In complicated/nonlinear parametric models, it is generally hard to determine whether the model parameters are (globally) point identified. We provide computationally attractive procedures to construct confidence sets (CSs) for identified sets of parameters in econometric models defined through a likelihood or a vector of moments. The CSs for the identified set or for a function of the identified set (such as a subvector) are based on inverting an optimal sample criterion (such as likelihood or continuously updated GMM), where the cutoff values are computed via Monte Carlo simulations directly from a quasi posterior distribution of the criterion. We establish new Bernstein-von Mises type theorems for the posterior distributions of the quasi-likelihood ratio (QLR) and profile QLR statistics in partially identified models, allowing for singularities. These results imply that the Monte Carlo criterion-based CSs have correct frequentist coverage for the identified set as the sample size increases, and that they coincide with Bayesian credible sets based on inverting a LR statistic for point-identified likelihood models. We also show that our Monte Carlo optimal criterion-based CSs are uniformly valid over a class of data generating processes that include both partially- and point-identified models. We demonstrate good finite sample coverage properties of our proposed methods in four non-trivial simulation experiments: missing data, entry game with correlated payoff shocks, Euler equation and finite mixture models. Finally, our proposed procedures are applied in two empirical examples.


Poverty is not just about income. It is also about social isolation and powerlessness. Analysis of the private sector and poverty reduction must therefore deal with questions of social justice: Who controls enterprise? Whose culture and capacity does it build? Whose rights does it uphold or undermine? The private sector in international development is often narrowly defined to mean corporate 'for-profit' forms of commercial activity. But an examination of six developing countries shows that many forms of forest business are not exclusively 'for-profit'. Many of these forms (family businesses, informal groups, associations and cooperatives) involve collective action with a strong social agenda. Even among local enterprises that are exclusively 'forprofit', a locally strong social licence-to-operate frequently curbs more exploitative forms of community interaction. Tens of thousands of mutual forms of small and medium forest enterprise (SMFE) or SMFE associations may even constitute the majority of forest enterprise numbers and employment opportunities in developing countries. Mutual SMFEs and their associations often play an important role in building economic competitiveness vis-a-vis large enterprise reducing transaction costs, adapting to new market niches or lobbying policy makers. But they often also explicitly focus on social justice. The emphasis on social justice is both a key requirement for the continued success of such associations and for tackling poverty. This paper draws out some lessons on how associations can make a positive contribution to poverty reduction summarising research from Brazil, China, Guyana, India, South Africa and Uganda. It suggests important types of external support that might enhance this contribution.


Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) pili are surface proteins that are associated with the ability of Hib to attach to human epithelial cells. Like pilus expression of other bacteria, expression of Hib pili undergoes phase variation. We observed that Hib in the piliated phase (Hib p+) bound monoclonal antibodies directed against six conserved, surface-exposed, nonpilus Hib outer membrane epitopes to a greater extent than Hib in the nonpiliated phase (Hib p-). However, after extended incubation, p+ and p- cells bound these antibodies in a similar fashion. The differential in nonpilus antibody binding to p+ and p- Hib was not related to the presence of the type b capsule. In addition, Hib p+ organisms whose pilin gene was insertionally inactivated and did not produce pili and Hib in the nonpiliated phase bound the nonpilus Hib antibodies similarly. Hib p+ and p- organisms did not differ in their binding of anti-type b capsule antibody, and the binding was specific for the epitopes recognized by the antibodies. In complement-dependent bactericidal assays, the nonpilus antibodies killed Hib p+ more effectively than Hib p-. The increased binding to, and killing of, Hib p+ by a variety of nonpilus antibodies may be important for host defense against invasive Hib.


This research has demonstrated that a small, remotely operated radio telescope can perform well
enough to monitor blazar radio variability over periods of months to years. Such observations are
not possible using premier telescope facilities, given observing time demands, and they enable
scintillation effects intrinsic to the source to be disentangled from scintillation due to scattering of
radio waves by the interstellar medium. This exercise provides insight into the nature of the
source, and also provides a probe of turbulence in the interstellar medium.
The University of Tasmania's 30 m antenna near Ceduna in South Australia was converted to a
radio telescope facility in 1997 from its former use as an Earth station. The COntinuous Single
dish Monitoring of Intraday variables at Ceduna (COSMIC) campaign started in March 2003, and
extended to early 2005. It observed a number of blazars, with the telescope remotely operated
from Tasmania. The blazars were divided into groups lying south and north of the zenith at
Ceduna, with each group served by a calibrator source and observed in turn for periods of 10-15
days.
A source scanning strategy was developed, and semi-automatic software procedures were written
to process raw data into calibrated flux density data sets, corrected for gain-elevation and
pointing, and subject to quality control tests. The consistency in calibrator observations over the
~2 year period shows that a 30 m antenna can carry out long term monitoring of blazars with
strengths  1 Jy to the accuracy needed to identify variability on time scales of days, and better
performance is expected in future campaigns The antenna's 1/f noise is ~1% of the total flux
density, and is likely due to electronic gain fluctuations. It is about 2½ times greater than thermal
noise at the integration times relevant to the Ceduna flux density measurements.
COSMIC campaign data contain 0.15 Jy systematic flux density fluctuations, that have a thermal
origin. These fluctuations were initially believed to be genuine variability, and are most evident
on diurnal time scales. The raw data processing exercise cannot be adjusted to remove the
fluctuations for the blazars of interest to this research, PKS B1622-253 and PKS B1519-273, but
the genuine variability in these two blazars occurs on time scales of ~1-10 days. A method of
filtering and correcting the flux density data was developed, the strategy being to smooth through
the diurnal systematic effects, remove longer term flux density trends, correct for systematic
effects on weekly and seasonal time scales, and hence isolate the genuine variability.
A suite of variability analysis tools appropriate for Ceduna data was developed, using the scintle
peak-to-peak period, Tperiod , to define the characteristic variability time scale. Values of T0.5 or
T1/e can also be estimated, enabling examination of decorrelation timescales, but with caveats due
to the peculiarities of the Ceduna data sets, whose data gaps and other characteristics provide
challenges to an analysis of variability on a time scale of days.
- iv -
Tperiod values are determined for each 10-15 day observing period by spectral analysis, using a
power spectral density function obtained as the Fourier transform of a discrete autocorrelation
function. Empirical scintle counting and data folding exercises cross-check the Tperiod values.
Scintle periods are well modelled as Gaussian distributions that are similar for the two blazars,
since both sources are large enough to band-limited the scintillation process in similar ways.
The statistical properties of the scintle periods provide empirical error bars estimates for the Tperiod
values. Also, the 95% confidence interval error bars for Tperiod values calculated from a typical set
of scintles are comparable to the 2  10% upper limit of the stochasticity in Tperiod values that
Monte Carlo modelling predicted would enable Tperiod to be computed with fair accuracy.
For both PKS B1622-253 and PKS B1519-273, the Tperiod values computed for each observing
period over the COSMIC campaign exhibit clear annual cycles, which unequivocally proves that
in both cases the observed scintillation is primarily due to scattering by the interstellar medium.
Multi-frequency observations of PKS B1519-273 have shown that its scintillation is associated
with the weak scattering regime at the 6.7 GHz Ceduna observing frequency, and this is also
believed to be the case for PKS B1622-253.
The annual cycles in the variability time scales (i.e. Tperiod values) of the two blazars are well fitted
by the standard model of interstellar scintillation. Tperiod values for PKS B1622-253 and PKS
B1519-273 range from about 2 – 10 days and about 1-5 days respectively. The strength of PKS
B1519-273 fell below ~½ Jy in mid-2004, precluding accurate determination of Tperiod values in
the final months of the COSMIC project.
For both sources, the best annual cycle model fit is for highly anisotropic scintles and large
velocity offsets of the scattering screen with respect to the Local Standard of Rest. This is
unsurprising, since scintillation on time scales of days is associated with distant scattering screens,
typically hundreds of parsecs from Earth, which are often in motion with respect to the LSR.
The annual cycle model fits to the PKS B1622-253 and PKS B1519-273 Tperiod values have
reduced chi-square values of 2.12 and 0.83 respectively, confirming that the empirically
determined error bar estimates are appropriate, and that the annual cycle model credibly describes
the variation in the variability time scales of the two blazars.
The variability characteristics of PKS B1519-273, and the annual cycle in its variability time,
agree well with previous analyses of this source based on more limited data, but data recorded by
much better telescopes. This agreement confirms the success of the COSMIC project. An annual
cycle in the variability time scale of PKS B1622-253 has not previously been observed. The main
follow-on research tasks are to study the implications of the variability characteristics of both PKS
B1622-253 and PKS B1519-273, with consideration of anisotropy; eliminate the problem of
systematic fluctuations; and examine the other blazars monitored in the COSMIC campaign.


