Tongue diagnosis is known as one of the effective and yet noninvasive techniques to evaluate patient's health condition in traditional oriental medicine such as traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Korean medicine. However, due to ambiguity, practitioners may have different interpretation on the tongue colour, body shape and texture. Thus, research of automatic tongue diagnosis system is needed for aiding practitioners in recognizing the features for tongue diagnosis. In this paper, a tongue diagnosis system based on Convolution Neural Network (CNN) for classifying tongue colours is proposed. The system extracts all relevant information (i.e., features) from three-dimensional digital tongue image and classifies the image into one of the colours (i.e. red or pink). Several pre-processing and data augmentation methods have been carried out and evaluated, which include salt-and-pepper noises, rotations and flips. The proposed system achieves accuracy of up to 88.98% from 5-fold cross validation. Compared to the reported baseline Support Vector Machine (SVM) method, the proposed method using CNN results in roughly 30% improvement in recognition accuracy.


Consider the stochastic composition optimization problem where the objective is a composition of two expected-value functions. We propose a new stochastic first-order method, namely the accelerated stochastic compositional proximal gradient (ASC-PG) method, which updates based on queries to the sampling oracle using two different timescales. The ASC-PG is the first proximal gradient method for the stochastic composition problem that can deal with nonsmooth regularization penalty. We show that the ASC-PG exhibits faster convergence than the best known algorithms, and that it achieves the optimal sample-error complexity in several important special cases. We further demonstrate the application of ASC-PG to reinforcement learning and conduct numerical experiments.


Aboriginal rights, including Aboriginal title to land, are communal rights that are vested in Indigenous collectivities that are connected to the specific Indigenous groups that occupied and used land prior to European colonization of Canada. Identifying the present-day collectivities that hold these rights is therefore essential. This research paper examines the jurisprudence on this matter in relation to three categories of court decisions: Aboriginal title cases, Aboriginal rights cases apart from title, and duty to consult cases. Analysis of the case law reveals that identification of current rights holders is treated as a matter of fact that depends in part on the laws of the Indigenous people concerned. Although the courts have generally avoided considering the implications of this for self-government, the author contends that Aboriginal rights necessarily entail governance authority that must likewise be vested in rights-holding collectivities.


Paris, "The Centre of All Centres". Is It Still the Case? In La République Mondiale des Lettres published in 1999 and 2008, Ms. Casanova wrote: "Paris is the Greenwich meridian for literature" for the 19th and 20th centuries. Writers and artists have come to the city in the past because it was extremely attractive for creative and economic reasons. But at the beginning of the 21st century, with the rise of the New Media for writing, publishing and diffusing, is it correct to say that Paris is still supreme? Is location more important than the time devoted to writing and reading?
The claims on which Ms. Casanova builds her assertions are not supported by the facts of recent history and geography. She refers to "La belle santé économique et la liberté" in Paris but she forgot to mention why artists came from central Europe. It was just because the life was cheaper in Paris than in Berlin, as Walter Benjamin observed in 1926. She notes that Paris was the world centre for high fashion and that writers came together there to be inspired by the place and each other. But these things are no longer true: Paris is one of the most unaffordable cities in the world. Fashion in clothes is determined in many centres, with fashion weeks held in New York, Milan and China; aesthetics no longer depend on a single country. Literary creativity has spread across many continents and the internet and social media provide access to millions of people around the globe. Globalisation has unified the world, note Jean-Philippe Toussaint and Sylvain Tesson, and brought the standardization of cultures.
There is also the matter of the dominant language today. The French language has not changed since Ms. Casanova was doing her research, but French writers now dream of being translated into English to reach the largest audience around the world. Publishers also favour English to make the most profit because literature and art are now worldwide commodities. Writers and researchers use the Internet, which connects them with documents, libraries and people all over the world. Newspapers such as Le Monde and Le Figaro in France provide literary reviews from around the world; for example, Histoire de la Traduction Littéraire en Europe Médiane, compiled by Antoine Chalvin, Marie Vrinat-Nikolov, Jean-Léon Muller and Katre Talviste, was written up in Cahiers Littéraires du Monde. What about the readership? If publishing and merchandizing are accelerating and globalizing because of how the Internet changes time and distance, the writer still has to follow the rhythm of the subject.


This paper considers a cloud computing setting in which similarity querying of metric data is outsourced to a service provider. The data is to be revealed only to trusted users, not to the service provider or anyone else. Users query the server for the most similar data objects to a query example. Outsourcing offers the data owner scalability and a low-initial investment. The need for privacy may be due to the data being sensitive (e.g., in medicine), valuable (e.g., in astronomy), or otherwise confidential. Given this setting, the paper presents techniques that transform the data prior to supplying it to the service provider for similarity queries on the transformed data. Our techniques provide interesting trade-offs between query cost and accuracy. They are then further extended to offer an intuitive privacy guarantee. Empirical studies with real data demonstrate that the techniques are capable of offering privacy while enabling efficient and accurate processing of similarity queries.


Scientists warn that human activity in the Anthropocene is causing the transgression of several planetary boundaries. The population/environment/development equation has become insoluble. This paper reviews the trajectory of climate change and discusses the shortcomings of ongoing efforts to address it. It analyzes the current crisis in global governance, fostered by widespread disenchantment with globalization, and reflects on the risks that the resulting political imbroglio presents for our environmental future. Global responses are ineffective due to crumbling multilaterism and the continuing promotion of unsustainable economic growth based on consumerism. Discontent with the consequences of globalization has destabilized national governance and, in the process, further corroded prospects for effective global governance in facing symbiotic social, political and environmental crises. Frustration with globalization is providing media populists a platform from which to attract voters with naive schemes that highlight climate change denial. Potential pathways and obstacles for multilateralism in efforts to resolve the current crisis are blurred. Blind faith in technology, negationism, and the pervasiveness of the consumer culture further hamper awareness raising. Unfortunately, voters, institutions and policies may only adjust when the intensification of climate disasters forces a sea change in outlook.


AIM: The authors propose the use of ABR as an instrument for the detection of brainstem dysfunction in the trans- and post-operatory period of surgeries with total circulatory arrest (TCA) and deep hypothermia for correction of aneurysms of the thoracic aorta. STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal Cohort. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Eight adult patients that underwent surgery for correction of aneurisms of thoracic aorta had their brainstem monitored through ABR. The patients had their body temperature lowered to 18oC. At this moment, TCA was performed for a period of up to 60 minutes. The recordings were done at the following: before lowering the body temperature, during the cooling process, at the time of TCA (18oC), and during the re-warming process. RESULTS: The initial tracings (35oC) were normal. At 26oC, ABR waves disappeared. At 18oC and TCA, ABR showed isoelectric tracings. Waves I, III and V reappeared at 27oC, although with prolonged latencies. When temperature reached 35oC, latencies were back to normal. CONCLUSIONS: The ABR seems to be a useful monitor for evaluating brainstem function during surgeries with TCA and deep hypothermia. Our experience showed the extreme usefulness of the evoked auditory potentials in such procedures as a noninvasive, reliable and objective method for the monitoring of variations in the neurophysiological pattern of the brainstem. This can be of great value in presuming the patient's neurological outcome in a moment when the neurological status cannot be clinically accessed due to the several drugs used during surgery.


Structural stormwater management practices help reduce the quantity and improve quality of stormwater runoff. This dissertation focuses on costs and cost effectiveness of these practices. Design, construction and maintenance costs data that were collected from six different sources and adjusted for purchasing power differences over time and location are analyzed using stochastic Leontief cost functions. Effects on these costs of land prices, wages for engineering, construction, and landscaping services, water storage or treatment, and differences in designs of the SMPs and the biophysical regions in which they are located are estimated with the Leontief functions. Results indicate that all SMPs exhibit economies of size in at least one of the different regions considered. Land price significantly determines total costs of ponds and wetlands. Input prices and differences in biophysical regions and designs are also significant determinants of the costs of some SMPs. A comparative study of costs of the SMPs, given the same pollutant removal capacity, is provided. Bioretention cells are less expensive than ponds or wetlands in highly urbanized areas where the land costs are relatively high. Costs per milligrams of pollutant removed per liter of stormwater inflow are analyzed for two bioretention cells. A procedure to calculate the cost effectiveness of a particular SMP in removing pollutant and reducing runoff is illustrated.


This article outlines the theories of why modern practices are either sustainable or unsustainable, emphasizing that non-ecological economic modernization is the default option. If paralysis results from disagreements among proponents of ecological modernization, local participatory approaches, environmental justice, Marxian theory, anti-consumerism theory, human ecology, etc., then the result will be free rein for practices that threaten sustainability. This is an issue of such seriousness, scope, and urgency that these alternative approaches should not be seen as mutually destructive but as complementary. Sustainability efforts can be made at different levels and in different ways: local and global, participatory and organizational, market-based and regulatorybased, efficiency improvements and consumption reduction, etc. The five articles in this volume by talented young sociologists are excellent and I agree with much of their analyses. By documenting limitations of attempts at sustainability, those papers demonstrate what a wicked problem sustainability is. Even their omissions, which I have focused on to push analysis further, indicate wickedness. I conclude by suggesting that critical analytic skills should now be turned from the flea to the elephant, namely to the investigation of sustainability indifferent economic modernization.


