ABSTRACT This study aimed to apply the solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) for isolating the essential oil from the rhizomes of cassumunar ginger and study the kinetic mechanism during the extraction process by light microscopy. A central composite design was employed to evaluate the influence of the key variables including microwave power and irradiation time on the oil recovery. The optimal process conditions of SFME were irradiation of the sample at 700 W for 70 min. Microwave power had the most significant effect on the oil recovery (p < 0.001), followed by irradiation time (p < 0.01). The major volatile constituents in the oil obtained under the optimal conditions were sabinene, terpinen-4-ol, and (E)-1-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl) butadiene with a higher amount of the oxygenated compounds compared to those isolated by a conventional hydrodistillation (HD). Isolating the essential oil by SFME showed a complete extraction with higher plant cell rupture and was quicker than HD.


This paper examines the quantitative importance of temporal aggregation bias in distorting parameter estimates and hypothesis tests. Our strategy is to consider two empirical examples in which temporal aggregation bias has the potential to account for results which are widely viewed as being anomalous from the perspective of particular economic models. Our first example investigates the possibility that temporal aggregation bias can lead to spurious Granger causality relationships. The quantitative importance of this possibility is examined in the context of Granger causal relations between the growth rates of money and various measures of aggregate output. Our second example investigates the possibility that temporal aggregation bias can account for the slow speeds of adjustment typically obtained with stock adjustment models. The quantitative importance of this possibility is examined in the context of a particular class of continuous and discrete time equilibriurn models of inventories and sales. The different models are compared on the basis of the behavioral implications of the estimated values of the structural parameters which we obtain and their overall statistical performance. The empirical results from both examples provide support for the view that temporal aggregation bias can be quantitatively important in the sense of Significantly distorting inference.


DEAR JLT authors, readers, reviewers, and enthusiastic supporters: First of all, I would like to thank you for your continued support to IEEE/OSA JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY (JLT). It has been a little over two years since my last editorial "Raising the Bar for Publication," published in April 2010. Since then, we have been vigilant on the adoption of faster publication cycle and more stringent review criteria to publish papers with high technical quality, noteworthy ground-breaking results and novelty. This effort has paid off with the dedication and hard work of the entire JLT Editorial Board and staff. We are delighted to report that the ISI impact factor for JLT is 2.784 in 2011, significantly increased from the previous two years of 2.22. It is ranked 5th of 78 publications in Telecommunications, 9th of 77 in Optics, and 25th in all of 244 publications in electrical and electronic engineering, including all types and lengths.


American Civil War officer preparation activities were rooted in the broader practices of antebellum military education as applied at West Point, other military academies, and the state militia system. The arrival of black troops in the Union Army led to a radical, if temporary, transformation in the Army's process for the selection and preparation of officers—but only for the white officers who served with black regiments. Overtly political or casual processes of the early Civil War were replaced in many cases by formal examinations and the centralized review of results, operating in parallel with more traditional political patronage systems of appointment. This study uses the experiences of officers from several black infantry regiments, and particularly the 41 U.S. Colored Infantry from the East and the 100 U.S.C.I. from the West, to illustrate how leaders for black units were chosen, prepared, examined, commissioned, and continued their military education. It focuses on the experiences of the officers, along with the contextual environments of antebellum education, slavery, racism, tactics, and bureaucracy in which they served.


Previous studies have shown that the date palm kernel contains plenty of phytochemicals of potential rejuvenation benefits to skin. The aim of this study was to investigate a cream form containing date palm kernel extract (DPKE) on facial wrinkle reduction and objective skin parameters in healthy subjects. A cream form containing 5% DPKE was prepared and applied twice daily for 8 weeks on the facial skin of 43 volunteers. Biophysical measurements including skin hydration, elasticity, and pigmentation as well as optical scanning of skin surface were carried out after 4 and 8 weeks. Significant improvement in facial skin hydration, elasticity, and melanin concentration together with reduction in the wrinkle size and depth were observed at the two time points of measurements. In addition, DPKE cream was extremely well tolerated by the facial skin of study participants. The work herein demonstrates and validates the use of cream form containing 5% DPKE over placebo against fine lines and wrinkles, skin pigmentations, skin hydration, and elasticity. This effect may be attributed to synergism of major phytochemicals and phytosterols present in DPKE.


We examined whether the multikinase inhibitor sorafenib and histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACI) interact to kill pancreatic carcinoma cells and determined the impact of inhibiting BCL-2 family function on sorafenib and HDACI lethality. The lethality of sorafenib was enhanced in pancreatic tumor cells in a synergistic fashion by pharmacologically achievable concentrations of the HDACIs vorinostat or sodium valproate. Overexpression of cellular FLICE-like inhibitory protein (c-FLIP-s) or knockdown of CD95 suppressed the lethality of the sorafenib/HDACI combination (sorafenib + HDACI). In immunohistochemical analyses or using expression of fluorescence-tagged proteins, treatment with sorafenib and vorinostat together (sorafenib + vorinostat) promoted colocalization of CD95 with caspase 8 and CD95 association with the endoplasmic reticulum markers calnexin, ATG5, and Grp78/BiP. In cells lacking CD95 expression or in cells expressing c-FLIP-s, the lethality of sorafenib + HDACI exposure was abolished and was restored when cells were coexposed to BCL-2 family inhibitors [ethyl [2-amino-6-bromo-4-(1-cyano-2-ethoxy-2-oxoethyl)]-4H-chromene-3-carboxylate (HA14-1), obatoclax (GX15-070)]. Knockdown of BCL-2, BCL-XL, and MCL-1 recapitulated the effects of GX15-070 treatment. Knockdown of BAX and BAK modestly reduced sorafenib + HDACI lethality but abolished the effects of GX15-070 treatment. Sorafenib + HDACI exposure generated a CD95- and Beclin1-dependent protective form of autophagy, whereas GX15-070 treatment generated a Beclin1-dependent toxic form of autophagy. The potentiation of sorafenib + HDACI killing by GX15-070 was suppressed by knockdown of Beclin1 or of BAX + BAK. Our data demonstrate that pancreatic tumor cells are susceptible to sorafenib + HDACI lethality and that in tumor cells unable to signal death from CD95, use of a BCL-2 family antagonist facilitates sorafenib + HDACI killing via autophagy and the intrinsic pathway.


The activity-dependent remodeling of synapses that involves new gene expression is believed to be important for long-lasting forms of synaptic modification. Synaptic remodeling after plasticity induction involves the dismantling and reorganization of key cytoskeletal and scaffolding protein complexes. Pak and Sheng (see the Perspective by Meyer and Brose) investigated an important element of the signaling cascade that couples electrical activity to changes in dendritic spine morphology. An activity-inducible kinase, SNK, moves to synaptic spines and causes the phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of SPAR, a key protein in the postsynaptic density. This loss of SPAR then leads to the dismantling of dendritic spines. D. T. S. Pak, M. Sheng, Targeted protein degradation and synapse remodeling by an inducible protein kinase. Science 302, 1368-1373 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text] G. Meyer, N. Brose, SPARring with spines. Science 302, 1341-1344 (2003). [Summary] [Full Text]


Objective To evaluate the proportion of patients hospitalised with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in Australia and New Zealand who received optimal inpatient preventive care and to identify factors associated with preventive care. Methods All patients hospitalised bi-nationally with ACS were identified between 14–27 May 2012. Optimal in-hospital preventive care was defined as having received lifestyle advice, referral to rehabilitation, and prescription of secondary prevention pharmacotherapies. Multilevel multivariable logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with receipt of optimal preventive care. Results For the 2299 ACS survivors, mean (SD) age was 69 (13) years, 46% were referred to rehabilitation, 65% were discharged on sufficient preventive medications, and 27% received optimal preventive care. Diagnosis of ST elevation myocardial infarction (OR: 2.64 [95% CI: 1.88–3.71]; p<0.001) and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (OR: 1.99 [95% CI: 1.52–2.61]; p<0.001) compared with a diagnosis of unstable angina, having a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (OR: 4.71 [95% CI: 3.67–6.11]; p<0.001) or coronary bypass (OR: 2.10 [95% CI: 1.21–3.60]; p=0.011) during the admission or history of hypertension (OR:1.36 [95% CI: 1.06–1.75]; p=0.017) were associated with greater exposure to preventive care. Age over 70 years (OR:0.53 [95% CI: 0.35–0.79]; p=0.002) or admission to a private hospital (OR:0.59 [95% CI: 0.42–0.84]; p=0.003) were associated with lower exposure to preventive care. Conclusions Only one-quarter of ACS patients received optimal secondary prevention in-hospital. Patients with UA, who did not have PCI, were over 70 years or were admitted to a private hospital, were less likely to receive optimal care.


Money and payments are familiar to everybody. Economists however are often at a loss in assessing the extent to which money matters. As a matter of fact, money is at the origin of the main cleavage in economic theory. Beyond sophisticated models what is at stake is whether money is just an appearance which hides the essence of economic life (value and happiness of people) or, on the contrary, the very substance of economic relations, not limited to exchanges, in which power and sovereignty are ever present. In a first part, the author shows how fragile and shaky are the attempts made by value theoreticians to integrate money into their analysis. In a second part, he develops a rigorous alternative theory by giving strong logical foundations to a monetary analysis in the spirit of Keynes. Many important economic phenomena left unexplained by academic theory are accounted for (involuntary equilibrium unemployment), a new method in dynamics is resorted to (viability theory) and various economic relations are elucidated which are not reducible to exchange, the only one dealt with by academic theoreticians. This is the case of the wage relationship. Although written in view of an audience acquainted with economic theory, this book can be read nevertheless by a larger circle since the technicalities have been reduced to what is strictly necessary to understand what is at stake.


