Objective In the Republic of Korea, nationwide government-supported Smoking Cessation Clinics have been operating in 253 public health centres since 2004, but the cost and effectiveness of the service have yet to be evaluated. Methods The cost of the service (staff salary, medication, education and promotion and overhead) was calculated from the Smoking Cessation Clinic's 2009 financial report. The number of service users, self-reported 4-week and 6-month quit rates and the proportion of nicotine replacement therapy users were collected from the service's performance monitoring data. Long-term quit rate and life-years saved by quitting were estimated and used in addition to monitoring data to evaluate the effectiveness of the service. Results A total of 354 554 smokers used the Smoking Cessation Clinics in 2009. The self-reported 4-week and 6-month quit rates were 78% and 40%, respectively. Estimated 1-year and 8-year quit rates were 28.1% and 12.9%, respectively. The cost of the service in 2009 was US$21 127 thousand. Cost per service user who set a quit date was US$60. Cost per service user who maintained cessation at 4 weeks, 6 months and 1 year was US$76, US$149 and US$212, respectively. When considering 8-year quit rates, the cost per life-year saved was estimated at US$128 in the base scenario and increased to US$230 in the worst-case scenario. Conclusion The nationwide government-supported public health centre-based Smoking Cessation Clinics provided highly cost-effective service at a level of 0.46% of the per capita gross domestic product.


The multiracial population is growing larger and so is popular awareness about multiracial or mixed-race identity. Simmering beneath the growing public recognition of multiracial identity are questions about the legitimacy of mixed race, multiracial, or biracial as social categories, and further questions about the ethics and politics of those identities. Behind some of these questions are worries about how multiracial identity interacts with racialized aesthetic standards. This essay addresses these issues by investigating whether those affirmations are racist and betray monoracial groups. This essay concludes that such affirmations are not necessarily racist or traitorous. Instead, they are consistent with modern expressions of individuality, and arise from self-assertions of personal authenticity and autonomy. All the same, these affirmations and assertions do risk participating in, and contributing to, racist aesthetic standards. The arguments presented in this essay are part of a broader project on mixed race and the ethics of identity.


If current trends of declining fertility rates and increasing abandonment of rural land as a result of urbanization continue, this will signal a globally significant transformation with important consequences for policy makers interested in conservation planning. This transformation is presently evident in a number of countries and projections suggest it may occur in the future in many developing countries. We use rates of population growth and urbanization to project population trends in rural areas for 25 example countries. Our projections indicate a general decline in population density that has either occurred already (e.g., Mexico) or may occur in the future if current trends continue (e.g., Uganda). Using both temperate and tropical examples we present evidence that this process will lead to ecological homogenization as a dominant habitat (e.g., forest replaces a mosaic of human-maintained landscapes), resulting in declines in biodiversity at the local scale. Building on this information, we consider research programs that need to be conducted so that policy makers are prepared to effectively manage depopulated rural areas.


The focus of this paper is on the determinants of the initial location decision of recent immigrants to Canada. Particular attention is given to the role of 'ethnic networks' in this location decision. The ethnic network the concentration of people in the same geographic area who are of similar ethnic background, culture and language can be an important source of financial or personal support, information and guidance, and social mores. Evidence is found that the presence of ethnic networks does have a significant effect on the location decisions of recent immigrants, but the magnitude of the effects depends on personal characteristics of the immigrant such as language and education. JEL Class jflcalion: Jil, J61, J68.


OBJECTIVES
To describe rates of scheduled and unscheduled readmissions among midlife and older patients with diabetes and to examine associated socioeconomic and clinical factors.

STUDY DESIGN
Population-based data set study.

METHODS
Using the 2006 California State Inpatient Dataset, we identified 124,967 patients 50 years or older with diabetes who were discharged from acute care hospitals between April and September 2006 and examined readmissions in the 3 months following their index hospitalizations.

RESULTS
About 26.3% of patients were readmitted within the 3-month period following their index hospitalizations, 87.2% of which were unscheduled readmissions. Patients with unscheduled readmissions were more likely to have a higher comorbidity burden, be members of racial/ethnic minority groups with public insurance, and live in lower-income neighborhoods. Having a history of hospitalization in the 3 months preceding the index hospitalization was also a strong predictor of unscheduled readmissions. Almost one-fifth of unscheduled readmissions (constituting approximately 27,500 inpatient days and costing almost $72.7 million) were potentially preventable based on definitions of Prevention Quality Indicators by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Scheduled readmissions were less likely to occur among patients 80 years or older, the uninsured, and those with an unscheduled index hospitalization.

CONCLUSIONS
The predictors of scheduled and unscheduled readmissions are different. Transition care to prevent unscheduled readmissions in acutely ill patients with diabetes may help reduce rates, improving care. Further studies are needed on potential disparities in scheduled readmissions.


Children have rights just like any other human being. Efforts in making sure their rights are protected have been extensively carried out all over the globe and development frameworks have been created to address the problems affecting them. This analysis evaluates and compares five development frameworks for children (three globally committed and two Philippine-devised). It aims to guide policymakers in crafting a more clear-cut design of policies and action plans to help effect their successful implementation/ execution. The frameworks are analyzed according to their goals and target beneficiaries, time frame, rationale, principles, general framework, program components, mechanisms, and indicators. Issues that demand attention, such as, consistency of their commitments, effective delegation of responsibilities, availability of measurable indicators, participatory governance, capacity to fulfill targets, and new services for children's needs, and immediate measures that can be undertaken are also discussed.


There is normally a simple choice made in the form of the covariance matrix to be used with continuous-density HMMs. Either a diagonal covariance matrix is used, with the underlying assumption that elements of the feature vector are independent, or a full or block-diagonal matrix is used, where all or some of the correlations are explicitly modeled. Unfortunately when using full or block-diagonal covariance matrices there tends to be a dramatic increase in the number of parameters per Gaussian component, limiting the number of components which may be robustly estimated. This paper introduces a new form of covariance matrix which allows a few "full" covariance matrices to be shared over many distributions, whilst each distribution maintains its own "diagonal" covariance matrix. In contrast to other schemes which have hypothesized a similar form, this technique fits within the standard maximum-likelihood criterion used for training HMMs. The new form of covariance matrix is evaluated on a large-vocabulary speech-recognition task. In initial experiments the performance of the standard system was achieved using approximately half the number of parameters. Moreover, a 10% reduction in word error rate compared to a standard system can be achieved with less than a 1% increase in the number of parameters and little increase in recognition time.


Is Android malware classification a solved problem? Published F1 scores of up to 0.99 appear to leave very little room for improvement. In this paper, we argue that results are commonly inflated due to two pervasive sources of experimental bias: "spatial bias" caused by distributions of training and testing data that are not representative of a real-world deployment; and "temporal bias" caused by incorrect time splits of training and testing sets, leading to impossible configurations. We propose a set of space and time constraints for experiment design that eliminates both sources of bias. We introduce a new metric that summarizes the expected robustness of a classifier in a real-world setting, and we present an algorithm to tune its performance. Finally, we demonstrate how this allows us to evaluate mitigation strategies for time decay such as active learning. We have implemented our solutions in TESSERACT, an open source evaluation framework for comparing malware classifiers in a realistic setting. We used TESSERACT to evaluate three Android malware classifiers from the literature on a dataset of 129K applications spanning over three years. Our evaluation confirms that earlier published results are biased, while also revealing counter-intuitive performance and showing that appropriate tuning can lead to significant improvements.


OBJECT
The authors evaluated the efficacy of posterior instrumentation for the management of spontaneous spinal infections. Standard surgical management of spontaneous spinal infection is based on debridement of the infected tissue. However, this can be very challenging as most of these patients are medically debilitated and the surgical debridement requires a more aggressive approach to the spine either anteriorly or via an expanded posterior approach. The authors present their results using an alternative treatment method of posterior-only neuro-decompression and stabilization without formal debridement of anterior tissue for treating spontaneous spinal infection.

METHODS
Fifteen consecutive patients were treated surgically by 2 of the authors. All patients had osteomyelitis and discitis and were treated postoperatively with intravenous antibiotics for at least 6 weeks. The indications for surgery were failed medical management, progressive deformity with ongoing persistent spinal infection, or neurological deficit. Patients with simple epidural abscess without bony instability were treated with laminectomy and were not included in this series. Fourteen patients were treated with posterior-only decompression and long-segment rigid fixation, without formal debridement of the infected area. One patient was treated with staged anterior and posterior surgery due to delay in treatment related to medical comorbidities. The authors examined as their outcome the ambulatory status and recurrence of deep infection requiring additional surgery or medical treatment.

RESULTS
Of the initial 15 patients, 10 (66%) had a minimum 2-year follow-up and 14 patients had at least 1 year of followup. There were no recurrent spinal infections. There were 3 unplanned reoperations (1 for loss of fixation, 1 for early superficial wound infection, and 1 for epidural hematoma). Nine (60%) of 15 patients were nonambulatory at presentation. At final followup, 8 of 15 patients were independently ambulatory, 6 required an assistive device, and 1 remained nonambulatory.

CONCLUSIONS
Long-segment fixation, without formal debridement, resulted in resolution of spinal infection in all cases and in significant neurological recovery in almost all cases. This surgical technique, when combined with aggressive antibiotic therapy and a multidisciplinary team approach, is an effective way of managing serious spinal infections in a challenging patient population.