Although the frequency of pedestrian accidents has reduced significantly in recent years, there are still about 7000 pedestrians killed annually in the European Union, with about 10 times as many being seriously injured. This accident analysis is intended to support the development of impact procedures and performance limits to test the safety of cars in pedestrian accidents. Two sources of data have been used, separately and in combination: a database of information extracted from police reports on fatal accidents, and the Scottish Hospitals In-Patients Statistics (SHIPS) database which consists of hospital injury data linked to the national road accident database. Injury distributions by body region, casualty age and accident year show a number of injury trends over time. However, very few trends were noted with injury distributions by body region and the age of the car design. Cars of certain shapes might be at an advantage in passing part of the proposed test procedures yet might potentially cause increased injuries to the head. However, an injury analysis by car shape revealed no cause for concern. (A)


Tunisia is a North African country which is under the Mediterranean climate. This climate is characterized by a clear difference of precipitation between rainy season in winter and dry season in summer. The flood water in winter is stored for irrigation in dry seasons and for urban water supply throughout the year. The historical data analysis shows that reservoirs in Tunisia are characterized by a long retention time (0.5-1) year. This fact participates in the degradation of the quality of surface water resources due to the sedimentation process; it also induces the thermal stratification in the reservoirs. Dynamic numerical simulations of water flow, thermal stratification and sedimentation process constitute the basis of sustainable reservoir management. Indeed, the thermal stratification may have a big influence in the reservoir conditions and the quality of the stored water. In this study, we will begin by simulating the thermal stratification in four reservoirs in the northern side of Tunisia by applying a one dimensional numerical simulation model. Then we will investigate on the behavior of the water quality parameters towards the change of the temperature of the stored water in all the reservoirs. Finally, we will present the effect of a selective withdrawal on one of the four reservoirs.


We propose a data-driven method for extracting a respiratory surrogate signal from SPECT list-mode data. The approach is based on dimensionality reduction with Laplacian Eigenmaps. By setting a scale parameter adaptively and adding a series of post-processing steps to correct polarity and normalization between projections, we enable fully-automatic operation and deliver a respiratory surrogate signal for the entire SPECT acquisition. We validated the method using 67 patient scans from three acquisition types (myocardial perfusion, liver shunt diagnostic, lung inhalation/perfusion) and an Anzai pressure belt as a gold standard. The proposed method achieved a mean correlation against the Anzai of 0.81 ± 0.17 (median 0.89). In a subsequent analysis, we characterize the performance of the method with respect to count rates and describe a predictor for identifying scans with insufficient statistics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first large validation of a data-driven respiratory signal extraction method published thus far for SPECT, and our results compare well with those reported in the literature for such techniques applied to other modalities such as MR and PET.


This study investigates functional interpretations of left anterior negativities (LANs), a language-related electroencephalogram effect that has been found for syntactic and morphological violations. We focus on three possible interpretations of LANs caused by the replacement of irregular affixes with regular affixes: misapplication of morphological rules, mismatch of the presented form with analogy-based expectations, and mismatch of the presented form with stored representations. Event-related brain potentials were recorded during the visual presentation of existing and novel Dutch compounds. Existing compounds contained correct or replaced interfixes (dame s salons > damessalons vs. dame n salons > damensalons women's hairdresser salons), whereas novel Dutch compounds contained interfixes that were either supported or not supported by analogy to similar existing compounds (kruidenkelken vs. ?kruidskelken herb chalices); earlier studies had shown that interfixes are selected by analogy instead of rules. All compounds were presented with correct or incorrect regular plural suffixes (damessalons vs. damessalonnen). Replacing suffixes or interfixes in existing compounds both led to increased (L)ANs between 400 and 700 msec without any evidence for different scalp distributions for interfixes and suffixes. There was no evidence for a negativity when manipulating the analogical support for interfixes in novel compounds. Together with earlier studies, these results suggest that LANs had been caused by the mismatch of the presented forms with stored forms. We discuss these findings with respect to the single/dual-route debate of morphology and LANs found for the misapplication of syntactic rules.


Engaging human service practitioners as partners in research about sensitive areas of front-line work can be difficult for a range of reasons. Time constraints, geographic limitations, trust in the research relationship, issues of privacy, and fear of professional judgment are only some of the barriers that researchers need to overcome in order to assist workers to become involved in a reflective process about areas of practice. This article outlines the development of a new method of qualitative data collection designed to aid the reflective process and assist practitioners to engage in an ongoing dialogue about complex ethical dilemmas they had experienced in relation to their work with clients, colleagues, managers and organizations. These ethical dilemmas occurred in the contexts of health, mental health, child protection, work with young people, community work, disability, family violence, aged care and research. This is the story of how the concept of Email-Facilitated Reflective Dialogue was born. It is the story of how EmailFacilitated Reflective Dialogue became a method of data generation and a tool for reflection on issues of ethics, how twenty social workers throughout Australia experienced it as a reflective medium, and how we, as partners in research, experienced and evaluated the process.


OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to gather information on demographic and health indicators, primarily vaccination status, of Syrians under temporary protection in five provinces of Turkey and to develop infrastructure for vaccination planning.

METHODS
The population under study consists of 89,986 Syrian children, 0-4 years of age, residing in Ankara, Mersin, Gaziantep, Izmir, and Bursa. Initially, we planned to evaluate 2,339 children, although a total of 2,827 children were evaluated by the end of the study.

RESULTS
Of these children, 74% were born in Turkey, while 20% were born in Syria. In addition, 22.4% (n = 634) of the children were never vaccinated, and of these, 67.0% (n = 425) were born in Turkey. In other words, one in five Syrian children born in Turkey (20.3%) had never been vaccinated. Of the Syrian children under temporary protection, the missing vaccinations were as follows: hepatitis B (54.7%); Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (62.5%); five-component combined vaccine (64.6%); conjugated pneumococcal vaccine (58.0%); oral polio vaccine (70.8%); measles, mumps, and rubella (76.6%); varicella (66.8%); and hepatitis A vaccine (76.0%).

CONCLUSION
It is important to increase the immunization rates of Syrian children under temporary protection and establish regular vaccination procedures.


ABSTRACT Cathodoluminescence petrography and scanning electron microscopy reveal that several geologic variables significantly influenced intergranular pressure solution and quartz cementation in the Bromide (Ordovician, Oklahoma), Upper Minnelusa (Permian, Wyoming), Nugget (Jurassic, Utah), and Tuscarora (Silurian, Pennsylvania) sandstones. A linear relationship exists between mean grain size and intergranular pressure solution, with finer-grained samples having experienced more intergranular pressure solution than coarser-grained ones. Samples that display pervasive illite grain coatings have also experienced more intergranular pressure solution than those with no or poorly developed grain coatings. Sorting and limited framework-grain compositional variability have exerted little influence o intergranular pressure solution. Silica budgets indicate that in the Bromide, Upper Minnelusa, and Nugget sandstones, more quartz has been dissolved by intergranular pressure solution than is present as cement; these sandstones have exported silica during burial diagenesis. In the Tuscarora, the amount of quartz dissolved by intergranular pressure solution is about equal to the amount of quartz cement present, implying approximate mass balance. However, petrographic evidence suggests that most of the quartz cement in at least three of these sandstones predates most intergranular pressure solution, implying that they acted as silica importers during shallow diagenesis and silica exporters during deeper diagenesis. Intergranular pressure solution has played varying roles in determining the ultimate porosity of these four sandstones. In the Nugget, intergranular pressure solution was the single most important diagenetic process that influenced porosity evolution. In the Bromide, intergranular pressure solution was slightly more important than mechanical compaction and considerably more important than cementation. In the Tuscarora, intergranular pressure solution was slightly more important than mechanical compaction and of about equal importance to quartz cementation. In the Upper Minnelusa, intergranular pressure solution was less important than both mechanical compaction and gypsum/anhydrite cementation.


BACKGROUND: Quantitative gait analysis is aimed at quantifying the degree of gait impairment in a patient. It helps to estimate the severity, track the prognosis, and identify the treatment effect in patients. There is a paucity of studies assessing gait characteristics in patients with spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) using instrumental gait analysis. Here, we aim to identify the gait characteristics in patients with SCA and compare them with age-matched healthy individuals. METHODS: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, we analyzed the gait analysis data of patients with SCA from May 2018 to January 2020 in the gait and balance laboratory of the Physiotherapy Center in NIMHANS and compared them with age-matched controls from the existing database. The data were analyzed using an independent t-test. RESULTS: Each group consisted of 49 subjects. The SCA group had a mean age of 37.88 ± 13.25 years and the control group has a mean age of 40.88 ± 14.57 years, with a male to female ratio of 1:0.96 and 5:2, respectively. A significant difference was observed in all gait parameters (p < 0.001) between the SCA and control groups, except for swing time (p = 0.396). The SCA group demonstrated reduced velocity and cadence compared to the control group. The values of spatial parameters were reduced in the SCA group, with increased temporal parameters along with the base of support. The coefficient of variation was significantly increased in the SCA group, and the highest value was recorded for step length (10.45 ± 7.14). CONCLUSION: Patients with SCA demonstrated significant deviation in gait parameters from the normal values. The increased step-to-step variability in this patient population suggests an increased risk of falls. Identifying the changes in gait parameters at an early stage may help in planning the rehabilitation of patients with SCA, with focus on fall prevention strategies by targeting improvements in gait variability.


One useful way to find the answer to a question is to search a library of previously-answered questions. This is the idea behind FAQFinder, a Web-based natural language questionanswering system which uses Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) files to answer users' questions. FAQFinder tries to answer a user's question by retrieving a similar FAQ question, if one exists, and its answer. FAQFinder uses several metrics to judge the similarity of user and FAQ questions. In this paper, we discuss a metric based on question type, which we recently added to the system. We discuss the taxonomy of question types used, and present experimental results which indicate that the incorporation of question type information has substantially improved FAQFinder's performance.


