Human skin–derived ILC2 express CD1a and present endogenous PLA2G4A-dependent antigens to T cells. A new look at lipid surveillance Human group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) play roles in maintaining homeostasis and defending against pathogens, but dysregulated ILC2 responses have been linked to asthma and allergic responses. Hardman et al. now use an in vivo human skin challenge model to show that ILC2 express CD1a, which is regulated by TSLP, and that CD1a+ILC2 can present endogenous lipid antigens to CD1a-reactive T cells and induce inflammatory responses. CD1a+ILC2 expressed the phospholipase PLA2G4A, which contributed to CD1a-mediated T cell activation, and this pathway was involved in sensing Staphylococcus aureus–associated skin inflammation. These results provide insight into lipid sensing by skin-resident ILC2 and how this pathway may contribute to atopic skin inflammation and pathogen surveillance. Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) are effectors of barrier immunity, with roles in infection, wound healing, and allergy. A proportion of ILC2 express MHCII (major histocompatibility complex II) and are capable of presenting peptide antigens to T cells and amplifying the subsequent adaptive immune response. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of CD1a-reactive T cells in allergy and infection, activated by the presentation of endogenous neolipid antigens and bacterial components. Using a human skin challenge model, we unexpectedly show that human skin–derived ILC2 can express CD1a and are capable of presenting endogenous antigens to T cells. CD1a expression is up-regulated by TSLP (thymic stromal lymphopoietin) at levels observed in the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis, and the response is dependent on PLA2G4A. Furthermore, this pathway is used to sense Staphylococcus aureus by promoting Toll-like receptor–dependent CD1a-reactive T cell responses to endogenous ligands. These findings define a previously unrecognized role for ILC2 in lipid surveillance and identify shared pathways of CD1a- and PLA2G4A-dependent ILC2 inflammation amenable to therapeutic intervention.


The Black Sea region has proved to be an emerging hub for Europe's security and has experienced several changes and a great development at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This process is currently carried out, and has important implications for European security in a broader definition of the term - to achieve traditional military security, but also tackling other challenges at the address soft security issues, such as organized crime. Located at the crossroads of three regions of paramount importance - Europe, Middle East and Central Asia – the Black Sea region is a major transit area for energy and at the same time, an important source of asymmetric risks and outbreaks of conflicts. Therefore, analysing this region from an economical point of view, but not forgetting the energy security implications for this area, represents the main focus of this article, along with underlining the importance of various actors in the region and their actions' impact on the future development of the Black Sea territory and surroundings.


This study presents the results of an evaluation which provides the necessary decision making tools before to put into operation a System of Reclamation and Reuse Wastewater (SRRWW), in the way to assure the economic viability of the project. This system contributes to improve the sanitary conditions in Jiutepec, Mexico. The applied methodology considers the identification, quantification and economical evaluation of different impacts, private and external, selecting the alternatives that maximize the total benefit. The alternative of the industrial park of CIVAC is the most profitable for the reuse with a maximum benefit of 0.4591 USD/m 3 . With the idea of recovering all the SRRWW costs, the minimum price of sale of the regenerated water should be 0.2751 USD/m 3 . Even though all the impacts were not economically evaluated, it does not affect the result on investment decision, since the impacts without evaluating only will increase the benefits of the selected systems.


This paper is one of a series of papers commemorating Richard Stewart's important article, The Reformation of American Administrative Law. Among other things, Stewart's 1975 article identified "interest representation" as the central idea that animated a series of important and disparate developments in administrative law doctrine. This paper unpacks the idea of interest representation and identifies tension in that idea. It does so by asking a simple question: What is the function of representing interests in administrative process? The paper argues that, in Stewart's work and in the law more generally, there are two distinct answers to that question. One answer is straightforwardly instrumental. The other answer is not; it is about promoting the legitimacy of administrative governance. The two functions have different implications for the design of administrative process and judicial review of agency action. After identifying these two functions, the paper turns to the everyday world of administrative law in an effort to discern which of these two views the law embraces. Examining two areas of law—standing and prejudicial error—yields two different answers. In one area (standing), the law embraces a fairly instrumental view of the function of participation; in the other area (prejudicial error), the law veers more toward a non-instrumental view.


This study was carried out to reveal the importance of procalcitonin, C reactive protein, nitric oxide levels, and adenosine deaminase activity in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease in naturally infected sheep with Babesia ovis . Thirty sheep diagnosed clinically and parasitologically as having Babesia ovis were allocated to 2 groups. The first group was treated only with imidocarp dipropionate and the second group with imidocarp dipropionate and flunixine meglumin. On the seventh day after treatment, blood samples were collected again from the sheep in the babesiosis-infected group and the treatment responses were assessed. Serum PCT (1.72 ± 0.34 ng/mL, P < 0.01), CRP (101.42 ± 11.73 µg/mL, P < 0.001), NO (15.77 ± 2.75 µmol/L, P < 0.01), and ADA (13.92 ± 0.88 IU/L, P < 0.01) were higher in sheep with babesiosis than in the healthy sheep (0.49 ± 0.04 ng/mL, 49.46 ± 4.57 µg/mL, 8.15 ± 0.63 µmol/L, 9.34 ± 1.19 IU/L, respectively). When PCT, CRP, NO, and ADA before treatment and after treatment in the infected sheep were compared, the levels of these parameters except for ADA in the second group were determined to have statistically decreased after the treatment. As a result, it has been concluded that the measurements of PCT, CRP, NO, and ADA in sheep with babesiosis may be useful for the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease when assessed in association with clinical examination.


The management of corneal endothelial dysfunction has undergone a paradigm shift in the last decade, from the gold standard of penetrating keratoplasty (PK) through to pure endothelial cell transplantation. Posterior lamellar keratoplasty,1 2 deep lamellar endothelial keratoplasty (DLEK),3 Descemet's stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK),4 Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK)5 and Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK)6 are all variations on the theme of replacing diseased recipient endothelium with healthy donor endothelium, and are collectively referred to as endothelial keratoplasty (EK).

The major advantage of EK over PK is the rapid visual recovery, with minimal change in corneal shape and refraction. Bahar et al found that many patients undergoing EK achieved stable postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) as early as 1 month after surgery.7 DSEK or DSAEK causes little or no change in corneal topography or mean refractive cylinder compared with PK, which also stabilises quickly, hence accounting for a faster visual recovery.8

With refinement of the techniques of EK, better BCVA outcomes have been reported. While only 49% of the earlier series of DLEK cases of Terry and Ousley achieved 20/40 or better,9 Chen et al , more recently, reported a mean BCVA of 20/30 in DSAEK patients without visual comorbidity.10 Visual outcome results after DSAEK or DSEK are now comparable to, or exceed, those …


Kalonji (Nigella sativa) is a reputed multipurpose herb, especially in Middle East Asian countries. Its seed oil and extracts have often been reported to possess an antibacterial activity against wide range of bacteria mostly from culture repositories. This study in vitro evaluated the antimicrobial activity of methanolic extract (KME), aqueous extract (KAE) and ether extracts (KEE) of Kalonji seeds on bacteria associated with clinical illness in animals. A total of 381 bacteria (belonging to more than 66 species of 30 genera) isolated from clinically sick animals were tested using standard disc diffusion assay for their sensitivity to methanolic extract (KME), aqueous extract (KAE) and ether extracts (KEE) of Kalonji seeds. Kalonji methanolic extract (KME) was significantly more effective antibacterial than KEE and KAE (p ≤ 0.05). Antibacterial activity of KME had wide-spectrum but it was significantly (p ≤ 0.05) more effective on Gram-positive bacteria (GPBs) than Gram-negative bacteria (GNBs). Oxidase positive bacteria were significantly more often sensitive to KME (p ≤ 0.05) than oxidase negative bacteria. Resistance to KME was significantly correlated (p ≤ 0.05) to multiple drug resistance (MDR), extended spectrum β-lactamase production and Carbapenem resistance of bacteria. The study indicated Kalonji extract exhibited potential antibacterial activity on Escherichia coli, Enterobacter spp., Proteus spp., and Klebsiella pneumoniae, Brucella abortus and Pasteurella multocida strains. Methanolic extract of Kalonji was the most potent antimicrobial preparation among the three tested. Antibiotic drug resistance and Kalonji resistance in bacteria go hand in hand. The antibacterial activity of KME is better against GPBs and oxidase positive bacteria than GNBs and oxidase -ve bacteria. This study will help the researchers to use Kalonji seed extracts for the development of better herbal therapeutic preparations for bacterial infection.


Our main source of inspiration was a talk by Hendrik Lenstra on harmonic numbers, which are numbers whose only prime factors are two or three. Gersonides proved 675 years ago that one can be written as a difference of harmonic numbers in only four ways: 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, and 9-8. We investigate which numbers other than one can or cannot be written as a difference of harmonic numbers and we look at their connection to the $abc$-conjecture. We find that there are only eleven numbers less than 100 that cannot be written as a difference of harmonic numbers (we call these $ndh$-numbers). The smallest $ndh$-number is 41, which is also Euler's largest lucky number and is a very interesting number. We then show there are infinitely many $ndh$-numbers, some of which are the primes congruent to $41$ modulo $48$. For each Fermat or Mersenne prime we either prove that it is an $ndh$-number or find all ways it can be written as a difference of harmonic numbers. Finally, as suggested by Lenstra in his talk, we interpret Gersonides' theorem as "The $abc$-conjecture is true on the set of harmonic numbers" and we expand the set on which the $abc$-conjecture is true by adding to the set of harmonic numbers the following sets (one at a time): a finite set of $ndh$-numbers, the infinite set of primes of the form $48k+41$, the set of Fermat primes, and the set of Mersenne primes.


