Sala (Salacca edulis, a hybrid between S. wallichiana and S. glabrescens) is extensively cultivated in Southeast Asia for its highly valued fruit (1). During the rainy season in 1999, a fruit rot of sala caused by Thielaviopsis paradoxa (2) was observed to occur on immature and mature fruits for the first time in Trad and Chantaburi provinces, Thailand. Infected fruit discolored brown to black and appeared rotted with white mycelia on the lesions. Fruit eventually abscised. Conidiophores of the fungus were usually straight and hyaline to pale brown. The conidia (8.75 to 12.5 × 3.75 to 5.5 μm) were cylindrical to elliptical and also hyaline to pale brown. The brown, smooth, and ovate chlamydospores (15 to 25 × 8.7 to 14.5 μm) were borne terminally in chains from short hyphal branches. To fulfill Koch's postulates, six isolates of the fungus were grown on potato-dextrose agar for 7 days. Plugs of mycelia agar (0.5 cm in diameter) from each isolate were inoculated onto fresh fruit (four fruit per isolate) after the surface was disinfected with 10% sodium hypochlorite for 3 min. Non-inoculated fruits with sterile distilled water were served as controls. After incubation at 30°C and 80% RH in a humidity chamber for 4 days, lesions occurred on all the inoculated fruit. The fungus was subsequently recovered from the lesions. One isolate has been deposited in the Fungal Culture Collection, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Thailand (TF 1-6/1999). References: (1) G. Hamballi et al. 1989. Proceedings of the First PROSEA International Symposia, Indonesia. (2) A. Johnston and C. Booth. 1983. Plant Pathologist's Pocketbook. CMI, Surrey, England.


Field data collected from the northeasternmost Triassic exposures on the islands of Spitsbergen, Wilhelmøya and Barentsøya during 2015 are used for sedimentological facies analysis to improve our understanding of the stratigraphic development of the Upper Triassic strata. Results presented here build upon previous studies from the eastern areas of the Svalbard archipelago and seek to extend this understanding northward. Paralic deltaic sediments are recognised throughout the field area, and our analysis shows that the Upper Triassic De Geerdalen Formation is composed of three discrete units defined by the differences in gross depositional environments. The lower interval of early Carnian age is dominated by shallow-marine and delta-front/ shoreface deposits, the middle interval of mid Carnian age is dominated by delta-front to delta-top deposits, and the upper interval, corresponding to the Isfjorden Member, of a late Carnian to early Norian age, is dominated by delta-top deposits which include lagoonal and lacustrine deposits. These observations show that the De Geerdalen Formation represents a more distal depositional setting, than the depositional environments previously reported from the islands of Edgeøya and Hopen. We also document the presence of the Tschermakfjellet Formation and Isfjorden Member on Wilhelmøya, thus increasing our understanding of the northwestward development of the Upper Triassic succession in Svalbard.


Psychological Warfare is by no means a new concept in warfare. To the layman however, this particular aspect of armed conflict has seldom been greeted with understanding, or even acknowledgment. Accordingly, not enouh has been broadly or factually disseminated upon the subject to date. Seeds of Victoy explores in detail the component mechanics of an intensely orchestrated Psychological Warfare campaign, while utilizing the most recent formant of the Persian Gulf War as a case in point for understanding. The tremendous scale of the Persian Gulf War's Psychological Warfare campaign is evidenced by the fact that long before Coalition soldiers fired the first shots in that conflict a different class of army had already ben assembled for months and was fiercely locked in a pitched battle for dominance over Saddam Hussein's citizens and soldiers alike. Far away from blaring headlines and flashy newscasts, violent, graphic images of warfare, civil unrest, starvation, disease, and death were systematically bombarding Saddam Hussein's Empire in wave upon wave of leaflet and radio assoults. That provocative campaign of psychological attrition and dominance is documented within this text through personal intervies with some of the commanders and soldiers who orchestrated and executed that campaign. Their experiences will accompany the reader from the earliest planning and developmental stages, through the production and into the final dissemination phases of demoralization. As a reference source, this text is of historical significance, as it documents in exacting detail the many deceptive Psychological Warfare campaign methodologies and strategies which incited wide spread desertions and mutiny among as many as 150,000 front-line Iraqi combat troops, many of whom were battle hardened veterans of the fierce eight year war with Iran. Seeds of Victory is also unique, in that it has already demonstrated its value within the professional realm of the Psychological Warfare community, since its having been officially adapted by the United States Army's Psychological Warfare Group Command as an instructional and reference work for use within their company-level units.


Given the importance of the Golden kingklip ( Genypterus blacodes ) as an alternative to the production of salmonid species for worldwide diversification of aquaculture this study researched the morpho-histology of the digestive canal, providi ng a uniform nomenclature and basic information to support their nutritional management in captive conditions. The objective was to describe the normal morphology of the digestive canal. Twelve wild specimens were collected and dissected. Samples of the esophagus, stomach, liver, pyloric blind and intestines were obtained. An anatomical and histological description was performed. The diges tive canal presented a short tubular esophagus, a slightly dilated, J-shaped stomach and thick walls. The stomach had a cardiac regi on that ended in a pyloric sphincter from which the intestine of thin walls. The intestine presented an anterior, middle and posterior segm nt. The anterior region of the first segment of the middle intestine presented 4-5 pairs of pyloric cecum. The middle intestine represe ted approximately 30 % of the total length of the digestive canal, with a smaller diameter compared to the first segment. The poste rior intestine was separated from the middle intestine by a thick and powerful sphincter. The liver was large and elongated, and loc ated i the peritoneal cavity located to the left plane and ventral to the swim bladder. The gallbladder was located lateral to the hepatic anterior wolf. The bile duct led to the duodenal region of the anterior intestine. Ventrally, the rectum ended in the anus, located in front o f the anal fin. In general, the histological structures were variable according to the segment studied, a mucous tunic was recognized that pres ented a simple columnar epithelium, a lamina propria composed of loose connective tissue, a muscular layer of the mucosa composed of sm ooth muscle tissue and a submucosal layer composed of loose connective tissue, a circular and longitudinal stratum of muscular tunic , which had striated musculature and an adventitial tunic composed of a simple squamous epithelium. In conclusion, Golden kingklip ( Genypterus blacodes) presents a digestive system typical of a carnivorous benthic fish adapted to feed on fish and crustaceans.


Chemotherapy, irradiation, and other agents are widely used to target the process of cell division in neoplastic cells. However, while these therapies are effective against most cancers, the high proliferative rate of the cells of the hematopoietic system that produce billions of blood cells needed daily throughout life is extremely sensitive to these agents, resulting in loss of blood cell populations, which can be life threatening. Neutropenia is the most serious hematologic toxicity of chemotherapy, which can result in patient morbidity and mortality due to opportunistic infection and often is the limiting factor in dose escalation or duration of chemotherapeutic administration. Neutropenic patients often require hospitalization and incur substantial medical costs associated with anti-infective therapy. Treatment of iatrogenic and congenic neutropenia was changed in the early 1990s with the introduction of filgrastim (Neupogen®) and pegfilgrastim (Neulasta®). With the expiration of patent lives of both of these drugs, biosimilars have begun to emerge. In this review, we will summarize the chemical characteristics, pharmacokinetics, safety and efficacy of lipegfilgrastim (Lonquex®), the first long-acting biosimilar filgrastim to receive regulatory approval and enter the marketplace.


Using a large administrative French panel data set for 1976-2007, we examine how low- educated immigration affects the wages, employment, occupations and locations of blue-collar native workers. The natives in the sample are initially in occupations heterogeneous in the presence of immigrants, which might reflect a different degree of competition with low-educated immigrants. We first show that larger immigration inflows into locations are accompanied by larger outflows of negatively selected natives from these locations. At the same time, larger immigrant inflows into occupations come with larger outflows of positively selected natives towards occupations with less routine tasks. While we find no negative impact on employment, there is substantial evidence that immigration lowers the median annual wages of natives. The estimated negative effects are also much larger in cross-section than in estimates controlling for composition effect, which is consistent with the idea that endogenous changes in occupation and location attenuate the impact of immigration on natives' wages. We also find much larger wage decreases for workers initially in non-tradable sectors and more particularly in the construction sector, which are much less likely to upgrade their occupation or change location in response to immigration inflows.