Over the past few years, several exciting experiments in the cuprates have seen evidence of a transient superconducting state upon optical excitation polarized along the c-axis [R. Mankowsky et al., Nature 516, 71 (2014)]. The competition between d-form-factor order and superconductivity in these materials has been proposed as an important factor in the observed enhancement of superconductivity. Central to this effect is the structure of the bond-density-wave along the c-axis, in particular, the $c$-axis component of the ordering vector $Q_z$. Motivated by the fact that the bond-density-wave order empirically shows a broad peak in c-axis momentum, we consider a model of randomly oriented charge ordering domains and study how interlayer coupling affects the competition of this order with superconductivity.


It has been proposed that melanism in cordylids evolved in response to a single climatic event and that melanistic populations of Karusasaurus polyzonus are relictual. This study investigates the genetic relationships of melanistic and non-melanistic populations of K. polyzonus along the west coast of South Africa. Thirty-five specimens of K. polyzonus were collected from three 'melanistic' and eight 'non-melanistic' sample localities. Partial sequence data were derived for two mitochondrial DNA loci (16S rRNA and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase component 2 (ND2)) and analysed using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. In addition, a haplotype network was constructed using TCS and an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) was conducted. The derived topologies were highly congruent and showed that melanistic and non-melanistic populations were interdigitated on all tree topologies and a number of haplotypes were shared between melanistic and non-melanistic specimens. These results suggest that melanistic populations of K. polyzonus are ecotypes, not relics.


If planetary systems are ubiquitous then a fraction of stars should possess a transiting planet when being microlensed. This paper presents a study of the influence of such planets on microlensing light curves. For the giant planets recently identified, the deviations in the light curve can be substantial, although the specifics of the perturbations are dependent upon the radius of the planet relative to that of the star, the location of the planet over the stellar surface and the orientation of the sweeping caustic. Given that the instantaneous probability of transiting hot-Jupiter like planets is small, less than a percent, and only a proportion of microlensing events exhibit caustic crossing events, the probability of detecting a transiting planet during a microlensing event is small, ~10 -6 . However, a number of factors influencing this probability, such as the number of solar type star that possess planets, are uncertain, and the prospect of detecting transiting planets in future large catalogues of microlensing light curves may be viable. The results of this study also have bearing on the gravitational microlensing of spots on the stellar surface.


We examined the charge transfer in metal-organic-metal structure, where the contact resistance of the extracting interface is larger than the resistance of the organic crystalline material and the resistance of the injecting interface. If direct tunneling (low voltage) and Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling (high voltage) across both interfaces take place, part of the injected holes remains located in the organic crystal because of the blocking action of the extracting interface, but not because of traps within the organic crystalline material (which was negligible). If Fowler-Nordheim tunneling across the injecting interface and direct tunneling across the extracting interface take place for high voltages, the latter leads to the deviation of the total current-voltage characteristic from the power law with 2$ ?> to Ohm's law with .


On February 3, 1999, the president of the United States signed an Executive Order 13112 on invasive species. Each federal agency was directed to detect and respond rapidly to control populations of invasive species, monitor invasive species populations, provide for restoration of native species and habitat conditions, conduct research on invasive species and develop technologies to prevent their introduction, and promote public education on invasive species and the means to address them. The United States Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services Program fulfills a federal responsibility for helping solve problems which occur when human activity and wildlife, including invasive species, are in conflict with one another. This is accomplished through the recommendation and/or implementation of integrated pest management strategies (IPM). IPM strategies often involve both technical assistance and direct management. This paper provides a summary of 8 years of Wildlife Services involvement in the resolution of invasive species conflicts with agricultural resources, property, human health and safety, and natural resources.


A justice system, and the processes located within it, ought to deliver justice. That seems simple enough. But, of course, delivering justice is never so simple. Justice and the systems that serve it are the creatures of context.This Article considers mediation as just one innovation within the much larger evolution of the judicial system of the United States. First, this Article outlines how the values of democratic governance undergird our traditional picture of the American justice system, presumably because the invocation of such values helps the system to deliver something that will be respected by the nation's citizens as "justice." The Article then highlights aspects of the changing picture of the American civil justice system – i.e., legislative delegation and judicial deference to adjudication by administrative agencies; the judicial embrace of and deference to decision-making by arbitrators; the marginalization of the jury in civil litigation – to suggest that today's sprawling and multi-tiered structure is increasingly disengaged from its democratic roots. Finally, the Article examines the place of court-connected mediation in this evolution to determine whether it is part of the reinvigoration or further erosion of a democratic justice system. Ultimately, the Article makes three recommendations: 1) mediation advocates need to help courts overcome their current funding and staffing difficulties and regain an appropriate measure of self-respect for their unique role in enabling a democratic people to govern themselves; 2) courts should end their reliance on mandatory mediation or at least provide that the authority to mandate mediation should sunset after an appropriate period; and 3) courts should understand mediators as their agents – and provide for meaningful oversight that assures just resolution.


ARTICLE INFO The subject of this project is optimization of closed ball-mill circuit at Esfordi phosphate plant, based on integration of process simulation and genetic algorithm (GA) concepts. The BMCS (BMCS-based Modular Comminution Simulator) under MATLAB software was used in this investigation to search for the optimal operating condition of the comminution circuit so that a pre-defined process goal can be achieved. The search process is done using genetic algorithm. The main problem in the circuit is the existence of fine particles with a high degree of iron content in the hydrocyclone underflow stream which is recycled to the ball mill unit. These particles are subjected to over grinding and cause some problems in downstream processes, i.e., flotation, which leads to a low production quality. Therefore, the goal of this project was set to improve ore grinding in ball mill unit and increase the efficiency of particle size classification by hydrocyclone unit. The GA optimization was done in a single objective form that the optimization goal was to achieve a predefined particle size for overflow or underflow streams separately. The circuit simulations optimized by GA produced various results and conditions that each of them can be recommended for plant testing and performance improvements.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the validity of the Portuguese version of the Clinical Dementia Rating for classifying the cognitive function among the elderly.

METHODS
The Mini Mental State Examination was utilized as a screening method for cognitive deficit among a cohort of 424 elderly. All those who scored <26 points (108 elderly) and 48 elderly with scores > or =26 were included in the study. The 156 subjects selected were submitted to clinical evaluation and neuropsychological tests for the diagnosis of dementia. Afterwards, both cases and non-cases were classified, according to the Portuguese version of the Clinical Dementia Rating, in the categories normal, borderline, mild, moderate and severe dementia.

RESULTS
Among the 156 subjects selected, 122 were non-cases, 62 (51%) were classified as normal (CDR=0) and 60 (49%) as borderline (CDR=0.5). Among the 34 cases of dementia, 17 (50%) were classified as mild dementia (CDR=1), eight (23%) as moderate (CDR=2) and six (18%) as severe dementia (CDR=3). Only three (9%) of the cases were considered borderline cases by the Clinical Dementia Rating. Its sensibility was 91.2% and the specificity was 100%. The positive predictive value was 100% and the negative predictive value was 97.6%. The Mini Mental State Examination scores declined significantly according to the degree of dementia.

CONCLUSIONS
The Portuguese version of the Clinical Dementia Rating is a valid instrument for classifying the dementia status of the elderly. Almost half the cases considered normal by the diagnostic criteria of the Mini Mental State Examination were borderline cases according to the Clinical Dementia Rating and might correspond to cases of mild cognitive impairment, with an increased risk of conversion to dementia cases.


Math skills are necessary for success in the childhood educational and future adult work environment. This article reviews the changing terminology for specific learning disabilities (SLD) in math and describes the emerging genetics and neuroimaging studies that relate to individuals with math disability (MD). It is important to maintain a developmental perspective on MD, as presentation changes with age, instruction, and the different models (educational and medical) of identification. Intervention requires a systematic approach to screening and remediation that has evolved with more evidence-based literature. Newer directions in behavioral, educational and novel interventions are described.


The presented study shows how Bain Capital and other Buyout Investment Firms applied Dividend Recap Schemes to financially benefit from their portfolio companies. The so generated distributions represented a large portion of the overall financial success from these investments. Although these schemes made the investments highly profitable for the buyout funds and their investors, it can be assumed that the involved portfolio firms were financially hurt in the process.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Approximately 400 000 students participate in US high school cheerleading annually, including 123 386 involved in competitive spirit squads. The degree of athleticism and the difficulty of cheerleading skills have increased in recent decades, renewing safety concerns. This study describes the epidemiology of high school cheerleading injuries and compares cheerleading injury rates and patterns relative to other sports. METHODS: Data collected by the longitudinal, National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study from 2009/2010 through 2013/2014 were analyzed. RESULTS: Injury rates in cheerleading ranked 18th of 22 sports, with an overall injury rate of 0.71 per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs). Competition (0.85) and practice (0.76) injury rates were similar, whereas performance rates were lower (0.49). Although 96.8% of injured cheerleaders were girls, the overall injury rate was higher in boys (1.33 vs 0.69, rate ratio [RR]: 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.30–2.88). Although concussions were the most common cheerleading injury (31.1% of injuries), concussion rates were significantly lower in cheerleading (2.21 per 10 000 athlete-exposures) than all other sports combined (3.78; RR: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.51–0.66) and all other girls' sports (2.70; RR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.72–0.93). Over half of all injuries occurred during stunts (53.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Although safety remains a concern among cheerleaders, overall injury rates are lower than most other high school sports. Although overall injury rates are relatively low, cheerleading injuries may be more severe when they do occur. A detailed knowledge of cheerleading injury patterns relative to other sports is needed to drive targeted, evidence-based prevention efforts.