PURPOSE
Incident learning systems are important tools to improve patient safety in radiation oncology, but physician participation in these systems is poor. To understand reporting practices and attitudes, a survey was sent to staff members of four large academic radiation oncology centers, all of which have in-house reporting systems.

METHODS
Institutional review board approval was obtained to send a survey to employees including physicians, dosimetrists, nurses, physicists, and radiation therapists. The survey evaluated barriers to reporting, perceptions of errors, and reporting practices. The responses of physicians were compared with those of other professional groups.

RESULTS
There were 274 respondents to the survey, with a response rate of 81.3%. Physicians and other staff agreed that errors and near-misses were happening in their clinics (93.8% v 88.7%, respectively) and that they have a responsibility to report (97% overall). Physicians were significantly less likely to report minor near-misses (P = .001) and minor errors (P = .024) than other groups. Physicians were significantly more concerned about getting colleagues in trouble (P = .015), liability (P = .009), effect on departmental reputation (P = .006), and embarrassment (P < .001) than their colleagues. Regression analysis identified embarrassment among physicians as a critical barrier. If not embarrassed, participants were 2.5 and 4.5 times more likely to report minor errors and major near-miss events, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
All members of the radiation oncology team observe errors and near-misses. Physicians, however, are significantly less likely to report events than other colleagues. There are important, specific barriers to physician reporting that need to be addressed to encourage reporting and create a fair culture around reporting.


Combining task and motion planning requires tointerleave causal and geometric reasoning, in order to guaranteethe plan to be executable in the real world. The resulting searchspace, which is the cross product of the symbolic search spaceand the geometric search space, is huge. Systematically calling ageometric reasoner while evaluating symbolic actions is costly. Onthe other hand, geometric reasoning can prune out large parts ofthis search space if geometrically infeasible actions are detectedearly. Hence, we hypothesized the existence of a search depthlevel, until which geometric reasoning can be interleaved withsymbolic reasoning with tractable combinatorial explosion, whilekeeping the benefits of this pruning. In this paper, we propose asimple model that proves the existence of such search depth level,and validate it empirically through experiments in simulation


Online video accounts for a large and growing portion of all Internet traffic. In order to cut bandwidth costs, it is necessary to use the available bandwidth of users to offload video downloads. Assuming that users can only keep and distribute one video at any given time, it is necessary to determine the global user cache distribution with the goal of achieving maximum peer traffic. The system model contains three different parties: viewers, idlers and servers. Viewers are those peers who are currently viewing a video. Idlers are those peers who are currently not viewing a video but are available to upload to others. Finally, servers can upload any video to any user and has infinite capacity. Every video maintains a first-in-first-out viewer queue which contains all the viewers for that video. Each viewer downloads from the peer that arrived before it, with the earliest arriving peer downloading from the server. Thus, the server must upload to one peer whenever the viewer queue is not empty. The aim of the idlers is to act as a server for a particular video, thereby eliminating all server traffic for that video. By using the popularity of videos, the number of idlers and some assumptions on the viewer arrival process, the optimal global video distribution in the user caches can be determined.


The restoration of wildlife populations to historically occupied ranges is an important goal of modern wildlife management. In Arizona, USA, efforts have begun to reintroduce the Gould's subspecies of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo mexicana) into its former range in the southeastern part of the state. However, individuals or descendants of the Merriam's subspecies (M. g. merriami) may remain in the reintroduction area from earlier releases and could potentially interbreed with reintroduced Gould's turkeys. We used 3 fundamentally different genetic markers to determine whether the wild turkeys currently occupying the Huachuca Mountains in southeastern Arizona were descended from the Gould's turkeys translocated'there during the 1980s, or whether interbreeding had occurred with descendants of Merriam's turkeys from a translocation during 1950. We found consistent genetic differences between relict populations of the Merriam's turkey in Arizona and the Gould's turkey in northern Mexico. The Huachuca Mountains wild turkey population consistently grouped with the relict Gould's populations and showed no evidence of interbreeding with the Merriam's subspecies. In addition, we found evidence that the Huachuca Mountains population was less genetically diverse than the relict populations, and we recommend that this population be monitored for signs of inbreeding depression. The molecular markers developed for this study are important tools for future management of wild turkeys.


On January 2, 1986, Judge Richard Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit announced to an astonished legal profession, not to mention the unsuspecting attorneys-of-record, that, in the future, the Seventh Circuit would decide whether to grant or deny a preliminary injunction by applying the following simple formula: PxHp>(1-P)xHd.With one fell swoop of his algebraic-judicial pen, Judge Posner not only stirred the deepest math anxieties of the practicing bar, but revolutionized preliminary injunction law. Despite Judge Posner's protestations that his simple formula was not "offered as a new legal standard," preliminary injunction law will never be the same.This Article addresses the transcendental question raised by this preliminary injunction formula: What hath Judge Posner wrought? On sober reflection, it is abundantly clear that Judge Posner's preliminary injunction formula sprang full-blown from the head of an academic-economist turned judge. The preliminary injunction formula is a logical extension of Judge Posner's desire to impose econometrics on all aspects of the law. Dissatisfied with the untidiness of mere mortal judicial decision-making, Judge Posner intends to rationalize the law by Benthamizing it — by subjecting the law to a twentieth century version of felicific calculus. This Article sounds the alarm concerning Judge Posner's seemingly innocent mathematical foray into preliminary injunction law. Judge Posner's formula should not be viewed simply as an 'intellectually diverting' exercise, but should be recognized for what it truly is: the camel's head in the tent. Judge Posner long has been an advocate of market analysis in appropriate substantive legal contexts such as antitrust, tort, corporation, securities, and tax law. With his preliminary injunction formula, however, he has crossed the great divide between market and nonmarket applications of econometrics. If Professor Posner has his druthers as a judge, he will reduce all of civil procedure to a neat set of formulas.This Article argues that Judge Posner's efforts to Benthamize civil procedure are an abomination in theory and practice. Judge Posner's preliminary injunction formula should be "bur[ied] with kindness," and any further attempts to quantify civil procedure should be resisted swiftly and sternly. Econometrics should be relegated to limited substantive applications and not engrafted onto inappropriate procedural motions.Part II of this Article outlines the short happy life of formula Posner. This section first discusses Judge Posner's articulation of the preliminary injunction formula in American Hospital Supply Corp. v. Hospital Products Ltd. and then describes the formula's reception in the Seventh Circuit and among the district courts. Far from being repudiated outright, Judge Posner's formula has taken shallow root at the trial court level. Significantly, however, trial judges have manifested groping uncertainties in utilizing the new-fangled formula. Consequently, recent Seventh Circuit decisions amply demonstrate the many problems inherent in quantifying the preliminary injunction process.Part III explores the roots of Judge Posner's preliminary injunction formula and illustrates that the formula is a logical extension of Judge Posner's lifelong commitment to rationalizing legal substance and procedure. This section demonstrates that Judge Posner is an intellectual heir of Jeremy Bentham, who attempted to develop a felicific calculus of the law, and Judge Learned Hand, who attempted to develop algebraic torts. More recently, Professor John Leubsdorf has provided Judge Posner with an economic analysis of preliminary injunctions, stressing minimization of error through probabilistic calculations. This section further demonstrates that these intellectual strands have merged in Professor Posner's writing and Judge Posner's decisions. More importantly, however, this section exposes the problems associated with applying econometric methodology to civil procedure, including the methodology's reliance on unsound premises, uncertain probabilistic assessments, implicit subjectivity, and illusory objectivity.Part IV demonstrates that Judge Posner's preliminary injunction formula is not an isolated decisional novelty. Instead, the formula represents an initial foray into mathematical civil procedure. Unless the formulaic approach is reproved swiftly, the legal profession can expect Judge Posner to announce additional procedural formulas. Judge Posner's efforts to Benthamize civil procedure should be rejected because they undermine principled decision-making.This Article is not merely about preliminary injunctions. Nor is it a roaming discussion of the ever-burgeoning field of law and economics. Rather, it is an article that rejects and warns of the incipient Benthamization of civil procedure. In the final analysis, this Article is an attempt to supply reasoned argument to one district judge's plaintive response to Judge Posner's preliminary injunction formula: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."


Ph.D Thesis ii Barry McAuley ABSTRACT The involvement of the Facility Manager within both the traditional and Building Information Modelling (BIM) governed process was investigated in this thesis. Governments are now seeking a more rewarding methodology in the management and procurement of public sector building assets. This has seen an integrated focus by International Governments on BIM as a partial solution in both managing and procuring public sector building assets. Despite BIM bringing the Facility Manager closer to project conceptualisation, there was still a reluctance and a lack of perceived benefits of having them involved earlier in the design phase. There remains a lack of clear evidence on what improved contribution the Facilities Manager can provide. This thesis provides a review of current initiatives in place in the Irish public sector and advocates BIM and early Facility Manager involvement as a solution in establishing a more intelligent public sector estate. There was a strong understanding that early Facility Management involvement is a crucial requirement in the design process to ensure the model is challenged for operability and maintainability issues. Their involvement though has been hindered by a clear lack of understanding to what areas they can contribute to within the early BIM design process. In depth observational studies identify inefficiencies that currently exist in the Irish public sector. In particular, demonstrations have been provided to show how the Facility Manager can be included in the design team to assist in addressing a number of these inefficienes. Surveys carried out by the author suggest that there was a high level of awareness and early usage of BIM in Ireland. Despite the lack of involvement of the Facility Manager in the traditional process there was an understanding that he/she can utilise current BIM technologies in addressing key areas of concern which are usually left unaddressed until the operational phase. The thesis presents a number of Key Performance Tasks (KPTs) that can be used to demonstrate the benefit of including the Facility Manager earlier in the BIM process for public sector projects. The KPTs have been piloted, refined and validated on a number of pilot and public sector projects. The output from this research has demonstrated that the inclusion of the Facility Manager can ensure a more robust Facilities Management (FM) design process for public sector projects, thereby realising improved project outcomes.


