Dependency is a concept whose importance for learning is strongly suggested by – amongst other things – the wide range of applications that spreadsheets have found in education. Given the prominent role that Logo has played in research into computer support for constructionist learning, there is a natural motivation for studying the relationship between spreadsheets and Logo programming. The technical issues surrounding the implementation of dependency in Imagine Logo (Kalas & Blaho, 2000) have been addressed in previous work of Peter Tomcsanyi (2003). Tomcsanyi's research gives useful insight to the Imagine Logo programmer, but does not indicate how dependency might be exploited by end-users in the way that it has been in spreadsheets. This paper introduces a prototype extension of Imagine Logo, informally called Imagine-d Logo, that allows dependencies to be specified using spreadsheet-style definitions.

The current scope and potential for Imagine-d Logo are discussed and illustrated with reference to practical issues encountered in using Imagine Logo to program a microworld, to implement spreadsheets and to give computer support for presentations. The broader implications of blending spreadsheet ideas into a Logo environment in this manner are briefly discussed from the perspectives of education and computing.


The 2001 second edition of this survey of the economics of - and public policy towards - the fine arts and performing arts covers arts at federal, state, and local levels in the United States as well as the international arts sector. The work will interest academic readers in the field and scholars of the sociology of the arts, as well as general readers seeking a systematic analysis of the arts. Theoretical concepts are developed from scratch so that readers with no background in economics can follow the argument. The authors look at the arts' historical growth and then examine consumption and production of the live performing arts and the fine arts, the functioning of arts markets, the financial problems of performing arts companies and museums, and the key role of public policy. A final chapter speculates about the future of art and culture in the United States.


Due to the very large number of configurations that can typically be derived from a Dynamic Software Product Line (DSPL), efficient and effective testing of such systems have become a major challenge for software developers. In particular, when a configuration needs to be deployed quickly due to rapid contextual changes (e.g., in an unfolding crisis), time constraints hinder the proper testing of such a configuration. In this paper, we propose to reduce the testing required of such DSPLs to a relevant subset of configurations. Whenever a need to adapt to an untested configuration is encountered, our approach determines the most similar tested configuration and reuses its test results to either obtain a coverage measure or infer a confidence degree for the new, untested configuration. We focus on providing these techniques for inference of structural testing results for DSPLs, which is supported by an early prototype implementation.


The design, fabrication and calibration of a new thrust stand for conducting thrust and aeroacoustic measurements concurrently in a fully anechoic chamber is discussed. The new thrust stand employs the scale-force measurement technique and is designed to accommodate multi-stream nozzles (core and bypass flow streams). Each stream has a dedicated helium air mixture system thereby permitting a multitude of test conditions. The methodology for designing the thrust stand is described and uses a notch type flexure which demonstrates high repeatability over extended thrust ranges. Calibration is performed with elevated pressure inside the plenum to characterize the effect of increased pressure on the flexure performance. A further qualification of the thrust measurement accuracy is conducted using a small arsenal of nozzles comprising method of characteristics contours. Surveys of the far-field pressure are then conducted during various operating points along the startup curve of a Mach 1.71 rectangular supersonic nozzle.


Mechanical engineering, mechanical engineering technology, and related educational programs are not addressing in a sufficient way the principles associated with applying analytical investigations in solving actual engineering problems. Because of this, graduates do not have the adequate skills required to use the methods of applied dynamics in the process of analyzing mechanical systems. These methods allow one to obtain an understanding of the role of the parameters of a system and to carry out a purposeful control of the values of these parameters with the goal to achieve the desired performance. Engineering and engineering technology programs pay very little attention to addressing these steps. It should be stressed that these programs do not offer a universal straightforward methodology of solving linear differential equations of motion that allow revealing all important interrelationships between the aspects of the engineering problem.
It is difficult to formulate the reasons why there is such a low interest in applying the analytical approach in order to reveal the interrelationships between decisive aspects of the operational process of an engineering system in order to achieve the desired goal. Actually, there is almost a complete silence with regard to this issue. Hence, we assume that the first reason could be that there is no recognition of the existence of such a problem. In other words, there is no need to apply these analytical methods since these methods are not beneficial. We do not believe that the engineering community supports this reason. It is not a matter of demonstrating factual data that show how many times the theory was helpful. Without the support of the theory we cannot justifiably evaluate the results of our solutions. If we agree that there is problem, then why are there no publications that would stimulate discussions leading toward a solution of the problem?
Here is the second reason. Until now, engineering programs do not present the straightforward universal theoretically sound methodologies for solving the second order linear differential equations that are vital for mechanical and electrical engineering. Without any suggestions of how to solve this problem, it did not make much sense to begin a discussion. In our opinion, this is why we have silence with the regard to this problem.
However, it is well known that Laplace Transforms allow solving any linear differential equation of motion. It is justifiable to assume that the main reason why the Laplace Transform methodology is not adopted by learning environments consists in the absence of the majority of tables of Laplace Transform Pairs that are needed for solving differential equations of motion as well as differential equations describing electrical circuits. However, the situation is changed. Current publications comprise the adequate tables that are needed for solving linear differential equations of motion associated with all common mechanical engineering problems.
Practicing engineers and students need assistance in acquiring the knowledge of composing differential equations of motion. They need certain training in solving these equations using Laplace Transform methodology. Several recommendations are proposed on how to expedite the implementation in academia and in industry of the methods of applied dynamics in solving common mechanical engineering problems.


This article will discuss recent trends in Malaysia's media surrounding the 2013 general election (GE13). It will argue that the GE13 produced two important trends in the media industry. First, there was increased political-party participation in social media, citizen journalism and blogging. In fact, it practically led to a 'cyberwar' between political parties, making the realm of the online and social media increasingly polarised and partisan. Second, many mainstream media outlets in Malaysia successfully pursued a platform of more 'balanced' coverage, suggesting an increased space of negotiation and contestation amongst the previously muzzled print, television and radio industry. This article will conclude with an assessment of the future trends in the media industry in Malaysia post GE13.


Background and aims Conotruncal heart defects (CTHD) represent 15–20% of congenital heart defects; common causes are 22q11 microdelection syndrome and other chromosomal rearrangements. Congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDG) are a group of inherited multisystem disorders caused by defective glycosylation of proteins and lipids. Type I CDG is a group of heterogeneous disorders involving defective synthesis or transfer of a lipid-linked oligosaccharide precursor. The most prevalent cardiac abnormalities are cardiomyopathy and pericardial effusion, although CTHD were recently reported in two patients with PMM2-CDG, the most frequent CDG I. We describe a further case of this unusual clinical presentation. Case report We report a 10 year-old male with neonatal diagnosis of common arterial trunk, repaired at age 17 days. Postoperative course was complicated by cardiopulmonary arrest and allegedly hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy. He was referred to the paediatric neurology clinic for evaluation of psychomotor delay and epilepsy. Examination at age 2y revealed delayed language, squint and intense hypotonia. Brain MRI revealed cerebral white matter anomalies and cerebellar atrophy, interpreted as result of his hypoxic-ischaemic event. Array-CGH and FISH for 22q11.2 deletion were normal. At age 8y he displayed ataxic gait and dysarthric speech; fat pads and inverted nipples were noted. A repeat MRI showed severe cerebellar atrophy, prompting the suspicion of CDG. Transferrin isoforms analysis showed a typical CDG I pattern. Fibroblast phosphomannomutase activity and PMM2 mutation screen are ongoing. Conclusions Although cardiomyopathy and pericarditis are common in CDG I, this condition should be suspected in CTHD, particularly when encountering unexpected neurodevelopmental delay.


This video illustrates a technique for removing a large uterus during a Laparo-Endoscopic Single Site (LESS)/ single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) technique for total or supracervical laparoscopic hysterectomy. A morcellator is used to remove the uterus in small pieces. This technique allows the entire procedure to be performed through one single incision in the belly-button. Patients can often go home the same day.


Primary alcohol oxidation by aryl‐alcohol oxidase (AAO), a flavoenzyme providing H2O2 to ligninolytic peroxidases, is produced by concerted proton and hydride transfers, as shown by substrate and solvent kinetic isotope effects (KIEs). Interestingly, when the reaction was investigated with synthesized (R)‐ and (S)‐α‐deuterated p‐methoxybenzyl alcohol, a primary KIE (≈6) was observed only for the R enantiomer, revealing that the hydride transfer is highly stereoselective. Docking of p‐methoxybenzyl alcohol at the buried crystal active site, together with QM/MM calculations, showed that this stereoselectivity is due to the position of the hydride‐ and proton‐receiving atoms (flavin N5 and His502 Nε, respectively) relative to the alcohol Cα‐substituents, and to the concerted nature of transfer (the pro‐S orientation corresponding to a 6 kcal mol−1 penalty with respect to the pro‐R orientation). The role of His502 is supported by the lower activity (by three orders of magnitude) of the H502A variant. The above stereoselectivity was also observed, although activities were much lower, in AAO reactions with secondary aryl alcohols (over 98 % excess of the R enantiomer after treatment of racemic 1‐(p‐methoxyphenyl)ethanol, as shown by chiral HPLC) and especially with use of the F501A variant. This variant has an enlarged active site that allow better accommodation of the α‐substituents, resulting in higher stereoselectivity (S/R ratios) than is seen with AAO. High enantioselectivity in a member of the GMC oxidoreductase superfamily is reported for the first time, and shows the potential for engineering of AAO for deracemization purposes.


