Validation is a critical component of any modelling process. In artificial neural network (ANN) modelling, validation generally consists of the assessment of model predictive performance on an independent validation set (predictive validity). However, this ignores other aspects of model validation considered to be good practice in other areas of environmental modelling, such as residual analysis (replicative validity) and checking the plausibility of the model in relation to a priori system understanding (structural validity). In order to address this shortcoming, a validation framework for ANNs is introduced in this paper that covers all of the above aspects of validation. In addition, the validann R-package is introduced that enables these validation methods to be implemented in a user-friendly and consistent fashion. The benefits of the framework and R-package are demonstrated for two environmental modelling case studies, highlighting the importance of considering replicative and structural validity in addition to predictive validity.


Climate change is forcing vulnerable communities in poor countries to adapt to unprecedented climate stress. Rich countries, primarily responsible for creating the problem, must stop harming, by fast cutting their greenhouse-gas emissions, and start helping, by providing finance for adaptation. In developing countries Oxfam estimates that adaptation will cost at least $50bn each year, and far more if global emissions are not cut rapidly. Urgent work is necessary to gain a more accurate picture of the costs to the poor. According to Oxfam's new Adaptation Financing Index, the USA, European Union, Japan, Canada, and Australia should contribute over 95 per cent of the finance needed. This finance must not be counted towards meeting the UN-agreed target of 0.7 per cent for aid. Rich countries are planning multi-billion dollar adaptation measures at home, but to date they have delivered just $48m to international funds for least-developed country adaptation, and have counted it as aid: an unacceptable inequity in global responses to climate change.


The flooding situation in 2011 is similar in nature to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1993, but different in the particulars. First, the timing of the flood within the growing season is different. Second, the two floods occurred in different regions, with the 1993 flood affecting a portion of the Corn Belt and the 2011 flood affecting a region farther south. While floodwaters have inundated several million acres of cropland in 2011, yield losses from delayed planting are expected to be limited. Furthermore, the affected states from the current flood are primarily Group 2 states under the current SRA, which are provided with greater reinsurance protection by the government than the Group 1 states.


Under the auspices of the World Bank and IMF, for almost two decades, sub-Saharan African countries have implemented structural adjustment, an orthodox package of economic reform measures. During this period there has been an unprecedented proliferation of technology investment and trade in the world economy. However sub-Saharan Africa has performed poorly under adjustment and has been largely marginalized from the international economy. The paper investigates the problems with the theoretical model underlying structural adjustment policies to explain why the model is not conducive to either African development or Africa's increasing participation in the global economy. An example is used to illustrate the existence of an alternative set of policies that may be better suited for Africa.


We examined the effect of dietary arachidonic acid (ARA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on the production of embryos and hatched larvae in the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. Two diets with high and intermediate levels of ARA and low and intermediate levels of EPA (Feed 1: ARA 1.9%, EPA 4.2%; Feed 2: ARA 1.2%, EPA 5.1% of total fatty acids) were tested against a commercial diet (DE: ARA: 0.5%, EPA: 8.2% of total fatty acids). After 24 weeks of feeding, ARA levels in the muscles and ovaries increased to 0.9% and 1.3% of total fatty acids, respectively, in Feed 1 and were significantly higher than in Feed 2 and DE. Female broodstock was not fed during hormonal treatment to induce vitellogenesis and ovulation. EPA levels in females fed the test diets decreased in the both muscle and ovary and were significantly lower in eggs from females fed Feed 1. The highest percentage of stripped females, producing viable eggs and larvae, were those females fed the highest dietary ARA levels (Feed 1). The level of lipid peroxidation products in eggs was similar among treatment, indicating that the lowest dietary levels of vitamin C and vitamin E were sufficient. In the unfertilized eggs, ARA levels were also highest (1.1% of total fatty acids) in the diet with highest ARA levels (Feed 1).


CHARACTERIZATION AND FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF A NEWLY IDENTIFIED HUMAN MTS-MMP TRANSCRIPT VARIANT ISOLATED FROM NIULTIPOTENT NT2 CELLS By Heather Hamilton Ross, MPT A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, 2006 Director: Helen L Fillmore, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Neurosurgery Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology Membrane-type 5 matrix metalloproteinase fMT5-MMP) is unique among MMP family members as it is predominately expressed in the CNS. Its expression is ubiquitous during brain development and restricted to regions of neurogenesis and neuroplasticity in the adult. MT5-MWTP is a mediator of pericellular proteolysis and is thought to have a functional impact on neurite outgrowth. The studies presented in this work were designed to examine MT5-MMP expression in cultured NT2 cells, a model of newogenesis and neuronal differentiation, and in adult neurogenic brain regions. We xii further sought to overexpress MT5-MMP and test the hypothesis that it plays a role in substrate-specific cell motility. MTS-MMP mRNA was expressed in NT2 cells and was significantly higher in differentiated neuronal hNT cells. MT5-MMP cDNA cloned fkom NT2 cells unexpectedly revealed a novel sequence (MTS-MMPvar) which was 92% homologous with the published MT5-MMP and was characterized by a 162 bp deletion. Both transcripts could be identified in NT2, hNT and adult human hippocampus. The newly cloned MT5-MMPvar cDNA translated into an approximately 52 kDa protein as seen in in vitro expression studies. Using an MTS-MMPvar specific antibody designed to span the 162 bp deletion, MT5-MMPvar protein could be detected in NT2 cells and these protein levels increased in their neuronal counterparts, hNT cells. MT5-MMPvar protein was also expressed in adult human hippocampal tissue. MT5-MMPvar protein was shown to be expressed in a murine region of neurogenesis and plasticity, suggesting the existence of a murine homolog of this variant. Based on bioinformatic analysis, the MT5-MMPvar transcript was predicted to lack a sufficient signal peptide and to remain a Type-I membrane protein. This computer assisted modeling suggests that the most significant functional implication of MTS-MMPvar sequence variations is to affect its direction into the ER for processing. Functional studies using COS-7 cells genetically modified to overexpress MT5MMPvar demonstrated no difference in cellular motility compared to parental or vector control cells. Preliminary studies show MT5-MMPvar expression in COS-7 cells associated with perinuclear structures and the cell membrane. Adult human neural xiii progenitor cells stimulated to differentiate into immature neurons demonstrated MT5MMPvar expression associated with the cell membrane and process outgrowths. This work has identified a novel transcript variant of the human MTS-MMP gene and shown that the protein product of this gene is significantly higher in differentiated NT2 cells. This, combined with preliminary results suggesting MT5MMPvar cellular redistribution in more mature cell types, indicates a role for MTSW v a r in neural differentiation and function.


Rio Hogarty's story of her life in fostering, A Heart So Big, combines the heart-warming nostalgia of Mollie Moran's Aprons and Silver Spoons with heart-breaking stories of children whose lives were blighted by being unloved and uncared for in the style of Cathy Glass. Nearly seventy years ago, Rio started to do her bit for vulnerable children, one child at a time. While she was still in school, she thought nothing of bringing home a schoolmate who needed refuge. It was the start of opening her home and her heart to children in need. She has never stopped. A Heart So Big is the astonishing and moving story of Rio's life and how she has tried to make a difference. She has fostered over 140 children and in 2010, in an award created especially for her, she was named Mother of the Year at the annual People of the Year Awards. It includes stories of trauma - Rio has rescued children from the direst of circumstances and seen the price they pay for the failures of adults. And Rio has had her share of heartache along the way. But it is also a story full of humour, searing honesty and good old-fashioned fighting spirit. Rio Hogarty's A Heart So Big is an uplifting account of an amazing and inspiring life. "She is instinctively protective of children in need, and doesn't take "no" for an answer. She's also fearless". (The Herald).


After centuries of adapting to coastal living, increases in stormwater and tidal flooding events, along with projected sea level rise, led Charleston, South Carolina, USA to define flooding as an existential threat to the city. With billions of planned flood management projects underway, and additional billions of federal disaster flood recovery funds allocated to the State of South Carolina, the Governor's office established a South Carolina Office of Resilience in September 2020, with a focus on water management. The City of Charleston developed its own Flooding and Sea Level Rise Strategy. Simultaneously, the fourth National Climate Assessment pointed to heat health risks and projected costs of lost labor productivity concentrated in the Southeast, yet local recognition of heat as an equivalent threat to flooding was not apparent. Although Charleston's All Hazards Vulnerability Assessment included extreme heat as a significant hazard, without a group focused on heat, ongoing work in the city continued to prioritize water management as annual flood events rapidly escalated. This narrow adaptation framing was further solidified as funding focused on flood recovery and adaptation and technical experts worked within water-related boundaries. These interacting forces led to Hazard Bias, an inherent organizational process of reinforcing focus on a single hazard in the context of compound, complex hazard risks. To adapt to increasing heat, Charleston will need to raise compound risk awareness and adjust its capital investments in resilience to be inclusive of heat mitigation and adaptation as well as water. Yet in 2020 Charleston lacked basic urban heat data, technical expertise, and a strong source of motivation to develop a prioritization approach for recognizing multiple risks and complementary adaptation opportunities in those investments. Recognizing the inherent bias, a new coalition of heat researchers, practitioners, and health experts launched a tripartite heat-health research program and spurred the development of a new heat network in Charleston. The network reduced hazard bias by raising heat-health risk awareness and by intervening in adaptation planning to broaden water-only considerations to be inclusive of water AND heat. This paper provides a detailed case study how the intersections of multiple networks, messengers, and messages contributed to broadening the local resilience agenda from a "hazard bias" and how the lessons learned during this transformative process further reveal health inequities.