While Google is known primarily as a search engine, it has increasingly developed and promoted its own content as an alternative to results from other websites. By prominently displaying Google content in response to search queries, Google is able to use its dominance in search to gain customers for this content. This may reduce consumer welfare if the internal content is inferior to organic search results. In this paper, we provide a legal and empirical analysis of this practice in the domain of online reviews. We first identify the conditions under which universal search would be considered anticompetitive. We then empirically investigate the impact of this practice on consumer welfare. To investigate, we implement a randomized controlled trial in which we vary the search results that subjects are shown - comparing Google's current policy of favorable treatment of Google content to results in which external content is displayed. We find that users are roughly 40% more likely to engage with universal search results (which receive favored placement) when the results are organically determined relative to when they contain only Google content. To shed further light on the underlying mechanisms, we show that users are more likely to engage with the OneBox when there are more reviews, holding content constant. This suggests that Google is reducing consumer welfare by excluding reviews from other platforms in the OneBox.


This paper discusses the measurement of the dynamic centre of pressure (CoP) of a brake pad during a normal braking event using a modified 12-piston opposed calliper. The modifications allow the centre of pressure to be controlled both radially and along the length of the pad, inducing a leading or trailing centre of pressure as desired. The technique is unique in its design and implementation. Both the centre of pressures of the in-board and out-board pads are recorded simultaneously with varying pressures and speeds. The results, which include pressure and force maps, show the position of the centre of pressure to vary considerably during a braking event, both radially and axially along the pad. The CoP offset is related to the calliper mounting geometry which is subsequently compared to the effective "spragging angle" and the generation of brake noise. It is seen that by inducing a leading offset noise may be generated and subsequently eliminated if a trailing centre is then induced. The results suggest that by careful selection of the backplate abutment friction level the CoP may be controlled to always fall within the "stable envelope" region and so resist noise generation.


The central issue that I consider in this paper is the use of the so-called 'Rule of Rescue' in the context of resource allocation. This 'Rule' has played an important role in resource allocation decisions in various parts of the world. It was invoked in Ontario to overturn a decision not to fund treatment for Gaucher's Disease and it has also been used to justify resource decisions in Israel concerning the same condition.

 In the paper I consider the nature of the Rule of Rescue and its moral justification. The latter involves consideration of the distinction between agent-relative and agent-neutral obligations. If the Rule of Rescue is to be justified, it is plausible to think that it will be in the context of agent-relative obligations. Two problems with this suggestion are considered: the role of identifiability in the Rule of Rescue and the extent to which policy makers in a health care system can be taken to have such obligations. It is argued that in both cases these problems can be overcome and hence that there is a prima facie obligation to follow the Rule of Rescue.


The field of mobile broadband in wireless communication systems is increasingly facing the challenges of the provision of high data rates, improved seamless connectivity and broadband internet services. UMTS/WCDMDA which is a third generation wireless mobile cellular technology has been adopted in most parts of the world and now undergoing a phase of evolution and will be emerged soon as LTE. On the other hand, WiMAX which is also some times called as fourth generation mobile broadband technology is likely to be accepted in many places. With higher data rates for transmission, adaptive modulation and coding, OFDMA based physical layer and a very flexible architecture, WiMAX appears to be suppressing UMTS soon. However, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of 3G or UMTS is likely to compete the WiMAX both technically and economically. This research provides a comparative interpretation of architecture, salient features, robustness, physical layer, mobility, capacity and coverage aspects of the both UMTS/WCDMA and WiMAX broadband technologies. It also explains the error probabilities in transmission for modulation techniques employed in both technologies. MATLAB simulations are provided in the simulation part of this report to further elaborate the differences in the two technologies in some respects. Simulation results show that the more suitability and effectively of performance for WiMAX. This research helps developing a better understanding for operators and users to make a choice in preferring any of the technologies regarding different features. Based on the study and simulation results of the key features related to capacity and fading of both technologies, we investigate the more suitability of any of the two technologies in terms of better quality and lower error rate in all IP environments.


Multiple Unit Pellet Systems, widely known as MUPS, are tablets consisting of spherical, granular subunits (pellets). Thanks to their prompt disintegration into the single subunits immediately after administration, they transit shortly in stomach and promptly disperse across the huge surface area of the small intestine stabilizing the overall bioavailability and reducing the risk of dose dumping and local irritations. If until two decades ago pellets were exclusively filled into hard gelatine capsules, they represent nowadays the ideal subunits for multiparticulate tablets. In fact, MUPS present all the advantages of the production of tablets compared to capsules: lower production costs, higher production rates, reduced risk of tampering, lower tendency of adhering to oesophagus during swallowing and better patient compliance. Despite this, the compaction of pellets into tablets is a complex technology: MUPS must be robust enough but still disintegrate into their subunits within short time, and, not less importantly, they should retain the dissolution profile of the original subunits. At this scope, the pellets should undergo a soft compaction, without breakage of the pellet coating layer nor formation of matrix tablets. Such ideal MUPS may be strived optimizing the proportions between three crucial factors: the pellet cores, the coating materials and the embedding excipients. Not many studies have focused so far on the simultaneous optimization of these three variables. Cellulose, and in particular microcrystalline cellulose, is one of the major excipients in solid dosage formulations. It presents four polymorphic forms, out of which the form I and II have pharmaceutical relevance. The form I, which behaves plastically when compressed, is extremely widespread as a filler-binder for MUPS. Unfortunately, it does not possess prevalent disintegration properties, so that a disintegrant must be added if prompt disintegration is strived. Kumar et al. developed a new Cellulose II pharmaceutical aid named UICEL-A/102 through alkali treatment of Avicel PH 102 and successive hydrolysis with ethanol and oven dry. So far, UICEL-A/102 has been extensively studied as potential multifunctional excipients (filler and disintegrant) in tablet formulations, whereas its employing as a multifunctional excipient in MUPS has been not yet investigated. The aim of this study was on the one hand the multifactorial investigation of crucial parameters involved in the compaction of pellets into MUPS, on the other hand the evaluation of the suitability of UICEL-A/102 as filler in two different kind of pellets formulations for MUPS (homogeeous pellets from direct pelletization, inhomogeneous pellets from dry powder layering). In the end, a robust technology for UICEL-A/102 MUPS production was suggested and discussed. To this scope, MCC 102 (Cellulose I) and UICEL-A/102 (Cellulose II) were compared as pellet filler and embedding excipients in MUPS for controlled release. In the first part of the study, MCC 102 and UICEL-A/102 were separately mixed with Sodium Diclofenac, directly pelletized, coated with Kollicoat® SR 30 D to 20% w/w weigth gain and compacted into MUPS. In the second part of the study, a binary mixture of MCC 102 or UICEL-A/102 and Sodium Diclofenac was layered on neutral cores (Suglets® or Cellets®), in order to produce inhomogeneous pellets by means of dry powder layering technology. These pellets were then coated and compacted into MUPS according to the same procedure employed for the previous pellet batches. In the case of homogeneous pellets of either MCC 102 or UICEL-A/102, the MUPS formulations overcame compaction deformed rather than ruptured, as proved by comparison between the dissolution profiles and the SEM and CLSM images before and after compaction. Both MCC 102 and UICEL-A/102 MUPS resulted to be mechanically robust (crushing strength of 70-100 N), fast disintegrating in water (≤ 3 min) and maintained the same release profile and almost the same superficial and inner morphology of their uncompressed subunits. Compared with MCC pellets, UICEL-A/102 pellets proved to be generally less spherical and more porous. Nonetheless, they could be homogenously coated and also retained their dissolution profile after compaction into MUPS. The fact that UICEL-A/102 pellets and MUPS presented shorter dissolution times than their MCC counterparts is to ascribe to the prevalent swelling properties of UICEL-A/102. In fact, UICEL-A/102 contained in pellets sped up their dissolution independently of the amount and homogeneity of their coating layer. The multifactorial evaluation of selected parameters (drug loading amount in pellets, type and quantity of filler in pellets, type of disintegrant in MUPS) on response variables (disintegration and dissolution time) brought to an interesting conclusion: UICEL-A/102 was on the one hand favourable filler and disintegrant for immediate disintegration, on the other hand it proved to be unsuited as filler in pellets for extended release. MCC 102 MUPS, conversely, were appropriately delayed formulations, mainly due to retention of their subunits characteristics. In the case of inhomogeneous pellets, only UICEL-A/102 pellets proved to be favourable subunits; in fact, MUPS made of UICEL-A/102 pellet featured pretty good robustness (crushing strength of 90-120 N) and rapid disintegration (disintegration time ≤ 12 min), whereas MUPS made of MCC 102 were too compact (200-300 N) and did not disintegrate before 50 min. This dichotomy was put in relation with the fact that UICEL-A/102 coated and uncoated pellets were less compact and more porous than their MCC 102 counterparts. In addition, the choice of Cellets® rather than Suglets® as basic neutral cores in dry powder layering had a significant impact on the characteristics of UICEL-A/102 MUPS. In fact, UICEL-A/102 MUPS whose subunits had Cellets® cores retained the release profile of their uncompressed subunits more then their counterparts having Suglets® as subunit cores. This suggests that subunits with a MCC core contributed significantly to the softness of the compaction, this difference being associable with a plastic behaviour of Cellets® in contrast with the rather elastic behaviour of Suglets® during compaction. On the one hand, it can be claimed that dry powder layering produced UICEL-A/102 pellets with less prevalent disintegration properties, which were therefore more suitable for controlled release MUPS. On the other hand, the presence of a hard core in those pellets favored the partial rupture of their coating layer during compaction, resulting in a faster drug release after compaction, especially in the case of Suglets® as non pareils. Actually, the pellets produced via dry powder layering contained proportionally less UICELA/102 than their homologous prepared via direct pelletization (20% vs. 60% w/w). This means that the use of UICEL-A/102 as unique multifunctional excipients is rather suggested in pellets and MUPS for immediate release, while its employing as layering excipients on neutral core is very promising in the development of MUPS for extended release.


