Senek, M. 2018. New Approaches for Levodopa Treatment in Parkinson's Disease. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 1437. 84 pp. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-513-0256-0. Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by degeneration of dopaminergic cells, which results in dopamine depletion. Levodopa is the most effective symptomatic treatment, however, disease progression along with the unfavorable pharmacokinetics of levodopa makes the disease increasingly difficult to treat with time. This thesis focuses on two new approaches of levodopa treatments, the levodopa/carbidopa microtablets and the levodopa/entacapone/carbidopa intestinal gel, developed for patients with advanced PD. To evaluate the microtablet pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in advanced PD patients, a clinical study was conducted. Higher levodopa maximum plasma concentration and systemic exposure was observed in patients compared to healthy volunteers. A high variability, with respect to response and duration of effect, was found, highlighting the importance of individual assessment of motor function to optimize treatment effect. A population pharmacokinetic model for levodopa and carbidopa was developed and the impact of covariates were investigated on the pharmacokinetics. Disease stage and increasing carbidopa dose were found to decrease levodopa apparent clearance. Carbidopa apparent clearance was found to decrease with age. An observational study was conducted, including patients treated with microtablets, in order to evaluate the treatment in clinical practice. A majority reported that the dose dispenser simplified their treatment and improved adherence, while the motor function, with respect to bradykinesia and non-troublesome dyskinesia, was mainly improved or unchanged. To investigate the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of the newly developed levodopa/entacapone/carbidopa intestinal gel treatment, a clinical trial was conducted, where it was compared to the conventional levodopa/carbidopa infusion. The new treatment was found to allow a lower amount of levodopa administration without worsening the treatment effect. An increasing plasma concentration was observed, and a population model was developed for investigation of appropriate dose adjustments. The conclusion was that the continuous maintenance dose could be decreased by approximately 35%, on a population level, compared to the patients' usual dose on the conventional treatment. An effect from entacapone was identified in all individuals, regardless of catechol-O-methyl transferase genotype (rs4680). To conclude, both new treatments are promising alternatives to current strategies and the developed models may in the future be used for model-based treatment optimization.


The European Succession Regulation is a landmark in the field of EU private international law. It unifies the conflicts of laws, jurisdiction and recognition of foreign judgments and some other legal instruments in the field of succession and wills. This volume provides an article-by-article commentary on the individual provisions of the Regulation, introduced by an overview of its general framework and underlying principles. As a reference tool for the Regulation, this book is intended to promote a high standard of interpretation and application. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, it uses a comparative approach in its analysis to enrich the academic debate and highlight the problems likely to arise in the practical application of the Regulation


Abstract We developed a multifrequency, full‐envelope template approach to estimate surface explosion yield from seismic stations in the 5–50 km distance range. The new method is empirically based, transportable, and unlike other methods, it is designed to work for short‐duration coda that a simple exponential single‐scattering formulation in a homogeneous space does not model well. Our empirical full‐envelope template‐matching approach produces close fits to complicated short‐duration and high‐frequency waveforms observed at near‐field distances. Moreover, because the envelope templates capture the nuances of the initial P and S waves and their scattered counterparts, the method is robust and provides roughly a factor of three times less scatter in yield measurement than peak P ‐wave and integrated first P ‐wave estimates. In this article, we demonstrate that our improved empirical template matching achieves accurate explosive yield estimates that are within 50% of the design yields at 95% confidence for a set of chemical explosions ranging in yield from 50 kg to 45 tonnes.


Although many studies have shown an increased mortality in schizophrenic patients, the literature provides little information about mortality from specific causes in relation to age, gender, and duration of illness. This study examined mortality and causes of death in a total national sample of 9156 first admitted schizophrenic patients. Suicide accounted for 50% of deaths in men and 35% of deaths in women. Suicide risk was particularly increased during the first year of follow-up. Death from natural causes, with the exception of cancer and cerebrovascular diseases, was increased. Suicide risk during the first year of follow-up increased by 56%, with a 50% reduction on psychiatric in-patient facilities. The study confirms that mortality in schizophrenia is still markedly elevated, and the finding of an increasing suicide risk may be an indicator of some adverse effects of deinstitutionalisation.


The objective of this work was to study the efficiency of preservatives on growth and ochratoxin a (ota) production by Aspergillus niger 13 d at pH values often found in bakery products. the fungal growth inhibition was concentration and pH dependent. differences between calcium propionate (Cp) and potassium sorbate (ks) were found, observing that ks was less effective than Cp. no fungal growth was observed with 0.4% (w/w) of Cp at pH 6.0, while that the maximum concentration of ks (0.2%, w/w) was not able to inhibit 100% of fungal growth independentlyof pH evaluated. This study also demonstrates the influence of preservatives on ota production. ota was not detected when the growth was 100% inhibited, i.e., at pH 6.0 and 0.4% (w/w) of Cp. the concentration of Cp could be reduced at 0.3% (w/w) when the pH was lowered to 5.5 without risk of contamination with ota. In presence of ks, a moderate depletion of ota production was observed, however, the maximum concentration (0.2%, w/w) did not completely inhibit ota production. in addition, no stimulating effects on growth or ota levels were observed in any condition assayed. These "in vitro" studies must be corroborated by "in situ" conditions in bakery products and other Aspergillus fungus.


In this study, we investigated the attitude of local people towards the contribution of agroforestry practices to socio-economic development in the buffer zone area of Mt Elgon National Park, Uganda. Primary data were collected through formal household survey conducted during June–October 2004 with the use of questionnaires administered to 120 households selected randomly from Mutushet and Kortek Parishes. Data were analysed using chi-squared test and logistic regression model. The results support the hypothesis that the attitude of people towards agroforestry practices is independent of existence of collaborative forest management, ethnic group, sedentary farming experience and family size but depends on main occupation, education status, distance from park boundary, damage caused by wild animals, landholding size and total livestock units owned. Factors that significantly influenced adoption of agroforestry technologies were age of the household head, education status, extension contact, family labour force and gender. There is need to intensify extension programmes in those areas where the majority of people have negative attitude towards agroforestry practices.


The following Patient Management Problem was chosen to reinforce the subject matter presented in the issue. It emphasizes decisions facing the practicing physician. As you read through the case, you will be asked to complete 12 questions regarding history, examination, diagnostic evaluation, therapy, and management. For each item, select the single best response. In order to obtain CME credits, subscribers must complete this Patient Management Problem online at www.aan.com/continuum/cme. A tally sheet is provided with this issue to allow the option of marking answers before entering them online. A faxable scorecard is available only upon request to subscribers who do not have computer access or to nonsubscribers who have purchased single back issues (send an email to email@example.com). Upon completion of the Patient Management Problem, participants may earn up to 2 hours of AMA PRA Category 1 Creditsi. Participants have up to 3 years from the date of publication to earn CME credits. No CME will be awarded for this issue after October 31, 2014.


This paper assesses the financing mechanisms of Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) education policy focusing on the sustainability of the programme in terms of fostering the desired equity and quality of education provided. It is concerned with one main question: What is the unfinished business in the current education financial arrangement in Kenya? To answer the question, the paper sets out to achieve three objectives: To profile the current trends in enrollment and equity in secondary school education in Kenya; to assess the funding strategy for the secondary education sectors in the country; and to examine the emerging challenges and implications of the free education policy in Kenya in order to establish the unfinished business. The source of data for the paper was a combination of secondary data through desk literature review and primary data from interviews with 136 secondary school teachers and principals pursuing their school-based degree programmes at Kenyatta and Mount Kenya Universes during the 2012/2013 academic year. The major finding is that while on the one hand the implementation of the policy has resulted into exponential quantitative growth in students' enrollment; on the other hand , the education sector is fraught with multifarious and intertwined finance related challenges of providing quality and equitable education thereby resulting in conspicuously wide and severe regional and gender disparities in access to, and quality of education. The funds meant for the day secondary schools are grossly inadequate and irregularly remitted to schools and this has exacerbated acute shortages of essential learning physical and human resources forcing teachers to resort to unconventional instructional techniques. The overall impact has been low quality outcomes of education and emergence of compulsory latent user charges to be shouldered by the already over-burdened poor households, especially those residing in urban slums and ASAL regions. It is concluded that the unfinished business in the current Government funding strategy is to make is sustainable and hence there is an urgent need to devise alternative additional sources of funding in order to increase the current capitation from a flat rate of Khs.10, 265 to 32,747 for boys and 33,707 for girls who should get an extra Ksh.960 to meet their sanitary needs. It is recommended that day secondary schools in Kenya should be encouraged to generate extra funds from income generating activities and work out mechanisms of eradicating all bottlenecks related to additional educational financial burden for children from poor socio-economic backgrounds that hinder them from accessing equitable and quality education.


This study shows that the effects of judgment proofness on precaution depend on whether the injurer can reduce the probability of the accident, the magnitude of the harm, or both. Different legal solutions to the problem are examined: punitive damages, average compensation, undercompensation, accurate compensation, and negligence. We find that when the injurer can only reduce the probability of the accident, negligence with average compensation is the best solution, but negligence with perfectly compensatory damages is the desirable solution if the injurer can only or also affect the magnitude of the harm.


