In 2010, the Food and Drug Administration passed a rule revising compelled disclaimers on tobacco products pursuant to the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. The rule required that tobacco warnings include something new: all tobacco products now had to bear one of nine graphic images to accompany the text. Tobacco companies filed suit contesting the constitutionality of the rule, arguing that the government violated their right to free commercial speech by compelling disclosure of the graphic content. Yet First Amendment jurisprudence lacks a doctrinally consistent standard for reviewing such compelled disclosures. Courts' analyses typically depend on whether the regulation compels or restricts speech, how far that regulation extends, and why the government chose to regulate in the first place. This Note seeks to articulate a coherent standard-a disclosure-focused approach-for reviewing compelled commercial speech under the First Amendment. Under this disclosure-focused approach, courts would adopt a lenient standard of review for compelled disclosures of factual, uncontroversial information while reserving more exacting scrutiny for restricted speech or compelled ideological disclosures. This approach centers on the structure and content of the regulation rather than the governmental motive. Accordingly, the disclosure-focused approach aligns with the goal of commercial speech protection-namely, maximizing the information available to consumers.IntroductionDoes the Constitution prevent the government from requiring cigarette companies to tell the truth? In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act ("FSPTCA").1 Pursuant to that legisla- tion, the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") began to toughen regula- tion of tobacco companies, particularly with respect to product marketing and packaging. As part of the crackdown on these companies' commercial messaging, the FDA imposed a requirement that each package of cigarettes bear one of nine graphic images, each accompanied by a different written warning about the effects of tobacco use.2 The nine warnings selected by the FDA appear as follows3:To ensure the message reached consumers, the FDA imposed additional requirements regarding the size and placement of the images on the package.4Tobacco companies filed suit, arguing that the graphic warnings re- quirement violated their right to free speech and was therefore unconstitu- tional.5 The companies' claims were rooted in First Amendment doctrine and its limited protection of "commercial speech," or speech by a commer- cial vendor to a consumer.6 In Discount Tobacco City & Lottery, Inc. v. United States, the Sixth Circuit applied a rational basis standard to review com- pelled disclosures.7 The court found that the statutorily required graphic warnings reasonably related to the government's interest in preventing con- sumer deception and did not unconstitutionally violate the companies' right to free commercial speech.8 Months later, however, the D.C. Circuit, in R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. FDA, employed a more stringent intermediate scru- tiny that had been traditionally applied to restrictions on commercial speech.9 Applying that standard, the D.C. Circuit held that because the graphic warnings were unduly restrictive and did not directly advance a sub- stantial governmental interest, the rule violated the plaintiffs' First Amend- ment rights.10 Accordingly, the D.C. Circuit invalidated the rule under the Administrative Procedure Act.11In one sense, these two decisions address separate issues. Discount To- bacco upheld the FSPTCA provision requiring graphic warnings.12 R.J. Reyn- olds, by contrast, overturned the FDA's implementation of that provision.13 But on one common question-which standard of review to use when eval- uating whether a compelled disclosure passes First Amendment scrutiny- the courts gave different answers: Discount Tobacco applied a variation of rational basis review while R. …


Titanate nanotubes are promising materials for Li-ion battery anodes because of their special morphology and high specific surface areas. These titanates provide high rate capability and low volume expansion upon lithiation. More importantly, their tubular structure helps the transport of ions through the crystal. In this study, we synthesized elongated titanate nanotubes and modified their interlayer distances by changing the pH (2–13). For the structural characterization XRD, BET, SEM and TEM techniques were used. In addition, the effect of interlayer distance on energy capacity and rate capability was investigated. The highest interlayer distance was obtained at pH 10 and with decreasing pH, the interlayer distance dropped until reaching a pH value of 4. Conversely, the specific surface area reached its maximum value of 204 m2 g−1 at a pH of 4. Different from anatase (TiO2), titanate nanotubes had broad peaks in cyclic voltammograms suggesting a pseudocapacitive behavior. The sloping profiles of potential-capacity results also supported the pseudocapacitive property. For the titanate nanotubes obtained at pH 10, an initial discharge capacity of 980 mAh g−1 was achieved. More importantly, titanate nanotubes showed exceptional rate capabilities and the capacities stayed almost constant at high current rates because of their elongated structure. It was found that the interlayer distance and the elongated structure play an important role in the electrochemical performance of the material.


Abstract. This study analyzes in situ airborne measurements from the 2008 Stratosphere–Troposphere Analyses of Regional Transport (START08) experiment to characterize gravity waves in the extratropical upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (ExUTLS). The focus is on the second research flight (RF02), which took place on 21–22 April 2008. This was the first airborne mission dedicated to probing gravity waves associated with strong upper-tropospheric jet–front systems. Based on spectral and wavelet analyses of the in situ observations, along with a diagnosis of the polarization relationships, clear signals of mesoscale variations with wavelengths ~ 50–500 km are found in almost every segment of the 8 h flight, which took place mostly in the lower stratosphere. The aircraft sampled a wide range of background conditions including the region near the jet core, the jet exit and over the Rocky Mountains with clear evidence of vertically propagating gravity waves of along-track wavelength between 100 and 120 km. The power spectra of the horizontal velocity components and potential temperature for the scale approximately between ~ 8 and ~ 256 km display an approximate −5/3 power law in agreement with past studies on aircraft measurements, while the fluctuations roll over to a −3 power law for the scale approximately between ~ 0.5 and ~ 8 km (except when this part of the spectrum is activated, as recorded clearly by one of the flight segments). However, at least part of the high-frequency signals with sampled periods of ~ 20–~ 60 s and wavelengths of ~ 5–~ 15 km might be due to intrinsic observational errors in the aircraft measurements, even though the possibilities that these fluctuations may be due to other physical phenomena (e.g., nonlinear dynamics, shear instability and/or turbulence) cannot be completely ruled out.


The Holonic Production System (HPS) can be a valid choice to overcome the problems of traditional production sys-tems' architectures, thanks to its capability to adapt and react to changes in the business environment whilst being able to maintain systemic synergies and coordination. The HPS is made of holons seen as functional production units which are simultaneously autonomous and cooperative. Although the holonic approach could represent a valid solution in order to pursue the necessary levels of agility of production systems, they have been scarcely implemented in practice and even less studied from a business studies perspective. The purpose of this discussion paper is to show the benefits of further research on cases of implementation of HPS from a business organization studies perspective. Very little re-search on this topic has been done outside the field of business engineering and computer science; the study of this topic from a different perspective can shed the light on new aspects and new applications of the theory.


ABSTRACT We develop a new score-driven model for the joint dynamics of fat-tailed realized covariance matrix observations and daily returns. The score dynamics for the unobserved true covariance matrix are robust to outliers and incidental large observations in both types of data by assuming a matrix-F distribution for the realized covariance measures and a multivariate Student's t distribution for the daily returns. The filter for the unknown covariance matrix has a computationally efficient matrix formulation, which proves beneficial for estimation and simulation purposes. We formulate parameter restrictions for stationarity and positive definiteness. Our simulation study shows that the new model is able to deal with high-dimensional settings (50 or more) and captures unobserved volatility dynamics even if the model is misspecified. We provide an empirical application to daily equity returns and realized covariance matrices up to 30 dimensions. The model statistically and economically outperforms competing multivariate volatility models out-of-sample. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.


Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors predictive of flares in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Methods A case-control study nested within the Grupo Latino Americano De Estudio de Lupus (GLADEL) cohort was conducted. Flare was defined as an increase ≥4 points in the SLEDAI. Cases were defined as patients with at least one flare. Controls were selected by matching cases by length of follow-up. Demographic and clinical manifestations were systematically recorded by a common protocol. Glucocorticoid use was recorded as average daily dose of prednisone and antimalarial use as percentage of time on antimalarial and categorized as never (0%), rarely (>0–25%), occasionally (>25%–50%), commonly (˃50%–75%) and frequently (˃75%). Immunosuppressive drugs were recorded as used or not used. The association between demographic, clinical manifestations, therapy and flares was examined using univariable and multivariable conditional logistic regression models. Results A total of 465 cases and controls were included. Mean age at diagnosis among cases and controls was 27.5 vs 29.9 years, p = 0.003; gender and ethnic distributions were comparable among both groups and so was the baseline SLEDAI. Independent factors protective of flares identified by multivariable analysis were older age at diagnosis (OR = 0.929 per every five years, 95% CI 0.869–0.975; p = 0.004) and antimalarial use (frequently vs never, OR = 0.722, 95% CI 0.522–0.998; p = 0.049) whereas azathioprine use (OR = 1.820, 95% CI 1.309–2.531; p < 0.001) and SLEDAI post-baseline were predictive of them (OR = 1.034, 95% CI 1.005–1.064; p = 0.022). Conclusions In this large, longitudinal Latin American cohort, older age at diagnosis and more frequent antimalarial use were protective whereas azathioprine use and higher disease activity were predictive of flares.


Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) play an important role in the modern high-tech industry. Designing such systems is an especially challenging task due to the multi-disciplinary nature of these systems, and the range of abstraction levels involved. To facilitate hands-on experience with such systems, we develop a cyber-physical platform that aids in both research and education on CPS. This paper describes this platform, which contains all typical CPS components. The platform is used in various research and education projects for bachelor, master, and PhD students. We discuss the platform and illustrate its use with a number of projects and the educational opportunities they provide.