Part A1: Defining the Field 2. Dynamic Systems Theory 3. Historical Perspectives 4. The Multilingual Mind 5. The Developing System 6. Learner's Characteristics 7. The Role of Instruction 8. The Dynamics of SLA Extended Part B1: Multi-Competence and the Learning of Many Languages 2. What Counts in the Acquisition and Attrition of Numeral Classsifiers 3. Brain Imaging of Language Plasticity in Adopted Adults: Can a Second Language Replace the First? 4. Chaos/Complexity Science and Second Language Acquisition 5. Historical Perspectives Extended 6. The Significance of Learners' Errors 7. What Fruit Can Tell us About Lexico-Semantic Transfer: A Non-Structural Dimension to Learner's Perceptions of Linguistic Relations 8. Krashen's Monitor and Occam's Razor 9. The Multilingual Mind 10. Category Interference in Translation and Picture Naming 11. The Bilingual Lexicon 12. Making Sense of Polysemous Words 13. Bilingual Speech: From Concepts to Articulation 14. The Developing System Extended 15. The Role of Input and Interaction in Second Language Acquisition 16. Problems in Output and the Cognitive Processes they Generate: A Step Towards Second Language Learning 17. Learners' Characteristics Extended 18. Ultimate Attainment in GBP2 Pronunciation: The Case of Very Advanced Late GBP2 Learners 19. Towards a Full Model of Second Language Learning: An Empirical Investigation 20. Foreign Language Learning Differences: Affective or Native Aptitude Differences? 21. The Role of Instruction Extended 22. Form Focussed Instruction and Second Langauge Acquisition: A Review of Classroom and Laboratory Research 23. The Effects of Inferrring, Verifying and Memorising on the Rentention of GBP2 Word Meanings: An Experimental Comparison of the Meaning-Inferred Method and the Meaning Given Method 24. Input, Interaction and Second Language Development: An Empirical Study of Question Formation in ESL Part C1: Dynamic Systems Theory Explored 2. Historical Perspectives Explored 3. The Multilingual Mind Explored 4. The Developing System Explored, Second Language Acquisition and the Competition Model 5. Learner's Characteristics Explored 6. The Role of Instruction Explored


The effect of water immersion on cardiorespiratory and blood lactate responses during running was investigated. Wearing a buoyant vest, 10 trained runners (mean age 26 yr) ran in water at four different and specified submaximal loads (target heart rates 115, 130, 145, and 155-160 beats.min-1) and at maximal exercise intensity. Oxygen uptakes (VO2), heart rates, perceived exertion, and blood lactate concentrations were measured. Values were compared with levels obtained during treadmill running. For a given VO2, heart rate was 8-11 beats.min-1 lower during water running than during treadmill running, irrespective of exercise intensity. Both the maximal oxygen uptake (4.03 vs 4.60 1 x min-1) and heart rate (172 vs 188 beats.min-1) were lower during water running. Perceived exertion (legs and breathing) and the respiratory exchange ratio (RER) were higher during submaximal water running than during treadmill running, while ventilation (1 x min-1) was similar. The blood lactate concentrations were consistently higher in water than on the treadmill, both when related to VO2 and to %VO2max. Partly in conformity with earlier cycle ergometer studies, these data suggest that immersion induces acute cardiac adjustments that extend up to the maximal exercise level. Furthermore, both the external hydrostatic load and an altered running technique may add to an increased anaerobic metabolism during supported water running.


The main problem suffered by Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) used for research and inspection of marine environments is the fault of thrusters during the trajectory, which can compromise the mission. So, in this paper was proposed a Fault Tolerant Control (FTC) using the Levi-Civita connection and a Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy logic. First, was described the six degreeof-freedom (DOF) nonlinear equations of dynamics and kinematics of the AUV which has four horizontal thrusters and two vertical thrusters, and then we propose a Fault Tolerant Control of the AUV using a Takagi-Sugeno Fuzzy Logic. Using the Fuzzy logic, it was possible to distribute the forces and moments of the faulty thruster in the healthy ones using the same plane of action. The control performance was validated via numerical simulations of the AUV occurring fault of two horizontal thrusters in specific time during the simulation. Even with disturbance caused by variable current and fault of two AUV's thrusters, with this method it was capable of keeping good track of the AUV, enhancing the robustness, assuring asymptotic stability, and the success of the mission.


Objectives— In this study, we have investigated the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on myocardial dysfunction, inflammation, oxidative/nitrosative stress, cell death and interrelated signaling pathways, using a mouse model of type I diabetic cardiomyopathy and primary human cardiomyocytes exposed to high glucose. Background— CBD, the most abundant nonpsychoactive constituent of Cannabis sativa (marijuana) plant, exerts antiinflammatory effects in various disease models and alleviates pain and spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis in humans. Methods— Left ventricular function was measured by pressure-volume system. Oxidative stress, cell death and fibrosis markers were evaluated by molecular biology/biochemical techniques, electron spin resonance spectroscopy and flow cytometry. Results— Diabetic cardiomyopathy was characterized by declined diastolic and systolic myocardial performance associated with increased oxidative-nitrosative stress, NF- κ B and MAPK (JNK and p-38, p38 α ) activation, enhanced expression of adhesion molecules (ICAM-1, VCAM-1), TNF- α , markers of fibrosis (TGF- β , CTGF, fibronectin, collagen-1, MMP-2 and MMP-9), enhanced cell death (caspase 3/7 and PARP activity, chromatin fragmentation and TUNEL) and diminished Akt phosphorylation. Remarkably, CBD attenuated myocardial dysfunction, cardiac fibrosis, oxidative/nitrosative stress, inflammation, cell death, and interrelated signaling pathways. Furthermore, CBD also attenuated the high glucose-induced increased reactive oxygen species generation, NF- κ B activation and cell death in primary human cardiomyocytes. Conclusions— Collectively, these results coupled with the excellent safety and tolerability profile of cannabidiol in humans, strongly suggest that it may have great therapeutic potential in the treatment of diabetic complications, and perhaps other cardiovascular disorders, by attenuating oxidative/nitrosative stress, inflammation, cell death and fibrosis.


The neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated gene 4 (NEDD4) is a HECT-type E3 ubiquitin ligase that has received broad attention in recent years. Many of its reported substrates are active players in metabolism, implying a potential role of NEDD4 itself in metabolic regulation. Since homozygous Nedd4 deletion leads to embryonic or perinatal lethality, we investigated the function of NEDD4 in metabolic regulation in vivo, using Nedd4-haploinsufficient mice in a high fat dietinduced obesity (HFDIO) model. Our studies show that Nedd4-haploinsufficient mice fed a normal diet (ND) exhibited decreased body weight in both genders and proportionally reduced tissue mass compared to their age-matched wild-type littermates. The heterozygotic Nedd4-deficient mice displayed moderate insulin resistance and mild hyperinsulinemia. These findings are consistent with others' studies in which depletion of Nedd4 in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) led to a decline in insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) and insulin signaling. Surprisingly, Nedd4-haploinsufficient mice were partially protected against highfat diet (HFD) induced obesity. Total weight gain was decreased by 30% in Nedd4haploinsufficient mice on HFD, which was associated with reduced adiposity, improved insulin sensitivity in white adipose tissue (WAT), alleviated hepatic steatosis and attenuated lipid-induced inflammation. NEDD4 reduction did not affect serum glucose or lipid profile. The energy intake and physical activity were almost indistinguishable between the two groups. We present data indicating that these beneficial effects of Nedd4 haploinsufficiency under conditions promoting obesity or type 2 diabetes (T2D) derive from at least two mechanisms: 1) elevated levels of -agonist induced lipolysis through stimulation of -adrenergic signaling as evidenced by enhanced adrenergic receptor 2-AR) cell surface levels; 2) repressed expression of a key adipogenic regulator, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR ) in Nedd4-haploinsufficient mice in the WAT. Downregulation of NEDD4 in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes impaired the adipogenic response, resulting in decreased PPAR expression. Thus, the reduced adiposity in Nedd4-haploinsufficient mice fed a HFD compared to littermate wild-type mice may be explained at least in part by their increased lipolysis and suppressed adipogenesis. Our data also imply that NEDD4 may have differential functions in modulating insulin signaling under physiological and pathological conditions. In this study, we tested the possible impact of NEDD4 reduction on cognitive function and anxiety behaviors. Preliminary results showed that Nedd4-haploinsufficient mice had impaired learning and memory performance but increased anxiety compared to wild-type littermates. NEDD4 may modulate different behavioral functions by targeting specific substrates for protein degradation in a brain-region-specific manner. Precise substrates that cause the alteration in such behaviors are yet to be determined by future studies.


Pyroxene + liquid equilibrium in Hawaiian lavas occurs at a range of pressures for each volcano. Ranges are systematic and may be related to the stage of development of the magma conduit system. Kilauea, which is in its shield-building phase, yields relatively shallow storage estimates. Loihi and Mauna Kea, which are in the early and late stages of volcano growth, re- spectively, yield deeper storage estimates. Shallowest depth estimates at Loihi and Mauna Kea are similar to estimates of elastic plate thickness, suggesting that the mechanical behavior of the lithosphere, rather than density contrasts at the Moho, regulates magma delivery. Appar- ently, a large increase in fracture energy below the brittle-ductile transition inhibits transport at depth, whereas magma transport by fracture propagation is rapid through the brittle lithosphere. Some shallow depth estimates at Kilauea support the hypothesis that the strength of the unbuttressed southeast flank influences magma storage. Kilauea transport depths cor- relate with an eruption sequence, which illustrates a top-to-bottom emptying of the conduit system. Successively deeper reservoirs at Kilauea were tapped within 300 days, indicating that magma is stored at a range of depths, including in the mantle, rather than at a single level within the lithosphere.