Background : Progression of a cancer disease and dying without progression can be understood as competing risks. The Cause-Specific Hazards Model and the Fine and Gray model on cumulative incidences are common statistical models to handle this problem. The pseudo value approach by Andersen and Klein is also able to cope with competing risks. It is still unclear which model suits best in which situation. Methods : For a simulated dataset and a real data example of ovarian cancer patients who are exposed to progression and death the three models are examined. We compare the three models with regards to interpretation and modeling requirements. Results : In this study, the parameter estimates for the competing risks are similar from the Cause-Specific Hazards Model and the Fine and Gray model. The pseudo value approach yields divergent results which are heavily dependent on modeling details. Conclusions : The investigated approaches do not exclude each other but moreover complement one another. The pseudo value approach is an alternative that circumvents proportionality assumptions. As in all survival analyses, situations with low event rates should be interpreted carefully.


YouTube beauty gurus, in combination with traditional marketing and advertising techniques, manipulate the opinions of cosmetics consumers. Today, advertising techniques are not only being applied online by companies and corporations using conventional strategies (e.g. banner ads and text-based Google ads), but are becoming blended, integrated, and disguised as user-generated content. So-called "beauty gurus," for example, are using online advertising platforms to spread messages that promote cosmetic products to the public on behalf of corporations. This paper will examine how beauty gurus on YouTube review products while offering advice that is accepted as truth on an allegedly democratic, or at least user-generated, online platform.
This Major Research Paper will examine the application of advertising models and propaganda techniques to YouTube beauty marketing using the insights of Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988), as well as Edward Bernays (1935), whose ground-breaking and influential methods of analyzing advertising and public relations can offer new insights into contemporary online media and the ways these seemingly open platforms are being taken over by private interests and large corporations (all while projecting the images and ideals of authenticity, amateurism, and open access). This study will demonstrate that YouTube beauty reviews are a form of advertising that utilize trust and bias, two important factors that Herman and Chomsky (1988) and Bernays (1935) explore, in order to disguise advertising as individual opinion expressed in the interest of the consumer. My findings suggest that corporations have been able to adapt traditional methods of beauty marketing to YouTube (and, implicitly, other online video platforms beyond the scope of this study) through the use of "beauty gurus." Despite disclaimers in these "beauty gurus'" YouTube channels that products have been sent to them for free, the lines between what constitutes an advertisement and what constitutes user generated content are being blurred. My suggestion is that this blurring leaves the public confused and more susceptible to influence within the realm of online beauty guides, reviews, and tutorials.


[About the book]

First Nations, Inuit, and Metis music in Canada is dynamic and diverse, reflecting continuities with earlier traditions and innovative approaches to creating new musical sounds. Aboriginal Music in Contemporary Canada narrates a story of resistance and renewal, struggle and success, as indigenous musicians in Canada negotiate who they are and who they want to be.

Comprised of essays, interviews, and personal reflections by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal musicians and scholars alike, the collection highlights themes of innovation, teaching and transmission, and cultural interaction. Individual chapters discuss musical genres ranging from popular styles including country and pop to nation-specific and intertribal practices such as powwows, as well as hybrid performances that incorporate music with theatre and dance. As a whole, this collection demonstrates how music is a powerful tool for articulating the social challenges faced by Aboriginal communities and an effective way to affirm indigenous strength and pride.


In this paper, a real-financial CGE model is employed for Bolivia to simulate the macroeconomic and distributional effects of exchange rate policy in a highly dollarized economy. Overall, dollarization appears to matter more through real than through financial-sector effects. The main macroeconomic result of the simulations is that the potential of nominal devaluation to smooth the adjustment path after a negative shock primarily depends on the absence of wage indexation. Only if nominal wages are constant in the short run, devaluation reduces unemployment and cushions the reduction of real GDP induced by the shock. Financial de-dollarization tends to be contractionary in Bolivia but different degrees of financial dollarization hardly change the real sector effects. As concerns distributional effects, nominal devaluation in no circumstance reduces the poverty effect of the external shock. Even the significant short-run macroeconomic expansion that occurs without wage indexation does not translate into significant poverty alleviation, given the offsetting effects of devaluation on real factor incomes, real interest incomes, and real transfers received by households.


Simulations and analysis of transversal patterns in a homogeneous three-dimensional (3-D) model of adiabatic or cooled packed bed reactors (PBRs) catalyzing a first-order exothermic reaction were presented. In the adiabatic case the simulation verify previous criteria, claiming the emergence of such patterns when (ΔTad/ΔTm)/(PeC/PeT) surpasses a critical value larger than unity, where ΔTad and ΔTm are adiabatic and maximal temperature rise, respectively. The reactor radius required for such patterns should be larger than a bifurcation value, calculated here from the linear analysis. With increasing radius new patterned branches, corresponding to eigenfunction of the problem emerge, whereas other branches become unstable. The maximal temperature of the 3-D simulations may exceed the 1-D prediction, which may affect design procedures. Cooled reactor may exhibit patterns, usually axisymmetric ones that can be characterized by two anomalies: the peak temperature may exceed the corresponding value of an adiabatic reactor and may increase with wall heat-transfer coefficient, and the peak temperature in a sufficiently wide reactor need not lie at the center but rather on a ring away from it. In conclusions, we argue that transversal patterns are highly unlikely to emerge in practical adiabatic PBRs with a single exothermic reaction, as in practice PeC/PeT > 1. That eliminates patterns in stationary and downstream-moving fronts, whereas patterns may emerge in upstream-moving fronts, as shown here. This conclusion may not hold for microkinetic models, for which stationary modes may be established over a domain of parameters. This suggests that a 1-D model may be sufficient to analyze a single reaction in an adiabatic reactor and a 2-D axisymmetric model is sufficient for a cooled reactor. The predictions of a 2-D cylindrical thin reactor with those of a 3-D reactor were compared, to show many similarities but some notable differences. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012


Documentation of a contemporary art project by Snaebjornsdottir/Wilson centred on the histories of taxidermied polar bears in the UK, considering the broader history of hunting and the display of stuffed animals as trophies and museum specimens. Highly illustrated with the photographic work of the artists, as well as previously unpublished images of polar bears in captivity from the late nineteenth century. Four essays by Patricia Ellis, Dr. Steve Baker, Michelle Henning and Dr. Garry Marvin include topics such as animals in contemporary art and contemporary trophy hunting in America. Part of the story laid out in Nanoq: flat out and bluesome unpacks what it is to exoticise something – to consider the poignancy of souvenirs, and the intrinsic sadness and ultimate futility of collecting things by which we seek to remember places and events. The photographic images are taken with a medium format camera to enable enlargement with maximum clarity, offering intimate detail of the polar bears collected by the artists, giving the images a grandeur and elegaic atmosphere. This book charts the work of artists Bryndis Snaebjornsdottir and Mark Wilson, who between 2002 and 2004 undertook a survey of taxidermic polar bears in the UK. The book is a lavishly illustrated document of the research and resulting photographs, including essays by the artists, as well as essays by leading academics on the topics of taxidermy, trophy-hunting and the depiction of animals in art. Looking at the shifting relationship between the wild and its depiction in our museums and galleries, the title references the melancholy that these majestic creatures, taken from their natural habitats, evoke in the viewer.


Using data gathered from market actors and 384 households, factors influencing the participation of producers in gum and resins chains were identified. Participation is constrained mainly by low product prices, limited access rights to forests, and lack of information on product quality and prices. Regional differences exist regarding access rights to forests and the chains. In northwestern Ethiopia, factors positively influencing participation were the gender of the household head, whether advice was provided by extension workers, and the level of farm income and farm size, indicating that poor people have lesser access to gums and resins. Access to formal credit and perceptions of problems of transport negatively and significantly affect participation. In southern Ethiopia, participation was positively influenced by the number of livestock owned, while distance to the forest and perception of transport problems had negative effects. Two major value chains and eight major marketing channels were identified. Profit margins varied between 12% and 28% for producers and between 14% and 53% for exporters. Improving access to and use of dry forests for gums and resins, encouraging sustained involvement of companies, and building capacity to add value are measures recommended to enhance incentives for collectors to responsibly manage dry forests.


Defense industrial cooperation between Germany and France is beset by difficulties. In a series of interviews, government and industrial stakeholders from both countries have described the differences and misperceptions concerning the strategic political framework, defense exports, and defense industrial policies. These interviews have resulted in a problem landscape which can help stakeholders find solutions.


Abstract : It has previously been known that a feed-forward network with time-delay can be unfolded into a conventional feed-forward network with a time history as input. In this paper, We show explicitly how this unfolding operation can occur, with a newly defined Network Unfolding Algorithm (NUA) that involves creation of virtual units and moving all time delays to a preprocessing stage consisting of the time histories. The NUA provides a tool for analyzing the complexity of the ATNN. From this tool, we concluded that the ATNN reduces the cost of network complexity by at least a factor of O(n) compared to an unfolded Backpropagation net. We then applied the theorem of Funahashi, Hornik et al and Stone-Weierstrass to state the general function approximation ability of the ATNN. We furthermore show a lemma (Lemma 1) that the adaptation of time-delays is mathematically equivalent to the adjustment of interconnections on a unfolded feed-forward network provided there are a large enough number (h2nd) of hidden units. Since this number of hidden units is often impractically large, we can conclude that the TDNN and ATNN are thus more powerful than BP with a time history.


Abstract Despite widespread calls for the incorporation of mathematical modeling into the undergraduate biology curriculum, there is lack of a common understanding around the definition of modeling, which inhibits progress. In this paper, we extend the "Rule-of-Four," initially used in calculus reform efforts, to a "Rule-of-Five" framework for models and modeling that is inclusive of varying disciplinary definitions of each. This unifying framework allows us to both build on strengths that each discipline and its students bring, but also identify gaps in modeling activities practiced by each discipline. We also discuss benefits to student learning and interdisciplinary collaboration.


