ABSTRACT This study investigated the effectiveness of task-based and task-supported instruction in the acquisition of the English passive construction—a structure about which learners had limited prior knowledge. A total of 150 Chinese middle school English as a foreign language (EFL) learners were randomly assigned to five groups—one control group who only took the pretest and posttests and four experimental groups who attended a 2-hour treatment session where they performed two dictogloss tasks in groups, each including a reporting phase when the learners took turns to tell the narrative. Among the four experimental groups, one just performed the two oral tasks; a second group received explicit instruction before performing the tasks; a third group received within-task feedback but no explicit instruction; and the fourth group received both explicit instruction and within-task feedback. Treatment effects were gauged via a grammaticality judgment test (GJT) and an elicited imitation test (EIT). On the GJT, the conditions with explicit instruction and/or feedback led to significant gains with explicit instruction plus feedback showing the largest effects. On the EIT, there was no effect for any of the three treatment groups when the data were analyzed for the whole cohort. However, when the learners were subdivided into those with zero and some prior knowledge based on their pretest EIT scores, explicit instruction plus within-task feedback was more effective than the other treatment types for the latter.


This book investigates the presence of Chinese and Indian companies in Europe and the impact that the current global financial crisis has had on their corporate behaviour and strategies. Have investments been cancelled or postponed? Has the crisis created new opportunities for investment? Is the behaviour of Chinese and Indian firms to these new circumstances similar? In addressing these challenging questions the authors used a proprietary data base encompassing over 1,500 investments (greenfield operations, mergers-and-acquisitions, joint ventures, horizontal/vertical extensions) made throughout Europe by companies from China (Mainland and Hong Kong) and India since the 1990s. Comparisons were made according to several criteria (eg: spatial patterns, modes of entry, sector and function distribution) -- to pinpoint differences and likenesses. In addition, face-to-face interviews were conducted in order to elaborate congruent case studies in traditional sectors (textile/clothing), or in new sectors (software for Chinese companies). The crisis had an impact on both investors in the following terms: lower amounts of investment, more merger-and-acquisition deals in absolute and relative terms, more focus on the largest economies (particularly the UK), and a targeting of specific assets such as critical technologies, international management capability, renowned brands and sale networks. In conclusion, in the years following the global financial crisis Indian investments in Europe have been more significantly affected than Chinese investments due, to a large extent, to the support of the Chinese state.


We use a production function approach to determine the impact of increased labour supply of different skill level on the skill wage premium. In particular, we use data the Brazilian Population Census for 1980 to 2000, for which we have consistent data on cities, to estimate the elasticity of substitution between high and low-skill workers. Unlike the international migration literature, we can estimate the response of out migration from rural areas in response to exogenous shocks, such as rainfall shocks and changes in transportation costs, and use the predicted value from these shocks to construct our instrumental variable. We nd an elasticity of substitution between high and low-skill workers of 0.56, much lower than what has been found in the international migration literature. Our simulations show that migration between 1991 and 2000 had only a small impact of the skill wage gap, a 1.1% decrease in the wage gap between high and low-skill workers in Brazil, explaining only 5% of the changes in relative wages between high and low-skill workers seen in the data during this time period. Though this impact is small is it is 2.5 times larger than what we would have found using the elasticity of substitution between high and low-skill of developed countries.


This is one of two papers commissioned by the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium on various aspects related to the agricultural sector of a prospective North American Free Trade Agreement. The companion paper to this one has been prepared by a working group chaired by Thomas Grennes, North Carolina State University. To minimize duplication with the Grennes paper, this paper has given greater attention to the general trade policy issues raised by a NAFTA, institutional factors, additional commodity detail in cereals, fruit and vegetables, and the relevance of other regional trade agreements such as the Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement. This work has also benefitted from an earlier report and its annexes, prepared for the Fraser Institute, under the direction of Tim Josling.


Riverbank erosion is one of the major and unpredictable problems worldwide. The erosion involves the wearing away of soil found along the river bed and it can take place due to the occurrence of heavy rainfall, strong stream flow and weak river bank soil. The purpose of this study is to categorise the river bank erosion at the study area based on two main factors, namely, rainfall erosivity and soil erodibility. With rainfall data records for 9 rainfall stations along Langat River, a daily rainfall amount analysis and 'ROSE' index software application (after the name of the researcher ROSlan and Ezanie) were used to forecast the erosion risk potential along the Langat River bank. The results indicate that the highest rainfall erosivity is from the month of March to April and September to November. The soil resistance against erosion, termed as soil erodibility, depends on several factors, such as soil textural composition, soil infiltration level and organic matter content. Sieve analysis and hydrometer tests were conducted for all the soil samples collected at every 2 km interval on both sides of the river bank and the "ROM" scale (after the name of researcher ROslan and Mazidah) is used to determine the degree of soil erodibility, namely low, moderate, high, very high and critical. The results indicate that the soil erodibility with a high, very high and critical category for both sides of Langat River bank were at the upper and middle stream of Langat River, which is in the Hulu Langat and Sepang districts. Thus, this would benefit the country in terms of cost reduction in river bank protection; besides, the relevant authorities can take early measures to overcome river bank erosion failure.


Essential oils are the volatile compounds having the oily fragrance. Essential oils are obtained from the different plant parts, and they are extracted from the different techniques and the most preferable method of extraction is the hydrodistillation which is cheap and easy to use. Plant parts including the flowers, leaves, stem, bark and roots are used for the isolation of essential oils. Essential oils are used in almost every field of life and because of these characteristics, the market of essential oils is growing rapidly. Essential oils are used in the aromatherapy and act as antioxidant, antimicrobial, antifungal, pain relievers, anxiety, depression. In the field of cosmetics and industries, the essential oils are used rapidly and mostly used in the perfume industries which are growing increasingly. Essential oils are used in the food preservations and many food items. Essential oils are used as the folk herbal medicines and their fragrance is used for the improvement of the mood and as the depression release.


Efficient resource allocation for requests is an important issue in the radio resource management. In the third generation mobile communication systems, Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) codes are used for spreading codes. In this paper, we consider the OVSF code allocation problem for supporting real-time services in which the service time of a request can be obtained a priori. The impact of the remaining time factor on the OVSF code allocation in W-CDMA systems is investigated. Two time-based allocation schemes are proposed for code assignment and reassignment. This paper represents the first attempt on addressing the remaining time impact on the OVSF code allocation. Simulation results show that the time-based allocation schemes have better performance on reducing the blocking probability and the reassignment cost.


Background Cross-sectional associations suggest a mutual impact of disease activity and psychological distress in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but a prospective association has not been established. Objective To examine concurrent and prospective associations between psychological distress and disease activity. Methods Patients with RA (N=545, disease duration ≤1 year, age 18–83 years, 69% female, 64% rheumatoid factor (RF) positive) were monitored for 5 years. The Thompson joint score and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were assessed every 6 months. Depressed mood and anxiety were measured every 12 months. Multilevel regression analysis was used. RF positivity, age and female sex were included as covariates. Results Concurrent levels of psychological distress and disease activity were positively associated (p≤0.04). Prospectively, depressed mood was associated with disease activity levels 6 months later (p≤0.04). The Thompson joint score was associated with psychological distress levels 6 months later (p≤0.03) and also with an increase in depressed mood over the subsequent 6 months (p=0.02). No other significant prospective associations were found (p≥0.07). Conclusions Psychological distress and disease activity are positively associated when measured at the same time as well as when measured 6 months apart. While some support was found for the idea that a higher level of disease activity is a risk factor for an increase in psychological distress, the results do not support the notion that psychological distress is a risk factor for future exacerbation of disease activity.


A basic tenet of self-determination theory is that feeling close and connected to others can lead to optimal life experiences and recent research supports the idea that when people use social media to interact with others, they are likely to feel more related to others. Yet, little is known about whether using social media for more content-focused, less social, pursuits, might lead to the same feelings of relatedness. We examine how relatedness can arise from the interaction between the type of social media goals consumers pursue and their motivational orientation to pursue them. The results, replicated and generalized across three studies, show that there are two paths to connectedness: one when more intrinsic motivations drive social goals, but also, surprisingly, when more extrinsic motivations drive content goals. These effects occur because the experience from extrinsically motivated content goals is converted into one more akin to that for intrinsically motivated social goals.


Receptor expression enhancing proteins (REEPs) were identified by their ability to enhance cell surface expression of a subset of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), specifically GPCRs that have proven difficult to express in heterologous cell systems. Further analysis revealed that they belong to the Yip (Ypt-interacting protein) family and that some REEP subtypes affect ER structure. Yip family comparisons have established other potential roles for REEPs, including regulation of ER-Golgi transport and processing/neuronal localization of cargo proteins. However, these other potential REEP functions and the mechanism by which they selectively enhance GPCR cell surface expression have not been clarified. By utilizing several REEP family members (REEP1, REEP2, and REEP6) and model GPCRs (α2A and α2C adrenergic receptors), we examined REEP regulation of GPCR plasma membrane expression, intracellular processing, and trafficking. Using a combination of immunolocalization and biochemical methods, we demonstrated that this REEP subset is localized primarily to ER, but not plasma membranes. Single cell analysis demonstrated that these REEPs do not specifically enhance surface expression of all GPCRs, but affect ER cargo capacity of specific GPCRs and thus their surface expression. REEP co-expression with α2 adrenergic receptors (ARs) revealed that this REEP subset interacts with and alter glycosidic processing of α2C, but not α2A ARs, demonstrating selective interaction with cargo proteins. Specifically, these REEPs enhanced expression of and interacted with minimally/non-glycosylated forms of α2C ARs. Most importantly, expression of a mutant REEP1 allele (hereditary spastic paraplegia SPG31) lacking the carboxyl terminus led to loss of this interaction. Thus specific REEP isoforms have additional intracellular functions besides altering ER structure, such as enhancing ER cargo capacity, regulating ER-Golgi processing, and interacting with select cargo proteins. Therefore, some REEPs can be further described as ER membrane shaping adapter proteins.