Description We report an information-theoretic method which learns a large class of causal or non-causal graphical models from purely observational data, while including the effects of unobserved latent variables, commonly found in many datasets. Starting from a complete graph, the method iteratively removes dispensable edges, by uncovering significant information contributions from indirect paths, and assesses edge-specific confidences from randomization of available data. The remaining edges are then oriented based on the signature of causality in observational data. This approach can be applied on a wide range of datasets and provide new biological insights on regulatory networks from single cell expression data, genomic alterations during tumor development and co-evolving residues in protein structures. For more information you can refer to


In the area of geological sciences, there exist several experimental techniques used to advance in the understanding of the Earth. We implement a joint inversion least-squares (LSQ) algorithm to characterize one dimensional Earth's structure by using seismic shear wave velocities as a model parameter. We use two geophysical datasets sensitive to shear velocities, namely Receiver Function and Surface Wave dispersion velocity observations, with a choice of an optimization method: Truncated Singular Value Decomposition (TSVD) or Primal-Dual Interior-Point (PDIP). The TSVD and the PDIP methods solve a regularized unconstrained and a constrained minimization problem, respectively. Both techniques include bounds into the model parameter with a different methodology. An improvement in the final model is expected not only for using more than one single dataset, i.e. each dataset is chosen to identify different properties with greater resolution, but also because our constrained optimization approach provides us with direct control over the model space. We conduct a numerical experimentation with five synthetic crustal velocity models, and conclude that the PDIP method provides a more robust approximated model in terms of satisfying geophysical constraints, accuracy, and efficiency with respect to the TSVD approach. Our future goals include extending this work for Earth's velocity models by using real geophysical data, and possibly higher dimensional spaces including the use of parallel computing. Also we plan to further investigate if the addition of explicit smooth constraints, and other data sets like gravity and magnetic data may improve the resolution of the final model.


Background Physical activity reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and is an important factor in healthy weight maintenance. However, overall levels of physical activity have declined in the developed world, and tackling obesity is a public health priority. Active commuting is thought to be a particularly effective way of getting exercise, as walking and cycling are easily adopted and likely to be maintained as part of one's daily routine. In addition to improving cardiovascular health and fitness, greater uptake of active travel has been shown to reduce air and noise pollution, traffic congestion and CO2 emissions. Methods Using data from Understanding Society Wave 2, this study investigates the extent to which active commuting predicts four objectively measured health outcomes: body mass index (BMI); percentage body fat; lung function; and blood pressure. Commuting mode was defined using three categories designed to capture increasing levels of physical activity: private transport (car, motorcycle, taxi); public transport (bus, train, etc); active transport (walking or cycling). The analytic sample was restricted to those who worked outside of the home and had complete data for commuting mode and biological measurements (n = 3352 men; n = 4103 women). Gender-stratified nested multivariate linear regression analyses were utilised, in order to adjust for the following hypothesised confounding covariates: age, age2, distance travelled, limiting illness or disability, occupational social class, work-related physical activity level, participation in sporting activity and diet quality. Results In the age-adjusted analyses, compared with using private transport; public transport and active transport were associated with lower BMI for men (public transport: b -1.1, p < 0.001; active transport: b -0.9, p = 0.002) and women (public transport: b -0.6, p = 0.05; active transport: b -0.6, p = 0.01). Adjustment for all other hypothesised confounders did not greatly attenuate this association for men (public transport: b -1.0, p < 0.001; active transport: b -0.7, p = 0.016) or for female active travellers (public transport: b -0.6, p = 0.09; active transport: b -0.9, p = 0.001). Similar results were found for percentage body fat. Findings for blood pressure and lung function varied by gender and told a more complex story. Conclusion The results from this investigation corroborate findings from other studies in suggesting that incorporating a greater level of physical activity into the commute may help individuals maintain a healthy weight and body composition. The use of biomeasure outcomes in a large, nationally representative sample increases our confidence in the robustness of these findings.


A subcell model for thin wires in the finite-difference time-domain method using modified telegraphers equations has been developed by Holland et al. (1981). In this paper, we present an extension of their algorithm, which allows arbitrarily located and oriented wires with respect to the Cartesian grid. This is important to be able to accurately model wires that cannot be aligned to the Cartesian grid, e.g., tilted wires and circular loop wires. A symmetric coupling between field and wires yields a stable time-continuous field-wire system and the fully discrete field-wire system is stable under a Courant-Friedrich-Lewy (CFL) condition. The accuracy and excellent consistency of the proposed method are demonstrated for dipole and loop antennas with comparisons with the method of moments and experimental data.


Art deco architecture flourished in large cities and small towns throughout America in the 1920s and 1930s. Many of the best examples office buildings, movie theaters, hotels, and churches are still in use. Deco architects, artists, and designers drew on European styles but were most committed to a style that grew organically, as they saw it, from their native soil. Two themes bound Deco buildings and their decorative schemes together: a regional pride that tied buildings to their specific locales and functions, and a growing national symbolism that asserted the buildings' identity as uniquely, independently American. American Art Deco features description sand over 500 color photographs of seventy-five lavish and innovatively designed buildings across the country that have been preserved both outside and in, giving the full scope of this beloved, exciting style.


ABSTRACT/RESUME Popular and academic discourses perceive Quebec's approach to pluralism, called interculturalism, as being very different from Canada's multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is seen as fragmenting; interculturalism as dialogical and unifying. Yet the hallmark policies of both governments are, in fact, very similar in their approach to cultural pluralism. In policy terms, interculturalism and multiculturalism strike a similar balance between individual rights, the accommodation of cultural difference, and the promotion of social cohesion. Why, then, is there this divergence between perception and policy? Unpacking both, this paper fosters a more accurate understanding of the terms of the multiculturalism/ interculturalism debate. It argues that in this case, demographic and historical contexts as well as national mythologizing are more important in explaining popular and academic discourse than substantive policy differences. Selon les discours populaire et universitaire, l'approche du Quebec en matiere de pluralisme, appelee interculturalisme, differe grandement du multiculturalisme canadien. Le multiculturalisme est percu comme une politique de fragmentation, et l'interculturalisme comme une politique dialogique et unificatrice. Pourtant, en realite, les politiques propres a chacun de ces gouvernements en ce qui a trait au pluralisme culturel se ressemblent beaucoup. Les politiques en matiere d'interculturalisme et de multiculturalisme concilient de facon semblable les droits individuels, l'acclimatation des differences culturelles et la valorisation d'une cohesion sociale. Alors pourquoi cette divergence entre la perception et la politique? Grace a l'examen de ces deux politiques, l'article vise a mieux faire comprendre les fondements du debat entre le multiculturalisme et l'interculturalisme. L'auteure allegue que dans ce cas precis, pour expliquer les discours populaire et universitaire, il est preferable d'etudier le contexte demographique et historique, ainsi que la fabrication de mythes nationaux, plutot que la difference fondamentale entre les politiques. INTRODUCTION Canada has multiculturalism; Quebec, interculturalism. Exploring the differences between the two with a friend from Trois-Rivieres, wandering down an eclectic Montreal street, weaving in and out of French and English, he turned to me to talk closely, "This is interculturalism. C'est l'echange." "Multiculturalism is more like this," he said and, although still at my side, he turned to face away from me. "It's implicit in the words." As my friend suggested, lexicology helps us understand differences between the two labels: "inter," means "between, among, amid" (OED [Oxford English Dictionary] 1989, vol. VII, 1081), reflecting the idea of exchange, dialogue, cultural reciprocity; "multi-," hints at this: "more than one, several, many" (OED 1989, vol. X, 75), implying a mere coexistence, a separate togetherness. This implied difference is pervasive in Quebec's popular and academic discourse on Canadian multiculturalism. Listening to Radio-Canada or reading Le Devoir quickly reveals a gentle mocking and sometimes derision of Canada's approach to cultural pluralism. Multiculturalism comes off as politically correct, culturally relative, ghettoizing, and atomizing, all at the expense of building a common, robust political culture. In contrast, Quebec's interculturalism is presented as more dialogical and integrative, a common social project. It is not at all clear, however, whether these labels, interculturalism and multiculturalism, also reflect substantive political or sociological differences. Having worked in government with multiculturalism policy in English Canada and interculturalism in Quebec, my strong sense was that the policies are not different enough to justify the lively banter that characterizes the political/intellectual/media discourse. To establish whether a gap between perception and policy exists, this paper adopts a Kymlickan vocabulary typical to the study of liberal pluralism: individual equality and autonomy, group cultural identity (national and polyethnic), and social cohesion. …


This paper proposes to include the construction and analysis of the difference spectrum of the modes in the usual procedure of determining the parameters of planar waveguides from the results of measurements of the spectrum of the waveguide modes. It is shown that analyzing the difference spectrum of the modes makes it possible to efficiently detect erroneous results of the measurements and to select the most suitable technique for calculating the refractive-index distribution of the test sample. Using the results of the analysis increases the reliability of reconstructing the profile of a planar lightguide and of the parameters of the kinetics of the process of forming a gradient layer determined from this analysis. This is especially useful when creating waveguides based on new materials.