The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations have become the centre of debate in EU trade policy, where the European Commission and civil society organizations are key actors. This article argues that a key reason why TTIP has become so controversial has to do with the nature of the arguments used by each side. The main arguments in favour of TTIP emphasize the economic and geostrategic benefits. The main criticisms of TTIP focus on its alleged negative impact on product safety and public policies. Identifying the foundational assumption(s) behind these arguments, we show that this debate is special because opponents and supporters' premises emerge from assumptions based on different perspectives: while opponents assume that the EU will succumb to neoliberal American preferences, supporters focus on the US-EU combined market power vis-à-vis third countries. Since these assumptions do not necessarily contradict each other, the debate is less whether benefits outweigh costs and more whether such costs are probable, leaving the supporters with a defensive position. This is an important distinction in explaining why opponents dominate the public debate. Our findings also indicate, however, that opponents' thesis has been successful because the US is the partner; such public mobilization is less probable on other trade agreements.


In the paper we present applications of a qualitative multi-attribute modelling method DEX for decision support about the introduction and use of geneticallymodified organisms (GMO) for food and feed. In three 5th and 6th Framework Programme European projects, we have developed a number of models, of which we present three: the »Grignon« model for the assessment of ecological and economic impacts of GMO, ESQI model for the assessment of soil quality, and SMAC model for the assessment of co-existence of conventional and GMO maize. We also mention a decision support system developed within the project Co-Extra. In the second part, we assess the achieved results and describe our lessons learned during the model development.


Human embryonic stem cells have unique regenerative properties and the ability to develop into a variety of different cell types. Based on these properties, stem cell research is considered a promising biomedical field for the development of cell-based therapies to treat diseases. It is also a highly contentious field because these cells are derived from human embryos. The United States, unlike the European Union, does not have a moral component to the patent grant process and has granted several stem cell patents. This Note examines the intersection of these broad patents and U.S. policies limiting stem cell research funding and highlights their deleterious effects on the progress of human embryonic stem cell research. This Note also evaluates the feasibility of incorporating ethical criteria, as used in the European Union, for U.S. patent grants and concludes that uniform moral standards would be impossible to determine and effectuate for this process.


The set of interrelated morphological and morphometric indexes connected with crown architectonics, on the one hand, and the photosynthetic activity of leaf apparatus on the other, are suggested to assess and compare the potential productivity of varieties of stone fruit cultures. The computational procedure to formalize a kind (method of mathematical representations) of features, which are comparing, are substantiated and described. This procedure makes it possible to improve informational value of these features. The evaluation was conducted on the micro-level by using the criterion D, which reflects the efficiency of photosynthesis systems. This index is calculated after measuring fluorescence irradiation intensity induced by photosystems I and II. At the same time, the work productivity of leaf apparatus is evaluated on the organism level (by assessing fruit-bearing). The following normalized (related to the crown volume unit or the leaf square unit) indexes are used as evaluative criteria: the density of pacing by generative elements, the saturation of a crown by leaf surfaces, the biomass of fruits and leaves and, also, some derivatives of these: the index of efficiency of utilization of solar radiation quantums by leaves (Dn), the coefficient of the productive work of leaf surfaces on harvest formation (КПРЛ in Russian transcription), the index of productive work of the crown volume (ИПОК in Russian transcription), etc. It has been shown that high harvests of the studied cultivars are obtained when optimal values of offered are achieved.


This paper considers the estimation of the stress-strength parameter, say R, based on two independent Type-I progressively hybrid censored samples from exponential populations with different parameters. The maximum likelihood estimator and asymptotic confidence interval for R are obtained. Bayes estimator of R is also derived under the assumption of independent gamma priors. A Monte Carlo simulation study is used to evaluate the performance of maximum likelihood estimator, Bayes estimator and asymptotic confidence interval. Finally, a pair of real data sets is analyzed for illustrative purposes.


By violence, we understand the actions that an individual or a group of individuals committed with the purpose of causing harm to others or their property. In this conceptual scope of violence, we highlight the role of the attacks in the environment of football, where certain groups of fans —rather than acting as passive observers of the game— profane the statism of the viewer to manifest violent behaviors; we refer in particular to the hooligans or the ultras. This exploratory study presents the results of a survey of the fans of LDU Quito (Ecuador), a team that is considered the second with most supporters of the country. The results show that, despite the prohibitions, about four in ten fans consume alcohol before or during games. Also, a review or complaint of the sense of insecurity in the minds of the fans of this reference Ecuadorian football team, a conclusion that is provided without seeking its generalization is made, but that could serve as a starting point for further research.


Awareness to the security risks of wireless computer networks is very much important in today era. Here a discussion on Wireless Network Security Position provides some general information on wireless networks and wireless network security. This gives detail information for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) using IEEE 802.11. An organizations who are planning to use wireless networked computing devices in their systems and implement wireless networks System and network administrators who administer, here it is assumed that each users have at least some operating system, networking, and security expertise. Because of the constantly changing nature of the wireless security industry and the threats and vulnerabilities to these technologies, it is strongly encouraged to take advantage of other resources for more current and detailed information. Wireless network is required to be secured enough from the outer attacks (intruders / hackers) and it should be capable to secure the information in this network. Keywords— Wireless network, Adhoc network, Adhoc mode, Infrastructure mode, wired equivalent privacy (WAP), WLAN, SSID


Conventional automatic speech recognition (ASR) based on a hidden Markov model (HMM)/deep neural network (DNN) is a very complicated system consisting of various modules such as acoustic, lexicon, and language models. It also requires linguistic resources, such as a pronunciation dictionary, tokenization, and phonetic context-dependency trees. On the other hand, end-to-end ASR has become a popular alternative to greatly simplify the model-building process of conventional ASR systems by representing complicated modules with a single deep network architecture, and by replacing the use of linguistic resources with a data-driven learning method. There are two major types of end-to-end architectures for ASR; attention-based methods use an attention mechanism to perform alignment between acoustic frames and recognized symbols, and connectionist temporal classification (CTC) uses Markov assumptions to efficiently solve sequential problems by dynamic programming. This paper proposes hybrid CTC/attention end-to-end ASR, which effectively utilizes the advantages of both architectures in training and decoding. During training, we employ the multiobjective learning framework to improve robustness and achieve fast convergence. During decoding, we perform joint decoding by combining both attention-based and CTC scores in a one-pass beam search algorithm to further eliminate irregular alignments. Experiments with English (WSJ and CHiME-4) tasks demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multiobjective learning over both the CTC and attention-based encoder–decoder baselines. Moreover, the proposed method is applied to two large-scale ASR benchmarks (spontaneous Japanese and Mandarin Chinese), and exhibits performance that is comparable to conventional DNN/HMM ASR systems based on the advantages of both multiobjective learning and joint decoding without linguistic resources.


During the last two decades, a large number of books have been published which present a general overview of South African history. In this article, these books are compared with equivalent publications on American, British, Dutch, French and German history with regard to the position of cultural history in these texts. The comparison involves a brief survey of the number of books published, the length of these books and the relation between the treatment of events and the treatment of structures, conditions and long-term developments. The space alloted to cultural history in general surveys is determined in relation to political, economic and social history. It is concluded that less than a third of the texts consulted include sections or chapters on cultural history. While there are some general historical overviews available on the USA and the European countries which deal with cultural history, no overviews on South African history have been published which pay any attention to cultural history.


The gut microbiome is an established regulator of aspects of host metabolism, such as glucose handling. Despite the known impacts of the gut microbiota on host glucose homeostasis, the underlying mechanisms are unknown. The gut microbiome is also a potent mediator of gut-derived serotonin synthesis, and this peripheral source of serotonin is itself a regulator of glucose homeostasis. Here, we determined whether the gut microbiome influences glucose homeostasis through effects on gut-derived serotonin. Using both pharmacological inhibition and genetic deletion of gut-derived serotonin synthesis, we find that the improvements in host glucose handling caused by antibiotic-induced changes in microbiota composition are dependent on the synthesis of peripheral serotonin.


In 2016, the Main Editors of Dialogic Pedagogy Journal issued a call for papers and contributions to a wide range of dialogic pedagogy scholars and practitioners. One of the scholars who responded to our call is famous American educator Ira Shor, a professor at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. Shor has been influenced by Paulo Freire with whom he published, among other books, "A Pedagogy for Liberation" (1986), the very first "talking book" Freire did with a collaborator. His work in education is about empowering and liberating practice, which is why it has become a central feature of critical pedagogy. Shor's work has touched on themes that resonate with Dialogic Pedagogy (DP). He emphasises the importance of students becoming empowered by ensuring that their experiences are brought to bear. We were excited when Shor responded to our call for papers with an interesting proposal: an interview that could be published in DPJ, and we enthusiastically accepted his offer. The DPJ Main Editors contacted the DPJ community members and asked them to submit questions for Ira. The result is an exciting in-depth interview with him that revolved around six topics: (1) Social Justice; (2) Dialogism; (3) Democratic Higher Education; (4) Critical Literacy versus Traditional Literacy; (5) Paulo Freire and Critical Pedagogy; and (6) Language and Thought. Following the interview, we reflect on complimentary themes and tensions that emerge between Shor's approach to critical pedagogy and DP.


