There are many uncertainties concerning the use of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) as electrode modifiers. In order to contribute to clarification of this issue, a large target molecule was used to prepare an MIP-modified composite electrode. The MIP was synthesized using folic acid (FA) as a template, and employed in the modification of composite electrodes based on graphite and polyurethane (GPU), varying its percentage from 2.5 to 10%. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) were used to compare the performance of modified and unmodified electrodes. After optimization of the electrode composition, pH, and the electrolytic medium, the best results for which were obtained using 2.5% MIP, pH 4.5 and acetate buffer, respectively, differential pulse voltammograms were used to obtain analytical curves for electrodes modified with the 2.5% MIP or 2.5% non-imprinted polymer (NIP), as well as for the unmodified GPU electrode. Although the sensitivities were similar in all cases, the electrode modified with 2.5% MIP presented a lower limit of detection (LOD) of 0.17 μmol L−1 and 0.034 μmol L−1 for the cathodic peaks in −0.52 and −0.58 V (vs. SCE), respectively, under specific conditions, allowing the determination of FA in commercial pharmaceutical formulations with results that were in agreement with the official HPLC method. Finally, evaluation was made of the interference of a structurally similar molecule, the methotrexate, as well as small molecules containing functional groups similar to those present in the structure of FA, such as uric acid, ascorbic acid and dopamine. The 2.5% MIP electrode was more selective than the 2.5% NIP electrode.


Macrozooplankton plays a key role in pelagic ecosystems as a link between lower trophic levels and fish. However, although its ecological role is usually considered in polar ecosys- tems, it is rarely considered in temperate ones. To obtain comprehensive information on the macrozooplankton distribution in the Bay of Biscay we adapted a bi-frequency acoustic method developed for the Humboldt Current system. This method can be used to extract continuous and simultaneous high-resolution information on the spatiotemporal patterns of biomass distributions of macrozooplankton and pelagic fish throughout the diel cycle. The 2 distributions were mapped using geostatistical techniques. We applied kriging with external drifts, which accounts for both diel and across-shore changes in macrozooplankton biomass. We then used a cross-variogram to determine the scale-dependent relationships between macrozooplankton and fish. The results show how macrozooplankton and fish are distributed according to the different ecological domains (coast, shelf, shelf-break and offshore) along the Spanish and French coasts. Specific macrozooplankton hotspots were observed, but macrozooplankton was generally more abundant offshore than inshore, whereas fish showed the opposite trend. This pattern was confirmed by the aggregation sizes, which increased towards oceanic waters for macrozooplankton and decreased for fish. Finally, the correlation between fish and macrozooplankton was positive on a small scale ( 30 nautical miles).


Based on OHE's 50th anniversary conference, this publication captures the views of thought leaders from around the world about the scientific and economic climate for drug development by 2022. Four major themes stood out in the conference discussions, as reported in this publication. 1. Health care will be radically transformed as "precision" medicine plugs into the specific genetic makeup of both patients and diseases, and is paired with increasingly powerful and convenient diagnostics. 2. Innovation will be dramatically different as firms more fully integrate new genome-based technologies, fit processes and structures to new development paradigms, and routinely engage in close collaboration with a diversity of public and private partners. 3. Approval, pricing and financing regimes must change to realize the promise of the new science. Regulatory bodies need both personnel and procedures capable of evaluating, for example, gene-based treatments or medicines paired with diagnostics. For payers, the more targeted treatments require new approaches to HTA and pricing, even pricing by indication in some cases. For policy makers, the demographics of ageing make innovation in financing essential. 4. Innovation and markets will be truly global as demand evolves in emerging markets and as new technologies promise more effective treatments for the scourges of the developing world. Global approaches to pricing and reimbursement are essential to making medicines available to more people and to continuing innovation. The UK has been a remarkably influential source of innovation in the medical sciences for generations. Recommendations from the conference for ensuring this continues include making full use of the unique resources of the NHS and creating vigorous clusters of research excellence.


In the context of the radical changes that East European countries have recently gone through, it is of general interest to study what institutional and organisational setups for forest management were selected in the individual countries, and why. The purpose of this thesis is to examine what reforms took place in the State forest management of Ukraine, the Russian Federation and Latvia during their first decade of independence and the underlying reasons for these reforms. In order to analyse the underlying reasons for reforms, a number of explanatory models were formulated, mostly based on Public Choice theory and theories on institutional development. By testing these models - Interest Group Struggles, Political Necessity, Historical Experience, Path Dependency and Influence of Clientelism and Black Economy, on the forest sector reforms, the applicability of each model on each reform was evaluated. This way the most likely motives for the reforms could be described. The three countries of the study were selected because of observed divergence in forest sector reforms during the first decade of transition. The results show that all the explanatory models can be used to explain the reform process, but on individual reforms, one or two models usually lead to a more likely explanation of the process observed. Looking on individual models and beginning with Russia, some key reforms in the forest sector were initiated because they were part of the Government's general reform agenda. Such reforms, when they led to reforms in the forest sector, have here been labelled Political Necessities, implying that the major decisions generated outside of the sector. The main such reforms in Russia, originated from the decision to privatise forest industry but to keep forest State-owned. Most of the other reforms of the period were consequences of this general decision but additional understanding of them was shown to be provided by using the other models of the study. Interest group struggles, particularly between forest management and forest industry organisations, but also between different levels of Government, were intensive during the studied period, and many of the reforms studied were resulting compromises. The analyses demonstrate that the most fundamental Russian forest sector reforms during the studied period were mostly formed already in the end of the Soviet period or in the very first years of the Russian Federation. It can be questioned whether this was not premature. In Ukraine, the reform process in society as a whole slowed down considerably after only few years of independence and in many sectors, the transition to market economy was not complete. One can argue that the Ukraine State Forest Committee as an organisation was an example of this, given that it continued to control the majority of Ukraine's forests, enjoyed a close-to monopoly on final fellings and came to control a large part of Ukraine's forest industry. The processes that led to this situation were strongly influenced by Interest Group Struggles and Path Dependency. As for Latvia, most striking is the breech with the Soviet-era institutional set-up and thus also with Path Dependency. In a first phase of reform in 1990-1995, several similarities between Latvian and Russian reforms can be found, although the Latvian reforms went further as a result of massive forest restitution. In a second phase however, Latvia created a new institutional and organisational setup, more similar to the Scandinavian countries. The models that best explain Latvian forest sector reform are Political Necessity and Historic Experience, the latter because Latvian institutions from the period before World War II were frequently used as models for reform. By the end of the studied period, the main forest institutions and organisations demonstrated practically no resemblance to what had existed prior to 1990. In this respect, Latvia differed very clearly from Russia and Ukraine. The differences between Latvia as compared to Ukraine and Russia have many explanations, as demonstrated by application of the different models on the individual reforms. On a larger scale however, the differences appear tied to whether reforms emanated from within or outside the State forest management and State forest industry organisations. Latvian Government decisions in 1988-91 on land restitution to pre-war owners and its 1995 Concept of Public Administration Reform, strongly influenced reforms in the forest sector. Further, Latvian openness to international support in policy and institutional development, and the fact that a young generation took over leadership roles in the sector, were also important factors. Also, after 1997, views of other interested parties were systematically integrated in the Latvian reform process. In neither Russia nor Ukraine did forest privatisation take place. Forest policy, legislation and State forest management questions were during most of the studied period largely determined by the State forest management organisation, but under steady criticism from adjacent interests. This atmosphere fostered a marked conservatism. Such fundamental changes that many transition countries' forest sectors went through during the past two decades are highly unusual events, and it is important that the experiences are collected while still in the active memory of the people that participated. This kind of studies can be of help in future analyses of other countries' forest sectors. Particularly, it is the hope of the author that experience from the East European transition period reforms will be utilised in planning future forest sector reforms in other countries, notably in Western Europe.


The solvents used in chemistry are a fundamental element of the environmental performance of processes in corporate and academic laboratories. Their influence on costs, health safety, and nature cannot be neglected. Quantitatively, solvents are the most abundant constituents of chemical transformations; therefore, acting on solvents and replacing standard solvents with safer products can have a great ecological impact. However, not all green solvents are suitable for the wide scope of organic chemistry reactions. A second point to consider is that 50% of pharmaceutical drugs are nitrogen heterocycles compounds. It therefore appeared important to provide an overview of the more ecological methodologies for synthesizing this class of compounds. In this review, all publications since 2000 that describe green reactions leading to the formation of nitrogen heterocycles using safe solvents were considered. We chose water, PEG, and bio-based solvents for their negligible toxicity. The synthesis of five-, six-, and seven-membered aromatic nitrogen heterocycles using green reactions reported in the literature to date is described.