In the current state of globalization's restructuring, numerous studies are examining policies to strengthen local entrepreneurship and productive systems, in terms of clusters and ecosystems. In this article, we apply and extend the Stra.Tech.Man approach to entrepreneurial dynamics as an alternative base of articulating a business ecosystems development policy. By studying the case of the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace region, one of the less developed regions in Greece, we find that there are possibilities for using the Stra.Tech.Man approach to imprint, record and, by extension, give the possibility of strengthening the strategic, technological, and managerial capacity of the "cells" of specific business ecosystems. In this context, the aim of this study is to outline a new possible direction for policy planning and implementation, in order to expand the local business ecosystems' innovative and competitive competence, especially in the context of a less developed region, by the usage of the ILDI (Institutes of Local Development and Innovation) mechanism. In this direction, we present an "introductory" and qualitative field research we carried out in the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, on a sample of SMEs, in diagnostic terms of Stra.Tech.Man physiology.


A high-resolution accelerometer with a bulk-micromachined silicon proof mass and an interferometric position sensor was developed for measuring vibratory accelerations. The interferometer consists of interdigitated fingers that are alternately attached to the proof mass and support substrate. Illuminating the fingers with coherent light generates a series of diffracted beams. The intensity of a given beam depends on the out-of-plane separation between the proof mass fingers and support fingers. Proof masses with mechanical resonances ranging from 80 Hz to 1 kHz were fabricated with a two mask process involving two deep reactive ion etches, an oxide etch stop, and a polyimide protective layer. The structures were packaged with a laser diode and photodiode into 8.6-cm acrylic housings. The 80-Hz resonant proof mass has a noise equivalent acceleration of 40 ng/rt Hz and a dynamic range of 85 dB at 40 Hz. [730]


This is a qualitative study on the conceptions of learning held by adult students
enrolled in the distance education program the Institute of Education
Development (InED), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), Shah Alam.
Conceptions of learning can be defined as the beliefs and ideas people have
about what learning actually means. Specifically the objectives of this study are
to describe the meaning of learning as perceived by students in the distance
education program at InED, UiTM and to identify the relationships between their
conceptions of learning and the learning approaches and whether these
conceptions were in congruence with those established in previous studies. In
line with the objectives above, this study takes on the qualitative research
method that is deemed appropriate when the intent of the researcher is to
understand a phenomenon. For this purpose, this study adopted the qualitative
research approach known as phenomenology. The purpose of this approach is
to determine what an experience means for the person who have had the experience and are able to provide a comprehensive description of it. The
sample for this study consisted of 15 students involved in the distance education
program at UiTM and the individual interview become the predominant method
to gather data. A micro cassette and a guide interview list were used to aid in
capturing the conversation during the interview sessions. The interviews were
then transcribed verbatim and translated. From the data analysis, themes were
developed which described the phenomena.
Findings showed that four themes were identified among the students. These
conceptions of learning consisted of as 1) acquiring knowledge, 2) applying the
acquired knowledge, 3) constructing meanings and new understandings and 4)
changing as a person. This study also revealed that from the themes uncovered
the students were more closely bound to the deep approach to learning while
the surface approach was not evident.
Basically this study concluded that four different themes of conceptions of
learning were identified with all of the themes linked to the deep approach. This
study also concluded that the results concurred with previous research in the
same area. Finally it is recommended that a follow up study be conducted to
explore the relationship between these conceptions and approaches to learning
with the outcome of learning and with lecturers' conceptions of teaching with the
hope that educators would be able to better facilitate and help students gain
maximum benefits from the process of learning.


In this study, n-dimensional Seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average vector (SARIMAV) models of additive form are compared with univariate models. Ordinary least squares method is adopted to estimate parameters of the models. The bivariate models obtained are reliable as much as univariate seasonal models. It is established that seasonal time series model is not only applicable in univariate case. Hence, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average vector models are established, verified valid and useful in modeling multiple seasonal series.


Wrongful abortion is an abortion that a pregnant woman is induced to undergo by a negligent conduct (usually a medical misrepresentation). For example, early in her pregnancy a woman is told by her physician that a medication that she had taken would cause her baby to be born with a severe birth defect. Based on the expert opinion, she decides to undergo an abortion. Only after the abortion does she learn that the advice regarding the baby's health was a negligent misrepresentation, and that the termination of the pregnancy was unnecessary. Underlying our article is a fundamental intuition that the law does not currently provide adequate incentives to avoid wrongful abortions considering their obviously devastating consequences (one of which is the loss of potential human life), and an innovative understanding that the best solution to this problem may be built on the distinctive characteristics of the wrongful-abortion setting. Validating the basic intuition requires a systematic and comprehensive analysis of existing law, and justifying the innovative solution entails a thorough theoretical inquiry. Accordingly, the article addresses two interrelated questions. First, how is existing law likely to respond to wrongful abortions? We ask how the law is likely to respond and not how it actually responds, because the problem of wrongful abortion has been the subject of judicial opinion only in very few sporadic cases, making it practically impossible to generate a comprehensive analysis of case law directly on this point. Second, how should the law respond to wrongful abortions? As our analysis of positive law will reveal, wrongful abortions raise a unique problem to which current law does not provide an appropriate solution. Our objective will then be to discuss the various alternatives that policy makers may consider in response to this peculiar disparity.


Abstract. The people of the Karakoram have broadened the basis of their livelihoods over the last two to three generations by diversifying their income sources and activities along sectoral and spatial lines. Formal education, off-farm income generation and professional employment in the cities complement and partly substitute local agricultural activities. Intensifying processes of mobility and migration have created translocal rural–urban livelihoods, straddling between various and often geographically distant places. Social ties in multilocal configurations of households, families and communities have established highly effective local-to-local connections, which directly interlink processes of change and development in different locations. This article traces in a historical analysis the specific interrelations of mobility dynamics, livelihood change and socio-economic development for the Wakhi community of Gojal in northern Pakistan and discusses the potential of translocal livelihoods to overcome local constraints and facilitate development in structurally disadvantaged regions.


Law relies on a well-developed and constantly evolving iconography to tell its stories. Like lawyers and judges, legal scholars typically rely upon official legal sources to flesh out the implicit meaning of the law's language. But "official law," with its stress on statutory language, legislative intent, and case precedent, is quite plainly an insufficient source for understanding the texture and nuance of legal language. To better understand law's implicit meaning, readers of law need to mine unofficial as well as official sources of law. These unofficial sources often provide insight into, and occasionally substance for, law's official meaning. Popular culture is one important source of legal meaning. In a myriad of ways, popular culture influences the making, interpretation, and application of law. By illuminating and contextualizing problems, creating certain types of narrative, or favoring some narrative constructions over others, popular culture frequently determines what kind of law is made. My primary interest in this paper revolves around the iconography of crime, mental illness, and insanity. These concepts not only go to the heart of the legal understanding of human responsibility, they also have long provided an unending well of narratives to feed the human hunger for meaning-making stories. This Article attempts to trace the iconography of criminal madness in popular cinema and to link it with the law's development over the same span. Part I provides some prefatory observations about the relation of film and culture to law. Part II explores the depiction of criminal madness in the 1930s, primarily through the monster movies of the era. Part III describes the growing embrace of psychological and psychiatric theories in midcentury cinema, which occurred precisely during a period in which the insanity defense was liberalized and constitutional checks on the state's power to institutionalize mad criminals were recognized. Finally, Part IV examines dramatic post-1970s changes in cinematic portrayals of criminals, the criminal justice system, and mad criminals, and explores ways in which the new iconography of criminal madness contributed to a dramatic shrinkage of the rights of mentally ill offenders.


This paper is concerned with the issue of how to empirically approach questions of identity when identity theoretically is understood as negotiated and situationally defined. Discussing this question in relation to the decision making process in an ongoing dissertation project, the benefits and limitations of interviews on the one hand and focus groups on the other will be explored and discussed. The project in focus is interested in how identity is negotiated in relation to both old age and ethnicity/'race'; the question of when (in which situations), and in relation to whom, old age and ethnicity/'race' (respectively) become relevant for identity is of particular concern. The openness in which this question is framed rules out e.g. ethnography as this would pre-define the setting; hence individual and focus group interviews are the options under consideration. The question of the role of social positions such as gender, class, ethnicity/'race' and age in the interviewer-interviewee relationship will also be addressed since it is of central concern in both approaches. Considering some of the methodological complexities and challenges thus posed in this (and similar) research project(s), the paper concludes with reflections on how these may be overcome so as to make it possible to conduct research on identity as negotiated and situationally defined.