The RTP Control Protocol (RTCP) Canonical Name (CNAME) is a persistent
transport-level identifier for an RTP endpoint. While the
Synchronization Source (SSRC) identifier of an RTP endpoint may change
if a collision is detected or when the RTP application is restarted,
its RTCP CNAME is meant to stay unchanged, so that RTP endpoints can
be uniquely identified and associated with their RTP media streams.
For proper functionality, RTCP CNAMEs should be unique within the
participants of an RTP session. However, the existing guidelines for
choosing the RTCP CNAME provided in the RTP standard (RFC 3550) are
insufficient to achieve this uniqueness. RFC 6222 was published to
update those guidelines to allow endpoints to choose unique RTCP
CNAMEs. Unfortunately, later investigations showed that some parts of
the new algorithms were unnecessarily complicated and/or ineffective.
This document addresses these concerns and replaces RFC 6222.


Optical Coherence Tomography is a new, non-destructive method based on low coherence interferometry that can identify different layers of a sample with high speed. In this article, we present a method based on spectral domain optical coherence tomography with visible light source that can measure group refractive index and thickness of multilayer samples simultaneously with 1 micrometer axial resolution. The results obtained uncertainties in the second decimal place for index value and thickness accurate to within 1 micrometer.


Background High levels of intramuscular adipose tissue and low levels of capillarization are both predicative of low muscle and mobility function in older adults, however little is known about their relationship. Objectives The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of intramuscular adipose tissue and capillarization in older adults. Setting An outpatient medical center. Participants Forty-seven sedentary adults (age 59.9 ± 1.0 years, BMI 32.0 ± 0.7 kg/m 2 , VO 2max 22.4 ± 0.7 ml/kg/min) Measurements All participants underwent CT scans to determine intramuscular adipose tissue and muscle biopsies to determine capillarization in the mid-thigh. A step-wise hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to examine the contributions of age, sex, race, body mass index, 2-hour postprandial glucose, VO 2max , and muscle capillarization, to the variability in intramuscular adipose tissue. Results The predictors as a group accounted for 38.1% of the variance in intramuscular adipose tissue, with body mass index and capillarization each significantly contributing to the final model (P<0.001). The part correlation of body mass index with intramuscular adipose tissue was r = 0.47, and the part correlation of capillarization with intramuscular adipose tissue was r = 0.39, indicating that body mass index and capillarization explained 22.1%, and 15.2% of the variance in intramuscular adipose tissue. Conclusions While increased muscle capillarization is typically thought of as a positive development, in some clinical conditions, such as tendinopathies, an increase in capillarization is part of the pathological process related to expansion of the extracellular matrix and fibrosis. This may also be an explanation for the surprising finding that high capillarization is related to high levels of intramuscular adipose tissue. Future studies are necessary to determine the relationship of changes in both capillarization and intramuscular adipose tissue after interventions, such as exercise.


NOD/Lt mice harboring a hybrid rat insulin-promoter/SV40 large T-antigen gene spontaneously develop β-cell adenomas. NIT-1 is a pancreatic β-cell line established from one of these transgenic mice. Immunocytochemical staining of passage 18 cells showed most contained insulin, with <5% containing glucagon, and none containing pancreatic polypeptide or somatostatin. Glucagon content radioimmunoassayed in cell extracts was only 0.27% of the insulin content. Two-hour insulin secretion at 16.5 mM glucose was 638 ng/106 cells (41% of intracellular content) compared to only 1.3 ng glucagon (32% of intracellular content). Stimulated insulin secretion was consistently observed in response to 11 and 16.5 mM glucose between passages 11 and 19. At passage 19, both theophylline and tolbutamide stimulated insulin secretion at 5.5 mM glucose. Northern-blot analysis confirmed high levels of insulin mRNA but only trace glucagon mRNA and undetectable somatostatin mRNA. Interferon-γ (IFN-β)–induced MHC class I RNA expression was correlated with markedly increased antigen expression at the cell surface. Similarly, a MHC-linked "occult" class I–like antigen detected by Cr release assay only after exposure of standard NOD/Lt islet cells to IFN-γ was strongly induced by IFN-γ in NIT-1 cells. Cell surface MHC class II antigen was not constitutively expressed on NIT-1 cells and could not be detected after IFN-γ incubation, despite demonstration of IFN-β-induced Aa, Ab, and li invariant-chain RNA transcripts. Similarly IFN-γ induction of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (Icam-1) transcripts was not accompanied by demonstrable cell surface expression of ICAM-1 antigen. NIT-1 cells exhibited ultrastructural features typical of differentiated mouse β-cells, including numerous p-granules. An unusual finding was that NIT-1 cells were shedding mature type C retrovirus from their surfaces. Because this cell line represents a source of immortalized NOD β-cell genome, it will be useful for a wide variety of studies dealing with β-cell antigens.


Abstract The West Greenland/Baffin Island Tertiary volcanic province differs from other CFB provinces in containing an unusually high proportion (30–50% by volume) of magnesian picritic lavas and hyaloclastites. Olivine-liquid equilibrium considerations suggest the presence during the earlier stages of eruption of picritic melts with MgO contents as high as 20%. Calculations based on McKenzie-Bickle melting models point to high degrees of melting (24–30%) at depths of 60–90 km in the underlying mantle, and require potential temperatures of 1540–1600°C. Such high potential temperatures are inconsistent with reconstructions that attribute the West Greenland volcanism to melting on the margins of the incipient Iceland plume-head. The distribution of Tertiary volcanic activity in Greenland, in particular its relation to Mesozoic-Tertiary extensional basins, indicates that lithospheric structure plays a part in determining where the plume-head can undergo melting. But to explain the restriction of high-temperature picrites to West Greenland, together with their distinctive trace element geochemistry, it is necessary to invoke (a) either an elongated Icelandic plume initially extending as far as West Greenland or a short-lived precursory plume head that developed directly beneath West Greenland, and (b) an active extensional regime that allowed rapid access of picritic melts to the surface.


The ability to interactively edit BRDFs in their final placement within a computer graphics scene is vital to making informed choices for material properties. We significantly extend previous work on BRDF editing for static scenes (with fixed lighting and view) by developing a precomputed polynomial representation that enables interactive BRDF editing with global illumination. Unlike previous precomputation-based rendering techniques, the image is not linear in the BRDF when considering interreflections. We introduce a framework for precomputing a multibounce tensor of polynomial coefficients that encapsulates the nonlinear nature of the task. Significant reductions in complexity are achieved by leveraging the low-frequency nature of indirect light. We use a high-quality representation for the BRDFs at the first bounce from the eye and lower-frequency (often diffuse) versions for further bounces. This approximation correctly captures the general global illumination in a scene, including color-bleeding, near-field object reflections, and even caustics. We adapt Monte Carlo path tracing for precomputing the tensor of coefficients for BRDF basis functions. At runtime, the high-dimensional tensors can be reduced to a simple dot product at each pixel for rendering. We present a number of examples of editing BRDFs in complex scenes with interactive feedback rendered with global illumination.


In its flagship report 'World in Transition – A Social Contract for Sustainability', the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) spells out the urgent need for, and the benefits of, a transformation towards sustainability. With reference to the example of climate change, the WBGU demonstrates that this transformation is technically feasible and that sufficient financial resources can be mobilised. The prerequisite is a new social contract which combines responsibility towards future generations with a culture of democratic participation.


[Political representation] is the basis of modern representative democracy. Older and less sophisticated forms, such as direct democracy, subsist marginally, even if they keep exerting a certain attraction. But representative democracy does not carry the self-evident authority it once had. Like every modern institution it is under challenge and consequently needs to be defended. In actual politics, the defence often takes the form of discussion of the merits of one system over the other and of proposals for change. The part of this defence appertaining to constitutional scholarship is not concerned primarily with proposals and changes. It is, before all, to brush up the fundamentals underlying representative democracy, on the basis of topical issues. There are three current issues upon which we would like to draw attention. They are: equality in structuring electoral systems, the processes of electoral reform and the rise of non-majoritarian institutions versus parliamentary democracy.


The bacteriological quality of fura sold in Wukari metropolis was evaluated. A total of nine samples, three from each of the wards (Puje, Avyi, and Hospital) and laboratory prepared sample (control) were evaluated for bacteria load and the presence of bacteria using standard microbiological techniques. Results show that the pH in water of all the samples is within the acidic range of 4.10 to 4.56. The bacteria loads of the laboratory prepared fura showed a total count of 1.62 × 106 cfu/g, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) count of 1.04 × 106 cfu/g, coliform and staphylococcal count of 1.2 × 102 cfu/g and 1.3 × 102 cfu/g respectively. The total bacteria count of the commercial fura samples ranged from 1.94 × 107 cfu/g to 2.44 x 107 cfu/g. The total lactic acid bacteria count ranged from 2.36 × 104 cfu/g to 1.52 × 106 cfu/g. Total coliform count ranged from 1.06 × 106 cfu/g to 1.84 × 107 cfu/g while the total staphylococcal count ranged from 2.0 × 106 cfu/g to 1.02 x 107 cfu/g. Bacteria isolated from the various samples and their occurrences show that Lactobacillus species and Leuconostoc species were highest (100%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus species (90%), Klebsiella species (70%) and then Proteus species (40%). Bacillus species and Pseudomonas species had (30%) of occurrence each while Escherichia coli and Streptococcus species were the least with (20%) occurrence each. The high bacteria count and the presence of potential pathogenic bacteria in some of the samples is an indication that the fura samples were contaminated and this can potentially pose health hazard to the consumers. Hence the need for public enlightenment for handlers and producers of fura food to ensure good manufacturing practices in production and storage of the product to avoid outbreak of infections associated with the organisms encountered in this study.