The negative consequence of industries in urban cities has become a major concern. Environmental risk assessment of heavy metals in the cement factories around Ewekoro environ was evaluated to deduce its risk on public health. Soil samples and consumable vegetables (Sugar-cane (Saccharumofficinarum), Soko (Celosia argentea), Cocoyam (Colocasiaesculerita) and Ewedu (Corchoruos olitorius) were collected 200m apart around the cement factory. Soil samples were dis-aggregated and sieved through a 65µ mesh sieve, then analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-emission spectrometry (ICP-ES), while plant samples were crushed and pulverized before being analysed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), all analyses were done at Acme laboratories Canada. Geochemical result of soils showed that most of the metals have values above the USEPA standard except Ni, V, Cr, and Ba, due to the effect of cement factory. Contamination factor and degree (Cdeg) revealed extreme contamination of Zn and Mn. Inter elemental analysis showed a strong correlation between Cr-As ('r' = 0.872) and Ga-v ('r' = 0.936), which reflects the same anthropogenic source. Geochemical results in vegetables revealed Zn to be the highest metal accumulated, and that which is most contaminated is Ewedu (Corchoruos olitorius). A strong and positive correlation was found in Ba-Sr, and Cd-Zn with r > 0.9 showing the same anthropogenic source.Transfer factor(TF) revealed accumulation of metals by the vegetables. Analysis of the health implications of these heavy metals was carried out in some clinics around the area and the common diseases recorded are the ones generally associated with cement dust inhaling. Soils and vegetables


The current body of literature on educational leadership is very broad, and there is limited research regarding the experiences and challenges of the early/middle college high school (EMCHS) principalship. To better support EMCHS principals through the various challenges and experiences of their leadership roles, it would be wise to develop a specific understanding of this particular principalship. This understanding could possibly lead to differentiated support that could benefit both current and future EMCHS principals. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the EMCHS principalship by answering the following research questions: (a) What are the challenges and experiences of early/middle college high school principals?; (b) How do early/middle college high school principals navigate these challenges and experiences?; and (c) How do current and former early/middle college high school principals understand the meaning of culturally responsive leadership (CRL) and how does it influence their practice? Through a qualitative approach that incorporated interviews and observations, I found that EMCHS principals experience feelings of professional loneliness. This loneliness is associated with the various non-traditional responsibilities they must fulfill and the fact that they may be the only K-12 administrator in the building as well as the only Early/Middle College (EMCHS) principal in the district. It is through shared and distributive leadership practices, and the establishment of peer and district supports, that EMCHS principals attempt to address their sense of professional isolation. Having to meet the requirements and demands of both their college partner and school district was another common challenge that EMCHS principals faced. Participants typically navigated this challenge through effective communication and advocacy between the EMCHS principal and both their school district and college partner. I also found that the small sizes of their schools coupled with their target student populations served as both a benefit and challenge to EMCHS principals. Finally, the data from this study informs us that current and former EMCHS principals understand culturally responsive leadership requires them to develop a keen understanding of the student populations whom they serve. Moreover, principals from the study asserted that cultural responsiveness is not limited to racial diversity alone. Finally, current and former EMCHS principals described how they were intentional about helping their schools and faculty practice cultural responsiveness in addressing the needs of their students.


Magnetic microparticles and their application in bioanalytical microfluidic systems have been steadily gaining interest in recent years. This progress is fueled by the comparatively large and long range magnetic forces that can be obtained independently of the fluidic flow pattern. This thesis work presents new approaches for using magnetic microparticles in Lab-on-a-Chip systems. The first approach deals with the design of a magnetic droplet manipulation system and the second combines magnetic particle actuation with integrated optical detection. The applicability of both systems for miniaturized bioanalysis will be shown, demonstrating the potential of magnetic particle based Lab-on-a-Chip systems. The magnetic droplet manipulation system tackles the handling of small liquid volumes, which is an important task in miniaturized analytical systems. The careful adjustment of hydrophilic/hydrophobic surface properties and interfacial tensions leads to the design of a system, where small droplets are manipulated in a controllable fashion. The system's setup permits the direct implementation of bioanalytical protocols and two different procedures are in consequence examined. Based on a commercial laboratory kit, a platform for the on-chip extraction and purification of DNA will be designed. The miniaturized setup allows the user to capture and clean the DNA obtained from a raw cell sample containing as little as 10 cells, which is several orders of magnitude lower than known for macroscopic systems. A similar performance is observed for the colorimetric antibody detection further-on evaluated in the droplet manipulation system, where the small sample volumes permit a significant reduction of the reaction times. With the possibility of concentrating the biomolecules of interest on the particle surface, a sensitive and fast immunosorbent assay can be devised. A further miniaturization is examined in a CMOS system, which combines magnetic actuation and optical detection. The small dimensions of the actuation system allow the manipulation of single magnetic microparticles and the integration of Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) enables their optical detection. An innovative detection algorithm permits hereby to distinguish the particles in size and, in combination with a velocity measurement, to evaluate the magnetic properties of the detected particles. In consequence, bioanalysis on a single magnetic particle using fluorescent measurements can be performed, as is shown by preliminary experiments.


The main focus of this thesis has been directed towards preparation and oxidative carbocyclization of en-, dien- and aza-enallenes.In the first part of this thesis, a stereoselective oxidative carbocyclization of dienallenes was realized. By employing cheap and readily available palladium trifluoroacetate we were able to efficiently cyclize a variety of dienallenes into hydroxylated carbocycles in high yield and high selectivity. This oxidative process was compatible with two different reoxidation protocols: one relying on p-benzoquinone (BQ) as the oxidant and the other employing molecular oxygen as the oxidant.In the second part of the thesis the carbocyclization methodology was extended to include carbocyclization of aza-enallenes. This was achieved in two distinct steps. First, a copper-catalyzed coupling of allylic sulfonamides with bromoallenes was developed, giving access to the corresponding aza-enallenes. Subjecting these substrates to catalytic amounts of palladium acetate, along with BQ as the oxidant, rendered N-heterocycles in good yield. The reactivity of these N-heterocycles towards activated dienophiles was later exploited in a tandem (aerobic) oxidative carbocyclization/Diels-Alder reaction.The third topic involves efficient oxidative arylative/borylative carbocyclization of enallenes. These reactions, catalyzed by palladium acetate, relies on transmetallation of a (σ-alkyl)palladium(II) intermediate with diboranes or arylboronic acids. With this novel methodology we were able to obtain an array of arylated or borylated carbocycles, as single diastereomers, in high yield.Finally, we developed a palladium(II)-catalyzed cyclization of allylic carbamates. This mild, operationally simple, and scalable catalytic reaction opens up access to an array of oxazolidinones in high yield and excellent diastereoselectivity.


I. INTRODUCTION In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the proper use and possible abuse of executive orders and other presidential directives. A driving force behind this increased interest has been the concern expressed by many citizens and lawmakers over the content and scope of several of President Bill Clinton's executive orders and land proclamations.1 Congress has responded to this concern by holding hearings and considering several bills designed to curb the President's authority to issue such directives.2 In an exceedingly rare act, the courts recently joined the fray by striking down one of President Clinton's executive orders.3 Litigation to contest the validity of other directives is ongoing.4 Despite the increased public attention on executive orders and similar directives, public understanding of the legal foundation and proper uses of presidential decrees is limited. Thus, the increased public attention generally has been accompanied by confusion and occasional misunderstandings regarding the legality and appropriateness of various presidential actions. Such confusion stems in part from the fact that the President's authority to issue such directives is not expressly set forth in the Constitution and its boundaries are still somewhat unclear.5 Accordingly, it is probably not possible to provide a simple recitation of the governing law or prudential guidelines that apply to presidential directives. However, it is possible to discern and describe a legal framework of analysis that courts have used to help determine issues of validity. Beyond questions of legality, there are many separate but important issues of policy. Two broad policy questions also present themselves: (1) whether a given power the President possesses ought to be used to advance a particular policy objective, and (2) whether a particular draft directive effectively advances such a policy goal. This article seeks to illuminate the above policy questions as well as to supply a legal framework of analysis for judging questions of validity. First, it addresses the source of current popular confusion by providing a general over-view of the President's use of executive orders and other presidential directives. To that end, it presents a discussion of both historical practice and of the sources of presidential authority. Second, it sets forth a legal framework of analysis for testing the legitimacy of a given executive order. Third, using both historical examples and examples from the Clinton administration, it presents a set of criteria for determining when an otherwise legal order might nevertheless be improper as a matter of policy. Finally, it discusses a number of reforms related to the use and abuse of presidential directives. II. THE SEPARATION OF POWERS There can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person. Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu6 The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. -James Madison 7 One of the great and enduring gifts from the Founders' generation was the inclusion of separation of powers principles in the United States Constitution. The Framers studied the writings of Montesquieu and other political philosophers as well as the workings of the separate branches of their own state governments.8 Their conscious design to enforce this separation of functions was carefully explained both in The Federalist Papers and also during the debates over ratification of the United States Constitution.9 The separation of powers is now enshrined in the Constitution, implicitly in its structure and expressly in the provisions of Articles I, II, and Ill.10 Any discussion of the proper scope of executive and congressional authority requires a basic understanding of this concept of the separation of powers. …


Unmet student needs negatively affect the ability of teachers to create a successful learning environment for all students. Some of these needs include students not being at the academic levels they should be and special education students not getting individualized attention. As a future educator, I sought to discover what could be done to help teachers address these needs in order to create a better classroom environment. Two teachers from the same elementary school were interviewed about student needs, how student needs impact their teaching ability, and what is being done to assist theses needs. Preliminary data analyses indicate that more participation is needed from within both the school and the outside community in classrooms and additional attention given to special education students. Thus, it has been learned that schools benefit most from further assistance, participation, and collaboration by teachers, parents, and other involved community members. HELPING TEACHERS TEACH Samuelson 3 Helping Teachers Teach: Exploring Student Needs in Elementary Classrooms