Incubation of unprimed spleen B cells with high concentrations of hapten-conjugates resulted in the induction of specific unresponsiveness or tolerance to a subsequent encounter with the hapten on a potentially immunogenic carrier. This process of tolerance induction could occur in the absence of extracellular calcium. In contrast B-cell activation to both proliferation and subsequent antibody secretion is known to be calcium dependent. This means that either (1) the decisions which determine immunity and tolerance in B cells are mediated through totally distinct signalling pathways, or that (2) if tolerance and immunity depend on same common signalling events, then the commitment of B cells to switch on or off must be determined at a very early stage.


This paper deals with Leibniz's well-known reductio argument against the infinite number. I will show that while the argument is in itself valid, the assumption that Leibniz reduces to absurdity does not play a relevant role. The last paragraph of the paper reformulates the whole Leibnizian argument in plural terms (i.e. by means of a plural logic) to show that it is possible to derive the contradiction that Leibniz uses in his argument even in the absence of the premise that he refutes.


This Feature considers the debts of quasi-sovereign states in light of proposals to let them file for bankruptcy protection. States that have ceded some but not all sovereign prerogatives to a central government face distinct challenges as debtors. It is unhelpful to analyze these challenges mainly through the bankruptcy lens. State bankruptcy posits an institutional fix for a problem that remains theoretically undefined and empirically contested. I suggest a way of mapping the problem that does not work back from a solution. I highlight the implications of sovereign immunity, immortality, concurrent authority, macroeconomic policy, and democratic accountability for quasi-sovereign debt management. Bankruptcy centers on coordination failures and contractual liabilities. Neither is especially salient in quasi-sovereign debt. Along with default, fiscal transfers, and ad-hoc renegotiation, bankruptcy is one of several paths to reduce public debt overhang, but not necessarily the best path to state rehabilitation. It holds no special advantage against moral hazard from fiscal federalism and sovereign immunity. Even so, recent bankruptcy proposals have started a useful conversation joining previously disparate scholarship about credit market institutions, sovereign debt, fiscal federalism, and local government. The conversation should refocus on the problem of quasi-sovereign debt.


The Mt. Modino Unit succession (Northern Apennines) is mainly composed of turbiditic sediments deposited during the collisional and post-collisional stages of the Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt. Within this succession we have studied a thick interval of shales with arenitic beds, marls and arenites, of the Fiumalbo Shale, the Marmoreto Marl and the Mt. Modino Sandstone formations. Calcareous nannofossil assemblages of the eight investigated stratigraphic sections contain middle-late Eocene to Oligocene-early Miocene biozones. Zones CNE12 to MNN1 have been identified through quantitative analyses of a set of 200 samples, and the precise ages of the Fiumalbo Shale, the Marmoreto Marl and the Mt. Modino Sandstone were identified as well.The biostratigraphic analyses enable stratigraphic correlations between the investigated sections which were used to propose a stratigraphic architecture of the Mt. Modino Unit succession.Physical and biostratigraphic data available for the Mt. Modino Unit succession suggest a subsiding wedge-top basin fed since the Rupelian by both Apennine and Alpine sources. After the late Oligocene shortening phase, the Mt. Modino Basin occupied the inner part of the foredeep basin, sharing the same turbiditic deposits with the Macigno formation.


Fifty problem drinkers attending a specialist alcohol treatment unit took part in
this study to investigate factors affecting choice of treatment goal, length of
time people stay in treatment and attendance at follow-up.
Heather, Tebbutt, Mattick & Zamir(1993) proposed that the Impaired
Control Scale (ICS) may prove useful in enhancing clinical descriptions of the
drinking behaviour of those entering treatment, and as a measure of change and
outcome.
Participants who had requested attendance on a ten week day programme
at the clinic completed the ICS and the Severity of Alcohol Dependency
Questionnaire (Stockwell, Hodgson, Edwards, Taylor & Rankin, 1979). Data
on age, employment status, marital status, maximum period of abstention and
average daily quantity consumed was collected from assessment forms and case
sheets. Four and a half months after assessment participants were invited to
attend a follow-up interview. Fifteen people attended from the original fifty,
and completed the ICS, the Severity of Alcohol Dependence Questionnaire if
they had been misusing alcohol, and an outcome evaluation questionnaire.
Results demonstrated that the ICS had acceptable reliability and was of
some assistance in clarifying the difference between those who achieved their
goal at follow-up and those that did not. With regard to differences between
people who chose abstention and those who chose controlled drinking, those
who saw themselves as more physically dependant chose abstinence as a
treatment goal.
The clinical implications of the results are discussed in relation to factors
affecting goal choice, the problems of attrition and attendance at follow-up. The
usefulness of the ICS and its potential to assist in the clarifying these areas is
commented on.
This thesis also contains three small scale research projects completed
during placements in the Learning Difficulties, Child and Elderly specialities.


This paper extends the Argument Interchange Format to enable it to represent dialogic argumentation. One of the challenges is to tie together the rules expressed in dialogue protocols with the inferential relations between premises and conclusions. The extensions are founded upon two important analogies which minimise the extra ontological machinery required. First, locutions in a dialogue are analogous to AIF I-nodes which capture propositional data. Second, steps between locutions are analogous to AIF S-nodes which capture inferential movement. This paper shows how these two analogies combine to allow both dialogue protocols and dialogue histories to be represented alongside monologic arguments in a single coherent system.


"Abandon the Old in Tokyo "continues to delve into the urban underbelly of 1960s Tokyo, exposing not only the seedy dealings of the Japanese everyman but Yoshihiro Tatsumi's maturation as a storyteller. Many of the stories deal with the economic hardships of the time and the strained relationships between men and women, but do so by means of dark allegorical twists and turns. A young sewer cleaner's girlfriend has a miscarriage and leaves him when he proves incapable of finding higher-paying work. When a factory worker loses his hand on the job, the parallels between him and his pet monkey prove startling and significant.


On the frontiers of Queensland and British Columbia in the mid-nineteenth century, a culture of violence prevailed. Frontier men accommodated violence in their lives as a routine and normal part of frontier living. The Victorian ethos of 'manliness' - the possession of essential virtues such as self-restraint, courage and strenuous effort - had within it the potential for violence. On the frontier the practice of manliness often entailed violence and the manly ethos could be distorted to justify and legitimise violent acts.


Two arguments have recently strongly influenced the theory and practice of planning: i public space is what basically characterises any city the citizen's right to the city is first and foremost a claim on public space; ii public space is crucial because it provides the physical fulcrum for public interaction and political debate. This article takes a critical look at these two ideas, highlighting: i that private spaces have also crucially contributed and continue to do so to defining and determining what a city is-the city cannot be conceived without considering both public and private spaces and the crucial synergy between these two spheres; ii that the public sphere does not come into being solely in public spaces as testified by the Internet; furthermore, public spaces perform other roles and functions besides making debate and confrontation possible, and these various roles may at times clash with each other. All these aspects suggest a more balanced approach to the understanding of urban spaces and their importance.


Aromatic amines and heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) are a class of structurally related carcinogens that are formed during the combustion of tobacco or during the high temperature cooking of meats. These procarcinogens undergo metabolic activation by N-oxidation of the exocyclic amine group to produce N-hydroxylated metabolites, which are critical intermediates implicated in toxicity and DNA damage. The arylhydroxylamines and their oxidized arylnitroso derivatives can also react with cysteine (Cys) residues of glutathione or proteins to form, respectively, sulfenamide and sulfinamide adducts. However, sulfur-nitrogen linked adducted proteins are often difficult to detect because they are unstable and undergo hydrolysis during proteolytic digestion. Synthetic N-oxidized intermediates of 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP), a carcinogenic HAA produced in cooked meats, and 4-aminobiphenyl, a carcinogenic aromatic amine present in tobacco smoke, were reacted with human serum albumin (SA) and formed labile sulfenamide or sulfinamide adducts at the Cys(34) residue. Oxidation of the carcinogen-modified SA with m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid (m-CPBA) produced the arylsulfonamide adducts, which were stable to heat and the chemical reduction conditions employed to denature SA. The sulfonamide adducts of PhIP and 4-ABP were identified, by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, in proteolytic digests of denatured SA. Thus, selective oxidation of arylamine-modified SA produces stable arylsulfonamide-SA adducts, which may serve as biomarkers of these tobacco and dietary carcinogens.


We present the first numerical simulations of moderately hot, supersonic jets propagating initially along the field lines of a denser magnetized background medium with Lorentz factor W = 4.56 and evolving in a four-dimensional spacetime. Compared with previous simulations in two spatial dimensions, the resulting structure and kinematics differ noticeably: the density of the Mach disk is lower, and the head speed is smaller. This is because the impacted ambient fluid and its embedded magnetic field make efficient use of the third spatial dimension as they are deflected circularly off of the head of the jet. As a result, a significant magnetic field component normal to the jet is created near the head. If the field is strong, backflow and field reversals are strongly suppressed; upstream, the field closes back on the surface of the beam and assists the collimation of the jet. If the field is weak, backflow and field reversals are more pronounced, although still not as extended as in the corresponding plane-parallel case. In all studied cases, the high-pressure region is localized near the jet head irrespective of the presence/strength of the magnetic field, and the head decelerates efficiently by transferring momentum to the background fluid that recedes along a thin bow shock in all directions. Furthermore, two oppositely directed currents circle near the surface of the cylindrical beam, and a third current circles on the bow shock. These preliminary results underline the importance of performing fully three-dimensional simulations to investigate the morphology and propagation of relativistic extragalactic jets.


