Colossal magnetoresistance and field-induced ferromagnetism are well documented in manganite compounds. Since domain wall resistance contributes to magnetoresistance, data on the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the ferromagnetic domain structure are required for a full understanding of the magnetoresistive effect. Here we show, using cryogenic magnetic force microscopy, domain structures for the layered manganite La1.2Sr1.8Mn2O7 as a function of temperature and magnetic field. Domain walls are suppressed close to the Curie temperature T-C, and appear either via the application of a c-axis magnetic field, or by decreasing the temperature further. At temperatures well below T-C, new domain walls, stable at zero field, can be formed by the application of a c-axis field. Magnetic structures are seen also at temperatures above T-C : these features are attributed to inclusions of additional Ruddleston-Popper manganite phases. Low-temperature domain walls are nucleated by these ferromagnetic inclusions.


Most governments around the world set conservation policy based on the assumption that resource exploitation and species protection can co-exist in the same place. These policies have led to Orwellian "marine protected areas" that host commercial fishing operations, leading one to wonder who's protecting whom. A new study reveals the danger of this approach and shows that it's time to let protection mean protection.

For decades, the Dutch government sanctioned mechanical cockle dredging in three-fourths of the intertidal flats of the Wadden Sea—a natural monument protected under two intergovernmental treaties. Before suction dredging began in the 1960s, an estimated 2,000 tons of cockles were hand-harvested from the reserve each year. In 1989, the high-pressure, motor-driven water pumps used in suction dredging sucked up close to 80,000 tons of cockles. By 2004, the Dutch government decided the environmental costs were too great and stopped the practice.

Jan van Gils and colleagues investigated the ecological impacts of commercial cockle dredging on intertidal ecosystems by studying a long-distance migrant shorebird that dines principally on cockles, the red knot (Calidris canutus islandica). Up to 50% of the global red knot population uses the Dutch Wadden Sea at some point during their annual cycle.

Red knots are exquisitely adapted to their lifestyle. They have a pressure-sensitive bill that senses hard objects buried in the sand and a shell-crushing gizzard to accommodate the birds' penchant for swallowing their catch whole. They even have a flexible digestive system that minimizes the energy costs of flying up to 16,000 kilometers between their arctic breeding grounds and winter homes in Europe and the tropics—their gizzard expands and contracts to balance daily food intake and energy needs.

To determine the effects of dredging on the birds, the authors sampled prey quality and density over 2,800 Wadden Sea sites during the late summer months (late July to early September) for five years starting in 1998. Dredging occurred each year from September to December, immediately after their sample collections. In undredged areas, cockle densities increased by 2.6% each year, and the quality remained stable. In dredged areas, cockle densities remained stable, and their quality (flesh-to-shell ratio) declined by 11.3% each year—paralleling the decline in the quality of the birds' diet (as measured by droppings). This finding falls in line with evidence that dredging disturbs the silt cockles like to settle in, as well as their feeding conditions—which in turn reduces their quality as a food resource.

Based on prey quality and densities, Van Gils et al. predicted the energy intake rate for knots with an average-size gizzard at each site (all sites were pooled into 272 blocks, each with an area of 1 square kilometer), then calculated the percentage of blocks that would not yield sufficient intake rates for knots to avoid starvation. From 1998 to 2002, the percentage of blocks that couldn't sustain knots increased from 66% to 87%—all attributable to dredging in previously suitable sites. Reduced prey density caused some of this degradation, but most stemmed from declines in both cockle density and quality.

The authors caught and color-banded the birds so they could estimate survival rates the following year, and they measured gizzard mass with ultrasonography. As expected, when prey quality declined, birds needed larger gizzards to process the relatively higher proportion of shells in their diet. Their chances of surviving conditions at the Wadden Sea increased as a function of prey quality and gizzard flexibility. Birds that did not return had much smaller gizzards than those that did. Survival rate calculations based on gizzard size and prey quality revealed that if birds could not expand their gizzard and prey quality was low (0.15 grams of flesh per gram of shell), only 47% of arriving birds would avoid starvation. A much greater proportion would survive if their gizzard could expand by at least 1 gram (70% for 1 gram, 88% for 2 grams).

These degraded food conditions, the authors conclude, explains why red knot populations have declined by 80% in the Wadden Sea. And increased mortality in the Wadden Sea—which the authors estimate at 58,000 birds over five years—accounts for the 25% decline of red knots across their entire northwest European wintering grounds. Dredging reduced the quality of red knots' primary food source so drastically that even the birds' extraordinarily adaptable digestive system could not save them. The authors point out that dredging doesn't even provide significant economic benefits—only 11 outfits manage 22 fishing boats—yet is "directly responsible" for the widespread decline of a protected shorebird. These findings put the lie to the notion that commercial exploitation is consistent with conservation and underscore the risks of disturbing critical habitat for threatened or endangered species.


Guidelines are recommended as a tool for informing user interface design. Despite a proliferation of guidelines in the research literature, there is little evidence of their use in industry, nor their influence in academic literature. In this paper, we explore the research literature related to mobile phone design guidelines to find out why this should be so. We commenced by carrying out a scoping literature review of the mobile phone design guideline literature to gain insight into the maturity of the field. The question we wanted to explore was: "Are researchers building on each others' guidelines, or is the research field still in the foundational stage?" We discovered a poorly structured field, with many researchers proposing new guidelines, but little incremental refinement of extant guidelines. It also became clear that the current reporting of guidelines did not explicitly communicate their multi-dimensionality or deployment context. This leaves designers without a clear way of discriminating between guidelines, and could contribute to the lack of deployment we observed. We conducted a thematic analysis of papers identified by means of a systematic literature review to identify a set of dimensions of mobile phone interface design guidelines. The final dimensions provide a mechanism for differentiating guidelines and expediting choice.


Cord-blood banking has become an important component in the development of stem-cell innovation and regenerative medicine, but this field is also characterized by acute uncertainty. This essay explores China's public–private banking model through an empirical case study of the Tianjin Cord Blood Bank. I argue that the Chinese model of "using banks to pay for banks" reflects a mutation in contemporary biopolitics. This model could help solve funding problems in the collection of public cord blood, but it also creates public–private tensions and dilemmas within the cord-blood economy. Thus, robust and strict regulations are needed to encourage the development of biomedical innovation while protecting the public interest in China.


The processor reconfiguration through instruction-set metamorphosis (PRISM) general-purpose architecture, which speeds up computationally intensive tasks by augmenting the core processor's functionality with new operations, is described. The PRISM approach adapts the configuration and fundamental operations of a core processing system to the computationally intensive portions of a targeted application. PRISM-1, an initial prototype system, is described, and experimental results that demonstrate the benefits of the PRISM concept are presented.<<ETX>>


ABSTRACT Storytelling is a significant vehicle for the transferral of knowledge, perpetuation of collective memories and construction of meaning. Stories and cultural storytellers are attracting dedicated research attention across a number of disciplines, including cognitive science. Yet few examine family storytellers, an avenue of arguable equal import. Nor, their role in perpetuating and regulating the system of shared values that underpin the family structure. Indeed, family sporting narratives are largely absent. Thus, through narrative inquiry, we examine the significance of storytelling practices and sporting stories, to one family which spans four generations and three continents. The findings, which centre on the five themes of narrative resources, identity construction, socialisation, traditions and transcendence, clarify the influence of family storytelling processes on value governance and collective identity construction. They emphasise the significance of individual cricket stories in constructing their own identities. These stories provided an important collective resource that was a source of social capital, enhancing the family'´s narrative equity.


This textbook grew out of a course that the popular and highly respected applied mathematician Lee Segel taught at the Weizmann Institute and it represents his unique perspective. It introduces differential equations, biological applications, and simulations and emphasizes molecular events (biochemistry and enzyme kinetics), excitable systems (neural signals), and small protein and genetic circuits. A Primer on Mathematical Models in Biology will appeal to readers because it combines clear and useful mathematical methods with applications that illustrate the power of such tools and includes many exercises in reasoning, modeling, and simulations. Audience: This book is intended for upper level undergraduates in mathematics, graduate students in biology, and lower-level graduate students in mathematics who would like exposure to biological applications. Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Introduction to Biochemical Kinetics; Chapter 3: Review of Linear Differential Equations; Chapter 4: Introduction to Nondimensionalization and Scaling; Chapter 5: Qualitative Behavior of Simple Differential Equation Models; Chapter 6: Developing a Model from the Ground Up: Case Study of the Spread of an Infection; Chapter 7: Phase plane Analysis; Chapter 8: Quasi Steady State and Enzyme-Mediated Biochemical Kinetics; Chapter 9: Multiple Subunit Enzymes and Proteins: Cooperativity; Chapter 10: Dynamic Behavior of Neuronal Membranes; Chapter 11: Excitable Systems and the FitzHugh-Nagumo Equations; Chapter 12: Biochemical Modules; Chapter 13: Discrete Networks of Genes and Cells; Chapter 14: For Further Study; Chapter 15: Extended Exercises and Projects; Appendix A: The Taylor Approximation and Taylor Series; Appendix B: Complex Numbers; Appendix C: A Review of Basic Theory of Electricity; Appendix D: Proofs of Boolean Algebra Rules; Appendix E: XPP Files for Models in this Book.