Like many ambitious global goals, universal health coverage (UHC) remains an aspiration for many countries. The World Health Organization estimates that half the world's population lacks access to basic health services. Moreover, this already staggering number masks inequities that exist between and within countries: gaps between rich and poor, men and women, young and old, and among people of different ethnic backgrounds. UHC promises to give all people greater access to higher quality health services without the fear of financial hardship. But the task of turning this vision into reality poses a significant challenge for countries at all stages of economic development. In The Road to Universal Health Coverage, Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Ilona Kickbusch, Louis Galambos, and their contributors explore the ways in which the private sector is already helping countries achieve universal health coverage. Stressing the many positive aspects of UHC developments, the book focuses on the new health economy and the sometimes controversial dimensions of the private sector helping countries achieve UHC. Theoretical chapters are complemented by a series of case studies that explore the myriad ways in which private sector actors are already addressing UHC. What are the conditions required for countries to translate their successful experiences and policy promises into practical results for improved population health? In answering this question, the contributors examine the relationship between health employment and economic growth. They also analyze the critical success factors for private sector engagement in UHC, the role of healthy women in creating and sustaining healthy economies, and the role of the pharmaceutical sector. Looking to the political, economic, and social implications of moving from aspiration to implementation, The Road to Universal Health Coverage points the way to the many opportunities ahead as companies continue to work with governments and civil society partners to help achieve UHC.

Koleksi tersedia dalam bentuk elektronik. Jika membutuhkan, dapat menghubungi pustakawan melalui email perpustakaan[at]komnasham.go.id dan/atau perpustakaankomnasham[at]gmail.com


STAGE-BOUND: FEATURE FILM ADAPTATIONS OF CANADIAN AND QUEBECOIS DRAMA Andre Loiselle Montreal & Kingston, ON: McCill-Queen's University Press, 2003, 260 pp. Andre Loiselle's Stage-Bound: Feature Film Maptations of Canadian and Quebecois Drama is an ambitious, near-comprehensive, and meticulously analyzed study. Beginning with Melburn E. Turner's treatment of Hilda Mary Hooke's Here Will I Nest (play, 1938; film, 1942) and concluding with JeanPhilippe Duval's version of Alexis Martin's Matroni et moi (play, 1995; film, 1999), Loiselle offers an extensive survey of English- and French-language film adaptations of original stage plays in Canada. Through the application of a wide and eclectic array of theoretical approaches, he constructs an elaborate and persuasive (if, at times, overly restrictive) analytical frame, discovering a high degree of commonality amongst the works discussed, in terms of both preoccupation and strategy. If Loiselle's analysis occasionally strains beneath the strong determination of the book's global thesis, the results are nonetheless consistently insightful, evocative, and illuminating. Loiselle's study is divided into chronological sections, beginning with "Stage-Bound since 1942," which lays out the structure for the rest of book. This section also provides the theoretical basis upon which Loiselle builds the comparative analysis that follows, and, despite my considerable admiration for the accomplishments of Stage-Bound, I feel compelled to note two reservations about the author's approach to his material. Relying on a century of solid, but distinctly essentialist media theory, Loiselle proposes a "fundamental distinction between drama, which centres on a confined locus dramaticus closed off from the reality that it reproduces, and film, which can capture the wide vistas of actual landscapes...." Loiselle draws on Neil Sinyard's contention that "in some ways, the two forms are antithetical: theatre is artificial lighting and illusion, and cinema is open-air and realism; theatre is verbal, cinema visual; theatre is stasis, cinema is movement." By extension, Loiselle argues, "[T]he plays best corresponding to the demands of the hybrid medium that cinematized drama constitutes are those presenting a dialectical composition that pits coercive, centripetal pressures against explosive, centrifugal forces." The essentialist constraints of such an argument-manifested in the concept of "cinematized drama"-are clear here, and they occasionally lead Loiselle into apparent assumptions of "fundamental" properties, media characteristics, and related issues of aesthetic convention. For example, Loiselle contends, [A]lthough Being At Home with Claude and Possible Worlds are not as conspicuous in their references to theatricality, both films are intensely dramatic in their reliance on dialogue rather than on more ostentatiously cinematic effects. Beyond the prologue in the former and a few external scenes in the last section of the latter, both films remain anchored to the stage in their focus on character and dialogue rather than on the natural environment. Arguably, however, a "focus on character and dialogue" does not exclude (or even discourage) equal attention to "the natural environment," and neither of these conventional preferences are necessarily inherent to one or another medium. Loiselle's study is extremely valuable as an index to the specific conventions of recent Canadian dramatic works that have proven particularly conducive and/or susceptible to cinematic translation. But the grounds for the assertion of fixed and unquestionable ontological media distinctions are not to be discovered here. A related point of complication is also to be found in the quotation cited above. Within a single sentence the terms "theatricality" and "dramatic" are presented as being virtually synonymous. And, indeed, perhaps in pursuit of the relative degree of signifying stability afforded by cinematic texts (the analysis of which Loiselle navigates with agility), a large proportion of the author's references to original stage works are textual rather than being based on performances. …


Effective production scheduling is at the heart of any efficient manufacturing process and is the key to profitability. Because scheduling is complex, manufactures use computers to generate near optimal schedules. However, using a computer to find a single near optimal schedule requires a precise definition of optimality which must tradeoff the competing interests of production efficiemy, customer satisfaction, profitability and product quality. Performing these tradeoffs automatically is beyond the fidelity of any utility model that could be constructed with reasonable effort. Scheduling systems work best as assistants to human schedulers, keeping track of complex constraints and presenting the a set of alternatives that highlight the tradeoffs. The system must allow the human scheduler to examine and manipulate the schedules in order for the human to arrive at the best schedule. The utility model must capture the high level factors that contribute to a good schedule, but it does not need to capture all the subtlety needed to select the best schedule. For manufacturing interests, scheduling objectives fall along four broad dimensions: Time, factors that relate to on time delivery, Quality, factors related to product quality, Money, factors related to profitability and Disruptions, factors related to the ease of manufacture. These dimensions map to the interests of the customer service representatives, quality engineers, accountants and manufacturing supervisors respectively. The human scheduler is presented with a set of schedules that represent the Pareto-Optimal frontier and negotiates a selection between these competing points of view. In this paper, we elaborate on our approach to interactive decision-support and illustrate it with examples from the IBM Load Planning System, which uses an asynchronous team of agents to create schedules for shipping manufactured goods to customers.


The Effects of an Exercise and Kinesiotape Intervention on Forward Head/Rounded Shoulder Posture and Scapular Dyskinesis Luke Klawiter, ATC, CES Context: Forward head and rounded shoulder posture as well as scapular dyskinesis are forms of improper posture that have been linked to neck and shoulder pain. Treatment for forward head posture (FHP), rounded shoulder posture (RSP), and scapular dyskinesis has consisted of an exercise protocol. Kinesiotape (KT) has recently been used as a treatment method but there is a lack of research on the effectiveness, or whether exercise or KT is better than the other. Objective: The objective of the study was to compare a KT intervention to a strengthening and stretching program for correction of FHP, RSP, and scapular dyskinesis in a healthy, nonathletic, college age population. Design: The study was a repeated measures pre/post-test design. Setting: The testing and interventions took place at an athletic training research lab at a DI mid-Atlantic university. Only one clinician administered the testing and interventions. Patients and Other Participants: The study included 20 healthy college students that are premajor and major athletic training students. There were 10 subjects (7 females, 3 males, 20.30±.82 yrs, 171.07±11.82 cm, 79.47±13.79 kg) in the exercise group and 10 subjects (7 females, 3 males, 20.40±1.43 yrs, 166.61±11.99 cm, 69.40±11.48 kg) in the kinesiotape group. Inclusion criteria for the study contained those subjects who were healthy with no history of upper extremity injury or surgery within six months leading up to the study and students with status as pre-major or major students in the undergraduate athletic training program and were classified as having FHP, RSP, and/or scapular dyskinesis. Exclusion criteria for the study contained those subjects currently engaged in a glenohumeral joint or cervical training program, current glenohumeral joint, neck, arm hand, or back injuries, or surgery involving the glenohumeral joint, arm, hand, back, or neck within six months of the study. Interventions: There were two intervention groups undergoing a four-week program. One group participated in a strengthening and stretching exercise protocol, while the other group had KT applied to the upper back and shoulders for a duration of five days with two days of no tape in a seven-day period. Main Outcome Measures: The dependent variables measured were forward head posture as assessed by the craniovertebral angle (CVA) in degrees, rounded shoulder posture as assessed by the forward shoulder angle (FSA) in degrees, and scapular dyskinesis as assessed using scapular dyskinesis scoring (0-3) for each scapula. Results: Negative, weak, correlations with high p-values were found between cell phone use and CVA, RSA, and scapular dyskinesis score as well as between computer use and CVA and scapular dyskinesis score, while a positive, weak correlation with a high p-value between computer use and RSA. There was no statistically significant group, time, or group x time interaction for the CVA and RSA measurements. There was a statistically significant time main effect for the scapular dyskinesis score (F=12.570, p<.01) but not for group or group x time interaction. MDC was achieved for the CVA and scapular dyskinesis score for both groups. Conclusions: Both groups improved pre/post-test for scapular dyskinesis. No other results were significant for CVA and RSA. In addition, there was a moderate inverse relationship between cellphone/computer use and FHRSP and scapular dyskinesis. Due to the results of the group mean differences and MDC for the CVA and RSA, further research should be conducted.