The Australian Government has funded the Teaching Teachers for the Future (TTF) project to increase preservice teachers' capacity to embed ICT in their teaching practice (Education Services Australia, 2011). The planning model promoted by the TTF project details three overlapping knowledge domains: technological knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge. The intersection of these domains is referred to as technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). TPACK is promoted as a model for teachers to use when they plan mathematics and science curriculum for Indigenous students. This paper argues that when planning with the TPACK model the teacher also needs to explicitly acknowledge the attributes and resources of the Indigenous students. This feature of teaching design and
implementation needs to be further developed in pre-service education and teacher professional development. It is imperative for educators to acknowledge and value the attributes and cultural dimensions Indigenous students bring to the classroom: their lived languages, experiences and knowledge for the purpose of their learning. Here, the term 'culture' is used to refer to an individual's habit of mind; the development of a whole society; or the whole way of life of a group of people (Rojek, 2007). The paper positions Indigenous students as agentic in both negotiating their mathematical and scientific learning dispositions and using technological models and simulations. A key purpose of the paper is to highlight the socially negotiated and embedded nature of meaning-making, how one's culture influences how an individual or a group can make primary sense of their world and thus proposes a more holistic approach to TPACK for Indigenous students in mathematics and science classrooms.


Developments in treatment technology have traditionally focused on removal of specific contaminants: BOD, solids, ammonia, TOC and lately, specific organics such as phenol. A limit on effluent toxicity, however, does not fit so neatly into a procedural package, since it truly integrates the presence and impacts of contaminants in a sample. Toxicity reduction evaluation procedures, therefore, are more complex and site–specific than investigation procedures for reduction of other parameters. As described, toxicity reduction evaluations are best performed in six steps divided into three sequential phases. These are as follows: Phase I – Data validation; Phase II – Treatment system optimisation; Phase III – A) Toxicity identification, B) Best management practices implementation, C) Source treatment evaluation, D) Treatment system upgrading. Data validation can involve three to six months, or more, of additional testing to confirm and quantify the problem. Numerous testing concerns are identified which must be addressed prior to moving on to treatment considerations. The existing treatment facilities at the site should be fully optimised before considering addition of new facilities. Reconsideration of many accepted operational techniques has resulted in dramatic improvement in effluent toxicity, not evidenced by improvement in conventional pollutants. Some of the changes described include extended sludge age, increased carbon dosages and simply change in the carbon supplier. Toxicity identification testing is necessary if the existing system is not capable of completely resolving the problem. This consists of laboratory separation of samples into fractions to determine the contribution of various components to the toxicity. Toxicity identification results or literature research may provide a direction to a Best Management Practices or housekeeping approach to toxicity reduction. Elimination of or substitution for a toxic product or raw material has been known to resolve some toxicity problems. Where no specific component can be identified for elimination, sometimes a source area or building can be identified as a major factor. In either of these cases, source treatment can be helpful. Many applicable treatment technologies for small volume and/or concentrated streams are described. Upgrading of the treatment system is necessary where no other option is available or affordable. Selection of the technologies to be evaluated is based upon the results of the previous steps in the effort. Toxicity performance data are provided on a number of end–of–pipe treatment process alternatives.


Flat carbon steel manufacturers are currently developing new Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steels as a response to strong demands for vehicle lightening and security reinforcement from the automobile sector[]. These advanced grades exhibit a very favourable compromise between strength and ductility compared to conventional steels and can therefore be produced in lighter, thinner gauge strips with equivalent functional properties. The excellent mechanical properties of TRIP steels are attributed to the high strain hardening coefficient generated by the progressive transformation of metastable retained austenite to martensite during plastic deformation. In this paper we will discuss the improvements in cold strip properties that can be obtained using vanadium microalloying in these steels. By choosing an appropriate composition and thermomechanical process path, a high fraction of the added vanadium can be made to precipitate in ferrite during the continuous annealing step, providing a large strengthening effect. This gain in strength is obtained without any significant loss of ductility as, apart from a useful grain refining effect, the presence of vanadium does not significantly modify the original TRIP microstructure.


The mechanical coupling between a subducting slab and the overlying mantle wedge is an important factor in controlling the subduction dip angle and the flow in mantel wedge. This paper investigates the role of the amount of mantle serpentinization on the subduction zone evolution. With numerical thermos-mechanical models with elasto-visco-plastic rheology, we vary the thickness and depth extent of mantle serpentinization in the mantle wedge to control the degree of coupling between the slab and mantle wedge. A thin serpentinized mantle layer is required for stable subduction. For models with stable subduction, we find that the slab dip is affected by the down-dip extent and the mantle serpentinization thickness. A critical down-dip extent exists in mantle serpentinization, determined by the thickness of the overriding lithosphere. If the down-dip extent does not exceed the critical depth, the slab is partially coupled to the overriding lithosphere and has a constant dip angle regardless of the mantle serpentinization thickness. However, if the down-dip extent exceeds the critical depth, the slab and the base of the overriding lithosphere would be separated and decoupled by a thick layer of serpentinized peridotite. This allows further slab bending and results in steeper slab dip. Increasing mantle serpentinization thickness will also result in larger slab dip. We also find that with weak mantle wedge, there is no material flowing from the asthenosphere into the serpentinized mantle wedge. All of these results indicate that serpentinization is an important ingredient when studying the subduction dynamics in the mantle wedge. Article history: Received 7 August 2016 Revised 20 September 2016 Accepted 21 September 2016


This chapter reports an investigation into the capacity of language learners to improve their performance through the memorization of specifically targeted linguistic material. Six intermediate/advanced learners of English memorized nativelike versions of conversational turns that they anticipated needing in future conversations. After rehearsal, they attempted to use the memorized material in real interaction. Recordings of all stages of the process were transcribed and analyzed, to identify the nature of the deviations made from the targets. Nativelike deviations are interpreted as a legitimate approximation of nativelike behaviour, since fully faithful reproduction of a memorized original is usually neither necessary nor desirable for those with the linguistic skill to make appropriate changes. Non-nativelike deviations are viewed as indicative of shortfalls in knowledge, poor attention focus, and over-optimistic risk-taking during memorization. Individual profiles of the learners are presented, and it is proposed that memorization could be used as a means of establishing the strengths and weaknesses of learners in relation to morphological, lexical and phraseological knowledge


The BGP Encapsulation Subsequence Address Family Identifiers (SAFI)
provides a method for the dynamic exchange of encapsulation
information, and the indication of encapsulation protocol types to be
used for different next hops. Currently support for GRE, L2TPv3 and IP
in IP tunnel types are defined. This document defines support for
IPsec tunnel types.


The situation of medical care in the State of Ceara (Brazil) was estimated through the analysis of the offering of the official services on public health, hospital and "para-hospital" care and by the existent human resources as well. This region has 141 towns and aproximately 4,000.000 inhabitants. The official services on Public Health are concerned to State public expense in 59.6% of the sanitary units; Federal government gives its participation in 26.9% and the city council helps in 13.5%. The quantitative standard observed was considered as been satisfactory, since as a rule there is one sanitary unit per each 23,002 inhabitants. This average is very near to the required one unit per each 50,000 inhabitants. The qualitative appreciation, considered indirectly through the actual laboratory and human resources, seemed to be inefficient since only 16.7% of the health units have laboratory and 12.3% have no physicians; 21.7 (39) of the health center are closed because of the lack of this kind of professional related above. Paralel to this situation one can detect the existance of equipments completely out of date and the nearly absolute defficiency in the section of drug supply. From the 141 towns which compose the Region of Ceara, 31 (22%) have no health unit and in 25 (17.7%) we don't find any health resource. In the first presented case the population of medical care theoretically found out is of 378,449 inhabitants and in the second case it is of 232,900 inhabitants. From the 103 actual hospitals in this present Region 77.7% is on the responsability of the private section and 25% is concentrated in the capital of the Region. The quantitative standard of 1.84 beds/1000 inhabitants (7047 beds) is extremely low when compared with the Brazilian average of 3.6 beds. The theoretically recomended average is 4.5 (beds). From the total number of beds 1.10/1000 are considered general and 0.74/1000 are specialized (tuberculosis, leprosy and psychiatry). The qualitative stantard of the hospital attendance is implicated since only 22.3% of the foundation have laboratory; 31.1% have X Ray apparatus and 11.6% present electro-cardiography. The most proeminent shortage of these resources occur in the countryside of this Region. More than 50.0% of the hospitals have no professional on health section, such us nursery, nutritionist, social work and technicians. From the 141 towns, 62.7% (89) have no hospitals, consequently about 1,300.000 inhabitants are theoretically in need of hospital care. Related to the 86 para-hospital units, through the lack of data is bigger, the situation is rather similar to the hospital care. There are 1207 physicians in the Region who offer a patterns of 0.3 physicians/1000 inhabitants when the recomended patern theorically is an average 1/1000. In spite of being a rather insignificant rate there is an unfair distribuition of physicians for 77.7% of these workers are concentrated in the capital of the Region (1.1/1000 inhabitants). Only 45.4% of the cities have resident physician, related to dentistry field one can observe a low quantitative pattern of 0,28 workers per 2.000 inhabitants when the generally acceptable amount is of 1/2000 inhabitants. Concerning with the para-medical workers there is a predominance of medical attendants in the Official Services of Public Heath and as it has already been mencioned above more than 50.0% have no qualified workers in the hospitals.