A unique anhydrite (CaSO4) rich soil has been discovered during the soil inventory of the coastal lands of Abu Dhabi Emirate. The next challenge was to assign a taxonomic name using the world most used Soil Taxonomy of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). As anhydrite soil had not been reported previously in the USDA soil taxonomy hierarchy, the closest soil was gypsic (CaSO4.2H2O), and therefore, it was imposed to anhydrite soil, which is far from perfect. Based on this, a proposal for a change in USDA Soil Taxonomy was prepared. The proposal suggests addition of anhydritic diagnostic horizon and mineralogy class, as well as Anhydritic Aquisalids subgroup in Aridisols soil order. The suggested changes are shared in this paper. Both gypsum and anhydrite have commercial value based on composition, purity, mining cost, and extent of deposit. In this paper representative anhydrite samples from five potential locations have been investigated for their physical, chemical, purity and mineralogical composition using standard analytical procedures. The solution chemistry is dominated by cations Ca > Na > Mg > K and anions SO4 > Cl > HCO3. The anhydrite was identified as dominant mineral, occurring as single mineral, and in association with halite and calcite. It has been concluded that four out of five samples have purity ranging from 73 to 98% as required for a commercial product (> 70%), only one sample showed 51% purity which have impurities such as quartz, plagioclase, dolomite, and magnesite. The interesting feature observed is that anhydrite (CaSO4) is not converted to gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) when coexisting with water in the coastal lands of Abu Dhabi Emirate. The high salinity coupled with high


The Republic of Haiti is located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. There are around 50,000 subsistence fishers who rely on over-exploited and poorly managed coastal fisheries resources. There is a lack of policy, legal, institutional and administrative framework, and resources to ensure proper management, sustainable use and preservation of products. At present there is no plan for fish production in Haiti. Fish processing and quality control are poorly developed. Traditional fish processing methods such as sun drying and smoking are widely used resulting in considerable post-harvest losses. Most fishing boats lack ice and refrigeration capabilities and are therefore not conducive for fresh fish preservation. Establishment of a marketing chain for fresh seafood in Haiti can contribute to economic development by providing employment opportunities throughout the value chain, especially in marketing. The development of a marketing chain can also increase the local supply of fish thereby improving human nutrition and national food security. Small and medium fisheries enterprises can be developed as export-oriented agribusinesses. In this paper a preliminary assessment of the situation is provided, as well as recommendations are given for specific activities to be conducted for the strengthening of the sector and establishing a marketing chain for fresh seafood in Haiti.


This study conducted among Canadian Catholic youth ministers investigates how both Catholic collective memory and contact with Catholics are related to identification with Catholics. We examined how ingroup contact, the frequency of recollection of past (pre -selected) events, as well as the perceived valence, importance, consequences and emotional significance of these events, influence the three components of group identity: cognitive, evaluative and affective. Results of regression analyses conducted among 143 youth ministers highlight how social identity is deeply rooted in the group's past. These results also suggest that recollections of positive events have a significant impact on all three aspects of group identity, whereas it appears negative ones do not. Furthermore, results of sequential regression show that collective memory is a key precursor of social identification, even when accounting for the quantity and quality of ingroup contact. Implications of these findings are discussed in regards to the well-established Social Identity Theory. In North American countries, such as Canada, Catholics are among the largest religious groups, although others are also well represented (Statistics Canada, 2001). More specifically, in the Canadian 2001 Census, self-identified Roman Catholics represented 42.2 % of the total population, and the representation of many other religious groups such as Protestants, other Christian groups, Muslims and Jews, to name a few, suggests that religion is still an important aspect of citizens' social identity. These Census statistics also reveal an upward trend in individuals reporting no religious affiliation (16% of the population, compared to 12% a decade earlier; Statistics Canada, 2001). Based on these statistics, Catholic identity is clearly an important variable to study and understand, considering the pluralistic context in which religious groups are called to live in, and the increasing number of individuals disidentifying with their religious group. The aim of this article is to explore factors that may enhance the identity of individuals who still identify strongly as Catholic. Templeton and Eccles (2006) define a religious identity as a collective or social identity because it: "includes group (religious) membership, shared beliefs, perceived closeness to other members of the group, and behavioral enactments such as meeting attendance" (p. 253). Collective or social identity is shared by a group of people who have characteristics in common, such as a native language, a country of origin, or a religion (Ashmore, Deaux, & McLaughlinVolpe, 2004; Greenfield & Marks, 2007). These authors suggest that Social Identity Theory provides a solid theoretical framework for exploring religious identity. According to Cairns (1982), Social Identity Theory is also useful for understanding intergroup conflicts, such as the one in Northern Ireland where the denominational categories of Protestant and Catholic refer to social identities rather than merely religious groupings. A deeper look at religious identity requires a better understanding of how religious groups evolve over time. For instance, Dillon (1996, 1999) has suggested that current Catholic identity appears more complex and multifaceted than in the pre-Vatican II period when Catholics had an absolutist understanding of Catholic doctrine and an immense respect of the Magisterium's authority. Today, many Catholics do not totally agree with the Church's moral and sociopolitical position, yet they still value its communal and sacramental tradition and are still self-consciously faithful to the Catholic heritage (Dillon, 1996). As Catholic doctrine can be represented as an evolving set of traditions (Dillon, 1999), this evolution is not without consequence on Catholic identity. In fact, this particular topic has generated several studies examining different variables in relation to Catholic identity. For example, Dillon (1996) explored manifestations of religious identity, such as the influence of church attendance on moral and sociopolitical attitudes among American Catholic college students, while Hornsby-Smith and Procter (1995) investigated the relationships between Catholic identity, religious context and environmental values in Western Europe. …


This cycle of poems is perhaps the most memorable evocation in modern Canadian literature of the myth of the wilderness, the immigrant experience, and the alienating and schizophrenic effects of the colonial mentality. Since it was first published in 1970 it has not only acquired the stature of a classic but, reprinted many times, become the best-known extended work in Canadian poetry. Susanna Moodie (1805-85) emigrated from England in 1832 to Upper Canada, where she settled on a farm with her husband. She wrote several books in Canada, notably Roughing It in the Bush, a famous account of pioneering that is still widely read. In poems about the arrival and the Moodies' seven years in the bush, which were followed by a more civilized ilfe in Belleville, and about Mrs Moodie in old age and then after death - in the present, when she observes the twentieth century destroying her past and its meaning - Margaret Atwood has created haunting meditations on an English gentlewoman's confrontation with the wilderness, and compelling variations on the themes of dislocation and alienation, nature and civilization. The poems are supplemented by Margaret Atwood's collages and an 'Afterword' in which the poet says: 'We are all imigrants to this place even if we were born here....'


n engl j med 362;6 nejm.org february 11, 2010 482 O President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress have passed a health care reform bill, conservative groups are likely to challenge parts of it as unconstitutional, arguing that it oversteps Congress's powers. A key target will be the individual mandate, which is designed to coax uninsured persons into purchasing insurance. The term "individual mandate" is misleading for two reasons. First, the law would not actually require all individuals to purchase insurance. The mandate would not apply to dependents, persons receiving Medicare or Medicaid, military families, persons living overseas, persons with religious objections, or persons who already get health insurance from their employers under a qualified plan. Second, it is not actually a mandate. It is a tax, which people would not have to pay if they purchased health insurance. The House bill imposes a tax of 2.5% on adjusted gross income if a taxpayer is not part of a qualified health insurance program. The Senate bill imposes what is called an "excise tax" — a tax on transactions or events — or a "penalty tax" — a tax for failing to do something (e.g., filing your tax return promptly). The tax is levied for each month that an individual fails to pay premiums into a qualified health plan. Congress has the power to pass legislation that falls within any of its powers enumerated in the Constitution. There are two obvious sources of congressional power. The first, described in the General Welfare Clause, is the power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States." The second, laid out in the Commerce Clause, is the power "to regulate commerce . . . among the several states." The individual mandate is a tax. Does it serve the general welfare? The constitutional test is whether Congress could reasonably conclude that its taxing and spending programs promote the general welfare of the country.1 This test is easily satisfied. The new health care reform bill insures more people and prevents them from being denied insurance coverage because of preexisting conditions. Successful reform requires that uninsured persons — most of whom are younger and healthier than average — join the national risk pool; this will help to lower the costs of health insurance premiums nationally. Taxing uninsured people helps to pay for the costs of the new regulations. The tax gives uninsured people a choice. If they stay out of the risk pool, they effectively raise other people's insurance costs, and Congress taxes them to recoup some of the costs. If they join the risk pool, they do not have to pay the tax. A good analogy would be a tax on polluters who fail to install pollutioncontrol equipment: they can pay the tax or install the equipment. Because the textual argument for Congress's authority under the General Welfare Clause is obvious and powerful, opponents have tried to argue that the tax is unconstitutional because it is a "direct" tax. Under the Constitution, "direct" taxes must be apportioned to state population. That is, if State A has twice as many people as State B, the amount of revenue collected from State A must be twice that collected from State B. Like most federal taxes, the individual mandate is not apportioned to state population. The classic examples of direct taxes are taxes on real estate and capitation or "head" taxes on the general population, under which people are taxed no matter what they do. In one of the Supreme Court's first cases, Hylton v. United States, Justice William Paterson held that if there is any doubt, taxes should be classified as indirect rather than direct.2 The individual mandate is not a direct tax. The House's version is a tax on income. Under the Sixteenth Amendment, income taxes do not have to be apportioned, regardless of the source of the income. The Senate's version is an excise or penalty tax. It is neither a tax on real estate nor a general tax on individuals. It is a tax on events: individuals who are not exempted are taxed for each month they do not pay premiums to a qualified plan. If the individual mandate falls within Congress's power to tax and spend, no other constitutional authority is necessary. However, The Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate


There is much evidence that humans and other animals utilize a combination of model-based and model-free RL methods. Although it has been proposed that these systems may dominate according to their relative statistical efficiency in different circumstances, there is little specific evidence — especially in humans — as to the details of this trade-off. Accordingly, we examine the relative performance of different RL approaches under situations in which the statistics of reward are differentially noisy and volatile. Using theory and simulation, we show that model-free TD learning is relatively most disadvantaged in cases of high volatility and low noise. We present data from a decision-making experiment manipulating these parameters, showing that humans shift learning strategies in accord with these predictions. The statistical circumstances favoring model-based RL are also those that promote a high learning rate, which helps explain why, in psychology, the distinction between these strategies is traditionally conceived in terms of rule-based vs. incremental learning.


