit than source texts can help trainee translators make more informed decisions during the translation process. This is felt to be an important component of translator education.


Take a rollercoaster ride through the vastness of space and, in the midst of an exciting adventure, discover the mysteries of physics, science and the universe with George, his new friends next door - the scientist Eric and his daughter, Annie - and a super-intelligent computer called Cosmos, which can take them to the edge of a black hole and back again. Or can it? And who else would like to get their hands on Cosmos? This title is a funny and hugely informative romp through space, time and the universe.


This note supplements discussion elsewhere on the Caslon Analytics site of free speech, censorship and hatespeech. It considers sedition and terror online, highlighting issues, legislation and studies


This perspective piece addresses specifically futur e lines of inquiry and practice that advance the goals of the agenda through an interdisciplinary ap proach to leadership studies. Here, the authors explain in-depth the contexts of an interdi sciplinary approach to the agenda and address specific challenges therein. In order to provide c larity to this approach, considerations are made with respect to the language, contextual reference points, and tensions regarding measurement of learning. The authors provide impetus for inclusio n of particular, salient priorities from the agenda, and address opportunities for practice and future research. Suggestions reveal unique opportunities within an interdisciplinary perspecti ve such as the integration of diverse content and perspectives as well as collaboration across di sciplines.


This study aims to evaluate the activity concentrations of 238U, 226Ra, 232Th, 228Th and 40K along the beaches of Maronia and Samothraki being adjacent to the local granitoids. These range from 14-75, 17.5-114.8, 23.7-71.9, 24.5-71.6 and 262-1319 Bq/kg, respectively. The (wt.%) of heavy magnetic (HM) (amphibole, epidote, clinopyroxene, chlorite, magnetite and ilmenite) fraction, the heavy non-magnetic (HNM) (zircon and titanite) fraction, and the total heavy fraction (TH), were correlated with the concentrations of the measured radionuclides in the bulk samples. The measured radionuclides in the beach sands were normalized to the respective values measured in the granitic rocks, which are their most probable parental rocks, so as to provide data upon their enrichment or depletion. The annual effective dose varies between 0.004 and 0.013 mSv y-1 for tourists and from 0.016 to 0.056 mSv y-1 for local people working on the beach.


Distributional constraints are important in many market design settings. Prominent examples include the minimum manning requirements at each branch in military cadet matching and diversity in school choice, whereby school districts impose constraints on the demographic distribution of students at each school. Standard assignment mechanisms implemented in practice are unable to accommodate all of these constraints. This leads policymakers to resort to ad-hoc solutions that eliminate blocks of seats ex-ante (before agents submit their preferences) to ensure that all constraints are satisfied ex-post. We show that these solutions ignore important information contained in the submitted preferences, resulting in avoidable ine ciency. We introduce a new class of dynamic quotas mechanisms that allow the institutional quotas to dynamically adjust to the submitted preferences of the agents. We show how a wide class of mechanisms commonly used in the field can be adapted to our dynamic quotas framework. Focusing in particular on a new dynamic quotas deferred acceptance (DQDA) mechanism, we show that DQDA Pareto dominates current solutions. While it may seem that allowing the quotas to depend on the submitted preferences would compromise the strategyproofness of deferred acceptance, we show that this is not the case: as long as the order in which the quotas are adjusted is determined exogenously to the preferences, DQDA remains strategyproof. Thus, policymakers can be confident that e ciency will be improved without introducing perverse incentives. Simulations with school choice data are used to quantify the potential e ciency gains. JEL Classification: C78, D61, D63, I20


Traffic safety researchers have long argued that driver behavior outweighs physical elements (such as road design) as a causal factor in motor vehicle collisions. A fundamental causal component of pedestrian-vehicle collisions is also behavior: that of the driver and that of the pedestrian. One determinant of this behavior may be whether the driver, the pedestrian, or both understand the motor vehicle code, which demarcates the right-of-way in pedestrian-vehicle interactions. That is, inappropriate or unlawful behavior may occur because the law is not understood or is misunderstood. Previous studies have shown that drivers and pedestrians have a limited knowledge of pedestrian right-of-way laws. This research expands on these studies by specifically considering knowledge of right-of-way laws related to marked and unmarked crosswalks. Driver and pedestrian knowledge was assessed by the use of intercept surveys and focus groups conducted in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The results confirm that a substantial level of confusion about pedestrian right-of-way laws exists. This confusion was exacerbated by intersections that had unstriped, or unmarked, crosswalks. The implications for engineering, education, and enforcement countermeasures in light of these findings are discussed; and areas for further research are proposed.