Gender-related differences in colorectal cancer (CRC) are not fully understood. Recent studies have shown that CRC arising in females are significantly associated with CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP-high). Using array comparative genomic hybridization, we analyzed a cohort of 116 CRCs (57 males, 59 females) for chromosomal copy number aberrations (CNA) and found that CRC in females had significantly higher numbers of gains involving chromosome arms 1q21.2–q21.3, 4q13.2, 6p21.1 and 16p11.2 and copy number losses of chromosome arm 11q25 compared to males. Interestingly, a subset of male CRCs (46%) exhibited a "feminization" phenomenon in the form of gains of X chromosomes (or an arm of X) and/or losses of the Y chromosome. Feminization of cancer cells was significantly associated with microsatellite-stable CRCs (p-value 0.003) and wild-type BRAF gene status (p-value 0.009). No significant association with other clinicopathological parameters was identified including disease-free survival. In summary, our data show that some CNAs in CRC may be gender specific and that male cancers characterized by feminization may constitute a specific subset of CRCs that warrants further investigation.


The windmill generates power by extracting part of the kinetic energy of the wind, and it was aimed to satisfy the basic needs on XVIII and XIX century in Southern Spain. Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. For more than two millenniums wind-powered machines have had ground grain and pumped water. After designing mecanism the simulation with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software is performed. All CFD analysis start by creating or exporting windmill geometry from a CAD software like SolidWorks. The geometry used in this case corresponds to an ancient Spanish windmill of XVII century. The software used in domain of CFD for this project is SolidWorks2014. It's an essential tool in almost every branch of fluid dynamics CFD. CFD is commonly accepted as referring to the board topic encompassing the numerical solution of the governing equations which describe fluid flow, continuity and any additional conservation equations. This project shows the study carried out in a final thesis project about ancient windmills in Spain. It intends to design an ancient windmill and explain the aerodynamic performance and application in XVII century. The windmill aerodynamic study is based on the start-up phase. This phase has a great interest because ancient windmills had problems when sails will whirl round frantically until either something breaks or an overheated bearing catches fire. To avoid disaster, the system needs to be fitted with some sort of brake, which can convert the excess rotational energy into heat. On the other hand the research project of Rojas-Sola had already studied the normal operating regime in rotation. The objectives of the research are to establish a 3D CFD model of an ancient Spanish windmill so as to analyse the aerodynamic performance of the ancient Spanish windmill blades: moment, torque, lift, drag, etc. Then it will predict windmill power output at wind speeds: 3 m/s, 5m/s, 7m/s and 10 m/s. Finally it is evaluated its performance depending on tip speed ratio and angular velocity.


Revolt against the straight line: The highly irregular architecture of a freethinking artist A house must be a living, organic entity that develops and constantly changes, stated Friedensreich Hundertwasser in one of his arguments for his nature- and human-oriented architecture. Success vindicated his vision: roof afforestation, organic forms, colorful facades, uneven floors, irregularly positioned windows, gilded onion domes Hundertwasser s architecture is unmistakable. From the beginning of his artistic career in the 50s, Hundertwasser was preoccupied with architecture in his painting. Then began his engagement with manifestos, essays and demonstrations; later followed architectural models in which he illustrated, for example, his ideas on roof afforestation and an individual s right to his very own window. As an architectural doctor he created unregimented irregularities and realized exemplary architectural projects. This comprehensive directory of Hundertwasser s architectural works presents all his buildings and projects, whether realized or not, tracing them from the first sketches, through to models, and completion. Dr. Andrea Christa Furst, a longtime employee of the Hundertwasser Archive, made a major contribution to this publication. "


If the prescriptions for getting rich that are outlined in books such as The Millionaire Next Door and Rich Dad Poor Dad are successful enough to make the books bestsellers, then one must ask, Why arent there more millionaires? In Fooled by Randomness, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a professional trader and mathematics professor, examines what randomness means in business and in life and why human beings are so prone to mistake dumb luck for consummate skill. This eccentric and highly personal exploration of the nature of randomness meanders from the court of Croesus and trading rooms in New York and London to Russian roulette, Monte Carlo engines, and the philosophy of Karl Popper. Part of what makes this book so good is Talebs ability to make seemingly arcane mathematical concepts (at least to this reviewer) entirely relevant in evaluating and understanding everything from the stock market to the success of those millionaires cited in the aforementioned bestsellers. Heres an articulate, wise, and humorous meditation on the nature of success and failure that anyone who wants a little more of the former would do well to consider. Highly recommended. --Harry C. Edwards


This research reports an experiment which took place in an Arab middle school in Israel. The experiment was led by three pre-service teachers who were carrying out their final project in the field of teaching mathematics using mobile phones. The pre-service teachers worked with 32 eighth grade students to carry out authentic real life outdoor activities in the nature. We used discourse analysis and grounded theory to analyze the perceptions of the students regarding their mathematics learning using mobile phones. We found that the novelty of the experiment and the use of mobile phones in mathematics learning were the main characteristics perceived by the students as influencing their decision to join the experiment. Furthermore, the students perceived various qualities of the mathematics learning that were enabled by the use of mobile phones: (1) exploring mathematics independently (2) learning mathematics through collaboration and team work; where the collaboration is on equal terms (3) learning mathematics in a societal and humanistic environment (4) learning mathematics in authentic real life situations (5) visualizing mathematics and investigating it dynamically (6) carrying out diversified mathematical actions using new and advanced technologies (7) learning mathematics easily and efficiently. In the overall, the students were positively impressed by the potentialities and capabilities of the mobile phones used in the mathematics learning process. This indicates that mathematics education could benefit form utilizing these new technological tools.


The central feature of the art piece is the artist's picture printed on wool fabric covered with moth's eggs. The eggs have been allowed to develop into larvae, which have fed on the wool fabric, making holes in it. A second layer made of silk-organza fabric and printed in a Persian carpet pattern, can be seen through the holes. The two layers of fabric are isolated in a glass display case. The installation engages the audience in dialogue and discussion.


This report answers some frequently asked questions about the Target (store) data breach, including what is known to have happened in the breach, and what costs may result. It also examines some of the broader issues common to data breaches, including how the payment system works, how cybersecurity costs are shared and allocated within the payment system, who bears the losses in such breaches more generally, what emerging cybersecurity technologies may help prevent them, and what role the government could play in encouraging their adoption, as well as some of the legislation that the 113th Congress has introduced to deal with these issues.


The paper relies upon the fact that actually there are no proper conditions created in Russia to increase the performance of public law entities both in state (municipal) sector and state (municipal) services, their availability, and quality provision. The aim of this paper is studying the activity of public law entities of all levels to increase the efficiency of Russia's budget system costs. To achieve the goal, authors started to solve problems like indicating the place of Russia in a world ratings and indicators showing the quality of the state activity, defining a set of approaches to increase the efficiency of performance-based budgeting, examining the concept of budget system reform, identifying appropriate conditions to increase the efficiency of federal and local budgets, describing the essential problems of public law entities' activity in increasing the cost efficiency course and their solutions. Some conclusions in introducing of state entities' budget costs standards, proper budget transfers' allocation pattern, state policy funds' diversification, and budget funds flows' as well as public law activity's transparency gain are provided in the paper.


The diagnosis and treatment of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders has for the most part been confined to a narrow band of the U.S. heath-care system. Recently, some hospital emergency departments and, especially, trauma centers have taken the lead in seeking to integrate AOD diagnosis and treatment through the adoption of screening and brief intervention protocols. The available data suggest that the practice of providing screening and either brief interventions or referrals for more intensive AOD treatment can significantly reduce re-injury rates. Despite these encouraging statistics, many trauma centers and emergency departments still do not provide these services for all patients. Some advocates have suggested that federal confidentiality statutes and regulations governing AOD treatment information have an inhibiting effect on the willingness and ability of providers to engage in these activities, and have raised the possibility that amendments to these provisions may be necessary.This article analyzes the federal AOD confidentiality law and regulations to determine whether, and under what circumstances, those special health privacy rules might apply to AOD screening and intervention activities in the context of emergency departments and trauma centers. The article concludes with some observations about the broader question of whether the federal confidentiality law and regulations should be revised, given the obvious benefits of mainstreaming substance abuse diagnosis and treatment on the one hand, and the continuing stigma and legal jeopardy associated with the disclosure of those disorders on the other.


Glycolaldehyde (CHOCH2OH), the simplest two-carbon α-hydroxy aldehyde, has become of great interest in the field of astrochemistry due to its recent detection toward the Sagittarius B2 (N-LMH) molecular cloud. The original interstellar identification was based on an extrapolation of prior microwave rotational spectroscopy of glycolaldehyde. The millimeter and submillimeter spectra of this molecule from 128 to 354 GHz were subsequently measured after the interstellar detection. We present here the millimeter spectrum of this molecule from 72 to 122.5 GHz along with a combined millimeter and submillimeter pure rotational analysis of the ground and the first three vibrationally excited states of glycolaldehyde that enables a more complete molecular partition function to be determined. These results show that excited vibrational state contributions to the partition function are an important consideration when determining the column density of a molecule with low-lying torsional states.


Pollinator conservation is of increasing interest in the light of managed honeybee (Apis mellifera) declines, and declines in some species of wild bees. Much work has gone into understanding the effects of habitat enhancements in agricultural systems on wild bee abundance, richness and pollination services. However, the effects of ecological restoration targeting "natural" ecological endpoints (e.g. restoring former agricultural fields to historic vegetation types or improving degraded natural lands) on wild bees have received relatively little attention, despite their potential importance for countering habitat loss.