The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review on the use of serious games in science education between 2016 and 2020 years. A total of 39 articles were included from Science Citation Index- Expanded (SCI-Expanded), Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) listed in the Web of Science database. The results showed that experiential science was the most emphasized subject area in the articles. The results also indicated that learning/academic achievement was the common examined topic in the articles. For the research designs, more than half of the articles implemented quantitative research design. Considering the data collection tools, achievement tests were the most used data collection tool. Regarding the use of sampling methods, convenience sampling was preferred in more than half of the articles. Secondary and primary school students were the most used sampling groups. The sample size of 31-100-person group was commonly chosen in the articles. Considering the data analysis methods, a majority of articles implemented descriptive analyses methods. It was also found that computer game was the most used game type. Regarding the game genres, adventure was the most preferred one in serious games.


Background The integration of mental health services into primary care is essential to improve the coverage of mental health services in low resource settings, but the evaluation of this remains challenging. We used a programme's Theory of Change (ToC) as a conceptual framework to determine what combination(s) of conditions at facility and community level influenced the mental health service utilisation as a result of a district mental healthcare plan (MHCP) implemented in Chitwan, Nepal. In addition, we show how qualitative comparative analysis can be used to provide an integrated analysis of data from a ToC. Methods We conducted a longitudinal case study of 10 health facilities where the MHCP was implemented. We collected data from all facilities at baseline (October to December 2013) and quarterly following the implementation of the intervention (March 2014 to November 2016). The data were analysed using pooled qualitative comparative analysis in fsQCA V.2.5. Results The following conditions were necessary for high mental health service utilisation: presence of basic and advanced psychosocial care, evidence-based identification and treatment guidelines (WHO mhGAP), referral to tertiary services and the presence of trained female community health volunteers . Two additional combinations of conditions were also identified as sufficient for a high mental health service utilisation: high medication supply, trained facility staff and either the use of a community informant detection tool or having a larger proportion of the community attend community awareness activities. Conclusions Both supply-side interventions (formalised approaches to health worker detection and treatment, training of health workers, supervision) and demand-side interventions (community awareness and case finding) are important to integrate mental health in primary care. ToC can be used to provide an integrated analysis of data from a ToC, therefore helping to shed light on the black box of complex multilevel interventions.


An asteroid fauna is described from the Albian (Cretaceous) interval of the Washita Group of central Texas. New genera and species are Alkaidia sumralli, (Benthopectinidae), Capellia mauricei (Goniasteridae), and Betelgeusia reidi (Radiasteridae). Additional new genera are Fomalhautia (Goniasteridae), and Denebia and Altairia (Ophidiasteridae). Crateraster texensis (Goniasteridae), new combination, is similar to the European type species, C. quinqueloba. An unnamed species of Crateraster and an unassigned goniasterid are also present. All Washita genera are extinct, but all belong to extant families. The fauna is largely distinct from that of the somewhat younger European Cretaceous chalk. The Radiasteridae (e.g., Betelgeusia) is inferred to hold a basal position in the Paxillosida; Betelgeusia extends the range of the family back to the Cretaceous, closer to the diversification of the living asteroid orders. Asteroids capable of burying themselves in sediment (and only self-buriers) share some form of channelization for the passage of water currents between the primary ossicles of the body surface. Channels in Betelgeusia indicate semi-infaunal habits similar to those of living Astropecten and Luidia. Betelgeusia represents the third semi-infaunal paxillosidan family now known from the Cretaceous, although none are known from older rocks, suggesting a broadening of the asteroid adaptive zone during the Cretaceous. The Goniasteridae, Radiasteridae, and Benthopectinidae are less important in shelf settings today than they appear to have been during Washita deposition, whereas the Astropectinidae, Luidiidae, and the Echinasteridae are absent from the Washita although they are common today in similar settings.


The trophic fate of benthic bacteria in an intertidal mudflat (Brouage, Marennes‐Oléron, France) was evaluated in situ, and environmental parameters that potentially influence the consumption of bacteria by the most abundant organisms of the meio‐ and macrofauna were identified. Variations in grazing rates were estimated using 15N pre‐enriched bacteria at different temporal and spatial scales on a cross‐shore transect over the mudflat. Grazing incubations were performed in microcosms with freshly collected grazers. Environmental factors varied more by season than by day or sampling station. Bacterial uptake by grazers did not appear to be strongly influenced by abiotic factors and was not linked to bacterial abundance. Algal abundance was negatively correlated with bacterivory in both the nematode community and the foraminifer Ammonia tepida, suggesting that bacteria constitute an alternative resource that is consumed when algae are less abundant. Bacteria were mainly ingested by the mudsnail Hydrobia ulvae and secondarily by nematodes with grazing rates of copepods and A. tepida being considerably lower. The estimated grazing in the upper and middle part of the mudflat represented 7% and 28% of bacterial production, respectively. In the lower mudflat, daily grazing never represented >3% of bacterial production throughout the year. Consequently, grazing appears to be a minor factor in the regulation of bacterial production. Bacterivory did not vary clearly according to season; consequently, the fate of bacteria in this benthic food web is poorly structured by season.


Far too often, students focus on creating a working project without any regard for the quality, readability, and maintainability of their code. Students are not usually made to realize how learning and applying good coding practices can improve the success of their projects and make them more valuable to future employers. By adhering to a set of simple coding practices, students can create projects that are easier to read, maintain, predict (no unexpected features or "ghost" effects), and reuse. Many students have developed a misconception that a copious amount of commenting can make up for the shortcomings of code that is poorly organized and/or difficult to understand. Although good commenting is important and can make the purpose of code blocks clearer, paragraphs of explanation do more to clutter a project than they do to improve its quality. Proper commenting should be used in conjunction with other important practices in order to create a project with the cleanest and clearest code possible. Distinctive naming of components (files, variables, constants, etc.) and a logical layering of code can help to make changes to code far simpler, less time-consuming, and produce more predictable results. This paper provides a guide to good coding practices. Some of the topics covered will include proper use of commenting, code modularization, layering, descriptive naming, cohesion, and avoiding race conditions.


Aerotoxic syndrome is assumed to be caused by exposure to tricresyl phosphate (TCP), an antiwear additive in jet engine lubricants and hydraulic fluid. CBDP (2-(ortho-cresyl)-4H-1,2,3-benzodioxaphosphoran-2-one) is the toxic metabolite of triortho-cresylphosphate, a component of TCP. Human butyrylcholinesterase (BChE; EC 18.104.22.168) and human acetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 184.108.40.206) are irreversibly inhibited by CBDP. The bimolecular rate constants of inhibition (k(i)), determined under pseudo-first-order conditions, displayed a biphasic time course of inhibition with k(i) of 1.6 × 10(8) M(-1) min(-1) and 2.7 × 10(7) M(-1) min(-1) for E and E' forms of BChE. The inhibition constants for AChE were 1 to 2 orders of magnitude slower than those for BChE. CBDP-phosphorylated cholinesterases are nonreactivatable due to ultra fast aging. Mass spectrometry analysis showed an initial BChE adduct with an added mass of 170 Da from cresylphosphate, followed by dealkylation to a structure with an added mass of 80 Da. Mass spectrometry in (18)O-water showed that (18)O was incorporated only during the final aging step to form phospho-serine as the final aged BChE adduct. The crystal structure of CBDP-inhibited BChE confirmed that the phosphate adduct is the ultimate aging product. CBDP is the first organophosphorus agent that leads to a fully dealkylated phospho-serine BChE adduct.


The co-ordinated degradation of proteins is vital to all aspects of cellular activity. The main mechanism of intracellular protein degradation is the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) which labels target proteins with ubiquitin, thereby marking them for degradation by the 26S proteasome. Protein ubiquitination is mediated by three enzymes; E1, E2, E3. The largest family of E3's is the cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRLs). CRLs require the cyclic addition and removal of a ubiquitin-like protein called NEDD8 to and from the cullin subunit. Removal of NEDD8 (deneddylation) is mediated by the eight subunit COP9 signalosome (CSN; CSN1-8). Cullin deneddylation by the CSN has been demonstrated to prevent the autocatalytic degradation of the substrate recognition subunit (SRS) of CRLs. The CSN has also been shown to associate with deubiquitinase and kinase activity and has thus been identified as a highly conserved key regulator of protein degradation. CSN subcomplexes have also been identified which function in protein degradation, and a direct role for the CSN complex in transcriptional regulation has been posited. Although the COP9 signalosome (CSN) has been studied in human cells, little is known of its role in haematopoietic cells or of any potential contribution to leukaemogenesis. In this study the deneddylase catalytic subunit CSN5 and the non-catalytic subunit CSN2 were knocked down in the human haematopoietic cell line and chronic myeloid leukemia model, K562. Both knockdowns had similar consequences for CRL activity whilst having divergent effects on the levels of SRS mRNA. Knockdown of either subunit also resulted in a common sequential proteasome-dependent loss of SRS proteins, an observation that had not been previously described. Although both knockdowns resulted in reduced cell proliferation followed by significant cell death, the cellular phenotypes and mechanisms of cell death were distinct. CSN5 knockdown was associated with mitotic defects, G2/M arrest, and culminated in apoptosis. In contrast, CSN2 knockdown resulted in autophagy inhibition and non-apoptotic cell death. This is the first time the CSN has been associated with autophagy. CSN2 and CSN5 knockdowns also had divergent effects on the intact CSN complex. CSN2 loss resulted in significant reduction of the intact CSN whilst, for the first time, the intact CSN complex was shown to be retained in CSN5 knockdown cells with loss of only monomeric CSN5. The common effect on CRL activity by either knockdown suggests a common loss of deneddylase activity, which was explained in CSN2 knockdowns with the loss of the intact CSN complex. However, in the case of CSN5 knockdown, in which the intact complex remained, the reason for loss of deneddylase activity is less easy to explain. The results of this study may indicate for the first time that sustained deneddylase activity is dependent on a novel mechanism requiring a pool of CSN5 monomer. Finally, the significance of monomeric CSN5 function loss to the differential phenotype of CSN5 knockdown cells to cells lacking CSN2 was tested by re-expression of both wild type and deneddylase dead CSN5 in a CSN5 knockdown background. Importantly, both approaches rescued the cellular phenotype to the same extent. Overall, the findings of this study provide novel insight into both the function and potential regulation of the CSN complex, whilst further suggesting that the CSN may be a target worthy of investigation in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia.