The partitioning of fluvial sediment load across continental margins is an important control on strata formation and sequence development; however, few quantitative sediment budgets that encompass entire dispersal systems exist. For the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system, sediment discharge is estimated to be 10 9 t/yr at gauging stations ~300 km inland of the coast, but little has been known of the downstream fate of this material. Geochronological, geophysical, and stratigraphic investigations of the lowland flood plain, delta plain, and shelf help to delineate the extent of Holocene fill and allow calculation of a first-order sediment budget. Results reveal that 1500 ◊ 10 9 m 3 of sediment fill has been sequestered within the flood plain and delta plain since ca. 7000 yr B.P., or about one-third of the annual discharge. The remaining load appears to be apportioned between the prograding subaqueous delta (1970 ◊ 10 9 m 3 ) and transport to the deep-sea Bengal fan via a nearshore canyon. Modern (<100 yr) budget estimates based on short-term accretion rates indicate a similar dispersal pattern and show that contemporaneous deposition continues within these disparate depocenters. The roughly equal partitioning of sediment among flood-plain, shelf, and deep-sea settings reflects the respective influence of an inland tectonic basin, a wide shelf, and a deeply incised canyon system. The findings also support new sequence stratigraphic models for these settings and indicate the important insight that modern river deltas can provide for ancient margin systems. Furthermore, results affirm that values of riverine sediment flux to the oceans may be considerably overestimated by not accounting for loss to the flood plains downstream of the gauging stations.


From the Publisher:
Reliable, flexible, and configurable enough to solve the mail routing needs of any site, sendmail has withstood the test of time, but has become no less daunting in its complexity. Even the most experienced system administrators have found it challenging to configure and difficult to understand. For help in unraveling its intricacies, sendmail administrators have turned unanimously to one reliable source -- the bat book -- or sendmail, by Bryan Costales and sendmail author Eric Allman. Now in its third edition, this bestselling reference will help you master the most demanding version of sendmail yet. The new edition of sendmail has been completely revised to cover sendmail 8.12 -- a version with more features and fundamental changes than any previous version of the Unix-based email routing program. Because the latest version of sendmail differs so significantly from earlier versions, a massive rewrite of this bestselling reference was called for.
The book begins by guiding you through the building and installation of sendmail and its companion programs, such as vacation and makemap. These additional programs are pivotal to sendmail's daily operation. Next, we cover the day-to-day administration of sendmail. This section includes two entirely new chapters -- "Performance Tuning," to help you make mail delivery as efficient as possible, and "Handling Spam," to deal with sendmail's rich anti-spam features. The next section of the book tackles the sendmail configuration file and debugging. And finally, the book wraps up with five appendixes that provide more detail about sendmail than you may ever need. Altogether, versions 8.10 through 8.12 include dozens of new features, options, and macros, and this greatly expanded edition thoroughly addresses each. With sendmail, Third Edition, in hand, you will be able to configure this challenging but necessary utility for whatever your system requires. This much anticipated revision is essential reading for sendmail administrators.


Daylighting is a key component for incorporating visual comfort conditions and reducing energy consumption in buildings. In order to assess daylight potential in the building design phase, diverse performance metrics are developed and are being used in building design phase. These metrics are also integrated into several dynamic lighting simulation algorithms so architects, lighting designers or façade consultants can practically determine the daylight performance of designated façade alternatives in terms of daylight availability, compare design variants and perform necessary revisions during the building design phase. This study deals with proposal of a façade design process in terms of daylight performance determination and aims to describe current daylight metrics that can be used for façade design and applications. Proposed process consists of determination stages based on daylight illuminance, control of glare and view out conditions. With the implementation of this process to façade design, it is possible to provide visual comfort conditions and minimise lighting energy efficiency in buildings.


Abstract We developed ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs) based on Bayesian regressions to predict response spectra at sites located in the hill zone of Mexico City for local earthquakes of the Mexico basin. The coefficients of the GMPEs are built as functions of magnitude (2.3≤ M w ≤3.8) and hypocentral distance (8≤ R ≤60  km), using 15 local earthquakes. We compare our results with five GMPEs, an attenuation model obtained in the northern region of the subduction zone in the Pacific coast of Mexico from small earthquakes, and four other existing GMPEs for shallow crustal earthquakes. Two of the GMPEs, although not the most recent ones, are still used to perform probabilistic seismic‐hazard analysis for the region under study.


Background Stiffness properties of the knee joint and landing biomechanics are important factors linked to injury risk. Neuromuscular training may mitigate the risk injury and simultaneously improve sports performance. Objective To investigate the effect of neuromuscular training on the stiffness properties of the knee joint and landing biomechanics of young female recreational athletes. Design Quasi-experimental study. Setting Biomechanics laboratory. Participants Twenty-six female recreational athletes. Interventions Intervention group: combined plyometric (drop jump movements, cutting techniques with quick reactions and maximal effort) and resistance (body-weight, dumbbell and Thera-Band® exercises) training, 3 times/week for 6 weeks; control group: regular physical activity. Main Outcome Measurements Peak torque of the knee extensors, relaxed and contracted muscle stiffness of the vastus lateralis, knee joint musculoarticular stiffness (MAS), and drop vertical jump (DVJ) performance were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Results Post-intervention MAS increased significantly (pre- 1657.58±338.53 Nm−1, post- 1930.79±419.15 Nm−1) in the intervention group only. Additionally, compared with the control group the intervention group exhibited an increased rate of torque development (pre- 905.13±90.31 Nms−1, post- 1076.35±93.14 Nms−1), decreased knee valgus (pre- 7.86±5.86 °; post- 2.48±5.34 °), increased maximum knee flexion (pre- 73.17±9.32 °; post- 79.68±9.70 °), increased flight time (pre- 0.43±0.04 s; post- 0.46±0.03 s), an increase in DVJ height (pre- 0.23±0.04 m; post- 0.26±0.04 m), as well as decreased peak ground reaction force of the first (pre- 2.44±0.60 Nkg−1; post- 1.83± 0.47 Nkg−1) and second landings (pre- 2.34±0.86 Nkg−1; post- 2.06±0.92 Nkg−1) of the DVJ. Conclusions Neuromuscular training can improve the stiffness characteristics of the knee joint and landing biomechanics of recreational female athletes.


ABSTRACT Feedback is dependent on how it is interpreted and used. The present study aimed to explore Swedish primary-school teachers' and students' shared concerns regarding classroom feedback interaction. 13 teachers and 23 students (7–9 years old) were interviewed. A grounded theory design was employed for coding and analysis. According to the findings, teachers' and students' mutual main concern was to construct clarity regarding what the other communicated. Both strived to construct clarity concerning conditions that they had to adapt to, from aspects as trustworthiness and understanding. The study contributes with an illustration of the relational aspect of classroom feedback in primary school.


The disease listeriosis is caused by Listeria monocytogenes. This common food-borne disease has been responsible for about 0.1 to 10 cases per million inhabitants per year. However, this disease is serious with its high fatality rates of 20% 30%, and 40% of all cases reported have been in pregnant women suffered from a foetal abortion. Recently the organism has acquired resistance to antibiotic treatment and the development of an alternative treatment is necessary. Class IIa bacteriocins such as leucocin A have been shown to be active against L. monocytogenes. However, the leucocin A receptor molecule responsible for growth inhibition within L. monocytogenes remains unclear. Various studies have implicated the mannose PTS permease (EIIt ) of L. monocytogenes as the putative receptor for class IIa bacteriocins. The results from studies reviewed indicate that the EIIt Man of L. monocytogenes could be the chiral receptor needed for bacteriocin interaction at the surface of targeted cells. Specifically, the membrane associated IID and IIC subunits were implicated in direct interaction with class IIa bacteriocins. Our study focused on cloning, expression and purification of the subunits of the mannose PTS permease of L. monocytogenes EGD. Primers were designed to amplify the subunit genes of the mptACD operon. The mptC, mptD and mptAB genes which were then successfully cloned into pET28a expression vector and transformed into E. coli JM109(DE3) host strain. Recombinant plasmids were screened using colony PCR. Subsequently recombinant pET28-C, pET28-D and pET28-AB was once again transformed and expressed in the E. coli BL21(DE3) pLysS expression host strain. After an induction at 30°C for 5 hours, IIC and IID were found to be expressed in the cell membrane, whilst IIAB was expressed in the cytosol of the host expression strain. Membrane proteins His-IIC, HisIID, and cytosol associated His-IIAB were purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. Results for His-IIC yielded a 28 kDa protein and a 55 kDa co-purified protein. Results for His-IID yielded a 31 kDa protein and a 60 kDa co-purified protein. Results for His-IIAB yielded a 35 kDa protein and a 68 kDa co-purified protein. A western blot analysis revealed that all proteins purified carried an attached His-tag as detected by an anti-mouse peroxidase conjugate anti-His-tag antibody.


Post-translational lipid modifications farnesylation and geranylgeranylation of proteins (protein prenylation) have been identified to mediate critical events in cancer, cardiovascular disorders, malaria and bone disorders like osteoporosis. To date eight compounds are commercialized for the treatment of bone disorders, and there are considerable efforts to develop selective small molecules that inhibit protein prenylation. This review summarizes the approaches currently employed to synthesize new inhibitors of isoprenoid biosynthesis. Bisphosphonates are mainly prepared through reaction of carboxylic acids with phosphorus reagents, Michael addition to tetraethylvinylidenebisphosphonate and alkylation of tetralkylmethyl bisphosphonate. Approaches to non-bisphosphonate derivatives include a variety of methodologies depending on the structure of the target compound.