This paper introduces a comprehensive project with the objective of finding the neural correlates of pronunciation talent. It concentrates on the first part of this undertaking, describing the extensive tests necessary to measure phonetic talent in its various dimensions such as production and perception, the segmental and suprasegmental levels of speech or different utterance forms such as spontaneous speech, reading and imitation. The project also investigates psychological and behavioral influences on pronunciation performance, as well as correlations with general linguistic aptitude. Example tasks making use of the distinction between categorical and realizational differences in intonation are used to demonstrate the detailed analyses allowed by the chosen approach. The described measures allow a reliable classification of talent level to be used in the selection of subjects for the neuroimaging studies in the second part of the project. Additionally, it provides general insights into the interactions between the examined talent-related parameters.


Drivers' ability to perceive and react to hazards has been a focus of much research over the past two decades, and hazard perception testing is an increasingly important part of the driver licensing process world-wide. Hazard perception appears to be sensitive to crash-involvement and driving experience. However, the methodological approach and conceptual basis of these experiments has varied considerably. This may account for why the effects observed in some studies have not always been replicated in others, and why development of truly parallel versions of hazard perception tests has proven difficult. Comparison of different methods to test hazard perception is theoretically important – to gain a better understanding of the psychological processes which underpin hazard perception, and practically important – to driver training, education, and licensing. Outcomes of various methods of assessing hazard detection with still and moving images of traffic scenes are presented here. Novice (N=86) and Experienced (N=20) drivers were asked to detect any hazards or potential hazards, tested under distraction and non-distraction conditions, in photographed traffic scenes. Objects identified as hazards and the time taken to make such responses were the basis of several different analytical approaches. Comparisons were made between experienced and novice drivers using experts' ratings. Experienced drivers detected hazards significantly faster than Novice drivers. Whilst no significant effect was found for hazard perception accuracy as a function of driving experience, qualitative analysis indicated that lane type and whether the object was fixed or moving did show differences. Implications of these results for understanding hazard perception are discussed.


Infections of the gastrointestinal tract are common in people infected with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The etiologic spectrum of enteric pathogens that affect to immunosupressed patients and cause diarrhea includes protozoan parasites as Cryptosporidium parvum, Cyclospora cayetanensis, Isospora belli and Microsporidia and non opportunistic, such as Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, Trichuris trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoides and Strongyloides. In Mexico there are not current researching studies that establish the association of parasites causing diarrhea in VIH infected individuals, for this reason the purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and importance of emerging parasites in individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and its correlation with the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms, stool samples from 100 VIH patients were collected and analyzed by cropoparasitoscopic method, Ziehl Neelsen staining and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to find opportunistic parasites. Sixty of the HIV patients (60%) had diarrhea at the time of sample collection. Emerging parasites were detected in 22% of samples, from these 59.1% (13/22) had diarrhea. Cryptosporidium spp. was detected in 7%, Microsporidium spp. were detected in 5% I. belli was detected in 1.0%, G. intestinalis was detected in 2%, and C. cayetanensis was found in 7%. 16% of the HIV patient samples were identified as being infected with other organisms, including Escherichia coli, Entamoeba histolytica, Hymenolepis nana, and Iodameoba butschlii. This work emphasize the importance of knowing which are emerging and re-emerging parasites prevalent in HIV infected patients, in our community, the objective is to get better and more efficient management of these patients to increase the quality of life.


The proof of foreign law is one of the perennial problem areas in the conflict of laws because the measure of difficulty inherent in establishing what the law is at a particular time, is exacerbated by the fact that what it seeks to establish is generally so alien. The proof of foreign law was the subject of the seminal decisions of Harnischfeger Corporation and Another v Appleton and Another, and Holz v Harksen2 in which the courts were called upon to interpret section 1 (1) of the Law of Evidence Amendment Act which is to the effect that any court may take judicial notice of the law of a foreign state and of indigenous law insofar as such law can be ascertained readily and with sufficient certainty ... This article will attempt a restatement of the common law principles regarding proof of foreign law, an examination of section (I) in the light of the aforementioned decisions, as well as a statement of the principles governing the proof of foreign law by means of judicial notice.


In this paper, an approximated closed-form total power consumption equation for circuits working at their optimal supply and threshold voltage is presented. Comparisons of this formula to the numerical calculation show an error less than 3% on a set of thirteen 16 bit multipliers. Starting from this equation the influence of architecture transformations (including pipelining, parallelization, sequentialization) on the optimal total power is discussed. Finally, by a similar approach, the impact of the technology choice on achievable power saving is considered, showing how a moderated tradeoff between leakage and speed is the key characteristic of a good low power technology


Open Source Applications Springer Book Series Editor: Ernesto Damiani, University of Milan, Italy http://sesar.dti.unimi.it/ossbook/ A new overall interdisciplinary framework called i learning integrates managerial organization and technology aspects also known as technology enhanced learning. Open Networked i Learning: Models and Cases of Next-Gen Learning begins its investigation with the important changes that have recently occurred within the management, technology and society fields. Social and cultural aspects of society that influence the dynamics and the styles of the learning processes are presented as well. The last section of this edited volume focuses on possible future scenarios of the learning processes by describing the main models, processes, tools, technologies, and involved organizations. Open Networked i Learning: Models and Cases of Next-Gen Learning is suitable for advanced under- and graduate level students and professors concentrating on computer science, engineering and business management as a secondary text or reference book. Professionals and researchers who work in the related industry of technology enhanced learning will find this book useful as well.


Datasets with hundreds of variables and many missing values are commonplace. In this setting, it is both statistically and computationally challenging to detect true predictive relationships between variables and also to suppress false positives. This paper proposes an approach that combines probabilistic programming, information theory, and non-parametric Bayes. It shows how to use Bayesian non-parametric modeling to (i) build an ensemble of joint probability models for all the variables; (ii) efficiently detect marginal independencies; and (iii) estimate the conditional mutual information between arbitrary subsets of variables, subject to a broad class of constraints. Users can access these capabilities using BayesDB, a probabilistic programming platform for probabilistic data analysis, by writing queries in a simple, SQL-like language. This paper demonstrates empirically that the method can (i) detect context-specific (in)dependencies on challenging synthetic problems and (ii) yield improved sensitivity and specificity over baselines from statistics and machine learning, on a real-world database of over 300 sparsely observed indicators of macroeconomic development and public health.


CRISPR-Cas loci provide an RNA-guided adaptive immune system against invading genetic elements. Interference in type I systems relies on the RNA-guided surveillance complex Cascade for target DNA recognition and the trans-acting Cas3 helicase/nuclease protein for target degradation. Even though the biochemistry of CRISPR interference has been largely covered, the biophysics of DNA unwinding and coupling of the helicase and nuclease domains of Cas3 remains elusive. Here we employed single-molecule FRET to probe the helicase activity with a high spatiotemporal resolution. We show that Cas3 remains tightly associated with the target-bound Cascade complex while reeling in the target DNA using a spring-loaded mechanism. This spring-loaded reeling occurs in distinct bursts of three base pairs, that each underlie three successive 1-nt unwinding events. Reeling is highly repetitive, compensating for inefficient nicking activity of the nuclease domain. Our study reveals that the discontinuous helicase properties of Cas3 and its tight interaction with Cascade ensure well controlled degradation of target DNA only.


In recent decades, the impact of postmodern approaches to history teaching has triggered an extensive worldwide debate that accommodates diverse and contrasting voices. This article examines how the education system of Religious Zionism, one of the most important ideological movements in Israel, copes with this issue. This inquiry, which is based on Peter Seixas's conceptualization, analyzes the system's history curriculum, its latest textbooks, and an array of lesson plans. The analysis reveals a complex method of coping with postmodernism, including the adoption of clearly postmodern attitudes at the declarative level and the neutralization of their influence in practice.


Dynamic dispatching is a major source of run-time overhead in object-oriented languages, due both to the direct cost of method lookup and to the indirect effect of preventing other optimizations. To reduce this overhead, optimizing compilers for object-oriented languages analyze the classes of objects stored in program variables, with the goal of bounding the possible classes of message receivers enough so that the compiler can uniquely determine the target of a message send at compile time and replace the message send with a direct procedure call. Specialization is one important technique for improving the precision of this static class information: by compiling multiple versions of a method, each applicable to a subset of the possible argument classes of the method, more precise static information about the classes of the method's arguments is obtained. Previous specialization strategies have not been selective about where this technique is applied, and therefore tended to significantly increase compile time and code space usage, particularly for large applications. In this paper, we present a more general framework for specialization in object-oriented languages and describe a goal directed specialization algorithm that makes selective decisions to apply specialization to those cases where it provides the highest benefit. Our results show that our algorithm improves the performance of a group of sizeable programs by 65% to 275% while increasing compiled code space requirements by only 4% to 10%. Moreover, when compared to the previous state-of-the-art specialization scheme, our algorithm improves performance by 11% to 67% while simultaneously reducing code space requirements by 65% to 73%.


Public transportation plays a key role to socio-economic development of any
nation. This service enhances people`s livelihood framework by facilitating
mobility and accessibility to services. Moreover, there is clear global evidence
that a well performing public transport is an important enabler of sustained
economic prosperity. Rapid urbanization in developing countries has resulted in
transport facilities and infrastructure failing to cope with demand resulting in
congestion, movement delays, high travel costs and the likes. This prompts
implementation of non-comprehensive strategies such as partial deregulation of transportation systems that caused further deterioration in economic sustainability. An economically sustainable transport system advocates for mobility, resource, and operational efficiency. This research focuses on developing a bus investment conceptual framework of a public transport system that improves mobility, resource, and operational efficiency to aid in sustaining of public transportation
system for an unforeseeable future. With this in mind, a Harare bus investment system has been created as a policy framework model to evaluate its economic sustainability. This will help develop a long-term economically sustainable public transportation and reduce the overall impact of the earlier liberalisation of the transportation sector.