At the core of Justice Kennedy's majority opinion in Boumediene v. Bush are his repeated suggestions that habeas corpus is an integral aspect of the separation of powers, and that, as such, the writ remains relevant even when the individual rights of those who would seek its protections are unclear. And whereas some might view these passages as little more than rhetorical flourishes, it is difficult to understand the crux of Kennedy's analysis - of why the review available to the Guantanamo detainees failed to provide an adequate alternative to habeas corpus - without understanding the significance of his separation-of-powers discussion. At least where habeas corpus is concerned, it seems clear from Boumediene that the purpose of judicial review, in Justice Kennedy's view, appears to be as much about preserving the role of the courts as it is about protecting the individual rights of the litigants. In this article, I take on this quiet theory behind Kennedy's opinion and ask whether it might have applications beyond the unique context of habeas corpus, especially with regard to the more general constitutional right of access to the courts. As I argue, there is actually much to gain from re-conceptualizing access to courts as being as much about protecting the courts as it is about vindicating the individual rights of litigants, a theme largely reflected (although since forgotten) in the judicial decisions giving rise to modern access-to-courts jurisprudence. Thus, going forward, Boumediene might do more than just answer the circumstance-specific question about habeas corpus rights for non-citizens detained as enemy combatants; it might provide the starting point for a new theory of access to the federal courts in particular that could allow us to rethink a number of tenets of federal courts doctrine.


Previous research suggests complexity may be a significant factor in a project's failure to achieve cost, time, and quality objectives. In this paper, we examine the project complexity literature to develop a simple framework consisting of structural and dynamic complexity. We use this to compare the complexity of two successful construction megaprojects–-Heathrow Terminal 5 and the London 2012 Olympic Park–-to consider how the complexity in the two projects was managed. Our analysis reveals differences in the approach to managing structural and dynamic complexity, but identifies common factors that may help project managers achieve positive outcomes for their complex projects.


The aim of the study is to reveal the preservice mathematics teachers' ability to determine the techniques of proofs on integers. A qualitative case study approach was adopted in this study. The participants of the study consisted of 172 preservice teachers enrolled in an elementary mathematics teaching program in their second and third years at a state university in Turkey. The data of the study were obtained from the Proof Techniques Determination Form (PTDF) which consists of six proofs on integers proven by different techniques and semi-structured interviews with five preservice teachers who were successful in different achievement levels of PTDF. The preservice teachers were asked to determine the proof techniques presented to them and express their warrants. The proof techniques used in PTDF are; direct proof, proof by induction, proof by contradiction, proof by contraposition, proof by counterexample and proof by confliction. At the end of the study, the preservice teachers were successful in determining proof by induction and direct proof technique. However, they were unsuccessful in determining proof by contraposition and proof by contradiction technique. While there was no difficulty in determining proof by counterexample technique, most of the preservice teachers had struggled in determining proof by confliction used to show that the proposition was false. The preservice teachers mostly used direct proof instead of proof by contraposition, proof by contraposition instead of proof by contradiction, and direct proof instead of proof by confliction. It was determined that the preservice teachers tended to evaluate the technique of any proof as direct proof. Sources of these difficulties were: deficiencies in understanding the differences between proof by contradiction and proof by contraposition, usage of same warrants of both techniques, and accepting general warrants which are valid for every proof as the property of direct proof.


Inflammation is an obligatory attempt of the immune system to protect the host from infections. However, unregulated synthesis of proinflammatory products can have detrimental effects. Although mechanisms that lead to inflammation are well appreciated, those that restrain it are not adequately understood. Creating macrophage-specific L13a-knockout mice, we report that depletion of ribosomal protein L13a abrogates the endogenous translation control of several chemokines in macrophages. Upon LPS-induced endotoxemia, these animals displayed symptoms of severe inflammation caused by widespread infiltration of macrophages in major organs causing tissue injury and reduced survival rates. Macrophages from these knockout animals show unregulated expression of several chemokines (e.g., CXCL13, CCL22, CCL8, and CCR3). These macrophages failed to show L13a-dependent RNA binding complex formation on target mRNAs. In addition, increased polyribosomal abundance of these mRNAs shows a defect in translation control in the macrophages. Thus, to our knowledge, our studies provide the first evidence of an essential extraribosomal function of ribosomal protein L13a in resolving physiological inflammation in a mammalian host.


Helicobacter pylori infection triggers chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa that may progress to gastric cancer. The hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are the central mediators of cellular adaptation to low oxygen levels (hypoxia), but they have emerged recently as major transcriptional regulators of immunity and inflammation. No studies have investigated whether H. pylori affects HIF signaling in immune cells and a potential role for HIF in H. pylori–mediated gastritis. HIF-1 and HIF-2 expression was examined in human H. pylori–positive gastritis biopsies. Subsequent experiments were performed in naive and polarized bone marrow–derived macrophages from wild-type (WT) and myeloid HIF-1α–null mice (HIF-1Δmyel). WT and HIF-1Δmyel mice were inoculated with H. pylori by oral gavage and sacrificed 6 mo postinfection. HIF-1 was specifically expressed in macrophages of human H. pylori–positive gastritis biopsies. Macrophage HIF-1 strongly contributed to the induction of proinflammatory genes (IL-6, IL-1β) and inducible NO synthase in response to H. pylori. HIF-2 expression and markers of M2 macrophage differentiation were decreased in response to H. pylori. HIF-1Δmyel mice inoculated with H. pylori for 6 mo presented with a similar bacterial colonization than WT mice but, surprisingly, a global increase of inflammation, leading to a worsening of the gastritis, measured by an increased epithelial cell proliferation. In conclusion, myeloid HIF-1 is protective in H. pylori–mediated gastritis, pointing to the complex counterbalancing roles of innate immune and inflammatory phenotypes in driving this pathology.


Fish in the shallows of the intermittently open Moore River Estuary in the South-western Australia were sampled monthly between February 1994 and February 1995. The bar at the estuary mouth became sufficiently scoured out by freshwater discharge on two occasions, totalling c. 41 days, to allow seawater to penetrate the system. Although saltwater intrusion on one of these occasions resulted in salinities in the mouth rising to 25 for a short period, the mean monthly salinities never exceeded 7-4 in the lower reaches and 4-5 in the middle and upper reaches. Despite the protracted periods when this estuary was closed, some marine species, which typically use estuaries as nursery areas (marine estuarine opportunists), such as the mullets Mugil cephalus and Aldrichetta forsteri and the whiting species. Sillago schomburgkii and Sillago burrus, were relatively abundant in this system. However, other marine species, such as the atherinid Atherinomorus ogilbyi, the gerreid Gerres subfasciatus and the clupeid Hyperlophus vittarus, which are common in the lower reaches of nearby permanently open estuaries, were rare in the Moore River Estuary, possibly reflecting a preference of these species for high salinities. Furthermore, the estuarine species Atherinosoma elongata and Graterocephalus mugiloides, which typically occupy the basins of permanently open estuaries where salinities are usually >20, were not caught in the Moore River Estuary. The composition of the ichthyofauna changed progressively in an upstream direction, reflecting mainly a decline in the number of marine species and an increase in the density of estuarine species along this axis. The mean number of species and the densities of six of the eight most abundant species were significantly greater during the night than the day. Since the degree of variation among samples was also far less at night than during the day, there appears to be a marked tendency for a particular suite of species to congregate in the shallows at night, which would reduce the chances of predation by avian piscivores which are locally abundant. The composition of the ichthyofauna of the Moore River Estuary is compared with those of permanently and seasonally open estuaries elsewhere in temperate Western Australia and Southern Africa. These comparisons indicate that the faunal composition of these estuaries changes markedly when salinities decline to very low levels. The faunal compositions of seasonally and intermittently closed estuaries are also influenced by the duration and size of the opening in the estuary mouth.


Previous studies have reported that the tropical Atlantic has had an influence on tropical Pacific interannual variability since the 1970s. This variability is studied in the present work, using simulations from a coupled model in the Indo-Pacific but with observed sea surface temperature (SST) prescribed over the Atlantic. The interannual variability is compared with that from a control simulation in which climatological SSTs are prescribed over the Atlantic. Differences in the Pacific mean state and in its variability are found in the forced simulation as a response to a warming in the equatorial Atlantic, characterized by a cooler background state and an increase in the variability over the tropical Pacific. A striking result is that the principal modes of tropical Pacific SST interannual variability show significant differences before and after the 1970s, providing new evidence of the Atlantic influence on the Pacific Ocean. Significant cooling (warming) in the equatorial Atlantic could have caused anomalous winds in the central-easter Pacific during the summer since 1970s. The thermocline depth also seems to be altered, triggering the dynamical processes involved in the development of El Nino (La Nina) phenomenon in the following winter. An increase in frequency of Nino and Nina events favouring the Central Pacific (CP) ones is observed in the last three decades. Further analyses using coupled models are still necessary to help us to understand the causes of this inter-basin connection.