Two outfits (White Stealth Look no. 1 and Beetle Corset) that Broach and Kirby had originally designed for Boudicca's readyto-
wear collections were invited to a museum exhibition on the theme of the weaponised woman curated by Dr Valerie Steele.
Co-exhibitors included Azzedine Alaia, Paco Rabanne, John Galliano.
Love and War was the first museum exhibition to explore the influence on fashion of both "intimate apparel" and military "body
armour." Many of the biggest names of the fashion world were represented alongside Boudicca, including Azzedine Alaia,
Comme des Garcons, Galliano for Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Lost Art, Alexander McQueen,
Issey Miyake, Thierry Mugler, Maggie Norris, Zac Posen, Prada, Paco Rabanne.
White Stealth Look no 1 invokes the modern warrior woman, alluding to the stealth bomber plane, but adding embroidered
details to the skirt. Beetle Corset references the native American ghost dancer combined with 1920s baseball outfits. The
references are always diverse and eclectic, drawing together classical forms and contemporary resonances. Both outfits
involved rigorous research into techniques, fibres, and art and design history and draw on Boudicca's prolific design practice.
The outfits can be seen in the context of these collections online:
i) White Stealth – An Invisible City show
http://www.platform13.com/pages/history/invisible_content.html
ii) Beetle corset – The Beautiful and the Insane show
http://www.platform13.com/pages/history/beaut_insane1.html
Zowie Broach and Brian Kirby work as a duo, collaborating on all aspects of the research and creative process. Broach and
Kirby (as Boudicca) made a presentation at the academic symposium at Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, which
accompanied the exhibition. They were also interviewed by Marketa Uhlirova for a special issue of Fashion Theory: Journal of
Dress Body and Culture, (Vol 10, No 4) which included images of their work (pp 407-430). Boudicca's White Stealth Look no. 1
was one of the key images used to promote the museum exhibition on publicity, brochure and website, and the outfit was
subsequently bought for the permanent collections of both the MFIT and the Metropolitan Museum, New York.


The Supreme Court erred by not revisiting its holding in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC). I made this argument in a previous article. The Supreme Court's decision "removed the prohibition on corporate independent political expenditures, and allows corporations to spend unlimited sums from corporate treasuries to expressly advocate the election or defeat of a political candidate." Unfortunately, my pleas to the high court went unanswered. However, the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has a chance to shine light on this issue by requiring public corporations to disclose to shareholders the use of corporate resources for political activities. Disclosure of corporate political spending would ensure that directors adhere to their duties of full and fair disclosure to shareholders. Additionally, disclosure of corporate political spending would diminish monitoring costs by informing shareholders of harmful political spending and will provide potential investors with key information for making informed, rational investment decisions. Due to the misguided decision in Citizens United, it is legal for corporations to spend an unlimited amount of money on political issues; however, this Article submits that shareholders need to know about those expenditures and that if corporations truly believe their political spending benefits their bottom lines, they should not oppose disclosure of that spending. The Article begins by discussing the original and amended petitions for rulemaking, including the reasoning behind them and the response received from shareholders and the community at large. The Article then transitions into an analysis of why the rule is both constitutional and within SEC's jurisdiction; responds to opposition arguments alleging that a rule is not necessary; discusses the recent lawsuit filed to compel the SEC to promulgate a rule; and researches possible benefits and costs imposed by a mandatory disclosure obligation. The Article concludes by providing shareholders with options under the current regulatory regime to investigate corporations' political spending, provides a model structure for SEC if and when they decide to initiate a rulemaking on this issue and provides a model for firms to establish programs to supervise corporate political spending.


This thesis explores the properties of the transmission of light through subwavelength slits in metal films. Theoretical and experimental studies on the transmission through slits in metals are presented. In addition, the potential use of these slits for different applications is investigated. The theoretical aspect concentrates on the study of the transmission of light through slit arrays. It is observed that high transmission is due to the coupling of two modes: one whose properties depend on the slit geometry and the other one whose properties depend on the grating periodicity. To determine the exact nature of these hybrid modes an analytical model is derived. The simplified model gives accurate analytical expressions for the transmission and also for the dispersion relations of the hybrid modes responsible for high transmission. The dispersion relations give a clear picture of the role played by the different resonances in the transmission process. We find that the high transmission modes are hybrid in nature between that of a Fabry-Perot mode and a surface plasmon polariton mode. These hybrid modes have either symmetric or antisymmetric profiles. These findings are important as they clarify the nature of the modes responsible for high transmission, and therefore can be useful as a design tool for metal gratings for various applications. The light transmission through single slits, slit and groove structures and slit arrays is optically characterized. Also, slit and groove structures covered by a thin dielectric layer are fabricated. With this type of structure, transverse electric (TE) polarized dielectric waveguide modes can be excited inside the dielectric film, which strongly increases the TE polarized transmission as compared to conventional slit and groove structures, which only gives high transmission for transverse magnetic (TM) polarization. These structures demonstrate an efficient way to enhance light transmission through subwavelength apertures as both TE and TM polarization can be efficiently transmitted. The transmission measurements for the different types of structures are compared with theory. This gives an idea of the validity of the theoretical tools considered, which is necessary to address the potential of subwavelength slits in metals for applications. Taking advantage of the theoretical and experimental work developed in this thesis, the use of slits in metals is considered for three different optical devices: biosensors, light emitting diodes and image sensors. In the case of biosensors, slit arrays whose optical transmission is highly sensitive to refractive index changes could be useful to design compact and portable sensors. Our work show that a high sensitivity to refractive index changes can be obtained in the case of suspended slit arrays. As an example, theoretically an adsorption of a 1.6 nm thick layer of bovine serum albumin on a slit array could provide a 3% intensity change. Slit arrays are also investigated for light emitting diodes in order to obtain transparent metal contacts. It is shown that light transmission through slit arrays on a high refractive index substrate, characteristic of light emitting diode, can be very efficient. Light can be extracted even for angles of incident larger than the critical angle due to grating coupling. Preliminary calculations show that a metal contact with arrays of slit can give twice the extraction efficiency of a planar GaP-air interface. Finally, slit arrays and slit and groove structures have been integrated as a post process onto pixels of image sensors. In the case of a pixel with a slit array, a polarization extinction ratio higher than 200 over a bandwidth of 200 nm is measured, which means that slit arrays can be used as very efficient micro-polarizers in view of polarization imaging. In the case of pixels with slit and groove structures, measurements show that the slit and groove structure could improve by a factor of eight the signal measured on the pixel. Such structure could be used to replace current optical systems or to improve device performances by increasing the signal to noise ratio and allowing polarization and colour selectivity.


This study presents the effort given for the first prototype of a Long Endurance Mini UAV concept called Eternity. A multi-disciplinary conceptual aircraft design program called CDSGN is developed and used for the design of the Eternity. Unlike the traditional design methods that uses statistical data from the previous well-flown aircrafts, CDSGN analyses numerous aircraft candidates and simulates each candidate for the given mission definition and outputs the corresponding performance. The unique property of the presented design methodology comes from a computationally fast and physically accurate modelling of the aerodynamic characteristics of each candidate by using a modified version of a vortex lattice program called AVL from Mark Drela. Two types of configurations have been analysed for the Eternity design, conventional and flying-wing. A wide envelope of variable design parameters used for both configurations such as wing surface area, cruise speed, battery capacity, different airfoils, etc… Integration of solar cells, and the management of solar energy is also considered for every candidate. Only the wing span size has been limited to one meter. Additionally, the on-board avionics and payload weights and sizes are fixed for every candidate as they are independent of the design. Analyses by CDSGN concluded the dominance of the conventional configuration for the given long endurance mission performance both on solar and non-solar conditions. Optimum wing surface area and the on-board battery energy found interactively by a post-filtering program developed in-house. A custom airfoil family, transitioning along the span, have been designed specifically for the corresponding local Reynolds number for specific spanwise locations. A wind-tunnel campaign is performed with a full-scale model and first flight tests have been performed in order to show the feasibility of long endurance flights.


Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) is becoming an essential tool for a number of social scientists. Particularly, CAQDAS allow for a more rapid and rigorous qualitative data analysis. Over the past few decades, a variety of software that falls under the CAQDAS umbrella has emerged in the market. In this context, this paper focuses on one of the software - Atlas-ti 5.0 - to describe its use as a tool for enhancing rigour in qualitative social research. The paper describes why and how Atlas-ti 5.0 has been used for data analysis in an exemplar qualitative social research on the ecology of the Mauritian early adolescents' Internet-mediated dating/romance. It also considers some critics related to the essentials of rigour in qualitative social research. Finally, it outlines the use of Atlas-ti 5.0 for bringing rigour in the exemplar research.