A new algorithm for the accurate estimation of the specific differential phase shift on propagation (Kdp) from noisy total differential phase shift (Ψdp) measurements is presented for data acquired with a polarimetric weather radar. The new approach, which is based on the compilation of ensembles of Kalman filter estimates, does not rely on additional data like the reflectivity or the differential reflectivity in order to constrain the solution, and it is based on Ψdp only. The dependence of the solution on Ψdp only allows one to apply the algorithm in various environmental conditions without reducing its performance. Drawbacks that are usually inherent in algorithms of this kind (like the loss of the small-scale structure and the smoothing of high peak values) are partially overcome by a two-step algorithm design, which first determines an ensemble of possible solutions and then selects and averages the ensemble members such that the estimated Kdp profile has a better agreement with the truth. The algorithm is thoroughly evaluated and compared with a commonly used algorithm on stochastically simulated profiles of raindrop size distribution. It is found that the accuracy of the Kdp values estimated with the new algorithm significantly increases. The algorithm is also experimentally evaluated by applying it on X-band radar data that were acquired in northern Brazil during the CHUVA campaign and at a high alpine site in Switzerland during snowfall. Results show that the spatial fine structure and the high values of precipitation are better represented with the new method.


ABSTRACT Background People with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and women who drink alcohol while pregnant can experience stigma, possibly exacerbated by stereotyped media portrayals. Method To understand experiences of FASD stakeholders and reactions to news coverage, we conducted twelve focus groups across three categories: (1) people with FASD; (2) caregivers; and (3) professionals. Themes were identified using framework analysis. Results We identified stereotypes about: (1) FASD (e.g., negative life trajectories); (2) alcohol and pregnancy (e.g., bad mothers); and (3) non-biological caregivers. Participants identified potential effects of FASD stereotypes (e.g., self-fulfilling prophecies) and alcohol and pregnancy stereotypes (e.g., exacerbating difficult decisions about disclosing a child's adoptive status). Conclusions Our results align with research about difficult experiences of FASD stakeholders. However, while Canadian news analyses found people with FASD portrayed as criminals, our participants identified mostly non-crime stereotypes. Participants also sometimes shifted the burden of motherhood stereotypes from low-income to higher-income women.


Relatively little information has been published on Coyotes in the eastern United States, particularly in the mid-Atlantic region, the last area of the contiguous US to be colonized by Coyotes. Increases in eastern Coyote distribution and abundance have been documented, and concerns about their impact on wildlife and livestock are growing. Information from published and unpublished manuscripts, theses, dissertations, and state wildlife agency records in the mid-Atlantic region were examined and synthesized. This review provides a comprehensive summary of Coyote ecology in the mid-Atlantic for natural resource managers and researchers.


It is common knowledge that a conventionally woven textile consists of two assemblies of parallel threads (warp and weft), one interlaced with the other at ninety degrees. Where each of the two assemblies is arranged in a particular colour sequence, a check design, known as a 'tartan', may be created. Although similar check-type cloths have been produced worldwide, it is the tartans of Scotland which have received most attention and it is here that a complex set of rules evolved and tartans of different types became associated traditionally with different regions, family groups or 'clans'. There is an impressive array of publications focused on the identification of tartans and their clan associations. This paper explains the nature of tartans, analyses typical surface structures, ratios and proportions, and suggests possible avenues of use for modern designers. The principal sources of data were a collection of tartans held at ULITA - An Archive of International Textiles (University of Leeds, UK) and Stewart's 1974 publication The Setts of Scottish Tartans. Based on the observation that divisions into halfs and thirds were dominant, a series of templates is presented with the intention of developing an awareness among designers that ratios and proportions used in familiar or traditional frameworks can be employed in a modern context.


The field of artificial intelligence has long surpassed the notion of verbal intelligence envisioned by Turing (1950). Consequently, the Turing Test is primarily viewed as a philosopher's debate or a publicity stunt, and has little relevance to AI researchers. This paper describes the motivation and design of a set of behavioral tests called the Cognitive Decathlon, which were developed to be a useable version of an embodied Turing Test that is relevant and achievable by state-of-the-art AI algorithms in the next five years. We describe some of the background motivation for developing this test, and then provide a detailed account of the tasks that make up the Decathlon, and the types of results that should be expected.