The immense wave of urbanization and the limited formal job opportunities available in large Asian cities have led to the proliferation of street vending activities, which are often controversial and sometimes illegal due to their occupation of public space. The Kutek Sunday Market in Depok municipality, Indonesia was forced to move from a busy university location to a relatively secluded residential neighbourhood. Despite this disadvantage, the market has continued to attract sizeable business. This case study, based on extensive field observation and interviews, describes how the market location was selected and how it is spatially arranged to meet the needs of vendors, residents, and shoppers. The paper shows how local residents and vendors creatively developed an open-ended, self-organized system to manage the complex tasks involved in operating the market and to adapt to fluctuations in the number and characteristics of vendors and shoppers. Although the system is highly praised as an effective tool for informal economy survivability, its limited planning capacity requires cooperation with other parties to overcome unanticipated challenges. Cooperation among stakeholders has maximized the benefits and minimized the drawbacks of informal economic activities in a public space.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common systemic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterized by painful, swollen joints that can severely impair physical function and quality of life. The presenting symptoms of musculoskeletal pain, swelling, and stiffness are common in clinical practice, so familiarity with diagnosing and managing RA is crucial. Patients with RA are at greater risk for serious infection, respiratory disease, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality than the general population. In recent years, early diagnosis, aggressive treatment, and expanded therapeutic options of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs have markedly improved both the management and long-term prognosis of RA.


The reaction of closed-end fund share prices to changes in portfolio values is on average the same whether funds are trading at discounts or premia and whether the changes in portfolio values are positive or negative. If closed-end fund discounts and premia do correctly measure investor sentiment, then these results suggest that investor sentiment does not affect the market's reaction to news about fundamentals. Alternatively, discounts and premia may not in fact measure investor sentiment, or sentiment may play no role at all in closed-end fund pricing. Noise-trader risk and trading costs also fail to explain the observed behavior.


A joint source-channel hybrid digital-analog (HDA) vector quantization (VQ) system is presented. The main advantage of the new VQ-based HDA system is that it achieves excellent rate-distortion-capacity performance at the design signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) while maintaining a "graceful improvement" characteristic at higher SNRs. It is demonstrated that, within the HDA framework, the parameters of the system can be optimized using an iterative procedure similar to that of channel-optimized vector quantizer design. Comparisons are made with three purely digital systems and one purely analog system. It is found that, at high SNRs, the VQ-based HDA system is superior to the other investigated systems. At low SNRs, the performance of the new scheme can be improved using the optimization procedure and using soft decoding in the digital part of the system. These results demonstrate that the introduced scheme provides an attractive method for terrestrial broadcasting applications.


We present a detailed study of the mineralogical and chemical modifications of peridotite xenoliths during magma transport and cooling at the Earth's surface. The xenoliths are entrained in three small-volume (<1 km3), monogenetic, Miocene–Oligocene, basanite domes in the Moesian Platform, north Bulgaria, arranged along a NNE-directed right-lateral strike-slip fault. The domes show symmetrically decreasing volumes of erupted magma correlated with the size and quantity of the entrained xenoliths, according to their position along the fault. The xenoliths exhibit different degrees of mineralogical and chemical interaction with their host rocks, with the extent of interaction strongly depending on their position in the dome. Xenoliths from the fine-grained brecciated carapaces of the domes show very thin, fine-grained, reaction rims around orthopyroxene and spinel, and thin diffusion zones around olivine, limited mostly to the rims of the xenoliths. Clinopyroxene shows almost no visible reaction and is always strongly depleted in light rare earth elements (LREE) and Sr. Melt pockets in the xenoliths are small, composed mostly of fine-grained olivine and clinopyroxene. Modelling of Fe–Mg zoning in olivine suggests a very short residence time of a few days in the magma during transport and fast cooling at the Earth's surface. In contrast, xenoliths from the interior of the domes, hosted in holocrystalline groundmass, are much more strongly affected by the host basanite magma. Their constituent minerals have wider reaction rims around orthopyroxene, sometimes leading to its entire consumption, and show transformation of spinel into chromite. Fe–Mg diffusion profiles in olivine are up to 400 μm wide and calculations indicate diffusion times up to 200 days, recording protracted cooling in the inner part of the dome. Melt pockets are much larger and coarser-grained, composed of minerals identical to the host groundmass. With few exceptions, clinopyroxene is sieve-textured and shows variable enrichment in LREE and Sr, ranging from several times higher than in the depleted xenoliths to complete equilibration with the host basanite. Strongly veined xenoliths show stronger chemical modifications, facilitated by infiltrated melt, which also progressively increase depending on the position of the xenoliths in the dome. The most enriched xenoliths from the core of the dome exhibit large inter- and intra-grain variations in Sr and LREE. Our study demonstrates that chemical and mineral modifications, although starting at the time of entrainment of the xenoliths at mantle depths, were completed mostly during their residence in the magma at the surface. The reaction phenomena are the result of post-entrainment partial melting, and reactions between xenolith minerals and infiltrated fluids and melts from the host basalts. The large inter- and intra-crystal chemical variations in a single xenolith suggest that reactions strongly depend on the access of fluids and melts (permeability) in different parts of the xenoliths. The results of this study allow us to introduce the term 'host basalt metasomatism' for those mantle xenoliths that have undergone chemical alteration at or near the surface during cooling of the host magma. Comparison with xenoliths stored in large-scale magmatic systems under La Palma (Canary Islands) shows that, although the products of interaction between xenoliths and host rocks are similar, there are considerable differences in the mechanism of entrainment, depth and longevity of the reactions between small-volume and large-scale magmatic systems.


In this paper, a fiber optic sensing system, designed, and developed for the detection of ammonia in aqueous ambient at room temperature, is presented. The sensor is constituted by a standard silica optical fiber (SOF) coated by a tin dioxide sensitive layer. The SnO2 films have been transferred onto the distal end of the SOF by means of the simple and low-cost electrostatic-spray-pyrolysis deposition technique. The spectral characterization of the fabricated samples has been carried out in the wavelength range 400-1750 nm in order to estimate the thickness of the SnO2 fiber coatings. The morphology and the elemental composition of the deposited layers have also been investigated by means of scanning-electron-microscopy observation and energy-dispersive-spectrometer analysis, respectively. Single-wavelength reflectance measurements have been carried out to test the sensing performances of the realized sensors toward ammonia traces in water. A fiber-Bragg-grating temperature sensor has also been used for monitoring the temperature changes occurring inside the test ambient during the experimental measurements, in order to identify the effects of thermal drifts on the sensor response. The results here presented demonstrate that the developed refractometric chemical sensor is able to provide measurements of ammonia concentration in water and at room temperature with a high sensitivity, response times of few minutes, and a resolution as low as 2 ppm


The endothermic nuclear reaction between thermal tritons and high-energy protons can represent an important contribution to the total neutron yield in tokamak plasmas heated by radio-frequency waves, as the first JET experiments have demonstrated (see Mantsinen et al 2001 Nucl. Fusion 41 1815). A further study based on more recent JET experiments was reported in Santala et al 2006 (Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 48 1233). In this letter we supplement and complete the previous analysis by reporting the first systematic measurement of the scaling of the proton–triton (pT) thermo-nuclear fusion reaction rate as a function of the total energy content and perpendicular tail temperature of the fast protons heated by radio-frequency waves. It is found that the pT-neutron rate increases almost linearly with the fast proton temperature and the total energy content.


Discomfort glare, among different aspects of visual discomfort is a phenomenon which is little understood and hard to quantify. As this phenomenon is dependent on the building occupant's view direction and on the relative position of the glare source, a deeper knowledge of one's visual behavior within a space could provide pertinent insights into better understanding glare. To address this need, we set up an experiment to investigate dependencies of view direction distribution to a selected range of brightness and contrast distributions in a standard office scenario. The participants were asked to perform a series of tasks including reading, thinking, filling in a questionnaire and waiting. The direction of their view was monitored by recording participants' eye movements using eye-tracking methods. Preliminary results show that different facade configurations have different effects on the eye movement patterns, with a strong dependency on the performed task. This pilot study will serve as a first step to integrate eye-tracking methods into visual comfort assessments and lead to a better understanding of the impact of discomfort glare on visual behavior.


Existing models of plan inference (PI) in conversation have assumed that the agent whose plan is being inferred (the actor) and the agent drawing the inference (the observer) have identical beliefs about actions in the domain. I argue that this assumption often results in failure of both the PI process and the communicative process that PI is meant to support. In particular, it precludes the principled generation of appropriate responses to queries that arise from invalied plans. I describe a model of PI that abandons this assumption. It rests on an analysis of plans as mental phenomena. Judgements that a plan is invalid are associated with particular discrepancies between the beliefs that the observer ascribes to the actor when the former believes that the latter has some plan, and the beliefs that the observer herself holds. I show that the content of an appropriate response to a query is affected by the types of any such discrepancies of belief judged to be present in the plan inferred to underlie that query. The PI model described here has been implemented in SPIRIT, a small demonstration system that answers questions about the domain of computer mail.


Object: Research the effect of parental presence to perioperative anxiety of Chinese children and their parents.
Method: 172 four to six years old children who suffered facial trauma and accepted debridement and soft tissue reconstruction with local anesthesia and their parents were randomly divided into two groups. There were 88 children and their parents in research group and the patents in this group were allowed to present in operating room and to use their conventional methods of psychological intervention to relax their children. There were 84 children and their parents in control group and the parents in this group were not allowed presence in operating room. Visual analogue scale for anxiety was adopted to quantify the perioperative anxiety level of the children and their parents.
Result: The preoperative and postoperative anxiety of children in research group was statistically lower than that of control group. There was not statistical significance in preoperative anxiety of parents between the research group and the control group. The postoperative anxiety of parents in research group was statistically lower than that of control group.
Conclusion: Children can be benefit from allowing parental presence in operating room and allowing parents to adopt their conventional method of psychological intervention to relax their children. Parental presence can reduce postoperative anxiety of parents.