Influenza viruses are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, with seasonal epidemics of influenza resulting in around three to five million cases of severe illness globally each year. The evolution of influenza A viruses is characterised by rapid antigenic drift, which allows mutant viruses to evade host immunity acquired to previously circulating viruses. Antigenic variation is observed across a wide range of infectious organisms and can circumvent long-lasting immunity in hosts leading to repeated infection or non-clearance. Influenza A viruses can often be effectively combatted by the immune system and vaccines also exist to protect at-risk individuals, limiting the burden of disease. However, the effectiveness of the vaccine depends on constituents being antigenically similar to circulating viruses. Antigenic drift of influenza viruses therefore requires a global surveillance system responsible for the antigenic characterisation of circulating viruses. The identification of emerging antigenic variants is critical to the vaccine virus selection process and in addition experts must anticipate which viruses are likely to predominate in forthcoming epidemic seasons. Mutations to B-cell epitopes on the surface of haemagglutinin (HA) that facilitate escape from neutralising antibodies play a key role in influenza antigenic drift. Consequently the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay, which measures HA cross-reactivity, is commonly used to approximate antigenic phenotype.

In this thesis, I investigate the genetic basis of antigenic variation among human influenza A viruses through analysis of HI data collected in recent decades and associated HA gene sequence data. In Chapter 2, I use phylogenetic methods and antigenic cartography to characterise the genetic and antigenic variation among the viruses studied and evaluate the usefulness of these methods for epitope identification. In Chapter 3, I extend a model developed to investigate antigenic differences among foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) viruses to former seasonal A(H1N1) viruses. By attributing variation in HI titre to amino acid differences between viruses, while accounting for phylogenetic relationships, I identify substitutions that have driven the antigenic evolution of the virus. Reverse genetics was then used to validate model predictions experimentally. In Chapter 4, I further extend the model and investigate the genetic drivers of antigenic drift among A(H3N2) viruses, comparing model results with published HI data generated using mutant recombinant viruses. In Chapter 5, I explore the power of the identified genetic determinants for predicting antigenic relationships among A(H1N1) and A(H3N2) viruses. Specifically I show that sequence-based models can be used to estimate the antigenicity of emerging viruses directly from their sequence and that by including substitutions of smaller antigenic impact, in addition to the high-impact substitutions that are often focused on, predictions were improved. I also demonstrate the versatility of these methods by extending this sequence-based approach to predict antigenic relationships among viruses of three serotypes of FMD virus.

Determining phenotype from genotype is a fundamental challenge for virus research. It is of particular interest in the case of the antigenic evolution of influenza viruses, given the need to continually track changes in the virus population, anticipate which viruses will predominate in future seasons, and select vaccine viruses. Collectively, the results I present demonstrate an enhanced quantitative understanding of the molecular genetic basis of the adaptive phenotype of influenza viruses. The ability to quantify the phenotypic impact of specific amino acid substitutions should help to refine methods that predict, from genotype, the fitness and evolutionary success of influenza viruses from one season to the next, strengthening the theoretical foundations for vaccine virus selection. The techniques presented also have great potential to be extended to other antigenically variable pathogens and to elucidate the genetic basis of their antigenic variation.


We have been invited to consider the relationship between Scripture and Theology with special reference to wisdom. The significance of wisdom in relation to biblical study can be conceived in at least two quite different ways. On the one hand, there is the familiar agenda of wisdom as an aspect of biblical religion, to be studied like any aspect of biblical religion. Familiar issues here include: the history and development of wisdom within Israel; the nature and extent of wisdom literature; the relationship between wisdom in Israel and wisdom in the ancient Near East; Jewish and early Christian developments and reworkings of wisdom, especially, in a Christian context, in relation to Christ; and so on.

On the other hand, there is wisdom as an existential reality, less the object which one studies than that light and enablement whereby one's study is (one hopes) carried out. Here, of course, the familiar debates are those about the relationship between faith and biblical study, where the context is set by the fact that it was only by disentangling the Bible from certain kinds of faith-defined contexts and assumptions in the 18th and 19th centuries that biblical study could become a subject in its own right. Thankfully, the intense hermeneutical debates of recent decades have put an end (at least in principle) to the kinds of implicit positivism that could sometimes characterize biblical study in formal detachment from faith and theology. I hope that an emphasis on wisdom, rather than faith as such, may be one way of helping us to rethink what is, and is not, appropriate to our continuing responsibility to relate Scripture and Theology in imaginative, faithful, searching, and life-enhancing ways.

Although all these issues could usefully be discussed as issues of principle, my preference is to work with the text of Scripture itself. For I take it that one element in the renewal of interaction between Scripture and theology is to show how theological thinking can be enhanced by attention to scriptural exegesis and interpretation; and if that is so, then it is more fruitful not just to talk about it but to try to do it.


We consider a simple environment in which individuals receive income shocks that are unobservable to others and can privately store resources. We show that this ability to privately store can undercut the ability to shift resources across individuals to the extent that the efficient allocation only involves consumption smoothing over time, as opposed to insurance (consumption smoothing over states) if the rate of return on savings is not too far below the rate of time preference, or, alternatively, if the worst possible outcome is sufficiently dire. We also show that unlike environments without unobservable storage, the symmetric efficient allocation is decentralizable through a competitive asset market in which individuals trade risk-free bonds among themselves.


Lasers have long played a critical role in the advancement of aerosol science. A new regime of ultrafast laser technology has recently be realized, the world's first soft x-ray free electron laser. The Free electron LASer in Hamburg, FLASH, user facility produces a steady source of 10 femtosecond pulses of 7–32 nm x-rays with 1012 photons per pulse. The high brightness, short wavelength, and high repetition rate (> 500 pulses per second) of this laser offers unique capabilities for aerosol characterization. Here we use FLASH to perform the highest resolution imaging of single PM2.5 aerosol particles in flight to date. We resolve to 35 nm the morphology of fibrous and aggregated spherical carbonaceous nanoparticles that existed for less than two milliseconds in vacuum. Our result opens the possibility for high spatial- and time-resolved single particle aerosol dynamics studies, filling a critical technological need in aerosol science.


: 13-Vanadomanganate(IV) catalyzed benzoic acid hydrazide oxidation by bromate was studied in sodium acetate-acetic acid buffer solution of pH 4.0. The order in oxidant concentration, substrate and catalyst were found to unity.The accelerating effect of hydrogen ion concentration is due to the prior protonation of the substrate. The initiation of the reaction involves the formation of a complex between catalyst and the protonated form of substrate, hydrazide as evidenced by the occurrence of absorption maxima at 390 nm. The complex thus formed is further oxidized by the oxidant in a rate determining step. Benzoic acid was found to be the oxidation product. Other kinetic data like effect of solvent polarity and the activation parameters determined also supports the proposed mechanism.


The effects of palm γ-tocotrienol (GGT) on oxidative stress-induced cellular ageing was investigated in normal human skin fibroblast cell lines derived from different age groups; young (21-year-old, YF), middle (40-year-old, MF) and old (68-year-old, OF). Fibroblast cells were treated with γ-tocotrienol for 24 hours before or after incubation with IC50 dose of H2O2 for 2 hours. Changes in cell viability, telomere length and telomerase activity were assessed using the MTS assay (Promega, USA), Southern blot analysis and telomere repeat amplification protocol respectively. Results showed that treatment with different concentrations of γ-tocotrienol increased fibroblasts viability with optimum dose of 80 µM for YF and 40 µM for both MF and OF. At higher concentrations, γ-tocotrienol treatment caused marked decrease in cell viability with IC50 value of 200 µM (YF), 300 µM (MF) and 100 µM (OF). Exposure to H2O2 decreased cell viability in dose dependent manner, shortened telomere length and reduced telomerase activity in all age groups. The IC50 of H2O2 was found to be; YF (700 µM), MF (400 µM) and OF (100 µM). Results showed that viability increased significantly (p < 0.05) when cells were treated with 80 µM and 40 µM γ-tocotrienol prior or after H2O2-induced oxidative stress in all age groups. In YF and OF, pretreatment with γ-tocotrienol prevented shortening of telomere length and reduction in telomerase activity. In MF, telomerase activity increased while no changes in telomere length was observed. However, post-treatment of γ-tocotrienol did not exert any significant effects on telomere length and telomerase activity. Thus, these data suggest that γ-tocotrienol protects against oxidative stress-induced cellular ageing by modulating the telomere length possibly via telomerase.


Recently we reported on the synthesis and characterization of a series of very weakly coordinating anions (WCA's) of type Al(OR)4- (R=poly or perfluorinated aliph. alkoxide). These anions produce qPseudo Gas Phase Conditionsq in the solid state that allow to isolate and characterize gas phase species in condensed phases. Thus reactions of Ag[Al(OR)4] with weak Lewis bases L such as S8, P4 etc. Led to Ag(L)+ and Ag(L)2+ complexes that were initially obsd. in the gas phase by MS but now were fully characterized in condensed phases, i.e. see the Ag(P4)2+ cation. New reactions of weak Lewis bases such as P4S3[iv] and (NPCl2)3 with the Ag+ cations of these WCA's will be reported. [on SciFinder (R)]


The present paper suggests about the programming association that is spent by excess 48% in management programming bugs that is having an unavoidable walk by explaining bugs to a bug triage, that has a viable consign hope to be fashioner to an added bug. Bug triaging recommends the way towards doling by bug that is the most rational originator to be fixed and is ended up by progressive troublesome and confounded degree programming amount of architect augment. Programming bugs that are predicted to be bug triaging that is troublesome, dreary, dull and luxurious errand for marvellous programming exploits of quantity to be touchingnear the bug report is common in triaging the broad amount of touching bug report that is worrying and dull errand. Approximately portion of bug triaging process is of behind inwards bug response to an designer to be effectively resolved bug. Now by deleting the bug answer that is relevant creator in an indispensable walk to be diminished by throwing bug that has a path toward reallocating the bug answer to addedauspicious architect that is to be essentially picked one cannot be resolved.