We investigate the basic features of wave propagation in pseudochiral media characterized by symmetric magneto-electric tensors with zero diagonal elements. The wave propagation is described by two dispersion relations with elliptically polarized eigenwaves. For a linearly polarized wave incident from vacuum onto a pseudochiral medium, the transmitted waves are elliptically polarized, whereas the reflected wave remains to be linearly polarized. A generalized form of Fresnel equations for reflection and transmission coefficients is derived for pseudochiral media, which includes the chirality as an additional parameter. Brewster's angles that correspond to zero reflection from the interface are also studied.


Tchuma Tchato is one of the first community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programmes established in Mozambique. It started in 1994 in a remote area of about 200 000 ha on the right-hand side of the Zambeze River in Tete Province, close to the borders of Zimbabwe and Zambia. This typical mopane (Colophospermum mopane) forest ecosystem has been a concession area for safari operations since 1993. Because of conflicts between local communities, the private operator and the local government, intervention was required to promote collaborative management of the resources, with stakeholders' benefits and obligations clearly defined.


An increasing body of empirical evidence is documenting trends toward rising concentration, profits, and markups in many industries around the world since the 1980s. Two major criticisms of these studies is that concentration and market shares are poorly measured at the national industry level while firm level revenues are a poor indicator of product sales. We use a novel database that identifies over 20,000 product/geographic antitrust markets affected by over 2,000 mergers scrutinized by the European Commission between 1995 and 2014. We show that concentration, as measured by the market-specific post-merger HHI, is larger than reported in the extant literature (at least) by a factor of ten. We also show that concentration has increased over time on average. Yet, there is a great deal of heterogeneity across geographic markets and within broader industries. In a regression analysis that exploits this within-industry variation, we show that barriers to entry are unambiguously positively related to concentration irrespective of time periods, sectors of activity, and geographical market dimension analyzed. Strict past merger enforcement negatively correlates with concentration. Yet, this effect is stronger in the earlier decade (1995-2004) than subsequently. Intangibility of investments consistently displays positive correlation with concentration only for EU wide and worldwide services markets. In contrast, the correlation is negative in national markets. This underscores the importance of the large heterogeneity present in concentration developments across markets.


Online dating sites have become popular platforms for people to look for potential romantic partners. Many online dating sites provide recommendations on compatible partners based on their proprietary matching algorithms. It is important that not only the recommended dates match the user's preference or criteria, but also the recommended users are interested in the user and likely to reciprocate when contacted. The goal of this paper is to predict whether an initial contact message from a user will be replied to by the receiver. The study is based on a large scale real-world dataset obtained from a major dating site in China with more than sixty million registered users. We formulate our reply prediction as a link prediction problem of social networks and approach it using a machine learning framework. The availability of a large amount of user profile information and the bipartite nature of the dating network present unique opportunities and challenges to the reply prediction problem. We extract user-based features from user profiles and graph-based features from the bipartite dating network, apply them in a variety of classification algorithms, and compare the utility of the features and performance of the classifiers. Our results show that the user-based and graph-based features result in similar performance, and can be used to effectively predict the reciprocal links. Only a small performance gain is achieved when both feature sets are used. Among the five classifiers we considered, random forests method outperforms the other four algorithms (naive Bayes, logistic regression, KNN, and SVM). Our methods and results can provide valuable guidelines to the design and performance of recommendation engine for online dating sites.


An approach to control non-linear objects based on evolving Rule-based (eR) models is presented in the paper. Fuzzy rules, representing the structure of the controller are generated based on data collected during the process of control using newly introduced technique for on-line identification of Takagi-Sugeno type of fuzzy rule-based models. Initially, the process is supposed to be controlled for few time steps by any other conventional type of controller (P, PID or a fuzzy one with a fixed structure determined off-line). Then, in on-line mode the output of the plant under control (including its dynamic) and the respective control signal applied has been memorised and stored. These data has been used to train in a non-iterative way the eR model representing the fuzzy controller, which aim is to control the plant at a given set point. The indirect adaptive control approach has been used in combination with the newly introduced on-line identification technique based on unsupervised learning of antecedent and consequent parts separately. This approach exploits the quasi-linear nature of Takagi-Sugeno models and builds-up the control rule-base structure and adapts it in on-line mode. The method is illustrated with an example from air-conditioning systems, though it has wider potential applications.


Six approaches were developed for specifying embankment and subgrade compaction and/or verifying compaction quality on Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) construction projects. These approaches, along with VDOT's current practices, were qualitatively evaluated for applicability considering the benefits and risks of each approach. Based on the findings, the use of specifications based on embankment performance measurements is viable for large design-build or design-build-maintain projects. The use of these specifications permits greater innovation on the part of the contractor while shifting more of the overall project risk to the contractor. The contractor's increased stake in the post-construction performance of the embankment aims to promote high quality workmanship with reduced oversight by VDOT. The primary risks faced by VDOT through the use of performance specifications include: (1) disputes between VDOT and the contractor over deficient embankment performance during the warranty period; (2) the difficulty of repairing underlying embankments when finished roadway features, such as pavements are already in place; and (3) the uncertainty that construction defects will be manifested in a measurable way during the finite term of the performance period. There was considerable support in both published sources and the responses generated from the survey of experts conducted for this project, for full time visual inspection of embankment construction. To the extent that is feasible considering fiscal and policy constraints, it is recommended that VDOT increase the number of experienced inspectors on embankment construction projects. Three approaches were considered to increase the number of inspectors. The first of these was simply for VDOT to hire more experienced inspectors; however, it is understood that this approach is very unlikely to be feasible. Another approach is for VDOT to outsource inspection work to a private engineering firm. The use of this approach allows for rapid adaptation of the inspection labor supply to changing construction demands. A potential shortcoming of this approach is that VDOT may see an increase in overall project costs compared to hiring its own inspectors. A third approach considered to increase the number of inspectors available on VDOT projects is to have the contractor contract with a private engineering firm to provide outside inspectors. This approach is not recommended based on extensive concerns expressed by the project focus group and the surveyed experts about the potential for a conflict of interest. This study also considered the use of a pay factor for embankment construction to motivate the contractor to deliver high quality compaction. The pay factor developed for this project links the contractor's payment to the results of the field density tests. A shortcoming of this approach is that it increases the potential for disputes between the contractor and VDOT because every density test has the potential to influence the contractor's pay. Another recommendation of this study is to significantly increase the minimum frequency of field density and compaction moisture content testing for embankment construction. It is important to highlight that an increased test frequency should not be considered as a replacement for observation by an experienced earthwork inspector.


Data mining techniques are used to retrieve the knowledge from large databases that helps the organizations to establish the business effectively in the competitive world. Sometimes, it violates privacy issues of individual customers. This paper addresses the problem of privacy issues related to the individual customers and also propose a transformation technique based on a Walsh-Hadamard transformation (WHT) and Rotation. The WHT generates an orthogonal matrix, it transfers entire data into new domain but maintain the distance between the data records these records can be reconstructed by applying statistical based techniques i.e. inverse matrix, so this problem is resolved by applying Rotation transformation. In this work, we increase the complexity to unauthorized persons for accessing original data of other organizations by applying Rotation transformation. The experimental results show that, the proposed transformation gives same classification accuracy like original data set. In this paper we compare the results with existing techniques such as Data perturbation like Simple Additive Noise (SAN) and Multiplicative Noise (MN), Discrete Cosine Transformation (DCT), Wavelet and First and Second order sum and Inner product Preservation (FISIP) transformation techniques. Based on privacy measures the paper concludes that proposed transformation technique is better to maintain the privacy of individual customers.


Importance Autoimmune epilepsy is an underrecognized condition, and its true incidence is unknown. Identifying patients with an underlying autoimmune origin is critical because these patients' condition may remain refractory to conventional antiseizure medications but may respond to immunotherapy. Objective To determine the prevalence of neurological autoantibodies (Abs) among adult patients with epilepsy of unknown etiology. Design, Setting, and Participants Consecutive patients presenting to neurology services with new-onset epilepsy or established epilepsy of unknown etiology were identified. Serum samples were tested for autoimmune encephalitis Abs as well as thyroperoxidase (TPO) and glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65) Abs. An antibody prevalence in epilepsy (APE) score based on clinical characteristics was assigned prospectively. Data were collected from June 1, 2015, to June 1, 2016. Main Outcomes and Measures Presence of neurological Abs. A score based on clinical characteristics was assigned to estimate the probability of seropositivity prior to antibody test results. Good seizure outcome was estimated on the basis of significant reduction of seizure frequency at the first follow-up or seizure freedom. Results Of the 127 patients (68 males and 59 females) enrolled in the study, 15 were subsequently excluded after identification of an alternative diagnosis. Serum Abs suggesting a potential autoimmune etiology were detected in 39 (34.8%) cases. More than 1 Ab was detected in 7 patients (6.3%): 3 (2.7%) had TPO-Ab and voltage-gated potassium channel complex (VGKCc) Ab, 2 (1.8%) had GAD65-Ab and VGKCc-Ab, 1 had TPO-Ab and GAD65-Ab, and 1 had anti-Hu Ab and GAD65-Ab. Thirty-two patients (28.6%) had a single Ab marker. Among 112 patients included in the study, 15 (13.4%) had TPO-Ab, 14 (12.5%) had GAD65-Ab, 12 (10.7%) had VGKCc (4 of whom were positive for leucine-rich glioma-inactivated protein 1 [LGI1] Ab), and 4 (3.6%) had N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) Ab. Even after excluding TPO-Ab and low-titer GAD65-Ab, Abs strongly suggesting an autoimmune cause of epilepsy were seen in 23 patients (20.5%). Certain clinical features, such as autonomic dysfunction, neuropsychiatric changes, viral prodrome, faciobrachial dystonic spells or facial dyskinesias, and mesial temporal sclerosis abnormality on magnetic resonance imaging, correlated with seropositivity. The APE score was a useful tool in predicting positive serologic findings. Patients who were Ab positive were more likely to have good seizure outcome than were patients with epilepsy of unknown etiology (15 of 23 [65.2%] vs 24 of 89 [27.0%]; odds ratio, 4.8; 95% CI, 1.8-12.9; P = .002). In patients who were seropositive, reduction in seizure frequency was associated with use of immunomodulatory therapy. Conclusions and Relevance Among adult patients with epilepsy of unknown etiology, a significant minority had detectable serum Abs suggesting an autoimmune etiology. Certain clinical features (encoded in the APE score) could be used to identify patients with the highest probability of harboring neurological Abs.