Costus malortieanus was chosen as the material for this study. Only root extract was selected in this report. The objective of this study is to develop an efficiency method
for isolation of plants constituents and to obtain the best possible chromatography profile of root extract of Costus malortieanus by using HPLC. All analyses were carried out in a reverse phase mode using an ODS Hypesil Column (150x4.6mm, 5 μm particle size, thermo electron corporation) with a guard column filled with the same material. The column temperature was maintained at 36oC. The DAD detects a full UV spectrum (190nm to 400nm). The mobile phase consisted of purified water (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B). The analysis were carried out at flow rate of 1ml/min. Then, elution programs were designed in order to get best possible chromatography profile. For this study retention time of mobile phase was manipulated. It was found that chromatographic elution program 4 shows the best results for the compound separation. Methanol extract of root of Costus malortienous was successfully achieved using HPLC system with UV detector of 320 nm wavelengths


Modern superscalar datapaths use aggressive execution reordering to exploit instruction-level parallelism. Comparators, either explicit or embedded into content-addressable logic, are used extensively throughout such designs to implement several key out-of-order execution mechanisms and support the memory hierarchy. The traditional comparator designs dissipate energy on a mismatch in any bit position. As mismatches occur with a much higher frequency than matches in many situations, considerable improvements in energy dissipation are to be gained by using comparators that dissipate energy predominantly on a full match and little or no energy on partial or complete mismatches. We make two contributions. First, we introduce a series of dissipate-on-match comparator designs, including designs for comparing long arguments. Second, we show how comparators, used in modern datapaths, can be chosen and organized judiciously based on the microarchitectural-level statistics to minimize the energy dissipation. We use the actual layout data and the realistic bit patterns of the comparands (obtained from the simulated execution of SPEC 2000 benchmarks) to show the energy impact from the use of the new comparator designs. For the same delay, the proposed 8-bit comparators dissipate 70 percent less energy than the traditional designs if used within issue queues and 73 percent less energy if used within load-store queues. The use of the proposed 6-bit comparators within the dependency checking logic is shown to increase the energy dissipation by 65 percent on the average compared to the traditional designs. We also find that the use of a hybrid 32-bit comparator, comprised of three traditional 8-bit blocks and one proposed 8-bit block, is the most energy-efficient solution for the use in the load-store queue, resulting in 19 percent energy reduction compared to the use of four traditional 8-bit blocks used to implement a 32-bit comparator.


We attended the South African Association for Food Science and Technology (SAAFoST) Congress held from 7-9 September 2015, and the International Life Sciences Institute Post Congress Workshop. The congress, as well as the workshop, focused on enabling sustainable future health, and what we are going to do about our growing problem of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Dr Nelia Steyn, University of Cape Town, spoke on Food consumption by the South African population: challenges and opportunities. She mentioned that, according to research carried out so far, South Africans are eating too much starch. We suspect that they are also consuming too much fat, fatty meat, and thus excessive energy in relation to their requirements, and too few vegetables. Most restaurant meals predominantly contain protein, starch and fat (thus contributing further to excessive energy intake) and too little or no vegetables or salad. Richard Delate, Managing Director, John Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, mentioned that the statistics for NCDs are looking similar to or worse than those on acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in 1994, when huge anti-AIDS campaigns were implemented. Further, Lynne Moeng-Mahlangu from the Department of Health also spoke against restaurants encouraging overeating.


For more than 5000 years, people have cultivated flowers although there is no known reward for this costly behavior. In three different studies we show that flowers are a powerful positive emotion "inducer". In Study 1, flowers, upon presentation to women, always elicited the Duchenne or true smile. Women who received flowers reported more positive moods 3 days later. In Study 2, a flower given to men or women in an elevator elicited more positive social behavior than other stimuli. In Study 3, flowers presented to elderly participants (55+ age) elicited positive mood reports and improved episodic memory. Flowers have immediate and long-term effects on emotional reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory for both males and females. There is little existing theory in any discipline that explains these findings. We suggest that cultivated flowers are rewarding because they have evolved to rapidly induce positive emotion in humans, just as other plants have evolved to induce varying behavioral responses in a wide variety of species leading to the dispersal or propagation of the plants.


Background
The improvement of renal allograft survival by pre-transplantation transfusions alerted to the potential detrimental effect of transfusions in cancer treatment.

Objectives
This meta-analysis evaluates the role of perioperative blood transfusions (PBT) on colorectal cancer recurrence. This is accomplished by updating the results of a previously published meta-analysis (Amato 2006) to December 2009.

Search methods
Papers were retrieved using Medline, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, trials web-based registries, or the CCG Database. The search strategy was: {colon OR rectal OR colorectal} WITH {cancer OR tumor OR neoplasm} AND transfusion. The publication bias was balanced by reviewing the proceedings of international congresses.

Selection criteria
Patients undergoing curative resection of colorectal cancer (classified either as Dukes stages A-C, Astler-Coller stages A-C2, or TNM stages T1-3a/N0-1/M0) were included if they had received blood products within one month of surgery. Excluded were patients with distant metastases and studies with short follow-up or no data.

Data collection and analysis
A specific form was used for data collection. Data was cross-checked, using the most recent publication in case of repetitive ones. Papers' quality was evaluated using the method by Evans and Pollock. Odds ratios (OR, with 95% confidence intervals) were computed for each study, and pooled estimates were generated by RevMan (version 5). When available, data were stratified for risk factors of cancer recurrence.

Main results
Updating the previous review through December 2009 identified 41 additional papers, for a grand total of 278 references. Two-hundred and fourty-two of them were excluded because they analyzed survival (n=27), were repetitive (n=29), letters/reviews (n=71) or had no data (n=115). Thirty-six studies on 12,127 patients remained included: 23 showed a detrimental effect of PBT; 22 used multivariable analyses, and 14 found an independent PBT effect. Pooled estimates of PBT effect on recurrence in randomised studies yielded an OR of 1.42 (95% CI, 1.20 to 1.67) against transfused patients. Stratified meta-analyses confirmed these findings also by site and stage of disease, regardless of timing, type, and in a dose-related fashion, although heterogeneity was detected. Data on surgical techniques was not available for further analysis.

Authors' conclusions
This updated meta-analysis confirms the previous findings and supports the association of PBT on the recurrence of curable colorectal cancers. However, since heterogeneity was detected and the effect of surgical technique could not be assessed, a causal relationship cannot still be claimed. Carefully restricted indications for PBT seems necessary.


Animated mosaics are a traditional form of stop-motion animation created by arranging and rearranging small objects or tiles from frame to frame. While this animation style is uniquely compelling, the traditional process of manually placing and then moving tiles in each frame is time-consuming and labourious. Recent work has proposed algorithms for static mosaics, but generating temporally coherent mosaic animations has remained open. In addition, previous techniques for temporal coherence allow non-photorealistic primitives to layer, blend, deform, or scale, techniques that are unsuitable for mosaic animations. This paper presents a new approach to temporal coherence and applies this to build a method for creating mosaic animations. Specifically, we characterize temporal coherence as the coordinated movement of groups of primitives. We describe a system for achieving this coordinated movement to create temporally coherent geometric packings of 2D shapes over time. We also show how to create static mosaics comprised of different tile shapes using area-based centroidal Voronoi diagrams.


Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is considered a leading factor of cardiovascular (CV) events in general population. Impairment of endogenous endothelial repair system plays a pivotal role in T2DM-induced microangiopathy and macroangiopathy and, however, may contribute in CV risk and outcomes. Recent studies have shown that the nicotinamide phosphoribosyl transferase (NAMPT) currently known as visfatin has reported an integral adipocytokine with proinflammatory and immunomodulating properties. It is suggested that visfatin/NAMPT may act as multifunctional agent with undefined effect on several targets especially endothelial cells and progenitor cells depending of metabolical status of the patients. The short commentary is discussed a possible role of visfatin/NAMPT as a biomarker of nature evolution of T2DM and as a target for therapeutic strategy aimed to improve endothelial function in T2DM patients in future.


Hearing relies on the transduction of sound-evoked vibrations into electrical signals, occurring in the stereocilia bundle of inner ear hair cells. The G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) ADGRV1 and the multi-PDZ protein PDZD7 play a critical role in the formation and function of stereocilia through their scaffolding and signaling properties. During hair cell development, the GPCR activity of ADGRV1 is specifically inhibited by PDZD7 through an unknown mechanism. Here, we describe the key interactions mediated by the two N-terminal PDZ domains of PDZD7 and the cytoplasmic domain of ADGRV1. Both PDZ domains can bind to the C-terminal PDZ binding motif (PBM) of ADGRV1 with the critical contribution of atypical C-terminal β extensions. The two PDZ domains form a supramodule in solution, stabilized upon PBM binding. Interestingly, we showed that the stability and binding properties of the PDZ tandem are affected by two deafness-causing mutations located in the binding grooves of PDZD7 PDZ domains.


BACKGROUND
Helicobacter pylori infection in Kenya is staggeringly high. Evidence links infection of the gastric mucosa by H. pylori with subsequent development of gastric pathologies.

AIM
We investigated the prevalence of H. pylori in dyspeptic patients, its relationship with gastric pathologies, and associated antibiotic susceptibility profiles, and compared two media to find the appropriate medium that enhances growth and expedites culture and isolation.

METHODS
Rapid urease and histological tests were used to screen for H. pylori. Culture was performed to test sensitivity and evaluate media. Selective and nutritional supplements were added to culture media (Colombia blood agar and brain-heart infusion agar) for growth enhancement. E-test strips for metronidazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin were used for susceptibility testing.

RESULTS
The prevalence of H. pylori infection in children was 73.3%, and 54.8% in adults. All the H. pylori investigated in this study were largely sensitive to clarithromycin (100%, minimum inhibiting concentration (MIC) <2 microg/ml), amoxicillin (100%, MIC <2 microg/ml) and metronidazole (95.4%, MIC <8 microg/ml). There was, however, occasional resistance to metronidazole (4.6%, MIC >8 microg/ml). Both Colombia blood and brain-heart infusion agar, with the supplements, effectively supported H. pylori growth. Growth was achieved in an average of 36 hours for primary isolations and 24 hours for subcultures.