Predicting the success of a mobile game is a prime issue in game industry. Thousands of games are being released each day. However, a few of them succeed while the majority fail. Towards the goal of investigating the potential correlation between the success of a mobile game and its specific attributes, this work was conducted. More than 17 thousands games were considered for that reason. We show that specific game attributes, such as number of IAPs (In-App Purchases), belonging to the puzzle genre, supporting different languages and being produced by a mature developer highly and positively affect the success of the game in the future. Moreover, we show that releasing the game in July and not including any IAPs seems to be highly associated with the game's failure. Our second main contribution, is the proposal of a novel success score metric that reflects multiple objectives, in contrast to evaluating only revenue, average rating or rating count. We also employ different machine learning models, namely, SVM (Support Vector Machine), RF (Random Forest) and Deep Learning (DL) to predict this success score metric of a mobile game given its attributes. The trained models were able to predict this score, as well as the rating average and rating count of a mobile game with more than 70% accuracy. This prediction can help developers before releasing their game to the market to avoid any potential disappointments.


We consider the problem of decomposing a group norm into a set of individual obligations for the agents comprising the group, such that if the individual obligations are fulfilled, the group obligation is fulfilled. Such an assignment of tasks to agents is often subject to additional social or organisational norms that specify permissible ways in which tasks can be assigned. An important role of social norms is that they can be used to impose 'fairness constraints', which seek to distribute individual responsibility for discharging the group norm in a 'fair' or 'equitable' way. We propose a simple language for this kind of fairness constraints and analyse the problem of computing a fair decomposition of a group obligation, both for non-repeating and for repeating group obligations.


Utilising appropriate Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as instructional tools in teacher education can be a challenging yet worthwhile endeavour. This paper reports the difficulties and benefits of a recent inter-university project requiring preservice primary teachers to construct professional digital portfolios using the support of ICT. Challenges with regard to communication and learning were numerous as 34 preservice teachers (PSTs) from three universities in NSW (situated in country towns, and in Sydney) worked together as a collaborative learning community. Meeting regularly face-to-face during the 12-month process was not always possible and so ICT resources were employed to facilitate instruction and communication. An action research methodology generated a data set of surveys, observational field notes, and student assessment artefacts. We share the findings in this paper so that others may learn from our experiences in using free access software and commonplace hardware when constructing digital portfolios with students who are some distance from campus.


Arctic boundary-layer clouds were investigated with remote sensing and in situ instruments during the Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation (ASTAR) campaign in March and April 2007. The clouds formed in a cold air outbreak over the open Greenland Sea. Beside the predominant mixed-phase clouds pure liquid water and ice clouds were observed. Utilizing measurements of solar radiation reflected by the clouds three methods to retrieve the thermodynamic phase of the cloud are introduced and compared. Two ice indices I S and I P were obtained by analyzing the spectral pattern of the cloud top reflectance in the near infrared (1500–1800 nm wavelength) spectral range which is characterized by ice and water absorption. While I S analyzes the spectral slope of the reflectance in this wavelength range, I S utilizes a principle component analysis (PCA) of the spectral reflectance. A third ice index I A is based on the different side scattering of spherical liquid water particles and nonspherical ice crystals which was recorded in simultaneous measurements of spectral cloud albedo and reflectance. Radiative transfer simulations show that I S , I P and I A range between 5 to 80, 0 to 8 and 1 to 1.25 respectively with lowest values indicating pure liquid water clouds and highest values pure ice clouds. The spectral slope ice index I S and the PCA ice index I P are found to be strongly sensitive to the effective diameter of the ice crystals present in the cloud. Therefore, the identification of mixed-phase clouds requires a priori knowledge of the ice crystal dimension. The reflectance-albedo ice index I A is mainly dominated by the uppermost cloud layer (τ<1.5). Therefore, typical boundary-layer mixed-phase clouds with a liquid cloud top layer will be identified as pure liquid water clouds. All three methods were applied to measurements above a cloud field observed during ASTAR 2007. The comparison with independent in situ microphysical measurements shows the ability of the three approaches to identify the ice phase in Arctic boundary-layer clouds.


The highly condensed products and residues of incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuel termed black carbon (BC) partake in a multitude of important geochemical processes. However, ambiguity persists because different quantification methods give highly variable results, leaving it unclear whether this reflects method difficulties or that different methods simply mirror different parts of the BC spectrum. Introducing additional wet chemical ex situ pretreatment steps (Gélinas et al. 2001b), to a commonly applied chemothermal oxidation (CTO) method led to large handling and transfer losses of hydrophobic diesel‐soot BC (NIST SRM‐2975). The resulting yield of soot BC spiked to a coastal marine and a freshwater sediment was only 6 ± 1% and 70 ± 4%, respectively, for the entire ex situ procedure. Instead, a standard addition approach yielded statistically significant linear returns of incremental soot BC additions. The slopes suggested that 51 ± 6% and 78 ± 6% of the added soot BC was accounted for in the marine and freshwater sediment, respectively. The lower recovery of soot BC in the marine sediment is likely caused by chloride enhancing the contact between BC surfaces and mineral oxides, catalyzing the BC oxidation. A consequential lowering of the oxidation energy from 375°C to 360°C resulted in increased soot BC yields of 75 ± 7% and 97 ± 3% in the marine and freshwater sediments, respectively. The standard addition approach suggests a native "soot BC‐like" concentration of 0.48 mg BC/g dry weight (soot BC/total organic carbon = 0.03) in the bioturbated marine sediment from Kosterfjord, Skagerrak and 6.2 mg BC/g dry weight (soot BC/TOC = 0.10) in the heavily polluted Rhine River sediment.


BACKGROUND This study aimed to determine whether patterns of tumor clonal origin in pluri-nodular hepatocellular carcinoma (PNHC) could serve as an indicator of tumor recurrence following liver transplantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Tumor tissue samples from 60 PNHC patients who underwent liver transplantation were examined. The diagnosis of patients conformed to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) standards for pluri-nodular hepatocellular carcinoma. We performed loss of heterozygosity tests at multiple microsatellite sites to determine the clonal origins of the tumors. Clinical information, pathological data, preoperative serum alpha-feto protein (AFP) and postoperative follow-ups were obtained and correlations between the clonal origin of the tumor, tumor-free survival, pathological characteristics, and AFP levels in serum were studied. RESULTS A total of 165 tumor nodules were collected. Tumor clonal origins were identified as intrahepatic metastasis (IM; 41.67%), multicentric occurrence (MO; 55%) or unidentified (3.33%). Three-year tumor-free survival for the IM group was 48% compared to 75.76% in the MO group (p<0.05), while the occurrence of microscopic tumor thrombus was 100% and 3.03% (p<0.05) for these groups, respectively. The degree of tumor differentiation was 80% for the IM group and 18.18% for the MO group (p<0.05), while the mean AFP concentration for these groups was 226.80 μg/L (2.78-3000 μg/L) and 24.59 μg/L (1.16-531. 30 μg/L; p<0.05), respectively. CONCLUSIONS Clonal origin patterns can serve as important indicators to predict the recurrence of PNHC following liver transplantation. Taken together with pathological characteristics and preoperative serum AFP levels, the risk of recurrence can be established in advance.


"The Criminally Insane" is the largest scale in-depth follow-up study on mentally ill criminals yet to appear. This book challenges the assumption that inmates of maximum-security mental hospitals are extraordinarily violent and questions the necessity for maintaining maximum-security institutions which currently house some 15,000 persons in the United States. In 1971, 586 patients were released from a Pennsylvania maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. They were not considered officially "cured," but a federal court held that their commitments had been unconstitutional. Through exhaustive examination of hospital and police records and interviews with hospital administrators and the subjects themselves, Thornberry and Jacoby assess the processes by which the patients had been retained in confinement, the impact of their release upon their communities, and their ability to adjust to the freedom of community life. The authors demonstrate that the patients did not display a significant level of violent behavior during confinement, nor did they pose a major threat to society after release. In fact, their social and psychological adjustment to community life is shown to have been comparable to that of non-criminal mental patients. Yet despite these findings the subjects had been retained in maximum-security confinement for an average of fourteen years because they were predicted to be violent and "dangerous" to society. The authors explain this inaccuracy by a process called "political prediction," in which clinicians avoid any potential risks to the community, the reputation of their hospitals, and their careers by consistently overpredicting dangerous behavior. "The Criminally Insane" will stimulate response from professionals in a wide variety of fields, including law, criminology, psychiatry, and sociology, and from anyone concerned with society's responsibility to the mentally ill offender.