The catchment of the Dashidaira reservoir located on the Kurobe River has high sediment yield. Because of the sufficient available amount of water in the catchment during flood events, the free-flow sediment flushing operation with full water-level drawdown is employed every year to preserve the effective storage capacity of the Dashidaira reservoir. This paper focuses first on the numerical simulation of a previously conducted free-flow flushing operation in the Dashidaira reservoir using the available in situ obtained data. Afterwards, to improve the flushing efficiency, the effects of water and discharge manipulation and the construction of an auxiliary channel on the total volume of the flushed sediment were studied. A fully 3D numerical model using the finite volume approach in combination with a wetting/drying algorithm was utilized to reproduce the flow velocity field and simulate the movable bed variations. The outcomes revealed that increasing the average free-flow discharge during the free-flow stage by approximately 56%, in the form of multiple discharge pulses, can enhance the flushing efficiency by up to 13%, and the construction of an auxiliary channel in the wide midstream of the reservoir can locally increase the sediment erosion from this area.


This study was a secondary analysis of data drawn from the Youth Leisure Study. The purpose of the study was to: a) explore the relationships among physical activity, leisure boredom, and various substance use variables; b) determine if leisure boredom moderated the relationship among physical activity and substance use variables; and c) create a foundation of knowledge with which to educate adolescents and educators of the importance of adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle early in life (i.e., free from unhealthy behaviours such as substance use and physical inactivity). Studies examining relationships among physical activity and substance are limited and, in the past, have yielded inconsistent results. The interaction of leisure boredom with physical activity intensity variables, including both team and individual pursuits were tested using moderated hierarchical regression procedures. Six measures of physical activity were used as independent variables, including, frequency of high, medium, and low intensity individual and team physical activities. Various types of substance use, including, tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol use, binge drinking, and drunkenness were used as dependent variables. The results for this study indicated that frequency of physical activity intensity was a consistent, positive predictor of alcohol use and binge drinking, but not tobacco use, marijuana use, or drunkenness. Leisure boredom was found to be a highly significant predictor of tobacco use, however, it was not a moderator of relationships among physical activity intensity and substance use variables. The implications for the study findings, are discussed further, and suggestions for future research are presented.


A fellow running for sheriff in a small southern town gave a stump speech at a Fourth of July picnic. At the end, the crowd applauded and wandered away, except for one man. The candidate, seeing a potential vote, approached the man and asked whom he was planning to support. The man said, "Well, I like you okay, but you're my second choice." The candidate asked who his first choice was. The man replied, "Anyone else." And that about describes the standing of truth in the law. It's not that we're against Mr. Truth. We often claim to like the old chap. It's just that so often, and of course for the best and most refined of reasons, we prefer anyone else. The stated justifications for the truth so frequently occupying the runner-up position in our legal system are well known, as you would expect, since we lawyers created them. Often, for example, we hear that procedural rights must be protected. (1) Thus, as the Supreme Court held in Dickerson v. United States, Miranda's exclusionary rule, (2) a rule that puts the truth off-limits to the jury, carries the day even in a case where it is known that the defendant spoke voluntarily. (3) In addition, some relationships are deemed more important than finding the truth. For example, the marital privilege, a sensible enough idea most of the time, holds sway even when a marriage literally occurs as a pit s4top on a witness's way to a grand jury, as it did in one of my cases; (4) the government was unable to ask even a single question of the blushing bride. To give one last example the expanding reach of the attorney-client privilege allows clients to trust their lawyers to help them conceal whatever, in a moment of foolish candor, they might have let slip. In fact, lawyers have a duty to do just that under what are called "ethics rules." (5) Although these rules prescribe strict confidentiality, they do not exempt lawyers from the statutory ban on directly suborning perjury. Thus was born the mutual dance of "don't ask, don't tell" that has become the subsurface minuet in so many lawyers' offices. Some might think it odd to believe that a relationship of authentic trust can be built on a shared, if unspoken, understanding that authentic trust is impossible. And, of course, a good deal of the time there simply is no trust. Clients intuitively understand that a person who will dissemble for them might sooner or later dissemble to them. Readiness to cut a corner here and another there is not a character trait easily confined. The willingness to deceive, the temptation to call deceit by a more polite name, and the consequent ever-expanding seepage of dishonesty in the way we deal with one another, all have their own cancerous dynamic in the soul of a human being, of a profession, and of a nation. (6) It is thus not mere circumspection that accounts for the fact that clients so often lie to their lawyers. On the contrary, clients wisely view lawyers with the suspicion we have earned by our penchant for excusing everything from willful blindness to soft-core perjury. (7) We feel the need to ponder the question before us today because we have long since abjured the simple man's answer to the question of what should be a lawyer's responsibility to the truth. The simple man's answer is, "Tell it." But that won't do for the more sophisticated among us, those who see, or say they see, the nuances and complexities of the world in general and the practice of law in particular. Ours are the precincts of more refined thinking. Only I suggest it is not refinement; it is equivocation impersonating refinement--or at least so I used to think. Increasingly, I think it's just dishonesty impersonating equivocation. The reason our system has been more or less successful at replacing vendettas with legal process is that people have been willing to trust it to bring them justice. (8) But they will trust it less and less as they see the increasingly obvious decay in its ability to produce, and in its determination to insist upon producing, the truth-based outcomes without which there is no justice. …


Video installation comprising freestanding steel wall approx 4m x 3m; surface of the steel treated with thick impasto of engineering grease; projected on to surface: video of rabbit being skinned in close and minute detail; 3-camera shoot; 23 mins looped. First shown as a screened work in Derapage Controle, Montreal (November 2001) and later also presented in FIX'02, Catalyst Arts, Belfast (December 2002).

Part of Bourke's continuing enquiry into 'scenographies of the felt', 'still life: nature morte' is one of a series of video installations that draws on the Still Life tradition and attempts to rework relationships between object, materiality and video image. A concern of the series (which also includes 'Dark Bride' and 'BlackDog') is the materiality of the play of light and sound on surface. Each work centres upon a single object and examines the complexities that emerge from the result - or 'aftermath' - of certain simple actions wrought upon it. Works attempt to occupy a field of sensory experience in which the visual merges with one's sense of one's own body: of touch, movement, space and proximity. Thereby, they question the adequacy of conventional delineations of sense perception, and explore what differentiates the lived-out moment from other cognitive experiences invoked by iconography, representation, memory, narrative etc.

'still life: nature morte' was presented in 'Against Nature' (12/10/02-3/11/02), an exhibition curated and staged by Kunsthalle Faust, also including work by: Tomasz Wendland, Arec Ignaszek (Poland); Liu Guangyun, Qui Ping (China); Richard Bond (UK); Csilla Babinszky (Hungary); Nina Kovacheva, Valentin Stefanoff (Bulgaria); Anna Grunemann (Germany); and Risa Takita (Japan). As a direct result of his participation, Bourke was subsequently invited to present work in 'Facing Nature', Centre for Contemporary Art and Media, Poznan (March 2003).


In most modern bankruptcy cases under Chapter 11, creditors and sophisticated investors trade in the claims against the debtor. Treating these claims like securities, various parties—including creditors serving on creditors' committees—buy and sell bank debts, trade debts, tort claims, and other obligations the debtor incurred in the course of business. Amid an unstable judicial and academic consensus that the securities laws do not apply to trading in these claims, courts have developed a set of bankruptcy-specific remedies for abusive claims trading, including for situations that resemble insider trading. Courts generally allow creditors on committees to trade claims as long as they have in place a "Chinese Wall" 1 separating their committee activity from their trading activity. But although Chinese Walls effectively prevent harms arising from violations of fiduciary duty, they are inappropriate guards against harms arising from insider trading itself. The crucial distinction between liability based on fiduciary duties and liability based on insider trading proper means that courts should accept the use of "big boy letters"—essentially nonreliance letters in which each party agrees to accept the possibility that the other has undisclosed inside information relevant to the trade—as an independent defense to insider trading liability. This Comment thus argues that, together, big boy letters and Chinese Walls respond to the harms that animate the bankruptcy remedies. Chinese Walls address the harms involved in fiduciary duty liability, though they have certain practical deficiencies. Big boy letters, for their part, guard against the harms associated with insider trading liability. This core insight—that Chinese Walls address one source of liability and big boy letters the other—suggests that bankruptcy courts should incorporate Chinese Walls and big boy letters into their claims trading regulations, and thereby realign the remedies for insider claims trading along the division between fiduciary duty liability and insider trading liability proper.