We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of ecological restoration on wild bee abundance and richness, focusing on unmanaged bee communities in lands restored and managed to increase habitat availability and quality. Specifically, we assessed bee abundance and/or richness across studies comparing restored vs. unrestored treatments and studies investigating effects of specific habitat restoration techniques, such as burning, grazing, invasive plant removal and seeding.

We analysed 28 studies that met our selection criteria: these represented 11 habitat types and 7 restoration techniques. Nearly all restorations associated with these studies were performed without explicit consideration of habitat needs for bees or other pollinators. The majority of restorations targeted plant community goals, which could potentially have ancillary benefits for bees.

Restoration had overall positive effects on wild bee abundance and richness across multiple habitat types. Specific restoration actions, tested independently, also tended to have positive effects on wild bee richness and abundance.

Synthesis and applications. We found strong evidence that ecological restoration advances wild bee conservation. This is important given that habitat loss is recognized as a leading factor in pollinator decline. Pollinator responses to land management are rarely evaluated in non-agricultural settings and so support for wild bees may be an underappreciated benefit of botanically focused management. Future restoration projects that explicitly consider the needs of wild bees could be more effective at providing nesting, foraging and other habitat resources. We encourage land managers to design and evaluate restoration projects with the habitat needs of wild bee species in mind.


In some applications of simulated haptic feedback, it is necessary not only that the display feel stable and adequately realistic: it must resemble with high fidelity a particular real device, emulating the feedback supplied by a physical environment that does or will exist. An automated haptic characterization technique was developed in which the haptic display itself is used under tight position control to probe the real environment while measuring interaction forces. A model structure is assumed which may be nonlinear and globally discontinuous but piecewise continuous, and is refined for successively higher-order parameters by application of appropriately chosen position trajectories. A one degree-of-freedom linear-acting motor with 90 mm stroke, a peak force of 60 N and equipped with position and force sensors was used as both a probe and a force display.
 This algorithm was tested on one real environment, a toggle switch with a nonlinear, compliance-dominated impedance. Because of the nature of the real device, only stiffnesses were extracted; this zero-order, piecewise linear model assumption provided a close fit to the measured trajectory with under 30 seconds of measurement and processing time. This was a substantial improvement in playback fidelity over that achieved by other characterization methods. Future work includes testing the algorithm on higher order systems.


This article analyzes the formation of citizenship in today's multi-ethnic Sweden in light of the inclusion of 'people with foreign background'. Particular focus is put on how ethnicity and migration renders visible existing citizenship ideals, defined in terms of similarity and difference on the basis of ethno-cultural background. The formation of citizenship is analyzed in the case of labour market projects targeting racialized migrants. The point of departure is an understanding of citizenship as an ongoing process of citizen formation, highlighting the formation of citizens as rights-bearing subjects, belonging to the societal community – in contrast to those not bearing these rights and not belonging to the societal community. The analysis illustrates how norms of Swedish-ness condition the membership in the Swedish societal community, forming a particular kind of racialized citizenship, including certain subjects, under certain conditions, while excluding others. One conclusion is that in addition to the formal dimensions of citizenship, the ability and willingness to adapt to norms of Swedish-ness is essential for accessing and using social rights – that is, for becoming employable and included on the labour market. In the projects analyzed, racialized migrants have the duty of becoming employable by embracing certain values – the good, working citizen, the free, independent individual, able to make choices – all constituted as being part of an ideal Swedish citizenship.


Summary.  A spatiotemporal model is developed to analyse epidemics of airborne plant diseases which are spread by spores. The observations consist of measurements of the severity of disease at different times, different locations in the horizontal plane and different heights in the vegetal cover. The model describes the joint distribution of the occurrence and the severity of the disease. The three‐dimensional dispersal of spores is modelled by combining a horizontal and a vertical dispersal function. Maximum likelihood combined with a parametric bootstrap is suggested to estimate the model parameters and the uncertainty that is attached to them. The spatiotemporal model is used to analyse a yellow rust epidemic in a wheatfield. In the analysis we pay particular attention to the selection and the estimation of the dispersal functions.


This essay examines how millennials are shaping democracy in East Asia, drawing from the third wave of the Asia Barometer Survey (2010-2013). The essay looks at how millennials engage and participate in politics, their support for democracy and conceptualization of democracy and compares these factors to older cohorts. The findings show that millennials do participate and support democracy, but do so in paradoxical ways that differ from older generations in East Asia.


Samples collected monthly from the Swan Estuary between March 1978 and May 1979, together with environmental data for 1977 to 1980, have been used to elucidate various aspects of the reproductive biology of Amniataba caudavittata in this estuary. The gonads of A. caudavittala started to develop rapidly in the spring, when day length, water temperatures and salinities were increasing markedly. Spawning, which occurred mainly towards the top end of the upper estuary, was initiated in November, when water temperatures and salinities in that region were c. 24° C and 9‰, and it peaked in December/January when they were c. IT C and 17%○, Maturity is attained by at least the majority offish at the end of the second and each subsequent year of life. Although some of the larger 1-year-old fish attained maturity, this occurred in only one of the two tributary rivers, possibly reflecting differences in the salinity regimes in these rivers. Fecundities ranged from 50 000 in a 150-mm fish to 705 000 in a 254-mm fish, with a mean of 310 000. The mature, unfertilized eggs are small and spherical and have a diameter of 560 μm. The larvae are pelagic and characterized by an elongate body, which becomes moderately deep and laterally compressed during development, a short to moderate, tightly-coiled gut, a distinct gap between the anus and the origin of the anal fin and 25 or 26 myomeres. The development of fins and settlement of A. caudavittata larvae occurs at a smaller size than in the larvae of other terapontid species previously described. The success of A. caudavittata in the Swan Estuary can be attributed in part to its production of very large numbers of eggs at a time when, due to low fresh water discharge and a smait tidal range, conditions in the estuary are relatively stable. Comparisons between the biology of A. caudavittata and that of other abundant teleosts that spawn in south-western Australian estuaries show that these species exhibit a wide range of reproductive strategies.


Catalytic cycles and other chemical pathways affecting ozone are normally estimated empirically in atmospheric models. In this work we have automatically quantified such processes by applying a newly developed analysis package called the Pathway Analysis Program (PAP). It used modeled chemical rates and concentrations as input. These were supplied by the Module Efficiently Calculating the Chemistry of the Atmosphere MECCA box model, itself initialized by the Free University of Berlin Climate Middle Atmosphere Model with Chemistry. We analyzed equatorial, midlatitude and high-latitude locations over 24-hour periods during spring in both hemispheres. We present results for locations in the lower stratosphere, upper stratosphere and midmesosphere. Oxygen photolysis dominated (>99%) in situ ozone production in the equatorial lower stratosphere, in the upper stratosphere and in the mesosphere. In the lower stratosphere midlatitudes the ozone smog cycle (already established in the troposphere) rivaled oxygen photolysis as an in situ ozone source in both hemispheres. However, absolute ozone production rates in midlatitudes were rather slow compared with at the equator, typically 1650 ppt ozone/day. In the equatorial lower stratosphere, five catalytic sinks were important (each contributing at least 5% to chemical ozone loss): a HOx cycle, a HOBr cycle and its HOCl analog, a water-HOx cycle and a mixed chlorine-bromine cycle. Important in midlatitudes were the HOx cycle, a NOx cycle, the HOBr cycle and the mixed chlorine-bromine cycle. In lower-stratosphere high latitudes, the chlorine dimer cycle and the mixed chlorine-bromine cycle dominated in both hemispheres. A variant on the latter, involving BrCl formation, also featured. In the upper stratosphere high latitudes (where strong negative ozone trends are observed), a nitrogen cycle, a chlorine cycle, and a mixed chlorine-nitrogen cycle were found. In the mesosphere, three closely related HOx cycles dominated ozone loss.


A new revolution in three-dimensional radiologic advances in dentistry was introduced in the year 1998, as cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). Over the years, it has become an increasingly popular technique in orthodontic diagnosis, treatment planning, and research. This rise in its popularity has been facilitated by the relative advantages of three-dimensional (3D) over 2D radiography. CBCT imaging involves only a minimal increase in radiation dose relative to combined diagnostic modern digital panoramic and cephalometric imaging. A combination of volumetric reconstruction and multiplanar views can provide the orthodontic clinician with skeletal hard tissue, soft tissue, dentition, and airway information. Despite many suggested indications of CBCT, scientific evidence that its utilization improves diagnosis and treatment plans or outcomes has only recently begun to emerge. This article provides a comprehensive review of the application of CBCT in orthodontics. The current indications for CBCT in standard orthodontic diagnosis include impacted teeth, cleft lip, and palate and skeletal discrepancies requiring surgical intervention, root resorption, supernumerary teeth, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pathology, facial asymmetry, temporary anchorage devices, root morphology and angulation; alveolar boundary conditions; maxillary transverse dimensions and maxillary expansion, and vertical malocclusion. Advanced CBCT software applications can be used to quantify airway space in the cases of obstructive sleep apnea, perform superimpositions to semiquantitatively visualize changes over the hard and soft tissues, including the TMJ and airway.