This article examines the historical experience of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Throughout the colonial and constitutional periods of the United States, the classical concept of an exclusive state church dominated the American image of an establishment of religion. A state preference of one denomination over others was what was primarily thought to be an establishment of religion, as the Framers did not want to duplicate the English experience with the established Anglican church. Late eighteenth century Americans agreed that government could provide special assistance to religion in general, as long as such assistance was given without any preference among sects. Both before and after the Revolution, Americans made a conscious distinction between two types of state action: the granting of exclusive privileges to one church, and a non-exclusive assistance to all churches. Only the former was considered to be an establishment of religion. The Framers' principal concern in drafting the Establishment Clause was to ensure equality among religions, not between religion and non-religion. In modern First Amendment doctrines, the single most influential concept regarding relations between church and state is Thomas Jefferson's wall of separation metaphor. The author contends that the misapplication of Jefferson's metaphor has led the Courts to create a confusing maze of case law restricting public expressions of religious belief, exactly contrary to the Framers' intent. He asserts that to the extent that the First Amendment requires separation, it does so as a way of preventing government intrusion on personal and institutional religious autonomy. The constitutional intent behind separation was as a means of protecting religion, not the secular state.


I discuss the culture of accurate and dispassionate mensuration in an Arctic that was, for the first time, predictably attainable—a technologized Arctic near enough to be reached and subjected to experiment.  My purpose is to develop, in the context of the discourse of polar exploration and the British responses to that discourse made by poets and fiction writers, recent arguments about the culture of scientific experiment and the so-called rise of "objectivity" that have been made by historians of science. The effect of these arguments has been to suggest that a mutually reinforcing objectification of experiment narrative and establishment of professional institutions set nineteenth century science apart from natural philosophy as practised by amateur eighteenth-century gentlemen—Erasmus Darwin being a typical gentleman of that kind.
Here, I suggest that the extreme regions of the poles not only challenged the authority of accurate observation as a defining virtue of science from within the discourse of science, but also inspired fictional narratives that challenged it—and thus called the new science into question.  Thus I reveal the effects, in literary texts and the wider culture as well as in expedition narratives and scientific discourse, when experiments did not produce predictable results, or failed completely to comprehend their subjects. I suggest that because of its simultaneous availability and resistance to investigation, the Arctic became an external representative of the fear and desire buried within scientific objectivity. It has remained fascinating in the European cultural imaginary for this reason, as an Other, embodying fear but also longing for a world that eludes mastery by our technologies of knowledge-production.   A consequence of this is that aspects of the Arctic have been used by Europeans to configure alternatives and oppositions to scientific culture as it was practised from the early nineteenth century onwards.  Specifically, "The Ancient Mariner" and Frankenstein interrogate the claims of "objective" report and accurate experiment and, in doing so, remodel Erasmus Darwin's fictionalisation and poeticisation of scientific discourse for a more vexed and hostile literary context than the one in which he wrote.


The scientific community must be able to read the published literature with a critical eye and look for the relevant information in the paper to see if they come up with the same conclusions as the authors. They should be aware of possible sources of bias and have enough information about the surveillance system used to collect the data. They should also be aware that meta-analysis is affected by publication bias and the reader should be able to determine how the authors selected the articles for their meta-analysis and if any conflict of interest present in the original papers have been reported. Several tools/checklists and guidelines were issued to ensure that the published data is accurate and reliable.


For nearly thirty-five years, the test laid out by the Supreme Court in Penn Central Transportation Co. v. City of New York has been the principal means for determining whether a land use regulation constitutes a taking under the Federal Constitution. During that time, a broad academic consensus has emerged that the standard set forth by Penn Central is a balancing test which considers three factors. Yet, despite this academic consensus, an examination of the case law reveals that no such consensus exists among the federal courts. A recent dissent in the Ninth Circuit, commenting upon the jurisprudential divide within the circuit, asked: Is Penn Central to be applied as a genuine three-factor balancing test, or does government escape liability for a taking if it can prevail on any one of those factors?This article answers that question. More specifically, it answers whether the lower federal courts apply Penn Central as a true, three-factor balancing test, or a type of "one-strike you're out" test, or something in between. It does so through a comprehensive, empirical analysis of all cases in the First, Ninth, and Federal Circuits which cite to Penn Central (nearly 500 cases). The review looked at how often the courts actually applied all three factors from the test, how often the courts applied the three factors as a genuine balancing test, and how often plaintiffs succeeded in their takings claim. The data indicates that the predominate practice of the federal courts is not to use Penn Central as a balancing test. Additionally, the article uses a case study of Guggenheim v. City of Goleta to demonstrate the divergent ways federal courts actually apply the Penn Central test.


ABSTRACT Purpose: Existential loneliness is part of being human that is little understood in health care, but, to provide good care to their older patients, professionals need to be able to meet their existential concerns. The aim of this study was to explore health care professionals' experiences of their encounters with older people they perceive to experience existential loneliness. Method: We conducted 11 focus groups with 61 health professionals working in home care, nursing home care, palliative care, primary care, hospital care, or pre-hospital care. Our deductive–inductive analytical approach used a theoretical framework based on the work of Emmy van Deurzen in the deductive phase and an interpretative approach in the inductive phase. Results: The results show that professionals perceived existential loneliness to appear in various forms associated with barriers in their encounters, such as the older people's bodily limitations, demands and needs perceived as insatiable, personal shield of privacy, or fear and difficulty in encountering existential issues. Conclusion: Encountering existential loneliness affected the professionals and their feelings in various ways, but they generally found the experience both challenging and meaningful.


Studies based upon; 9012 Interspecific sexual crosses (attempted in 42, 96 and 18 amphidiploid-amphidiploid, amphidiploid-diploid and diploid-diploid combinations respectively), and chromosomal associations in 5 species, 8 digenomic triploids, 3 trigenomic haploids and 2 induced colchiploids are presented here. Crosses were attempted among fourteen genotypes, three each of B. nigra, B. campestris, B. juncea, B. napus and two of B. carinata. Sum of 2645, 4823 and 1544 pollinations were made at the amphidiploid-amphidiploid, amphidiploid-diploid and diploid-diploid levels, respectively. The crossibility was very high at amphidiploid- amphidiploid ploidy level. Brassica napus and B. juncea among the species and B. juncea X B. napus among the combinations/direction of cross proved highly crossible. Brassica juncea crossed freely with Brassica napus and B. campestris, and fairly with B. carinata and B. nigra. Brassica napus neither proved as a good seed parent or as a good pollinator with B. carinata. None out of 267 pollinations attempted In 6 combinations of B. campestris x B. carinata produced any hybrid seed. Hence Brassica juncea among the species and Jun 9 among its genotypes proved the highly crossible and can be used as bridge for genetic transgression across the genomes. The cross-compatibility at every level demonstrated the monophyletic origin of Brassica species. The highly crossible amphidiploids however determine their relative phylogenetic closeness as compared to the diploids.

Chromosomally B. campestris (2N) proved as ideal diploids with 1/1 synapsis and 1-1 disjunction. Neither any secondary association nor any B chromosomes was observed in its PMC's, at Ml. Autoploidy was induced through applying 0.02 70 aqueous colchicine to the seedlings of Brassica campestris and it was concluded that, its 6 hours treatment is threshold for colchiploidy induction in Brassica. In autotetraploids however, the chromosomes were oriented into asyndetics, one or two-chiasmatic bivalents, trivalents and quadrivalents. The anomalous chromosomal behavior predicts the imbalance chromosomal disjunction; resulting into viable aberrant gametes the union of such gametes could give rise to individuals, with a variety of genome constitutions. Meiotic analysis of autotetraploids that, autoploidy and the union of their aberrant gametes has probably played an important role in the evolution of the present Brassica species.

Meiotic analysis in 8 digenomic triploids, 4 each containing genomes AAC and AAB, and 3 trigenomic haploids containing genomes ABC revealed univalent, bivalent and multivalent chromosomal configurations of various orientations. Variation in pollen fertility was so evident even within a plant and tetrads ranging from all the fertile to all the sterile gametocytes with variety of all the possible intermediates were available. Though variation among chromosomal association was present at the combinations and association levels uniformity in the frequency of the synaptic and asynaptic chromosomes was uniforl1l i.e. 70 and 30 percent respectively either in the case of digenomic triploids or trigenomic haploids. Ml associations both in digenomic triploids or trigenomic haploids showed that, no one among the genomes B or C had got any genetic factor for suppressing the homoeologous pairing among genomes A, from various sources. Besides autosyndesis among the genomes A, allosyndesis was also evident among the genomes A, C and B from the same or different sources, respectively. Furthermore meiotic regularity was higher in the digenomic triploids ABA and ACA as compared to the trigenomic haploids ABC. The studies also concluded that, whatsoever the source or origin of genome A was, it has retained chromosomal homology resulting frequently into the autosyndetic bivalents in the digenomic triploids.