Monomorphic plasmacytoma-type posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) has not been reported after pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We present a child with hepatitis-associated severe aplastic anemia who underwent an unrelated allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and subsequently developed graft failure and an Epstein-Barr virus-positive monomorphic plasmacytoma-type PTLD of recipient origin. Despite broad-spectrum antimicrobials, weaning immunosuppression, rituximab administration, and a stem cell boost she died from complications of PTLD and a fungal pulmonary infection on day +78.


SYNOPSIS
Gene regulatory networks, cellular biochemistry, tissue function, and whole body physiology are imbued with myriad overlapping and interacting homeostatic mechanisms that ensure that many phenotypes are robust to genetic and environmental variation. Animals also often have plastic responses to environmental variables, which means that many different phenotypes can correspond to a single genotype. Since natural selection acts on phenotypes, this raises the question of how selection can act on the genome if genotypes are decoupled from phenotypes by robustness and plasticity mechanisms. The answer can be found in the systems biology of the homeostatic mechanisms themselves. First, all such mechanisms operate over a limited range and outside that range the controlled variable changes rapidly allowing natural selection to act. Second, mutations and environmental stressors can disrupt homeostatic mechanisms, exposing cryptic genetic variation and allowing natural selection to act. We illustrate these ideas by examining the systems biology of four specific examples. We show how it is possible to analyze and visualize the roles of specific genes and specific polymorphisms in robustness in the context of large and realistic nonlinear systems. We also describe a new method, system population models, that allows one to connect causal dynamics to the variable outcomes that one sees in biological populations with large variation.


YFeO3 single crystal displays two relaxor-like dielectric relaxations, one at low temperature (170300 K) and one at high temperature (370520 K), which are attributed to the activation of electrons and oxygen vacancies, respectively. Above the temperature at which electrons are activated, the sample displays a large magnetocapacitance effect. Comparison of the impedance Cole-Cole plots measured with and without applied magnetic field reveals that the occurrence of magnetocapacitance effect is accompanied with an increasing in DC conductivity under magnetic field after the activation of electrons, which is explained by the enhancement of electron jumping in Fe2b-O-Fe3b chains by magnetic field. Thus the magnetocapacitance effect in YFeO3 single crystal can be explained by the combination of the MaxwellWagner space charge effect and/or magnetoresistance effect, depending on the frequency range.


Sea ice algae represent a key energy source for many organisms in polar food webs, but estimating their biomass at ecologically appropriate spatiotemporal scales remains a challenge. Attempts to extend ice-core derived biomass to broader scales using remote sensing approaches has largely focused on the use of under-ice spectral irradiance. Normalized Difference Index (NDI) based algorithms that relate the attenuation of irradiance by the snow-ice-algal ensemble at specific wavelengths to biomass have been used to explain up to 79% of the biomass of algae in limited areas. Application of these algorithms to datasets collected using tethered Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) has begun, generating methods for spatial sampling at scales and spatial resolution not achievable with ice-core sampling. Successful integration of radiometers with untethered Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) offers even greater capability to survey broader regions to explore the spatial heterogeneity of sea ice algal communities. This work describes the pilot use of an AUV fitted with a multispectral irradiance sensor to estimate ice-algal biomass along transects beneath land-fast sea ice (~2 m thick with minimal snow cover) in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The AUV obtained continuous, repeatable, multi-band irradiance data, suitable for NDI-type approaches, over transects of 500 m, with an instrument footprint of 4 m in diameter. Algorithms were developed using local measurements of ice algae biomass and spectral attenuation of sea ice and were able to explain 40% of biomass variability. Relatively poor performance of the algorithms in predicting biomass limited the confidence that could be placed in biomass estimates from AUV data. This was attributed to the larger footprint size of the optical sensors integrating small-scale biomass variability more effectively than the ice core in the platelet-dominated ice algal habitat. Our results support continued development of remote-sensing of sea ice algal biomass at m – km spatial scales using optical methods, but caution that footprint sizes of calibration data (e.g. coring) must be compatible with optical sensors used. AUVs offer autonomous survey techniques that could be applied to better understand the horizontal variability of sea ice algae from nearshore ice out to the marginal ice zone.


Strong persistence is a common phenomenon that has been documented not only in the levels but also in the volatility of many time series. The class of doubly fractional models is extended to include the possibility of long memory in cyclical (non-zero) frequencies in both the levels and the volatility and a new model, the GARMA-GARMASV (Gegenbauer AutoRegressive Mean Average - Id. Stochastic Volatility) is introduced. A sequential estimation strategy, based on the Whittle approximation to maximum likelihood is proposed and its finite sample performance is evaluated with a Monte Carlo analysis. Finally, a trifactorial in the mean and bifactorial in the volatility version of the model is proved to successfully fit the well-known sunspot index.


Even though there is plenty of literature contributions related to the non-destructive evaluation of road pavements using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), with several purposes spanning from the layer thicknesses evaluation to the detection of highly wet spots in the subsurface, there is still a lack of highly-reliable results concerning the mechanical assessment of road pavements, by using this technology. This work endeavours to face this topic and proposes a semi-empirical model for predicting the elastic modulus of a flexible pavement, by employing GPR. Data were collected over three different road sections within the districts of Madrid and Guadalajara, Spain. In particular, GPR surveys were carried out at the speed of traffic over the roads N320 and N211 in the district of Gadalajara and the road N320 in the district of Madrid, for a total of 39 kilometers, approximately. In particular, air-coupled radar systems with a 1000 MHz center frequency antenna and two different 2000 MHz center frequency antennas, mounted onto an instrumented vehicle, were here employed. The calibration of the model was then performed by exploiting ground-truth data coming from other non-destructive technologies. In more details, an instrumented lorry equipped with a curviameter, namely, a deflection tool capable to collect and process continuously and in real time the mechanical response of the flexible pavement, was used in the above road sections. Promising results are here presented, and the potential of GPR for monitoring the mechanical performances of a road network is also proved.
Acknowledgement The Authors thank COST, for funding the Action TU1208 "Civil Engineering Applications of Ground Penetrating Radar."


Abstract This article clarifies the control a State should have over an armed group for the triggering act of an international armed conflict and for the internationalization of non-international armed conflicts in international humanitarian law. It explains the reasons for the distinction between these two types of attribution and details the specificities of each test, with an innovative approach. The author proposes new control tests for both triggering and internationalization, rejecting the effective and overall control tests regarding internationalization proposed by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. For instance, regarding the internationalization of a non-international armed conflict, a general and strict control test is proposed. Finally, this article addresses specific issues like the difficult question of the control required for an occupation through an armed group.


New details on the east Antarctic gravity field from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission reveal a prominent positive free‐air gravity anomaly over a roughly 500‐km diameter subglacial basin centered on (70°S, 120°E) in north central Wilkes Land. This regional inverse correlation between topography and gravity is quantitatively consistent with thinned crust from a giant meteorite impact underlain by an isostatically disturbed mantle plug. The inferred impact crater is nearly three times the size of the Chicxulub crater and presumably formed before the Cretaceous formation of the east Antarctic coast that cuts the projected ring faults. It extensively thinned and disrupted the Wilkes Land crust where the Kerguelen hot spot and Gondwana rifting developed but left the adjacent Australian block relatively undisturbed. The micrometeorite and fossil evidence suggests that the impact may have occurred at the beginning of the greatest extinction of life on Earth at ∼260 Ma when the Siberian Traps were effectively antipodal to it. Antipodal volcanism is common to large impact craters of the Moon and Mars and may also account for the antipodal relationships of essentially half of the Earth's large igneous provinces and hot spots. Thus, the impact may have triggered the "Great Dying" at the end of the Permian and contributed to the development of the hot spot that produced the Siberian Traps and now may underlie Iceland. The glacial ice up to a few kilometers thick that has covered the crater for the past 30–40 Ma poses formidable difficulties to sampling the subglacial geology. Thus, the most expedient and viable test of the prospective crater is to survey it for relevant airborne gravity and magnetic anomalies.


Effective decision making plays a paramount role for successful emergency management (EM). Decisions should include collaborating inputs and feedback from a wide range of relevant emergency stakeholders such as emergency agencies, government, experts and communities. Although this kind of collaborative decision making is ideal, the process can be lengthy and complex. While there has been substantial research in EM, there is a lack of integrated frameworks to structure these contributions. Without an integrated framework, the decision making process can be inefficient and suggestions of the stakeholders may be neglected or excluded inadvertently. This paper presents the "Integrated Framework for Comprehensive Collaborative Emergency Management" (IFCCEM). IFCCEM aims to provide a collaborative mechanism so that all agencies as well as communities can contribute in the decision making. IFCCEM is based on the 'All Hazards Approach' and can be used by all agencies. The developed framework is illustrated with an application for collaborative decision making.