The use of software in the health care industry is becoming of increasing importance. One of the major roadblocks to efficient health care is the fact that important information is distributed across many sites. These sites can be located across a significant area. The problem is to provide a uniform mechanism to integrate this information. This paper documents the results of an investigation into the suitability of several different distributed access mechanisms. Five methods were examined: the Common Object Request Broker (CORBA), Object Linking and Embedding (OLE), remote procedure call (RPC), remote database access (SQL/RDA) and Protocol Independent Interfaces (PH, we specifically examined sockets). These mechanisms were compared with regard for use in health care applications. In particular, the following capabilities were compared: • Ease of use by the developer • Class of applications for which the technology is particularly effective in developing • Security capabilities • Protocols utilized • Performance of the transport mechanism. A second goal was to explore the use of role-based access control (RBAC). RBAC is a security mechanism that is more flexible than Mandatory Access Control, but easier to use than just plain access control lists. Every user is assigned to one or more roles. Each role can perform some operations but not others. A demonstration application was constructed that used the distributed communication methods to implement a patient record database. This report discusses how these mechanisms were used in the demonstration project and the results found. Not unsurprisingly, we discovered that each of the mechanisms were effective for different purposes. These findings are discussed in detail in this report. One component of the demonstration project also implemented role-based access control and is detailed in this report.


This paper examines the impact of the 2016 European Union (EU) referendum and its aftermath from the perspective of European migrants living in Wales. Drawing on interviews conducted with EU nationals in 2016 and 2017, the article highlights various examples of hostility and violence encountered by these migrants during and after the referendum campaign, demonstrating the longstanding nature of hostile experiences. It further outlines the uncertainty and insecurity experienced during this period, noting how Brexit affected not only EU migrants' rights and entitlements but also their settlement and sense of identity and belonging. The analysis sheds light on various negative emotions and reactions triggered by the referendum, illustrating the diversity of migrants' experiences. Highlighting the multiple and complex ways in which the referendum affected the migrants, the article argues that Brexit should be understood as an ongoing process of " othering " and unsettling.


Recent studies on Tamayen glaucophane schists show that metamorphic conditions of the Yuli belt might have been underestimated previously (Baziotis et al., 2017). Epidote amphibolites are closely associated with glaucophane schists, but P-T conditions of the former are less certain. We investigated a suite of Tamayen epidote amphibolites by computing equilibrium assemblage diagrams with the THERIAK/DOMINO software package. Peak mineral assemblage is garnet (Alm61-63Grs17-18Prp14-16Sps03-05) + amphibole (pargasite) + epidote + paragonite + rutile + quartz. In rare cases, glaucophane rims on pargasite locally. The computed phase diagrams show that paragonite-in fields represent high-pressure conditions, although paragonite is not commonly considered as a high-pressure index mineral. Based on petrographic features, mineral compositions and computed equilibrium assemblage diagrams, peak P–T conditions are constrained as 13-15 kbar and 530-570 °C, which are compatible with those of Tamayen glaucophane schists. Both rock types represent metamorphic products in a subduction zone setting and were exhumed from depths of 40-50 km.


Excited-state double-proton transfer (ESDPT) in the coplanar 7-azaindole dimer (7AI 2 ) has been studied as a model base pair. Concerted and stepwise mechanisms were proposed for ESDPT in 7AI 2 . In the concerted mechanism, two protons transfer concertedly on the excited-state potential energy surfaces where a local minimum does not exist. On the other hand, an intermediate state exists in the stepwise mechanism. Therefore, after one single-proton transfer, the second single-proton transfers via the intermediate state. Numerous spectroscopic and theoretical studies were con-ducted to determine the mechanism of ESDPT of 7AI 2 . This review focuses on the ESDPT mechanisms in the gas phase. A prologue and epilogue of the concerted and stepwise mechanism controversy are presented. Spectroscopic experiments in the condensed phase and theoretical calculations related to the potential energy surfaces are important for deriving a final conclusion. In addition, some significant results are comparatively discussed.


As a component of herbicides, the fate of glyphosate (PMG) in the environment is of significant interest. The nature of PMG adsorption on mineral surfaces plays a significant role in the degradation of PMG. The adsorption of PMG on goethite (alpha-FeOOH) has been studied as a function of pH and PMG concentration. Adsorption was investigated with batch experiments, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The N 1s line in XPS spectra showed deprotonation of the amine group of PMG (NH2+) with increasing pH. IR analyses showed no evidence for the interaction of PMG's carboxylate group with the goethite surface, while the phosphonate group formed inner-sphere complexes. There is evidence for intramolecular hydrogen bonding between NH2+ and both the carboxylate and the phosphonate groups at low pH. Intramolecular hydrogen bonding is lost when the amine group is deprotonated, and the trend in intramolecular hydrogen bonding between NH2+ and phosphonate shows that PMG adsorbs via predominantly monodentate complexation. A minor quantity of bidentate complexes is thought to form both at near-neutral pH and when the surface concentration of PMG is low. While the phosphonate group of PMG binds directly, the carboxylate group remains relatively "free" from complexation with goethite, leaving it subject to degradation and/or complexation with metal ions present in the environment.


We describe semi-syntheses of the 11-hydroxyrotenoids sumatrol (1) and villosinol (2), starting from rotenone (5), using an oxime-directed C11-H functionalisation approach. Thus, rotenone (5) was converted into rotenone oxime (6), which gave dimeric palladacycle 7 following reaction with Na2PdCl4·3H2O. Controlled, divergent, oxidation of palladacycle 7 with either Pb(OAc)4 or K2Cr2O7 afforded the 11-acetoxylated intermediates 9 and 13, respectively, which were transformed into sumatrol (1) and villosinol (2).


The basic principles of the weight training are also identical to the strength training and training aims to reach the specific goals like strength, muscular endurance, and muscular size (1), enlighten that the muscular strength includes a range of training modalities, including body weight exercises, elastic bands, plyometric exercises for (upper and lower body), multi machines, free weight machines and hydraulic machines. The purpose of this study was to find out the influence of different intensities of resistance training on strength, anaerobic power and explosive power among males. For this study a group of Sixty (60) male's non-sports men were selected. Experimental group 'A' (N = 30) and control group 'B' (N = 30) age ranging between 19 to 25 years were selected randomly from the Telangana, India for this study. To compare the mean differences between the groups, mean, S.D and t-tests were computed using Statistical Software. The tests considered for this study was maximum strength (1 RM Bench press), anaerobic power (Margaria Kalamen anaerobic test) and flexibility (sit & reach test). The mean and S.D for maximum strength for experimental group were (36, 7.36) and (51.33, 11.62); control group were (34.66, 6.42) and (34.86, 6.72). Anaerobic power with mean and S.D for experimental group were (94.13, 1.06) and (96.53, 1.13) and for control group were (94.07, 0.6) and (94.20, 0.7). With regard to sit and reach test the mean and S.D for the experimental group were (18.33, 7.26) and (24.60, 6.5) and for control group were (18.23, 7.79) and (18.26, 7.81) (3), in his study had mentioned that the effect of weight training has greater effect on the student's fitness performance (2), in this study reveals that the results of the study with regard to muscular strength has improved significantly after the effect of twelve weeks resistance and free weight training program. It is concluded that the influence of different intensity of resistance training on selected Strength, Anaerobic power and explosive power among males had shows improved performance from pre to post test, which is significant. References Kaukab Azeem, (2016), influence of resistance training on health and performance. Workshop on Recent Trends In Physical Education and Sports Industry 2016, June 26-27, at Federation House, Redhills, Hyderabad, India. Published in the proceedings pg -28. ISSN 2231–3265. P.Arul Deva Paul, D.Sultana (2014), Effect of 12 weeks free weights and resistance training on muscular strength on junior level basket ball players. International Journal of Fitness, Health, Physical Education & Iron Games. Volume: 1, No: 1, July 2014- December 2015. Pg: 117. Seemab Azeem, M.Nazeer (2015), Effect of weight training exercise on the selected fitness variables among gym students. International Journal of Fitness, Health, Physical Education & Iron Games Volume: 2, No: 2, July 2015- Dec 2015. Pg: 131.


This book was written for general students of international relations as well as students of communism in a style intended to be readable. The research was based on the assumption that efficiency in the operation of any political alliance, indeed any institution, whether it be a school board, the US Supreme Court, the United Nations, or the Catholic Church, depends upon an accurate assessment of the adjustments that must be made and the ability to make them.The Warsaw Pact is a study of how a Communist regional defense alliance responded to conflict among its member states. It has been written with an awareness that, given the nature of Communist ideology, much of the relationship between Communist states depends upon party activities rather than joint institutions.


Evolutionary multitasking is a significant emerging search paradigm that utilizes evolutionary algorithms to concurrently optimize multiple tasks. The multi-factorial evolutionary algorithm renders an effectual realization of evolutionary multitasking on two or three tasks. However, there remains room for improvement on the performance and capability of evolutionary multitasking. Beyond three tasks, this paper proposes a novel framework, called the symbiosis in biocoenosis optimization (SBO), to address evolutionary many-tasking optimization. The SBO leverages the notion of symbiosis in biocoenosis for transferring information and knowledge among different tasks through three major components: 1) transferring information through inter-task individual replacement, 2) measuring symbiosis through intertask paired evaluations, and 3) coordinating the frequency and quantity of transfer based on symbiosis in biocoenosis. The inter-task individual replacement with paired evaluations caters for estimation of symbiosis, while the symbiosis in biocoenosis provides a good estimator of transfer. This study examines the effectiveness and efficiency of the SBO on a suite of many-tasking benchmark problems, designed to deal with 30 tasks simultaneously. The experimental results show that SBO leads to better solutions and faster convergence than the state-of-the-art evolutionary multitasking algorithms. Moreover, the results indicate that SBO is highly capable of identifying the similarity between problems and transferring information appropriately.