CONCLUSION
The media described here reduce the time required to culture and isolate bacteria and perform susceptibility testing. Despite the high prevalence of H. pylori infection, the associated pathology is low and does not parallel H. pylori prevalence in the population.


When analyzing syndromic surveillance data, health care officials look for areas with unusually high cases of syndromes. Unfortunately, many outbreaks are difficult to detect because their signal is obscured by the statistical noise. Consequently, many detection algorithms have a high false positive rate. While many false alerts can be easily filtered by trained epidemiologists, others require health officials to drill down into the data, analyzing specific segments of the population and historical trends over time and space. Furthermore, the ability to accurately recognize meaningful patterns in the data becomes more challenging as these data sources increase in volume and complexity. To facilitate more accurate and efficient event detection, we have created a visual analytics tool that provides analysts with linked geo-spatiotemporal and statistical analytic views. We model syndromic hotspots by applying a kernel density estimation on the population sample. When an analyst selects a syndromic hotspot, temporal statistical graphs of the hotspot are created. Similarly, regions in the statistical plots may be selected to generate geospatial features specific to the current time period. Demographic filtering can then be combined to determine if certain populations are more affected than others. These tools allow analysts to perform real-time hypothesis testing and evaluation.


The recent recession that swept through this and many countries worldwide had many causes, one of which was low interest rates in the United States. Loose monetary policy pursued by former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan was a major component of the housing crash and following recession. Furthermore, the Fed's current monetary policy is extremely similar to policy pursued before the 2008 recession. The current system of monetary policy implemented in the U.S., necessitating that credit and debt expand forever, is a dangerous and potentially disastrous policy to be pursuing. Unless a change takes place, the American economy could experience another — and possibly worse — recession in the near future.


Over the past four decades, in an effort to help plaintiffs, US tort statutes have expanded strict liability, and courts have relaxed the causation requirement in negligence liability by often resolving factual doubts about causation in the plaintiff's favor.This Article argues that this trend not only contributes to phenomena such as defensive medicine and overly high health care costs but, more surprisingly, also to more people and property being harmed due to negligent treatment and environmental disasters. This is true in the quite common scenarios in which courts suffer from hindsight bias or injurers lack sufficient assets to satisfy judgments against them. Both problems pervade important areas of tort law.This Article not only cautions against the use of strict liability but also argues for restoring a robust causation requirement in negligence liability. Specifically, this Article proposes a new default regime in torts called "negligence-based proportional liability." This rule would account for causation in probabilistic terms. It would hold a negligent injurer liable for harm discounted by the probability that the harm was caused by the defendant's breach of a duty. As a more lenient liability rule than what is generally contemplated by many US courts, negligence-based proportional liability reduces defensive behavior and increases compliance relative to all other liability regimes.


Ocean acidification, the result of increased dissolution of carbon dioxide (CO2) in seawater, is a leading subject of current research. The effects of acidification on non-calcifying macroalgae are, however, still unclear. The current study reports two 1-month studies using two different macroalgae, the red alga Palmaria palmata (Rhodophyta) and the kelp Saccharina latissima (Phaeophyta), exposed to control (pHNBS = ∼8.04) and increased (pHNBS = ∼7.82) levels of CO2-induced seawater acidification. The impacts of both increased acidification and time of exposure on net primary production (NPP), respiration (R), dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) concentrations, and algal growth have been assessed. In P. palmata, although NPP significantly increased during the testing period, it significantly decreased with acidification, whereas R showed a significant decrease with acidification only. S. latissima significantly increased NPP with acidification but not with time, and significantly increased R with both acidification and time, suggesting a concomitant increase in gross primary production. The DMSP concentrations of both species remained unchanged by either acidification or through time during the experimental period. In contrast, algal growth differed markedly between the two experiments, in that P. palmata showed very little growth throughout the experiment, while S. latissima showed substantial growth during the course of the study, with the latter showing a significant difference between the acidified and control treatments. These two experiments suggest that the study species used here were resistant to a short-term exposure to ocean acidification, with some of the differences seen between species possibly linked to different nutrient concentrations between the experiments.


This study expands the current knowledge base on the nature, causes and fate of unused medicines in primary care. Three methodologies were used and participants for each element were sampled from the population of Eastern Birmingham PCT. A detailed assessment was made of medicines returned to pharmacies and GP surgeries for destruction and a postal questionnaire covering medicines use and disposal was used to patients randomly selected from the electoral roll. The content of this questionnaire was informed by qualitative data from a group interview on the subject. By use of these three methods it was possible to triangulate the data, providing a comprehensive assessment of unused medicines. Unused medicines were found to be ubiquitous in primary care and cardiovascular, diabetic and respiratory medicines are unused in substantial quantities, accounting for a considerable proportion of the total financial value of all unused medicines. Additionally, analgesic and psychoactive medicines were highlighted as being unused in sufficient quantities for concern. Anti-infective medicines also appear to be present and unused in a substantial proportion of patients' homes. Changes to prescribed therapy and non-compliance were identified as important factors leading to the generation of unused medicines. However, a wide array of other elements influence the quantities and types of medicines that are unused including the concordancy of GP consultations and medication reviews and patient factors such as age, sex or ethnicity. Medicines were appropriately discarded by 1 in 3 patients through return to a medical or pharmaceutical establishment. Inappropriate disposal was by placing in household refuse or through grey and black water with the possibility of hoarding or diversion also being identified. No correlations wre found between the weight of unused medicines and any clinical or financial factor. The study has highlighted unused medicines to be an issue of some concern and one that requires further study.


The use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver has been proposed as one of the best way to provide both an increase in reliability and also in information transmission rate. In this paper, the importance of the quantity and quality of the channel state information available at the communication ends is explored so as to achieve high data rates. The different architectures for various degrees of quality and quantity of CSI are studied in this work. The presented architectures are shown to be robust to the uncertainties of CSI. The main focus of this work is to dynamically provide resource allocation so as to achieve better QoS and improve system capacity.


The development of science is a separate guide for health care workers to provide better health care and also the complex condition of patient, and even tend to be critical. The issue of euthanasia is a dilemma that places in a dilemmatic position. It is growing, but it is not compensated by legal certainty. The issue to be discussed in this paper is how the restrictions imposed by law for euthanasia action requires a review of medical science and criminal law as well as aspects of human rights. The results show that normatively, euthanasia has not been clearly regulated. For this reason, a doctor always remembers the obligation and responsibility to protect human beings, it means that any country of the world a doctor has an obligation to "respect every human life from the conception." In this case it means that no matter how serious a patient, every doctor should still protect and sustain the life of patient. In terms of criminal law, euthanasia is a prohibited act in which the articles in the Indonesian Criminal Code relating to euthanasia. Social reasons as developed in society to legalize euthanasia is not true. By developments in society today, and it is possible for judges to issue decision on euthanasia based on the doctrine of law degree and the limitative-medical requirements. There is a justification for life disappearance but must be viewed casuistically and in a limitative nature. Keywords: Euthanasia; Human Rights; Criminal Law; Medical Law


As artists strive to increase the realism of computer-generated characters, the techniques pursued by creature developers are becoming both increasingly complex and time-consuming for the artist to set-up and to simulate. Perceiving the underlying muscle and flesh movement is an important part of selling the believability of a creature to an ever more sophisticated audience. How do makers of episodic television studios compete with much smaller budgets and less time when broadcasters and audiences demand film quality? Jurassic Fight Club (2008) provided the context to experiment with film based creature research on the not-so-small screen.


For decades, evolutionary biologists have sought to understand the evolution of individual behaviour, physiology and ecology allowing organisms to cope to environmental change. One of the main challenges of current climate change is the unprecedent rate of temperature increase, as well as the increased occurence of extreme heat events. Interindividual response variability opens a whole new area of opportunities to understand how individual phenotypic traits are linked to individual response differences. In colour polymorphic species, colour honestly reflects an individual's life-history strategy, and each morph may, therefore, represent an alternative life-history strategy. As such, colour polymorphic species, such as the Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae), may be good models to assess how different strategies between morphs are linked to their espective responses to environmental variations. However, polymorphic species have mainly been disregarded for that purpose. In this context, the main aim of this thesis was to understand how the two morphs of the Gouldian finch respond through phenotypic plasticity to simulated heatwaves reaching thermocritical temperatures, and whether such differential responses may help to identify a 'winner' and a 'loser' morph in the light of climate change. To address these issues, we used an integrative approach including measurements of behavioural (Study 1), physiological (Study 2), and reproductive (Study 3) parameters. The novelty of our approach was to assess the immediate behavioural and physiological response variation of individuals of the two morphs longitudinally across different thermal conditions, as well as the postponed effects of this thermocritical heatwave exposure on their reproductive performance. In this study, although the behavioural responses generally did not differ between morphs or according to temperature intensity, the physiological and reproductive parameters differed in response to morph and temperature intensity. Blackheaded females, in particular, seem highly sensitive to thermocritical heatwaves, as they exhibited decreased body mass and increased oxidative damage during the thermocritical heatwaves, and advanced breeding initiation after these conditions, whereas these variables remained mostly unaffected in black-headed males and red-headed individuals. However, despite some response differences between morphs, both invested similarly in reproduction following intense heatwaves, and the offspring of both morphs were similarly affected. Based on these results, no morph therefore seems to appear more disadvantaged than the other following an intense heatwave, and red- and black-headed Gouldian finches may both be considered as climate stress 'losers'.


