We explain trends in dowry levels in Bangladesh by drawing attention to an institutional feature of marriage contracts previously ignored in the literature: mehr or traditional Islamic bride-price. We develop a model of marriage contracts in which mehr serves as a barrier to husbands exiting marriage and a component of dowry as an amount that ex ante compensates the groom for the cost of mehr. We investigate how mehr and dowry respond to exogenous changes in the costs of polygamy and divorce, and show that our model gives a different set of predictions than traditional models. We show that major changes in dowry levels took place precisely after the legal changes, corresponding to simultaneous changes in levels of mehr.


This thesis constitutes a pioneer attempt at elucidating the ecology of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in river floodplains. These are non-typical sulfate-reducing environmental settings, given the generally low sulfate concentration that characterize freshwater habitats, and river flow regulation that makes flooding events infrequent. However many current riverine areas are polluted by sulfate, essential ion for sulfate reducers metabolism. In addition, where biodiverse wetlands restoration attempts allow rivers greater access to the floodplains, more frequent and prolonged waterlogging may create the necessary anoxic conditions for the growth of these anaerobic microorganisms. Given the diversified and polyphyletic nature of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes and their expected low abundance in floodplains, at first it was necessary to develop a molecular high-throughput screening tool potentially able to detect, discriminate and identify at a high degree of resolution all microbes with the ability to reduce sulfate. The polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis strategy presented in Chapter II was subsequently applied in combination with other molecular, microbiological and analytical techniques to study sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in a variety of floodplain soils, in field and laboratory-scale experimental formats (Chapter III, IV, and V). During the initial large-scale field survey (Chapter III), sulfate reducers biogeography in river floodplains was studied with a polyphasic approach consisting of polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis screening, microarray monitoring, and polar lipid-derived fatty acids analyses. Surprisingly, sulfate reducers were detected in diversified communities in all non- or temporarily flooded soils analyzed, suggesting a widespread ability among this microbial guild to survive periods of exposure to oxygen. Furthermore, the biogeographic pattern observed indicates differences in dominant community members; in particular Desulfosarcina-, Desulfomonile- and Desulfobacter-related sulfate-reducing prokaryotes showed a salinity-dependent distribution. Therefore, the response of sulfate-reducing communities in various floodplain soils may not necessarily be the same upon changing environmental conditions. This aspect was investigated in Chapter IV. The locations of the Haringvliet lagoon used for the mesocosm set-up presented in Chapter IV had different history, i.e. river regulation and management practices. These factors have changed the physico-chemical characteristics of the soils, but they have altered also the sulfate-reducing microbial community, and its potential response upon flooding. The most striking product of dissimilatory sulfate reduction is sulfide, a highly reactive chemical with a strong environmental impact. The effect of active sulfate-reducing communities on floodplain plants and vice-versa was investigated in a microcosm experiment with Glyceria maxima (reed sweetgrass) as model wetland plant (Chapter V). The presence of active sulfate-reducing prokaryotes promoted plant growth by enhancing sulfide-mediated phosphate release and by reducing the accumulation of toxic fermentation products in the soil in the first weeks after flooding with sulfate-rich water. The importance of iron deposits in reducing the negative phytotoxic effects of sulfide was also highlighted. Finally, molecular analyses revealed that only sulfate-reducing microorganisms belonging to the families Desulfobulbaceae, Desulfovibrionaceae and Desulfobacteraceae were active in the rhizosphere of G. maxima.


When it comes to selecting a new CEO, judgment really matters. The choice may devastate a company or create enormous value. In his work advising companies, Charan has observed that some board members are especially great at succession decisions. In this article he describes how they go about picking the right candidate. Directors who excel at selection zero in on the two or three distinct capabilities that a CEO will need to thrive at the firm in question. (Charan calls this the "pivot" because the succession decision turns on it.) For example, when IBM was conducting a CEO search in 1993, many thought it should hire a technologist, but two directors saw that what the company really needed was an executive with business acumen, a customer orientation, and execution skills. At their urging, the board brought in Lou Gerstner, who quickly turned IBM's $8 billion loss into a $3 billion profit. Astute directors also keep an open mind about where the best candidate will come from; they shed assumptions about insiders and outsiders and may even consider a leader a few levels below the CEO. They go deep to understand which person is the best fit with the pivot, doing their own due diligence. Finally, they allow for the imperfections in the chosen candidate, figuring out which gaps can be filled by other executives or corrected with coaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


Problem Responsibilities of chaplain services at Feather River Hospital (FRH) primarily include completing its mission of whole-person care by providing spiritual and emotional support to the patients and staff. However, the challenge of meeting this goal historically is due to insufficient funding to hire adequate staff chaplains to provide this service. Per conversation with fellow chaplains of other hospitals, this same staffing challenge in meeting the spiritual and emotional component of whole-person care is consistent. However, there is a potential solution. Staff and community volunteers with a spiritual bent have shown interest in filling this gap of spiritual and emotional support, but proper training is essential to creating a consistent quality of care. Method A four-hour Mission Ambassador Training (MAT) was created and presented on three separate occasions, along with two abbreviated MATs for CNAs, between December 2014 and February 2015, for the FRH staff and volunteers. Also, a 30-minute Mission Ambassador Support Group (MASG) was created and implemented monthly from January 2015 through June 2015. The purpose was missional. The training included the learning components of linking theory to practice, fostering both internal and external spiritual and emotional awareness, providing resources, and building a collaborative team with chaplain services. It taught the competencies of roles and responsibilities of a Mission Ambassador volunteer (MA), historical context for spiritual and emotional support in a healthcare environment, recognition and support of spiritual and emotional issues, communication skills, bereavement, and teamwork. The project was evaluated for its diversity in staff participation, and by its participants and the community, using the quarterly National Research Corporation (NRC) survey, Gallup survey, Spiritual Climate survey, FRH standardized program evaluation survey, and the post-MAT support group attendees to determine the effectiveness of both the training and implementation on the staff, patients, and training participants. Results Twenty-two students enrolled in MAT: 8 from chaplain services and 14 from a variety of departments. Results from the NRC, Spiritual Climate, and Gallup were inconclusive. Education and Training Program Evaluation respondents and MAT Support Group surveys indicated the training was beneficial. MASG, on the other hand, was not deemed a success due to pragmatic reasons. Conclusions This project manuscript establishes that an efficient, accessible, competency-based, and mission-focused MAT for non-chaplain and chaplain volunteers may increase the support of the mission of FRH as well as patient satisfaction. This outcome suggests that extensive employment of this training curriculum could have positive missional impact on the entire Adventist Health organization. It may also have implications for other forms of non-chaplain and volunteer chaplain education.


Variables which contribute to language learning have been the subject of a great deal of research interest and study. Generally, research has concentrated on preschool language acquisition and, until the past decade, has supported the conclusion that language development is very nearly mature by about age six. Growing numbers of researchers, however, are acknowledging the need for research concerning language acquisition beyond the preschool years (C. Chomsky, 1969; Ruddell, 1976; Wardhaugh, 1976). Of specific interest are the developmental processes through which elementary and post-elementary children gain grammatical and lexical control of their language. Embedded in this larger concern are questions dealing with vocabular acquisition which Manzo and Sherk (1974) have identified as being singularly important, but relatively unresearched; specifically, (1) what condition or conditions precipitate the acquisition of new words? and (2) what strategy or strategies are used to incorporate new words into the speaking vocabulary? A third, and just as important concern, is whether the conditions and/ or strategies change developmentally, and if so, what relationship this change has to current theories of cognitive development. VOCABULARY ACQUISITION DURING ELEMENTARY AND POST-ELEMENTARY YEARS: A PRELIMINARY REPORT


Natural hydraulic lime (NHL) mortars are widely used for restoration works due to their good compatibility with the substrate material in terms of physical, chemical, and mechanical properties. Regarding their mechanical characterization, there is still a need for further understanding of their fracture behavior and the influence of their dosage methodology on the mechanical properties. Thus, this chapter focuses on the mechani- cal characterization of NHL mortars, such as flexural, compressive, and splitting tensile strengths, elastic modulus, and fracture energy. Moreover, the influence of the composi - tion and production process on such properties was studied as well. Furthermore, the loading rate effect on the fracture behavior was also presented. The results show that NHL mortars have shape and size effect on the compressive strength. In addition, NHL mortar is rate sensitive, mainly due to the viscous effects caused by the presence of free water in the porous structure.


Shellac has been widely used as a protective material for wooden furniture and musical instruments, due to its remarkable properties such as ease of application, high adhesion to the wood surface and protective properties along with its nonpoisonous nature. However, shellac varnishes have also some limitations such as softness of the coating, photodegradation, and sensitivity to alcoholic solvents and to pH variations. In the present study, de-waxed natural shellac (food quality shellac from Kremer-Pigmente) was selected and modified by introducing different inorganic nanoparticles as well as a fluorinated polymer. Silicates nanoparticles were added with the aim of improving the film hardness, while ZnO nanoparticles were expected to reduce photodegradation of the shellac matrix and finally, fluorinated polymer was considered with the aim of increasing chemical resistance and water repellent character of the resulting material. Four different shellac materials were prepared for these purposes by dispersing nanoparticles (silica, montmorillonite, zinc oxide) and perfluoropolyether in alcoholic solutions of shellac. Different experimental analyses were performed on both modified shellac films and maple wood specimens treated by brushing. Characteristics of modified shellac materials were investigated by performing hardness test, contact angle measurements, evaluation of chromatic variation after UV ageing, solubility and alkali resistance tests.  SEM-EDS analyses were also carried out on films and treated wood specimens. Quality and thickness of the coating are important parameters when products are developed for real case applications. Both native shellac and modified shellac treatments on wood specimens provided good quality coatings whose thickness was very close to real applications (about 25 µm, see Figure 1). Hardness measurements performed by international standard test indicated that the presence of silica or montmorillonite nanoparticles in shellac improves the hardness of the resulting coating. In addition, SiO2-shellac applied on wood specimens afforded an improvement of hydrophobic properties (see Figure 2), while Montmorillonite-shellac increased the base resistance property with respect to the native shellac.  ZnO-shellac treatment preserved almost unaltered the chromatic properties (L*, a* and b* coordinates of the CIELAB space) with respect to native shellac, even after UV ageing (750 h). Shellac modified by perfluoropolyether showed an improvement of hydrophobic behaviour and photo-stability after artificial ageing. Acknowledgement: The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Claudio Canevari (Civica Scuola di Liuteria, Milan, Italy) for supplying different shellac batches, wood samples and also kind guidance for the research work.