Abstract Given the agreed urgency of decarbonizing electricity and the need to guide decentralized private decisions, an adequate and credible carbon price appears essential. The paper models and quantifies the break-even carbon price for mature zero-carbon electricity investments. It appears an attractive alternative given the difficulty of measuring the social cost of carbon, but modelling shows it extremely sensitive to projected fuel prices, the rate of interest, and the capital cost of generation options, all of which are very uncertain. This has important implications, and justifies combining a carbon price floor with suitable long-term contracts for electricity investments.


Previous examinations of gender representation in psychology textbooks have revealed consistent gender bias. Although this situation has improved somewhat over the past several decades, it nonetheless appears to persist. Guided by theories of social cognition, we sought to examine whether an androcentric bias is being implicitly communicated by psychology textbooks at the most immediate textual level. Using a selection of social psychology textbooks as a case study, we show how androcentrism persists in the ways research and illustrative examples are presented to readers. Given the power of textbooks as implicit and explicit conveyors of a discipline's values, suggestions are made for a critically reflexive approach to writing and teaching psychology in order to disrupt this subtle yet potentially powerful bias.


: Introduction : Nowadays in many countries "massage" as an important part of nursing care is considered and in many clinical situations it is used as complementary treatment for stress reduction. This study with the goal of comparing of reflexive and stroke massages on physiologic indices in patients with MI was performed. Methods: This clinical trial was performed in 2012 on 105 patients who were randomly assigned into three groups: reflexive massage, stroke massage and control groups (each with 35 patients). In the intervention groups each patient took massages for 15 minutes in morning and afternoon in one day. Vital signs and arterial O2 saturation were measured before and after the massage by blood pressure cuff, thermometer, and pulse oxymeter. Paired T test and X 2 test were used to analyze data. Results: The stroke massage produced significant difference between arterial O2 saturation levels (p =0.002) and temperature rates (p =0.017) in morning and afternoon in a day. Reflexive massage as well, causing significant difference between the mean of heart rate and temperature rates in morning and afternoon in a day (P= 0.001). No significant differences in physiologic indices were seen in control group. Conclusion: Results showed that both massages were effective on vital signs, but stroke massage besides effect on vital signs of the patients, had a positive effect on their arterial O2 saturations, so doing this massages on these patients is recommended.


Summary:

The Dearing Inquiry into Higher Education recommended that: 'all institutions should... identify and remove barriers which inhibit recruitment and progresssion for particular groups and monitor and publish their progress towards greater equality of opportunity for all groups'.

There has been significant development on gender equality issues within the HE sector in recent years, but less progress has been made in ensuring racial equality, and the issue has become of increasing importance. Whilst ethnic minorities form about 15 per cent of all home students, this is not reflected in the make-up of teaching staff and those in senior administrative positions. A number of employment tribunal cases involving academic staff alleging racial discrimination against HE institutions have been publicised in recent years.

This is the first major report to focus on the position of ethnic minorities in academic employment. It looks at the representation and distribution of ethnic minority staff and at some of the underlying casuses of the inequalities exposed; examines the policies the sector has in place to achieve racial equality; and explores the views and experiences of minority staff and prospective staff about racism, discrimination and the commitment of their institutions to equal opportunities.


Objective To characterise neurologic impairment and recovery associated with concussion in youths and young adults using the Cleveland Clinic Concussion application (C3 app). Design Retrospective observational study Setting Concussion clinic at an academic medical centre Participants 181 student-athletes aged 14–20 diagnosed with concussion by a Cleveland Clinic physician were included. Intervention C3 data were collected pre-season and at least once post-injury. At least one clinical examination by a physician was obtained to characterise clinical impairments. Individuals were stratified into two groups based on recovery time: typical <21 days (n=97) or protracted 21+ days (n=84). Outcome measures The following modules of the C3 app were administered across groups: 1) Graded symptom checklist (GSC); 2) Standardised Assessment of Concussion (SAC); 3) Trail Making Test; 4) Simple and Choice Reaction Time; 5) Processing Speed Test; 6) Biomechanical quantification of balance during the BESS. Main results At baseline, both groups performed similarly on all modules. However, significant differences were evident at 21 days post-injury in the protracted recovery group with worse performance in: simple and choice reaction time (p<0.001), Trail Making Test B (p=0.01), Biomechanical quantification of BESS (p<0.05), and GSC (p=0.0001). No difference between the groups at 21 days was found in BESS error scores, SAC or processing speed. Conclusions An approach that utilises objective and quantitative measures to characterise multiple aspects of neurocognitive and motor function are more sensitive than traditional measures of concussion assessment. These new outcomes provide value in the stratification of patients and their potential time to recovery. Competing interests JLA and SML have authored intellectual property associated with the mobile application presented in this study. The remaining authors declare no competing interest. None.