Abstract This paper examines recent developments in primary care prescribing as potential challenges to the dominance of medicine. These developments, as possible forces for the deprofes-sionalisation and proletarianisation of medicine, were examined using unstructured interviews with five Family Health Service Authority (FHSA) medical advisors and 23 general practitioners (GPs). Three themes emerged from the data. First, GPs did not find the role of the FHSA advisor to be either constraining or inappropriate in relation to prescribing. Secondly, GPs recognised prescribing as a crucial discretionary power in which the prescription was used 'irrationally' to cope with a variety of patient, practice or workload pressures. Thus, the only serious managerial threat came from the possibility that such 'irrational' prescribing could be curtailed. Finally, GPs felt most concerned by the growing demands and expectations of patients, exacerbated by government policies endorsing greater consumerism. The greatest perceived challenge to clinical autonomy comes, not from proletarianisation in the sense of greater managerial control over medicine's work, but from deprofessionalisation through lay challenges to general practitioners' professional medical expertise.


Auto-reactive CD8 T-cells play an important role in the destruction of pancreatic β-cells resulting in type 1 diabetes (T1D). However, the phenotype of these auto-reactive cytolytic CD8 T-cells has not yet been extensively described. We used high-dimensional mass cytometry to phenotype autoantigen- (pre-proinsulin), neoantigen- (insulin-DRIP) and virus- (cytomegalovirus) reactive CD8 T-cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of T1D patients. A panel of 33 monoclonal antibodies was designed to further characterise these cells at the single-cell level. HLA-A2 class I tetramers were used for the detection of antigen-specific CD8 T-cells. Using a novel Hierarchical Stochastic Neighbor Embedding (HSNE) tool (implemented in Cytosplore), we identified 42 clusters within the CD8 T-cell compartment of three T1D patients and revealed profound heterogeneity between individuals, as each patient displayed a distinct cluster distribution. Single-cell analysis of pre-proinsulin, insulin-DRIP and cytomegalovirus-specific CD8 T-cells showed that the detected specificities were heterogeneous between and within patients. These findings emphasize the challenge to define the obscure nature of auto-reactive CD8 T-cells.


CONTEXT: Dental sealants and composite filling materials containing bisphenol A (BPA) derivatives are increasingly used in childhood dentistry. Evidence is accumulating that BPA and some BPA derivatives can pose health risks attributable to their endocrine-disrupting, estrogenic properties. OBJECTIVES: To systematically compile and critically evaluate the literature characterizing BPA content of dental materials; to assess BPA exposures from dental materials and potential health risks; and to develop evidence-based guidance for reducing BPA exposures while promoting oral health. METHODS: The extant toxicological literature and material safety data sheets were used as data sources. RESULTS: BPA is released from dental resins through salivary enzymatic hydrolysis of BPA derivatives, and BPA is detectable in saliva for up to 3 hours after resin placement. The quantity and duration of systemic BPA absorption is not clear from the available data. Dental products containing the bisphenol A derivative glycidyl dimethacrylate (bis-GMA) are less likely to be hydrolyzed to BPA and have less estrogenicity than those containing bisphenol A dimethacrylate (bis-DMA). Most other BPA derivatives used in dental materials have not been evaluated for estrogenicity. BPA exposure can be reduced by cleaning and rinsing surfaces of sealants and composites immediately after placement. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the proven benefits of resin-based dental materials and the brevity of BPA exposure, we recommend continued use with strict adherence to precautionary application techniques. Use of these materials should be minimized during pregnancy whenever possible. Manufacturers should be required to report complete information on the chemical composition of dental products and encouraged to develop materials with less estrogenic potential.


Many experiments have been made to test the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt (CHSH)–Bell inequality (CBI). However, the Cirel'son's limit has not been reached yet, due to various practically existing imperfections. In this paper, we experimentally investigate how to select the measurement settings for obtaining the optimal violation of CBI for a mixed entangled state. With the commercialized entangled source, we first determine the entanglement degree of the generated photon pairs by using the tomographic technique, and then numerically optimize the measurement settings. Finally, we experimentally obtain the optimal violation of the CBI with the present commercialized entangled source without the maximal entanglement.


Many specialized applications in near-surface geophysics require greater spatial and amplitude sensitivity than conventional geophysical systems can provide. Recently developed boom-mounted airborne magnetometer and electromagnetic systems are designed to map unexploded ordnance or other small metallic objects over large tracts of government land. These systems operate at altitudes of 1.5–2.0 m to detect ferrous objects with a mass as small as 2 kg. In this low-altitude environment, factors controlling the applicability of a vertical gradient configuration must be reassessed. Our results demonstrate the superiority of measured vertical gradient over calculated gradient (from total field configurations) for data acquired at these low altitudes. We believe the effectiveness is related to reduction of secondary gridding effects associated with several types of positioning errors, and reduction of correlated rotor and compensation noise.


Background: Vulvo-vaginal masses has a varied presentation and causes. The most common differential diagnosis are Condylomata acuminata, Vulvular abscess, Vulvular/vaginal cysts, Vulval carcinoma, Vulval lipoma, Angiomyofibroblastoma and Aggressive Angiomyxoma. Surgical excision of the mass is the main method of treatment and the outcome differs with the histological diagnosis. We present a video of excision of a massive Vulvo vaginal mass in toto. Case: A 45 year old P3 L3 female, presented with complaint of mass in perineal area & discharge per vaginum for 2 years. The mass was growing progressively and reached the present size. On examination there was a 9 X 8 cm irregular firm to cystic mass, arising from posterior wall of vagina and protruding out of introitus with bossellated surface. The mass also extended into right ischiorectal fossa, 10 X 10 cm mass with cystic, smooth surface that was irreducible with no cough impulse. CECT abdomen and pelvis revealed a well-defined 12 X 10 X 8 cm mass in right perineum arising from right lower lateral vaginal wall with ischiorectal fossa extension. There was no extension into cervix, bladder or rectum. Biopsy taken from the mass was inconclusive. A wide local excision was done under general anesthesia wherein an ischiorectal and vaginal mass of size 30 X 10 cm with irregular margin was excised in toto. Histopathology was suggestive of Aggressive Angiomyxoma. The patient is under follow up. Discussion: Aggressive Angiomyxoma is a rare slow growing locally invasive mesenchymal tumor and has a substantial potential for recurrence. It is often misdiagnosed. Pre-operative diagnosis is difficult due to rarity of this entity and absence of diagnostic features, but it should be considered in case of masses in genital, perianal and pelvic region in a woman of reproductive age. Radical surgical excision is the first line of management. A long term follow up of the case is necessary and MRI is preferred method for detecting recurrences.


Studies of dunefields in central and western North America show that mineralogical maturity can provide new insights into the origin and evolution of aeolian sand bodies. Many of the world's great sand seas in Africa, Asia and Australia are quartzdominated and thus can be considered to be mineralogically mature. The Algodones (California) and Parker (Arizona) dunes in the southwestern United States are also mature, but have inherited a high degree of mineralogical maturity from quartz-rich sedimentary rocks drained by the Colorado River. In Libya, sediments of the Zallaf sand sea, which are almost pure quartz, may have originated in a similar fashion. The Fort Morgan (Colorado) and Casper (Wyoming) dunefields in the central Great Plains of North America, and the Namib sand sea of southern Africa have an intermediate degree of mineralogical maturity because their sources are large rivers that drained both unweathered plutonic and metamorphic rocks and mature sedimentary rocks. Mojave Desert dunefields in the southwestern United States are quite immature because they are in basins adjacent to plutonic rocks that were their sources. Other dunefields in the Great Plains of North America (those in Nebraska and Texas) are more mature than any possible source sediments and therefore reflect mineralogical evolution over time. Such changes in composition can occur because of either of two opposing long-term states of the dunefield. In one state, dunes are stable for long periods of time and chemical weathering depletes feldspars and other weatherable minerals in the sediment body. In the other state, which is most likely for the Great Plains, abrasion and ballistic impacts deplete the carbonate minerals and feldspars because the dunes are active for longer periods than they are stable. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


The OECD Survey of Adult Skills is the jewel in the crown of its Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). This paper argues that the findings and policy lessons from the project to date justify the high hopes which were placed in PIAAC when detailed planning for the project began in 2003. First, it presents a brief recap of PIAAC and its two predecessor international skills surveys. Second, it outlines the main themes which have been investigated to date using data from PIAAC. Third, the main findings and policy lessons drawn from PIAAC are highlighted. Finally, looking forward to the second cycle of PIAAC, for which planning is now underway, the paper suggests some priority areas for improvement to the survey design in order to add to its analytical usefulness and enhance its utility to policy makers.


Rescue cases involving guarantees (contrasted with restructuring cases) during the recent Financial Crisis, have illustrated the prominent position which the goal of promoting financial stability has assumed over that of the prevention or limitation of possible distortions of competition which may arise when granting State aid. The recent Financial Crisis has also illustrated how the traditional role of central banks has been extended to incorporate more innovative roles. The reduction of interest rates by central banks to all time lows – along with other unprecedented actions which have been undertaken by central banks, as evidenced by the recent Financial Crisis, have been regarded as "extensions of traditional methods of operation which have resulted in a new territory in which tools have been implemented in very new ways." As well as providing an analysis of how the traditional role of central banks has evolved through the duration of the Financial Crisis, this paper attempts to highlight how far central banks and governments should intervene and how far distortions of competition should be permitted during periods of financial crises.