ABSTRACT Background/Study Context: Mobility limitations affect more than 25% of adults aged 70 years or older. This study tested the hypothesis that impairments in ankle and shoulder coordination are associated with mobility limitations among older adults. Methods: his study consisted of conducted a cross-sectional analysis from a sample of community-dwelling older adults (N = 130) aged ≥67 years. Motion capture equipment was used to collect kinematic data during rhythmic antiphase coordination of the right and left: (a) ankles moving in dorsi-plantarflexion; and (b) glenohumeral ("shoulder") moving in flexion-extension while paced by an auditory metronome. Coordination variability was measured as the standard deviation of the relative phase between right and left body segments. Mobility limitations were defined as a score of ≤9 on the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB). Odds ratios for mobility limitations as a function of coordination variability quartiles were determined using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, number of chronic conditions and Mini-Mental State Examination score, the odds ratios for mobility limitation (SPPB score ≤9) were 7.38 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.20–24.78) and 15.40 (95% CI: 4.31–55.07) for the 3rd and 4th (the poorest) ankle coordination quartiles, respectively, and 6.73 (95% CI: 2.11–21.51) for the 4th shoulder coordination quartile, compared with the best (the 1st) coordination quartiles. Conclusion: The results supported the hypothesis that impaired interlimb ankle and shoulder coordination are associated with the manifestation of mobility limitations. These findings indicate the need for further study of the role of coordination impairments as potential contributors to poor mobility among older adults.


What is satire, what can it do and what not, and why should we care about it? Since its introduction as a classification of artworks in Roman times, these fundamental questions about satire have been continually addressed by satirists themselves, their fans, their detractors, political and moral authorities, art-critics, and, not in the least, scholars. These longstanding debates about the fundamental issues of satire have often been fruitful and enlightening. Still, the fundamental questions about satire's nature, its function and its significance have remained unanswered. In this thesis, I aim to resolve these issues by engaging with satire throughout the ages in various media, with a specific focus on contemporary moving images. While satire was traditionally a literary phenomenon, it is nowadays most widespread on the screen, especially due to commercial success on American television (Gray, Jones and Thompson 2009, 19). For this reason, although I do not ignore debates in literary studies and other disciplines, I primarily engage with recent scholarship in film, television and media studies (e.g. Day 2012; McClennen 2011; Jones 2010; Baym 2010). Apart from moving images, I also discuss a variety of comics, because I argue that satire is characterised by similar storytelling techniques as cartoons and caricatures.

My investigation aims to clarify fundamental, general and abstract questions about the nature, function and significance of satire. In order to realise these aims, I introduce and develop methodological frameworks from analytic aesthetics and philosophy. I draw mostly on methodologies in philosophy of art to address my research questions and clarify closely related concepts to satire, including irony (Wilson and Sperber 2012), humour (Carroll 2014), fiction (Friend 2012), genre (Abell 2014), aesthetic experiences (Stecker 2010), entertainment (Shusterman 2003) and narrative interpretation (Currie 2004). I also engage with scholarship which has sought to appraise the nature, function and significance of satire by comparing it to philosophy (Gray 2005; Higgie 2014). On the one hand, such comparisons are problematically vague and, under scrutiny, the differences between satire and philosophy quickly become apparent (see Diehl 2013). On the other hand, these comparisons are valuable because they rightfully highlight that satirists and philosophers share a moral concern for truth, which situates them in a similar existential framework. Still, concepts like 'truth' and 'ethics' have remained problematically vague in recent debates about satire, especially in the wake of postmodernism. In order to redress this situation and introduce greater clarity to the debates, I develop a meta-ethical investigation rooted in the quasi-realism of Simon Blackburn (1998).

In the first chapter, I challenge the idea that satire is a spirit or mode which can only be characterised by a cluster account (Condren 2012). Instead, I define satire as a genre with the purpose to critique and entertain. This definition highlights a fundamental tension in satire between a broadly moral purpose to critique and a broadly aesthetic purpose to entertain, which explains the ambiguous reception of satire: hailed for its truthful moral interventions (Gray 2005), enjoyed for its aesthetic pleasures (Griffin 1994), but also dismissed as frivolous pastime that cultivates cynicism (Webber 2011). In the second chapter, I frame the significance of satire's definitive tension as corresponding to a fundamental conflict in ethical life between the demands of critique and its limits. Although I acknowledge that satire's purpose to entertain limits its political impact as critique (Holbert 2013), I revalue entertainment in satire as therapy to cope with the limits of critique. In the third chapter, I investigate the cognitive contributions of satire as critique, even if they are moderate. Acknowledging that fictions are epistemically risky (Currie and Levinson 2017), I acknowledge that satire can deceive, but I also defend that good satire can teach non-trivial truths, including moral truths. Nonetheless, I advocate a careful cognitivism which acknowledges that satire's cognitive contributions need to be complemented with further inquiry. In the fourth chapter, I explain that satirists often cultivate a humorous irony to cope with the limits of critique. In dialogue with psychological research on the therapeutic function of narratives (Roberts and Holmes 1999) and the correlation between humour and wellbeing (Martin 2007; Ruch and Heintz 2016), I conceptually clarify the therapeutic dimension of humorous irony in satire as a narrative strategy to cope with the absurd gap between the demands of critique and its limits. I conclude that further research about satire should focus less on proving that satire changes the world and more on how it copes with it.


At Eurocrypt 2017 the first secret-key distinguisher for 5-round AES - based on the "multiple-of-8" property - has been presented. Although it allows to distinguish a random permutation from an AES-like one, it seems rather hard to implement a key-recovery attack different than brute-force like using such a distinguisher. In this paper we introduce "Mixture Differential Cryptanalysis" on round-reduced AESlike ciphers, a way to translate the (complex) "multiple-of-8" 5-round distinguisher into a simpler and more convenient one (though, on a smaller number of rounds). Given a pair of chosen plaintexts, the idea is to construct new pairs of plaintexts by mixing the generating variables of the original pair of plaintexts. Here we theoretically prove that for 4-round AES the corresponding ciphertexts of the original pair of plaintexts lie in a particular subspace if and only if the corresponding pairs of ciphertexts of the new pairs of plaintexts have the same property. Such secret-key distinguisher - which is independent of the secret-key, of the details of the S-Box and of the MixColumns matrix (except for the branch number equal to 5) - can be used as starting point to set up new key-recovery attacks on round-reduced AES. Besides a theoretical explanation, we also provide a practical verification both of the distinguisher and of the attack.


In the light of the declaration "Nothing about us without us" (Charlton, 2000), interest in co-production, and coproduced research is expanding. Good work has been done establishing principles for co-production (Hickey et al., 2018) and for good quality involvement (Involve, 2013; 4Pi, 2015) and describing how this works in practice in mental health research (Gillard et al., 2012a,b, 2013). In the published literature, co-production has worked well in qualitative research projects in which there is often methodological flexibility. However, to change treatment guidelines in the UK, e.g., the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, and influence service commissioning, high quality quantitative research is also needed. This type of research is characterized by formal methodological rules, which pose challenges for the scope of co-production. In this paper we describe the significant challenges and solutions we adopted to design and deliver a coproduced randomized controlled trial of mental health peer support. Given the methodological rigidity of a randomized controlled trial, establishing clearly which methodological and practical decisions and processes can be coproduced, by whom, and how, has been vital to our ongoing co-production as the project has progressed and the team has expanded. Creating and maintaining space for the supported dialogue, reflection, and culture that co-production requires has been vital. This paper aims to make our learning accessible to a wide audience of people developing co-production of knowledge in this field.


Background: Although craniofacial asymmetry is frequently involved in patients with congenital muscular torticollis, it has not been evaluated appropriately. The authors analyzed preoperative craniofacial asymmetry objectively and confirmed the relationship between craniofacial asymmetry and aging in congenital muscular torticollis patients who underwent surgical release. Methods: The authors retrospectively measured preoperative craniofacial asymmetry using the Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index and intercommissural angle and reviewed preoperative rotational and flexional deficit of neck movement for 123 congenital muscular torticollis patients who underwent surgical release at Ajou Medical Center from February of 2007 to February of 2011. The relationships among Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index, intercommissural angle, rotational deficit, flexional deficit, and age were analyzed. Mean values of dependent variables were compared after patients were grouped by age. Results: Mean age at operation was 82.5 months (range, 5 to 498 months). Seventy-one percent (n = 87) of patients had a significant cranial asymmetry and 87 percent (n = 107) had a significant facial asymmetry. In correlation analysis, intercommissural angle increased proportional to age (r = 0.334, p = 0.000), especially before 3 years (r = 0.42, p = 0.001). Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index was unrelated to age or rotational or flexional deficit. Rotational deficit decreased proportional to age (r = −0.229, p = 0.032). By analysis of variance test, intercommissural angle and rotational deficit between the age groups were statistically significantly different (p < 0.05). Conclusions: In congenital muscular torticollis, facial asymmetry is progressive if the contracted sternocleidomastoid muscle is not released, although cranial asymmetry is already determined in those younger than 6 months. Early correction of torticollis should be considered to prevent progression of facial asymmetry in congenital muscular torticollis patients. CLINICAL QUESTION /LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Risk, III.