Simulation models are widely used in applied economics to improve understanding of how a system could behave under different conditions. However, the potential degree to which such models can influence decision making depends on their ability to provide an adequate description of the important elements of a given problem. A systematic and robust procedure for the development and application of such models in agricultural, ecological, environmental and natural resource economics is presented. This process is based on the authors' experience across a broad range of model types and applications and extensive literature review. The practical impact of simulation models is argued to be greater where stakeholders and technical experts are consulted extensively throughout the modelling process.


Age-depth distributions of cold firn present amemory of spatio-temporal variations in accumulationat the surface and the velocity field.The surface deposited at a given time submergesand deforms depending on accumulation characteristics,flow velocities, firn densification and rheologicalproperties. The structure of older surfaces in acold ice body can be mapped by ice-penetrating radarsurveys through reflections from isochronuous internalhorizons, which can be dated by ice-core analysis.Of special interest to firn- and ice-core relatedstudies are the trajectory fields of probed locations.This requires knowledge about the complete velocity field.However, as the constitutive relations for solid icecannot easily be transferred and applied to firn,simple conventional flow modeling is not feasible.To circumvent rheological difficulties, a kinematicinverse model is presented to extract information onhorizontal and vertical velocities from the age distribution.The model is solely based on advection and conservationof mass equations, which together with the known agedistribution form a linear system of equations.The system is solved using singular value decomposition,thus yielding more insights into the structure of theproblem and the solution compared to other inversion schemes.Model perfomence is tested with synthetic steady-state agedistribution, calculated by a finite-difference model withprescribed advection velocities, density and accumulationprofiles. Various kinds and different numbers of boundaryconditions are used for inversion. Results indicate thatthe problem is well-posed and that the solutions arerelatively stable. This encourages extended application ofthis kinematic approach, e.g. combination with differentflow laws to determine rheological properties by inversion.


In this analysis a 3.5 years data set of aerosol and precipitation chemistry, obtained in a remote site in Cen- tral Amazonia (Balbina, (1 55 0 S, 59 29 0 W, 174 m a.s.l.), about 200 km north of Manaus) is discussed. Aerosols were sampled using stacked filter units (SFU), which separate fine ( d < 2.5 µm) and coarse mode (2.5 µm< d < 10.0 µm) aerosol particles. Filters were analyzed for particulate mass (PM), Equivalent Black Carbon (BCE) and elemental com- position by Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (PIXE). Rain- water samples were collected using a wet-only sampler and samples were analyzed for pH and ionic composition, which was determined using ionic chromatography (IC). Natural sources dominated the aerosol mass during the wet season, when it was predominantly of natural biogenic origin mostly in the coarse mode, which comprised up to 81 % of PM10. Biogenic aerosol from both primary emissions and secondary organic aerosol dominates the fine mode in the wet season, with very low concentrations (average 2.2 µg m 3 ). Soil dust was responsible for a minor fraction of the aerosol mass (less than 17 %). Sudden increases in the concentration of ele- ments as Al, Ti and Fe were also observed, both in fine and coarse mode (mostly during the April-may months), which we attribute to episodes of Saharan dust transport. During the dry periods, a significant contribution to the fine aerosols loading was observed, due to the large-scale transport of smoke from biomass burning in other portions of the Amazon basin. This contribution is associated with the enhancement of the concentration of S, K, Zn and BCE. Chlorine, which is commonly associated to sea salt and also to biomass burning emissions, presented higher concentration not only during the dry season but also for the April-June months, due to the establishment of more favorable meteorological conditions to the transport of Atlantic air masses to Central Amazonia. The chemical composition of rainwater was similar to those ones observed in other remote sites in tropical forests. The volume-weighted mean (VWM) pH was 4.90. The most im- portant contribution to acidity was from weak organic acids. The organic acidity was predominantly associated with the presence of acetic acid instead of formic acid, which is more often observed in pristine tropical areas. Wet deposition rates for major species did not differ significantly between dry and wet season, except for NH + , citrate and acetate, which had smaller deposition rates during dry season. While biomass burning emissions were clearly identified in the aerosol com- ponent, it did not present a clear signature in rainwater. The biogenic component and the long-range transport of sea salt were observed both in aerosols and rainwater composition. The results shown here indicate that in Central Amazonia it is still possible to observe quite pristine atmospheric condi- tions, relatively free of anthropogenic influences.


The free radical scavenging activity of dihydroxybenzoic acids (DHBA) has been studied in non-polar and aqueous solutions, using the Density Functional Theory. It was found that the environment plays an important role in the free radical scavenging activity of DHBA. The hydrogen transfer (HT) from the phenolic OH was identified as the main mechanism of reaction in non-polar media, while the single electron transfer (SET) from the di-anions is proposed as the mechanism contributing the most to the peroxyl scavenging activity of DHBA in aqueous solution, at physiological pH. Two key structural features are associated with the reactivity of DHBA towards peroxyl radicals, via HT. The OH from which the H is transferred should be: (i) in the meta position with respect to the carboxyl group; and (ii) in the para or ortho position with respect to the other hydroxyl group. Regarding SET, the key factors are the formation of the di-anion, and its molar fraction at the anticipated pH. DHBA are predicted to be versatile scavengers in aqueous solution, capable of efficiently scavenging a wide variety of free radicals via SET. In addition, 25-DHBA, 34-DHBA and 23-DHBA were found to be among the best peroxyl radical scavengers identified so far, in aqueous solution, at physiological pH.


This article challenges the notion that black militias were of little consequence in the antebellum United States. The establishment, personnel and equipment of these militia units, and their importance for local black organization, has largely escaped scholarly attention. The significance of armed companies of young black men at a time when they were not officially sanctioned by federal and state authorities has also not been explored. The article makes three arguments. First, there was a trajectory towards militarization from vigilance committees to independent companies to enrolment in union armies. Second, links between self-defence and rights of citizenship were already being struggled over at local and state levels before the more famous national expression in black union soldiers fighting for the union. Third, national narratives concerning the origins of the American civil war, African American slavery, and British Canadian history, obscure the multiple roles played by people of African descent during this period. It is only through transnational approaches towards fugitives, military formation and antislavery mobilization that we realise the role of blacks in challenging American slavery in the Atlantic world. The organization of the article is as follows. It begins with fugitives and the organization of vigilance committees of self-defense in North America. It continues with states rights of self-defence, the exclusion of black men from these rights, and the resulting organization of independent companies. The public parade of these black militias on West India Day, the most important commemoration by Americans of African descent between the early 1830's and 1860's, is the next section. It concludes with the continental destruction of American slavery and its consequences for the post-emancipation era. This article has several objectives. It examines important black institutions hitherto unexamined. It aims to broaden the conventional temporal and spatial dimensions of the civil war era. The third task is to reveal the limitations of nationalist narratives by seeking out connections among people of African descent as well as in the ways in which individuals and organizations provide alternative means for comparison. Finally, this article is part of a broader project examining political mobilization against slavery in the Atlantic world.


ABSTRACT The value of social network analysis is critically dependent on the comprehensive and reliable identification of actors and their relationships. We compare regional knowledge networks based on different types of data sources, namely, co-patents, co-publications, and publicly subsidized collaborative R&D projects. Moreover, by combining these three data sources, we construct a multilayer network that provides a comprehensive picture of intraregional interactions. By comparing the networks based on the data sources, we address the problems of coverage and selection bias. We observe that using only one data source leads to a severe underestimation of regional knowledge interactions, especially those of private sector firms and independent researchers.


A disfigured servant girl plans to flee Nepal; a Kalimpong shopkeeper faces an impossible dilemma; a Hindu religious festival in Darjeeling brings with it a sacrifice; a Nepali-Bhutanese refugee pins her hopes on the West; a Gurkha's daughter tries to comprehend her father's complaints; two young Nepali-speaking immigrants meet in Manhattan. These are just some of the stories describing and dramatizing the experiences of the Nepalese people and the Nepalese diaspora - the people whose culture and language is Nepalese but who are dispersed to India, Bhutan and beyond. From every perspective and on every page, Prajwal Parajuly blends rich colour and vernacular to paint an eye-opening picture of a unique world and its people.


In this thesis the TOMCAT chemical transport model is used to investigate the processes which control the concentrations of CO and O3 in the Arctic troposphere. Particular focus is on understanding the main sources of CO, O3 and NOy species in the Arctic, distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic sources and the current drivers of interannual variability (IAV).

First results from a new version of TOMCAT, with extended hydrocarbon chemistry and heterogeneous uptake of N2O5, shows better agreement with observed CO from MOPITT, surface stations and aircraft. Changes in simulated burdens demonstrate the importance of NMHC as a source of
CO, O3 and PAN in the troposphere and show that the complexity of chemical schemes may have contributed to previously reported inter-model differences. The high PAN sensitivity to additional NMHC is particularly important in the Arctic as it is the dominant source of NOx in the Arctic
lower troposphere, producing up to 30% of total O3 in the summer.

This thesis contains the first source contribution analysis to consider impacts of fire emissions throughout the year in comparison to anthropogenic sources. Anthropogenic emissions are found to be the largest source of Arctic CO (48%), followed by methane (25%) and fires (13%). In
summer, fire and anthropogenic sources contribute equally to the total CO burden. Boreal fires are the dominant source of O3 and NOx compared to anthropogenic emissions. North America contributes the largest amount (30%) to the total anthropogenic CO burden, followed by East
Asia (26%), Europe (23%) and South Asia (9%). In contrast, North America makes the largest contribution (9%) to the Arctic O3 burden, followed by Europe (7%) and then Asia (6%). Overall, CO shows that the Arctic is most sensitive to emissions changes in Europe, then North America
and then Asia.