It is known that glossiness of a surface is affected by various factors, i.e., illumination, shape, image statistics, highlight of a surface. However, it has not been fully studied whether glossiness is affected by chromaticity of a surface. Metallicity, on the other hand, is one of material perceptions similar to glossiness, but we do not know yet what determining factors, including chromaticity, to perceive metallicity. Matsumoto et al. showed that gold is perceived on a glossy surface of certain chromaticities, and that metallicity closely related to goldenness (Matsumoto et al., APCV 2011, VSS 2014). In the present study, we investigated effects of chromaticity on goldenness, glossiness and metallicity of a surface to clarify relationships between color appearance, glossiness and metallicity. We used metallic and non-metallic spheres with 3D-CG as test stimuli with 36 chromaticities. All pixels of a stimulus had the same chromaticity. Luminance of each pixel in metallic and non-metallic stimuli was morphed to make test stimuli with 5 different levels of contrast gloss. The observer performed magnitude estimation of goldenness, glossiness and metallicity of the stimulus. It was found that the stimuli with chromaticities that yield strong appearance of 'gold' tend to have higher glossiness and metallicity than those with other chromaticities when the stimuli were of medium contrast gloss. Such effects of chromaticity on perceived glossiness and metallicity were not observed for the stimuli of high contrast gloss. These results suggest that gold appearance per se might enhance glossiness and metallicity of a surface. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


In providing comprehensive evidenced-based reproductive health care to adolescents, understanding the legal and ethical issues surrounding informed consent and confidentiality is one of the many challenges faced by care providers. Informed consent is an active process between the patient and health care provider but varying state and federal laws contribute to provider's uncertainty and ambiguity around practice policies and management options. This article describes issues surrounding legal and ethical issues of informed consent and confidentiality for adolescents seeking reproductive health services.


In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay was established to detect Toxoplasma gondii DNA in mice infected with T. gondii PRU strain. This LAMP assay was based on the sequence of highly repetitive B1 gene. The detection limit of T. gondii LAMP assay was 1 pg of T. gondii DNA, which was evaluated using 10-fold serially diluted DNA of cultured parasites. The LAMP assay was also highly specific for T. gondii and able to detect T. gondii DNA in urine of mice treated with dexamethasone at 90 day post infection (p.i.), although this assay could not detect the DNA in mice urine 2-6 days p.i. These results demonstrated that LAMP is effective for evaluation of therapy effectiveness for T. gondii infection. The established LAMP assay may represent a useful and practical tool for the routine diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation of human toxoplasmosis.


"The Road to Mobocracy" is the first major study of public disorder in New York City from the Revolutionary period through the Jacksonian era. During that time, the mob lost its traditional, institutional role as corporate safety valve and social corrective, tolerated by public officials. It became autonomous, a violent menace to individual and public good expressing the discordant urges and fears of a pluralistic society. Indeed, it tested the premises of democratic government.Paul Gilje relates the practices of New York mobs to their American and European roots and uses both historical and anthropological methods to show how those mobs adapted to local conditions. He questions many of the traditional assumptions about the nature of the mob and scrutinizes explanations of its transformation: among them, the loss of a single-interest society, industrialization and changes in the workforce, increased immigration, and the rise of sub-classes in American society. Gilje's findings can be extended to other cities.The lucid narrative incorporates meticulous and exhaustive archival research that unearths hundreds of New York City disturbances -- about the Revolution, bawdy-houses, theaters, dogs and hogs, politics, elections, ethnic conflict, labor actions, religion. Illustrations recreate the turbulent atmosphere of the city; maps, graphs, and tables define the spacial and statistical dimensions of its ferment. The book is a major contribution to our understanding of social change in the early Republic as well as to the history of early New York, urban studies, and rioting.


Recent developments in Translation Studies and translation practice have not only led to a profusion of approaches, but also to the development of new text forms and translation modes. Media Accessibility, particularly audio description (AD) and subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH), is an example of such a 'new' mode. SDH has been evolving quickly in recent decades and new developments such as interlingual SDH and live subtitling with speech recognition bring it closer to established forms of translation and interpreting. On the one hand, interlingual SDH reintroduces Jakobson's (1959) 'translation proper' while the use of speech recognition has led to the creation of a hybrid form that has affinities with both subtitling and interpreting. Audio description, for its part, cannot even be fitted into Jakobson's 'intersemiotic translation' model since it involves translation from images into words. Research into AD is especially interesting since it rallies methods from adjacent disciplines, much in the same way that Holmes ([1972] 1988) described TS when it was a fledgling discipline. In 2008, Braun set out a research agenda for AD and the wealth of topics and research approaches dealt with in her article illustrate the immense complexity of this field and the work still to be done. Although AD and SDH research have developed at different paces and are concerned with different topics, converging trends do appear. Particularly the role of technology and the concept of multimodality seem to be key issues. This article aims to give an overview of current research trends in both these areas. It illustrates the possibilities of technology-driven research – particularly popular in SDH and live-subtitling research – while at the same time underlining the value of individual, human-driven approaches, which are still the main 'modus operandi' in the younger discipline of AD where much basic research is still required.


The increasing use of frameworks within which Internet users can contribute nontextual information constitutes a serious obstacle to government attempts to accurately censor and monitor Internet traffic. This development, as seen in the explosive growth of frameworks such as Second Life, YouTube, and Wikipedia, could lead to a transfer of regulatory power away from heavily regulated Internet Service Providers in nondemocratic regimes, into the hands of intermediaries that are more likely to uphold freedom of expression. Thereby, a development toward increasingly enframed and nontextual information can promote freedom of expression even in traditionally nondemocratic regimes. I analyze this development with regard to its possible implications for freedom of expression, online crime, and the role of private companies in international politics.


This report, prepared by Lorcan Dempsey of UKOLN and commissioned by the British Library Research and Development Department, is one element in a larger review of networking undertaken by BLRDD. The text outlines how technological and service factors are combining to change the way in which libraries are using networks to deliver services to end-users and to communicate between themselves and other organizations. Coverage includes the computer networking context in both the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America. The OSI library applications standards are explained against the background of OSI and existing library projects. The study describes the impact and implications of computer networks and network information resources on librarians, information technology planners in universities, and those concerned with national networking policy.


In Undoing Monogamy Angela Willey offers a radically interdisciplinary exploration of the concept of monogamy in U.S. science and culture, propelled by queer feminist desires for new modes of conceptualization and new forms of belonging. She approaches the politics and materiality of monogamy as intertwined with one another such that disciplinary ways of knowing themselves become an object of critical inquiry. Refusing to answer the naturalization of monogamy with a naturalization of nonmonogamy, Willey demands a critical reorientation toward the monogamy question in the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. The book examines colonial sexual science, monogamous voles, polyamory, and the work of Alison Bechdel and Audre Lorde to show how challenging the lens through which human nature is seen as monogamous or nonmonogamous forces us to reconsider our investments in coupling and in disciplinary notions of biological bodies.


State-of-the-art neural network architectures such as ResNet, MobileNet, and DenseNet have achieved outstanding accuracy over low MACs and small model size counterparts. However, these metrics might not be accurate for predicting the inference time. We suggest that memory traffic for accessing intermediate feature maps can be a factor dominating the inference latency, especially in such tasks as real-time object detection and semantic segmentation of high-resolution video. We propose a Harmonic Densely Connected Network to achieve high efficiency in terms of both low MACs and memory traffic. The new network achieves 35%, 36%, 30%, 32%, and 45% inference time reduction compared with FC-DenseNet-103, DenseNet-264, ResNet-50, ResNet-152, and SSD-VGG, respectively. We use tools including Nvidia profiler and ARM Scale-Sim to measure the memory traffic and verify that the inference latency is indeed proportional to the memory traffic consumption and the proposed network consumes low memory traffic. We conclude that one should take memory traffic into consideration when designing neural network architectures for high-resolution applications at the edge.


This article argues that the leadership industry has been beset by a bias. This bias has been directed toward leaders and away from two other variables that equally pertain–and that equally explain the trajectory of human history. The first is followers, or others who are in any way relevant, even if passively. And the second is contexts, within which leaders and followers necessarily are embedded. Together these three parts, each of which is equally important and each of which impinges equally on the other two, make up the leadership system. This article suggests that the approximately forty-year-old leadership industry has paid a heavy price for its obsession with leaders at the expense of whoever/whatever else matters. For the industry has not in any major, measurable way improved the human condition, which is precisely why it should be reconsidered and reconceived.


ABSTRACT Geochemical data are generally derived from government and industry geochemical surveys that cover areas at various spatial resolutions. These survey data are difficult to assemble and integrate due to their heterogeneous mixture of media, size fractions, methods of digestion and analytical instrumentation. These assembled sets of data often contain thousands of observations with as many as 50 or more elements. Although the assembly of these data is a challenge, the resulting integrated datasets provide an opportunity to discover a wide range of geochemical processes that are associated with underlying geology, alteration, landscape modification, weathering and mineralization. The use of data analysis and statistical visualization methods, combined with geographical information systems, provides an effective environment for process identification and pattern discovery in these large sets of data. Modern methods of evaluating data for associations, structures and patterns are grouped under the term 'data mining'. Mining data includes the application of multivariate data analysis and statistical techniques, combined with geographical information systems, and can significantly assist the task of data interpretation and subsequent model building. Geochemical data require special handling when measures of association are required. Because of its compositional nature logratios are required to eliminate the effects of closure on geochemical data. Exploratory multivariate methods include: scatterplot matrices (SPLOM), adjusting for censored and missing data, detecting atypical observations, computing robust means, correlations and covariances, principal component analysis, cluster analysis and knowledge based indices of association. Modelled multivariate methods include discriminant analysis, analysis of variance, classification and regression trees neural networks and related techniques. Many of these topics are covered with examples to demonstrate their application.