Why ERA Failed looks at the systemic problems of politics and the amending process. The author, Mary Frances Berry, considers the behavior of the two sides from the perspective of a historian and lawyer. She describes the history of the amending process, from the Constitutional Convention to the present day, and its application to the struggles for amendments concerned with the status of blacks after the Civil War, income tax, prohibition, child labor, and woman suffrage. Berry concludes that ERA approval was problematic at best and defeat predictable. Supporters did too little of what is required for ratification of a substantive proposal too late. Furthermore, the large number of state ratifications gained was deceptive. Support was eroding instead of increasing in the final stages of the campaign.


Since the past few years, Pu(V) has gained much attention due to its potential contribution to the environmental migration of actinides. However, the preparation of concentrated (up to mM) and pure Pu(V) solutions is quite difficult and often hindered by its great instability towards disproportionation, thus limiting the accessibility to physical and chemical property data. This work describes the rapid and facile sonochemical preparation of relatively stable Pu(V) solutions in the millimolar range free from the admixtures of the other oxidation states of plutonium. The mechanism deals with the sonochemical reduction of Pu(VI) in weakly acidic perchloric solutions by using the in situ generated H2O2, where the kinetics can be dramatically enhanced under high frequency ultrasound and an Ar/O2 atmosphere. The quasi-exclusive presence of the Pu(V) aqua ion in solution was evidenced by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The prepared solutions were found to be stable for more than one month which allowed the accurate XAFS and NMR investigations of Pu(V). EXAFS spectra revealed the presence of two trans dioxo PuO bonds at 1.81 A and 4–6 equatorial Pu–Oeq interactions at 2.47 A characteristic of coordinated water molecules. The exact number of water molecules (N[Oeq(H2O)] = 4) was determined by simulating the EXAFS spectra of the PuO2+ aqua complexes using DFT calculations (geometry and the Debye–Waller factor) and comparing them with experimental signals. For the first time, the magnetic susceptibility of the pentavalent state of plutonium in aqueous solutions was also determined (χM = 16.3 × 10−9 m3 mol−1 at 25 °C) and the related Curie constant was estimated (C = 6.896 × 10−6 m3 K mol−1).


: Climate change has been affecting plants over the last century and caused changes in life history features such as the flowering time. Herbarium specimens provide a snapshot of the past environmental conditions during their collection. The collection date in a herbarium specimen is a good proxy to determine the flowering period (phe-nology). In this study, phenological data from subarctic plant specimens collected over 100 years were gathered by using one of the largest herbarium databases in the World. The collection dates of 7146 herbarium specimens were analyzed and significant shifts in the phenology of subarctic plants were detected. In this study, most of the analyzed 142 species in a subarctic biogeographic region tended to flower earlier in the 1950–2018 period compared to the 1900–1949 as a possible result of the climate change. Flowering time shifted from 8 to 26 days in some species. Changes in flowering time may alter species interactions, community composition, and species distribution in a region. Therefore, results of this study may shed light on the possible shifts in phenology and plant responses under the climate change.


A poor ocular surface is a common condition in glaucoma patients due to the incidence of dry eye, age, and use of benzalkonium chloride (BAK). Poor compliance with glaucoma therapy can result. Use of point-of-care testing can help identify patients with a poor ocular surface and drive treatment decisions. Treatment options, including surgical, are discussed.