This article explores some of the ways in which digital and social media are potentially impacting health journalism, with particular attention to a series of interviews with Australian journalists about their experiences when reporting on mental health issues. The article draws on the concept of biocommunicability developed by Briggs and Hallin as a lens through which to examine the ways in which journalists position themselves and other social actors in the construction of health news. In particular, the article engages the question of how digital media may work to enable and constrain biomedical authority, patient-consumer and public sphere orientations to health journalism. The article considers the interview findings in relation to previous research from journalism studies and focuses on issues around sourcing practices, content demands and web traffic/analytics as a measure of audience interest. Some areas for further research are identified.


This paper examines the welfare implications of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) from the perspective of small countries in the context of a multi-country, general equilibrium model. We calibrate our model to represent one relatively small country and two symmetric big countries. We consider two cases. In one case, the small country is an "innocent bystander," that is, it is left out of a PTA between the two large countries. In the second case, the small country signs a PTA with one of the large countries. We simulate the model and calculate consumption allocations, prices, trade volume, and tariffs in these two cases considering three different equilibria: Free Trade (FT), Free Trade Area (FTA), and Customs Union (CU). We find that free trade is the best outcome for the small country. If the large country PTA takes the form of a CU then the cost of being an "innocent bystander" is very large. If it is a FTA then the cost of being an "innocent bystander" is relatively modest. In fact, the small country prefers to be an "innocent bystander" to being a member of a FTA with one of the large countries.


Over a 19-month period, the spectrum of saprotrophic microscopic fungi isolated from 245 patients in the Moravian-Silesian Region (Czech Republic) was analysed. Saprotrophic microscopic fungi were isolated from nails (90 %) and skin (10 %). None was isolated from hair. The material was the most frequently positive for the presence of Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (32.6 %) followed by Cladosporium sphaerospermum (5.3 %), Aspergillus versicolor (4.0 %), Geomyces pannorum (4.0 %) and others. Dermatophytes and saprotrophic microscopic fungi were both studied within one year and represented 1110 isolates. Dermatophytes were isolated in most of the cases and represented 943 isolations (85 %). The saprotrophic microscopic fungus Scopulariopsis brevicaulis is a known causative agent of onychomycosis. In the evaluation including dermatophytes it ended in the 3rd position with 5.2 % of isolations behind Trichophyton rubrum (80 %) and T. mentagrophytes (8 %).


GRP78 (glucose-regulated protein of 78 kDa) is traditionally regarded as a major ER (endoplasmic reticulum) chaperone facilitating protein folding and assembly, protein quality control, Ca(2+) binding and regulating ER stress signalling. It is a potent anti-apoptotic protein and plays a critical role in tumour cell survival, tumour progression and angiogenesis, metastasis and resistance to therapy. Recent evidence shows that GRP78 can also exist outside the ER. The finding that GRP78 is present on the surface of cancer but not normal cells in vivo represents a paradigm shift on how GRP78 controls cell homoeostasis and provides an opportunity for cancer-specific targeting. Cell-surface GRP78 has emerged as an important regulator of tumour cell signalling and viability as it forms complexes with a rapidly expanding repertoire of cell-surface protein partners, regulating proliferation, PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase)/Akt signalling and cell viability. Evidence is also emerging that GRP78 serves as a receptor for viral entry into host cells. Additionally, a novel cytosolic form of GRP78 has been discovered prominently in leukaemia cells. These, coupled with reports of nucleus- and mitochondria-localized forms of GRP78, point to the previously unanticipated role of GRP78 beyond the ER that may be critical for cell viability and therapeutic targeting.


Private toll roads shaped and accommodated trade and migration routes, leaving social and political imprints on the communities that debated and supported them. Private road building came and went in waves throughout the 19th century and across the country. All told, between 2,500 and 3,200 companies successfully financed, built, and operated their toll road. Although most of these roads operated for only a fraction of the 100+ period, the combined mileage of private toll roads that operated at any point in time would be in range of 30,000 to 52,000 miles. The paper explores the character, methods, and purposes of the private toll roads, and draws lessons for the privatization of highways today.


Hydrothermal-vent gastropods belonging to the genus Ifremeria of the family Provan- nidae, which derive their nutrition from chemoautotrophic bacterial endosymbionts, constitute an important faunal element in the ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal systems in the SW Pacific. In order to determine phylogenetic relationships between the hosts and endosymbionts of Ifremeria gastro- pods, as well as their fatty-acid profiles and bulk and compound-specific carbon-isotopic signatures, we analyzed Ifremeria gastropods from the Manus, North Fiji and Lau Back-Arc Basins in the SW Pacific. Partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene suggest that Ifremeria gastropods from the 3 basins belong to a single species, Ifremeria nautilei. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequences and results from fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis, the gill endo- symbionts of Ifremeria gastropods from the 3 basins were grouped in a single lineage of γ-Proteo- bacteria, with sequence similarities of >98.3%. Placement of the endosymbionts within this single lineage was supported by fatty-acid profiles and carbon-isotopic compositions of the Ifremeria gastropods. Phylogenetic relationships inferred among gastropod hosts and among their endo- symbionts were not congruent, implying that acquisition of endosymbionts might be from the environment rather than through vertical transmission. Differences in geographical distribution and host speciation pattern between the confamilial Alviniconcha and Ifremeria gastropods might be attributed to the remarkable differences in symbiotic strategy with chemoautotrophic bacteria.


During a longitudinal survey from June until October 1987 cytological blood parameters of smoltified marine cultured rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum), were monitored. In this period, the trout were exposed to environmental stress resulting in summer mortality. The statistical analyses showed that the observed summer mortality was preceeded by a shift in the relative abundance of different peripheral white blood cells (PWBCs), from lymphocytic to extremely granulocytic, which was mainly attributed to mature granulocytes. It was concluded that changes in relative abundance of PWBCs can predict health disturbances in marine-cultured rainbow trout.


JEFFREY A. KOTTER AND JON CARLSON: The Mummy at the Dining Room Table: Eminent Therapists Reveal Their Most Unusual Cases and What They Teach Us About Human Behavior. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2003, 325 pp., $24.95, ISBN 0-7879-6541-3. The structure of this book is quite straightforward. The authors traveled far and wide to interview 32 prominent psychotherapists, asking them to recount the therapy they conducted with their most unusual patient. The average chapter is about ten pages long and each describes the dialogue between the therapist and the authors; describes the emotional problems suffered by one or more of their most memorable patients; recalls how the treatment went; discusses the rationale for the interventions that were made; and offers a few words about psychotherapy in general. Many different viewpoints are offered. Nevertheless, the authors do not discuss the divergencies or communalities between and among these various approaches to treatment, nor do they attempt to generate a synthesis of the widely scattered ideas to be found on these pages. While it is difficult to classify the nature of these therapies, most are family- and systems-oriented, cognitive, behavioral, hypnotic, mystical, educational, superficial, manipulative, directive, and not especially insightful-indeed, if anything, they are anti-insightful and pro-action, pro-reeducation, and pro-reframing. As for what these cases tell us about human behavior, it is quite difficult to extract a central message or two. Mainly, the book shows us that there is almost no limit to the kinds of emotional problems with which patients present themselves to psychotherapists-the range of emotional hang-ups defies imagination. For example, the patient chosen to begin the book wants his hospital examining room psychotherapist to cut off his nose because he cannot rid himself of the smell of cows. His secret, we learn, is that his sexual partner is a cow and his cure, which follows the consultation, is the turn to using perfume to mask the disturbing odor. Then there is the title story in which a patient cannot lose weight and settle into her marriage without finding a long-lost aunt whom she has not seen in years. She tries phoning her and makes several surprise visits, but her uncle keeps her at bay. He does the same with the police, whom the patient calls because she is suspicious of foul play. The police obtain a search warrant and discover that the aunt has been killed by medications prescribed by a male dentist working as a health practitioner. Bereft with her loss, her grieving husband has had her mummified. The children who had been with protective services eventually settle in with their father and the dentist. Once the situation is clarified, the patient is able to end her therapy on a satisfactory note. It would take a companion volume to sum up what the book tells us about the human behavior of psychotherapists. Once we get past their hubris and self-aggrandizement, even when attempting humility, perhaps the most compelling message is that all manner of imaginable and unimaginable interventions were intuitively invoked by these therapists, and all brought symptom relief to their patients-the book is very symptom-focused. …


Cardiac output represents the primary determinant of cardiovascular function. Therefore, understanding how cardiac output is regulated during exercise is crucial. A recently developed tool for determining cardiac output is the Innocor rebreathing system, which also incorporates an ergospirometry unit. So far, Innocor's test-retest reliability under exercise conditions has not been determined in healthy participants. Therefore, 15 male and 15 female healthy participants [30.6 y (SD 4.5); 68.0 kg (SD 10.5)] performed 2 test sessions, each consisting of 2 graded exercise tests to volitional exhaustion. We determined intra- and inter-session reliability of cardiac output, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide output, and ventilation at 130 W and at peak exercise. For cardiac output, we found averaged coefficients of variation ranging from 4.3 (intra-session, 130 W) to 10.0% (inter-session, rest). For oxygen consumption, coefficients of variation ranged from 3.4 (intra-session, peak) to 5.7% (inter-session, peak). Coefficients of variation for carbon dioxide output were between 4.4 (intra-session, peak) and 6.6% (inter-session, peak), and for ventilation between 5.1 (intra-session, 130 W) and 7.0% (intra-session, peak). Innocor delivers safe and reliable measurements of cardiac output, gas exchange, and ventilation. Therefore, Innocor can be used to assess these parameters in exercise physiology studies as well as in performance diagnostics.