A series of 14C measurements in Ocean Drilling Program cores from the tropical Cariaco Basin, which have been correlated to the annual-layer counted chronology for the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) ice core, provides a high-resolution calibration of the radiocarbon time scale back to 50,000 years before the present. Independent radiometric dating of events correlated to GISP2 suggests that the calibration is accurate. Reconstructed 14C activities varied substantially during the last glacial period, including sharp peaks synchronous with the Laschamp and Mono Lake geomagnetic field intensity minimal and cosmogenic nuclide peaks in ice cores and marine sediments. Simulations with a geochemical box model suggest that much of the variability can be explained by geomagnetically modulated changes in 14C production rate together with plausible changes in deep-ocean ventilation and the global carbon cycle during glaciation.


In Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium five of the eight family codon boxes are decoded by a tRNA having the modified nucleoside uridine-5-oxyacetic acid (cmo5U) as a wobble nucleoside present in position 34 of the tRNA. In the proline family codon box, one (tRNAProcmo5UGG) of the three tRNAs that reads the four proline codons has cmo5U34. According to theoretical predictions and several results obtained in vitro, cmo5U34 should base pair with A, G, and U in the third position of the codon but not with C. To analyze the function of cmo5U34 in tRNAProcmo5UGG in vivo, we first identified two genes (cmoA and cmoB) involved in the synthesis of cmo5U34. The null mutation cmoB2 results in tRNA having 5-hydroxyuridine (ho5U34) instead of cmo5U34, whereas the null mutation cmoA1 results in the accumulation of 5-methoxyuridine (mo5U34) and ho5U34 in tRNA. The results suggest that the synthesis of cmo5U34 occurs as follows: U34 -->(?) ho5U -->(CmoB) mo5U -->(CmoA?) cmo5U. We introduced the cmoA1 or the cmoB2 null mutations into a strain that only had tRNAProcmo5UGG and thus lacked the other two proline-specific tRNAs normally present in the cell. From analysis of growth rates of various strains and of the frequency of +1 frameshifting at a CCC-U site we conclude: (1) unexpectedly, tRNAProcmo5UGG is able to read all four proline codons; (2) the presence of ho5U34 instead of cmo5U34 in this tRNA reduces the efficiency with which it reads all four codons; and (3) the fully modified nucleoside is especially important for reading proline codons ending with U or C.


Zhelev, I., P. MerdZhanov, М. AngelovA-RomovA, m. ZlAtAnov, g. AntovA, I. DImItRovADyulgeRovA and A. StoyAnovA, 2014. lipid composition of Carduus thoermeri Weinm., Onopordum acanthium l. and Silybum marianum l., growing in Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 622-627 Seed oil chemical composition of wild growing Carduus thoermeri Weinm., Onopordum acanthium l. and Silybum marianum l. were studied for the first time in Bulgaria, by using gC, HPlC, tlC and spectrophotometrical methods. the major components of fatty acids were oleic (342 530 g.kg-1), linoleic (176 511 g.kg-1) and palmitic (99 150 g.kg-1). α-tocopherol was the main component in the tocopherol fraction of O. acanthium seeds (911 g.kg-1). In the sterol fraction the main components were β-sitosterol (546 632 g.kg-1) and campesterol (128 156 g.kg-1). Phosphatidylinositol was with the highest concentration in the phospolipid fraction (317 g.kg-1 in C. thoermeri and 320 g.kg-1 in O. acanthium). Due to content of unsaturated fatty acids, tocopherols and phytosterols, the seeds of these widespread species (especially O. acanthium) could be utilized as a valuable oil source for human consumption.


textabstractInfluenza disease, often referred to as "flu", is caused by the influenza viruses. These viruses are most only responsible for epidemics of variable severity almost every winter but occasionally cause major pandemic outbreaks. The term "influenza" has been derived from the Italian astrologers in the mid-1300s, who thought the flu was due to the "influence" of the heavenly bodies. Yet, the aetiology of the disease and the explanation for it's peculiar behavior remained elusive. At the turn of the 19th century, influenza was thought to be due to a bacterial infection with Haemophilus influenzae. It was not until 1931 that Richard Shope showed that the causative agent was a virus. A few years later, Smith and co-workers for the first time isolated an influenza virus from humans with respiratory illness.
The burden of influenza virus for the society, not only from a clinical but also from an economic perspective, is often underestimated. This relates particularly to the recurring annual winter epidemics. Fortunately, since the virus was first discovered, efficient means to contain the infection have been developed. Vaccination is the primary method for the prevention of influenza. However, due to the continuous genetic and antigenic variation that influenza viruses undergo, a constant global surveillance is required to identify and select new variants with epidemic or pandemic potential. Therefore, improvement of vaccination strategies against epidemic influenza and development of effective vaccines against potential pandemic viruses are a public health priority. New strategies for influenza vaccines include altering the dose, site or method of delivery of inactivated vaccines, the use of adjuvants or immunomodulators to enhance immune responses, or targeting of viral proteins that may promote broader, cross protective responses.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which consumer purchasing behaviour is influenced by advertised information that a product is made with renewable energy. It also seeks to identify why some consumers might respond more favourably.

Design/methodology/approach

Three experiments were conducted using two samples of university students enroled in Australia. The first experiment tested the main effect of this research, the second tested the potential amplifying effect of locus of control and the third tested the temporal orientation.

Findings

Consumer respond favourably to products promoted as made with renewable energy. The possible explanation for this is that future temporal orientation (FTO) influences attitude towards the brand, attitude towards the advertisement, purchase intention and willingness to pay a premium for brands. The observed interaction effect between perceived greenness of the advertisement and FTO is also robust to scepticism.

Research limitations/implications

Results presented here are also derived from responses made by students at a regional Australian university. Although atypical in their profile with most over 30 years of age, findings cannot reliably be generalised to the larger population. Determining how much importance a renewable energy appeal has when it is positioned among other green appeals would reveal the relative usefulness of the focal promotion to marketers.

Practical implications

Promoting a firm's use of renewable energy presents an important opportunity to achieve desirable outcomes, and the efficacy of this is magnified within individuals that habitually focus on the future.

Social implications

These findings benefit society because they contribute towards increasing the frequency of sustainable business practices. It should also encourage policy-makers to implement policy changes (e.g., removing subsidies that prevent renewable energy from attaining cost parity with non-renewable sources of energy), which can result in beneficial economic outcomes.

Originality/value

This research is the first of its kind to be conducted in an Australian context, providing findings that assist both firms' and policy-makers' decision-making.


In standard solutions, the new-Keynesian model produces a deep recession with deflation in a liquidity trap. The model also makes unusual policy predictions: Useless government spending, technical regress, and capital destruction have large multipliers. These predictions become larger as prices become less sticky. I show that both sets of predictions are strongly affected by equilibrium selection. For the same interest-rate path, different choices of equilibria - either by the researcher's direct selection or the researcher's specification of expected Federal Reserve policy - can overturn all these results. A set of "local-to-frictionless" equilibria predicts mild inflation, no output reduction and negative multipliers during the liquidity trap, and its predictions approach the frictionless model smoothly, all for the same interest rate path.


To address imminent concerns of global food security and agricultural sustainability, international research activities are increasingly focusing on ways of improving the food system's efficiency and effectiveness at providing nutritious food for all in an environmentally sustainable manner. A significant component of this will involve understanding and ultimately influencing people's dietary choices. However, for people-oriented intervention strategies to be effective, the gaps between existing behaviour and what is required for environmentally sustainable and healthy food choices must be specified. This paper identifies priority areas for behavioural change in relation to the types of food purchased, how they have been produced and the individual's food provisioning behaviour. In order to determine the most effective ways to influence people's consumption behaviour in light of these priority areas, the authors conducted a pilot study on a group of 163 Australians who would be expected to be 'early adopters' of a sustainable diet. Results show that only around 1 in 10 are presently actively engaged in reducing the environmental impact of their diets in these priority areas. Hence, there is a significant need to engage many more people in sustainable dietary behaviours. Furthermore, it was found that areas where interventions are most likely to have the largest impact, based on high cost to the environment and likelihood of citizens changing their behaviour, are reducing the amount of food waste generated in the household and lowering the amount of junk food eaten.


The proximal map is the key step in gradient-type algorithms, which have become prevalent in large-scale high-dimensional problems. For simple functions this proximal map is available in closed-form while for more complicated functions it can become highly nontrivial. Motivated by the need of combining regularizers to simultaneously induce different types of structures, this paper initiates a systematic investigation of when the proximal map of a sum of functions decomposes into the composition of the proximal maps of the individual summands. We not only unify a few known results scattered in the literature but also discover several new decompositions obtained almost effortlessly from our theory.