The current thesis examined the processes involved in the generation of empathy in infancy. This thesis endorses the combination of developmental and cognitive neuroscience techniques for a more comprehensive understanding of empathy. In support of this view, the current work has adopted a multi-method approach in which neuroimaging, psychophysiological and behavioral techniques have been used to examine the cognitive and affective aspects of empathy in infancy. Through a series of experimental studies, this thesis has addressed intertwined yet different aspects of the experience of empathy. Paper 1 investigated individual differences in 8-month-old infants' neural responses to peers' emotional non-verbal vocalizations by using event-related potential (ERP) method and parental reports of infants' temperament. Results showed that infants responded differently to peers' laughing and crying vocalizations, as indexed by modulations in the N100, P200 and late positive component (LPC). Of special interest, individual differences in negative emotionality were related to amplitude variations in the P200 and LPC components. Paper 2 expands on the previous results by examining frontal asymmetry patterns linked to infants' affective and behavioral responses to a peer crying and a peer laughing. Eight-month-old infants underwent two assessment sessions on separate days, in which electroencephalography (EEG) and behavioral measures were respectively recorded in each day. EEG analysis showed that distinct neural patterns were related to the observation of a peer laughing and a peer crying, with greater right frontal activation being associated with the observation of a peer crying. Furthermore, correlational analysis suggested a positive relation between left frontal cortical activation and infants' attempts to approach a peer crying or infants' attempts to engage with a peer laughing. Following on from it, Paper 3 and 4 investigated potential neurocognitive mechanisms underlying affective and cognitive aspects of empathy. Paper 3 examined the role of motor mimicry and affective evaluation processes in infants' facial matching responses to others' emotional facial expressions by measuring spontaneous facial reactions (SFRs). In particular, 4- and 7-month old infants were presented with facial expressions of happiness, anger, and fear. Electromyography (EMG) was used to measure activation in muscles relevant for forming these expressions: zygomaticus major (smiling), corrugator (frowning), and frontalis (forehead raising). Results indicated no selective activation of the facial muscles for the expressions in 4-monthold infants. For 7-month-old infants, evidence for selective facial reactions was found especially for happy faces and fearful faces, while angry faces did not show a clear differential response. Paper 4 goes on to explore the ontogeneis of cognitive aspects of empathy by examining the neural correlates underlying false belief (FB) processing in 15-monthold infants. Using a passive non-verbal FB task, 15-month-old infants were presented with sequences of images depicting a character acting congruently (FBc) or incongruently (FBi) to her false belief about an object's location, while EEG was continuously recorded. ERPs analysis revealed differences between conditions at frontal locations, as indexed by modulations in the N400 component. Specifically, a more negative N400 waveform was recorded for FBi as compared to FBc trials.


The hypothesis of this work was that uncomposted sheep wool and human hair could be used as nutrient source for nonedible high-value plants. Pot and field experiments were conducted to assess uncomposted sheep wool-wastes and human hair-wastes as a nutrient source for high-value crops and to evaluate the effect of these waste materials on soil microbial community and mycorrhizae. In the pot experiments, addition of uncomposted wool- or hair-waste to soil increased yields from pot marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) and valerian (Valeriana officinalis L.). In the field experiment, wool-waste was added to purple foxglove (Digitalis purpurea L.) at rates of 0,15.8, and 31.7 t ha -1 . Wool additions to soil increased foxglove yields over the next two seasons by 1.7 to 3.5 times relative to the control. Overall, addition of wool- or hair-waste to soil increased NH 4 -N and NO 3 -N in soil, increased total N (and protein) concentration in plant tissue, and stimulated soil microbial biomass. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) analyses indicated that some of wool and hair in soil from the pot and field experiments, after two seasons and several harvests, retained their original structure, a significant concentration of S, some N, and were not fully decomposed. High rates of wool addition to soil in field experiments resulted in shifts in the microbial community composition, while a low rate of wool-waste addition did not affect the microbial community relative to the unamended control. Our results suggest that the addition of uncomposted wool-waste or hair-waste of only 0.33% by weight to soil would support at least 2 to 3 harvests of crops, without the addition of other fertilizers. Uncomposted wool and hair-wastes can be used as a nutrient source for high-value crops.


A detailed study on yellow conical emission observed in dense sodium vapor following near-resonant one-photon excitation of the Na 42P levels was performed. The origins of conical emission are suggested to be due to Raman resonant four-wave parametric mixing processes. In order to describe spectral and spatial features of off-axis emission, we introduce self-phase modulation and induced-phase modulation as important additional nonlinear processes, explaining the nonmonotonic detuning of the wavelength of the conical radiation with the exiting laser wavelength in the vicinity of resonance transitions. The spatial evolution of emission generated via four-wave mixing is modeled by solving the two-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger equation describing the spatial evolution of light beams in a nonlinear media. Experimental and theoretical results are presented and discussed.


Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy affecting 6–12% of the population. There are various risk factors for the development of preeclampsia, ranging from advanced maternal age to genetics. The proposed etiologies for preeclampsia are abnormal placentation, immunological intolerance, endothelial damage, and genetic inheritance. The pathogenesis includes endothelial activation and dysfunction leading to vasospasm. Preeclampsia is divided into two stages: asymptomatic and symptomatic stages. Preeclampsia causes multiple organ involvement, namely central nervous system, respiratory, cardiovascular, hematological dysfunction, HELLP (hemolysis elevated liver enzymes, low platelets) syndrome, endocrine, renal, hepatic, and uteroplacental dysfunction. These organ dysfunctions increase morbidity and mortality in preeclamptic pregnant patients.


We develop estimates of the economic effects of climate change-induced sea level rise on recreation at seventeen southern North Carolina beaches. We estimate the relationship between recreation behavior and beach width and simulate the effects of sea level rise on recreation site choice and trip frequency. We find that reductions in beach width due to increased erosion from sea-level rise negatively affect the number and value of beach recreation trips. For beach goers who only take day trips, we estimate that four percent of recreation value is lost in 2030 and 11 percent is lost in 2080. For those who take both day and overnight trips, 16 percent and 34 percent of recreation value is lost in 2030 and 2080, respectively. The present value of the lost recreation value through 2080 assuming no increase in population or income is $9 billion, $4 billion and $722 million with 0 percent, 2 percent and 7 percent discount rates. With expected increases in population and income the present value of the lost recreation value is $29 billion, $11 billion and $2 billion with 0 percent, 2 percent and 7 percent discount rates. Key Words: coastal recreation, travel cost method, climate change, sea level rise


. Failure of masonry structures during earthquakes often occurs via specific, well-documented collapse mechanisms, many of which involve partial collapse of the structure well above ground level. Consequently, the elastic response of the structure needs to be considered, which in the case of historic structures such as bell towers and churches often requires modal analysis using finite element models - the generation of which can be labour-intensive and time-consuming. This paper presents a new integrated modeling approach which combines finite element analysis with rocking dynamics in order to model the seismic response of complex structural geometries in a computationally-efficient manner. The modeling strategy is implemented within COMPAS - an open-source computational framework that provides geometry processing independent of CAD software, and is incorporated within the broader framework of a tool being developed for the seismic collapse assessment of masonry structures. The framework of this new tool is first outlined, and the utility of the new modeling approach then demonstrated through application to the seismic assessment of a historic masonry tower in North-Eastern Italy. The analysis results indicate that for the level of seismic hazard expected on site, failure of the tower is most likely to occur via overturning collapse of one of the rampart elements. The importance of accounting for elastic amplification effects, as well as the influence of varying boundary conditions on the dynamic response, is also


Although acetylcholine (ACh) is classically thought of as a neurotransmitter in mammalian species, lymphocytes possess most of the components needed to constitute an independent non-neuronal cholinergic system. These include ACh itself, choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), highaffinity choline transporter, acetylcholinesterase, and both muscarinic and nicotinic ACh receptors (mAChRs and nAChRs, respectively). Activation of mAChRs and nAChRs on lymphocytes elicits increases in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration and stimulates c-fos gene expression and nitric oxide synthesis. Which subpopulations of T lymphocytes are the source of blood ACh is not yet known, though expression of ChATmRNA was observed in human peripheral CD4+ (helper) but not in CD8+ (cytotoxic) T cells. Stimulation of lymphocytes with phytohemagglutinin, a T-cell activator, or with monoclonal antibodies that bind the CD7 and/or CD11a cell surface molecules activates lymphocytic cholinergic activity, as evidenced by increased synthesis and release of ACh and up-regulation of expression of ChATand M5 mAChR mRNA. Abnormalities in the lymphocytic cholinergic system have been detected in spontaneously hypertensive rats and MRL-lpr mice, two animal models of immune disorders. Taken together, these data present a compelling picture in which immune function is, at least in part, under the control of an independent non-neuronal lymphocytic cholinergic system.


How do dispersal policies affect labour market integration of refugee immigrants subjected to such policy? To investigate this, we estimate the effects of location characteristics and the average effect of geographical mobility on the hazard rate into first job of refugee immigrants subjected to the Danish Dispersal Policy 1986-1998. We correct for selection into relocation to another municipality by joint estimation of the duration of the first non-employment spell and time until relocation. The main estimation results are as follows: First, the hazard rate into first job is increasing in the concentration of fellow countrymen and decreasing in the regional unemployment rate, the size of the local population and the percentage of immigrants in the local population. The two latter findings support dispersal policies. The two former findings emphasize that refugees should be dispersed in big clusters of refugees of the same ethnic origin across regions with low unemployment. Second, on average, geographical mobility had large, positive effects on the job finding rate, suggesting that either relocations were carried out to improve employment prospects, or they were carried out to improve place utility and thereby lower the reservation wage. Hence, restrictions on placed refugees' subsequent migration (or on their initial choice of location) would hamper labour market integration.