Summary. Resistance to desiccation and to skin fatty acids was measured in three groups of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus auras (MRSA) strains and a group of control strains. Organisms from a large outbreak on a special care baby unit (SCBU), where MRSA had been isolated from staff hands but not from the environment, were significantly more sensitive to drying than strains from a burns unit where extensive environmental contamination had been demonstrated. MRSA from other wards, in the same hospital but not associated with large outbreaks, gave heterogeneous results. Fatty-acid resistance, determined by an agar dilution method, was not associated with strain origin. Some epidemic strains of MRSA were relatively sensitive to desiccation, and the abilities of such strains to spread widely on a SCBU by the hand-borne route could not be explained by enhanced resistance to skin fatty acids.


The current spectrum management policy typically gives exclusive and unlimited access to license-holders within their domain, and offers meager transmission opportunities for non-license-holders. This paper addresses spectrum management techniques in which no licensing is required and individual devices have real-time access to shared spectrum. An example is the 30 MHz of unlicensed spectrum allocated by the Federal Communications Commission in the new Personal Communications Services band, and industry is already requesting hundreds of MHz more of the same. Such spectrum has several advantages. It eliminates the delays of the licensing process. It facilitates mobility, as a license is not required wherever a system may operate. It also promotes spectrum sharing, as one device may transmit while others in the area are idle. This paper discusses some of the challenges to be overcome. Foremost among these is an inherent Tragedy of the Commons resulting from the fact that device designers lack an incentive to conserve the shared spectrum resource. This phenomenon is quantitatively demonstrated in a practical scenario. Some options for this problem are also discussed.


To better understand the risks of exposure for young children to fecal contamination in their environment, we systematically characterized and quantified behaviors of 154 children, 0–5 years old, in four high-density, low-income neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana. A repertoire of six different activities and five different compartments (categories of locations within the household) was developed, and about 500 hours of ordered structured observations of activities and locations of individual children were collected. These records were analyzed using a competing hazards model, estimating (Weibull) hazard rates for each state (activity/compartment combination), dependent on the present state and the preceding state. The estimated rates were used to simulate sequences of behavior and describe days in the life of a child in low-income, urban Africa. Children younger than 1 year spent most time playing or sleeping off the ground, older children frequently played on floors. Relatively little time was spent in drains or wet trash areas. Critical combinations of activities, like handwashing after defecation or before eating were estimated to occur rarely. These quantitative behavior estimates can inform future risk assessments that examine the relative roles of various fecal–oral exposure pathways in low-income urban settings.


RZ2109 is the first of several extragalactic globular clusters shown to host an ultraluminous X-ray source. RZ2109 is particularly notable because optical spectroscopy shows it has broad, luminous [O iii] λλ4959,5007 emission, while also having no detectable hydrogen emission. The X-ray and optical characteristics of the source in RZ2109 make it a good candidate for being a stellar mass black hole accreting from a white dwarf donor (i.e. an ultracompact black hole X-ray binary). In this paper we present optical spectroscopic monitoring of the [O iii]5007 emission line from 2007 to 2018. We find that the flux of the emission line is significantly lower in recent observations from 2016 to 2018 than it was in earlier observations in 2007–2011. We also explore the behaviour of the emission line shape over time. Both the core and the wings of the emission line decline over time, with some evidence that the core declines more rapidly than the wings. However, the most recent observations (in 2019) unexpectedly show the emission line core rebrightening


Abstract Background In recent years, researchers have had an increased focus on multiplex microarray assays, in which antibodies are measured against multiple related antigens, for use in seroepidemiological studies to infer past transmission. Methods We assess the performance of a flavivirus microarray assay for determining past dengue virus (DENV) infection history in a dengue-endemic setting, Vietnam. We tested the microarray on samples from 1 and 6 months postinfection from DENV-infected patients (infecting serotype was determined using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction during acute, past primary, and secondary infection assessed using plaque reduction neutralization tests 6 months postinfection). Results Binomial models developed to discriminate past primary from secondary infection using the protein microarray (PMA) titers had high area under the curve (0.90–0.97) and accuracy (0.84–0.86). Multinomial models developed to identify most recent past infecting serotype using PMA titers performed well in those with past primary infection (average test set: κ = 0.85, accuracy of 0.92) but not those with past secondary infection (κ = 0.24, accuracy of 0.45). Conclusions Our results suggest that the microarray will be useful in seroepidemiological studies aimed at classifying the past infection history of individuals (past primary vs secondary and serotype of past primary infections) and thus inferring past transmission intensity of DENV in dengue-endemic settings. Future work to validate these models should be undertaken in different transmission settings and with samples later after infection.


Despite much evidence that predation governs seed abundance, and ultimately seedling and adult plant distribution and abundance in terrestrial ecosystems, there is a dearth of information from seagrass dominated ecosystems. We report here on the first study to examine predation rates from seeds of Posidonia australis measured during field tethering experiments at 5 locations in Western Australia. Seeds that were recently dehisced from ripe fruits and at a similar stage of development were tethered in seagrass and adjacent unvegetated sand for 24 h and then assessed for damage. Seed predation was noted at all sites and ranged from partially to completely eaten seeds. Higher daily proportional damage was observed in seagrass (34 to 53%) than on unvegetated sand (3 to 20%), but was significantly greater at only 3 of the 5 sites. There was no significant difference in proportional mortality for seeds among seagrass meadows, whereas in sand, there was a significant site effect. While we were unable to identify specific seed predators, the type of damage we observed on the seeds suggest small fish or invertebrates are the primary causative agents. Our results add to the growing body of evidence that seagrass seed predation does occur, that it has the potential to affect recruitment, and has implications for understanding the dynamics of P. australis meadows. Finally, our data present an interesting contrast to the paradigm for seagrass faunal studies, which almost invariably have shown higher proportional mortality in bare sand than in seagrass.


Software development would seem to be a quintessential example of today's Internet-enabled "knowledge work"--a global profession not bound by the constraints of geography. In Coding Places, Yuri Takhteyev looks at the work of software developers who inhabit two contexts: a geographical area--in this case, greater Rio de Janeiro--and a "world of practice," a global system of activities linked by shared meanings and joint practice. The work of the Brazilian developers, Takhteyev discovers, reveals a paradox of the world of software: it is both diffuse and sharply centralized. The world of software revolves around a handful of places--in particular, the San Francisco Bay area--that exercise substantial control over both the material and cultural elements of software production. Takhteyev shows how in this context Brazilian software developers work to find their place in the world of software and to bring its benefits to their city. Takhteyev's study closely examines Lua, an open source programming language developed in Rio but used in such internationally popular products as World of Warcraft and Angry Birds. He shows that Lua had to be separated from its local origins on the periphery in order to achieve success abroad. The developers, Portuguese speakers, used English in much of their work on Lua. By bringing to light the work that peripheral practitioners must do to give software its seeming universality, Takhteyev offers a revealing perspective on the not-so-flat world of globalization.


Many tropical species are not yet explored by dendrochronologists. Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn.) is an ecologically important and economically valuable tree species which grows in the southern plains and mid-hills of Nepalese Central Himalayas. Detailed knowledge of growth response of this species provides key information for the forest management. This paper aims to assess the dendroclimatic potential of Shorea robusta and to understand climatic effects on its growth. A growth analysis was done by taking 60 stem disc samples that were cut 0.3 m above ground and represented different diameter classes (>10 cm to 50 cm). Samples were collected and analysed following standard dendrochronological procedures. The detailed wood anatomical analysis showed that the wood was diffuse-porous, with the distribution of vessels in the entire ring and growth rings mostly marked with gradual structural changes. The basal area increment (BAI) chronology suggested that the species shows a long-term positive growth trend, possibly favoured by the increasing temperature in the region. The growth-climate relationship indicated that a moist year, with high precipitation in spring (March–May, MAM) and summer (June–September, JJAS), as well as high temperature during winter (November–February) was beneficial for the growth of the species, especially in a young stand. A significant positive relationship was observed between the radial trees increment and the total rainfall in April and the average total rainfall from March to September. Similarly, a significant positive relationship between radial growth and an average temperature in winter (November–January) was noted.


In the previous issue of the IEA Heat Pump Centre Newsletter (Vol, 12, No.3, pp. 29-31), an article by these authors described the use of pinch analysis (also known as pinch technology) in a buildings application. This article describes a similar procedure for integrating a heat pump into a pasta production process. Many industrial processes, and particularly those dealing with drying, are characterized by an overabundance of low- grade heat which often cannot be efficiently recovered by means of simple heat exchangers. Heat pumps thus represent the primary means of upgrading the energy of moisture loaded streams into useful process energy. Powerful process integration tools based on pinch analysis allow the assessment of the heat recovery options and will lead to the optimal use of heat pump technology.


Dynamic stability is an important consideration for an underwater glider because its slow motion makes it susceptible to underwater currents. This is compounded by its weak propulsion system whereby it self-propels by shifting its net buoyancy either positive or negative during forward motion. In this paper, steady state Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulation was used to evaluate the dynamic stability of a low-speed underwater glider. Fluid domains were generated for different flow velocities and angles of attack, for both rectilinear and rotary motions. For rectilinear motion, a straight line resistance test was replicated the tow tank resistance test. For rotary motion, a rotating arm setup was replicated and various angular velocities were numerically simulated. Hydrodynamic derivatives were obtained by extracting the slopes of the lift force and moment data points. The results showed that the dynamic stability of glider improved as the velocity and mass of the glider increases.