The observation that species may be positively or negatively associated with each other is at least as old as the debate surrounding the nature of community structure which began in the early 1900's with Gleason and Clements. Since then investigating species co-occurrence patterns has taken a central role in understanding the causes and consequences of evolution, history, coexistence mechanisms, competition, and environment for community structure and assembly. This is because co-occurrence among species is a measurable metric in community datasets that, in the context of phylogeny, geography, traits, and environment, can sometimes indicate the degree of competition, displacement, and phylogenetic repulsion as weighed against biotic and environmental effects promoting correlated species distributions. Historically, a multitude of different co-occurrence metrics have been developed and most have depended on data randomization procedures to produce null distributions for significance testing. Here we improve upon and present an R implementation of a recently published model that is metric-free, distribution-free, and randomization-free. The R package, cooccur, is highly accessible, easily integrates into common analyses, and handles large datasets with high performance. In the article we develop the package's functionality and demonstrate aspects of co-occurrence analysis using three sample datasets.


The authors present a comprehensive overview of image processing and analysis work done to support research into the model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Beside the plant's importance in biological research, using image analysis to obtain experimental measurements of it is an interesting vision problem in its own right, involving the segmentation and analysis of sequences of images of objects whose shape varies between individual specimens and also changes over time. While useful measurements can be obtained by segmenting a whole plant from the background, they suggest that the increased range and precision of measurements made available by leaf-level segmentation makes this a problem well worth solving. A variety of approaches have been tried by biologists as well as computer vision researchers. This is an interdisciplinary area and the computer vision community has an important contribution to make. They suggest that there is a need for publicly available datasets with ground truth annotations to enable the evaluation of new approaches and to support the building of training data for modern data-driven computer vision approaches, which are those most likely to result in the kind of fully automated systems that will be of use to biologists.


ABSTRACT The article analyzes the language, the propaganda, and communication techniques used by the Red Brigades (BR) during their activities. The analysis is based on the study of 181 communiqués, written and circulated by the terrorist organization between 1970 and 1988, i.e., from the beginning to the end of its activities. The corpus comprises three types of communiqués: a) claims of responsibility for violent actions (kidnapping, homicides), b) internal documents aimed at creating a coherent organization and ideology, and c) texts that circulated within the extra-parliamentary Left to generate positive propaganda towards the BR. The paper demonstrates that the language used, as well as the propaganda techniques, underwent important changes during the period of activity of the BR, in accordance with the evolution of their objectives and their internal development. In addition to this, the analysis reveals a certain repetition of specific communication strategies, as well as identification of specific contents that show a certain degree of homogeneity. At the same time, the article also assesses the structural changes that took place within the BR, which may have affected their communiqués.


Out of the Margin is the first volume to consider feminist concerns across the entire domain of economics. The book addresses the philosophical roots of 'rational economic man', power relations and conflicts of interest within the family, the limitations of relying on secondary data and the policy implications of neo-classical models. With its range and depth of coverage this is not only an excellent introduction to the field but also indespensible for those seeking more in depth knowledge of issues of gender and economics.


The 'interpreter advantage hypothesis' posits that task-specific cognitive skills developed by professional interpreters (PIs) generalize to more efficient linguistic and executive abilities in non-interpreting tasks. This paper reviews relevant studies in order to establish preliminary data patterns and outline new research questions. Though not entirely consistent, the evidence suggests that interpreting expertise enhances aspects of semantic processing, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. The data also gives rise to new related queries: Are linguistic and executive enhancements in PIs independent of each other? Are all the superior skills of PIs cumulatively enhanced by the double influence of bilingualism and interpreting experience? And how soon after the onset of formal training do these advantages appear? Tentative answers to these questions are also implied in the evidence considered.


This article examines the problem of patent ambush in standard setting, where patent owners are sometimes able to capture industry standards in order to secure monopoly power and windfall profits. Because standardisation generally introduces high switching costs, patent ambush can impose significant costs on downstream manufacturers and consumers and drastically reduce the efficiency gains of standardisation.This article considers how Australian competition law is likely to apply to patent ambush both in the development of a standard (through misrepresenting the existence of an essential patent) and after a standard is implemented (through refusing to license an essential patented technology either at all or on reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms). This article suggests that non-disclosure of patent interests is unlikely to restrained by Part IV of the Trade Practices Act (TPA), and refusals to license are only likely to be restrained if the refusal involves leveraging or exclusive dealing. By contrast, Standard Setting Organisations (SSOs) which seek to limit this behaviour through private ordering may face considerable scrutiny under the new cartel provisions of the TPA. This article concludes that SSOs may be best advised to implement administrative measures to prevent patent hold-up, such as reviewing which patents are essential for the implementation of a standard, asking patent holders to make their licence conditions public to promote transparency, and establishing forums where patent licensees can complain about licence terms that they consider to be unreasonable or discriminatory. Additionally, the ACCC may play a role in authorising SSO policies that could otherwise breach the new cartel provisions, but which have the practical effect of promoting competition in the standards setting environment.


The end of the Late Bronze Age in the Near East (1300 – 1200 BCE) saw the widespread collapse of several large cultural centers, the reasons for which are a subject of continued debate. Evidence from events leading up to this cultural collapse suggest epidemic disease may have factored into the eventual downfall of these early civilizations. Recent DNA analysis from Egyptian mummies who lived during the period leading up to the Late Bronze Age collapse identified malaria in several elite individuals, suggesting the widespread prevalence of this infectious disease in Egypt. However, the exact prevalence, antiquity, and dynamics of malaria in the Near East, including what role it may have played in the shifting cultural and political landscape of the Late Bronze Age, remain uncertain. This dissertation delves into this question of malarial spread and impact in the Near East in a multidisciplinary approach. Existing evidence from ancient literary texts, biology and pathophysiology, theoretical models, entomology, paleoclimatology, and historical records of malaria epidemics are surveyed and incorporated into a paleoepidemiological reconstruction of malaria. This reconstruction relies heavily on methods from epidemiology to identify a previously undefined skeletal manifestation of malaria and form a set of diagnostic criteria for identifying the disease in ancient populations. The new diagnostic method is then applied to the tightly dated human skeletal remains recovered from the ancient city of Amarna, Egypt. Results indicated five skeletal lesions effective in diagnosing malarial infection: cribra orbitalia, femoral cribra, humeral cribra, spinal lytic lesions, and periostitis. Although many of these lesions are not systematically reported by bioarchaeologists, high rates of cribra orbitalia over time and space in the Nile Valley suggest a malarial prevalence that remained substantial throughout dynastic Egypt. Furthermore, the application of the full diagnostic criteria to the Amarna skeletons showed a high prevalence of malaria within that population, with around 50% of individuals showing signs of recent infection. This prevalence rate, combined with demographic features and patterns of abnormal burial practices within the cemetery at Amarna, strongly suggest that malaria featured in the epidemics that afflicted the Near East prior to the collapse.


Performance measurement (PM) systems are commonly known for both their potential to enable significant improvement in organizational performance and success as well as the difficulty of actually obtaining these results. A review of the literature suggests that most applications of PM systems prove to be less effective than the design suggests or, in some cases, may fail to be institutionalized. While there have been many recent advancements in this area, the focus from researchers has been primarily on the design and use of these systems. More recent research suggests that the problem with these systems may be the execution and implementation of the system rather than the design. In response, researchers have investigated both enablers and barriers (more generally referred to as success factors) for PM systems. They generally assert that being aware of these factors and attempting to mitigate their effects increases the likelihood of system success and enables practitioners to realize the full potential benefit from these systems. While significant research has been conducted in this area, review of the literature suggests that there is little consistency among the studies with no consensus among researchers concerning terminology or definitions of factors. Analysis of the published literature suggests that this area is at a relatively early stage of maturity with many significant opportunities for further advancement of the research area. In this work, the existing published literature was synthesized and a comprehensive set of 29 potential success factors was identified, along with corresponding definitions. In addition, five distinct dimensions of PM implementation success were identified from the literature synthesis. These literature review results were used to design a survey questionnaire to assess actual organizational practice in an empirical field study. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to refine the constructs corresponding to potential success factors and implementation success outcomes. The resulting final variables were investigated using regression analysis to identify the factors most strongly associated with each dimension of implementation success.


This study examined the relationship between parenting styles, selfesteem and students' academic achievement in secondary schools in Sironko District. The objectives were to examine the relationships between: parenting styles and self-esteem; self-esteem and students' academic achievement; parenting styles and academic achievement.The study was a survey and used a sample of 472 S.4 students of 2016 drawn from four secondary schools, namely, Masaba SS, Bugunzu SS, Buhugu SS and Bumasifwa SS. Demographic data were analyzed using frequencies counts and descriptive statistics. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to test the study variables. The findings revealed an insignificant positive relationship between authoritative parenting style and students' self-esteem; while authoritarian parenting style and permissive parenting style each had a significant negative relationship on students' self-esteem. On research objective two, this study found an insignificant negative relationship between selfesteem and academic achievement among secondary school students in Sironko District. For research objective three, authoritative parenting style and permissive parenting styles each had insignificant relationship with student's academic achievement while authoritarian parenting style had a significant positive relationship with academic achievement. Recommendations were that; parents in Sironko District should consider other strategies to boost self-esteem other than authoritative parenting style; urgent strategies and mitigation measures should be put in place to address the negative effects of authoritarian and permissive parenting styles on self-esteem among secondary school students there; much emphasis should be put on authoritarian parenting style as a strategy to boost academic achievement among secondary school students but not authoritative and permissive parenting styles.