What form should a counter-narrative to al-Qaeda's single narrative take? Its claim "Islam is under attack" successfully integrates multiple Muslim grievances into one meta-narrative. It has found credibility beyond an extremist fringe of Muslim societies and has been far more successful and attractive than any counter narrative that has been devised so far by Western counter-terrorist strategists. The question if al-Qaeda's meta-narrative merely creates an external scapegoat for problems that are to a great extent internal to Arab and Muslim societies should be the subject of an intensive, if not heated discussion within the counter-narrative debate.


The Military and the Press: An Uneasy Truce. Michael S. Sweeney. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2006. 302 pp. $24.95 pbk. Historically, military leaders and journalists have had a tense relationship at best. After describing the dichotomy between the military's desire to keep information from the enemy and journalists' efforts to disseminate information, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower reportedly told a reporter that military leaders and journalists have a joint responsibility to reconcile those divergent goals. As his book's title suggests, Michael Sweeney examines the history of this uneasy relationship, pointing out failures and successes in the efforts of both sides. This book is the latest dealing with the history of war coverage and censorship for Sweeney, who is chair of the Department of Journalism and Communication at Utah State University. His previous works detailed war correspondents' front-line experiences and the workings of the Office of Censorship during World War II. The Military and the Press focuses on press portrayals of America's wars and the interaction of those portrayals with public opinion; the relationship between the military, press, and government; and what the American media should do in modern warfare. The press coverage of twentieth-century wars receives the most attention, although the first chapter traces the history of war coverage beginning with the Mexican-American war in 1846, the first war covered extensively by professional war correspondents. Sweeney also examines the relationship between the First Amendment and war coverage. Sweeney's book describes the adventures and accomplishments of such early press luminaries as photographer Matthew Brady and correspondent Richard Harding Davis. The book also deals extensively with varying coverage restrictions imposed by the military during different wars. Sweeney also provides an extensive discussion of the propaganda and censorship work of the British, French, and Germans early in World War I, as well as the efforts of the Creel Commission following U.S. entry into the war. In later chapters, he compares these heavy-handed tactics during World War I with the less oppressive actions taken during World War II. In two chapters, The Military and the Press recounts the relative cooperation between the media and the military during World War II. Sweeney describes how the U.S. government separated war information from censorship and secured voluntary cooperation for censorship efforts from domestic media outlets. At the front, military commanders had broad authority to censor information. Sweeney discusses how commanders censored some information but generally tried to help correspondents cover war action. For their part, journalists voluntarily withheld some information and generally supported the war effort. …


From 1980-2012, 81 persons fatally drowned in New Zealand while attempting to rescue others. Of these, most (80%) were male, and all rescue fatalities occurred in open waters. Festivalgoers (N = 415) attending a cultural event in Auckland, New Zealand took part in a water safety survey that included information on their readiness to respond in a drowning emergency. Many indicated they would jump in and rescue a victim (47%), while less than one third (30%) would get flotation to the victim. Significantly more males responded that they would jump in and attempt a rescue (males 55%, females 40%). Most (62%) estimated that they could only swim less than 100 m; 85% reported having swum that distance in a swimming pool rather than in open water where most rescues take place; and one half (50%) had last swum the distance more than one year ago. Ways of promoting safe rescue knowledge are discussed and further research directions are identified. Language: en


: Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) system refers to the radio signals which are modulated with optical signal and transmitted over optical fiber link from Central Office (CO) to the Remote Nodes (RN s ). In this paper, RoF system with Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) and Subcarrier Multiplexing (SCM) techniques, has been designed and simulated with different modulation schemes (such as: 4-QAM-OFDM, 16-QAM-OFDM and 64-QAM-OFDM schemes) to increase the capacity of the system by 20×8 Gbps data rate. The simulation results show that the SCM-WDM-RoF with 16-QAM-OFDM scheme gives better performance with symbol error rate (SER) equal to 10 -9 , and reduces the power consumption compared with SCM-WDM-RoF system with other modulation schemes which have been used in this work. The software package "Optisystem version 12" has been used to simulate this system


In a disorienting world where many non-Americans (and Americans) no longer recognize or identify with the United States, Peter J. Spiro's "Beyond Citizenship: American Identity After Globalization" intervenes with a timely and provocative discussion of the issues, problems, and dilemmas that accompany twenty-first century American identity, and its articulation in U.S. citizenship law. In 163 pages of learned but accessible text, Spiro's rich and erudite work describes the history and future trajectory of key aspects of U.S. citizenship law, American national identity, and their interaction. Spiro's work is particularly interested in giving a descriptive account of citizenship law's contributions to the "eroding foundation of the national community." And while most of the broad themes that Spiro engages with in his book are intriguing, he makes a number of particular arguments in his work concerning the similarities between religious and national community that are especially provocative.As I argue in this Review, however, Spiro's arguments about religious and national communities' shared need to exclude outsiders and also insist upon internal conformity in order to become "meaningful" communities are often quite simplistic. This is especially so where Spiro premises his arguments on unsupportable generalizations about religion writ large, and under-theorizes the foundational ideas of "community" and "meaningfulness." In fact, Spiro ultimately undermines his ambitious and thought-provoking arguments connecting religious and national communities by relying on narrow and inaccurate accounts of what counts as a real or meaningful "religion" or "nation" in the first place. Ultimately, these problems undermine his overarching account concerning American community, including his account of how an over-inclusive U.S. citizenship regime has seriously diluted American national identity.


The present studies have been taken up to throw fresh light on many problems of the political history of Magadha during the period under review. Many of these problems have been solved and better alternatives to some of the suggested solutions have been offered. The introduction contains a review of the work previously done by scholars, a discussion on the impact of geography and economics on the political history from the earliest times to the death of Kumara-gupta 1. In the first chapter it has been shown that Kumara-gupta 1 was succeded by Puru-gupta and not by Skanda-gupta as generally held. Kumara-gupta of the Samatha inscription is different from the Kumara-gupta of the Bhitari Seal. The second chapter deals with the reign of Skanda-gupta and Kumara-gupta 11, and the third chapter is devoted to Budha-gupta who has been shown to be the last great Gupta emperor and the coins of Prakas' Aditya have been assigned to him; The fourth chapter deals with the break-up of the empire under the successors of Buddha-gupta and, Valnya-gupta, Prakatiditya and Bhanu gupta have been placed in proper sequence.The fifth chaptter proves that the original home of the 'later Guptas' was somewhere in Magadha, not in Malwa. The sixth is concerned with the rule of the later Guptas' before the conquest of Magadha by the Maukharis. Magadha under the Maukharis, is dealt with in the seventh chapter and under Jayanaga and S'aa'Snka is discussed in the eighth Purnavarman and Harsa take up the nihth chapter.The tenth is devoted to the 'later guptas' said it is made clear that the kingdom of Adityasena and Devagupta was much more extensive than ordinarily believed. In the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth chapters, which deal with the rise of the Palas and the rule of Dharmapala and -Devapala. many fresh solutions have been offered as regards the genealogy and chronology of the period. the fourteenth deals with the disruption of the empire after the Death of Devapaila and the fifteenth gives an account of the x restoration of the empire under Mahipaila 1.


1. The air speeds and sinking speeds of birds gliding at equilibrium fall in a performance area when these quantities are plotted against one another. Three curves bound the performance area: (i) a curve for minimum sinking speed at each air speed, (ii) a curve for maximum sinking speed at each air speed, and (iii) a curve dependent on the maximum lift coefficient of the wings. I have discussed curve i in a previous paper. This paper discusses the theory of curves ii and iii, which describe rapid descent in gliding birds. 2. I used an optical tracking device (an ornithodolite) to measure air speeds and sinking speeds of 16 African white-backed vultures (Gyps africanus Salvadori) descending rapidly from altitudes 200-500 m above the ground. The ornithodolite measured the polar coordinates of a bird's position in space (relative to the ground) and recorded them on magnetic tape. 3. The vultures had air speeds between 5-4 and 39-lms", and sinking speeds between 0-2 and 8-3ms". Most of the observations fell within the theoretical boundaries of the performance area. 4. These data are consistent with a maximum lift coefficient of 2-2 for the wings of white-backed vultures.