Fire emissions are the dominant driver of current Arctic CO IAV, causing 84-93% of observed variability. A statistically significant correlation is found between observed CO and the El Nino 3.4 index due to a link with fires. El Nino is strongly associated with increased fire emissions in regions of North, Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. In contrast, El Nino is associated
with reduced fire emissions in eastern North America, Europe, southern Asia and Australia. The temperature dependence of fires in several regions indicates that fire activity will increase in a warmer climate.


Here, we discuss the expected hallmark(s) of the cancer cell of origin and how this may be related to a new tumor cell phenotype, namely "energetic" cancer stem cells (e-CSCs). e-CSCs show many features that would be characteristic of the cancer cell of origin, including the over-expression of p21-WAF (CDKN1A), a key marker of senescence. It is tempting to speculate that the cancer cell of origin and e-CSCs are closely related entities. e-CSCs possess a hybrid phenotype, sharing key hallmarks of senescence, "stemness" and cancer. e-CSCs are hyper-proliferative and have elevated mitochondrial metabolism, with an NRF2-mediated anti-oxidant response signature, including glutaredoxin (GLRX) and ALDH3A1 over-expression, possibly related to their escape from senescence. Finally, in e-CSCs, BCAS1 (Breast carcinoma-amplified sequence-1) protein expression was up-regulated by >100-fold. BCAS1 is a candidate oncogene associated with "stemness" and aggressive oncogenic behavior, such as Tamoxifen resistance.


The Handbook of Research on the Evolution of IT and the Rise of E-Society is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the application of embedded and connected technology and its role in modern society. While highlighting topics such as information privacy, knowledge management, and social media, this publication explores the development and cultivation of e-community in organizations, as well as the methods of addressing interpersonal facilitation, user-friendly design, and mobile accessibility. This book is ideally designed for program developers, computer engineers, managers, business professionals, researchers, and graduate-level students seeking current research on the adoption and efficient usage, formation, and maintenance of internet and communication technology interaction.


Background Although there is debate whether treatment with TNF inhibitors (TNFi) in AS may not inhibit spinal radiographic progression, the effect on hip involvement may be different (1,2). Objectives To estimate the impact of long-term TNFi treatment on radiographic progression of hip arthritis in AS, by adding a quantitative scoring method, previously applied in hip osteoarthritis, to the BASRI-hip score. Methods Consecutive TNFi-naïve AS patients (fulfilling the modified New York criteria) who were eligible for TNFi treatment were included. Hip involvement was assessed clinically (pain, reduced range of motion and intermalleolar distance) and radiographically. X-rays of the pelvis and lateral cervical and lumbar spine were obtained at 3 time points: at baseline two and seven years after the start of TNFi. Both hips were scored using: a) BASRI-hip score (BASRI-h score ≥2 is classified as definitive hip involvement), b) mean joint space width (MJSW), estimated by measurement of 3 distinct points of interbone distance: 2mm inner of the external end of the acetabulum, vertical line through femoral head center, head-neck center line (1). Spinal X-rays were scored were scored blindly, by 2 independent readers using the mSASSS. The significance of changes was tested by mixed models for longitudinal data. Results 262 AS patients (188 men, age: 49.8±12 years, disease duration: 24.4±12 years) under TNFi treatment were included. Definite hip involvement at baseline was detected in 95/262 (36%) patients, who had significantly higher BASRI-hip score [2 (2–2.5) median (IQR) vs. 0.5 (0–1) p<0.0001] and lower MJSW (3.6±0.7 vs. 4.5±0.7, p<0.0001), compared to those without. In patients with hip arthritis at baseline, both BASRI-h score and MJSW remained unchanged during follow up. In patients without hip arthritis, the BASRI-hip score remained unchanged after 2.5±0.7 years, but increased significantly after 7±2.3 years compared to baseline. In contrast, the MJSW in patients without hip arthritis remained unchanged at the three time points. The mSASSS raised significantly during the follow-up period, regardless of hip involvement (see table). Variables Baseline After 2.5±0.7 years After 7±2.3 years P All pts (n=262)  BASRI-hip, mean±SD 1.15±1 1.14±1 1.2±1 <0.0001  MJSW (mm), mean±SD 4.17±0.8 4.16±0.8 4.12±0.7 NS  mSASSS, median (IQR) 6 (1–24.5) 8 (1–30) 11 (2–30) <0.0001 Pts with hip involvement (n=95)  BASRI-hip, median (IQR) 2 (2–2.5) 2 (2–2.5) 2 (2–2.5) NS  MJSW (mm), mean±SD 3.59±0.7 3.58±0.7 3.53±0.7 NS  mSASSS, median (IQR) 12 (2.5–36) 17 (3–40.5) 15.5 (3–37.5) <0.0001 Pts without hip involvement (n=167)  BASRI-hip, mean±SD 0.49±0.5 0.5±0.53 0.58±0.57 <0.0001  MJSW (mm), mean±SD 4.5±0.7 4.47±0.6 4.44±0.6 NS  mSASSS, median (IQR) 4 (0–18) 7 (1–25) 9 (2–27) <0.0001 Conclusions One third of the AS patients suffer from radiographic hip involvement, which seems to stabilize during long-term anti-TNF treatment. Assessment of MJSW may contribute to detect minor changes in contrast to BASRI-hip score' rough estimation. References Konsta M, et. al, Clin Rheumatol. 2013 Aug;32(8):1229–32. Nystad TW, et. al. Annals of the rheumatic diseases. 2014 Jun;73(6):1194–7. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The article is written as a guide and tutorial that focuses on the use of Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing, TRPS, as a platform for the detection of biological analytes. Within the field of biosensors there is a continuous emergence of new technologies or adaptations to platforms that push the limits of detection or expand dynamic ranges. TRPS is both unique and powerful in its ability to detect a wide range of biological analytes; including metabolites, proteins, cellular vesicles, viruses and whole cells. Each analyte can be analysed on the same platform without modification by changing the pore size, and is simple enough to follow to allow users from a range of backgrounds to start developing their own assays. The instrument can provide information regarding analyte concentration, size, and charge. Here we hope to give an overview of where this technology is being used and provide some guidance to new users, in the hope it will inspire and enable future experiments.


The simulated data set described in this paper was created by an ensemble of nine different crop models: HERMES (HE), Simplace (L5), SiriusQuality (SQ), MONICA (MO), Sirius2014 (S2), FASSET (FA), 4M (4M), SSM (SS), DSSAT-CSM IXIM (IX). Simulations were performed for grain maize (six models) and winter wheat (eight models) under diverse conditions over agriculturally relevant areas in the EU-27 at a 25 x 25 km spatial resolution. Simulations were drawn from combinations of three representative concentration pathways and climate outputs from five general circulation models for time periods 2040-2069 and 2070-2099. Historical climate data was the basis for simulation years 1980-2010 and considered as a baseline. Simulation results from 1980-2010 and 2040-2069 were used to analyze crop responses to changing climatic variables and their diverging sensitivities to these variables. This data paper describes the creation, motivation and format of the simulation results to enable others to use the data set.


Descriptors in the Abraham equations for all the 209 PCBs have been obtained from literature chromatographic data. The six descriptors suffice for the prediction of water to octanol partitions, and for the prediction of various water to solvent and gas to solvent partitions, solubility in water, and water to micelle partition. For water to octanol, gas to dry octanol, gas to wet octanol, solubility of the solid PCBs in water, and gas to water processes, our predictive values agree excellently with the adjusted experimental values of Li et al. for sixteen particular PCBs, and with other experimental observations. We use our predictions to shed light on Henry's law constants of PCBs in water, which are the inverse of gas to water partitions.


Recent evidence finds a positive association between the prevalence of loans of inferior quality and the growth in securitized products. Some attribute this development to the lack of incentives for originators to screen and monitor the performance of securitized loans; others stress that certain factors, such as balance-sheet management, also contributed to the problem, making it difficult to pin down the reason for the proliferation of such loans during the period of high securitization growth. The author reviews the conflicts of interest between participants in the securitization process that contributed to the ongoing financial turmoil and highlights the most recent policy measures and potential solutions for ameliorating these agency issues.


Keyword search is one of the key components of the Cyber Crime Investigations. It has a direct influence on precision and relevance of the data found on seized data carriers. However, many of the digital forensics tools developers do not reveal the actual underlying algorithms or source code of their search engines. Therefore, there is a challenge to verify their accuracy and efficiency. On the other hand, open-source search engines are an alternative to using proprietary keyword search tools, where they have extensive functionality and perform well on large-scale datasets. The goal of this paper is to explore the applicability of such search engines in forensics search. The contribution of the paper is two-folded. First, a thorough literature review and comparison of the supported functionality documented by open-source search engines and open-source digital forensic tools was performed. In addition, a survey of existing publicly-available digital forensics datasets was conducted. Second, out of reviewed search engines, Solr and Elasticsearch were selected and compared by their functionality, efficiency in searching and indexing, and effectiveness of search results with respect to digital forensic search using relevant datasets. Our findings should assist those in the digital forensic community when choosing the appropriate open source search engines for keyword search in large-scale datasets.