This classic discusses the original publication of Dr Stieda: Über eine typische Verletzung am unteren Femurende, published in 1908, on the ossified post-traumatic lesion at or near the medial collateral ligament (MCL), adjacent to the margin of the medial femoral condyle which is nowadays known as the Pellegrini-Stieda lesion. One of the presumed mechanisms of injury is an avulsion fracture at the MCL origin. Most patients are asymptomatic, in case of pain, however it is called a Pellegrini-Stieda syndrome. Recently, there are signs directing towards a muscular lesion, in particular the insertion of the adductor magnus muscle. In 1908, Alfred Stieda described a case series of an ossification on the medial side of the knee, which was treated operatively. During this operation, the origin to his belief was an avulsion from the medial epicondyle by the medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle. Although the theory that it concerned an avulsion fracture of the epicondyle is no longer accepted, the part of his findings that it concerned a muscle/tendon ossification at the insertion of the medial head of the gastrocnemius is interesting. Treatment is only indicated in symptomatic cases. When confronted with an ossification on the medial side of the knee, one should be aware that the MCL, the insertion of the adductor magnus or the gastrocnemius muscle might be involved. The first known publication was by Köhler in 1903. Historically, this entity should therefore be named the Köhler-Pellegrini-Stieda lesion.


If lawyers seek to define a 'universal' or 'global' norm through the trends of international courts rather than through domestic or even regional ones, the arguments of proportionality's champions who claim its 'near' universal appeal as a judicial tool become problematic. In the international adjudication of individual rights, the 'principle of proportionality' is often clear and explicit, but 'proportionality as a judicial tool' produces inconsistent results. For example, the ECtHR, through cases such as Behrami and Saramati, employs a proportionality that elevates institutional conceptions of rights over individual ones, whereas the ICJ, in adjudicating the human right to self-determination, has debatably done just the opposite in recognizing the 'unilateral' form of that right. Moreover, the ECtHR and the ECJ both tend to avoid proportionality altogether when it is 'hierarchy inhibiting'. In international humanitarian law, the notion of proportionality is infused with outdated assumptions about symmetry of capacity and ends that are justifiable, and in ICL, while the ICC and hybrid tribunals claim to recognize a plurality of retributive or expressive punishment, the principle of proportionality disintegrates this claim through practice (this is evident through sentencing at various ICL tribunals, for example). In international economic law, meanwhile, the WTO's proportionality based the 'General Exceptions' of GATT Art. XX produce inconsistent 'proportions' with respect to 'public morals'; and in international investment law (IIL), arbitral tribunals such as the ICSID asymmetrically apply proportionality to the actions of states and not to investors.


OBJECTIVES
To systematically examine the evidence guiding the use of implant therapy relative to glycemic control for patients with diabetes and to consider the potential for both implant therapy to support diabetes management and hyperglycemia to compromise implant integration.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A systematic approach was used to identify and review clinical investigations directly assessing implant survival or failure for patients with diabetes. A MEDLINE (PubMED) database search identified potential articles for inclusion using the search strategy: (dental implants OR oral implants) AND (diabetes OR diabetic). Inclusion in this review required longitudinal assessments including at least 10 patients, with included articles assessed relative to documentation of glycemic status for patients.

RESULTS
Although the initial search identified 129 publications, this was reduced to 16, for inclusion. Reported implant failure rates for diabetic patients ranged from 0% to 14.3%. The identification and reporting of glycemic control was insufficient or lacking in 13 of the 16 studies with 11 of these enrolling only patients deemed as having acceptable glycemic control, limiting interpretation of findings relative to glycemic control. Three of the 16 studies having interpretable information on glycemic control failed to demonstrate a significant relationship between glycemic control and implant failure, with failure rates ranging from 0% to 2.9%.

CONCLUSIONS
Clinical evidence is lacking for the association of glycemic control with implant failure while support is emerging for implant therapy in diabetes patients with appropriate accommodations for delays in implant integration based on glycemic control. The role for implants to improve oral function in diabetes management and the effects of hyperglycemia on implant integration remain to be determined.


Mithridates VI Eupator, the last king of Pontos, was undoubtedly one of the most prominent figures in the late Hellenistic period. Throughout his long reign (120-63 BC), the political and cultural landscape of Asia Minor and the Black Sea area was reshaped along new lines. The authors present new archaeological research and new interpretations of various aspects of Pontic society and its contacts with the Greek world and its eastern neighbours and investigate the background for the expansion of the Pontic Kingdom that eventually led to the confrontation with Rome.


Modern-day famines are caused by unusual impediments or interventions in society, effectively imposing severe market restrictions and preventing the free movement of people and goods. Long-run health effects of exposure to famine are commonly studied to obtain insights into the long-run effects of malnutrition at early ages. This line of research has faced major methodological and data challenges. Recent research in various disciplines, such as economics, epidemiology, and demography, has made great progress in dealing with these issues. Malnutrition around birth affects a range of later-life individual outcomes, including health, educational, and economic outcomes.


This paper examines how the German news magazine DER SPIEGEL and the daily BILD cover the issue of migration in Germany. As other studies in the early 1990s have shown, the debate in both print media was dominated by negative and polemic articles. The analysis conducted in this paper clarifies to what extent this also applies to the more recent news coverage. By using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, the paper tries to answer the following questions: What kind of actors and institutional players are involved in the covered debate? How is the phenomenon of migration framed politically, economically or culturally? In which way do both news media evaluate migration? The case study includes 30 articles of DER SPIEGEL and 54 articles of BILD; all of them were published in August and October 2010. At that time, Thilo Sarrazin released his book "Deutschland schafft sich ab" which focuses on Muslim immigration and revived the public debate on immigration and integration in Germany. The paper also examines, if this event has affected the news coverage. The results show that the daily BILD still covers migration in a very unbalanced manner. Muslim immigrants are predominantly represented as a threat to the "German culture". DER SPIEGEL covers the debate in a more differentiated way with articles written by migrants showing Muslims and migrants as part of the German society. However, there are also statements made by politicians as well as entire articles that only emphasise the economic benefit of migration and thereby objectify people with a migrant background. In both print media, the book release had an apparent effect on the coverage. This can be recognized by an increase of articles on migration in October 2010.


This article investigates whether the South China Sea is a source of internal disagreement or unity in ASEAN. It argues that when the focus is on the possibilities of cooperation beyond what is necessary for regional peace and stability, five different member-state groupings can beidentified according to their outlook on the desirable level of US and Chinese regional engagement, their support for a dialogue focusing on Sino-Southeast Asian cooperation and their viewson the scope of a code of conduct. By contrast, when addressing the prospects of coexistence, unity prevails within ASEAN. The memberstates are in agreement that Southeast Asia cannot opt out of the structure of deterrence that is consolidated between the USA and China. In addition, they agree that a practice of consultation and a conservative code of conduct between Southeast Asia and China will contribute to peace and stability by offering assurance that pending disputes in the South China Sea will be settled by the indigenous powers through peaceful means and will remain separate from the outer structure of strategic competition.


Constraint satisfaction networks have been shown to be a very useful tool for knowledge representation in Artificial Intelligence applications. These networks often utilize local constraint propagation techniques to achieve global consistency (consistent labelling in vision). Such methods have been used extensively in the context of image understanding and interpretation, as well as planning, natural language analysis and commonsense reasoning. In this paper we study the parallel complexity of discrete relaxation, one of the most commonly used constraint satisfaction techniques. Since the constraint propagation procedures such as discrete relaxation appear to operate locally, it has been previously believed that the relaxation approach for achieving global consistency has a natural parallel solution. Our analysis suggests that a parallel solution is unlikely to improve by much the known sequential solutions. Specifically, we prove that the problem solved by discrete relaxation is log-space complete for P (the class of polynomial time deterministic sequential algorithms). Intuitively, this implies that discrete relaxation is inherently sequential and it is unlikely that we can solve the polynomial time version of the consistent labelling problem in logarithmic time by using only a polynomial number of processors. Some practical implications of our result are discussed.


Poem production is an common form of language play in young children, and provides interesting information about their metalinguistic abilities. A task involving poem production was given to 122 English children, 59 French children, 148 Italian children, 118 Polish children and 118 Brazilian (Portuguese-speaking) children between the ages of 4 and 6. The basic task involved the successive presentation of three pictures. After each picture was presented, the child was asked, `Could you tell me a story about this picture?' One of three poems dealing with the picture (a rhyming poem, an alliterative poem and a simile poem) was then presented as a stimulus, and the child was asked, `Can you make up something like that?' During this task, each child heard one rhyming poem, one alliterative poem and one simile poem. In all, 260 poems were produced by the English children, 189 by the French children, 217 by the Italian children, 132 by the Polish children, and 160 by the Brazilian children. Italian and Polish children used phonological devices in a significantly higher proportion of their poems than English children, who in turn used them significantly more often than French or Brazilian children. The relative frequency of rhyme and alliteration also varied with culture. The use of simile and metaphor was greatest in the two language groups that produced fewer phonological devices.


This Article discusses current challenges to siting new electric transmission infrastructure to facilitate the growth of renewable energy. In doing so, this Article focuses on recent legal and policy developments at the federal, state, and regional levels with a specific emphasis on states with significant wind energy potential west of the Mississippi River. In many of these jurisdictions, there has been a strong emphasis on increasing renewable energy resources in recent years, particularly wind power. Each state and regional jurisdiction, however, has taken a different approach to connecting those new renewable resources to the transmission grid that is determined by the jurisdiction's laws governing renewable energy; state and local laws governing the siting of electric transmission lines; the jurisdiction's relationship to a state or regional transmission grid; and the presence of federal lands in the transmission corridor. The overlapping state, regional, and federal policies at play in siting new transmission to facilitate the growth of renewable energy raises unique federalism challenges. By comparing and contrasting the different jurisdictional approaches and outcomes, this Article is able to analyze the extent to which current statutory and regulatory frameworks for transmission are posing barriers to further renewable energy growth and provides suggestions for policy improvements in this area. This Article ultimately concludes that some federal preemption of state siting authority for interstate transmission lines is desirable but may not be politically feasible at the present time. In the alternative, however, states and regional transmission organizations can take advantage of existing regional structures and cost allocation opportunities to better plan for and site the transmission build out necessary to meet renewable energy goals.