Following the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act ban on their manufacture, PCBs remain an environmental threat. PCBs are known to bio-accumulate and concentrate in fatty tissues. Further complications arise from the potential for contamination of commercial mixtures with other more toxic chlorinated compounds such as polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs). Until recently, only one option was available for the treatment of PCB-contaminated materials: incineration. This may prove to be more detrimental to the environment than the PCBs themselves due to the potential for formation of PCDDs. Metals have been used for the past ten years for the remediation of halogenated solvents and other contaminants in the environment; however, zero-valent metals alone do not possess the activity required to dehalogenate PCBs. Palladium has been shown to act as an excellent catalyst for the dechlorination of PCBs with active metals. This invention is a method for the production of a palladium/magnesium bimetal capable of dechlorinating PCBs using mechanical milling/mechanical alloying. Other base metals and catalysts may also be alloyed together (e.g., nickel or zinc) to create a similarly functioning catalyst system. Several bimetal catalyst systems currently can be used for processes such as hydrogen peroxide synthesis, oxidation of ethane, selective oxidation, hydrogenation, and production of syngas for further conversion to clean fuels. The processes for making these bimetal catalysts often involve vapor deposition. This technology provides an alternative to vapor deposition that may provide equally active catalysts. A hydrogenation catalyst including a base material coated with a catalytic metal is made using mechanical milling techniques. The hydrogenation catalysts are used as an excellent catalyst for the dehalogenation of contaminated compounds and the remediation of other industrial compounds. The mechanical milling technique is simpler and cheaper than previously used methods for producing hydrogenation catalysts. Preferably, the hydrogenation catalyst is a bimetallic particle formed from a zero-valent iron or zero-valent magnesium particle coated with palladium that is impregnated onto a high-surface-area graphite support. The zero-valent metal particles should be microscale or nanoscale zero-valent magnesium or zero-valent iron particles. Other zero-valent metal particles and combinations may be used. Additionally, the base material may be selected from a variety of minerals including, but not limited to, alumina and zeolites. The catalytic metal is preferably selected from the group consisting of noble metals and transition metals, preferably palladium. The mechanical milling process includes milling the base material with a catalytic metal impregnated into a high-surface-area support to form the hydrogenation catalyst. In a preferred mechanical milling process, a zero-valent metal particle is provided as the base material, preferably having a particle size of less than about 10 microns, preferably 0.1 to 10 microns or smaller, prior to milling. The catalytic metal is supported on a conductive carbon support structure prior to milling. For example, palladium may be impregnated on a graphite support. Other support structures such as semiconductive metal oxides may also be used.


Atmospheric climate models are subjected to the observed sea ice conditions during 2007 to estimate the regionality, seasonality, and vertical pattern of temperature responses to recent Arctic sea ice loss. It is shown that anomalous sea ice conditions accounted for virtually all of the estimated Arctic amplification in surface‐based warming over the Arctic Ocean, and furthermore they accounted for a large fraction of Arctic amplification occurring over the high‐latitude land between 60°N and the Arctic Ocean. Sea ice loss did not appreciably contribute to observed 2007 land temperature warmth equatorward of 60°N. Likewise, the observed warming of the free atmosphere attributable to sea ice loss is confined to Arctic latitudes, and is vertically confined to the lowest 1000 m. The results further highlight a strong seasonality of the temperature response to the 2007 sea ice loss. A weak signal of Arctic amplification in surface based warming is found during boreal summer, whereas a dramatically stronger signal is shown to develop during early autumn that persisted through December even as sea ice coverage approached its climatological values in response to the polar night.


CyberAnarchism, WikiLeaks and Computer Warfare: The Unprecedented Dangers Associated with Information Technology Today Daniel Domscheit-Berg has written a book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website that deserves a review in itself. Readers become acquainted with the highly organized and yet free-wheeling world community of "computer hackers," a community motivated by what might best be described as "CyberAnarchism." Most especially, Domscheit-Berg tells the story of WikiLeaks and his long involvement with it as its number-two man. As most everyone knows, WikiLeaks has made itself the platform for the electronic publication of vast numbers of confidential or secret documents sent to it from undisclosed sources. The story of the hacker community, and of WikiLeaks as a part of it, is worth knowing in itself, but additional facts tell us that that is just part of a much larger phenomenon, one that regrettably is even more chilling than the threat of nuclear warfare that has hung over the world since 1945. The exploration of that larger aspect is why this is expanded beyond a discussion of Domscheit-Berg's book into an article of much broader scope. Key Words: CyberAnarchism, WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, Chaos Computer Club, computer hackers, cyber-war, cyber security, botnets, computer exploits, computer rootkits, U.S. Cyber Command. Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website Daniel Domscheit-Berg Crown Publishers, 2011 Daniel Domscheit-Berg's recent book Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website (Crown Publishers, 2011) opens a window into the world hacker community and the activities of WikiLeaks itself. To discuss those things in isolation, however, even though they are important, would be to ignore the much broader prospects of computer mayhem that go so far as to raise the distinct possibility of computer warfare, conducted by governments, groups or even individuals, that could shut down entire societies, with all of the implications that would carry. Those implications pose dangers that far exceed the destructive power of any weapons, including the nuclear, that have existed before, both because of the extent of harm they can produce and because the "mutually assured destruction" deterrent isn't for the most part available or efficacious to checkmate the actions of such enemies, who often are anonymous and untraceable. Accordingly, we will review the Domscheit-Berg book and follow it with information about that broader threat. Domscheit-Berg was the number two man, second only to founder Julian Assange, in WikiLeaks from December 2007 until his withdrawal in September 2010 after the two of them had a falling out. WikiLeaks, as most everyone assuredly knows, has since 2007 made itself the platform for the electronic publication of hundreds of thousands of confidential or secret documents sent to it from sources unknown even to itself. These have included, among many others, 391,812 United States military files from the Iraq War; 250,000 communiques, 15,652 of which were classified as secret, between the U.S. State Department and one or more of its 274 embassies; documents purporting to show the corruption of insiders within Iceland's largest bank; 10,000 pages of secret contracts between the German government and various firms; Sarah Palin's e-mail account (which Domscheit-Berg summarizes as "hardly scandalous"); and half a million text messages that were sent in connection with the events of 9/11/2001. Though many were massive collections, some of the items published were even so small as fraternities' secret ritual handbooks. All of these items were presumed by WikiLeaks to be authentic, subject to occasional later confirmation when an organization would acknowledge that the items were genuine. One would think from all this that WikiLeaks was an organization of substantial size, with a major staff and rare expertise. …


In this article authors analyse natural and cultural landscapes for scientific tourism. Central Yakutia with the unique permafrost landscapes is a rich and large territory of sites of interest for the development of "scientific tourism" for explorers, researchers or eco-natural-tourists. There are three types of scientific tourism relevant for Central Yakutia: the aim of which is scientific research; the aim of which is practical training and education of students of educational institutions; the aim of which is introducing the history of scientific research, unique natural resources, historical and cultural heritage to a wide range of people. The objects of interest of scientific tourism – landscapes of Khangalassky region – are classified according the selected types of scientific tourism using methods of secondary sources analysis and field research. The study showed that scientific tourism on the territory of Central Yakutia is quite feasible and has great prospects due to the unique landscapes. It can also give impetus for the new scientific discoveries. In one of these new areas the research is being conducted within the framework of the project RSF 15-18-20047, which justifies the application of the concept of identifying the ontological characteristics of the landscapes with the use of linguistic and mental representation of it. The determination and description of cultural landscapes, collection of field materials and mapping of the cultural and landscape zoning of Khangalassky region was funded by the RSF.


A survey of Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) strains isolated from Spanish citrus orchards has been performed, and the strains were tested for insecticidal activity against the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann), a key citrus pest in Spain. From a total of 150 environmental samples, 376 isolates were selected, recording a total B. thuringiensis index of 0.52. The collection was characterized by means of phase-contrast microscopy, SDS-PAGE, and PCR analysis with primer pairs detecting toxin genes cry1, cry2, cry3, cry4, cry5, cry7, cry8, cry9, cry10, cry11, cry12, cry14, cry17, cry19, cry21, cry27, cry39, cry44, cyt1, and cyt2. Diverse crystal inclusion morphologies were identified: bipyramidal (45%), round (40%), adhered to the spore (7%), small (5%), and irregular (3%). SDSPAGE of spore-crystal preparations revealed 39 different electrophoresis patterns. All primer pairs used in PCR tests gave positive amplifications in strains of our collection, except for primers for detection of cry3, cry19, cry39, or cry44 genes. Strains containing cry1, cry2, cry4, and cry27 genes were the most abundant (48.7%, 46%, 11.2%, and 8.2% of the strains, respectively). Ten different genetic profiles were found, although a total of 109 strains did not amplify with the set of primers used. Screening for toxicity against C. capitata adults was performed using both spore-crystal and soluble fractions. Mortality levels were less than 30%. We have developed a large and diverse B. thuringiensis strain collection with huge potential to control several agricultural pests; however, further research is needed to find out Bt strains active against C. capitata.


Here we summarized the nanoscale layered transition metal chalcogenide superconductors, mainly based on the experimental results. In transition-metal chalcogenides the interplay between strong electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions produces a wide variety of instability ranging from charge density wave to superconducting state. The majority of bulk transition-metal dichalcogenides' T c s are normally between 2 and 4 K. At present, superconducting transition-metal chalcogenides generally show low transition temperature (T c < 10 K). Fe based transition-metal chalcogenides have certain higher T c (in the range of 10 ~ 50 K). As have been reported, nano-transition-metal chalcogenides may be one of the routes to improve the superconducting transition temperature. In this review, we would like to give a brief introduction of superconductor development and crystal structure of transition-metal chalcogenides. Furthermore, we will describe major synthesis and physical properties of nano-transition-metal chalcogenides. Finally, recent status and outlook of superconductor based on nano-transition-metal chalcogenides are discussed. Copyright © VBRI Press.


Using Epstein-Barr virus B cell clones and antigen-specific T cell clones, we asked how antigen-antibody complexes are handled by B cells. We found that the only B cells capable of efficient presentation of antigen-antibody complexes are those that bind the complexes via membrane immunoglobulin, i.e., rheumatoid factor-producing B cells and, to a lower extent, antigen-specific B cells. On the contrary, nonspecific B cells, although capable of binding antigen-antibody complexes, fail to present them to T cells. Thus, rheumatoid factor B cells can present any antigen in the context of an immune complex and be triggered by T cells specific for a variety of foreign antigens. These results demonstrate a mechanism of intermolecular help that may be responsible for the production of rheumatoid factor and possibly of other types of autoantibodies.