We have identified and isolated mutations in the first Drosophila gene encoding a subunit of the Sec61 protein translocation channel, DSec61beta. While neither the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sec61beta nor its functional Escherichia coli homologue are essential for viability or for protein translocation, we show that DSec61beta is essential for embryonic development. Homozygous mutant embryos die at the end of embryogenesis and are impaired in the secretion of cuticle proteins from the epidermis. DSec61beta germ line clones, result in defects in dorso-ventral patterning of the egg and are consistent with affected secretion of the protein Gurken from the oocyte to the follicle cells. Clonal analyses in the imaginal discs reveal defects in adult structures, including rhabdomere morphogenesis and a reduction of the size of tarsal segments in the leg. This is the first in vivo study of a component of the protein translocation machinery in higher eukaryotes, and illustrates how a protein that has an inessential, kinetic function in single-cell organisms can become critical for the complex development of a multicellular organism.


African governments are increasingly turning to partnerships with donors and multinational companies to stimulate investment in agriculture, after decades of neglect. Such public–private partnerships (PPPs) 'at scale' offer the allure of increased capital and technology, rises in productivity and foreign exchange earnings. In this briefing paper Oxfam assesses the effectiveness and potential of these mega-PPPs as a vehicle for poverty eradication and rural livelihoods. There are three simple questions to ask of these initiatives:Who primarily benefits from them? Who shoulders the burden of risk? And who holds power in decision-making? The answers to these questions demonstrate that, in all three cases,  it is the poorest who are likely to lose out, be put at risk, or be bypassed. Mega-PPPs are by-and-large unproven and risky, and appear likely to skew the benefits of investment towards the more powerful, while the risks fall on the poorest and most vulnerable. Tried and tested alternative investment approaches, by contrast, may offer a better use of resources in order that the benefits of agricultural investment reach those who need them most.


ABSTRACT 10,11-Dehydrocurvularin is a prevalent fungal phytotoxin with heat shock response and immune-modulatory activities. It features a dihydroxyphenylacetic acid lactone polyketide framework with structural similarities to resorcylic acid lactones like radicicol or zearalenone. A genomic locus was identified from the dehydrocurvularin producer strain Aspergillus terreus AH-02-30-F7 to reveal genes encoding a pair of iterative polyketide synthases (A. terreus CURS1 [AtCURS1] and AtCURS2) that are predicted to collaborate in the biosynthesis of 10,11-dehydrocurvularin. Additional genes in this locus encode putative proteins that may be involved in the export of the compound from the cell and in the transcriptional regulation of the cluster. 10,11-Dehydrocurvularin biosynthesis was reconstituted in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by heterologous expression of the polyketide synthases. Bioinformatic analysis of the highly reducing polyketide synthase AtCURS1 and the nonreducing polyketide synthase AtCURS2 highlights crucial biosynthetic programming differences compared to similar synthases involved in resorcylic acid lactone biosynthesis. These differences lead to the synthesis of a predicted tetraketide starter unit that forms part of the 12-membered lactone ring of dehydrocurvularin, as opposed to the penta- or hexaketide starters in the 14-membered rings of resorcylic acid lactones. Tetraketide N-acetylcysteamine thioester analogues of the starter unit were shown to support the biosynthesis of dehydrocurvularin and its analogues, with yeast expressing AtCURS2 alone. Differential programming of the product template domain of the nonreducing polyketide synthase AtCURS2 results in an aldol condensation with a different regiospecificity than that of resorcylic acid lactones, yielding the dihydroxyphenylacetic acid scaffold characterized by an S-type cyclization pattern atypical for fungal polyketides.


Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of serious lower respiratory infection (ALRI)-related hospitalization in children worldwide, and a source of morbidity and mortality in high-risk adults. There are strong associations between RSV, persistent wheezing and childhood asthma. Despite extensive research, no effective treatment is available aside from supportive care. The trial of a formalin-inactivated RSV vaccine in the 1960s resulted in priming the severe illness upon natural infection. Palivizumab, a monoclonal antibody approved for RSV prophylaxis in high-risk infants, has only moderately decreased hospital admissions due to RSV infection. Live-attenuated, vector, and protein-based vaccine candidates are being investigated in many clinical trials. Developing a vaccine remains challenging due to finding the right balance between adequate immunogenicity and attenuation of vaccine. Here we review the clinical significance of RSV in infants, young children, high-risk adults, elderly population, pregnant women; clinical manifesta-tions and consequences of RSV infection; the pharmacologic strategies currently available, the current stages of RSV vaccine clinical trials, different strategies, and major hurdles in the development of an effective RSV vaccine.


This research paper focuses on the evaluation of historical connections and interactions between psychology, psychiatry, psychologists, beliefs and religions. The argument of this research is; for developing future perspectives on psychology, religion can possibly provide historical and modern tools, as well as various other contributions. Within the scope of this research paper, the main idea and some other relevant arguments have been developed by evaluating historical facts and scientific analysis presented under the sub-sections of this essay, namely; psychology, beliefs and interdisciplinary connections, nonmaterial beliefs in cultural psychology, science and religion: a synergetic approach is possible, studying psychology and religion, psychology of religion, psychological benefits of religion, interpreting and utilizing new brain sciences of neurotheology and cognitive science. The conclusion briefly summarizes diverse understandings formed through the evaluation of these sub-sections. This research illustrates the coexistence of religious and scientific knowledge using the emergence of modern psychology. On the other hand, some arguments regarding the commercialization of research targets, the transformation of science into neoliberal market discourses leading to some kind of social Darwinism, or regarding some of the influences of some of the sponsors; some of the leaders; some of the foundations; some of the scientism ideologies; and various global agendas are shared to illustrate the necessity to be cautious.


In many eukaryotic messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) one or more short upstream open reading frames (uORFs) precede the initiation codon of the main coding region. For example, in human cells, uORFs are present in about half of the transcripts. Emerging ribosome profiling and peptidomics analyses have recently shown that these uORFs are translated into polypeptides that seem to serve important biological functions. In addition, very interesting examples have shown that these uORFs are cis-acting RNA elements that can impact gene expression by repressing translation of the downstream main ORF under control conditions and derepressing it under certain pathophysiological stresses. Furthermore, evidence from genetic and bioinformatic studies implicate disturbed uORF-mediated translational control in the aetiology of human diseases. Identifying more cases and understanding the aberrant mechanisms of uORF-mediated translational control, as well as discovering the biological function of the uORF-encoded polypeptides, is fundamental to advance in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of many human disorders.

Key Concepts:

Upstream open reading frames (uORFs) are cis-acting RNA elements involved in translational regulation, which precede the initiation codon of the main coding region.

For a uORF to function as a translational regulatory element, its initiation codon must be recognised, at least at certain times, by the scanning 40S ribosomal subunit and associated translation initiation factors.

uORFs can impact gene expression by repressing translation of the downstream main ORF under control conditions, and derepressing it under certain pathophysiological stresses.

The impact the uORFs can have on translation depends on variables, such as (1) the distance between the 5′ cap and the uORF, (2) the context in which the uORF AUG (or non-AUG) is located, (3) the length of the uORF, (4) the sequence and secondary structure of the uORF, (5) the number of uORFs per transcript, (6) the position of the uORF termination codon and (7) the length of the intercistronic sequence(s).

uORF-encoded polypeptides might serve functional roles in cells.

Polymorphisms or mutations that introduce/eliminate uORFs or modify the uORF-encoded peptide can cause human disease.

Understanding the mechanisms through which the uORFs regulate gene expression may lead to innovation in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of many human disorders.

Keywords:

upstream open reading frame (uORF);
protein synthesis;
polypeptide;
translational control;
gene expression regulation;
human genetic disease


Exogenous shocks, such as COVID-19, significantly change fundamental premises on which economies and individual organizations operate. The light-asset nature of digital technologies provides the potential to not only facilitate an immediate crisis response, but also to catalyze novel innovation types to address the societal and economic changes caused by exogenous shocks. As digital innovation became a relevant part of organizations' COVID-19 responses, and given that a corresponding structured knowledge base did not exist, we found the need to better understand crisis-driven digital innovation. Drawing on prior knowledge from crisis management and organizational ambidexterity as a theoretical lens, we present four patterns of crisis-driven digital innovation, classified along two dimensions: (1) driven by a sense of urgency or ambition and (2) focusing on exploitative or explorative innovation. Based on a thorough analysis of digital innovation cases during the COVID-19 crisis, we illustrate and discuss these four patterns and their emerging properties to explain how and why they led to digital innovation in the context of the crisis. Our work contributes to the explanatory knowledge on digital innovation in times of crisis, helping researchers and practitioners to understand and develop digital innovation in response to exogenous shocks. © 2022 by the Association for Information Systems.