This paper presents the response to anthropogenic forcing in the GISS‐E2.1 climate models for the 21st century Shared Socioeconomic Pathways emission scenarios within the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6). The experiments were performed using an updated and improved version of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) coupled general circulation model that includes two different versions for atmospheric composition: A non‐interactive version (NINT) with prescribed composition and a tuned aerosol indirect effect and the One‐Moment Aerosol model (OMA) version with fully interactive aerosols which includes a parameterized first indirect aerosol effect on clouds. The effective climate sensitivities are 3.0°C and 2.9°C for the NINT and OMA models, respectively. Each atmospheric version is coupled to two different ocean general circulation models: The GISS ocean model (E2.1‐G) and HYCOM (E2.1‐H). We describe the global mean responses for all future scenarios and spatial patterns of change for surface air temperature and precipitation for four of the marker scenarios: SSP1‐2.6, SSP2‐4.5, SSP4‐6.0, and SSP5‐8.5. By 2100, global mean warming ranges from 1.5°C to 5.2°C relative to 1,850–1,880 mean temperature. Two high‐mitigation scenarios SSP1‐1.9 and SSP1‐2.6 limit the surface warming to below 2°C by the end of the 21st century, except for the NINT E2.1‐H model that simulates 2.2°C of surface warming. For the high emission scenario SSP5‐8.5, the range is 4.6–5.2°C at 2100. Due to about 15% larger effective climate sensitivity and stronger transient climate response in both NINT and OMA CMIP6 models compared to CMIP5 versions, there is a stronger warming by 2100 in the SSP emission scenarios than in the comparable Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios in CMIP5. Changes in sea ice area are highly correlated to global mean surface air temperature anomalies and show steep declines in both hemispheres, with the largest sea ice area decreases occurring during September in the Northern Hemisphere in both E2.1‐G (−1.21 × 106 km2/°C) and E2.1‐H models (−0.94 × 106 km2/°C). Both coupled models project decreases in the Atlantic overturning stream function by 2100. The largest decrease of 56%–65% in the 21st century overturning stream function is produced in the warmest scenario SSP5‐8.5 in the E2.1‐G model, comparable to the reduction in the corresponding CMIP5 GISS‐E2 RCP8.5 simulation. Both low‐end scenarios SSP1‐1.9 and SSP1‐2.6 also simulate substantial reductions of the overturning (9%–37%) with slow recovery of about 10% by the end of the 21st century (relative to the maximum decrease at the middle of the 21st century).


This master thesis in Industrial Ecology has been carried out at Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, in cooperation with Swedish Environmental Research Institute, IVL andShandong University. It discusses the air pollution control techniques in calcium carbidemanufacturing by studying Inner Mongolia Haiji Chlor-Alkali Chemical Co. Ltd's plants inWuhai, Inner Mongolia, China. China's environmental situation is discussed and its severe state is found to be similar to the western world in the last century. One of the main reasons for the air pollution problems arethe coal based industries in cities like Wuhai. Calcium carbide is a chemical based on coaland limestone which in China is mainly used for PVC plastics production. The emission from the carbide production is mainly particulate matter. This is suggested to be controlled by adding cyclone and electrostatic precipitator as treatment for the waste gas. Investments in particulate matter control will be at least a few million SEK (similar in RMB),but the waste, both the solid and the gas, can be used in other processes, namely cementproduction, heat exchanging and as fuel. By investing in equipment to use this waste and sell the energy, it is expected that close to ten million RMB1 can be earned annually, meaning that the particulate matter control investment will pay off quickly. The Fischer-Tropschmethod for producing synthetic diesel from carbon monoxide and hydrogen gas provides another opportunity to use the waste gas.


Salt to Squeeze Simple table salt, NaCl, is the only known stable phase of Na and Cl at ambient conditions. Previous attempts to understand its structure and chemical properties under pressure and at high temperatures revealed phase and bonding transitions, while keeping the balance of one Na to one Cl. Using crystal structure prediction algorithms, Zhang et al. (p. 1502; see the Perspective by Ibáñez Insa) show that other compounds—including Na3Cl, Na2Cl, Na3Cl2, NaCl3, and NaCl7 are as stable as NaCl across a range of pressures. Several phases in the Na-Cl system are stable at high pressures and temperatures. [Also see Perspective by Ibáñez Insa] Sodium chloride (NaCl), or rocksalt, is well characterized at ambient pressure. As a result of the large electronegativity difference between Na and Cl atoms, it has highly ionic chemical bonding (with 1:1 stoichiometry dictated by charge balance) and B1-type crystal structure. By combining theoretical predictions and diamond anvil cell experiments, we found that new materials with different stoichiometries emerge at high pressures. Compounds such as Na3Cl, Na2Cl, Na3Cl2, NaCl3, and NaCl7 are theoretically stable and have unusual bonding and electronic properties. To test this prediction, we synthesized cubic and orthorhombic NaCl3 and two-dimensional metallic tetragonal Na3Cl. These experiments establish that compounds violating chemical intuition can be thermodynamically stable even in simple systems at nonambient conditions.


Synonyms: Hallervorden-Spatz disease; neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation type 1 Disease summary: Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder that was first described by the neuropathologist Julius Hallervorden and the neurologist Hugo Spatz in 1922 [1]. The active involvement of Hallervorden in euthanasia in Germany during World War II and the discovery of the defective gene (mutation in pantothenate kinase 2 gene, located on chromosome 20p13) removed the name "Hallervorden Spatz disease" to PKAN (2,3). Prevalence is estimated at 1-3/1,000,000 [4]. It has variable phenotype that is mainly age dependent. The classic form has early onset (usually before six years of age) and rapid progression. Children usually present with gait abnormalities, followed by severe dystonia, seizures, dysartria, spasticity, retinopathy and learning disorders [5]. Atypical PKAN (25% of cases) has later onset and slower progression. Speech abnormality and psychiatric symptoms are more common in this form. Dyskinetic symptoms may be mild [5]. PKAN has a characteristic brain MRI pattern called '' eye of the tiger sign'', which is a low signal intensity region surrounding a central high signal intensity region in the globus pallidus [6]. Histopathologic findings reveal iron deposition in the globus pallidus and pars reticulata of the substantia nigra [7]. Oropharyngeal dystonia can lead to pulmonary aspiration, dynamic upper airway obstruction and breathing difficulty [8]. Severe dystonia usually fails to respond to pharmacological therapy and intrathecal baclofen pump or stereotactic pallidotomy can be considered. Patients requiring general anesthesia with this syndrome may have many symptoms that influence the pre-anaesthetic management, the induction of anesthesia and the postoperative care. Medicine in progress Perhaps new knowledge Every patient is unique Perhaps the diagnostic is wrong Find more information on the disease, its centres of reference and patient organisations on Orphanet: www.orpha.net


The enzyme BirA is a key reagent because of its ability to biotinylate proteins at a specific residue in a recognition sequence. We report a rapid, efficient, and economical method for the production, purification, and application of this enzyme. The method is easily scaled up and the protein produced is of high purity and can be stored for many months with retention of activity. We have used this enzyme to biotinylate the C termini of membrane proteins, allowing these proteins to be tetramerized by binding to streptavidin. Because of the specificity of the biotinylation at the C terminus, the orientation of the membrane proteins on the streptavidin is equivalent to that of the native protein on the cell surface. These tetrameric proteins can be used to study protein receptor-ligand interactions at the cell surface, and site-specific biotinylation can be used to study proteins in vitro using a defined orientation.


Automatic prediction of salient regions in images is a well developed topic in the field of computer vision. Yet, virtual reality omnidirectional visual content brings new challenges to this topic, due to a different representation of visual information and additional degrees of freedom available to viewers. Having a model for visual attention is important to continue research in this direction. In this paper we develop such a model for head direction trajectories. The method consists of three basic steps: First, a computed head angular speed is used to exclude the parts of a trajectory where motion is too fast to fixate viewer's attention. Second, fixation locations of different subjects are fused together, optionally preceded by a re-sampling step to conform to the equal distribution of points on a sphere. Finally, a Gaussian based filtering is performed to produce continuous fixation maps. The developed model can be used to obtain ground truth experimental data when eye tracking is not available.


Cardiac transplantation (TxC) is considered the first therapeutic option in patients with congestive heart failure, refractory to clinical treatment and without the possibility of conventional surgical treatment. The pathophysiological status, as a consequence of severe cardiomyopathy, is represented by various degrees of systolic and diastolic dys function, reflecting low ejection volumes and high diastolic volumes and high filling diastolic pressures, respectively. Patients in this pathophysiological context also present, among other symptoms, neurohormonal alterations of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system, decreased renal, visceral and splanchnic perfusion, and increased levels of cat -echolamines. Barnard et al., in 1967, performed the first orthotopic heart transplantation among humans with relative success, Zerbini (1969) being the first to perform it in Brazil. The presence of high rates of graft rejection and infection accounted for small survival and caused great disinterest and abandonment of the technique in the 70's. However, the experience accumulated by the groups that maintained TxC as a treatment, mainly after the introduction of cyclosporin A, first in kidney transplantation in 1978, and in 1980 in TxC, reinvigorated this therapeutic option, allowing the true development and the application of this treatment worldwide.