Elephant 2000 is a proposed programming language good for writing and verifying programs that interact with people (e.g., transaction processing) or interact with programs belonging to other organizations (e.g., electronic data interchange). Communication inputs and outputs are in an I/O language whose sentences are meaningful speech acts identified in the language as questions, answers, offers, acceptances, declinations, requests, permissions, and promises. The correctness of programs is partly defined in terms of proper performance of the speech acts. Answers should be truthful and responsive, and promises should be kept. Sentences of logic expressing these forms of correctness can be generated automatically from the form of the program.
 Elephant source programs may not need data structures, because they can refer directly to the past. Thus a program can say that an airline passenger has a reservation if he has made one and hasn't cancelled it. Elephant programs themselves can be represented as sentences of logic. Their extensional properties follow from this representation without an intervening theory of programming or anything like Hoare axioms.
 Elephant programs that interact non-trivially with the outside world can have both input-output specifications, relating the programs inputs and outputs, and accomplishment specifications concerning what the program accomplishes in the world. These concepts are respectively generalizations of the philosophers' illocutionary and perlocutionary speech acts.
 Programs that engage in commercial transactions assume obligations on behalf of their owners in exchange for obligations assumed by other entities. It may be part of the specifications of an Elephant 2000 program that these obligations are exchanged as intended, and this too can be expressed by a logical sentence.
 Human speech acts involve intelligence. Elephant 2000 is on the borderline of AI, but the talk emphasizes the Elephant usages that do not require AI.


South Africa has been in the process of strengthening its regulatory framework through the development of legislation, regulations, norms and standards to facilitate better management of waste. One such legislation is the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, 2008 (Act No. 59 of 2008) which led to the adoption of a new approach in waste management. Traditional ways of dealing with waste have a considerable environmental footprint, not only from landfill methane emissions but also from the energy and raw materials needed to collect and move it around. It is estimated that South Africa generates millions of tons of waste from household, commerce and industry. Although current data on waste flows is incomplete, it was estimated that for the between March 2006 to April 2007, about 24,115,402 tons of general waste was disposed of in landfills during that year (DEAT, 2007). This figure will increase as waste services are extended, and necessitate a significant increase in the recycling rate and greater diversion of waste from landfill through waste to energy recovery, treatment and reuse programs. Currently, much of this waste ends up in waste landfills where it biodegrades and generates methane gas which contributes to the total greenhouse gas emissions leading to climate change. In July of 2009, the new Waste Act which governs waste management in South Africa came into effect. This landmark legislation seeks to address the problems South Africa has over waste by instituting mechanisms of waste avoidance, minimisation, reuse, recycling, recovery, appropriate collection, transport services and environmentally sound treatment and disposal. Interestingly, the new Waste Act also introduces an element of remediation of contaminated land, a new provision in waste management legislation in the country. With the firm legislative foundation and


Many diverse animal models have been used to explore the interactions between host organisms and their microbiota. Increased understanding of microbehost interactions could lead to improved healthcare and drug development. Spiders have venom, digestive fluid, and body fluid components that have been suggested to possess antimicrobial properties that could lead to new and interesting host-microbe interactions. While studies have been published on interactions between bacteria affecting the immune function and behavior of spiders, the spider microbiome has not been established to date. Excreta and body swabs were collected from Rabidosa rabida, a wolf spider typically found on tall grass or low vegetation. Bacteria were cultured on tryptic soy agar, an all-purpose media known to grow most common bacterial strains, plates and 53 bacterial samples were Gram stained, catalase, and coagulase tested using aseptic technique. Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus sp., and a Gram-positive bacillus were found on the excreta samples while Staphylococcus sp., Gram-negative bacilli, and Gram-negative cocci were found on the body swabs. Most of the excreta samples had little to no growth. The body swabs had multiple types of microorganisms that were limited to body location. A better understanding of this relatively simple host-microbe interaction can provide an understanding of the factors affecting these interactions allowing us to then understand more complex interactions such as those found in humans.


One of the largest rivers in the world, the Indus rises in the Tibetan mountains, flows west across northern India and south through Pakistan. For millennia it has been worshipped as a god; for centuries used as a tool of imperial expansion; today it is the cement of Pakistans fractious union. Five thousand years ago, a string of sophisticated cities grew and traded on its banks. In the ruins of these elaborate metropolises, Sanskrit-speaking nomads explored the river, extolling its virtues in Indias most ancient text, the Rig-Veda. During the past two thousand years a series of invaders - Alexander the Great, Afghan Sultans, the British Raj - made conquering the Indus valley their quixotic mission. For the people of the river, meanwhile, the Indus valley became a nodal point on the Silk Road, a centre of Sufi pilgrimage and the birthplace of Sikhism. Empires of the Indus follows the river upstream and back in time, taking the reader on a voyage through two thousand miles of geography and more than five millennia of history redolent with contemporary importance.


Membantai Kabau Nan Gadang is the traditional herritage from ancestors with a purpose planting patterns simultaneously. In a Minangkabau proverb is said "ka sawah basamosamo, ka ladang badakok-dakok". The history of this traditional ceremony is a form of trustworthiness of the local community which is a part of the local wisdom in farming activity for increasing sufficiency of food through planting patterns simultaneously. The purposes of this research are : background of the traditional ceremony and the implementation process. This research is qualitative research. It was conducted with the ethnography approach. The results of this research: The history of this traditional ceremony was a symbol peace between ancestors in snatching area, and reasons of the society defend: belief of nature, the history of Nagari Alam Pauh Duo, and collective awareness of niniak mamak. The process in two days. The first day is slaughtering buffalo. The second day is eating bajamba surang-surang, watching regional art, agriculture department officer gives instructions and reading amad. The last step is closing by praying together.


The US government spends billions of dollars every year to reduce uncertainty: to monitor and forecast everything from the weather to the spread of disease. In other words, we spend a lot of money to anticipate problems, identify opportunities, and avoid mistakes. A substantial portion of what we spend-over $50 billion a year-goes to the US Intelligence Community.Reducing Uncertainty describes what Intelligence Community analysts do, how they do it, and how they are affected by the political context that shapes, uses, and sometimes abuses their output. In particular, it looks at why IC analysts pay more attention to threats than to opportunities, and why they appear to focus more on warning about the possibility of "bad things" happening than on providing the input necessary for increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes. The book is intended to increase public understanding of what IC analysts do, to elicit more relevant and constructive suggestions for improvement from outside the Intelligence Community, to stimulate innovation and collaboration among analysts at all grade levels in all agencies, and to provide a core resource for students of intelligence. The most valuable aspect of this book is the in-depth discussion of National Intelligence Estimates-what they are, what it means to say that they represent the "most authoritative judgments of the Intelligence Community," why and how they are important, and why they have such high political salience and symbolic importance. The final chapter lays out, from an insider's perspective, the story of the flawed Iraq WMD NIE and its impact on the subsequent Iran nuclear NIE-paying particular attention to the heightened political scrutiny the latter received in Congress following the Iraq NIE debacle.


Existing research has shown that job displacement leads to large and persistent earnings losses for men, but evidence for women is scarce. Using administrative data from Germany, we apply an event study design in combination with propensity score matching and a reweighting technique to directly compare men and women who are displaced from similar jobs and firms. Our results show that after a mass layoff, women's earnings losses are about 35% higher than men's, with the gap persisting five years after job displacement. This is partly explained by a higher propensity of women to take up part-time or marginal employment following job loss, but even full-time wage losses are almost 50% (or 5 percentage points) higher for women than for men. We then show that on the household level there is no evidence of an added worker effect, independent of the gender of the job loser. Finally, we document that parenthood magnifies the gender gap sharply: while fathers of young children have smaller earnings losses than men in general, mothers of young children have much larger earnings losses than other women.


When students leave their advising appointments, how do they feel? Excited? Disappointed? If advisors and students do not share expectations and goals, the student may harbor negative feelings about the advising experience, which have the potential to lead to withdrawal and dissatisfaction. We surveyed students at a large midwestern university to see how students feel about their past and recent advising experiences. Overall, students reported satisfaction with their advising involvement, as average rating scores were high and positive. The measurement scale created to evaluate student satisfaction with advising was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. This analysis showed two reliable scales: advising and outreach functions, which may be used in the future to evaluate advising programs.


We examine collisions between soliton trains in the case in which initially all pulses in a train are copolarized. We demonstrate that an optical kink arises, which is destroyed when the effects of weak birefringence are included. We also investigate collisions between trains that consist of orthogonal pulse pairs and find that, when considered pairwise, collisions do not affect the polarization states of pulses in either train. The consequences of this for optical transmission systems that use both wavelength-division multiplexing and polarization-division multiplexing are examined.


This essay revisits a public dispute between Harriet Martineau and Charles Dickens during the winter of 1855–56. It argues both that the nature of their quarrel has been largely misunderstood and also that its wider implications for understanding nineteenth-century intellectual and literary culture have been overlooked. The essay thus reexamines the dispute, its origins, and its aftermath, and places the event within the context of recent critical readings of Utilitarianism, the experience of industrial society, and the emergence of the professional woman writer. In so doing, it shows that a deeper exploration of the relationship between Martineau and Dickens adds considerably not only to our knowledge of the two authors themselves but also to our understanding of the ways in which nineteenth-century intellectual history interacts with the gender politics of Victorian literary culture and publishing.