In memoriam Lawrence D. Stokes Thomas Wolfe's interest in Germany was rooted in fairy tales, an early admiration of Goethe, and his father's Pennsylvania Dutch descent. It kept growing during his European trips, all of which but the first in 1924-25 took him to Germany. Of his six visits there between 1926 and 1936, it was the last one, in 1936, that opened his eyes to the evil of Nazism, ending his love affair with Germany--father's land and second fatherland--on a somber note. In his fiction Wolfe deals with Germany in stories and parts of novels. A veritable mystique of Germany suffuses "Dark in the Forest, Strange as Time," a story published in 1934. (1) The "Oktoberfest" section of The Web and the Rock (1939), Wolfe's first posthumous novel, occupies an intermediate position: George Webber, Wolfe's surrogate and protagonist (as well as focalizing fictional character), becomes immersed in the conviviality of the Munich fair, but also criticizes its brutish features, which are apt to strike the post-World War II and post-Holocaust reader as symbolically prophetic. (2) A day of reckoning with Germany is presented in "I Have a Thing to Tell You," published as a story in 1937 and--in a revised version provided with an additional opening chapter derived from Wolfe's 1936 visit to Berlin--as book 6 of his second posthumous novel, You Can't Go Home Again (1940). (3) In both "Dark in the Forest, Strange as Time" and "I Have a Thing to Tell You," the focal character is a German Jew who meets his fate in Germany. Strictly speaking, each character does so still in Germany, on a train moving through and out of it. Thus, both texts feature a space moving through external space, a configuration suggestive of the outsider status of Jewish travelers whose lives are claimed by the country they fail to leave. (4) The two texts reflect the role of Germany in Wolfe's modernism. The earlier story is expressive of the rise of his modernist vision. The later text indicates a modification of Wolfe's modernism through an increasingly society- and politics-oriented outlook referable in part to his confrontation with German anti-Semitism and his own. "To reestablish Wolfe's importance to literary modernism" (Holliday 5) seems an urgent critical task. Speaking of his and Wolfe's writing, William Faulkner laid claim to all-inclusiveness: "We tried to crowd and cram everything, all experience, into each paragraph"; he credited Wolfe with an attempt "to do the greatest of the impossible ... to reduce all human experience to literature" (Meriwether and Millgate 107, 81). Referring to Proust and Joyce, Jean-Francois Lyotard strikes a similar note. He anchors their modernism in ideas that resist representation: "We have the Idea of the world (the totality of what is), but we do not have the capacity to show an example of it" (78). The present writer considers the totality of what is--life in its totality and change--the metanarrative of modernism. But where would such a holistic impulse have come from? Unfolding the etiology of modernism, too much use has been made of post factum postmodern patterns of thought. In "The Metaphysics of Modernism," Michael Bell claims that the "recognition of the self-grounding character of the human world is the truest meaning of the modernist myth," which he defines "as an emblem of the human world as self-created" (14). In a more historical perspective, it would seem modernism grew out of the fin de siecle collapse of other-world-oriented Christian faith, which impelled writers to suggest what was left--all of life, life as such--through their art, which became their new religion or formalistic creed. With modernism, language was foregrounded not primarily because it "was now seen to form [the world]" (Bell 16), but because it had to assume the all but impossible task of conveying life as a whole. Closely considered, life, the entire existential dimension, defines itself against the mind--always a mind, single and subjective--and hence against speech, spoken or written, which is the phenomenological form language takes. …


The paper describes an approach to estimating the long-term impact of soil erosion, and applies that approach to data from the Province of Alberta, Canada. This paper relies upon a soil classification system established in Canada, known as the Canada Land Inventory (CLI). It also employs available evidence relating yields to various classes of soils, and relating erosion to its effect on crop production. The approach is employed to develop both a set of physical accounts for agricultural soils, classified by soil type, as well as a set of financial accounts for agricultural soils, since the value of those soils is influenced by yield potential. The results provide a long-term indication of the sustainability of the soil resource in the province, and permit developing estimates of future natural resource accounts for land in (1) physical accounts classified by soil type, and (2) in capital accounts by value of soil class.


A study has been undertaken along the coast of Accra (Teshie to Nyanyano) in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area to investigate the emission of soil radon gas in the area using Lenin Resin (LR) 115 cellulose nitrate detectors. Twenty seven sampling points were considered for the investigation. A set of detectors were buried at a time and were replaced fortnightly for a period of 2 weeks. Three exposures were made at each location. Due to logistics constraints, the detectors were buried in phases over a period of 15 weeks. After the exposure period, the detectors were etched, air dried in the laboratory and the registered alpha tracks were counted using the Spark counter. The track density was calculated and the radon gas concentration was computed. The radon concentrations ranged from 1.40 kBqm -3 to 282.87 kBqm -3 for the period of monitoring. The average soil radon concentration measured during the period of the survey was 24.41 kBqm -3 . Local earthquakes of magnitude ranging from 1.1 to 2.8 on the Richter scale were recorded during the study. Continuous monitoring of the gas could confirm high emanation with the activity of the coastal boundary fault. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.erem.71.2.7063


In political communication research, news media tend to be studied more as a dependent than independent variable. That is, few studies link structural characteristics of media systems to the production of journalistic discourse about politics. One reason for this relative silence is the inadequacy of prevalent theories. Influential scholars in sociology and political communication such as Jürgen Habermas, Manuel Castells, and William Gamson provide only sketchy, institutionally underspecified accounts of media systems. Likewise, models in the sociology of news have tended to either aggregate societal level influences (chiefly political and economic) that are analytically and often empirically quite distinct or overemphasize micro-level influences (news routines, bureaucratic pressures). In between such micro- and macro-influences, the mezzo-level "journalistic field" represents an important shaping factor heretofore largely ignored. As path-dependent institutional logics, fields help ground cultural analysis; as interorganizational spatial environments varying in their level of concentration, they explain heretofore undertheorized aspects of news production. Drawing on the sociology of news and field theory (Bourdieu and American new institutionalism), this essay offers a series of hypotheses about how variable characteristics of media systems shape news discourse. Since variation at the system level is most clearly seen via cross-national comparative studies, international research is best positioned to build more generalizable theory about the production of journalistically mediated political discourse.


A standardized dog experiment was designed to simulate human victims of submersion who seem to first develop laryngospasm, followed by flooding of the lungs. The tracheal tube of lightly anesthetized dogs was clamped until the onset of apnea. The lungs were then flooded for 30 seconds with fresh water or sea water, or apnea was permitted to continue for a comparable period without flooding. Resuscitation was attempted with intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB), utilizing room air. All control dogs (obstructive asphyxia, without flooding) survived. Freshwater drowning caused mild arterial hypotension, severe rise in venous pressure and bradycardia, followed by sudden ventricular fibrillation in 1–4 minutes in spite of IPPB. Sea-water drowning caused severe arterial hypotension, slight rise in venous pressure and bradycardia. IPPB led to partial reoxygenation and partial restoration of circulation. When IPPB was discontinued all dogs started breathing spontaneously, but within a few minutes develo...


We present a multi-modal dialogue system for interactive learning of perceptually grounded word meanings from a human tutor. The system integrates an incremental, semantic parsing/generation framework - Dynamic Syntax and Type Theory with Records (DS-TTR) - with a set of visual classifiers that are learned throughout the interaction and which ground the meaning representations that it produces. We use this system in interaction with a simulated human tutor to study the effects of different dialogue policies and capabilities on the accuracy of learned meanings, learning rates, and efforts/costs to the tutor. We show that the overall performance of the learning agent is affected by (1) who takes initiative in the dialogues; (2) the ability to express/use their confidence level about visual attributes; and (3) the ability to process elliptical and incrementally constructed dialogue turns. Ultimately, we train an adaptive dialogue policy which optimises the trade-off between classifier accuracy and tutoring costs.


Unstructured networks (like ad-hoc or peer-to-peer networks) are networks without centralized control of their operation. Users make local decisions regarding whether to follow the network protocol or not. While providing scalability benefits, this degrades the performance, which is compounded by the potential presence of Malicious Users. In general, these users are trying to disrupt the operation of the network, and prevent the legitimate users from achieving their objectives. More specifically, they could try to break the connectivity of the network, or waste the resources of the legitimate users. In this work we use game theory to examine the effect of malicious users. All users are modeled as payoff-maximizing strategic agents. A simple model, fictitious play, is used for the legitimate user behavior, but no limits are imposed on the Malicious Users strategies. We look for the worst case equilibrium: the one that gives Malicious Users the highest payoff. We identify the importance of the network topology.


Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGMs) offer a popular framework including a variety of statistical formalisms, such as Bayesian networks (BNs). These latter are able to depict real-world situations with high degree of uncertainty. Due to their power and flexibility, several extensions were proposed, ensuring thereby the suitability of their use. Probabilistic Relational Models (PRMs) extend BNs to work with relational databases rather than propositional data. Their construction represents an active area since it remains the most complicated issue. Only few works have been proposed in this direction, and most of them don't guarantee an optimal identification of their dependency structure. In this paper we intend to propose an approach that ensures returning an optimal PRM structure. It is inspired from a BN method whose performance was already proven.


Algiers is the political and economic capital of Algeria. The city drains a large part of the activities of the country with intense road traffic. This road traffic is the main source of air pollution, followed by industry and waste combustion. An application of the new road traffic emission model, called EMISENS, is performed to build road traffic emission inventories for the Algiers region. These emission inventories are then used as input to the MM5/CHIMERE system to estimate air pollution. The objective of this study is to propose a methodology to improve the quality of emission inventories, and to validate results. First, by studying the correlation between observed measurements and data concerning cadastre of primary pollutants emitted mainly by road traffic, then by comparing the pollutants concentrations from observed measures with the simulated concentrations with the model of chemistry-transport CHIMERE.