Art is an expression of the self and its creation assists in the process of reflectively analyzing one's own practice. Through this arts-based self-study project of myself as an instructor of the course Narrative Perspectives on Exceptionalities: Cultural and Ethical Issues, I created a series of paintings that supported the understanding of my own pedagogical practice. The importance of this study has to do with the empathic understanding of teaching teachers and the critical examination of myself beginning my career as an independent instructor in higher education. In order to delineate the nature of this self-study project, Arts-Based Educational Research (Barone, 2001) will first be delineated along with the current practices in arts-based self-study projects, accompanied by connections to theoretical understandings of teaching and learning. The discussion will conclude with an examination of the paintings as they relate to my own practice and the suppositions that I have drawn from this process.


Importance: Rural-dwelling Latinos are an underresourced population in need of accessible and effective wellness programs. Objective: To evaluate patients' long-term health-related outcomes after lifestyle intervention. Design: An uncontrolled pilot trial assessing change in health from pretreatment to long-term follow-up (12 mo after intervention completion, no contact) and from posttreatment to long-term follow-up. Setting: Rural, community-based primary care. Participants: Latino and Hispanic safety-net primary care patients, ages 50 to 64 yr. Intervention: A culturally tailored, 4-mo lifestyle intervention co-led by occupational therapy practitioners and Latino community health workers that features telehealth and in-home sessions covering topics such as healthy eating and navigating health care. Outcomes and Measures: Self-reported and physiological outcomes: symptom–well-being (primary), stress, sleep disturbance, social satisfaction, physical activity, patient activation, blood pressure, and weight. Exit interviews addressed health experiences and intervention impact on participants' lives. Results: Participants (N = 27) demonstrated clinically significant pretreatment to long-term follow-up benefits in all symptom–well-being dimensions (Cohen's d ≥ 0.8, p ≤ .004), with additional gains from posttreatment to long-term follow-up (d ≥ 0.4, p ≤ .05). Significant improvements from pre- to posttreatment in systolic blood pressure, stress, and social role and activity satisfaction were maintained at long-term follow-up. No changes were observed in weight, physical activity, or diastolic blood pressure. Participants described the intervention's sustained positive effect on their wellness. Conclusions and Relevance: A lifestyle intervention led by occupational therapy practitioners and community health workers in a primary care context has potential to achieve long-term health benefits in rural-dwelling, late-midlife Latinos. What This Article Adds: This study reveals that rural, late-midlife Latinos showed long-lasting improvements in psychological and physical health after finishing a program that helped them make healthy lifestyle choices. This finding supports the unique contribution of occupational therapy in primary care settings.


We propose a method for projecting pension benefits, deriving from DC pension plans and other funded products, at retirement. Projections highlight how the current choice of asset allocation impacts on future potential retirement outcomes. The latter are compared with a money-back benchmark so as to clarify the trade-off between risk and return. After the initial projections, the pension plan revises its forecasts of retirement benefits on a yearly basis as a function of its own realized returns. Previous shorter-term projections are also compared to shorter-term ex-post performance. This simple method is a step towards an industry-reporting standard that responds to regulators' quest for helping investors monitoring the risk of their future pension.


Women and Representation in Local Government opens up an opportunity to critique and move beyond suppositions and labels in relation to women in local government. Presenting a wealth of new empirical material, this book brings together international experts to examine and compare the presence of women at this level and features case studies on the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, Uganda, China, Australia and New Zealand. Divided into four main sections, each explores a key theme related to the subject of women and representation in local government and engages with contemporary gender theory and the broader literature on women and politics. The contributors explore local government as a gendered environment; critiquing strategies to address the limited number of elected female members in local government and examine the impact of significant recent changes on local government through a gender lens. Addressing key questions of how gender equality can be achieved in this sector, it will be of strong interest to students and academics working in the fields of gender studies, local government and international politics.


Drinking water issues in rural Newfoundland and Labrador are closely tied to the
health of watersheds and thus are relevant to residents, users, and neighboring
communities of those watersheds. Because boil water advisories (BWA) and persistent
challenges to supplying safe drinking water in rural municipalities in Newfoundland are
commonplace, this project seeks to explore root causes as well as future directions related
to these issues. More precisely, this project seeks to design community-based approaches to
water stewardship to supplement the supply and monitoring of drinking water as currently
carried out by municipalities and the provincial government.
This project focused on the Towns of Indian Bay and Centreville-Wareham-Trinity
(CWT). The Town of Indian Bay has been on BWA since September 2008, largely due to
inadequate treatment and distribution infrastructure, while the Town of CWT has
experienced periodic BWAs in recent years for a variety of reasons. Evidence suggests that
a significant proportion of the residents in these communities draw their primary drinking
water sources from outside the public supply: specifically, from natural roadside springs as
well as store-bought bottled water. Evidence further suggests that there is a level of distrust
as well as distaste for publicly supplied drinking water among residents. For these reasons,
it may be inadequate to merely "fix" infrastructural and management related issues within
these water systems to ensure drinking water safety and security. Public education,
outreach, participation, and awareness are all critical factors.
Several key methods were used to carry out the research. Source water sampling
was carried out at sites throughout the Indian Bay Watershed (the Town of Indian Bay's
water supply) as well as two popular roadside springs. In addition to results that indicate
the presence of E. coli and therefore threats to public health, this sampling provides a
baseline for future water quality research and the potential to monitor changes water
quality in the Indian Bay Watershed over time. It also provides a starting point for future
efforts to monitor the quality of water drawn from popular natural roadside springs, a role
that a community-based environmental stewardship organization such as the Indian Bay
Ecosystem Corporation (IBEC) may potentially fulfill.
A household survey seeking resident practices and perceptions towards their
drinking water supplies was also conducted. All households in the communities were
contacted for the survey and asked to provide information on household practices as well
as practices while in the IBW. Findings from the survey confirm that a majority of
community members (55 percent) draw their water from natural roadside springs despite
the presence of municipal water systems, and suggest that the reasons for this relate to
taste, smell, and perceived safety. Concerns over drinking water safety were found to be
both real and perceived. Survey results demonstrate that perceptions and preferences
matter a great deal: distrust of public drinking water supplies has clearly led residents to
seek alternate sources, sources that are unmonitored and may have significant added risk
7
and costs. As users of the IBW, residents appeared both generally informed of, as well as
receptive to, regulations in the watershed as a protected water supply area. This represents a
strong point from which to guide future environmental education and watershed
stewardship initiatives, although most residents indicated that they did not believe there
were any current threats to their drinking water and therefore may be uninformed about
potential risks. Only 20% feel that recreational uses are cause for concern. There were no
reported instances of drinking water-related illnesses in the community over the past year.
The majority of participants are, however, concerned about such illnesses.
As part of a commitment to a collaborative, iterative approach to community-based
research and in recognition that the issues around provisioning of safe and secure drinking
water are complex and myriad, feedback and input was sought from a diversity of
stakeholders, government officials, and holders of special knowledge with regards to
drinking water supplies within the region, the province, and elsewhere in the country.
Through such an approach, researchers sought to identify future drinking water quality
initiatives in which community participation may play a vital role. Water security, quality,
and safety are, after all, rooted in the environments in which these communities are based.


The development of the statistical bootstrap model for hadrons, quarks and nuclear matter occurred during the 1960s and the 1970s in a period of exceptional theo- retical creativity. And if the transition from hadrons to quarks and gluons as fundamental particles was then operated, a transition from standard particles to preons and from the standard space-time to a spinorial one may now be necessary, including related pre-Big Bang scenarios. We present here a brief historical analysis of the scientific problematic of the 1960s in Particle Physics and of its evolution until the end of the 1970s, including cosmological issues. Particular attention is devoted to the exceptional role of Rolf Hage- dorn and to the progress of the statistical boostrap model until the experimental search for the quark-gluon plasma started being considered. In parallel, we simultaneously expose recent results and ideas concerning Particle Physics and in Cosmology, an discuss current open questions. Assuming preons to be constituents of the physical vacuum and the stan- dard particles excitations of this vacuum (the superbradyon hypothesis we introduced in 1995), together with a spinorial space-time (SST), a new kind of Regge trajectories is expected to arise where the angular momentum spacing will be of 1/2 instead of 1. Standard particles can lie on such Regge trajectories inside associated internal symmetry multiplets, and the preonic vacuum structure can generate a new approach to Quantum Field Theory. As superbradyons are superluminal preons, some of the vacuum excitations can have critical speeds larger than the speed of light c, but the cosmological evolution se- lects by itself the particles with the smallest critical speed (the speed of light). In the new Particle Physics and Cosmology emerging from the pattern thus developed, Hagedorn- like temperatures will naturally be present. As new space, time, momentum and energy scales are expected to be generated by the preonic vacuum dynamics, the Planck scale does not necessarily make sense in the new scenario. It also turns out that two potential evidences for a superbradyonic vacuum with a SST geometry exist already: i) the recent results on quantum entanglement at large distances favoring superluminal propagation of signals and correlations ; ii) the anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radia- tion between two hemispheres observed by the Planck Collaboration, in agreement with the predictions of cosmic SST automatically generating a privileged space direction for each comoving observer. Simultaneously to the discussion of the large number of open questions, we comment on the required experimental and observational programs. T his paper is dedicated to the memory o f Rol f Hagedorn


Suitable criteria are required for the evaluation and representation of natural soil functions and their archival function, as stated in the Federal Soil Protection Law; either singly or in connection with others, they characterize the respective soil function. The criteria for the evaluation of these soil functions (cf. Maps 01.12) were selected in the context of the drafting of the Berlin soil protection concept (Lahmeyer 2000). For the derivation of these criteria, characteristic values for the individual soil characteristics are required (cf. Maps 01.06). The method for the derivation of the individual criteria from the soil-scientific characteristic values and other information about the condition and distribution of soil types were also developed by Lahmeyer 2000 and applied exemplarily, but to some extent they were modified and complemented for implementation in the entire city area.