In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in innovation studies towards grand challenges, and in how demand-side policy instruments can supplement traditional supply-side policy measures. To contribute to an improved understanding of how demand-side policy requires new governance responses, this article presents a case study of trialling assisted living technologies to address the grand challenge of demographic ageing. The article departs from an innovation policy framework that incorporates theorising on transformational system failures, governance modes, and policy mixes. This framework serves as an entry point to explore how different modes of governance condition the ways in which demand for assisted living in healthcare is orchestrated across multiple stakeholders. The case study is embedded in a wider system shift from a reactive to a proactive system of healthcare provision, enabling the elderly to live independently at home longer and thus avoiding or postponing institutionalised care.


Zero tillage (ZT) for wheat is one of the most widely adopted resource-conserving technologies in the rice-wheat systems in northern India. In areas of Haryana with rice-wheat systems, 36.5 percent of all farmers practice ZT on 35 percent of their wheat area. Yet the literature measuring the impact of ZT on farmers' fields is scarce. This study fills this gap by using the data collected from a random sample of 717 farmers from 50 villages in 10 districts of Haryana. It applies the difference-in-differences method to five-year recall data on wheat yields in ZT and conventionally tilled plots of land to quantify the crop loss due to unseasonal rains right before wheat harvests in March 2015. The results reveal significantly lower wheat yield losses in the ZT plots than in the conventionally tilled plots. On average, farmers suffered yield losses ranging between 3.73 and 4.53 quintals per hectare in 2015 due to unseasonal rains. The loss was lower by 1.05–1.10 quintals per hectare in ZT plots. The analysis clearly shows that adoption of ZT helped in reducing crop loss in wheat by 24–28 percent, valued at 1,523–1,595 Indian rupees (Rs.) per hectare (approximately US$22.50 per hectare). The loss avoided due to ZT is nearly equal to the prevailing rental rate of the ZT machine (Rs. 1,500 per hectare) in Haryana. Climate models suggest that the incidence of short-duration acute hydro meteorological events is likely to increase in years to come. Such events are hard to predict and prepare for, and dealing with them hinges mainly on disaster relief. However, our results show that adoption of ZT is one possible way to reduce potential loss from some of these weather events and that ZT is therefore well characterized as a climate-smart technology.


Silicate and borosilicate glasses are of great importance for both the commercial and nuclear waste glass industries. Anionic species such as chloride and, more famously,
sulphate are known to play a role in melting, fining and homogenization of commercial silicate glasses. At the same time, these anions can be present in abundance in several
kinds of nuclear wastes destined for confinement in a multi-oxide borosilicate glass matrix (the most widely employed glass for radioactive waste immobilisation). Beyond
a certain extent, it is difficult to incorporate the anionic species in commercially used radioactive waste borosilicate glasses due to their poor solubility in the molten glass and this can limit waste loading in the final waste forms, thus increasing the waste
volumes and having substantial logistical and economic impacts. Besides the technological and economic repercussions faced by the waste vitrification facilities, the undissolved sulphates that precipitate as a water-soluble salt layer, are often enriched in
137Cs, 99Tc and 90Sr and can dissolve in the groundwater in geological waste repositories which raises environmental concerns. Similarly, the pyrochemical reprocessed chloride
containing waste contains significant quantities of actinides such as 239Pu and 241Am
which have low solubilities in the borosilicate waste glasses. Therefore, in order to
formulate glass compositions with enhanced anionic capacities, a careful investigation
is required to determine the anion solubility factors in such glasses. Since the structural
characterisation of the industrially used borosilicate glass compositions is challenging
due to the presence of multiple elements in the glass, we have designed a simplerapproach by developing binary and ternary silicate and borosilicate glasses with and
without the anions added. The key focus of the thesis is to look at largely sulphate
capacities of two glass systems: silicate and borosilicate glasses. Thorough
spectroscopic investigation of chloride doped glasses has not been carried out due to
insufficient levels of chloride retained in the two glass systems and hence makes just a
side-study for the research. The undoped and sulphate doped glasses are subjected to
comparative compositional and structural investigation using a range of techniques
including density measurements, XRF, ICP, XRD, MAS - NMR, Raman spectroscopy,
ND, and DTA, SEM - EDS, and Mossbauer spectroscopy.
This thesis mostly elucidates the influence of different essential modifier oxides that are
either already present or can be added / removed in the industrial waste glass
compositions to enhance sulphate solubility. Density measurements show that
incorporation of sulphate slightly decreases the densities of the doped glasses. XRF,
ICP, SEM-EDS analyses identify the dependence of sulphate capacity on glass
composition. Raman spectroscopy and 29Si MAS-NMR techniques provide measures to
link sulphate capacity with structural changes in the Si/O and B/O/Si network. 23Na, 7Li
MAS-NMR, though less informative, suggest changes in modifier environment with
sulphate addition. Raman spectroscopy of sulphate doped glasses shows distinct bands
corresponding to S-O stretching modes in silicate and borosilicate systems. The centre
position of these modes is compared with S-O modes for corresponding crystalline
sulphates to establish the cation environment around the sulphate ions. The increase in
the degree of polymerisation of the glass network upon sulphate addition is consistent
between silicate and borosilicate systems, with only a few exceptions. Neutron
Diffraction is employed to study the change in coordination environment of the cations
and anions in the glass upon sulphate addition. The results were collectively put intodifferent empirical models proposed to study sulphate solubility and checked for the
models' versatility. Simulated sulphate doped, multi-oxide borosilicate glasses which
are broadly representative of industrial U.S. HLW / LAW waste glasses, are prepared
and modified as per our investigations on simpler glasses, to study changes in its sulphur
solubility. Additionally, we have also considered the effect of V2O5 addition on sulphate
incorporation in the simulated radioactive waste glasses.


The development of effective techniques for knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) is a crucial aspect of successful intelligent systems. Different representation paradigms, as well as their use in dedicated reasoning systems, have been extensively studied in the past. Nevertheless, new challenges, problems, and issues have emerged in the context of knowledge representation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), involving the logical manipulation of increasingly large information sets (see for example Semantic Web, BioInformatics and so on). Improvements in storage capacity and performance of computing infrastructure have also affected the nature of KRR systems, shifting their focus towards representational power and execution performance. Therefore, KRR research is faced with a challenge of developing knowledge representation structures optimized for large scale reasoning. This new generation of KRR systems includes graph-based knowledge representation formalisms such as Bayesian Networks (BNs), Semantic Networks (SNs), Conceptual Graphs (CGs), Formal Concept Analysis (FCA), CPnets, GAI-nets, all of which have been successfully used in a number of applications. The goal of this workshop is to bring together the researchers involved in the development and application of graph-based knowledge representation formalisms and reasoning techniques.


Current filter validation methods require 48 hours culture for results to become
available, which creates time delays within the manufacturing process and quality
control back-logs The thesis compares alternative methods for the production of
filter challenge test data Within 24 hours to the desired test sensitivity, using
bioluminescent and fluorescent genetically engineered strains of the test organism
Brevundzmonas dzmznuta
The recombinant strains were produced using a Tn5 transposon system, using a
filter mating method. The genes cloned into the bacterial chromosome were the
biolummescence lux_ genes, taken from the marme bacteria, Photorhabdus
lummescens or Vzbno harveyz, and the gene encoding green fluorescent protein
taken from the marine jelly fish Aequoria victoria
The cloned strains were found to show no difference to the w1ld type strain With
respect to their surface hydrophobicity, according to a bacterial adherence to
hydrocarbons assay, and surface charge, according to an electro-static interaction
chromatography method. Furthermore, the cell size according to Transmission
Electron Microscopy was not significantly different to the wild type strain, which
had cell dimensions of 1 05 x 0 52 Jlm The retention of cells by 0 45 mtcron rated
filters, was shown to be not significantly different to the wild type All strains
were retained by 0 2 Jlm filters These data confirmed that the cloned strains were
suitable for challenge testing
Four methods were used to detect microcolonies of the recombinant strains on
filters. The advantage of the microcolony detection system was that it showed that
the cells detected downstream of the filter were viable and culturable. The best
detection method was with an epifluorescent microscope and the fluorescent strain
after 24 hours, for which the sensitivity was 98.1 %. Two CCD camera systems were used to detect the bioluminescent strains on filters. The sensitivity of these
systems were 80.1% and 83 9%, for the Nucleovision and Nightowl CCD camera
systems, respectively, after 24 hours In addition, the Bwprobe photomultipherbased
system was shown to achieve the detection sensitivity of one microcolony
after 24 hours.
Also, steps were made to study transcription Initiation signals for gene expression
in fluorescent recombinant Brevundzmonas dzmmuta. Various putative promoter
sequences were Identified in one fluorescent strain, using a DNA sequencmg
method. These sequences showed homology to previously identified E colr and
Brevundzmonas promoter sequences. Finally, an attempt was made to produce
recombinant fluorescent and bioluminescent Acholeplasma lazdlawu, however this
was unsuccessful and further work will be required to achieve this objective.