This two-part essay illuminates the difficult relationship between astrology and science from different perspectives. While the first part provides a historical review of developments in the 20th century in German-speaking countries, the second part (in the next issue) concerns theoretical and methodological considerations for empirical investigations of the validity of astrology. During the 20th century, astrology in the German-speaking world was influenced by a few people who pursued a special quest for connectivity with scientific findings and models as well as a natural philosophical foundation. The astrologer Thomas Ring developed an elaborate astrological anthropology, the "revised astrology", which claimed to be compatible to other scientific disciplines like biology and psychology. Hans Bender, who was willing to carry out experiments in order to test astrology, became an interested counterpart to Ring. This openness to scientific scrutiny combined with the desire to replace old concepts based on magical-analogical thinking with concepts more compatible with scientific models, met the criticism of several astrologers in the 1990s. The critics found the psychological-scientific aspiration represented too restrictive. This led, besides general socio-cultural developments, to a change in the "astrology scene", which is described, among other things, on the basis of some expert interviews at the end of the first part.


Online pharmacies have been operating in Australia since the mid 1990s. Community pharmacy is now a mix of traditional pharmacies with little or no online presence, pharmacies that dispense through multiple channels but where physical presence remains the dominant characteristic (substantial number), and pharmacies that are only online. The internet gives access to overseas-based online pharmacies thus allowing a comparison of Australian sites to those overseas.

An Australian pharmacy business must address a number of regulatory and licensing requirements of the jurisdiction and of operational best practice. A prescription is needed for Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 medicines and the importation of controlled substances or products is prohibited.1 The risks to consumers from online pharmacies not complying with these regulations include:

fake or adulterated products with little therapeutic activity or unknown safety and efficacy

inappropriate supply of narcotics and other controlled substances

lack of supervision by a doctor or pharmacist

lack of appropriate drug information

failure in supply-chain protocols which may affect the quality of a medicine, e.g. lack of appropriately stored or expired medicines

unlicensed premises and staff.

Fake or rogue online pharmacies represent a danger to consumer health. In 2014, the US Government Accountability Office estimated that there were 36 000 rogue internet pharmacies. These pharmacies generally supply drugs without a prescription and may or may not employ pharmacists. They are rarely licensed in the jurisdiction where they are located. To all intents and purposes they are not pharmacies and may not even have a shopfront.2

A recent UK study of 113 online pharmacies selling diazepam, fluoxetine and simvastatin found that fewer than 25% were regulated and 80 were willing to sell prescription medicines without a prescription.3 The unregulated sites were more likely to provide safety information (cautions, adverse effects, drug interactions) suggesting that inclusion of some clinical knowledge should not serve as a guarantee of the seller's provenance. However, the unregulated sites were significantly less likely to provide the contact details of the pharmacy.3

Price tends to dominate the business model of online pharmacies with a focus on the mechanistic, technological and logistical aspects of supply. Most public discussion around online supply in the USA and Europe centres on price, market segmentation and domination, and economies of scale, rather than on the quality use of medicines.4

Anecdotally, both the USA and Australian experiences suggest that online pharmacies are able to offer cheaper medicines. In Australia, this does not include medicines that meet or exceed the consumer copayment as they are subsidised. Some consumers prefer the convenience of mail order, particularly in the rural and remote setting.

All studies and warnings from regulatory agencies emphasise the caution 'buyer beware'. As the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Agency advises, 'Buying medicines online is a risk, many websites operate outside the legal requirements and you have no idea what you are getting and how it will affect you. You are gambling with your health.' 5

Overseas online pharmacies appear to not offer the same level of personal contact that is required of Australian pharmacies, whether by standards or guidelines.6 An inspection of six online pharmacies verified by the US National Association of Boards of Pharmacy found no evidence for how consumers could contact the pharmacy for advice about medicines. The Australian situation is markedly different. The Pharmacy Board of Australia emphasises the quality use of medicines and states that:

The Board views the indirect supply of medicines, such as internet and mail-order dispensing, as less than the optimal way of delivering a pharmacy service because communication may be compromised. The Board recognises, however, that there are circumstances where these forms of communication are necessary in, or appropriate to, the patient's circumstances (e.g. in remote areas).

A pharmacist supplying medicines indirectly to a patient must comply with all relevant State or Territory, and Commonwealth legislation, the Pharmacy Board of Australia's Guidelines for Dispensing of Medicines, and established practice and quality assurance standards.7

The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) also publishes a warning regarding the potential dangers of online pharmacies (usually overseas) but does not conduct any regulatory review of internet sites.8 The TGA's position assists consumers in having greater confidence in Australian online pharmacy sites rather than those overseas.

Online ordering of medicines by consumers will remain a feature of the Australian pharmacy landscape, and high operational and professional requirements should ensure that medicines ordered from Australian registered online pharmacies meet Australian standards. Conversely, non-Australian sites offer little in the way of reassurance.