We have previously demonstrated that the inhibitory effects of IL-10 on ConA-induced T cell proliferation or IL-2 production by resting murine T cells were only observed when macrophages, but not when activated B cells, dendritic cells, or L cells, were used as accessory cells. To further elucidate the mechanism of action of IL-10 on the inhibition of macrophage costimulatory activity, we have used a system in which macrophages can develop into effective costimulator cells and the effect of IL-10 on this process can be studied in the absence of T cells. After fixation, resting macrophages have no costimulatory activity for soluble anti-CD3-induced T cell proliferation nor do they express the activation Ag B7/BB1. In contrast, macrophages activated by culture alone, or by culture with IFN gamma or LPS for 24 h, and then fixed, were effective accessory cells, expressed B7, and their costimulatory activity correlated with their level of cell surface B7 expression. Addition of IL-10 during the process of macrophage activation resulted in both a marked reduction in costimulatory activity and in B7 expression. IL-4 and transforming growth factor-beta that suppress many macrophage functions did not inhibit the induction of B7 expression. The inhibitory effect of IL-10 on the up-regulation of B7 was selective because the up-regulation of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and MHC class II Ag was not affected. Direct evidence that the lack of B7 is the relevant limiting defect for IL-10-treated macrophage accessory cell function was obtained from studies in which the costimulatory capacity of IL-10-treated macrophages could be completely restored by the addition of B7 transfected, but not nontransfected, L cells to the assays.


ABSTRACT Contact angle and scratch tests have been conducted to investigate the effects of nano-TiO2 additive in oil-in-water (O/W) lubricant. The results show that the contact angle between high-speed steel with oxide scale and 1% (oil concentration) O/W lubricant decreases first and then increases as the concentration of nano-TiO2 particle in the O/W lubricant increases. The smallest contact angle is obtained after an addition of 4% nano-TiO2 additive to the O/W lubricant. This is because the nano-TiO2 can enhance the surface excess of the oil when the nano-TiO2 particles distribute throughout the surface of the oil droplets, and after saturation they can distribute throughout the water and also improve the surface excess of the water in the O/W lubricant. The scratch and hot rolling tests show that the nano-TiO2 particles in the O/W lubricant can also reduce friction, improve scratch resistance, and reduce rolling force. A method for measuring the adhesion force of the oxide scale is proposed and the effect of nanoparticles is discussed. It is demonstrated that the effect of self-lubrication of nanoparticles in the O/W lubricant plays a more significant role in the tribological behavior during hot rolling than wettability.


This article aims at drawing on sociological insights into reconciliation processes which emerge out of ethnic, national and state conflicts. First, the concept of reconciliation is interrogated as an instrument for sociological enquiry. The article locates the concept's lexical origins in western/northern Christian traditions and identifies the usages of religious connotations in secularised strands of conflict resolution theory and praxis. While acknowledging the problems involved in assuming a conceptual universality, the basic meaning of the concept is located in many different historical, religious and secular traditions across the globe. Once overcoming Christiano-centric and western/northern biases and limitations, reconciliation can be retrieved and operationalised as a sociological concept for understanding and comparing ethnically and other deeply divided societies. Second, the article argues for further development of sociological comparative perspectives on how societies deal with violent and divisive past, which enhances academic knowledge and may impact policy as regards reconciliation processes, both in terms of understanding the past as well as dealing with the present and future of post-conflict societies. A sociology of conflict and reconciliation offers frames for transferring knowledge and experience that transcends simplistic assumptions and enriches understanding of the complexities of conflict and its transformations.


A modern mobile phone is a highly complex electronic system made up from a variety of diverse sub-systems, all of which must work seamlessly together. Todays users have very high expectations which set tough demands on manufacturers as they introduce third generation technology. While quality, in terms of the phones stability, performance and behaviour on the network, originate from good design, the only way to be sure of quality is by testing it. This makes testing a very important part of any mobile phones life cycle, from development through to manufacture and beyond, touching a number of different disciplines and departments. Testing UMTS is divided in three sections. Section One provides an overview of major types of testing and the organisations and tasks involved. In particular it looks at what is involved in conformance testing and device certification. Section Two is more technical and looks at the UMTS standard itself, working through the protocol layers. Future trends and their impact on testing mobile devices are examined in Section Three, including the emergence of new technologies both in the access network and the core network and the evolution of new testing methodologies. Examines UMTS and the testing of UMTS devices which are huge areas in the testing process Provides essential information on processes and techniques for mobile phone testing Operation of the UMTS standard is described from a test point of view Focuses on most important areas of the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard from a test perspective Offers advice on products, services and resources that aid the testing process. This book is an ideal text for engineers and managers who are either directly involved in the process of testing UMTS mobiles, or who are looking for an understanding of what is involved in testing. Professionals involved in the development of UMTS mobiles, integration and verification, conformance testing, operator acceptance testing, manufacturing and servicing will find this book indispensable.


Children of lower socioeconomic status suffer a disproportionate amount of dental caries compared to their higher income counterparts. Dental sealants have been shown to be effective in preventing caries in permanent molars. Targeting school-based sealant programs using free and reduced lunch participation as a proxy for income is cost-effective in reducing decay in populations at greater risk for dental disease. In 2004, the prevalence of dental sealants in first permanent molars among third-graders in Colorado was determined using a random sample of 44 schools. Approximately 34% of third-graders were found to have at least one sealant, significantly less than the desired Healthy People 2010 objective of 50%. In 2005, the Colorado Oral Health Program, Be Smart and Seal Them, embarked on an expansion of school-based sealant programs focused on meeting the Healthy People 2010 objective and incorporating the use of CDC-developed software (SEALS) to evaluate efficiencies and monitor program impact. The ground work for this expansion was based on a yet unpublished cost-effectiveness study by health economist Joan O'Connell, PhD, et al in 2004. Sealant delivery, targeted to second-graders in greatest need of oral disease prevention, was secured through contractual agreements with independently practicing dental hygienists. In 2006, the efforts of the Colorado Be Smart and Seal Them program doubled the percentage of schools participating in the program and the number of children served increased by 55%. An estimated 2200 occlusal caries were averted saving an estimated $212 000 in treatment costs of single surface, occlusal, amalgams. In 2005-2006 Be Smart and Seal Them developed in capacity (contractors, coordinator, schools, students); uniform data reporting (SEALS coordinating all contractor activities); and meeting the greatest oral health needs (disparities reduced, disease averted, cost savings). Contractors and the state coordinator reported areas of growth and improvement and identified further needs.


Having to speak words that can potentially abuse the divine connotation of prophetic speech for giving authority to the own manipulative intent poses a daunting challenge to preachers. The metaphorical images triggered by 'DNA' and 'genetic engineering' are deployed in illustrating the ambivalent position in which a prophetic preacher finds himself or herself; ambivalence between anticipation of regeneration at the deepest level of humanity on the one hand, and disquiet about the possibility of forcing a human being against his or her will into meeting certain prescribed expectations on the other hand. In reflecting on possible responses to this ambivalence, the theological positions of two prolific scholars in the research field of Homiletics, Gijs D.J. Dingemans and Charles L. Campbell, are critically considered from the point of view of the relationship between Christology and Pneumatology. In reflecting on theological markers for a sensible response, the author argues for a pneumatology in which the work of the Spirit consists of grafting the very DNA of our humanity and all its faculties into Christ, the only One who can open up the true life that is intended for humanity by divine grace. It will be in the very genes of a prophet to speak graceful words, because the prophet will have seen the wonder of the working of divine grace in his or her own life and will have embraced it willingly and joyfully.


ABSTRACTAlthough it has never been evaluated by an appropriately designed clinical trial, there is a strong impression that acute symptoms of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) are improved by heparin treatment. The first experimental evidence showing that anticoagulants were effective in reducing mortality from PE came in landmark study by Barritt and Jordon in Lancet in 1960. In 1986, Hull et al demonstrated that failure to attain an adequate anticoagulant effect with heparin in patients with proximal vein thrombosis is associated with a high rate of recurrence.Current practice favors admission to the hospital of patients with venous thromboembolism to be treated with intravenous (IV) heparin for at least 4-5 days, overlapped with initiation of warfarin. Four randomized trials evaluating continuous intravenous (CIV) vs. subcutaneous (SQ) heparin administration in the treatment of DVT found no significant differences in the observed rates of clinically important events. Thus, SQ route heparin is as efficacious and would allow treatment at home. Low molecular weight heparins, when released by the FDA for this indication, will make this more feasible.


(No paper) This paper presents ideas regarding how different groups of data can be stored and utilized, especially in the context of water resource policy discussions involving different public interests. To help understand and manage data related to water resource system modeling, the data can be classified into three groups: Model input -- inflow hydrologies, physical system characteristics, and economic values Model output -- results from the mathematical model Meta data -- information about the model input data and output data. Some approaches to software development are presented that utilize commonly used software such as spreadsheets and relational databases. These familiar software packages are customized to help make specialized databases and complex models more accessible to people that are not professional modelers, while improving the professional modeler's ability to conduct large-scale optimization model analyses.