The explosive growth in data volume and complexity imposes great challenges for file systems. To address these challenges, an innovative namespace management scheme is in desperate need to provide both the ease and efficiency of data access. In almost all today's file systems, the namespace management is based on hierarchical directory trees. This tree-based namespace scheme is prone to severe performance bottlenecks and often fails to provide real-time response to complex data lookups. This paper proposes a Semantic-Aware Namespace scheme, called SANE, which provides dynamic and adaptive namespace management for ultra-large storage systems with billions of files. SANE introduces a new naming methodology based on the notion of semantic-aware per-file namespace, which exploits semantic correlations among files, to dynamically aggregate correlated files into small, flat but readily manageable groups to achieve fast and accurate lookups. SANE is implemented as a middleware in conventional file systems and works orthogonally with hierarchical directory trees. The semantic correlations and file groups identified in SANE can also be used to facilitate file prefetching and data de-duplication, among other system-level optimizations. Extensive trace-driven experiments on our prototype implementation validate the efficacy and efficiency of SANE.


I want to start with a very important point: sexual assault is a crime. We have a serious issue in the United States with sexual assault and sexual harassment. We are seeing this play out right now, and I think the "Me Too" campaign has brought important attention to this issue. An issue that impacts not only our college residence halls, but, as we have seen, the halls of Congress. Serious people are not debating whether sexual assault and sexual harassment pose a societal problem. Rather, serious people are debating how to adequately address these issues without compromising fairness to all involved.

Let me also state: I am not a political actor. I am a constitutional law professor. I do not talk about the wisdom of legislation. I talk about whether Congress has the power to pass the laws that it passes. But, one of the things I find a little disconcerting in this area is Title IX, and its interpretation, appears to be a bit of a political football. When a Presidential administration changes, the policy interpretations seem to change. Such political evolutions should trouble all of us since this legislation is intended to ensure gender equity in education.


The growing consumption of fossil fuels and its negative environmental consequences have been a major concern during the last few decades. In line with that, public transport operators face global pressure to replace diesel buses by battery-electric buses (BEBs) in many countries. However, BEBs need to be recharged several times throughout the day to avoid running out of energy due to their limited driving range and slow charging rate. Accordingly, operating BEBs is substantially more sensitive to unanticipated delays and excess energy consumption, which raises serious challenges with respect to charging schedules. Moreover, BEBs are only a truly sustainable alternative if they are powered by renewable energy generators (REGs), which have intermittent and uncertain generation. Thus, we design and propose a real-time decision support system to overcome these uncertainties and maximize the utilization of REGs and minimize the impact on the grid while guaranteeing a feasible operation for the BEBs.


The purpose of this survey was to explore religious coping strategies and to what extent black South Africans directly attributed their health and/or diseases to supernatural forces such as the ancestors and magic. A total of 3000 structured questionnaires were distributed to South Africans of all ethnicities, of which 575 were received back, but only those received from black participants (411) were considered for this study. The SPSS 21 statistical program was used to analyse the data. The results of the study suggest that Mbiti's remark that health and disease in Africa are seen primarily within a religious (i.e. supernatural) framework still holds true for the black South African participants in this study. More than 80% (81.5%) of the participants attributed their health and diseases primarily to the ancestors and magic,whilst only 16.1% of the participants ascribed any importance to natural causes of diseases(e.g. germs and unprotected sex). These beliefs were especially strong amongst city or town dwellers, people of higher educational level and members of so-called 'mainline' churches (i.e.members of non-Zionist churches). Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article is interdisciplinary in nature covering the following fields: religion, psychology; health studies.


We consider private data analysis in the setting in which a trusted and trustworthy curator, having obtained a large data set containing private information, releases to the public a "sanitization" of the data set that simultaneously protects the privacy of the individual contributors of data and offers utility to the data analyst. The sanitization may be in the form of an arbitrary data structure, accompanied by a computational procedure for determining approximate answers to queries on the original data set, or it may be a "synthetic data set" consisting of data items drawn from the same universe as items in the original data set; queries are carried out as if the synthetic data set were the actual input. In either case the process is non-interactive; once the sanitization has been released the original data and the curator play no further role.
 For the task of sanitizing with a synthetic dataset output, we map the boundary between computational feasibility and infeasibility with respect to a variety of utility measures. For the (potentially easier) task of sanitizing with unrestricted output format, we show a tight qualitative and quantitative connection between hardness of sanitizing and the existence of traitor tracing schemes.


Hypertension is an important determinant of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and has a substantial heritability, which is likely of polygenic origin. The aim of this study was to assess to what extent multiple common genetic variants contribute to blood pressure regulation in both adults and children and to assess overlap in variants between different age groups, using genome-wide profiling. Single nucleotide polymorphism sets were defined based on a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies on systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure performed by the Cohort for Heart and Aging Research in Genome Epidemiology (n=29 136), using different P value thresholds for selecting single nucleotide polymorphisms. Subsequently, genetic risk scores for systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were calculated in an independent adult population (n=2072) and a child population (n=1034). The explained variance of the genetic risk scores was evaluated using linear regression models, including sex, age, and body mass index. Genetic risk scores, including also many nongenome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms, explained more of the variance than scores based only on very significant single nucleotide polymorphisms in adults and children. Genetic risk scores significantly explained ⩽1.2% (P=9.6*10−8) of the variance in adult systolic blood pressure and 0.8% (P=0.004) in children. For diastolic blood pressure, the variance explained was similar in adults and children (1.7% [P=8.9*10−10] and 1.4% [P=3.3*10−5], respectively). These findings suggest the presence of many genetic loci with small effects on blood pressure regulation both in adults and children, indicating also a (partly) common polygenic regulation of blood pressure throughout different periods of life.


Economic and social changes in recent decades led to regional imbalance and inordinate concentration of facilities in some parts and bereavement of other parts. We need to district and regional planning which its objective is providing an appropriate model for balanced distribution of services according to population of settlements or spatial balance in the region. The topics of sustainable development and regional planning are important and notable issues. Nowadays, politicians and managers are trying to develop a program for a region according to regional planning and considering all natural, economic, social, cultural and skeletal potential of that region, and they want to move toward social justice and sustainable development. The beginning wave of using quantitative models during 1960s dual with presenting topics of development and underdevelopment propagated application of these methods in determining development level of regions. The present research is conducted with objective of determining ranking for towns in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. In this research, we determined ranking of mentioned province's towns using descriptive, library, analytic and casual method, Morris statistical approach and 95 indices of development. The result of this research indicates that urban services are distributed imbalanced in towns of the province and this matter resulted in inequality among towns and trend of immigrants to fruited towns. Ranking of the Province towns shows that Boyer Ahmad with 70.19 percentages fruition and Kohgilouye with 62.72 percentages are the most fruited towns among seven towns and Gachsaran with 42.42 and Dena with 15.03 are half-fruited and Behmai, Basht and Choram with 6.53, 2.50 and 0.70 percentages are bereaved towns, respectively.


Due to the ongoing miniaturisation in industrial sectors like automotive, electronics or medical, the development of new manufacturing processes which are suitable for micro system technologies gains more and more importance. The miniaturisation of components leads to challenges in the manufacturing of micro parts. One application area is the manufacturing of moulds for the micro powder injection moulding (μPIM) process. This process requires good surface qualities and a sufficient demoulding behaviour of the moulds. Micro milling, micro electrical discharge machining (μEDM) and micro laser beam machining (μLBM) are appropriate processes for the manufacturing of micro structures in different materials. Abrasive micro peening can be used for further precision treatment. Depending on the desired structure a single process or the combination of several processes has to be chosen to obtain superior surface qualities of the moulds. This paper deals with challenges and limits of the manufacturing processes among others exemplified on a gearwheel mould.


The solvent-free, seed-directed synthesis using natural precursors has emerged as a sustainable route for the synthesis of zeolite. Albeit the significant progress in the synthesis techniques, the crystallization behaviors of zeolites are somewhat elusive. Herein, we performed a detailed investigation of the crystallization behaviors of ZSM-5 zeolites synthesized through the solvent-free, seed-directed route using rice husk silica as starting materials. The crystallization at 180 °C is completed rapidly in 10 h, with an ultrahigh zeolite yield of at least 95%. Moreover, we evaluated the crystallization kinetics at different temperatures using the nonlinear Avrami equation and found instantaneous nucleation with three-dimensional growth in the studied temperature range, with activation energies for nucleation, transition, and crystal growth of 137, 51, and 51 kJ mol–1, respectively, indicating that nucleation is the rate-determining step. Further investigation of the structural and morphological evolution revealed a preference for secondary nucleation over the seed-growth mechanism. Crystallization proceeds via structural rearrangement within the solid system. We anticipate that our work will provide extensive insights that increase the understanding of zeolite crystallization and expand the highly sustainable production of zeolites.