Australian health consumers should be vigilant of online pharmacies and standards and guidelines of the Pharmacy Board of Australia, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, and the accreditation requirements of the Quality Care Pharmacy Program need to be maintained. There should be appropriate governance of access to medicines, whether that be through a traditional walk-in pharmacy or via an online transaction.


The direct effect of one event on another can be defined and measured by holding constant all intermediate variables between the two. Indirect effects present conceptual and practical difficulties (in nonlinear models), because they cannot be isolated by holding certain variables constant. This paper presents a new way of defining the effect transmitted through a restricted set of paths, without controlling variables on the remaining paths. This permits the assessment of a more natural type of direct and indirect effects, one that is applicable in both linear and nonlinear models and that has broader policy-related interpretations. The paper establishes conditions under which such assessments can be estimated consistently from experimental and nonexperimental data, and thus extends path-analytic techniques to nonlinear and nonparametric models.


Learning and knowledge creation is often distributed across multiple media and sites in networked environments. Traces of such activity may be fragmented across multiple logs and may not match analytic needs. As a result, the coherence of distributed interaction and emergent phenomena are analytically cloaked. Understanding distributed learning and knowledge creation requires multi-level analysis of the situated accomplishments of individuals and small groups and of how this local activity gives rise to larger phenomena in a network. We have developed an abstract transcript representation that provides a unified analytic artifact of distributed activity, and an analytic hierarchy that supports multiple levels of analysis. Log files are abstracted to directed graphs that record observed relationships (contingencies) between events, which may be interpreted as evidence of interaction and other influences between actors. Contingency graphs are further abstracted to two-mode directed graphs that record how associations between actors are mediated by digital artifacts and summarize sequential patterns of interaction. Transitive closure of these associograms creates sociograms, to which existing network analytic techniques may be applied, yielding aggregate results that can then be interpreted by reference to the other levels of analysis. We discuss how the analytic hierarchy bridges between levels of analysis and theory.


This article explores the implications of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 for fiduciary duty analysis in corporate law. The article examines those provisions of the Act, and recent SEC, NYSE and NASDAQ rules, that most pointedly bear on corporate governance. The article develops in detail exactly how Sarbanes-Oxley and those rules may alter state fiduciary duty law. Sarbanes-Oxley makes unprecedented federal inroads into the area of corporate governance and, although the fact of federal incursion into corporate governance is important in its own right, the more intriguing issue concerns the eventual interplay between federal and state law. Specifically, on various subjects will federal law wholly supplant, or merely supplement, state law? After first describing those recent regulatory initiatives most likely to raise fiduciary duty issues, we describe the fiduciary duties of directors, giving special attention to the emerging obligation of good faith, and highlight the often-overlooked fiduciary status of corporate officers. We note critical differences between breach of fiduciary duty claims against corporate officers and such claims against directors. We identify those few specific areas where Sarbanes-Oxley pre-empts inconsistent (and weaker) state fiduciary concepts, either in whole or in part. We also identify areas where the mandates of Sarbanes-Oxley, though lacking pre-emptive force, will be highly influential in state fiduciary duty analysis. We conclude, however, that state law will remain preeminent in the fiduciary duty area. This is because state law remains the lingua franca into which the mandates of Sarbanes-Oxley must inevitably be translated for fiduciary duty purposes. We therefore reject the view that Sarbanes-Oxley has somehow federalized the area of corporate fiduciary duty law. To be sure, federal law now plays a more significant role in corporate governance. The overall result of Sarbanes-Oxley in the corporate fiduciary duty area, however, is greater federal influence in a federalism arrangement in which fiduciary duties remain rooted in and dominated by state law.


Commercial purity aluminium (99.5%) has been cold rolled to a true strain of 5.5 (99.6% reduction in thickness). The material is very strong but low temperature recovery may be a limiting factor. This has been investigated by isothermal annealing treatments in the temperature range 5–100°C. Hardness tests, microstructural investigations by electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were carried out to identify and characterise possible recovery mechanisms. Annihilation of zigzagged dislocations, positioned between deformation-induced lamellar boundaries of medium-to-high angles, and annihilation of dislocations in boundaries were found to be important recovery mechanisms, whereas other mechanisms, such as triple junction motion, subgrain coalescence, and boundary migration, were less important or negligible. The recovery kinetics was analysed based on hardness data, showing that the apparent activation energy for recovery at low temperatures was 60–86 kJ mol−1, consistent with thermally activated glide of jogged interior dislocations and the climb of dislocations in boundaries. These mechanisms are restricted by the presence of small intermetallic particles, which pin dislocations and boundaries and thereby raise the stability of the heavily deformed material.