Recent development of large-scale question answering (QA) datasets triggered a substantial amount of research into end-to-end neural architectures for QA. Increasingly complex systems have been conceived without comparison to simpler neural baseline systems that would justify their complexity. In this work, we propose a simple heuristic that guides the development of neural baseline systems for the extractive QA task. We find that there are two ingredients necessary for building a high-performing neural QA system: first, the awareness of question words while processing the context and second, a composition function that goes beyond simple bag-of-words modeling, such as recurrent neural networks. Our results show that FastQA, a system that meets these two requirements, can achieve very competitive performance compared with existing models. We argue that this surprising finding puts results of previous systems and the complexity of recent QA datasets into perspective.


Multilevel space-time trellis codes with multiple inputs and multiple outputs under the presence of the Hoyt fading in the communication channel are illustrated. The spectral efficiency shoots higher substantially if a code is spread out at more than one level, due to the fact that bandwidth used to transmit more symbols is same as that used to transmit less symbols in case of a single level system. Complexity of decoding a system with more than one level increases but using a multistage decoder it can be dealt with. The resultant system with multiple levels of coding and multiple stages of decoding maintains the balance between spectral efficiency and decoding complexity with desirable error performance.


African American adolescents have historically been considered at low risk for substance use relative to the White adolescent majority based on national prevalence estimates. However, during the last decade, African American adolescents' rates of marijuana use—alone and in combination with other substances—have increased disproportionately relative to those of their White peers. Given the strong relationship between marijuana use and other substance use and the functional consequences associated with concurrent substance use during adolescence, the increase in marijuana use among African American youth may contribute to increased substance-related health disparities across the lifespan. Thus, the current study examined daily associations between marijuana use and other substance use among African American adolescents relative to their White peers. It also examined whether those associations differentially predicted behavioral health consequences among African American adolescents. Participants (N = 35; 42.9% African American) were adolescents age 14-18 who reported past 30-day use of marijuana, alcohol, and/or tobacco products. Respondents completed daily diaries reporting their substance use for 14 consecutive days, followed by self-report measures of internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and substance use problems. Multilevel regression and structural equation models were used to account for the nesting of days within individuals. Participants completed 458 diaries for a completion rate of 93.5%. African American respondents reported greater daily- and individual-level rates of marijuana use and concurrent substance use than White respondents. However, in multilevel models controlling for demographics, marijuana use was not related to concurrent use of alcohol and/or tobacco use and this relationship did not vary by race. Racial differences in the relationship between concurrent substance use and behavioral health consequences were observed such that the relationship was positive among White youth but not African American youth. Findings suggest that African American youth are at high risk for engagement in problematic patterns of substance use but that daily diary methods may not be most appropriate for illuminating these patterns. Despite these unexpected results, disparities in substance-related consequences among African Americans adults persist. Future research should examine long-term rather than proximal consequences of concurrent substance use among African American adolescents.


An Epidemiological Update on COVID-19 brings recent findings about the pandemic to the forefront. The reference is a compilation of eleven chapters contributed by expert scholars in epidemiology and medicine that cover topics of interest to anyone interested in COVID-19 monitoring and response measures. The topics also indicate some clinical areas of interest to COVID-19 researchers that have received attention due to the pandemic. It covers basic knowledge about respiratory conditions associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 epidemiology. These topics are complemented with chapters detailing the symptoms and biochemical mechanisms of novel coronavirus infections intended for readers with an advanced level of understanding of life sciences and medicine. Special topics such as the immune response to Sars-CoV-2, and, recombinant drugs for COVID-19, are also covered in this book. Each chapter is organized in a reader-friendly format and includes a list of references.


The Earth's magnetic field underwent hundreds of reversals during its history.
But within a ~40 Myr span (84-125 Ma) during the Cretaceous no reversal happened. For comparison, the second longest chron length during the last 167 Ma is ~5 Myr. Thus, the ~40 Myr long chron is known as a superchron and is called Cretaceous Normal Superchron (CNS). Two other superchrons are now established: the Permian-Carboniferous Reversed Superchron and the Ordovician Reversed Superchron.

Why do these superchrons exist? Are they an extreme chron duration of the same statistical distribution?
Or, do superchrons reflect a distinct dynamo regime separate from an oft-reversing regime. Are the onset and end of superchrons triggered by changes in the physical conditions of outer core convection?
For example, instabilities within the convection in the outer core are suspected to trigger reversals. A `low energy' geodynamo during the superchron could stem from less turbulent convection. But also the concept of a `high energy' geodynamo during a superchron is conceivable: stronger convection would stabilize the field and increase the field intensity.
These different dynamo regimes could be be triggered by changing the temperature conditions at the core mantle boundary (CMB), for example with the eruption of deep mantle plumes or the descent of cold material such as subducted slabs.

Insights into past geodynamo regimes can be learned primarily from two paleomagnetic methods: paleosecular variation (variation in field directions) and paleointensity.
For the former, we collected 534 samples for a paleosecular variation study from a 1400 m-long, paleontologically well-described section in northern Peru. Thermal demagnetization isolates stable magnetization directions carried by greigite. Arguments are equivocal whether this remanence is syn-diagenetic, acquired during the Cretaceous normal superchron, or a secondary overprint, acquired during a chron of solely normal polarity in the upper Cenozoic, yet pre-Bruhnes (>800 kyr). We explore the ramifications on the S value, which quantifies paleosecular variation, that arises from directional analysis, sun compass correction, bedding correction, sampling frequency, outlying directions and different recording media. The sum of these affects can readily raise the S value by more than 20%. S values from northern Peru are indistinguishable from other S values for the Cretaceous normal superchron as well as those for the last 5 Ma. Summing over all the potential uncertainties, we come to the pessimistic conclusion that the S value is an unsuitable parameter to constrain geodynamo models. Alternatively, no statistical difference in paleosecular variation exists during much of the Cretaceous normal superchron and during the last 5 Ma.

Even though the S value might be unsuitable, we wanted to understand why the S value is latitude dependent. The origin of this latitude dependency is widely attributed to a combination of time-varying dipole and non-dipole components. The slope and magnitude of S are taken as a basis to understand the geomagnetic field and its evolution. Here we show that S stems from a mathematical aberration of the conversion from directions to poles, hence directional populations better quantify local estimates of paleosecular variation.
Of the various options, k is likely the best choice, and the uncertainty on k(N) was already worked out.

As we came to the pessimistic conclusion that the S value might not be the best parameter to quantify the `energy state' of the geodynamo during a superchron, we also carried out a paleointensity study on 128 samples from volcanic rocks in Northern Peru and Ecuador.
Oxidation of the remanence carriers was a problem. Only one site gave reliable results. Two methods of paleointensity determination were applied to these rocks.
The results of both methods agree quite well with each other and also with previous studies from other sites. Our results suggest that the field intensity towards the end of the superchron seems to quite similar to today's magnetic moment. Thus, it can be concluded that the `energy state' of the geodynamo was not substantially different during the Cretaceous Normal Superchron compared to reversing times.

Why do superchrons exist? One possible explanation is that paleomagnetism is not able to resolve different energy states of the geodynamo, neither with paleosecular variation nor with paleointensity. This was suggested by some dynamo simulations in which the heat flux across the core-mantle boundary was kept the same, but the resulting paleosecular variation, paleointensity and frequency of reversals differed a lot.
Another possible explanation is that a superchron is an intrinsic feature of the distribution of magnetic polarity chron lengths. Thus, no changes of the convection in the outer core are needed to trigger a superchron.


We develop a non-linear, quantitative macroeconomic model with heterogeneous monopolistic financial intermediaries, incomplete markets, default risk, endogenous bank entry, and aggregate uncertainty. The model generates a bank net worth distribution fluctuation problem analogous to the canonical Bewley-Huggett-Aiyagari-Imrohoglu environment. Our framework nests Gertler and Kiyotaki (2010) and the standard Real Business Cycle model as special cases. We present four general results. First, relative to the GK benchmark, banks' balance sheet-driven recessions can be significantly amplified, depending on the interaction of endogenous credit margins, the cyclicality of a precautionary lending motive and the (counter-) cyclicality of intermediaries' idiosyncratic risk. Second, equilibrium responses to aggregate exogenous shocks depend explicitly on the conditional distributions of bank net worth and leverage, which are endogenous time-varying objects. Aggregate shocks to banks' balance sheets that hit a concentrated and fragile banking distribution cause significantly larger recessions. A persistent consolidation in the U.S. banking sector that matches the one observed over 1980-2020 generates a large economic contraction and an increase in financial instability. Third, we document, and match, novel stylized facts on both the cross-section of credit margins and the cyclical properties of the first three moments of the cross-sectional distributions of financial intermediary assets, net worth, leverage, loan margins, and default risk. We find that shocks to capital quality and to leverage constraint tightness ("financial shocks'') can match fluctuations in the U.S. financial sector very well. Finally, we use the model to identify and characterize episodes of systemic banking crises. Such events are associated with large economic recessions, spikes in bank leverage, and large drops in the number of intermediaries.