An essential feature of active Decision Support Systems (DSS) is the ability to take the initiative in performing decision-related tasks. One possibility for providing active high cognitive level decision support is through facilitating alternative generation in DSS. The method proposed in this work enables the generation of several diverse alternatives in a single run. The method relies on the principles of effective problem-solving/decision-making and facilitates divergent processes, the separation of alternative generation from evaluation, as well as the diminishing of human cognitive biases. A hybrid DSS based on genetic algorithms (GA) and fuzzy sets is used to operationalize the approach. The paper outlines the design requirements for alternative generation in DSS and discusses the inadequacies of the "what-if" simulation and traditional optimization methods in light of these requirements. The paper further elaborates on the appropriateness of GA as a tool for alternative generation in DSS for solving complex ill-structured problems. The method is illustrated using marketing mix problem in a simulated business environment. The results suggest that the GA-based alternative generation leads to promising diverse alternatives. An active DSS incorporating the proposed method reduces the time-consuming manual search for promising alternatives and provides a higher degree of man-machine collaboration.


Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate students' knowledge, attitudes and hesitancy regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Methods. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted among a total of 1282 medical students and 509 non-medical students at four public universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Tuzla, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and Mostar. Results. A significantly higher rate of vaccination was observed in the group of medical students as well as a higher level of knowledge about vaccination in general and vaccines against the COVID-19 disease. Students who received the COVID-19 vaccine had a higher level of knowledge about vaccination in general and COVID-19 vaccines in particular compared to the non-vaccinated students in the medical and non-medical groups, respectively. Furthermore, vaccinated students, regardless of the course they are taking, showed generally stronger positive attitudes compared to non-vaccinated students, regarding the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Both groups of students believe that the rapid development of the vaccine is contributing to refusal or hesitancy to receive a vaccine against COVID-19. Social media/networks were the main sources of information about the COVID-19 vaccine. We did not find any contribution of social media to the reduced level of COVID-19 vaccine coverage. Conclusion. Education of students about the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine will lead to its better acceptance as well as the development of more positive attitudes towards vaccination in general, especially having in mind that students are the future population of parents, who will make decisions about vaccinating their children.


Aim of the paper
As the global economic crisis deepens with the consequent negative effect of increasing levels of unemployment and falling aggregate demand, it is important to understand how, where and why entrepreneurial firms are able to turn the tide by creating prospects of growth. This paper is concerned with entrepreneurial and 'high-impact firms' by which we mean firms that generate 'both' disproportionate levels of employment and sales growth, and have high levels of innovative activity (Acs et al., 2008). It investigates differences in factors influencing high-impact growth between indigenous and foreign firms.

The contribution to the literature
This study makes several original contributions by identifying differences in factors affecting high impact growth between indigenous and foreign firms. Specifically, the findings are: 1) First, regional knowledge resources – particularly local human capital and business RD lie at the heart of high impact growth for indigenous firms but to a lesser degree,foreign firms; 2) Secondly, however, because low-tech industries have less need for knowledge resources, we find that indigenous firms have less growth advantages over foreign firms in low-tech industries compared to high-tech industries; 3) Thirdly, because foreign firms appear to have less access to regional resources, their growth appears to be relatively more dependent on large size and internationalisation. On the other hand, for indigenous firms, small firms had significantly higher growth rates than large firms and were more reliant on.

Thus, the hypothesis that small firms grow faster than large firms was only supported for indigenous firms; 4) Due to greater familiarity with local environment, growth rates of indigenous forms was not found to rely much on international markets but home markets, while that of foreign firms appears to be significantly associated with international markets

The methodology
The study is based on an analysis of data drawn from United Kingdom (UK)
Innovation Scoreboard on 753 firms in 12 UK regions. Based on 1992 Standard Industrial Codes (SIC), identified by CCC (2004), the firms were further classified into those belonging to high-tech industries and low-tech industries. These thus provide a unique data set that allows for critical analysis of firms generating both employment and sales growth. The data was for the most part analysed using multiple regressions, bivariate correlations and t-tests.

The results and implications
These insights have potential implications for local and national policies on job
creation, firm growth and the concentration of firms in specific spaces, especially under circumstances where many firms are shedding their work force as they struggle for survival in recessionary times.


The imbalance in the structure of foreign trade, including its import trade and export trade with its main trade imbalances, but also including the development of foreign trade and the size of the dependence on foreign trade imbalances. It should be taken to actively expand domestic demand and further optimize the structure of import and export commodities, the efforts to expand trade in services, to promote the transformation and upgrading of processing trade, properly handle trade frictions and other measures to improve the structure of foreign trade imbalances and China's foreign trade structure of adjustment strategies.


OBJECTIVE
To assess changes in biochemical and biophysical properties of canine RBCs during cold (1° to 6°C) storage in a licensed RBC additive solution (the RBC preservation solution designated AS-1) supplemented with ascorbic acid.

SAMPLE
Blood samples from 7 neutered male Greyhounds; all dogs had negative results when tested for dog erythrocyte antigen 1.1.

PROCEDURES
Blood was collected into citrate-phosphate-dextrose and stored in AS-1. Stored RBCs were supplemented with 7.1mM ascorbic acid or with saline (0.9% NaCl) solution (control samples). Several biochemical and biophysical properties of RBCs were measured, including percentage hemolysis, oxygen-hemoglobin equilibrium, and the kinetic rate constants for O2 dissociation, carbon monoxide association, and nitric oxide dioxygenation.

RESULTS
Greyhound RBCs stored in AS-1 supplemented with ascorbic acid did not have significantly decreased hemolysis, compared with results for the control samples, during the storage period.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
In this study, ascorbic acid did not reduce hemolysis during storage. Several changes in stored canine RBCs were identified as part of the hypothermic storage lesion.


Introduction: Reconstruction of scalp defects due to electrical burns poses a challenge to the reconstructive surgeon and a lot of controversy exists in decision making with regards to the timing of surgery, debridement of the underlying bone, choice of flap cover and the role of trephining. There also is a paucity of literature on this subject probably because of its rare incidence. Proper management of these cases could prevent serious complications like osteomyelitis of the underlying bone, epidural abscess and cosmetic disfigurement. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at a tertiary care burn unit. A retrospective analysis was done of the patients with electrical burns involving the scalp, between 2010 and 2015. Results: In the study period there were 135 cases of electrical burns. Out of these 9 patients had electrical burns involving the scalp. Two patients with scalp defects in which the pericranium was intact after debridement were managed with skin grafts, 4 patients with moderate sized scalp defects were managed with local flaps, and in 3 patients free flaps were used to reconstruct large scalp defects. Literature search showed only two other similar case series with free flap reconstruction. We have proposed a management protocol for scalp defects in electrical burns based on our experience and a review of the available literature. Conclusion: Meticulous debridement of infected/non-viable bone is the key to a good outcome. In view of progressive tissue necrosis in electrical burns delayed reconstruction is preferred. Free flaps are the standard of care for extensive scalp defects. Local flaps and skin grafting can be used for smaller scalp defects. Secondary procedures are required for management of the alopecia and optimal cosmetic outcome.


Disturbance regimes (DR) of vegetation ecosystems of Northern Eurasia (NE, limited to Russian territories) are represented by complicated and interacting sets of natural and human-induced disturbances (D). We present a unified classification of D and DR in major land cover classes of Northern Eurasia (forests, agriculture, wetlands, shrubs & grasses), their connections to succession regularities, and minimal informative set of indicators, which are able to describe both specifics of individual types of D and their impacts on annual carbon budget. The assessment of extent, severity and consequences of D was done based on an Integrated Land Information System for Russia, which accumulated all relevant spatially distributed information including multi-sensor and multi-temporal remote sensing concept, in situ measurements and ground data from diverse inventories and surveys. Major emissions caused by D are produced by consumption of plant products (agriculture and forestry), wild fire, and biotic D (basically insect outbreaks). For example, the annual flux due to human consumption of plant products is estimated at 170 Tg C yr-1. Wild fire in 1998-2010 enveloped 106.9 x 106 ha-1, on average 8.23 x 106 ha-1 yr-1, with variation from 4.2 to 17.3 x 106 ha-1 yr-1. Average direct carbon emissions due to wildfire were estimated to be at 121.0 Tg C yr-1, including 84.6% as C-CO2, 8.2% C-CO, C-CH4 - 1.1%, C-NMHC - 1.2%, organic carbon - 1.2% and black carbon - 0.1%, particulate matter 3.5%, of which PM2.5 - 1.2%. About 2/3 of burnt area and carbon emissions were on forest land. While the area of fire on wetlands was only 7.3%, this land class delivered 15.2% of the total fire emissions. Emissions caused by biotic D (accounted for forests only) is estimated at 50.8 Tg C yr-1. Overall, direct emissions due to D amounted at about 350 Tg C yr-1, or ~7% of annual Net Primary Production of terrestrial ecosystems of Russia. These data do not include long-term consequences of D, which are significant in some classes of land cover (particularly in forests due to significant post-fire die-back). On-going climate change accelerates extent, severity and emissions of natural D. Evident synergism is observed between negative impacts of climate change on DR and unregulated anthropogenic pressure that accompanies industrial development of northern territories. The presentation discusses impacts of D on the long-term carbon dynamics, as well as uncertainties and completeness of carbon account due to D.