In vertebrates, somites are the developmental precursors for muscle and bone. Several signaling pathways affect somite development, and elimination of the retinoic acid (RA)-synthesizing enzyme RALDH2 yields compacted somites. Vermot et al. examined how the RA contributes to the control of somite development. When RALDH2 was eliminated in mice, the coordinated left-right symmetry in somite development was affected in somite stages 8 to 15, with as many as three extra somites observed on one side relative to the other. An apparent correction in this asymmetry occurs later in development. Embryonic RA appears to coordinate the progression of somite-specific signaling and development along the left and right sides of the organism. J. Vermot, J. G. Llamas, V. Fraulob, K. Niederreither, P. Chambon, P. Dollé, Retinoic acid controls the bilateral symmetry of somite formation in the mouse embryo. Science 308, 563-566 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]


In this paper we propose a new type of a particle systems, tailored for illustrative visualization purposes, in particular for visualizing molecular reactions in biological networks. Previous visualizations of biochemical processes were exploiting the results of agent‐based modeling. Such modeling aims at reproducing accurately the stochastic nature of molecular interactions. However, it is impossible to expect events of interest happening at a certain time and location, which is impractical for storytelling. To obtain the means of controlling molecular interactions, we propose to govern passive agents with an omniscient intelligence, instead of giving to the agents the freedom of initiating reaction autonomously. This makes it possible to generate illustrative animated stories that communicate the functioning of the molecular machinery. The rendering performance delivers for interactive framerates of massive amounts of data, based on the dynamic tessellation capabilities of modern graphics cards. Finally, we report an informal expert feedback we obtained from the potential users.


Vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were obtained from endurance-trained (running approximately 50 km/wk) and untrained (no regular physical exercise) men, and the expression of an array of insulin-signaling intermediates was determined. Expression of insulin receptor and insulin receptor substrate-1 and -2 was decreased 44% (P < 0.05), 57% (P < 0.001), and 77% (P < 0.001), respectively, in trained vs. untrained muscle. The downstream signaling target, Akt kinase, was not altered in trained subjects. Components of the mitogenic signaling cascade were also assessed. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinase expression was 190% greater (P < 0.05), whereas p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase expression was 32% lower (P < 0.05), in trained vs. untrained muscle. GLUT-4 protein expression was twofold higher (P < 0.05), and the GLUT-4 vesicle-associated protein, the insulin-regulated aminopeptidase, was increased 4.7-fold (P < 0. 05) in trained muscle. In conclusion, the expression of proteins involved in signal transduction is altered in skeletal muscle from well-trained athletes. Downregulation of early components of the insulin-signaling cascade may occur in response to increased insulin sensitivity associated with endurance training.


Organized topically rather than historically, this book provides an excellent introduction to the subject of African Philosophy. Samuel Oluoch Imbo synthesizes the ideas of key African philosophers into an accessible narrative. The author focuses on five central questions: What are the definitions of African philosophy? Is ethno-philosophy really philosophy? What are the dangers of an African philosophy that claims to be 'unique'? Can African philosophy be done in foreign languages such as English and French? Are there useful ways to make connections between African philosophy, African American philosophy, and women's studies? By making cross-disciplinary and transnational connections, Imbo stakes out an important place for African philosophy. Imbo's book is an invaluable introduction to this dynamic and growing area of study.


Reading packs are commissioned by the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID) for independent study and professional development use. They are intended to be thought-provoking introductions to emerging issues and debates within the subject areas they cover. The views expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of GSDRC, its partner agencies or DFID. © DFID Crown Copyright 2016. Licensed under the Open Government Licence: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence


Scene text localization and recognition (also known as text localization and recognition in real-world images, nature scene OCR or text-in-the-wild problem) is an open problem, attracting increasing interest from researchers. In this paper, we address the localization issue and leave the recognition part out of its scope. For the purpose of scene text localization, Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) keypoints are extracted from the images and classified as text and non-text. Subsequently, the text keypoints are utilized to compute the bounding boxes around text regions. The proposed technique is tested on the database of ICDAR 2013 Robust Reading Competition - Challenge 2 and the experimental results are reported in detail. Although the idea introduced here is still at its infancy, it is observed to achieve remarkable results and due to the fact that there is a large room for improvement, it is found to be promising.


The structural dimensions of a country's tourism sector, and in particular the spatial structure of tourism production and consumption, relate closely to the nature and extent of the impact that tourism can have. This article examines the spatial characteristics of tourism in the Western Cape province, one of South Africa's foremost international tourist regions, and where its government seeks to use tourism as an instrument of development and socio-economic transformation. To understand how this could be effected it is necessary to understand the spatial distributional effects of tourism, and the underlying reasons for it. To this end the article examines the spatial structure of the provincial accommodation sector as evidenced in patterns of accommodation supply and tourist usage (demand); and trends in the nature, direction and distribution of public and private-sector tourism investments. The central argument is that tourism is geographically focused, with tourist activities concentrated in a few locales and sub-regions. This follows the general demographic and economic contours of the province. Yet trends in capital investments tend to reinforce the spatial concentration of tourism. Attempts by the government to spread tourism's benefits have not been too successful due to institutional and capacity deficiencies. Greater emphasis should be placed on developing domestic tourism.


Islamic economy in Indonesia is in continuous development qualitatively
and quantitatively. There are products of Islamic financial institutions which
innovatively developed. However, there are findings which stated that the
Islamic financial institutions in Indonesia still not in full compliance with
the Shariah, especially in terms of fulfilling the justice experienced by
Islamic bank's mudarabah contract customers. The injustice is on the nisbah or
ratio between the capital owner and the capital manager. There ara model or
proposal to how to determine the profit sharing ratio, however, there is still
none of them which dwelling on the idea of justice in profit sharing ratio.
This research, using an explorative and qualitative approach contributes to the
philosophical basis in determining the just profit sharing ratio. The reason
for the research is since justice is one of the Islamic economy pillars in
Islamic economy paradigm. By this research, it is hoped that the future
practice of profit sharing ratio will be just for the actors of the Muḍārabah contract.


The dictionary meanings of appropriate and misappropriate are the same: to take something for one's own use without the owner's permission. Appropriate also has an additional dictionary meaning: to use something for a purpose that it wasn't originally intended for. Poetic appropriation is quite different. It does often use images without the owner's permission and often for an unexpected purpose, but its practice descends from hermeneutics (from Hermes, the ancient Greek messenger of the gods): the ancient art of interpreting the world's speech. Its methods derive from theories of mimesis and simulation that can be traced well beyond Plato to shamanistic practices of form shifting—of becoming animal through the use of dance, painting and masks that mimic the animal in question. To dismiss poetic appropriation as theft is to miss its purpose.


Abstract. Sediment core data from the Baltic Proper show that deepwater sediments during the present brackish state have alternated between anoxic and oxygenated episodes, implying that anoxic episodes were shut off by a natural restoration mechanism. This mechanism is identified as sustained oxygenation of the deep bottoms which shuts off the internal phosphorus (P) source from anoxic sediments. When this happens, P sink processes rapidly reduce the winter surface concentration c1 of P. A P budget model shows that the presently eutrophic Baltic Proper can be restored in about 10 years by man-made (or natural) sustained oxygenation of the deepwater. This will reduce the total P supply and c1 to about 25 % of present day values and the oxygen demand in the deepwater will be reduced proportionally, meaning that the natural water exchange again should be able to oxygenate the Baltic Proper and the restoration equipment can be removed.


Recent advances in retinal imaging have made it possible to take measurements of retinal oxygen saturation noninvasively in humans. This allows studying the supply of oxygen in healthy and diseased retinae, thereby advancing our understanding of both the normal functioning of the retina and of retinal pathologies. However, retinal oximetry is still a research tool only and requires further improvement before being used in a clinical setting.Here, a single-wavelength flickering light was used to increase retinal blood flow in healthy subjects. This increase is revealed by both vasodilation and an increase in retinal oxygen saturation. A flickering light stimulus provides the means to assess the sensitivity of any retinal oximetry system, as such systems should be able to pick up this increase in retinal blood flow. In addition, the flickering light allows for com- parison to be made within rather than between subjects and can be used to examine the activation of the eye. This reduces the influence of potential confounding factors between subjects including differences in fundus pigmentation and illumination. The most commonly used method to measure retinal oxygenation is the optical density ra- tio (ODR) approach. The standard approach is to compute the average ODR for each vessel segment by combining the hundreds of individual ODR readings and then to use the mean of these segment averages as a measure of oxygen saturation. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the peak location of Gaussian functions fitted to histograms of individual ODR readings can be used as an measure of retinal oxygenation.In response to a 10Hz flickering light, the venular diameter increased by 3.44% (SEM: �0.53%) (n=16, p<0.05) and the arteriolar diameter by 1.87% (�0.72 %) (p<0.05). The optical density ratio, measured with the Gaussian fit, decreased in the venules from 0.713 (�0.015) to 0.694 (�0.015) (p<0.05). No changes in arteriolar optical density ratios were measured. The post-flicker measurement was computed as the average of up to four post-flicker datasets obtained at 10s, 20s, 30s and 40s after onset of flickering. These results suggest that the flickering light increased retinal blood flow. The mean absolute percentage error was lower in venules for the Gaussian fit method than for the gold standard method for datasets taken at 30s and 40s after onset of flickering. Thus, the Gaussian fit method was more robust. All measurements were taken with a custom-made retinal oximeter.The pixel intensity of the blood vessel and the intensity on either side of the vessel had to be extracted to compute the individual optical density ratios. This required the automatic extraction of the retinal vasculature. Two such algorithms were developed and applied to two databases of retinal fundus images: the DRIVE and the novel DR HAGIS database. One algorithm was purely based on the pixel intensities, while the other made use of oriented Gabor filters. These two algorithms segmented the images to a similar accuracy (DRIVE: 94.56% and 94.54%, DR HAGIS: 95.83% and 95.71% for the intensity and Gabor filter based algorithm, respectively) and performed as well as a human expert (DRIVE: 94.73%). These algorithms were of sufficient quality to extract individual segments for the oximetry study and to align fundus images.