In order to solve the problem of urban domestic sewage treated by semi natural wetland method with high connectivity between surface water and underground water in the flood diversion channel, Whether there is a blank study on the pollution of shallow groundwater. The community structure and abundances of CODCr, total nitrogen, total phosphorus and microorganism were added to the surface water. Environmental factors such as CODCr, TN, TP, NH4+-N and microbial community and abundance indices were monitored through surface water and groundwater. In this study, physical and chemical indicators, microbial diversity and community structure of 12 water samples from Xiantao artificial wetland were studied by using the Illumina Miseq sequencing technique and the resulting microbial data were statistically analyzed in combination with environmental variables. The results showed that CODCr concentration had a very significant positive correlation with total microbial communities (r=0.530, P<0.01), NH4+-N and TN were significantly positively correlated (r=0.337 and 0.325, P<0.05). In addition, CODCr concentration was highly positively correlated with abundant groups (r=0.520, P<0.05), NH4+-N and TN were significantly positively correlated (r=0.325 and 0.304, P<0.05). For rare taxa, they might be more sensitive to the environment than their abundant groups. The relative abundance of the rare group is 0 at the depth of 10m, so we should carefully evaluate microbial reaction (rare group) environmental conditions in the future.


Abstract Biological weathering is a function of biotic energy expenditure. Growth and metabolism of organisms generates acids and chelators, selectively absorbs nutrient ions, and applies turgor pressure and other physical forces which, in concert, chemically and physically alter minerals. In unsaturated soil environments, plant roots normally form symbiotic mycorrhizal associations with fungi. The plants provide photosynthate-carbohydrate-energy to the fungi in return for nutrients absorbed from the soil and released from minerals. In ectomycorrhiza, one of the two major types of mycorrhiza of trees, roots are sheathed in fungus, and 15-30% of the net photosynthate of the plants passes through these fungi into the soil and virtually all of the water and nutrients taken up by the plants are supplied through the fungi. Here we show that ectomycorrhizal fungi actively forage for minerals and act as biosensors that discriminate between different grain sizes (53-90 μm, 500-1000 μm) and different minerals (apatite, biotite, quartz) to favour grains with a high surface-area to volume ratio and minerals with the highest P content. Growth and carbon allocation of the fungi is preferentially directed to intensively interact with these selected minerals to maximize resource foraging.


Neonatal intensive and special care is an expensive and limited health resource. Having a child in hospital is stressful and inconvenient for families, and may result in unbudgeted costs and loss of income; the home environment is most appropriate for normal infant development. For these reasons it is important that babies are discharged from neonatal units as early as is safely possible. Preterm infants take up the majority of neonatal hospital bed-days and our review will focus on this population.

There are three main parameters to consider: physiological maturity, parental readiness and home environment, and administrative/bureaucratic infrastructure. In a critical review of early discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants, Merritt et al 1 summarised what has previously been published about discharge criteria. For physiological maturity, most would agree that adequate suckling to maintain weight gain, respiratory stability with freedom from apnoea, and ability to maintain body temperature in an open cot are important criteria. Despite this general consensus, there is marked variation in length of stay: the average for babies <1.5 kg birth weight discharged home from the 552 hospitals participating in the Vermont Oxford Database in 2005 ranged from ∼40 to ∼80 days (fig 1). Some of this variation reflects different gestational age distribution (fig 2) and some reflects differences in diagnoses and clinical outcomes—for example, chronic lung disease, necrotising enterocolitis requiring surgery, and more than two episodes of sepsis are associated with prolonged hospital stays.2 Some variation is due to different management policies for clinical issues such as apnoea and infant feeding.3 However, differences in the discharge process may also be important, as illustrated by the finding that moderately preterm infants cared for in the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in California were discharged on average 4 days younger than …


In the engine room area, there are many pipe lines of inflammable oil, and the exhaust pipes from an engine, a super-charger, too. If the leakage of the spray from the former pipe lines drops on and contacts with the high temperature surface of the heat insulator of the latter pipes, the oil will often self ignite and cause a fire.A purpose of this research is to confine the self ignition temperature within narrow limits for marine diesel gas oil and A heavy fuel oil, contain various kinds of hydrocarbon, in the case of dropping oil on high temperature surface. We reported the results of gas oil last year, for A heavy fuel oil, we took place the experiment, too. Comparing the experiment data of both oils, it is confirmed that gas oil cannot ignite certainly at temperature below 337 °C and A heavy fuel oil below 386 °C, on dropping volume 0.04cm3-0.3cm3. The boundary of self ignite and not self ignite for A heavy fuel oil is higher temperature than gas oil.


Social influence refers to the interaction of one person with other researchers in the/a social network and is calculated by the analysis of co-authorship networks and centrality indices. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between social influence and productivity with the performance of the researchers in the area of throbbing headaches. Bibliometric indicators, social network analysis techniques and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed. The population included 35050 records of throbbing headaches indexed in the Web of Science from 2005 to 2017. Analysis of the relationship between social influence scores and the researchers' performance showed a positive correlation between the degree and betweenness centrality with the performance of the researcher and no correlation between closeness centrality and performance; meaning the greater the degree and betweenness centrality of the authors', the greater effectiveness. Variance regression analysis revealed nearly 56 percent of the researchers' productivity variance was determined by the degree and betweenness centrality. In addition, the results indicated a correlation between social influence and ideational influence indicators, meaning the researchers with the higher social influence possess higher ideational influence. Based on the findings of the present study, using a combination of indicators to examine the effectiveness of an author in terms of productivity and performance is argued whether it can help identify a successful researcher in a scientific field in a more realistic and creative way.


In nowadays intergrated circuit design, the diffraction limit has restricted the downscaling of the conventional electronic components. Surface Plasmon Polaritons (SPPs) are quantized charge density oscillations that occur at the interface between metal and dielectric materials when photons couple to the free electron gas of the metal. The extraordinary properties of SPPs can be utilized for sub-diffraction limit wave guiding and localized field enhancement. The resulting photonic components overcome the physics limitations of their electronic counterparts and offer a promising vista of the next generation all-optic circuits. Among all possible plasmonic-based configurations, those focus light into the dielectric core in a metal-insulator-metal(MIM) structure allow the manipulation and transmission of light at the nanoscale. Based on MIM structures, plasmonic Bragg reflectors reveal similar properties as the distributed Bragg reflectors. Therefore, plasmonic Bragg reflectors may also be used for effective optical switching, when the similar design for distributed Bragg reflectors is applied. In this thesis, the sawtooth plasmonic Bragg reflector and the nonlinear λ/4-shifted plasmonic Bragg reflector is proposed and studied. The obtained simulation results grant a better understanding of the characteristics of plasmonic Bragg reflectors and demonstrate their outstanding performance on optical switching.


This article compares the pre-vocational education curriculum plans in lower-secondary schools in Germany and Mainland China, and their implementation. Choosing the curricula of certain school types in two selected regions in both countries, this research first carries out a content analysis of the curriculum plans, using the criteria developed from the curriculum development theory of Reetz. In the second step, based on the findings on the theoretical level, some semi-structured in-depth teacher interviews are conducted in both countries with the purpose of finding out the degree of curriculum implementation as well as influencing factors in the actual teaching practice. The investigation reveals that in both countries certain disparities exist between the curriculum plan on the one hand and the teaching reality on the other hand. The reasons for the disparity are largely different in the two countries and are closely related to the varied institutional settings, the financial situation, as well as teacher training, etc.


If we can carry in our pockets more computing power than the Apollo program needed to put a man on the moon, why can't we solve problems like climate change, famine, or poverty? The answer lies, in part, in the distinctive challenges of creating innovations that address today's pressing environmental and social problems. In this groundbreaking book, Andrew Hargadon shows why sustainable innovation-the development of financially viable products that support a healthy environment and communities-is so difficult when compared to creating the next internet ventures or mobile apps that disregard these criteria. While other books treat innovation across sectors equally, Hargadon argues that most effective innovation strategies hinge on attention to the context in which they are pursued. Instead of relying on a stale set of "best practices," executives must craft their own strategies based on the particulars of their industries and markets. But, there are some rules of the road that foster a triple bottom line; this book provides a research-based framework that outlines the critical capabilities necessary to drive sustainable innovation: a long-term commitment, nexus work, science and policy expertise, recombinant innovation, and robust design. Sustainable Innovation draws on a wide range of historical and contemporary examples to show business readers and their companies how to stand on the shoulders of successful pioneers.