Background and Objectives: Most physicians believe that telling lies and withholding the truth is not permissible. However, it appears that holding the phenomenon telling the truth to be absolute or unconditional is not acceptable either. This study was conducted to examine Qom City physicians' attitudes with regard to revealing the influential news to patients. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical investigation whose statistical population encompassed 150 physicians working in Qom City, including physicians engaged in hospitals, clinics, and medical offices. A tailor-made questionnaire was utilized to examine physicians' attitudes to telling the truth to patients. SPSS Ver.16 was used to analyze data obtained in the study, employing the statistical tests of Independent T-Test, ANOVA, and chi-square. Results: 41 (27.3%) male and 109 (72.7%) female physicians took part in this study. The mean work experience of the participants was 16.21±9.19 years. Overall, the attitudes of 36 physicians (24%) were low, 85 (56.7%) average, and 29 (19.3%) were weak. Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a positively significant relationship between work experience and attitude. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that most physicians believed that telling lies is not absolutely prohibited for health professionals, who, in some certain cases, are permitted to do it. Moreover, it is concluded that patients' level of knowledge, awareness, age, and other items should be taken into vigilant account upon disclosure of bad news to them, who are entitled to know about their health status.


The purpose of the study was to determine if relationship banking, and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) affect the financial performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design with the population being 620 manufacturing SMEs involved in relationship banking with commercial banks in Kenya. Stratified random sampling was employed to pick a sample of 138 manufacturing SMEs with the respondents being the owner/ managers of the sampled SMEs. A semi structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The data was analyzed regression analysis with the moderating effects of EO being tested using the moderated multiple regression. The study revealed that EO moderates the relationship between relationship banking and financial performance of manufacturing SMEs in Kenya. The study concluded that relationship banking and financial performance have a positive relationship and that EO moderates this relationship. By forging strategic links with the banks, manufacturing SMEs would be able to access funding which is key to their growth and survival. Keywords : Relationship Banking, Entrepreneurial orientation, Financial Performance


The prevalence of childhood obesity has been rapidly increasing over the last decade in both developed and developing countries. To combat the increasing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in South Africa, it is essential to understand the extent and intrinsic patterns of the epidemic among children in this developing country. The purpose of this study was to review the available South African literature with regard to the prevalence and intrinsic patterns of childhood overweight and obesity, focusing on gender, ethnic differences and socioeconomic status. The method entailed an extensive search of several data bases, with inclusion criteria of representative studies regarding the health status of overweight and obesity levels of children up to 12 years of age, during the last decade (1998 - 2008). Eleven studies met the inclusion criteria and were retrieved and reviewed, using an adapted meta-analytic approach. The results show that South African children exhibit high levels of overweight and obesity, especially in urban areas. Girls are more overweight than boys, with increasing overweight when they get older. White children show the highest levels of overweight up to age 11, after which black girls show the highest frequencies. Overweight is also associated with urbanisation and both high and low socioeconomic status. In light of the results, recommendations are made for prevention and intervention strategies and further study.


This article investigates whether the "creative use" of musical works, without a licence, is acceptable under copyright. In order to determine this issue, it is necessary to undertake analysis of copyright infringement with regard to musical works. Music, due to its own unique limitations, may be unsuited to a strict delineation of what may and may not be "copied". For this reason, a general analysis of "creative use" of existing musical works, or portions thereof, is undertaken first. Reference is made to historical and contemporary examples of the practice, including examples involving European classical music, American blues, jazz and hip-hop, as well as British and Irish folk and popular music. Then, in order to properly explore specific cases of infringement of "musical works", the notion of "musical work" under national and international law is examined. In line with this, the "idea-expression dichotomy" is also considered. Next, the jurisdiction of the UK is used as a case study for analysing the question of whether such an act of creative use is, in fact, an act of copyright infringement. The case of Newspaper Licensing Agency v Meltwater is stated to be important in this regard. Furthermore, the Meltwater case shows a strong influence from the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Infopaq International v Danske Dagblades Forening. For comparative value, related cases in other jurisdictions such as France, Germany, the US and Australia are also discussed here. Importantly, the usefulness of using expert evidence from musicologists is queried.Ultimately, this article argues that musical creativity requires a reasonable degree of freedom to make creative use of existing materials. At present copyright law does not properly encourage the practice of making creative use of musical works without a license; recent case law suggests that even the use of a very small portion of an original work may result in infringement. This is particularly evident in light of the Infopaq (EU) and Meltwater (UK) cases. Evidence from other jurisdictions shows similar conflicts arise not just with regard to works of music but also with regard to other creative works including works of literature and drama. It is argued that a more flexible approach to exceptions would encourage musical creativity. The possibility of a more flexible system of exceptions being brought into the UK is explored in the concluding part of this article.


Unemployment of people with disabilities is one of the key problems in many countries, and the reasons for this situation are multiple and influenced by a number of factors. People with disabilities are often regarded as unproductive citizens, unable to carry out their duties and responsibilities so that their rights are ignored. The employment of people with disabilities in the labor market in the Republic of North Macedonia is recognized in the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and is regulated by the Law on Labor Relations, which prohibits the employer putting the candidate for employment in unequal position on the basis of his health or disability. Article27 of the Convention deals with the work and employment of people with disabilities as the best way for their social integration. In that direction, the state is required to prohibit discrimination in respect of all aspects of employment, including conditions for candidate selection, employment, career advancement and job security. People with disabilities are under-represented in the workforce, often facing discrimination by employers, and often not served and protected effectively. The article presents the results of the research whose main goal is to map the situation regarding the employment of people with disabilities in the Republic of North Macedonia. The method of descriptive analysis is used. The research was conducted using an appropriately prepared questionnaire, attached to a sample of 327 people with different disabilities. To support the active participation of people with disabilities in society and the economy, this article gives some recommendations for empowerment and facilitate economic independence for people with disabilities.


Book synopsis: The first British book on neurology in music was published over 30 years ago. Edited by Drs Macdonald Critchley and R A Henson, it was entitled Music and the Brain (published by Wm Heinemann Medical Books), but all of its contributors are now either retired or deceased. Since then, there has been an increasing amount of research, and the present volume includes the most significant of these advances.

The book begins with the evolutionary basis of meaning in music and continues with the historical perspectives, after which the human nervous system is compared to a clavichord, highlighting the use of metaphor in the history of modern neurology. It discusses the neurologist in the concert hall as well as the musician at the bedside by showing how neurology enriches musical perception, the main theme being the cerebral localisation of music production and perception. The book also emphasises the value of teaching singing to treat speech disorders and the importance of nerve compression in musicians, the final chapter being on recent techniques of imaging the musical brain.


We live in conflicted times. Our newsfeeds are filled with inequality, division, and fear. We want to make a difference and see justice restored because Jesus calls us to be a peacemaking and reconciling people. But how do we do this?

Based on their work with diverse churches, colleges, and other organizations, Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Graham Hill offer Christian practices that can bring healing and hope to a broken world. They provide ten ways to transform society, from lament and repentance to relinquishing power, reinforcing agency, and more. Embodying these practices enables us to be the new humanity in Jesus Christ, so the church and world can experience reconciliation, justice, unity, peace, and love. With small group activities, discussion questions, and exercises in each chapter, this book is ideal to read together in community.


The United States leads the world in per capita production of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), generating approximately 200 million tons per year. By 2000 A.D. the US EPA predicts a 20% rise in these numbers. Currently the major strategies of MSW disposal are (i) landfill and (ii) incineration. The amount of landfill space in the US is on a rapid decline. There are -10,000 landfill sites in the country, of which only 65-70% are still in use. The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) predicts an 80% landfill closure rate in the next 20 years. The development of a viable energy resource from MSW, in the form of densified Refuse Derived Fuel (dRDF), provides solutions to the problems of MSW generation and fossil fuel depletions. Every 2 tons of MSW yields approximately 1 ton of dRDF. Each ton of dRDF has an energy equivalent of more than two barrels of oil. At current production rates the US is "throwing away" over 200,000,000 barrels of oil a year. In order to be considered a truly viable product dRDF must be extensively studied; in terms of it's cost of production, it's combustion properties, and it's potential for environmental pollution. In 1987 a research team from the University of North Texas, in conjunction with the US DOE and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), cofired over 550 tons of dRDF and bdRDF with a high sulfur Kentucky coal in a boiler at ANL. This work examines the emission rates of polychlorinated dioxins (PCDDs) and furans (PCDFs) during the combustion of the dRDF, bdRDF, and coal. Even at levels of 50% by Btu content of dRDF in the fuel feedstock, emission rates of PCDDs and PCDFs were below detection limits. The dRDF is shown to be an environmentally acceptable product, which could help resolve one of the major social and environmental problems facing this country today.


The journey of Buddhism over centuries, from India to China and then to Japan, is the stuff of mythology. But now, in our own time, we have witnessed and documented its historic crossing of the Pacific and its subsequent evolution in the Americas and Europe. In 1982, writer Peter Muryo Matthiessen, the first dharma successor of Roshi Bernie Glassman, traveled with Glassman to pay respects to the teachers in their lineage, some of the great living Zen masters of twentieth-century Japan. What took place was an important meeting of minds representing the past, present, and future of Zen practice, an intimate connection between ancestors and descendants marking a critical point in the Zen journey from the East to the West. This historic event was captured in the moment by the selective lens of Peter Cunningham. Matthiessen's exquisite poetic accounts of this pilgrimage, which formed a part of his book Nine-Headed Dragon River, accompany the photos.