The geographic reach and international integration of modern mathematics expanded dramatically in the wake of the Second World War. I examine the political and logistical achievement of intercontinental mathematics in this period by following the travels of Jose Luis Massera of Uruguay, Leopoldo Nachbin of Brazil, and Laurent Schwartz of France. The interlocking efforts of mathematicians and bureaucrats in universities, governments, philanthropies, and new postwar formations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to build mathematical institutions in Latin America operated with partial information, competing prerogatives, and costly exchanges of materials and personnel, each of which reflected the shifting economic and political constraints of the global Cold War. Drawing primarily on fellowship files and institutional archives, I situate these undertakings in the mechanics and ideals of twentieth-century scientific colonialism, development, and modernization. I explain how the seemingly nontechnical bases for such exchanges related to the specific mathematics being taught and researched by accounting for the particular success of Schwartz's theory of distributions in Latin America, which owed both to circumstantial coincidences and to a mixture of several of the theory's superficial, technical, and conceptual features. My analysis stresses the complex, ambivalent, but nonetheless consequential personal and institutional negotiations underwriting midcentury intercontinental mathematics while pointing to the importance of such phenomena for explaining the form and effects of the period's broader array of global scientific exchanges.


Harvesting of living resources involves conflicting objectives between profits, human consumption, population sustainability and ecological impacts. These trade-offs are often complex, as harvesting affects demography and productivity of wild populations immersed in rich ecological interactions, and consequences may extend to the evolutionary dimension. In a life-history model of a commercially harvested fish stock, the Northeast Arctic stock of Atlantic cod Gadus morhua, we show how fishing mortality and gear selectivity affect evolution of maturation age, population dynamics and fisheries yield. We focus on common management objectives, and show that taking more of the catch with gillnets that select for intermediate sizes has the potential to increase yield and reverse undesirable evolutionary effects that have taken place over the past century. We compare the high fishing pressure of past decades with the current management plan and alternative scenarios that maximize (1) food production, (2) product quality (size of individual fish in the catch), or (3) evolutionary reversal. Directing more of the catch towards individuals below or at maturation size improves sustainability and food production from fisheries while reversing evolutionary impacts. This demonstrates that evolutionarily enlightened management of size selectivity, based on existing gear types and technology, can reconcile seemingly conflicting management objectives.


Kuwait is a country with great potential for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) due to its high solar resource. The current work analyzes the potential of application of CSP technology in the country and its particularities. Specifically, the current work examines a CSP Plant with Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) technology and how this technology is affected in its performance depending on the location (inland or coastal) and the refrigeration system (wet, dry or seawater cooled). The modeling methodology is based on a two-step approach: first, the Rankine steam power cycle is modelled in detail in a state-of-the-art steady-state simulation environment, obtaining the performance of the power cycle for each cooling technology; second, the power cycle performance maps are integrated into a detailed transient system level simulation model of the complete CSP plant in order to perform annual yield simulations for the different representative locations of the Climate of Kuwait. These results provide valuable information on both the potential of this technology for its more immediate application such as electricity generation and other future applications such as the desalination of seawater where the location must necessarily be coastal.


Studies of auditory temporal processing in marine mammals have traditionally focused on the highly refined temporal resolution capabilities of dolphins and other odontocete cetaceans. However, a recent electrophysiological investigation of manatee (Trichechus manatus) hearing has shown their temporal resolution to be better than expected, leading to speculation that enhanced temporal processing capabilities are adaptive for underwater sound localization. This study measured evoked responses from several California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina), and a northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) to determine how well the auditory systems of these amphibious mammals resolve rhythmic stimuli. Trains of broadband clicks were presented in air at repetition rates from 125 to 1,500 s -1 , and the averaged evoked responses elicited by these stimuli were recorded from the skin. Rate-following responses were detected in the sea lions at rates up to 1,000 s -1 , with an estimated upper limit of temporal resolution between 875 to 1,000 s -1 . This upper limit is better than previously anticipated and was further substantiated by limited testing with the harbor seal and northern elephant seal. While these findings might support an underwater sound localization hypothesis, measurements comparable to those of the pinnipeds were also obtained in a phylogenetically similar terrestrial mammal: a domestic dog (Canis familiaris). It is therefore possible that increased temporal resolution in pinnipeds and other nonecholocating marine mammals is not a result of the evolutionary pressure of an aquatic environment.


The dynamics of the drainage network within a small catchment, are studied in detail. Variations in the network are related both to transient characteristics of the catchment, including precipitation, soil moisture content and discharge, and to more permanent characteristics including vegetation and rock type.


During the past 15 years, researchers have documented the pervasiveness, severity, and lasting impact of dating violence on American adolescents. Studies also have shown teens to be firmly resistant to disclosing abuse to adults. Nonetheless, civil protection orders - the civil legal remedy most commonly relied upon to redress intimate partner violence in adult relationships - often remain inaccessible to abused teens. State protection order statutes exclude teens from their protections by restricting rights to standing by age and the relationship between the parties. When states grant teens standing, they often deter teens from pursuing the protections extended to them by restricting teens' legal capacity and requiring them to enlist adults to seek protections on their behalf, or by notifying parents that teens have initiated cases on their own. Furthermore, despite the widespread recognition of the problem of teen dating violence today, many protection order statutes say nothing at all about whether and under what circumstances minors are accorded standing to seek their protections and the legal capacity to represent their own interests in related proceedings. Where children's rights are left undefined, they are often presumed not to exist. Thus, many protection order statutes that appear to offer protections without regard to age exclude teens in practice by failing to articulate the extent and scope of teens' rights.This article explores the failure of civil protection order statutes to offer effective protections for teens who experience abuse. It first discusses the problem of teen dating violence and the singularity of the civil protection order remedy. It then analyzes the extent to which the civil protection order statutes in the fifty states and the District of Columbia facilitate and limit teens' access to protection orders through provisions on (1) standing, (2) legal capacity, and (3) parent notification. The article proposes legal reforms to increase legal protections for abused teens by explicitly granting teens standing and legal capacity to seek protection orders independently, without parent notification. In the interim, many teens may be left without protection. To this end, the article examines how established legal principles support court extension of civil protection orders to teens pursuing relief on their own under ambiguous statutes.


Abstract The energy barrier for cis-to-trans isomerization is among the key parameters for photoswitchable molecules such as azobenzene. Recently, we introduced a well-defined model system based on thin films of crystalline, nanoporous metal-organic frameworks, MOFs. The system enables the precise investigation of the thermal cis-to-trans relaxation of virtually isolated azobenzene pendant groups by means of infrared spectroscopy in vacuum. Here, this approach is extended by using localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy. This simple and relatively inexpensive setup enables the investigation of the thermal cis-to-trans isomerization in different environments, here in argon gas or in liquid butanediol. The energy barrier for the cis-to-trans-relaxation in argon, 1.17±0.20eV, is identical to the barrier in vacuum, while the energy barrier in liquid butanediol is slightly larger, 1.26±0.15eV.


A great deal is now known about the effects of spatial attention within individual sensory modalities, especially for vision and audition. However, there has been little previous study of possible cross-modal links in attention. Here, we review recent findings from our own experiments on this topic, which reveal extensive spatial links between the modalities. An irrelevant but salient event presented within touch, audition, or vision, can attract covert spatial attention in the other modalities (with the one exception that visual events do not attract auditory attention when saccades are prevented). By shifting receptors in one modality relative to another, the spatial coordinates of these cross-modal interactions can be examined. For instance, when a hand is placed in a new position, stimulation of it now draws visual attention to a correspondingly different location, although some aspects of attention do not spatially remap in this way. Cross-modal links are also evident in voluntary shifts of attention. When a person strongly expects a target in one modality (e.g. audition) to appear in a particular location, their judgements improve at that location not only for the expected modality but also for other modalities (e.g. vision), even if events in the latter modality are somewhat more likely elsewhere. Finally, some of our experiments suggest that information from different sensory modalities may be integrated preattentively, to produce the multimodal internal spatial representations in which attention can be directed. Such preattentive cross-modal integration can, in some cases, produce helpful illusions that increase the efficiency of selective attention in complex scenes.


This report builds on the emerging body of literature seeking to identify quantitative connections between clean energy policy and renewable energy. The methods presented test the relationships between a broad set of policies and clean energy resources (energy efficiency, biomass, geothermal, solar, and wind). Energy efficiency findings are an initial foray into this type of analysis and indicate significant connections between reduced energy use and buildings codes, energy efficiency resource standards (in some cases), and electricity price. Renewable energy findings specify that there is most often a relationship between state policies and solar and wind development, indicating that while policies might apply to a wide variety of renewable resources, further tailoring of policy specifics to resource needs may lead to increased development of a wider variety of renewable energy resources. Further research is needed to refine the connections between clean energy development and policy, especially in the area of the impact of the length of time that a policy has been in place.


Although te reo Māori is an official language of Aotearoa New Zealand, translation of research material such as information sheets, consent forms and questionnaires into te reo Māori remains highly variable. Translation tends to occur in research projects where Māori lead the work and that exclusively focus on Māori communities and topics. Translations are not offered or undertaken as a matter of course for all research. As a team of Māori and Indigenous researchers working within the health sector, we believe that there are important questions that need to be explored around the practice of using Indigenous languages, rich in similes and metaphors, to convey English/Western concepts/constructs/ideologies. In this paper, we draw on the story of one project to deconstruct and challenge the hegemonic terms through which translation of research material occurs. We explore the messages that translated material sends to potential research participants. We contend that the choice about whether to translate research material into te reo Māori is one that should be undertaken within a robust decision-making framework that considers the reasons for a translation and its impact on the participants. Translation should not be undertaken primarily to attract Māori participants, but should reliably signal that the research is being undertaken in a way that honours a Māori worldview.