BACKGROUND
Active recreation sessions taking place within after-school programs (ASP) present an opportunity for attending children to attain part of the recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). This cross-sectional study's purpose was to assess relationships between microlevel ASP environmental characteristics and physical activity and sedentary behavior (SED).

METHODS
During 161 ASP active recreation sessions, 240 children from 7 schools wore Actigraph GT1M accelerometers and were observed up to 6 times per year, over 3 years. To provide microlevel environmental data, trained observers recorded session times, location, duration, organization, equipment, and number of children and staff. Unadjusted bivariate correlations and multivariable regression analyses were used to assess the influence of microlevel environmental variables on MVPA and SED, with regression models controlling for relevant covariates.

RESULTS
Across all ASP active recreation sessions, children spent 39 ± 15% in MVPA and 16 ± 11% in SED. Session location, boy-to-girl ratio, and duration were significantly related to MVPA in the regression model. For SED, location and duration were significant influences in the model.

CONCLUSIONS
Both location and duration appear to be modifiable correlates of group physical activity level, which may serve to inform intervention efforts to promote physical activity in ASP.


BACKGROUND: To assess the differences in appropriateness of consultations and demographic outline of people attended in a hospital emergency facility (HEP) along the hospital physicians strike period in spring 1995. METHODS: Observational cross-sectional study in Health Area I in the province of Badajoz. 8964 patients assisted along the strike period were compared with 8024 attended in the same period of 1994 (no strike). RESULTS: The patients average was 169.13 (SD 27.35) a day in the strike period, during the control period this mean was 151.39 (SD 19.78) patients a day ( p< 0.001 ) Demographic variables of patients were similar in both groups, with similar mean ages and gender proportion in all age and residence site groups. Most of patients went to the HEF self-promoted (70.1% and 65.8%) and without ambulance (92% and 90.8%) in both periods (strike and control). The outcome of medical care was home discharge in 85.35% during the strike period and 83.81% in the control period, with admission rates of 13.1% and 14.15% ( p< 0.001 ) CONCLUTIONS:There are no significant differences in the HEF use features completely explained by the phisicians strike.


The article undertakes an innovative study focusing on the choices and manners of entrepreneur reading as a means of developing resilience and responding to the challenges and crises that entrepreneurial activity presents. The article explores predominant patterns of entrepreneurial learning and challenges the assumptions on which these are grounded. This allows original insights and perspectives to be developed with which to enhance understanding of entrepreneurial sense-making. The study employs a qualitative methodology involving purposive semi-structured interviews with entrepreneurs to determine the ways in which they identify, engage with and operationalize entrepreneurial behaviour based on their reading. The ensuing fieldwork provided a range of findings and discussion themes centred on dynamic and non-linear behaviour, reading and transformative learning events, and social interaction and reading. The study concludes with a range of observations on the power of reading in assisting entrepreneurs to develop resilience and behaviours for coping with the challenges and crises which are an integral aspect of entrepreneurial activity.


Ensuring safety during door-to-door public transport trips is a fundamental challenge to service providers, as safety influences individuals' mobility. Using reported safety perceptions of travelers waiting at six bus stops with different characteristics in Stockholm, this study investigates factors that have an impact on determining travelers' perceived safety and crime perceptions. This is done by assessing the importance of real-time information provision and the environmental characteristics of bus stops during the day and at night for different types of crime, after controlling for travelers' individual and trip characteristics, and their previous experiences of victimization. Interaction effects of age, gender, and travel frequency are also tested. The results suggest that bus shelter characteristics, natural surveillance, and trustworthy real-time information are the most important factors influencing safety and crime perceptions. Additionally, safety perceptions are strongly influenced by previous experiences of victimization. The effect of perceived feelings about crime and safety are found to be nuanced by age and gender. Unlike some common beliefs, travelers: (1) feel less worried about becoming a victim of crime at bus stops associated with high crime rates; (2) prefer opaque shelters at night; and (3) have higher safety perceptions when the stop is located in an area of mixed land use. The impact of a bus stop's number of passers-by is found to be insignificant. No direct or indirect effects can be attributed to frequency of travel by bus, indicating that familiar places and routine behavior have no effect on declared crime and safety perceptions.


This article addresses the role of grandparents as providers of childcare for their grandchildren, and the importance of this role in helping the mothers to enter the labour market. Several childcare surveys indicate that grandparents make a very important contribution, which appears to be sustained over time. Demographic modelling shows that the chances of young children having a maternal grandmother under 70 have risen since 1981, although she is now less likely to live nearby. New evidence from the UK Time Use Survey suggests that grandparents' help has an important influence on whether mothers of young children do take employment, especially those with lower earnings potential. This help also enables them to work longer hours and earn more. However, employed older women play a considerably smaller role in childcare for other households than those without jobs. Analysis of childcare trends from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) suggests that help from relatives, of whom the biggest category are known from several other sources to be grandparents, has become an important complement to part-time formal care as pre-school places expanded since the late 1990s. Raising employment rates amongst the over 50s is an established objective of government policy, yet it may conflict with the role of younger grandparents in childcare.


The "culture wars," as they play out in high profile Supreme Court decisions and legislative fights over abortion and same-sex marriage, are first and foremost about family values. Central to these differences - and the focus of the article - is the fact that different families in different parts of the country are leading different lives. The one clear, organizing principle that distinguishes the two systems: age of family formation. The defining characteristic of what we term the "new middle class morality" is delay in family formation until the late twenties or early thirties. This new morality, which correlates more closely to blue state demographic patterns, affects understandings about premarital sexuality, use of contraception and abortion, the connection between marriage and childrearing, gender relationships, and the incidence of divorce (those who marry at younger ages are less likely to stay together). By contrast, the red states, with the Republican presidential vote in 2004 corresponding to the intensity of concern over "moral values," affirm more traditional understandings that celebrate the unity of sex, marriage and procreation. Driven in part by religious teachings about sin and guilt, they emphasize abstinence, and see divorce and single parenthood as moral failings. While blue families have prospered, red families are in crisis on their own terms - red states have the nation's highest teen pregnancy and divorce rates, and the growing separation between the beginning of sexual activity and marriage makes abstinence increasingly untenable.The article argues that the moral and symbolic conflicts between the two systems underlie the intensity of the increasing partisanship in U.S. politics which, in turn, may undermine the legitimacy of the judicial role. Cultural anxiety about changing family patterns combined with the strategic exploitation of these concerns for partisan advantage makes family issues an increasingly salient part of the political landscape. This poses challenges to the judicial role in resolving not only hot button issues such as abortion, but more prosaic individual family law cases. The article then links the regional differences to legal outcomes, examining the laws addressing parental involvement in teen abortion decisions, same-sex marriage propositions, and the role of non-marital cohabitation in custody decisions. The most striking findings, however, address the form of legal decision-making. Blue states are not just less likely to mandate parental involvement in abortion decisions; their courts are also more likely to issue nuanced decisions that make parental involvement laws workable. On more divisive issues, however, appellate courts become much less willing to engage the issues at all, deferring instead to legislatures or lower court findings of fact. The level of partisan intensity in the background accordingly frames not just legal outcomes, but the judicial role. Finally, the article concludes that differences between red family and blue family systems are not frozen in place, but in transition, albeit at different speeds, from an older traditional (or red state) model to a newer system likely to reflect the blue states' later age of family formation. Family courts, whether they wish to be or not, are on the front lines of the culture wars. The legitimacy of their role depends on judicial ability to guide, diffuse, and manage cultural conflict, a role which is increasingly threatened by the partisan identification of cultural conflict.


The incidental capture of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) is an ongoing protected species management problem in the Pilbara Fish Trawl Interim Managed Fishery, Western Australia. We investigated this issue using four approaches: the analysis of skippers' logbook and independent observer data on bycatch; underwater video of dolphins interacting with trawl gear; genetic methods to estimate population structure and connectivity; and a photo-identification study to estimate trawler-associated dolphin community size. Logbooks and observer records were used to assess dolphin bycatch patterns from 2003 to 2009. During this six year period, between 172 and 366 dolphins were reported caught across all management areas, depths and seasons. Dolphin capture rates reported by independent observers varied between 1.6 and 3.8 times higher than those reported by skippers, with observer records also better explaining the variation in dolphin bycatch. Significant predictors of dolphin bycatch were fishing vessels; time of day; and whether nets included bycatch reduction devices. Underwater video footage taken inside trawl nets indicated that even the observer records underestimated bycatch, as some dead dolphins fell out of bottom-opening escape hatches during trawls and were not landed on deck. Genetic evidence suggested one panmictic population, but no connectivity between trawler-associated and adjacent coastal dolphins. Mark-recapture analysis of photoidentified dolphins around one of three trawlers over two oneweek fishing trips yielded a global mean estimate (± 1 SE) of just 183 ± 11 dolphins. These data indicate that a relatively small dolphin community shows fidelity to foraging around trawlers over periods ranging from weeks to years. Potentially, an overall reduction in fishing effort and improved bycatch reduction devices (with top-opening escape hatches from which air-breathing animals might escape) would reduce bycatch. The vulnerability of this dolphin population to depletion from the current and ongoing level of trawling is likely, but currently remains unknown.