It is argued that the time-space distribution of major post middle Miocene deformation events in the Central-Eastern Mediterranean region, deduced from the relevant literature, can be coherently explained as a consequence of the convergence between the Africa/Arabia and Eurasia blocks. This plate convergence has mainly been accommodated by the consumption of the thinnest parts of the Northern African (Ionian and Levantine basins) and peri-Adriatic margins. During each evolutionary phase the space distribution of trench zones is controlled by the basic physical requirement of minimizing the work of horizontal forces, induced by plate convergence, against the resisting forces, i.e., the cohesion of the upper brittle crustal layer and the buoyancy forces at the consuming boundaries. The significant changes of tectonic styles which determined the transition from one phase to the next, like those which occurred around the Messinian and the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, were determined by the suture of consuming boundaries. When such an event occurs, the system must activate alternative consuming processes to accommodate the convergence of the major confining blocks. The observed deformations in the study area suggest that this tectonic reorganization mostly developed by the lateral extrusion of crustal wedges away from the sutured borders. This mechanism allowed the translation of maximum horizontal stresses from the locked collisional fronts to the zones where consumable lithosphere was still present, in order to activate the next consuming processes. The extensional episodes which led to the formation of basins and troughs in the Tyrrhenian and Aegean zones are interpreted as secondary effects of the outward escape of crustal wedges, like those which occurred in response to longitudinal compressional regimes in the Apennines and Aegean regions.


All aspects of our lives, industry, health, travel and leisure, are utterly reliant on rubber materials, yet typically this notion rarely occurs to us. Increasingly, greater demands are made on elastomeric compounds and we seek elevated performance in terms of improved physical and chemical properties. In particular, we have come to expect rubber components (tyres, vibration isolators, seals etc) to exhibit exceptional wear and fatigue resistance, often at elevated temperatures. Unsurprisingly then, the emphasis in characterising isochoric materials has shifted significantly away from understanding and modelling hyperelastic material behaviour, to a position where we can confi dently design and manufacture rubber components having the functionality and resilience to meet the dynamic loading and harsh environmental conditions that are prevalent today. In consequence, state-of-the-art technology in terms of dynamic response and fatigue resistance are strongly represented here along with numerous insights into advanced elastomers used in novel applications. This development is not at the expense of research devoted to current test procedures and the constitutive equations and algorithms that underpin finite element methods. As a result, Constitutive Models for Rubber VII is not only essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates, academics and researchers working in the discipline, but also for all those designers and engineers involved in the improvement of machines and devices by introducing new and novel elastomers possessing elevated properties.


The economic role of art is sustained by complex marketing processes, which tend to modify the aims and conditions of artistic enterprise. The great dynamism which characterises the global markets in which businesses move nowadays also affects artistic enterprises and hence the artist-cumentrepreneur. In the global art market, therefore, information flow between demand, supply and distribution, risks being asymmetrical. With globalisation, the art market has recorded considerable changes. The market has become internationalised up to the point of becoming a worldwide market. On the whole, globalisation of the art market appears to have favoured an increase in supply and its revitalization, too. Demand has undergone a remarkable growth, probably due also to its fragmentation and diversification.


The ratio of red (R; 600 to 700 nm) to far-red (FR; 700 to 800 nm) radiation regulates phytochrome-mediated photomorphogenic responses to promote radiation capture and survival under shade conditions. The photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) is also reduced under shade, making it less clear which shade-avoidance responses are mediated by PPFD, R:FR, or their interaction. We grew seedlings of petunia (Petunia × hybrida 'Wave Blue') at 20°C under six sole-source light-emitting diode (LED) treatments with an 18-h photoperiod. All treatments included 32 µmol m(‑2) s(-1) of blue radiation (LED emission peak = 447 nm) and different intensities (subscript in µmol m(-2) s(-1) of radiation from R (peak = 660 nm) and FR (peak = 731 nm) LEDs: R(64), R(64) + FR(32), R(64) + FR(64), R(256), R(256) + FR(128), and R(256) + FR(256). Stem length, individual leaf area, and shoot dry weight linearly decreased as the R:FR [or estimated phytochrome photoequilibria (PPE)] increased under PPFDs of 96 µmol m(-2) s(-1) (PPFD 96) or 288 µmol m(-2) s(-1) (PPFD 288). Independent of PPE, increasing PPFD decreased stem length and individual leaf area, while increasing shoot dry weight. In addition, inclusion of FR during seedling growth promoted flowering at both PPFDs, but to a greater extent under PPFD 96 than PPFD 288. We conclude that most shade-avoidance responses in petunia are mediated by a decrease in R:FR and PPFD individually, without interaction effects. An exception was for flowering, in which the promotive effect of FR was greater under the lower PPFD.


Published and unpublished records of amp hip od-sea anemone associations are reviewed. They involve at least 22 amphipod species in 7 families, and 8 families of sea anemones. The associations are of 4 main types: protection only, ectocommensals, endocommensals and micropredators. Morphological adaptations are not conspicuous, except for the specialised mouthparts of Acidostoma spp., but most obligate symbionts show inborn immunity against the toxic substances released by the host. Sex ratios are normal, sexual dimorphism small, and fecundity low compared to related free-living species. The obligate commensal associates are usually host-specific, although able to survive in alternative hosts in the laboratory, while the micropredators and the facultative associates show low host specificity. The amphipod symbionts usually do not occupy the entire geographical and ecological range of their hosts' distribution. Amphipod-sea anemone associations have evolved independently many times and do not seem to be of great evolutionary antiquity.


ABSTRACT In a plant science Root Image Study, the process of seedling roots bending in response to gravity is recorded using digital cameras, and the bending rates are modeled as functional plant phenotype data. The functional phenotypes are collected from seeds representing a large variety of genotypes and have a three-level nested hierarchical structure, with seeds nested in groups nested in genotypes. The seeds are imaged on different days of the lunar cycle, and an important scientific question is whether there are lunar effects on root bending. We allow the mean function of the bending rate to depend on the lunar day and model the phenotypic variation between genotypes, groups of seeds imaged together, and individual seeds by hierarchical functional random effects. We estimate the covariance functions of the functional random effects by a fast penalized tensor product spline approach, perform multi-level functional principal component analysis (FPCA) using the best linear unbiased predictor of the principal component scores, and improve the efficiency of mean estimation by iterative decorrelation. We choose the number of principal components using a conditional Akaike information criterion and test the lunar day effect using generalized likelihood ratio test statistics based on the marginal and conditional likelihoods. We also propose a permutation procedure to evaluate the null distribution of the test statistics. Our simulation studies show that our model selection criterion selects the correct number of principal components with remarkably high frequency, and the likelihood-based tests based on FPCA have higher power than a test based on working independence. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


With the aid of a Baudrillardian text that sociology mostly overlooked, this essay aims at highlighting the author's closeness to the mythanalytic core of French socio-anthropology, particularly Durand and Maffesoli – thinkers to whom Baudrillard has been connected by strong friendly, even more than intellectual, ties. In Symbolic Exchange and Death (1984 [1976]), he puts forward a heterodox view of the social, when Modernity is still at its apex. He does so in no uncertain terms: 'symbol' and 'death' in the title mark a radical moving away from the prevailing ideology; more so the conjugation of serious things like economy and goods with fuzzy entities such as symbols, vestiges of a cultural infancy now left behind. Today this is not, however, the most appealing aspect of this book: the Modern attempt at rebuilding reality starting from the market has failed, but this is only one of the aspects of the paradigmatic collapse that is crushing the XXI century. Much more is at stake and most of it is here suggested: reversibility, cycle, death. The play of simulacra and the dissolution of reality are already clearly formulated, even though more can be said about the transfiguration of objects, but it is also possible to take Baudrillard's ideas beyond their intended range by focusing on a moment in his career when his path could have gone in other directions than those it actually took. It could have led him to less modern developments: the symbolic and corporeal space that is hinted at here is the Elsewhere of Modernity that in subsequent works unfortunately disappears.


Engine No. 306, an American type 4-4-0 locomotive, heads the Missouri - Kansas - Texas (KATY) Railroad's train No. 31 westbound, which is standing at Gainesville, Texas' depot enroute from Denison to Wichita
Falls on June 23, 1940.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This paper explores the impact of a peer learning initiative developed to facilitate, purposefully, mutually supportive learning relationships between student nurses in the practice setting.

BACKGROUND
Finding effective strategies to support learning in the practice setting has been the focus of professional concern for a considerable time. In the UK clinical mentorship is seen as pivotal to ensuring fitness to practice; however, recent debate on the nature of learning has revealed the clinical workplace as a rich learning environment where learning occurs not only through hierarchical relationships, but also from a network of peer relationships. Formalising peer relationships through peer assisted learning is increasingly suggested as a strategy to support workplace learning and support novice students' transition to the clinical setting. Despite the developing literature in this field there is limited understanding about how students experience facilitated peer relationships.

DESIGN
An interpretive qualitative design.

METHODS
Focus group interviews were used to collect interactive and situated discourse from nursing students who had recently participated in peer learning partnerships (n = 54). Narrative data were analysed thematically.

RESULTS
Findings suggest that active support from a fellow student reduced the feelings of social isolation experienced by novice students in initial clinical placements, helping them to deal more effectively with the challenges faced and reducing the factors that have an impact on attrition. In addition, the reciprocity of the peer learning partnerships facilitated understanding of mentorship and created a heightened sense of readiness for registration and professional practice.

CONCLUSIONS
Peer learning partnerships facilitated by mentors in clinical practice can support the transition to nursing for first year students and can help more experienced students gain a confidence and a heightened readiness for mentorship and registered practice.

RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE
Facilitated peer learning partnerships can enhance the student experience in the practice setting and can help maximise opportunities for learning and support. This suggests that peer assisted learning is a legitimate area for innovation and further research.