Objective To evaluate the extent of non-publication or delayed publication of registered randomized trials on vaccines, and to investigate potential determinants of delay to publication. Design Survey. Data sources Trials registry websites, Scopus, PubMed, Google. Study selection Randomized controlled trials evaluating the safety or the efficacy or immunogenicity of human papillomavirus (HPV), pandemic A/H1N1 2009 influenza, and meningococcal, pneumococcal, and rotavirus vaccines that were registered in ClinicalTrials.gov, Current Controlled Trials, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Clinical Study Register, or Indian, Australian-New Zealand, and Chinese trial registries in 2006-12. Electronic databases were searched up to February 2014 to identify published manuscripts containing trial results. These were reviewed and classified as positive, mixed, or negative. We also reviewed the results available in ClinicalTrials.gov. Main outcome measures Publication status of trial results and time from completion to publication in peer reviewed journals. Data synthesis Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate potential predictors of publication delay. Results We analysed 384 trials (85% sponsored by industry). Of 355 trials (404 758 participants) that were completed, 176 (n=151 379) had been published in peer reviewed journals. Another 42 trials (total sample 62 765) remained unpublished but reported results in ClinicalTrials.gov. The proportion of trials published 12, 24, 36, and 48 months after completion was 12%, 29%, 53%, and 73%, respectively. Including results posted in ClinicalTrials.gov, 48 months after study completion results were available for 82% of the trials and 90% of the participants. Delay to publication between non-industry and industry sponsored trials did not differ, but non-industry sponsored trials were 4.42-fold (P=0.008) more likely to report negative or mixed findings. Negative results were reported by only 2% of the published trials. Conclusions Most vaccine trials are published eventually or the results posted in ClinicalTrials.gov, but delays to publication of several years are common. Actions should focus on the timely dissemination of data from vaccine trials to the public.


We are developing software tools to compare the behavior of two executable procedures, written in the same or different languages. These tools are useful in situations such as verifying that an automated procedure does the same thing as its manual backup, ensuring that a change to a procedure impacts only the intended behavior, and verifying that a procedure converted to a new language maintains its behavior. Our newest tool translates each procedure into a common language, links the initial conditions of the procedures together, and uses symbolic execution to explore the behavior of every execution path, comparing the behavior of the two procedures on each path. In this paper, we describe our approach in detail and present a case study of applying our tool to NASA procedures that had previously been automatically translated from the Procedure Representation Language (PRL) to the Timeliner scripting language. Our tool easily scaled to these real-world procedures, and identified several bugs in the prototype translator. Keywords— procedure equivalence, symbolic execution


Introduction Bangladesh is one of the most impoverished countries in the world. Agriculture remains the primary source of income for about 60 percent of the population. Agricultural growth therefore holds the key to the nation's pervasive poverty. So formidable are resource limitations, the climatic and environmental conditions, and the complexity of the country's agricultural institutions that the pace of agricultural growth rests heavily on gains in productivity, especially those gains arising from research and development. Bangladesh's achievements in agriculture and rural development have been significant since independence in 1971, and research and development have played a vital role in this achievement. This chapter focuses on the evolution of research policies and institutions, the priority given to agricultural research in resource allocation, the impact of agricultural research on productivity, and a vision for the future role of research. Generally, research and development means not only the generation of applicable knowledge or superior products, but also the transfer of such knowledge or products to potential users. In this chapter, however, the term refers specifically to the generation and development of knowledge or products to usable forms; we exclude extension and other activities associated with the transfer of research results.


Multiplicative linear secret sharing is a fundamental notion in the area of secure multiparty computation and, since recently, in the area of two-party cryptography as well. In a nutshell, this notion guarantees that the product of two secrets is obtained as a linear function of the vector consisting of the coordinatewise product of two respective share-vectors. This paper focuses on the following foundational question, which is novel to the best of our knowledge. Suppose we abandon the latter linearity condition and instead require that this product is obtained by some, not-necessarily-linear "product reconstruction function." Is the resulting notion equivalent to multiplicative linear secret sharing? We show the (perhaps somewhat counterintuitive) result that this relaxed notion is strictly more general. Concretely, fix a finite field Fq as the base field over which linear secret sharing is considered. Then we show there exists an (exotic) linear secret sharing scheme with an unbounded number of players n such that it has t-privacy with t = Ω(n) and such that it does admit a product reconstruction function, yet this function is necessarily nonlinear. In addition, we determine the minimum number of players for which those exotic schemes exist. Our proof is based on combinatorial arguments involving quadratic forms. It extends to similar separation results for important variations, such as strongly multiplicative secret sharing.


Abstract. New particle formation contributes significantly to the number concentration of condensation nuclei (CN) as well as cloud CN (CCN), a key factor determining aerosol indirect radiative forcing of the climate system. Using a physics-based nucleation mechanism that is consistent with a range of field observations of aerosol formation, it is shown that projected increases in global temperatures could significantly inhibit new particle, and CCN, formation rates worldwide. An analysis of CN concentrations observed at four NOAA ESRL/GMD baseline stations since the 1970s and two other sites since 1990s reveals long-term decreasing trends that are consistent in sign with, but are larger in magnitude than, the predicted temperature effects. The possible reasons for larger observed long-term CN reductions at remote sites are discussed. The combined effects of rising temperatures on aerosol nucleation rates and other chemical and microphysical processes may imply substantial decreases in future tropospheric particle abundances associated with global warming, delineating a potentially significant feedback mechanism that increases Earth's climate sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions. Further research is needed to quantify the magnitude of such a feedback process.


Many orthographies include syntactic markers not represented in phonology. In general, to correctly use these syntactic markers, learners have to analyze and understand the syntactic context of the word to be written. Capitalization of nouns, a syntactic marker in German, involves marking heads of noun phrases and is challenging for learners. The aim of this intervention study was to evaluate the effects of syntactic and lexical based trainings on capitalization of nouns. 114 Luxembourgish fifth-graders were assigned to two syntactic groups, a lexical group and a passive control group. The syntactic groups focused on two variants of training syntactic structures within the noun phrase. The lexical group focused on lexical characteristics of nouns and the control group received reading input. The posttest results show that the students in the intervention groups profited from the syntactic-based training. The follow-up test shows that the intervention was sustainable, as the improvement remains stable. The study indicates that a greater focus on syntactic structures can effectively enhance the use of syntactic markers of capitalizations. Although this approach is initially harder to acquire, it covers all cases of capitalization.


We study the effect of dissipational gas physics on the vertical heating and thickening of disc galaxies during minor mergers. We produce a suite of minor merger simulations for Milky-Way-like galaxies. This suite consists of collisionless simulations as well as hydrodynamical runs including a gaseous component in the galactic disc. We find that in dissipationless simulations minor mergers cause the scaleheight of the disc to increase by up to a factor of ∼2. When the presence of gas in the disc is taken into account, this thickening is reduced by 25 per cent (50 per cent) for an initial disc gas fraction of 20 per cent (40 per cent), leading to a final scaleheight z0 between 0.6 and 0.7 kpc (for a sech2 profile), regardless of the initial scaleheight. We argue that the presence of gas reduces disc heating via two mechanisms: absorption of kinetic impact energy by the gas and/or formation of a new thin stellar disc that can cause heated stars to recontract towards the disc plane. We show that in our simulations most of the gas is consumed during the merger and thus the regrowth of a new thin disc has a negligible impact on the z0 of the post-merger galaxy. Final disc scaleheights found in our simulations are in good agreement with studies of the vertical structure of spiral galaxies where the majority of the systems are found to have scaleheights of 0.4 ≲z0≲0.8 kpc. We also found no tension between recent measurements of the scaleheight of the Milky Way thin disc and results coming from our hydrodynamical simulations. Even if the Milky Way did experience a recent 1:10 merger it is possible to reproduce the observed thin disc scaleheight, assuming that the disc contained at least 20 per cent gas (similar to the gas fraction today) at the time of the merger. We conclude that the existence of a thin disc in the Milky Way and in external galaxies is not in obvious conflict with the predictions of the cold dark matter model.


This touching story about a young boy coping with his grandfather's disabilityhas long been one of Tomie dePaola's most popular picture books. Now, for the first time, it is available in a larger format, full-color edition perfect for family sharing. Readers of all ages will love to watch Grandpa Bob teach Bobby to walk, and how Bobby returns the favor when Bob has a stroke, all in beautifully rich full color."


»Europa, Laboratorium für A-Demokratie?«. A-democracy is for a given society a state in which, like the apples sold in supermarkets, democracy has now only the appearance of democracy, without the taste (no real practice and effectivity) that should go along with it. This contribution claims that, for the leaders of the neoliberal global market and finance, the searched political solution for its crisis is how to change everything without changing anything. The construction of Europe appears a de facto laboratory for experiments aimed at this objective. For the European Union is using in different fields forms of democracy whose specificity is to imply participants (peoples, actors, organizations, national political elites) in a game in which they control neither the rules, nor the data, the agendas, or the outcomes. The contribution reviews a series of these forms; which describe passages to a-democracy in the current crisis.


The automatic extraction of structural information from music recordings constitutes a central research topic. In this paper, we deal with a subproblem of audio structure analysis called audio thumbnailing with the goal to determine the audio segment that best represents a given music recording. Typically, such a segment has many (approximate) repetitions covering large parts of the recording. As the main technical contribution, we introduce a novel fitness measure that assigns a fitness value to each segment that expresses how much and how well the segment "explains" the repetitive structure of the entire recording. The thumbnail is then defined to be the fitness-maximizing segment. To compute the fitness measure, we describe an optimization scheme that jointly performs two error-prone steps, path extraction and grouping, which are usually performed successively. As a result, our approach is even able to cope with strong musical and acoustic variations that may occur within and across related segments. As a further contribution, we introduce the concept of fitness scape plots that reveal global structural properties of an entire recording. Finally, to show the robustness and practicability of our thumbnailing approach, we present various experiments based on different audio collections that comprise popular music, classical music, and folk song field recordings.