In this book John Radner examines the fluctuating, close, and complex friendship enjoyed by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, from the day they met in 1763 to the day when Boswell published his monumental Life of Johnson. Drawing on everything Johnson and Boswell wrote to and about the other, this book charts the psychological currents that flowed between them as they scripted and directed their time together, questioned and advised, confided and held back. It explores the key longings and shifting tensions that distinguished this from each man's other long-term friendships, while it tracks in detail how Johnson and Boswell brought each other to life, challenged and confirmed each other, and used their deepening friendship to define and assess themselves. It tells a story that reaches through its specificity into the dynamics of most sustained friendships, with their breaks and reconnections, their silences and fresh intimacies, their continuities and transformations.


To evaluate the effect of increased mouse density in a cage, mice were housed at the density recommended by the 1996 Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and at densities that were approximately 2, 2.6, and 3 times greater. Five strains of mice (129S1/SvImJ, A/J, BALB/cByJ, C57BL/6J, and DBA/2J) were evaluated throughout 3- and 8-month timeframes for health and well-being, including mortality, cardiac measures, plasma cholesterol, body weight, bone mineral density, organ weights, hematology, behavioral observations, and open field and light–dark tests. For 22 of the 27 traits measured, increased housing density had no significant effect. Kidney weight, adrenal weight, and heart rate decreased as mice were housed more densely, and some of the decreases were statistically significant. Reduced kidney weight, adrenal weight, and heart rate are not considered to be negative outcomes and may even indicate reduced stress. However, all measurements of these three traits were within normal physiological ranges. Percent fat increased slightly in strains 129S1/SvImJ, A/J, and DBA/2J, but did not increase in strains BALB/cByJ, and C57BL/6J. These results indicate that mice can be housed at higher densities than those currently recommended.


Asperger syndrome (AS) is a subtype of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) characterized by major problems in social and nonverbal communication, together with limited and repetitive forms of behavior and interests. The linguistic and cognitive development in AS is preserved which help us to differentiate it from other subtypes of ASD. However, significant effects of AS on cognitive abilities and brain functions still need to be researched. Although a clear cut pathology for Asperger has not been identified yet, recent studies have largely focused on brain imaging techniques to investigate AS. In this regard, we carried out a systematic review on behavioral, cognitive, and neural markers (specifically using MRI and fMRI) studies on AS. In this paper, behavior, motor skills and language capabilities of individuals with Asperger are compared to those in healthy controls. In addition, common findings across MRI and fMRI based studies associated with behavior and cognitive disabilities are highlighted.


An oxygen-methane thruster was conceived with integrated igniter/injector capable of nominal operation on either gaseous or liquid propellants. The thruster was designed to develop 100 lbf (approximately 445 N) thrust at vacuum conditions and use oxygen and methane as propellants. This continued development included refining the design of the thruster to minimize part count and manufacturing difficulties/cost, refining the modeling tools and capabilities that support system design and analysis, demonstrating the performance of the igniter and full thruster assembly with both gaseous and liquid propellants, and acquiring data from this testing in order to verify the design and operational parameters of the thruster. Thruster testing was conducted with gaseous propellants used for the igniter and thruster. The thruster was demonstrated to work with all types of propellant conditions, and provided the desired performance. Both the thruster and igniter were tested, as well as gaseous propellants, and found to provide the desired performance using the various propellant conditions. The engine also served as an injector testbed for MSFC-designed refractory combustion chambers made of rhenium.


This case study aims to provide researchers who are interested in developing international research projects with some practical advice in terms of research design and implementation. This case study centres on a transnational higher education research project that occurred in 2014. This study sought to engage faculty members in both the United Kingdom and China, who deliver Sino-British 'joint programme' partnerships. This study aimed to understand how the operational activities of faculty members tasked with delivering these partnerships, affected the development of social relationships. As trade in overseas higher education increases, how these relationships develop is important, particularly if transnational higher education partnerships are to survive and generate value over time. This case study outlines in detail four choices the researcher faced when investigating three ...


The Equations Underlying Cities Cities are complex systems of which functioning depends upon many social, economic, and environmental factors. Bettencourt (p. 1438; see the cover; see the Perspective by Batty) developed a theory to explain the quantitative relationships observed between various aspects of cities and population size or land area. Cities of all sizes can be modeled as interdependent networks of interactions and infrastructure. [Also see Perspective by Batty] Despite the increasing importance of cities in human societies, our ability to understand them scientifically and manage them in practice has remained limited. The greatest difficulties to any scientific approach to cities have resulted from their many interdependent facets, as social, economic, infrastructural, and spatial complex systems that exist in similar but changing forms over a huge range of scales. Here, I show how all cities may evolve according to a small set of basic principles that operate locally. A theoretical framework was developed to predict the average social, spatial, and infrastructural properties of cities as a set of scaling relations that apply to all urban systems. Confirmation of these predictions was observed for thousands of cities worldwide, from many urban systems at different levels of development. Measures of urban efficiency, capturing the balance between socioeconomic outputs and infrastructural costs, were shown to be independent of city size and might be a useful means to evaluate urban planning strategies.


We report on a first census of Galactic black hole X-ray binary (BHXRB)
properties with the second data release (DR2) of Gaia, focusing on
dynamically confirmed and strong candidate BH transients. Gaia DR2
provides five-parameter astrometric solutions including position,
parallax and proper motion for 11 out of a sample of 24 systems.
Distance estimates are tested with parallax inversion as well as
Bayesian inference. We derive an empirically motivated characteristic
scalelength of L = 2.17 ± 0.12 kpc for this BHXRB population to
infer distances based upon an exponentially decreasing space density
prior. Geometric DR2 parallaxes provide new, independent distance
estimates, but the faintness of this population in quiescence results in
relatively large fractional distance uncertainties. Despite this, DR2
estimates generally agree with the distances found in the literature.
The most discrepant case is BW Cir, for which detailed studies of the
donor star have suggested a distant location at ≳25 kpc. The large
parallax and relatively high proper motion measured by DR2 instead
indicate significantly smaller distances, suggesting that the source
might be amongst the nearest of XRBs. However, both larger and smaller
distances create problems for the interpretation of the source, and
follow-up data are required to resolve its true nature. DR2 also
provides a first distance estimate to one source, MAXI J1820+070, and
novel proper motion estimates for seven sources. Peculiar velocities
relative to Galactic rotation exceed ≈ 50 km s-1 for the
bulk of the sample, with a median system kinetic energy of peculiar
motion of ˜ 5 × 1047 erg. BW Cir could be a new
high-velocity BHXRB if its astrometry is confirmed. A putative
anticorrelation between peculiar velocity and BH mass is found, as
expected in mass-dependent BH kick formation channels, but this trend
remains weak in the DR2 data.


We have previously found that the myotome is formed by a first wave of pioneer cells generated along the medial epithelial somite and a second wave emanating from the dorsomedial lip (DML), rostral and caudal edges of the dermomyotome (Kahane, N., Cinnamon, Y. and Kalcheim, C. (1998a) Mech. Dev. 74, 59-73; Kahane, N., Cinnamon, Y. and Kalcheim, C. (1998b) Development 125, 4259-4271). In this study, we have addressed the development and precise fate of the ventrolateral lip (VLL) in non-limb regions of the axis. To this end, fluorescent vital dyes were iontophoretically injected in the center of the VLL and the translocation of labeled cells was followed by confocal microscopy. VLL-derived cells colonized the ventrolateral portion of the myotome. This occurred following an early longitudinal cell translocation along the medial boundary until reaching the rostral or caudal dermomyotome lips from which fibers emerged into the myotome. Thus, the behavior of VLL cells parallels that of their DML counterparts which colonize the opposite, dorsomedial portion of the myotome. To precisely understand the way the myotome expands, we addressed the early generation of hypaxial intercostal muscles. We found that intercostal muscles were formed by VLL-derived fibers that intermingled with fibers emerging from the ventrolateral aspect of both rostral and caudal edges of the dermomyotome. Notably, hypaxial intercostal muscles also contained pioneer myofibers (first wave) showing for the first time that lateral myotome-derived muscles contain a fundamental component of fibers generated in the medial domain of the somite. In addition, we show that during myotome growth and evolution into muscle, second-wave myofibers progressively intercalate between the pioneer fibers, suggesting a constant mode of myotomal expansion in its dorsomedial to ventrolateral extent. This further suggests that specific hypaxial muscles develop following a consistent ventral expansion of a 'compound myotome' into the somatopleure.


We compare free choice reforms in Denmark and the United States to understand what ideas and political forces could generate such similar policy reforms in radically different political contexts. We analyze the two cases using our own interpretation of neoliberalism as having "two faces." The first face seeks to expand private markets and shrink the public sector; the second face seeks to strengthen the public sector's capacity to govern through incentives and competition. First, we show why these two most-different cases offer a useful comparison to understand similar policy tools. Second, we develop our theoretical framework of the two faces of neoliberalism. Third, we examine Denmark's introduction of a free choice of hospitals in 2002, a policy that for the first time allowed some patients to receive care either in a public hospital outside their local area or in a private hospital. Fourth, we examine the introduction of free choice among private managed care plans into the US Medicare program in 1997. We show how policy makers in both countries used neoliberal reform as a mechanism to make their public health care sectors governable. Fifth, on the basis of our analysis, we draw five lessons about neoliberal policy reforms.