Most existing algorithms in decentralized online learning are conducted in the synchronous setting. However, synchronization makes these algorithms suffer from the straggler problem, i.e., fast learners have to wait for slow learners, which significantly reduces such algorithms' overall efficiency. To overcome this problem, we study decentralized online learning in the asynchronous setting, which allows different learners to work at their own pace. We first formulate the framework of Asynchronous Decentralized Online Convex Optimization, which specifies the whole process of asynchronous decentralized online learning using a sophisticated event indexing system. Then we propose the Asynchronous Decentralized Online Gradient-Push (AD-OGP) algorithm, which performs asymmetric gossiping communication and instantaneous model averaging. We further derive a regret bound of AD-OGP, which is a function of the network topology, the levels of processing delays, and the levels of communication delays. Extensive experiments show that AD-OGP runs significantly faster than its synchronous counterpart and also verify the theoretical results.


DISCLOSURES: Funding for this summary was contributed by Arnold Ventures, California Health Care Foundation, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan to the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), an independent organization that evaluates the evidence on the value of health care interventions. ICER's annual policy summit is supported by dues from Aetna, America's Health Insurance Plans, Anthem, Allergan, Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Biogen, Blue Shield of CA, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Cambia Health Services, CVS, Editas, Express Scripts, Genentech/Roche, GlaxoSmithKline, Harvard Pilgrim, Health Care Service Corporation, HealthFirst, Health Partners, Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), Kaiser Permanente, LEO Pharma, Mallinckrodt, Merck, Novartis, National Pharmaceutical Council, Pfizer, Premera, Prime Therapeutics, Regeneron, Sanofi, Spark Therapeutics, and United Healthcare. Seidner, Rind, and Pearson are employed by ICER. Tice reports contracts to his institution, University of California, San Francisco, from ICER during the conduct of this study. Wherry has nothing to disclose.


A special three-part protocol has been generated for the isolated durability testing of stent barbs. This triple protocol includes an initial evaluation on a cardiovascular duplicator to determine the loading per barb that occurs during normal flow through the stent-graft. The next stage of this protocol determined the frequency response characteristics of the bending point where the barb attaches to the stent to allow for the determination of the appropriate frequency to carry out the accelerated testing. The final part of the test includes high speed bend testing at frequencies determined in the second part of the methods to determine the long term durability of the isolated barb stent unit. The results of this testing indicated that under normal cardiovascular conditions each barb is experiencing a loading of 20 grams peak during maximum forward flow. Loading the isolated barb/stent segment at 600 beats per minute (bpm) for 400 million cycles indicated no tendency for these barbs to experience a change in physical properties. During this testing there were no barbs that broke.


Programming by demonstration is an attractive model for allowing both experts and non-experts to command robots' actions. In this work, we contribute an approach for learning precise reaching trajectories for robotic manipulators. We use dimensionality reduction to smooth the example trajectories and transform their representation to a space more amenable to planning. Next, regions with simple control policies are formed in the embedded space. Sequential composition of these simple policies is sufficient to plan a path to the goal from any known area of the configuration space. This algorithm is capable of creating efficient, collision-free plans even under typical real-world training conditions such as incomplete sensor coverage and lack of an environment model, without imposing additional requirements upon the user such as constraining the types of example trajectories provided. Preliminary results are presented to validate this approach.


Cognitive Linguistics is the most rapidly expanding school in modern Linguistics. It aims to create a scientific approach to the study of language, incorporating the tools of philosophy, neuroscience and computer science. Cognitive approaches to language were initially based on philosophical thinking about the mind, but more recent work emphasizes the importance of convergent evidence from a broad empirical and methodological base. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader brings together the key writings of the last two decades, both the classic foundational pieces and contemporary work. The essays and articles - selected to represent the full range, scope and diversity of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise - are grouped by theme into sections with each section separately introduced. The book opens with a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader and closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader is both an ideal introduction to the full breadth and depth of Cognitive Linguistics and a single work of reference bringing together the most significant work in the field.


A highly detailed look at the English country house interior, offering unprecedented access to England s finest rooms. In this splendid book, renowned historian Jeremy Musson explores the interiors and decoration of the great country houses of England, offering a brilliantly detailed presentation of the epitome of style in each period of the country house, including the great Jacobean manor house, the Georgian mansion, and the Gothic Revival castle. For the first time, houses known worldwide for their exquisite architecture and decoration--including Wilton, Chatsworth, and Castle Howard--are seen in unprecedented detail. With intimate views of fabric, gilding, carving, and furnishings, the book will be a source of inspiration to interior designers, architects, and home owners, and a must-have for anglophiles and historic house enthusiasts.The fifteen houses included represent the key periods in the history of English country house decoration and cover the major interior fashions and styles. Stunning new color photographs by Paul Barker-who was given unparalleled access to the houses-offer readers new insights into the enduring English country house style. Supplementing these are unique black-and-white images from the archive of the esteemed "Country Life "magazine. Among the aspectsof these that the book covers are: paneling, textile hangings (silks to cut velvet), mural painting, plasterwork, stone carving, gilding, curtains, pelmets, heraldic decoration, classical imagery, early upholstered furniture, furniture designed by Thomas Chippendale, carved chimney-pieces, lass, use of sculpture, tapestry, carpets, picture hanging, collecting of art and antiques, impact of Grand Tour taste, silver, use of marble, different woods, the importance of mirror glass, boulle work, English Baroque style, Palladian style, neo-Classical style, rooms designed by Robert Adam, Regency, Gothic Revival taste, Baronial style, French 18th century style, and room types such as staircases, libraries, dining rooms, parlors, bedrooms, picture galleries, entrance halls and sculpture galleries. Houses covered include: Hatfield - early 1600s (Jacobean); Wilton - 1630/40s (Inigo Jones); Boughton - 1680/90s (inspired by Versailles); Chatsworth -1690/early 1700s (Baroque); Castle Howard - early 1700s (Vanbrugh); Houghton - 1720s (Kent); Holkham - 1730s-50s (Palladian); Syon Park - 1760s (Adam); Harewood - 1760s/70s (neo-Classical); Goodwood - 1790s/1800s (neo-Classical/Regency); Regency at Chatsworth/Wilton/C Howard etc - 1820/30s; Waddesdon Manor - 1870/80ss (French Chateau style); Arundel Castle -1880s/90s (Gothic Revival); Berkeley Castle - 1920/30s (period recreations and antique collections); Parham House - 1920s/30s (period restorations and antique collections). The range is from the early 17th century to present day, drawn from the authenticated interiors of fifteen great country houses, almost all still in private hands and occupied as private residences still today. The book shows work by twentieth-century designers who have helped evolve the country house look, including Nancy Lancaster, David Hicks, Colefax & Fowler, and David Mlinaric"


Importance The recommendations about antithrombotic medication use after bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement (bAVR) vary. Objectives To describe the post-bAVR antithrombotic medication practice across the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and to assess the association between antithrombotic strategies and post-bAVR outcomes. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cohort study. Multivariable modeling with propensity scores was conducted to adjust for differences in patient characteristics across the 3 most common antithrombotic medication strategies (aspirin plus warfarin sodium, aspirin only, and dual antiplatelets). Text mining of notes was used to identify the patients with bAVR (fiscal years 2005-2015). Main Outcomes and Measures This study used VHA and non-VHA outpatient pharmacy data and text notes to classify the following antithrombotic medications prescribed within 1 week after discharge from the bAVR hospitalization: aspirin plus warfarin, aspirin only, dual antiplatelets, no antithrombotics, other only, and warfarin only. The 90-day outcomes included all-cause mortality, thromboembolism risk, and bleeding events. Outcomes were identified using primary diagnosis codes from emergency department visits or hospital admissions. Results The cohort included 9060 veterans with bAVR at 47 facilities (mean [SD] age, 69.3 [8.8] years; 98.6% male). The number of bAVR procedures per year increased from 610 in fiscal year 2005 to 1072 in fiscal year 2015. The most commonly prescribed antithrombotic strategy was aspirin only (4240 [46.8%]), followed by aspirin plus warfarin (1638 [18.1%]), no antithrombotics (1451 [16.0%]), dual antiplatelets (1010 [11.1%]), warfarin only (439 [4.8%]), and other only (282 [3.1%]). Facility variation in antithrombotic prescription patterns was observed. During the 90-day post-bAVR period, adverse events were uncommon, including all-cause mortality in 127 (1.4%), thromboembolism risk in 142 (1.6%), and bleeding events in 149 (1.6%). No differences in 90-day mortality or thromboembolism were identified across the 3 antithrombotic medication groups in either the unadjusted or adjusted models. Patients receiving the combination of aspirin plus warfarin had higher odds of bleeding than patients receiving aspirin only in the unadjusted analysis (odds ratio, 2.58; 95% CI, 1.71-3.89) and after full risk adjustment (adjusted odds ratio, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.17-3.14). Conclusions and Relevance These data demonstrate that bAVR procedures are increasingly being performed in VHA facilities and that aspirin only was the most commonly used antithrombotic medication strategy after bAVR. The risk-adjusted results suggest that the combination of aspirin plus warfarin does not improve either all-cause mortality or thromboembolism risk but increases the risk of bleeding events compared with aspirin only.