ABSTRACT Isolated astragali and calcanei of one of the smallest known living or extinct mammals, the geolabidid lipotyphlan Batodonoides powayensis, are identified and described from early and late Uintan (middle Eocene) strata in San Diego County, California. The morphology of the tarsus of Batodonoides appears to be most consistent with arboreal or scansorial locomotion. Prior assessments of geolabidid relationships have allied the group with lipotyphlans, particularly soricids and Solenodon, but the tarsus of Batodonoides shows no particular similarity to any extant lipotyphlan family. Instead, there are unexpected tarsal similarities to the extinct Nyctitheriidae, suggesting that geolabidids may have their origins among Paleocene and Eocene nyctitheres. Results of a phylogenetic analysis are consistent with a relationship either to Solenodon or to Nyctitheriidae. When geolabidids and nyctitheres are allied, the latter group shifts from the euarchontan stem to the lipotyphlan stem, potentially reconciling two divergent views on the relationships of nyctitheres. Batodonoides provides an additional example of the impact of nondental material in challenging established views of the affinities of early Cenozoic 'insectivores.'


Abstract We introduce a stepping methodology for answer-set programming (ASP) that allows for debugging answer-set programs and is based on the stepwise application of rules. Similar to debugging in imperative languages, where the behaviour of a program is observed during a step-by-step execution, stepping for ASP allows for observing the effects that rule applications have in the computation of an answer set. While the approach is inspired from debugging in imperative programming, it is conceptually different to stepping in other paradigms due to non-determinism and declarativity that are inherent to ASP. In particular, unlike statements in an imperative program that are executed following a strict control flow, there is no predetermined order in which to consider rules in ASP during a computation. In our approach, the user is free to decide which rule to consider active in the next step following his or her intuition. This way, one can focus on interesting parts of the debugging search space. Bugs are detected during stepping by revealing differences between the actual semantics of the program and the expectations of the user. As a solid formal basis for stepping, we develop a framework of computations for answer-set programs. For fully supporting different solver languages, we build our framework on an abstract ASP language that is sufficiently general to capture different solver languages. To this end, we make use of abstract constraints as an established abstraction for popular language constructs such as aggregates. Stepping has been implemented in SeaLion, an integrated development environment for ASP. We illustrate stepping using an example scenario and discuss the stepping plugin of SeaLion. Moreover, we elaborate on methodological aspects and the embedding of stepping in the ASP development process.


Isolated hepatic nuclei from euthyroid rats were incubated with tracer (125I)L-triiodothyronine (T3) and increasing doses of nonradioactive T3 for 30 min at 37degrees C. The T3 bound specifically to nuclear sites increased with increasing T3 doses to a plateau, which represented the nuclear binding capacity, M. Addition of 1 mM KCN, NaF, dinitrophenol, oriodoacetate did not affect nuclear binding, indicating that active metabolism was not required. Kinetic studies showed that the nuclear sites were equilibrated with T3 within 30 min of incubation (one-half maximal binding at 3 min) and that the rate of release of T3 in vitro (0.058 min-1) was the same for endogenous T3 or for T3 bound to nuclei in vitro. Nuclear T3 resisted extraction with 0.14 M NaC1 buffered at pH 7.5, but both endogenous hormone and T3 bound in vitro were readily extracted by 0.4 M KC1 at pH 8.0. The elution profiles of endogenous and in vitro-bound T3 from Sephadex G-100 columns showed a common protein peak with a molecular weight of 60-65,000, assuming a globular protein. Scatchard analysis of in vitro displacement studies showed a single class of binding sites. Mean M equals 0.23 times 10-9 M or 0.85 ng T3 for nuclei isolated from 1 g of liver. Mean M closely corresponded to that anticipated from reported in vivo studies. The apparent association constant Ka for the nuclear sites, 5.55 times 108 M-1, was lower than in studies in vivo, probably attributable to the different ionic milieu of nuclei in the incubation buffer and in the intact cell. Thus, the identity of the nuclear T3 binding sites studied in vitro to those reported for endogenous hormone is demonstrated by similar binding capacities, release rates, analogue binding affinities (previously reported), and localization to chromatin nonhistone proteins of comparable molecular weight. The role of cytosol protein in nuclear binding was assessed by comparing binding parameters for extensively washed nuclei and nuclei incubated either with contaminating or added cytosol. No difference in Ka or M was found. Moreover, it was unlikely that specific cytosol proteins were already present in nuclei and functioned during incubation as a shuttle for T3, since Ka and M for nuclei obtained from athyreotic rats were similar to Ka and M for nuclei from euthyroid animals. Thus, an initial interaction between T3 and specific cytosol proteins does not appear to be a prerequisite for translocation of T3 to nuclear sites.


This easily navigable resource provides 125 swatches of the most recognized and widely used varieties of fabric to encourage consideration of not just their aesthetic appeal but also their structure, feel and weight. Natural fabrics such as cottons, silks, wools and linens are included, as are artificial and synthetic fabrics like nylons, polyesters, microfibres, metallics and soya fabrics, and fabrics made from alternative plant fibres like bamboo and hemp.

With information on fibres, basic construction of fabrics, weights, construction, and weave comparison, the book will help student fashion designers to make informed textile choices based upon an understanding of raw materials together with the processes that make up a fabric. The book will be useful for anyone who works with fabrics and is the ideal companion to Fabric for Fashion: The Complete Guide.


The microencapsulation technology consists of a trap of a compound inside a tiny sphere known as microsphere. The microencapsulation concerns many different active materials such as bioactive compounds, drugs, vitamins, enzymes, flavors, and pesticides. This technology has gained real interest in numerous fields such as agriculture, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, textile, and food. This chapter highlights the encapsulation of essential oils into nanoemulsion-based delivery system as a model for the encapsulation of natural bioactive compounds. Moreover, an investigation of different parameters affecting the stability of produced nanoemulsion was conducted, in addition to the study of the effect of the nanoencapsulation of essential oils on their antibacterial activity. Finally, an enumeration of the advantages of encapsulating essential oils into nanoemulsion-based delivery systems in order to provide a natural food preservatives has been provided.


Building construction is a highly resource intensive process, concerning use of materials, land, energy and water. Since buildings are required to fulfil our primary need for shelter, consumption of these resources is simply unavoidable. However, with shrinking stock of natural resources and degrading eco-system services, the consumption process has to be wise, judicious and non-wasteful. Search for alternative and recycled materials, multiple floor spaces and use of renewable energy are some of the human responses against the perceived threat of materials, land and energy constraints respectively. Water resource management in building construction and operation, however, has still a long way to go, especially because the amount of water used per unit area of construction largely remains undocumented. There has been some pioneering research on embodied water measurement of several non-residential buildings in Australia. In this backdrop, the present paper seeks to understand and assess the quantity of fresh water used in contemporary urban multi-storeyed residential buildings and reports a study conducted for a real-life project in Calcutta (now, Kolkata), India. Since the use of construction water directly varies with the type of construction, a steel and glass building will have its embodied water-footprint mainly on account of that of its materials while on-site water use plays a major role in case of a cast-in-situ reinforced cement concrete and brick building. Thus, water efficiency at the production stage is required in the first case while the second category demands concerns and actions at the consumption stage. This paper examines some of the issues related to the subject like water demand at material production as well as construction stage and the resultant embodied water of typical urban constructions in India, which was found to be in the range of about 27 Kilolitres/Sq m of total built-up area.


Benthic colonial invertebrates share with higher plants a modular construction and a sessile adult life. Both types of organism show parallel evolutionary responses to common selective forces, but in contrast to the long-established focus on plants, comparable study of colonial invertebrates has developed relatively recently, largely owing to the application of new techniques in image processing and molecular biology. Species whose life cycles are readily completed under laboratory conditions and whose colonies are easily propagated from cuttings provide powerful models for experimentally investigating fundamental evolutionary problems, including metabolic allometry, the manifestation of ageing and the origin of allorecognition systems. Free of the confounding influences of behavioural manipulation and costs of copulation, colonial invertebrates whose water-borne sperm fertilize retained eggs lend themselves well to the experimental study of cryptic female choice, sperm competition and sexual conflict. In these respects, it will be productive to adopt and extend theoretical frameworks developed for flowering plants to guide experimental investigation of modular animals. Since mate choice occurs at the cellular level in modular animals, reproductive isolation is uncorrelated with morphology and cryptic speciation is likely to be widespread.


This work is carried out on behalf of the MIADAC project (Modelling Sectoral Climate Change Policies: Mitigation, Adaptation and Acceptance) of NCCR Climate and the ClimPol project (Climate Policy Making for Enhanced Technological and Institutional Innovation) funded by the Competence Centre Environment and Sustainability (CCES) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. The idea of the project is to assess the acceptability of climate policy instruments and measures by the private sector, namely by private business. The core of that work is a case study dealing with the Voluntary Agreement made by the Swiss car importers with the Swiss Federal Energy Agency on the reduction of fuel consumption between 2002 and 2008. The goal of this agreement was to reach average fuel consumption of 6.4 l / 100km of newly imported cars in Switzerland by 2008 (compared to 8.4l/100km in 2000). However, average fuel consumption of newly imported cars to Switzerland was still 7.1 l / 100km in 2008 – the agreement failed. In addition to the 2002 agreement on fuel efficiency, the Swiss CO2 law and the Energy law provide a framework for further voluntary initiatives. The programme 'EnergySwitzerland' and the 'Climate Cent' on transport fuels are further voluntary measures that aim at reducing emissions from private transport (Baranzini and Thalmann, 2004). This case study assesses the motivation of Swiss car importers for signing the agreement, its economic efficiency and environmental effectiveness as well as the reasons for its failure. With face to face interviews, I want to understand the perception and position of Swiss car importers regarding climate change and climate regulation, and their claims to policy makers. For a more comprehensive assessment, the results of that qualitative bottom-up industry case study will be integrated in the economic top-down framework for climate policy instruments. In contrast to that industry case study, policy field analysis should help to understand the impact business can have as stakeholder in the political decision process. Therefore, the analysis of the documents of the consultation process on the Swiss CO2 law will give detailed information about the positions of firms regarding climate legislation, potential coalitions, and the development of their arguments over time (1994, 1997, 2005, and 2009). More precisely, I want to draw a landscape of the groups of the firms and industries opposing climate regulation and those being in favour of it because they might expect some competitive advantage for their business resulting from stricter climate regulation (Porter and van der Linde, 1995). Drawing from the political sciences literature, I want to check if there is some evidence for business conflict resulting from climate legislation as predicted by Falkner (2008). For a conclusion, this work should give insights about the position of private business on climate policy, assess its impact on the policy process and give recommendations for more effective and more comprehensive climate policy design.