THE PAPER BY Hartup et al. (2001) on House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) conjunctivitis is an example of the rapid geographic spread that can result from disease emergence in naive populations. That event was neither novel nor transient relative to its occurrence or effects. Disease emergence and reemergence are hallmarks of the latter part of the twentieth century (Center for Disease Control 1994, Levins et al. 1994, DaSilva and Laccarino 1999, Gratz 1999). Current examples involving domestic animals include the problems in Europe with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or ''mad cow disease'') (Brown 2001) and foot-andmouth disease (FMD) (Kitching 1999). Human health has been affected by diseases caused by an array of viruses (Morse 1993, Nichol et al. 1993, Murphy and Nathanson 1994), bacteria (Dennis 1998, DaSilva and Laccarino 1999), rickettsia (Walker and Dumier 1996, Azad et al. 1997), protozoans (Tuerrant 1997, Saini et al. 2000), and metazoan parasites (Hildreth et al. 1991, Gubler 1998), as well as other causes. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has received the most notoriety of those diseases (Hahn et al. 2000, Schwartlander et al. 2000). A similar pattern exists on a global scale for free-ranging wildlife populations (Table 1) (Friend 1994, 1995; Epstein et al. 1998, Daszak et al. 2000). However, in comparison to disease emergence affecting humans and domestic animals, response to emerging diseases of wildlife is generally superficial. We present concepts and data to support our contention that failure to adequately address disease emergence in free-ranging wildlife is resulting in a diminished capability to achieve and sustain desired geographic distributions and population abundance for species of wild birds, including some threatened and endangered avifauna.


Coral reefs around the world are facing many threats and have sustained severe losses in coral cover over the past few decades. Coral bleaching and disease outbreaks have contributed substantially to this reef decline, however our understanding of factors contributing to the increase in coral disease prevalence are poorly understood. Information on the disease dynamics of different diseases affecting a reef system is essential for the development of effective management strategies.  The aim of this research was to characterise and build a case study of a bleaching response affecting Porites compressa in Kaneohoe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. It manifests as a localised, discrete area on the coral colony with a bleached coenenchyme and pigmented polyps, giving the affected area a "speckled" appearance. A disease by definition is any interruption, cessation or disorder of body functions, systems or organs. Results of this study showed that this localised bleaching causes tissue loss and a reduction in the number of gametes, and hence harm to the host. It was therefore classified as a disease and named Porites bleaching with tissue loss (PBTL). In addition, PBTL does not appear to represent a common thermal bleaching response as it was present throughout the year during times when seawater temperature was well within the coral's thermal threshold.  Symbiodinium cell density in PBTL-affected areas of the coral colony was reduced by 65%, and examination of affected host tissue using light microscopy showed fragmentation and necrosis. However, no potential pathogen was observed. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed a high occurrence of potential apoptotic Symbiodinium cells and a potential increase in the abundance of virus-like particles (VLPs) in PBTL-affected tissue. However a causal relationship remains to be established. Long-term monitoring showed spatio-temporal variations in PBTL prevalence. Temporal variations in prevalence reflected a seasonal trend with a peak during the summer months, linked to increasing seawater temperature. Spatial variations in disease prevalence were correlated with parrotfish density, turbidity and water motion. Of these, a negative correlation with variability (SD) in turbidity explained most of the variability in PBTL prevalence (12.8%). A positive correlation with water motion explained 9% and a positive correlation with the variability in parrotfish density explained 4.4%. Overall, only a relatively small proportion of variability in PBTL prevalence could be explained by these three factors (26.2%), suggesting that other factors, not investigated in this study, play a more important role in explaining PBTL patterns or that temporal variation in temperature is the overall major driving force.  Monitoring of individually tagged P. compressa colonies showed that >80% of affected colonies sustained partial colony mortality (tissue loss) within two months; on average, one third of the colony is lost. The amount of tissue loss sustained was correlated to lesion size but not colony size. Case fatality (total mortality) was low (2.6%), however this disease can affect the same colonies repeatedly, suggesting a potential for progressive damage which could cause increased tissue loss over time. PBTL was not transmissible through direct contact or the water column in controlled aquaria experiments, suggesting that this disease might not be caused by a pathogen, is not highly infectious, or perhaps requires a vector for transmission. At present, PBTL has only been observed within Kaneohe Bay. An investigation of the potential role of host and Symbiodinium genetics in disease susceptibility revealed the same Symbiodinium sub-clade (C15) in healthy and PBTL-affected colonies, suggesting no involvement of Symbiodinium type in disease etiology. Results regarding host genetics remained inconclusive; however a difference in allele frequency at one microsatellite locus was observed between healthy and diseased samples. This difference could, however, be due to a lower amplification of PBTL-affected samples at this locus and needs to be regarded with some caution.  The results of this study provide a case definition of PBTL which can be used as a baseline in further studies. P. compressa is the main framework building species in Kaneohe Bay, and the information gathered here on disease dynamics and virulence suggests that PBTL has the potential to negatively impact the resilience of reefs within the bay. Further research into the etiology of PBTL is necessary to fully understand the impact that this disease could have on coral reefs in Hawaii.


Objective: To determine the factors that correlated with the patient's knowledge of warfarin therapy, the level of medication adherence and INR control. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Warfarin Clinic of Hospital Teluk Intan, Malaysia. The systematic random sampling method was used in sample selection and face-to-face interviews using standard questionnaires were administered to determine the demographic characteristics, the patient's knowledge of warfarin therapy and medication adherence. Medical records were reviewed to determine anticoagulation control during the study period. Results: A total of 52 patients were enrolled in the survey (mean ± SD age of 58.73  9.55 years), with a response rate of 95%. A large proportion (63.5%) of the respondents had only primary school education and 71.2% were low-income earners (below RM500 per month). About 69% of the respondents were able to read and 53.8% were able to understand Malay (the national language of the country). A majority of the patients (98%) had verbal medication education through medical or nursing officers. Only 44.2% of patients knew about their medications, but the medication adherence was fairly good at 76.1%. The study showed that age, income level, level of education, and literacy in various languages were significantly associated with the patient's knowledge on warfarin therapy (p< 0.05). The study also showed a significant difference between those patients who knew/did not know about their medications in terms of warfarin therapy knowledge (p<0.05). Conclusion: Age, income, educational level, literacy and race were significantly correlated with the patient's knowledge of anticoagulation. The study did not find any association between anticoagulation control and the knowledge of anticoagulation. Practice Implications: The disadvantaged groups receiving anticogulation therapy, including the low-income earners, the elderly, the less-educated and the illiterate, should be given utmost care and attention.


Nobles were slaughtered and their castles looted or destroyed, bodies were dismembered and corpses fed to animals-the Udine carnival massacre of 1511 was the most extensive and damaging popular revolt in Renaissance Italy (and the basis for the story of Romeo and Juliet). Mad Blood Stirring is a gripping account and analysis of this event, as well as the social structures and historical conflicts preceding it and the subtle shifts in the mentality of revenge it introduced. This new reader's edition offers students and general readers an abridged version of this classic work which shifts the focus from specialized scholarly analysis to the book's main theme: the role of vendetta in city and family politics. Uncovering the many connections between the carnival motifs, hunting practices, and vendetta rituals, Muir finds that the Udine massacre occurred because, at that point in Renaissance history, violent revenge and allegiance to factions provided the best alternative to failed political institutions. But the carnival massacre also marked a crossroads: the old mentality of vendetta was soon supplanted by the emerging sense that the direct expression of anger should be suppressed-to be replaced by duels.


Besides chlorine, bromine is the second most important halogen when it comes to the destruction of ozone in the stratosphere. Although 150 times more chlorine than bromine
is transported into the stratosphere, the higher ozone-depleting efficiency of bromine (by a factor of 45) makes it very important for catalytic cycles.
In this study, balloon-borne DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) measurements of direct sunlight and limb measurements of scattered skylight, recorded at high latitudes in fall 2009, were used to analyse the bromine chemistry of the stratosphere. These measurements were compared with data from the 1D photochemical model Labmos, initialised with output from the 3D chemical transport model SLIMCAT. This comparison showed that the ratio of the photolysis rate JBrONO2 and the BrONO2 formation rate coefficient k[BrO][NO2] deviates from the JPL-2011 recommendations, leading to a larger BrO/BrONO2 ratio. Using the revised JBrONO2/k[BrO][NO2] ratio, the
total stratospheric BrY is likely to be 1.4 ppt lower than the previously estimated (20.3± 2.5) ppt.
Furthermore, photochemical corrections of the balloon-borne trace gas concentration profiles were applied in order to compare them with observations from the satellite instrument SCIAMACHY (SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY) for validation of the satellite retrievals.


Much of our understanding of Earth's climate history is based on interpretation of geochemical variability within the CaCO3 tests and skeletons of marine organisms. Geochemical climate proxies are typically cast in terms of equilibrium thermodynamics, but there are important differences between the compositions of carbonates accreted by living organisms and predictions for carbonate minerals in equilibrium with seawater. These differences are commonly attributed to 'vital effects' thought to be caused by biological modification of the calcifying environment and of crystalgrowth kinetics. If this were true, then biologically modified crystal chemistry may be unpredictable or challenging to model mathematically, making it difficult to extract accurate climate information from biogenic carbonates with any degree of confidence. Our goal with this paper is to demonstrate a systematic approach to the identification, characterization and understanding of 'vital effects' using coral skeletons as an example. We show, through insights gained from abiogenic aragonites precipitated experimentally from seawater under controlled conditions, that many of the so-called 'vital effects' in coral skeletal geochemistry are actually characteristic of abiogenic aragonites and can be described mathematically in terms of predictable physicochemical processes. By comparing elemental ratios (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca) of abiogenic aragonite with that of coral aragonite, we show that Rayleigh fractionation and crystal-growth rate exert the dominant controls on the elemental chemistry of corals, and that the contribution of temperature is relatively small. Building on these insights, we have developed a new approach to extracting temperature information from coral skeletons that is fundamentally different from conventional palaeo-thermometry, by-passing 'vital effects' through the simultaneous use of multiple element ratios to reliably extract that small component of skeletal variability that is driven solely by temperature.