• Objective. —To develop the Lens Opacities Classification System III (LOCS III) to overcome the limitations inherent in lens classification using LOCS II. These limitations include unequal intervals between standards, only one standard for color grading, use of integer grading, and wide 95% tolerance limits. Design and Results. —The LOCS III contains an expanded set of standards that were selected from the Longitudinal Study of Cataract slide library at the Center for Clinical Cataract Research, Boston, Mass. It consists of six slitlamp images for grading nuclear color (NC) and nuclear opalescence (NO), five retroillumination images for grading cortical cataract (C), and five retroillumination images for grading posterior subcapsular (P) cataract. Cataract severity is graded on a decimal scale, and the standards have regularly spaced intervals on a decimal scale. The 95% tolerance limits are reduced from 2.0 for each class with LOCS II to 0.7 for nuclear opalescence, 0.7 for nuclear color, 0.5 for cortical cataract, and 1.0 for posterior subcapsular cataract with the LOCS III, with excellent interobserver agreement. Conclusion. —The LOCS III is an improved LOCS system for grading slit-lamp and retroillumination images of age-related cataract.


Author(s): Trivedi, Mahendra Kumar; Branton, Alice; Trivedi, Dahryn; Nayak, Gopal; Gangwar, Mayank; Jana, Snehasis | Abstract: Wounds may be acute, subacute, or chronic and are the common clinical life entities. It is a complex biochemical process to restore the cell structures that depends upon cell proliferation and migration, mainly by keratinocytes and fibroblast cells. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the Biofield Energy Treatment (Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment-The Trivedi Effect®) in the HaCaT cell line (Human keratinocytes) and DMEM (Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium) for wound healing action using scratch assay (48 hours) against positive control i.e., recombinant Human Epidermal Growth Factor (Hu-EGF, 30 ng/mL). In vitro scratch assay monitored proliferation and migration of keratinocytes in the scratched wounded area using WimScratch Image analysis software. The results showed that the Biofield Energy Treated DMEM group have significantly higher percentage of keratinocytes migration i.e., 35.4%, while no migration was monitored in the Biofield Energy Treated HaCaT cells as compared with the baseline control group. Additionally, the percentage of scratch area was significantly decreased by 7.3% in the Biofield Energy Treated DMEM, while an increased scratched area was reported by 14% in the Biofield Energy Treated cells. Hence, the results using scratch assay showed a promising scientific approach to differentiate the Biofield Energy Treatment on cells or media for their wound healing potential. The data concluded that The Trivedi Effect® has the significant capability in wound healing activity in DMEM as compared with the HaCaT cell line with respect to the cell migration and reduced wound scratched area. Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) can be used as a complementary and alternative approach to improve the cellular migration and proliferation and can be used in psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, skin cancer, rashes from bacterial or fungal infections as anti-wrinkling, skin-whitening, anti-ageing, and rejuvenating agent.


This study critically discusses the thesis on the sociological vacuum formulated by Stefan Nowak. The author's aim is to refute the claim that the sociological vacuum is relevant for major social processes occurring in Poland. He presents the sociological vacuum in the context of the debate on micro and macro levels and discusses how the theory of fields and social network analysis is useful to reconcile the micro-macro divide. The book considers the uses of the sociological vacuum in explaining such phenomena as the Solidarność social movement, civil society, social capital, and democracy. In the empirical part, the author confronts the data on identifications with the data on relations and claims that the vacuum is not in the society but it in sociology.


Objective: Cervical spine injuries have been associated with work tasks requiring heavy arm and shoulder exertions. Current biomechanical models established to estimate compressive forces acting on the cervical spine do not include the contributions of the muscles surrounding the neck in supporting the shoulder and arm during these exertions. This paper presents a biomechanical analysis of compressive force as a result of single-hand lifting. Method: It was hypothesized that contraction of the three main shared muscles are the major producers of the cervical compression. To test this hypothesis, bilateral Electromyography data of major shared musculature (upper trapezius, sternocleidomastoid, and levator scapula) and posture data were collected from twenty subjects preforming lifting of five different weights from twenty different locations produced by the interaction of varying heights, reach distance, and angles simulating the work done by assembly line workers. All lifting tasks were done by the right hand. Analysis of the moment produced by these muscles forces and the head's mass at the C4/C5 cervical spine intervertebral disc were performed to investigate moment balance. A coordinate system was set on segment at the C4-C5 disc center and the moment was calculated around two axes; the X, which divides the segment into front and back, and around Y, which divides the segment into right and left. Results: A t-test of the summation of moments around each axis was performed and results showed that the moment was balanced. Conclusion: A balance in moment indicates that the shared muscles considered are the major producers of cervical compression during single hand lifting. These findings also demonstrate that any attempt to develop a biomechanical modeling to estimate the cervical compression must include the contribution of hand lifting activities


The university has become the subject of much critical debate in the social sciences in recent years. While earlier interpretations, such as those of Weber (see Shils, 1973), Parsons (Parsons and Platt, 1973), Bourdieu (1988, 1996), emphasized the autonomy of the university within the context of a social theory of modernity, the recent appraisals are more critical and call into question the very coherence of the project of modernity in the postmodern and global age. Four debates can be identified.

1. The entrenched liberal critique, which can be called a cultural critique since it is primarily concerned with the university as a medium of cultural reproduction. The liberal idea of the university—associated with the positions of Allan Bloom (1987), who bemoans the attack on the traditional curriculum in the name of diversity, and Russell Jacoby (1987), who regrets the decline of the public intellectual who has disappeared from the university—on the whole looks backwards to the golden age of an earlier university. Despite the different positions within this broad stance that derives from the neo-humanist tradition, the tendency is to see the university in crisis because of the decline of the autonomy of culture, be it the culture of critique or, in its more conservative version, the traditional culture of the canon.
2. The postmodern thesis, associated with Lyotard (1984) and recently restated by Bill Readings (1996), announces the end of the university along with the end of the nation-state. It is claimed that knowledge has lost its emancipatory role and the very notion of universality, or even the very idea of a curriculum, is now impossible, given the fragmentation of knowledge, as in, for instance, the separation of teaching and research.
3. The reflexivity thesis, which is best associated with claims that there is a new mode of knowledge based on a more reflexive relationship between user and producer, offers a less dramatic theory but one nevertheless that announces the obsolescence of the university (Gibbons et al., 1984). As a Mode 2 paradigm around applied knowledge emerges, the university, which is caught up in the more hierarchical and disciplinary-based Mode 1 knowledge production, becomes, it is claimed, increasingly irrelevant to the postfordist economy.
4. The globalization thesis draws attention to the instrumentalization of the university as it embraces market values and information technology. According to various authors, the university is far from irrelevant to capitalism, as the previous thesis would claim, but is in fact fully integrated into it and, as a new manageralism takes over the university, there is a resulting loss of academic freedom (Curie and Newson, 1998; Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 1997; Slaughter and Leslie, 1997). This thesis suggests that the university has become a major player in the global market and in information-based capitalism.

What are we to make of these announcements of crisis and even of the decline of the university? I believe a more nuanced interpretation is possible.


Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are used increasingly to explore hazardous marine environments. Risk assessment for such complex systems is based on subjective judgment and expert knowledge as much as on hard statistics. Here, we describe the use of a risk management process tailored to AUV operations, the implementation of which requires the elicitation of expert judgment. We conducted a formal judgment elicitation process where eight world experts in AUV design and operation were asked to assign a probability of AUV loss given the emergence of each fault or incident from the vehicle's life history of 63 faults and incidents. After discussing methods of aggregation and analysis, we show how the aggregated risk estimates obtained from the expert judgments were used to create a risk model. To estimate AUV survival with mission distance, we adopted a statistical survival function based on the nonparametric Kaplan‐Meier estimator. We present theoretical formulations for the estimator, its variance, and confidence limits. We also present a numerical example where the approach is applied to estimate the probability that the Autosub3 AUV would survive a set of missions under Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica in January–March 2009.


Sean Long is Super League's No 1 bad boy and when it comes to off-the-pitch madness, no-one comes close. Here, the flamboyant St Helens superstar tells his hilarious, shocking and explosive life story - packed with amazing tales of booze, brawls, sex and scandal. Longy - the only player to win the Lance Todd Trophy three times - tells the inside story of THAT bet against his own team and exposes secrets that will shock the rugby league establishment to its core. In his own words, he describes with startling honesty the hell-raising experiences of his rag-to-riches journey. But it isn't all about his wild reputation - Long has also had an incredible rugby league career, winning every major honour in the game at club level as well as notching up 15 caps for Great Britain and another five for the England side. He has twice set the Super League record for the most points scored in a season, with 284 in 1999 and a staggering 352 in 2000. Not just for rugby league fans, this book is a must-read for anyone with a taste for life on the wild side.


Kalahari dry 'fossil' valleys (mekgacha) have been little used in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, partly because the origins and functions of the valleys are a subject of debate, and partly because they contain few datable sediments. In the Middle Kalahari the valleys are endoreic, and, following a decline in ground-water tables owing to human interference over the past 150 years, rarely contain water. Evidence from three sites suggests that the valleys contained standing water between 15000 and 12000 yr BP, and that the main Okwa-Mmone system flowed into palaeolake Makgadikgadi at 920 m a.s.l. during this period.

The Southern Kalahari contains the exoreic Molopo network which is hydrologically more active, being prone to surface flows in response to extreme rainfall events. The spring—fed Kuruman valley has two terraces, the lower composed of a series of flood deposits of late Holocene age. The flood of February 1988 provides a useful analogue for the conditions under which these deposits were formed, and of the temporal regime of the Kuruman River. Comparison with adjacent sites suggests that evidence put forward to indicate cycles of climatic amelioration in the last 4000 yr may, in part, represents the effect of extreme precipitation events. Historical floods show a strong correlation to Southern Oscillation high-phase (cold event) episodes, suggesting possibilities for extension of the Southern Oscillation record through palaeoflood studies.