Comprehensive globalization in engineering design and manufacturing in the last decades has led to fundamental new imperatives, as we consider how to effectively train and prepare our Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce to succeed in this diverse, multicultural, widely-distributed, multi-lingual research, design and production network. In order to take STEM internationalization to the next level, we must make internationalized tracks available as a regular, attractive option to all STEM majors; doing this efficiently will require developing a comprehensive, uniform approach to STEM internationalization at the institutional level. In this paper, we discuss our development of the Global Science and Engineering Program (GSEP), a broad internationalization initiative uniformly spanning all engineering, math, and natural science programs offered at Northern Arizona University. To help pave the way for others, we pay particular attention to critical GSEP design features and rationale.


Problem Statement and Background: Anxiety is prevalent and associated with high comorbidity and reduced quality of life. The efficacy of disseminable, inexpensive methods of anxiety management need to be studied. Such methods, including exercise (EX) and mindfulness practice (MP), have been shown to be effective compared to traditional treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or pharmaceuticals. However, there is limited work investigating these methods, or their combination, in an anxious population. Methods: Females (N = 970) were screened from the university population to identify those with high levels of anxiety (≥ 3 on GAD-2 screen). Fifty-six anxious females (M age = 19.3 yrs) were recruited to participate in one of four randomized 20-min conditions in a 2x2 design using acute bouts of mindfulness (MP) and/or exercise (EX). The conditions included: EX+MP; EX+distraction video (noMP); noEX+MP and noEX+noMP. The STAI-Y was used to measure state and trait anxiety. A 2x2 repeated measures ANOVA was used to test the effects of EX, MP, and their interaction on state anxiety at baseline, and immediately-, 5-, 10-, and 20 mins posttask. Follow-up ANCOVAs were used to test differences between groups at each time point, while controlling for baseline anxiety. Results: There were no evident interaction effects, but there were significant main effects of MP [F(2.73,142)=7.71, p<.05, partial ɳ=.13], EX [F(2.73,142)=5.03, p<.05, partial ɳ=.09], and time [F(2.73,142)=18.71, p<.05, partial ɳ=.27] on state anxiety. Follow-up ANCOVAs showed that the MP groups had significantly lower anxiety than the noMP groups immediately after the task [M=30.14, SD=7.05 vs. M=35.07, SD=9.77; F(1,53)=16.71, p<.001, partial ɳ=.24], and 5 min post-task [M=30.12, SD=7.55 vs. M=34.29, SD=9.94; F(1,53)=11.23, p=.001, partial ɳ=.18]. The EX groups had significantly higher anxiety (M=35.17, SD=9.58) than the noEX groups [M=29.65, SD = 6.86; F(1,53)=6.79, p<.05, partial ɳ=.11]. Conclusions: Overall, mindfulness practice had the greatest anxiolytic effect. Although there were reductions in state anxiety in the EX groups, the effects were notably stronger immediately post-task in those who did not exercise (noEX+MP and noEX+noMP). This was surprising given the previous research, but we did find that those who exercised and watched the video were significantly more anxious than those exercising who engaged in the mindfulness practice immediately and 5 minutes after exercise. Future studies should investigate exercise and mindfulness treatments over more variable timeframes, and at different intensities to further explicate the dynamics of these disseminable anxiety management strategies.


This paper is devoted to the mathematical and numerical analysis of a strongly coupled flow and transport system typically encountered in continuum-based models of sedimentation–consolidation processes. The model focuses on the steady-state regime of a solid–liquid suspension immersed in a viscous fluid within a permeable medium, and the governing equations consist in the Brinkman problem with variable viscosity, written in terms of Cauchy pseudo-stresses and bulk velocity of the mixture; coupled with a nonlinear advection — nonlinear diffusion equation describing the transport of the solids volume fraction. The variational formulation is based on an augmented mixed approach for the Brinkman problem and the usual primal weak form for the transport equation. Solvability of the coupled formulation is established by combining fixed point arguments, certain regularity assumptions, and some classical results concerning variational problems and Sobolev spaces. In turn, the resulting augmented mixed-primal Galerkin scheme employs Raviart–Thomas approximations of order k for the stress and piecewise continuous polynomials of order k + 1 for velocity and volume fraction, and its solvability is deduced by applying a fixed-point strategy as well. Then, suitable Strang-type inequalities are utilized to rigorously derive optimal error estimates in the natural norms. Finally, a few numerical tests illustrate the accuracy of the augmented mixed-primal finite element method, and the properties of the model.


The effects of white light illumination during the deposition of CdS thin films in a quasi-closed volume on the structural, photoelectrical and optical properties are investigated. The films were highly c-axis oriented with an increasing intensity of (002) reflection as the illumination increases. The room temperature resistivity values of the CdS films decreased in the range of 107-104???cm. The photosensitivity in the fundamental absorption region and the transparency in the transmission region considerably increased as the illumination increased. Under 100?mW?cm-2 insolation, the efficiencies of the CdS/CdTe solar cells based on CdS window materials which were deposited: (1) in the dark; and (2) under an illumination of 150?mW?cm-2; were found to be 1.8% and 7.3%, respectively.


Bovine seminal ribonuclease (BS RNase), a dimeric homolog of bovine pancreatic ribonuclease (RNase A), is known to display special biological activities namely cytotoxicity for human tumor cells. Because some plant ribonucleases have a similar mass weight and structure as the animal ribonuclease, effects of a commercial product of Mung bean (Phaseolus aureus) nuclease (PhA) were studied on proliferation of ML-2 human tumor cells, as well as it's aspermatogenic, embryotoxic, immunogenic, and immunosuppressive activity, and therapeutic efficiency in athymic mice bearing human melanoma tumor. Concerning the antiproliferative activity, PhA nuclease was almost non-effective in vitro on ML-2 cells and also immunosuppressive activity on human lymphocyte in mixed culture was very low compared to that of BS RNase. However, significant antitumor activity was detected on human melanoma tumor after intratumoral or intraperitoneal administration into the mice. Furthermore conjugate of PhA nuclease with polyethylene glycol (PEG) injected seven times at the dose of 10 microg intraperitoneally showed identical antitumor activity as that of bovine seminal ribonuclease (BS RNase) injected by the same way at ten times higher dose. Both PhA and BS RNases exerted strong aspermatogenic effect on the width of spermatogenic layers while RNase A administration at ten times higher concentration was ineffective. PhA nuclease when compared by means of antibody cross reaction with RNase A, BS RNase and wheat leaf neutral RNase (WLN-RNase) was found to be immunologically similar to RNase A and WLN-RNase, meanwhile BS RNase showed much higher antigenicity in comparison with them.


A review of bulk compositional changes in phenocryst minerals and rock fragments of volcanic origin in the volcanic sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age in Wyoming indicates that the cyclic sequence of volcanic eruptions in the Yellowstone-Absaroka Volcanic Field is reflected to some degree in the composition of volcanic sedimentary rocks of the basins. Rocks of late early Eocene age, upper Eocene age, early lower Oligocene age, middle Miocene age, and Pliocene age have consistent bulk compositions. This suggests that petrographic studies of volcanic sedimentary rocks may be useful in stratigraphic correlation.


This classic dictionary deals carefully and exhaustively with all the words which occur in Anglo-Saxon poetry and prose. Variant dialectic forms are given, together with variant forms found in the same dialect. Purely poetic words and words not common in prose are indicated, and references are given to the passages in which they occur. First published in 1894, this is a reprint of the fourth edition (Cambridge University Press, 1960).


The presence of Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) M.E. Barr was studied in six natural and planted stands of sweet chestnut in Serbia. The fungus was detected on the sweet chestnut in five localities and on the sessile oak in one locality. In total, 77 isolates from the sweet chestnut and five isolates from the sessile oak were obtained. Based on the culture morphology, all the obtained isolates were proven to be free from Cryphonectria (Saccardo) Saccardo & D. Saccardo hypovirus. The isolates of C. parasitica from the sweet chestnut were compatible with three different vegetative compatibility types, EU-12, EU-2, and EU-1, while the isolates from the sessile oak belonged to EU-12. After inoculation in laboratory conditions, the isolate from the sweet chestnut and sessile oak caused the decline in 88 and 76% of the sweet chestnut plants, respectively. In the case of the sessile oak, both isolates caused the decline in 52% of the plants. In field conditions, both isolates were aggressive to sessile oak trees after previous bark wounds and they were statistically significantly different compared to the control trees. The isolate from the sweet chestnut caused significantly larger cankers compared to both the isolate from the sessile oak and the control.


Lightning generated signals recorded at a low-latitude station, Suva (18.2° S, 178.3° E) Fiji, in the South Pacific region, during September 2003–July 2004, are used to study the propagation features and the reflection heights of tweek atmospherics in the waveguide formed by the Earth's surface and the lower ionosphere. Tweeks are observed only during the local night and the maximum harmonic ( n ) recorded is six. The occurrence of tweeks with higher n progressively decreases as n increases. The dispersed part of tweeks decreases as n increases. The attenuation factor has been calculated for tweeks with n =1–3. The ionospheric reflection heights obtained assuming the transverse magnetic mode of propagation for tweek signals vary from 83–92 km. A higher harmonic of the same tweek is reflected from about 2.0 km higher than the lower harmonic. For 90% of tweeks, propagation distances are estimated to be between 1000–5000 km. Tweeks with lower n propagate longer distances than the tweeks with higher n .