Orientation: Reversed causality is an area that has not commanded major attention within the South African context, specifically pertaining to engagement, burnout and job demands resources. Therefore, this necessitated an investigation to elucidate the potential effects. Research purpose: To investigate the reversed causal hypotheses of burnout and engagement in job demands-resources theory over time. Motivation for the study: Organisations and researchers should be made aware of the effects that burnout and engagement could have over time on resources and demands. Research design, approach and method: A longitudinal design was employed. The availability sample ( n = 593) included participants from different demographic backgrounds. A survey was used to measure all constructs at both points in time. Structural equation modelling techniques were implemented with a categorical estimator to investigate the proposed hypotheses. Main findings: Burnout was found to have a significant negative longitudinal relationship with colleague support and supervisor support, whilst the negative relationship with supervisor support over time was more prominent. Engagement showed only one significant but small, negative relationship with supervisor support over time. All other relationships were statistically non-significant. Practical/managerial implications: This study makes organisations aware of the relationship between burnout and relationships at work over time. Proactive measures to promote relationships at work, specifically supervisor support, should be considered in addition to combatting burnout itself and promoting engagement. Contribution/value-add: This study provides insights and information on reversed causality, namely, the effects that engagement and burnout can have over time.


We present the first APOKASC catalog of spectroscopic and asteroseismic properties of 1916 red giants observed in the Kepler fields. The spectroscopic parameters provided from the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment project are complemented with asteroseismic surface gravities, masses, radii, and mean densities determined by members of the Kepler Asteroseismology Science Consortium. We assess both random and systematic sources of error and include a discussion of sample selection for giants in the Kepler fields. Total uncertainties in the main catalog properties are of the order of 80 K in Teff, 0.06 dex in [M/H], 0.014 dex in log g, and 12% and 5% in mass and radius, respectively; these reflect a combination of systematic and random errors. Asteroseismic surface gravities are substantially more precise and accurate than spectroscopic ones, and we find good agreement between their mean values and the calibrated spectroscopic surface gravities. There are, however, systematic underlying trends with Teff and log g. Our effective temperature scale is between 0 and 200 K cooler than that expected from the infrared flux method, depending on the adopted extinction map, which provides evidence for a lower value on average than that inferred for the Kepler Input Catalog (KIC). We find a reasonable correspondence between the photometric KIC and spectroscopic APOKASC metallicity scales, with increased dispersion in KIC metallicities as the absolute metal abundance decreases, and offsets in Teff and log g consistent with those derived in the literature. We present mean fitting relations between APOKASC and KIC observables and discuss future prospects, strengths, and limitations of the catalog data.


Individuals with the neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) tumor predisposition syndrome develop low-grade pilocytic astrocytomas at an increased frequency. Previously, we demonstrated that astrocytes from mice heterozygous for a targeted mutation in the Nf1 gene (Nf1+/- astrocytes) exhibit a cell autonomous growth advantage associated with increased RAS pathway activation. In this report, we extend our initial characterization of the effect of reduced Nf1 gene expression on astrocyte function by demonstrating that Nf1+/- astrocytes exhibit decreased cell attachment, actin cytoskeletal abnormalities during the initial phases of cell spreading, and increased cell motility. Whereas these cytoskeletal abnormalities were also observed in Nf1-/- astrocytes, astrocytes expressing a constitutively active RAS molecule showed increased cell motility and abnormal actin cytoskeleton organization during cell spreading, but exhibited normal cell attachment. Based on ongoing gene expression profiling experiments on human astrocytoma tumors, we demonstrate increased expression of two proteins implicated in cell attachment, spreading and motility (GAP43 and T-cadherin) in Nf1+/- and Nf1-/- astrocytes. These results support the emerging notion that tumor suppressor gene heterozygosity results in abnormalities in cell function that may contribute to the pathogenesis of non-tumor phenotypes in NF1.


Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) and Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) have the potential to contribute to the solution of the traffic congestion problem. DynaMIT is a real-time system that can be used to generate guidance for travelers. The main principle on which DynaMIT is based is that information should be consistent, and user optimal. Consistency implies that the traffic conditions experienced by the travelers are consistent with the condition assumed in generating the guidance. To generate consistent user optimal information, DynaMIT performs two main functions: state estimation and prediction. A demand simulator and a supply simulator interact to perform these tasks. A case study demonstrates the value of the system


The growth of P. aureofaciens PGS12 was followed in nutrient broth, on nutrient agar,
and on plant roots by monitoring cell numbers, the production of the auto inducer N-acyl-
L-hexanoyl homo serine lactone (HHL), and the antibiotic phenazine-l-carboxylic acid
(PCA). In nutrient broth, as the growth rate declined, HHL synthesis increased rapidly.
Up to 38% more HHL was produced compared to the increase in cell numbers indicating
that transcription of the phenazine operon was auto induced. As the bacterial culture
entered stationary phase, HHL concentration declined rapidly while PCA concentration
continued to accumulate at a high rate. In stationary phase, HHL concentration continued
to decline while PCA accumulated slowly. A promoterless mini-Tn5-luxAB transposon
was used to generate isogenic strains of P. aureofaciens PGSI2. Strain BI03 was shown
to have the luxAB reporter gene inserted in the phzB gene within the phenazine operon.
Phenazine transcriptional activity (bioluminescence) was compared with the light output
from a constitutive reporter, strain 117. Levels and pattern of bioluminescence from strain
B 1 03 followed closely HHL production and indicated that gene expression was maximal
in transition phase and silenced in stationary phase. PCA production continued in
stationary phase suggesting that the protein products of the phenazine operon were
maintained in the cell after down regulation. The induction of the phenazine operon
started in nutrient broth when cell density was ca. 2x 108 cells mrl and HHL had
accumulated to a threshold concentration of 0.63x 1 0-
6
± O.3x 1 0-
6
ng celrl.
± On NA, cells were in a transition phase of growth for at least 9 h. The cell density
was 55 to 75 times higher within a colony than in liquid culture. The maximal production
of HHL and light output per calculated equivalent volumes were also between 50 and 65
times higher on NA than in broth. The maximal light output and maximal HHL
accumulation per cell were similar on both media. Therefore, the increased levels on NA
may be mainly due to a higher cell number in the colony. The production of the antibiotic
PCA per cell was ca. 7 times higher in a colony than in NB, and the production in an
equivalent volume was ca. 360 times higher in a colony. Therefore, the higher PCA
concentration in the colony cannot be explained solely on the basis of an increase in cell
density. The auto inducer concentration remained high within a colony for a prolonged
period of time compared to the burst seen in NB. A high concentration of HHL per cell
for a longer period of time may have sustained the greater production and accumulation
of PCA in the colony. Similarly the transcriptional activity of the phenazine operon, as
reflected by phzB::luxAB expression in strain BI03, remained maximal during this time.
In contrast to laboratory culture studies, in all the experiments where P.
aureofaciens PGS 12 was inoculated onto roots, neither HHL nor PCA was detected,
although the bacteria colonised the bean roots and wheat seedlings efficiently. On wheat
seedlings, the transcriptional activity from both reporter strains decreased during the
experiment. On bean roots, bioluminescence per cell from strains 117 and B 1 03
increased 25-fold during the first 3 days and the ratio of bioluminescence from strains
B 1 03 over 117 indicated an up to 5 times greater transcriptional activity from strain B 1 03
than from strain 117. The minimum levels for the detection of HHL and PCA were low.
Therefore, either these compounds were produced in minute amounts, or HHL and
phenazine were degraded or adsorbed onto the plant material lowering their levels below
the detection limit.


Excerpt] During the past several decades, average pay for non-management workers has stagnated, after adjustment for inflation, falling slightly since the early 1970s. In contrast, compensation of top corporate executives has risen dramatically. Supporters of current CEO pay levels argue that executive compensation is determined by normal private market bargaining, that rising pay reflects competition for a limited number of qualified candidates, and that even the richest pay packages are a bargain compared with the billions in shareholder wealth that successful CEOs create. Others, however, cite instances in which executive pay appears to be excessive. Some see a social equity problem in which CEO pay is seen to embody a troublesome rise in income and wealth inequality. Others see excessive pay as a form of shareholder abuse made possible by weak corporate governance structures and a lack of clear, comprehensive disclosure of the various components of executive compensation. This report describes the major legislative and regulatory proposals that have sought to remedy these perceived problems. It will be updated as events warrant.


Familial multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 is an autosomal dominant hereditary disorder characterized by multiple parathyroid, pancreatic, duodenal, and pituitary tumors. The parathyroid tumors may arise as diffuse areas of hyperplasia, whereas the pancreatic and duodenal tumors usually form as discrete nodules. Except for a single report, tumor loss of heterozygosity (LOH) mapping of the putative MEN1 suppressor gene on chromosome 11q13 in the past has been restricted by analysis of a single tumor from individual patients and somatic cellular contamination. For this reason, it has not been possible to analyze the clonality of the emerging MEN1 neoplasms. Furthermore, it has been previously unknown whether the LOH pattern varies between individual MEN1 tumors in a given patient or among tumors of different histological origins within unrelated patients. To address these previous limitations, the present study introduces a refinement in microdissection in which endothelial cells are stained and selectively excluded. Tissue microdissection was applied to study LOH patterns on chromosome 11q13 using 8 polymorphic DNA markers in 44 different MEN1 tumors from parathyroid, pancreas, and duodenum in nine unrelated patients. In addition, X-chromosome inactivation clonal analysis was applied to 16 individual microdissected regions from seven parathyroid glands in three female patients. The LOH rates of parathyroid lesions (100%) and endocrine tumors of the pancreas (83%) were strikingly different from the LOH rate of gastrinomas (21%), suggesting that the mechanism that drives LOH may be influenced by the tissue context. Moreover, combined LOH and X-chromosome inactivation scoring of the same microdissected region revealed that parathyroid MEN1 neoplasms can consist of more than one clone. In this study, the centromeric boundary of the putative MEN1 gene was PYGM. Analysis of differential LOH patterns in multiple microdissected tumors in the same patient constitutes a novel approach to suppressor gene mapping.