The study was conducted in Bure District of the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) with objectives of characterizing the milk production & marketing systems and evaluating the effect of feed supplementation on milk yield & milk composition of local cows. A single-visitmultiple-subject survey was used to collect data on milk production & marketing systems. A total of 181 milk households were individually interviewed. On-farm feeding trial was conducted on twenty lactating cows of uniform parity and stage of lactation using a Randomized Complete Block Design (5 treatments & 4 replications). Average body weight and initial milk yield of cows were 231.7±36.7 kg & 1.08±0.11 kg/cow/day respectively. The treatment groups included grazing (T1), noug seed cake (T2), adlib urea treated wheat straw (T3), noug seed cake+ adlib urea treated wheat straw (T4) and concentrate comprising 74% maize grain+25% noug seed cake +1% salt (T5). From the survey, rural small-holder, periurban, and urban milk production systems were identified. Milk and butter were found to be marketed mainly through informal marketing systems. Indigenous and Fogera-Friesian crossbreds were the dominant cattle breeds. The major livestock feed resources are natural pasture, crop residues and aftermaths. Trypanosomiasis, pasteurolosis, anthrax and black leg were the major reported cattle diseases. The main problems of milk production & marketing were lack of feed, disease outbreak, lack of improved cattle breeds and distance to marketing points. The on-farm feeding trial result showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between control and supplemented group in terms of increased milk yield, milk-fat and total solids while treatment effects were not-significantly different (p>0.05), for increased milk protein, solids-not-fat and ash contents. The highest and the lowest milk yield per day was recorded for cows fed urea treated wheat straw and the control group, respectively. The intervention diets increased the net profit/cow/day by ETB 3.40 (T2), 6.33 (T3), 3.58 (T4), and 3.84(T5) over the control (T1). In general, despite the untapped milk potential of the district, the existing milk production (mainly extensive) & marketing (mainly informal) systems are found to be interwoven by many constraints. Urea treated wheat straw supplementation improved milk yield, weight gain and economic return. Therefore, further works are needed in areas of milk nutrition, health, product marketing, input delivery and services and scaling up the feeding package developed in this study considering the respective milk production systems to capitalize the market oriented milk industry in the district.


The Chinese government at the highest levels continues to stress the importance of environmental protection. The environmental consequences of rapid industrialisation and a burgeoning population are now unavoidable to citizens and government ministers alike. Among the major challenges for environmental protection and health and safety regulations in China are improving the transparency of government bodies and statistics, encouraging horizontal and vertical coordination on regulation and projects between and within ministries, ensuring economic viability of both municipal and commercial sector environmental protection projects, and enforcing ever-strengthening regulations. Government officials at all levels will no doubt feel pressure to advance new legislation while maintaining a high level of GDP growth, which invariably will place a priority on development and not on environmental, health and safety issues. Given the increasingly precarious economic conditions and ongoing reform of state-owned enterprises, it may be difficult for the Chinese government to follow through on high-minded efforts. This paper discusses the changing regulatory framework, likely enforcement inequities and implications for multinationals seeking to comply.


Representing motions as linear sums of principal components has become a widely accepted animation technique. While powerful, the simplest version of this approach is not particularly well suited to modeling the specic style of an individual whose motion had not yet been recorded when building the database: It would take an expert to adjust the PCA weights to obtain a motion style that is indistinguishable from his. Consequently, when realism is required, current practice is to perform a full motion capture session each time a new person must be considered. In this paper, we extend the PCA approach so that this requirement can be drastically reduced: For whole classes of motion such as walking or running, it is enough to observe the newcomer moving only once at a particular speed using either an optical motion capture system or a simple pair of synchronized video cameras. This one observation is used to compute a set of principal component weights that best approximates the motion and to extrapolate in real-time realistic animations of the same person walking or running at different speeds.


This paper responds to the expanding interest in archaeology in the use of portable X-Ray fluorescence (pXRF) technologies. Accurate analysis using pXRF requires correction for absorbance and secondary enhancement of the excited element X-rays by the other elements present. Several correction methods are widely used, including fundamental parameters, influence coefficients, Compton ratioing, multi-variate statistical analysis, and dilution. Most pXRF calibrations use either fundamental parameters or multi-variate statistics. However, influence coefficients are known to be the most certain calibration method for XRF analysis of geological materials. Portable XRF calibrations using influence coefficients in the analysis of obsidian, flint, mudbrick, and sediment have far less bias and include a wider range of elements (Mg through Ce) than multi-variate statistical or fundamental parameter calibrations using beam filtered spectra. Bias v. wavelength dispersive XRF data using influence coefficients is mostly less than 1 % for obsidian and flint, and less than 2 % for mudbrick and sediment, in contrast with the large biases (up to 36 %) found using fundamental parameters or multi-variate statistical methods.


This article contributes to the broad debate over adaptive preferences in law, economics, and political philosophy by addressing an important ongoing controversy in tort law. Hedonic damages compensate for the lost enjoyment of life that results from a tortious injury. Lawyers seeking hedonic damages in personal injury cases emphasize their clients' new status as compromised and damaged persons, and courts frequently uphold jury verdicts awarding hedonic damages to individuals who experienced disabling injuries based on a view that disability necessarily limits one's enjoyment of life. This view is consonant with a general societal understanding of disability as a tragedy and of people with disabilities as natural objects of pity. But a rich psychological literature demonstrates that disability does not inherently limit enjoyment of life to the degree that these courts suggest. Rather, people who experience disabling injuries tend to adapt to their disabilities. To be sure, the views of people with disabilities about their own quality of life are classic adaptive preferences. Accordingly, one might suggest that the legal system should disregard those views. But we argue that the legal system goes wrong by so devaluing the experience of people with disabilities. When courts award damages based on the (nondisabled person's) view that disability is tragic, they distract attention from the societal choices and stigmas that attach disadvantage to disability; they also make it harder for people with disabilities to make hedonic adjustments to their conditions. For deterrence and compensation reasons, people who experience disabling injuries should be able to recover for their physical pain; for medical expenses and the cost of assistive technology and personal assistance; for the opportunities society denies people with their conditions; and for the effects of social stigma. But they should not recover for any purported effect of disability on the enjoyment of life.


Human blood groups are a significant resource for patients, leading to a fierce international competition in the screening of rare blood groups. Some rare blood group screening programs have been implemented in western countries and Japan, but not particularly in China. Recently, the genetic background of ABO and Rh blood groups for different ethnic groups or regions in China has been focused on increasingly. However, rare blood groups such as MN, Duffy, Kidd, MNS, and Diego are largely unexplored. No systematic reports exist concerning the polymorphisms and allele frequencies of rare blood groups in China's ethnic minorities such as Uygur and Kazak populations of Xinjiang, unlike those on the Han population. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the allele frequencies of rare blood groups, namely, MNS, Duffy, Kell, Dombrock, Diego, Kidd, Scianna, Colton, and Lutheran in the Uygur population of Xinjiang Single specific primer-polymerase chain reaction was performed for genotyping and statistical analysis of 9 rare blood groups in 158 Uygur individuals. Allele frequencies were compared with distribution among other ethnic groups. Observed and expected values of genotype frequencies were compared using the chi-square test. Genotype frequencies obeyed the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.5) and allele frequencies were stable. Of all subjects detected, 4 cases carried the rare phenotype S-s- of MNS blood group (frequency of 0.0253), and 1 case carried the phenotype Jka-b- (frequency of 0.0063). Frequencies of the four groups, MNS, Duffy, Dombrock, and Diego, in the Uygur population differed from those in other ethnic groups. Gene distribution of the Kell, Kidd, and Colton was similar to that in Tibetan and Han populations, though there were some discrepancies. Gene distribution of Scianna and Lutheran groups showed monomorphism similar to that in Tibetan and Han populations. These findings could contribute to the investigation of the origin, evolution, and hematology of Uygur population of Xinjiang and assist in screening of rare blood groups in ethnic minorities, meeting of clinical blood supply demands, and building of the national rare blood group library.


A Bayesian linearized inversion (BLI) framework is used to analyze how uncertainty in the low-frequency model (LFM) affects the solution in prestack seismic inversion. Two related effects are considered: sensitivity addresses how a change in the LFM changes the inversion solution, whereas uncertainty addresses how uncertainty in the LFM is propagated into the inversion results. The posterior covariance matrix in the BLI equations does not depend on the LFM, and it can be concluded mistakenly that uncertainty in the inversion result is independent of uncertainty in the LFM. Instead, a broader characterization of uncertainty can be made by using a hierarchical BLI framework that includes uncertainties in the LFM. The standard BLI equations are adequate to describe uncertainty in relative rock-property inversion which can be obtained by subtracting the logarithm of the LFM from the logarithm of the inversion solution. Uncertainty in relative rock-property inversion is independent of both the particular LFM used in the solution and the uncertainty associated with the LFM. On the other hand, uncertainty in absolute rock-property inversion is independent of the particular LFM used but does depend on the uncertainty of that LFM. The uncertainty of absolute rock-property inversion is always greater than the uncertainty of the associated relative rock-property inversion.


Paid employment not only serves an important financial function for individuals, but it also serves significant non-financial functions, such as providing structure for one's day and interpersonal interactions with colleagues. However, when one transitions into retirement, older individuals need to adjust to the loss of these functions of work (Damman, Henkens, & Kalmijn, 2015). It has been suggested in the literature that post-retirement work may result in positive outcomes for older individuals, because it can provide retirees access to the functions of employment that were lost upon leaving their primary career job (Beehr & Bennett, 2015). It is still largely unknown, however, to what extent the anticipated loss of functions of work upon retirement motivates older employees to make plans for postretirement work. Therefore, the central research question that guides this study is: To what extent do older workers expect to miss extrinsic and intrinsic functions of work upon retirement, and how does that relate to their plans to engage in paid and volunteer work once they leave their primary career job?