Agile autonomous systems are emerging, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), that must robustly perform tightly coordinated time-critical missions; for example, military surveillance or search-and-rescue scenarios. In the space domain, execution of temporally flexible plans has provided an enabler for achieving the desired coordination and robustness. We address the challenge of extending plan execution to underactuated systems that are controlled indirectly through the setting of continuous state variables.

Our solution is a novel model-based executive that takes as input a temporally flexible state plan, specifying intended state evolutions, and dynamically generates a near-optimal control sequence. To achieve optimality and safety, the executive plans into the future, framing planning as a disjunctive programming problem. To achieve robustness to disturbances and tractability, planning is folded within a receding horizon, continuous planning framework. Key to performance is a problem reduction method based on constraint pruning. We benchmark performance through a suite of UAV scenarios using a hardware-in-the-loop testbed.


Abstract. Water transparency is a primary indicator of optical water quality that is driven by suspended particulate and dissolved material. A data set from the operational Time Series Station Spiekeroog located at a tidal inlet of the Wadden Sea was used to perform (i) an inter-comparison of observations related to water transparency, (ii) correlation tests among these measured parameters, and (iii) to explore the utility of both acoustic and optical tools in monitoring water transparency. An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler was used to derive the backscatter signal in the water column. Optical observations were collected using above-water hyperspectral radiometers and a submerged turbidity metre. Bio-fouling on the turbidity sensors optical windows resulted in measurement drift and abnormal values during quality control steps. We observed significant correlations between turbidity collected by the submerged metre and that derived from above-water radiometer observations. Turbidity from these sensors was also associated with the backscatter signal derived from the acoustic measurements. These findings suggest that both optical and acoustic measurements can be reasonable proxies of water transparency with the potential to mitigate gaps and increase data quality in long-time observation of marine environments.


: In cyber-physical systems, the reliable data communication between the physical systems and computer systems are inevitable, and it is an essential issue to protect the systems from jamming attacks that obstruct wireless communication. Moreover, for practical uses of the systems, Quality of Service (QoS) is also important. In this paper, we consider a mobile robot and propose an anti-jamming mobile control system that uses QoS-based reinforcement learning. We show that the control system can fi nd a policy that provides planning with a short path while avoiding jamming attacks.


Correctly evaluating functional similarities among homologous proteins is necessary for accurate transfer of experimental knowledge from one organism to another, and is of particular importance for the development of animal models of human disease. While the fact that sequence similarity implies functional similarity is a fundamental paradigm of molecular biology, sequence comparison does not directly assess the extent to which two proteins participate in the same biological processes, and has limited utility for analyzing families with several parologous members. Nevertheless, we show that it is possible to provide a cross-organism functional similarity measure in an unbiased way through the exclusive use of high-throughput gene-expression data. Our methodology is based on probabilistic cross-species mapping of functionally analogous proteins based on Bayesian integrative analysis of gene expression compendia. We demonstrate that even among closely related genes, our method is able to predict functionally analogous homolog pairs better than relying on sequence comparison alone. We also demonstrate that the landscape of functional similarity is often complex and that definitive "functional orthologs" do not always exist. Even in these cases, our method and the online interface we provide are designed to allow detailed exploration of sources of inferred functional similarity that can be evaluated by the user.