The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through the History of Prussia James Charles Roy Westview Books, 1999 There may, for all I know, be an entire literary genre that could be described as "traveling histories." This book is, however, this reviewer's first experience with it, and I found it delightful. James Charles Roy has travelled from place to place in what was once Prussia, often camping out in the countryside, and telling of the ghostlike bleakness there today after 55 years of socialist suffocation and cultural obliteration. His observations and interviews of old timers pass seamlessly into a recounting of the history of the particular place, a process through which he is able to tell coherently the various historical episodes in Prussian history. Midway through the book, it struck me that the transitions from present to past had hardly seemed like transitions at all, causing me to go back to look at how he had achieved the synthesis. The answer is that there are no transitions - just an easy flow into history-telling. Roy's other books on European history have been Book-of-theMonth Club and History Book Club selections. With The Vanished Kingdom, he has chosen as his subject one of the more pivotal areas in Europe, which makes it an important book for most readers, who will have had only a passing awareness of Prussia's long history. It is surprising, and somewhat amusing, to learn that the Teutonic Knights began as the monkish `Order of St. Mary's Hospital' taking care of injured Crusaders in Jerusalem. From being just a minor appendage to the Crusades, they became the dominant power in north-central Europe, conducting incessant warfare with the neighboring (and also fiercely warlike) peoples. They reached the height of their power in the fourteenth century, but collapsed shortly after their disaster in the (first) Battle of Tannenberg in 1410. Perhaps their most significant residual was the rise of the Junker class. The Junkers were small landowners, chronically poor, who had been given land in exchange for military service over a two century period and who continued as military men to provide themselves a needed source of income. The Junkers were reminiscent of the Old Romans of Cato the Elder's day: austere, disciplined, aristocratically contemptuous of the common man. The fact that they detested central authority meant that, contrary to the stereotype, they later weren't given to supporting Bismarck or Hitler. …


Cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation of the phosphatase SHP-1 results in proteolytic cleavage and movement out of the nucleus. The protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 is a negative regulator of several receptor types at the cell membrane. Loss of its inhibition of mitogenic signals mediated by tyrosine phosphorylation is associated with various cancers of hematopoietic cells. Simoneau et al. argue that there may be another side to SHP-1's personality, evident particularly in epithelial cells in which SHP-1 is primarily localized to the nucleus rather than the cytoplasm, where it is most abundant in hematopoietic cells. In these cells, SHP-1 also appears to inhibit cell cycle progression, an effect that is in turn regulated by cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2). The authors identified Cdk2 in a yeast two-hybrid screen for proteins that interacted with full-length SHP-1. The interaction was confirmed in human intestinal epithelial cells and shown to be enhanced in proliferating cells. Cdk2 is regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation, but SHP-1 did not affect phosphorylation of Cdk2 under the conditions tested. Rather, Cdk2 appeared to regulate SHP-1. Phosphorylation of target proteins by Cdk2 often marks those proteins for degradation, and the abundance of SHP-1 was inversely correlated with the activity of Cdk2 complexes. Furthermore, pharmacological inhibition of Cdk2 or of the 20S proteasome increased the abundance of SHP-1. Proteolytic cleavage of SHP-1 produced a smaller, 45-kD fragment of SHP-1 that maintained phosphatase activity and accumulated in the cytoplasm. Thus, the authors propose that Cdk2-mediated phosphorylation of SHP-1 may dampen its inhibitory actions on proliferation in intestinal epithelial cells, perhaps also switching its biological function through cleavage and relocation outside the nucleus. M. Simoneau, J. Boulanger, G. Coulombe, M.-A. Renaud, C. Duchesne, M. Rivard, Activation of Cdk2 stimulates proteasome-dependent truncation of tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 in human proliferating intestinal epithelial cells. J. Biol. Chem. 283, 25544-25556 (2008). [Abstract] [Full Text]


ARTICLE INFO Fillet weld is a common method of connecting various elements of the steel structures as in Tor butt joints. Thus, estimation of the amounts and distributions of residual stresses in these connections are important. Effects of complete and non-complete ends of T-joint, curvature of the ends, welding procedure, thickness ratio and welding speed on the distribution of the residual stresses were studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical analyses are done by using the finite element method. The center hole drilling method is used to measure of the residual stresses. A 3D model in Sysweld with thermomechanical analysis has been carried out to modeling the welding of stainless steel. There are good agreements between the results of two methods. Longitudinal residual stresses reduce in the midsection while transverse stresses increase in the end zone of the weld with complete end.


Since 2007 the ANTARES high energy neutrino detector, installed in the depths of the Mediter- ranean Sea, is taking data. It is located 40 km off the French coast instrumenting a volume of about 0.01 cubic kilometers. The main aim of the ANTARES neutrino telescope is the search of astrophysical neutrinos as a diffuse flux or coming from astrophysical sources. ANTARES can observe in real time neutrinos correlated in space and time with other cosmic probes (multi- messenger approach) providing valuable informations from the Northern sky.
With the aim to enlarge the effective areas for the detection of high energy neutrinos and also to give valuable responses in the neutrino physics domain, the KM3NeT collaboration is construct- ing two detectors in the Mediterranean Sea: KM3NeT/ARCA mainly devoted to the discovery and observation of neutrinos from Active Galactic Nuclei and Galactic sources and KM3NeT/ORCA devoted to the study of the fundamental properties of the neutrino.
In this work the main recent results achieved by the ANTARES collaboration and the KM3NeT perspectives as well the first results from the deployed KM3NeT Detection Units will be reported.


The HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV Nef protein are known to modulate the expression of several cell surface receptors and molecules to escape the immune system, to alter T cell activation, to enhance viral replication, infectivity and transmission and overall to ensure the optimal environment for infection outcome. Consistent and continuous efforts have been made over the years to characterize the modulation of expression of each of these molecules, in the hope that a better understanding of these processes essential for HIV infection and/or pathogenesis will eventually highlight new therapeutic targets. In this article we provide an extensive review of the knowledge gained so far on this important and evolving topic.


The theory revision problem is the problem of how best to go about revising a deficient domain theory using information contained in examples that expose inaccuracies. In this paper we present our approach to the theory revision problem for propositional domain theories. The approach described here, called PTR, uses probabilities associated with domain theory elements to numerically track the "flow" of proof through the theory. This allows us to measure the precise role of a clause or literal in allowing or preventing a (desired or undesired) derivation for a given example. This information is used to efficiently locate and repair flawed elements of the theory. PTR is proved to converge to a theory which correctly classifies all examples, and shown experimentally to be fast and accurate even for deep theories.


A social dialogue committee for European professional football was established in 2008 and concluded its first agreement in 2012, on minimum requirements for standard player contracts in the EU and UEFA territory. This agreement is significant as it stands as the first formal European wide agreement between organised employer and employee interests in European professional football. This paper explores the origins, significance and implementation of this agreement. It argues that the scope of the agreement can be widened considerably to include some of the key contentious issues facing European football, such as the reformation of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. However, drawing on research from the Balkan states, the paper also highlights many problems connected to labour relations in professional football including: a lack of organised employer associations, weak trade unions, problems connected with the employment status of players and poor employment practices. The authors will present what has been achieved since the 2012 agreement and highlight what are the core problems with its implementation.


In this paper, I present my ongoing research on temporal defeasible argumentation-based multi-agent planning. In multi-agent planning a team of agents share a set of goals but have diverse abilities and temporal beliefs, which vary over time. In order to plan for these goals, agents start a stepwise dialogue consisting of exchanges of temporal plan proposals, plus temporal arguments against them, where both, actions with different duration, and temporal defeasible arguments, need to be integrated. This thesis proposes a computational framework for this research on multi-agent planning.


Summary The importance of the blood- and lymph vessels in the transport of essential fluids, gases, macromolecules and cells in vertebrates warrants optimal insight into the regulatory mechanisms underlying their development. Mouse and zebrafish models of lymphatic development are instrumental for gene discovery and gene characterization but are challenging for certain aspects, e.g. no direct accessibility of embryonic stages, or non-straightforward visualization of early lymphatic sprouting, respectively. We previously demonstrated that the Xenopus tadpole is a valuable model to study the processes of lymphatic development. However, a fluorescent Xenopus reporter directly visualizing the lymph vessels was lacking. Here, we created transgenic Tg(Flk1:eGFP) Xenopus laevis reporter lines expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) in blood- and lymph vessels driven by the Flk1 (VEGFR-2) promoter. We also established a high-resolution fluorescent dye labeling technique selectively and persistently visualizing lymphatic endothelial cells, even in conditions of impaired lymph vessel formation or drainage function upon silencing of lymphangiogenic factors. Next, we applied the model to dynamically document blood and lymphatic sprouting and patterning of the initially avascular tadpole fin. Furthermore, quantifiable models of spontaneous or induced lymphatic sprouting into the tadpole fin were developed for dynamic analysis of loss-of-function and gain-of-function phenotypes using pharmacologic or genetic manipulation. Together with angiography and lymphangiography to assess functionality, Tg(Flk1:eGFP) reporter tadpoles readily allowed detailed lymphatic phenotyping of live tadpoles by fluorescence microscopy. The Tg(Flk1:eGFP) tadpoles represent a versatile model for functional lymph/angiogenomics and drug screening.