This paper uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey to examine whether there was a change in employment rates for people with 'low employment' characteristics between 2002 and 2006, which was a period of strong employment growth. In particular, it estimates the relationships between employment and personal and household characteristics using a binomial logit model, with a comparison of the coefficients in 2002 and 2006 providing tentative evidence of a broadening of employment over this period. To explore this further, the paper examines whether the broadening in employment reflects an improvement in the relative employment prospects of the unemployed or of those outside of the labour force (which includes the 'marginally attached' and those who can be more strictly described as being 'not in the labour force'). Estimates of a multinomial logit model imply that the improvement in the relative employment prospects of those outside of the labour force was the more important effect. In particular, between 2002 and 2006, the concentration of 'low employment' characteristics decreased among people who are only marginally attached and those not in the labour force, suggesting that the strong employment growth was especially beneficial for these groups. In contrast, the concentration of 'low employment' characteristics in the unemployment pool was broadly unchanged.


The work detailed in this thesis describes density functional (DF) calculations that were performed to investigate the possible role of metallophosphoranes in the reactions of palladium-phosphine complexes. A study was conducted on X/R exchange in [M(Cl)X(PH3)(PR3)] (X = F, OH, NH2, Me, Ph, Cl; R = H, Me, F; M = Ni, Pd, Pt), to see how metallophosphorane formation, followed by R-transfer, was affected by varying the X ligand, nature of the accepting phosphine (PR3) or the metal centre. Metallophosphorane formation was easiest with the small, electronegative X ligands such as F and OH and was promoted by electron-withdrawing R substituents on the accepting phosphine. When the metal centre was varied, the trend for the activation barriers was Ni < Pd < Pt. Subsequent R-transfer was always more facile than metallophosphorane formation. The mechanism of disproportionation of [Pd(Cl)OH(PPh3)2] was studied using DF calculations on the model system [Pd(Cl)OH(PH3)2] and hybrid DF:HF methods on the full experimental complex. In the small model a reaction profile was found via a metallophosphorane intermediate formed via a transition state at 28.3 kcal/mol (from the trans reactant) or a transition state at 21.8 kcal/mol (from the cis reactant). A similar mechanism was found with the full experimental complex (highpoint 27.5 kcal/mol) but a more accessible route was located via a zwitterion intermediate, [PdPPh3Cl] [P(OH)Ph3] + (highpoint 26.7 kcal/mol). Possible mechanisms for experimentally-observed Ph/Ph exchange in trans[PdX(Ph)(PPh3)2] (X = Cl, Br, I) and R/Ph exchange in trans-[PdI(R)(PPh3)2] (R = Me, CH2CF3) were studied using DF:HF calculations. For Ph/Ph exchange, the most accessible pathway involved pre-dissociation of a phosphine, followed by intermolecular attack of the palladium-bound phenyl on the remaining phosphorus. The lowest activation barriers were seen when X = I. The equivalent mechanism was also the most accessible for Me/Ph exchange, although the analogous mechanism without pre-dissociation of phosphine was very competitive. R/Ph exchange was computed to be considerably less accessible when R = CH2CF3 than when R = Me.


An analytical expression for the degenerate four-wave mixing signal produced in a medium composed of two-level atoms by pump and probe lasers of arbitrary intensities and parallel linear polarization, suffering negligible absorption and depletion, has been derived. The Abrams–Lind approach [Opt. Lett.2, 94 and 3, 205 (1978)] for deriving the phase-matched polarization has been extended to find all the other higher-order polarization terms contributing to the signal. The signal field amplitude is expressed as an infinite series whose convergence rate depends on the intensity of the input fields and their detuning from resonance. The solution is successfully verified by comparison with a full numerical nonperturbative calculation and is found to be equivalent to the Abrams–Lind result in the limit of weak probe intensity. The result is used to calculate the saturation effects on spectral line shape that are relevant to simulation of molecular spectra obtained by degenerate four-wave mixing with saturating pump and probe fields. The result is extended to treat atomic motion in the case of forward geometry of the input beams.


There has been a lot of recent interest in designing neural network models to estimate a distribution from a set of examples. We introduce a simple modification for autoencoder neural networks that yields powerful generative models. Our method masks the autoencoder's parameters to respect autoregressive constraints: each input is reconstructed only from previous inputs in a given ordering. Constrained this way, the autoencoder outputs can be interpreted as a set of conditional probabilities, and their product, the full joint probability. We can also train a single network that can decompose the joint probability in multiple different orderings. Our simple framework can be applied to multiple architectures, including deep ones. Vectorized implementations, such as on GPUs, are simple and fast. Experiments demonstrate that this approach is competitive with stateof-the-art tractable distribution estimators. At test time, the method is significantly faster and scales better than other autoregressive estimators.


With Douez v. Facebook Inc., the Supreme Court of Canada has started to digest the implications of standard form contracts, or boilerplate, in the on-line consumer market. In this case, four of a panel of seven judges ruled that a forum selection clause in Facebook's "terms of use" could not be enforced to stay a privacy class action brought against Facebook in British Columbia. These four judges applied several different doctrines, including unconscionability and public policy, but considered the same factors and got to the same results. The factors included the inequality of bargaining power between consumers and Facebook, Facebook's on-line ubiquity, lack of an opportunity to negotiate terms, that forum selection clauses implicate the public good of adjudication, and the quasi-constitutional status of the privacy rights being litigated. While the scope of the decision may be limited by the last two factors, Douez represents an update of the court's understanding of digital boilerplate in light of contemporary economic work. I suggest that an expansive reading of the court's decision provides a useful framework for evaluating boilerplate going forward, a contractual analysis that recognizes mass digital standard forms' public importance.


Intrinsic connectional architecture of the brain is a crucial element in understanding the governing principle of brain organization. To date, enormous effort has been focused on addressing this issue in humans by combining resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) with other techniques. However, this research area is significantly underexplored in animals, perhaps because of confounding effects of anesthetic agents used in most animal experiments on functional connectivity. To bridge this gap, we have systematically investigated the intrinsic connectional architecture in the rodent brain by using a previously established awake-animal imaging model. First, group independent component analysis was applied to the rsfMRI data to extract elementary functional clusters of the brain. The connectional relationships between these clusters, as evaluated by partial correlation analysis, were then used to construct a graph of whole-brain neural network. This network exhibited the typical features of small-worldness and strong community structures seen in the human brain. Finally, the whole-brain network was segregated into community structures using a graph-based analysis. The results of this work provided a functional atlas of intrinsic connectional architecture of the rat brain at both intraregion and interregion levels. More importantly, the current work revealed that functional networks in rats are organized in a nontrivial manner and conserve fundamental topological properties that are also seen in the human brain. Given the high psychopathological relevance of network organization of the brain, this study demonstrated the feasibility of studying mechanisms and therapies of multiple neurological and psychiatric diseases through translational research.


Seven maize hybrids were evaluated at Frewens Block, Massey University, Palmerston North to determine the effects of hybrid and plant population on yield and yield components, nutritive value, dry matter (DM) partitioning and N%. The range of maturity of the seven hybrids varied from early to full season. The seven hybrids were P3902, Janna, CF1, Furio P3751, P3585 and CG900 each planted at 75,000; 100,000 and 140,000 plants/ha. Plant height, leaf number and yield were measured at 50% silking. Three subsequent samples were taken for estimation of yield, the final yield being at 3035% whole crop dry matter %. "In Vitro" Digestibility and Kjeldahl N analysis was done by Animal Nutrition Laboratory, Massey University on the grain, leaf, stem and husk components for the 100,000 plants/ha population only. The effect of hybrid on crop development was closely related to relative maturity. P3902 and Janna, both early maturing hybrids were quickest to reach 50% silking and blacklayer, followed by medium (CF1, P3751, Furio) and late maturing (CG900, P3751) hybrids. Heat unit accumulation of each hybrid followed a similar pattern. Plant height and leaf number differed significantly among hybrids and was related to maturity ranking. Hybrid CF1 achieved the highest (20,046 kg/ha) whole crop DM yield at final harvest while Janna produced the lowest (15,776 kg/ha) yield. The 75,000 plants/ha plant population yielded significantly less than 100,000 and 140,000 plants/ha There was no difference between the 100,000 and 140,000 plant populations. This study confmned the present recommended plant population of 100,000 plants/ha for maize silage. Dry matter partitioning at final harvest revealed the highest proportion in the grain component followed by the stem, husk and leaf. Total metabolizable energy (ME) content ranged from 11.3 MJME/kg DM to 10.28 MJME/kg DM. The ME content of CF1 was significantly higher than all other hybrids. Final yield was not correlated with the relative contribution to yield in any of the components or with N % in the crop. However, total metabolisable energy content was correlated with its ME components in the grain, leaf, husk and stem. There were no significant hybrid differences in whole crop N % which ranged from 1.07 to 1.16%. Nitrogen % of total DM was strongly correlated to N% in the grain and �oderately correlated to N % in the stem and in the leaf. NHI was highly correlated with % grain. CF1 was the best performing hybrid, having highest yield, metabolizable energy and N %. However, among six commercial maize silage hybrids (CF1 is excluded being a non-commercial hybrid at the time of experiment) tested, P3902, Furio, P3585 are the preferred hybrids for early, medium and full season, respectively. The performance of CF1 suggests that there is considerable potential for improving the agronomic characteristics of maize hybrids for silage production in New Zealand through local plant breeding programmes.