This paper considers inference for a function of a parameter vector in a partially identified model with many moment inequalities. This framework allows the number of moment conditions to grow with the sample size, possibly at exponential rates. Our main motivating application is subvector inference, i.e., inference on a single component of the partially identified parameter vector associated with a treatment effect or a policy variable of interest. Our inference method compares a MinMax test statistic (minimum over parameters satisfying $H_0$ and maximum over moment inequalities) against critical values that are based on bootstrap approximations or analytical bounds. We show that this method controls asymptotic size uniformly over a large class of data generating processes despite the partially identified many moment inequality setting. The finite sample analysis allows us to obtain explicit rates of convergence on the size control. Our results are based on combining non-asymptotic approximations and new high-dimensional central limit theorems for the MinMax of the components of random matrices. Unlike the previous literature on functional inference in partially identified models, our results do not rely on weak convergence results based on Donsker's class assumptions and, in fact, our test statistic may not even converge in distribution. Our bootstrap approximation requires the choice of a tuning parameter sequence that can avoid the excessive concentration of our test statistic. To this end, we propose an asymptotically valid data-driven method to select this tuning parameter sequence. This method generalizes the selection of tuning parameter sequences to problems outside the Donsker's class assumptions and may also be of independent interest. Our procedures based on self-normalized moderate deviation bounds are relatively more conservative but easier to implement.


Indigenous Peoples in Canada continue to experience health and social inequities in the postcolonial era. The Inuit are one aggregate whose livelihoods have been drastically altered through government subsistence programs and residential schools. The loss of culture, community, and relationships have had a negative impact on this population, particularly youth, as evidenced by high rates of suicide and issues with mental health and substance abuse. A search of scholarly and gray literature was completed to identify factors that contribute to suicide among Inuit youth and potential interventions. While interventions that address mental health and suicidal risk factors have been successful, resources to support programs have not been sustained. This paper highlights suicide and mental illness among Inuit youth as a preventable issue that stakeholders and policymakers can address through participatory approaches in collaboration with the community.


Numerous studies, in particular for the US, have shown that individuals in occupations with high injury risk are compensated for that risk by corresponding bonus payments. At the same time, male workers are overrepresented in the most dangerous occupations like scaffolders or miners, while females typically work in relatively safe occupations with respect to occupational injuries. It is therefore remarkable that almost all studies analyzing the gender wage gap have disregarded different occupational injury risks as a potential explanatory variable for observed gender wage differentials. By merging data on occupational injury risks to German and US panel data on individual workers, this study analyzes gender wage differentials in Germany and the US considering fatal occupational injury risk. The Blinder-Oaxaca method for tobit models is used to decompose the gender wage gap with and without consideration of the fatal injury risk. Our results indicate that the compensating wage differentials for risky jobs are reflected in the resulting gender wage gap, which is caused by the unequal distribution of occupational injury risks among men and women.


This paper analyzes the interplay between firms' self-regulation (often denoted as corporate social responsibility) as opposed to the formal regulation of a negative externality. Firms respond to increasing activism in the market (conscious consumers that take into account the external effects of their purchase) by providing more socially responsible goods. However, because regulation is the outcome of a political process, an increase in activism might imply an inefficiently high externality level. This may happen when a majority of non-activist consumers collectively free-ride on conscious consumers. By determining a softer than optimal regulation, they benefit from the behavior of firms, yet they have access to cheaper (although less efficient) goods.


This paper presents a new proposal to solve the problem of data association for SLAM used to build of maps of complex environments. The main idea of this proposal is to use B-spline curves as a way to describe obstacles with complex geometries found in the environment and use the information contained in them to find characteristic points that may be associated. The use of this information for a more accurate association process is one of the major contributions of this work, because a robust association has a direct impact on the localization of the robot and thus the quality of the final map. The data association problem was initially addressed by comparing the control points that form both the curves representing the obstacles observed at a given time, and those that represent the obstacles stored in the map being constructed, relating those that are close enough. Then, the curvature of the related B-spline is obtained to extract characteristic points (inflection points and corners) contained in the curves. Finally, the matching information will be used to correct the position of the robot and the detected obstacles. We carried out numerous experiments by using real and simulated information in order to validate the processes and algorithms proposed in our approach. Our method achieves a great precision in map construction of complex environments, which is nearly impossible with techniques that currently exist.


This study examines the role that food consumer cooperatives play in the local food networks. Data are collected from three case studies with leading food cooperatives and a national survey of the general managers of food cooperatives. We identify the emerging business practices in local sourcing as a differentiation and member recruitment strategy for food cooperatives. Our analysis identifies several clusters of strategies used for local food procurement, based on the extent to which the co-op is involved in procurement activities upstream (at the farm), mid-stream (at the distribution center) or downstream (at the food cooperative). The results also show that when compared to other grocers, food co-ops have clear advantages in working with local producers and oftentimes play a key role in the producers' business viability.


Background: Tea consumption may have favorable effects on risk of fracture. However, little is known about such association in Chinese adults. The aim of this study was to examine the association between tea consumption and risk of hospitalized fracture in Chinese adults. Methods: The present study included 453,625 participants from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB). Tea consumption was self-reported at baseline. Hospitalized fractures were ascertained through linkage with local health insurance claim databases. The results: During a median of 10.1 years of follow-up, we documented 12,130 cases of first-time any fracture hospitalizations, including 1376 cases of hip fracture. Compared with never tea consumers, daily tea consumption was associated with lower risk of any fracture (hazard ratio (HR): 0.88; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83, 0.93). Statistically significant reduced risk of hip fracture was shown among daily consumers who most commonly drank green tea (HR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.65, 0.97) and those who had drunk tea for more than 30 years (HR: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.52, 0.87). Our conclusions: Habitual tea consumption was associated with moderately decreased risk of any fracture hospitalizations. Participants with decades of tea consumption and those who preferred green tea were also associated with lower risk of hip fracture.


Phase separation has been proven to be beneficial to air-cooled parallel flow microchannel condensers for air conditioning systems. The inlet to the condenser with phase separation is at the middle of the condenser height. After the first pass, in the vertical second header of the condenser, refrigerant vapor separates from liquid mainly due to gravitational effects. In ideal case, vapor should go to the top exit and liquid to the bottom exit, resulting in increased heat transfer. Due to interaction between vapor and liquid, separation is not perfect, expressed through the separation efficiency. This paper presents a parametric study of phase separation efficiency in the intermediate headers, with the target to improve separation efficiency. Header prototypes which have two exits are made with transparent polyvinyl chloride (PVC) to simulate the real header and provide visual access. Using R-134a as a baseline, the measurement of separation efficiency and its general trend will be shown first. The experimental results are compared to the simulation of a mechanistic model based on flow regime and force balance analysis. Inlet mass flux in simulation is controlled at 87–311 kg · m−2 · s−1 and inlet quality at 0.05–0.25. The observed flow patterns in header are compared with the modeling results. Then, the header diameter is increased, which effectively improves the separation efficiency due to reduction of vapor velocity in header. Finally, R245fa and R32 are modeled in comparison with R-134a to discuss the effect of fluid properties on separation efficiency.


AbstractHybrid organizations that combine multiple organizational forms deviate from socially legitimate templates for organizing, and thus experience unique organizing challenges. In this paper, we introduce and develop the concept of hybrid organizing, which we define as the activities, structures, processes and meanings by which organizations make sense of and combine multiple organizational forms. We propose that social enterprises that combine the organizational forms of both business and charity at their cores are an ideal type of hybrid organization, making social enterprise an attractive setting to study hybrid organizing. Based on a literature review of organizational research on social enterprise and on our own research in this domain, we develop five dimensions of hybrid organizing and related opportunities for future research. We conclude by discussing how insights from the study of hybrid organizing in social enterprises may contribute to organization theory.


This book develops and tests a 'thermostatic' model of public opinion and policy. The representation of opinion in policy is central to democratic theory and everyday politics. So too is the extent to which public preferences are informed and responsive to changes in policy. The coexistence of both 'public responsiveness' and 'policy representation' is thus a defining characteristic of successful democratic governance, and the subject of this book. The authors examine both responsiveness and representation across a range of policy domains in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. The story that emerges is one in which representative democratic government functions surprisingly well, though there are important differences in the details. Variations in public responsiveness and policy representation responsiveness are found to reflect the 'salience' of the different domains and governing institutions - specifically, presidentialism (versus parliamentarism) and federalism (versus unitary government).


The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TRA17) represents the most comprehensive reform of US international tax rules since 1962. An important question in evaluating TRA17 is how US trading partners will respond to its provisions. In general, US trading partners may take steps to negate the competitive advantage gained by the US from the lower rate of corporate tax, expensing and the "patent box". They may also take advantage of the participation exemption and the cross-crediting feature of GILTI to increase taxes on US multinationals. Finally, they are likely to copy the BEAT and apply it to US multinationals. The end result would be that the anticipated benefit of attracting investment into the US is unlikely to materialize.


In view of their history, the Flemish people always had a greater understanding of the Afrikaner's striving to preserve their identity. Even during the dark days of apartheid they were quite sympathetic towards the Afrikaner. In this article the anti-apartheid movement in Belgium/Flanders is analysed against the backdrop of the anti-apartheid actions of the United Nations and the sanctions campaign against South Africa. The academic boycott against South Africans will also be reviewed and an overview will be given of the anti-apartheid literature in Belgium/Flanders. The protest actions of the various anti-apartheid organisations will be analysed. In conclusion, the exile mission of the ANC in Brussels is discussed. In the light of their extensive trade relations with South Africa, Belgium did not play a leading role in the anti-apartheid campaign against South Africa.