Coastal back-barrier salt-marsh environments are evaluated as possible modern analogs for some coal-forming basins. Analysis of the amount of organic matter in Holocene salt-marsh peats from 158 core samples at Plum Island, Massachusetts, indicates that the organic matter content is too low to ultimately produce coal. C-14 dates indicate depositional rates of 1 mm/yr. Both the high and low salt-marsh peat facies would probably diagenetically alter to a carbonaceous shale. A review of the organic content reported from other nondeltaic back-barrier and coastal salt-marsh environments indicates that they commonly have too much detrital material to classify as coal precursors. Barrier-island systems, being affected by sea-level changes and subject to landward migrations, also lack long-term stability needed for coal formation. These data suggest that modern back-barrier environments are not good analogs for coal-forming basins.


This article uses data from the Current Population Survey to examine the state of the U.S. labor market 10 years after the start of the Great Recession of 2007–09. By December 2017, unemployment rates had returned to prerecession lows for people of all ages, genders, major race and ethnicity groups, and levels of educational attainment. However, the long-term decline in labor force participation continued during this recovery, while long-term unemployment and involuntary part-time employment remained elevated.


Objectives This study aims to examine the extent to which statins are used by adults at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to European clinical guidelines. The high-risk groups examined are those with (1) known CVD, (2) known diabetes and (3) a high or very high risk (≥5%) of CVD mortality based on Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE). Design This study is cross-sectional in design using data from the first wave (2009–2011) of The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). Setting and participants The sample (n=3372) is representative of community living adults aged 50–64 years in Ireland. Results Statins were used by 68.6% (95% CI 61.5% to 75.8%) of those with known CVD, 57.4% (95% CI 49.1% to 65.7%) of those with known diabetes and by 19.7% (95% CI 13.0% to 26.3%) of adults with a SCORE risk ≥5%. Over a third (38.5%, 95% CI 31.0% to 46.0%) of those with known CVD, 46.8% (95% CI 38.4% to 55.1%) of those with known diabetes and 85.2% (95% CI 79.3% to 91.1%) of those with a SCORE risk ≥5% were at or above the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) target of 2.5 mmol/L specified in the 2007 European guidelines. Conclusions Despite strong evidence and clinical guidelines recommending the use of statins for secondary prevention, a gap exists between guidelines and practice in this cohort. It is also of concern that a low proportion of adults with a SCORE risk ≥5% were taking statins. A policy response that strengthens secondary prevention, and improves risk assessment and shared decision-making in the primary prevention of CVD is required.


Grammars of natural languages can be expressed as mathematical objects, similar to computer programs. Such a formal presentation of grammars facilitates mathematical reasoning with grammars (and the languages they denote) on one hand, and computational implementation of grammar processors on the other hand. This book presents one of the most commonly used grammatical formalisms, Unification Grammars, which underlies contemporary linguistic theories such as Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) and Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG). The book provides a robust and rigorous exposition of the formalism which is both mathematically well-founded and linguistically motivated. While the material is presented formally, and much of the text is mathematically oriented, a core chapter of the book addresses linguistic applications and the implementation of several linguistic insights in unification grammars. Dozens of examples and numerous exercises (many with solutions) illustrate key points. Graduate students and researchers in both computer science and linguistics will find this book a valuable resource.


Recent research on immersive virtual environments has shown that users can not only inhabit and identify with novel avatars with novel body extensions, but also learn to control novel appendages in ways beneficial to the task at hand. But how different control schemas might affect task performance and body ownership with novel avatar appendages has yet to be explored. In this article, we discuss the design of control schemas based on the theory and practice of 3D interactions applied to novel avatar bodies. Using a within-subjects design, we compare the effects of controlling a third arm with three different control schemas (bimanual, unimanual, and head-control) on task performance, simulator sickness, presence, and user preference. Both the unimanual and the head-control were significantly faster, elicited significantly higher body ownership, and were preferred over the bimanual control schema. Participants felt that the bimanual control was significantly more difficult than the unimanual control, and elicited less appendage agency than the head-control. There were no differences in reported simulator sickness. We discuss the implications of these results for interface design.


This paper studies whether the public debt policies of former West German states from 1975 until 2006 were sustainable. We test if the primary surplus relative to GDP is a positive function of the public debt to GDP ratio where we allow for time-varying reaction coefficients by resorting to penalised spline estimation. We also perform stationarity tests with respect to the real budget deficit to gain additional insights. Our analysis suggests that two groups of states can be distinguished, one with states that seem to pursue sustainable debt policies. However, with one exception, even those states are characterised by rising debt to GDP ratios, which is not compatible with sustainability in the long run. For the other group, sustainability can be stated only at a low-significance level or does not seem to be given at all. Thus, all states in the second group should put much more emphasis on stabilising debt.


The opinion polls that were undertaken before the 2015 UK general election underestimated the Conservative lead over Labour by an average of 7 percentage points. This collective failure led politicians and commentators to question the validity and utility of political polling and raised concerns regarding a broader public loss of confidence in survey research. We assess the likely causes of the 2015 polling errors. We begin by setting out a formal account of the statistical methodology and assumptions that are required for valid estimation of party vote shares by using quota sampling. We then describe the current approach of polling organizations for estimating sampling variability and suggest a new method based on bootstrap resampling. Next, we use poll microdata to assess the plausibility of different explanations of the polling errors. Our conclusion is that the primary cause of the polling errors in 2015 was unrepresentative sampling.


Seagrasses are abundant marine plants that form large areas of shallow water marine habitat throughout the Wakatobi National Park (WNP). Although there are only a small number of seagrass species in the region, the habitat they create contains a diverse and abundant fauna that has enormous ecological and economic importance to the marine park. The variability of these seagrass meadows and the extent to which different floral species develop has been found to have a large impact upon their value as a habitat for invertebrate and fish assemblages in the WNP. Seagrass meadows in the WNP support over 180 species of fish, many of which co-utilise coral reef and mangrove habitats on a daily basis. In fact, the interaction between these three habitats has a large influence on the abundance, diversity and trophic structure of seagrass fish assemblages in the WNP. Seagrass meadows in the WNP are heavily utilised for their abundant resources, particularly their fish assemblages and their large invertebrates exposed at low tide. Like other marine ecosystems worldwide, these resources are under increasing threat of overexploitation, particularly as a result of increasing local human population size resulting in a greater need for more efficient fishing methods. Seagrass meadows of the WNP require conservation and fisheries management, not just to protect biodiversity, but also for the sustainable development of protein supply within the local region. © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.


Submicrometer disordered metallic systems at low temperatures display interesting conductance fluctuation effects, owing to the interference of coherent electron wave transmission through the system. This quantum interference phenomenon also gives rise to the striking experimental observation that the 1/f noise power (where f is frequency) in disordered conductors increases as the temperature is decreased, contrary to common intuition. The theoretical techniques developed for this problem can be applied to the transmission of light through a random medium, and this yields novel predictions for the correlations in the laser speckle patterns and the possibility of studying the positions and motions of scatterers in a medium which multiply scatter the probing light.


Smart cities represent the future of urban development in Emerging Asia as more and more cities and countries resort to smart technologies to build more efficient and liveable urban environments, boost economic growth, foster well-being and facilitate citizen engagement. Policy makers in the region have adopted plans to develop and promote the use of technology to organise and run urban areas. Governments have also provided significant financial backing to smart city projects, acknowledging the importance of public support in this field. The development of smart cities offers significant prospects to tackle enduring issues faced by Emerging Asian cities in policy areas such as transport, the provision of public services, education, healthcare and utilities.


The three-dimensional geometry of a buried channel-fill deposit that crosses, and is offset by, a strand of the San Jacinto fault zone in San Bernardino, California, is reconstructed from an extensive suite of trench logs. The reconstruction shows that the original course of the channel was deflected for a short distance along strike of the fault before it was offset. As a result, apparent offset of the channel deposit across the fault zone is about 12 m in a right-lateral sense, but only 3.5 to 6 m of the apparent offset is due to fault slip. The age of the deposit is ≤1931 ± 109 yr B.P. based on radiometric dating of detrital charcoal collected from the unit. Our excavations do not encompass all active strands of the fault at this site. Hence, our study points to a minimum slip rate of 1.7 to 3.3 mm/yr along the northern San Jacinto fault zone. Historical records show that it has been at least 64 to 90 yr since the last large earthquake occurred along the northern San Jacinto fault. It can thus be inferred from our estimate of fault slip rate that at least 10 to 30 cm of slip is currently stored along the northern segment of the San Jacinto fault. Because prior studies along the same fault zone to the southeast indicate much higher slip rates (on the order of 10 mm/yr), and coseismic offsets for the largest historical earthquakes along the San Jacinto fault zone have been on the order of 30 cm, it is inferred that the northern reach of the San Jacinto fault is now in the later stages of the strain accumulation cycle prior to a moderate to large M 6-7 earthquake. Additionally, the complex geometry of the reconstructed channel serves to illustrate the caution that must be exercised when determining the true offset of buried channel deposits.