Much political and scientific focus has been on climate change in recent years. What is really unique about climate change, however, is that it has reminded us that there are limits to how much environmental change humans can induce without undermining the basis of our existence and triggered an understanding that local and regional environmental management is not enough. Climate change has taught us that we also need to develop mechanisms for management of resources at the global level. How might this management take place? How would it interact with local and regional management initiatives and what activities in addition to greenhouse gas emissions need to be constrained? The concept of "Planetary Boundaries" has been proposed as a possible framework for developing management of global resources. This framework argues that climate and biodiversity are the two "core" boundaries that must be respected to minimize the risk of human activities leading ultimately to a change in the state of the Earth System. Seven other Earth System processes that all are heavily impacted by human activities are identified. Common to these is the fact that their role in maintaining Earth System state operates through changes in climate and/or biodiversity. In this talk, the framework is presented and discussed in relation to local and regional environmental management initiatives.


Single image 3D reconstruction is an important but challenging task that requires extensive knowledge of our natural world. Many existing methods solve this problem by optimizing a neural radiance field under the guidance of 2D diffusion models but suffer from lengthy optimization time, 3D inconsistency results, and poor geometry. In this work, we propose a novel method that takes a single image of any object as input and generates a full 360-degree 3D textured mesh in a single feed-forward pass. Given a single image, we first use a view-conditioned 2D diffusion model, Zero123, to generate multi-view images for the input view, and then aim to lift them up to 3D space. Since traditional reconstruction methods struggle with inconsistent multi-view predictions, we build our 3D reconstruction module upon an SDF-based generalizable neural surface reconstruction method and propose several critical training strategies to enable the reconstruction of 360-degree meshes. Without costly optimizations, our method reconstructs 3D shapes in significantly less time than existing methods. Moreover, our method favors better geometry, generates more 3D consistent results, and adheres more closely to the input image. We evaluate our approach on both synthetic data and in-the-wild images and demonstrate its superiority in terms of both mesh quality and runtime. In addition, our approach can seamlessly support the text-to-3D task by integrating with off-the-shelf text-to-image diffusion models.


This paper introduces a new method for deriving covariance matrix estimators that are decision-theoretically optimal within a class of nonlinear shrinkage estimators. The key is to employ large-dimensional asymptotics: the matrix dimension and the sample size go to infinity together, with their ratio converging to a finite, nonzero limit. As the main focus, we apply this method to Stein's loss. Compared to the estimator of Stein (1975, 1986), ours has five theoretical advantages: (1) it asymptotically minimizes the loss itself, instead of an estimator of the expected loss; (2) it does not necessitate post-processing via an ad hoc algorithm (called "isotonization") to restore the positivity or the ordering of the covariance matrix eigenvalues; (3) it does not ignore any terms in the function to be minimized; (4) it does not require normality; and (5) it is not limited to applications where the sample size exceeds the dimension. In addition to these theoretical advantages, our estimator also improves upon Stein's estimator in terms of finite-sample performance, as evidenced via extensive Monte Carlo simulations. To further demonstrate the effectiveness of our method, we show that some previously suggested estimators of the covariance matrix and its inverse are decision-theoretically optimal in the large-dimensional asymptotic limit with respect to the Frobenius loss function.


The Hierarchy of Consumer Participation: Knowledge and Proficiency in Telecommunications Decision Making Consumer research reveals a differential receptiveness on the part of consumers to the understanding and use of consumer information and education. Receptiveness to consumer education may vary according to (1) cognition, (2) social background characteristics, (3) occupational grouping, (4) participation in community affairs, (5) level of perception of consumer problems, (6) propensity to complain, and (7) information seeking methods (Bourgeois and Barnes 1976; Wackman and Ward 1976; Wilkie 1976; Hempel and McEwen 1976; Bloom 1976; Thorelli and Engledow 1980; Alder and Pittle 1984; Hyman 1986; Maynes 1988). Similar patterns have been identified for complaint behavior and participation (Hill 1982; Warland, Herrmann and Moore 1984; Hyman 1986, 1987; Miewald and Comer 1986; Kroll and Stampfl 1986; Price, Feick, and Higie 1987; Andreasen 1988). Participation in American society also is not evenly distributed throughout the population. Those who participate in social, economic, and political affairs tend to reflect higher levels of income, education, and age (Verba and Nie 1972). Different patterns of participation have also been identified. Some citizens choose to remain outside, or on the periphery, of decision making. Others become intensely involved. A "hierarchy of political participation" has been identified (Milbrath 1965; Milbrath and Goel 1982). (1) Previous research has tended to be discipline-based and to address specific aspects of either consumer behavior or political participation. This article takes a step toward synthesis by using the logic of the political participation model, and it examines several aspects of consumer decision making and consumer education in a single study. Four different sets of variables--knowledge about a decision area, independence of decision making, use of information, and propensity to influence others--are used to establish a "hierarchy of participation in consumer decision making," and the relationship to social background characteristics and the propensity to be aware of and take action on related consumer problems are examined. Data from an empirical study of mandated consumer decision making in the wake of the deregulation of telecommunications are used as the basis for a model that posits the existence of conceptually and empirically distinct subgroups based on a combination of variables related to proficiency in consumer decision making. CONTEXT AND METHODS Attendant to the deregulation of the telecommunications system in the United States, all consumers were required to make decisions in several areas in the year prior to this study. There was extensive coverage in the media and by consumer groups, regulators, and the telecommunications industry. Informational mailings and decision requests from the utility company went to each household. Thus, it is assumed that consumers had similar opportunities to know about the decision areas (although all consumers would not be expected to avail themselves equally of the opportunities). To the extent possible in a field situation, the time element, information availability, and opportunity to know are held constant. The situation provides a unique opportunity to examine consumer behavior in a quasi-experimental situation where one can make the assumption that everyone had an equivalent opportunity to know and to act, and everyone made a decision in a similar time frame. Data for the analysis are from a 1985 representative statewide sample of residential telephone customers in Pennsylvania, the state with the fourth largest urban and the largest rural population. A telephone "penetration rate" of 97 percent in Pennsylvania means that for present purposes the full range of consumers had an opportunity to be included in the sample. The sample was selected by random digit dialing procedures using the operating ranges of numbers for each local exchange. …


S troke is the second most common cause of death and leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. 1 More than two-thirds of stroke deaths worldwide are in developing countries. 2 Ischemic stroke is by far the most common kind of stroke and accounts for ≈88% of all stroke cases. 3 In China, stroke accounts for 21.6% of total mortality in men and 20.8% of total mortality in women and is an enormous health issue in both rural and urban settings. 4 Smoking is a major public health challenge and an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. China is the largest producer and consumer of cigarettes in the world. Two national surveys showed that the prevalence of smoking in the Chinese population 16 to 69 years of age was 66. has found that smoking might be an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke, and heart rate may play an important role in ischemic stroke development. 13 However, no study has specifically evaluated the cumulative effect of smoking and heart rate on risk of ischemic stroke in an Inner Mongolian population (an ethnic minority in China). Considering the potential interplay between smoking and heart rate, 14 we analyzed the association among smoking, heart rate, and ischemic stroke in a 10-year follow-up study among Inner Mongolians from China. in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in north China. The methods for study participant recruitment and baseline data collection have been described elsewhere. 15 Briefly, study participants ≥20 years of age were recruited from 32 villages in 2 adjacent townships located in the counties of Kezuohou Banner and Naiman Banner in Inner Mongolia. The majority of local residents are Mongolians who Background and Purpose—Smoking is a major public health challenge and an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. No previous studies have evaluated the association among smoking, heart rate, and ischemic stroke in an Inner Mongolian population. We aim to evaluate the cumulative effect of smoking and heart rate on ischemic stroke incidence in this population. Methods—A prospective cohort study from June 2003 through July 2012 was conducted among 2530 people ≥20 years of age from Inner Mongolia, China. We categorized the participants into 4 subgroups according to smoking status and heart rate. Cox proportional hazards models and receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the association among smoking, heart rate, and ischemic stroke. Results—The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of ischemic stroke …


In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate a high-speed free-space reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect architecture employing MEMS-based steering mirror arrays for simple and efficient link selection. A printed-circuit-board (PCB) based interconnect module is developed and 3 × 10 Gb/s reconfigurable card-to-card optical interconnect with a bit-error-rate (BER) of ~10(-6) for up to 30 cm is realized using a 250 μm pitch-size micro-lens array. In addition, due to the usage of MEMS steering-mirrors, larger lenses can be employed at the receiver side for collecting stronger optical signal power to increase the achievable interconnect range or to improve the BER performance. Experimental results show that with 1-mm diameter lenses the interconnect distance can exceed 80 cm.


When we look at a painting hanging on an art gallery wall, we see only what the artist has chosen to disclose--the finished work of art. What remains mysterious is the process of creation itself--the making of the work of art. Everyone who has looked at paintings has wondered about this, and numerous efforts have been made to discover and depict the creative method of important artists. "A Giacometti Portrait "is a picture of one of the century's greatest artists at work.James Lord sat for eighteen days while his friend Alberto Giamcometti did his portrait in oil. The artist painted, and the model recorded the sittings and took photographs of the work in its various stages. What emerged was an illumination of what it is to be an artist and what it was to be Giacometti--a portrait in prose of the man and his art. A work of great literarydistinction, "A Giacometti Portrait "is, above all, a subtle and important evocation of a great artist.