Zambian Education School-based Training (ZEST) is an innovative programme aimed at improving teaching in line with policy aspirations in Zambia. It draws on existing roles, structures and processes whilst making innovative use of technology and resources, to support teaching and to challenge attitudes which can limit achievement. A programme of research has been designed to better understand school-based continuing professional development (SBCPD) at a school-level. This presentation focuses on one strand of that research: school leaders. It seeks to make explicit what it is that school leaders do to support successful innovation. // ZEST is based on the policy aspiration that teaching should be more learner-centred, and defines learner-centredness in terms of attitudes, values and relationships, rather than a set of required practices. This paper will draw on the literature to suggest what 'learner-centred leadership' could look like. It will present data from interviews and observations gathered during a two-day visit to each of six schools to explore head teachers' leadership of innovation. A purposive sample of schools was chosen, based on their successful engagement with ZEST as evidenced through new ways of working, new attitudes to learners, and the successful use of technology. // The presentation will provide case studies of successful school leaders and will highlight what it means to innovate, identifying key drivers and constraints in the Zambian context. The findings will be relevant to others working on the continent.


The relationship between computed tomography (CAT) and diffraction tomography (DT) is investigated. A simple condition with a clear physical meaning is derived for the applicability of CAT. Corrections due to scattering are incorporated into CAT, and it is shown that the effect of scattering may be characterized by a two-dimensional fractional Fourier transform. The implications of these results for the three-dimensional imaging of weakly scattering objects are also discussed.


We outline a general construction of symmetry-preserving numerical schemes for ordinary differential equations. The method of invariantization is based on the equivariant moving frame theory applied to prolonged symmetry group actions on multi-space, which has been proposed as the proper geometric setting for numerical analysis. We explain how to invariantize standard numerical integrators such as the Euler and Runge–Kutta schemes. In favorable situations, the resulting symmetry-preserving geometric integrators offer significant advantages.


Journal: What are the principal responsibilities of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM), and what technical assets are at its disposal? Ekeus: The principal responsibility of UNSCOM is to implement the weapons sections of Security Council Resolution 687 (1991) - the cease-fire resolution of the Persian Gulf War - which are contained in paragraphs 8 to 13. There are two fundamental tasks. One is the identification and elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles (in this case, defined as having a range of over 150 kilometers), along with its production equipment and support systems for these capabilities. The other is the installation of an international monitoring system to verify Iraq's compliance with its obligation not to acquire these things again. In other words, we identify these assets, take them out and eliminate them, but we also have to ensure that Iraq is not reacquiring them. The primary assets we utilize in achieving these two tasks are international specialists and aerial surveillance - both high-altitude surveillance (using U-2 platforms) and immediate, shorter-range overhead surveillance (using helicopter platforms). Inside Iraq, we identify all of the major production facilities in the engineering and electronics industries, as well as in heavy-metals production. We use monitoring cameras, which continuously send their imagery from the production plants directly to a monitoring center we have built in Baghdad. The cameras are also installed around chemical, biological and, of course, (theoretically) nuclear-capable facilities. All of these involve "dual-purpose" activities - activities with the potential for both military and civilian use. We tag, through a tamper-proof system, all machines and production equipment of any significance: all high-precision instruments, all high-tech machines and all high-precision machine tools that could be used to advance Iraq's prohibited weapons programs. In the missile area, Iraq is permitted to produce shorter-range missiles. Therefore, UNSCOM must also identify all larger short-range missiles. They are tagged and monitored regularly through continuous inspection and camera supervision. Data on the tagged equipment, imagery from aerial surveillance and inspection reports are put into a sophisticated database. UNSCOM has specialized international inspection teams in all the weapons areas stationed in Baghdad, utilizing the assets of imagery, camera input and their own high mobility (with the help of helicopters and ground vehicles) to cover the daily work and the daily life of facilities and personnel perceived as "dual-capable." All of these efforts together should be effective. Furthermore, UNSCOM is putting in place an export-import control mechanism. We expect to have the Security Council's acceptance of the mechanism shortly. This plan, which has already been approved in principle by the member states, presupposes a new resolution under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter which will make it obligatory for all states trading with Iraq to notify the Special Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding specific items sold and exported to Iraq. This is not licensing, it is notification - an important distinction. We are not prohibiting Iraq from buying anything (of course, they are currently prohibited from buying weapons), but we are being informed whenever Iraq is importing a dual-purpose item. The data on imports is very useful, especially as UNSCOM can link the important data to other available information. Thus it will be possible to detect any effort by Iraq to re-establish any of the prohibited weapons programs. When the import data are linked with the monitoring system already in place, we will have a seamless and watertight control system. Journal: Could you discuss the current state of Iraq's capacity to produce biological weapons, as this seems to be a current area of focus? …


Deep convective clouds have been tested to be used as stable reference for calibration purposes: the monitoring of the radiometric changes of space sensors in the spectral range from blue to short-wave infrared. After an appropriate selection, the clouds have been characterized for their brightness, spectral aspects, bidirectional signature, stability, and homogeneity. For this, radiative transfer computations using a discrete ordinate code, as well as remote sensing measurements from the PARASOL satellite, were analyzed. The first main result is a confirmation that the monthly mean reflectance over deep convective clouds is quite stable as suggested in other papers. Moreover, the excellent spectral properties of deep convective clouds are really convenient for a temporal monitoring if it can be assumed that a reference band is stable or well characterized with time. If the reference band is perfectly known, the accuracy of the temporal monitoring is about 0.2%. Experimental results are provided with PARASOL data for which the temporal drift is known with an accuracy better than 0.5% for the three years in orbit (accuracy which includes the uncertainty of the reference band).


AIMS
Programmed necrosis (necroptosis) represents a newly identified mechanism of cell death combining features of both apoptosis and necrosis. Like apoptosis, necroptosis is tightly regulated by distinct signalling pathways. A key regulatory role in programmed necrosis has been attributed to interactions of the receptor-interacting protein kinases, RIP1 and RIP3. However, the specific functional role of RIP3-dependent signalling and necroptosis in the heart is unknown. The aims of this study were thus to assess the significance of necroptosis and RIP3 in the context of myocardial ischaemia.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Immunoblots revealed strong expression of RIP3 in murine hearts, indicating potential functional significance of this protein in the myocardium. Consistent with a role in promoting necroptosis, adenoviral overexpression of RIP3 in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes and stimulation with TNF-α induced the formation of a complex of RIP1 and RIP3. Moreover, RIP3 overexpression was sufficient to induce necroptosis of cardiomyocytes. In vivo, cardiac expression of RIP3 was up-regulated upon myocardial infarction (MI). Conversely, mice deficient for RIP3 (RIP3(-/-)) showed a significantly better ejection fraction (45 ± 3.6 vs. 32 ± 4.4%, P < 0.05) and less hypertrophy in magnetic resonance imaging studies 30 days after experimental infarction due to left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. This was accompanied by a diminished inflammatory response of infarcted hearts and decreased generation of reactive oxygen species.

CONCLUSION
Here, we show that RIP3-dependent necroptosis modulates post-ischaemic adverse remodelling in a mouse model of MI. This novel signalling pathway may thus be an attractive target for future therapies that aim to limit the adverse consequences of myocardial ischaemia.


The interpretation of prehistoric iconography is complicated by the tendency to project contemporary male/female gender dichotomies into the past. Pictish monumental stone sculpture in Scotland has been studied over the last 100 years. Traditionally, mirror and comb symbols found on some stones produced in Scotland between AD 400 and AD 900 have been interpreted as being associated exclusively with women and/or the female gender. This thesis re-examines this assumption in light of more recent work to offer a new interpretation of Pictish mirror and comb symbols and to suggest a larger context for their possible meaning. Utilizing the Canmore database, 272 Pictish monumental sculpture were contextually compared with each other in light of archaeological and historical data. Mirrors and combs appear together or the mirror and comb individually appear on 66 (24.3%) stones. Of these, only eight (2.9%) sculptures are depicted with human figures. The results of this analysis suggest that the mirror and comb symbols were not associated exclusively with women but rather represent actual objects imbued with special meaning as well as symbols of particular lineages and their association with specific sociopolitical roles in Pictish society.


Folate-dependent one-carbon (C1) metabolism is compartmentalized into the mitochondria and cytosol and supports cell growth through nucleotide and amino acid biosynthesis. Mitochondrial C1 metabolism, including serine hydroxymethyltransferase (SHMT) 2, provides glycine, NAD(P)H, ATP, and C1 units for cytosolic biosynthetic reactions, and is implicated in the oncogenic phenotype across a wide range of cancers. Whereas multitargeted inhibitors of cytosolic C1 metabolism, such as pemetrexed, are used clinically, there are currently no anticancer drugs that specifically target mitochondrial C1 metabolism. We used molecular modeling to design novel small-molecule pyrrolo[3,2-d]pyrimidine inhibitors targeting mitochondrial C1 metabolism at SHMT2. In vitro antitumor efficacy was established with the lead compounds (AGF291, AGF320, AGF347) toward lung, colon, and pancreatic cancer cells. Intracellular targets were identified by metabolic rescue with glycine and nucleosides, and by targeted metabolomics using a stable isotope tracer, with confirmation by in vitro assays with purified enzymes. In addition to targeting SHMT2, inhibition of the cytosolic purine biosynthetic enzymes, β-glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase and/or 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide formyltransferase, and SHMT1 was also established. AGF347 generated significant in vivo antitumor efficacy with potential for complete responses against both early-stage and upstage MIA PaCa-2 pancreatic tumor xenografts, providing compelling proof-of-concept for therapeutic targeting of SHMT2 and cytosolic C1 enzymes by this series. Our results establish structure–activity relationships and identify exciting new drug prototypes for further development as multitargeted antitumor agents.