Glam Rock. a musical style accompanied by a flamboyant dress code emerged during the early 1970s. This essay looks at the changing representations of masculinity which occured
during the late 1960s and early 1970s. leading eventually to the Glam Rock phenomenon.
The impact of social changes including the legalisation of homosexuality and the growth of the women's liberation movement and their effect on male representation will be explored.
There will be an examination fashion and retailing for men. "unisex" style to demonstrate how menswear became increasingly feminised. culminating eventually in the adoption of full transvestism by male performing artists like David Bowie. The relationship between Glam Rock and other musical subcultures will also be discussed with a view to explaining how the eventual adoption of transvestism by Glam Rock performers exposed and challenged the hegemony of the prevailing metanarrative of heterosexual male freedom within 1970s popular culture.


Background: Most of the Nigerian studies on the determinants of diabetes self-management have focused on patient-related factors. There is no previous local study that examined the quality of diabetes self-management education provided by primary care physicians to people with diabetes mellitus. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 105 primary care physicians during a workshop. The quality of diabetes self-management education provided by the physicians was assessed using a self-designed scale of 39 Likert questions derived from American Association of Diabetes Educators seven domains of diabetes self-management. Cronbach's reliability coefficient of each domain/subscale was ≥ 0.7. The data was analysed using the independent sample t-test and one-way ANOVA. Results: Over half of the physicians provided 'inadequate quality' diabetes self-management education in all the domains. Physicians had the highest mean score in the 'taking medication' domain (4.35 ± 0.59). The mean scores in the 'problem-solving domain' (3.63 ± 0.74) and the 'being active domain' (3.57 ± 0.71) were low. The quality of diabetes self-management education provided by the physicians was not associated with any of the physician characteristics. Conclusion: The quality of physicians' communication of diabetes self-management was suboptimal in this study. The majority of the adequately communicated diabetes self-management behaviours were risk factors reduction related and disease-centred. Thus, training of primary care physicians on diabetes self-management education is recommended because of the key role these physicians play in diabetes management in resource-poor countries.


Oxidative stress and carbonylic stress are associated with diabetes mellitus. It is not known if they are cause or effect in this illness. Also, chronic low-grade inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between inflammation markers levels and blood redox status in diabetic foot patients. Forty newly hospitalized diabetic foot patients, aged between 45-75, were enrolled. Considering C-reactive protein (CRP) values, patients were divided into two groups: group 1 with CRP 0,1-1 mg/dL and group 2 with CRP values above 1 mg/dL. Blood samples were also collected from twenty healthy controls, age and sex-matched. Spectrophotometric methods were applied for oxidative stress markers. Plasma concentrations for dROM (determinable reactive oxygen metabolites), CRP, ceruloplasmin, dicarbonyls, uric acid and blood glutathione were higher in diabetic patients vs. controls. Plasma total antioxidant capacity was not significantly modified. Comparing the diabetic patients, plasma concentrations of dROM, ceruloplasmin, uric acid and glycated hemoglobin were significantly increased in group 2 vs. group 1. Blood glutathione, plasma dicarbonyls and total antioxidant capacity values were similar in both groups. Correlations between plasma dROM and ceruloplasmin and also between uric acid and glycated hemoglobin were calculated for both groups. This study suggests that the link between obesity and diabetes mellitus may be represented by inflammation and oxidative stress. Modulating these processes using therapeutic methods and, of course, weight control may reduce the incidence of diabetic complications.


Background: Recent developments in our understanding of the biology of cancer has provided the opportunity to develop targeted agents with more specific pharmacological activity against cancer cells. Despite this shift toward targeted drug discovery, the much hoped-for paradigm shift in cancer treatment has not been realised. Tumour heterogeneity, plasticity and genomic instability are issues that contribute to this problem. One approach to circumvent these issues is to adopt a phenotypic based approach to drug evaluation where compounds with multiple mechanisms of action leading to a desirable phenotypic effect can be identified. The challenge with such an approach is to retain selectivity toward cancer cells as opposed to non-cancer cells.

Aims: The aim of this study is to apply a phenotype based drug evaluation program that incorporates a measure of selectivity to the preclinical evaluation of a series of novel organometallic complexes.

Methods: In this study, a series of novel inorganic complexes were evaluated against cancer and non-cancer cell lines. The primary evaluation procedures involved chemosensitivity testing with compounds being selected for further studies based upon (i) potency (ii) an in vitro selectivity index (SI) defined as the IC50 for non-cancer cells divided by the IC50 for cancer cells and (iii) comparable or improved properties than cisplatin, oxaliplatin and carboplatin with respect to potency and selectivity. Those compounds that met the selection criteria were evaluated further with the initial aim of characterising key pharmacological events such as cell cycle effects and induction of apoptosis.

Results and Discussion: Initial studies focused on the clinically approved platinum based with cisplatin and oxaliplatin being significantly more potent than carboplatin. Selectivity for cancer over non-cancer cells was observed with selectivity index (SI) values typically in the range of 0.85-9.71, 0.36-3.35 and 2.18-7.44 for cisplatin, oxaliplatin and carboplatin respectively. A total of 210 test compounds were evaluated in this thesis and of these, a total of 91 compounds exhibited potency values equal to or better than the platinates. In contrast however, only 64 compounds had superior SI values compared to platinates. Of these, the most promising compounds were a series of large molecular weight metallohelicates that exhibited potency (in the nM range) and SI values up to a maximum of 93 (nearly 28 times higher than the best performing platinum drug). Analysis of these compounds demonstrated that they do not induce apoptosis, but preliminary data suggests that they induce an autophagic death response.

Conclusions: The results of this study have demonstrated that a phenotypic based drug evaluation process based upon potency and selectivity in vitro is capable of identifying novel chemical entities with promising properties. This screen has more discriminatory power than potency alone and the concept of an 'in vitro selectivity index' has proved valuable in identifying a series of novel metallohelicate compounds as potential anti-cancer drugs. Significant further work is required to identify their mechanism(s) of action and pharmacological properties but their potential ability to induce autophagic cell death over apoptosis is of interest.


A 3D gravity model was developed in the western Gulf of Mexico in the East Breaks and Alaminos Canyon protraction areas. This model integrated 3D seismic, gravity, and well data; it was constructed in support of a proprietary seismic reprocessing project and was updated iteratively with seismic. The gravity model was built from seismic horizons of the bathymetry, salt layers, and the acoustic basement; however, the latter was only possible to map in seismic data during the latest iterations. In addition, a deep layer representing the Moho boundary was derived from gravity and constrained by public-domain refraction data. A 3D density distribution was derived from the seismic velocity volume using a modified Gardner equation. The modification comprised imposing a depth dependency on the Gardner coefficient, which is constant in the classic Gardner equation. The modified coefficient was derived from well data in the study area and public-domain velocity-density data sets. The forward-calculated gravity response of the composed density model was then compared with the observed gravity field, and the mismatch was analyzed jointly by a seismic interpreter and a gravity modeler. Adjustments were then made to the gravity model to ensure that the resultant salt model was geologically reasonable and supported by gravity, seismic, and well data sets. The output of the gravity modeling was subsequently applied to the next phase of seismic processing. Overall, this integration resulted in a more robust salt model, which has led to significant improvements in subsalt seismic imaging. The analysis of the regional trend in the observed gravity field suggested that a stretched continental crust underlay our seismic reprocessing area, with an oceanic-continental transition zone located to the southeast of our reprocessing region.


After two decades of research, the clear relationship between a mission statement and a firm's performance is not found yet. Past research has demonstrated the meaningful relationship between the mission statement and the performance. Some of these studies, however, have indicated there is no meaningful relationship between the mission statement and the performance. The aim of this paper is to identify the relationship between the mission statement components and the performance components. Moreover, it tries to help managers to state high quality of the mission statement in their firms. Six-component mission statement was developed to measure the completeness of firm's mission statement, and the BSC was used so as to measure the firms' performance. The BSC includes four dimensions: financial, customer, internal process and learning and growth. In this research, field research technique was applied, and questionnaires were used in order to gather data. The statistical population was 35 firms. Totally, 1400 questionnaires were passed out, 40 questionnaires in each firm, out of which 1230 questionnaires were returned. SPSS 18 was utilized to analyze the data. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between the components of the mission statement and some of the performance components. The most significant positive relationship was found between the purpose and the financial component, and the least significant positive relationship was found between the vision and the internal presses. In addition, the financial dimension was related to the all the mission components. As a result, improving firm mission statement will improve financial performance, and strategic managers should devote extreme attention to this issue.