A recent study of property valuation literature indicated that the vast majority of researchers and academics in the field of real estate are focusing on Mass Appraisals rather than on the further development of the existing valuation methods. Researchers are using a variety of mathematical models used within the field of Machine Learning, which are applied to real estate valuations with high accuracy. On the other hand, it appears that professional valuers do not use these sophisticated models during daily practice, rather they operate using the traditional five methods. The Department of Lands and Surveys in Cyprus recently published the property values (General Valuation) for taxation purposes which were calculated by applying a hybrid model based on the Cost approach with the use of regression analysis in order to quantify the specific parameters of each property. In this paper, the authors propose a number of algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning approaches that improve the accuracy of these results significantly. The aim of this work is to investigate the capabilities of such models and how they can be used for the mass appraisal of properties, to highlight the importance of sensitivity analysis in such models and also to increase the transparency so that automated valuation models (AVM) can be used for the day-to-day work of the valuer.


Cells that have been pre-exposed to thermal stress can acquire a transient resistance against the killing effect of a subsequent thermal stress. The cause for this phe nomenon, called thermotolerance, seems to be an enhanced resistance of proteins against thermal denat uration and aggregation. This resistance can be expressed as an attenuation of damage formation (less initial damage) or as a better repair of the protein damage (facilitated recovery). Heat Shock (or better, Stress) Proteins (HSPs) may play a role in and even be required for thermal resistance. However, rather than stress-induced enhanced synthesis and elevated total levels of HSPs per se, the concentration of, both consti tutive and inducible, HSPs at and/or (re)distributed to specific subcellular sites may be the most important factor for the acquisition of thermotoleran ce. Specific HSPs may be involved either in damage protection or in damage repair. SUMMARY


Airline planning is a complex and difficult process. The biggest airlines in the world plan for and operate fleets of over 700 aircraft using tens of thousands of crew members. As such, small percentages in savings translate to millions of dollars. In this thesis, we study the pairing and duty generation problem in the context of airline crew scheduling, and propose approaches to improve the computational speed and the solution quality. We propose several enumeration algorithms to generate all possible duty periods of a given schedule to improve on the time required to generate duty periods; and present a set of column generation models to improve on the solution quality. When tested on a real test case study, the proposed approaches are found to improve the computational times from 142 seconds down to less than one second, and the cost savings of 13.7%.


Abstract Graphene is an advanced carbon functional material with inherent unique properties that make it suitable for a wide range of applications. It can be synthesized through either the top–down approach involving delamination of graphitic materials or the bottom–up approach involving graphene assembly from smaller building units. Common top–down approaches are exfoliation and reduction while bottom–up approaches include chemical vapour deposition, epitaxial growth, and pyrolysis. A range of materials have been successfully used as precursors in various synthesis methods to derive graphene. This review analyses and discusses the suitability of conventional, plant- and animal-derived, chemical, and fossil precursors for graphene synthesis. Together with its associated technical feasibility and economic and environmental impacts, the quality of resultant graphene is critically assessed and discussed. After evaluating the parameters mentioned above, the most appropriate synthesis method for each precursor is identified. While graphite is currently the most common precursor for graphene synthesis, several other precursors have the potential to synthesize graphene of comparable, if not better, quality and yield. Thus, this review provides an overview and insights into identifying the potential of various carbon precursors for large-scale and commercial production of fit-for-purpose graphene for specific applications.


The study was conducted to obtain a baseline data of different livestock production systems, vegetation survey and animal environment interactions in the marginal upland in Eastern Visayas. A total of 280 farmer respondents were interviewed using an interview questionnaire. Vegetation species were gathered and validated with its genus and species group. Animal environment interactions particularly with chicken were also assessed. Results showed that chickens were the dominant species present in the study sites compared to other species. But in terms of total livestock units (TLU), buffaloes have higher TLU compared to other species of animals. Farmer's income is mostly from the agricultural income with less than 20% of agricultural income was obtained from livestock farming. Livestock only serves as buffer income incase crops will fail. Different husbandry systems are used by the farmers such as free range system for chicken, ducks and turkeys while pigs are raised in confinement or caged system. Ruminant productions are raised in a tethering system of production. Natural breeding practice is still practiced by farmers and traditional animal health practices are still evident in this marginal upland. Ruminants graze in different vegetation diversity in grasslands and under the coconut trees. Likewise, plant residues of banana, coconut and root crops are also used as feed resources of farmer respondents. Grass and herb species that are palatable to the animals are diverse also especially in grassland areas.Availability of feed resources in the area plays a crucial role also on how animals interact with the environment and may affect also with their feeding behavior when there are changes in the climatic conditions. Preliminary result of the study on animal environment interaction shows that chickens tend to change their feeding itineraries due to availability of feed resources, environmental temperature and rainfall.


Research into saccadic eye trajectories has revealed much about the attentional mechanisms underlying target
selection and distracter suppression. Previous research has supported the notion that a system based on
population vector coding may explain both the behaviour of saccades and targeting hand movements. While
studies have been conducted with reaching and grasping, no studies to date have explored the behaviour of
stylus-based hand movements on tablet computers. Tablets could become a useful tool for quick diagnostics in a
clinical setting, once our operative behaviour can be quantitatively linked to the processes of attention. In this
study, stylus-based hand movements on a tablet were observed in a task similar to those used in saccadic eye
movements. It was found that the angular distance between the target and distracting element was most
informative in determining the direction of the deviation. Shorter distances (20°) led to relatively more attraction
(deviation) towards the distracter as compared to longer distances (40° and 65°). The pattern found with regard
to angular distance between target and distracter as well as distance between the hand and the distracter, is
suggestive of an interaction between the attention and inhibition not unlike what is seen in saccade research.
An integrated model of knowledge regarding the mechanisms behind attention in humans can be beneficial for
many aspects of society and science. Examples include the development of attentional structures in robots and
other agents and the development of software and tools that function as an extension of human capabilities (e.g.
support systems in military defence, layout design of control systems of transport vehicles, devices that integrate
the digital and real world). With tablets being one of the recent big trends in commercial technology,
understanding how attention is reflected in the stylus-based movements of the hand can be beneficial both for the
advancement of new technology as well as the development of diagnostic tools in a clinical setting.

(Note: figure numbers for figures 3 and 4 should be reversed)


The corporate governance literature usually refers to the U.S. enforcement superiority to explain the premium that foreign firms experience when cross-listing in U.S. stock exchanges. This paper casts doubt on this hypothesis by analyzing two comparative case-studies of private and public enforcement actions taken against securities fraud in the United States and in an emerging market during the 2008 financial crisis. Two leading non-financial Brazilian corporations cross-listed in the United States – Aracruz Celulose S.A. and Sadia S.A. – suffered billion-dollar losses when the Brazilian real unexpectedly plummeted in relation to the dollar. Despite previous disclosure that they engaged in pure hedging activity to manage risk, their great losses were considered to be the result of highly speculative trading in currency derivatives. Consequently, U.S. lawyers filed securities class actions in New York and Florida on behalf of ADR holders. Both corporations sued their Chief Financial Officers in derivative suits in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) started administrative proceedings against the companies, their officers, board members, and auditors; yet the SEC did not take any action. Because the alleged wrongdoing was the same in the U.S. and the Brazilian actions, the parallel U.S. and Brazilian enforcement developments provide the opportunity for concrete qualitative assessments of the corporate governance issues, legal consequences and different outcomes in these two jurisdictions. The paper shows that U.S. enforcement is superior in terms of private shareholder financial recovery, but inferior when it comes to public discipline and out-of-pocket liability for corporate actors. The paper then advances normative conclusions for improving private and public enforcement, and for the comparative corporate governance debate.


We propose a method to analyse the flows of information and energy between two systems (plant and controller) connected in feedback. Extending a work by Touchette and Lloyd (2000, 2004), we estimate the advantage, both in terms of entropy reduction and energy extraction, of a feedback controller over an open-loop control in terms of the information on the plant state that is available to the controller. By energy here we mean any objective function that we seek to minimize, for example the square of the state. We apply this methodology on the Kalman filter, and develop a physical interpretation comparable to Mitter and Newton's (2005).


Stores Block, a 2006 Supreme Court of Canada case, established that utilities are the sole owners of utility assets, thereby granting them the right to gain on the disposition of such assets. The case was game-changing, spawning a string of Alberta Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Canada, and regulatory body decisions. This article traces the progression of these decisions and examines their implications for property ownership principles, including utility asset dispositions, utility rate bases, the prudent investment test, and stranded assets. The authors ultimately argue that these interpretations of Stores Block have led to "deleterious effects" for regulated utilities in Alberta, and discuss resulting attempts at legislative intervention by the Government of Alberta.