Advancing predictive modeling through focused development of model systems to drive new modeling innovations A funding proposal recently submitted to the NIH David L. Mobley Associate Professor, Departments of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemistry, University of California, Irvine John D. Chodera Assistant Faculty Member, Computational Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Lyle Isaacs Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland Bruce C. Gibb Professor, Department of Chemistry, Tulane University ABSTRACT This work seeks to advance quantitative methods for biomolecular design, especially for predicting biomolecular interactions, via a focused series of community blind prediction challenges. Physical methods for predicting binding free energies, or "free energy methods", are poised to dramatically reshape early stage drug discovery, and are already finding applications in pharmaceutical lead optimization. However, performance is unreliable, the domain of applicability is limited, and failures in pharmaceutical applications are often hard to understand and fix. On the other hand, these methods can now typically predict a variety of simple physical properties such as solvation free energies or relative solubilities, though there is still clear room for improvement in accuracy. In recent years, blind prediction challenges have played a key role in driving innovations in prediction of physical properties and binding, especially in the form of the SAMPL series of challenges. Here, we will continue and extend SAMPL prediction challenges to include new physical properties, more complicated host-guest binding data, and application to biomolecular systems. Carefully selected systems and novel experimental data will provide challenges of gradually increasing complexity spanning between systems which are now tractable to those which are marginally out of reach of today's methods but still slightly simpler than those covered by the Drug Design Data Resource (D3R) series of challenges on existing pharmaceutical data. We will work with D3R to run blind challenges on the data we generate and to ensure it is designed to maximally benefit the field. In Aim 1, we will collect new measurements on partitioning, distribution, and protonation of drug-like compounds, in collaboration with partners in the pharmaceutical industry. In Aim 2, we leverage our expertise in host-guest binding to generate new data on host-guest binding in cucubiturils and deep cavity cavitands. And in Aim 3, we use high-throughput robotic experiments to generate new protein-ligand binding data of biological relevance. Aim 4 focuses on using this data to run blind SAMPL challenges, motivating the community to test, understand, and improve these methods. We will also run reference calculations with the latest techniques. This work will ensure the continued success of SAMPL challenges which have already driven considerable innovation in the field and been the focus of more than 90 different publications (each typically cited 5-50 times) since their inception around 2007, and will play a key role in driving the next several generations of improvements in computational techniques for molecular design. The research proposed here will lead to significant improvements in the predictive power of physical models for drug discovery, molecular design and the prediction of physical properties.


Abstract. The world's largest continental shelf, the East Siberian Shelf Sea, receives substantial input of terrestrial organic carbon (terr-OC) from both large rivers and erosion of its coastline. Degradation of organic matter from thawing permafrost in the Arctic is likely to increase, potentially creating a positive feedback mechanism to climate warming. This study focuses on the Buor-Khaya Bay (SE Laptev Sea), an area with strong terr-OC input from both coastal erosion and the Lena river. To better understand the fate of this terr-OC, molecular (acyl lipid biomarkers) and isotopic tools (stable carbon and radiocarbon isotopes) have been applied to both particulate organic carbon (POC) in surface water and sedimentary organic carbon (SOC) collected from the underlying surface sediments. Clear gradients in both extent of degradation and differences in source contributions were observed both between surface water POC and surface sediment SOC as well as over the 100 s km investigation scale (about 20 stations). Depleted δ13C-OC and high HMW/LMW n-alkane ratios signaled that terr-OC was dominating over marine/planktonic sources. Despite a shallow water column (10–40 m), the isotopic shift between SOC and POC varied systematically from +2 to +5 per mil for δ13C and from +300 to +450 for Δ14C from the Lena prodelta to the Buor-Khaya Cape. At the same time, the ratio of HMW n-alkanoic acids to HMW n-alkanes as well as HMW n-alkane CPI, both indicative of degradation, were 5–6 times greater in SOC than in POC. This suggests that terr-OC was substantially older yet less degraded in the surface sediment than in the surface waters. This unusual vertical degradation trend was only recently found also for the central East Siberian Sea. Numerical modeling (Monte Carlo simulations) with δ13C and Δ14C in both POC and SOC was applied to deduce the relative contribution of – plankton OC, surface soil layer OC and yedoma/mineral soil OC. This three end-member dual-carbon-isotopic mixing model suggests quite different scenarios for the POC vs SOC. Surface soil is dominating (63 ± 10 %) the suspended organic matter in the surface water of SE Laptev Sea. In contrast, the yedoma/mineral soil OC is accounting for 60 ± 9 % of the SOC. We hypothesize that yedoma-OC, associated with mineral-rich matter from coastal erosion is ballasted and thus quickly settles to the bottom. The mineral association may also explain the greater resistance to degradation of this terr-OC component. In contrast, more amorphous humic-like and low-density terr-OC from surface soil and recent vegetation represents a younger but more bioavailable and thus degraded terr-OC component held buoyant in surface water. Hence, these two terr-OC components may represent different propensities to contribute to a positive feedback to climate warming by converting OC from coastal and inland permafrost into CO2.