Background. Cascading effects through tritrophic interactions (microorganisms, plants, herbivores) are basic components in ecosystems that are often influenced by force from bottom up or top down. One of the most important cases is the fixation of nitrogen through growth promoting bacteria of PGPR plants, which can alter the cascading effects in superior trophic interactions, through physical and chemical changes in the plants. Bacteria as growth promoters not only participate in growth, they are also considered the best biological control agents since they have the potential to suppress pathogenic microorganisms and induce systemic resistance against pest insects. Objective. This study aims to evaluate the contribution of the inoculation of the Rhizobium etli nitrogen fixing bacteria in the growth of Phaseolus vulgaris and the oviposition and preference of Bemisia tabaci. Methodology. Bean plants were established on sterilized soil, two batches of plants were formed: plants inoculated with R. etli and non-inoculated (control) plants. In the first experiment, were measured plant growth and characteristics related to defense against phytophages. In the second experiment, the preference and oviposition of Bemisia tabaci was evaluated by free choice and non-choice tests. Results. Inoculation with R. etli favored some specific growth characteristics, such as leaf area and root length. Phytophagous defense variables, as well as adult preference and oviposition of B. tabaci were not different between inoculated and non-inoculated plants. Implications. The main limitation of the use of PGPR depends on the type of soil and the variety of beans, so this inoculant could also be tested in cases where it has been proven that there is low natural colonization of Rhizobium in Phaseolus lunatus L. during its growth. Conclusion. Inoculation increased some growth variables; however, it did not affect the oviposition and preference of Bemisia tabaci. Additional work is required to assess the effects of factors, such as bean variety, synergy among rhizobacteria species, natural resistance of the host plant, environmental conditions and soil types.


The U.S. Forest Service manages most southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) for forest structures designed to increase abundance of prey for northern goshawks (Accipiter gentilis). The rationale for this strategy is a hypothesis that goshawk populations are limited by prey abundance. However, Beier and Drennan (1997) found that during the breeding season goshawks selected foraging sites not for higher prey abundance but for higher canopy closure, greater tree density, and greater density of trees >40.6 cm diameter at breast height (dbh). This finding supports the argument that prey availability (as determined by forest structure suited to goshawk maneuverability and hunting behavior) is more important than prey abundance. During winter, goshawks are under greater thermal stress, most avian prey have migrated, and most mammalian prey are hibernating. Under these conditions, foraging habitats may differ from those described for the breeding season. We radiotracked 13 adult goshawks (6 F, 7 M) during 2 winters (1994-1995 and 1995-1996) to investigate seasonal movements, winter diet, and selection of foraging habitat. Most females continued to use their breeding-season home ranges in ponderosa pine forest during winter. Meanwhile, most males moved into lower-elevation pinyon-juniper forest. In contrast to the high prey diversity noted during breeding season, wintering goshawks specialized on only 2 species of large-bodied prey (cottontails [Sylvilagus spp.] and Abert squirrel [Sciurus aberti]). Goshawks minimized energy expense and thermal exposure of flight by caching and feeding behavior. Sites where goshawks foraged had more medium-sized trees (P= 0.06) and denser canopy closure (P = 0.06) than nearby reference plots that lacked evidence of goshawk use. However, indices of prey abundance were nearly equal at used and reference plots. Although our findings do not support the underlying premise of the Forest Service management strategy for goshawks, we have no evidence that goshawks will experience lower survival or fecundity under such management. Regardless of the impact of management on goshawk fitness, we question the policy of managing most ponderosa pine habitat in the Southwest United States based on the needs of this species alone.


Environmental issues, while often important in the history of United States-Mexico relations, have become, in recent years, a major factor in the relations between the two countries. One reason is that until very recently environmental issues simply were not perceived to be major problems in either country. Certainly since 1970 they have become important political issues on the public agenda of both countries. Major interest groups and governmental agencies are actively concerned with the environment and public policy to improve it. A second reason is that with the exception of the Colorado River salinity issue and the Chamizal dispute as well as some localized phenomena, environmental problems have become major ones only in the last few years in the borderlands region. In turn, a major reason for both public concern and for threats to the environment is the rapid rate of population increase in the borderlands. The border population has literally exploded in the last two decades and that means it carries far more political weight in both political systems and that the burgeoning cities along the border have become the centers of increasing environmental degradation. A review of these environmental issues in the borderlands will start with a general framework for the analysis of U.S.-Mexico relations, then a brief discussion of the major issues and, finally, recent developments which appear to indicate that there is an emerging binational political framework which could lead to a better environment for borderlands residents.


"The Nuclear Age" is about one man's slightly insane attempt to come to terms with a dilemma that confronts us all -- a little thing called The Bomb. The year is 1995, and William Cowling has finally found the courage to meet his fears head-on. Cowling's courage takes the form of a hole that he begins digging in his backyard in an effort to "bury" all thoughts of the apocalypse. Cowling's wife, however, is ready to leave him; his daughter has taken to calling him "nutto"; and Cowling's own checkered past seems to be rising out of the crater taking shape on his lawn, besieging him with flashbacks and memories of a life that's had more than its share of turmoil. Brilliantly interweaving his masterful storytelling powers with dark, surreal humor and empathy for characters caught in circumstances beyond their control, Tim O'Brien brings us his most entertaining novel to date. At once wildly comic and sneakily profound, "The Nuclear Age" is also utterly unforgettable.


Spectral control is an accurate and computationally efficient approach to power-maximising control of wave energy converters (WECs). This work investigates spectral control calculations with explicit derivative computation, applied to WECs with non-ideal power take-off (PTO) systems characterised by an efficiency factor smaller than unity. To ensure the computational efficiency of the spectral control approach, it is proposed in this work to approximate the discontinuous efficiency function by means of a smooth function. A non-ideal efficiency function implies that the cost function is non-quadratic, which requires a slight generalisation of the derivative-based spectral control approach, initially introduced for quadratic cost functions. This generalisation is derived here in some detail given its practical interest. Two application case studies are considered: the Wavestar scale model, employed for the WEC control competition (WECCCOMP), and the 3rd reference model (RM3) two-body heaving point absorber. In both cases, with the approximate efficiency function, the spectral approach calculates WEC trajectory and control force solutions, for which the mean electrical power is shown to lie within a few percent of the true optimal electrical power. Regarding the effect of a non-ideal PTO efficiency upon achievable power production, and concerning heaving point-absorbers, the results obtained are significantly less pessimistic than those of previous studies: the power achieved lies within 80–95% of that obtained by simply applying the efficiency factor to the optimal power with ideal PTO.


This study aimed to investigate whether or not cochlear implants (CIs) change the quality of life (QOL) of postlingually deafened adult CI recipients and their significant others (SO), and to see which areas of daily life (if any) are impacted on most as a result of implantation. Questionnaires were used to obtain QOL ratings. A total of 94 adult CI recipients (aged 20 to 83 years), and 70 adults on the waiting list (WL) for a CI, (aged from 20 to 86 years) returned the questionnaires. Of the SO groups, 83 questionnaires were returned from the CI-SO, and 58 were returned from the WL-SO. As an alternative perspective of the SO, 23 completed questionnaires were returned from parents of children with CIs. Responses returned showed that cochlear implantation has a significant positive impact on QOL; CI recipients had higher ratings in all areas of QOL and satisfaction, compared to adults on the WL for a CI. The greatest subdomain differences were seen in basic sound perception (37.81), social interaction (36.21), and activity limitations (32.27). QOL ratings were also significantly higher post-implantation than preimplantation for the subgroup of 7 recipients who received their CI during the course of this study (p < 0.05) The results of this study also suggested that CIs have a positive effect on the QOL of the SO; the CI-SO group had higher QOL ratings compared to the WL-SO group. Comparisons between the CI recipient and the CI-SO on how the CI had affected the CI recipient's QOL showed that the SO had similar ratings to the recipient. This suggested that improvements seen for the CI recipients' lives are also evident in the lives of the SO. When the QOL ratings for each of the SO groups were compared, the CI-SO group results were significantly better than the WL-SO group. The Parent group also reported positive effects of implantation. In addition to reporting significant improvements in their child's self-reliance, self-confidence and communication, postimplant 69% of parents agreed that they were much happier with their own lives, with 86% feeling more confident since their child was implanted. Overall, this study shows positive changes in QOL as a result of implantation, and suggests that these changes extend beyond the recipient. This is an important finding as it shows that the effects of implantation are far-reaching. This study also shows that examining non-audiological factors, such as QOL should be included in the assessment of benefit from a CI.


This paper examines pricing in the market for depositary receipts, securities designed to track the performance of a stock index that trade like shares of stock. Arbitrage costs are low because these assets have low fundamental risk, low transactions costs, and high dividend yields. We find that Standard and Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPDRs), or spiders, do not trade at economically significant discounts, unlike closed-end mutual fund shares. Although individual investors invest much more heavily in SPDRs than in S&P500 stock, investor sentiment is not an important determinant of the discount. The SPDRs redemption feature facilitates arbitrage so that sophisticated traders can take advantage of and eliminate mispricing. However, we also report a larger, economically significant discount for MidCap SPDRs. MidCap SPDRs are designed to track the performance of the S&P MidCap 400 index, an index of moderate capitalization firms, and are expected to have higher arbitrage costs. Finally, we find that SPDRs and MidCap SPDRs returns are not excessively volatile, also unlike closed-end funds.


Excerpt] A recent study of more than 1,500 workers found that nearly a third considered flexibility to be the most important factor when considering employment offers. Surprisingly, employers are just as quick to sing praises of the benefits associated with accommodating their workforce. When asked in a survey, 91 percent of HR professionals agreed that flexible work arrangements positively influence employee engagement, job satisfaction, and retention. Although a few firms still contemplate whether or not the benefits outweigh the costs of increasing workplace flexibility accommodations, most organizations have already moved past these initial rounds of deliberation, and are beginning to calculate the implications. Eighty percent of all businesses surveyed by WorldatWork offered flexible work option arrangements to employees. However, only 37% of those surveyed report they have a formal, written philosophy or policy to support employee flexibility options. Currently, firms are faced with two real issues as they continue on the path of embracing workplace flexibility. First, how can an organization create a culture that maximizes as well as sustains the benefits of workplace flexibility? Secondly, what are some of the challenges an organization should be careful to avoid or mitigate when building out workplace flexibility?