Abstract Oranchuk, DJ, Robinson, TL, Switaj, ZJ, and Drinkwater, EJ. Comparison of the hang high pull and loaded jump squat for the development of vertical jump and isometric force-time characteristics. J Strength Cond Res 33(1): 17–24, 2019—Weightlifting movements have high skill demands and require expert coaching. Loaded jumps have a comparably lower skill demand but may be similarly effective for improving explosive performance. The purpose of this study was to compare vertical jump performance, isometric force, and rate of force development (RFD) after a 10-week intervention using the hang high pull (hang-pull) or trap-bar jump squat (jump-squat). Eighteen National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II swimmers (8 males, 10 females) with at least 1 year of resistance training experience volunteered to participate. Testing included the squat jump (SJ), countermovement jump, and the isometric midthigh pull (IMTP). Vertical ground reaction forces were analyzed to obtain jump height and relative peak power. Relative peak force, peak RFD, and relative force at 5 time bands were obtained from the IMTP. Subjects were randomly assigned to either a hang pull (n = 9) or jump-squat (n = 9) training group and completed a 10-week, volume-equated, periodized training program. Although there was a significant main effect of training for both groups, no statistically significant between-group differences were found (p ≥ 0.17) for any of the dependent variables. However, medium effect sizes in favor of the jump-squat training group were seen in SJ height (d = 0.56) and SJ peak power (d = 0.69). Loaded jumps seem equally effective as weightlifting derivatives for improving lower-body power in experienced athletes. Because loaded jumps require less skill and less coaching expertise than weightlifting, loaded jumps should be considered where coaching complex movements is difficult.


Background: Euphorbia dracunculoides L is available in market in raw form. It is used by people for the treatment of warts, snake bite and epilepsy. Present study is about Euphorbia dracunculoides L. belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae, comprises pharmacognostic study, physiochemical analysis and their pharmacological efficacy. Materials and Methods: The macroscopic study was carried out through sensory organs like size, shape, texture etc. Physiochemical analysis was carried out through proper procedure from relevant literature, and analgesic activity was done through proper method by following literature. Results: Macroscopic study showed that the plant is an annual herb, stem is branched from the base, yellow green at the bottom and light green at the top, glabrous, smooth, contains white latex, its leaves are sessile, alternate, dark green, simple, stipulated, sub-acute or acute at the apex and entire margin. Root is yellowish in colour, conical in shape, smooth texture, downward in position. Powder drug study which was performed revealed various structures. Phytochemical screening includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis which was carried out indicated the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, saponins, sterols, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, glycosides, flavonoids and tannins. Proximate analysis showed proteins, crude fat, crude fibre, carbohydrates, moisture contents and ash. Elemental analysis revealed the presence of macro and micronutrients i-e Na, Zn, Mg and Fe, Cu, Ag and Au. Analgesic effect was dose dependent. Plant extract showed maximum inhibition of writhing 1.66±0.32 (96.61%) at 300 μg/ml. Conclusion: The pharmacognostic study, physiochemical analysis and their pharmacological efficacy is helpful in the standardization of drug.


Increases in impervious surfaces associated with urbanization change stream hydrology by increasing peak flow rates, storm-flow volumes and flood frequency, and degrade water quality through increases in sediment, nutrient, and bacteria concentrations. In response to water quality and quantity issues within the Stroubles Creek watershed, the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech designed and constructed two innovative stormwater best management practices (BMPs). The goal of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of a bioretention cell and a CU-Structural Soil infiltration trench. BMP construction was completed in July 2007. Twenty-nine precipitation events were monitored over a period of five months between October 2007 and March 2008. For each storm, inflow and outflow composite samples were collected for each BMP and analyzed for suspended sediment, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, fecal coliform bacteria and E-coli bacteria. The inflow and outflow concentrations and loads, as well as total inflow and outflow volumes and peak flow rates, were then compared to evaluate how well each BMP reduces stormwater flows, decrease peak runoff rates and improves water quality of stormwater runoff. Results for the bioretention cell indicate average reductions in stormwater quantity, sediment, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and fecal coliform bacteria that exceeded 99% by mass. The CU-Structural Soil infiltration trench produced reductions in stormwater quantity, total phosphorus and sediment that averaged 60%, 45% and 51%, respectively. Preliminary bacteria results indicated that both BMPs served as sources of E-coli, and the infiltration trench served as a source of fecal coliform bacteria.


This study focuses on newspaper coverage of the Hickox quarantine incident, using it as a case study to examine how the media characterized the spread of disease in an ongoing crisis situation characterized by uncertainty. The study builds on Slovic et al.'s research, who argue that risk perception is comprised of both emotional and analytical aspects. We employed a qualitative approach, first examining articles on Hickox's story in The New York Times and New York Daily News between October 25 and 31, 2014; and second, readers' comments in response to these articles. The findings from the newspaper articles show that in their treatment of the quarantine debate, the media did not address the issue of uncertainty, and thus continued the health authorities' neglect of this issue. Although the media gave expression to various sides of the debate, it emphasized those who objected to the quarantine policy, thus raising the claim that the conflict was between 'science' and the public's 'irrational fears,' and that the governors decided on quarantine in response to the public's panic and fears. From our analysis of readers' comments, it appears that these claims are unjustified. First, we found that the public did not speak in a single unified voice, but rather, was divided into supporters and opponents of quarantine. Both sides used scientific arguments and resorted to similar terminology, and tended to cite and present studies backing their arguments. As for irrational fears, although quarantine supporters expressed emotions, they indicated mainly concerns, not panic or hysteria.


The priorities of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, established by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation № 642 of 01.12.2016, provide for the improvement of health-saving technologies, which in this article have been considered from the standpoint of their focusing on reducing health risks caused by the adverse impact of environmental factors, including by increasing the functional and adaptive reserves of the body. The article analyzes in order to improve regulatory legal documents in the field of improving the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases, the formation of a healthy lifestyle and hygienic education of the population. Also, a critical analysis of the state of educational activities provided at the state level in the field of higher professional education and postgraduate training of medical workers in the direction (specialties): medical and preventive care, medical care, public health and healthcare. Concluded that to ensure scientific and technological development of the country's need to expand educational and enlightening activities on issues of ensuring sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population, hygiene, public health and organization of health care in health care organizations, and also outside in all major sectors of economy and business, in the sphere of organized tourism and recreation, SPA, fitness centers, educational organizations, sports, social welfare and life of the population, especially in terms of prevention, that in accordance with Federal Law № 323 of 21.11.2011 "On the basics of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation" provides for measures to eliminate the harmful influence of environmental factors. Proposals and additions to the relevant state regulatory documents of the Russian Federation that have already been approved and are currently under development are given.


Boron (B) toxicity is a significant constraint to cereal production in regions worldwide, including parts of southern Australia. In recent years, much progress has been made by research groups investigating the molecular and physiological mechanisms involved in B toxicity tolerance in both barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and wheat (Triticum sp. L.). In barley, genes have been identified controlling B tolerance at two of the four known B toxicity tolerance loci, both of which encode B transporters. Progress has also been made towards the identification of genes involved in B toxicity tolerance in wheat. Here we describe the current status of this work, in the context of B toxicity tolerance research in Australia and internationally. We also summarize prospects for breeding new cereal varieties with B toxicity tolerance in the future. Received 7 September 2010. Accepted 20 October 2010.


This jointly funded Hallam Studentship between Sheffield Hallam University and HM Prison Service Area Office: Yorkshire and Humberside was originally borne out of
consultation undertaken to develop a Regional Resettlement Strategy (see Senior, 2002; 2003). Hence, significant moves had been made to improve awareness around, and the services involved in, prisoner `resettlement'. This took place amidst reemerging national interest in aspects of such provision and activities, and their effectiveness in reducing `re-offending' rates. Unlike the Regional Resettlement Strategy, this independent research examines the assumption that `partnerships' enhance the delivery of `resettlement' services within prisons. The thesis takes as its focus a period when prisons and their `partners' were considering, and responding to, emerging central governmental proposals for a National Offender Management Service which resulted from the publication of Patrick Carter's (2003) `Managing Offenders, Reducing Crime: A New Approach'. It makes problematic, and identifies, key features of `partnerships' and shows disparate meanings are attached to the terms `resettlement' and `partnership'. These are influenced by a range of political, organisational, and individual factors. Recognising `partnerships' have created, and continue to create, enhancements in the forms of more `client-centred', `holistic' services, exposing prison staff to broader
skills/expertise and organisational values, it is acknowledged that these are often accompanied by increasingly complex relationships. These include those between staff within prisons, organisations, and service users' experiences of these. As a result, this thesis brings into question the suitability of existing theories in depicting the `state' and the role(s) of `partnerships'. The Action Research study utilises a basic text response survey, `solicited' prisoner diaries, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation to assess the opinions of participants from a range of
backgrounds, be they staff members or service users from statutory, private, or Voluntary and Community Sector organisations. It juxtaposes action research with the
adoption of a `grounded theory' approach to data collection and analysis. The influences of self perceptions and personal attitudes are accounted for in both shaping,
and responding to, the interactions and environments researched. Data revealed five key themes and each of these constitutes a chapter. These are, `Perceptual Understanding', `Data Management', `Communication', `Service Provision' and `NOMS'. Within each of these themes lie apparently contrasting issues. However, the analysis reveals that prisons can experience aspects of these paradoxically. Two models of `partnerships' are proposed by drawing on aspects of these paradoxes. These include a hypothetical `worst case scenario' and one constructed from `best practice'. Through appraising the disparate meanings given to `resettlement' and `partnerships' the thesis examines how various actors can make sense of `partnerships', enhance practice, and sustain a `holistic' vision of `resettlement' provision. The `best practice' model illustrates how this is more likely to be achieved, even during times of organisational change.