Natural organic matter (NOM) generally influences water treatment processes such as coagulation, oxidation, adsorption, and membrane filtration. NOM contributes colour, taste and odour in drinking water, fouls membranes, serves as a precursor for disinfection by-products, increases the exhaustion and usage rate of activated carbon and may promote microbial growth in water distribution networks.

High performance size exclusion chromatography and fluorescence excitation-emission matrices were used to characterize NOM relatively quickly and with minimal sample preparation. These and other tools were used to improve our understanding of NOM character and behaviour during drinking water treatment. The study demonstrates the potential of multiple NOM characterization tools for the selection, operation and monitoring of water treatment processes.


The purpose of this dissertation is to apply the political culture concept to and then examine its historical implications for the variant conditions of peace and conflict in contemporary Somalia. Within peace and conflict research, political culture is a concept which has not been examined as a possible contributing factor to peace or conflict, and part of this is due to a restricted understanding of it. By relying on existing literature in the field (Diamond, Eckstein, Pye) to expand this concept, it is then applied to the case of Somalia, which currently is divided into three separate entities with three distinct outcomes. These outcomes are observable as the unrecognized state of Somaliland in the northwest, the autonomous Puntland State of Somalia in the northeast, and the southern region of Somalia, particularly the Mogadishu area. The former two are relatively peaceful, economically growing and centrally ruled polities, while the latter region experiences chronic violent conflict, economic uncertainty, and warlord politics. These three distinct outcomes suggest varying political culture legacies. Indicators for the concept are established by utilizing political culture "themes" which have been observed in the relevant literature. Beginning in the early 1800s, a longitudinal study of the development of separate trends in political culture in Somalia is undertaken. Distinct regional trends in political culture can be detected as far back in time as the precolonial period in the early 1800s, and these trends only become stronger during the colonial era, when Great Britain established itself as a protectorate in the northwest and Italy attempted to colonize the south and establish control over the northeast. The more positive trends on the northern coastal area appear to have been facilitated by Britain's relative disinterest in conquest and colonization of the area, and the less positive trends in the south were exacerbated by the harsh pratices of Italian colonization and Fascist ideology. With few breaks in these disparate trends over time, and these trends also carrying through to the present, it is suggested that contemporary differences between the regions are at least partly explained by their political culture legacies. Although this does not nullify any contemporary explanations which have been forwarded, it supplements and informs them. This dissertation suggests that in order to understand contemporary peace and conflict or offer prescriptions for prolonged conflict, it is important to identify and recognize the nature of and how deeply rooted these trends of peace and conflict actually are.


The Jurassic – Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation forms part of the Uitenhage Group, the earliest deposits to fill Mesozoic rift basins that developed in what is now the southern Cape of South Africa during the breakup of Gondwana. The Kirkwood Formation is not only palaeontologically extremely important, having yielded diverse assemblages of vertebrate, invertebrate and plant fossil taxa, but also contains suitable source rocks for hydrocarbon systems offshore of the southern Cape of South Africa. The Kirkwood Formation comprises chronostratigraphic markers in the form of radiometrically dateable volcaniclastic deposits and age-diagnostic invertebrate fossils, which may provide robust dates for the depositional history of the Uitenhage Group. The Kirkwood, including the Bethelsdorp, Colchester and Swartkops Members, is 2210 m at its thickest and comprises sandstones and mudstones deposited in fluvial and lacustrine depositional settings from the Tithonian to Valanginian. These microfossil-based ages may only apply to the unit in its type area in the Algoa Basin and not to its lithostratigraphic correlatives in the other Mesozoic rift basins, which have highly variable ages ranging from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous.


Environmental waters are generally natural recipients of industrial and communal wastewaters by which emerging substances are inputted in and caused contamination. Environmental waters include surface water of river, lake, and other water bodies which are open for all types of effluents and constantly replenished by different organic and inorganic loads. Emerging substances are the old compounds, pollutants and chemicals, but newly recognized and for which regular monitoring and maximum allowable concentrations are not defined in European Union as well as in developing countries as it is Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and others. NORMAN is the official website with open and dynamic list on which after the prioritisation process new members of emerging substances are included in. Within NATO project four screening and two target analyses of Danube surface water and wastewater in the vicinity of Novi Sad were performed. More than 150 compounds were detected in screening analyses and from 82 target organic compounds 19 were measured above limits of detection. Based on evaluation of results obtained within two international Projects specific and unique physicochemical characteristics of emerging substances were observed, such as low and sub-low concentrations, non-monotonic dose response, effects of chemical cocktails, pseudopersistency, interreaction with proteins and toxicity with acute, but rather chronic consequence.


Helicase B (RhlB) is one of the five DEAD box RNA-dependent ATPases found in Escherichia coli. Unique among these enzymes, RhlB requires an interaction with the partner protein RNase E for appreciable ATPase and RNA unwinding activities. To explore the basis for this activating effect, we have generated a di-cistronic vector that overexpresses a complex comprising RhlB and its recognition site within RNase E, corresponding to residues 696–762. Complex formation has been characterized by isothermal titration calorimetry, revealing an avid, enthalpy-favored interaction between the helicase and RNase E-(696–762) with an equilibrium binding constant (Ka) of at least 1 × 108 m-1. We studied ATPase activity of mutants with substitutions within the ATP binding pocket of RhlB and on the putative interaction surface that mediates recognition of RNase E. For comparisons, corresponding mutations were prepared in two other E. coli DEAD box ATPases, RhlE and SrmB. Strikingly, substitutions at a phenylalanine near the Q-motif found in DEAD box proteins boosts the ATPase activity of RhlB in the absence of RNA, but completely inhibits it in its presence. The data support the proposal that the protein-protein and RNA-binding surfaces both communicate allosterically with the ATPase catalytic center. We conjecture that this communication may govern the mechanical power and efficiency of the helicases, and is tuned in individual helicases in accordance with cellular function.


We investigate properties of employee replacement costs, using a panel survey of California businesses in 2003 and 2008. We establish that replacement costs are substantial relative to annual wages and that they are associated negatively with the use of seniority in promotion. We also find some evidence, albeit not under all specifications, that replacement costs are positively associated with establishment size, which is consistent with monopsony. Bivariate scatterplots, pooled regressions and panel-based estimates suggest a positive relationship between replacement costs and the wage. While this result is not robust, it constitutes a puzzle for hiring and separation models, such as Manning (2003). In these models, the negative wage elasticity of replacement costs is a key assumption. These results thus call for further research on employment costs models.


We investigate the performance of different methodologies that measure the time lag between broad-line and continuum variations in reverberation mapping data using simulated light curves that probe a range of cadence, time baseline, and signal-to-noise ratio in the flux measurements. We compare three widely adopted lag-measuring methods: the interpolated cross-correlation function (ICCF), the z-transformed discrete correlation function (ZDCF), and the Markov chain Monte Carlo code JAVELIN, for mock data with qualities typical of multiobject spectroscopic reverberation mapping (MOS-RM) surveys that simultaneously monitor hundreds of quasars. We quantify the overall lag-detection efficiency, the rate of false detections, and the quality of lag measurements for each of these methods and under different survey designs (e.g., observing cadence and depth) using mock quasar light curves. Overall JAVELIN and ICCF outperform ZDCF in essentially all tests performed. Compared with ICCF, JAVELIN produces higher quality lag measurements, is capable of measuring more lags with timescales shorter than the observing cadence, is less susceptible to seasonal gaps and signal-to-noise ratio degradation in the light curves, and produces more accurate lag uncertainties. We measure the Hβ broad-line region size–luminosity (R–L) relation with each method using the simulated light curves to assess the impact of selection effects of the design of MOS-RM surveys. The slope of the R–L relation measured by JAVELIN is the least biased among the three methods and is consistent across different survey designs. These results demonstrate a clear preference for JAVELIN over the other two nonparametric methods for MOS-RM programs, particularly in the regime of limited light-curve quality as expected from most MOS-RM programs.


Recent publications suggest that the Parkinson's disease- (PD-) related PINK1/Parkin pathway promotes elimination of dysfunctional mitochondria by autophagy. We used tandem affinity purification (TAP), SDS-PAGE, and mass spectrometry as a first step towards identification of possible substrates for PINK1. The cellular abundance of selected identified interactors was investigated by Western blotting. Furthermore, one candidate gene was sequenced in 46 patients with atypical PD. In addition to two known binding partners (HSP90, CDC37), 12 proteins were identified using the TAP assay; four of which are mitochondrially localized (GRP75, HSP60, LRPPRC, and TUFM). Western blot analysis showed no differences in cellular abundance of these proteins comparing PINK1 mutant and control fibroblasts. When sequencing LRPPRC, four exonic synonymous changes and 20 polymorphisms in noncoding regions were detected. Our study provides a list of putative PINK1 binding partners, confirming previously described interactions, but also introducing novel mitochondrial proteins as potential components of the PINK1/Parkin mitophagy pathway.