The evolution of wireless sensor networks continues through the arrival of the Java development environment. More intuitive to a wider range of developers, and incorporating more powerful hardware; a number of residual research problems facing designers of wireless sensor networks have been addressed. The objective of this paper is to introduce and provide some exposure to the latest development environment available for wireless sensor networking, illustrate what achievements have already been made, and their immediate impact in the field. In particular, the problem of securing a potential deployment has been one of the major inhibitors to the widespread implementation of sensor networks; a problem which has been thoroughly addressed in the design of the Sun platform. This solution comes in the guise of a fully implemented and operational public key infrastructure. This paper critiques the security services provided; whilst considering current knowledge pertaining to the security of wireless sensor networks, in conjunction with the advantages of such a system and the opportunities it provides.


When designing micro-scale tactile probes, a design trade-off must be made between the stiffness and flexibility of the probing element. The probe must be flexible enough to ensure sensitive parts are not damaged during contact, but it must be stiff enough to overcome attractive surface forces, ensure it is not excessively fragile, easily damaged or sensitive to inertial loads. To address the need for a probing element that is both flexible and stiff, a novel micro-scale tactile probe has been designed and tested that makes use of an active suspension structure. The suspension structure is used to modulate the probe stiffness as required to ensure optimal stiffness conditions for each phase of the measurement process. In this paper, a novel control system is presented that monitors and controls stiffness, allowing two probe stiffness values ("stiff" and "flexible") to be defined and switched between. During switching, the stylus tip undergoes a displacement of approximately 18 μm, however, the control system is able ensure a consistent flexible mode tip deflection to within 12 nm in the vertical axis. The overall uncertainty for three-dimensional displacement measurements using the probing system is estimated to be 58 nm, which demonstrates the potential of this innovative variable stiffness micro-scale probe system.


Between 1542 and 1867, Quebec City area (Quebec, Canada) was briefly occupied by French explorers, colonised by French settlers and conquered by English forces about a century before becoming part of the Dominion of Canada. My thesis explores the emergence and development of colonialism and nationalism in the region following these changing social, political and economic circumstances. Instead of focusing on discourse, I draw attention towards lived experience by addressing these ideologies through the ways they were intertwined with local foodways, as reconstructed on the grounds of archaeobotanical data dating between 1542 and 1867. More specifically, I investigate how the social and biological biographies of consumed plants bound colonial communities to Europe, the Native world, and local wilderness through time, and in doing so expressed and contributed towards sustaining colonialist and nationalist ideologies. This approach sheds light on the lasting attachment of local colonists to Old World traditions and on how this predilection impacted the selection of wild local plants consumed. It further reveals a widespread disregard for Native populations whose foodstuffs were scantly, if at all, consumed. It is also possible to document the mechanisms which guided the introduction of wild indigenous plants into local menus and the tightening grip of the community over regional environments. The discussion finally underlines how these different propensities paved the way for a homogenisation of culinary habits decades before the publication of the first regional cookbooks and the birth of the nation.


Background & Aim: Cyclospora cayetanensis is a new-emerging pathogenic protozoan parasite. It is a rare coccidian associated with gastrointestinal disorders. Cyclosporiasis occurs in persons of all age groups and either in immunocompetent or immunocompromised hosts. The most characteristic feature of this infection is a syndrome of acute or chronic diarrhea. This parasite is worldwide in distribution. Cyclospora can be transmitted by ingestion of water or food contaminated with oocysts. The present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of cyclospora cayetanensis in children with diarrhea. Material & Method: During twelve months(from June 2002 to June 2003) 420 stool samples from children under 10 years of age with diarrhea, admitted into Tehran Children Medical Center were screened. To detect and identify the organism, direct smear, formalin-ether concentration, and staining(modified acid fast) techniques were used. Results: In this cross-sectional study, 31 out of 420 specimens(7.3%) showed parasite infection, but cyclospora cayetanensis was not detected in any of the stool samples. Conclusion: According to our study, it seems that cyclospora infection in Tehran is very rare and further studies with larger volume size of stool are necessary for cyclospora identification. We also suggest that medical practitioners and laboratories should be more aware of this infection and its diagnosis.


This thesis describes the design, development and evaluation of Link , a computerassisted learning program for correlation, which is targeted at psychology students in higher education. Computer technology is being increasingly used on statistics courses, suggesting that computer-assisted learning programs on statistical concepts will be increasingly used by students in higher education.

To inform the design of Link , an empirical study was conducted to investigate students' difficulties with correlation. It was found that psychology students held misconceptions relating to negative correlations, the strength of correlations and that they infer causality. The design of Link was also informed by research-based principles of learning, research and developments in computer-assisted learning and a review of computer-assisted learning programs that cover correlation. A formative evaluation study involving eighteen psychology students found that having used the program, students' general understanding of correlation was significantly improved.

Unlike previously existing computer-assisted learning programs that were reviewed, Link makes use of data from two authentic studies in psychology. In addition. Link provides learner activities specifically designed to address students' misconceptions about correlation. A summative evaluation study of Link involving fifty psychology students was undertaken to assess the effect on students' understanding of correlation. The findings of this evaluation provided further qualitative data on students' misconceptions. Moreover, it was found that the use of Link significantly contributed to students' general understanding of correlation.


Life in the absence of oxygen has become possible because anaerobes can gain energy by using various metabolical strategies in anaerobiosis, especially fermentative pathways. In addition to anaerobes ability to perform fermentation, their use of inorganic (e.g., heavy metals, sulfur or nitrogen compounds, carbon dioxide) and organic electron acceptors (e.g. fumarate) is also widespread. During the past two decades, it has also been shown that microorganisms formerly known as strict anaerobes were capable of using oxygen under microaerobic conditions. In this case, oxygen serves as an electron acceptor or can be used to detoxify the immediate environment of anaerobes. Therefore, the discovery of such relationships between anaerobes and oxygen has fundamentally modified the concept of anaerobic microorganisms that will probably disclose in the near future other metabolical properties involving oxygen. Metabolical activities performed by anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) may exemplify what are the metabolical options for anaerobes to live in the absence and in the presence of oxygen. In an attempt to briefly illustrate what is anaerobic life, this chapter focuses on the metabolism of SRB, which may have an autotrophic, lithoautotrophic, heterotrophic, or respiration type of life under anaerobiosis. As the enzymatic machinery adequate for aerobic respiration is present in bacteria classified as strict anaerobes, a revision of the classification of microorganisms in terms of their response to oxygen has to be done.


This research aims to explore the elements of Islamic business ethics and the roles which shape particular types of organisational culture amongst Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are owned and/or managed by Muslims in the UK. A qualitative approach has been adopted, beginning with a conceptual and theoretical model reflecting the authors' research methodology approach. Subsequently, a set of in-depth, semi-structured interviews was conducted. The findings of the study reveal that elements of Islamic business ethics contribute widely to shaping a particular type of organisational culture amongst Muslim SMEs in the UK. Moreover, on the one hand, mercenary type of organisational culture is the dominant culture amongst Muslim SMEs in the UK. On the other hand, within a communal type of organisational culture, people are very sociable and concerned about each other, which will be reflected on the organisation"s fine performance. The value of this research is derived from its ability to grasp the formation and impact of organisational culture which is one of the main subjects in business management and organisation studies. The research presents various aspects and features of internal organisational culture formation, impact and possibility to change.


Migraines are a growing epidemic, without a lot of medical research there is no definite cause or cure for migraines. My migraines came about when I was twelve years old, suffering through school I found some days unbearable, doctors never had a straight answer as to what triggered my migraines and they prescribed me a variety of prescriptions. I feel that I can help those students of River High School in Carmel, CA by spreading my knowledge to them about how important diet is in everyday life. Those who may not suffer from migraines will benefit by learning the importance of diet, physical activity, sleep, and minimizing stress. Beneficially Impacting Teenagers' Knowledge 2


Based on the hypothesis that tradeable marketing quotas may be analysed as an economic input in the production process of regulated firms, the standard capital asset pricing model is adapted to assess the impact of expectations of quota rents on Ontario fluid milk quota values. The analysis provides estimates of the marginal impacts on quota values of two variables postulated to proxy the rent that arises from the highly regulated market for this product. The results are consistent with expectations from economic theory for a divisible capital asset. It appears that the regulated marketing system for fluid milk has enabled appreciable returns from improvements in milk production technology and administered prices to be appropriated by producers. Milk production technology advances, proxied by average herd size, and increases in administered prices for milk evidently contribute to increased quota values. An experiment to assess the impact of reductions in milk prices on quota values is reported. The results of the study indicate that, following a 1 percent change in producers' price levels for milk, Ontario fluid milk quota values change by some 0.36 percent immediately and by some 6 percent over a longer-term period of about four years.