: Software development traditionally has been a field particularly prone to delays, exceeding budgets, and misun-derstandings (May 1998; Connel, 2001; Humphrey, 2002; Goodwin, 2002; Kesteloot, 2003). Only 1/4 of IT projects is completed successfully – i.e. in time, with the assumed cost, and fulfilling the promised functionality (Smith and Keil, 2003). Although there is some improvement over the last years, software creation is still one of the most unpredictable businesses in the world. It should not be surprising then that high-tech environment often is described as stressful an demanding (Kunda, 1992; Hochschild, 1997; Perlow, 1998; Cooper, 2000; Jemielniak, 2005). It is the nest of the so-called normative control: management by indirect reign, through the means of evoking motivation and dedication of the employee, rather than phys-ical direction and supervision (Kanter, 1977; Mintzberg, 1998). On the other hand, many things have to be taken on face value: program code is a black-box for anyone but the programmer, only the client understands the real needs for the software, only the manager realizes what the real deadlines and constraints are, etc. In this light it may be interesting to delve into the issue of actual organizational practices in IT environment. Thus, in this paper we will try to analyze how the trust in software projects is understood, perceived and exercised by the key organizational actors involved. According to our research, there are three major groups of actors in software development: managers, clients, and software engineers. These roles play an important defining function in IT reality. The stories told by our interviewees all point to trust, or rather the distrust in software development. In the proposed paper we would like to confront the three views in an ethnographical manner. I am an organization theorist interested in action research, using qualitative methods (ethnography, unstructured interviews, shadowing) to analyze knowledge work and innovation management policies. My current research focuses on management practices in high-tech environment.


The thread-lifting procedure is gaining popularity all over the globe. It is a mini-invasive, rejuvenate procedure with
a short downtime. Aesthetic practitioners use various medical devises and thread materials during thread lifting
procedures, but thread degradation and tissue reaction on thread implants are currently poorly understood.
Objective: This article will describe tissue reaction and thread changes from implantation to full degradation.
Methods: Tissue reaction on L-lactide-co-caprolactone threads was observed on 0, 4, 13, 26, 34, 52, 64, and 72
weeks after implantation in 21 rabbit models. In all groups, except the 26-week group, eight implants were placed in
each model. Specifically, four Test Articles-Aptos Excellence Visage poly (L-lactide-co-caprolactone) threads were
implanted on the right side in the cranial-caudal direction, and four control articles were implanted on the left side
in the cranial-caudal direction.
Results: Analysis of the local tissue reaction showed that the Test Article and the control article caused the same
tissue reaction. However, compared with the control article, Test Article was associated with higher numbers of
inflammatory cells on 13 and 34–72 weeks. At 72 weeks, the average area of Test Article had decreased by 41.1%.
Conclusion: After subcutaneous placement of the APTOS thread, the thread was progressively surrounded by fibrous
tissue and exhibited slow degradation (41.1% over 72 weeks). The prolonged tissue reaction guarantees stable and
durable tread-lifting procedure results. The ability of Photic tissue repositions, nucleogenesis and neovascularization
has a strong influence on skin texture, structure, color and body couture which is provided by APTOS threads
composition and structure.


This paper designs a novel non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) unicast–multicast system, where a number of unicast users (those who require different messages) and a group of multicast users (those who require identical message) share the same time/space/frequency resource. For the designed NOMA unicast–multicast system, an efficient two-phase cooperation strategy is proposed to improve the reliability of all users. In the first phase, the base station (BS) broadcasts a superposed message consisting of all users' information. In the second phase, a multicast user is selected to forward the information intended by unsuccessfully decoded unicast and/or multicast users. Moreover, the multicast user selection is investigated under two different power allocation (PA) approaches: 1) fixed PA (FPA), in which the PA coefficients for both the phases are predetermined, and 2) dynamic PA (DPA), in which the PA coefficients for the first phase are predetermined, while the PA coefficients for the second phase are dynamically determined based on instantaneous channel information. Under the FPA approach, a best user selection (BUS) scheme (called F-BUS) is proposed to minimize the outage probability. Under the DPA approach, the local optimal PA coefficients for the second phase are derived in closed form first. Based on the derived PA coefficients, a BUS scheme (called D-BUS) is then proposed for outage probability minimization. To verify the reliability of the proposed cooperation strategy with employing the BUS schemes, we theoretically analyze the outage probability as well as diversity orders. It is shown that the proposed cooperation strategy achieves diversity orders equal to the number of multicast users, indicating that the inherent diversity orders offered by the multicast users are fully exploited. Finally, simulation results are presented to validate the theoretical results and demonstrate the advantages of the proposed cooperation strategy and the BUS schemes.


Propulsion generated by wall vibrations in the form of travelling waves was investigated. A model problem consisting of two parallel plates free to move with respect to each other was used. Vibrations of one of these plates generated movement of the other plate whose velocity was used to assess the effectiveness of such propulsion. Three types of responses were identified: a "sloshing" response for long waves, a "moving wall" response for short waves, and an "intermediate" response for in-between waves. Long and transitional waves produced propulsion of marginal interest. Short waves produced effective propulsion with the velocity of the plate increasing proportionally to the second power of the wave number and the second power of the amplitude, and approximately proportionally to the wave velocity. The vibrating wall appeared in this limit to the bulk of the fluid as a moving wall. The effectiveness of vibrations significantly increased by tilting waves. The best response for short fast waves was achieved using adjacent discrete elements spaced by about three fourths of the wavelength. An analysis of waves of arbitrary shapes demonstrated that concentrating the vibration energy in the largest available and dominant wave number (monochromatic waves) resulted in the best system performance.


A recent line of work focused on making adversarial training computationally efficient for deep learning models. In particular, Wong et al. (2020) showed that $\ell_\infty$-adversarial training with fast gradient sign method (FGSM) can fail due to a phenomenon called "catastrophic overfitting", when the model quickly loses its robustness over a single epoch of training. We show that adding a random step to FGSM, as proposed in Wong et al. (2020), does not prevent catastrophic overfitting, and that randomness is not important per se -- its main role being simply to reduce the magnitude of the perturbation. Moreover, we show that catastrophic overfitting is not inherent to deep and overparametrized networks, but can occur in a single-layer convolutional network with a few filters. In an extreme case, even a single filter can make the network highly non-linear locally, which is the main reason why FGSM training fails. Based on this observation, we propose a new regularization method, GradAlign, that prevents catastrophic overfitting by explicitly maximizing the gradient alignment inside the perturbation set and improves the quality of the FGSM solution. As a result, GradAlign allows to successfully apply FGSM training also for larger $\ell_\infty$-perturbations and reduce the gap to multi-step adversarial training. The code of our experiments is available at this https URL.


China's consumption of luxury fashion goods is amongst the highest in the world. The importance of the high-end Chinese market for Western luxury fashion brands has been so far the centre of substantial scholarly interest. However, no research has been conducted on the retail strategies of Italian luxury fashion brands in China in terms of date of entry, reasons for entry, entry methods and store strategy to assess the impact they have on the success of those companies in such a complex but growing market. The aim is to provide insightful suggestions in terms of retail strategies for Italian luxury fashion brands operating in China, or considering entering the market. Qualitative research methods in the form of a cross-company examination of a sample of 20 Italian luxury fashion brands operating in China, followed by a second and later stage of the research consisting of interviews with property developers of Beijing's main luxury shopping malls, constitute the approaches used. This 'on the ground' research was necessary to complement the trends which emerged from the secondary data, and to gain a deeper, first-hand insight into the retail strategies of the analysed companies. The two subsequent stages of the research results were then combined to reach the final aim of the present study. The results show that a strong, consolidated retail strategy secured mainly but not exclusively by long-term establishment and continuous interest and investment on the Chinese market, to increase and maintain brand awareness, is the key to success. The results further indicate that important differences between traditional markets and the Chinese one regarding government regulations and cooperation with local business partners such as suppliers and distributors, as well as different types of consumers, have to be taken into serious consideration to formulate a successful Chinese strategy.


A verifying compiler is a system computer program that translates programs written
by man from a high-level language into equivalent executable programs, and besides,
proves (verifies) mathematical statements specified by man about the properties of the
programs being translated. The purpose of the F@BOOL@ project is to develop a
transparent for users, compact and portable verifying compiler F@BOOL@ for annotated
 computational programs, that uses effective and sound automatic SAT-solvers (i.e.
programs that check satisfiability of prepositional Boolean formulas in the conjunctive
normal form) as means of automatic validation of correctness conditions (instead of
semi-automatic proof techniques). The key idea is Boolean representation of all data
instead of Boolean abstraction or first-order representation. (It makes difference between
 F@BOOL@ and SLAM.) Our project is aimed at the verification of functional
properties, and it assumes generation of first-order verification conditions (from invariants
), and the validation/refutation of each verification condition using SAT-solvers after
\conservative" translation of the verification conditions into Boolean form. During the
period from 2006 to 2009, a popular (at that time) SAT-solver zChaff was used in the
F@BOOL@ project. The first three verification experiments that have been exercised
with its help are listed below: swapping values of two variables, checking whether three
input values are lengths of sides of an equilateral or isosceles triangle, and detecting a
unique fake in a set of 15 coins. The paper presents general outlines of the project and
details of the last (the most extensive) experiment.