Mutual funds represent one of the fastest growing type of financial intermediary in the American economy. The question remains as to why mutual funds and in particular actively managed mutual funds have grown so fast, when their performance on average has been inferior to that of index funds. One possible explanation of why investors buy actively managed open end funds lies in the fact that they are bought and sold at net asset value, and thus management ability may not be priced. If management ability exists and it is not included in the price of open end funds, then performance should be predictable. If performance is predictable and at least some investors are aware of this, then cash flows into and out of funds should be predictable by the very same metrics that predict performance. Finally, if predictors exist and at least some investors act on these predictors in investing in mutual funds, the return on new cash flows should be better than the average return for all investors in these funds. This article presents empirical evidence on all of these issues and shows that investors in actively managed mutual funds may have been more rational than we have assumed.


The two years covered in the fifth volume of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall were among the most momentous in the life of Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall-and in the course of the twentieth century. A year of transitions for Marshall, 1945 witnessed the final assault on Nazi Germany and the use of atomic weapons against Japan. Allied forces under the command of Marshall's protege, Dwight D. Eisenhower, had contained Hitler's Ardennes offensive at the beginning of the year and launched the final drive to smash the German regime. The war against Japan seemed far from over, however, and Marshall was deeply involved in planning for the massive and difficult redeployment of troops and materials from Europe to the Pacific. The debate with the U.S. Navy over supreme command of the invasion of Japan continued through the first six months of the year until Marshall secured Douglas A. MacArthur's appointment. In May and June, the chief of staff was involved in the decision to use the new atom bomb. Military-related political problems continued to consume much of Marshall's time as the Second World War drew to a close, although he was only peripherally involved in the Big Three conferences at Yalta and Potsdam. Instead, demobilization and readying U.S. Army ground and air forces for the postwar era were Marshall's chief concerns. He pressed for a unified military department against navy opposition and also lobbied incessantly for universal military training for all physically fit eighteen-year-old males as the key element in the nation's military readiness and deterrent value. After the fighting ceased, Marshall expected to retire, having served on active duty since 1902, but President Truman kept him in office until late November 1945. The day after his retirement, the president asked him to go to China to mediate in that country's increasingly violent civil war. Despite his initial success in negotiating a cease-fire between the Nationalists and Communists, irreconcilable differences soon led to renewed fighting. Marshall's continued hopes for achieving a political compromise, along with knowledge that his mission was the only hope for avoiding a disaster in China, kept him in the country until early 1947. He returned to the United States only when the president announced that General Marshall would join his cabinet as secretary of state.From The Papers of George Catlett Marshall "The one great element in continuing the success of an offensive is maintaining the momentum. This was lost last fall when shortages caused by the limitation of port facilities made it impossible for us to get sufficient supplies to the armies to continue their sweep into Germany when they approached the German border. Once additional ports had been captured and reopened there was a shortage of rail and transportation facilities with which to get supplies forward. Now the port facilities and the interior supply lines are adequate. Subject to the worldwide shortage of both cargo and personnel shipping, there is no foreseeable shortage which will be imposed by physical events in the field."-Speech to the Overseas Press Club, March 1, 1945 "Today we celebrate a great victory, a day of solemn thanksgiving. My admiration and gratitude go first to those who have fallen, and to the men of the American armies of the air and ground whose complete devotion to duty and indomitable courage have overcome the enemy and every conceivable obstacle in achieving this historic victory."-Marshall V-E Day Radio Address, May 8, 1945 "Just a few months ago the world was completely convinced of the strength and courage of the United States. Now they see us falling back into our familiar peacetime habits. They witness the tremendous enthusiasm with which we mount demobilization and reconversion, but they see as yet no concrete evidence that we are determined to hold what we have won-permanently. Are we already at this early date inviting that same international disrespect that prevailed before this war? Are we throwing away today what a million Americans died or were mutilated to achieve? Are we already shirking the responsibility of the victory?"-Speech to the New York Herald Tribune Forum, October 29, 1945


This review concentrates on the effects of low frequency noise (LFN) up to 100 Hz on selected physiological parameters, subjective complaints and performance. The results of laboratory experiments and field studies are discussed in relation to the thresholds of hearing, of vibrotactile sensation and of aural pain. The effects of LFN may be mediated trough different ways. Temporary or permanent hearing threshold shifts seem to be due to acoustic stimuli above the individual hearing threshold. However, non-aural physiological and psychological effects may be caused by levels of low frequency noise below the individual hearing threshold. The dynamic range between the thresholds of hearing and of aural pain diminishes with decreasing frequency. This should be taken into account by the setting of limits concerning the health risks. Sufficient safety margins are recommended. The use of a frequency weighting with an attenuation of the low frequencies (e.g. G-weighting) does not seem to be appropriate for the evaluation of the health risks caused by LFN up to 100 Hz. It may be proposed to measure third octave band spectra or narrow band spectra. A comparison with the known human responses caused by the measured levels and frequencies could help to evaluate the health risks. Some proposals for further investigations were given: (1) experimental methods to discover the ways mediating the effects of low frequency noise, (2) consideration of the individual hearing threshold or hearing threshold shift and of the vibrotactile threshold in the low frequency range to be able to judge the effects, (3) consideration of combined body vibration caused by airborne low frequency noise or by other sources, (4) modelling to analyse the transmission of the acoustic energy from the input into the body to the structures containing sensors, (5) consideration of probable risk groups like children or pregnant women.


Photovoltaic modules (PV) are the future of renewable energy production market. They provide green energy with no carbon signature. However there exists factors which degrades the performance of PV modules. Over time, sand and dirt particles are accumulated on the surface of modules which effects its performance. Similarly little amount of field data exists about the PV plants to predict its behavior. Generally the photovoltaic modules are mounted at a fixed tilt angle which is near to the latitude of the location in order to get maximum output energy. Soiling loss effects the output power of solar modules to a great degree. It has a relationship with the terrain, and the climate behavior of the location, the tilt angle of the modules and the frequency of rain at the installation site. For un-cleaned modules, adjusting the tilt angle would result in increase in the output energy. In this research we have developed a cheap solution for monitoring the soiling losses at different tilt angles. The selection of 33.5 o was done because it is the latitude of the experimental area (Peshawar) where the test results were collected, because a general thumb rule is to install the photovoltaic modules according the latitude of the installation location. Furthermore instead of using huge photovoltaic modules small scale mini-modules were used for this study and their respective power ratings and dimensions are also described in detail. These mini modules were highly accurate and sensitive since a small amount of error would result in in-accurate data. The data was collected on regular basis from the mini-modules which were installed at different tilt angles. For each tilt angle two similar mini-modules were mounted, one was cleaned regularly while the other was left out un-cleaned for the entire period of study. In addition the irradiance data was also collected. In the end of the experiment the horizontal mini-module installed showed larger losses as compared to the other mini-modules. Keywords— Photovoltaic Modules, Soiling Losses, Dust Particles, Solar Cells, Tilt angle


While a short work of only eight verses and a three-page autocommentary, the Investigation of the Percept has inspired epistemologists for centuries and has had a wide-ranging impact in India, Tibet, and China. Dignaga, one of the major figures in Buddhist epistemology, explores issues such as the relation between the mind and its percepts, the problems of idealism and realism, and the nature of intentionality in this brief but profound text. This volume provides a comprehensive history of the text in India and Tibet from 5th century India to the present day. This team of philologists, historians of religion and philosophers who specialize in Tibetan, Sanskrit and Chinese philosophical literature has produced the first study of the text and its entire commentarial tradition. Their approach makes it possible to employ the methods of critical philology and cross-cultural philosophy to provide readers with a rich collection of studies and translations, along with detailed philosophical analyses that open up the intriguing implications of Dign=aga's thought and demonstrate the diversity of commentarial approaches to his text. The comprehensive nature of the work reveals the richness of commentary in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism and shows surprising parallels between the modern West and traditional Buddhist philosophy.


Cu–ZrO2 catalysts were synthesized by the methanothermal (Me) and oxalate gel precipitation (Og) methods. Detailed characterization of the catalysts synthesized by the Me method shows that these contain only Cu substituted into the tetragonal ZrO2 lattice. For catalysts prepared using the Og method Cu is found not only in the tetragonal ZrO2 lattice but also in the form of CuO particles on the zirconia surface. When these materials were tested for the hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA) to γ-valerolactone (GVL) it was found that Me materials show no catalytic activity, whereas GVL was formed using Og catalysts. A reduction treatment of the Og catalysts prior to use resulted in a marked increase in the catalytic activity, however, no activity increase was observed when the Me material was exposed to a similar treatment before testing. Based on these results and characterization data, we conclude that the catalytically active component of Cu–ZrO2 catalysts for the hydrogenation of LA is reduced Cu particles dispersed on the catalyst surface with strong interaction with the Cu incorporated zirconia support, while the role of Cu in the zirconia lattice is to improve the adhesion of these particles and maintain their dispersion.