Several bone protective factors are reported to exhibit stimulatory activities on bone formation coupled with inhibitory effects on bone resorption; one such factor is vitamin K2. Vitamin K species [K1 (phylloquinone) and K2 (menaquinone)] have long been associated with bone protective activities and are receiving intense interest as nutritional supplements for the prevention or amelioration of bone disease in humans. However, the mechanisms of vitamin K action on the skeleton are poorly defined. Activation of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signal transduction pathway is essential for osteoclast formation and resorption. By contrast, NF-κB signaling potently antagonizes osteoblast differentiation and function, prompting us to speculate that NF-κB antagonists may represent a novel class of dual anti-catabolic and pro-anabolic agents. We now show that vitamin K2 action on osteoblast and osteoclast formation and activity is accomplished by down-regulating basal and cytokine-induced NF-κB activation, by increasing IκB mRNA, in a γ-carboxylation-independent manner. Furthermore, vitamin K2 prevented repression by tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) of SMAD signaling induced by either transforming growth factor ß (TGFß) or bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). Vitamin K2 further antagonized receptor activator of NF-κB (RANK) ligand (RANKL)-induced NF-κB activation in osteoclast precursors. Our data provide a novel mechanism to explain the dual pro-anabolic and anti-catabolic activities of vitamin K2, and may further support the concept that pharmacological modulation of NF-κB signal transduction may constitute an effective mechanism for ameliorating pathological bone loss and for promoting bone health.


Many studies have focused on tail ornamentation in birds, but not all tail shapes have been studied in depth. Graduated and pin tails have received less attention than forked tails, despite being more likely, in terms of aerodynamic theory, to be honest signals. We report morphological variation in live specimens of two sexually dimorphic passerines from the same site with different tail shapes: graduated (Cape sugarbird Promerops cafer ) and pin (orangebreasted sunbird Antobaphes violacea ). Coefficients of variation (CVs) were calculated for all morphological traits, both non-ornamental (range 1.91–5.72) and ornamental (range 5.83–21.71). Males and females did not differ in CV for any non-ornamental trait. Ornamental traits in males of both species were significantly more variable than all non-ornamental traits. Cape sugarbird ornamental traits were significantly more variable than those of orangebreasted sunbirds. The high levels of variation in graduated tails relative to pintails suggest that these traits have been driven mainly by sexual selection. In contrast, both constraining natural and multiple ornament selection could be responsible for the relatively low levels of variation in pintails.


In the present investigation, a comprehensive set of reliable data for the
human spine has been established, and a useful aggregation and analysis of the data
has also been carried out. Data obtained has been presented in tabulated and
graphical forms to allow easy comparison with other researchers' data. The new
accurate data obtained has been used in the construction of a kidney-shaped model of
a functional spinal unit which has been subjected to finite element testing that
resulted in very good agreement with the results of other published models.
A computer-based formulation for the dynamic analysis of an' inertia-variant
spatial human body system has also been developed. The human body system is
modelled as a multi-body system consisting of interconnected rigid, elastic and
visco-elastic components. Each of these components is allowed to undergo large
angular rotations. A linear visco-elastic Kelvin-Viogt model is employed whereby
stress is assumed to be proportional to the time rate of strain. The focus in this work
is placed on the analysis and diagnosis of lumbar and lumbo-sacral back problems
associated with lifting activities. All human links are treated as rigid, while the entire
lumbar spine is considered to be elastic. Flexibility of the lumbar spine is introduced
into the mathematical model using a set of short and stubby finite elements which
describe the behavior of the vertebrae and discs at the lumbar region and which
accounts for both geometric and inertia nonlinearities.
The implementation of the model and analysis of results has been limited to
the two-dimensional case in the sagittal plane in recognition of the well known
difficulties encountered in solving human body systems. Health and safety issues in
material handling are currently receiving the concern of many researchers as well as
manufacturing companies. Therefore, two case studies were carried to establish the
importance, accuracy and validity of the model developed in this thesis. A two dimensional
lifting task with a flexible lumbar spine formed the first case study
whilst the second was a pushing task.


Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of chronic lateral ankle ligament injury. Methods: A total of 120 ankles in 120 patients with a clinical suspicion of chronic ankle ligament injury were examined by ultrasonography by using a 5to 17-MHz linear array transducer before surgery. The results of ultrasonography were compared with the operative findings. Results: There were 18 sprains and 24 partial and 52 complete tears of the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL); 26 sprains, 27 partial and 12 complete tears of the calcaneofibular ligament (CFL); and 1 complete tear of the posterior talofibular ligament (PTFL) at arthroscopy and operation. Compared with operative findings, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of ultrasonography were 98.9%, 96.2% and 84.2%, respectively, for injury of the ATFL and 93.8%, 90.9% and 83.3%, respectively, for injury of the CFL. The PTFL tear was identified by ultrasonography. The accuracy of identification between acute-on-chronic and subacute–chronic patients did not differ. The accuracies of diagnosing three grades of ATFL injuries were almost the same as those of diagnosing CFL injuries. Conclusion: Ultrasonography provides useful information for the evaluation of patients presenting with chronic pain after ankle sprain. Advances in knowledge: Intraoperative findings are the reference standard. We demonstrated that ultrasonography was highly sensitive and specific in detecting chronic lateral ligments injury of the ankle joint.


Social enterprise is at the centre of current political and academic debates over the future development of the third sector and public policy within the UK. Yet there remains only very limited understanding of the involvement of migrant and ethnic minorities in social enterprise activity and the associated policy agenda. Whereas much past formal social enterprise activity in the UK has been based within the white majority population there is evidence of dynamic socially-oriented enterprise activity, both formal and informal in nature, within ethnic minority communities. Yet the lack of research undertaken on social enterprise activity within these communities has meant that much of the discussion to date has been based on assumptions and anecdotal evidence. This paper addresses this knowledge gap through presenting results from research into the development of the ethnic minority social enterprise sector in London, within the five East London Boroughs which will host the 2012 Olympics Games. The findings identify a number of important issues facing the development of this sector and question the extent to which current public policies being pursued at different state levels are acting to engage migrant and ethnic minority communities or are in fact reproducing processes of exclusion.


Reviewing past experience with in-country processing in Haiti and its links to American interdiction policies, as well as the history of Cuban migration to the United States, this paper argues against in-country processing for Haitian refugees. The paper asserts that in-country processing in Haiti in the early 1990s was a failure, and arguably was used as a justification for returning to persecution far more people than it saved. The very existence of a small aperture through which relatively few selected individuals will be able to pass for legal admission to the United States is likely to erode the rights of many more Haitian asylum seekers seeking to leave spontaneously and, in particular, to serve to rationalize migration control measures that seriously compromise the fundamental principles of refugee law.


In many non-excitable cells such as glial cells, oocytes or beta-cells, fast transmission and integration of information are encoded in the variations of the intracellular Ca2+ concentration. These variations range from a single calcium peak (wave) to a repetitive pattern (oscillations). Intracellular Ca2+ oscillations are made of highly spatially and timely controlled cytoplasmic waves of Ca2+ fueled by two main Ca2+ sources: the extracellular compartment and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Specific and highly regulated ion channels and pumps located on the plasma and ER membranes control the cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels as well as the refilling of the ER stores. When the ER Ca2+ stores are depleted, a mechanism termed Store Operated Calcium Entry (SOCE) drives Ca2+ inside the cell to refill them. In the oocytes of the frog Xenopus laevis intracellular Ca2+ variations are converted into chloride currents by Ca2+-Activated Chloride Channels (CACC) located in the plasma membrane, allowing real time monitoring of cytoplasmic Ca2+ levels. We recently showed that SOCE and IP3 receptors (IP3R) define a functional complex allowing mid-range Ca2+ signaling to CACC in those oocytes (Courjaret and Machaca, Nat. Commun. 2014). Here we aimed at understanding how SOCE influences intracellular Ca2+ release by IP3R and oscillations. Injecting an IP3 analog induced a Ca2+ transient oscillation and triggered SOCE. When SOCE influence was increased using hyperpolarizing pulses or reduced by removing extracellular Ca2+, the duration of the Ca2+ oscillation was respectively reduced or increased. Intracellular Ca2+ imaging also revealed that increasing SOCE was reducing the amplitude and increasing the frequency of the individual Ca2+ waves that constitute the oscillation. In addition, removing extracellular Ca2+ more than 30 minutes after the end of the oscillation restored the Ca2+ release, indicating that the ER stores are not fully depleted during the process. Surprisingly, while a short SOCE was able to inhibit intracellular Ca2+ release, increasing the duration/amplitude of the SOCE event was able to trigger a new Ca2+ wave at a very precise timing. This indicated that a strong reloading of the ER stores could overcome the inability of IP3R receptors to release Ca2+ and suggested a luminal regulation of the receptor. To further understand how SOCE was modulating Ca2+ release we therefore monitored Ca2+ levels in the ER lumen by expressing the FRET sensor D1ER. After injection of IP3, D1ER imaging revealed the depletion/reloading of the ER stores by SOCE as a function of the membrane potential. Finally, during the long voltage jumps that are able to induce a Ca2+ wave, the D1ER signal revealed that the high Ca2+ in the ER outlasts the cytoplasmic Ca2+ event leaving the IP3R facing a low cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration and a high luminal one. Together these findings shed a new light on the complex regulation of IP3R and their tuning by Ca2+ on both sides of the ER membrane.


A 'Barrovian' isograd Ky50 based on the coexistence with kyanite and staurolite of biotite M/FM = 50 forms a SW–NE trending loop extending from Deeside into Perthshire; fault displacement of the southern limb suggests a north-westerly dip with high grade overlying low grade. The recumbent thermal anticline so delineated represents syn-metamorphic thermal disturbance, possibly due to the introduction of warm material with the upward and southward translation of the Tay nappe. In the 'Moray' zones, the putative pattern of isograd outcrop based on the argument that the andalusite-kyanite isograd marks the boundary between prograde hydration reactions and prograde dehydration reactions delineates a thermal trough correlated with the predominantly post-metamorphic Boyndie Syncline.