In digital VLSI circuits, perfectly accurate outputs are not always needed. So designers have started to design error tolerance circuits which provide good enough output for computation. On the basis of this fact, error tolerant adder (ETA) is designed which provides a way to achieve good power and speed performance. In this paper, an emerging logic style of circuit design, gate diffusion input (GDI) technique is adopted to design a 32-bit ETA. The proposed design reduces area in terms of area the transistor count to a great extent as well as improves the delay and power performance. Simulation results have shown that proposed design achieves 38% improvement in the Power-Delay-Product when compared to the existing design.


The global climate change issue has experienced a gradual metamorphosis over the past several decades from an issue focused primarily on scientific concerns to one now focusing on selection of mitigation and carbon removal options. A broad range of technological options exist to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases or to capture and dispose of carbon from emissions sources or from the atmosphere. A range of factors need to be considered in choosing appropriate mitigation and disposal options, including how soon each option can be expected to be available, the volume of emissions that could be reduced or offset, the cost, and other technical, social, and political factors. The disposal of carbon dioxide in geological structures appears to be an important option because of the volume of potential disposal sites, permanence of disposal, potential low cost, and the prospect of safely extending the use of cost-effective fossil fuels to allow time for the development of alternatives. We examine some of the technical issues surrounding the geological disposal of carbon dioxide and highlight opportunities for research and development to realize the potential of this valuable option.


Unabated tough-on-crime policies in the United States for the past two decades in response to a crime problem have now produced another crisis: too many prisoners. Prison gates are currently literally being opened to release prisoners in a bid to ameliorate the unsustainable cost of detaining more than two million Americans. More than 40,000 drug offenders may be released early from prison pursuant to retrospective sentence reductions which have been implemented for no greater reason than the prison walls are crumbling from overuse. Sentencing is the sharp end of the criminal law. It is the domain where the State acts in its most coercive manner against citizens. The cardinal interests at stake are too important for it to continue to be dictated by reflexive legislative hunches. Yet, it is the area of law where there is the biggest gap between what is implemented and what theory informs us is achievable. This Article attempts to correct that failing and in the process makes concrete proposals to prevent the United States making another macro-political and social error by over-reacting to the present crisis. Mandatory harsh penalties have caused the incarceration crisis. The solution to the problem involves maintaining the overarching architecture of this approach but fundamentally alerting its content. The core problem with the current approach to sentencing in United States is not its prescriptive nature. It is that the sanctions are generally too severe; devoid of any attempt to match the gravity of the crime to the harshness of the penalty. Proportionality is the missing component in United States sentencing. Drug traffickers, for example, deserve punishment, but any system that treats them as severely as murderers is afflicted with a fundamental doctrinal deformity. This Article proposes a model to remedy such flaws. It gives meaning and content to proportionality. As a result, it is suggested that most non-violent and non-sexual offenses should be dealt with less harshly. This is especially because the cost and burden of imprisonment to the community needs to be factored into the sentencing calculus. Moreover, prison should be principally reserved for offenders who are a threat to public safety; not those whom we simply dislike. This will result in a rapid emptying of many prisons, but it will be principled - not reflexive. To illustrate the manner in which our recommendations should operate we develop a sentencing grid which, if implemented, would make United States sentencing fair, efficient and profoundly less expensive to the taxpayer.


Several approaches used for inpainting of images take advantage of sparse representations. Some of these seek to learn a dictionary that will adapt the sparse representation to the available data. A further refinement is to adapt the learning process to the task itself. In this paper, we formulate a task-driven approach to inpainting as an optimization problem, and derive an algorithm for solving it. We demonstrate via numerical experiments that a purely task-driven approach gives superior results to other dictionary-learning approaches.


Design, implement, and maintain a distributed environment with Oracle Streams Implement Oracle Streams to manage and coordinate the resources, information, and functions of a distributed system Get to grips with in-depth explanations of the components that make up Oracle Streams, and how they work together Learn design considerations that help identify and avoid Oracle Streams obstacles - before you get caught in them Covers implementation steps with explanations of 'why' as well as 'how' In Detail From smaller businesses through to huge enterprises - users all over the world often require access to data 24 hours a day. Distributed database systems proliferate the world of data sharing providing an ability to access real-time data anywhere, anytime. Oracle Streams, a built-in feature of the Oracle database, is a data replication and integration feature critical to the success and wellbeing of enterprises in today's fast moving economy. This book provides the reader with solid techniques to master Oracle Streams technology and successfully deploy distributed database systems. This book quickly goes over the basics and gets you up and running with a simple Oracle 11g Streams environment. It will serve as an excellent companion to the Oracle Streams Administration Guide. It is intended for Oracle database architects and administrators, and provides in-depth discussion on must-know information for the design, implementation, and maintenance of an Oracle Streams environment. The book does not attempt to regurgitate all the information in the Oracle Streams Administration Guides, but rather provides additional clarification and explanation of design, implementation, and troubleshooting concepts that are often elusive in Streams documentation. It also identifies helpful tools and Oracle resources to add to your knowledge base, as well as tried and tested tricks and tips to help you tame Oracle Streams. The book starts by introducing and explaining the components of Oracle Streams and how they work together. It then moves on logically, helping you to determine your distributed environment requirements and design your Streams implementation to meet those requirements. Once these concepts are discussed, the book moves to configuration and basic implementation examples to help solidify those concepts. It then addresses advanced features such as tags, down-stream capture, and conflict resolution. You then move on to maintenance techniques such as documenting the environment, effectively planning and implementing changes to the environment, and monitoring and troubleshooting the environment. When you have studied the techniques and completed the hands-on examples, you will have an understanding of Oracle Streams' core concepts and functionally that will allow you to successfully design, implement, and maintain an Oracle Streamed environment. What you will learn from this book Clear, concise explanations of Oracle Streams components and concepts Up-front design considerations and techniques - know what you need BEFORE you start building Configure both Source and Target databases to support Streams capture, propagation, and apply processes Set up a Single-Source Configuration using the Enterprise manager DB Console to divert flow in one direction and apply its concepts to a multi-master, or N-Way Replication environment configuration Solidify your Streams concepts through basic implementation examples that can then be applied to more complicated systems Learn about popular advanced features of Oracle Streams including Subsetting, Tags, Rules, and Rule based transformations Discover effective and efficient troubleshooting techniques and tools Approach This book has a tutorial approach that provides both theoretical explanations and practical step-by-step examples using familiar Oracle demo schemas. Step-by-step examples include use of both Enterprise Manager and the SQLPLUS command-line interface. The authors have combined their experiences of working with customers in Oracle Support, Oracle training and education, and Oracle consulting, to identify the most common areas of confusion and misinterpretation experienced by Oracle Streams users. This book highlights these areas and focuses on bringing clarity and understanding to the reader. Who this book is written for This book is for users who have implemented, or are about to implement, a distributed database environment using Oracle Streams replication. The reader is expected to have an intermediate understanding of Oracle database technology. This book is mainly intended for use by: Oracle Database Administrators responsible for the implementation and maintenance of an Oracle Streamed environment System and Database Architects responsible for the design of distributed database environments using Oracle Streams Readers with limited knowledge of basic Oracle database technology can benefit from Chapters 1 and 2, which cover Oracle Streams Components and Design Considerations.


Human polyomaviruses are widespread in human populations and are able to cause severe disease in immunocompromised individuals. There remains an incomplete understanding of the potential impact of human genetic variation on inter-individual responses to polyomaviruses. To identify human genetic determinants of the humoral immune response against polyomaviruses, we performed genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses of qualitative and quantitative immunoglobulin G (IgG) responses against the major capsid protein VP1 of Human polyomavirus 6 (HPyV6), BK virus (BKPyV), JC virus (JCPyV), Merkel Cell Polyomavirus (MCPyV) and WU polyomavirus (WUPyV), in a total of 15,660 individuals of European ancestry from CoLaus, UK Biobank and GRAS, three independent studies. We observed significant associations for all tested viruses: JCPyV, HPyV6 and MCPyV associated with HLA class II variation; BKPyV and JCPyV with variants in the FUT2 gene, responsible for secretor status; MCPyV with variants in the STING1 gene, involved in interferon induction; and WUPyV with a functional variant in the MUC1 gene, previously associated with risk for gastric cancer. These results provide insights into the genetic control of a family of very prevalent human viruses, highlighting genes and pathways that play a modulating role in human humoral immunity.


Quine may be taken to use the phrase 'Plato's Beard' to denote a solution to the following problem: How is it possible to speak of that which does not exist, of non-being or as Read has it, to denote a solution to the problem: 'How can a sentence with empty names have meaning?'. Quine writes: Nonbeing must in some sense be, otherwise what is that there is not? This tangled doctrine might be nicknamed Plato's beard; historically it has proved tough, frequently dulling the edge of Occam's razor. To expand. If nonbeing in no sense is, then we cannot ever assert that it is not; yet if it in some sense is, then how can it remain nonbeing? Let us fill out with an example (coined from Quine). If Pegasus in no sense exists, then how can we ever assert that Pegasus does not exist?—yet we may clearly want to assert that Pegasus does not exist and affirm the proposition that it is false that Pegasus exists. If, on the other hand, Pegasus in some sense exists, how may we affirm that he does not? We shall be contradicting ourselves or be guilty of equivocation.


We introduce Multiclass Kernel Projection Machines (MKPM), a new formalism that extends the Kernel Projection Machine framework to the multiclass case. Our formulation is based on the use of output codes and it implements a co-regularization scheme by simultaneously constraining the projection dimensions associated with the individual predictors that constitute the global classifier. In order to solve the optimization problem posed by our formulation, we propose an efficient dynamic programming approach. Numerical simulations conducted on a few pattern recognition problems illustrate the soundness of our approach.