Sauropod remains from the early Cretaceous (late Barremian-early Aptian) of Salas de los Infantes (Burgos, Spain) are described. The material consists of several caudal vertebrae, chevrons, a pair of ischia and a femur that is presumed to belong to a single medium-sized individual. Based on the tall neural arches and broad neural spines of the anterior caudal vertebrae, the specimen is referred to the Diplodocoidea. Moreover, it shows affinities with the Rebbachisauridae, a basal clade of diplodocoids. Both the caudal vertebrae and ischium of the Burgos sauropod are similar in form to those of 'Rebbachisaurus' tessonei from the Albian-Cenomanian of South America. However, there are some differences with regard to this taxon, so the Burgos sauropod is provisionally referred to as Rebbachisauridae in-det. Rebbachisaurids are known in the Aptian-Cenomanian of the western Gondwanan landmasses (Africa and South America), although further remains have been reported from the Coniacian-Santonian of Argentina and the Hauteri-vian--Barremian of Croatia. The Burgos diplodocoid appears to be one of the earliest representative of the Rebbachisau-ridae. This discovery supports previous evidence of a land connection between Europe and Africa across the Tethys seaway sometime in the early Cretaceous.


Biopsy samples of mucosa were taken during colonoscopy from the proximal colon and rectum of 12 patients, six with ulcerative colitis (UC) and six with non-inflammatory conditions. After anaerobic transport to the laboratory, biopsy specimens were examined by quantitative bacteriological culture on selective and non-selective media for total aerobic count, total anaerobic count, Bacteroides spp., lactobacilli, bifidobacteria and asaccharolytic, lactic acid producers. Isolates of the genus Bacteroides were identified to species level. Counts from proximal colonic and rectal biopsy samples in the same patient were not significantly different. Viable aerobic counts (aerobes and facultative organisms) ranged from 2.4 x 10(3) to 1.3 x 10(6) cfu/sample biopsy (5.6 mg) and total anaerobic counts were 10-10(2) times higher at (1.4 x 10(5))-(3 x 10(7)) cfu/sample. Bacteroides spp. predominated at both sites (range 8.6 X 10(4) to 1.4 x 10(7) cfu/sample), comprising 66% of total counts from proximal colon (range in individual patients 31-80%) and 68.5% from rectum (range 38-91%). Lactobacilli were isolated from eight biopsy samples from five patients, counts ranging from 3.6 X 10(2) to 1 X 10(5) cfu/sample; bifidobacteria were isolated from both sites from 10 of the 12 patients, counts ranging from 50 to 1.8 x 10(6) cfu/sample. From the 24 biopsy samples, 235 isolates representing 11 species of Bacteroides were identified. For any individual patient, only a few species (2-7; mean 4.4) of Bacteroides were found, with just one or two species predominating. B. vulgatus was cultured from both samples of seven patients (where it was the major isolate in four) and from single samples of two others; B. fragilis was cultured from both sites in six patients, being the major isolate in one patient and second commonest in three, but was not detected in the other six; the majority of other isolates were B. merdae/distasonis, B. ovatus, B. thetaiotaomicron and B. uniformis. B. thetaiotaomicron was isolated from both biopsy samples in all three UC patients with active inflammation (16 of the 60 isolates from these patients) but from only four of the other 18 samples from non-inflamed colonic mucosa (nine of 175 isolates).


The book was published in the series "Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects". Series Editor-in-Chief is Rupert MacLean. Editor of the volume is Matthias Pilz, professor and holder of the chair of Economic and Business Education and director of the German Research Center for Comparative Vocational Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T) at the University of Cologne in Germany.


More than 100 miles from Bangalore, India, there's a rural area called Kuppam where one in three citizens is illiterate, more than half of the households have no electricity, and there's a high rate of AIDS. It's exactly this challenging atmosphere that prompted Hewlett-Packard to choose Kuppam as one of its first "i-communities" initiatives. Through the program, HP creates public-private partnerships to accelerate economic development through the application of technology while simultaneously opening new markets and developing new products and services. HP brings to these initiatives the management disciplines of a successful technology business. For example, it unearths customer needs using an iterative cycle that involves prototyping products and services and then closely observing residents' experiences with them. It fields a diversely talented team that brings many skills to the initiative, including deep technical ability, management acumen, and market knowledge. It takes a systems approach, simultaneously examining all the elements that must come together to create a working solution to a given problem. It establishes a "leading platform" on which other players--comapnies, nonprofits, and government agencies--can build technologies and applications. Practices like these help ensure that HP's investment yields real, sustainable results for the community in question. But HP also sees returns to its own business. In Kuppam, the company is discovering the need for (and developing) new products like a solar-powered digital camera, with printer, that fits in a backpack. By engaging the community and its leaders and working with them to design valuable new tools and capabilities, HP is gaining the knowledge it needs to be a stronger competitor in other developing regions.


Background: Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) is a sensitive index of myocardial function. Its role in the fetus has not been extensively evaluated. Objective: To compare myocardial tissue Doppler velocities in fetuses with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) to those of normal fetuses (matched for gestational age.) Methods: Cross-sectional retrospective study conducted at 2 large perinatal centers (2003-2007). Fetuses with HLHS (n = 13) were compared with normal fetuses (n = 207) in 5 gestational age groups. TDI data included peak systolic (s'), peak early (e'), and late diastolic velocities (a'). Linear regression was used to compare TDI parameters in fetuses with HLHS to normal fetuses matched for gestational age. Results: Fetuses with HLHS had significantly reduced lateral tricuspid annular e' as compared to normal fetuses. Both normal fetuses and those with HLHS had linear increase in TDI velocities with advancing gestational age. Conclusions: TDI velocities are abnormal in fetuses with HLHS. TDI can be useful in serial follow-up of cardiac function in fetuses with HLHS.


CCA can be seen as a multiview extension of PCA, in which information from two sources is used for learning by finding a subspace in which the two views are most correlated. However PCA, and by extension CCA, does not use label information. Fisher Discriminant Analysis uses label information to find informative projections, which can be more informative in supervised learning settings. We show that FDA and its dual can both be formulated as generalized eigenproblems, enabling a kernel formulation. We derive a regularised two-view equivalent of Fisher Discriminant Analysis and its corresponding dual, both of which can also be formulated as generalized eigenproblems. We then show that these can be cast as equivalent disciplined convex optimisation problems, and subsequently extended to multiple views. We show experimental results on an EEG dataset and part of the PASCAL 2007 VOC challenge dataset.


According to recent research, external factors and political governance considerations are key determinants of capital flows in Latin America. We postulate that corporate governance is a crucial determinant as well. We show that while the region is characterized by relatively low levels of corporate governance it shows highly volatile capital flows. The high level of economic volatility that characterizes the region is partly due to the behavior of capital flows which, in turn, are influenced by external factors. The paper shows that by implementing better corporate governance the region could reduce the sensitivity of capital flows to external shocks and hence reduce the volatility of its economy.


Discussions are currently underway as to how to enable Indigenous people to optimise benefits from native title agreements or Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs). Research on a range of agreements between Indigenous people and extractive industries suggests that equitable benefits from such activity on Indigenous land are rare. In Central Australia the Central Land Council has piloted a new approach to generating benefits from land use agreements by establishing a Community Development Unit and encouraging traditional owners to incorporate funding for community development activities into their land use agreements. This paper discusses the variety of community development projects this unit is undertaking with traditional owners, and the challenges it is facing as it tries to utilise community development principles in its projects. It indicates some of the issues that may need to be considered in policy which seeks to assist native title holders gain optimum benefit from their ILUAs. In particular, the paper will demonstrate that the priorities of Indigenous people to live on outstations and to sustain cultural activities may conflict with government views as to how to 'optimise benefits' from ILUAs.


This article examines the symmetry between two novels by Karl Ristikivi (1912–1977), All Souls' Night (1953) and R o man Diary (1976). The poetic and structural landmarks in the configuration of All Souls' Night are compared to their counterparts in R o man Diary . These are discussed under the keywords spatial shift, spiritual guidance, widows, sepulchral monuments , and judgement . The most significant conclusion of the analysis is that all the listed motifs that first appear in All Souls' Night , acquire a powerfully religious tone in Roman Diary . The protagonist's existential crisis in All Souls' Night has been supplanted in Roman Diary by the narrator's religious rebirth. In All Souls' Night , the first-person protagonist's main problem is existential – the difficulties of life and living. In this very personal work, veiled with symbols, Ristikivi tries to come to grips with the shattered reality where he must live the rest of his life. In Roman Diary , the first-person protagonist is no longer facing life, but death. His reality is more visionary and brimming with references to the beyond. Questions about death and the afterlife are more important than anxieties about existence and life, and the afterlife is, understandably, linked to religion and faith, particularly to Christianity. Death is seen as one's most direct way of communication with God, and Roman Diary tries to make sense of both faith and death. The faith of a living person, the common attribute of Ristikivi's idealistic characters who want to make things right in the world, turns into a faith of a dying person. In Roman Diary, his last novel, Ristikivi deals primarily with a metaphysical world and the afterlife. The article also examines Roman Diary's close relationship to Ristikivi's other works and to works by other authors mentioned in the novel. In the article author's opinion, the primary element linking these works is the process of unification and nationbuilding throughout European history, a significant theme in all of Ristikivi's works. Numerous characters from his earlier works appear in Roman Diary . Many of Ristikivi's characters are unifiers and/or maintainers of stability. Ristikivi's yearning to write about a unified Europe was related to his personal fate as a refugee and his trauma of homelessness.