For over a decade China has been globally recognized as the leading recipient of antidumping measures. On the other hand, China's use of antidumping measures is equally noteworthy. Xiaochen Wu's timely book takes a very practical approach as it examines its subject in a broad context. Besides providing a rich and detailed interpretation of the legal provisions, it discusses complex technical aspects of the Chinese antidumping law in a very pragmatic way, notably by providing actual instances of their application in the antidumping investigations conducted by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). This book is also very handy since it consolidates detailed statistics pertaining to Chinese antidumping proceedings since 1997 as well as all important legal texts including China's antidumping law and the 15 MOFCOM implementing provisions along with relevant legal interpretation. Readers will quickly discover that the book is thoroughly enriched with the thoughtful commentary and pertinent observations of its author. Having addressed and understood antidumping matters both from the public and private sector perspective, Xiaochen Wu provides a very unique and extensive analysis of the Chinese antidumping law and its practice. In sum, this work incorporates the essence of his personal experience as witnessed in the insightful examination of each antidumping provision and thoughtful reflections on complicated and exceptional situations which have come up in trade proceedings or which may very well arise in the not too distant future.


We experimentally studied the threshold power for stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in multimode optical fibers as a function of input beam product (a measure of the beam quality), using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser producing short pulses with a coherence length of at least 8 m. Numerical simulations of the dependence of this threshold on pulse duration were performed to extrapolate the experimental data to the continuous-wave (CW) case. The CW SBS threshold was found to increase with increased beam product (decreased beam quality), with a threshold value of 1 kW, for example, for a beam product of 2.5 mm mrad at the input of a 100-μm core-diameter, 10-m-long fiber. When we compared our measured results with published data for SBS in single-mode fibers recalculated to our core diameter, we found that our CW SBS power threshold values were two to four times higher. Using further numerical simulations, we extrapolated the SBS threshold for the long coherence length to the case of a short coherence length (of the order of centimeters) as in a high-power CW Nd:YAG laser for material processing.


Nutrients can shape immune system development function through aryl hydrocarbon receptor signaling. Innate lymphoid cells (ILC) expressing the transcription factor RORγt induce the postnatal formation of intestinal lymphoid follicles and regulate intestinal homeostasis. RORγt+ ILC express the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a highly conserved, ligand-inducible transcription factor believed to control adaptation of multicellular organisms to environmental challenges. We show that AhR is required for the postnatal expansion of intestinal RORγt+ ILC and the formation of intestinal lymphoid follicles. AhR activity within RORγt+ ILC could be induced by dietary ligands such as those contained in vegetables of the family Brassicaceae. AhR-deficient mice were highly susceptible to infection with Citrobacter rodentium, a mouse model for attaching and effacing infections. Our results establish a molecular link between nutrients and the formation of immune system components required to maintain intestinal homeostasis and resistance to infections.


An intact functional mucosal barrier is considered to be crucial for the maintenance of airway homeostasis as it protects the host immune system from exposure to allergens and noxious environmental triggers. Recent data provided evidence for the contribution of barrier dysfunction to the development of inflammatory diseases in the airways, skin and gut. A defective barrier has been documented in chronic rhinosinusitis, allergic rhinitis, asthma, atopic dermatitis and inflammatory bowel diseases. However, it remains to be elucidated to what extent primary (genetic) versus secondary (inflammatory) mechanisms drive barrier dysfunction. The precise pathogenesis of barrier dysfunction in patients with chronic mucosal inflammation and its implications on tissue inflammation and systemic absorption of exogenous particles are only partly understood. Since epithelial barrier defects are linked with chronicity and severity of airway inflammation, restoring the barrier integrity may become a useful approach in the treatment of allergic diseases. We here provide a state-of-the-art review on epithelial barrier dysfunction in upper and lower airways as well as in the intestine and the skin and on how barrier dysfunction can be restored from a therapeutic perspective.


Rattlesnake Springs are a high-discharge artesian springs situated in the upper Black River Valley in southwestern Eddy Country, New Mexico. The aquifer that supplies the Rattlesnake Springs has been the main water source for domestic use by visitors of Carlsbad Caverns National Park and residents of neighboring ranches since the 1930s. Several geological studies relying on surface geology and limited water wells had previously been conducted in the area to examine the trend of ground water flow. In this study I used conductivity and resistivity geophysical techniques to identify possible locations of fractures in the subsurface of Rattlesnake Springs. My main focus was on the north-south trending structure that appears to form a barrier to groundwater flow located just east of the springs. We collected ground conductivity data at 10 meters spacing around the perimeter and easily accessible areas owned by the National Park and surrounding ranches. In addition, we conducted Schlumberger and Wenner vertical electrical sounding at 10 sites, primarily to investigate the depth of the conductivity anomalies, and a lateral resistivity survey across a suspected barrier to fluid flow. I was not able to identify fractures zones near the spring likely due to shallow investigation depth of my techniques; however, the conductivity and resistivity data indicate higher conductivities near, north, and west of the springs. The conductivity anomaly north of the spring is caused by decrease in grain size, while the anomalies near and west of the spring reflect moist soils. Resistivity surveys showed first layer that are thin (1 meter), because these are controlled by vegetation. The resistivity models and conductivity surveys can be further developed and refined if more geological or other geophysical information become available.


Traditional approaches to the management of an artificial reservoir involve the use of linear, dynamic, nonlinear or stochastic programming. Hence a purely model-based approach would be extremely difficult and thus, recently, a large number of papers devoted to the solution of reservoir management problems based on fuzzy logic approaches have appeared. In this work, two management problems of a reservoir are addressed with fuzzy logic: the definition of the water flow to supply to the user, a typical decision problem; and the regulation of the dam gate, which is a typical control problem. Both problems have been integrated in an Automated Fuzzy Decision and Control System (AFDCS) that is able to identify the ordinary and drought operating conditions. Fuzzy rules are developed from a database derived from the traditional experience of operators and they have been optimized with a genetic algorithm. Two cost functionals are used, able to weight user9s desiderata (water demand) with water waste (water spills and evaporation). Three strategies are developed for a case study and are validated in different scenarios, using Monte Carlo simulations and worst case situations. Results show a good performance of AFDCS to alleviate the consequences of drought and to control of the dam gate.


In this paper, we develop a new deep network to explicitly address these inherent differences between ground and aerial views. We observe there exist some approximate domain correspondences between ground and aerial images. Specifically, pixels lying on the same azimuth direction in an aerial image approximately correspond to a vertical image column in the ground view image. Thus, we propose a two-step approach to exploit this prior knowledge. The first step is to apply a regular polar transform to warp an aerial image such that its domain is closer to that of a ground-view panorama. Note that polar transform as a pure geometric transformation is agnostic to scene content, hence cannot bring the two domains into full alignment. Then, we add a subsequent spatial-attention mechanism which further brings corresponding deep features closer in the embedding space. To improve the robustness of feature representation, we introduce a feature aggregation strategy via learning multiple spatial embeddings. By the above two-step approach, we achieve more discriminative deep representations, facilitating cross-view Geo-localization more accurate. Our experiments on standard benchmark datasets show significant performance boosting, achieving more than doubled recall rate compared with the previous state of the art.


Objectives & Background Intraosseous (IO) access is becoming increasingly accepted in adult populations as an alternative to peripheral vascular access, however there is still insufficient evidence in large patient groups supporting its use. Methods Retrospective review. This paper reports on the use of intraosseous devices over a 7 year period from August 2006 to August 2013 during combat operations in Afghanistan. A search of the Joint Theatre Trauma Registry (JTTR-UK), a database of all trauma patients treated by Defence Medical Services in Iraq and Afghanistan, was carried out looking for all the incidences of intraosseous access use during this time. Adults were defined as patients aged 17 or above. Patient demographics, injuries, treatments and complications were retrieved. The results were collated and analysed using Excel TM (Microsoft). Results 1014 intraosseous devices were used in 830 adult patients with no major complications. The rate of minor complications, the majority of which were device failure, was 1.38%. 5124 separate infusions of blood products or fluids occurred via intraosseous access, with 36% being of packed red cells. On average each casualty received 6.95 different infusions of blood products and fluids, and 3.28 separate infusions of drugs through intraosseous access. 32 different drugs were infused to 367 patients via IO, the most frequent being anaesthetic agents. Intraosseous access was used in the pre-hospital environment, during tactical helicopter evacuation and within hospitals. Conclusion Intraosseous access can be used for the infusion of a wide variety life saving medications, quickly, easily with low complication rates. This highlights its valuable role as an alternative method of obtaining vascular access, vital when resuscitating the critically injured trauma patient.


Grape-vine root growth was measured for vertical and horizontal distribution as well as seasonal growth periods. The persistance of aldicarb and fenamiphos in the soil as well as in leaves and fruit of grape-vines was monitored over a prolonged period to establish behaviour patterns which inflnence chemical control strategies. Most roots occurred within 600 mm from the trunk, both vertically and horizontally. Two periods of root development occurred annually. Accordingly applications of nematicides should be made in a band covering 600 mm on both sides of the vine trunk, either after harvest and/or during budburst. Results on residues of aldicarb and fenamiphos stress the importance of adequate water supply after application. Both nematicides will reach the bulk of the roots if correctly placed and were still detected after 42 days and 70 days respectively. Applications during spring with aldicarb and fenamiphos at the dosages used will have no effect on the fermentation of grape musts nor result in toxic residues exceeding 0,05 mg/kg in the grapes.