It has been suggested that the release of clathrates rather than expansion of wetlands is the primary cause of the rapid increases observed in the ice-core atmospheric methane record during the Pleistocene. Because submarine sediment failures can involve as much as 5000 Gt of sediment and have the capacity to release vast quantities of methane hydrates, one of the major tests of the clathrate gun hypothesis is determining whether the periods of enhanced continental-slope failure and atmospheric methane correlate. To test the clathrate gun hypothesis, we have collated published dates for submarine sediment failures in the North Atlantic sector and correlated them with climatic change for the past 45 k.y. More than 70% by volume of continental-slope failures during the past 45 k.y. was displaced in two periods, between 15 and 13 ka and between 11 and 8 ka. Both these intervals correlate with rising sea level and peaks in the methane record during the Bolling-Allerod and Preboreal periods. These data support the clathrate gun hypothesis for glacial-interglacial transitions. The data do not, however, support the clathrate gun hypothesis for glacial millennial-scale climate cycles, because the occurrence of sediment failures correlates with Heinrich events, i.e., lows in sea level and atmospheric methane. A secondary use of this data set is the insight into the possible cause of continental-slope failures. Glacial-period slope failures occur mainly in the low latitudes and are associated with lowering sea level. This finding suggests that reduced hydrostatic pressure and the associated destabilization of gas hydrates may be the primary cause. The Bolling-Allerod sediment failures were predominantly low latitude, suggesting an early tropical response to deglaciation, e.g., enhanced precipitation and sediment load to the continental shelf or warming of intermediate waters. In contrast, sediment failures during the Preboreal period and the majority of the Holocene occurred in the high latitudes, suggesting either isostatic rebound–related earthquake activity or reduced hydrostatic pressure caused by isostatic rebound, causing destabilization of gas hydrates.


We investigate the efficiency of incorporation of boranephosphonate-modified nucleotides by phi29 DNA polymerase and present a simple method for forming large defined silver nanostructures by rolling circle amplification (RCA) using boranephosphonate internucleotide linkages. RCA is a linear DNA amplification technique that can use specifically circularized DNA probes for detection of target nucleic acids and proteins. The resulting product is a collapsed single-stranded DNA molecule with tandem repeats of the DNA probe. By substituting each of the natural nucleotides with the corresponding 5'-(α-P-borano)deoxynucleosidetriphosphate, only a small reduction in amplification rate is observed. Also, by substituting all four natural nucleotides, it is possible to enzymatically synthesize a micrometer-sized, single-stranded DNA molecule with only boranephosphonate internucleotide linkages. Well-defined silver particles are then readily formed along the rolling circle product.


Twenty-five percent of teachers were absent from school, and only about half were teaching, during unannounced visits to a nationally representative sample of government primary schools in India. Absence rates varied from 15% in Maharashtra to 42% in Jharkhand, with higher rates concentrated in the poorer states. We do not find that higher pay is associated with lower absence. Older teachers, more educated teachers, and head teachers are all paid more but are also more frequently absent; contract teachers are paid much less than regular teachers but have similar absence rates; and although relative teacher salaries are higher in poorer states, absence rates are also higher. Teacher absence is more correlated with daily incentives to attend work: teachers are less likely to be absent at schools that have been inspected recently, that have better infrastructure, and that are closer to a paved road. We find little evidence that attempting to strengthen local community ties will reduce absence. Teachers from the local area have similar absence rates as teachers from outside the community. Locally controlled nonformal schools have slightly higher absence rates than schools run by the state government. The existence of a PTA is not correlated with lower absence. Private-school teachers are only slightly less likely to be absent than public-school teachers in general, but are 8 percentage points less likely to be absent than public-school teachers in the same village. (JEL: O15, I21, H41, H52)


We experimentally demonstrate a tunable optical correlator to search for multiple patterns among QPSK symbols. We utilize an optical frequency comb to generate the coherent signals and multiplex them coherently in a single PPLN waveguide. Multiple patterns with different lengths are successfully searched within QPSK symbols in a 40-Gb/s signal.


Partial Virtual channel Sharing (PVS) architecture has been proposed to enhance the performance of Networks-on-Chip (NoC) based systems. In this paper, a cluster based processing core protection technique for NoC systems using PVS approach is presented. In case of network level faults, the processing core of faulty node can use any other router in the cluster for transmission or reception of data packets with proposed architecture. Simulation results show significant reduction in average packet latency at the expense of negligible area overhead.


Flipped classroom is a teaching strategy which has been greatly studied and utilized in various types and areas of teaching. Basically, it means that classes start being taught reverse to traditional classes. The teacher or instructor sends contents to students before lectures, adding the fact that students must study the subject matter before attending class. The advantages are clear: the time that each class takes with the teacher and classmates starts being used not to explain the subject, but for more complex questions which may be put only after clear knowledge of the subject. For this teaching strategy to work it is necessary that students do their homework, and that the teacher sends the correct and interesting study materials to students. In a phase of state of emergency-teaching or mixed teaching (presently and distance) caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic, flipped classroom started being much more used, namely in higher education and in areas such as IT. In this article we analyse 78 students of two IT courses, finding what type of students consulted the study materials sent by the teacher before lectures: we compare the characteristics of students, namely gender, age, course, attendance to classes (synchronous distance classes and laboratory classes at the university), as well as final classifications (divided into 4 levels and dropout). Thus, we will get to know for which type of students the effective use of the flipped classroom strategy may cause efficient learning and who are the students who will never do their previous homework. Keywords— Flipped classroom, COVID-19, e-learning, programming fundamentals.


Identifying and mapping suitable nesting habitat within coastal forests is a key element in the recovery and management of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), which is listed as Threatened in Canada. This article reviews the reliability and application of three primary methods used to assess habitat suitability: the BC Model, a GIS-based algorithm using Vegetation Resources Inventory (VRI); air photo interpretation (API), direct assessments from air photos based on forest structure; and low-level aerial surveys (LLAS), helicopter surveys assessing forest canopy structure and the presence of potential nest platforms. In general, LLAS provides the most reliable identification and is the only method of the three that estimates the occurrence of potential nest platforms in the forest canopy. The other two methods, API and the BC Model, are substantially less reliable in identifying habitat actually used by nesting murrelets. Spatial scale and survey intensity affect habitat classification using all three methods. Generally, fine-scale (~3 ha), high-intensity classifications with LLAS and API are more likely to detect suitable habitat at known nest sites than those using medium-scale (10s or 100s ha) and/or low-intensity classifications. Even with fine-scale high-intensity application, 15% and 25% of known nest sites were still classified as "unsuitable" habitat with LLAS and API, respectively. All three methods applied at the medium scale for mapping appeared to miss fine-scale nesting habitat (i.e., small numbers of suitable trees occurring in otherwise unsuitable habitat). Areas of mapped suitable habitat can therefore be adjusted to take this discrepancy into account, and methods to do this are discussed.


This article focuses on the critical importance to consumer protection of the "dynamic duo" of state and private enforcement mechanisms provided in state unfair and deceptive acts or practices (UDAP) statutes. The article begins by chronicling the origins of these state laws, rooted in a cooperative effort between the Federal Trade Commission and state governments in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The two goals of the state laws are: (1) expanding consumer protection enforcement out to states and individuals, and (2) providing consumers with more adequate remedies for relatively small individual injuries from marketplace practices. The evolution of more aggressive state attorney general litigation, such as multi-state lawsuits and suits against large companies, led to some federal/state tensions over the years, but mostly the federal and state consumer protection missions have been in harmony. Private enforcement is also evaluated, including the public benefits of individual or class actions as deterrents to future unfair or deceptive practices, as well as the individual benefits to consumers who can obtain meaningful remedies. The article rebuts criticisms of the private right of action for state UDAP laws, but also endorses some limited judicial and legislative reforms that can both leave consumers adequately protected while shielding businesses from unwarranted litigation. The article concludes that both halves of the "dynamic duo," i.e., state and private enforcement of state UDAP laws, are needed to provide the optimum level of consumer protection. This article has been published at 81 Antitrust Law Journal 911 (2017).


In the present study, a novel catalytic-kinetic spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of trace amounts of copper. It is based on the catalytic effect of Cu(II) on the reduction of brilliant cresyl blue (BCB) by ascorbic acid in pH 5.0 acetate buffer medium. The reaction was monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance of BCB at 624 nm. The operating conditions regarding concentration of reagents, pH, time, and temperature were established and optimized in detail. The working curve was linear in the concentration range of 0.1-5.0 m g L-1. The maximum percentage error and standard deviation for 5 replicate determination of the 3 m g L-1 Cu(II) were 3.20 and 0.45, respectively. The detection limit and quantification limit were 0.025 and 0.086 m g L-1, respectively. The procedure was successfully applied to determination of dissolved copper levels of 3 different natural spring waters and artificially prepared wastewater samples. The accuracy of the proposed kinetic method was tested by means of 5 replicate analyses of the certified standard materials, SRM 1640, based on 2 independent methods.


Why, from the eighteenth century onwards, did some countries embark on a path of sustained economic growth, while others stagnated? This text looks at the kind of institutions that are required in order for change to take place, and Ringmar concludes that for sustained development to be possible, change must be institutionalized. Taking a global view, Ringmar investigates the implications of his conclusion on issues facing the developing world today.