Previous research investigates what causes problems in the supply chain. However, there is a gap in
research for possible solutions to these problems. As logistic systems grow bigger they become
more difficult to manage and therefore it's vital to find resources to minimize risk and increase
efficiency. Research suggests that additive manufacturing could be a solution to some of the
problems that the supply chain may face. The paper aims to investigate if inventory costs for low
turnover spare parts can be lowered, but still offer the same availability by using additive
manufacturing. Therefore, the nature of this research was to investigate the consequences of
implementing additive manufacturing for manufacturing spare parts in the automotive industry.
A case study was done with the cooperation with a big truck manufacturer, which had done similar
research and wanted to take necessary steps to increase the management capacity. In order to
measure the effect that additive manufacturing would have on the supply chain, spare parts that
could possibly be manufactured using additive manufacturing and be profitable were identified.
Different methods that was suggested by literature was used in order to find a sample; the first
method was a hierarch process and the second method used three factors Annual Usage, Standard
Cost of Sales and Lead time. The framework for finding the best-suited spare parts for additive
manufacturing could be applied again in different divisions of the supply chain.
The identified spare parts would only be theoretically beneficial to produce with additive
manufacturing. To get real measurements, the identified spare parts were subjected to a cost
analysis. Two different comparisons was done; the first was done by using a mathematical model
from a previous case study and the second was done by cost estimations from third party additive
manufacturers. The data from these sources was compared with the actual cost gathered from the
truck manufacturers master system.
From the empiric findings showed that 6.7% - 20% of a sample of 30 products was profitable
compared to the actual cost. Investigating transportation this increased to 6.7% - 23.3%. However,
the main finding was the lowering of spare parts lead-time. Of the profitable spare parts 66.6% -
85.7% could lower the lead-time down to 1-2 weeks. If investigating the whole sample of 30
products the lead-time could be lowered for 19 products (63.3%). This could implicate that the main
benefit of using additive manufacturing is a big increase in customer service. Arguably, if the
technology for additive manufacturing develops in the same rate as in the past, it would be
worthwhile to do further investigation in this area as cost could go down.


Lifestyle related health problems are a tremendous burden for European societies that demands a shift towards prevention and a professional to guide this process. Therefore a new bachelor program PAL was developed. A consortium of seven universities from the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania and Great Britain developed a competence-based curriculum. Six semesters were developed: 1) Basic Program, 2) Health Enhancing Physical Activity (HEPA), 3) Changing Behaviour, 4) Nutrition, 5) Policy & Entrepreneurship and 6) the Final Project. From 2012-2013, Changing Behaviour, HEPA and Nutrition were tested. Meanwhile, Portugal received full accreditation and Lithuania started the accreditation process. From September 2013, the program will start in Groningen/NL, Rio Maior/POR and Kaunas/LIT.

Project no. 510029-LLP-1-2010-1-NL-ERASMUS-ECDSP Grant agreement no. 2010-4367


Drawing from literature on job performance, moral intensity (Jones, 1991), and job characteristics theory (Grant, Fried, & Juillerat, 2011; Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Oldham & Fried, 2016), I propose a core feature of work that is not currently recognized or studied in extant work design research: the degree of moral imperativeness and aspiration. That is, jobs differ in how much their performance (i.e., task execution) is a moral imperative or aspiration. I first distinguish the moral imperativeness and aspiration of task execution (MITE and MATE) from related concepts such as task significance (Hackman & Oldham, 1975), prosocial characteristics of work (Grant, 2007, 2008a), and moral intensity of a task (Opoku-Dakwa, 2017, 2018). I then develop and validate a scale. In Study 1, I used job incumbents to provide empirical support that moral imperativeness and aspiration of task execution is distinguishable from related constructs, converge with theoretically-relevant constructs, and predict work criteria as experienced by job incumbents. In Study 2, I used naive raters to judge the moral imperativeness and aspiration of work tasks at the task level to provide further evidence that they tap objective aspects of occupations.


This paper investigates the potential impacts of the transition to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 420.1B requirements and the criteria promulgated by the new DOE-STD-1189 on the current practice for seismic design of structures, systems, and components (SSCs). Addressed in the review is the modification of the prescribed methodology provided in ANSI/ANS-2.6-2004 by the new DOE standard. The new ANSI/ANS standards provide criteria and guidance in selecting the seismic design category (SDC) and the limit state (LS) for the SSCs that are important to safety. An unmitigated consequence analysis considering the uncertainties in estimating failure and the safety consequences of the failure may be performed to determine the SDC and the LS, which then are used to establish the level of peak ground acceleration and design response spectra. The new DOE-STD-1189 modifies the prescribed methodology provided in ANSI/ANS-2.6-2004 for calculation of unmitigated radiological dose consequence. Unmitigated consequence analysis is a procedure that has been used by the DOE for the purpose of incorporating safety in the design and operation of its nuclear facilities and is also used in 10 CFR 70, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulation applicable to fuel cycle facilities, and the associated Standard Review Plan (NUREG-1520). This paper identifies the iterative DOE double-pronged approach to seismic design, and a simplified example demonstrates the unmitigated seismic hazard consequence analysis.


Government schools serve the majority of children in our country. These
schools have witnessed a decline in their services, and increasingly they are
accessed by the poor and the marginalised. Across India, a handful of
committed individuals have led efforts to improve government schools, in the
belief that they could demonstrate or induce an enduring change in the
system.
This book profiles twenty three such efforts from across India. These are
stories of inspiration and insight, written in an accessible style, of interest to
practitioners and others engaged with ideas of innovation, change and
school reform. There are efforts to improve the teaching of curricular areas
such as language, maths and science; as well as attempts to introduce new
ones such as health, peace and environment education. Some efforts have
focused on the role of textbooks, radio and computers in the classroom,
others on mobilising communities and energising teachers. The narratives
are factual and reflective, and construct a varied picture of how innovations
are nurtured, implemented and spread.
The introduction places these narratives in the larger context. It outlines
the scope for outside agencies to work and collaborate with the state to
reform the government schooling system, and reflects on when things have
worked and when they have not. An additional resource in the book is an all-
India listing of non-governmental organisations engaged with the issue of
'improving government schools'.


Quartz crystal microbalance/heat conduction calorimetry (QCM/HCC) is a new measurement technology that has been used to monitor simultaneously the mass and motional resistance of a thin film in conjunction with the heat flow produced by a chemical change in the film initiated by reaction with a gas. In this work we examine the applicability of the QCM/HCC in detecting chemical changes at the solution/thin film interface. Human serum albumin (HSA) was bound to the gold electrode of a 5 MHz AT-cut quartz resonator using three types of linkers and then exposed to buffered solutions of the anticoagulant drug warfarin. Changes in resonator frequency and motional resistance as well as changes in heat flow produced by warfarin binding to HSA were monitored as a function of the warfarin concentration. Differences in frequency and motional resistance changes depend upon the linker and vary both in magnitude and sign, whereas the integrated heat signal is proportional to the concentration of warfarin and independent of the linker chemistry. Quartz crystal microbalance/heat conduction calorimetry can thus be a useful tool for studying protein-ligand interactions at the solution-surface interface, even though the quartz resonator does not behave as a microbalance.


Noninvasive monitoring of blood glucose concentration in diabetic patients would significantly reduce complications and mortality associated with this disease. In this paper, we experimentally and theoretically studied specificity of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring with the optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique. OCT images and signals were obtained from skin of Yucatan micropigs and New Zealand rabbits. Obtained results demonstrate that: (1) several body osmolytes may change the refractive index mismatch between the interstitial fluid (ISF) and scattering centres in tissue, however the effect of the glucose is approximately one to two orders of magnitude higher; (2) an increase of the ISF glucose concentration in the physiological range (3–30 mM) may decrease the scattering coefficient by 0.22% mM−1 due to cell volume change; (3) stability of the OCT signal slope is dependent on tissue heterogeneity and motion artefacts; and (4) moderate skin temperature fluctuations (±1 °C) do not decrease accuracy and specificity of the OCT-based glucose sensor, however substantial skin heating or cooling (several °C) significantly change the OCT signal slope. These results suggest that the OCT technique may provide blood glucose concentration monitoring with sufficient specificity under normal physiological conditions.


Book synopsis: Nietzsche and Legal Theory is an anthology designed to provide legal and socio-legal scholars with a sense of the very wide range of projects and questions in whose pursuit Nietzsche's work can be useful. From medical ethics to criminology, from the systemic anti-Semitism of legal codes arising in Christian cultures, to the details of intellectual property debates about regulating the use of culturally significant objects, the contributors (from the fields of law, philosophy, criminology, cultural studies, and literary studies) demonstrate and enact the sort of creativity that Nietzsche associated with the "free-spirits" to whom he addressed some of his most significant work.


A critical element of word of mouth (WOM) or buzz marketing is to identify seeds, often central actors with high degree in the social network. Seed identification typically requires data on the full network structure, which is often unavailable. We therefore examine the impact of WOM seeding strategies motivated by the friendship paradox to obtain more central nodes without knowing network structure. But higher-degree nodes may communicate less with neighbors; therefore whether friendship paradox motivated seeding strategies increase or reduce WOM and adoption remains an empirical question. We develop and estimate a model of WOM and adoption using data on microfinance adoption across 43 villages in India for which we have data on social networks. Counterfactuals show that the proposed seeding strategies are about 15-20% more effective than random seeding in increasing adoption. Remarkably, they are also about 5-11% more effective than opinion leader seeding, and are relative more effective when we have fewer seeds.