Proper management of marine fisheries requires an understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of marine populations, which can be obtained from genetic data. While numerous fisheries species have been surveyed for spatial genetic patterns, temporally sampled genetic data is not available for many species. We present a phylogeographic survey of the king threadfin Polydactylus macrochir across its species range in northern Australia and at a temporal scale of 1 and 10 yr. Spatially, the overall AMOVA fixation index was Omega(st) = 0.306 (F-st' = 0.838), p < 0.0001 and isolation by distance was strong and significant (r(2) = 0.45, p < 0.001). Temporally, genetic patterns were stable at a time scale of 10 yr. However, this did not hold true for samples from the eastern Gulf of Carpentaria, where populations showed a greater degree of temporal instability and lacked spatial genetic structure. Temporal but not spatial genetic structure in the Gulf indicates demographic interdependence but also indicates that fishing pressure may be high in this area. Generally, genetic patterns were similar to another co-distributed threadfin species Eleutheronema tetradactylum, which is ecologically similar. However, the historical demography of both species, evaluated herein, differed, with populations of P. macrochir being much younger. The data are consistent with an acute population bottleneck at the last glacio-eustatic low in sea level and indicate that the king threadfin may be sensitive to habitat disturbances.


In the Chicago suburb of Skokie, one out of every six Jewish citizens in the late 1970s was a survivor or was directly related to a survivor of the Holocaust. These victims of terror had resettled in America expecting to lead peaceful lives free from persecution. But their safe haven was shattered when a neo-Nazi group announced its intention to parade there in 1977. Philippa Strum's dramatic retelling of the events in Skokie (and in the courts) shows why the case ignited such enormous controversy and challenged our understanding of and commitment to First Amendment values. The debate was clear-cut: American Nazis claimed the right of free speech while their Jewish "targets" claimed the right to live without intimidation. The town, arguing that the march would assault the sensibilities of its citizens and spark violence, managed to win a court injunction against the marchers. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union took the case and successfully defended the Nazis' right to free speech. Skokie had all the elements of a difficult case: a clash of absolutes, prior restraint of speech, and heated public sentiment. In recreating it, Strum presents a detailed account and analysis of the legal proceedings as well as finely delineated portraits of the protagonists: Frank Collin, National Socialist Party of America leader and the son of a Jewish Holocaust survivor; Skokie community leader Sol Goldstein, a Holocaust survivor who planned a counterdemonstration against the Nazis; Skokie mayor Albert Smith, who wanted only to protect his townspeople; and ACLU attorney David Goldberger, caught in the ironic position of being a Jew defending the rights of Nazis against fellow Jews. While the ACLU did win the case, it was a costly victory-30,000 of its members left the organization. And in the end, ironically, the Nazis never did march in Skokie. Forcefully argued, Strum's book shows that freedom of speech must be defended even when the beneficiaries of that defense are far from admirable individuals. It raises both constitutional and moral issues critical to our understanding of free speech and carries important lessons for current controversies over hate speech on college campuses, inviting readers to think more carefully about what the First Amendment really means."


The COVID-19 crisis has starkly illustrated both the strengths and limitations of U.S. biomedical innovation institutions as deployed to fight a pandemic. These innovation institutions include not just intellectual property law, but also other legal systems that structure incentives for production and allocation of knowledge goods, including regulation by health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, programs like Medicare and Medicaid that govern healthcare reimbursement, and government subsidies for research and development through agencies such as the National Institutes of Health. In this collection of essays from March 2020 through April 2021, originally published at Written Description, we explore the response of these legal institutions to a variety of COVID-19-related technologies including vaccines, diagnostics, pharmaceutical treatments, and medical devices. While each technology brings its own challenges, we find a number of common innovation inefficiencies present during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as a lack of robust interagency coordination, poor incentives to generate health information, and persistent difficulties in manufacturing health care technologies at scale. In addition, throughout our work we highlight inequities in the healthcare innovation ecosystem related to race, gender, wealth, and geography. Although U.S. innovation institutions have resulted in some remarkable successes—such as the record-breaking speed of vaccine development—the pandemic has also drawn attention to innovation policy failures. Policymakers should focus on addressing these problems now—before the next pandemic strikes.


"Everything is very simple in war," said Carl von Clausewitz, "but the simplest thing is difficult." This essay will suggest that the resort to the language of war, as "natural" and "starkly simple" as it is, nevertheless has a profound impact on how the law's intervention is shaped, or how the laws governing the transnational use of force are interpreted to accommodate a "war" on terrorism. I argue that although "war" is absent from the principal international legal instruments by which states are guided (and obligated) in their relations with other states, the concepts suppressed by this elision have an evocative power that, when revealed or excavated by the promulgation of a war against terror, shapes both the legal justifications for action as between states and, as such, the legal norms and standards themselves. Thus, war and its rhetoric may indeed create norms, but politics is as much within the service of language as language is of politics. The meaning of law is always located at this intersection. It is in order to see this relation, and to clarify the motives and consequences that entail in the alternative legal and discursive responses to terror following September 11, that this essay begins with a rhetorical analysis of the word and its relationship to law.


As a result of its high photosynthetic efficiency, the tung tree (Vernicia fordii) is a fast-growing heliophile, yielding fruit within 3 years. In addition, tung oil extracted from the fruit seeds is an environmentally friendly paint used widely in China. However, mutual shading inside a tung tree canopy leads to a low yield of fruit because of weak or dead lower branches. In this project, a pot experiment was conducted to understand the growth, physiological, anatomical structure, and biochemical responses of tung trees under various shading levels. Tung tree seedlings were subjected to different light intensities—100% sunlight (no cover), L100; 75% sunlight (25% shading), L75; 50% sunlight (50% shading), L50; and 20% sunlight (80% shading), L20—from June to August. Results indicate that the L75 treatment reduced significantly the net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (gS), transpiration rate (E), total aboveground and root dry weight (DW), maximum net photosynthetic rate (Amax), and maximum rate of electron transport at saturating irradiance (Jmax) compared with the control, although plant height and leaf area (LA) were not reduced. Lower light intensities (L50 and L20) and longer duration of treatment led to greater reduction in growth, leaf thickness, and photosynthetic potential (Amax and Jmax). Chlorophyll a (Chl a), chlorophyll b (Chl b), and total chlorophyll content were increased in the L50 and L20 treatments compared with L100 and L75. There was no significant reduction in the enzyme activities of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEPC) of the seedlings using the L75 treatment; however, lower light intensities (L50 and L20) and longer duration of shade treatment resulted in a significant reduction in enzyme activity. In summary, the results suggest that tung trees have greater photosynthetic activity under high light intensity. Shading, even at 20%, especially for the longer term, reduced photosynthetic efficiency and growth. To prevent growth reduction, tung trees should be grown under full sun with a daily light integral (DLI) of ≈46 mol·m‒2·d‒1, and mutual shading should be avoided by proper spacing and pruning.


The natural hydroxyapatite (HAp, activated at different temperatures)/ cellulose composites have been prepared by usingsonication method to improve the physical properties of the cellulose fibre. The molecular level interaction and the physicalproperties of the hydroxyapatite/cellulose composite are examined using FTIR, X-ray diffraction, SEM, and thermalanalysis. The absorption bands at around 660 cm1 confirm the O–P–O bending vibration in the HAp/cellulose composites.There is a difference in the d-spacing of the HAp /cellulose composite, indicating that the HAp is reactive towards cellulose.SEM indicates that HAp could penetrate the cellulose network structure to form particles that is helpful to improve themechanical properties of the cellulose. The porosities of HAp/cellulose composites decrease, and their compressive strengthincrease as compared to those of cellulose. Thermogravimetric analysis confirms the highest thermal stability of theprepared composites.


Over the past decades, sociolinguists and Cognitive Linguists have shifted their attention to individual differences and intra-speaker variation (Hernandez-Campoy & Cutillas-Espinosa 2013; Barlow 2013). This chapter aims to add to this trend by conducting a bottom-up analysis of the speech of participants in the Dutch reality TV show "Expeditie Robinson". We build quantitative profiles tracking participants' use of two features of Colloquial Belgian Dutch (CBD): the personal pronoun gij 'jou' (vs. standard jij) and word-final t-deletion. We compare participants' style-shifts in these profiles, focusing on register differences (contrasting informal and formal speech) and differences in group make-up (i.c. the absence/presence of Netherlandic Dutch participants – who typically do not use CBD). The most outspoken differences between the participants are found for group accommodation in the use of gij. Interestingly, the different levels of accommodation can be linked to the degree of strategic planning and voting of individual participants.


This research was conducted in order to find out what takes place in the process of integration of pupils with special educational needs from special schools into mainstream schools.

A design was chosen that allowed the study of the various stages of transfer from a special school into a mainstream school. The design chosen was an "overlapping longitudinal" design i.e. pupils going through the different phases of the transfer process were studied in parallel. Three phases were identified: the pre transition phase. the transition phase and the post transition phase.

Three groups of pupils were studied representing each phase of the transfer. In total twenty pupils were studied their ages ranging from six to nine with a range of Special Educational Needs. The first group the Pre transition group comprised pupils for whom a decision was not made yet to transfer them to mainstream school. The second group the Transition group comprised pupils for whom a decision had
been made to transfer them to a mainstream school. The third group the Post transition group comprised pupils who had already transferred into a mainstream school during the previous academic year.

The case study approach was chosen in order to study the three groups and the methods of data collection were interviews, observation and consultation of documents. Interviews were held with parents, special school staff, educational psychologists, mainstream school stff and staff at the Local Educational Authorities' Support Services. Two schedules of observation were devised, one of them aimed to capture the general occurrences in the classroom "Classroom Observation Schedule" and the other aimed at capturing the pupils' interactions in detail, "Classroom Interaction Schedule". Tests of reliability were carried out to ensure the reliability of both schedules. A research diary was kept to compliment the observation gathered from both schedules. As for the documents that were consulted, these were pupils' statements, schools' SEN policies, LEA SEN policies and some examples of pupils' work.