In 1950, Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart empire, arrived in the Bible Belt town of Bentonville, Arkansas, and discovered that the nondescript Ozarks backwater--population 2,900 white Christians--suited him just fine. Today, six decades later, Walton's legacy has left its mark. The Bentonville area is headquarters to not only Wal-Mart but also Tyson Foods and J. B. Hunt. The town's population has grown to around 30,000, and the region is now home to blacks, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Marshall Islanders, and the fastest-growing Latino population in the country. In Boom Town: How Wal-Mart Transformed an All-American Town into an International Community, veteran journalist Marjorie Rosen explores the ever-shifting social, political, and cultural character of the United States through the microcosm that is Northwest Arkansas and the personal stories of its people. Rosen talks with a Palestinian immigrant who rose from penniless dishwasher to multimillionaire contractor--and dedicated himself to building a local Jewish community's first synagogue. A black executive hired to diversify Wal-Mart, whose arrival coincided with a KKK rally in the town square, gives his views on the controversies surrounding the company. A Mexican mother of three, fired from a chicken plant after an injury on the job, discusses her struggle to survive. A Hindu father concerned about interracial dating, a Marshallese security guard whose daughter was ignored in the ER, and many others reveal the issues and challenges facing those who make up the "boom towns" where the economy and culture are in constant flux. An entertaining, intimate, and often moving chronicle of how different ethnicities, races, and religions come together and struggle to adapt, Boom Town combines sociology, drama, and humanity to illustrate the unpredictable movements that shape our national persona.


In November 2005, Nitish Kumar became chief minister of one of India's poorest states. The third-largest state by population, Bihar lagged behind other states in growth and development but scored high in corruption, lawlessness, and dismal service delivery. Mismanagement of financial resources, obsolete methods of data entry and reporting, a low-skilled workforce, insufficient transparency, and scarce accountability hindered service delivery. As head of state government, Kumar launched a series of reforms that applied information and communications technology to streamline operations, boost revenues, and improve the government's responsiveness to citizens' needs. By 2012, Bihar had earned national and regional acclaim for its technology-related gains, and the government of India recognized the turnaround through e-governance awards. Kumar's efforts earned him the nickname Sushasan Babu, or Mr. Good Governance. Still, some reforms did not go far enough, and significant limitations remained: lack of integration among information and communications systems prevented proper coordination across departments; civil servants did not embrace all technology-related initiatives; and lack of electricity and Internet connectivity in many areas prevented citizens from taking full advantage of the services.Juliette John drafted this case study in May 2014 while at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School on leave from the UK's Department for International Development. The case study was updated by Rushda Majeed and Pallavi Nuka following interviews conducted by Rushda Majeed in Patna, Bihar in August, 2014. Three separate ISS case studies — "Coalition Building in a Divided Society," "Clearing the Jungle Raj," and "Reviving the Administration" — outline Nitish Kumar's broader efforts to build a coalition for reform,improve law and order, and resuscitate Bihar's administration, respectively.


The growing number of information security breaches in electronic and computing systems calls for new design paradigms that consider security as a primary design objective. This is particularly relevant in the embedded domain, where the security solution should be customized to the needs of the target system, while considering other design objectives such as cost, performance, and power. Due to the increasing complexity and shrinking design cycles of embedded software, most embedded systems present a host of software vulnerabilities that can be exploited by security attacks. Many attacks are initiated by causing a violation in the properties of data ( e.g., integrity, privacy, access control rules, etc.) associated with a "trusted" program that is executing on the system, leading to a range of undesirable effects.In this work, we develop a general framework that provides security assurance against a wide class of security attacks. Our work is based on the observation that a program's permissible behaviorwith respect to data accesses can be characterized by certain properties. We present a hardware/software approach wherein such properties can be encoded as data attributes and enforced as security policies during program execution. These policies may be application-specific (e.g., access control for certain data structures), compiler-generated (e.g., enforcing that variables are accessed only within their scope), or universally applicable to all programs (e.g., disallowing writes to unallocated memory). We show how an embedded system architecture can support such policies by (i) enhancing the memory hierarchy to represent the attributes of each datum as security tags that are linked to it through its lifetime, and (ii) adding a configurable hardware checker that interprets the semantics of the tags and enforces the desired security policies. We evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed architecture in enforcing various security policies for several embedded benchmarks. Our experiments in the context of the Simplescalar framework demonstrate that the proposed solution ensures run-time validation of program data properties with minimal execution time overheads.


Covictims of homicide are a hidden and sparsely researched group whose needs, as crime victims, are neglected and subsumed by the state's agenda for retributive justice. Likewise, their unique and distinct problems are given little consideration in the literature. This article appraises the relevance of the literature on trauma, bereavement, and meaning-making to this population; examines the research on covictims; and discusses the implications for research, practice, and policy. The review shows that trauma reactions are considered the major criterion of severity of victimization consequences. The emphasis on trauma, however, eclipses the significance of an invalidating social milieu and the efforts of covictims to regain their footing.


Calcium phosphate is the dominant solid mineral phase within the skeletal and dental tissues of vertebrates. This chapter concentrates on the structure and composition of the solid calcium inorganic orthophosphate (Ca–Pi) phase in bone and the mechanisms that are thought to induce the onset of this mineralization process as an example of biological mineralization in general. It is important to recognize that the Ca–Pi mineral phase is deposited in a living tissue and is a substance that is continuously being synthesized, resorbed and replaced by the action of living cells. Therefore, the composition, structure and other properties of the solid Ca–Pi mineral phase will change in space and time, depending on the general body metabolism and the local cellular functions in specific regions of bone. Similar considerations arise in studies of the mineralized tissues of invertebrates, where the crystals consist of various lattice arrangements of CaCO3 (calcite, aragonite, vaterite) deposited in hierarchical arrangement with the constituents of the ordered organic matrices. Furthermore, the nature of the Ca–Pi phase in bone is significantly different from synthetic, highly crystallized and geological hydroxylapatites, which is reflected in the physical, structural properties and physiological functions of the biological apatites.

This chapter is an attempt to summarize at least some of the historical background leading to the more recent research over the past several decades. The focus here is on investigations at the molecular and nano-scales, now possible both theoretically and experimentally, which have been applied to determine the "nature" of the solid Ca–Pi mineral phase of bone and other calcified vertebrate tissues from the inception of mineralization to the changes that occur during crystal maturation ("crystal aging") and the "normal" aging of the animal. The topics addressed below include an introduction to the basic concepts, relevant terminology and cellular events involved in bone …


Post-esophagectomy chylothorax is a rare yet serious complication. Herein we report the case of a patient with intractable post-esophagectomy chylothorax despite medical treatment with total parenteral nutrition and octreotide, as well as prophylactic and repeated thoracic duct mass ligation. The patient was eventually treated with localization of thoracic duct using T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (T2W MRI), followed by video-assisted thoracoscopic thoracic duct ligation.


Professional development for distance tutors is traditionally delivered through texts or websites, supplemented by face to face workshops. However, one of the major challenges is to ensure that they engage with the materials and carry away something which is of value to their practice. At the Open University (UK) our 8000 tutors work from home, and have few opportunities to meet fellow tutors on the course that they tutor. We have been exploring the use of online activity design to support tutors in learning by undertaking activities in online communities. This provides opportunities for professional development and discussion with their peers, while at the same time offering some flexibility in participation. This paper describes a case study of an award winning initiative at the Open University (UK) which now delivers professional development in online communities of distance tutors, operating at scale: some 2000 tutors have been trained to date, and our courses have a 75% completion rate. Drawing on data from 370 recent participants, it discusses some of the lessons we have learnt on the reasons for the widespread success of this initiative and the factors influencing effective activity design on the course.


Sauropod dinosaurs are the largest terrestrial
vertebrate to have lived on Earth. This size must have posed special challenges for the musculoskeletal system. Scaling theory shows that body mass and hence the loads that must be overcome increases with body size more rapidly than either the ability of the muscles to generate force, or the ability of the skeleton to support these loads. Here we demonstrate how one of the very largest sauropods, Argentinosaurus huinculensis (40 metres long, weighing 83 tonnes), may have moved. A musculoskeletal model was generated using data captured by laser scanning a mounted skeleton and assigning muscle properties based on comparative data from living animals. Locomotion is generated using forward dynamic simulation to calculate the accelerations produced by the muscle forces, coupled with machine learning techniques to find a control pattern that minimises metabolic cost. The simulation demonstrates that at such vast body size, joint range of motion needs to be restricted to allow sufficient force generation for an achievable muscle mass. However when this is done, a perfectly plausible gait can be generated relatively easily. Whilst this model represents the best current simulation of the gait of these giant animals, it is likely that there are as yet unknown mechanical mechanisms, possibly based on passive elastic structures that should be incorporated to increase the efficiency of the animal's locomotion. It is certainly the case that these would need to be incorporated into the model to properly assess the full locomotor capabilities of the animal.


We present algorithms for inferring the cost function and reference trajectory from human demonstrations of hand-writing tasks. These two key elements are then used, through optimal control, to generate an impedance-based controller for a robotic hand. The key novelty lies in the flexibility of the feature design in the composition of the cost function, in contrast to the traditional approaches that consider linearly combined features. Cross-entropy-based methods form the core of our learning technique, resulting in sample-based stochastic algorithms for task encoding and decoding. The algorithms are validated using an anthropomorphic robot hand. We assess that the correct compliance is well encapsulated by subjecting the robot to perturbations during task reproduction.