In this paper, the properties of chirped photonic crystal fibers for guiding sub-100-fs pulses are discussed by nu- merical simulations and approximate analytical considerations. The nearly distortion-free guiding properties are explained by a spectral distribution of detrimental dispersive resonances. Deeper analysis reveals the geometrical properties of the innermost layer of the photonic cladding structure as a key parameter for the dispersive properties of this fiber. It is further investigated how systematic manipulation of the geometry can be exploited for influencing the guiding parameters.


| When considering an ethnography commons, it seems that there are at least two sorts of boundaries that commoning has the potential to reconfigure: 1) boundaries within the academy between disciplines and 2) boundaries between the academy and 'the rest of the world.' Admittedly, these boundaries are often constructed (or imagined) from within the academy itself, and seeking ways to re-draw them may result in yet another navel-gazing exercise that reaffirms particular modes of knowledge production disproportionally beneficial to those 'in' the academy. In this essay, I focus on ethnography grounded in sound and how it both productively traverses disciplinary boundaries and usefully brings into relief the unevenness of commoning. I examine a number of discourses in ethnomusicology dealing with sonic epistemologies and interaction, music making as ethnographic method, and intellectual property, all the while grappling with my own work as an ethnographer involved in the production of collaborative sonic texts.


Objective AIO-PK0104 investigated two treatment strategies in advanced pancreatic cancer (PC): a reference sequence of gemcitabine/erlotinib followed by 2nd-line capecitabine was compared with a reverse experimental sequence of capecitabine/erlotinib followed by gemcitabine. Methods 281 patients with PC were randomly assigned to 1st-line treatment with either gemcitabine plus erlotinib or capecitabine plus erlotinib. In case of treatment failure (eg, disease progression or toxicity), patients were allocated to 2nd-line treatment with the comparator cytostatic drug without erlotinib. The primary study endpoint was time to treatment failure (TTF) after 1st- and 2nd-line therapy (TTF2; non-inferiority design). KRAS exon 2 mutations were analysed in archival tumour tissue from 173 of the randomised patients. Results Of the 274 eligible patients, 43 had locally advanced and 231 had metastatic disease; 140 (51%) received 2nd-line chemotherapy. Median TTF2 was estimated with 4.2 months in both arms; median overall survival was 6.2 months with gemcitabine/erlotinib followed by capecitabine and 6.9 months with capecitabine/erlotinib followed by gemcitabine, respectively (HR 1.02, p=0.90). TTF for 1st-line therapy (TTF1) was significantly prolonged with gemcitabine/erlotinib compared to capecitabine/erlotinib (3.2 vs 2.2 months; HR 0.69, p=0.0034). Skin rash was associated with both TTF2 (rash grade 0/1/2–4:2.9/4.3/6.7 months, p<0.0001) and survival (3.4/7.0/9.6 months, p<0.0001). Each arm showed a safe and manageable toxicity profile during 1st- and 2nd-line therapy. A KRAS wild-type status (52/173 patients, 30%) was associated with an improved overall survival (HR 1.68, p=0.005). Conclusion Both treatment strategies are feasible and demonstrated comparable efficacy; KRAS may serve as biomarker in patients with advanced PC treated with erlotinib. Trial registration number This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00440167. Significance of this study What is already known on this subject? Gemcitabine-based chemotherapy remains an international standard of care for patients with non-resectable, advanced pancreatic cancer (PC). Anti-EGFR treatment with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib, as well as chemotherapy intensification by application of the FOLFIRINOX regimen, both significantly improved overall survival in randomised phase 3 trials. The optimal (sequential) regimen for the use of gemcitabine, erlotinib and the oral fluoropyrimidine capecitabine remains unclear in advanced PC. Molecular predictors for the efficacy of anti-EGFR treatments in PC have not been defined up to now. What are the new findings? The sequential use of gemcitabine, erlotinib and capecitabine is safe and equally effective in PC; gemcitabine appears to be more effective in 1st- and 2nd-line therapy than capecitabine and therefore remains the preferred combination partner for erlotinib. Skin rash is strongly correlated with efficacy outcome measures in PC patients treated with erlotinib. KRAS wild-type status appears to be associated with improved overall survival in patients treated with erlotinib in this AIO study. Significance of this study How might it impact on clinical practice in the foreseeable future? The benefit of adding erlotinib to chemotherapy is restricted to patients that experience skin rash during treatment; non-rash patients are characterised by a very poor outcome and need to be offered novel treatment strategies. Second-line salvage chemotherapy is effective and safe in selected PC patients. KRAS could serve as the first biomarker for improved survival in erlotinib-treated patients; the predictive value of KRAS for erlotinib efficacy remains to be defined prospectively.


Background Breast cancer (BC) is a major cause of disease and death worldwide. In addition to its contribution to mortality and disability, it is a major economic burden both public and private. Objective To estimate the average direct medical cost/year of care for the diagnosis and treatment of BC in two coverage scenarios in Mexico: What is 'ideal' based on service usage patterns according to international guidelines and what is 'current' using the service usage patterns of suppliers in Mexico. Material and Methods The pattern and intensity of use of procedures for the care of BC in the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) for 2009 were identified and prices were associated using the guidelines from the System of Social Protection in Health (SPSS) and the IMSS for the current scenario and the ideal scenario, international patterns (Breast Health Global Initiative BHGI after its acronym in English) were used and prices were associated from the SPSS guidelines. Results The annual average direct medical cost per patient in the 'current' scenario was 8557 US$, while the cost in the 'ideal' scenario was 4554 US$. There are differences in costs between 'what we do' and 'what should be done', due to differences in the implementation of the interventions for the treatment of the different stages of the disease. A proportional increase in the average cost was also identified as the diagnosis stage advanced (from I to III). Conclusions Given that in Mexico there is universal insurance coverage for the treatment of BC, it is necessary to use economic resources more efficiently. It is necessary to continue to examine this topic in more depth and the next step will be to assess the effectiveness of both scenarios in order to provide enough evidence for the decision-making process.


Pervasive state intervention in Greece has mired the economy with large-scale inefficiencies and an uneven playing field, protecting insiders and rent-seekers to the detriment of its underlying growth potential, with the political class at the same time failing miserably to address the aspirations of the people. Fiscal consolidation and structural reform, currently pursued under the EU–IMF stabilisation programme, if vigorously implemented, are expected to strengthen the Greek economy and to contribute towards the withering away of the Greek state in its present form. The Greeks are resourceful people and will not capitulate in the face of a daunting adjustment, which may prove easier than generally expected if structural weaknesses are adequately and swiftly addressed. Greece's future lies with rebalancing the economy towards net exports, with tourism and real estate being the primary development motors.


Dietary non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) changes the nutrient digestibility and faecal characteristics in fish. This study assessed the effect of the type of dietary NSPs on fish production and the contribution of natural food to the total fish production in semi-intensively managed tilapia ponds. Twelve ponds, each divided into three equally-sized compartments, were assigned to test the effect of the type of dietary NSPs (i.e. "PecHem-Diet", a diet with easily fermentable NSP, vs "LigCel-Diet", a diet with slowly fermentable NSP). Fish were restrictively fed, based on the crude protein content of the feed. Three feeding levels ("no = 0", "low = 9 g.kg-0.8.d−1" and "high= 18 g.kg.d") nested in pond were analysed in a split plot design. Initial fish biomass was 3084 g.compartment−1 and the experiment lasted 56 days. With the "LigCel-Diet" biomass gain was higher (2599 vs 2192 g.compartment−1) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was lower (1.4 vs 1.9; P < .001) than with the "PecHem-Diet". Diet had no effect on fish survival and specific growth rate (SGR). For both diets, increasing feeding level increased (P < .001) biomass gain, fish survival, FCR and SGR. There was a significant interaction effect (P < .05) between diet and feeding level on FCR. Fish body composition was the same in both diets. With the "LigCel-Diet", the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) was higher (P < .001) for crude protein, fat, phosphorus and calcium and lower (P < .05) for ash compared to the other diet. Neither feeding level nor the interaction between diet and feeding level influenced the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of any nutrient. Diet composition did not alter the organic matter (OM) composition of the faeces. δ13C and δ15N from the stable isotope analysis revealed that N gain in fish originated from both feed and natural food of the pond. Natural food abundance in the pond increased over time for both diets. Chlorophyll-a was higher in the pond fed with "LigCelDiet". Fish gut content and calculated N gain indicated an enhanced contribution of natural food to fish growth in ponds fed with "LigCel-Diet". In conclusion, the type of dietary NSP determines tilapia productivity in semiintensive managed ponds by altering food web productivity.


Central office administrators are charged with the implementation of various education initiatives each year with the desired end result being an improvement in student performance. The purpose of this study is to discover how central office administrators exhibit leadership, carry out their roles, and perform their functions in district-wide improvement initiatives. Readers will gain a better understanding of how central office administrators work and lead from their positions in the school district. The participants shared their feelings and gave feedback on their direct experiences as central office administrators who are charged with the responsibility of implementing district-wide improvement initiatives. In order to collect and analyze rich data about central office employees, a qualitative study was conducted where there were no preconceived theories. Data were collected through the tape recorded interviews of 12 central office administrators from four different school districts and the collection of relevant documents that pertain to the roles and functions of their jobs. The participants were categorized according to the similarities in their job titles and the findings from the interview data were presented for comparison. The document reviews were used to compare against the information gained from the participants. The three main takeaways from this study were that central office administrators have placed a high value on collaboration, communication, and strategic leadership in order to effectively implement district-wide improvement initiatives. Practitioners can reflect on the newly-gained information from the emerging themes from these interviews and document reviews to propose new studies for research.