The analysis of the data gathered through the different sources were discussed for each group individually
and emerging themes from the three groups were discussed in the final chapter.


This investigation reports observations of optical bistability in a silicon nitride (SiN) micro-ring resonator with azo dye-doped liquid crystal cladding. The refractive index of the cladding can be changed by switching the liquid crystal between nematic (NLC) and photo-induced isotropic (PHI) states by. Both the NLC and the PHI states can be maintained for many hours, and can be rapidly switched from one state to the other by photo-induced isomerization using 532 nm and 408 nm addressing light, respectively. The proposed device exhibits optical bistable switching of the resonance wavelength without sustained use of a power source. It has a 1.9 nm maximum spectral shift with a Q-factor of over 10000. The hybrid SiN- LC micro-ring resonator possesses easy switching, long memory, and low power consumption. It therefore has the potential to be used in signal processing elements and switching elements in optically integrated circuits.


The present thesis examines the effects of a range of factors on the processing of written language. The present thesis principally uses eye movement recording technology while participants read short passages of text. Factors known to influence written language processing range from lower-level perceptual constraints to higher-level discourse contingencies. Examples of lower-level to higher-level variables are, respectively, intraword orthographic constraints, such as word-initial letter constraint (WILC) – how many other words share the same three initial letters of a given word; lexical level word frequency – how often a word occurs in written language; and extraword contextual predictability – how likely a word is to occur given the discourse up to the position of the word in the passage. The present thesis not only investigates the main effects of these factors, but also studies the simultaneous effects that these factors have on written language processing.

Information acquired from the right of current fixation location – parafoveal preview – is essential for reading to proceed at a normal rate. Preview is typically studied using gaze-contingent display change paradigms – non-foveal text is obscured or manipulated, and effects on eye movement behaviour recorded. The present thesis studies an additional method of measuring the effects of preview, without manipulating the text displayed: launch distance – how far readers' prior fixation is from a given word, before foveal processing of that word. Visual acuity diminishes as retinal eccentricity increases. The present thesis examines the how the effects of the above factors, and any interactions between them, are modulated by launch distance.

Standard effects of frequency and predictability were found across all studies. Lower-frequency words (LF) were processed with greater difficulty than higher-frequency words (HF); low-predictability words (LP) were processed with greater difficulty than (HP) words. Consistent with prior research (Rayner, Ashby, Pollatsek, Reichle, 2004), Experiment 1 found additive effects of frequency and predictability on eye movement behaviour. However, further investigation revealed that when preview was highest (i.e., Near launch distances), frequency and predictability exerted an interactive effect.

Experiment 2a further investigated the simultaneous effects of frequency and predictability, addressing methodological concerns about Experiment 1. Principally, that HP contexts in Experiment 1 were medium-predictability (MP), potentially obscuring any interaction, as the acquisition of parafoveal information is influenced by the frequency and predictability of the parafoveal word. Comparing very low-predictability (VLP) items to very high-predictability (VHP) items, the interactive pattern of effects observed in the Near launch distance condition of Experiment 1 was replicated in the global analyses of Experiment 2a. In Experiment 2b, comparisons of HF and LF words in VLP and specifically-designed MP items yielded an additive pattern of effects, consistent with Experiment 1. Furthermore, conditionalised analyses of these items by launch distance showed an interactive pattern of effects, but only at Near launch distances. Conditionalised analyses of HF and LF words in VLP and VHP materials from Experiment 2a revealed an interactive pattern of frequency and predictability effects at both Near and Middle launch distances. It is argued that frequency and predictability can interact under two distinct conditions, but both manners are dependent on preview. When HF and LF words are presented in MP contexts, a high level of preview must be provided by a Near launch distance for an interaction to be observed; when HF and LF words are presented in VHP contexts, sufficient information can be extracted at further launch distances, generating an interactive pattern of effects in global analyses.

Experiment 3 examines whether fixation durations are inflated prior to skipping a word in text. An overall non-significant effect of word skipping on prior fixation durations was observed. However, this result was somewhat misleading – inflated fixation durations prior to skipping were observed, but only when to-be-skipped words were either HF or HP; indeed, the largest mean inflation prior to skipping was observed when the to-be-skipped word was both HF and HP. These results suggest that when readers are able to extract most information about parafoveal words (e.g., when those words are HF or HP), fixation durations prior to skipping these words are inflated. It is tentatively suggested that these effects reflect a longer accumulation of information from parafoveal to-be-skipped word. These effects are consistent with models of eye movement control permitting parallel processing of written information, as opposed to a strictly serial approach.

Experiments 4a and 4b tested the effects of WILC. Experiment 4a employed a lexical decision task, examining the separate and combined effects of WILC and frequency. LF words were responded to less quickly than HF words. Words with low WILC (LC words; e.g., "clown" shares its initial trigram "clo" with many words) were processed more quickly than words with high WILC (HC words; e.g., "dwarf" shares its initial trigram "dwa" with few words). It is suggested that LC words in a lexical decision task are responded to quickly as their initial trigram is shared by a large number of viable words, facilitating a "word" response. The initial trigrams of HC words are not shared by many other words, potentially hindering a "word" response. Experiment 4b re-tests the role of WILC on eye movement behaviour during reading, based on an earlier study by Lima and Inhoff (1985). Unlike Lima and Inhoff's study, the frequency and predictability (known to influence the extraction of parafoveal information) of LC and HC target words was also manipulated. In contrast to the findings of Lima and Inhoff (but, consistent with their original prediction), HC words were found to exhibit a processing advantage over LC words in measures of eye movement behaviour reflecting early, lexical processing. Further analyses based on launch distances from, and landing positions within target words suggested that the pattern of effects observed may be due to the accumulation of WILC information from the parafovea.

The present thesis finds that word frequency and contextual predictability can yield interactive effects on processing, but that any possible interaction is dependent on acquisition of parafoveal information. Evidence of inflated fixation durations prior to word skipping were observed, but these effects are modulated by the characteristics of the parafoveal to-be-skipped word. Initial letters of words have a substantial effect on processing, but this effect is task-dependent. In lexical decision, activation of "wordness" is advantageous, and LC words exhibit an advantage over HC words. In natural reading, information is available from sentential context and the parafovea, and HC words carry an advantage over LC words. The present thesis argues for the use of launch distance as a metric for measuring preview benefit, albeit in a necessarily post-hoc fashion. Reliable effects of launch distance were found across all experiments where it was examined as a factor – eventual fixation time on a word increases as the distance of prior fixation from beginning of that word increases. Launch distance was also shown to influence the effects of a range of factors which influence written language processing, and the interactions between these variables.


Energy-based models (EBMs) have experienced a resurgence within machine learning in recent years, including as a promising alternative for probabilistic regression. However, energy-based regression requires a proposal distribution to be manually designed for training, and an initial estimate has to be provided at test-time. We address both of these issues by introducing a conceptually simple method to automatically learn an effective proposal distribution, which is parameterized by a separate network head. To this end, we derive a surprising result, leading to a unified training objective that jointly minimizes the KL divergence from the proposal to the EBM, and the negative log-likelihood of the EBM. At test-time, we can then employ importance sampling with the trained proposal to efficiently evaluate the learned EBM and produce stand-alone predictions. Furthermore, we utilize our derived training objective to learn mixture density networks (MDNs) with a jointly trained energy-based teacher, consistently outperforming conventional MDN training on four real-world regression tasks within computer vision. Code is available at https://github.com/fregu856/ebms_proposals.


Orientation: From a pragmatic approach, a novel method called 'the town hall focus group' was utilised to provide insight into discourse regarding ethical issues in psychological assessments. This article contributes to the understanding of the practice of ethics in assessments and suggests the use of this particular method to facilitate discourse regarding ethical issues. Research purpose: To illustrate a forum where ethical discourse can occur in a practical fashion in order to deal with the diversity of situations, questions, demands and responsibilities experienced by psychologists. Motivation for the study: Although codes and guidelines on assessment exist, many psychologists feel that despite the existence of ethical beacons, they are often faced with challenges for which no obvious solution is evident. A need exists for ethical discourse by which psychologists grapple with unique situations through an active dialectical process. Research design, approach and method: A qualitative research approach was employed using the town hall focus group. The study was conducted with a convenience sample of 108 psychologists and practitioners. Main findings: The town hall focus group method provided an opportunity and platform for ethical discourse regarding the ethical challenges experienced by psychologists. Practical/managerial implications: This article contributes to the understanding of the practice of ethics in assessments by illustrating a platform for ethical discourse regarding ethical issues experienced in assessments. The town hall method appears to be valuable as it provides a forum to discuss ethical challenges where members are allowed to share their experiences and thus gain access to peer support, insight and shared resources. Contribution/value-add: Although the focus group results are not transferable, this article proposes it as a useful method contributing to the understanding of the ethical issues and challenges experienced in assessments. The novel method applied and described facilitates peer discourse regarding ethical challenges. This method could be replicated and applied in other contexts as a means of contending with ethical challenges within a supportive environment.


Seven-transmembrane receptors can transduce signals in the absence of productive heterotrimeric guanosine triphosphate-binding protein (G protein) interaction. In Dictyostelium discoideum, these signals activate transcriptional, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and Ca2+ influx pathways, as well as ligand-stimulated phosphorylation of the receptors themselves. This Connections Map illustrates the pathways that remain active in D. discoideum carrying mutations in various G protein genes. Science Viewpoint A. R. Kimmel, C. A. Parent, The signal to move: D. discoideum go orienteering. Science 300, 1525-1527 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]