The role of the new media in young people's lives has led to a debate about the potential of the internet as a means of influencing identity formation and youth participation. A growing body of academic research has shown an interest in understanding this influence. This thesis sets out to study political participation as a form of online engagement through the use of the various new media platforms and how it may affect the process of identity development of Arab youth in Britain. Prior to the recent political developments in the Middle East and the so-called 'Arab Spring', British Arab youth were suffering identity uncertainty and had expressed little interest in political participation. During the early stages of the Arab Spring, British Arab youth became involved, in one way or another, in political activities, mainly online.
This research combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies in order to achieve accurate results. The targeted group for this study is those between 18 and 25 years old, who were born in Britain or have been living continuously in Britain for at least 10 years. Data collected includes a total of 178 questionnaire samples, and forty individual semi-structured interviews.
The core argument of this study is that British Arab youth are willing to participate in politics as long as it is meaningful to them and to the people of their countries of origin. This engagement helps them to balance their cultural identity (Arab) with the host culture (British). That may not contradict with the fact that British Arab youth describe Britain as 'home' with confidence. In fact, the balance between Arab and British cultures serves as a stabiliser in the process of identity formation and reformation. The thesis also explores how this active political engagement is reflected, in general, on their own identity construction and development. The evidences of this study suggest that, while online media has a role in providing British Arab youth with accessible and effective online tools, the mechanism of participating and debating all issues without reservation, may contradict the cultural heritage of stepping back from political participation. Therefore, this research affirms the importance of online media tools for British Arab youth reaching new horizons. Participating in political activities is one form of negotiating identity formation or reformation, that in one way or another can contribute to a more effective role of the British Arab community in the public, political and cultural spheres of multicultural Britain.


Background: Birt–Hogg–Dubé syndrome (BHDS) (MIM 135150) is an autosomal dominant predisposition to the development of follicular hamartomas (fibrofolliculomas), lung cysts, spontaneous pneumothorax, and kidney neoplasms. Germline mutations in BHD are associated with the susceptibility for BHDS. We previously described 51 BHDS families with BHD germline mutations. Objective: To characterise the BHD mutation spectrum, novel mutations and new clinical features of one previously reported and 50 new families with BHDS. Methods: Direct bidirectional DNA sequencing was used to screen for mutations in the BHD gene, and insertion and deletion mutations were confirmed by subcloning. We analysed evolutionary conservation of folliculin by comparing human against the orthologous sequences. Results: The BHD mutation detection rate was 88% (51/58). Of the 23 different germline mutations identified, 13 were novel consisting of: four splice site, three deletions, two insertions, two nonsense, one deletion/insertion, and one missense mutation. We report the first germline missense mutation in BHD c.1978A>G (K508R) in a patient who presented with bilateral multifocal renal oncocytomas. This mutation occurs in a highly conserved amino acid in folliculin. 10% (5/51) of the families had individuals without histologically confirmed fibrofolliculomas. Of 44 families ascertained on the basis of skin lesions, 18 (41%) had kidney tumours. Patients with a germline BHD mutation and family history of kidney cancer had a statistically significantly increased probability of developing renal tumours compared to patients without a positive family history (p = 0.0032). Similarly, patients with a BHD germline mutation and family history of spontaneous pneumothorax had a significantly increased greater probability of having spontaneous pneumothorax than BHDS patients without a family history of spontaneous pneumothorax (p = 0.011). A comprehensive review of published reports of cases with BHD germline mutation is discussed. Conclusion: BHDS is characterised by a spectrum of mutations, and clinical heterogeneity both among and within families.


Adaptive classifier ensembles have been shown to improve the accuracy and robustness of systems for face recognition (FR) in video surveillance. However, it is often assumed that the proportions of faces captured for target and non-target individuals are balanced, or they are known a priori, and constant over time. Some active approaches have been proposed to update the ensemble during operations according to class imbalance of the input data stream. Beyond the estimation operational class imbalance, these approaches commonly generate diverse pools of classifiers by selecting balanced training data, limiting the potential diversity provided by the abundant non-target data. In this paper, a skew-sensitive ensemble is proposed to adaptively combine classifiers trained with data selected to have varying levels of imbalance and complexity. Given a face re-identification application, faces captured for each person appearing in the scene are tracked and regrouped into trajectories. During enrollment, faces in a reference trajectory are combined with those of selected non-target trajectories to generate a pool of 2-class classifiers using data with various levels of imbalance and complexity. During operations, the level of imbalance is periodically estimated by comparing input trajectories and pre-computed histograms using Hellinger distance quantification. Ensemble fusion functions are then adapted based on the imbalance and complexity of operational data. Finally, ensemble scores are accumulated over trajectories for robust spatio-temporal FR. Results obtained in experiments with synthetic data and Face in Action videos reveal that the proposed approach can significantly improve performance across operational imbalances.


Abstract Recently, an expansion of the Boltzmann scattering operator describing the angular spreading of particle beams was given that included the effects of large angle scattering processes, thus generalizing the classical Fokker-Planck equation, valid in the limit of small angle scattering. The present work aims at making an analytical comparison between predictions based on the classical Fokker-Planck equation and those based on a generalized one, which includes a first-order correction term in the expansion of the Boltzmann scattering operator. The analysis is carried out for thin slabs where backscattering effects can be neglected and makes use of a moment approach, which leads to an infinite system of recursively coupled ordinary differential equations. The system is truncated in a consistent manner, and the effects of large angle scattering on the evolution of the moments are determined in explicit analytical form. An approximate similarity solution of the generalized Fokker-Planck equation is also found, and the results of both approaches provide a clear picture of the increased diffusive beam spreading due to large angle scattering. A comparison with previously published Monte Carlo simulation results shows good agreement.


Introduction The current mesh implants (Fig. 1) are composed of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) and polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF). Mesh implants have been widely used, but given the number of complications associated with mesh insertion, and the recent media coverage relating to the lawsuit against the National Health Service (NHS) in UK for the current use of polypropylene mesh inserts (http://bbc.in/2oHu7zT), pursuing research for the development of a new generation of mesh inserts is now of the utmost importance for the future of patient care and recovery. Potential mesh-related complications include chronic infections, chronic pain and mesh rupture. There is a need to have a mesh implant that is softer with characteristics that resemble native muscles, and on the same time reduce the risk of infection, with bespoke production for cost reduction. The mechanical properties of the mesh and the compatibility between the materials and the tissues are critical in healing; tissue incorporation is a key goal, which is dependent on the material, density, compliance and electric charge of the mesh. This is especially important if the risk of graft failure is high and complications due to infection are experienced. These limitations stimulate research into new methods of fabrication (e.g. 3D printing and high-speed rotary spinning), and by incorporating biomaterials and drug encapsulation in these mesh matrices.


Sugars are commonly added to American-blended cigarettes, and the presence of sugars in cigarettes increases the appeal, toxicity, and addictive potential of smoking. The purpose of this study was to identify the types and relative quantities of added sugars in the tobacco of popular American cigarette brands. Methods: We reviewed the company websites of Philip Morris USA (PMUSA) and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) for brand-specific ingredient lists for all PMUSA (n = 179) and RJR (n = 162) cigarette brand styles (combined 79% of US cigarette sales in 2016) and composite lists of all cigarette tobacco ingredients for both companies. From these lists, we identified known forms of saccharides (mono-, di-, and oligosaccharides). Results: All PMUSA and RJR cigarette brands contained at least one type of added sugar, except one RJR brand (6 brand styles), which contained no additives. By weight, sugars were the number one ingredient (excluding tobacco and water) in all PMUSA brands (e.g., Marlboro, Parliament, Virginia Slims). Examples of sugars added to PMUSA brands included high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, maltol, and ethyl maltol. Among RJR brands, sugar was the number two ingredient by weight (excluding tobacco and water) in most brands (e.g., Camel, Newport, Pall Mall). In some RJR brands, quantities of added sugar relative to other ingredients were more variable, ranging from the first to fourth most used ingredient by weight (e.g., Carlton, Doral, Kent, More). Types of sugars added to RJR brands included high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, honey, glucose, and a variety of fruit juice concentrates (e.g., apple, fig, pineapple). Interestingly, many menthol cigarette brands (e.g., Newport, Marlboro Menthol, Camel Menthol) contained greater quantities of added sugar than menthol. Conclusions: A variety of sugars, including sugars routinely added to processed foods and beverages, are added to American cigarettes. Further, by weight, added sugars were the number one or number two ingredient in most cigarette brands. Given that added sugars increase the appeal, toxicity, and addictive potential of smoking, regulatory actions should be considered (e.g., a product standard for sugar) for the protection of public health.


This taxonomic revision concerns the Australian and Indo-Pacific species of small lucinid bivalves possessing a deeply inset internal ligament. Nine species of Pillucina are recognised of which four occur around Australia including the two new species, P. pacifica and P. australis. Two other new species are described; P. denticula from South Africa and P. mauritiana from Mauritius. Pillucina vietnamica is common along the Queensland coast and P. symbolica the only species previously recorded from Australia is considered conspecific with the wide ranging species P. pisidium. A new genus, Chavania, includes two species; C. striata is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific including eastern and western Australia, while C. erythraea is restricted to the Arabian Peninsula. Two species of Wallucina live around Australia, W. assimilis is endemic occurring at southerly locations from New South Wales to North West Cape, while the tropical species, W. fijiensis, is found in island habitats of Queensland but is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific. Another new genus, Funafutia, is proposed for the species, F. levukana, recorded from Australia for the first time. Details of anatomy are provided for Pillucina vietnamica, W. assimilis and C. striata. Symbiotic bacteria are confirmed for the first time in the lateral zone of gill filaments of Pillucina vietnamica and Wallucina assimilis.


We first revisit the possibility of preserving the original flavor ratio of high energy cosmic neutrino flux by turning on a coupling between these neutrinos and ultra-light dark matter. We discuss the bound that can be set on such a coupling from the recent ντ observation by ICECUBE and outline the implications of the coupling for the EeV range cosmic neutrino flux to be observed by upcoming neutrino detectors. We then focus on the 3+1 scheme when the active sterile oscillation length is of order of 1000 km for EeV range cosmic neutrinos. We show that within this scenario, the probability of survival of an active neutrino passing through the Earth can be sizable, despite the fact that the mean free path of the EeV neutrinos is much smaller than the Earth radius. This opens up the possibility to have neutrino events similar to the two anomalous events reported by ANITA.