Making materials that display angle-independent structural color requires control over both scattering and short-range correlations in the refractive index. We demonstrate a simple way to make such materials by packing core-shell colloidal particles consisting of high-refractive-index cores and soft, transparent shells. The core-shell structure allows us to control the scattering cross-section of the particles independently of the interparticle distance, which sets the resonance condition. At the same time, the softness of the shells makes it easy to assemble disordered structures through centrifugation. We show that packings of these particles display angle-independent structural colors that can be tuned by changing the shell diameter, either by using different particles or simply by varying the concentration of the suspension. The transparency of the suspensions can be tuned independently of the color by changing the core diameter. These materials might be useful for electronic displays, cosmetics, or long-lasting dyes.


Humans, like other mammals, contain two functionally distinct types of fat cells: white fat cells, which store chemical energy and are associated with obesity, and brown fat cells, which are specialized to produce heat and can help combat obesity (see Cannon and Nedergaard). Noting that some bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) promote white adipogenesis, Tseng et al. investigated the effects of various BMPs on the differentiation of brown adipocytes. Although several BMPs stimulated lipid accumulation in brown preadipocytes, BMP7 alone stimulated expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1, a marker for brown fat that is crucial to its thermogenic role). BMP7 stimulated phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) and that of the downstream transcription factor ATF-2 in brown preadipocytes, and pharmacologic inhibition of p38 MAPK blocked BMP7-dependent expression of UCP1. BMP7 suppressed expression of the mRNA that encodes early inhibitors of adipogenesis, enabling the expression of the early regulator of brown cell fate PRDM16 (PR-domain-containing 16), adipogenic transcription factors, and genes crucial to mitochondrial function and biogenesis. Further, BMP7 stimulated a substantial increase in mitochondrial density. Pretreatment of C3H10T1/2 cells (multipotent mesenchymal progenitor cells) with BMP7 before exposure to an adipogenic cocktail led to their differentiation into brown adipocytes; indeed, subcutaneous implantation of BMP7-treated C3H10T1/2 cells into nude mice led to development of a fat pad largely consisting of brown adipocytes. Embryonic Bmp7 knockout mice showed a substantial decrease in brown fat mass and brown adipocytes and little or no UCP1. Injection of adenovirus encoding BMP7 into 4-week-old mice led to an increase in brown fat mass and basal body temperature and a decrease in weight gain (compared with mice receiving adenovirus encoding LacZ). The authors conclude that BMP7 plays a critical role in brown adipogenesis and may provide a previously unexplored approach to treating obesity. In a second article, Seale et al. provided further insight into the origins and development of brown fat by showing that brown adipocytes, but not white adipocytes, arise from precursor cells expressing the myogenic regulatory factor gene Myf5 and that development into brown adipocytes or muscle cells depends on PRDM16. Thus, PRDM16 knockdown in cultured brown preadipocytes led to the development of myocytes, whereas its transduction into myoblasts elicited the production of brown adipocytes. Y.-H. Tseng, E. Kokkotou, T. J. Schulz, T. L. Huang, J. N. Winnay, C. M. Taniguchi, T. T. Tran, R. Suzuki, D. O. Espinoza, Y. Yamamoto, M. J. Ahrens, A. T. Dudley, A. W. Norris, R. N. Kulkarni, C. R. Kahn, New role of bone morphogenetic protein 7 in brown adipogenesis and energy expenditure. Nature 454, 1000-1004 (2008). [PubMed] P. Seale, B. Bjork, W. Yang, S. Kajimura, S. Chin, S. Kuang, A. Scimè, S. Devarakonda, H. M. Conroe, H. Erdjument-Bromage, P. Tempst, M. A. Rudnicki, D. R. Beier, B. M. Spiegelman, PRDM16 controls a brown fat/skeletal muscle switch. Nature 454, 961-967 (2008). [PubMed] B. Cannon, J. Nedergaard, Neither fat nor flesh. Nature 454, 947-948 (2008). [PubMed]


Coffea arabica L. is the most well‐known and studied Coffea taxa, which is very popu‐ lar in both scientific and social fields. This comprehensive work was created in order to describe its phytochemical composition and to present the metabolism of caffeine, which is the most important alkaloid from this plant. The analytical methods used for caffeine determination such as chromatographic, electrochemical, and spectroscopic techniques are also presented. In addition, this work emphasizes the medicinal importance of caf‐ feine, which can present both important beneficial and secondary effects for human body.


To understand the impact of low metallicities on giant molecular cloud (GMC) structure, we compare far-infrared dust emission, CO emission, and dynamics in the star-forming complex N83 in the Wing of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Dust emission (measured by Spitzer as part of the Spitzer Survey of the SMC and Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution in the SMC surveys) probes the total gas column independent of molecular line emission and traces shielding from photodissociating radiation. We calibrate a method to estimate the dust column using only the high-resolution Spitzer data and verify that dust traces the interstellar medium in the H i-dominated region around N83. This allows us to resolve the relative structures of H2, dust, and CO within a GMC complex, one of the first times such a measurement has been made in a low-metallicity galaxy. Our results support the hypothesis that CO is photodissociated while H2 self-shields in the outer parts of low-metallicity GMCs, so that dust/self-shielding is the primary factor determining the distribution of CO emission. Four pieces of evidence support this view. First, the CO-to-H2 conversion factor averaged over the whole cloud is very high 4–11 × 1021 cm−2 (K km s−1)−1, or 20–55 times the Galactic value. Second, the CO-to-H2 conversion factor varies across the complex, with its lowest (most nearly Galactic) values near the CO peaks. Third, bright CO emission is largely confined to regions of relatively high line-of-sight extinction, AV ≳ 2 mag, in agreement with photodissociation region models and Galactic observations. Fourth, a simple model in which CO emerges from a smaller sphere nested inside a larger cloud can roughly relate the H2 masses measured from CO kinematics and dust.


We examine the price discovery process of initial public offerings (IPOs) using a unique dataset. The first quote entered by the lead underwriter in the five-minute preopening window explains a large proportion of initial returns even for hot IPOs. Significant learning and price discovery continues to take place during these five minutes with hundreds of quotes being entered. The lead underwriter observes the quoting behavior of other market makers, particularly the wholesalers, and accordingly revises his own quotes. There is a strong positive relationship between initial returns and the time of day when trading starts in an IPO. Copyright The American Finance Association 2000.


Discrimination is notoriously difficult to document. Convincing tests for discrimination require good measures of the legitimate determinants of the outcome of interest, for example wages and productivity. While few contexts provide data adequate to the task of measuring discrimination, copious bibliographic data on the impact of academic research make possible tests of discrimination in the editorial process. This study develops a test for possible bias þ with respect to author gender, prestige of author's institution, article content (theory vs. empiricism), and whether the author has ties to the editor þ using a new approach based on an analysis of citations. We treat citations as a measure of article quality and ask whether papers by certain groups receive systematically different numbers of citations. The key to our approach is the observation that editors do not simply accept or reject papers. For accepted papers, editors determine articles' order within journal issue and length based on their quality assessments. We show that these 'editorial treatment' decisions are highly correlated with citations. Thus, we infer bias against a particular group of authors if their published articles have more citations, conditional editorial treatment, than other articles. Surprisingly, we document systematic editorial bias in favor of authors located outside of top institutions.


The median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) is an integrative site involved in body fluid homeostasis, cardiovascular control, thermoregulation, and sleep homeostasis. Angiotensin II (ANG II), a neuropeptide shown to have excitatory effects on MnPO neurons, is of particular interest with regard to its role in body fluid homeostasis and cardiovascular control. The present study investigated the role of angiotensin type 1a (AT1a) receptor activation on neuronal excitability in the MnPO. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were infused with an adeno-associated virus with an shRNA against the AT1a receptor or a scrambled control. In vitro loose-patch voltage-clamp recordings of spontaneous action potential activity were made from labeled MnPO neurons in response to brief focal application of ANG II or the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol. Additionally, tissue punches from MnPO were taken to asses mRNA and protein expression. AT1a receptor knockdown neurons were insensitive to ANG II and showed a marked reduction in GABAA-mediated inhibition. The reduction in GABAA-mediated inhibition was not associated with reductions in mRNA or protein expression of GABAA β-subunits. Knockdown of the AT1a receptor was associated with a reduction in the potassium-chloride cotransporter KCC2 mRNA as well as a reduction in pS940 KCC2 protein. The impaired GABAA-mediated inhibition in AT1a knockdown neurons was recovered by bath application of phospholipase C and protein kinase C activators. The following study indicates that AT1a receptor activation mediates the excitability of MnPO neurons, in part, through the regulation of KCC2. The regulation of KCC2 influences the intracellular [Cl-] and the subsequent efficacy of GABAA-mediated currents.


--I recorded behaviors and estimated energy intake and expenditures of 16 Belted Kingfishers (Ceryle alcyon) during January and February 1994. Each bird was watched for an entire day to examine the relationships among temperature, time of day, and foraging behavior. Estimates of total daily energy intake and expenditure differed by only 2.8 -+ 42.9KJ/ d (1% of total). The relatively large amount of variation in this difference may indicate that kingfishers are balancing their energy budgets on time scales longer than a single day or may simply reflect the coarseness of the methods used to derive these estimates. There was a significant decline in energy expenditure through the day, due largely to a decrease in the cost of thermoregulation. There was, however, no significant variation in energy intake among times of day. Mean daily temperature was not correlated with the total daily energy balance (intake minus expenditure) of individuals. Perching, flying, and foraging behaviors of Belted Kingfishers varied by time of day. In general, Belted Kingfishers were more active in the afternoon than in the morning. In summary, these observations indicate that there are predictable diel patterns in the foraging behaviors of Belted Kingfishers, that the energy intake resulting from these behaviors is variable, and this variability in energy intake is not correlated with daily temperature. COMPORTAMIENTO Y PRESUPUESTO ENERGI•TICO IN'VERNAL DE