Cover letters for mailed survey forms can differ in a variety of ways. Previous research suggests that visual design can impact response, and that the effects might even be negative. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to continue this line of research and investigate the impact of a unique visual design for a cover letter, while holding the information content constant. Whereas the possible types of visual design changes are numerous, this study looked at the impact of only one type of approach (Information Mapping © ), which has been shown to improve the usability of written materials in a variety of written materials. A sample of 1,000 addresses was randomly assigned to either an experimental or control condition (500 in each), and the response rate was analyzed after one mailing attempt. Results showed no statistically significant difference between groups in response rates (overall response was 27.6 percent). A secondary objective was to determine how many respondents would opt to use a simple Web-reporting option when one was clearly offered in the cover letter. Only 2.6 percent chose the Web option, with ten times as many choosing to respond using the mail.


Chronic restriction of dietary Pi elicits an increased reabsorption of Pi in the kidney proximal tubules, which involves a stimulation of apical Na-Pi cotransport. This adaptation is in part a direct cellular response of which the mechanism(s) are poorly understood. In this study, the impact of dietary Pi restriction on the differential expression of rat kidney cortex mRNAs was visualized to identify gene products regulated by the Pi status. When kidney cortex mRNAs of rats fed a low- or a high-Pi diet were compared by differential display-polymerase chain reaction (DD-PCR), thirty modulated cDNA bands were observed, of which four were confirmed as being regulated. We focused on one of the upregulated bands, dietary Pi-regulated RNA-1 (diphor-1). A cDNA containing an open reading frame encoding a 52-kDa protein was cloned by library screening. Diphor-1 exhibits a high degree of identity to the Na/H exchanger regulatory factor and to a tyrosine kinase activating protein. Highest expression of diphor-1 mRNA was detected in the kidney (proximal tubules) and in small intestine. Expression experiments showed that diphor-1 specifically increases Na-Pi cotransport in oocytes of Xenopus laevis coinjected with renal type II Na-Pi contransporter cRNA. Further characterizations of diphor-1 will show whether diphor-1 is primarily or secondarily involved in the response to dietary Pi.


This paper focuses on the triumph march of mobile phones that currently are annexing music players, navigation devices, and cameras as separate physical objects. The next target is set on payment. Through synthesizing available literature, we construct a framework for studying digital payment platforms that combines platform, technology and business design aspects. The framework is applied to conduct a comparative case study of digital payment platforms. Four types of market actors are considered: banks, mobile network operators, merchants, and startups, which are incumbents and disrupters in the payment industry. These actors issue four types of payment systems, and we can observe that three of four platforms types can be classified as multi-sided platforms (MSP). All alternatives seek foothold by issuing evolutionary payment instruments, which are intertwined with digital payment platforms. By hosting third-party services, payment instruments are evolving from single-purpose to multi-functional ones. Our research extends existing payment literature from the MSP perspective to emphasize certain digital payment platform components, which impact strategies and complementary products.


The parameter β, defined as the ratio of the pressure to the square of the magnetic field, is widely used to characterize astrophysical and fusion plasmas. However, in the dynamics of a plasma flow, it is the pressure gradient which is important rather than the value of the pressure itself. It is shown that if one is interested in the influence of the pressure gradient on the dynamics of a plasma, it is not the quantity β which should be considered, but a similar quantity depending on the pressure gradient. The scaling of this newly defined quantity is investigated using incompressible magnetohydrodynamic simulations in a periodic cylinder in the Reversed Field Pinch flow regime.


The biophysics of intracellular transport driven by structurally-defined systems of motor proteins. by D. Kenneth Jamison The number of motor proteins attached to cellular cargos is widely believed to influence intracellular transport processes and may playa role in transport regulation. However, to date, investigating the biophysics of multiple-motor dynamics has been challenging since the number of motors responsible for cargo motion is not easily characterized. This work examines the transport properties of structurally-defined motor complexes containing two kinesin-l motors, from both an experimental and theoretical perspective. Motor complexes were synthesized using DNA as a molecular scaffold and engineered DNA-conjugated protein polymers as linkers to couple motors to scaffolds. After anchoring the motor complexes to a bead their dynamic properties were measured using an automated optical trapping instrument that could be used to perform both static (increasing load) and force-feedback (constant load) optical trapping experiments. Data from these experiments is compared to predictions from a microscopic transition rate model of multiple kinesin dynamics. Together, these studies uncovered that multiple kinesins typically cannot cooperate since the microtubulebound configuration of a motor complex often prevents both kinesins from sharing cargo loads. Furthermore, multiple-motor behaviors are influenced by the fact that motor complexes display hysteretic force-velocity behaviors when applied loads change rapidly in time. Overall, such behaviors suggest the number of kinesins on a cargo will not be a key determinant of intracellular transport processes, and in turn, will not contribute appreciably to mechanisms that regulate cargo motion. However, this work also provides evidence that processive microtubule motors that are less efficient than kinesin (e.g., dynein) will cooperate productively, produce greater responses to motor number, and may therefore act as a regulator of cargo transport.


Abstract Models of late Paleozoic ice-age climate dynamics have remained enigmatic, in part because preservation of mid- to Late Carboniferous, ice-proximal, Gondwanan glacial deposits is limited to very few Gondwanan regions. As such, detailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic analysis of six formations comprising the well-preserved, mid-Carboniferous to Lower Permian (Namurian or Serpukhovian to late Sakmarian), terrestrial, glacially influenced record from the Tamworth Belt, New South Wales, Australia, provides a unique opportunity to test existing models of late Paleozoic climate, characterize regional glaciation, and resolve the internal pacing of climate during the late Paleozoic ice age. Facies analysis based on twelve logged vertical sections and lateral facies relationships suggests that sediment accumulated in an eastward-draining, volcaniclastically influenced alluvial fan (facies association FA1), fluvial (FA2), and lacustrine (FA3) landsystem. Evidence for proglacial outwash fan (sandar), glaciofluvial, and glaciolacustrine deposition is preserved in the form of texturally diverse diamictite, outsized clasts in fine-grained facies, and rhythmically laminated sandstone and siltstone. The association of these facies, which is termed herein as "distinctly glacial facies" and is taken as direct evidence of glaciation, does not occur through the stratigraphic extent of formations, suggesting that the Tamworth Belt of New South Wales, Australia, was subject to episodic, mountain/valley-type or outlet-type, temperate to subpolar glaciation during the Carboniferous and Early Permian. Climatic shifts and trends occurred on multiple timescales, termed herein "nested cyclicity." Alternations between distinctly glacial facies and facies that lack evidence of glacial influence, interpreted to record alternating glacial and nonglacial conditions, occurred on timescales on the order of ~ 106 years. The cited age estimates are based on published estimates of glacial interval durations from the region, which in turn reconcile all available radiogenic isotopic data and biostratigraphic zonations. Facies trends within successions recording glacial intervals are interpreted in terms of glacial advance and retreat, which can be estimated to have occurred on timescales shorter than the duration of glacial intervals (shorter-term, sub-106-yr-order timescales) and may include Milankovitch-band cyclicity. These conclusions support the emerging view that the late Paleozoic was characterized by rapid and dynamic climatic shifts on multiple timescales, rather than as one, long protracted event as portrayed by earlier models of Gondwanan glaciation. Furthermore, this study provides an improved understanding of high-latitude climate dynamics and pacing, which may prove useful in constructing improved global models of late Paleozoic climate.


Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ('HIV/AIDS'), apart from being a life threatening disease, has acquired a significant place in countries across the world due to the kind of stigma and discrimination, seropositive persons and those associated with such persons, suffer. Human rights implications of marginalisation faced by HIV/AIDS affected persons have resulted in many countries taking cognisance of the same, by adopting legislations to protect these persons and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. With India following suit and the HIV/ AIDS (Prevention and Control) Bill, 2014 having been introduced in the Rajya Sabha, this paper seeks to evaluate significant provisions of this Bill in light of the capability theory laid down by Amartya Sen. Viewing hardships faced by HIV/AIDS affected persons as forms of capability deprivation, we attempt to assess how far the Bill bridges the gap between affected persons and central human capabilities.


Many modern computing applications have been enabled through the use of real-time multimedia processing. While several hardware architectures have been proposed in the research literature to support such primitives, these fail to address applications whose performance and resource requirements have a dynamic aspect. Embedded multimedia systems typically need a power and computation efficient design in addition to good compression performance. In this article, we introduce a Polymorphic Wavelet Architecture (Poly-DWT) as a crucial building block towards the development of embedded systems to address such challenges. We illustrate how our Poly-DWT architecture can potentially make dynamic resource allocation decisions, such as the internal bit representation and the processing kernel, according to the application requirements. We introduce a filter switching architecture that allows for dynamic switching between 5/3 and 9/7 wavelet filters and leads to a more power efficient design. Further, a multiplier-free design with a low adder requirement demonstrates the potential of Poly-DWT for embedded systems. Through an FPGA prototype, we perform a quantitative analysis of our Poly-DWT architecture, and compare our filter to existing approaches to illustrate the area and performance benefits inherent in our approach.