Although there are a variety of studies on the gender pay gap, only a few relate to managerial positions. The present study attempts to fill this gap. Managers in private companies in Germany are a highly selective group of women and men, who differ only marginally in their human capital endowments. The Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition shows that the gender pay gap in the gross monthly salary can hardly be explained using the human capital approach. Adding variables on gender-specific labor market segregation and dimensions of the household and family to the model allows more than two-thirds of the gender pay gap to be explained. However, taking selection effects in a managerial position into account (Heckman correction), the proportion explained decreases to only one-third. This reveals the real extent to which women are disadvantaged on the labor market. In addition, we observe not only that the wages in typical women's jobs are lower than in typical men's jobs but also that women are paid less than men in typical women's jobs. The two-thirds of the gender pay gap that remain unexplained represent the unobserved heterogeneity. This includes, for example, general societal and cultural conditions as well as structures and practices on the labor market and in companies that subject women to pay discrimination and pose an obstacle to them breaking the glass ceiling. JEL Classification: J31, J16, J24


Abstract. The California Regional Multisector Air Quality Emissions (CA-REMARQUE) model is developed to predict changes to criteria pollutant emissions inventories in California in response to sophisticated emissions control programs implemented to achieve deep greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. Two scenarios for the year 2050 act as the starting point for calculations: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and an 80 % GHG reduction (GHG-Step) scenario. Each of these scenarios was developed with an energy economic model to optimize costs across the entire California economy and so they include changes in activity, fuels, and technology across economic sectors. Separate algorithms are developed to estimate emissions of criteria pollutants (or their precursors) that are consistent with the future GHG scenarios for the following economic sectors: (i) on-road, (ii) rail and off-road, (iii) marine and aviation, (iv) residential and commercial, (v) electricity generation, and (vi) biorefineries. Properly accounting for new technologies involving electrification, biofuels, and hydrogen plays a central role in these calculations. Critically, criteria pollutant emissions do not decrease uniformly across all sectors of the economy. Emissions of certain criteria pollutants (or their precursors) increase in some sectors as part of the overall optimization within each of the scenarios. This produces nonuniform changes to criteria pollutant emissions in close proximity to heavily populated regions when viewed at 4 km spatial resolution with implications for exposure to air pollution for those populations. As a further complication, changing fuels and technology also modify the composition of reactive organic gas emissions and the size and composition of particulate matter emissions. This is most notably apparent through a comparison of emissions reductions for different size fractions of primary particulate matter. Primary PM2.5 emissions decrease by 4 % in the GHG-Step scenario vs. the BAU scenario while corresponding primary PM0.1 emissions decrease by 36 %. Ultrafine particles (PM0.1) are an emerging pollutant of concern expected to impact public health in future scenarios. The complexity of this situation illustrates the need for realistic treatment of criteria pollutant emissions inventories linked to GHG emissions policies designed for fully developed countries and states with strict existing environmental regulations.


In the problem of active sequential hypothesis testing (ASHT), a learner seeks to identify the true hypothesis from among a known set of hypotheses. The learner is given a set of actions and knows the random distribution of the outcome of any action under any true hypothesis. Given a target error $\delta>0$, the goal is to sequentially select the fewest number of actions so as to identify the true hypothesis with probability at least $1 - \delta$. Motivated by applications in which the number of hypotheses or actions is massive (e.g., genomics-based cancer detection), we propose efficient (greedy, in fact) algorithms and provide the first approximation guarantees for ASHT, under two types of adaptivity. Both of our guarantees are independent of the number of actions and logarithmic in the number of hypotheses. We numerically evaluate the performance of our algorithms using both synthetic and real-world DNA mutation data, demonstrating that our algorithms outperform previously proposed heuristic policies by large margins.


This chapter argues that a trusting corporate culture predicated on values that emphasize sharing and encourage interactions amongst stakeholders at all levels spawns knowledge sharing activities and leads to the development of robust organizational memory reserves. The authors argue that the importance of knowledge management in the information age will make it essential that competitive companies inculcate stakeholders with the values necessary to encourage the production, sharing, and storage of knowledge for the benefit of the organization and its stakeholders. The authors demonstrate that having the proper systems and processes in place and fostering a culture that values sharing should help organizations to develop and use latent knowledge reserves. An experiential learning model is used to illustrate how mere data can be transformed into commercially viable knowledge.


Stories about girl activism circulate as exceptional narratives of individual girl power causing intergenerational partnerships and community collaborations to become invisible and apparently unnecessary to girl activist efforts. At the same time, practitioner-scholars attest that sharing authentic stories about intergenerational feminist praxis is difficult to do since it requires us to write with intentional vulnerability exposing the failures and tensions inherent to girl activism networks. In this article, I provide an autoethnographic exploration of the intergenerational processes involved with organizing Girls Speak Out for the International Day of the Girl at the United Nations. I draw inspiration from Lauren J. Silver's methodological remix of youth-centered activism, and in doing so, reassess the impact and experience of leveraging girls' political voices in spaces of normative power.


A methodology is presented for the optimum design of high-speed multibody systems under time-dependent stress and displacement constraints by mathematical programming. Finite elements are used in the modeling of the flexible links. The design variables are the sectional properties of the elements. The time dependence of the constraints is removed through the use of equivalent constraints based on the most critical constraints. It is shown that this approach yields a better design than using equivalent constraints obtained by the Kresselmeier-Steinhauser function. An optimizer based on sequential quadratic programming is used and the design sensitivities are evaluated by overall finite differences. The dynamical equations contain the nonlinear interactions between the rigid and elastic degrees-of-freedom. To illustrate the procedure, a Peaucellier-Lipkin mechanism is optimized by using different equivalent constraints.


Friction Bit Joining of Similar Alloy Sheets of High-Strength Aluminum Alloy 7085 Matthew R. Okazaki School of Technology, BYU Master of Science Friction Bit Joining (FBJ) is a new technology used primarily in joining dissimilar metals. Its primary use has been focused in the automotive industry to provide an alternative joining process to welding. As automotive manufacturing has continually pushed toward using dissimilar materials, new joining processes have been needed to replace traditional welding practices that do not perform well when materials are not weld compatible. FBJ meets these needs perfectly as it provides strength as well as the ability to join materials of almost any kind. The purpose of this research was to explore different applications of the FBJ process. Traditionally FBJ has used a steel bit to drill through a thin piece of aluminum and weld to a piece of steel behind the aluminum. This research explored a different application of FBJ by using a steel bit to drill through multiple pieces of aluminum and weld to a small steel bit on the backside of the aluminum. The primary goal of this research was to answer two questions. (1) How does drilling impact peak weld strength and (2) Does an optimal shank diameter exist in terms of peak weld strength? As in other research, no universal parameters were found for optimization of lap shear, cross tension and t-peel tests. Drilling was found to be an important factor in peak weld strength. Number of flutes on the consumable steel bit was varied to see the impact of better and worse chip clearance ability. Increasing number of flutes was found to positively impact peak weld strength to a point. Optimal number of flutes was found to be different for each type of testing. It was found that there was an optimal bit head to bit shank diameter ratio that optimized peak weld strength. Again the optimal diameter was different for each test. Bits of different diameters were created and then tested to measure the impact of varying shank diameters on peak weld strength. It was found that there was a strength tradeoff between two localized joint areas in diameter testing. Decreasing the shank diameter increased the amount of overlap formed by the bit head over the top coupon. This shifted strength to the bit head region. While this strengthened the bit head region of the joint, strength was sacrificed in the bit-nut intersection. This tradeoff was consistently found in all test types.


The research extends the application of TBP model including gender and SLE as moderator and mediator, respectively, and see if the prior results in developing countries are coincident with those of this research. In sum, the results could strength the contribution of TBP model including SLE as mediator and gender as moderator through EI. The research is a bi-country study based on 351 University students of business management in Chile and Colombia (245 students corresponds to Chile and 106 corresponds to Colombia). The data were subjected first to a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using Lisrel package. A structural equation model (SEM) analysis by the method of partial least squares (PLS) was used to test hypotheses. The results show that the Ajzen´s model explains the EI in Chile; while in the case of Colombia, only two of the variables suite the model. The social legitimacy of entrepreneurship is a factor that mediates attitude toward entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial intention for both countries. Finally, gender moderates perceived control behavior for the less male culture, Chile, according to Hofstede dimension.


There is no denying that almost every nation around the globe has a multicultural population. The evidence is clear when one examines the sociodemographic data of each country) and sees the diversity in language, ethnicity, religion, among other variables. Furthermore, in a century with easier and faster modes of communication, and increased human migrations, nations are becoming even more multicultural. Our Section is cognizant of this and thus we are "striving to share [our] experience in library services to multicultural populations in view of the necessity to ensure that every member in our global society has access to a full range of library and information services." (IFLA Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section Website, http://www.ifla.org/VII/s32/index.htm). To this end the Section has published Multicultural Communities: Guidelines for Library Services (2nd edition, revised,1998), which is available in eight languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish are available online, Japanese and Italian are available in print). However, these guidelines are only helpful if communities themselves recognize the multicultural nature of its user population and have decided to implement services responsive to its needs.


This research explores the relationship between the intergenerational transmission of trauma and the construction of spiritual worldviews among children of Holocaust survivors. Based on a qualitative study of fifty descendants of the Holocaust, the study examines the effects of traumatic inheritance on the beliefs surrounding God and notions of the Divine. The study's findings reveal that children of survivors embrace varied and alternative belief systems that follow two trends in modern religious thought: belief in a personalized rather than institutionalized notion of a higher power and a search for meaning through immanence and personal forms of transcendence. In adopting these spiritual perspectives, descendants reject the patriarchal traditions of pre-Holocaust Judaism, creating new forms of religious culture and imagery that are in part a response to the failure of a patriarchal God in the face of Nazi destruction. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the Holocaust and the crisis of masculinity that informs the spiritual legacy of Jewish genocide.